Natasha merely nodded, still comfortable with the full breadth of her power. She thought for a moment that maybe she should’ve asked what the man’s power was before agreeing but rolled it off her back with a physical roll of her shoulders thinking it was too late to turn back now. “There’s ear muffs if you’re just going to stand nearby or a helmet and full suit if you’re going to stand in it.” Nat headed to the side of the gym where she had been told the gear would be, glancing over her shoulder at him, waiting for his answer.

Zane moved towards where the gear was and decided that not only did he want to be part of her power, but he wanted to stand in it. He didn’t care if he got harmed, especially since his power allowed him to heal himself quicker than most. Unless he broke a bone or something worse, that is. He pulled on all of the gear and then smiled at her. “Where would you like me to stand?”

Natasha normally preferred to train when the facilities were empty or near empty, but ideally empty. The government had fashioned what they had presumed to be a soundproof room for her, until she had shattered the windows in it a week prior. So she was relegated to training in the main gym over in Park, which was devoid of windows until they figured something else out for her in Point. 

She raised an eyebrow at the question raised to her, noting the slick smile of the asker. “Sure,” she answered slowly after a beat, “If you’ll wear all of the protective gear they’ve made against me.”

“Oh, protective gear, huh?” Zane asked, raising his eyebrows slightly. “Someone’s power is fancy.” He chuckled and then nodded. “I’m willing to wear whatever it is they’ve made so I can withstand your power.” Zane was always curious about other people’s powers. He wanted to experience every single one of them. He was just a little surprised that the woman in front of him didn’t mind letting him use his power on her. “Ladies first?” 

Truth. An elongated sigh left his lips, as if he held the breath in for a longer amount of time. Zane was a pretty questionable person at times, but at least he hadn’t lied to Xavier’s face. At least, not that his inner ticks exposed him for it. “Hmm.” His gaze flickered from the joint to Zane’s face, the wrinkles indent his forehead to add to the narrowed eyes full of scrutiny. “No, but being under the influence could harm someone else.” He admitted truthfully, and his face relaxed as he continued to weight the pros & cons.

“Oh come on, doctor Daily.” Zane smirked as he moved the joined closer to the other. “It’ll help you relax. I’m sure you’ve had a long day. Right?” The blood bender tilted his head to the side as he eyed Xavier. “Just don’t try to do any medical procedures afterwards and you’re golden.”

“I pinky promise I’ll be careful. I’ll even do a blood promise if it means more to you.” Harley teased, a grin on his lips as Zane wrapped his arms around him. “I mean, what classes as dangerous? We gotta have a little fun on the outside, no?” He questioned, the grin turning more into a smirk now as his eyes looked over the blood bender. The immortal appreciated the concern, not many people showed it for him. Usually his promises on being careful were complete bullshit, but with Zane he actually tried to keep them, not wanting the other to have the burden of looking after him if something bad happened.

“Oh?” He asked, brow raising at the others teasing, “Like what, Patel?” Breath caught in his throat at the soft touch from the other, quickly closing the gap between them, lips crashing against Zane’s. “I feel like we’ve not done this in months.” He murmured against the others lips, tongue brushing against the blood benders bottom lip. 

“A blood promise is not needed.” Zane said with a smirk as he pulled the other closer to him. “Dangerous is fine. But anything that may cause death is not.” He glanced down at Harley, his eyes showing that he was serious about that. Neither of them would have their powers and even if they liked breaking rules and causing chaos, they wouldn’t be able to save themselves if things went too far. 

“I guess it’ll just be a pipe dream, then.” Harley joked, laughing softly, hands moving to grab Zane’s hands. “Come on, Z. I know you don’t like it, but it can be fun. It can be what we make it, you know? I’ll be careful, you won’t have to worry about me. We’ll have fun, but keep a low profile still. We can handle ourselves without our power, Zane. It’s one night. Twenty four hours. I know we can get pretty messy, but I’m sure won’t make enough trouble to get us into any real trouble, right?” 

Harley sighed, moving closer again as he wrapped his hands around Zane’s shoulders, fingers moving through the back of his hair before tugging softly. “How about we talk about it in the morning? Don’t you think I’ve earned something for my dancing, hmm? Do I really gotta beg you to kiss me?” 

Zane pressed his lips together into a thin line as he eyed Harley. He’d love to get out of the town, even if it was only for a few hours. And he knew Harley really wanted to with him. “If you promise you’ll be careful, then maybe.” Zane said, wrapping an arm around the other’s waist and pulling him towards him. “But I swear, if you try anything remotely dangerous, I’ll drag your ass back to down myself.” It would be different if Harley was mortal all the time. Then he’d know how fragile the human body really was. But Harley had a power that made it to where he wasn’t able to get hurt and therefore, Zane was worried the other male wouldn’t look out for himself as well as others might. 

“Well it’d tip better than the bartender gig.” Harley replied, a small laugh leaving his lips. They were joking, but still, part of him were serious. If it would make him money, and it was something he would likely enjoy, then sure he’d go for it. It wasn’t like he wasn’t physically fit enough to perform the demanding job. Though there likely weren’t enough people in Grimstone that would actually go to a strip club, so it remained only a dream in his head. 

Harley’s arms wrapped around Zane’s waist, pulling the other towards him, “You could be the DJ there instead and have the pleasure of watching me every night.” he murmured against the others ear, lips grazing his jaw as he pulled away with a smirk, letting go of the blood bender. “We should arrange a trip out together. I still have all my hours left for this month. We can go somewhere where no one knows us, just have some time away and have some real fun that this town can’t offer.” Harley had only gone out a handful of times, when he felt he needed to get away. One of the last times that happened he found a friend who ran underground raves where the drink and certain drugs were free-flowing as long as you paid entry. Of course, you could buy more if you wanted something harder, or wanted to take some outside of the rave but ever since then, he’d wanted to experience that with Zane. Plus, when he was outside he actually got to experience that shit as a mortal, considering they had no choice but to give him a bracelet when he left.

“That’s probably true. Although, I doubt the government would add such a building in either of the towns.” It was an assumption, of course. “And then there’s the fact that you have to have people to pay to even run the strip club. I don’t see many people around here that would be interested in that.” Zane pressed his lips together into a thin line and shrugged. “It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.” 

“One song change, Patel. And you make him do it, you don’t get behind that deck yourself.” Technically that wasn’t work, right? Zane wasn’t really doing anything physically himself. “And pick a good one so I can distract you real good.” He waited until Zane changed the song to something more upbeat, and something more their style. Harley smirked, pulling his friend back towards him so that he could dance around him. He wasn’t shy with Zane, and he definitely wasn’t once he had a drink in his system. Harley didn’t care who was watching, he danced very close to Zane, his hips moving provocatively and in ways that he hadn’t seen many mens hips move before. It was eye-catching, for those that showed any interest, but his moves were for Zane and him alone. Dancing was something that Harley loved to do, but the type of dancing he liked was something that he didn’t think was worth pursuing anything serious for, and to be saved for the clubs or the bedroom. “Whenever I dance like this I feel like I should be taking my clothes off.” Harley laughed loudly over the music, but it didn’t stop him from moving.

“One song.” Zane promised with a nod as he moved towards the DJ booth. It was definitely not set up the way he would have. The blood bender snorted and rolled his eyes at his best friend as walked up to the booth. “Push it by Salt-N-Pepa.” He informed the DJ. “Now.” He was stern about it, eyeing the other male until he nodded and began changing the song. It was then that he finally turned and moved back to Harley. 

“Well, you asked me not to be depressed, so this is what you get.” Harley laughed in reply, shaking his head at the other. He heard Zane’s words and shook his head, gulping the rest of his drink down so he could have the glass out of his hands to wrap them around the blood bender. “Nope. No. No work, Patel. The DJ will play whatever they decide to play, and we will deal with it, and you will stop thinking about what you could put on, or what you could do for work. Now, not to float my own boat but you seem to have forgotten that you have an attractive man right in front of you, that wants your undivided attention for the night. Stop thinking about work before I really give you something to focus on.” 

“Okay but the DJ sucks.” Zane insisted as he glanced towards the DJ booth again. He couldn’t help it. His parents had instilled pride for work in him. That was about the only thing that he had taken from them and while he was in a profession they weren’t happy about, he still had the same drive. “I haven’t forgotten.” Zane chuckled as he turned his attention back to Harley. “But some things are harder to get out of my head than others. You know this.” Zane just couldn’t help it. “Then distract me.” He challenged Harley as he finished his drink and sat it down on the nearby table. “Let’s see if it works.” 

Harley smirked, pushing himself from the bar with drink in one hand, and other outstretched for Zane. “Like you said, it’s been a few weeks. I’ll be surprised if we make it to the prank stage once you remember just how good I look when I dance but, I’m not one to complain about that. Come on.”  Sure, the place wasn’t as busy as he knew the club would be right now, but that almost made it better. Plus, if they did end up going over to Point they could hit up a club there. But the bar was busy enough that they weren’t the only ones on the dance floor it provided. 

“Someone’s full of himself tonight.” Zane snorted as he let the other take his hand and pull him away from the bar. Zane held his drink securely in his other hand as he followed Harley towards the dance floor. The music wasn’t slow, by any means, but that didn’t scare the two of them. They could dance to practically any music. Zane took a long swig of his drink, managing to down half of it, before he swallowed and let out a breath. His thoughts threatened to leave the club and begin figuring out his music for work. He couldn’t help it, it was hard for him to get his mind off of it. Especially when they were at the same place both of them worked. “Maybe I should just go over to the desk and put on some better music for us...” He muttered, mostly to himself as he glanced towards his work station.

“You know you’re the fucking best, you don’t even need me to tell you… and your power? That just adds to the appeal.” Harley grinned, a laugh escaping his lips as the drinks were put in front of them. “Bottoms up, Zaney.” He spoke before grabbing the jagerbomb and drinking it quickly, the redbull and jager mixing in his mouth before he swallowed the drink. “I bet even on your shittiest day, they’d still love your sets.” The male shrugged, already sipping from his drink. “Now that I have your undivided attention for the evening, what do you wanna do? Stay, drink and dance or drink for a bit then go create a little chaos and pull some pranks? Now, choose wisely. I know how much you love seeing me dance.” 

Zane smirked, clearly happy that Harley still thought so. His eyebrows rose at the next statement, his lips curling into a devilish grin and then he nodded. He grabbed the jagerbomb and downed it quickly. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out. Redbull was not his thing. He hated the taste of it, but he’d drink it if Harley ordered it for him. “Now you’re just being modest.” Zane muttered as he then grabbed ahold of the other drink. “What about both?” Zane asked, cocking his head to the side. Drink and dance first, cause chaos in either of the towns after?” 

“Oh look at you getting a big head. What I’m saying is you’re the best so far. You gotta work to stay on top.” Not that Harley was getting much action elsewhere, but hey if it encouraged Zane to always bring his best to the bedroom, Harley wasn’t gonna put a stop to that. He sighed as Zane spoke, quickly finishing his drink as he listened to the blood bender speak about how great Harley’s life was. He had to admit, it had gotten better than he thought it ever could, especially as his friendships blossomed, but he still felt something was missing. He had no chance with his mom but he had a curiosity and a fire inside of him to find his father. He didn’t even think it was possible, though. Wouldn’t get his hopes up and definitely hadn’t talked to anyone else about it. “Fine, fine. No depressed shit.” He murmured, ordering them rum and coke’s, as well as a jagerbomb each. “You better remember in the morning that you basically told me ‘go hard or go home’, Patel. The hangover definitely won’t be my fault, but I promise I’ll still nurse you out of it.”

“So far.” Zane snorted and shook his head back and forth. “I’m the most educated and therefore, I’m the best anyway.” Zane knew his skill level and he also knew, and assumed, other’s. Sure, he may be a little cocky about it, but he didn’t care. “Good.” He knew that it was hard for Harley to turn off some of his thoughts, but none of them were doing the man any good. “You better. Or else I’m going to go into work and blame you for my shit job.” HE chuckled and then waited as patiently as he could for his drink. 

“Well damn, maybe we won’t need many drinks after all.” Harley grinned, biting down on his lower lip before drinking from his own beer eagerly. “Since you know I give a shit about your well being. You might be at the top of your DJ game, but I gotta keep you on top of your game everywhere else.” He was going to order Zane something harder, but he thought he’d push the boundaries with the tequila first, see where that left them. “Oh, I know that. It’s just a little hard for me to uh… Well, it just doesn’t hit the same when it’s not you. The difference can be nice sometimes, don’t get me wrong, but then people don’t always wanna fuck with the depressed immortal.”

Zane snorted but didn’t comment. He just shook his head and then took another swig of the beer. He snubbed his nose. Beer wasn’t necessarily something he’d choose to drink much of. He had to be in the mood for it. But since Harley bought it for him, he wasn’t going to complain. “Whether I’m tired or worn out, or not, I’m always on top of my game. You know that.” He smirked at the other and then took the final portion of his beer before setting down the empty bottle on the counter. “So what you’re saying is... I’m the best?” Zane asked, his smile widening as he watched Harley closely. “Stop it with the whole depressed shit. You have a good life. A great life. You can do whatever you want, when you want. Just try to live in the moment a little, Harley.” He nudged his best friend’s shoulders. “Order me another drink. A stronger one. I’ll drink more with you, only if you promise that you won’t swell on your negative thoughts while we’re together.” 

“Is that a threat or a promise, Patel?” Harley smirked, watching as the other drank the shot he had bought for the other, the immortal quickly following suit. “A couple of weeks, at least. I know you’re busy, I know you’re doing what you love and making sure you’re the best you can be but that also means taking a day off every now and again to look after yourself.” He reminded the other gently, knowing that Zane would throw himself into his work wholeheartedly and not really take care of himself in the mean time. “And lord knows if you haven’t, then I haven’t.” The man teased, pouting at the other.

“Both.” Zane winked at the other as he took the beer from the bar that Harley had ordered and took a long swig of it. He was honestly surprised that Harley hadn’t ordered him something stronger. It wasn’t like the immortal listened to him very often. Not unless they were in private. “Since when are you the voice of reason, Hidalgo?” Zane asked, a chuckle escaping his lips before he took another swig of the drink. “You could easily have a good time with someone other than me, Harley. You know that.”