It had been roughly two weeks since they sat down and talked. Pandora claimed she observed everything by being home the most, she worked part-time at a bookstore and spent the rest of her time on the computer, doing some kind of coding and debugging most of the time. She tried explaining, but she had a tendency to go off on tangents and they had gotten off topic quickly.

Pandora promised that she didn't use her powers, not even for simple things if she could help it. She calmed them down, promising she had never read their minds since they had moved in and promised she did not have plans to do so in the future, mostly to settle down Ruby who seemed the most anxious and upset at the news of her ability.

Valentin admitted he never really used his at all until he had moved out a few years ago, but mostly just made one or two copies to help with chores or to keep him company when things got too quiet. He had mentioned he was usually careful, until his slip up with Ruby.

Leo had a problem with using his subconsciously and not being aware of it. His phone never seemed to lose a charge when he was using it and sometimes he forgot to plug things in before using them. He also had the problem of constantly being a source of static shock and static cling. Nothing too bad, but after admitting this, Ruby had bought a pack of balloons and Leo had woken up to a dozen balloons clung to him and a snickering Ruby taking photos.

Ruby had stated she never used her powers out of fear something might go wrong... but if she was about to miss a bus or train or was about to be late for an appointment, she didn't see the harm in stopping time for a bit just so she didn't have to worry. That got a chuckle out of Leo, who was amused by the prospect of such a strong power being used to help Ruby get to work on time at the craft store in case she slept in too late.

With the secrets out in the open, they seemed to be more relaxed around one another, becoming closer friends than the first three or so months they had lived together.

Valentin could be found cleaning the living room or cooking while he was also at work as a library assistant, a job he found ironic Pandora didn't have. Organizing catalogs and working with the computers was up his alley, but Pandora much preferred the time she had at home working on small projects and reading, though she never explained what he was ever doing past the first time they had asked. They were too afraid of the confusing answer they would get again. Although Valentin's favorite part of the job was when students would come in from school, or when they had nights where he and the librarian read children's books to the younger kids.

Leo had admitted he had been laid off from a comfy desk job about a year or so ago and hadn't found decent work since, resorting in an embarrassing job he refused to talk about besides venting about coworkers with as few details as possible. All they knew was he also worked at the local theater, and his other job involved him acting as well, though those were all the details he ever gave.

Weeknights where everything lined up and they could gather around and talk happened once in a while, but instead of hiding away, they quickly became 'family nights' as Valentine called them. They would sit around and talk, just relaxing and having dinner. Valentine had the most experience cooking something that hadn't been pre-frozen and had started teaching them the basics and having them explore the world outside of pizza and pasta.

Currently gathered in the living room, Valentine and Leo shared the couch, Pandora sat in the recliner with a book currently open but placed faced down onto the armrest, and Ruby sat on the floor between the coffee table and the small tv they had. Dinner had been loud and they all ventured over to the living room some time ago. Leo pulled out a bottle of wine he had gotten as a 'housewarming' gift and had shared it, but only Ruby had taken him up on the offer. It was cheap and Ruby was nursing it, mostly just swirling it around the cheap glass she had. Leo used an actual wine glass, the only one they had owned.

"I'm telling you, I could just freeze time and follow you, you'd never know."

Leo huffed, leaning back on the couch and swirling his glass. "I just don't want you distracting me while I work! Besides, you wouldn't dare. It'd be a massive waste of your-" Leo caught himself and Ruby smirked up at him. "I was going to say energy, wipe that smile off your face!" He quickly took a swig from his glass and glanced away, nearly emptying it in the process.

"Sure you were," Ruby mumbled into her glass and took a sip, the glass still nearly full.

"Now kids, no need to fight," Valentine spoke in a joking manner.

"But daaaaad," Ruby whined mockingly, smiling up at Valentin as she smirked.

Valentin smiled and leaned forward. "No need to wine, kiddo!"

"Valentin, please." Pandora huffed. "Your humor leaves much to be desired."

Ruby leaned forward and put down her glass on the table, using a coaster so Pandora didn't lecture her on the importance of coasters again. "I dunno, he's teaching us to cook and he speaks in dad jokes." Ruby pushed off the ground. "Seems like he's the dad of the house to me." Stretching, Ruby made her way across the room. "I have work in the morning, I'm going to hit the hay."

Leo scoffed and turned towards his retreating roommate. "It's a waste of wine if you don't actually drink it!"

"Tell your coworker to give you better wine next time!"

Leo reached forward and finished his wine, grabbing Ruby's and headed towards the kitchen. "I'll do the dishes tonight Valentin since you and Ruby cooked dinner."

Pandora picked up her book and made her way to the back of the apartment to her room. "I have a project to finish so I'm afraid I will be heading out as well."

"Wait!" Valentin stood up and Pandora turned back, book half raised to her face already. "I had a question." Valentin stuck his hands in his pockets and shuffled in his spot. "Do you think, maybe, uh..."

Pandora adjusted her glasses and turned to completely face her slightly younger roommate. "Valentin, we have all gotten closer these last few weeks. If you are bothered by something, I will hear you out."

Valentin smiled and took a step closer. "Do you think your mind-reading ability is due to your psychic-whatever or the other way around?"

"Psychokinesis, Valentin. It is also referred to as telekinesis if that helps you." Pandora placed her finger in her book and closed it to keep her spot, tucking it under her arm. "That is an astute observation, although, through my personal experiences and research, I believe you may be correct."

Valentin perked up. "I am?" Pandora nodded, causing her roommate to smile and jump clapping his hands. "I knew it! Oh, that helps prove my theory more! See, I think our powers have a secondary side effect I didn't really realize until last week when we were talking!"

"Oh?" Pandora's eyebrows shot up in shock. "Well, that is a possibility I hadn't given much thought. I would love to talk more in depth about this. You work late tomorrow, correct? Perhaps we can talk during lunch before you leave."

"I have to prepare for the school field trip the next morning so I'm closing, yeah. We can make lunch together! Oh, this is so exciting! Thanks, Pandora!" Valentin waved and headed the opposite direction towards his own room. "Good night!"

Pandora watched Valentin walk away and smiled, making his way through the kitchen towards his room. Leo wished him goodnight as well, hands covered in soap.

When Pandora got to her room, she looked around at the small desk and bed that occupied her living space. There wasn't much room for anything else, her closet filled with books and journals she had filled, and she glanced down at the science fiction novel she had been reading before dinner. Normally she would be done with it by now, but she was quickly finding the companionship of her new roommates much more enjoyable than her love for reading had been.

The next morning had brought a calmer energy to the apartment. Pandora had stayed up slightly later than she normally would due to the social gathering that had distracted her the night before. Though ever punctual, she had gotten up as early as she normally would, happy to find Ruby had already made a pot of coffee, on her way to work.

She poured himself a cup, greeting Ruby who mumbled back, already taking a big swig of her own coffee. Ruby didn't drink it often, she said it made her too jittery, but earlier shifts made it a requirement due to the late nights she always had on the computer.

Pandora looked at the clock and saw it was just past 8 am. "I take it by your state you are opening the store today, Ruby?"

A groan was her answer as her roommate tilted her head back and finished his coffee. "The only people who need yarn at 9 am are old ladies with nothing better to do." She made her way over to the sink to rinse out her mug. "Thank goodness I stock the store, I couldn't deal with people this early."

Ruby placed her clean mug on the drying rack they had and walked back to her room to get dressed. Not long after, she exited her room and made her way through the kitchen again. "Do me a favor, if Valentin asks, I ate breakfast." She reached into the fruit bowl and grabbed an apple, and pulled her hood up on her hoodie. "See ya."

Pandora checked the time again, not surprised her roommate was leaving early for work. Ruby had a tendency to worry about most things, so she usually was at work super early, checking things multiple times, and stressing over outcomes she wasn't prepared for. She had calmed down more than when she had arrived the first day, only arriving late to avoid confrontation with the others. Any improvement was a good improvement, Pandora reminded him.

It wasn't much later that Valentin showed up, and Pandora knew Leo wasn't too far behind. He never slept in, claiming it was bad to oversleep and would ruin the whole point of 'beauty sleep'.

Soon after, Leo was off to the theater to work on another possible show before heading out to his actual job afterward, leaving Pandora and Valentin alone.

They settled back into the living room, Valentin taking his usual spot at one end of the couch and Pandora taking her recliner. Valentin pulled out a few pieces of paper he had, covered in words and scribbled notes.

"So I did a lot of research trying to figure stuff out." He sat closer and reached his notes out for Pandora to take. "I had a few theories so it's kind of messy because I just wrote things down as I had ideas, but-" Pandora looked up as Valentin froze, looking down at the table. Accompanied by the slight buzzing noise, Valentin's phone was lit up and vibrating across it. "Oh, I have to take this. Sorry, Pandora!" Valentin shot up and grabbed the phone, pressing it to his ear. "Hi, mom! Yeah, it's me."

Pandora looked back down at the notes, trying to find where they actually had started, distracted by the flowers that Valentin had also doodled in the margins. It seemed Valentin just started writing things down that he learned before he followed a single thought process which still went a couple different ways.

Valentin walked back into the room, pocketing his phone and sitting down. Pandora could tell he didn't carry the same energy as he did before the phone call but didn't press him on the matter. He wasn't jumping to share his personal life either. "It seemed you started wondering the correlation of your abilities with outside circumstances and trying to make connections." Pandora looked up at Valentin, who stared back confused. "You try and find similarities between your powers and things that happen that don't seem related."

"Oh! Yeah, that's what I was doing!" Valentin scooted in closer. "See, I was wondering after Leo got all those balloons stuck to him if our powers had side effects!"

"That is an interesting observation." Pandora flipped through the notes. "You seem to have written something here about your own abilities?"

Valentin sat up straight, hands already moving before he spoke. "When I make my little Valentin's pals, I can kinda feel how they feel, ya know?" Valentin paused, struggling for the right words. "Like, if they are in another room and they feel strongly about something, I can feel that, but I don't really understand why until after we become one again." Pandora nodded, motioning for Valentin to continue. "Okay, so last week I had started wondering if I had side effects to my abilities, then I started noticing that I could feel nervousness, but none of my little buddies were out. Then I noticed it was coming from Ruby!" Valentin looked up, full of excitement. "She was worried about something that happened at work and I got him to talk about it! I mentioned me feeling the emotions of the copies I make--gosh I need a better word for them!"

"Valentin."

"Right! Sorry." Valentin smiled sheepishly. "Anyway, Ruby said it was called being an empath? I think since I've never made my buddies appear with other people around I had never noticed!" Valentin motioned to his notes. "I started wondering if Leo and Ruby had second lesser abilities as well! Besides Leo being so positively attractive!" Valentin winked and it took Pandora a second before realizing it was just another 'dad joke' of his. "What do you think?"

Pandora flipped through the notes again, seeing the word 'empath' scribbled and underlined on the side and reading the paragraph next to it. "I must say, Valentin, your note-taking skills are lacking, but you have a solid hypothesis. This could be looked further into."

Valentin shot out of his seat in excitement. "Really? I did good?"

Pandora put down the notes and smiled. "Yes, Valentin, you 'did good', although it would be 'I did well'. I'm rather impressed, I don't know when I would have noticed."

"I'm sure you would have eventually." Valentin sat back down, still excited about his discovery. "We only just all started exploring what we really can do, but you seem to have a good hold on yours."

Pandora placed the papers down, fixing her glasses. "Well, I think this discussion should be continued with the others when they get home so we may further prove our hypothesis."

Valentin gathered his notes with a gleeful smile on his face. "I've been able to figure out mine for the most part before moving in, maybe we can help the others figure out their own if they want."

Pandora stood up and Valentin soon followed. "If they express interest in learning more about their abilities, a safe and supervised environment would be the best choice. Now, how about we cook something up for lunch before Ruby gets home?"

"You want to cook with me?" Valentin turned and ran to his room. "I'd love to, let me put these back!"

It was around 2 pm when Ruby got home, having just missed Valentin as he headed towards the library. These moments used to be some of Ruby's favorites. Pandora was in her room and the place was empty and quiet. She could put on a show or music for background noise and just relax without any worries. As she sat on the couch, she was aware of how much she had already preferred the noise of laughter and banter from her roommates.

Leo had gotten home around four after a rough day. The theater was doing auditions on a day he couldn't get out of his dreaded job and he wasn't sure he'd even be able to audition, let alone be in the play if he could. Then he got the short end of the straw afterward at his job.

He worked in a themed restaurant as an actor who also waited on tables. Not the most fulfilling job, but until then, he looked for jobs elsewhere while performing for customers and enjoying what he can.

Unfortunately, there was the worst part of the job, the mascot. They drew straws to see who got stuck at the front of the store trying to get customers, where most people ignored him or made fun of him. He was good at banter, but some days people just gotta be mean.

Today, Leo drew the short straw.

He made it up the flights of stairs to his apartment and was greeted by Ruby, sitting on the couch watching something on tv and on her phone. Leo made no hesitation to the cheap wine they had the night before and poured himself a generous glass, not being as slow as it the night before. He finished it before pouring a second and making his way into the living room.

"Watching anything interesting?"

"Not really." Ruby finally looked up for the first time. "Woah, bad day?" Leo huffed and pulled his hair back and let out a frustrated sigh. "That's a yes."

Leo fell back against the couch without a word, not having the energy to talk.

Silence fell between the two before Leo took another big swig. "Slow down there, buddy. You're gonna get a headache drinking cheap crud like that too fast."

"How did I go from a nice cushiony desk job to this in less than a year?" Leo rubbed his face with his hand. He squeezed his eyes shut and sighed, dropping his hand into his lap. "If I have one more thing thrown at me, I will lose it."

"No you won't, you're too good for that. You're like a prince straight out of a Disney movie."

Leo smirked for a second and finished his glass, putting it down. "Thanks, Maleficent. I appreciate that."

"No prob, Prince Phillip." Ruby turned back to her phone and started scrolling.

Leo took out his own phone and pressed the home button, only to be greeted by a dark screen. "Oh, fantastic." He muttered.

Ruby looked over and looked at Leo's phone. "Looks like the battery died."

Leo scoffed and held a hand to his chest, offended. "My batteries don't just die, Ruby."

"Maybe you need a charge, Charming."

Leo shook his head and lifted his hand, waiting for the small blue light of electricity appear around his hand. He never tried creating more than just the small charge on his hand for charging various electronics, for which he had mastered. After a second, when nothing happened, he flexed his hand and looked down at it. "That's rather odd."

"Looks like someone lost their spark." Ruby nudged Leo, who looked up at him in confusion. "You okay? You seem lost."

"I can't make electricity." Leo tried again, only to be greeted with the same outcome. "That's so strange! I've never had this happen!"

"Never say never." Leo glared at Ruby who put her phone down. "Sorry, here. Let me see your phone." Leo handed it over and Ruby held down the power button. The screen lit up for a second, before dying again. "Yeah, it's out of juice." She handed it back over. "How do you usually do that?"

"I just sort of have this fuzzy feeling and I focus on that and it happens." Leo rubbed his chest, as to specify where the fuzzy feeling came from. "It's kind of fuzzier than normal, now." Leo tried again, closing his eyes and really focusing. This time, a small blue spark formed, before fizzling out. "Ahh, why is this so hard?"

"Well, when's the last time you used it?"

"I used it before I got home, my battery wasn't dead and I checked my phone while walking up the stairs."

"So the battery finally fizzled out?"

Leo shook his head. "It could have no battery but as long as it's touching me it'll stay on and keep a charge."

Ruby looked at Leo, who stared down in dismay at his phone. She looked at his own phone, then sat up. "Maybe... could it be the wine?"

"What?" Leo looked at his now empty wine glass. "You think the wine shorted me out?"

"Shorted you and your phone out, yeah. The charge could come from your brain and alcohol dampened it."

Leo fell back on the couch. "Great, my super weakness is alcohol. Fantastic."

"That's rather interesting." Leo looked over at Pandora who had walked into the living room, a book and pen in her hand. "You say you 'short-circuited' because of the wine?" She opened the book and started writing something down. "That is something we need to test as well."

Ruby sat up straight on the couch. "You saying we should get different types of alcohol and see what short-circuits princey out?"

"Well, that is a viable test we could run."

"I'm so in."

A quick trip to the store and Pandora had already begun to regret her decision. They made their way up the stairs, headed for the rooftop of the apartment building. The colder weather had made it a perfect place where they weren't likely to be bothered.

Leo pushed open the door with Ruby trailing, both carrying the majority of the bags up to the roof while Pandora carried one with her journal firmly in her other hand.

"Alright, Leo. Are you still under the effects of the wine from earlier?" Pandora placed her bag down with the others on the only table and opened up her journal about midway through.

Leo took a step back and held up his hand, a surge of blue sparks jumping from between his fingers. "All good now."

"Great." Ruby hand out a can of beer to Leo, holding one of her own. "Now drink up."

Pandora started scribbling in her journal, rereading what was on the page afterward. "Yes, I would like to finish early, I have work in the morning."

Leo looked down at the can and cracked it open. "I feel like I'm back in college."

"You're not that much older than me, stop acting like college was forever ago."

"I'm older than all of you." Pandora rang out, pulling out cups from one of the bags. "I'll be observing and taking notes as we go along."

Leo looked over at Ruby and scowled. "So why are you drinking? I thought you avoided the stuff."

"No, I avoid caffeine. Besides, you bought it all, who am I to pass up a little bit of free booze?" Leo rolled his eyes and grimaced into the can, beer not being a choice he ever picked when he did choose to indulge, which wasn't often.

Leo finished his can quicker than he would have liked and created a spark like before with no issues. Pandora jotted down the discovery in her book and Ruby brought out two bottles. "Champagne or whiskey?"

Leo grabbed the champagne, giving Ruby the opportunity to open the whiskey herself. "This is stupid, whats the point if I never drink?"

Ruby nudged him playfully, pouring a small amount into the plastic cups they purchased. "Come on, Leo! It's for science, I thought you wanted to know how this stuff worked?"

Leo was still sober enough to keep his dignity as he sloshed some of his drink into a cup before downing it quickly. "I do, I'd love to know how my powers work, don't you?" He poured himself another before capping the bottle.

Ruby shrugged and looked off of the rooftop out into the city, though she couldn't see much. "Not really. Sure, there's stuff I don't understand but if I never use them then there's no worry, right?"

"I thought you did use your powers sometimes? I can never tell, it's not like I can see stopped time." Leo looked over the city with Ruby, sipping at his second cup. "You're not even a little curious? Never lost control of your powers?"

Looking over at Ruby gave Leo a better answer than words could. The slightly younger roommate had started glaring out at the skyline before quickly tossing her head back and finishing her drink. "Come on, Leo, light it up!" She turned away and put down her cup, jumping and sitting on the table.

Leo dropped the topic and finished his drink, handing the cup to Ruby who placed it beside her own. Leo held out a hand and once again focused on that feeling, only for his hand to look as normal as ever.

"Interesting, it seems like we have the same physical outcome as with wine." Pandora took a step forward, quickly glancing down at her journal. "Leo, how do you feel now?"

"Still too sober for this." Leo shook his head and tried again, closing his eyes with a grimace and focusing harder. "It's like the fuzziness is spread around more and I can't get a good grip on it." A spark shot out of his hand and he dropped it immediately, holding his head. "That was hard. And now I have a headache." Leo leaned back against the wall of the roof and looked up at Ruby. "This is a bad idea, why did I think this would be a good idea?"

Pandora took a few of the cups and placed them in a small pyramid stack. "Do not worry, Leo. I believe the more inebriated you become, the less focus you have, which in turn means less control over the generation of your magnetic charge. The type of alcohol may increase the speed this happens, but I do not believe the type matters."

"So he gets too tipsy and can't generate a charge." Ruby hopped off the table. "Tough luck, Sparky."

Pandora cleared off the rest of the table, placing the bags on the ground. "Leo, you also wished to learn how to be in control of your powers more, did you not? If you would, I would like to try something." She pulled out her notebook and flipped back a page from the one she had bookmarked. "You said you merely had an energy field about you which could be problematic at times. Have you ever tried to disperse any of this energy before?"

"Well, yeah, as a kid. Accidentally made my mom a living magnet for a week once. I usually just try to burn out what I have in small ways."

"Do you think we could try having you knock over some cups off of the table to see if that would affect you?"

Leo rolled his eyes and spun around. "I'm tipsy, calculator watch! Not completely but enough!" He stopped and pointed dramatically at Pandora. "I just told you I can't create anything while like this!"

"Then I apologize for this in advance." Pandora adjusted her glasses, a quick flash of light blue light passing over her eyes before he looked up. "How do you feel now?"

Leo stood up straight and gathered himself. His brow furrowed in confusion, then looked up in shock. "Am I... did you make me sober?"

"Holy hell, you can do that?" Ruby laughed, looking between the two. "You'd be fun at parties, Dora."

Pandora brought her gaze onto the youngest roommate. "I figured this knowledge would be unsettling for you."

Ruby shrugged and crossed her arms. "I'm a beer and two shots of whiskey into this science lesson. I'm more amused than anything, you could just about outdrink anyone!"

"That is not how it works, but I understand your point." Pandora pointed to the cups on the table. "Leo, would you like to give it a try?"

Ruby walked over to Pandora and they both created space between them and Leo's target. Leo looked down at his hands and up at the cups as if daring them to challenge him.

He raised a hand and shot out a bigger bolt than expected, which missed all the cups completely and surprised Leo enough that he pulled his hand back immediately. "I didn't know I could do that!"

"You missed, Emperor Palpatine!" Ruby cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted.

Leo stomped a foot in response. "I am not a villain! Honestly! I'd much rather a superhero, it fits me more, obviously!"

"Whatever you say, Static Shock."

Leo huffed, facing the cups once more. This time he held up a hand, then gestured with just a pointer finger and let it loose. The shot missed, but a much smaller bolt shot out that time. "Woah! Okay!" He looked down at his hands once more. "That's too easy, I'm almost afraid if I actually tried to let out as much power as I could."

"That's why you're practicing, isn't it?" Pandora took a few steps forward, closing the journal she had just been scrawling in furiously a moment before." Valentin and I have a bit of a handle on what we can do through time and experience."

"All I did was be a live-in battery for my parents." Leo flexed his fingers and shoved them into his pockets. "I do feel a little better, even after a few small bolts. Like I'm not going to shock the next person I touch."

Ruby walked up and smirked. "About time, I was tired of you passing me in the halls and shocking me."

Leo reached out and poked his roommate, a quick flash shocking the younger man who yelped. "Oh, no. I can do that whenever I want."

Ruby rubbed her arm and glared at Leo. "I'll get you back for that."

"I think that's enough for tonight. It's already getting too dark to continue." Pandora walked over to the table and cleaned up the cups, placing them back into a bag. "We can continue another day. For now, we should go see Valentin before he begins to worry."

"Hey Dora, would you zap my brain and sober me up if I keep drinking? I have work in the morning." Ruby grabbed the small bottle of whiskey she had been drinking from earlier.

Pandora looked back at her and smirked. "That is to be seen." She picked up the one bag she brought upstairs and made her way back down.

Ruby shrugged and took a swig from the bottle. "That's not a good idea. That's not even yours." Leo reached for the bottle and Ruby quickly ducked away. "You're much more relaxed when you're drinking."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Ruby smirked playfully back at Leo before sticking out her tongue. He then picked up one of the bags he brought upstairs earlier. "You can carry the rest, right Charming? World's already spinning for me. Thanks!"

Leo watched Ruby almost clumsily run across the roof to the door and vanish. He looked down at the bags Ruby had left him with and thought back to how this began. His day was bad, yes, and he just wanted to forget about it over a glass of wine. He did not expect a bonding moment on the roof with two of his roommates.

Leo picked up the bags and made his way downstairs. Maybe he could convince Pandora to leave Ruby as she is, as punishment for making him carry everything back down on his own.