Julian and Johnny (backdated to May 27th)

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Julian and Johnny go to get tuxes and end up discussing their dates.



Johnny had never seen so many tuxedos, but it was hard to be overly impressed by anything but the sheer number that lined the walls and racks of the store. They all looked the same to him, save for minute differences in cut and color. Still, the prospect of making a decision was overwhelming and he was soon looking back at Julian with a perplexed face that made this more than obvious. The older teen was like his interpreter in this world of labels and styles he had no method of translating. "...where do we even start looking?"

"First," Julian smirked, looking over the price tag on one of the suit styled mannequins, "we get your measurements." He started toward the sales counter, hoping the younger man would follow. "Then we'll get you set up with a style that says Johnny Gallo!" he made a hand gesture to match his inflection. "And we'll need to match your coloring to Doreen's, so I hope you know what she's wearing...it'll impact the corsage you get too."

The younger boy did follow, shoving his hands into his pockets and grinning somewhat skeptically. If any of these garments were shouting his name he certainly wasn't hearing it, but Julian knew more about this sort of thing than he did and he wasn't about to question, "If you say so." Johnny paused when confronted with this need for detail, though not because he didn't have it. "I...well, I already took care of her corsage. It's blue. I think it'll match...I mean...hopefully." Whether or not the trinket was actually necessary, he still wasn't sure. It wasn't a real date, after all. He looked embarrassed.

"Do you know what color she'll be wearing? It makes a difference in what color undershirt, vest and...I'm thinking bow-tie for you. Very, double-oh-seven-ish." Julian smiled, completely aware that the young woman behind the counter was about to call on them- and that she was currently admiring his hind-quarters. He turned before she could get the words out. "Us now? Hey, we need to get Snowy here fitted for his very first tux."

"Blue," Johnny said again, still smiling sheepishly. Even he knew enough to attempt matching the corsage to the dress, but that was all and he found himself nodding along with Julian's assertions, keeping to himself the fact that he had no clue how to tie a bow-tie. Maybe they came with instructions or something. He watched as the dark-haired mutant turned to the clerk and began to speak, his features contorting faintly at his newly acquired nickname.

Julian noticed his twitch as the clerk went to get her measuring tape. Doing his best to be friendly, a hand rested on Johnny's shoulder and steered him toward the changing rooms where the woman was now waiting. "Don't like being called Snowy? Huh?"

The younger boy hadn't intended to be caught with such a look and was quick to slide his lips into a shamefaced smile, "Sorry. You didn't mean anything by it." But being the only kid in New York to go gray (or, white, as it were) at age twelve, he'd heard every one in the book, every day, since sixth grade. It was a little tedious. Johnny gave Julian a playful nudge, joking as they moved to join the woman waiting near the dressing rooms, "...Besides, I've been called worse."

"I can imagine so," this seemed as good a time as any- while the clerk started to take Johnny's measurements. "You should have heard some of the names the asshats back home came up with for Doreen. Tormenting her, trying to get her good nature to crack, it was the school pastime. Funny thing is, she never stopped being cheery...even for a moment."

Johnny frowned slowly as the woman began to take his measurements; even if the story seemed to be about Doreen's unconquerable spirit, it wasn't a pleasant thought and he couldn't place Julian's reason for telling him what he already knew. He gave a small nod, ignoring the look the girl attempting to measure the circumference of his neck gave him, "Dori's strong...stronger than I probably would've been in her situation."

"She was stronger than me," Julian smirked at the younger mutant's discomfort. "Kept me from tearing up the school on more than one occasion." He could also see the confusion on Johnny's face. "For a year and some, she got picked on while I stood by and didn't do anything. So when I finally told everyone 'I'm a mutant,' I made it very clear anyone who wanted to mess with her had to get through me first."

Another moment of uncertainty. Johnny found himself doing his best not to judge the older mutant's behavior, the fact that he had allowed that to go on for so long. Especially if they really were friends back then. But, it was easy to think he would have done anything different from the comfort of the hypothetical, wasn't it? Finally, the younger teen shook his head, "...Why are you telling me this?"

Julian chuckled, "Well, Johnny, it's a really simple reason, really." He clapped a hand on the younger mutant's shoulder, "I know you aren't on a date per se. But if you hurt Doreen in some way, you're never going to be fast enough to dodge what I'll do to you." A chuckle broke the tension in the air as the clerk started measuring Johnny's in-seam, "I know you're a good guy though and wouldn't do anything to upset her...right?"

The white-haired teen's shoulders tensed just before Julian's hand settled there, the faint and uneasy tingle of his danger sense working at the base of his skull for a reason he couldn't place. Minor precognition, however, didn't prepare him for the explanation that followed and Johnny looked surprised, faint agitation working its way along his slim brows, "...I wouldn't hurt Doreen."

"I know, Johnny. You're a good guy and the two of you are going to this dance as friends- I just feel protective of her- like an older brother." The clerk started taking Julian's measurements. "I'm sure you'd do the same if I hurt her, right?"

"I doubt I could." And if training was any indication, he was probably right. Johnny stepped back as the clerk freed him from the measuring tape and moved on to the older mutant, seeming to take more time with him. The white-haired teen positioned himself against one of the stationary dressing room panels to wait, "...I wasn't even the first choice, you know. She wanted to go with you." He forced a small smile, "But you have Angel, so..." His shoulders rose and fell in a disheartened shrug.

"Dude, did she actually say that to you?" He hoped Dori wasn't interpreting his signals romantically, "I mean word for word?"

Johnny exhaled shortly, "Calm down, Romeo...It's nothing like that. She wanted to go as friends." At least, that was what she'd said. If there was more to it than that, it certainly wasn't up to him to look for it, let alone pass it along. Perhaps he'd already said too much bringing it up at all, but it was too late to take it back now. "You were just the first-choice friend."

"She never even brought it up with me, dude." He could tell it bothered Johnny to be the second choice, "I doubt she would have really wanted to go with me anyway- I'm like an older brother or something."

The younger mutant tried his best not to look skeptical, smiling uneasily and shaking his head, "...I'm just saying. That's all."

Julian jumped slightly as the clerk got a little too into measuring his in-seem. "And I have a girlfriend," he said pointedly, not so much directed at Johnny as the sales woman. "So it's sort of a moot point- she asked you to go, not me, man. And even if she had asked me," the clerk wrote down a few figures and hurried off to the stock room. "It's obvious she wants to go with you."

Johnny's expression couldn't help but lighten briefly as the older mutant jumped and the clerk hid a smile and a blush with varying degrees of success before making her notes and her departure, though the topic at hand didn't seem to encourage it to remain that way. He didn't want to argue the point when proving his own view would only make him feel worse. "It's not like it matters," he insisted, though it seemed to, "Just ask Angel to let you give her a dance or two, okay?"

"I'm not going with, Angel." He turned toward a rack of bow-ties and pulled a couple shades of blue up, turning to check them against Johnny's eyes. Dropping one to his side he tried the other, "Hmm, I'm thinking this one."

This drew an almost comical double take out of Johnny, the concerns of their previous topic pushed momentarily to the back of his mind in favor of his obvious confusion, "You're...not?" The bow-tie, too, was a secondary concern. "Who are you going with?"

Knowing full well how Johnny was likely to react, Julian hesitated. He put the other bow-tie back and leaned against the counter, "Esme Stepford."

Johnny's features faltered immediately, confusion deepening into a sort of shocked disapproval and weighted concern. He lowered his eyes, silently searching for words and some kind of justification, but he couldn't find the latter and the former was slow to come. All he could think of was his solitary encounter with the Cuckoos and the way they had used him to hurt Jean-Paul for no reason other than entertainment. Those sharp smiles and dismissive gestures, even in memory, made him angry. "Why would you even want to take her?"

"Aside from the fact that she's been depressed lately and Angel asked me to cheer her up- she's not like the other Stepfords. She's actually really nice." He remembered their first real interaction, and all the little moments after that; Julian was looking forward to separating her from her sisters.

A nice Stepford? Johnny found it hard to believe based on everything he'd heard, including from Julian himself, and impossible based on what his own experiences told him. He frowned, "...She's probably just messing with you or something."

"I asked her," Julian gave him a reassuring smile and crossed his arms over his chest. "Trust me, there's no trick, Johnny."

"Coming from the guy who asked if they'd planted false memories in my head, that's not exactly comforting," the white-haired teen replied, dropping his eyes to the ground and curling his fingers into tight, frustrated fists within his hoodie's pocket. "And even if you did...I just don't think it's a good idea." He couldn't find the words to justify it any further, but in his mind he didn't have to. Didn't their actions say enough?

"Dude, they would have had to plant a false memory in Manuel's head, who then convinced Angel, who then convinced me, who then asked Esme...I mean, come on. There's no way the Stepfords are that devious. Right?" He gave Johnny a nervous laugh.

The laugh only seemed to make his shoulders tense. Johnny exhaled quietly, forcing his eyes from the wood panels of the floor to give his suite mate a worn, uneasy look, "Unlikely schemes aside, you're not going to convince me this is a good idea, Julian. Not in a million years. Just...think about it, okay?"

It was unlikely he was going to find middle ground with Johnny, "Alright, I'll think about it. But in the meantime, you have a choice to make..." Julian walked over to a rack of coats, pulling out three, he held them up. "White, black or periwinkle tux?" He smirked smugly, assured he was doing the right thing.

Even with the tension over Julian's date still firmly in place between them, Johnny couldn't help but laugh. For now, at least, it seemed they could put the matter aside. He shook his head, holding up both hands in protest against the bland weight color and the heinousness periwinkle, "Black. Definitely black..."