"What is this place?" Harper asked, waving at the ostentatious apartment building in front of them. It stood in front of a small park, and it was right in the center of the city. Not just anyone could afford to live here.
"Kyle lives here. He's every bit as eccentric as the building, so don't be surprised if he knows more about you than you do. I wouldn't put it past him," Felix warned, stepping through the large glass doors and into the lobby.
"Great," Harper murmured, following him.
It was as if the lobby attendant was waiting for them specifically. Without a word, he buzzed them through and nodded with a… sorrowful expression. That didn't bode well. Felix called Kyle, realizing that he didn't know exactly which floor Kyle had taken him to last time.
"Kyle, what floor do you live on?" Felix asked, having not had to wait a single ring for the man to pick up the phone.
"Penthouse," Kyle said simply. Felix facepalmed. Because of course Kyle owned the penthouse.
Stepping into the elevator, Felix pressed the button that would lead them to the penthouse, much to Harper's surprise.
"You're serious?" she whispered, stunned.
"Trust me, I didn't know about this either," Felix replied, shaking his head. He honestly should have figured, based on the sheer size of Kyle's 'apartment.' His excuse was that he was more focused on just having had survived a near-death experience than Kyle's economic situation.
At the top of the building, they were greeted by an open door, Kyle waiting just within. It was like a portal to a different world, one of white marble and artwork that could have easily belonged in a museum. How had he not noticed any of this?
"Hungry? Thirsty? I've got just about anything you can think of, and if I don't it's only a phone call away," Kyle offered, extending his arms in welcome. Felix shook his head no, while Harper was too busy marveling at all of Kyle's odds and ends to answer the question.
"I think you won her over," Felix laughed, reveling in Harper's embarrassed expression. It wasn't often that she let him have one over her. She had seemed dark and brooding when he had first met her, but that was a façade. She was too witty to keep her penchant for sly remarks and taunts hidden for long. And clearly, she had an affinity for nice things.
"Oh, shut up!" she punched him lightly in the arm, much to Kyle's amusement.
"I've got two superheroes in my house, and they're bickering like an old married couple," he chuckled, shutting both Felix and Harper up simultaneously. Once everyone was quiet and Kyle had fulfilled his role as a host, grabbing both his guests glasses of water, he got to business. "The person I'd like the two of you to meet is my little sister. She's about the same age as you, but she's attending Taylor College."
"The crazy elite fashion school?" Harper asked, the name having obviously rang a bell.
"The same. She's a bit shy, but she loves to make new and out-there outfits. I promised her that superhero costumes would definitely be out-there. And again, I trust her implicitly. There is no chance that she – or I, for that matter – will leak your identities," Kyle explained.
Felix and Harper looked at each other for a brief second, coming to the silent agreement that they had already trusted Kyle with this much. There was really no downside to this offer; they'd get costumes designed by someone who presumably knew how to make them. And it'd be discrete.
"Where is she?" Felix asked, looking around the expansive kitchen where they sat at the breakfast bar.
"She's in one of the bedrooms-turned-workshops. You can go in one at a time so she can take your measurements and discuss what you're looking for in your costume. She's warned me ahead of time that it'll take a while," Kyle pointed towards a hallway where the rooms were. "Who wants to be first?"
"Me!" Harper stood up immediately, following Kyle's outstretched finger. Both of the men that remained in the kitchen chuckled at the display, but Felix was particularly tickled. She had cultivated a controlled aura of badassery around him, and this was the furthest thing from that.
For a while, they sat in silence while the TV in the living room provided white noise in the form of Mindwave advocating for superhuman rights. It was interesting, but Felix got to thinking about what he wanted to wear, about who he wanted to be.
"Any ideas about a superhero name?" Kyle suddenly spoke up.
"You aren't a mind-reader, by any chance?" Felix responded immediately. Kyle laughed and shook his head.
"If I were, you'd know about it." Felix grinned at the truth to that statement. For all of Kyle's cleverness and street smarts, humbleness was not one of them.
"I don't really know, Kyle. I was thinking something to do with time, maybe," he said, saying only the obvious. His name definitely had to do with time, or else it would make for a really terrible name. "Do we even get to name ourselves? Isn't that like a public opinion thing?"
"Only if you wait for them to give you a nickname. What if they give you something stupid like Nick of Time? Or Rewind?"
"I quite like Rewind," Felix protested.
"It's stupid. I'm sorry, but there's no way to sugarcoat it."
"Nope. That's going to be my name," Felix argued. It perfectly described what he could do with his powers. He rewound time, and that was all there was to it. The name was catchy and not too crazy. In other words, it was as perfect as they came.
Kyle put his head in his hands. "Oh God, what have I done?"
"You gave me a great suggestion," Felix said, clapping Kyle on the back as he walked past. Harper had already come back out of the hallway with a smile that stretched from one side of her face to the other. Oh, she was happy. For the second time that day, something didn't bode well.