Philip and Jack, backdated to October 29

[om_captain]

Philip and Jack have a chat (both utilizing their particular brands of evasion).

Today was an easy workout day for Philip, just a little light jogging, (though really, the weather was nice enough he should have gone outside). But he didn't have any additional tutoring to do today, so was taking advantage of the peace and quiet. It also could be interesting to see who was a morning type, especially with an influx of new people as they'd had.

Jack was only a morning type from years of training, and he didn't mind shaking that off most days. If early morning workouts weren't considered a requirement, he was more than happy to exercise in the afternoon. More people to show off for then too - Jack had a very everybody wins mentality on that.

But this morning was different. Nightmares had been Jack's norm for years, but ever since the Facility... well, they'd gotten much worse. This morning was getting shot. Bleeding, unable to breathe, going cold. Dying, again, pure fear as the darkness closed in.

So he was here to work away the adrenaline that had torn him awake, falling back on an old, familiar routine. Push-ups, sit-ups, a not unimpressive number of pull-ups, shifting through different styles, timings, and combinations to be thorough. He'd been pretty lax on this kind of training since coming here, so it was good to see he hadn't lost much ground.

It was helpful, sometimes, that Philip could fade into the woodwork like he could. Not that it wasn't obvious that he was in the gym, but he was just there, jogging along, don't pay any attention to the guy with the earbuds running forever. Except, of course, that he didn't actually have anything playing, it made it much easier to listen.

He'd kept a discrete eye on Jack when he came in, noting the way he'd pushed himself, and the ragged around the edges look to him that was so very familiar. Interesting.

Jack had noticed Philip too, although he didn't let on. Actually, he didn't even know Philip by name, but he recognized the Sexy Flexible Lifeguard who had a strange way of fading into the background. Which didn't bother him at all, but since the other boy had never tried to talk with him, Jack played ignorant. The guy might hate him (and had every right to), and Jack could respect that.

Finishing his last set of push-ups - one handed, excellent form, low enough to make any drill sergeant proud - Jack stood up, wiping at the light sheen of sweat on his face (and maybe preening just a bit, adding some nice stretch to the muscles in his arms). He should probably run too, and he glanced at the other boy as the thought crossed his mind, but somehow that would feel like running away. Maybe he'd swim later instead.

That seemed as good a time as any, and Philip hit the button to slow down, gradually coming to a stop. He popped the earbuds out, coiling them into their little sleeve with easy efficiency and nodded over at Jack as he caught his eye. "Got a minute?" he called out.

Jack blinked in surprise, but quickly conjured up one of those easy smiles as he started strolling toward the treadmills.

"Sure, what can I do you for?" There was just a hint of a flirt there, sort of take-it-or-leave-it. It was just how Jack talked (and got a feel for people), and he wasn't at all self-conscious about it.

"I just had a few questions if you didn't mind," Philip said. He didn't seem to really notice the flirt, not offended, just not... registering.

Carefully keeping his smile in place, Jack steeled himself a bit. The other guy clearly had some serious questions to discuss (and they probably weren't about workout routines...). In fairness, Alison had started with hard questions and quickly worked up to friendship, but there was no reason to expect that to be the norm. This could definitely get ugly, and Jack would just have to take it.

But he'd agreed to be honest with the other students about his time at the Facility, so he didn't have much choice. Still keeping the smile, he rocked back on his heels a bit and slid his hands into the pockets of his track pants. "Sure, shoot."

"Relax," Philip said as he leaned back against the treadmill, arms crossed in front of himself. "I'm not interrogating you, I was just looking for any information you'd be willing to share on your former employers."

Relax. Right. "Anything you need," Jack replied, a dark edge undercutting his easy tone. There was a deep-seated anger there, but it wasn't directed at Philip. "I'm not interested in protecting their secrets."

Philip quirked an eyebrow up at the last and deliberately did not move from his own relaxed pose. It was interesting that Jack's knee-jerk response was hostility, interesting and encouraging both. "Were you ever given any indication as to how widespread their network is?"

Jack paused briefly at the formal language, not used to it from peers. "No, not in any useful sense. They definitely have some establishment in the UK, but that's not news. They have other compounds in the US, likely in or near New York. But how many, distribution, and... research purposes," his lip curled, but he managed not to actually snarl. "Nothing reliable."

"Were you ever moved to other facilities or did you just stay in the one?" Philip asked. It wasn't surprising that Jack didn't have hard data, but it was disappointing.

"Just the one. But none of the mutants I recruited were taken there." Jack maintained his stance, but for the first time he dropped his gaze. "No details on where they wound up. Presumably nothing's surfaced or Tessa would've said something." Theoretically so would the headmasters, but Jack was far less certain on that front.

As much as Philip wanted to know more specifics, he knew that he didn't have the resources to dig any deeper. He'd have to leave that to Tessa and hope she was willing to share. "Was there anything there that lead you to believe they were affiliated with any larger group, organization, company or country?"

Jack considered this for a moment. "Not particularly. Our higher-ups pretty much had the run of the place, didn't seem like there was a lot of oversight or bureaucracy like you'd expect if they were part of a larger organization. But that doesn't rule anything out - the money was coming from somewhere."

Philip nodded as he mulled that one over. Tessa was already tracking the money, he knew. That was decidedly not his area of expertise. "I wonder if that means there's an accessible head..." he murmured, half to himself.

"More than a passing interest I take it?" Jack asked, not sure what the other teen planned to do with this information. If he reacted poorly to the question Jack would back off, but this seemed like the moment to get some of his own questions answered.

"In a way," Philip replied. "What I'm able to do with the information is limited, of course, but we've found that different viewpoints are often valuable. I just approach problems a bit differently than most."

Jack had largely moved past spikes of outright paranoia at things other students said, and he did a fair job of controlling this one. "We?"

"We," Philip said as he quirked an eyebrow at Jack. "You have talked to other people since you've been here, right? Some of us older ones just want to keep an eye on things. It's nothing nefarious."

"The nefarious is rarely advertised," Jack replied in an effectively neutral tone. He knew who he trusted at this school, but that didn't guarantee the other teen was talking about the same people. And on that note, "By the way, you are...?"

"Sorry about that. Philip Coulson," he said as he held out a hand. "I should have lead with that, I apologize."

"Jack Harkness." It was completely unnecessary, but customary for a handshake. "Or Captain, occasionally," he added with a shrug. Codenames - you never knew when it might matter. Jack gave the other boy a curious look. "So, what do you do?"

"I'll be a senior this year," Philip said with a shrug. "So, studying, deciding what my plan for next year is. I do some supplemental phys ed training with some of the other kids here."

Which was entirely what Jack was asking, right?

It would've been a fine answer, except it explained exactly none of the "different approach" Philip might have on the Facility information. It didn't seem malicious, or even suspicious really, just - well, he wasn't sure. He was having trouble getting a read on Philip. "Supplemental PE?"

"I just help out is all," Philip replied. "Mr. Judd is good but there are a lot of students here with a pretty wide fitness range. Call it being a personal trainer if that makes more sense. There's a few that I help out with some extra self defense lessons, that sort of thing."

Funny, Philip didn't seem like the martial artist type. "What kind of self defense?" Not that Jack knew much about it (his idea of self defense involved carrying a gun), he was just fishing for more information. He was starting to suspect that Philip's answers were designed to be vague.

"The kind that defends yourself," Philip said dryly. "Sorry, that was rude. It's not a specific style, my Dad worked for the government before he died, he had access to all kinds of trainers and wanted to be sure I knew how to take care of myself. So, effective, but not terrible attractive. They weren't much on flashy moves."

Which was the truth, as far as it went.

Jack's eyebrow ticked upward in amusement at Philip's response - even as his mind started processing the details. Government but not military, with access to trainers, thought self defense was required for his son to take care of himself, dead at a presumably young age... Some pieces, interesting ideas, were starting to come together.

But he left that alone. "I once dated a black belt," Jack told him, sexy grin playing at his lips at the memory. "Well, I say dated..."

"Please, regale me," Philip said dryly. There was the smallest hint of a smile with it, enough so he didn't come across as an ass. It just seemed odd how focused people were on that sort of thing. He knew it was a function of the age, but still.

The underlying disinterest amused Jack, even if it was a little puzzling. Not the typical reaction. "Not your cup of tea? Prefer a little more romance maybe?"

"I haven't really thought about it," Philip said truthfully. "This is the longest I've been in one school in my life, we moved frequently. I'm used to not getting that attached to people."

"I remember what that's like." Of course, Jack had been the opposite, making attachments quickly and not worrying when they disintegrated.

"Military brat?" Philip asked. Not that he was himself, exactly, but it was an easy enough assumption to make.

"When I was younger. Long-standing family tradition." Not Coulson, though, Jack had put that together. And probably something more interesting than the guess he was about to toss forward. He regarded Coulson curiously. "State department?"

Philip just smiled, another little quirk of the lips. "Very good. My dad was in the NSA before he died."

Not what Jack had suspected, and his face flickered through disbelief (more surprised than accusatory) before he smoothed the smile back into place. "Really - and that had you moving a lot? Don't they mostly cyber-stalk people from DC?"

"Oh, Mom did something too, some sort of consulting... something," Philip said with a shrug. "Sounded pretty boring when she talked about it, honestly."

"You lost her too?" Despite the way Philip talked about her in past tense, Jack suspected Philip meant something else.

"Oh, no. She just decided after dad that it'd be better if I was more settled." And there was some truth there. Sort of, if you looked at it right. "College soon and all that."

Jack looked thoughtful. "Does she know you're a mutant?"

"Yes," Philip said. "It's why I'm here instead of a different school. Boarding school was the answer either way." And that was as far as he was going with that subject.

"Ouch," was Jack's dry observation.

"It is what it is," Philip said with a shrug. "And I'll likely be going to college next year anyway, unless I decide to stay here a little longer so it doesn't much matter."

Jack nodded. He had his doubts - this was almost disturbingly familiar territory for him - but he kept them to himself. He never told anyone why his mother had put him in boarding school. He did give Philip a searching look, partially masked by a smile. "Sorry for prying," sort of. "Anything else you need from me?"

"No, I think that's all. I appreciate your willingness to talk," Philip said, bland smile back in place. It was obvious that they'd both not been telling whole truths, but it seemed, at least for now, that it was nothing dangerous. And he could certainly keep an eye on one more student without much trouble.

"Any time," Jack replied casually. "Just keep me looped in when you use the information."

"I will do my best," Philip said with a nod. "Thank you for your assistance."

"Yes sir," Jack said with a grin and mock salute as he took a few steps back and turned toward the locker room. Serious business aside, it wasn't like Jack could walk away without at least a little flirt. Coulson - somehow kinda mysterious and kinda dull, possibly by design? Jack wasn't sure what to make of that exactly, or of the half-truths they'd been dealing in, but he'd keep a curious eye on the other teen. Hopefully this was an ally in the making.