xp_logs | Nick, Amanda, Meggan, And Kurt

The Szardos clan welcomes Nick into the family

Nicholas Gleason hadn't felt more out of place his entire life. He dodged backwards to avoid a waiter stepping around him and narrowly avoided running over the greeter of the restaurant, with a quick wave of his hand and a sheepish grin he stepped forward, turning his feet onto their insteps as he tried to adjust his second-hand suit. But the fancy restaurant, the nice clothes, this was nothing for what was coming. Nick was here to meet his adopted family. Earlier, when Kurt had suggested the meeting, the boy had hoped that Professor Xavier would say that the meeting violated his grounding from school, but it looked like his new adopted father had promised to watch him like a hawk to get him off campus, but as the boy looked over at Professor Sefton, he couldn't help but simply want to do the man proud at the dinner. "Do I look alright," he quarried with a raised eyebrow.

"You look fine, Nick", Kurt reassured him again. "And my sisters are really very friendly people. They will love you, I promise."

The boy hoped that the professor was correct, but he couldn't help but have his doubts. After all, he hadn't been doing so well on first impressions recently. But all he could do now was straighten his tie 500 more times and stare out the front door, stiffening up his spine at the sound of every footstep scraping on the pavement outside.

Audible to Nick's sensitive ears came the sound of a car approaching and after a moment, the vehicle itself came into view, a battered-looking sedan that didn't match the engine sound at all. The driver parked a few spots down from the restaurant and after a slight pause there came the slamming of car doors and two pairs of footsteps. The blonde who entered first was short - only five three - but she had more than enough presence to make up for it. She was dressed neatly in business casual - black slacks, a white blouse and a black jacket - but a glance at her feet revealed a pair of Doc Martens boots. She gave Kurt and Nick an apologetic smile and when she spoke, it was in an English accent:

"Hey, Blue. Sorry we're late - I got stuck at work. Poor Meg had to wait in reception for me and got Jubes talking her ears off." She indicated the younger girl who had entered the restaurant behind her. "But she's still talking to me, so I s'pose I'm forgiven."

Meggan gave a quick wave to everyone before she shook her head with a wry grin at Amanda. She paused midway to the table, stepping aside to allow a waitress to walk by. “And as I said before, there’s nothing to forgive.” She was dressed casually as well, in a dark blue shirt and black slacks.

Nick smiled at the two of them for a quick second, but immediately diverted his attention downwards. Now he felt even more uncomfortable in his suit than ever. In his mind he quickly raced towards the thoughts that his new step family must be having about his snootiness. Who wears a suit to a dinner? Pulling at his collar, he looked towards Kurt, hoping that he could salvage the situation with an introduction or anything that made him feel less like a fish out of water.

"Meggan, you already know everyone here", Kurt said with a smile for the two women, seeming unconcerned about anything. "Nick, this is Amanda, the second oldest of my sisters. Amanda, Nick."

Amanda grinned at the shy-looking boy and held out her hand for him to shake. "Welcome to the clan, Nick," she said. "I'd suggest you run, but it's probably too late already." She wasn't in any way serious.

The boy forced a nervous grin that looked reminiscent of Charlie Brown as he shook her hand. "I'm happy to finally meet you." As he released the grip, his nerves seemed to take over for his mouth. "And I've done enough running for a long time recently..." The boy's face went white. Great, his first meeting with his step-aunt and he mentions that he directly disobeyed her brother and ran into the woods. Smooth Nick.

Amanda's grin turned mischievous. "Yeah, Kurt might have mentioned something about that. Still, it's a grand family tradition to take off and act like a berk sometimes, isn't it, Blue?" She turned the last to Kurt, remembering her own adventures in running away as well as the X-Man's.

"I think Meggan is the only one in the family who has not, at this point", Kurt said with a half-rueful, half-amused grin in return. "Even our brother Stefan, when he was younger..."

“With any luck, that won’t happen for a good long while,” Meggan added with an equally amused grin and a chuckle. She quickly added her own, “Welcome to the family, Nick--it's never boring” once she realized that she hadn't said it yet.

"I'm very honored to be part of your family." He gave another sheepish grin before turning his eyes to the floor. He wasn't one for social meetings anyway, but the word family touched him. It still was hard to fathom anyone wanting him to be near him, little own adopt him. The boy forced his eyes up to Kurt and a legitimate smile finally came as he thought about the warm feeling when Kurt had given him the news. It was enough to turn his attention back to the group. "I just hope that Kurt hasn't given you gals too many horror stories about me yet."

Amanda's lips twitched a little at being described as a 'gal', but she behaved herself. Nick reminded her of Kurt a lot, back when he'd been the shy type. "I wouldn't worry about it, Nick - Kurt thinks the world of you." She grinned at her older brother. "I'm kind of wondering what he's told you about us, tho'."

Fortunately, just then the maitre d' appeared and showed them to their table. The act of being seated and removing coats and the rest proved to be a welcome pause.

As soon as everyone was settled, Kurt shot his sister a innocent smile that fooled no one. "We have not even touched on the really good stories yet, jel'enedra. It is not my fault if my boy thinks you will eat him up", with a teasing grin in Nick's direction.

Meggan couldn’t resist some more of her own teasing, especially if it helped to ease some of Nick’s nervousness. She scrunched her nose up playfully. “Oh, really? Least we’re here for those stories, to defend ourselves.”

"I would be more than happy to hear any stories you have professor." The boy gave Kurt a quick grin, hoping to take the attention off of himself. That, and the fact that the whole eating joke stuck in his mind more than he'd like to admit. He'd seen magic do some pretty weird things coming from Nico's staff, and the threat to eat someone wasn't lost much between himself and another member of the table. His face turned white as he snuck a quick look up at Meggan, hoping she had forgotten all about the play incident.

"Oh, and you will", Kurt promised. "All of the funny ones, at least."