Shiro & Jean-Paul, Tuesday afternoon

[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

Shiro and Jean-Paul relax on the roof, and the former is shocked to hear about what the latter has been up to.


“There are better ways of discarding your furniture." Shiro perched himself on the arm of the couch that had recently been added to the flyers' platform and smirked. "Are you charging this as a business expense to Professor Xavier so school funds can be used to buy you a new one?"

"I considered it," Jean-Paul confessed. He was stretched across the back of the couch, chin propped on one fist, feet nearer to Shiro. He'd shed his tie, glasses, and shoes, but was otherwise still in classroom clothes. "But the nice thing about owning the furniture is that if I like it, I can take it with me when I leave. If not, the school gets a free couch and I have one in the meantime. It works out. And on the topic of school, you are nearly the only student I have not heard complaining about graduation and all leading up to it. Suffering in silence or just no time for bitching?"

"I already did bitch." Shiro sighed and rested his chin on his hands. "I still have no leads on employment, and I graduate in less than two weeks. Most of my peers have at least something, many of them from internships they had while in college. I never had the time for those, though, given my involvement with the X-Men. I wonder if that is what held me back."

"It is hard to keep a hold of anything like an outside life when being on call means dropping everything to suit up and get into a brawl." He even managed not to sound terribly bitter about that himself. "I imagine it must be harder still when that is not even your official job and not something you can explain to the people signing your paychecks. Are you planning to walk or have them mail you the diploma?"

"I do not know if I want to, aside for the sake of tradition and ceremony. I think I have to, though, since Kali is graduating, too." And he wouldn't hear the end of it if he skipped out on her. "It is bad enough when I miss dates. She was quite unhappy after I returned from the last mission with a broken nose. I had to tell her that I was almost mugged."

"At least I never had to worry about the secret identity mess." He couldn't help but quirk a grin at Shiro's "almost" mugging; even in his fabrications, his pride had to remain intact. "Broken noses aside, are you and Kali still getting on well? I am finally in the mood to discuss other people's romances without growling."

That last comment forced a real smile onto Shiro's face. "We are doing well. She is so . . . normal. She is not a mutant, did not grow up in the United States, and has regular interests and regular friends. It was almost a culture shock, ne?"

Jean-Paul laughed. "I am surprised that none of us have developed allergies to such people yet. Jake is not nearly so normal; I think the pastry fixation alone disqualifies him."

"Jake?" Shiro's eyebrows shot up and the smile melted away into a look of utter shock. "Gavin?! The shapeshifter who thought Ranma 1/2 is a guide to life?" He apparently still had not forgiven him for the Christmas "present" years ago of manga from Rumiko Takahashi.

"I am afraid I do not get the reference. But yes, Jake Gavin." Jean-Paul was most definitely amused. "Between you and Nathan, I am starting to wonder I am going to be the death of the poor man. What has he done to make your hair stand on end?"

Shiro turned his head and coughed, a pretense to allow him a necessary moment the think. "Nothing in particular," he replied, his voice a little higher than usual. "He is just an odd man. And not someone I would have imagined with you. Did you turn him into a frog, too?"

"Obviously I have been negligent in your education -- you do not lie at all convincingly. But as you like." Jean-Paul shrugged lightly, willing to let the matter go. "Jake is good-looking, appreciates a well-prepared meal, and likes men. The fact that he had no clue who I was was a nice bonus. Granted, he is a bit flighty, but we enjoy each other's company. It is not a bad place from which to consider a relationship and even if not that...well, we are having fun."

"I am not lying," Shiro protested. "I never got along well with him, but to his credit, I do not get along with most people. And I did not know he is gay." He almost choked over that word. "How did it happen? I mean, how did you meet?"

"My apologies, then." He didn't miss Shiro's struggle just to speak the word "gay", and that somehow left him feeling just a bit hurt and oddly tired. "We met at Nathan's birthday party; Nate was giving him death-glare and I wanted to be sure that there was not going to be an issue. We crossed paths a few times after -- I let him decontaminate in my room after a literal run-in with Cammie, he invited me along on his quest to find the best bakery in the state, that sort of thing. When he and Adrienne broke up, there was no good reason not to offer myself as an alternative and I am glad he accepted."

"But you are not an alternative." If words were tangible, then Shiro would have immediately made a grab for them before they could reach Jean-Paul's ears. His face reddened. "That is, anou, I hope he is not seeing you as a substitute for a woman. You are better than that, ne?"

"As an alternative to being alone, Shiro. I do have some self-respect left, for all the good it does me. And I would make a lousy woman of any stripe. I could never stand to have enough fat on me to develop curves." Jean-Paul finally took a seat on the couch proper. "Not every relationship leads to love, or even tries to go down that road," he said quietly. "Sometimes it is just an enjoyable way of marking time with someone who makes you feel less alone and helps you smile now and again. Either way, I think this is good for me. Jake is good for me."

"You are not alone. You have me. And your other friends," Shiro hastily added. "But if he is good and you like him, then I suppose I must support you. If you are happy then I am." That much was true, in a way. "I think I imagined you with another type of man. Someone steadier and whom you already know well. That shows how much I really do know about you."

"And all of the steady ones I know are either not interested or claimed by the opposite sex," Jean-Paul pointed out. "But merci...it is good to be reminded of these things once in a while." Which didn't change the fact that his good mood had evaporated, leaving him feeling heavy and leaden. The inevitable result of getting enough sleep lately, most likely. He reached for his shoes and slipped them on. "I am going to go lie down. I think I could use a nap."

"Pleasant dreams." Shiro remained on the couch as he watched Jean-Paul depart, and only when he was gone did he curse himself for once again driving off his friend. Once the door into the mansion shut, he slid off and rocketed into the air, hoping that enough distance between him and the ground would calm the turmoil in his head.