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om_mainSummary: Philip gets dragooned into being Alisha’s chauffeur. It doesn’t go quite as planned.
Alisha needed to get out of this damned school. Between the classes she did go to and the training she didn't, she was going stir-crazy. At least when she'd been in London, she'd been able to take the tube anywhere in the city she wanted to go, more or less. Here you actually had to take a car to get anywhere and there was a problem with that, at least for her. The professors still wouldn't let her get a license, not since she'd been done for drink driving. She was still supposed to serve her time or at least she wasn't able to get a license until she would have been able to back home. That meant she had to rely on other people for rides.
At first she'd used Bobby, but now he was being all sappy over his ex-girlfriend and that meant that she needed someone else. A good, strong… Her eyes wandered the gym as she walked in. At first, she didn't see anyone she knew and then she did a double-take as she saw him. It was the guy who'd gotten shirtless down by the lake. He wasn't shirtless now and she wondered how anyone could survive a workout under all those clothes. Not that she'd worked out a day in her life.
She walked straight over to him. "I need a ride into town," she informed him as if it was his sole duty to see her satisfied.
Philip just raised an eyebrow at the girl as he went on finishing his set. Today was an endurance day so, a whole lot of smaller weights, nothing that would stand out all that much. He knew who she was, of course, but as far as he could recall, they hadn't spoken since she arrived. Not that he was a stranger to rudeness either, but he wasn't used to getting it from girls he didn't know. "There are vehicles for student use," he said politely.
"Did I miss the part of the 'Welcome to Freak High' lecture where they offered us private chauffeurs?" she retorted and continued waiting. It wasn't like he was doing anything that couldn't be put off for an hour or two.
"I think they might have missed the part where demands, phrased as demands, aren't necessarily required to be honored," Philip said evenly. He had no idea why she thought he was just going to snap to attention, even if he made a habit of being polite.
"If all you're doing is this," she said with a brief glance at the weights, "then I'm doing a favour getting you out of here. Come on. You can tell me why you're dressed up in enough layers to drown a normal person." She still hadn't asked. She would, but only as a last resort because she was desperate.
"Miss Daniels, you, at this point, have neither any idea what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, or what else might be on my immediate agenda," Philip said, pointed, but still polite. He did finish his set, standing up with a stretch and reaching for the small towel he had with him to tidy up after himself. "That being said, I am not an unreasonable individual when presented with a reasonable request."
"You're lifting those," she said with a nod to the offending items, "to get the muscles that you for some reason try to hide." She shook her head because really. "And you're probably doing it because of the stupid teams everyone else seems to be on, but if that's all you're doing, then you don't have anything better to do." She heaved a sigh. He would make her beg. "So could you please give me a ride into town? I don't have a license here in the States."
"I stayed in shape before I got here," he said reasonably, though didn't feel a need to address the team business. She'd been vocal in her opinion about it and Philip felt zero reason to force someone. That was dangerous for themselves and others. "And of course I can. Just give me a few minutes to get cleaned up."
She stared at him as he left. Bizarre. She did not understand boys sometimes. If he'd been willing to drive to town, why hadn't he just said so at the beginning when she'd first asked? By the time he got back, she was sitting on a weight bench, legs swinging as she tried not to die from the boredom. This was why she'd wanted to get out in the first place.
Philip was gone all of ten minutes, workout clothes replaced with khakis, a buttondown shirt and damp hair that he didn't have to do much of anything to. He could drop his bag off at his room on the way back easily enough. "Is there somewhere in particular that you needed to go?" he asked.
"Anywhere away from here." She just needed to be in a place that wasn't school. Where people didn't know they couldn't touch her and it didn't seem like such a barrier.
"That's a little broad," Philip said as he started walking towards the garage. "At least a category might be helpful. Food, books, music, clothing, etc, though I can't spend all day out there."
"I did once promise Scott I'd text him when I needed a ride home," she murmured to herself and then shook her head. "Clothes, I suppose. Not that you'd know anything about that."
"You'd be surprised, but as I have no idea what your tastes are, you're probably right," Philip said. "I do at least know where some of the clothing stores are."
She looked at his outfit. "You look very bland and if you made the least effort, you could look as fit as anyone here. So yes, you don't know anything about it." It never even crossed her mind that he'd want to look plain.
Philip's mouth just quirked up in a little smile at that, it was always nice to see effort rewarded. It'd been a little disconcerting when other kids saw through him, at least he hadn't entirely lost his touch.
Alisha narrowed her eyes at him. What was he smiling about? "Well?" she asked sharply. She didn't like to be out of the joke. "Are we going?"
"Of course," Philip said and getting to the garage and going through the process of signing out a car was something he did frequently. That it was to keep up his private range time in town, well that was no one's business, was it? His gym back was tossed in the back seat in short order before sliding into the driver's seat and buckling in.
"So if you're this shy," Alisha said after a while, "how did you get out of your shirt that one day?" She hadn't heard the story; she'd only seen the results. Only appreciated the results.
"Why do you think I'm shy?" Philip asked as he headed out onto the roads. "And Pietro stole it when I tried to dry out some. I'll admit, I was just being annoying after that, flustering him isn't the easiest thing to do."
"Because most people who look like you do are happy to show off as much skin as they can get away with." And he tried to show as little skin as he could. It didn't make much sense.
"That's not the same as shyness, though I think you're overestimating the 'like I do'," Philip said with a shrug. "It's just what I'm comfortable with. My parents moved a lot before I came here," he said after a moment. "New school about every year, it's much easier when you blend in."
"You're thinking the wrong way. Here. Repeat after me. Fuck. Them. That's my life philosophy." Maybe it was because she knew what other people thought about her and it wasn't all that appealing. So she'd decided not to care.
Of course, he wasn't going to actually mention why getting in fights then had been bad. It's harder to rein yourself in when your coordination is a little shaky. "And while it's an admirable philosophy," Philip said instead, "it doesn't take into account that I'd really rather prefer to be in the background."
"You sure you don't have any relatives in England?" she said and it was mostly a joke. Mostly. "You remind me of Simon, always hiding behind his camera."
"My grandmother's English," Philip said with a shrug. "How do you know Simon?"
"We were both at the community centre. He and Nathan suddenly disappearing freaked me out." For good reason she'd found out later. Nathan dead, Simon kidnapped. It hardly seemed real. "How do you know Simon?"
"Hmm? It's a sort of personal training assistance. I ran into him in the gym and offered some pointers," he said. "Mr. Judd's good, but it's tough with a class full of people sometimes to tailor individual plans."
Alisha groaned. So she had him to blame for what had happened to Simon. "Is everyone around here preparing for war or something/" She didn't understand it. She didn't want to understand it.
"What?" Philip glanced at her, obviously puzzled. This was another one of those things that she'd said where he couldn't quite figure out point a to point b. "How is wanting to be in better shape doing that?"
"Because if he'd just wanted to get in shape, he could have done that back home." Instead, he'd come here and signed up for one of those teams and now was getting muscles she had to stop herself from feeling.
Philip frowned and looked over at her again. There was obviously something he was missing. "It's not actually that easy, you know. You need the right place and someone to show you what to do. Just flailing at it only takes you so far."
"Are you telling me he's getting in shape just because he can?" She wasn't sure she believed that. It didn't sound like Simon. There would be a purpose to it. He always had a reason.
"You'd probably want to ask him why?" Philip said, which was true, as far as it went. That it wasn't the whole story, that he knew very well that Simon had been involved with the Facility, that Laura had been training with the other boy before she'd been taken, well, if Alisha didn't know about that, it wasn't his place to tell. "There's nothing wrong with being able to defend yourself, you know, if that's his goal."
"Right." She just shook her head. Defend himself? She doubted that was why he was doing it. Or all of why she was doing it. "Why are you on one of those teams? They're just training soldiers." She had no doubt he was on one of them. The fact that there were enough people who wanted to be on one that there were multiple teams said a lot.
"It's not like we're going to get attacked in school." This wasn't one of the world wars where students were trained in how to fire a gun.
"Alisha, there are a lot of reasons to want to keep yourself safe. It sounded like he went through something unpleasant, that tends to leave a mark on a person." Philip glanced over at her again, just quick enough to notice a few things. "You know it's possible to be in danger from more than being a mutant. There's a lot of bad that can happen to people out there, even being out alone at night is frequently not all that safe."
"Please tell me you're not giving me the 'you're a girl, you should be careful of getting raped' talk." She shot him a look. "Because anyone who comes near me will either get a knee in the balls or something a hell of a lot more unexpected than..." Except that shut her up. They would get exactly what they wanted. A rapist on overdrive. She looked out the window and tried not to think about how queasy that made her.
Hmm. Interesting reaction and not one that he could exactly pin down. "Than what?" he asked mildly.
"Than nothing," she snapped. "They would get exactly what they were looking for."
"Forgive me for asking, but is that because of something ability related?" He didn't really know why he was pursuing the question, it wasn't exactly a casual sort of topic, but he hated the idea of someone getting in over their head and getting hurt.
"Why is everyone in this fucking place so obsessed with powers." She waggled her hands as if the mere idea of powers was something unnatural and spooky. Well, to her it was. "If you're so curious, why don't you touch me and find out what happens?" She turned her head back to him, anger almost pouring out of her. Her words grew more clipped as she said, "But I'd turn off the road first. Don't want to get into an accident."
Philip shot her another sidelong look and shook his head. "No. Firstly because despite what you're saying, you have no interest in me actually doing that. Second, the reason I asked was because you seemed very confident in what would happen if someone tried something, what I was actually curious about was if you were actually safe or if it was bravado. Third, you aren't required to answer me, I don't have an issue with people being discrete as long as they aren't recklessly endangering others and fourth, I am not a guinea pig."
"I never said I was safe," she muttered. "Just that I was sure of what would happen."
"Then for what its worth, it doesn't sound like something to be relied on," Philip said with a shrug. "And it's none of my business either way, I just don't like seeing people get hurt."
"The only thing I rely on it to do is remind me that I'm hands-off." She muttered something about saran wrap and dental dams and slumped against the door.
So something like Kevin, Philip thought, though likely not lethal if she was talking about things like that. Still likely in the bitter, denial stage too, so suggestions, especially from a relative stranger would likely be unwelcome, regardless of how sensible they were. He also wasn't particularly phased by what she was talking about, blushing on that particular subject had been trained out of him years ago. "We're almost to town," he said instead. "Where did you want to go?"
Suggestions for the most part had been 'wear gloves' and Alisha was sick of it. She was actually surprised when he didn't repeat the same tired advice. She studied him for a moment. "Well, you said you knew where some of the clothing stores were. Show me." Her lips quirked. "Maybe if you're really lucky, I'll use you as a mannequin."
"Be still my heart," he said dryly, though he did bring them to the nice little semi-upscale place, good quality but not too expensive. He had no idea what her budget was, afterall. "Does this work?"
"And here I was beginning to think you were all dour and gloom and didn't have a sense of humour." She looked at the store and nodded. She'd had fun dressing the boys and now she had an urge to expand her own wardrobe. She hadn't brought her entire closet from home here. She undid her seatbelt and glanced at him. "Coming in?"
"I am not gloomy," Philip objected. "But sure, if you want me to, though I reserve the right to go elsewhere if it goes on too long. Don't worry, I'd tell you where I was going, I'm not going to leave you stuck here."
"Then remind me how our conversation on 'time to ask what Alisha can do' got started? Definitely gloomy. Come on." Maybe she'd see if she could find something better for him to wear than khaki, The boy had no sense of taste. Although she was curious what he'd worn to the masquerade. Maybe she'd ask Simon.
"Alright, alright," Philip said with an eyeroll. "I'm still not going to stay here all day. I do have things to do later."
"Of course you do." If her tone was a bit patronizing, it was only because she knew he was hers now. He'd promised to take her home and that meant she was the one in charge. Until he decided to rebel, but she'd cross that bridge when - or if - it came.
He certainly did, though he was not about to tell her what. As vehement as she was about wanting nothing to do with the squads, he wasn't going to tell her about data crunching for Arthur, Lydia and the others.
Her lips twitched and, instead of going to the women's section as they entered, she went to the men's. She glanced back at him, a narrow-eyed look that suggested she was taking in his measure - literally in this case - and then turned back to the racks.
He did manage to suppress the eyeroll that time, but it was a narrow thing. What this fascination with his clothing was, he had no idea.
"Why are you in one of those teams?" she asked as she began browsing through clothes. He didn't like to stand out, but he looked almost...prissy. Like one of the kids from public school. They'd always been too proud of themselves. He didn't look proud, but it still seemed as if he had a stick shoved up his arse. Jeans were the first thing on her list. Jeans and a belt and a button down shirt and a vest. Nothing to make him terribly uncomfortable, but something a little less...uptight.
"I don't remember saying I was," Philip said mildly as he watched her.
"You didn't have to. I think I'm the only one who isn't." She picked up another, darker pair of jeans, another button-up shirt, white this time, and a sweater. It was going to be fall, soon, and it'd get colder. And finally, she decided on a coat for him.
"Here," she said, offering him the bundle. "You can tell me while you change."
"My roommate doesn't either," he said. "As I recall, you were pretty vocal about opinions when he posed the question. In answer to yours, it's useful learning to coordinate. I was planning on the military after college before I got here, I don't see a reason to change that."
She shooed him toward the changing room. "Depends on who your roommate it. I only know mine and Simon's." Hers because she lived with the girl and Simon's, because...well...Nathan.
"Felix," he said as he dutifully went. "He was the one who decided to stop doing it recently." And not that he was taking any of this with him, unless there was something particularly useful for another kinds of camouflage.
If he didn't get the coat, it would be a criminal offence. But that was only her opinion. "Oh, him. Good for him, then. So you'll be...what? Lieutenant..." She frowned. "I don't even know your name."
"Philip Coulson," he said as he finished getting into the clothes. No, not going to happen. He couldn't move without the hazard of splitting a seam. "They don't fit," he said and started stripping again.
"What specifically isn't fitting?" she asked. The entire thing? The pants, the shirt? What was he even wearing? Ignoring the sharp looks of an older woman, she ducked her head inside.
The shirt and jacket thing were off, leaving him in his undershirt and the new jeans. They did fit as intended, but again, there was that chance of splitting seams. Philip just raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "Yes? And to answer your question, there isn't enough give in these for movement. No, it's not a function of the fit, it's that they aren't made for it."
"Which? The jeans?" In her judgement, they were fitting well. It made her wonder just what he meant by 'movement'. So she asked him. "I wouldn't have picked them out if I thought they were too small for you. What kind of 'movement' are you talking about?"
"Anything beyond walking," he said dryly. "And no, that's not something that's negotiable."
"If you had your way, you'd be wearing nothing but a sweatsuit, wouldn't you?" She shook her head, not understanding at all. Sure, if you were going to be at the gym or something, but she was talking about every day wear, not anything special.
"No, of course not," Philip said as he went to pull his own shirt back on. "That would be incredibly inappropriate. And I would like to finish changing, please."
She looked at the coat regretfully. "Not even that?"
"No," he said firmly. "I can barely move my arms."
She snatched the thing and glared at him. "Should I stay for the rest of it? Or have you decided the second outfit was just as bad?"
"They all fit about the same, it looks like," Philip said with a shrug. "If I wanted something that fit that tight, I'd have it tailored."
"Sorry, I don't sew." She ducked her head back out and leaned against the wall to wait for him, muttering about prissy teenagers who wanted to do acrobatics in their everyday clothes. Just walking - and sitting, and maybe a light jog if you were close to missing your bus - was what normal people did in their clothes. Then again, what was normal in her life any more? It was too good-looking a coat not to pawn it off on someone, so she kept her arms wrapped around it.
"I wasn't suggesting that you do it," Philip said tartly as he put himself back together. Though this trip was starting to make him reevaluate just how far he was willing to go to seem to be the amenable sort.
"How else am I supposed to dress you properly?" Alisha asked. Oh, she was sure that he didn't want her dressing. It didn't mean he couldn't use some help.
"I think I missed something where that was on the table as an ongoing thing," Philip said as he twitched the last few things into place.
"You must miss a lot, then, don't you?" And maybe she was smirking just a bit at him. If he couldn't see the smirk through the curtain, he could definitely hear it in her voice.
"Much less than you'd think," Philip said dryly. And what he didn't know, he could find out, but he suspected that would be fairly alarming.
"You missed the decision I made on your behalf," she pointed out. And she was relatively safe in the knowledge that he didn't know what she could do, but that was less missing something and more keeping it a closely held secret.
"There is a difference between being a temporary chauffeur and a personal dress up doll," he said. "I was available for the one, but it's not a future guarantee. I happened to be available today."
"You're right. Being a personal dress up doll is usually more fun. Come on. I need to go pay for this." And if she paused by a few of the racks on the way to the cashier, then she was only window shopping. Until she picked something up.
He couldn't really stop the eyeroll that time but hopefully they'd be headed out soon. He never did understand the clothes thing. Okay, that wasn't true, he did understand it, he just wasn't in a position yet where it needed to apply to him.
Alisha used the time while she found two good shirts and one short and tight skirt - one of the first two didn't fit right, but the skirt did, thankfully - to try to puzzle out why she had a follower. Not that she was objecting, entirely, and she knew that if she did this sort of thing with Simon and maybe - but only maybe - with Nathan, they would have done the same thing. But he wasn't Simon and thankfully wasn't Nathan. There was only room in the universe for one Nathan.
Philip wasn't so much following, exactly, as keeping an eye on her. He'd brought her out to town, it was his responsibility to see her back unless he was told otherwise. Early manners training, especially from his grandparents, was tough to break.
"You know," she said as they made their way to the register so she could pay for her things, "you never did answer my question. Why are you on one of those teams." He'd never said he was, but he hadn't denied it when she'd offered her reasoning, only said that his roommate wasn't on a team.
"Because it's valuable experience in coordinating with others," Philip said. It's not like it was a secret that he was on one, the secrets were for more important things than that. "My goal before coming here was to join the military after college. That hasn't changed at this stage," he said with a shrug. "It's a family thing."
"You mentioned the thing about military." She eyed him carefully before leaning down to sign the credit card receipt. "You sure you're going to have to leave to join an army?" She was pretty sure that was what the headmasters were creating. It was more than just practicing their powers. So she heard.
Philip just gave her a look, he didn't think he was explaining it that badly. And it wasn't an English thing, he knew, he'd heard plenty about their military from that side of the family. "If... I want to join the U.S. Armed Forces, yes? They frown on claiming you're a part of them without actually being there."
"You sure you won't give it up for the ones forming right under your nose?" Maybe she was taking a wild leap into the dark, but she knew after school clubs. They didn't generally have people with unique codenames and training for...what? As far as she knew, it wasn't just self-defence.
"It's not the same thing," he said with a shrug. "And I hope you do realize that part of why some of the students are coming forward is to make the whole... issue," he said with a wave of a hand, they were still in public afterall. "The whole issue seem less of a threat."
Alisha looked away suddenly. Less of a threat. Right. She doubted Scott would think she was less of a threat. "Come on. You didn't want to be here in the first place, right? Let's go back. It's all crap anyway. No one's going to believe it. Not for long."
"You'd be surprised what people believe," Philip said. "And most of them don't believe in dangerous unless it's right in their face. Our differences can run to the more flashy, that's all." It didn't stop him from fishing for his keys though. He certainly wasn't going to enlighten Miss Daniels about the different kinds of dangerous out there. "Unless you have some sort of specific concern for yourself, but if you don't want to tell me, that's certainly fine." All he knew was, she didn't want to be touched. That there was a hazard both ways went without saying.
"You don't need to fish. If I'd wanted to tell you, you would have been told." Lowering her voice, she muttered, "Though with the way gossip flies in this school, if I'd wanted to tell anyone, it would be around the school and back by now." She'd had to make the people who did know promise that they wouldn't tell anyone.
"That wasn't fishing. There are reasons for discretion, and as long as a person is not a danger, I don't see how it has to be anyone's business. And by not a danger," Philip clarified, "I mean just that, which includes problematic abilities being handled responsibly."
"If the word 'gloves' leaves your lips, I might have to break a nail on you." She was sick of the word 'responsibility', too. The only person she had a responsibility to was herself. A quiet voice reminded her that she'd stopped touching people and she ruthlessly reminded the voice that it was only because she was sick of meaningless sex and ignored the pang she felt at the thought.
"You're assuming again," he said reasonably as they approached the car. "I'm not in any position to mandate you do anything, nor would I give advice you don't want. The only thing I would request would be, as long as your skillset isn't known to me, that you'd refrain from using it on my person. That's as much for your benefit as mine, I'm not always a safe person to be around." And it wasn't something that Philip would usually admit to, but he could not take the chance that she could cause him to slip his self imposed leash. That would be bad all the way around.
"You?" She chuckled and shook her head. "Right. I can't imagine that you'd be dangerous." He had said he wanted to be a soldier, but he just looked so...unassuming. Maybe fit underneath his clothes, but still unassuming.
Philip didn't answer, he just tipped a little smile in her direction as he went to unlock the car.
"I don't believe it," she said again. "And it wouldn't matter if I did." It wouldn't affect her at all.
"My family has a history of service," he said with a shrug as he slid into the seat. "I'm sure I'll manage when I get there. Don't forget to buckle in."
"Yes, dad." Her voice was dry, but she did buckle her seatbelt.
Alisha needed to get out of this damned school. Between the classes she did go to and the training she didn't, she was going stir-crazy. At least when she'd been in London, she'd been able to take the tube anywhere in the city she wanted to go, more or less. Here you actually had to take a car to get anywhere and there was a problem with that, at least for her. The professors still wouldn't let her get a license, not since she'd been done for drink driving. She was still supposed to serve her time or at least she wasn't able to get a license until she would have been able to back home. That meant she had to rely on other people for rides.
At first she'd used Bobby, but now he was being all sappy over his ex-girlfriend and that meant that she needed someone else. A good, strong… Her eyes wandered the gym as she walked in. At first, she didn't see anyone she knew and then she did a double-take as she saw him. It was the guy who'd gotten shirtless down by the lake. He wasn't shirtless now and she wondered how anyone could survive a workout under all those clothes. Not that she'd worked out a day in her life.
She walked straight over to him. "I need a ride into town," she informed him as if it was his sole duty to see her satisfied.
Philip just raised an eyebrow at the girl as he went on finishing his set. Today was an endurance day so, a whole lot of smaller weights, nothing that would stand out all that much. He knew who she was, of course, but as far as he could recall, they hadn't spoken since she arrived. Not that he was a stranger to rudeness either, but he wasn't used to getting it from girls he didn't know. "There are vehicles for student use," he said politely.
"Did I miss the part of the 'Welcome to Freak High' lecture where they offered us private chauffeurs?" she retorted and continued waiting. It wasn't like he was doing anything that couldn't be put off for an hour or two.
"I think they might have missed the part where demands, phrased as demands, aren't necessarily required to be honored," Philip said evenly. He had no idea why she thought he was just going to snap to attention, even if he made a habit of being polite.
"If all you're doing is this," she said with a brief glance at the weights, "then I'm doing a favour getting you out of here. Come on. You can tell me why you're dressed up in enough layers to drown a normal person." She still hadn't asked. She would, but only as a last resort because she was desperate.
"Miss Daniels, you, at this point, have neither any idea what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, or what else might be on my immediate agenda," Philip said, pointed, but still polite. He did finish his set, standing up with a stretch and reaching for the small towel he had with him to tidy up after himself. "That being said, I am not an unreasonable individual when presented with a reasonable request."
"You're lifting those," she said with a nod to the offending items, "to get the muscles that you for some reason try to hide." She shook her head because really. "And you're probably doing it because of the stupid teams everyone else seems to be on, but if that's all you're doing, then you don't have anything better to do." She heaved a sigh. He would make her beg. "So could you please give me a ride into town? I don't have a license here in the States."
"I stayed in shape before I got here," he said reasonably, though didn't feel a need to address the team business. She'd been vocal in her opinion about it and Philip felt zero reason to force someone. That was dangerous for themselves and others. "And of course I can. Just give me a few minutes to get cleaned up."
She stared at him as he left. Bizarre. She did not understand boys sometimes. If he'd been willing to drive to town, why hadn't he just said so at the beginning when she'd first asked? By the time he got back, she was sitting on a weight bench, legs swinging as she tried not to die from the boredom. This was why she'd wanted to get out in the first place.
Philip was gone all of ten minutes, workout clothes replaced with khakis, a buttondown shirt and damp hair that he didn't have to do much of anything to. He could drop his bag off at his room on the way back easily enough. "Is there somewhere in particular that you needed to go?" he asked.
"Anywhere away from here." She just needed to be in a place that wasn't school. Where people didn't know they couldn't touch her and it didn't seem like such a barrier.
"That's a little broad," Philip said as he started walking towards the garage. "At least a category might be helpful. Food, books, music, clothing, etc, though I can't spend all day out there."
"I did once promise Scott I'd text him when I needed a ride home," she murmured to herself and then shook her head. "Clothes, I suppose. Not that you'd know anything about that."
"You'd be surprised, but as I have no idea what your tastes are, you're probably right," Philip said. "I do at least know where some of the clothing stores are."
She looked at his outfit. "You look very bland and if you made the least effort, you could look as fit as anyone here. So yes, you don't know anything about it." It never even crossed her mind that he'd want to look plain.
Philip's mouth just quirked up in a little smile at that, it was always nice to see effort rewarded. It'd been a little disconcerting when other kids saw through him, at least he hadn't entirely lost his touch.
Alisha narrowed her eyes at him. What was he smiling about? "Well?" she asked sharply. She didn't like to be out of the joke. "Are we going?"
"Of course," Philip said and getting to the garage and going through the process of signing out a car was something he did frequently. That it was to keep up his private range time in town, well that was no one's business, was it? His gym back was tossed in the back seat in short order before sliding into the driver's seat and buckling in.
"So if you're this shy," Alisha said after a while, "how did you get out of your shirt that one day?" She hadn't heard the story; she'd only seen the results. Only appreciated the results.
"Why do you think I'm shy?" Philip asked as he headed out onto the roads. "And Pietro stole it when I tried to dry out some. I'll admit, I was just being annoying after that, flustering him isn't the easiest thing to do."
"Because most people who look like you do are happy to show off as much skin as they can get away with." And he tried to show as little skin as he could. It didn't make much sense.
"That's not the same as shyness, though I think you're overestimating the 'like I do'," Philip said with a shrug. "It's just what I'm comfortable with. My parents moved a lot before I came here," he said after a moment. "New school about every year, it's much easier when you blend in."
"You're thinking the wrong way. Here. Repeat after me. Fuck. Them. That's my life philosophy." Maybe it was because she knew what other people thought about her and it wasn't all that appealing. So she'd decided not to care.
Of course, he wasn't going to actually mention why getting in fights then had been bad. It's harder to rein yourself in when your coordination is a little shaky. "And while it's an admirable philosophy," Philip said instead, "it doesn't take into account that I'd really rather prefer to be in the background."
"You sure you don't have any relatives in England?" she said and it was mostly a joke. Mostly. "You remind me of Simon, always hiding behind his camera."
"My grandmother's English," Philip said with a shrug. "How do you know Simon?"
"We were both at the community centre. He and Nathan suddenly disappearing freaked me out." For good reason she'd found out later. Nathan dead, Simon kidnapped. It hardly seemed real. "How do you know Simon?"
"Hmm? It's a sort of personal training assistance. I ran into him in the gym and offered some pointers," he said. "Mr. Judd's good, but it's tough with a class full of people sometimes to tailor individual plans."
Alisha groaned. So she had him to blame for what had happened to Simon. "Is everyone around here preparing for war or something/" She didn't understand it. She didn't want to understand it.
"What?" Philip glanced at her, obviously puzzled. This was another one of those things that she'd said where he couldn't quite figure out point a to point b. "How is wanting to be in better shape doing that?"
"Because if he'd just wanted to get in shape, he could have done that back home." Instead, he'd come here and signed up for one of those teams and now was getting muscles she had to stop herself from feeling.
Philip frowned and looked over at her again. There was obviously something he was missing. "It's not actually that easy, you know. You need the right place and someone to show you what to do. Just flailing at it only takes you so far."
"Are you telling me he's getting in shape just because he can?" She wasn't sure she believed that. It didn't sound like Simon. There would be a purpose to it. He always had a reason.
"You'd probably want to ask him why?" Philip said, which was true, as far as it went. That it wasn't the whole story, that he knew very well that Simon had been involved with the Facility, that Laura had been training with the other boy before she'd been taken, well, if Alisha didn't know about that, it wasn't his place to tell. "There's nothing wrong with being able to defend yourself, you know, if that's his goal."
"Right." She just shook her head. Defend himself? She doubted that was why he was doing it. Or all of why she was doing it. "Why are you on one of those teams? They're just training soldiers." She had no doubt he was on one of them. The fact that there were enough people who wanted to be on one that there were multiple teams said a lot.
"It's not like we're going to get attacked in school." This wasn't one of the world wars where students were trained in how to fire a gun.
"Alisha, there are a lot of reasons to want to keep yourself safe. It sounded like he went through something unpleasant, that tends to leave a mark on a person." Philip glanced over at her again, just quick enough to notice a few things. "You know it's possible to be in danger from more than being a mutant. There's a lot of bad that can happen to people out there, even being out alone at night is frequently not all that safe."
"Please tell me you're not giving me the 'you're a girl, you should be careful of getting raped' talk." She shot him a look. "Because anyone who comes near me will either get a knee in the balls or something a hell of a lot more unexpected than..." Except that shut her up. They would get exactly what they wanted. A rapist on overdrive. She looked out the window and tried not to think about how queasy that made her.
Hmm. Interesting reaction and not one that he could exactly pin down. "Than what?" he asked mildly.
"Than nothing," she snapped. "They would get exactly what they were looking for."
"Forgive me for asking, but is that because of something ability related?" He didn't really know why he was pursuing the question, it wasn't exactly a casual sort of topic, but he hated the idea of someone getting in over their head and getting hurt.
"Why is everyone in this fucking place so obsessed with powers." She waggled her hands as if the mere idea of powers was something unnatural and spooky. Well, to her it was. "If you're so curious, why don't you touch me and find out what happens?" She turned her head back to him, anger almost pouring out of her. Her words grew more clipped as she said, "But I'd turn off the road first. Don't want to get into an accident."
Philip shot her another sidelong look and shook his head. "No. Firstly because despite what you're saying, you have no interest in me actually doing that. Second, the reason I asked was because you seemed very confident in what would happen if someone tried something, what I was actually curious about was if you were actually safe or if it was bravado. Third, you aren't required to answer me, I don't have an issue with people being discrete as long as they aren't recklessly endangering others and fourth, I am not a guinea pig."
"I never said I was safe," she muttered. "Just that I was sure of what would happen."
"Then for what its worth, it doesn't sound like something to be relied on," Philip said with a shrug. "And it's none of my business either way, I just don't like seeing people get hurt."
"The only thing I rely on it to do is remind me that I'm hands-off." She muttered something about saran wrap and dental dams and slumped against the door.
So something like Kevin, Philip thought, though likely not lethal if she was talking about things like that. Still likely in the bitter, denial stage too, so suggestions, especially from a relative stranger would likely be unwelcome, regardless of how sensible they were. He also wasn't particularly phased by what she was talking about, blushing on that particular subject had been trained out of him years ago. "We're almost to town," he said instead. "Where did you want to go?"
Suggestions for the most part had been 'wear gloves' and Alisha was sick of it. She was actually surprised when he didn't repeat the same tired advice. She studied him for a moment. "Well, you said you knew where some of the clothing stores were. Show me." Her lips quirked. "Maybe if you're really lucky, I'll use you as a mannequin."
"Be still my heart," he said dryly, though he did bring them to the nice little semi-upscale place, good quality but not too expensive. He had no idea what her budget was, afterall. "Does this work?"
"And here I was beginning to think you were all dour and gloom and didn't have a sense of humour." She looked at the store and nodded. She'd had fun dressing the boys and now she had an urge to expand her own wardrobe. She hadn't brought her entire closet from home here. She undid her seatbelt and glanced at him. "Coming in?"
"I am not gloomy," Philip objected. "But sure, if you want me to, though I reserve the right to go elsewhere if it goes on too long. Don't worry, I'd tell you where I was going, I'm not going to leave you stuck here."
"Then remind me how our conversation on 'time to ask what Alisha can do' got started? Definitely gloomy. Come on." Maybe she'd see if she could find something better for him to wear than khaki, The boy had no sense of taste. Although she was curious what he'd worn to the masquerade. Maybe she'd ask Simon.
"Alright, alright," Philip said with an eyeroll. "I'm still not going to stay here all day. I do have things to do later."
"Of course you do." If her tone was a bit patronizing, it was only because she knew he was hers now. He'd promised to take her home and that meant she was the one in charge. Until he decided to rebel, but she'd cross that bridge when - or if - it came.
He certainly did, though he was not about to tell her what. As vehement as she was about wanting nothing to do with the squads, he wasn't going to tell her about data crunching for Arthur, Lydia and the others.
Her lips twitched and, instead of going to the women's section as they entered, she went to the men's. She glanced back at him, a narrow-eyed look that suggested she was taking in his measure - literally in this case - and then turned back to the racks.
He did manage to suppress the eyeroll that time, but it was a narrow thing. What this fascination with his clothing was, he had no idea.
"Why are you in one of those teams?" she asked as she began browsing through clothes. He didn't like to stand out, but he looked almost...prissy. Like one of the kids from public school. They'd always been too proud of themselves. He didn't look proud, but it still seemed as if he had a stick shoved up his arse. Jeans were the first thing on her list. Jeans and a belt and a button down shirt and a vest. Nothing to make him terribly uncomfortable, but something a little less...uptight.
"I don't remember saying I was," Philip said mildly as he watched her.
"You didn't have to. I think I'm the only one who isn't." She picked up another, darker pair of jeans, another button-up shirt, white this time, and a sweater. It was going to be fall, soon, and it'd get colder. And finally, she decided on a coat for him.
"Here," she said, offering him the bundle. "You can tell me while you change."
"My roommate doesn't either," he said. "As I recall, you were pretty vocal about opinions when he posed the question. In answer to yours, it's useful learning to coordinate. I was planning on the military after college before I got here, I don't see a reason to change that."
She shooed him toward the changing room. "Depends on who your roommate it. I only know mine and Simon's." Hers because she lived with the girl and Simon's, because...well...Nathan.
"Felix," he said as he dutifully went. "He was the one who decided to stop doing it recently." And not that he was taking any of this with him, unless there was something particularly useful for another kinds of camouflage.
If he didn't get the coat, it would be a criminal offence. But that was only her opinion. "Oh, him. Good for him, then. So you'll be...what? Lieutenant..." She frowned. "I don't even know your name."
"Philip Coulson," he said as he finished getting into the clothes. No, not going to happen. He couldn't move without the hazard of splitting a seam. "They don't fit," he said and started stripping again.
"What specifically isn't fitting?" she asked. The entire thing? The pants, the shirt? What was he even wearing? Ignoring the sharp looks of an older woman, she ducked her head inside.
The shirt and jacket thing were off, leaving him in his undershirt and the new jeans. They did fit as intended, but again, there was that chance of splitting seams. Philip just raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "Yes? And to answer your question, there isn't enough give in these for movement. No, it's not a function of the fit, it's that they aren't made for it."
"Which? The jeans?" In her judgement, they were fitting well. It made her wonder just what he meant by 'movement'. So she asked him. "I wouldn't have picked them out if I thought they were too small for you. What kind of 'movement' are you talking about?"
"Anything beyond walking," he said dryly. "And no, that's not something that's negotiable."
"If you had your way, you'd be wearing nothing but a sweatsuit, wouldn't you?" She shook her head, not understanding at all. Sure, if you were going to be at the gym or something, but she was talking about every day wear, not anything special.
"No, of course not," Philip said as he went to pull his own shirt back on. "That would be incredibly inappropriate. And I would like to finish changing, please."
She looked at the coat regretfully. "Not even that?"
"No," he said firmly. "I can barely move my arms."
She snatched the thing and glared at him. "Should I stay for the rest of it? Or have you decided the second outfit was just as bad?"
"They all fit about the same, it looks like," Philip said with a shrug. "If I wanted something that fit that tight, I'd have it tailored."
"Sorry, I don't sew." She ducked her head back out and leaned against the wall to wait for him, muttering about prissy teenagers who wanted to do acrobatics in their everyday clothes. Just walking - and sitting, and maybe a light jog if you were close to missing your bus - was what normal people did in their clothes. Then again, what was normal in her life any more? It was too good-looking a coat not to pawn it off on someone, so she kept her arms wrapped around it.
"I wasn't suggesting that you do it," Philip said tartly as he put himself back together. Though this trip was starting to make him reevaluate just how far he was willing to go to seem to be the amenable sort.
"How else am I supposed to dress you properly?" Alisha asked. Oh, she was sure that he didn't want her dressing. It didn't mean he couldn't use some help.
"I think I missed something where that was on the table as an ongoing thing," Philip said as he twitched the last few things into place.
"You must miss a lot, then, don't you?" And maybe she was smirking just a bit at him. If he couldn't see the smirk through the curtain, he could definitely hear it in her voice.
"Much less than you'd think," Philip said dryly. And what he didn't know, he could find out, but he suspected that would be fairly alarming.
"You missed the decision I made on your behalf," she pointed out. And she was relatively safe in the knowledge that he didn't know what she could do, but that was less missing something and more keeping it a closely held secret.
"There is a difference between being a temporary chauffeur and a personal dress up doll," he said. "I was available for the one, but it's not a future guarantee. I happened to be available today."
"You're right. Being a personal dress up doll is usually more fun. Come on. I need to go pay for this." And if she paused by a few of the racks on the way to the cashier, then she was only window shopping. Until she picked something up.
He couldn't really stop the eyeroll that time but hopefully they'd be headed out soon. He never did understand the clothes thing. Okay, that wasn't true, he did understand it, he just wasn't in a position yet where it needed to apply to him.
Alisha used the time while she found two good shirts and one short and tight skirt - one of the first two didn't fit right, but the skirt did, thankfully - to try to puzzle out why she had a follower. Not that she was objecting, entirely, and she knew that if she did this sort of thing with Simon and maybe - but only maybe - with Nathan, they would have done the same thing. But he wasn't Simon and thankfully wasn't Nathan. There was only room in the universe for one Nathan.
Philip wasn't so much following, exactly, as keeping an eye on her. He'd brought her out to town, it was his responsibility to see her back unless he was told otherwise. Early manners training, especially from his grandparents, was tough to break.
"You know," she said as they made their way to the register so she could pay for her things, "you never did answer my question. Why are you on one of those teams." He'd never said he was, but he hadn't denied it when she'd offered her reasoning, only said that his roommate wasn't on a team.
"Because it's valuable experience in coordinating with others," Philip said. It's not like it was a secret that he was on one, the secrets were for more important things than that. "My goal before coming here was to join the military after college. That hasn't changed at this stage," he said with a shrug. "It's a family thing."
"You mentioned the thing about military." She eyed him carefully before leaning down to sign the credit card receipt. "You sure you're going to have to leave to join an army?" She was pretty sure that was what the headmasters were creating. It was more than just practicing their powers. So she heard.
Philip just gave her a look, he didn't think he was explaining it that badly. And it wasn't an English thing, he knew, he'd heard plenty about their military from that side of the family. "If... I want to join the U.S. Armed Forces, yes? They frown on claiming you're a part of them without actually being there."
"You sure you won't give it up for the ones forming right under your nose?" Maybe she was taking a wild leap into the dark, but she knew after school clubs. They didn't generally have people with unique codenames and training for...what? As far as she knew, it wasn't just self-defence.
"It's not the same thing," he said with a shrug. "And I hope you do realize that part of why some of the students are coming forward is to make the whole... issue," he said with a wave of a hand, they were still in public afterall. "The whole issue seem less of a threat."
Alisha looked away suddenly. Less of a threat. Right. She doubted Scott would think she was less of a threat. "Come on. You didn't want to be here in the first place, right? Let's go back. It's all crap anyway. No one's going to believe it. Not for long."
"You'd be surprised what people believe," Philip said. "And most of them don't believe in dangerous unless it's right in their face. Our differences can run to the more flashy, that's all." It didn't stop him from fishing for his keys though. He certainly wasn't going to enlighten Miss Daniels about the different kinds of dangerous out there. "Unless you have some sort of specific concern for yourself, but if you don't want to tell me, that's certainly fine." All he knew was, she didn't want to be touched. That there was a hazard both ways went without saying.
"You don't need to fish. If I'd wanted to tell you, you would have been told." Lowering her voice, she muttered, "Though with the way gossip flies in this school, if I'd wanted to tell anyone, it would be around the school and back by now." She'd had to make the people who did know promise that they wouldn't tell anyone.
"That wasn't fishing. There are reasons for discretion, and as long as a person is not a danger, I don't see how it has to be anyone's business. And by not a danger," Philip clarified, "I mean just that, which includes problematic abilities being handled responsibly."
"If the word 'gloves' leaves your lips, I might have to break a nail on you." She was sick of the word 'responsibility', too. The only person she had a responsibility to was herself. A quiet voice reminded her that she'd stopped touching people and she ruthlessly reminded the voice that it was only because she was sick of meaningless sex and ignored the pang she felt at the thought.
"You're assuming again," he said reasonably as they approached the car. "I'm not in any position to mandate you do anything, nor would I give advice you don't want. The only thing I would request would be, as long as your skillset isn't known to me, that you'd refrain from using it on my person. That's as much for your benefit as mine, I'm not always a safe person to be around." And it wasn't something that Philip would usually admit to, but he could not take the chance that she could cause him to slip his self imposed leash. That would be bad all the way around.
"You?" She chuckled and shook her head. "Right. I can't imagine that you'd be dangerous." He had said he wanted to be a soldier, but he just looked so...unassuming. Maybe fit underneath his clothes, but still unassuming.
Philip didn't answer, he just tipped a little smile in her direction as he went to unlock the car.
"I don't believe it," she said again. "And it wouldn't matter if I did." It wouldn't affect her at all.
"My family has a history of service," he said with a shrug as he slid into the seat. "I'm sure I'll manage when I get there. Don't forget to buckle in."
"Yes, dad." Her voice was dry, but she did buckle her seatbelt.
