Kyle and Jan. Peeps, and ... toes?

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

Backdated to Friday. Jan visits Kyle to see how he's doing. He still 'off', but she manages to confuse him entirely by telling him he has cute toes, and gets him to get outside.



"Hey, Kyle! How'd your day go... what exactly are you doing?" Jan stood in the doorway of Kyle's room, wide-eyed, witnessing a juggling attempt gone wrong as Kyle attempted to juggle four colorful Peeps bunny-shaped beanbags and failed.

He certainly -could- have settled for three. But there were four of each kind of beanbag, and it wasn't fair to have to leave one out. At least, it had made sense at the time. Kyle managed to catch one of the two beanbags in the air, but missed the other entirely. He gave Jan a sheepish look, and set the three Peeps down on the desk, and then picked up the one that had landed on his desk chair. "Uh. Failing at juggling?"

"Well, at least you're not smacking yourself in the head with them," Jan commented as she sat in the chair recently vacated by the purple bunny Kyle was now holding. "Or did I just get here a couple of minutes too late for that?"

"I plead the fifth!" Kyle protested, and set the fourth Peep in the row with the other three. "They don't actually hurt, I mean, you know, if I ever did bounce one off my head. Hypothetically. Which I didn't do." He gave Jan a slightly embarassed grin, and patted the bunnies on the ears. "I'll figure out how to juggle four things eventually. But probably not today."

"Uh-huh. Sure you didn't get bounced in the head by a bunny or a chick, but yeah, I'm sure you'll learn how to juggle more if you keep practicing." Jan grinned at him. "Maybe you'll even be able to juggle all eight at a time without bopping yourself in the nose. You can be The Amazing Kyle with his death-defying juggling act. Witness our young hero brave life and limb and a smack in the head as he attempts to juggle not one, not four, not seven, but eight Peeps beanbags all at the same time!"

Kyle attempted to raise an eyebrow at Jan and give her a serious look. And failed, unable to keep a straight face, finally snickering and covering his mouth with his hand. "See, I do that and someone will say something about chainsaws, and then Sam and Mr. Marko will bring up the axe thing again. Which is just embarassing."

"Hey, a bop in the head by a pink chick would just make you look silly but wouldn't be a major ow or capable of slicing off toes!" Jan said, giggling along with Kyle. "What is it with you and the toes and fingers, anyway? You're just doing that to see how long it takes for them to grow back, aren't you?" She was kidding, of course, knowing Kyle would never really do something like that. Or would he...?

"Oh God no." Kyle made a face. "I get tested for it anyway, because I guess it's good to know how fast I grow stuff back, but it's not, like, on purpose." He shrugged. "It's just one of those weird coincidences, I guess. The first time, I didn't even know they'd come back until Doctor Grey told me." And then, of course, he'd had to torment people with the stubs.

"You didn't, like, feel them grow back or something?" Jan asked, her curiosity piqued. "How fast did they grow? Were they not there and then suddenly they were or was it real slow and a little came back each day?"

"It -itched-. All the time." Kyle said. "The first time, Sam and Mr. Marko were right there, so I went right to the infirmary. And they grew back. like, first they were little tiny stubs, and then like, baby sized toes, only my gross toes, not regular baby toes. Um. It took like, two weeks both times? I think?" He looked up at the ceiling, counting days in his head. "Yeah, about two weeks."

"Your toes are not gross," Jan told Kyle. "They're just... toes. Kyle toes. I think they're cute."

Kyle spent a few seconds blinking in confusion at Jan. Maybe she hadn't actually seen his feet. Or maybe girls were just weird. Angel had said his ears were cute once. It was -so- confusing. Maybe it was hyperactive girls who were weird. Jennie never said his feet or ears were cute. "If you say so..."

"I say so," Jan told Kyle firmly, trying not to laugh at the bewildered expression on his face. "You're not calling me a liar, are you? Because I'm not. I mean, sure I've lied before, like 'Oh yes, that shirt looks fabulous on you' but not for serious stuff like this. You have cute Kyle toes. So there." Then she just sat there and gave him a Look, daring him to contradict her.

"So... the shirt doesn't look fabulous on me?" Kyle said, snickering. And to see if he could avoid any further discussion of his feet. Which were still, in his eyes, gross. "I could go get one of Mondo's shirts.... although I think that's less fabulous then, um, scary."

"Oh no, it looks great on you. Just perfect." Jan grinned. "One of Mondo's shirts? Yeah, that is a rather scary thought, and I don't think I'd be able to make myself lie about that one except to Mondo, although they're really not so bad on him. They seem to make sense on him, you know?"

"I think it's one of those unwritten laws." Kyle suggested. "You know, like, politicians lie? Guys from the tropics wear loud shirts. Although, Jamie used to wear loud shirts, and he was from Kansas. So maybe not."

"That the same Jamie who used Yvette's reading spot as a place to make-out a lot?" Jan asked. "They look ok on him or were they weird and scary on him? Maybe his girlfriend liked those shirts."

"I dunno if it was a lot, or even if that really happened, but that's the gossip. I think he just liked them though. They... were, well, just Jamie. He could get away with them. I couldn't." Kyle pointed to the pile of yet to be put away laundry on his bed, in all earth colors. "Loud clothes are not for me."

Jan picked up one of the bean bags and tossed it from one gloved hand to the next. "I don't know," she said, doing a horrible job at keeping a grin from her face. "Maybe you should borrow one of Mondo's shirts. But yeah..." The girl looked down at the pile of clothes and regarded them thoughtfully. "You're probably better off staying with this sort of stuff. It's best to wear what you like, what makes you comfortable, everybody's got their own sense of style. This right here," she said, plopping the Peep down on the pile, "is Kyle Style."

"What, the pastel easter candy bean bag?" Kyle asked. "What are you trying to say here?" He couldn't keep much of a straight face, especally after the Peep rolled off the pile and landed on it's ears.

"What?" Jan looked startled, then started laughing. "Nooo... I meant the clothes, silly!" She picked up the bean bag and tossed it at Kyle. "The clothes you should put away, by the way. They're folded, which is great, but they don't belong on the bed." Jan picked up another Peep and tossed it at the pile of laundry, then quickly repeated with the third and fourth Peep, watching as they all rolled off the laundry. "See, you never know when your laundry might get attacked by Peeps!"

"Hey now. It was hard enough to go down to the laundry room in the first place." Kyle protested, frowning. "Which, I know, is totally stupid, but, you know. People. Noises. Smells." He shrugged, not sure how to explain it. "I usually deal with it better, but, well, you know."

"Yeah, but, you don't have any people hiding in your dresser or your closet, do you? So you already did the hard part, and if I'd been here earlier I would have been glad to get your laundry for you, and..." Suddenly, Jan jumped off the chair and threw her arms around Kyle, enveloping him in a big hug. "I was so worried and scared for you, I didn't know where you were or what was going on and I know you guys are all supposed to be used to this sort of stuff but it's totally new to me and I didn't know what to do, my friends aren't supposed to go missing and I'm so sorry, I'm being all noisy smelly people aren't I?" She let go and took a few steps back. "Sorry."

Hugs. He was getting a hug, and then he wasn't, and Kyle wasn't sure exactly what to think. On one hand, hugs from a cute girl. On the other... no, there really was no other hand. "No, it's cool." He said quietly. "A couple days ago maybe not, but I'm not gonna go hiding out or anything. I am cool with hugs."

"OK, good. No to hiding, yes to hugs." Jan beamed at him. "Hey, have you been out to the treehouse lately? I know you don't need to hide, but you like spending time, there, right? Feel like taking a trip to the great outdoors or do you just want to stay inside for now?"

"Do I have to carry you around on my head again?" Kyle asked. "Because I think that'd be weird, seeing as you're your regular height right now." He dragged his sneakers out from under his desk with one foot - the claws on his toes were good for -something- at least. "I could use some sun, actually. And less time trying to will myself into telekinesis so I can play GTA and put away laundry at the same time."

Jan giggled. "I think I can handle getting outside on my own, but I'm going to be working on the whole shrinking thing and once I can get small when I want I can shrink and be the tiny evil sugar pixie again and then you can carry me on your head!"

"Gotcha. Raincheck on the head-carrying." Kyle said, shoving his feet into his shoes, and wiggling his toes through the holes until they felt comfortable. Then he stood up, and waved Jan towards the door. "At least this time I have all my fingers. I can demonstrate that the ladder is not actually necessary for me."

"Having all of your fingers is good," Jan agreed. "All of your fingers, and all of your cute Kyle toes, too! Catch me if you can!" She flashed him a grin and dashed out the door before Kyle had time to give her another confused look.