[Angel, Kyle and Julio] - More camping, set earlier in the evening.

[x-rictor.livejournal.com]

The kids set up tents and several things are discussed. How Angel made her dad snort tater tots, Julio's transvestite cousin, and. . .Jay.



The pole was, not surprisingly, bigger than Angel was...which certainly didn't explain why the boys had told her to hold it while they busied themselves. Doing what, exactly, she didn't know but it had better have something to do with the tent or she'd start jousting.

"Guuuuys, if this falls over and crushes me to death, I'm haunting you for ever and ever."

"Just a minute," Julio called over his shoulder. He was going through the bag of tent ribs, endings to the tent ribs, and God-knew-what-else while Kyle went through the instructions. Or at least was in the process of unfolding the directions. "You find it yet?"

"It's made of aluminum!" Kyle protested. "The -last-one didn't hurt when I got clonked, this one won't hurt if you do." However, this was why Kyle had opted to string his hammock from two branches, halfway up a good sized tree, and risk rain. If it rained a little, he wouldn't die, and he had a change of clothes in his well-proven-to-be-waterproof book bag. Along with most of a pound of trail mix, and organic no-preservative marshmallows.

Angel huffed. "I'll clonk you," she muttered. She and Julio were going to share the tent while Kyle did his monkey boy tree thing. "Julio, you don't snore do you? Because then I might have to suffocate you in your sleep and hide the body."

"I do not snore." Julio said huffily. "It is monkey-boy over there who snores. All I have to do is hit him with a shoe in his ribs, and he stops. But. It is like a helicopter." Julio was slightly uncomfortable about sharing a tent with a girl, but it was still slightly less awkward than sharing Kyle after Julio had found out about the boyfriend. Julio was all for stringing up a tarp and sleeping on a pad on the ground, but Angel had insisted. Besides, it was a four-person tent and there would be plenty of stuff in-between them.

"Chainsaw." Kyle corrected. "It's like a -chainsaw-. " When in doubt, quote Fred Durst. "The tent is not going to attack anyone. Look, the directions totally make sense." He unfolded the directions and laid them on the ground, pinning them with one toe claw. "I totally had to do this like, nine billion times with my Dad, and Montana's kinda colder than New York, so the tent not falling over's important."

"Yeah, I'd rather not be smothered to death." She leaned as far as she could without dropping the pole and stared at the upside down instructions. "Uh. I'll let you boys be all manly and figure that out, you know? Else I'd end up making a pyramid or something."

Julio held up all the random plastic pieces. "Which one is piece a and piece b?" he asked. He missed the tent he and his Dad had. That one was completely uncomplicated. "And pole a? Does it even matter?"

Kyle rolled his eyes. "I swear, they totally give you like, nine billion extra pieces. Which is why I've got a hammock. One piece. That's it." He looked down at the directions, and took two of the pieces from Julio. "Okay, this one goes... here.. I think.." He said, putting it in a slot in one of the longer ribs. "And this one.. I.. got nothing."

Angel narrowed her eyes. "Guys? If you can figure out how this works in the next fifteen minutes, my treat for stuff for the next Saturday outing." Competition and a price always seemed to do the trick.

Julio and Kyle exchanged looks.

“Deal.”

--

It took about thirty minutes, and one disassembly-reassembly, but the tent was standing and thankfully holding. Julio breathed a sigh of relief. Even though the directions were also in Spanish, they were still a little obtuse.

"Well," Julio dusted off his hands. "That is that. It will hold. Now," he turned to Kyle and pointed. "This tent if for Angel and me, I do not want to wake up in the middle of the night with you spooning me because you got cold."

Kyle didn't say anything for a few moments, and then kicked a few twigs in Julio's direction. "I don't ... I'm not... " he stammered out. "Dude, I don't .. you are not my type!" He finally protested, hoping no one would notice that his voice cracked halfway through.

Julio blinked, momentarily thrown by Kyle’s outburst. "I was only teasing.” But, since the subject was there. He awkwardly threw his backpack in the tent. "I am confused, you say you like girls, but you had a boyfriend?"

"Yeah?" Kyle said, a little more annoyed then he had meant. "I like girls. And Jay. It.. was a thing." He sat down, leaning against a tree trunk, and crossed his arms. "If I have to give the "Sex isn't totally binary" speech I'm passing it to someone else, because I still don't entirely get it. It's complicated or something."

Poking her head out from the tent--Angel had been setting up things inside--she frowned at them both. She'd only caught part of the conversation but it had sounded way, way too serious for the camping trip. "Is everything okay?" she asked, biting her lip.

"Fine," Julio said. "I think." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned back to Kyle. "Look, a lot of people where I am from, do not like, you know..." he gestured awkwardly, "Gays. Or, whatever you are. But, you do not have to worry about me. I have a cousin who is, what is the word in English? He prefers to be a woman? So, whatever you are is fine."

"Transvestite?" Kyle offered, not sure if that was right or not. "And I'm not gay. I mean, totally. I'm not. I'm .. " He shrugged, scratching his head. "I'm confused, is what I am. As soon as I figure it out, you're third to know. Maybe fourth. Jay'd have dibs, and then Forge, because a guy's roommate forever gets dibs. Sorta. If he'd not be like 'Dude, I don't want to know."

Julio shrugged. At any other point in time he would have said something to make Kyle squirm more, but Julio had the tact to know that it was probably best to drop the subject. "Look, I do not think any less of you. It is just different, and I am a little confused by it. That is all."

In order to break the awkward silence that followed, Angel stretched out and stared up at her friends. "I once told my dad I wanted to be a transvestite," she said cheerfully. "I was, like, 6 or something and he nearly snorted a tater tot out of his nose."

Kyle blinked slowly. " Man, my mom would've grounded me for life for even knowing that word." He said. "Which is why, they, uh, don't know about Jay. Because it would end badly. Possibly with my death." At the least with his being told how horrible he was.

Julio had to wonder how his father would react if he told him he was gay. Couldn't be any worse than finding out he'd been with a married woman. "You should meet my cousin. He looks a lot like Julia Roberts," he said to Angel, and then turned back to Kyle. "Look, it does not matter. You do not live with your parents, you live with us. So who cares what they think?"

Kyle shrugged. "They're my folks, you know? I don't want them to look at me like I have two heads all the time." He pulled himself up into the hammock he'd strung between two branches earlier and stretched out, legs draping over the side of the hammock. "They do that enough just because I'm out as a mutant just by, you know, having ears."

"Well, it is not like you can help that." Julio rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "When we go to New York, I do not notice that many funny looks. It is their fault for living like como se?... hillbillies?"

Kyle shrugged, not that it was entirely visible, but the accompanying grunt was most definitely a verbal shrug. "I get a couple of 'em. Forge gets more, but, you know. It's different when it's your parents." He rolled over onto his stomach and looked down at Julio and Angel. ".. Can we totally have a subject change? Because there's marshmallows and hot dogs, and they're more cool than my emo about my stupid parents."

"If my father can still love me for doing all the stupid shit that I have done, on top of the whole city killing thing, your can accept you for your ears." This was accompanied by Julio tossing a bag on Kyle's stomach. Even in the dark he had impeccable aim. "Now we eat before you get the urge to wear tight pants."

Kyle rolled out of the hammock, landing in a crouch with the bag of marshmallows in one hand. "There better be more than just marshmallows down there or Angel, you and me are having words about not eating all the hot dogs." He said, mock growling. "I'll go get a rabbit and cook it right here if there's no hot dogs."

They boys were answered by a muffled squeak. Julio rolled his eyes. "This is why I came prepared. I hid a bag of hot dogs in my backpack. Now, let's go before one of you eats the rest of my food."

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[x-legion.livejournal.com]

Children, witness Xavier's first annual camping trip. Events include overnighting, marshmallow roasting, and questioning one another's sexuality.