"So, what? We're each other's kryptonite?"
"Seems so, yes."
The superhero looked at his girlfriend. They had been together all their lives. Never separated, never more than a hundred meters or so apart. In retrospect, they should have figured it out sooner.
It was only when they had their first fight that their powers manifested. The simple reason was that they were apart for a day.
He was out in the woods with his dirt bike, she was at that county festival with her blown glass art. What was it, three or four kilometres of distance between them?
He just couldn't believe it.
He loved her like he loved a part of himself. And now, they had realised that the obstacle to their own potential was each other.
What kind of universe hates true love so much that needs to curse them so?
"Kiln, it doesn't matter to me. I need to be with you."
She smiled bitterly. Her tear fell from her cheek. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course, I do. How could you even think otherwise?"
"Pinball, it's easy to say it. But what about in a few months. It was one thing that we thought there was something wrong with our powers and couldn't pinpoint it, and another now that we know we have each other to blame."
"I love you. I don't care. Yes, these seem like bold words, but there is no decision here for me. If it's between being with you or being a superhero, I choose you. Every time." He clicked his fingers. "Just like that."
She rushed in his arms and kissed him. Her lips tasted like glass.
"I love you too."
He hugged her tight. "There are others out there. Let them pick up the slack. What we have is unique, our love, is unique."
"Since when do you know exactly what to say?" she smiled.
"Since I beat a mafia boss and his crew," Pinball tried to say with machismo.
She laughed. "Okay. Let me go back home and pick up some clothes. I'll meet you back here in an hour. Then we can finally get that apartment together."
"You mean that?"
"Yes, silly! We're 18. It's time we acted like adults."
Kiln kissed him on the lips and walked away into the night.
Pinball waited. She was half-an-hour late, but Kiln wasn't known for punctuality anyway. He finally stood up and stretched. After a while, he started walking back home. Her home was right next to his home. Inseparable from the moment they were born, they even had adjoining newborn beds together.
He knocked on the door.
No reply.
He looked around. Her car was missing. Why would her car be missing?
Nobody answered the doorbell. Her folks were out of town for the weekend, Pinball knew that. They knew everything about each other.
He called her on the phone. It said it was turned off. He looked inside through the window, it was dark.
He collapsed on the steps to her house, breathing hard. Realisation struck him like a cannonball. His vision darkened and he couldn't get enough oxygen. He gripped his hair. No, this couldn't be happening.
No.
He tried his powers. He jumped up in the air and switched his vector of momentum, crashing through the front door.
No.
His powers shouldn't have worked. That only meant one thing.
No.
He ran upstairs, terrified of what he'd see.
Her room. Closet open. Bags missing. Toothbrush missing. Her Kiln suit missing.
And on the bed, glass tears forming the letters, "I'm sorry."
The End
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