Angel and Julio

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

Concerned with how Julio's been doing, Angel seeks him out. It takes a little bit of talking but she manages to make him feel a little better.




"Julio?" Shuffling her feet, Angel made her way along the porch, using the light from inside the mansion to make sure she didn't fall over. After trying to digest all those stupid feelings for boys, she'd attempted to shelve it for now. After everything that had happened, she was rather worried about Julio and needed to make sure he was okay. She spotted him near the end on one of the porch swings. "Hey..."

Julio almost sighed. Caught at last. "Hey, Angel." He said tiredly. He looked up and gave her a small smile. He had several days worth of stubble and there were dark circles under his eyes. If he was trying to give the impression of normal, he was failing miserably.


"Can I join you?" She really, really didn't want to intrude but he looked like death. Death with an accent. "I don't have to if you don't want me to..."

"No, it is okay," he shifted slightly to let Angel sit down next to him. "I must warn you, I have not been feeling fun."

Tucking one leg under the other, Angel leaned her head back against the bench and looked at him. "If I wanted fun, I'd have fed Kyle a slurpee," she said lightly. "But I, you know, just wanted to make sure you were okay. I've been worried with all the stuff that's been going on."

The boy snorted and rocked the porch swing a little. They sat in silence for a while until Julio spoke quietly. "Everyone is always telling me it is not my fault, but they do not realize how much of it really is."

That got her to tilt her head all the way so she could look at him better. "Would you feel better if they all blamed you?" she asked, voice just as quiet.

"I do not know." He rocked the swing a little more. He exhaled loudly, breath coming out as a white puff in the cold air. "I did have a choice, you know."

Seeing his breath, Angel scooted a bit closer, slowly turning up the heat so she radiated some warmth. "Did you?" she asked after a minute. "I mean, you didn't have a choice when he took you but I think you're referring to your powers."

"No, It was when he took me. I had the choice to come quietly or let him kill me." Julio cracked his knuckles. "I think I made the wrong decision."

Reaching over, Angel grabbed his hands in hers. "You did not make the wrong decision," she said sharply, close to yelling at Julio for the first time, well, ever. "If you'd have died, we would never have met you. Magneto used you for a sh-shitty..." Color raised into her cheeks at the use of a curse word and she stuttered a bit but kept going. "...thing. And while I wish it had never happened, I don't ever, ever, ever regret that you're here and one of my best friends."

He stiffened a little at the contact, but shifted his fingers so that he held her hand. "Thank you," Julio said hoarsely. "I mean it." He gave her another small smile, and this time it reached his eyes.

Thankful she was already blushing, Angel nonetheless held his hand just as tightly. "Any time," she promised him, laying her head against his shoulder.

"Kyle threw me in the pool, today." Julio said after minute. "I am thinking that I have been too emo, then? I have at least been showering, because then he would complain about the smell."

Snickering slightly against his shoulder, Angel grinned. "Maybe a touch emo." She held up her free hand and held the fingers inches from each other. "Just a touch though. And, uh, yay for showering, dude. Because I would have thrown you in the pool."

"I would like to see you try. You could not lift me, I would break you in half." Julio said, a hint of his old self in his voice. He was still exhausted from the roller-coaster of the last week, but knowing that in spite of everything he still had his best friends helped a little. Strangely enough.

"Okay, maybe shove is a better term. Shove you into the pool, does that work better?" Angel relaxed as the teasing got easier and she felt Julio untense a little bit. "I'd try to tackle you but, well, we know how far that gets me normally."

"You bounce." Julio said, "Or you jump on my back and demand I carry you. One of these days, I shall demand you carry me," he was aware that he was still holding Angel's hand, and his fingers were starting to cramp, but he didn't let go.

"I bounce like a basketball," Angel pouted, more than comfortable where she was and unwilling to be embarrassed by it. "But the piggy backs are fun. You ever try and I'll take you up on the challenge...until I can't go any further and it'll be your fault that you ended up either squishing me or on your butt."

"You are on." Julio said quietly.

Leaning her head back, Angel grinned up at him. "This'll be fun," she laughed, squeezing his hand.