Ahab: Angelo, Yvette - Wednesday afternoon

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Checking up on Yvette after the abduction, Angelo finds she's not coping well at all.



The beds at Xavier's were fairly standard, nothing special beyond a few mutation-specific modifications. A basic frame, a mattress, headboard. Not that high off the ground. However, they were just high enough to allow a small spiky girl to huddle underneath in the furtherest corner, skin blending with the shadows, the thick coat Laurie had used to cushion herself against Yvette's skin a comfortingly short distance away and Kevlar Piglet cradled against her body. Yvette was vaguely aware that perhaps hiding under the bed with a stuffed toy wasn't the most mature thing in the world, but at this moment, she didn't really care. It was safe under the bed.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going through her mind right now. Especially when the non-genius remembered being a small (if not spiky) boy who'd done exactly the same thing, when he was a lot younger than her. Angelo crouched down and found there was just about room under there for a short man to slide in after her. "Hey."

There was perhaps the barest twitch of her long fingers in response, a brief brightening of the gaze that was fixed on a spot in front of her on the floor, but nothing else. Just the desire to hide, to disappear.

"I didn't come to make you come out, chiquita", he said quietly. "Not if you don't want to. Just figured maybe you shouldn't be alone down here."

That got another twitch of a response, a rapid blink, and then, in a voice so tiny it was barely audible, Yvette spoke. Or rather squeaked, since she hadn't spoken for a while. "Is there to be news?"

"Not yet", he said apologetically, scooting back towards the wall, to sit with his back against it as far as he could - he was forced to half-sit, half-lie, but it was comfortable enough.


A small sound escaped her, half-whimper, half sigh, and she curled up a little tighter, the spikes of her hair rubbing against the underside of the bed frame and leaving bright scratches in the metal. "It is not being the same as when they are finding me, is it?" she asked miserably. "Someone is to be taking them?"

"We don't know", he said quietly, unwilling to lie to her. "There's a chance they got away from whoever attacked them an' they just haven't been able to call home yet, but... it looks like someone did, yeah."

"There are being the bad people - when I am being taken, I am hearing the other children waiting to be sold. They are telling the stories of what they are to be sold to do." Yvette bit her lip, a sound like ceramic being scratched escaping as her teeth met diamond-hard skin. "They must to be very frightened. The X-Men, they are to be finding them soon?"

"We're doin' everythin' there is to do", Angelo told her firmly. "I promise you that. An' we will find them an' bring them home." He made a half-motion to reach for her but cut it off, unsure if trying for contact, even with her clothes protecting him, would make her more anxious.

The movement was met by the slightest flinch, a slight edging into the corner. Touching was bad. "I am being frightened for them," she whispered. "Bad things are to be happening out there."

That answered that, and he dropped his hand. "Bad things do happen out there", he said with a nod. "But there's people that stop them from happenin', too."

"I wish..." she paused, and then tried again. "I wish I am to be doing something to be stopping the bad things to happen. They are always to be happening, and it is not right. But I am always to be frightened. It is being very hard to be brave."

"There's somethin' people have told me, chiquita", he said softly. "Bein' brave, it's not about not ever bein' frightened. It's about doin' whatever it is you're afraid of anyway. An' I'm bettin' when the situation comes up, if it does, you'll find you're brave enough."

"When I am being frightened, I am to be hiding," she admitted softly. Then she turned her head slightly to look directly at him for the first time, her hair scratching the wall a little. "Is Mr. Angelo ever to be afraid?"

"You're only fourteen", he said gently. "An' you've been through a lot before you came here. Give yourself time. An' yeah, I get afraid. I'm afraid of fire, an'... other things. But you go on, like you have to."

"I am to be fifteen soon," she said, with the smallest hint of humour in her voice. "Is that why you are being the X-Man? To be doing the brave thing?"

"To do the right thing", he corrected/agreed, with a faint smile. "Never thought I'd do it, two years ago, but... things change."

"Yes, they do." And that change was sometimes overwhelming. "Are you ever to be taken away by the bad people, Mr. Angelo?"

"Taken? No", Angelo said, eyes going distant. "But I had to leave home because of them, once. And bad people have come here - but that was before we had such good security", he added hastily. "They wouldn't get close to the mansion now."


"Sometimes, I am thinking to be never leaving the school again," Yvette said distantly, drooping a little. It had been a very long day. "It is being the safe here."

"No", he said quickly, looking over at her. "I mean, yeah, it's safe here, but... that's not a good way to think, chiquita."

"I know," she sighed voice full of resignation even if her face was immobile. She let her chin rest on Piglet, closing her eyes. "I am wishing for the hug," she said softly. "But I am being too much for the hurting people."

He studied the little girl for a long moment, eyes sad, then offered, "I'm harder to cut than most people. An'... look at this." He scooped up the coat he'd just noticed lying between them, feeling the thickness of it. "Bet this'd go the rest of the way."

"Laurie is being calling this her Hug Coat," Yvette offered, eyes glowing a little. "If I am to be very careful, I am not to be cutting you?" Then she looked at the awkward half-lying position he was in, and added. "But maybe it is to be easy for you if we are not under the bed?"

He chuckled. "You might have a point there. Okay then - you can have a hug if you come out from under the bed."

"It is the deal." And whilst her friends were still missing and no-one knew where they were, Yvette did feel marginally better. She waited for Angelo to wriggle out before following, making little "ow" noises from the pins and needles, Piglet still clutched in one hand.

He had the coat in his hands as he stood waiting for her, trying to judge its size before he tried to put it on. "How big did this look on Laurie?"

"Very big," Yvette supplied, brushing herself off. It was a little dusty under there. She was keeping close to Angelo too. Just in case. "It is being covering her hands and being on the floor when she is wearing it."

Angelo nodded, satisfied. Laurie was only a couple of inches shorter than him, so the coat should be almost as oversized on him. He straightened it out and slipped it on. "There. All safe now."

Yvette paused a little, but then came over and gave Angelo a tentative hug. Her cheek rasped against the thick wool of the coat, chafing it a little but not slicing through. "I am sorry, for to be the silly girl," she said, softly.

He wrapped his arms, protected in the sleeves, firmly around her. "You're not a silly girl", he said just as quietly. "You're just scared, is all."

With a small noise, Yvette hugged him tighter, clinging to him much the same way she had to Laurie after hearing the news. "I wish they are coming home soon," she said, muffled by the coat.

"Me too, chiquita", he said, voice still low. "Me too."

The next time anyone ventured into the room, they'd find Angelo sitting on the bed, back against the wall, with a small spiky girl fast asleep across his legs, the coat between them.