Shiro & Clarice, backdated to last Thursday

[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

Shiro visits a convalescing Clarice. And there isn't even any screaming or throwing things.


It had never occurred to Clarice how much a broken leg would affect her mobility beyond walking. She hadn't burned her teleportation out, but it wasn't something she could rely on as much as she used to, she had found out when she had teleported herself and Kevin to Maryland. The energy drain had been significant. She couldn't ride her bicycle either. Borrowing a car was always an option, but she always felt odd doing that, especially since she had always teleported herself everywhere as needed.

Except now she was out of the yarn she wanted. She was low on yarn in general since she had used a lot of it on her last knitting binge and hadn't replaced it. Until now though, it hadn't been a problem since she had been so focused on school. She was still focused on it, despite her medical excuse to delay her assignments, but she was mostly caught up except for some of the readings. From bubble-headed pixiebrain to someone who was actually ahead of her assignments in just a few short years. The change was amazing.

Then again, she never knew if a mission was going to come up. It was just easier to stay as far ahead as possible just in case. It had served her well so far, but being ahead in her classes didn't do anything to help her get more yarn. Grrrrr.

Shiro knew that he would regret going to visit Clarice. Each step up to her room just reinforced this apprehension, but he also knew that not going and not acknowledging Clarice's injury (and what actions led her to be injured) would ultimately be even worse. Luckily for him, he'd heard tell of her complaining about a lack of knitting supplies, and he'd dated her long enough to know where she liked to go and what she liked to get.

He knocked on the door to her suite loudly, hoping she could hear from wherever she was. "Anou, it's Shiro. May I come in?" he called.

"Only if you pay the toll," she said, but she didn't mean it meanly. The toll was basically either bringing her something interesting or keeping her company. She wasn't picky there either. "Or better yet, entertain me. Dance, Japanese boy, dance!"
"You know I do not dance." Shiro entered and softly closed the door behind him. "I brought you something to hopefully make your time here less unbearable. Dozo." He handed her the bag containing several balls of yarn of colors that simply screamed Clarice.

"Oooh," she squeed, excited. More knitting! And new colours! Thankfully, Shiro had not chosen the dayglo colours, but instead had picked several glittery ones and a couple rainbow skeins that changed colours as it was unwound. Immediately, she began unwinding one and wrapping it around a small ping pong ball that sat next to her bed. It was easier to use a core to wrap her yarn than not. "Thank you!"

Shoving her cast in his face, she asked "Do you like it?" Kevin had done a good job drawing the 7 (fetishist) Dwarves on one side and Gremlins in costumes on the other.
"You're welcome," Shiro said with a smile. She hadn't cursed him out yet; this was already a new record. He peered intently at the cast, examining the work. "Between Ford and your other well-wishers, there is not much space left. I think I can do something here next to Okama-san." He raised an eyebrow at the transsexual dwarf.
What could she say, she was popular amongst the cast-decorating crowd. "Have at it, if you want colour, you gotta bring your own sharpies, all I have is black," it was currently pulling double duty as a bookmark next to her bed. "So. Thanks for saving my ass. In Tibet," she added as if he wouldn't remember

Shiro pulled up a seat beside her and set to drawing. "Technically, I just saved Cable. Kyle was responsible for Toad." He shrugged, eyes focused on her cast and not on her.

"Details," Clarice waved them away like they were nothing and right now they were. "I mean, I was kinda out of it, but I remember you jumping out of the plane. You don't do that without reason," or maybe she had dreamed it. She was pretty sure she hadn't, even though she hadn't finished reading the team reports from the mission yet.

"Helicopter," Shiro corrected automatically. "I was just doing what needed to be done in order to get you, Angelo, and Dayspring home safely. Nothing extraordinary."

"Still. It's different when it's your ass on the backboard," she really liked the yarn and that was why she wasn't being mean to him. Not that she was usually intentionally mean, it just tended to happen sometimes when she didn't mean to. "Kinda changes things a little."

Shiro kept his eyes on the cast, trying to hide his face so she couldn't see the faint humble blush on his cheeks. Even now she still had that effect on him. "I suppose that you are welcome, then."

"So what's new with you? And Alex?" okay, so the snark wasn't completely gone, but it was a polite question. And she did actually care, in her own convoluted way. She wasn't sure if she had actually loved Shiro, she certainly wasn't going to marry him like Terry had Bobby, but he was her first like and that didn't just go away.

Same with Shiro, which made the awkwardness of being so closer to her even worse, especially when she was so vulnerable. "Anou, everything is just the same with us . . . with me." He shrugged. "I am just keeping my attention on school and the X-Men. There is nothing exciting with me."

Clarice would argue the vulnerable part if she knew he had thought it, even though it was true. She was not a vulnerable kind of person, if she could avoid it. And she really did her best to avoid it, "School and X-Men keeps me pretty busy," she acknowledged, for once noticing the hesitation regarding Alex, ignoring it and moving on to a different topic. She had tact, sometimes. When she wanted to.

Shiro appreciated that. "How is MONSTER?" he asked, trying to lighten the conversation by teasing her. "Are you still Maryland's mutant spokesperson?"

Making a face, Clarice resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was difficult, but somehow she managed it. "Oh come on! I am not in MONSTER, they just wish I was. Desperate D&D playing geeks."

"Such is life," Shiro smirked. "I ought to go. Kyle and I have a session in the Danger Room in twenty minutes." He quickly signed his name in minuscule kanji next to his picture, a rendition of Clarice in her X-Men uniform, standing proudly and powerfully, and capped the pen. "If you need any more yarn, then I can buy more for you."

"Oh yes. Go be a danger. With Beast Boy!" that was the silliest codename ever! She thought it was stupider than Tinky Winky even, but then, she'd liked the name even if no one else had.

Shiro shook his head as he left. "He really needs to change that already."