The V in Valentine’s

V: The V in Valentine’s By J.M. Snyder The calendar might have said early February, but the city of Richmond, Virginia, was experiencing a mini-heat wave four days before Valentine’s Day. For city bus driver Vic Braunson, the warm weather was a pleasant respite—the snow that had fallen at the end of January was melted now, and dark rivulets of water gurgled into gutters along the city streets. There were still a few dingy piles of black snow pushed into the center of parking lots, left there by snow plows when the lots were cleared, and they probably wouldn’t melt before Easter. But the roads were clear and the ice was gone, and Vic’s long days behind the wheel didn’t end with tension headaches from the way he hunched his shoulders as he tried to navigate the lumbering bus through the wintry mix. No, the sky was clear and, so far, his day had been relatively headache-free. After four hours tracing a circuitous route around Willow Lawn, down Monument Avenue, into downtown Richmond, and back again, Vic had turned on the Out of Service sign and parked at the bus stop just outside the Willow Lawn Shopping Center. Hazards flashing, door firmly shut, the bus was far enough back from the stop so another driver could pull in front of Vic if needed. But for the next half hour, he was officially off-duty. Locking up the bus, he crossed the street to Jason’s Deli, where he ordered a six-inch club, a bag of chips, and a large soda. Time-wise, it was almost four in the afternoon, so technically Vic’s break was more dinner than lunch, but whatever he called it, he was famished. The eggs and toast he’d had for breakfast seemed years away now. Before that, there was a faint memory of waking with his dog Sadie snuggled up beside him in bed, and the faint kiss his lover Matt diLorenzo had given him on the way out might have happened eons ago. If Vic had more than thirty minutes, he would’ve parked at the bus stop outside the gym where Matt worked instead, but it was close to quitting time for his lover, and a half hour wouldn’t allow for much of a visit. But when his shift ended, Vic would go home and show Matt how much he really missed him. Back on the bus, with the door firmly shut to keep out any potential fares, Vic stretched out on the long seat directly behind the driver’s perch. He had his sandwich and the bag of chips on one side, his drink on the other, and a newspaper he’d picked up at the garage after he clocked in that morning. Now he opened the paper, unwrapped the sandwich, and settled in for a relaxing lunch break before he had to battle the rush-hour traffic. Just as he took his first bite of the sandwich, though, someone knocked on the door to the bus. “Out of service. Read the sign,” Vic growled. He didn’t say it loud; there was no way his voice could carry outside. But he pushed the words out mentally, as well, aiming the thought for whoever it was bothering him. For a moment, silence. He took another bite of the sandwich and turned to the sports page to check the scores when the knock came again. He wasn’t quite as nice now. Chewing slowly, he shoved one thought outside the bus. ::Go the f**k away!:: Usually that would have sufficed. Most fares would have stumbled back, confused and maybe a little scared, for no real reason they could put into words. It wasn’t every day they heard someone else’s thoughts inside their head, and Vic knew from experience it took some getting used to. In the years since he’d developed his telepathic ability, he’d learned to tune out everyone but the person who mattered most to him in the whole world. Matt. The man whose love gave Vic superhuman powers. Telepathy was one of them, super-strength another. Those were constant reminders Vic lived with that reminded him of Matt’s love, because he got them from Matt whenever they made love. Something in Matt’s semen gave Vic abilities that weren’t normal. The other powers fluctuated, changing from one day to the next depending on…well, mostly their s****l position. Missionary style brought with it one power, standing up another, in the shower a third. In the years since they’d been together, Vic had gone through a variety of powers that would be the envy of any comic book aficionado. Sure, he could stop the powers from happening to him. They could use condoms, or abstain from s*x. But Vic had grown so used to hearing Matty’s thoughts and feeling his lover’s emotions inside him whenever they were together that he didn’t want to put an end to the telepathy they shared. And no matter how strong Vic might be, he wasn’t strong enough to resist his young, sexy, virile lover. He’d deal with all the other powers—pleasant or not—as long as he had Matt. Some of the powers were crappy. Sometimes his skin changed color, or his bones dissolved, or he disappeared, and he had no control over his own body. Those days he had to call in sick to work—no way would he be able to hide something like that. But some powers were easier to contain, like freezing touch, or heat-ray vision, or flying. And some were stupid, little things that wouldn’t really be powers at all except other people couldn’t do them. Today’s power fell into that last category. Since awaking, Vic had been able to speed-read. Nothing all that great, really; nothing that would show up in a comic book any time soon. But he was scanning signs all along the road as he drove the city bus, reading the words in a blur. Actually, it wasn’t even really reading—he just looked at a block of text and knew instantly what it said. The sports section of the paper was section D, and he reached that page in the time it took him to eat less than half his sandwich. In the time it took the jerk outside his bus to knock twice… The knock came a third time. ::Go away!:: Vic shouted mentally. It would’ve scared off even the toughest punk. Visually Vic was a daunting specimen of a man, buff and brawny and covered with tattoos. Piercings in his eyebrow and both ears. Bald head above angry eyes. A devilish goatee that just looked wicked. He could intimidate most anyone just by glaring at them. When he told someone to go away, people listened. Except the asshole outside his bus. The next knock was punctuated with a woman’s voice. “Vic! I know you’re in there!” Taking another bite of his sandwich, Vic groaned. He recognized the voice, all right. Kendra Jones was an officer with the Richmond Police, and the only person Vic had ever told about his powers. In the time they’d known each other, they’d sort of become friends, and Kendra’s cell number was the only contact in Vic’s phone that didn’t belong to Matt or the bus service. Many times, Vic had had to ask for Kendra’s help, and vice versa. But that didn’t mean he was glad to see her. Lately she’d taken it upon herself to convince him to join the police force. And as much as Vic might use his powers for good, that wasn’t about to happen. Still, he couldn’t just ignore her. If he didn’t open the door, it wouldn’t take her long to call his cell, and then what would he say? He couldn’t quite see her from where he sat behind the driver’s seat, but she must’ve seen him crossing the street, so she knew he was inside. With a disgruntled grunt, he pushed himself up off the seat and grabbed the handle to open the doors. As they folded open, Kendra grinned up at him from beneath the brim of her cap. “Howdy, stranger.” “What do you want?” Vic groused. “Hello to you, too.” Kendra began to climb up the steps leading into the bus. Almost immediately, a handful of people behind her surged forward. Vic’s hand tightened on the door handle. “Out of service,” he hollered. In one fluid motion, Kendra turned and displayed her badge. “Official police business, people. Move along, please. Another bus will be here shortly.” Vic heard some moans and curses, but slammed the doors shut as Kendra came inside. He sat down again, and she stretched out on the seat across the aisle. Taking off her cap, she scratched her head without dislodging any of the hair pulled back into a loose ponytail at her nape and sighed. “Happy New Year, by the way,” she said. “How was your holiday?” With a grunt, Vic shrugged and concentrated on finishing his sandwich. “Fine. Busy. Matt’s parents had us down Christmas Eve.” Kendra’s brows shot up in interest, but Vic shook his head. “It was a nightmare. His sister has so many damn kids…” “Kids like you,” Kendra pointed out. “Kids annoy me,” Vic corrected. Kendra laughed. “Oh, please. We both know you’re just a soft teddy bear inside that grizzly facade. How is Matt doing, by the way?” “Fine,” Vic said again. Thinking of his lover made him glance at the ring on his left hand, the ring Matt had given him as a promise. Kendra saw the glance and grinned. “So when’s the date?” Vic considered playing dumb—what date?—but Kendra had been at the jewelry store when Matt gave the ring to Vic. Leave it to his lover to pick a store targeted for burglary. Luckily Vic had been nearby, and with the police’s help, had put an end to what might have been a potentially disastrous hostage situation. Sometimes his super powers really did come in handy. Now he just shrugged. He had his man; Matty had wanted rings, so they got rings, too. But the date was still up in the air. “Don’t be one of those couples engaged for ten years,” Kendra warned. “I want an invite, you know.” “We can’t marry here,” Vic reminded her. Virginia was not one of the states to embrace same-s*x marriage, and given the politics on Capitol Hill, it’d probably be the last one to legalize it, if ever. But Kendra shrugged. Crossing her legs, she set her cap on her knee. “Then go to D.C. That’s an hour and a half up the interstate. I want to see you in white.” “I’m not wearing white,” Vic growled. “Not to be rude, but are you here? Ruining my lunch break…” “Ruining? Please.” Kendra waved a hand in the air to brush him off. “Can’t a friend stop by and say hi every now and then?” Vic narrowed his eyes. Kendra never just ‘stopped by.’ She always had something up her sleeve. He could’ve read her mind and been done with it, but he respected her too much to do something so invasive. Part of learning to deal with his telepathic ability had been drawing boundaries—both for himself and for others. The only person he had no boundaries with was Matt. Still, he didn’t need to be a mind-reader to guess why she had ‘stopped by.’ “If this is about joining the force,” he started. She didn’t even try to deny it. “There are a few spots opening up next month. One of our officers is moving up to detective, and they’re posting more rank and file positions, too.” “You make it sound so glamorous,” Vic said with a smirk. “I think you’d be a great cop,” Kendra insisted. “We could really use someone like you on the force. With your powers—” “You know I can’t control them,” Vic interrupted. “It’s luck of the draw, or Russian roulette. Not all of them can be used to fight crime. Hell, I’m not a damn superhero.” Kendra shook her head. “But you are, Vic. Your heart and soul knows what’s right, and you fight for justice when you have to. You don’t ignore the powers—you couldn’t if you tried. I know Matt doesn’t like you to use them—” “He doesn’t want me to get hurt,” Vic said. “They’re his powers, and he thinks if anything happened to me because of them, it’d be his fault.” “But you can’t not use them!” Kendra argued. “I’ve seen you—you can’t turn your back on someone who needs help, anyone. What about Sadie?” “What about Sadie?” Vic countered, but he knew what she meant. Vic had found the dog that had taken over his and Matt’s lives so completely one afternoon while driving to work. A bunch of kids were teasing the stray, throwing rocks and trying to hurt the dog, or worse. If Vic couldn’t stand seeing anyone hurt, that went doubly so for animals, and he’d stepped in. When he called Kendra to press charges against the boys, she’d told him the truth of the matter was that the dog would probably be put down. Matt had been angling for a pet, and one look into Sadie’s chocolate eyes melted the hardest of hearts. Vic had no choice but to bring her home. Vic shook his head. “No, okay? Just no.” Kendra opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off. “Look, even if I could convince Matty I wanted to be a cop—which I don’t—most of the time my powers wouldn’t be of any use to you guys. Today I can speed-read. Big deal. That doesn’t mean I’m going to quit my job and take up copyediting. Tomorrow it’ll be something else…and I don’t know what yet. It could be mundane or it could be destructive. It might even be something that is too hard to hide from everyone else, so I’ll have to call in and miss my shift. I’m not reliable, Kendra. The powers aren’t reliable.” For a long moment, she studied him, lips pressed tight together, eyes large and wide beneath her blonde bangs. Finally she sighed. “But the telepathy is always there, right?” Vic shrugged a little and nodded grudgingly. “I can tune it out now but yeah, it’s there. Like a radio playing softly in the next room.” “And the strength,” Kendra pointed out. “You’re the strongest man I’ve ever met. How much can you bench?” Vic felt a proud grin stretch across his face. “Before the powers, I could do three-fifty, no problem. Now? The gym doesn’t have enough weights for me to find out.” “See?” Kendra crowed in triumph. “That right there makes you a more likely candidate for the force than anyone else in the whole city. Even without any other power, the telepathy and the strength combined will make you unstoppable. You’d—” “Stop.” Vic held up a hand and shook his head again. “Just stop, okay? I said no.” “But why—” “I don’t mind helping out when I can,” Vic told her. “If I see something going down, you know I’ll step in. But I couldn’t do it every day. I won’t. I’m sorry.” It wasn’t just Matty’s feelings on the matter; Vic didn’t want to see the underbelly of the city on a daily basis. It was bad enough he caught glimpses of it now and then—muggers and rapists and thieves. Accidents on the interstate that left cars and people mangled beyond repair. House fires and stolen vehicles and shattered lives. He’d had his fair share of the worst the city had to offer, and each time he’d been called to help out, he had stepped up to the plate. But Vic didn’t think he had it in him to face crime day in and day out. Worse, to get paid to combat it. He didn’t want to profit off the misery of others, even if he were the one in the right. No, his bus route held all the excitement he wanted out of work. If Kendra asked him to help out on a case—and she had in the past, so Vic was sure she would again—then of course he’d say yes. But he wouldn’t go out looking for crime to fight. No matter what she might think he wasn’t a superhero. He was simply Vic, a man whose strange super powers came from making love to his boyfriend. No, his fiancé. The ring on his finger was proof of that.