Curtis and Simon, backdated
Dec. 16th, 2014 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainSimon finally asks Curtis about what he was referring to at Halloween. And then they hang out!
Simon had meant to talk to Curtis about this ever since Halloween, but it had never seemed to be the right moment. So that day, when he saw his friend walking into the boys' dorm ahead of him, and no one else was around, Simon thought that it might be time to stop putting it off, and actually ask him.
He caught up with him at a small jog. "Curtis, hi," he greeted him with a small, quick smile. "Do you have a minute?"
"For you mate, I have five." Curtis smiled back in greeting. "How's it going?"
When Curtis didn't turn Simon down, Simon smiled again, this time less shyly, and a little longer. "Good. How are you?"
"Not bad, not bad." His college classes were actually going pretty well, surprisingly. "Looking forward to Christmas?"
Simon shrugged a little awkwardly as they walked side by side. "It's going to be odd, staying here." And he would not risk heading home, not when the Facility might still be watching.
"Yeah but we'll push on through. Least this place is pretty decent, right?" He was determined to see the positives, plus this was his second Christmas at Xavier's and he knew this one would be better.
"Yes," Simon agreed with a small nod. "My room?" he offered, since Curtis hadn't offered his. "I think Nathan's out."
"Oh sure," Curtis hadn't realised Simon wanted to hang but he def wasn't against the idea. "Sounds good to me."
"I wanted to ask you about something," Simon explained as he led the way to his room, and opened the door for Curtis.
"Sure, go ahead." He nodded again, assuming it was something like gift ideas for Alisha. Something he'd been pretty stuck on for a while too actually. Maybe they could go halves on something.
Now that the moment had come, Simon felt very nervous about bringing it up - whatever 'it' actually was all about. "It's - it's about what you said at Halloween," he stated as he closed the door, so they would have some privacy. "You said we all knew why being there was hard for you." The confused frown on his brow made it very clear that he had no idea, still, what Curtis had been talking about.
Curtis stared at him for a moment, feeling the awkwardness himself now. "Oh, uh, I assumed Nathan told you because, well, Nathan. I sort of thought he blabbed, he didn't tell you?" Maybe he'd underestimated Young there.
Simon shook his head. "I don't think he wants to talk about it." He certainly hadn't told Simon before, and he'd evaded answering Simon's questions since. It made him afraid whatever it was all about had something to do with Nathan himself messing up in some way.
Well, he supposed that made sense. Halloween had proved that Nathan got helluva awkward about it, almost as if the situation was worse for him that Curtis!
"Ok, well, fuck..." He sighed and rubbed at his face a little, trying to figure out what to say. "Right, so the only reason the other two know anything is coz circumstances meant that I had to tell. To explain my behavior and, well, I never even told Nathan I got someone else to do it because me and Nathan, well you've probably noticed he winds me up worse than before now..."
Given the disclaimer Curtis started with, Simon forced himself to cut in. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Just because he had had to tell them didn't mean he had to tell Simon, really.
"But, like, you need to know, I think. I'm working on stuff but we hang out so it's only fair..." Curtis sighed and paused to find words before deciding to just be blunt. Just get it out there, like ripping off a plaster. "There was a party at the community centre after I got my powers, for the girls running club. You might remember. I went with Emma as Mel and my drink was spiked. I was assaulted. Twice by two different blokes."
Simon's eyes widened, and he had to swallow before he could say anything. "I'm sorry you went through that." It was what he supposed people were supposed to say, but he also meant it. He didn't know what else to say, though. It was an awful thing to happen to anyone.
"Yeah. It fucked me up for a long time. You might remember the last week and a bit of my community service I was sort of...yeah. People here, they've helped me face it and move past. Well mostly move past, some things are still a challenge. Like going to that party in girl form. Just...just don't treat me with kid gloves now, ok?" Because Curtis hated to be pitied by anybody.
Simon immediately shook his head, although he always did his best to be careful around people. At least he wouldn't treat Curtis any differently, which was what he thought he meant. "I won't."
"Thanks mate, that's all I want." Curtis told him with a relieved expression. "Are we cool now?"
"We weren't not cool before," Simon assured him quietly.
"Glad to hear it." Curtis nodded with a small smile. "Ok so, serious shit out of the way, wanna just hang?"
Simon's smile was hesitant, but it was there. "Sure." The hesitancy carried over for a couple of beats, and he added, "Thank you for telling me." He just wanted to say that, because Curtis hadn't had to, and it meant a lot that he trusted Simon with something like that.
Curtis nodded with a more certain smile. "I trust you, we're mates right? Nuff said."
Simon nodded slightly, still a little hesitant to believe that he was anyone's mate - or friend, depending on their terminology. But Curtis would not have shared something so personal if he wasn't, so clearly, it had to be true. "Okay."
At this point Curtis was sitting in a desk chair, presumably Nathan's by the state of the desk and sitting more comfortable now that they weren't talking about the incident. "So, how's life? Been up to much?"
Simon shrugged a little, and moved to his own desk chair, turning it to face Curtis as he answered. "The usual. Not really." He sat on it once it was facing the right way, laying his hands down on his thighs to stop himself from fidgeting. "Shaun, Jensen and I are still doing a lot of parkour, and Philip is still helping me train." He didn't know if Laura's offer would still stand, given what that had happened to her since, but training with Philip was also an end unto itself.
"Training a lot then?" He could see a noticeable difference in Simon, it was true. He wasn't quite the skinny kid he'd met over a year ago but still, it was hard not to picture him like that.
Simon shrugged uneasily. "I want to be ready."
After where Simon had been, it seemed pretty stupid to ask for what.
"You can join me any time. I train some of the other students round here." He offered instead.
"You know how to fight?" Simon asked with raised eyebrows. Well, most of them knew how to fight by now, if they were serious about their lessons with Puck and their squad, but Simon meant, did Curtis know how to fight well enough to teach students? He had not known that about his friend.
"I meant more in the gym and running, physical fitness is an important factor too. No point in learning the moves if you lose steam when you're only half way through, right?" Curtis pointed out with a half shrug. "It's an offer, you don't have to take me up on it."
"Oh," Simon acknowledged, then smiled awkwardly. "Thank you, but I'm already working with Philip." He wouldn't even be practicing parkour if he hadn't already seriously stepped up his game in terms of fitness, core strength and endurance, and then Philip had agreed to help him. "He's very good about that." Simon knew that it didn't show very much, that people kept seeing the same Simon he used to be (and that was fine by him), but he had built up a lot more muscle mass than he used to have.
"That's cool, I'll just be forever heartbroken I wasn't your first thought for fitness trainer." Curtis joked with a small, mock pout.
"I didn't want to bother you," Simon assured him immediately. He knew that Curtis was teasing him, but he still felt bad. "And Philip offered." Besides, Philip and he worked on a lot more than fitness. He honestly would never have thought to ask Curtis.
"Seriously, it's all cool, no worries mate. If you ever want me though, you know where to find me." Of course he wasn't genuinely insulted and brushed it off quite happily with a shrug. "It's working well for you? All the training?"
"I think so," Simon confirmed with a small nod. Of course, he wouldn't really know until he was in a situation to make sure, but he thought that it was going well. He was certainly happy with his progress, although he still wasn't as good as Philip. But he wasn't sure that he ever would be. "What about you, how have you been?"
"In training? Not bad, my running is as good as it ever was, better in fact. Been getting some record times. My other stuff, well I'm a team leader and in male bodies it's all good. Now I'm working on females but it's harder to do combat training in the female bodies because previously mentioned reasons." But he was planning to recruit Jack to that cause.
Simon nodded thoughtfully, hesitated, then decided to go ahead and say it. No kid gloves and all. "That sounds as if it's all the more important to train in the female bodies."
"I doubt knowing self defense would have helped me after my drink had already been spiked." Curtis pointed out evenly. "It is important for me to be able to defend myself in all my bodies equally though."
Simon nodded at that last part. "That's what I meant."
"I'm working on it." Curtis nodded before adding "How're you finding the firearms training? That shit's intense."
Simon frowned slightly, but nodded. "It's not what I like best, but it's necessary." It was, if they wanted to be ready. He didn't have to like it, just to make sure he did his best in every area of training.
"I hate it personally but, yeah, it's needed. I'm not too bad at it either. Not exactly something I'm proud of though." The blasé American approach to guns and giving guns to teenagers would forever skeeve him out though. And the stereotype of the black teen boy with a gun? No thank you. Even if he did apparently have a natural flare for it or whatever.
"I will be, if it's something that ever helps me save someone," Simon answered quietly. He had been so close to passing out, but he could remember with surprising clarity the moment the bullets lodged themselves into Nathan.
"I know what you mean, mate." Curtis nodded, patting Simon's shoulder without thinking. Nathan's shooting had understandably affected Simon, and at least his reaction was more useful than da Costas reaction though no less valid of course.
And maybe Curtis really did, given what had happened to him. He knew the kind of things that could happen when no one was around to save you. Simon nodded in acknowledgement. "You said you were a team leader?" he asked, going back a bit in the conversation.
"Yeah my squad did a whole 'every gets a turn' thing and they ended up picking me as best. I'm liking it, it's challenging and shit but good. It helps to keep pushing me when I could be getting complacent, you know?" He was moving side to side a little in the spinning desk chair unconsciously.
"That's great," Simon told him with a genuine smile. "Who's in your squad?"
"Jeanne-Marie, Barbara, Lorna, Ben, Angelo, Toph, Simon and, uh, Vance." His rag-tag band that he had a lot of pride and affection for actually.
Simon had never even talked to most of them, but that was par for the course when it came to him. But he knew who they were; that, too, was typical Simon. "It sounds like a very diverse team."
Curtis nodded in agreement "A nice varied skill set and not just with the powers either so it makes training a lot of fun. I have to really think my training programs through in details."
"I can only imagine," Simon agreed. The closest he had ever come to something like that was devising practices with Shaun and Jensen when they couldn't go to town, and they all had more or less the same level in parkour, and came with the same basic physical abilities.
"I like a challenge though." Curtis added quickly before asking "Who's in your team?"
"Backlash and Vector, Dazzler, Diamond, Northstar, Scarlet Witch, Shade, and Cache," Simon replied, instinctively using codenames rather than first names. Squad was serious business, as far as he was concerned, and that sort of safe measure had become second nature when it came to them.
"Good group, from those I know." He nodded approvingly at the list. "How're you finding it?"
"I like it," Simon nodded, "but I think they should mix us up for practice sometimes. If something happens, what are the chances we will be with our squad?"
"Unless they plan to send the squads into situations for specific reasons." Curtis pointed out, something he'd wondered a few times actually. "You're right though, maybe I should email the other leaders, do some joint training sessions."
Simon did not think that that first option was very likely. Simply because you signed on to be on a squad did not mean that you were ready to act as a soldier, or an agent, or whatever it was that would make them exactly. A lot of the students would not volunteer for that. And when they had needed a small intervention team in the past, they had picked members from several squads. "That would be good," he confirmed, although he wasn't sure who Curtis might e-mail in their squad. It wasn't as if they had picked a leader.
"I'll see what I can cook up." Curtis promised before adding "What's going on for you besides training and bulking up then? Feel like I barely see you."
"I'm around," Simon answered with a small shrug. Yes, parkour took up a lot of his time, but not that much - and he saw Curtis, even if Curtis didn't see him. It was the way things had always been. "Classes, and filming. I'm looking at film schools nearby."
"Anything take your fancy yet?" He'd forgotten it was getting to that time again. His own graduation had taken him by surprise let alone everyone elses!
"I really like the school of visual arts," Simon answered, but he had no idea if he would get in. He would do his best, though. "But there are so many schools. I hope I can get into any of them." He just didn't want to go very far.
"What do you need to get in?" Curtis kept thinking in terms of UCAS points, the UK way of getting into unis, despite getting into an American college. Not an actual known one or anything but all the famous ones lost interest when he'd said he wanted to do online classes.
"The essays are the toughest part," Simon replied with a purse of his lips. "But I've been working on them." They were different for the different schools, and it was a lot of work.
"You should see the essay I have due in end of the week. So many damn words." He pulled a face but, yeah, it was interesting. Just...work.
"What is it about?" Simon asked curiously.
"Discussing the performative nature of gender using Judith Butler as key source. Not as dry as it sounds though Butler can be fucking hard work at times." Though he really didn't want to be trying to explain that one in anymore detail to him.
"If you say so," Simon answered with a bit of a crooked smile. He had no idea.
"Yeah, thought as much." Was chuckled back.
"What does it mean? The performative nature of gender?" He had an idea, but he wasn't sure that it was the right one.
"It's about how gender isn't just something assigned to you at birth or whatever, it's performed. Like a character or role. One of Butler's examples is drag. A man performing the female gender, usualy satirizing it too though that's a bit off topic. We all do it, right now I'm pretty much unconsciously perform muscularity or the cultural idea of masculinity and so are you, when I shift I perform femininity...for the most part. I blur the lines a lot." He paused to think over his explanation. "That wasn't the best way to say it but I think you get what I mean, right? Society has a fixed idea of what gender is or isn't and by and large most people tend to adhere to it. Play up to it."
"Like a nature vs nurture thing?" Simon tried to rephrase it. "We are taught to behave like men or women?"
"Yeah but in truth gender is way more complicated than the binary most of us buy into. Considering my mutation, I'm loving this course." He grinned a little as he explained.
Simon thought it over silently, then nodded, and smiled a little as he noticed Curtis's grin. Mutations offered people such chances. He never would have thought that pre-mutation Curtis would have cared about gender issues, never mind been this enthusiastic about gender... flexibility? That seemed like a good word for it. "That's good."
"It feels good to be understanding it all more, controlling it better. How's your invisibility stuff going?" Curtis had never actually seen him do his thing.
"Well," Simon replied with a nod. "I fully control the on/off switch, by now." And that was something, given how difficult it had been at first. He had even moved on to trying to develop his power in different directions!
"That's really great!" And Curtis wasn't taking the piss either. He knew what it was like to not be in control of your mutation, how depressing and annoying it was.
As always, any hint of positive reinforcement worked a charm on Simon, and he smiled, almost not awkwardly. "Thank you."
Simon had meant to talk to Curtis about this ever since Halloween, but it had never seemed to be the right moment. So that day, when he saw his friend walking into the boys' dorm ahead of him, and no one else was around, Simon thought that it might be time to stop putting it off, and actually ask him.
He caught up with him at a small jog. "Curtis, hi," he greeted him with a small, quick smile. "Do you have a minute?"
"For you mate, I have five." Curtis smiled back in greeting. "How's it going?"
When Curtis didn't turn Simon down, Simon smiled again, this time less shyly, and a little longer. "Good. How are you?"
"Not bad, not bad." His college classes were actually going pretty well, surprisingly. "Looking forward to Christmas?"
Simon shrugged a little awkwardly as they walked side by side. "It's going to be odd, staying here." And he would not risk heading home, not when the Facility might still be watching.
"Yeah but we'll push on through. Least this place is pretty decent, right?" He was determined to see the positives, plus this was his second Christmas at Xavier's and he knew this one would be better.
"Yes," Simon agreed with a small nod. "My room?" he offered, since Curtis hadn't offered his. "I think Nathan's out."
"Oh sure," Curtis hadn't realised Simon wanted to hang but he def wasn't against the idea. "Sounds good to me."
"I wanted to ask you about something," Simon explained as he led the way to his room, and opened the door for Curtis.
"Sure, go ahead." He nodded again, assuming it was something like gift ideas for Alisha. Something he'd been pretty stuck on for a while too actually. Maybe they could go halves on something.
Now that the moment had come, Simon felt very nervous about bringing it up - whatever 'it' actually was all about. "It's - it's about what you said at Halloween," he stated as he closed the door, so they would have some privacy. "You said we all knew why being there was hard for you." The confused frown on his brow made it very clear that he had no idea, still, what Curtis had been talking about.
Curtis stared at him for a moment, feeling the awkwardness himself now. "Oh, uh, I assumed Nathan told you because, well, Nathan. I sort of thought he blabbed, he didn't tell you?" Maybe he'd underestimated Young there.
Simon shook his head. "I don't think he wants to talk about it." He certainly hadn't told Simon before, and he'd evaded answering Simon's questions since. It made him afraid whatever it was all about had something to do with Nathan himself messing up in some way.
Well, he supposed that made sense. Halloween had proved that Nathan got helluva awkward about it, almost as if the situation was worse for him that Curtis!
"Ok, well, fuck..." He sighed and rubbed at his face a little, trying to figure out what to say. "Right, so the only reason the other two know anything is coz circumstances meant that I had to tell. To explain my behavior and, well, I never even told Nathan I got someone else to do it because me and Nathan, well you've probably noticed he winds me up worse than before now..."
Given the disclaimer Curtis started with, Simon forced himself to cut in. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Just because he had had to tell them didn't mean he had to tell Simon, really.
"But, like, you need to know, I think. I'm working on stuff but we hang out so it's only fair..." Curtis sighed and paused to find words before deciding to just be blunt. Just get it out there, like ripping off a plaster. "There was a party at the community centre after I got my powers, for the girls running club. You might remember. I went with Emma as Mel and my drink was spiked. I was assaulted. Twice by two different blokes."
Simon's eyes widened, and he had to swallow before he could say anything. "I'm sorry you went through that." It was what he supposed people were supposed to say, but he also meant it. He didn't know what else to say, though. It was an awful thing to happen to anyone.
"Yeah. It fucked me up for a long time. You might remember the last week and a bit of my community service I was sort of...yeah. People here, they've helped me face it and move past. Well mostly move past, some things are still a challenge. Like going to that party in girl form. Just...just don't treat me with kid gloves now, ok?" Because Curtis hated to be pitied by anybody.
Simon immediately shook his head, although he always did his best to be careful around people. At least he wouldn't treat Curtis any differently, which was what he thought he meant. "I won't."
"Thanks mate, that's all I want." Curtis told him with a relieved expression. "Are we cool now?"
"We weren't not cool before," Simon assured him quietly.
"Glad to hear it." Curtis nodded with a small smile. "Ok so, serious shit out of the way, wanna just hang?"
Simon's smile was hesitant, but it was there. "Sure." The hesitancy carried over for a couple of beats, and he added, "Thank you for telling me." He just wanted to say that, because Curtis hadn't had to, and it meant a lot that he trusted Simon with something like that.
Curtis nodded with a more certain smile. "I trust you, we're mates right? Nuff said."
Simon nodded slightly, still a little hesitant to believe that he was anyone's mate - or friend, depending on their terminology. But Curtis would not have shared something so personal if he wasn't, so clearly, it had to be true. "Okay."
At this point Curtis was sitting in a desk chair, presumably Nathan's by the state of the desk and sitting more comfortable now that they weren't talking about the incident. "So, how's life? Been up to much?"
Simon shrugged a little, and moved to his own desk chair, turning it to face Curtis as he answered. "The usual. Not really." He sat on it once it was facing the right way, laying his hands down on his thighs to stop himself from fidgeting. "Shaun, Jensen and I are still doing a lot of parkour, and Philip is still helping me train." He didn't know if Laura's offer would still stand, given what that had happened to her since, but training with Philip was also an end unto itself.
"Training a lot then?" He could see a noticeable difference in Simon, it was true. He wasn't quite the skinny kid he'd met over a year ago but still, it was hard not to picture him like that.
Simon shrugged uneasily. "I want to be ready."
After where Simon had been, it seemed pretty stupid to ask for what.
"You can join me any time. I train some of the other students round here." He offered instead.
"You know how to fight?" Simon asked with raised eyebrows. Well, most of them knew how to fight by now, if they were serious about their lessons with Puck and their squad, but Simon meant, did Curtis know how to fight well enough to teach students? He had not known that about his friend.
"I meant more in the gym and running, physical fitness is an important factor too. No point in learning the moves if you lose steam when you're only half way through, right?" Curtis pointed out with a half shrug. "It's an offer, you don't have to take me up on it."
"Oh," Simon acknowledged, then smiled awkwardly. "Thank you, but I'm already working with Philip." He wouldn't even be practicing parkour if he hadn't already seriously stepped up his game in terms of fitness, core strength and endurance, and then Philip had agreed to help him. "He's very good about that." Simon knew that it didn't show very much, that people kept seeing the same Simon he used to be (and that was fine by him), but he had built up a lot more muscle mass than he used to have.
"That's cool, I'll just be forever heartbroken I wasn't your first thought for fitness trainer." Curtis joked with a small, mock pout.
"I didn't want to bother you," Simon assured him immediately. He knew that Curtis was teasing him, but he still felt bad. "And Philip offered." Besides, Philip and he worked on a lot more than fitness. He honestly would never have thought to ask Curtis.
"Seriously, it's all cool, no worries mate. If you ever want me though, you know where to find me." Of course he wasn't genuinely insulted and brushed it off quite happily with a shrug. "It's working well for you? All the training?"
"I think so," Simon confirmed with a small nod. Of course, he wouldn't really know until he was in a situation to make sure, but he thought that it was going well. He was certainly happy with his progress, although he still wasn't as good as Philip. But he wasn't sure that he ever would be. "What about you, how have you been?"
"In training? Not bad, my running is as good as it ever was, better in fact. Been getting some record times. My other stuff, well I'm a team leader and in male bodies it's all good. Now I'm working on females but it's harder to do combat training in the female bodies because previously mentioned reasons." But he was planning to recruit Jack to that cause.
Simon nodded thoughtfully, hesitated, then decided to go ahead and say it. No kid gloves and all. "That sounds as if it's all the more important to train in the female bodies."
"I doubt knowing self defense would have helped me after my drink had already been spiked." Curtis pointed out evenly. "It is important for me to be able to defend myself in all my bodies equally though."
Simon nodded at that last part. "That's what I meant."
"I'm working on it." Curtis nodded before adding "How're you finding the firearms training? That shit's intense."
Simon frowned slightly, but nodded. "It's not what I like best, but it's necessary." It was, if they wanted to be ready. He didn't have to like it, just to make sure he did his best in every area of training.
"I hate it personally but, yeah, it's needed. I'm not too bad at it either. Not exactly something I'm proud of though." The blasé American approach to guns and giving guns to teenagers would forever skeeve him out though. And the stereotype of the black teen boy with a gun? No thank you. Even if he did apparently have a natural flare for it or whatever.
"I will be, if it's something that ever helps me save someone," Simon answered quietly. He had been so close to passing out, but he could remember with surprising clarity the moment the bullets lodged themselves into Nathan.
"I know what you mean, mate." Curtis nodded, patting Simon's shoulder without thinking. Nathan's shooting had understandably affected Simon, and at least his reaction was more useful than da Costas reaction though no less valid of course.
And maybe Curtis really did, given what had happened to him. He knew the kind of things that could happen when no one was around to save you. Simon nodded in acknowledgement. "You said you were a team leader?" he asked, going back a bit in the conversation.
"Yeah my squad did a whole 'every gets a turn' thing and they ended up picking me as best. I'm liking it, it's challenging and shit but good. It helps to keep pushing me when I could be getting complacent, you know?" He was moving side to side a little in the spinning desk chair unconsciously.
"That's great," Simon told him with a genuine smile. "Who's in your squad?"
"Jeanne-Marie, Barbara, Lorna, Ben, Angelo, Toph, Simon and, uh, Vance." His rag-tag band that he had a lot of pride and affection for actually.
Simon had never even talked to most of them, but that was par for the course when it came to him. But he knew who they were; that, too, was typical Simon. "It sounds like a very diverse team."
Curtis nodded in agreement "A nice varied skill set and not just with the powers either so it makes training a lot of fun. I have to really think my training programs through in details."
"I can only imagine," Simon agreed. The closest he had ever come to something like that was devising practices with Shaun and Jensen when they couldn't go to town, and they all had more or less the same level in parkour, and came with the same basic physical abilities.
"I like a challenge though." Curtis added quickly before asking "Who's in your team?"
"Backlash and Vector, Dazzler, Diamond, Northstar, Scarlet Witch, Shade, and Cache," Simon replied, instinctively using codenames rather than first names. Squad was serious business, as far as he was concerned, and that sort of safe measure had become second nature when it came to them.
"Good group, from those I know." He nodded approvingly at the list. "How're you finding it?"
"I like it," Simon nodded, "but I think they should mix us up for practice sometimes. If something happens, what are the chances we will be with our squad?"
"Unless they plan to send the squads into situations for specific reasons." Curtis pointed out, something he'd wondered a few times actually. "You're right though, maybe I should email the other leaders, do some joint training sessions."
Simon did not think that that first option was very likely. Simply because you signed on to be on a squad did not mean that you were ready to act as a soldier, or an agent, or whatever it was that would make them exactly. A lot of the students would not volunteer for that. And when they had needed a small intervention team in the past, they had picked members from several squads. "That would be good," he confirmed, although he wasn't sure who Curtis might e-mail in their squad. It wasn't as if they had picked a leader.
"I'll see what I can cook up." Curtis promised before adding "What's going on for you besides training and bulking up then? Feel like I barely see you."
"I'm around," Simon answered with a small shrug. Yes, parkour took up a lot of his time, but not that much - and he saw Curtis, even if Curtis didn't see him. It was the way things had always been. "Classes, and filming. I'm looking at film schools nearby."
"Anything take your fancy yet?" He'd forgotten it was getting to that time again. His own graduation had taken him by surprise let alone everyone elses!
"I really like the school of visual arts," Simon answered, but he had no idea if he would get in. He would do his best, though. "But there are so many schools. I hope I can get into any of them." He just didn't want to go very far.
"What do you need to get in?" Curtis kept thinking in terms of UCAS points, the UK way of getting into unis, despite getting into an American college. Not an actual known one or anything but all the famous ones lost interest when he'd said he wanted to do online classes.
"The essays are the toughest part," Simon replied with a purse of his lips. "But I've been working on them." They were different for the different schools, and it was a lot of work.
"You should see the essay I have due in end of the week. So many damn words." He pulled a face but, yeah, it was interesting. Just...work.
"What is it about?" Simon asked curiously.
"Discussing the performative nature of gender using Judith Butler as key source. Not as dry as it sounds though Butler can be fucking hard work at times." Though he really didn't want to be trying to explain that one in anymore detail to him.
"If you say so," Simon answered with a bit of a crooked smile. He had no idea.
"Yeah, thought as much." Was chuckled back.
"What does it mean? The performative nature of gender?" He had an idea, but he wasn't sure that it was the right one.
"It's about how gender isn't just something assigned to you at birth or whatever, it's performed. Like a character or role. One of Butler's examples is drag. A man performing the female gender, usualy satirizing it too though that's a bit off topic. We all do it, right now I'm pretty much unconsciously perform muscularity or the cultural idea of masculinity and so are you, when I shift I perform femininity...for the most part. I blur the lines a lot." He paused to think over his explanation. "That wasn't the best way to say it but I think you get what I mean, right? Society has a fixed idea of what gender is or isn't and by and large most people tend to adhere to it. Play up to it."
"Like a nature vs nurture thing?" Simon tried to rephrase it. "We are taught to behave like men or women?"
"Yeah but in truth gender is way more complicated than the binary most of us buy into. Considering my mutation, I'm loving this course." He grinned a little as he explained.
Simon thought it over silently, then nodded, and smiled a little as he noticed Curtis's grin. Mutations offered people such chances. He never would have thought that pre-mutation Curtis would have cared about gender issues, never mind been this enthusiastic about gender... flexibility? That seemed like a good word for it. "That's good."
"It feels good to be understanding it all more, controlling it better. How's your invisibility stuff going?" Curtis had never actually seen him do his thing.
"Well," Simon replied with a nod. "I fully control the on/off switch, by now." And that was something, given how difficult it had been at first. He had even moved on to trying to develop his power in different directions!
"That's really great!" And Curtis wasn't taking the piss either. He knew what it was like to not be in control of your mutation, how depressing and annoying it was.
As always, any hint of positive reinforcement worked a charm on Simon, and he smiled, almost not awkwardly. "Thank you."
