Forge and Laurie - Venting

[x-forge.livejournal.com]

The charter members of the Xavier Institute Foot-In-Mouth Club have a short meeting and commiserate.



Laurie's head lay resting against an open textbook, her breath blowing strands of blonde hair away from her face with each exale. She appeared to have fallen asleep in the middle of homework, a pen still clutched tightly in one hand, a leg curled around the foot of the medlab chair she was sitting in.

"No, please." she muttered, hand clutching tighter around the pen before relaxing again. "I'm sorry"

With a loud slam, a pile of books dropped on the table next to her, startling her awake. Beside her, Forge spun slowly on a stool, legs crossed as he looked up at the medlab's lights.

"Professor Xavier," he intoned with mock seriousness, "is a jerk."

If Laurie had been stronger, the pen in her hand may have snapped at the sudden shock of return to full consciousness. As it was, she merely blinked blurrily at her friend. "What's he done now?" she asked, voice slightly hoarse.

"Did you know," Forge continued in the same tone, slapping a hand on the pile of books as he spun - books which Laurie could see had been taken from a recently-updated law library by the looks of them - "Did you know, did you know - that in 1989 the United Nations passed a resolution banning the use of mercenaries in conflicts between signatory nations? True story, all legal and everything."

He continued his spin, scooping up a textbook and opening to a marked page. "Among the notable signatories of the 1989 UN Mercenary Convention - well, there's a lot. Conspicuous by their absence, however, the United Kingdom and the United States of America."

He stopped spinning, kicking one foot up onto the table next to Laurie's medical text. "Our country, as well as the U.K., tacitly endorse the use of privately funded and trained non-military actors in open and armed conflict. Being a gun for hire, from what I am given to understand, is a legal - if not precisely admirable - enterprise."

"Really? That's...well, I suppose it's very interesting." Laurie said with a tired smile, pushing herself up into a sitting position, and then paused for a second as the room slowly spun before settling down. "I take it you and my current suitemate are still having issues then?"

"She's--" Forge bit off a harsh response, one finger shaking in the air. Slowly, he calmed himself, shaking his hands and laying them flat on the law book in front of him. "Professor Xavier assured her that her perfectly legal past profession would be kept confidential. And of course he's certain she'd never willingly bring trouble here. Yeah. Pardon me if I might have some issues with blue shapeshifters lying about their pasts and slinking around here for god knows what!"

He hopped off the stool, kicking a metal rubbish bin angrily and running a hand through his hair. "So I'm on probation for six months, because he promised Lennox that her past would be kept in confidence, and I took it on myself to out her. Mea fucking culpa."

"She's been an okay roommate." Laurie noted, her tired brain having difficulty processing anything beyond 'tree pretty, fire bad' at this moment in time. Still, Forge was obviously needed someone to talk to. "Did she say anything about continuing her mercenary work? I mean, Nate was a mercenary, wasn't he? And Domino."

Forge bit back a response. "You'll have to ask her," he hissed out through his teeth. "Lord knows I can't afford to comment on her career choices. So, what about you?" his tone changed, nodding towards Laurie's book. "Burning the midnight oil?"

"Not really." Laurie replied with a smile, pushing herself back from her desk to face Forge more fully, and dropping her pen onto the open textbook. "Pretty standard hours for me these days. There's...I guess I never realised how much there was to know, you know? I haven't even decided yet if I want to specialise down the track either. And I still have to tell Scott I'm not quitting being a trainee. Least Dad's recovering now, although he's giving everyone hell at the hospital. The man is not a good convalescent. What about you? I thought Crystal had gotten you to keep more normal hours?"

Forge gave a one-shouldered shrug. "She's doing Red-X work and coordinating diplomatic efforts through the embassies. Nothing helps foreign aid like having a royal onsite," he explained. "And I'm busy enough here. When we're both around, we spend time together. It's a good arrangement."

"You miss her when she's gone though." Laurie replied, a statement rather then a question. "That's okay, you know. To miss someone you love."

"Of course," Forge replied. "Like I said, it's a good arrangement. But like I was going to say initially, don't let Amelia catch you napping down here. She kind of frowns on that. More than she frowns on, well, everything."

"I wasn't napping." Laurie said, her grin flashing a small dimple on her right cheek. "I was merely examining the inside of my eyelids for defects."

She studied him for a long moment, as if contemplating whether she should ask him something or not.

"So, how come you haven't given me the cold shoulder over the whole Kyle situation?"

Forge just shrugged again. "Not my concern, really. I figure you're both adults, work it out yourselves."

"Most of the rest of this place doesn't seem to hold to that opinion, it seems." Laurie noted. "I think the consensus has been that I'm a horrible bigot and should be ashamed of myself. Nice to know one of my friends at least is going to leave it up to Kyle and I to sort out."

She knew she sounded just a tiny bit bitter, and she also knew that she had been out of line in the fight she'd had with Kyle. She had a lot of sorting out to do there, if he ever deigned to talk to her again. But...having someone not choose a side, and trust her to sort it out, that meant something.

"I never said I don't think you should be ashamed of yourself," Forge corrected. "You were an idiot. But then again, I tend to think that about everyone."

"You think I did the wrong thing then, with the fight?" Laurie asked, snorting softly at Forge's last comment. Xavier's resident genius extraordinaire had indeed never made a secret of what he thought of people in general. "Not the journal stuff, but the actual fight with the dinosaur guy."

Forge thought for a moment, then folded his hands. "Laurie, I've seen Kyle pushed to his limits. I've seen him after being tortured by the Brotherhood, past what you could probably imagine - and I saw him keep it together. He's gone up against Mystique, against Toad, against goddamn Sabretooth, and he didn't lose it. Whatever he struggles with, he's got it under control. Give him some respect for that."

"I know that." Laurie said softly. "I, um...I saw some of the fight he got in with War in Manhattan."

It was the first time she'd realised just how wrong she'd been where Kyle was concerned, and how much she must have hurt him with what she'd said. It was why she wished he'd talk to her now. She rubbed a hand across her eyes, cleaning off some of the sleep that had collected in the corners. There were so many things she needed to do these days, it was almost like she had time for none of them.

"So that's why I'm not mad at you," Forge said softly. "Because you made a mistake, and you know it, and you're trying to fix it. Hi, welcome to my life."

"I'm, um, not used to making mistakes." Laurie admitted, and then smiled wryly. "Scratch that, I'm not used to admitting to making mistakes. Is it always this sucky?"

"Nope," Forge answered. "Everyone keeps making them. Even the Professor," he added.

"And here I thought the older we got, the less likely we were going to be to screw up royally." Laurie replied, leaning back in her chair. "So, if I offered to make you a sandwich, would you accompany me upstairs so I don't accidently fall asleep on the way and break my neck?"

"I don't do prosthetic necks, so sure."