Misfits Like Us (Like Us #11)(30)

His smile is too big to vanquish, and after setting Kinney down, Xander quickly catches my hand in his.

And we’re off.

“Good plan, Luna,” he tells me as we walk towards the convention room.

My stomach is knotted, undeserving of my brother’s gratitude. I don’t tell him that I have ulterior motives. I didn’t do this all for Xander. I just thought that getting away from Moffy would make my triple date search a little easier.

“He’s a fast elf,” Donnelly says while in a slight jog to catch my brother. He steps out in front of Xander with quick ease. He glimpses backwards, and in a slight, momentary second, our gazes catch. Donnelly tosses a thumbs-up back at me.

I hoist two thumbs-up to him. I’d consider this a humanly playful greeting. Humanly friendly.

He focuses ahead.

Frog bypasses me and matches Donnelly’s stride while pretending to talk loudly in her radio. “Yes, Agent Coulson, we have the mutants under our supervision.” She’s not super big into Marvel, but this morning she wanted to know all about Agents of Shield for her role today. I gave her the CliffsNotes.

Donnelly touches his earpiece now too. “Yeah, Coulson, we’re pretty sure they’re both Omega level mutants.”

Despite Donnelly being into pop culture and fandoms, I still don’t know how deep some of his X-Men knowledge goes. Omega level mutants isn’t introductory kind of stuff though.

Xander laughs and then leans in to whisper, “We have the coolest bodyguards.”

I don’t deny that, and this isn’t the first time Donnelly has spouted some comic book knowledge. Maybe Xander gave him a crash course. So I ask my brother, “Did you tell Donnelly about X-Men?”

He frowns. “What? No. He knows all that shit himself. Like I said, he’s cool.”

Donnelly takes another peek over his shoulder. This time, he’s checking on my brother. He might have heard him. Xander wasn’t exactly whispering. Donnelly’s eyes graze mine swiftly like he’s checking on me too.

His stride slows by a single step while eyeing us, and closer to his back, I tell him, “You know Pixie isn’t Omega level.”

“You are though.”

He’s saying I’m powerful.

With that, he turns casually forward. Like he just didn’t bestow a glittering compliment upon my head. Maybe it’s not a compliment in his eyes. Maybe it’s nothing.

Still, I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.

“XANDER!”

Oh no.

Xander stops dead in his tracks. We’re less than twenty feet from Room G where the Lord of the Rings panel is being held. Flanking the convention room’s double doors are girls. Lots and lots of girls. All look like teenagers. Instead of pushing into the entrance or moseying over to another ballroom, they’re the only group loitering outside the doors. Others walk past them without care.

These girls have obviously been waiting for Xander.

“It’s him!!” A Pink Power Ranger aims a finger in our direction. Shrieking ignites, and I watch my little brother go sheet white.

He hates the attention. It’s not the normal kind of adoration that Moffy receives. If Xander sneezes, it’d be online in a heartbeat with hundreds of comments detailing the cuteness of said sneeze. Then it’d become an overplayed gif.

His fanbase is totally unique from everyone else’s in my family. He’s popular solely because of his looks and his “I can’t hide any of my emotions” type of face.

If I could swap places with him, even for a moment, a day, to give him some reprieve, I would. Faster than the speed of light, I would. I know everyone in my family would too. Our parents. Moffy. Kinney.

We’d all trade places with him for a lifetime. But we can’t because this isn’t science-fiction. And that’s the biggest heartbreak of all.

Frog listens intently to chatter in her earpiece, eyes focused on the crowd.

Donnelly extends a hand towards the onlookers like don’t fucking approach, but he rotates to my brother quickly. “What do you want to do, Elf? Proceed to Mordor?”

Xander yanks the hood of his tunic over his head. “I…”

“Xander, look here! Xander, you’re on TikTok!”

I want to scream to leave him alone, but I know that’ll make matters worse. Standing on my tiptoes, I try to block the girls from his view, just to ease some anxiety.

His shoulders are curving inward. He’s shrinking in on himself.

Someone must say something over comms because Donnelly turns to face the onlookers and puts a hand to his earpiece like he’s concentrating on something.

“We could go rogue,” I suggest quietly to Xander. “Ditch LOTR for the Beneath a Strong Sentiment panel?”

His eyes flit anxiously around us. “That show is lame though.”

My Bass-loving heart feels a little stabbed, but I try to shrug it off. Right now, no one but Eliot and Tom really know the depth of my love for that show. And I’m 1000% positive if Xander knew, he’d never diss it.

StaleBread89 also knows about my love of Bass but not about me. He hasn’t messaged since yesterday. It’s the weekend, so maybe he’s out with friends in real life.

He’ll message me again. I resist the urge to check my phone, but I’m realizing just how much I’m anticipating another convo with him.