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om_mainBecky wants the dirt on Victor and Vance's relationship, Victor would much rather talk about musical theatre really.
warning: there's brief, non-detailed talk about racism and lynchings
Becky collapsed on her bed. The movie had been pretty good, but she had spent a good portion of it still mulling over the Vance and Victor situation. Rolling over onto her stomach with her feet in the air idly swaying back and forth, she pulled out her phone and sent a series of texts to Victor.
So.....
I think you forgot to mention something?
Maybe?
About your ex??
And his identity??!?
????!?!?!??!!
When he picked up his phone that was pinging and vibrating violently from the rapid fire messages, Victor rolled his eyes. OK, it had taken Becky WAY longer than expected to figure out that one. Not that he overly wanted to talk about it to Becky but with Pietro not there Nico and Becky where all he had really.
Couldn't much tell you in front of him!
Especially when he apparently wasn't gonna admit it.
But come on I was hinting and isn't subtext your department??
Hell, I told you my ex when to juvie, he just go out of juvie. That's not subtext that IS the text.
Thought you'd figure it out faster though, gotta say
Becky pouted as she read the texts. She was a little disappointed in herself, actually.
Apparently I missed the message about his jail time??
Just thought the party was b/c people missed him lots?
And OMG that pic of him?
WTF did they give him steroids in prison????
Victor couldn't help laughing and shaking his head. Of course Becky focused on that bit.
IKR???? He dumps me, refuses to see/hear me out. No closure, no nothing. Then he turns up extra hotter and in a skin tight fucking t-shirt!! Someone in the universe hates me ALOT.
So how'd you finally figure it out?
actually wanna meet up? Might be easier than texting bout it i dunno
Becky snorted before rolling off the bed.
LOL. Yana spilled the beans about juvie.
Sure, kitchen good? I'm craving ice cream...
And that caused another groan
That girl basically hates me so I doubt she's told you anything true about me.
Ice cream YES GOD YES
He was already pulling a hoodie on, the school wasn't nearly as warm as his room after all.
*****
Hearing the kitchen door open, Becky pointed her spoon at the person entering, hoping it was going to be Victor. "Hope you didn't want the last of the Moose Tracks. It's allllll miiiiiiiine."
Hey, snoozing and losing, right? And there were still a few options left over.
"That's cool, I'm more of a cookie dough kind of a guy," And there had been at least one tub of Ben and Jerry's 'Half Baked' when he'd peaked in the freezer earlier. Ah perfect.
Grabbing a spoon, he came round to sit with Becky. As he dug into the iced treat, he figured he might as well get the conversation started since they both knew why they were there.
"You know, I thought comparing him to zombie Rick would have been the least subtle hint. I mean secret boyfriend who dumps Kieren by letter and doesn't see him for like a year before turning up suddenly? I mean, yeah, Vance lacks the knife in the head but still."
"Hey, I can't help it if I'm a visual person! That baby-faced picture of your ex really threw me off! I should have gotten that the Rick thing was a hint, though." She pouted and stabbed into her ice cream. "I mean, I got that there was angst and at least UST, but I totally failed at the subtext. I should give up my fangirl card."
Victor shrugged and he shoved his spoon in. "I was only trying to tell you at the time coz I was worried you might misread and try to do your Yenta thing otherwise."
Becky rolled her eyes and waved her spoon lazily in his direction. "You know, it would go much more smoothly if you gave me some hints." Taking another bite, she resolutely set the utensil down. "But stop distracting me! I've got the story of him and Yana now - uh, by the way, you probably want to avoid her for the next, uhh... forever, probably. Anyways! Now you have to tell me what the deal with you and Vance is!"
"Dunno what to say really. We were best friends, then we dated for nearly a year and, well, I told you how we ended. And before all that, after I changed to this, I was convinced no one would ever want or love a lizard. Then I got convinced only Vance could but I'm over that now." He shrugged a little, his spoon toying with the be cream. "But for a while I was real broken up and an idiot over it. You walked in during the first time I'd seen him since the break up so weird. Yeah. So weird."
She briefly leaned over to nudge him with her shoulder, trying to give him a little solidarity. And, well, Victor was physically unique but she was just weird in the head, so she knew how he felt. She did feel the need to correct him, though. "You really didn't, though. Tell me how it ended. I mean, you said he went to juvie, but that doesn't necessarily mean break-up."
"I thought that too at the time but after the last time I visited him, all promises to get through it together and stuff, then he sent me a 'Dear John' letter saying it was for my own good. He barred me from visiting or even calling, we never discussed it. Never had any sort of closure and then, you know, our first conversation since the letter was the one you walked in on."
He shrugged and flashed a smile, excavating a chunk of brownie as he did so. "It's done, I'm over it but it's weird. He was my best friend, now he's not. He said he loved me, clearly not. At the time I thought he'd be the only person who could ever, now I don't. I don't really know what you're looking for here to be honest."
As the listened to the story, Becky's eyes slowly widened in outrage. "He did what?!" She put her spoon down with a hard thunk. "That low-lifed, jerk-wad... ass-butt! Who even does that? That's like -" she opened and closed her mouth a few times, at a loss. "That's like something I would write if I was in the mood to put everyone through the emotional wringer!"
She sat back and crossed her arms. "And I would only ever introduce that if I intended for them to come back together once the circumstances changed. But with him dating Yana, now..." She pursed her lips. That just made him a jerk.
"Huh. Surprising, didn't think she was actually his type." Hateful girls who do mean spirited pranks, apparently that was where Vance was going now that he'd moved on from him. Interesting choice, little bit insulting really. But, yeah, he'd actually been willing to apologise to Illyana for some of the mistakes made in their first meeting (but still random new girl wearing Vance's clothes? He was totally justified to question it!) anyway he'd been completely planning to apologise until she and Harley had started than nasty prank campaign on him. Filling his coke with soy and all sorts of shit. Petty and nasty behavior and, sorry, Victor did not negotiate with bullies. And he was surprised Vance would date one but, clearly, either he never knew Vance as well a he though or Vance had changed dramatically in the last year.
He started eating the ice cream rather than playing with it as it softened as,for a moment, he considered turning up the heat in the once they were done with frozen treats.
"Anyway, I don't want you making him the villain or anything. Yeah, it was kinda a dick move to me but I'm ok now, really. It screwed me up for a while, anyone here will probably happily tell you I was self destructive and not fun to live with at all but I'm ok now. Really."
Becky side-eyed him. Other than the silliness of him not realizing he was cute, Vic didn't seem particularly destructive. "Total dick move. Seems like you're better off without him. And now you can find true love somewhere else!" Though maybe she'd go through with her thought to make Vance think he was a frog even if he and Yana did make up.
"I dunno about true love. Anyway please don't go saying any of this to Vance or anything yeah?" He'd heard about the time she'd yelled at Jack after all. "I kind of need to be able to live with him for the next few years." He chewed on cookie dough thoughtfully before adding. "Maybe I'm better off single for a while, less drama that way."
"Fine," Becky pouted as she picked up her spoon again. "But I still think he owes you like, at least an explanation."
For the single thing? Well, since Victor didn't want to do the townie thing, his options were a little limited. "I mean, do what you think is best - and there are a billion movies about finding connection as soon as you stop looking, so there's always that - but don't give up, 'kay? And..." She had been thinking about this since she had been asked to beta-test the website. "I know you didn't want to do the internet dating thing before, because of the whole lying thing, but what do you think about the new mutants-only forum? X-cape? Right now I think it's just for us and alums, but if they widen it out?"
"His explanation was and still is 'it was for the best' one of the many things we'd been discussing when you walked in." Victor explained before moving onto the other topic, and kinda hoping they were done with the Vance talk. "And the dating stuff, we'll see. I haven't given up, this isn't me giving up I just think maybe I need to put my energies into other things for a bit, just try enjoying everything in general. Be happier."
"Other things like what? If you say school work I may have to pretend like we've never met..." Becky twirled her spoon through her ice cream. "Being happy is a good goal, though."
"Well, you know sounds kinda lame but just hanging with my friends, no drama. Though talking of drama we do a yearly play and I wanna get a good part in that, last year I sorta refused because," He waved his hand vaguely hoping she'd filling in the blank considering how she now knew he'd responded to the breakup. "I was Dorian Gray the year before that, first time I ever got to be lead."
"I'm so excited for this play you have no idea! Do they let us use our powers?" The thought of Victor, so concerned of his appearance, taking on the role of the ultimate vain playboy was interesting, though. "And are there any videos of that? I bet you were adorable!"
"Uh, I'm sure someone'll have them. It was a lot of fun, I loved it." Victor grinned a little, trying not to come over as arrogant even though he knew his performance hand been pretty awesome and then he added "How do you feel about musical theatre?"
"Uh... watching or performing?"
"Either."
She shrugged. "I like watching them, I guess. It depends on the musical? I liked how epic the Les Mis movie felt. Some of the plotlines are... a stretch, though." And from a Supernatural fangirl, that was really saying something. "For performing... I don't exactly have the best pipes."
"Audience members are still appreciated though." Victor pointed out. "I dunno, I might be thinking about doing something because the other show is always a straight play. Depends on interest. Like I said, busy busy."
"That could be totally cool!" She leaned forward, but then jerked backwards when her hair almost fell in her very melty ice cream. Grabbing a fresh spoonful she asked, "So, original work? Are you a secret playwright? Or are you planning on going all Valjean on us?"
He chewed and swallowed cookie dough before telling her "I'm not really a Les Mis guy, kinda more Cabaret, Rent, Priscilla, that's sort of thing, but we'll see. Ideas are only beginning to form, best not to rush them."
She scrunched up her face, thinking. "Yeah, the only one of those I've seen is Rent."
"Depending on the cast, 'Rent' can make me sob. Oh, if you liked it though you might like 'If/Then'. Priscilla is good in some parts but it's, like, 20 years old and has some really problematic racism and transphobic bits going on, you know? Cabaret is totally famous, Liza Minnelli was in the movie?" Victor explained enthusiastically, he couldn't help it. Theatre talk got him excited.
Reminded of it, Becky started blinking rapidly and sniffing. "Oh, Angel... you sweet, drumming, darling boy..."
"Angel would be an awesome role to play." Victor agreed with a nod. "Not sure about the heels though! I might break my neck, agility enhancement or no."
"Don't die!" Becky admonished him, wiping at the corners of her eyes. Then she snorted. "Er, though I guess if you played Angel... kind of hard to avoid. Really, though, Joanne can do it backwards in heels, you have no excuse!"
"In 1990 I don't think surviving AIDS was an option going backwards or forwards." Victor reasoned with a shrug.
Becky blinked, then snorted again. "No, silly, I meant you not dying from your heels if you played him. Though I can't talk at all. I am like, worse than a baby gazelle in heels!"
Victor laughed at himself, face-palming "Ok, that was a stupid mistake. And yeah, killer heels but I bet Pietro or Sirius could teach me, right?"
Becky started laughing so hard she had to put her head down on the table. "I can't-" She gasped. "I don't-" She bit her knuckle before taking a few deep breaths. "I can't handle the fact that the two people you would ask to learn how to walk in heels are both guys."
"Well, guys can wear heels you know! Besides makes sense to me. Guys to teach guys coz say Lydia wears heels all the time but doesn't know how to learn from a guy's perspective, does she?" He shrugged a little, he didn't see the humour in it but then he'd long since been converted to Pietro's 'clothes and accessories are for ALL genders' stance.
Still taking deep breaths, Becky waved a hand a little dismissively. "Oh no, I mean it's awesome - just totally different from what I grew up around, is all. Maybe they'd be willing to teach me, too?"
Victor shrugged and told her honestly "I can't speak for them but who knows?" He already knew Pietro's opinion on Becky and didn't see the point of sharing it. The same with Jean-Paul because he understood why they felt that way and even agreed but Becky had been good to him and he appreciated that friendship. She'd never for even a second hesitated because of how he looked, even the most well meaning of people paused for a moment sometimes and that moment would stick with him. Becky hadn't, Nico hadn't. That mattered to him.
Still smiling - she didn't really know Pietro, but they could probably but Sirius into giving them a lesson - she just continued. "Well, anyways, would you do this after the play? Or instead of the play? That would be sad - if I'm actually gonna try to act in something, I'm gonna want some friendly faces around!"
"It'd be after the play if it ever did happen, it's like not even a plan right now it's a 'pl' at best!" Victor told her quickly, he didn't want to be misunderstood. "Besides, whatever play it is I'm gonna try for lead or at the very lead a decent part, you know? If this happened it'd be a 'as well as' thing not a 'instead of'."
Stretching her hands up and popping her back, Becky sighed out, "Good. If it ever does become a plan, let me know if you want help with costume or set visualization." With an oof, she collapsed back onto the table. "When does this play thing even take place? Who decides what we do? Is it only for the drama students?"
"Pietro was in charge but he's been stepping back a bit lately. It's not just drama students and it varies but spring or summer is about the time. We've only done it twice so far, of course." Victor explained, very much preferring this subject to their original so, hopefully, she wouldn't return to it. "Not 100% sure who's been asked to take over but maybe a drama student, possibly even our TA Kurt."
She grinned hugely. "Oh, I love Kurt! He's like the sweetest. Do you think he'd just want to put on another established show? I don't know if I'd want to write a play - I've never tried before - but don't you think it could be fun? Like, student skits?"
"Oh yeah, I mean I love it when we do improv skit and stuff in class, you know?" Victor agreed after another spoonful of melting ice cream. "I used to want to be an actor, I love it. The whole process actual, last year Pietro made me do behind the scenes stuff because I refused to act because of stuff."
"Used to? Not anymore?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Even with the new and improved extended time image inducers it'd be pretty dangerous to try it." Victor pointed out matter of factly. He'd been realistic about the dream a long time ago.
Becky pouted. She knew that there were a lot of people who hated mutants out there, but she had also found a bunch of supporters online and clung fiercely to the hope that things could get better. "People can't be stupid forever, I'm sure you could get your shot. Or... maybe not in mainstream stuff, but I'm sure there have to be other mutants out there who want to act or direct or whatever. Like a next-gen Indie film movement?"
"I'm not saying no or never I just...I don't want to get my hopes up again, I guess. It just doesn't seem likely, sure it's more likely no than before but we'll have to see I guess. I'm only 15 so lots could happen." He fell silent, covering it by shoving a big chunk of cookie dough in his mouth.
"Well, at least you have some sort of dream job. Who knows what I'll end up doing." She planted an elbow on the table and rested her cheek in her hand. "Probably some boring nine-to-five thing, but at least I'll be able to go home and actually have time for fun things?"
"Depending on how America decides to react to mutants, who knows I might never get one. I mean there are white Americans who cant handle living near or working with black Americans so what hope is there that they won't lynch the green or blue guy, you know?" He didn't mean to be doom and gloom it just sort of happened.
"Aw, c'mon, you gotta have hope." Becky reached over and gave him a sideways squeeze. "Look at how much progress we've made with gay rights just in the last few years! And the young people are way more liberal than the old farts, and they have to die soon anyway, right?
"Besides," she continued, trying to get him to smile, "if worst comes to worst, you could totally do some sort of mail-order home-baked-goods delivery thing. You could keep at least all the Xavier's alums fat and happy! And we'd totally promote you."
Victor did smile as he asked "Did you get, like, double helpings of optimism or something?"
Becky tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Would you prefer if I was a sad mess? 'Cause I can do that, but I kind of think that no one wants that. I figure that I might as well be happy, since being grumpy never did me any good! And usually ends up with me bringing down sweet, sweet vengeance on the people who deserve it." Her eyes narrowed, a dark and twisted light filling them for half a second.
"Hey, wasn't judging," He told her, hands up in surrender, "Just, you know, marvelling or whatever. I mean I try it too but it an be kinda hard is all."
She gave him a wry smile. "I find it helps if you just ignore a lot of the negative crap."
Victor nodded a little, spoon stirring the melting mush. "Pietro always says I over think WAY too much."
"Wise words! I try to only over think plot lines. Or, well, try isn't exactly the right word. It just comes naturally." Belatedly looking down at the rest of her melted ice cream, she contemplated drinking it but decided to just stick to scooping out the remaining chocolate bits.
"Have you tried putting it into something other than fanfiction, like in English or Drama? Could be an idea, I mean so long as the scripts are more than just getting boys to kiss for you!" He wasn't totally comfortable with some (read: most) of her OTT fangirlish ways but under all that she was decent so he'd rather lightly tease and push her to try other things than complain.
She smiled and zoned out for a minute. Mmm, boys kissing. Blinking to come back to herself, she replied, "Um, not really? I'm usually not really inspired in class - though I think my reinterpretation of the Revolutionary War with respect to Washington and Lafayette's epic romance deserved more than a D. I did take a creative writing class in my old school, and that was pretty fun if a little constraining. Like I said, I've never actually written a play before, but it could be an interesting exercise, I guess."
"A 'D' huh? Were you trying to submit it as a history essay or...?" Victor snickered a little.
She blinked at him. "...yeah?"
"Well, there's your first mistake. They tend to like things in history essays to match the books, just FYI."
Becky squawked. "They started living together within a month of meeting! Lafayette wrote that Washington had a 'tender interest' in him! The last time they saw each other, Washington wrote," she closed her eyes, remembering her absolute favorite quote, "In the moment of our separation, upon the road as I travelled, and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect and attachment for you." She sighed at how beautiful it was.
"Ok, but a few facts out of context can be made to sound like that, can't they? Like...like, me and Pietro. From the moment we met we've so far lived together for two and a half years. We've more times than I can count been all snuggled up together. He put on and directored Dorian Gray after I drunkenly said something about loving the play but I would never get to play the character. See? Pietro and I are brothers if anything but things said without explanation take on new meaning. Not saying you're wrong or right, just pointing out that perspective plays a huge role." Victor told her before scooping more of the melting mess into his mouth. "But it's also true the history straight washes everything so..."
Becky just shrugged. "I can totally send you my essay. It even had a ton of references! My teacher was just soooo rigid about things. Probably because she was stuck teaching high school history to a bunch of bored teenagers." Leaning back, she considered him for a moment. "And even if I'm wrong, does my believing that there could have been some romantic connection between the two of them hurt anything?"
It was a question she used to ask the trolls online, but mostly they responded with abuse. Victor wasn't always comfortable with her particular type of fangirling, but she thought he would at least give a better answer than 'die you perverted (fill in a derogatory word).' Yeah, the Supernatural fandom wars got pretty mean.
"Not in life so long as you remember to take things with a pinch of salt BUT teachers do tend to want things called hard facts and their students to stick to the assigned text books when they write essays. Just a thought." He scraped the last of the ice cream out. "Half of passing a class is figuring out not what's right but what pleases the teachers, you know?"
A slow but warm smile spreading across her face, Becky stood up to wash her bowl. "Don't worry, I always make sure to carry salt. But thanks for the advice, Yoda," she teased, pulling out a necklace that had a little glass container with the promised salt. "Speaking of, you finish the math homework yet?"
"It's math, you don't finish it. It finishes you."
warning: there's brief, non-detailed talk about racism and lynchings
Becky collapsed on her bed. The movie had been pretty good, but she had spent a good portion of it still mulling over the Vance and Victor situation. Rolling over onto her stomach with her feet in the air idly swaying back and forth, she pulled out her phone and sent a series of texts to Victor.
So.....
I think you forgot to mention something?
Maybe?
About your ex??
And his identity??!?
????!?!?!??!!
When he picked up his phone that was pinging and vibrating violently from the rapid fire messages, Victor rolled his eyes. OK, it had taken Becky WAY longer than expected to figure out that one. Not that he overly wanted to talk about it to Becky but with Pietro not there Nico and Becky where all he had really.
Couldn't much tell you in front of him!
Especially when he apparently wasn't gonna admit it.
But come on I was hinting and isn't subtext your department??
Hell, I told you my ex when to juvie, he just go out of juvie. That's not subtext that IS the text.
Thought you'd figure it out faster though, gotta say
Becky pouted as she read the texts. She was a little disappointed in herself, actually.
Apparently I missed the message about his jail time??
Just thought the party was b/c people missed him lots?
And OMG that pic of him?
WTF did they give him steroids in prison????
Victor couldn't help laughing and shaking his head. Of course Becky focused on that bit.
IKR???? He dumps me, refuses to see/hear me out. No closure, no nothing. Then he turns up extra hotter and in a skin tight fucking t-shirt!! Someone in the universe hates me ALOT.
So how'd you finally figure it out?
actually wanna meet up? Might be easier than texting bout it i dunno
Becky snorted before rolling off the bed.
LOL. Yana spilled the beans about juvie.
Sure, kitchen good? I'm craving ice cream...
And that caused another groan
That girl basically hates me so I doubt she's told you anything true about me.
Ice cream YES GOD YES
He was already pulling a hoodie on, the school wasn't nearly as warm as his room after all.
Hearing the kitchen door open, Becky pointed her spoon at the person entering, hoping it was going to be Victor. "Hope you didn't want the last of the Moose Tracks. It's allllll miiiiiiiine."
Hey, snoozing and losing, right? And there were still a few options left over.
"That's cool, I'm more of a cookie dough kind of a guy," And there had been at least one tub of Ben and Jerry's 'Half Baked' when he'd peaked in the freezer earlier. Ah perfect.
Grabbing a spoon, he came round to sit with Becky. As he dug into the iced treat, he figured he might as well get the conversation started since they both knew why they were there.
"You know, I thought comparing him to zombie Rick would have been the least subtle hint. I mean secret boyfriend who dumps Kieren by letter and doesn't see him for like a year before turning up suddenly? I mean, yeah, Vance lacks the knife in the head but still."
"Hey, I can't help it if I'm a visual person! That baby-faced picture of your ex really threw me off! I should have gotten that the Rick thing was a hint, though." She pouted and stabbed into her ice cream. "I mean, I got that there was angst and at least UST, but I totally failed at the subtext. I should give up my fangirl card."
Victor shrugged and he shoved his spoon in. "I was only trying to tell you at the time coz I was worried you might misread and try to do your Yenta thing otherwise."
Becky rolled her eyes and waved her spoon lazily in his direction. "You know, it would go much more smoothly if you gave me some hints." Taking another bite, she resolutely set the utensil down. "But stop distracting me! I've got the story of him and Yana now - uh, by the way, you probably want to avoid her for the next, uhh... forever, probably. Anyways! Now you have to tell me what the deal with you and Vance is!"
"Dunno what to say really. We were best friends, then we dated for nearly a year and, well, I told you how we ended. And before all that, after I changed to this, I was convinced no one would ever want or love a lizard. Then I got convinced only Vance could but I'm over that now." He shrugged a little, his spoon toying with the be cream. "But for a while I was real broken up and an idiot over it. You walked in during the first time I'd seen him since the break up so weird. Yeah. So weird."
She briefly leaned over to nudge him with her shoulder, trying to give him a little solidarity. And, well, Victor was physically unique but she was just weird in the head, so she knew how he felt. She did feel the need to correct him, though. "You really didn't, though. Tell me how it ended. I mean, you said he went to juvie, but that doesn't necessarily mean break-up."
"I thought that too at the time but after the last time I visited him, all promises to get through it together and stuff, then he sent me a 'Dear John' letter saying it was for my own good. He barred me from visiting or even calling, we never discussed it. Never had any sort of closure and then, you know, our first conversation since the letter was the one you walked in on."
He shrugged and flashed a smile, excavating a chunk of brownie as he did so. "It's done, I'm over it but it's weird. He was my best friend, now he's not. He said he loved me, clearly not. At the time I thought he'd be the only person who could ever, now I don't. I don't really know what you're looking for here to be honest."
As the listened to the story, Becky's eyes slowly widened in outrage. "He did what?!" She put her spoon down with a hard thunk. "That low-lifed, jerk-wad... ass-butt! Who even does that? That's like -" she opened and closed her mouth a few times, at a loss. "That's like something I would write if I was in the mood to put everyone through the emotional wringer!"
She sat back and crossed her arms. "And I would only ever introduce that if I intended for them to come back together once the circumstances changed. But with him dating Yana, now..." She pursed her lips. That just made him a jerk.
"Huh. Surprising, didn't think she was actually his type." Hateful girls who do mean spirited pranks, apparently that was where Vance was going now that he'd moved on from him. Interesting choice, little bit insulting really. But, yeah, he'd actually been willing to apologise to Illyana for some of the mistakes made in their first meeting (but still random new girl wearing Vance's clothes? He was totally justified to question it!) anyway he'd been completely planning to apologise until she and Harley had started than nasty prank campaign on him. Filling his coke with soy and all sorts of shit. Petty and nasty behavior and, sorry, Victor did not negotiate with bullies. And he was surprised Vance would date one but, clearly, either he never knew Vance as well a he though or Vance had changed dramatically in the last year.
He started eating the ice cream rather than playing with it as it softened as,for a moment, he considered turning up the heat in the once they were done with frozen treats.
"Anyway, I don't want you making him the villain or anything. Yeah, it was kinda a dick move to me but I'm ok now, really. It screwed me up for a while, anyone here will probably happily tell you I was self destructive and not fun to live with at all but I'm ok now. Really."
Becky side-eyed him. Other than the silliness of him not realizing he was cute, Vic didn't seem particularly destructive. "Total dick move. Seems like you're better off without him. And now you can find true love somewhere else!" Though maybe she'd go through with her thought to make Vance think he was a frog even if he and Yana did make up.
"I dunno about true love. Anyway please don't go saying any of this to Vance or anything yeah?" He'd heard about the time she'd yelled at Jack after all. "I kind of need to be able to live with him for the next few years." He chewed on cookie dough thoughtfully before adding. "Maybe I'm better off single for a while, less drama that way."
"Fine," Becky pouted as she picked up her spoon again. "But I still think he owes you like, at least an explanation."
For the single thing? Well, since Victor didn't want to do the townie thing, his options were a little limited. "I mean, do what you think is best - and there are a billion movies about finding connection as soon as you stop looking, so there's always that - but don't give up, 'kay? And..." She had been thinking about this since she had been asked to beta-test the website. "I know you didn't want to do the internet dating thing before, because of the whole lying thing, but what do you think about the new mutants-only forum? X-cape? Right now I think it's just for us and alums, but if they widen it out?"
"His explanation was and still is 'it was for the best' one of the many things we'd been discussing when you walked in." Victor explained before moving onto the other topic, and kinda hoping they were done with the Vance talk. "And the dating stuff, we'll see. I haven't given up, this isn't me giving up I just think maybe I need to put my energies into other things for a bit, just try enjoying everything in general. Be happier."
"Other things like what? If you say school work I may have to pretend like we've never met..." Becky twirled her spoon through her ice cream. "Being happy is a good goal, though."
"Well, you know sounds kinda lame but just hanging with my friends, no drama. Though talking of drama we do a yearly play and I wanna get a good part in that, last year I sorta refused because," He waved his hand vaguely hoping she'd filling in the blank considering how she now knew he'd responded to the breakup. "I was Dorian Gray the year before that, first time I ever got to be lead."
"I'm so excited for this play you have no idea! Do they let us use our powers?" The thought of Victor, so concerned of his appearance, taking on the role of the ultimate vain playboy was interesting, though. "And are there any videos of that? I bet you were adorable!"
"Uh, I'm sure someone'll have them. It was a lot of fun, I loved it." Victor grinned a little, trying not to come over as arrogant even though he knew his performance hand been pretty awesome and then he added "How do you feel about musical theatre?"
"Uh... watching or performing?"
"Either."
She shrugged. "I like watching them, I guess. It depends on the musical? I liked how epic the Les Mis movie felt. Some of the plotlines are... a stretch, though." And from a Supernatural fangirl, that was really saying something. "For performing... I don't exactly have the best pipes."
"Audience members are still appreciated though." Victor pointed out. "I dunno, I might be thinking about doing something because the other show is always a straight play. Depends on interest. Like I said, busy busy."
"That could be totally cool!" She leaned forward, but then jerked backwards when her hair almost fell in her very melty ice cream. Grabbing a fresh spoonful she asked, "So, original work? Are you a secret playwright? Or are you planning on going all Valjean on us?"
He chewed and swallowed cookie dough before telling her "I'm not really a Les Mis guy, kinda more Cabaret, Rent, Priscilla, that's sort of thing, but we'll see. Ideas are only beginning to form, best not to rush them."
She scrunched up her face, thinking. "Yeah, the only one of those I've seen is Rent."
"Depending on the cast, 'Rent' can make me sob. Oh, if you liked it though you might like 'If/Then'. Priscilla is good in some parts but it's, like, 20 years old and has some really problematic racism and transphobic bits going on, you know? Cabaret is totally famous, Liza Minnelli was in the movie?" Victor explained enthusiastically, he couldn't help it. Theatre talk got him excited.
Reminded of it, Becky started blinking rapidly and sniffing. "Oh, Angel... you sweet, drumming, darling boy..."
"Angel would be an awesome role to play." Victor agreed with a nod. "Not sure about the heels though! I might break my neck, agility enhancement or no."
"Don't die!" Becky admonished him, wiping at the corners of her eyes. Then she snorted. "Er, though I guess if you played Angel... kind of hard to avoid. Really, though, Joanne can do it backwards in heels, you have no excuse!"
"In 1990 I don't think surviving AIDS was an option going backwards or forwards." Victor reasoned with a shrug.
Becky blinked, then snorted again. "No, silly, I meant you not dying from your heels if you played him. Though I can't talk at all. I am like, worse than a baby gazelle in heels!"
Victor laughed at himself, face-palming "Ok, that was a stupid mistake. And yeah, killer heels but I bet Pietro or Sirius could teach me, right?"
Becky started laughing so hard she had to put her head down on the table. "I can't-" She gasped. "I don't-" She bit her knuckle before taking a few deep breaths. "I can't handle the fact that the two people you would ask to learn how to walk in heels are both guys."
"Well, guys can wear heels you know! Besides makes sense to me. Guys to teach guys coz say Lydia wears heels all the time but doesn't know how to learn from a guy's perspective, does she?" He shrugged a little, he didn't see the humour in it but then he'd long since been converted to Pietro's 'clothes and accessories are for ALL genders' stance.
Still taking deep breaths, Becky waved a hand a little dismissively. "Oh no, I mean it's awesome - just totally different from what I grew up around, is all. Maybe they'd be willing to teach me, too?"
Victor shrugged and told her honestly "I can't speak for them but who knows?" He already knew Pietro's opinion on Becky and didn't see the point of sharing it. The same with Jean-Paul because he understood why they felt that way and even agreed but Becky had been good to him and he appreciated that friendship. She'd never for even a second hesitated because of how he looked, even the most well meaning of people paused for a moment sometimes and that moment would stick with him. Becky hadn't, Nico hadn't. That mattered to him.
Still smiling - she didn't really know Pietro, but they could probably but Sirius into giving them a lesson - she just continued. "Well, anyways, would you do this after the play? Or instead of the play? That would be sad - if I'm actually gonna try to act in something, I'm gonna want some friendly faces around!"
"It'd be after the play if it ever did happen, it's like not even a plan right now it's a 'pl' at best!" Victor told her quickly, he didn't want to be misunderstood. "Besides, whatever play it is I'm gonna try for lead or at the very lead a decent part, you know? If this happened it'd be a 'as well as' thing not a 'instead of'."
Stretching her hands up and popping her back, Becky sighed out, "Good. If it ever does become a plan, let me know if you want help with costume or set visualization." With an oof, she collapsed back onto the table. "When does this play thing even take place? Who decides what we do? Is it only for the drama students?"
"Pietro was in charge but he's been stepping back a bit lately. It's not just drama students and it varies but spring or summer is about the time. We've only done it twice so far, of course." Victor explained, very much preferring this subject to their original so, hopefully, she wouldn't return to it. "Not 100% sure who's been asked to take over but maybe a drama student, possibly even our TA Kurt."
She grinned hugely. "Oh, I love Kurt! He's like the sweetest. Do you think he'd just want to put on another established show? I don't know if I'd want to write a play - I've never tried before - but don't you think it could be fun? Like, student skits?"
"Oh yeah, I mean I love it when we do improv skit and stuff in class, you know?" Victor agreed after another spoonful of melting ice cream. "I used to want to be an actor, I love it. The whole process actual, last year Pietro made me do behind the scenes stuff because I refused to act because of stuff."
"Used to? Not anymore?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Even with the new and improved extended time image inducers it'd be pretty dangerous to try it." Victor pointed out matter of factly. He'd been realistic about the dream a long time ago.
Becky pouted. She knew that there were a lot of people who hated mutants out there, but she had also found a bunch of supporters online and clung fiercely to the hope that things could get better. "People can't be stupid forever, I'm sure you could get your shot. Or... maybe not in mainstream stuff, but I'm sure there have to be other mutants out there who want to act or direct or whatever. Like a next-gen Indie film movement?"
"I'm not saying no or never I just...I don't want to get my hopes up again, I guess. It just doesn't seem likely, sure it's more likely no than before but we'll have to see I guess. I'm only 15 so lots could happen." He fell silent, covering it by shoving a big chunk of cookie dough in his mouth.
"Well, at least you have some sort of dream job. Who knows what I'll end up doing." She planted an elbow on the table and rested her cheek in her hand. "Probably some boring nine-to-five thing, but at least I'll be able to go home and actually have time for fun things?"
"Depending on how America decides to react to mutants, who knows I might never get one. I mean there are white Americans who cant handle living near or working with black Americans so what hope is there that they won't lynch the green or blue guy, you know?" He didn't mean to be doom and gloom it just sort of happened.
"Aw, c'mon, you gotta have hope." Becky reached over and gave him a sideways squeeze. "Look at how much progress we've made with gay rights just in the last few years! And the young people are way more liberal than the old farts, and they have to die soon anyway, right?
"Besides," she continued, trying to get him to smile, "if worst comes to worst, you could totally do some sort of mail-order home-baked-goods delivery thing. You could keep at least all the Xavier's alums fat and happy! And we'd totally promote you."
Victor did smile as he asked "Did you get, like, double helpings of optimism or something?"
Becky tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Would you prefer if I was a sad mess? 'Cause I can do that, but I kind of think that no one wants that. I figure that I might as well be happy, since being grumpy never did me any good! And usually ends up with me bringing down sweet, sweet vengeance on the people who deserve it." Her eyes narrowed, a dark and twisted light filling them for half a second.
"Hey, wasn't judging," He told her, hands up in surrender, "Just, you know, marvelling or whatever. I mean I try it too but it an be kinda hard is all."
She gave him a wry smile. "I find it helps if you just ignore a lot of the negative crap."
Victor nodded a little, spoon stirring the melting mush. "Pietro always says I over think WAY too much."
"Wise words! I try to only over think plot lines. Or, well, try isn't exactly the right word. It just comes naturally." Belatedly looking down at the rest of her melted ice cream, she contemplated drinking it but decided to just stick to scooping out the remaining chocolate bits.
"Have you tried putting it into something other than fanfiction, like in English or Drama? Could be an idea, I mean so long as the scripts are more than just getting boys to kiss for you!" He wasn't totally comfortable with some (read: most) of her OTT fangirlish ways but under all that she was decent so he'd rather lightly tease and push her to try other things than complain.
She smiled and zoned out for a minute. Mmm, boys kissing. Blinking to come back to herself, she replied, "Um, not really? I'm usually not really inspired in class - though I think my reinterpretation of the Revolutionary War with respect to Washington and Lafayette's epic romance deserved more than a D. I did take a creative writing class in my old school, and that was pretty fun if a little constraining. Like I said, I've never actually written a play before, but it could be an interesting exercise, I guess."
"A 'D' huh? Were you trying to submit it as a history essay or...?" Victor snickered a little.
She blinked at him. "...yeah?"
"Well, there's your first mistake. They tend to like things in history essays to match the books, just FYI."
Becky squawked. "They started living together within a month of meeting! Lafayette wrote that Washington had a 'tender interest' in him! The last time they saw each other, Washington wrote," she closed her eyes, remembering her absolute favorite quote, "In the moment of our separation, upon the road as I travelled, and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect and attachment for you." She sighed at how beautiful it was.
"Ok, but a few facts out of context can be made to sound like that, can't they? Like...like, me and Pietro. From the moment we met we've so far lived together for two and a half years. We've more times than I can count been all snuggled up together. He put on and directored Dorian Gray after I drunkenly said something about loving the play but I would never get to play the character. See? Pietro and I are brothers if anything but things said without explanation take on new meaning. Not saying you're wrong or right, just pointing out that perspective plays a huge role." Victor told her before scooping more of the melting mess into his mouth. "But it's also true the history straight washes everything so..."
Becky just shrugged. "I can totally send you my essay. It even had a ton of references! My teacher was just soooo rigid about things. Probably because she was stuck teaching high school history to a bunch of bored teenagers." Leaning back, she considered him for a moment. "And even if I'm wrong, does my believing that there could have been some romantic connection between the two of them hurt anything?"
It was a question she used to ask the trolls online, but mostly they responded with abuse. Victor wasn't always comfortable with her particular type of fangirling, but she thought he would at least give a better answer than 'die you perverted (fill in a derogatory word).' Yeah, the Supernatural fandom wars got pretty mean.
"Not in life so long as you remember to take things with a pinch of salt BUT teachers do tend to want things called hard facts and their students to stick to the assigned text books when they write essays. Just a thought." He scraped the last of the ice cream out. "Half of passing a class is figuring out not what's right but what pleases the teachers, you know?"
A slow but warm smile spreading across her face, Becky stood up to wash her bowl. "Don't worry, I always make sure to carry salt. But thanks for the advice, Yoda," she teased, pulling out a necklace that had a little glass container with the promised salt. "Speaking of, you finish the math homework yet?"
"It's math, you don't finish it. It finishes you."
