Leland: Hey, you there?

Maggie: Hey, how was your day?

Leland: I’ve got this plan I need to run by you. Let me know if it sounds ridiculous or not feasible.

Maggie: Answer my question, asshole.

Leland: It was hectic.

Maggie: You want to talk about it? Are you good?

The alarm clock by Leland’s nightstand was due to ring in thirty minutes yet he had not slept; his whole body was incredibly sore and he had a “special mission” scheduled on his superhero timetable in five days time. He was anything but good.

Leland: I’m alright. How about you?

Maggie: I’m great. I just finished tennis practice. I’ve been working on refining my serve.

Leland: Didn’t you say you had perfected the serve?

Maggie: Yeah but I need to perfect the perfected serve.

Leland: lol.

Maggie: The serve needs to zoom past them so quickly that all hope disappears from their eyes.

Leland: You sound like a supervillain.

Maggie: Maybe I am. Maybe that should be my nickname. The tennis supervillain.

Leland: What’s next in your villain arc then?

Maggie: Well, in the summer, I’m entering my first professional tournament. The US Open.

Leland: No way! Congratulations. You sound confident.

Maggie: My coach encouraged me to view it like any other tournament. I think it’s good advice but I’m stilll nervous.

Leland: You’ll be fine. :)

Maggie: Thanks :) What did you want to talk about?

Leland: Okay, so I had this plan where we talk on a regular basis, multiple times a week. We pick a topic and talk about it.

Maggie: What is this master plan for exactly?

Leland: Defeating my stutter of course! What else? I need to practice speaking on the phone with someone. You’re the perfect subject.

Maggie: But weren’t you fluent last time? You spoke in a deep, cool voice! Wait a minute… oh… I see how it is… you’re looking for an excuse to speak to me. I see, I see. *Wink, wink*

Leland: … No, I’m not.

Maggie: Of course you’re not. *Wink, wink*

Leland: No. I’m dead serious.

Maggie: Then I’m so confused. You were speaking fluently before.

Leland: Yes, but it’s not consistent. I want to speak fluently all the time.

Maggie: Whatever, sure, I’d be happy to help. We’ll have to figure out times that suit us best, and we can get to know each other better. It will be fun. I already have a ton of questions in mind.

Leland: I need you to take this seriously and be punctual.

Maggie: Okay, Mr Leland, sir. You’re goofy for this. Treating a phone call with a friend like some important mission.

Leland: It is important! I have to conquer this once and for all.

Maggie: Alright… If it’s important to you, it’s important to me.

Leland: That’s more like it. Great. My alarm’s ringing. Time to start my day.

Maggie: You’re messaging me first thing in the morning? Clearly, you can only think about me. I’m creeped out.

Leland: You’re more delusional than I thought.

Maggie: You’re more goofy than I thought.

----------------------------------------

Leland used his superpowers leisurely for the first time, teleporting to retrieve his favourite midnight snack— whole grain crackers with cheese.

He chomped down on the food, curled up in bed.

*Crunch, crunch, crunch*

The crackers tasted good.

*Crunch, crunch, crunch*

Real good. So good that Leland wanted to give the person who made them a high five.

His phone rang and all sense of calm went out the window. He shook his head, realising how ludicrous the fear was. Like the chemistry presentation, he was prepared for the phone call. He had questions and topics in mind, and it was Maggie, his friend. What was there to be terrified about? Hadn’t he previously got sucker punched by an alien and escaped from drones trying to execute him?

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Leland sighed. Unfortunately, self-awareness didn’t seem to help.

He picked up the call.

“H-h-hello?”

“Hey, Leland! I’m so excited to talk to you. It’s finally time for the important conversation. How are you today?”

Leland’s fear evaporated at the sound of Maggie’s enthusiastic voice.

“I’m… f-fine. Isn’t it early in the m-morning for you? You seem too… h-happy for this.”

“No, this is highly anticipated. I love talking to people.”

“M-must be nice,” Leland grunted.

“What, you don’t?”

“No, not really. I mean, I like c-communicating with people. It’s just that I don't do the physical a-action of o-opening my mouth and closing it. It’s a…p-pain.”

“Fair enough. So do you mind if I start first with the topics and questions?”

“N-not at all.”

“How tall are you?”

“Six f-foot three. You?”

“Five foot six, but my intimidating presence makes it seem like I’m six foot. Could you share something personal?”

“M-my parents died in a car crash w-when I was a baby. My grandad raised me.”

Maggie gasped. “Oh my god. I’m sorry. I can’t believe you never told me.”

“W-well, it’s not e-exactly a conversation starter. M-my turn. One m-moment. G-give me a few seconds.”

“Okay!”

Leland closed his eyes.“What are you most afraid of?”

“Your voice changed again like last time! What happened?”

“It’s nothing. Please continue.”

“Okaaaay,” Maggie said. “Well, I’m terrified of spiders. Big ones, little ones. Actually insects in general. Anything with more than four legs must stay away from me or I’ll scream.”

“Aren’t there flying spiders in Australia? How are you still alive?”

“I can’t just ignore this, Leland! Why are you talking like that? It’s crazy!”

“I think I overestimated how distracting this would sound. I thought you wouldn’t notice.”

“How can I not be distracted?” Maggie said with a giggle. “You sound like you’re about to slay some gods or kill a bear with your bare hands.”

“A-a-alright, I was meaning to tell you this later in the call, but now is fine too.”

“I think I know what it is.”

Leland raised both eyebrows. “Y-you do?”

“You don’t stutter whenever you do voice impressions so you’re using that to speak fluently!”

“Ummm.”

“That’s amazing! Have you ever considered being a voice actor? I can see that voice being used in plenty of video games or films. Have you ever played God of War? You sound like Kratos! Or maybe you could be Batman or something! Oh my god, you’re so talented.”

“N-no,” Leland said, dumbfounded at Maggie’s conclusion. “I w-w-wish that was the case. W-what I’m about to tell you is so c-crazy that I have to show you before I tell you what it is. Can I have your p-permission to show you?”

“Okay I am very intrigued now. Yes, you have my permission.”

“O-okay, are you standing?”

“No.”

“Stand up,” Leland commanded.

“Aghh!” Maggie yelled. “I stood up, I stood up! What’s happening? Oh my lord. Everyone’s looking at me, this is embarrassing.”

“S-sorry, I didn’t k-k-know.”

“That’s not a problem,” Maggie said. “But I’m going to need you to explain yourself because I’m freaking out right now.”

“I h-have superpowers. “Remember when I said my friend M-mark got into an accident? I was able to save h-his life using these powers. It was insane.”

“Wow, wow, wow, wow.”

“And I can speak f-fluently with them too, M-maggie!” Leland said. “This is the ticket to getting rid of m-my stutter once and… f-for all.”

“You really had to drop a bomb on me this morning. I don’t know if I can get through the rest of the day. Give me a second to take this all in.”

“O-okay.”

“I notice you’re not speaking in the voice now,” Maggie said. “You have your limits?”

“Yeah. At the m-moment I can only go a few sentences before passing out but I believe I can master it with enough p-practice and be able to speak… n-normally.”

“This is bigger than your stutter, Leland,” Maggie said. “You could do some amazing things. I have no idea the extent to your abilities but you could be like Psyche! You could be a legit full-blown superhero and make a difference!”

“Psyche w-was insane. I’m n-not a superhero. No way.”

“Why not?”

“B-because I don’t want to be one.”

“Why? I think you would be a wonderful superhero.”

Leland laughed. “I have n-no idea what g-gave you that idea. I don’t w-want to be the one to do all that stuff. It’s too much pressure. I d-don’t want to have to handle that k-kind of responsibility. If I save one person am I supposed to save e-everyone who needs my help? Does that m-mean if anyone d-dies it’s my fault for not saving them? It sounds stressful. I can’t be like Psyche. No way.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Maggie said slowly. “So what are you going to do with them? You’re going to master them to speak fluently and then just continue living like you can’t control people’s minds? You’re not going to at least try to take over the world?”

“Well—”

“I’ve got to say, I’m disappointed,” Maggie interjected. “I didn’t expect you to be so uncreative and boring! You have this amazing superpower and the best you think of doing is not stuttering. That’s lame.”

“It’s important to me!” Leland defended. There was no response, but he could hear Maggie silently judging him. “Okay, w-what would you do, t-tennis supervillain? Cheat in tennis?”

“Hell no. We both know damn well I wouldn’t need to do such a thing. As a matter of fact, I would try to do something positive to benefit society.”

“I f-figured you would be crazy e-enough to be a vigilante.”

“Let me finish!” Maggie snapped. “Wait, what superpowers do you have? Is it just, like, mind control?”

Leland thought for a moment. “Almost e-everything, I think.”

“What did you just say?” Maggie yelled. “Explain!”

“Simply put, I can give myself all types of superpowers by speaking.”

“What the fuuuuuuck. That’s broken as hell! You could do all kinds of shit! Well, if that’s the case, I’d be Batman, Spider-man, Wonder Woman and Superman all rolled into one. I’d be kicking everyone’s ass. You should be kicking everyone’s ass. What are you doing talking to me? Get out there and stop crime.”

“C-calm down. Remember law e-enforcements exist and last time I checked there aren’t a-any supervillains. This isn’t a comic book.”

“Psyche exists. We are already living in a comic book.”

Leland rolled his eyes. He had correctly predicted her response. “I’m not Psyche and that guy is behind bars.”

“I guess…”

“You can’t tell anyone about this by the way.”

“I know.”

“And I’m g-going to use my powers on you to… m-make sure it stays that way. I hope you d-don’t mind.”

Maggie groaned. “Fine. Though I don’t see the point. No one’s going to believe me.”

“It’s just a p-precaution,” Leland said. “The less people k-know the better. I don’t want the a-attention. From now on, you’re unable to reveal any information about my superpowers to anyone. There we go. It w-worked?”

“Yes,” Maggie said. “Scary power you got there. You could do some sinister stuff.”

“G-great, now you’ve p-put sinister thoughts in my mind. I was i-innocent and naive. You’ve corrupted me.”

Maggie laughed. “You know, I’m happy it’s you who has the superpowers. Even though you have no ambition whatsoever.”

“W-what? I have goals and stuff. They’re not as grand as being a professional tennis player, b-but I still have them.”

“It’s not just that.”

“Huh?”

“I want to be a Grand Slam singles champion.”

“See? Grand g-goals. I’m going to sleep. Thanks for talking to me Maggie. This is just the… b-beginning.”

“Wait! Before you go… I have a question. What dreams do you have other than the stutter thing?”

Leland rubbed one eye, struggling to stay awake. “I wouldn’t say it’s a dream, more of a w-way of living I guess? I want to live by my own rules and be as free as possible. You’ll probably find that corny.”

“No it’s not,” Maggie said. “Chase it.”