Nick Meets Angel

[x-wolfcub.livejournal.com]

After a morning swim, Nick is surprised by his sudden meeting of another of the school's students.



A large wolf rose out of the pool in front of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Any other place on earth, this may look like an atypical sight, but here, it was just a lazy weekday afternoon. The wolf hesitantly looked from side to side, still self conscious of his transformations in front of others before he let himself shrink down into his scrawny alter ego, Nick Gleason. Back in his human form, Nick had to quickly catch his swimming trunks before they slid off, retying the drawstring as he scurried forward towards his towel resting at the edge of the pool. As he shook himself off, still not fully free of his instincts, the boy wasn't aware that he was no longer alone.

"You go swimming as a wolf? That's ... awesome." The voice came towards the mansion as Angel suddenly appeared, sporting her normal bathing suit and a pair of goggles around her neck. She'd stopped bringing a towel to the pool with her ages and ages ago. She came to a stop and gave him a small wave. "I don't think we've actually met but you're Nick, right? ...duh, I mean, of course you are. You were just a wolf a minute ago and not many boys around here can pull off that trick."

Angel took a breath and beamed at him.

Nick's eyes sudden grew to nearly twice their normal size as he quickly shifted his attention from the pool to the girl, not knowing exactly how to react. "I... uh... I..." Obviously his attempts to begin to get to know the other students in the mansion were paying off, his articulation was top notch. "Yeah, I'm Nick." With a quick scratch of the back of his head, he let a small smirk appear on his face. "If you don't mind me asking, how long we you there?" Smooth as always Mr. Gleason.

"Don't worry, I totally didn't see your shorts almost fall down." That probably hadn't come out as reassuring as she had meant it to - whoops. "Uh, I'm one of the red heads of the mansion - though with the mouth. Angel."

Nick quickly walked forward, offering his hand in front of him, still not quite the smoothest, but trying. "Yeah, I think Johnny's mentioned you a few times during one of his rapid fire speeches." He raised an eyebrow for a second as he racked his brain, going through his cognitive profiles of his new classmates. "That's right you dated..." He suddenly cut himself off, remembering the one thing he was told not to mention around her.

She laughed a little bit as she shook his hand. "No, it's okay now. We're not, you know, dating anymore but we're trying to fix the friendship first, you know? That topic will no longer get you shrieked at or fireballs lobbed in your general direction, honest." Though she hadn't done that in the first place but oh, Angel certainly had felt like it.

"Oh, that's right, you're a fire manipulator kinda like Shiro." Nick's mind wondered for a bit. He still loved to see the many different powers the mansion had to offer. He couldn't help but let his mind drift towards his father. He'd have a blast here learning about mutations. Whoops! Can't spend too much time there. "So how do you like this place." A crafty Nicholas Gleason dodge.

If Angel noticed any pause or hesitation, she just thought it was a case of boys being weird. "Oh, I love it," she replied, heading over to perch on one of the lounge chairs that were scattered around the pool. "I've been here ... wow, almost three years, I think. This August. And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. How about you? How're you adjusting to Xavier life?"

Nick scratched the back of his head as he let himself fall down in the chair next to Angel's. "It's a bit... different." Nick turned his head to the side with the last word. "It' taking a bit of getting used to, with the whole spending three quarters of my day completely lost and all." A smirk came across his face as his eyes fell to the shimmering waves of the pool. "But Shiro and Catseye have been a huge help for me." That sounded strange even to him. His two biggest helps were a man who didn't even know he was helping, and a girl that was sometimes more cat than person.

"Oh, Shiro's great, even if he is ... well, Shiro. I mean, I've forced both him and John into being my mentors, it's amazing I've not fallen into their grouch mentality." She stretched out her leg and worked out some kinks. "Cats is a sweetheart and she doesn't know how to lie, really. So if she's telling you something, you can bet your britches she really means it."

The boy began playing with the cushion on the couch underneath him. "Yeah, Cats is really..." He had to choose the next word carefully. "...great..." His face began to turn a bright, crimson hue, something that had begun whenever Catseye's name was mentioned around him after their awkward encounter. Usually Nick would end this encounter awkwardly at this point, but remembering the conversation he had with Shiro at Pride, he decided that he needed to push on, even if it was a bit uncomfortable. "So what's the actual school part of life like here." He didn't care if it made him sound like a nerd to be interested in school during the summer vacation, but he really could care less, he was intregued.

Angel didn't mention the blush that crept up but it was a hard thing to do. She bit her lip and filed it away, mentally singing "Someone's got a cruuuuush" to herself over and over again. Thank god he wasn't a telepath. "It's school, you know? They keep that pretty normal at least. The teachers are all pretty awesome and while you have to do all the things like in a normal school, they really are pretty flexible. I mean, you're looking at most of the journalism/year book class right now!"

Nick turned his head to the side, excited that he was moving the subject away from the ones that made him feel like his face was on on fire. "Do they do any theatre classes? I know you guys did the play last year, but are there classes too?" Mentally he crossed his fingers as he waited for a response.

"We don't really have a class class but we were working with the local school in town." She looked intrigued. "Are you a theatre fan? Actor or behind the stages kind of guy?"

"Actor actually." A smile crossed over his face. "You might not be able to tell this, but the wolf transformation does some wicked effects for being in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde shows." What the hell was this, Nick making jokes? Catseye must be having a bigger effect on him than he thought. Wait, why was she back in his head. The boy shifted in his seat uncomfortable, hoping Angel didn't notice.

It got Angel to giggle quite a lot. "Oh man, that's awesome. And I'd love to see that. You've got a really awesome power, even if you probably shed a little bit." It was nice seeing him open up a little bit more. She had pegged him as the complete shy kid but he seemed to be doing quite well. "We've got a few like minded students about, maybe you should look into doing more with the thespians or something?"

"I can do my best, but I don't do too well in groups." He let himself smile again. "And the shedding isn't too bad. But you may just have to keep one of those tape roller things around just in case."

"Hey, dude, that's nothing. I had to carry around fire extinguishers for ages! Little ones! At least with you, we just have to defur ourselves. I once torched a pair of Marius' pants once in a game of football."

"That would have been fun to see." Nick's eyes again dropped to the pool as he stared at the waves rising up and down he let his mind wonder again, still trying to figure out his place in the mansion. "Well, I guess I at least will stick around here for a while, as long as I don't wake up with burning pants." It was the first time he had admitted it since he arrived.

"Well, I totally can't promise anything but if it means you'll be staying..."