xp_logs | Kevin & Yvette | Backdated Sunday Night (Reply)

After Kevin e-mails Yvette the two head out of the mansion with hot chocolate to cool down.

There was a sharp intake of breath followed by what very likely would have been an expletive if Kevin swore more than he did. His burnt finger made a beeline for his mouth as he sucked on it to try to dull the pain. "Stupid chocolate's out to get me," he grumbled. Kevin had promised Yvette real hot chocolate and he'd stuck to it. Cream, chocolate and sugar was all he'd put into the pot to melt it all down into a thick, hot liquid. In the process of pouring it from the pot into the first thermos he'd managed to drip it slightly on his hand holding the cup. He gave himself points mentally for not dropping anything but putting it down gently first.

After running the finger under cold water he waved off Yvette's offer to do it for him and resumed the process. A few moments later they had two thermoses filled with the piping hot chocolate and the pot was left int he sink filled with water to soak. "C'mon, let's make a break for it." He gave her the best smile he could, which was weak but at least he tried, and headed for the garage.

She nodded and followed, trotting slightly to keep up with his longer stride. Her hair rattled in spikes behind her and her face was particularly stony from her powers. "Thank you, for having the idea, Kevin," she said as they reached the garage. "I was almost breaking my keyboard tonight."

"Ah was more on the 'Hey, Ah wonder if Ah really can decompose a hole straight through her chest' wave, personally." Maybe he shouldn't have admitted actually being angry enough to want to use his powers to harm and maim, but it was Yvette and she would understand. He held the thermoses out to Yvette when they reached the car he'd signed out about two seconds after emailing his friend earlier. "You have the very honored job of being the Keeper of the Chocolate," he told her as he waited for her to take them so he could unlock the car and decide where they were heading, if anywhere in particular.

"It was the keyboard or to be going to her room and breaking down the door," Yvette admitted. "But I do not want to be having the grounding or the expelling for hurting the school property." Or other people - she'd learned her lesson in Kosovo. "I am wanting to be here." She took the thermoses, holding them close to her chest so they would not slide through her gloved hands.

Kevin looked a little guilty when she stated she wanted to be at the mansion. He ducked his head a little and reached across to open the passenger door for Yvette so she could slide in without having to deal with thermos juggling. "So about wanting to be here, there's something Ah should tell you." He let his words dangle there, the sound of them echoing in his head as he started the car. Kevin didn't know how to tell Yvette he might be going away so he said nothing even as he pulled out of the garage after the car was warmed up enough.

She seemed content to let the silence hang, sitting with her feet dangling slightly and the warm thermoses in her lap. But after a while, she spoke:

"You are not wanting to be here, are you, Kevin?"

At first he didn't answer, but eventually the shaking of his head came. "Never did, really. Ah came back because someone had gotten hurt again. Then the FBI and the court said Ah had to. A place becomes a lot less appealing when you're forced to be there. But...that's not really all of it." He took a left out of the school's long driveway after passing through the gate. Kevin had no destination in mind, he was just going to drive for the sake of driving. Besides, the car had GPS navigation in it he could turn on when he eventually got them lost anyway.

Yvette sighed, a sad little sound as he confirmed what she'd known for a long time. "Will you tell me all of it?" she asked softly. "I think I am knowing what it is, but it is better to be hearing it."

The guilty look came back onto his face quickly. He was glad to have this conversation while he was driving and therefore had a reason to not try to maintain eye contact with her. "Ah might be leaving, 'Vette. It's not for sure yet, but Doctor Samson's working on getting me cleared to go out to the West Coast Annex in California. All the stipulations from the court will still be able to be upheld there since there's X-Men who can work on powers training with me and there's psychiatrists who Doctor Samson can refer me to that he knows. Ah can't stay here. Not now. Can't focus. Barely talk. Ah think Julio has a heart attack any time Ah do more than grunt." He sighed.

"Dr. Samson is the very wise man. If he is thinking it will be good for you to leave..." Despite her words, however, Yvette's voice trembled and her eyes dimmed. "It is Jay, yes? You are missing him too much?"

"My powers are back," he said first because Jay wasn't the only reason. He was just the biggest one. "Ah dunno if the same thing might happen again when I do enough training with them. Ah don't want to risk people Ah care about again. Last time it was Jay that almost got it. What if it was you next time? Or Nori? Jennie? Julio? Nathan's daughter? Too many people here who mean something, Ah don't like the risk."

Kevin cleared his throat and let silence fall again. He counted eight heartbeats before he spoke again. "The last time Ah saw Jay was the day before the car was attacked. He really badly wanted me to agree to a date. He wanted to cook me dinner. This is a guy who set the suite on fire the last time he attempted to cook anything more complicated than toast. He was playing around. All smiles. And then he tripped and pulled me into the pool with him when he fell." His eyes watered a little, but Kevin was smiling fondly at the memory. "That was supposed to happen this last Friday. But he's dead or near dead somewhere and he's not here. Seventy-five percent of the good memories Ah have here are because of him and now they haunt me. Ah can't deal with that." This was more honest than he'd been with Doctor Samson. It was likely more honest than he'd have been with absolutely anyone else.

A faint smile had appeared as Kevin recounted the story of Jay. "I met him, after he was falling in the pool. He was all wet and I was helping him to take his shirt off because he was being stuck." As for the rest, she couldn't deny they were good reasons, all of them. "Will you be coming back one day? To make the visit when you are controlling your powers?" she asked, voice wobbling just a little. "I will be missing you, Kevin."

Kevin looked over at her briefly when he heard the way her voice swayed under emotion. Slowly, and deliberately, he reached out to her. He made sure Yvette saw what he was doing before his hand made contact with the shoulder he gave a soft squeeze. "Of course Ah will. It's not like Ah won't exist or something. My head just needs to be somewhere else so Ah can do something with it. Doctor Samson said to try to think of it as a step toward something instead of running away from something so Ah'm trying. There's still e-mail, y'know? And you can come visit me in California, too. Y'know, when the mansion's no fun when everyone's gone home to family for some holiday or another you could come see me instead of being in the giant, empty mansion." They were family, after all, blood or no blood relation.

She didn't even flinch as he touched her, just leaned slightly towards him in acknowledgement of the gesture. "I understand, Kevin, I do. And I will visit, and write the emails and make the phone calls, yes. And I am having your tree, to be reminding me of you." She gave him a small, brave smile. "And I will try to be helping Nori, when you are gone, yes?"

He gave her a warm smile in response to the small one she was mustering up for him. It was the kind of smile some older brothers might get when their little sister proved she didn't need to be protected anymore or did something particularly grown up for her age. It had pride in it. "Thanks. And Ah'll come visit you sometimes. And eventually, sooner or later, Ah'll come back for good. Or at least come back for a while before Ah go wherever Ah want to go. Y'know, once Ah'm allowed the choice without the FBI giving me permission. It's not like you're getting rid of me completely or that easily. Stuck with me for good, y'know." His face sobered a little. "Do me a favor? Every once in a while just show up at Nori's door with a bucket of KFC? Ah keep trying to tell her it's probably not even really chicken but she loves that stuff. And maybe try to keep her in the loop? She gets all twitchy when people don't tell her stuff for some reason."

"I will be doing that for Nori. It is difficult, when you are not always understanding the words people are saying to you, to feel like you are being part of things." Her eyes glowed a little brighter. "It is not such the bad thing, to be stuck with you, Kevin. You will say the goodbyes when you are leaving, yes? You will not just disappear?"

He smiled instantly when out of the corner of his eye Kevin noticed a brightening of the blue glow. "Ah suck with goodbyes," he warned. "But, yeah. Ah plan to say goodbye to you, and to Nori, before I go. Assuming Ah can go. Figured with current stuff going around Ah should give you warning it's possible and all. And Ah'll tell Mister Dayspring, obviously. Everyone else," he shrugged. "They'll get goodbyes, just not ones in person. It's just all...awkward."

She nodded. "Thank you. For to be looking after me and for the thinking of me and the warning to me. It is being easier to understand when I am knowing what is happening." And easier to cope, too. She'd probably be booking some extra training time with the non-breakable staff in the Danger Room if she could over the next few days. "Perhaps it is more easy to be thinking it is the 'see you later' than the goodbye, yes? We will be seeing each other again."

"Yeah, that's a better way of thinking about it." Yvette was the only one around who it would be really hard to say goodbye to. It helped Kevin a lot to relax knowing she was taking it alright and he wasn't going to add to her Reasons To Be Spiky much. "Hey, ever gone ice skating? Ah mean, Ah'm really bad at it but we've got hot chocolate and there are outdoor rinks still open. Could be fun if you're up to it?"

"When I was being the little girl, we would go sliding on the pond when it was frozen?" she replied, eyes lighting up some more. "It is almost the same, yes?"

"Sure, it's kinda the same." Kevin suddenly grinned. "Only you're supposed to stay on your skates and not spend all your time on your butt, which Ah kinda do a lot."

She giggled at that. "I will not be laughing at you on the butt if you are not laughing at me, yes?"

He gave her a sarcastic look. "Yeah, right, you're already laughing." He shook his head at her but promised anyway.