"I'm not OK,

I'm not OK,

I'm not OK,

You wear me out...,"

-I'm Not OK; by My Chemical Romance

"How are you feeling today?"

It was another day. Wake up, get dressed, eat, brush teeth, etc., etc., etc., — rinse, wash, repeat. Opal Cunningham practiced the "normal" routine as frequently as possible. It kept her busy, made her believe that she could be normal if she pretended hard enough. It wasn't like when she was a kid, and her parents forced her to be normal. That had been a nightmare. Needless to say, Opal managed to find more healthy ways to deal with the stresses of her unusual life, but that was an explanation for a later time. In the meantime, Opal kept her focus on the figure in front of her. A man named Erik Selvig. He had been a close friend of Opal's father, Terrance Cunningham; the two were scientists, they had worked together years before Terrance decided to marry and settle down. The two men hardly kept in contact, but Opal had been told enough stories about her father's old pal to feel like Erik was apart of her family.

"I'm OK." Trying for a smile, Opal prayed it looked convincing. Some days, she was an expert at lying and deceiving. Other days, she was a shit liar. And by the look on Erik's face, it was one of those shit-liar-days. "Why're you so curious on how I am?" she asked, picking under her fingernails.

"You've been incredibly distant."

"I've been thinking."

"Thinking?"

"Is that a problem now?"

Erik threw a look Opal's way. "I never said it was," he exclaimed.

"Your tone suggested it was."

"I worry about you, Opal," he sighed. "Whenever you get distant..."

"It doesn't mean anything," she interrupted. "I'm fine. If there was something wrong, I'd tell you."

"Would you?" Erik threw an almost paternal look Opal's way. Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder if Erik was unconsciously becoming her second father. It would've made her laugh.

"Quit worrying, I'm not a kid anymore."

"Then don't give me reasons to worry."

Opal threw a look Erik's way. "It's not like I'm doing anything," she snapped. "I could be doing a lot worse. Remember how I used to be?"

A look swept across Erik's face — it wasn't a pleasant expression. "Of course I remember."

When Opal had been in her teens, she discovered she could hear the thoughts of other people in her head. In the beginning, she didn't understand that was what was going on; instead, Opal thought she was going crazy. Psychiatrists diagnosed her with schizophrenia, saying she suffered from "auditory hallucinations" with "partial delusions". Medication came soon afterward. Then came the moving-things-without-touching-them part of it. Then the doctors added some kind of aggression disorder, saying that Opal more than likely blocked out the violence, putting in thoughts or memories that she could move things with her mind. More medication plus psychiatric help. Eventually, she had to be put into an adolescent psych ward for full-time treatment. Opal's parents, Terrance and Mina Cunningham, just couldn't take care of her anymore. That upset Opal greatly.

Not even two weeks into Opal's stay, she had a visitor — her parents rarely came to see her when given the opportunity — who was a man in an automatic wheelchair. The man was older, had some kind of grandfatherly vibe to him (that's how Opal saw it), and was more than polite to those he encountered. He introduced himself as Charles, said that he had a special institution for kids with "special abilities" like Opal's. None of it made sense to her, but she listened anyway. Charles went on saying that Opal wasn't mentally ill, she didn't have any behavioral disorders, she was a mutant. And Opal wasn't sure which one she disliked more, being mentally ill or being called a mutant. But Charles was very kind with his way of explaining it, saying that Opal had a special gene that activated upon her entering into puberty, which gave her telepathy — which would be the reason why she could hear voices in her head — and telekinesis — which explained why things moved on their own.

Charles also explained there were countless other mutants out there with the same abilities as her, him included (though he explained he only had telepathy, not telekinesis). Charles explained that the special gene — the X-Gene, from what Opal remembered — could lay dormant in most people, until activated under different circumstances. The gene has been found to be passed down by fathers, who, apparently, are known to carry the mutant gene.

Long story short, Opal went with Charles to his supposed institution and found out he was telling the truth. After being weaned off her medication, Opal was able to finally understand her abilities. Except...having them hit her again at full force caused some problems that Charles had to fix. It wasn't good. Once Opal had basic training down, she was gradually allowed to use full access of her abilities. But once she left the institution, things started to go bad again and that was when she met Erik.

"Just...I don't like it when you keep things from me," Erik sighed, looking at Opal exhaustedly.

"You know I'm not a very emotional person." Opal shrugged. "It's just how I am."

With a sigh, one Opal figured was out of frustration or just a sigh of giving up, the subject was dropped. Erik had a point, though. Whenever Opal started getting incredibly distant, that usually meant there was something wrong; but there was also the fact that Opal wasn't entirely a social butterfly. Having been in that psych ward did cause some significant changes in her attitude, and socializing was one of the effected. She felt like she couldn't talk to others without them thinking of her as someone who was mentally ill, who deserved to be monitored daily. It wasn't like Opal had anything against the mentally ill, she just didn't want to be looked down upon in that way. She saw how some of the other patients were treated when she was in the psych ward by some of the staff, and she didn't like it at all. It was like they were looked at as subhuman. It broke Opal's heart.

O.O.O.O

Opal usually spent her days with Erik because not only did she trust him, but he was probably the most logical person she knew. After the bad thing happened and she went to go meet Erik, he said that he was going to journey to New Mexico with another scientist he knew and her college assistant. From the way Erik was talking about it, this other scientist really needed Erik's help. So Opal ended up going with him to a small, no-name town, where she'd meet and befriend Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis, the college assistant. Jane certainly had a personality about her, one that Opal found slightly admirable and very overwhelming. Darcy seemed to be more laidback in a sense, she'd do what she could to earn her credits (which was why she was working for Jane in the first place), but she didn't seem too interested in what Jane was doing.

For Opal, she wasn't a very science-y person. She hardly managed to get a good grade in biology when she was at the institute. If it hadn't been for Charles' willingness to do some tutoring — and with the help of some other students — Opal would've possibly failed. But the kind of science Jane was going into was more than just biology, it was stuff Opal couldn't wrap her mind around. But she only stuck around because she felt she had nowhere else to go. After leaving the psych ward, Opal's parents didn't even come to see what was going on. They didn't seem at all interested she was going off with some odd man. That, in Opal's mind, was enough to let her know her parents probably didn't care anymore.

As the years went on, when no contact ever happened between Opal and her family, she eventually grew out of any ill feelings she had toward them. She had to keep herself focused on other things. With her abilities and Jane's scientific investigations, she had a lot on her plate. Besides, Opal had a new family. And she wasn't going to lose them either.

(A/N):

1. I know this chapter's up a bit late. I had homework that needed completing so I was trying to finish up as much as I could while trying to finish this up. Not to mention I had classes early this morning, but yeah, I think you get the idea.

2. If you came upon this chapter and it only said "chapter 1", it's temporary. As for future chapters, it'll look as if I reposted the same chapter twice, ignore it. Don't go reminding me every update that I've done that. It's irritating for both of us, OK? For me since I'm getting reminded, and for you since you thought a new chapter would be up. I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just letting you know.

3. If anything confuses you in any way, don't hesitate to let me know. I can't help if I don't know what's bothering you guys.

I wanna say these could be the ground-rules for this story, just so it's easier on all of us. If I don't have a new chapter up right away, it's because I have homework, school, and work (I forgot to mention that), so be patient. Don't go reminding me things I already know about. Let me know if something's confusing!*

I own nothing in the MCU.

As you can tell, this chapter had a little mention to the X-Men. I'd like to say they're in the same universe, a lot of fans may think differently, I don't know. It's pretty early in this story.

For those of you who are TWD fans, it's coming back this Sunday! It's pretty exciting that Rick and company are working to get everyone working together. Hopefully it works out.

Leave a thought on anything I can improve on.

Thank you.

Judith W

P.S. — this is a Thor/OC story, so he'll be paired up with my OC. Just as a heads up for you guys.