They set up a ring of golden flashlights on the floor, well away from the sea window. Inside the circle, Victor taught them basics--breathing, balance, standing lightly on their toes with knees bent and arms tucked to their sides.

"This was a terrible idea after eating chocolate donuts," Ette panted from a low crouch.

"Maybe so," Victor said, pacing before the three of them. "But if you can fight well after eating donuts, you'll do a lot better when you're well rested."

"I'm too well rested," Ivy grumbled, hopping sluggishly from foot to foot, ducking imaginary punches. "And I feel stupid."

"You'll only feel stupid until being light on your feet saves you from getting slashed in the head."

"When do we get to do kicks and punches?" Dante asked, wobbling on one foot.

"When you've learned the basics."

Ette rose from a crouch and rubbed her thighs. "Victor, I realize basics are important, but I have some questions."

He raised an eyebrow and quit pacing. Apparently taking that as a signal, Dante dropped to both feet and Ivy slowed her dodging. "Yes?"

"This is great and all, but if we're trying to become a better superhero team, shouldn't we focus on working with our powers? Or building team communication? I mean, I'm going to grow a vine from one of my seed pouches to stop a criminal before I karate kick him."

"True," he nodded. "Think of this as conditioning for when we have to run after criminals," he motioned to Ivy, even though she'd stopped her drill, "and reflexes training. We'll mix it up soon."

Ette sighed, but resumed her squats. Ivy and Dante followed suit. "We'll practice basic punches after this," Victor said, "then we'll work on our powers."

***

"Alright," Victor called, cross-legged on the floor. Within the flashlight ring, Ette, Dante and Ivy sighed and lowered their fists.

"Maybe we should get a punching bag next time," Ivy said. "I feel dumb punching the air."

Ette grimaced. "So I can bruise my knuckles? No thanks."

Victor stood, stretching his arms overhead. "Dante, do you want to practice flying?"

Dante's eyes widened. "Here? I mean, now?"

Victor nodded. Dante glanced at the flashlights dotting the floor. "But..."

"No time like the present," Ivy punched his arm in a soft uppercut.

"I've got the flashlights," Ette darted off to collect them.

"Why don't we watch Ette do something first?" Dante said. "Or Ivy?"

"Because," Victor shrugged. "I don't know. I picked you first?"

"Are you scared?" Ivy jabbed Dante's arm again.

"Yes," Dante yanked his arm away. "Duh. I only ever said I could theoretically fly. As in, if I shoot fire out of my feet it'll propel me into the air, based on like two times I've accidentally done that and jumped kind of high.

"Never mind how if I do fly, there's a ceiling. And I have no idea how to steer."

"If things go awry," Victor said, "I'll make a portal and you can drop into it."

"Yeah," Ette said, moving around the rest of the ring, filling a sack with glowing flashlights. "You've got this."

Dante crossed his arms. "Maybe I'll just try some baby jumps first."

"Okay," Victor said.

Ivy jabbed Dante in the arm again before stepping back, beside Ette and Victor. "Good luck, Inferno."

Dante slowly sucked in a breath. "Here goes nothing."

He hopped into the air, and yellow flames violently firecrackered under his feet, mushrooming outward. His hands exploded with fire.

Ette yelled, and Ivy planted her fists together, ice forming from her knuckles. Fire washed into it, kept at bay. Victor stared around it at Dante, hidden in orange flames.

Boom. A bang of heat smashed into Ivy's growing wall of ice and shattered it. Startled into motion, Victor spun a portal open beneath the three of them and plummeted into the void, a wave of heat prickling his forehead with sweat.

Stillness. Blank, empty void. Violet light.

Ette and Ivy hung motionless, a sack of extinguished flashlights in Ette's hands, a rough shield of white ice against Ivy's knuckles.

Victor shook his head. What...what had just happened? Dante said he was going to try a little hop. Not create an explosion of fire so sudden it boomed with sound. What went wrong?

Victor carefully exited the void in the corner by the water tube. Ette quit screaming and Ivy's ice crackled, and distant light puffed out. Victor slowly closed the portal beneath them, making Ette's flashlights pulse back on. She jumped at them.

Ivy carefully lowered her fists. "Um," she said.

"That was not a tiny hop," Victor said.

"Um," Ivy said again.

"We're okay," Ette whispered, lifting her shoes for inspection and rubbing her hair. "We're actually okay."

Victor cupped his hands around his mouth, calling, "Dante?"

"Victor?"

"We teleported over here," he lowered his hands, hesitated, then raised them again. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Dante called back. "I went flying. I think I bruised something."

"Are you okay?" Ette asked.

"I think so. Except my tailbone. Sorry, I totally lost control," a distant orange flicker revealed Dante walking towards them. The flicker went out.

"Ivy? you okay?" Ette asked.

Ivy nodded, fists encased in solid ice. She shivered, and Victor stepped away.

"Because...you're not acting like it?"

Ivy nodded again, but didn't say anything.

Dante stepped into view, limping slightly. "I'm sorry. No one's hurt, right?"

"We're alright," Victor said, still glancing at Ivy. "We were the ones who convinced you to try that, weren't we?"

Dante managed a faint smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Aaah!" Ivy shouted, and the ice encasing her fists shattered. Victor jumped.

"Ivy?" Ette asked, wide-eyed. "What was that?"

"Nothing," Ivy waved a hand. "Just my life flashing before my eyes."

Dante winced. "I'm so sorry, I--"

"You lost control," Ivy said. She crossed her arms, but a ring of frost spread from her feet. "Just like I'm about to. I'm going on a walk," she slid past Victor, marching towards the water tube. A trail of ice followed her.

"Maybe we should all go to the park?" Victor nibbled his lip. "I can portal us. So the elevator doesn't freeze up."

Ivy shivered. "Sure."

"You are all leaving?" a flat voice intoned.

"Aaahgh!" Ette yelped, a thorny vine launching from one of the shopping sacks by the window. The vine thunked into the ceiling.

"I...will...watch fffoorrrr--" The AI voice slurred out.

Silence.

"I just killed him," Ette whispered.

"You killed his microphone or whatever," Ivy snapped. A blade of ice curled from her ankle.

"Let's go," Victor said.

"Yeah, yeah, good idea," Ette nodded, clutching the sack of flashlights.

***

"I'm lying here in the grass, don't bug me," Ivy dropped to the lawn, ice shattering at her landing.

Victor kept his jaw shut. Ette pointed towards a stand of trees off the path, mouthing, "I'll stay over there."

Victor nodded, creeping down the path alongside Dante.

"I didn't mean to trigger anything," Dante whispered.

"Obviously."

"I honestly don't know what happened. I thought I was getting better at the cooperation thing, but I guess not."

Victor shrugged, glancing off into the trees. His senses still buzzed with the adrenaline of that abrupt explosion, and he clenched his fists, shifting his thoughts elsewhere.

Like, how many squirrels lived in these trees, watching them through rustling leaves? Did they know Squirrel Girl? Or talk to her regularly? If the Kree Annihilators couldn't afford phones, maybe they could learn to communicate with the squirrels and create a communication network and scout the city--

"Listen, I'm sorry about the donut shop this morning," Dante said, slowly coming to a halt. "I said some not very nice things, didn't I?"

Victor shrugged. "I guess. I don't know. Are we still on that topic?"

Dante frowned. "Are we? You're acting super distant so I thought it was about that still--"

"Maybe a tiny bit," he glanced down the empty trail, thinking. "I feel like you're acting super weird, ever since we left the mall," he grimaced. "Should I not say that? Is that too blunt? Am I supposed to apologize for saying something earlier to you about what you said to me because of what I said? Is that how this works?"

Dante laughed. "How am I supposed to know how this works?"

Victor blinked. "Because you're from earth."

Dante snorted, a breeze rippling his hair. "That doesn't make me an expert on relationships," he fell quiet, the rustling trees overhead not quite filling the silence. "Is that our issue?"

"What is?" Victor moved to the edge of the path, kicking the grass.

"Neither of us knows what we're doing?"

Victor shrugged. "I thought you knew better than I did."

"Yeah, I thought I was supposed to know too," he wrinkled his nose. "I don't think I do, actually, and it's stressing me out."

Victor raised an eyebrow. "So you act super weird when you're stressed out?"

Dante blushed. Then shrugged. "I don't know. What's super weird mean?"

"Like, asking what I'm talking about with Ivy, and still apologizing for that because you think I've gone distant, and exploding with fire when you didn't mean too?"

Dante blushed deeper. "Yeah, I guess. Well, I wouldn't really say stressed? I think I'm trying to live up to boyfriend expectations, but I don't know how... But hey, just barely you were going all mumbly, staring into the distance and shrugging on me."

Victor frowned. "I was thinking about how we could use the squirrels as a communication network, so we wouldn't have to get phones."

Dante tilted his head. "So you're also stressed."

Victor shrugged. "I was distracting myself," he glanced up and down the path. "Is the park usually this empty?"

Dante squinted at the sky. "Maybe it's too early in the afternoon still. Everyone's at school or work."

"Oh," Victor folded his arms, scuffing the grass with his shoe.

"So...are we good now?" Dante asked quietly. "No more apologizing? We both don't know what we're doing but we'll figure it out together?"

"Sure," Victor nodded, meeting Dante's gaze. "I like the sound of that."

Dante's eyes glittered. "I don't know if this is what it's supposed to mean to have a boyfriend, but I like this talking thing better than overthinking if I'm doing something to hurt your feelings," a smile tugged at his lips. "Boyfriend."

Heat rose in Victor's cheeks. "Is it too blunt to tell you I want to kiss you right now?"

Dante jabbed a finger at him. "There you go again, expecting me to be the expert."

Victor hesitated. "Okay, fine," he stepped closer, taking Dante's hand. "I want to kiss you right now."

Dante grinned. "I want to kiss you too," he hesitated. "But what if I burn--"

Victor planted his lips over Dante's, willing the squirrels in the trees to go spy on some other people. He shut his eyes, hands shivering up Dante's goosebump-arms and to his shoulder blades.

Dante gasped, so Victor pulled back. Red firelight danced on his eyelids so he opened them.

Dante glowed, eyes blazing red-orange, the skin of his arms near-translucent and burning with a yellow light. Victor stared.

"Whoa," Dante said.

Pink fire bloomed from Dante's feet and spiraled over the trail, licking upward to envelope them in soft warmth. "What are you doing?" Victor whispered, rooted to the asphalt.

"I don't have any clue," Dante lifted his hand, orange flames sprouting from his fingertips. "But it feels..."

The pink flames edged closer, but the warmth stayed steady. Like a stone radiating heat on a cool day. Victor reached a hand out to shakily touch the flames. Curling under his touch, they thrummed like feathers pulsing around the heartbeat of a warm bird.

"Victor?" Dante said.

Victor giggled. "They feel like birds," he touched Dante's arm, warmth ribboning from his skin. He laughed again.

"How...How am I not...?" Dante trailed off, speechless.

"Dante," Victor whispered, pulling his boyfriend into a hug. Like a bed of coals, Dante's whole self radiated warmth. "Whatever you just figured out, you're amazing."

"I have zero clue what I figured out though," Dante said. "Something just felt right and I opened it."

Victor laughed again. "Exactly."

Dante tightened his arms around Victor's torso. "It weirdly makes sense now," he laughed. "Watch this."

They shot from the ground. A fluttering space plummeted in Victor's stomach, and he would've gasped if he hadn't also left behind the air in his lungs. They soared into the sky, encircled by wavering pink and red flames.

Outside the flames, treetops receded below them. A sparkling riverbed melted into green lawns and houses and then a horizon, cyan tinted with pink. Victor clung for dear life and Dante slowed, spinning them in gentle circles--a horizon above green, a horizon above water.

"Did you see that?" Dante whispered.

"Of course I saw that!" Victor would have picked Dante up and shaken him if he could. "I was holding on to you, of course I saw it!"

Dante laughed, throwing his head back. His skin had quit glowing, but above his grin, his eyes smoldered a dark red. "It was like a bird. Shoved inside a too-small cage. I just let her out and she flew."

Victor squinted down through the flames. As far as he could tell, they continued to hover in roughly one location above the park. "Dante, you're amazing."

Dante laughed again. "Victor, this feels so unbelievably awesome. Like...like..." he shook his head.

"Freedom?" Victor whispered, eyes dancing. "Like a massive weight has been lifted and suddenly you can run as far as you wanted? Wherever you want to go?"

"Yes," he kissed Victor, fire-lips to plain skin. Victor's heart skipped. Just them, a hovering star beneath the clouds, arms growing sore from clinging so tightly.

He let his grip slide ever so slightly, breaking off. He smiled. "My arms are sore. Race you to the ground?"

Dante's eyebrows knit together. "You can teleport. No way."

"It's not technically teleportation, remember?"

"You'll still win," he rolled his eyes. "But yeah, my arms are sore too."

"Should I portal both of us, or--"

Dante shook his head. "You can go back down. I'm going to keep flying," he laughed. "This is utterly insane."

Cheeks aching from his smile, Victor nodded. "You can let go of me now, okay?"

"Ready? Tres, dos, uno..." Dante unclasped his hands at the same time Victor did, and he fell, sliding through the pink flames into open air. Wind whipped over his ears, tore at his clothes. He waved at Dante, a silhouette within a pink perfect egg. The silhouette waved back. Twisting his head, Victor picked a spot of air below him and opened a wide portal, catching himself in the dark, glittering surface.

***

Victor appeared in the pathway beside where they'd left Ivy. Glancing around, he spotted her and Ette lying on a small hill. He marched over, legs unsteady like land had become unfamiliar by a few minutes of flight.

"Hey Victor," Ette said, curled beside Ivy.

"Hi," he sat across from them on the sloped hill.

"Dante figured out that flying thing, didn't he?" Ivy squinted at the sky.

Victor glanced up. The pink orb spun in circles far overhead. "Yep."

"Neat," she paused. "Do you know how he figured it out?"

Victor opened his mouth. Then shut it, thinking about himself and Dante...talking on the trail. "Not exactly, no," he said by omission. He scooted to a shady patch of grass. "So how are you doing? With the ice and stuff?"

"Better. Sunlight helps."

"So does a speeding comet shooting into the air," Ette giggled.

"What?" Victor asked.

"Hey, I thought someone shot a missile and was declaring war," Ivy ran her fingers through Ette's hair. "What are you supposed to do when a missile launches from your city, anyway?"

Ette laughed. "Call the Avengers?"

"We don't have phones," Ivy said.

"Right. We should get those."

***

Author note: vote on this chapter so the Kree Annihilators can finally get phones!