[Julio and Angel] - Backdated to earlier in the week

[x-rictor.livejournal.com]

Julio can't sleep, and neither can Angel. Only one way to cure that. Mayhem.



Every once in a while, Angel had nights where sleep was pretty much a memory. Back home, she'd have read quietly in her room or fussed with her camera. At the mansion, she had tons more options that made sure she wouldn't wake anyone. But she'd visited most of the TV rooms and she was a little too tired to go swimming.

It really gave her an excuse to park herself in the kitchen and eat ice cream after midnight.

The nightmare hadn't been particularly violent this time, but it still woke Julio up, sweating and shaking. Thankfully, Kyle was the type who either slept through them, or just would quietly not mention them. Tonight his roommate had merely rolled over and gone back to sleep, which Julio tried to do as well. But the nightmare left him restless, and their fridge was out of juice.

He hadn't been expecting to see the lights in the kitchen on. Or to see Angel sitting at the counter licking a spoon with a carton of ice cream in front of her.

"Ah, the mighty mutant eating machine strikes again," he said as he entered the kitchen.

Angel looked up, startled, but then grinned. "Start of school always means I don't sleep," she said, pushing the container towards him. "And, hey, what's a fully stocked kitchen good for if not for feeding mighty mutant eating machines? Why're you up?"

"Couldn't sleep," Julio shrugged, "Needed juice." He reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a small bottle of orange juice. He shook it with one hand while pulling the stool out next to Angel with the other and hopped up on it. He peered into the container and smiled, "Ice cream as a midnight snack? Isn't that supposed to give you strange dreams?" Julio was aware of inherent irony in his statement, but Angel didn't need to know about his own bad dreams. Instead he opened the juice and took a drink.

"I dreamt once that I got eaten by a radioactive shoe," Angel said, taking another bite of ice cream. "My subconscious has enough ammo already so ice cream can't hurt." She grinned. "Besides, I was bored and couldn't tire myself out...treats won't tire me out but it's something, you know?"

"I would think, isn't sugar supposed to wake you up?" Julio polished off the juice and pitched it towards the trash can. "And radioactive shoes are better than nightmares. Honestly."

Narrowing her eyes at him a little, Angel took stock of her friend and then hunched down, peering at him over the ice cream. "Saaaay, want to do something to work off the late night energy?" she asked, grinning evilly and wiggling her eyebrows at him.

Julio returned his friend's grin and steepled his fingers. "What does the pretty girl have in mind?"

Glancing to the right and then to the left, her grin widened even further. "How good are you at banister sliding?" she asked. "Because, I mean, those banisters in the front foyer have been taunting me since I got here and since everyone's asleep..."

The boy leaned on the counter and met Angel's gaze. "I was a champion back home. We had some in our house, and it was always the trick to not get caught by the housekeeper." His grin turned challenging. "Think you can keep up with me?"

Angel leaned forward more, almost to the point of bumping noses with him and gave him a haughty look. As much as a cross eyed expression could be considered haughty. "Can I keep up with you? Julio, Julio, Julio, I'm about to introduce you to the Mistress of Speed."

"Oh yeah?" Julio raised his eyebrows. "Well, Mistress of speed, see if you can beat me. On three, I race you. One, two, go!-" He turned and darted out of the kitchen before Angel could get off her stool.

"Cheater!!

~~

Angel glanced down the stairs as she petted the nice, shiny wood of the banister. Since Julio had beaten her there, she'd slumped off to get the pillows off the couches. They were now littered at the bottom, creating a nice, soft landing area. "Ready?"

"When you are." Julio said graciously. They were both poised at the top of the stairs. He gestured gallantly, "Ladies first, or do you want me to do a test run? I would rather the broken bones go to me than to you."

"I grew up with a gaggle of mostly male cousins, dude," Angel said cheerfully, hopping onto the top. She kept both hands tight in front of her so she wouldn't go until she was ready. "Besides, if, you know, I die or something, you can be the gallant knight. Say you saved me from the radioactive shoe!"

And with that, she scooted, letting go. Mr. Marko had to be doing a bang up job of keeping the wood nice and shiny because she went down much faster than she had thought she would, the slickness of the wood and her Finding Nemo boxer shorts adding to the gravity. With a quiet whoop, she fell off at the end and tumbled onto the pillows.

Julio tried very hard not to flinch when she hit the pillows. he waited until she stood up and gave him a thumbs up before sitting down and letting himself go. He'd carefully watched Angel's decent, and had adjusted accordingly. But he still went faster than anticipated, and fell onto the pillows in a boneless heap.

Leaning over the sprawled form of one Julio, Angel snickered. "You alive down there?" she asked, squashing, for now, the impulse to do a one man doggy pile. It wasn't much of a pile if it was only one...but then again, if she landed right, she could potentially smother him under the pillows.

"Bueno." Julio said with a grin. He sat up and cracked his neck. "Again?"

Reaching down, Angel dragged him to his feet and then darted back up the stairs, red hair flying every which way. "Again, again!" she crowed, clambering back on.

"Two for one this time!" Julio said, and wrapped an arm around her waist. "My cousins and I used to do this all the time," he said by way of explanation when Angel looked up at him. "Trust me." He and Angel both looked at the pillow pile. "In fact, let me get in front. If I land on you I don't want to squish you."

Holding on carefully as he jumped off and then got on in front of her, she giggled. "Squishing is bad," she said firmly, gripping him tightly and peering over his shoulder. "I'll just, you know, bounce off of you. No squishing danger here!" She nodded into his shoulder, grin never leaving. "Ready when you are!"

Julio's brain barely registered the 'Hey! Girl touching me!' impulses, before they both slid down the banister. Their combined weight making them go much faster. They both shrieked before they hit the pillows with a thud.

It took Angel a few seconds to wiggle her head up from the mountain of pillows. She discovered that she was sprawled on Julio's hip--who knew where the rest of him was--and she poked his back. "You," she stated, "have bony hips. Wow, this is like being in quick sand. Quick sandy pillows of death!"

An arm shot up from the pile of pillows and waved feebly before Julio hauled the rest of himself out from under the pillows with a gasp. "And you," he panted at Angel. "Weigh a ton. It is all the ice cream."

"I'll have you know it's not the ice cream," she protested, still sprawled bonelessly. "It's the pizza and the soda and those little chocolate covered coffee beans things. I can't feel my feet..." With some effort, she kicked off one pillow that was covering one leg but the other was tangled up with Julio's legs. "Darn our unusually long limbs!"

Julio let out a somewhat unmanly shriek when Angel's foot touched the bottom of his. "Ay! Woman! Not the feet!"

Now that got her full attention and she popped up like a whack-a-mole. "Oohhh, reaaaaally?" she asked, looking as innocent as she could while holding his feet hostage with her own. Not that she was going to do anything right then, of course, but this was funny and good information for later.

There were several important things to know about Julio. One of which, his feet were extremely sensitive. He could count one hand the number of times he'd cried since he was ten, and most of them involved stubbing his toe. He looked at Angel with a mixture of horror and mock seriousness. "I mean. Your feet were cold. Cold feet?"

"Of course they are. Dreadful cold feet. Bad, evil even!" Being nice, she tugged her feet out and away from his and then held them up for him to see. "They're turning blue, even! Woe, oh woe is me."

"Indeed! It means we are not active enough!" He tossed a pillow at Angel and tried to climb out of the pile. He paused before he reached the edge. "Do you even get cold?"

Staggering to her feet, she thought about it. "I don't get hot, so I doubt I get cold. And I wasn't cold in the pool at all so...hey, it's like having a personal thermostat in my belly! Maybe one day I can spread that out to other people. Right now, not so much, they'd end up kinda crispy."

Julio stood and made his way slowly up the stairs, "I bet you can. I can do this thing, with," He paused and held up his hands. "I do not know, it is like vibrations? Except it feels like a taser or something. I tasered Kyle when he held me upside-down."

Joining him, Angel looked at his hands curiously. "Is it safe for only Kyle, He of the Regrowing Toes, to try or can I...?" She waved a hand at him, clearly wanting to see what it felt like.

He snatched his hand away and gave Angel a reproving look. "Only if you promise not to light me on fire. My roommate's the one who can regrow skin, not me."

"I solemnly swear not to set you on fire," Angel said immediately, holding up her hands. "Promise! No lightee on fire here!"

Julio shrugged. There was a fire extinguisher nearby anyway. He reached out and gripped Angel's hand, closing his eyes and exhaling. He nudged his power, and gave it a little push. Angel's hand began to shake uncontrollably.

Angel gave a slight squeak and gripped Julio's hand even tighter but, thankfully, there were no flames. After her momentary shock, she began to laugh in delight. "It tickles!" she said, wonder in her voice. "Julio, that's awesome!"

He let go quickly. "Yes, awesome. Except, not so awesome when I have broken three coffee cups because I cannot think clearly in the morning." He'd discovered a tin cup with his name on it in the kitchen after he'd shattered the last one.

She poked him in the shoulder a few times. "You're learning," she chided, "we all are. You'll either learn to control your powers better before caffeine intake in the morning or, you know, just put an IV in you during the night and get your coffee that way."

"No! No IVs!" Julio suppressed a shudder. He held up the back of his hand and pointed to his scar. "I had an incident with one. I will take my caffeine the normal way, thank you. Besides, I do not have to worry about other people using my tin cup," he smiled.

"Aww." Angel patted his hand and then grinned at him. "This is true, there will be no cup thieves for you to chase after! Unless I decide to steal it and then, well, we're both in trouble."

"Why would you want to steal my tin cup? I would not trust you with it, you would melt it!" He wagged an accusing finger.

She gave him her best innocent look, complete with hands behind the back. "I would do no such thing! I'd probably just hold it for ransom or something. And possibly put it in a dress because it freaks guys out."

Julio paused, "How would you find a dress for a cup?"

"I'm special, I have my ways."

"You are very special." Julio patted the top of Angel's head. "You had to wear a helmet when you were little, did you not?" And then he ran before she could hurt him.

"I swear I'm totally going to set your underwear on fire!" Angel squealed, chasing after him. Stupid long legs!

Julio only laughed and sprinted faster

Okay, so she wouldn't set him on fire. Burning butt would cause screams and anguish and then more anguish because they woke up the mansion. Instead, she jumped and, barely, managed to land on his back. "Aha! Now to unleash my...um...powers of doom."

She was much lighter than he would have thought, considering she was a bottomless pit. He did what he normally did when a cousin jumped on his back. He grabbed her legs and leaned back, threatening to dump her.

The sensation of falling startled Angel and she immediately clung tighter, doing her best imitation of an octopus. "Eeeek!" was the only thing she could get out and even that was muffled since she'd squeaked into his shoulder.

"Do not worry, I have got you." He stood upright, only because she was starting to cut off his air. "You can let go now?"

"Oh, right, breathing..." Slowly, making sure he wasn't going to drop her on her butt, she let go and slid down to stand behind him. Giggling, Angel said, "That was fun though I thought I was gonna miss and end up face planting."

Julio smiled and rubbed her hair, stiffing a yawn. She really was too cute. "Where do you get all your energy? Second mutation?"

Rolling her eyes as he messed up her hair--more--she didn't bat him away. It was a familiar gesture, one her dad and her cousins did all the time. It didn't feel weird that Julio had started doing it. "I think it comes with my bottomless pit..." Angel yawned suddenly and clapped her hands over her mouth. "Except when it goes away, suddenly, just like that."

"I think we have accomplished what we wanted, we are now both tired." Julio nodded and yawned again. Yawns were contagious after all. "Bed for us now, I think." Julio turned and looked over his shoulder. "Except we should clean up first."

Angel rubbed her eyes with her hands, looking all of her 14 and a half years. "Yeah," she agreed, "though if I fall asleep on the pillows at the bottom, just toss a blanket over me. I'm an early riser, I'd be up before the adults. Most of them..."

"Not to worry, I will carry you back to your room. Or, drag. Since you weigh so much." He grinned to show he was kidding.

"I'm a growing girl, I have to keep eating or I'll waste away!" Angel attempted to look dramatic and swoon-y though tugging on some pillows and yawning certainly ruined the effect.

Julio shook his head and began to gather cushions. "Come on, Angelita. Before we both pass out."