The tension at the apartment for Hunter and he needed an out stat. Charlie had barely been home in a day and the time they actually crossed paths Charlie put his blockers on and B-lined it for his room. Hunter heard Charlie go into the bathroom and he quickly threw on a hoody and headed out the door. He wandered around Halsted, wondering besides service industry folks why people would be out and about on a Wednesday morning. That's when he realized: Wednesday...new comic book day.

*

 "Well, well. The wandering boy returns," Raphael called from the counter as Hunter came into Chicago Comics.

 "Always a pleasure, Raph," Hunter said, relieved to not have to discuss any drama.

 "It's been a while."

 "Yeah...life's been pretty fucking crazy."

 "Well I kept your stacks."

 "I don't even have a pull list."

 "Lucky for you I've got a good memory," Raphael said, pulling out a massive stack of books. As Hunter flipped through them, it really hit him how much getting over Fitz's death took him out of his life.

 "Whoa, X-Factor is ending?!" Hunter cried, pulling out an issue that declared as much.

 "Dude, they announced that at C2E2."

 "Told you I was out of it."

 "Yeah, it was getting pretty convoluted for a bit, what with the epic storylines and plot twists. It's nice that now that it's ending it's getting back to what makes it special: the people."

 "Huh," Hunter said, giving Raphael a questioning look. "Do Rictor and Shatterstar finally make with the smoochies again?"

 "They got all mushy last ish, but no smoochies I'm afraid."

 "Do you think they'll get their own book?"

 "Yeah right," Raphael snorted. "We're lucky that we get Wiccan and Hulkling as leads on Young Avengers. Can you imagine a gay superhero leading his own book?"

It struck Hunter just like that. He wordlessly exited the shop and ran home. Charlie was in the living room when Hunter came in, but he ran into his room before Charlie could ignore him. He sat with his sketchbook all afternoon, pouring his heart out in pencil and eraser smudges onto a blank page. By six, he examined the strapping hero in front of him.

 By night, he was a superhero roaming the streets of Boystown defending its citizens, people like him. His name was Wanderer. By day, he was a mild-mannered cop, a guy so loving and good and kind, you would never think there was a bad ass vigilante deep inside him. The kind of a guy anyone would be lucky to call his boyfriend.

His name was Caleb.

 

###