xp_logs | Take the body for a joy ride: Jay & Jean-Paul

Jean-Paul runs into an ominous angel on a flight downtown. Curiosity turns into a game for the pair and they find themselves on unfamiliar ground.

Halting midflight downtown, silver wings effortlessly pushed down the wind, slowly allowing Jay an upright descend inbetween two sky scrapers. His focus lingered on his old ipod, the touch pad not registering his finger touches due to the cold his rough skin projected and only aggrivated him inbetween songs.

Dang it.

He really needed to update his music.

When he glanced back up, there was a dark-haired man in a tailored jacket regarding him in mid-air, just beyond the sweep of his wingspan.

"I thought you cast a familiar silhouette," Jean-Paul remarked casually.

"Just like an angel huh?" Jay asked, slipping his ipod back into it's sleeve wrapped around his bare arm. Night was the only time he felt he could go topless and be comfortable. At least now he couldn't feel the cold as much as he use to.

"An ominous angel, but yes. You're a good distance from the school." The older mutant sounded approving.

Angels and demons, he thought. Hard to tell 'em apart.

"They left the door unlocked so Ah thought Ah would make a break for it," he turned, judging his location and two hard pushes upwards had him back in his previous location.

"One cannot stay hidden forever." Jean-Paul gestured at the bladed arcs that kept Jay aloft. They gleamed dully in the city's cast-off light. "Have you tested your upper speed yet?"

"Sorta," he said off the cuff. "Had a bit to do with Forge's car." A gust of wind blew him forward and he easily compensated, arching back to where he was and the feathers tightened, steady in their rhythmic beat.

Maintaining a space inbetween them, he rubbed his eye, if only to push his hair from his face. "Why Beaubier, you curious?"

"Utterly consumed." Jean-Paul barely spoken to the boy before his kidnapping and resurrection, and seen even less of him since. He offered a thin, sliver of a smile, sharp in the moonlight as the wind tugged at his clothes and ruffled his hair. "Indulge me."

The long sleek wings drew in sharply, tight against his body and he threw back into a whistling dive, cutting through the air. His keen tore through his throat, bounced off the dark reflective windows and he twisted, cutting around a corner in his descend.

The lightest of taps brushed against Jay's shoulder in mid-dive, warm skin against rough, accompanied by a flicker of motion in front of him and a shriek of torn air.

Tag. You're it.

He snorted.

"Show off."

Crusing behind the tail wind, he crept up beneath the Canadian and climbed in altitude. Swinging left, he brought up the rear, able to reach out and grab Jean-Paul's ankle. Instead, he dipped under the man and glided off a heavy wind pushing him up.

The speedster laughed and slipped free of Jay's influence. As magnificent as the wings were, they were still wings, and Jean-Paul had no such hindrances. Another touch ghosted along Jay's skin and then he was climbing again, heading for cloud cover.

A smile broke across Jay's face. The laughter was vibrant and rich against the winds, lifting his spirits and he swooped up, one stroke after another in pursuit. He pushed his wings into a hard glide, sliding up face to face with the man and yellow eyes glinted in a lock with the impish blue ones. His hand grazed Jean-Paul's solid chest over the fabric and pushed off the older man in a looping dive.

Jean-Paul dove after him, blood practically singing through his veins as the two chased each other across the sky.

---

Jean-Paul hadn't the faintest idea where they were by the time they finally stopped. There was snow on the ground. Pine trees. They'd figure out the where later, when the rush wore off. His heart was pounding. Jay was breathing hard. They were both grinning like idiots.

"Congratulations," Jean-Paul laughed. "That was a work-out."

Jay leaned down, hands on his knees and let his head hang between them, laughter cutting out whatever breath he tried to get.

"Nice to know everythin's functionin'," he agreed, brushing the sweat away from his forehead and swept it back into his hair. Looking around briefly, he dropped his head again and repeated the gesture when he pushed into an upright posture.

"We're in butt-fuck no where. Better not be Canada. Ah don't have mah passport."

"If anyone official approaches, we run like hell." Not that they'd have to, it just seemed like more fun that way. Jean was going to kill him anyway; he was supposed to be taking it easy. "Did you keep your iPod? I think I lost my shoes somewhere over Manhattan." The entire thing was ridiculous and Jean-Paul found himself barely keeping laughter at bay again.

Jay glanced at his arm and ripped off the band, void of iPod. "Aw shit. That was vintage too." He shook his head and wound it around his wrist, not sure what to do with it, but littering seemed wrong. Extending his wings, Jay closed them and caught his shoulder against a tree, leaning against it.

"That was some twist and turn over that body of water there. You gotta teach me that sometime." Pulling away at the corners of his mouth, he made a vain attempt to wipe the grin from his face. Another chuckle broke, gritting through the air in a hiss. "Ah thought you was gonna go splat."

"Is that why you were trying to grab me?" Jean-Paul asked innocently. "And I was so flattered for a moment." He gave up and laughed again, scuffing the snow with his bare toes. "Any time. It would do me some good to practice aerial maneuvers with another person anyway. There's only so much benefit to agility training when you're in control of the course."

The laughter was contagious and Jay slouched against the tree, wiping the tears away until he was spent. A content sigh slipped from his lips and he pushed himself up, brushing the hair from his eyes again. "Yeah," he agreed. "Well, we gotta whole score of land to cover no thanks to you and throwin' caution to the wind. Gotta have someone to blame." His lips lifted in a lopsided easy grin. Nope, no blame this southern boy.

"Oh, yes. I obviously lead you astray, and it will be no use trying to defend myself when we get back. Who is going to believe the pointy-eared cheat over the angel?" Jean-Paul stretched and hovered above the snow. "This is not so bad. All we have to do is figure out which state -- or province -- we're in and backtrack from there. Come on. The first step is to find civilization."