xp_logs | John and Angelo, very early Friday morning

John and Angelo hang out on the roof with beer. Talk turns to an argument, which leads Angelo to discover a new application of his powers.

"So the Canadian bastard wants me to head to Afghanistan with him to stop what could possibly be a war between mutants and humans and I'm thinking--" John blinked and lifted the bottle of beer up. "...what was I thinking?"

Angelo looked at him sideways, swigging from his own bottle. "What were you thinkin'? You're not team, you're not signed on for any of that... so why would you go?"

"Guess I'm a sucker for economy flights." He sighed. "...I don't know." He shook his head. "I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. I mean, first Elpis and now this shit. ...good thing I'm getting wasted."

"Still gotta wake up in the mornin'", Angelo said with a grin. "So take advantage of it now, huh? It's good beer."

John reached for the pack of cigarettes next to Angelo. "Since you're not gonna smoke this--" He'd passed it on to the guy as a belated birthday gift earlier. "Maybe I'll miss the flight." He smirked. "So have you had a glimpse of the Asian chick?"

"Hey, I never said I wasn't going to smoke it", Angelo protested, deftly swiping it out of reach. "But since you asked, an' all - " He flipped the packet open, holding it out. "Not yet. Haven't been down to medlab. You?"

He slipped the cigarette between his lips with a muttered thanks. "I haven't seen the girl but I'm hoping she's a troublemaker," he said, proceeding to throw his empty bottle of beer to the ground from the school's rooftop.

Angelo watched this with raised eyebrows, digging for his lighter, then shrugged it off. He'd go down before work in the morning and clear up the glass, if nobody got there first. "She wouldn't be the first. An'... well, hell, I'm staff. Can't tell you much, but I don't think you'll be disappointed."

John chuckled. "Too bad she's a fucking minor." He reached for Angelo's empty bottle and gave that one a further throw. "So what's been up? You and Amanda doing okay?"

"Yeah, pretty well", Angelo said easily. "Ups an' downs, like anyone, but it's all good right now."

He raised his eyebrows slightly. "Fuck, man. You're entirely too sober. Get drunk. Get crazy. Here. Throw one," he said, handing him a bottle. "Fuck the fact that you're staff. If we're gonna get in trouble for this, I'll gladly take the blame for it. You know that."

Angelo considered the bottle, which wasn't empty yet, and drained half of it in one swallow. "Like hell. I'll get drunk with you, but no more broken glass, 'kay? Even if you try, they'll say I should've stopped you."

"We're on the goddamn rooftop. Who's gonna give a shit?" Clearly, he wasn't thinking about tomorrow. "Plus, the professor's asleep. He's an old guy. A very old guy. He might be psychic but there's a high chance that he's partially deaf." John took another swig as he settled back on the roof.

"The world doesn't end tonight", Angelo retorted, drinking the rest of his bottle, setting it aside, and reaching for another. "You want to deal with Cain, we're gonna get enough shit for bein' up here. No more broken glass."

"See, that's exactly what your problem is," John said. "You should be living every day as if it's gonna be your last." He flipped his lighter open and extracted a flame out. "So if you feel like throwing a fucking bottle off of this damn rooftop, you should do it. To hell with the consequences. Fuck it."

"We can't all do that, John", was the slightly frustrated response. "Y'know, I've got a job, I've got a life, I'm not gonna just throw it away an' say to hell with the consequences. Even if it's just throwin' a bottle off a roof."

"What, are you saying I don't have a job and a life, Espinosa?" John gave out a snort. "You can make all the fucking excuses you want. You're just a goddamn coward. You're afraid to lose. You are a bitch to society, man." He was rambling but he didn't quite care anymore. "Let me ask you this," he said. "Do you even own your own mind anymore?"

"Sure, you got a job. But you got anythin' in your life you wouldn't give up tomorrow?" Angelo demanded. "I spent enough time losin', now I'm on a winnin' streak for once in my life. An' what the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm saying you're a sheep."

"Fuck you."

John snickered. "Oh, that's more like it. What else you got?" He pushed himself up to a stand. "Come on, don't hold back, man. Let it out."

Angelo got to his feet in turn, finishing the bottle in his hand and dropping it to the roof. "I'm a fuckin' sheep because I won't throw bottles off the roof where there's little kids, an' I'm tryin' to be a responsible adult? You ever tried that, John?"

"No, you're a fucking sheep because you're working for the Man. And the Man controls you. Controls every damn aspect of you that you're so fucking uptight you won't even throw one damn bottle off of the roof. Now how fucking sad is that?" He chuckled. "That's sad, man. That's real fucking sad." He looked over the edge of the roof. "It's three am, dude. I don't think there any kids around." He arched his eyebrow. "Now make another excuse."

"There aren't now", Angelo snapped. "But are you gonna go down there an' clear up before mornin'? I don't think so. Grow the hell up, John. An' you didn't answer my question - you ever actually tried bein' responsible for anythin'?"

John chuckled. "Uh, no. They've got Cain doing that cleaning up shit," he said, not bothering to answer Angelo's other question, choosing instead to throw another bottle down just for the heck of it, letting it smash in the middle of the courtyard.

"What is wrong with you?" His voice was rising. "That kind of shit's for kids with nothin' better to do, and you're how old? 20, 21?"

"What's wrong with me?" John raised his eyebrows slightly. "What the fuck's wrong with you? You're acting like you think you're so much better than me. What the fuck is up with that shit?"

"I never said better", Angelo retorted flatly, reaching down for another bottle to open. "God knows it wouldn't be true for most things. But you're the one actin' like a child because I won't fuckin' break bottles with you."

"You're missing the point."

"Then what is the point?" he demanded. "Jesus fuckin' Christ, you're as bad as Miguel. Both of you tryin' to drag me back down, not lettin' me forget. I grew up, John. That's what's wrong with me."

"Drag you down? What the fuck?" He gave out a slight shake of his head. "Fine. You know what? i>This? Us making attempts to communicate? It's complete bullshit. I'm calling it a night." He stepped forward and made to move past Angelo.

"What attempts to communicate?" Angelo snapped back, not giving any ground or stepping aside. "An' no, we're not done. You're gonna tell me what your point is." A hand went to John's shoulder.

"Get the fuck out of my way, Espinosa."

"Make me, Allerdyce. Or tell me what you meant."

"That's right, Angelo. Let's be kids about this." John smirked. "So. ...as you wish." He made a grab for Angelo's arm and slammed the palm of his hand against the guy's chest, pushing him back and away from him.

Angelo had been about to retort something along the lines of, 'well, if we're goin' there, you started it', but he suddenly found his footing alarmingly wobbly. His balance after the drinking had been good enough to withstand John jostling him, but not a hard deliberate shove. Standing too close to the edge of the roof, under the flying platform, he stumbled, teetered... and fell.

If John hadn't been drunk himself, he would reacted more swiftly and would have been able to catch hold of Angelo in time but instead, he'd ended up being a mere spectator as he watched the other stumble backwards off of the roof.

There was silence for a second or two then, unexpectedly, the sound of gleeful laughter coming from somewhere between the roof and the ground.

John had gone down on his knees and was gripping the edge of the roof by this time. He breathed out a sigh of relief as he spotted Angelo then started to yell out a string of expletives at the other man. "You fucking bastard! You scared the shit out of me! What the fuck, man? Are you--" He clamped his mouth shut. ...was he gliding?

"You fuckin' knocked me off the roof!" Angelo called back up to him, but he didn't sound angry. "But hey, I didn't know I could do this." It had been a moment's panic, that was all, arms flung wide as he fell and lost fine control of his powers... and then the loose skin had caught the wind.

He chuckled as he watched Angelo. "...jesus, whaddaya know. I helped you unearth another one of your freak abilities."

"I can't get back up", Angelo told him, gliding closer to the ground. "It's not flyin'. See you inside?"

John waved a hand at him. "Yeah, sure," he said. "And hey -- while you're down there, why don't you help clear up the mess, Peter Pan?"

"What'd you mean, help?"