Vance and Noriko

[om_surge]

They discuss the squads, Anders, and football.


Vance scratched the back of his neck as he worked his way through his math homework in the kitchen. It wasn't that it was unbearably hard or anything, even though it wasn't easy, but it was pretty boring.

At least he'd found some cookies, which generally made everything better.

Noriko looked down at the textbook on the table when she walked into the kitchen, and made a face. "If you talk to me about math, I'm walking right back outta here," she warned him, which was her way to say hey, how're you doing, yes.

Vance laughed, putting down his pencil, happy to have something way more interesting to do than math. "I can barely do it. Talkin' about it's not happening. What's up?"

"Usual stuff," Noriko replied, headed for the cupboard of All Things Junk Food and hopping up on the counter beside it to sit there and have easy access. "Interested to see where this squad stuff's going. How's yours? Who's in it already?" Her first blind foray into the cupboard yielded a box of jalapeno pringles, which she was just fine with.

He held out the bag of cookies, in case she wanted some, as he recited, "Aurora, Janus, Oracle, Polaris, Shatterstar, Skin, Stone, and Touchstone...which might get kinda confusing, now that I list it out like that." Vance shrugged it off though, asking, "Who's on yours?"

"Alex, Josh and Kevin," weird how these two went together in her mind, not, "Felix, Victor, Brian, Arthur, and Nathan." Noriko could've listed codenames instead, but she'd known almost all of them by their actual names, before codenames were even a thing, so this came more naturally. "It's gonna be a while before we're any kind of real team. You?"

"I dunno. Haven't seen them together in action yet," Vance admitted. Honestly, he had no idea how this was going to go. He was hoping it'd go well - he had some awesome people on his team with some powers that were very cool - but this was one of those things that he suspected would take practice. "You've got some pretty awesome people on your team, though: Alex, Vic, Felix...your team's going to be pretty cool, I'll bet."

"We'll see how it turns out, it's still pretty early on," Noriko noted. She had nothing against any of the people on her team (although there were some she got on with less well than others - Brian and Arthur, anyone?), but even the ones she liked weren't all that cooperative - Kevin and Nathan sprang to mind. But at least Josh was helping with Kevin, and she was becoming pretty good at Nathan-wrangling. As much as the guy could be wrangled at all.

"Hey," she called out, more quietly, and told herself again not to ask, that she didn't want to know - but the thing was, she still wanted Vance to stay away from that creep. She tried to keep her voice as neutral as possible, staring down at her sneakers before looking up at Vance. "Did you ever talk to Anders?"

She looked young like that, when she looked down at the floor and sounded...not afraid, per se, but off. It was a little weird for Vance, because he rarely saw her like that. But, then, he guessed he didn't usually see her upset like she'd been before, either. Not that it change his opinion of her: she was still hardcore and could probably kick his butt.

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "I did."

Something flashed in Noriko's eyes, something hard and potentially dangerous, something like hatred and fear, the former of Anders, the latter for Vance. "And?"

"Which part d'you want to know about?" He asked carefully. Vance didn't want to upset her with anything that she wasn't particularly looking for, after all. Especially not when she had that edge in her. Not that he thought Noriko'd ever hurt him, but still.

"I wanna know if it adds up for you now," Noriko answered, sharpness cutting through her usual wry tone. Vance had said it didn't, but now it ought to, unless Anders had screwed with him, too.

"Sorta."

"Sorta?" Noriko was going to need more than this to set her mind at ease.

Vance snagged and ate another cookie as he thought through how he wanted to answer; he was looking for the best sounding way for both sides. Diplomatic honest.

"I think," he finally began, "that Anders is a little messed up, for personal reasons. And I think that, because of that, he did stuff he shouldn't have. He shouldn't've talked you into stuff, or Jeanne-Marie, or that Nathan kid." Because it was wrong, no matter how Vance had looked at it.

"He wasn't trying to hurt you," well, except for maybe Nathan, "but he did. He was punished for it, and he should apologize. And then, I guess...well, I can't keep holding it against him."

"Although he hasn't apologized, and doesn't see why he should?" Noriko asked, tone growing tenser with each word. Not that she thought she could ever forgive Anders, but the thought that Vance would, even though the bastard felt no fucking remorse, was making her feel angry and depressed all over again, like it was all her fault for letting him do this to her.

"He should apologize," Vance agreed. "And I tried to explain to him why. I just....." He looked at her with slightly widened eyes, "You're mad at me."

"I'm mad at the whole freaking world when I talk about this," Noriko let out mercilessly, then sighed out angrily, ducking her head and letting a fringe of blue hair drop in front of her eyes. Her hands were curled on the edge of the counter, knuckles white, pringles abandoned beside her. A few seconds and she straightened up, inhaling deeply and shoving her hair out of her face. "It's not against you, ok? I just wish you wouldn't hang out with him. He doesn't see what he did wrong, he could do shit like that again. He might already have, for all we know. Have you asked one of the telepaths to check for you?"

He shook his head in the negative. Vance knew she was upset - not with him, or at least so she said, but with the whole situation. Which was fair, and he really didn't wanna make it worse by saying something stupid. So he was hesitant as he explained, "I'm not really friends with any of the other telepaths."

"He's not one," Noriko said immediately, because of the way Vance had phrased it. Anders was a - what did they call them? - a psi, sure, but not a telepath, that was just the freaking lie he told people. "Whatever, ask the old man, he'll do it."

He nodded, but it was a bit absently. He still had that sinking feeling in his stomach. The nervous, guilty feeling. Something here had gone real wrong, and Vance was pretty sure it was his fault somehow. "I'm sorry, for upsetting you," he told her, voice soft but earnest. "You're my friend, y'know, and I never want to....it's just a shi-...uh, sucky situation."

"I'll see your shitty and raise you to a fucked up," Noriko stated wryly, then hopped off the counter to come closer to Vance, leaning back against the table, arms crossed over her chest. "But never mind me, I'm worried about you, Vance. Hanging out with that creep is dangerous. He thinks he did me a favor. You've gotta get checked out by a telepath who knows what they're doing."

"Pretty sure he doesn't think he did you or anyone else a favor now, if it helps," Vance offered. "He looked pretty messed up; not that he didn't deserve it."

"Pretty sure he doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself," Noriko shot back. "Will you go get checked out?" Yeah, she'd noticed he still hadn't agreed to do it.

"I mean, I guess, but....he promised he hadn't done it. To me, I mean."

Yeah, and that would be his first lie.

But Noriko held the sarcastic reply back, and waited a second before answering, "Wouldn't hurt to check, right?"

"Guess not," Vance admitted. At least, not if Anders didn't find out. "But, y'know...I mean, I really appreciate it, I do," he was always a little surprised when people cared what happened to him, even though he guessed it made sense, since he cared about them, "but, I mean...you don't have to worry about me. I'll be okay."

"You don't worry because you have to," Noriko told him, one of those rare moments when she sounded neither wry nor angry. She was just being genuine. "You worry because you care. Sorry to say, I'm not gonna stop."

He blushed lightly. "Well...thanks."

Noriko shrugged. "What are friends for, right. Gotta have someone looking out for you."

"You'll let me look out for you too, right?"

"I couldn't stop you if I wanted to," Noriko pointed out, and pushed off the table, going back to her spot on the counter. Part of her wanted to point out that cozying up with the guy that had fucked with her mind wasn't exactly the way to go, but she knew she'd just hurt Vance and it wouldn't serve any actual purpose other than, for a split second, making her feel slightly better - right before she felt way worse. But it was cool - she didn't need Vance looking out for her.

"You don't actually think I can, do you?" Vance asked, raising his eyebrows. Her tone of voice had seemed like kind of a giveaway, and he wasn't entirely able to suppress the slight sting he'd felt. "I mean, you don't think I could ever actually help you."

"Of course I think you could," Noriko replied with a frown, and meant it. She even went on, giving him more of the truth. "I'm not sure you could when it comes to Anders, that's all."

That was different, at least, than Vance had thought. And it bothered him slightly less, even if something about it still gnawed at him. But if Noriko was right about Anders, about him actually being a bad guy and manipulating him and he just wasn't seeing it, then she was probably right that Vance would be pretty sucky protection against him.

Fair enough. "Yeah. Guess you're right."

"I'm not gonna pretend that I'm cool with you hanging out with him," Noriko stated. Pretending wasn't her style, much as opening up wasn't either. There were two very different ballgames, as far as she was concerned. "But it's none of my business, as long as you're safe. That's why I want you to get checked out."

"I wouldn't want you to pretend anyway," Vance said with a slight shrugged. But he smiled slightly as he told her, "But it's real nice of you...to be concerned, even though I'll be okay. Honest. I'm grateful."

Noriko wished she could make him understand the extent of Anders's danger, but that would mean opening up in ways she was really not ready for. She nodded slightly, holding his gaze. "Don't mention it." And now to move on from that conversation. "Where's that soccer team thing at?"

She didn't want to talk about Anders anymore, Vance could roll with that. It wasn't like it was a real comfortable conversation for anyone (though obviously it was probably even less comfortable for her). "With Pietro and Bobby?"

"I didn't remember Pietro was in on it, but yeah, you said Bobby wanted to get one together," Noriko confirmed, and went back to the abandoned pringles.

"Not sure," Vance said, trying to remember if he'd ever gotten any details. He wasn't remembering any, which probably meant he hadn't gotten any, but it was possible he'd just forgotten something. Even if it was unlikely. "Don't think they've given me any real details on it, other than it hopefully being a thing. You gonna play?"

"I don't know yet," Noriko answered with a purse of her lips. "Soccer's not my favorite, but I might, just to get back into team sports."

"It'll be fun." Vance said, bouncing a little bit at the notion that she'd come play with them. Because that would be awesome!

"Ask me again when it gets off the ground," Noriko offered, the purse of her lips now almost looking like a smile, on account of the bouncing.

"You know you want to," he said, smiling. "It'll be really awesome. Pietro's been calling it Mutant Ball."

"...are you guys gonna play with your powers?" Noriko asked with raised eyebrows, and something like concern for the poor fate of the ball. It wouldn't survive a lot of people's powers.

"I'm not actually sure." Vance thought for a moment, tapping his chin with a finger tip. "I didn't really ask, or think about; I can be dumb like that." Another moment of thought, and then, "I mean, wouldn't we sorta have to? I don't think Pietro's powers turn off very well."

"If he had to use them all the time, we'd never see him," Noriko pointed out. "And handling the ball at his natural speed would probably shred it, I'm thinking."

"Good point." He tried to imagine what'd happen if a ball hit terminal velocity, or whatever it was called, and decided it wasn't really something he wanted to think about much longer. Not because of grisly soccer ball death, but more because of grisly real death caused by soccer ball. "Besides, wouldn't be much of a game if I could just pick up the ball and move it wherever I wanted. Or put a shield around the goal."

"Best goalkeeper in history, though," Noriko stated with a bit of a smile.

Vance grinned. "Definitely. And while I'm doing that, what position are you gonna rock?"

Noriko chuckled. "You're not gonna drop it, are you. I was a pretty good winger in handball?"

"Always been told I'm impossible," he said, grin unrepentant. It hadn't always been a good thing, the way his dad had said it, but in this context? Hey, if it got Noriko to come play, then it was totally a good thing. He liked hanging out with her, when he wasn't messing stuff up; this would be fun. "I bet you'd make an awesome striker."

"Not if you're the goalie," she pointed out with a grin, relaxing more and more into the light-hearted conversation.

"I don't know about that," Vance mused. After all, if he got distracted or something, he could drop the shield. "But, doesn't matter. Because obviously we'll be on the same team."

Noriko shook her head. "We'll have to play each other, we can't risk playing with normal kids."

"Well yeah, but you'll still be on my team," Vance said confidently, still smiling. "It can be us versus, like, Pietro and Bobby and whatever." He looked thoughtful for a second. "Wonder if we can get Alex to play, too."

"Between you and me, I'm sure we can, if he doesn't hate soccer," Noriko stated confidently.

"Awesome." Vance pronounced, taking that as a yes. After all, how could anyone hate soccer? "You, me, Alex...if we get, like, Vic and Lorna and stuff, we could have a whole team and take down the older kids. Team Can't Drive Yet."

"I'll pretend that I can't," Noriko promised with a very quick smile. It wasn't as if she had a license, after all.

"Okay, Team Can't Legally Drive," Vance offered, grinning even as it clicked. "Wait, you drive?"

"Yeah," Noriko agreed. "I hotwire, too." That really should say it all.

He tried not to let his surprise show on his face - he didn't want her to think he was judging or anything, because what did he know? - so he stayed a little bit poker-faced and blinked. "You must be crazy smart," Vance finally decided. Because she could rewire cars, holy cow! His grin was restored as he promised, "but it's still not legal, so you can still be on our team."

Noriko looked openly skeptical at the smarts needed to steal a car. "All you need's someone showing you how to do it, no smarts necessary," she answered, punctuating the statement with a half shrug. "I could teach you, if you wanted."

"Nah, I'm dumb enough to electrocute myself if I do that," Vance demurred. "But thanks for the offer!"

Noriko wasn't sure if he really thought he couldn't pull it off or if he actually didn't want to learn to do something illegal, so she dropped it with a shrug. "Standing offer, anyway. Wanna go try and find something decent to watch on TV?"

"Sure. Just let me..." Vance gestured at his homework stuff and began packing it up so he could go with her. "What snacks should we bring?"

Because obviously they were going to need snacks.

"You handle all that," Noriko offered, with a nod at his school stuff, before she turned to the cupboard beside her, and started to go through its contents. "I'll handle the snacks."