Shiro & Kyle, Wednesday

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The closet door opens. Pardon Shiro while he freaks the hell out.


Only two weeks in and already 2007 was shaping up to be a great year for Shiro. His powers were mostly back to the way they were before the summer, he was back on the X-Men and performed admirably in Greece, he'd be 20 in just two months and finally be of age to collect his father's inheritance, and of course there was Alex. Shiro didn't so much as giggle when he entered the weight room, it was more of a happy little personal laugh. He blamed the high on just general feelings of contentment.

Shiro's workout sessions with Kyle weren't as vital to his health as they'd been a couple of months ago. He'd already begun regaining the weight and muscle that he'd lost from his addiction, and while he wasn't back in pre-Kick form, he looked much healthier than he had even before Thanksgiving. But he enjoyed spending time with Kyle, his teenage-induced insanity notwithstanding, and saw no reason to alter their arrangement. And besides, the two were constantly teaching each other, and it was just fun.

Kyle was already in the weight room, finishing the last of a set of hanging curls. Which, for Kyle was where he flipped his legs over the chin up bar and did situps. Upside down. He caught wind of Shiro, and dropped off the bar, landing in a crouch. "Dude, how much coffee have you had?" he asked, not missing the laugh and Shiro's happy expression.

"Coffee is for the weak," Shiro replied, setting his towel and water bottle down. "I don't drink that stuff. I am just happy." And Armageddon wasn't even approaching. "It has been an enjoyable few weeks."

"So I heard. Forge is a big gossip." Kyle said, reaching under one of the benches for a still-bagged package. "He said you got back on the team, which, dude. Awesome. And so I figured, since you're awesome, and could totally take on a dinosaur, that a t-shirt was in order." He paused, still not entirely sure this wasn't grossly offensive, but it was funny, and that was more important.

". . . Thank you?" Not that Shiro didn't appreciate the sentiment, and he was reasonably confident that he could defeat a T-Rex single-handedly, but ninja-kicking it in the head? Or ninja-anything, really. But his pathological fear of ninja was a private ordeal, so he offered Kyle and nod. "Do I even want to know where you found it?"

"Some webpage. Angel showed it to me." Kyle said, waving a hand. What was that smell? It was starting to bug him, that he couldn't recognize it. It wasn't the usual Shiro smell, there was something else to it, a little waxy and for some reason, it reminded Kyle of the woods outside, but not quite like that.

Shiro wasn't necessarily a paranoid person, but he liked to think of himself as alert. So the odd, focused expression on Kyle's face was just a little bit troublesome. "Is something wrong?" he asked, frowning. "I don't offend, do it? I did shower this morning . . ." He pleaded with whatever deity would listen that it was just BO and not some invading force. Not a great way to start out a new year.

"Huh?" Kyle asked, refocusing his attention on Shiro. "Nah. If you had the stank, I'd say. I think like, whatever shampoo or laundry stuff you're using is different and I can't figure out where I'm smelled it before. Sorry. It's like, you know when you can't remember a word, only you know you know it? Like that, only, my nose." He tapped his nose.

"No, I am using the same soaps and detergents that I have always used." Shiro held up his arm and sniffed it. He didn't smell anything, so it must have been one of those weird feral hang-ups. "Or you could be hallucinating."

"I am not hallucinating, dude. You smell like ... I dunno, like mutant candle wax and trees or something." Wax and trees. Kyle groaned, realizing how much of an idiot he was, and sat down on one of the benches. "Surfboard wax. A-duh." Alex was back, and staying with Shiro. That made sense. Although, it was a lot stronger than it should've been, if Alex was just staying on Shiro's couch. Shiro never smelled like Tommy this much, and it wasn't like Kyle himself had ever smelled that much like Forge or Julio. Just Jay.

Oh. Jay. Well, that was different, Kyle thought. And then realized he was staring at Shiro -again- and covered his eyes with his hand. "Yes, I officially am stupid."

"I . . . what?" Shiro's voice was flat, emotionless. He stared back at Kyle, his own expression mirroring his tone of voice. Alex's scent was all over him and Kyle had picked it up. That's it, game over. This was the last thing he'd ever wanted anyone to know. And if it became common knowledge, then he might as well shoot himself now.

And then an even more terrifying thought occurred to him. If Kyle could smell it, then every other person with enhanced senses could. He never saw (and much less spoke to) Rahne, but Logan . . . That was almost enough to make him cry.

He was scared. The smell of fear came up over Shiro's normal smell, and the slight smell that Kyle could now identify as Alex, and masked both. And he sounded worried, and Kyle could understand why. He'd known people would mostly accept him and Jay and he'd still been scared.

"I'm not gonna say anything, dude." Kyle said quietly. "Your private stuff is -your- private stuff."

"No, you really are hallucinating," Shiro managed to say once he found his voice and ability to speak again. "I'm not . . . he's . . . we're . . ." He was quite aware that pushing the point, especially by stuttering, wasn't helping his case at all. "You can't tell anyone."

Kyle gave Shiro a look, and snorted. "Not having the sex. Yeah, that's obvious. You don't smell like sex. You just smell like ..." He paused, and scratched his head. How to word this so that it didn't sound stupid. "Like you're around each other more than roommates usually are. Like, physically I mean. And I already said I wouldn't say. So I won't."

Small consolation, that, but enough that Shiro's heart wasn't threatening to explode out of his chest from anxiety anymore. "That is not what I meant to say, but, yes to that, too. It's just a thing. Nothing to . . ." What? Get excited about? Shiro had already done a pretty bang-up job of that.

Kyle shook his head, making a point not to laugh, but still kind of amused. If this was how he was before he'd gotten some balls and just admitted he had a thing for Jay, no wonder it was funny to some people. And no wonder Terry had bust out of the room laughing that one evening way back in the day. It was -funny-. "Okay, now we should totally skip the awkward crap so I can torture you on weight machines."

"Please." Oh, Alex was going to have a fit when he heard about this. Or more likely laugh his head off and tell Shiro that he's being dumb. He only wished that someone could ninja-kick him so he wouldn't have to think about this anymore.