Kevin & Nico - Waffle House Trip

[x-staffofone.livejournal.com]

Kevin and Nico go for some waffles, and they end up talking about relations, feelings, and subtleties.

He should have been mopey and traumatized after the events that transpired in India. It had been rough for a few days, but if he was honest he was a little distracted from it all in general. He was also trying to pointedly ignore and deny the memories of the attack on the train. It always came back to bite him in the ass, of course, primarily in the night when he had no defense against the nightmares.

The attempt to ignore his obvious trauma was partially to blame for Kevin more or less abducting Nico when he happened to see her wandering through the mansion. She was like everyone else in the mansion and ate non-stop so he had mostly just mentioned the Waffle House and then dragged her off for a sugar rush with a side of bacon. He'd immediately requested a new waitress when they'd been seated, however. That girl had been rude to Yvette once.

There hadn't been time to say it, but Nico was grateful Kevin had dragged her away from the mansion. She had had the impulse to jump him and kiss him, but that wasn't an option considering that a) She had a boyfriend -and couldn't help to go all omigoshboyfriend! every time she thought about it- and b) She liked her skin on her face a lot, thanks. She had hugged the boy's arm with extreme affection though, since Kevin's arms were usually pillows from all the clothing he used. But anyway, waffles!

Once they sat, the goth took her time examining Kevin. "So." Yeah, great conversation topic.

"Aren't you supposed to be the talkative one?" Kevin was interrupted by his cell vibrating in his pocket. Apparently someone wanted to steal him, conveniently timed for when he wasn't around. He replied to the text quickly before stashing the Xavier's-issued cell back in his pocket. "Everyone gets all high strung and sorta twitchy after big bad stuff like India. Thought maybe escape was a good idea."

Nico shrugged. "I don't know. Do you feel talkative? Because I think that if I begin talking...I might not be able to shut up." That was certainly an idea. She looked at the phone being stashed, and considered if nobody -and by nobody she meant Julian- could need her at the moment. Well, she wasn't available just now. "Someone important?"

Talkative? Kevin? He tried real hard not to be talkative most days, or maybe it was just that he wasn't inclined to share most things. That didn't really count as trying, did it? When his phone vibrated again he gave Nico an apologetic smile. "Uh, sorta. Ah mean, yeah, it's someone important. Ah just dunno," he trailed off while he read the text, "if it's important." Kevin looked back up at Nico with a slightly furrowed brow. "People realize waffles don't really reheat all that good, right?"

...What? "I...guess? Look, if you need to answer, or go, we can just, I don't know, leave or take some with us." Because she felt like kidnapping the boy when someone else might need him. Not that Kevin weren't the kind of person that preferred to get kidnapped before dealing with some things, but so was Nico. "Is someone...important calling?" She could have just asked who the hell was interrupting them, but that would be impolite. And awkward.

"He's not calling, just texting," Kevin told her in a voice that tried to be reassuring as much as possible while he typed a short reply back. "Ah don't gotta go, he just wants me to bring waffles back with me. But...cold waffles? Ah guess you could put 'em in the oven or somethin', right?" The oven was, clearly, going to be Kevin's answer to all food that went cold. It worked for fried chicken where the microwave failed, after all.

"Huh. Well..I thought they had those metallic like heat keeping wrapping...thingies" The name was on the tip of her tongue. "And really, if we came all the way here to take someone else's food back then, we should ask for tips." Generous tips. "Anyway...the oven sounds like an idea as well." And she wanted to see if they could heat them without taking the whole kitchen with them. "Isn't there...someone who more or less owns the kitchen now then? She should be able to do it right." She hadn't had the chance to know Lorna just yet, although she had noted the food was certainly tastier.

Kevin skipped the explanation about how he didn't ask for help on stupid stuff like re-heating food. He also skipped the part where sometimes he and Lorna didn't get on real well. Nico didn't need to know that. "You're not even payin' for your waffles, why do you get to demand tips for bringing waffles back to," he cut himself off before ascribing any sort of title to the person in question, "people?" Kevin was considering just making waffles for Jean-Paul. It'd be way more effective.

All that skipping passed unnoticed for Nico, but she did note the cut just before the guy's name. Because it was a guy. "Well, maybe he has the money to pay for tips? And it's not like he can't come here if he wants to get his waffles." She was so stressing the fact she didn't know who the hell Kevin was talking about. "But anyway...hey! I'm totally paying for my waffles!" She wasn't, but fighting for that ounce of dignity was better than keep wondering who wanted waffles. "We should probably order before we get kicked out of here." Which was unlikely, considering how much they ate.

"No you're not," Kevin argued in a tone that wasn't going to argue for long. They came, they ate, they talked and he paid. That's just how Waffle House worked. That was how their waffle-relationship worked. Nico was just going to have to accept that. "Yeah, ordering is probably smart."

Their waiter had been lingering nearby, likely bored in the mostly empty restaurant. After the two of them had both ordered the waiter shuffled off, if you could call walking that slowly a shuffle, to hand the order in to the kitchen staff. Once they were alone again Kevin said, "Jean-Paul," without referencing why he was mentioning the man's name.

It took Nico some seconds to connect the dots. "So you were...? With...? That's the guy that...? And now he is...? And you are bringing...? Why? I mean, I haven't really talked to him, so I don't know much more than gossiping, but he didn't look like...a waffle person." Yeah, that was a smart one. Go Nico!

Kevin skipped the point she was stumbling all over and skipped to the only one she managed to make. "He asked for the waffle so Ah guess you're wrong there. He's sorta French, if it's got cream or butter they'll eat it, right?" If she wanted the answer to the rest of it she was going to need to man up and ask it.

"Errr...French should take a serious check on their diet then?" She was tempted to ask, oh how tempted she felt to shoot the question, or questions, but on the other side, she wanted to push. She wasn't even sure if it counted as pushing. Maybe it wasn't pushing at all? Maybe she was just giving a small, friendly poke. Yeah right. "So he likes waffles. Well, that's understandable." Her sentence got cut by the waffles arriving, and Nico decided she wanted to eat. Only a few minutes after, and a good amount of waffle eaten, she decided to keep talking. "What does that make...you? Besides a very convenient errand boy, of course." Only then Nico realized how little she knew about Kevin, which wasn't precisely nice.

Kevin was mid-chew when that question came so all the response Nico received at first was a muffle, "Huh?" When he'd managed to chew properly and swallow he looked up at her properly and quirked an eyebrow at her. "Ah think Ah only count as an errand boy if he sends me out to do stuff. Ah don't think it counts if you know someone is somewhere and you ask them to bring you somethin' back." Food had distracted him enough that Kevin wasn't seeing the question behind the question.

Cocking her head to a side, Nico wondered if she could be more subtle. "So you are here, and he calls you, and...you tell him you are here, of course, and he...asks for waffles? The only person I would purposely ask to do that for me would be..." For a second, it was as if Nico had frozen, waffle halfway her mouth. "Well, it would be Julian, I guess, but that's what boyfriends are for, right?" And now she was talking about Julian, and her words were exactly that: Julian. She had apparently changed her topic of conversation without truly meaning to do that.

"Yeah, that's what boyfriends are for. Got over that thing 'bout it bein' crazy that you liked him, Ah guess," Kevin commented with a most amused tone. He'd more or less answered her question, but he wasn't sure Nico would realize it with him following her change of topic so easily. "Y'know, Ah think that's what friends are for, too. Just, y'know, a thought."

Oh, but she did get it. She almost swallowed the rest of the waffle, managing to keep herself from coughing and making a mess. In a way, she was still expecting the answer, but Julian had taken most of her attention for a moment. Silly boyfriend. "Y-yes," said as she rubbed a hand over her throat. "In the end, I was being a little clingy and needy, but turns out he actually wanted this, us." But this wasn't about her, and she had to return to the topic of conversation that almost got her killed by waffle. "So you and him are...together? That probably gives it a lot more of sense. And hey", she extended her hand, carefully placing it on his forearm, which was obviously clothed. "Friends are for a lot of things as well."

Kevin went about as still as was humanly possible when Nico began to reach out toward him. The muscles of his arm had gone stiff, strung with the acute awareness of proximity leading to touch. He didn't flinch and he didn't pull away but he did need to remind himself to breathe and try to relax, which didn't happen. Kevin was getting better about not having panic attacks when people touched him, but he still wasn't great about it. "Friends are for food, too. And sometimes for lecturing you on how you're too nice to other friends." Kevin frowned for a moment but then brushed that whole situation aside mentally. "Or decomposing tree parts with."

Nico smiled, giving the boy's arm a small pat before retrieving her hand, whole and not discomposed, thank you very much. "For food, yes. I can't really think of a comeback for the other two though." There was a beat of silence before Nico grinned, leaning a little towards Kevin; nothing terribly obvious, as it was more of a slight inclination that closing any space. "So we both have a boyfriend; I guess there are still good things in life right?" She was still grinning.

She looked like something between the Cheshire Cat and a giddy schoolgirl. Kevin wasn't sure which was more scary but he ended up smiling anyway. If she thought he was gay enough to have girl talk times she was going to be in for a serious surprise. He wouldn't be wearing nail polish or eye liner any time soon or maybe even ever either. "There's always good things in life. People just forget."

Having a boyfriend? Sure. Nail polish? Do not want. That was as far as Nico was willing to go; she had been a God fearing catholic altar girl until what her mind told her was recently, so she couldn't just help to have a clash of ideas on her mind. Thank you for that, Mom and Dad. She still wasn't sure why she was smiling like an idiot, but she could blame Julian about that, like the rest of things she did while thinking of him. Smile wearing down, Nico went back to her waffles. "I don't think people forget; I think people find more interesting the sad, horrible things in their lives." At least it applied to her.

"Ah don't think it's about bad things being more interesting. Ah think people just like complaining. They like gettin' sympathy for how horrible things are. You ever notice how when someone is talkin' 'bout their bad day there's always someone around all quick to talk about how much worse their day was than the other person's? People don't do that with good stuff 'cause it's seen as rude, braggin' and all. But commiserating over how bad stuff is? Totally allowed and encouraged." He shrugged, because Kevin thought that was a bit backward. He didn't really think people should play up the bad stuff just to get sympathy. And he didn't really think feeding the sympathy addiction did anyone any good either.

"Now that", said Nico, fork pointing at Kevin. "It's a good point. I mean, when I feel bitchy and complain about stuff, I would prefer someone telling me positive things, not joining me in the depression van." She wasn't sure if her complaints were only focused on getting attention -she thought they weren't, but who knows?-; she had her own ways to get attention anyway. Sighing, the fork found another prey. "I missed eating waffles."

"If you eat too many at once to catch up you'll explode," Kevin warned quite solemnly. Waffles were serious business, after all. You had to respect the waffle or it would never respect you.

Realizing his thought processes clearly had gone into a blender here, Kevin shoved a too large piece of waffle into his mouth to distract himself. He needed calories. Calories would make his brain work. After he digested. That whole thinking and eating or thinking and digesting thing, it was overrated. And possibly impossible. Kevin voted for it being impossible.