Transit Lounge - Kevin and Yvette

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Stuck in the airport after their tropical Christmas, Yvette and Kevin talk over art, evil alter-egos and Kevin's boxer shorts.



An airport during the holidays isn’t exactly a peaceful, quiet place, especially when that airport is full of people whose flights have been delayed. It is possible, however, to always find an out of the way corner or nook to hide in, and Yvette was an expert at that. She’d made sure to mention to Miss Tabitha that she was going to take a walk, and now she was up on a quieter upper level, sitting on a bench and watching the sea of humanity swirling below, hands folded in her lap and a contemplative expression on her face. Despite the stress of the situation, her hair hung in loose curls down her back, a sign that her training with Miss Frost was achieving results.

The delays of the flights had everyone crushed into space that should've been occupied by half as many people. Kevin had managed to not end up brushing against a dozen or so people but the press of the crowds were triggering all that well fought anxiety he was prone to in group that numbered more than five people. He had, however, managed to snag a couple cans of soda and some bagels from a less populated stall. With his booty stuffed into a messenger bag that also held a sketch pad along with some pens, pencils and markers the young man headed off to find sanctuary from the sardine effect going on.

"Great minds," he said just loud enough to be heard when Kevin found a familiar, small, red girl on a bench on the upper level. "Lookin' down at the chaos?" Kevin was sure that his voice was heard before he sat down on the bench beside his friend.

Yvette’s eyes lit up and she smiled at Kevin. “I had the feeling you would find the same place,” she said. “It is quiet up here and there is not so much chance for the accidents. And…” she added, looking back down. “I can be watching the people without them seeing that I am.”

"You should talk to someone 'bout that voyeur thing. Can't be healthy," he joked with a smile. Kevin set his bag on the bench between them and rifled around until he found the two sodas. "Sprite or Coke?" He hadn't actually bought them both for himself. He'd figured if he was looking to hide then Yvette would be looking to hide and if you were hiding it was important to equip yourself with supplies, which she might not have. It was harder for Yvette to squeeze through the crowds than for Kevin to he was pretty sure. "Also got plain or cinnamon raisin bagel choices. I'm ready to camp out."

“So there is not the change with the delay for the plane?” Yvette sighed. “The Sprite, please,” she added. “And the cinnamon raisin bagel. You are very clever, Kevin – I was getting hungry and was wondering who to be asking to be my, how you say? Minion person?”

"Nope, no change." Kevin handed over the Sprite, then found the cinnamon raisin bagel to hand over as well. Several tiny containers were pulled out as well. "Cream cheese, butter, jam? All of the above?" He held his hand out to her in offering. "We should really appoint someone to be your minion. It's easier if you've got on on retainer, y'know? Ah'm good with backup minion status for ya, though." God knew he'd played worried parent over her during the summer anyway. By now it was old hat for Kevin.

Yvette accepted the food and drink with a grateful smile. “Just butter, thank you.” Delicately, she plucked a container from his palm with her long fingers before setting it down beside her along with the bagel and the drink so she could peel off one glove. Who needed plastic knives when you had your own set of razor-sharp cutlery? With practiced care she sliced the bagel in half and cut off the seal on the butter, spreading it over the bagel. “But if you are my back-up minion, who will be your minion?” she asked, smiling at him.

"Good question." Kevin tapped a gloved finger against his chin. "Guess Ah'm minion-less. Ah can probably get by without a minion. Maybe manipulate Cammie into stuff if Ah need to. Con Laurie into stuff, too. My minion prospects aren't lookin' good, are they?" He saved his bagel but popped the tab on the Coke so he could take a pull from it. Ah, fizzy caffeine! Just what he'd always wanted. Kevin then set the can down on the bench to his side and fished out a pen and his sketch book before the messenger bag went to hang out on the floor by his feet.

“Do not ask Laurie to be your minion! It will be like the Disney cartoon, where Mickey Mouse is making the broom fetch the water for him and then there are so many the room is flooded? Laurie is always wanting to be looking after people, so if you ask her to do so, she will never be leaving you alone!” Yvette exclaimed, mostly joking.

"Least she'd be loyal?" Kevin grinned over at Yvette with a rather impish expression on his face. It was entirely possible he was having less than honorable thoughts about having a loyal minion. "Everyone needs loyal minions. They take care of you when you're sick, get you stuff, kill off your enemies, hide the bodies, provide alibis when you do things that're untoward. Ah'll need Laurie when Ah start my criminal empire."

Yvette giggled, nearly inhaling a bite of bagel. "Will you have the big black moustache also, when you are the villain?" she asked.

"Nah. That's a dead give away. Ah don't wanna be that obvious." He thought about villainy for a bit and how that might work out for him. "Ah think Ah wanna be that innocent looking one you'd never suspect. It'll keep the superheroes off my back way longer than they would be if Ah had the moustache. Can't trust a man with a moustache." Kevin grinned.

"Perhaps I should have the moustache, since no-one is ever thinking I could be bad," Yvette suggested, grabbing a lock of her hair and holding it under her nose to try the effect. "And you can be getting the glasses, like Superman. No-one is ever recognising him when he wears them, so why should not the villain do the same?"

"You're a mastermind!" The declaration was followed by him leaning down to pull a pair of sunglasses out. Kevin slipped them on and his mouth turned down into a contemplative frown. "Ah don't think mirrored sunglasses really scream 'trust me' huh? Ah'm gonna have to work on that." He smiled and tipped his head down until the sunglasses fell far enough down his nose that Kevin could peer at Yvette over them.

It was a very deliberate, carefully measured manner with which Kevin reached out and tugged on Yvette's sleeve. His nose wrinkled up in the process and he shook his head. "Maybe no moustache for you. People'll think you're tryin' for gender reassignment surgery or somethin'."

"Ew," Yvette replied eloquently, letting her hair moustache drop at the tugging on her sleeve. She didn't even twitch, given how much she trusted Kevin to be careful, for both their sakes. "So perhaps not the disguise for me. I will have to be the nice, sweet girl for ever, yes?" There was a definite spark of mischief in her voice.

"Next thing Ah know you're gonna tell me you wanna be a librarian and then Ah'm gonna have to get with the 'lalala's and think of puppies or somethin'," Kevin told her with a deceptively serious tone. "That's you though, yeah. Sugar on the outside, spice on the inside." Though he was pretty sure she was mostly sugar. At least for now.

Yvette giggled, pleased at the compliment - she liked the idea of being spicy on the inside, since it was much more interesting than being the sweet little girl all the time. "Have you been sketching much in the airport?" she asked, nodding at the sketchbook in his hands as she continued to nibble at the bagel. "There would be the interesting character studies, yes?"

"Not much else to do other than play 'dodge the ragingly angry people' really." He flipped back from the empty sheet he had the book open to. When he turned the book in Yvette's direction there were a number of quickly sketched people on the page. There was a mother with a small child, a sleeping teenager, an old man with a newspaper and a bored looking little boy. He flipped another sheet back to reveal a number of sketches of people who were obviously their companions while they lounged or paced or stared out the windows. The next held detailed sketches of the planes lined up and empty outside, a few with people wearing vests below them presumably loading luggage. "Least Ah got a useful hobby for keepin' me occupied, right?"

"Very much so." Yvette pored over the book, always glad to see Kevin's sketches. "If we are waiting her for very much longer, I think I will be making the origami with the candy wrappers," she joked. "Like the man in the Bladerunner movie, who makes the little swans and such?"

"Ah've never seen Bladerunner, actually." He knew what origami was, though so Kevin hoped he got the gist of the reference despite that. "Ah could always draw you instead of random people." Kevin waggled his eyes a bit as if this were, of course, a highly intriguing proposition.

"'Girl eating bagel' makes the very good title for a picture, yes?" Yvette suggested, striking a pose with the half-eaten baked good in her hand.

"Just you wait, now 'Girl eating bagel' is gonna be on one of those internet stores and you 'n' your bagel'll be on shirts, tote bags, lunch boxes, buttons, thongs, boxers, socks, dog tags," he listed off, rambling a little and letting his voice drop off as he continued on until Kevin was only mouthing words rather than speaking them. He gave her a half a grin and then looked at Yvette with one eye, the other in a squint. "Ah think we might be onto somethin' though. Ah mean, Ah'd buy you and a bagel on a pair of boxers..."

Yvette's eyes flared brightly and she ducked her head shyly, unable to come up with anything to say to that particular image. Especially since part of her liked the idea of Kevin in a pair of boxers, a part she quickly squashed as being Rude. "I think you are being silly," she managed lamely, glad she couldn't blush since she'd be as red as... well, as red as she always was.

Kevin wasn't really sure what that intensity shift in Yvette's eyes meant, he just knew that they didn't normally suddenly get brighter. The head ducking, though, that he could get a read on and he couldn't help the grin that spread over his lips as a result. "That's my charm, though. If Ah wasn't silly Ah'd only have serious, thoughtful, artistic and gloomy. That's just no way to be. And no charm. The ladies'll never fall for me without the charm." He made a sound as if this were a tragedy he couldn't handle. Considering the number of women not falling all over him Kevin didn't think he needed to worry overmuch about his charm's effectiveness.

"Oh, I do not think you need to worry. You are having plenty of the charm." Her eyes flared again as she realised how that sounded and she quickly shoved the last of the bagel in her mouth to stop herself from saying anything else.

There went that sudden, bright glowing thing again. Kevin had a feeling asking Yvette what that was wouldn't be the best idea so he took note mentally and said nothing. "Ah'm sure there're plenty of people who'll disagree with that, but thanks. Ah'll use you as a reference if anyone questions my charm."

There were so many answers to that and Yvette couldn't think of a one.