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om_mainThe two disgraced athletes hang out
Jean-Paul had taken a break from pacing the halls and running laps in the falling snow outside. He was keyed up, but unfocused, restless and absolutely fuck useless to everyone. Including himself.
He trailed back into the house and crashed on the couch in the rec-room, flipping through the TV channels with blinding speed. Part of him contemplated going back upstairs and seeing if he could wake Simon up for some fun, but he doubted even that would get him to fall asleep. He felt like there was a rock in his stomach and ants running around under his skin.
"Merde," he sighed. "Fucking useless..."
"Hey, everything cool in here?." An English voice asked from the doorway, it was Curtis with hot chocolate in hand. He'd been thinking about seeing what was on but finding a stressed out Jean-Paul had shifted his priorities completely. "You alright, mate?"
"Can't sleep," Jean-Paul sighed. After a moment, he sat up, making room on the couch. "Just...everything lately. And then what happened with Vance, you know?"
"Yeah, I know. Not a lot of sleep at my end either." He nodded solemnly as he joined the other boy on the sofa. He was used to spending at least an hour every day with Vance and now he was gone, that was weird enough to have to adjust to without factoring in where the kid was. "Thanks."
"I could use the company, I guess." A pause. "What aren't we going to talk about, for the record?"
"Nothing off limits with me, you?" He asked as he stirred and watching the melting marshmallows swirl a little.
Jean-Paul stared at Gordan Ramsey on the screen for a few moments, then shrugged. "No, I guess I'm good. I just wanted to be sure where we stand."
"We can avoid the recent drama if you'd rather though, not like I much like thinking about it myself." The English boy told him, glancing at the screen though with less interest. He could never understand how Gordon Ramsey could get to angry about dinner.
"I was thinking about it," Jean-Paul admitted. "But mostly about this place. And maybe how Xavier's not quite so much of an idiot as I've been taking him for."
"Can I ask why you were taking him for one?" Not that Curtis disagreed necessarily, he was just interested in the other boy's view. He blew on his drink to cool it a little before sipping carefully.
"Partially for how everything went down with Vance. Mostly...just for all of this." He waved a hand to encompass the plush surroundings. "I figured he's either an idiot or had a hell of an ulterior motive."
"Can't say I haven't wondered a few times myself." Curtis admitted with a small, serious nod. "We'd be idiots not to, I reckon."
Jean-Paul nodded absently. "I keep thinking of what I might do if I hadn't learned more control. Or if I'd had my powers back before I ran away. I might be where Vance is now. Half the time, my temper gets the better of me. Maybe the headmasters are on to something with all the emphasis on powers control and training."
As a squad leader, the importance of power control and training was not lost on Curtis at all. Nodding in agreement, he added "And then there's people like Bobby with powers that just explode on arrival, the littlest Summers and so on. They needed the danger room and badly, if they'd been left to fend for themselves then shit would have met fan more than it did. My powers aren't offensive which probably is pretty good coz, I mean, I've had a bit of a hairpin trigger on my temper lately..."
"Yeah?" That roused Jean-Paul's curiosity. "What's got you on edge?"
"Different stuff. Mostly it's being around Nathan but you'd think I'd be used to that." In fairness it was more lasting effects of what happened last year and the other Brit kids constantly setting off triggers and just plain thinking they were entitled to everything in his life. "And friends not understanding boundaries."
"I guess I'd be a hypocrite to speak too loudly on that front," Jean-Paul saidwith a faint smirk. "Is it Nathan this time?"
"Nah, things seem as ok as they get over there," Meaning Nathan was avoiding him because he didn't like being reminded that Curtis had been assaulted. Yeah. he didn't like it. Bloody typical really. "Was mostly speaking in general really."
"Fair enough. I have been keeping my distance from most anyway. I am precariously out of the loop."
"Hey, until a few months ago Scott was calling me the house hermit so I know all about that." His head bobbed in a nod before he asked "How're things going with you though? I mean since the TV show?"
"My agent has had me on damage control, mostly." Jean-Paul's nose wrinkled in distaste. "Lots of interviews with a lot of the same questions. Some offers to be studied so the full extent of my speed can be determined. All so I can better clear my name, of course."
Curtis nodded, he remembered the drill from when his own disgrace, it certainly seemed to be working better for Jean-Paul than it had him but, different circumstances and all.
"Do you want to clear your name or not care what they think?"
Jean-Paul huffed a frustrated breath up through his bangs. "Ask me again in an hour and I'll probably have a different answer for you. I don't care what they think so much as that I know they're wrong and can't prove it."
"When the papers were attacking me, calling me a disgrace to the nation all that shit, sometimes I wanted to say who I was covering for you know? Not coz of what they were saying but, like you said, coz they were wrong to assume all that shit but who'd believe me over a pretty white girl? So I didn't." His way of saying he could understand on some level where Jean-Paul was coming from.
"Right? It's a combination of knowing better than to waste your energy and wanting to shove the truth down their necks."
"God yeah. So much respect for you right now, man." Curtis nodded and added "Kind of glad I'm so far out of the public eye now that no one'll care about the mutant thing. Hate to see what the press would do with that story."
Jean-Paul had to tamp down on a flinch just considering the utter trash the muck-rakers could come up with if those two stories had been paired together.
"Doesn't bear thinking about, non? Who needs more nightmares?"
"Exactly. The one time I'm thankful my career's crashed and burned." With no chance of recovery.
He drained the last of his hot chocolate but kept a hold of the mug that was still pretty warm.
There was a more or less easy silence between the two for a few minutes, or what would have been silence if not for the ranting of the man on screen.
Finally, "I graduate this summer, though. I need to decide what I am doing next."
Curtis nodded and asked "Do you have any ideas?" Since he hung out with her, he knew Jean-Paul's sister would be a deciding factor as Simon probably would be but he didn't know how large those factors would be.
Jean-Paul shrugged. "The other thing I am really good at is cooking, but I don't know if I want to turn that into a career. Long hours, crap pay..." He shrugged. "I would have a leg up, of course, but if I do this, I do not think I would be content running a bistro in La Village. So...I do not know."
"Running was plan A for me and there was no plan B, still ain't got one to be honest. College is just a way to fill the time with an opportunity I never thought I'd get. Never would have considered it a year or more ago." Was admitted as he finally discarded the mug to the coffee table and with a grin he added. "You are a fucking good cook though, mate. Even if you don't make a career out of it."
"Merci." Jean-Paul ran his fingers up into his hair, rumpling it up in frustration. "I love the speed, you know. Can't get enough of it. But it does feel like the minute I had the freedom to go wherever I liked, my options started narrowing."
"I know what you mean. I can be almost anyone, given work and energy, and that power should be freeing but instead the world has gotten very small." Like a few mutant friends in the school, work and that was it. "It's weird."
"I know, right? But that is life now. I suppose we have to cope."
"And we've plenty of time to figure out how. God, we're teens and already got washed up careers. That's so ageing, man!" Curtis laughed a little, mostly because if he didn't laugh at himself he wasn't sure what he'd do.
"Is it not?" Jean-Paul snorted. "I really do feel like finding someone to punch in the face when I think of it."
"Anyone in particular? Or can I make suggestions?" Was chuckled back.
"Oh, be evil and tell me who is at the top of your list."
"Aright, I'll tell you my top two so long as you promise not to ask why." Because more people didn't need to know.
"Mmmm." Jean-Paul's grin slid from lazy to a dagger's sharpness. "Hit me. We will see if it lines up with my guesses."
Curtis wasn't so sure about this now, even if he was pretty sure that Jean-Paul no way knew the who or why. Surely.
"First would be my last coach." Even though he had already punched the fucker, it always needed doing again. Forever. "And the other would be a guy I did community service with and no it's not Simon or Nathan." He didn't like thinking about Rudy. He was supposed to have been a mate.
"Anywhere near your guesses?" No chance.
"Not even in the same hemisphere," Jean-Paul assured him.
"Who'd you think then? Nathan?"
"Yeah. You seem on good terms, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't want to kick the shit out of the guy sometime."
"Don't get me wrong mate, he's on the list just not the top," he told Jean-Paul before adding "Who's you top?...That coulda come out better."
Jean-Paul laughed. "Not much of a mystery anyway, is it? God, I don't know...I feel like it changes from heartbeat to heartbeat. That Johnson fucker is usually floating near the top."
"Not surprised." After what he did when he first got the the school, well Curtis was never going to trust him though Alice swore blind there was more to the kid than that. She wouldn't say anymore though so Curtis wasn't inclined to believe. "And entirely justifiable."
"Some things don't deserve to be forgiven. But I get the feeling most of the kids here know that."
"Oh trust me, I do."
Jean-Paul had taken a break from pacing the halls and running laps in the falling snow outside. He was keyed up, but unfocused, restless and absolutely fuck useless to everyone. Including himself.
He trailed back into the house and crashed on the couch in the rec-room, flipping through the TV channels with blinding speed. Part of him contemplated going back upstairs and seeing if he could wake Simon up for some fun, but he doubted even that would get him to fall asleep. He felt like there was a rock in his stomach and ants running around under his skin.
"Merde," he sighed. "Fucking useless..."
"Hey, everything cool in here?." An English voice asked from the doorway, it was Curtis with hot chocolate in hand. He'd been thinking about seeing what was on but finding a stressed out Jean-Paul had shifted his priorities completely. "You alright, mate?"
"Can't sleep," Jean-Paul sighed. After a moment, he sat up, making room on the couch. "Just...everything lately. And then what happened with Vance, you know?"
"Yeah, I know. Not a lot of sleep at my end either." He nodded solemnly as he joined the other boy on the sofa. He was used to spending at least an hour every day with Vance and now he was gone, that was weird enough to have to adjust to without factoring in where the kid was. "Thanks."
"I could use the company, I guess." A pause. "What aren't we going to talk about, for the record?"
"Nothing off limits with me, you?" He asked as he stirred and watching the melting marshmallows swirl a little.
Jean-Paul stared at Gordan Ramsey on the screen for a few moments, then shrugged. "No, I guess I'm good. I just wanted to be sure where we stand."
"We can avoid the recent drama if you'd rather though, not like I much like thinking about it myself." The English boy told him, glancing at the screen though with less interest. He could never understand how Gordon Ramsey could get to angry about dinner.
"I was thinking about it," Jean-Paul admitted. "But mostly about this place. And maybe how Xavier's not quite so much of an idiot as I've been taking him for."
"Can I ask why you were taking him for one?" Not that Curtis disagreed necessarily, he was just interested in the other boy's view. He blew on his drink to cool it a little before sipping carefully.
"Partially for how everything went down with Vance. Mostly...just for all of this." He waved a hand to encompass the plush surroundings. "I figured he's either an idiot or had a hell of an ulterior motive."
"Can't say I haven't wondered a few times myself." Curtis admitted with a small, serious nod. "We'd be idiots not to, I reckon."
Jean-Paul nodded absently. "I keep thinking of what I might do if I hadn't learned more control. Or if I'd had my powers back before I ran away. I might be where Vance is now. Half the time, my temper gets the better of me. Maybe the headmasters are on to something with all the emphasis on powers control and training."
As a squad leader, the importance of power control and training was not lost on Curtis at all. Nodding in agreement, he added "And then there's people like Bobby with powers that just explode on arrival, the littlest Summers and so on. They needed the danger room and badly, if they'd been left to fend for themselves then shit would have met fan more than it did. My powers aren't offensive which probably is pretty good coz, I mean, I've had a bit of a hairpin trigger on my temper lately..."
"Yeah?" That roused Jean-Paul's curiosity. "What's got you on edge?"
"Different stuff. Mostly it's being around Nathan but you'd think I'd be used to that." In fairness it was more lasting effects of what happened last year and the other Brit kids constantly setting off triggers and just plain thinking they were entitled to everything in his life. "And friends not understanding boundaries."
"I guess I'd be a hypocrite to speak too loudly on that front," Jean-Paul saidwith a faint smirk. "Is it Nathan this time?"
"Nah, things seem as ok as they get over there," Meaning Nathan was avoiding him because he didn't like being reminded that Curtis had been assaulted. Yeah. he didn't like it. Bloody typical really. "Was mostly speaking in general really."
"Fair enough. I have been keeping my distance from most anyway. I am precariously out of the loop."
"Hey, until a few months ago Scott was calling me the house hermit so I know all about that." His head bobbed in a nod before he asked "How're things going with you though? I mean since the TV show?"
"My agent has had me on damage control, mostly." Jean-Paul's nose wrinkled in distaste. "Lots of interviews with a lot of the same questions. Some offers to be studied so the full extent of my speed can be determined. All so I can better clear my name, of course."
Curtis nodded, he remembered the drill from when his own disgrace, it certainly seemed to be working better for Jean-Paul than it had him but, different circumstances and all.
"Do you want to clear your name or not care what they think?"
Jean-Paul huffed a frustrated breath up through his bangs. "Ask me again in an hour and I'll probably have a different answer for you. I don't care what they think so much as that I know they're wrong and can't prove it."
"When the papers were attacking me, calling me a disgrace to the nation all that shit, sometimes I wanted to say who I was covering for you know? Not coz of what they were saying but, like you said, coz they were wrong to assume all that shit but who'd believe me over a pretty white girl? So I didn't." His way of saying he could understand on some level where Jean-Paul was coming from.
"Right? It's a combination of knowing better than to waste your energy and wanting to shove the truth down their necks."
"God yeah. So much respect for you right now, man." Curtis nodded and added "Kind of glad I'm so far out of the public eye now that no one'll care about the mutant thing. Hate to see what the press would do with that story."
Jean-Paul had to tamp down on a flinch just considering the utter trash the muck-rakers could come up with if those two stories had been paired together.
"Doesn't bear thinking about, non? Who needs more nightmares?"
"Exactly. The one time I'm thankful my career's crashed and burned." With no chance of recovery.
He drained the last of his hot chocolate but kept a hold of the mug that was still pretty warm.
There was a more or less easy silence between the two for a few minutes, or what would have been silence if not for the ranting of the man on screen.
Finally, "I graduate this summer, though. I need to decide what I am doing next."
Curtis nodded and asked "Do you have any ideas?" Since he hung out with her, he knew Jean-Paul's sister would be a deciding factor as Simon probably would be but he didn't know how large those factors would be.
Jean-Paul shrugged. "The other thing I am really good at is cooking, but I don't know if I want to turn that into a career. Long hours, crap pay..." He shrugged. "I would have a leg up, of course, but if I do this, I do not think I would be content running a bistro in La Village. So...I do not know."
"Running was plan A for me and there was no plan B, still ain't got one to be honest. College is just a way to fill the time with an opportunity I never thought I'd get. Never would have considered it a year or more ago." Was admitted as he finally discarded the mug to the coffee table and with a grin he added. "You are a fucking good cook though, mate. Even if you don't make a career out of it."
"Merci." Jean-Paul ran his fingers up into his hair, rumpling it up in frustration. "I love the speed, you know. Can't get enough of it. But it does feel like the minute I had the freedom to go wherever I liked, my options started narrowing."
"I know what you mean. I can be almost anyone, given work and energy, and that power should be freeing but instead the world has gotten very small." Like a few mutant friends in the school, work and that was it. "It's weird."
"I know, right? But that is life now. I suppose we have to cope."
"And we've plenty of time to figure out how. God, we're teens and already got washed up careers. That's so ageing, man!" Curtis laughed a little, mostly because if he didn't laugh at himself he wasn't sure what he'd do.
"Is it not?" Jean-Paul snorted. "I really do feel like finding someone to punch in the face when I think of it."
"Anyone in particular? Or can I make suggestions?" Was chuckled back.
"Oh, be evil and tell me who is at the top of your list."
"Aright, I'll tell you my top two so long as you promise not to ask why." Because more people didn't need to know.
"Mmmm." Jean-Paul's grin slid from lazy to a dagger's sharpness. "Hit me. We will see if it lines up with my guesses."
Curtis wasn't so sure about this now, even if he was pretty sure that Jean-Paul no way knew the who or why. Surely.
"First would be my last coach." Even though he had already punched the fucker, it always needed doing again. Forever. "And the other would be a guy I did community service with and no it's not Simon or Nathan." He didn't like thinking about Rudy. He was supposed to have been a mate.
"Anywhere near your guesses?" No chance.
"Not even in the same hemisphere," Jean-Paul assured him.
"Who'd you think then? Nathan?"
"Yeah. You seem on good terms, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't want to kick the shit out of the guy sometime."
"Don't get me wrong mate, he's on the list just not the top," he told Jean-Paul before adding "Who's you top?...That coulda come out better."
Jean-Paul laughed. "Not much of a mystery anyway, is it? God, I don't know...I feel like it changes from heartbeat to heartbeat. That Johnson fucker is usually floating near the top."
"Not surprised." After what he did when he first got the the school, well Curtis was never going to trust him though Alice swore blind there was more to the kid than that. She wouldn't say anymore though so Curtis wasn't inclined to believe. "And entirely justifiable."
"Some things don't deserve to be forgiven. But I get the feeling most of the kids here know that."
"Oh trust me, I do."
