Rahne and Phil, at the Pool Party Day
Jul. 30th, 2015 05:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainRahne unveils her crush. It goes abysmally.
It was ridiculously, aggravatingly hot and the mansion seemed to just suck in the heat with the cooling systems on the fritz. The students had, of course, flocked to the pool so Philip was doing his due diligence and helping out with lifeguarding. He'd forgone the shirt this time for a liberal coating of sunscreen, the idea of even a t-shirt weighing him down made him cringe. Really, at this point, most of the school had seen him in the gym so it was pointless to try to cover up the shape he was in.
He pulled himself out of the pool, dark blue swim trunks dripping as he headed for the high chair and his towel.
No mistake, Rahne was damp all over, having been swimming all day. But she wasn't anywhere near confident in her modest black swimsuit and so between that and the heat, she'd been sticking to the shadows. And, admittedly, watching Phil a bit. It was hard to resist, really.
Now, though. Now, now, now. Note was her chance to go talk to him. She had to tell him how she felt. Or at least try to flirt.
"I-I didn't expect to see you here,' she said, coming up to him, wishing that she could hide her body behind something. Anything.
Philip gave her a faint smile with a small shrug. "I volunteer life-guard. With everyone here I thought it'd be a good idea and honestly, it's too hot to work. You did get sunscreen, right?" He asked. With as pale as she was and the red hair, that was a recipe for frying.
"Covered an inch thick," she said, quietly through a curtain of her red hair. "It's nice of you. To help out over vacation. Especially with the weather so awful."
"I'm glad to. I can only stand to look at reports for so long and even with the things kids can do, it's much safer to have a dedicated watcher. Did you swim much at home?" Philip asked. She was acting a little twitchy but there could have been a few sources for that.
"No. Almost never." Swimming clothes had been too immodest. She'd had a note, saying she wasn't allowed to swim in PE. And really, going to the pool or the pond or the creek was a social activity--and her father would never have allowed her to spend so much time with people her age. She might have made friends. "It's pleasant, only...it's harder than it looks, isn't it?"
"When you're learning, yes," Philip said with a nod. He'd reached his towel and was briefly muffled as he scrubbed his hair off vigorously. "It's also incredibly good exercise."
Rahne observed that he didn't appear to need much more exercise. He was quite...he was very... She took a deep, shaky breath. "I, ah, it seems like you get plenty. Of exercise. Maybe swimming." Oh god, this was going awfully.
Philip dropped the towel down onto his shoulders and shrugged a little sheepishly. "I gave up on trying to keep that under wraps. It was a complicated thing when I first got here, don't worry about it. Then again, the first summer I was here, Pietro decided to steal my shirt while we were swimming." Something caught the corner of his eye and he glanced up, finally noticing their watcher.
"Oh, does he do lots of pranks? I...don't know him." But Rahne wasn't here to talk about Pietro. "You look...well fit. It's good, I guess, you feel more comfortable."
"He wouldn't do it to someone random," Philip said quickly. "He was just teasing me because of how much I covered up. It wasn't anything bad, I promise." The why he'd done it was a whole complicated can of worms that Philip still didn't get into for all the Reasons.
"I cover up, too. I guess you've..." She turned bright red. "You've seen my two most daring outfits." She tried to gesture at her bathing suit without uncovering herself with her arms. As modern suits went, it was very modest, with the exception of a cutout on the side. Evidence that Illyana had helped her shop for it. The other, of course, was Rahne's strapless masquerade gown.
'Nothing wrong with that," Philip said with a shrug. "It's whatever you're most comfortable with, Faiza covers up a lot more than that. "I just didn't like advertising what kind of shape I'm in." He didn't seem to have any trouble looking her in the eye either, bathing suit or not.
"Why not?" That might not have been a tactful question, but she couldn't help but be curious.
"Mmm, complicated question," Philip said. "One of the uncomplicated parts was that I moved around a lot, I've only finished a school year in one place a couple times. If you're really in shape, kids tend to think you're a jock and there's a lot of baggage there that I didn't want to deal with." He flicked another glance up, purple swim shorts and a weird look on his face, what the heck was Barton doing up there. "The habit stayed with me here."
"Oh, I see." Rahne herself had been an outcast, but only attended one school and never would have had any other choice. "Guess it took some time t' realize Xavier's like no place else in the world."
"That it most definitely is," Philip said with a faint smile. "It was hard to get used to being in one spot. We moved because of my mom's job," he clarified. "It wasn't a lot of fun."
She nodded along in full agreement. "It's no good for a man, to have no place he can call home. Y'need proper roots."
And there was another can of worms. His family had tried to set down once or twice, so far he was pretty sure his grandmother was the only one to manage it. Mostly. "I seem to be pretty well established here, at least," he said with a nod. "How proper it is, well, I'm not sure about that. Then again, sharing any kind of space with Tony Stark doesn't count as proper by default."
"It's a bit wild in the city, then?" Her voice was burnt at the edges with disappointment. Of course it would be. There were--what--4 young bachelors living there?
"Depends on your definition?" Philip said with a shrug. "Tony's settled down somewhat since he got involved with Steve, so that helps. It's less wild than..." he paused, trying to think of how to explain. "Fallout from days' long engineering jags. Stark's got a thing about explosions."
"Oh. So more...explosions, less..." She looked down and tapped her lips, trying to remember that part of herself that didn't blush at every little thing. "Less libertine."
"Oh, I'm sure there's still something, I just haven't seen much of it. Then again, I'm not there all the time." Philip's mouth quirked up in a little amused smile. "And Stark did go through the trouble of making automatic doors for a dog that's there, though Sharon uses them too."
"Sounds like you've got just about everything there." Rahne's heart was fluttering so that she felt she might faint. "Other than a woman to cook meals now and then. No offense to Sharon."
Philip really couldn't stop the startled blink at that. Conservative upbringing, he reminded himself before he opened his mouth and said something rude. Then again, not a single woman he was related to would have had a lot of patience for that idea. "I can cook for myself," he said finally, though honesty compelled him to elaborate. "Or close enough anyway."
"I'm sure you all feed yourselves somehow," Rahne backpedaled, sensing the moment of tension. "I just meant...I just..." She set her jaw. "I'm a good cook, really. Fantastic. I was trying to offer..."
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't get it," Philip said with a small shrug. "It's not an offer I'm used to being phrased like that." He paused, trying to be careful of his word choices. "The idea that I need someone to do things for me strictly for gender reasons, I wasn't raised that way."
"Where I come from, the women know how to cook and the men know how to eat, is all I meant." She looked down at her hands. "I was showing my credentials, like."
Now he was confused and Philip's face showed it. "Credentials?" he asked. "What for?"
"For my capability. In the kitchen. So that maybe you'd want me over. Maybe just to try one time, to have someone make you something nice. Not because you can't yourself." She caught herself wringing her hands together, and made herself stop. "I'm sure you can do just about anything yourself. But because I. I want to do something nice for you."
He really wasn't the smartest when it came to some things, but even Philip wasn't that stupid. The whole conversation was getting pretty strange. "Rahne, it sounds like you're trying to do something here and I'm sorry, I think I'm not quite getting it. I think I said you were welcome to come by before?"
She nodded, still looking down. "Yes, but. I thought instead of just a drop by, maybe it would be nice to have something a little..." She couldn't go on, suddenly. Rahne, terrified, drew a shaky breath. "I...I rather fancy you, Phillip. And I thought perhaps you'd like to try a date. I'd make something nice."
The startled expression went straight to stunned as the words penetrated. It was fairly obvious that he'd had no idea that was coming. "I... Rahne, I'm flattered, I am but..." You're too young lept straight to mind, even though that would have been a disaster. He sighed and figured something like the truth was the best plan. "I just got out of relationship, and no, no one really knew, we weren't public. It went really badly."
"Oh." The syllable was heavy, and it expanded until it filled all the space between them. Rahne seemed to remember that she wanted to cover her body, and wrapped her arms again around herself. "I'm sorry. That was presumptuous of me. Please, forget it." Her voice began to warble with scarcely held-back tears. All of her daydreams and hope gone so quickly.
"Hey, it's fine," Philip said. "There was no way you could have known, almost no one did. We were very private about the whole thing." How did people do this? "For whatever it's worth, I'm flattered. It seemed like it was hard for you to trust people that much?"
Alright. She couldn't help it. The tears began, and she wiped at her face with her forearm. "It is," she managed to whimper.
He wasn't going to panic, Philip thought, he really wasn't. It was really awkward but he opened his arms, offering the hug if she wanted it. His Aunt Sarah would be proud of that probably? "This is the worse cliche ever and I apologize but I'd still like to be friends?"
She let out a sobbing laugh at that. How could they be friends after she'd humiliated herself so badly? She covered her face with her hands and hunched forward slightly. "Please don't look at me," she cried.
"Rahne..." He made the decision for them and stepped up, pulling her into the offered hug. She could easily get out if she wanted to. "I know this feels like the worst thing ever and me saying it's not isn't probably going to help at all, but I promise you it isn't."
She sagged against him, no magic between them this time. "I can't believe I was so stupid. Please, please don't look at me." She was crying freely by now, and honestly unaware of what he might be doing. Her red hair had spread, covering her neck and shoulders and face, anyway.
"You're not stupid," Philip said firmly. "You're a teenager, that's not the same thing."
She had to get away and find some shame hole to crawl into. "I'm sorry," she said again, "that I bothered you."
"Don't be," Philip said and he could feel the tension building. He let her go with a sigh. "The door's still always open for anything, Rahne, I mean that."
Rahne stepped back, and wiped her wet face off as best she could. "I k-know it's t-too soon, now. But. But d' you think maybe...ever?"
God, there was a sticky question, wasn't it? "I can't say that," Philip replied. "Because that's entirely unfair to you. I can say we'll be friends if you want us to be, but it would be incredibly mean for me to dangle a maybe in front of you."
"That's such a nice way of saying 'no.' You're such a nice boy." She rubbed at her stinging eyes, so angry that the crying wouldn't stop. "I hoped a nice boy might like me for once."
"There are plenty of other boys here," Philip pointed out. "Ones that are closer to your age too."
"I don't want them." She wanted Phil, but he had said no and that was that and all there was left to do was cry.
Philip was getting more and more over his head by the second. He knew it wasn't anything more than a crush, even if it felt horrible, just like he knew he wouldn't be good for her in any way, much like with Noriko. But how did you say that?
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I should go." She took a wobbling step back from him.
"Okay," Philip said with a sigh. He wanted to fix this but he knew it could get to a point where he was just making it worse, much like the breakup. "Just don't think I don't want to talk to you, alright?"
She shook her head with a sort of crazed desperation. "No, I think...I think I won't bother you anymore. Ph-Phillip." It hurt to say his name, but at this point Rahne kind of wanted to hurt.
"I won't make you stay," Philip said after a moment. "But just think about it, okay?" And he probably really needed to stop talking now...
It was so hard to turn her back on him, but she did. Sobbing, she headed away--not toward the mansion, but toward the woods.
It was ridiculously, aggravatingly hot and the mansion seemed to just suck in the heat with the cooling systems on the fritz. The students had, of course, flocked to the pool so Philip was doing his due diligence and helping out with lifeguarding. He'd forgone the shirt this time for a liberal coating of sunscreen, the idea of even a t-shirt weighing him down made him cringe. Really, at this point, most of the school had seen him in the gym so it was pointless to try to cover up the shape he was in.
He pulled himself out of the pool, dark blue swim trunks dripping as he headed for the high chair and his towel.
No mistake, Rahne was damp all over, having been swimming all day. But she wasn't anywhere near confident in her modest black swimsuit and so between that and the heat, she'd been sticking to the shadows. And, admittedly, watching Phil a bit. It was hard to resist, really.
Now, though. Now, now, now. Note was her chance to go talk to him. She had to tell him how she felt. Or at least try to flirt.
"I-I didn't expect to see you here,' she said, coming up to him, wishing that she could hide her body behind something. Anything.
Philip gave her a faint smile with a small shrug. "I volunteer life-guard. With everyone here I thought it'd be a good idea and honestly, it's too hot to work. You did get sunscreen, right?" He asked. With as pale as she was and the red hair, that was a recipe for frying.
"Covered an inch thick," she said, quietly through a curtain of her red hair. "It's nice of you. To help out over vacation. Especially with the weather so awful."
"I'm glad to. I can only stand to look at reports for so long and even with the things kids can do, it's much safer to have a dedicated watcher. Did you swim much at home?" Philip asked. She was acting a little twitchy but there could have been a few sources for that.
"No. Almost never." Swimming clothes had been too immodest. She'd had a note, saying she wasn't allowed to swim in PE. And really, going to the pool or the pond or the creek was a social activity--and her father would never have allowed her to spend so much time with people her age. She might have made friends. "It's pleasant, only...it's harder than it looks, isn't it?"
"When you're learning, yes," Philip said with a nod. He'd reached his towel and was briefly muffled as he scrubbed his hair off vigorously. "It's also incredibly good exercise."
Rahne observed that he didn't appear to need much more exercise. He was quite...he was very... She took a deep, shaky breath. "I, ah, it seems like you get plenty. Of exercise. Maybe swimming." Oh god, this was going awfully.
Philip dropped the towel down onto his shoulders and shrugged a little sheepishly. "I gave up on trying to keep that under wraps. It was a complicated thing when I first got here, don't worry about it. Then again, the first summer I was here, Pietro decided to steal my shirt while we were swimming." Something caught the corner of his eye and he glanced up, finally noticing their watcher.
"Oh, does he do lots of pranks? I...don't know him." But Rahne wasn't here to talk about Pietro. "You look...well fit. It's good, I guess, you feel more comfortable."
"He wouldn't do it to someone random," Philip said quickly. "He was just teasing me because of how much I covered up. It wasn't anything bad, I promise." The why he'd done it was a whole complicated can of worms that Philip still didn't get into for all the Reasons.
"I cover up, too. I guess you've..." She turned bright red. "You've seen my two most daring outfits." She tried to gesture at her bathing suit without uncovering herself with her arms. As modern suits went, it was very modest, with the exception of a cutout on the side. Evidence that Illyana had helped her shop for it. The other, of course, was Rahne's strapless masquerade gown.
'Nothing wrong with that," Philip said with a shrug. "It's whatever you're most comfortable with, Faiza covers up a lot more than that. "I just didn't like advertising what kind of shape I'm in." He didn't seem to have any trouble looking her in the eye either, bathing suit or not.
"Why not?" That might not have been a tactful question, but she couldn't help but be curious.
"Mmm, complicated question," Philip said. "One of the uncomplicated parts was that I moved around a lot, I've only finished a school year in one place a couple times. If you're really in shape, kids tend to think you're a jock and there's a lot of baggage there that I didn't want to deal with." He flicked another glance up, purple swim shorts and a weird look on his face, what the heck was Barton doing up there. "The habit stayed with me here."
"Oh, I see." Rahne herself had been an outcast, but only attended one school and never would have had any other choice. "Guess it took some time t' realize Xavier's like no place else in the world."
"That it most definitely is," Philip said with a faint smile. "It was hard to get used to being in one spot. We moved because of my mom's job," he clarified. "It wasn't a lot of fun."
She nodded along in full agreement. "It's no good for a man, to have no place he can call home. Y'need proper roots."
And there was another can of worms. His family had tried to set down once or twice, so far he was pretty sure his grandmother was the only one to manage it. Mostly. "I seem to be pretty well established here, at least," he said with a nod. "How proper it is, well, I'm not sure about that. Then again, sharing any kind of space with Tony Stark doesn't count as proper by default."
"It's a bit wild in the city, then?" Her voice was burnt at the edges with disappointment. Of course it would be. There were--what--4 young bachelors living there?
"Depends on your definition?" Philip said with a shrug. "Tony's settled down somewhat since he got involved with Steve, so that helps. It's less wild than..." he paused, trying to think of how to explain. "Fallout from days' long engineering jags. Stark's got a thing about explosions."
"Oh. So more...explosions, less..." She looked down and tapped her lips, trying to remember that part of herself that didn't blush at every little thing. "Less libertine."
"Oh, I'm sure there's still something, I just haven't seen much of it. Then again, I'm not there all the time." Philip's mouth quirked up in a little amused smile. "And Stark did go through the trouble of making automatic doors for a dog that's there, though Sharon uses them too."
"Sounds like you've got just about everything there." Rahne's heart was fluttering so that she felt she might faint. "Other than a woman to cook meals now and then. No offense to Sharon."
Philip really couldn't stop the startled blink at that. Conservative upbringing, he reminded himself before he opened his mouth and said something rude. Then again, not a single woman he was related to would have had a lot of patience for that idea. "I can cook for myself," he said finally, though honesty compelled him to elaborate. "Or close enough anyway."
"I'm sure you all feed yourselves somehow," Rahne backpedaled, sensing the moment of tension. "I just meant...I just..." She set her jaw. "I'm a good cook, really. Fantastic. I was trying to offer..."
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't get it," Philip said with a small shrug. "It's not an offer I'm used to being phrased like that." He paused, trying to be careful of his word choices. "The idea that I need someone to do things for me strictly for gender reasons, I wasn't raised that way."
"Where I come from, the women know how to cook and the men know how to eat, is all I meant." She looked down at her hands. "I was showing my credentials, like."
Now he was confused and Philip's face showed it. "Credentials?" he asked. "What for?"
"For my capability. In the kitchen. So that maybe you'd want me over. Maybe just to try one time, to have someone make you something nice. Not because you can't yourself." She caught herself wringing her hands together, and made herself stop. "I'm sure you can do just about anything yourself. But because I. I want to do something nice for you."
He really wasn't the smartest when it came to some things, but even Philip wasn't that stupid. The whole conversation was getting pretty strange. "Rahne, it sounds like you're trying to do something here and I'm sorry, I think I'm not quite getting it. I think I said you were welcome to come by before?"
She nodded, still looking down. "Yes, but. I thought instead of just a drop by, maybe it would be nice to have something a little..." She couldn't go on, suddenly. Rahne, terrified, drew a shaky breath. "I...I rather fancy you, Phillip. And I thought perhaps you'd like to try a date. I'd make something nice."
The startled expression went straight to stunned as the words penetrated. It was fairly obvious that he'd had no idea that was coming. "I... Rahne, I'm flattered, I am but..." You're too young lept straight to mind, even though that would have been a disaster. He sighed and figured something like the truth was the best plan. "I just got out of relationship, and no, no one really knew, we weren't public. It went really badly."
"Oh." The syllable was heavy, and it expanded until it filled all the space between them. Rahne seemed to remember that she wanted to cover her body, and wrapped her arms again around herself. "I'm sorry. That was presumptuous of me. Please, forget it." Her voice began to warble with scarcely held-back tears. All of her daydreams and hope gone so quickly.
"Hey, it's fine," Philip said. "There was no way you could have known, almost no one did. We were very private about the whole thing." How did people do this? "For whatever it's worth, I'm flattered. It seemed like it was hard for you to trust people that much?"
Alright. She couldn't help it. The tears began, and she wiped at her face with her forearm. "It is," she managed to whimper.
He wasn't going to panic, Philip thought, he really wasn't. It was really awkward but he opened his arms, offering the hug if she wanted it. His Aunt Sarah would be proud of that probably? "This is the worse cliche ever and I apologize but I'd still like to be friends?"
She let out a sobbing laugh at that. How could they be friends after she'd humiliated herself so badly? She covered her face with her hands and hunched forward slightly. "Please don't look at me," she cried.
"Rahne..." He made the decision for them and stepped up, pulling her into the offered hug. She could easily get out if she wanted to. "I know this feels like the worst thing ever and me saying it's not isn't probably going to help at all, but I promise you it isn't."
She sagged against him, no magic between them this time. "I can't believe I was so stupid. Please, please don't look at me." She was crying freely by now, and honestly unaware of what he might be doing. Her red hair had spread, covering her neck and shoulders and face, anyway.
"You're not stupid," Philip said firmly. "You're a teenager, that's not the same thing."
She had to get away and find some shame hole to crawl into. "I'm sorry," she said again, "that I bothered you."
"Don't be," Philip said and he could feel the tension building. He let her go with a sigh. "The door's still always open for anything, Rahne, I mean that."
Rahne stepped back, and wiped her wet face off as best she could. "I k-know it's t-too soon, now. But. But d' you think maybe...ever?"
God, there was a sticky question, wasn't it? "I can't say that," Philip replied. "Because that's entirely unfair to you. I can say we'll be friends if you want us to be, but it would be incredibly mean for me to dangle a maybe in front of you."
"That's such a nice way of saying 'no.' You're such a nice boy." She rubbed at her stinging eyes, so angry that the crying wouldn't stop. "I hoped a nice boy might like me for once."
"There are plenty of other boys here," Philip pointed out. "Ones that are closer to your age too."
"I don't want them." She wanted Phil, but he had said no and that was that and all there was left to do was cry.
Philip was getting more and more over his head by the second. He knew it wasn't anything more than a crush, even if it felt horrible, just like he knew he wouldn't be good for her in any way, much like with Noriko. But how did you say that?
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I should go." She took a wobbling step back from him.
"Okay," Philip said with a sigh. He wanted to fix this but he knew it could get to a point where he was just making it worse, much like the breakup. "Just don't think I don't want to talk to you, alright?"
She shook her head with a sort of crazed desperation. "No, I think...I think I won't bother you anymore. Ph-Phillip." It hurt to say his name, but at this point Rahne kind of wanted to hurt.
"I won't make you stay," Philip said after a moment. "But just think about it, okay?" And he probably really needed to stop talking now...
It was so hard to turn her back on him, but she did. Sobbing, she headed away--not toward the mansion, but toward the woods.
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Date: 2015-08-12 10:36 am (UTC)