" This isn't a good time." Betsy kept her face neutral. The two of you were on your way to a mission and she was wearing her best poker face. You weren't a telepath like her. When the two of you had been together, it had never been a problem. But now? You would trade your mutation for telepathy in a heartbeat, just to know what she was thinking. Betsy had once promised you she would never read your mind without permission, not that you would know either way. She was a skilled enough telepath that she could dance through your mind and find anything she wanted without you ever knowing she was there. You believed that she had kept that promise though. That was the thing with dating other heroes; It wasn't easy to hate your ex. They were always such good people, deep down. But right now, Betsy probably didn't have to read your mind to know what you were thinking. It was all over your face.

There was a quote you'd read once that stuck with you; 'To love someone is firstly to confess: I'm prepared to be devastated by you.' Everything about Betsy seemed engineered to make you fall in love with her and thus, devastate you. Purple hair that shined like lavender, ocean blue eyes you could drown in, a tangerine perfume that took you back to those afternoons peeling oranges with her, and a combination of a smile and a smirk that always seemed to rest on her face. Elizabeth 'Betsy' Braddock. You used to call her 'Bets', a nickname for a nickname. As soon as you met her, you knew two things; She was going to break your heart and that it'd be the best time of your life.

You'd broken up. You both had dated other people. She had been with Warren, with Rachel-with most of the Summers family, though you learned a long time ago not to bring that up. There had been body swaps, and you both had been dead-it came with being an X-Man. Half of the team was mourning the other half at any given time. The one thing you'd never been was out of love with her, and you wanted to know more than anything if she felt the same way about you.