xp_logs | Kevin and Angel | Wednesday afternoon

Angel spots Kevin out on the mansion grounds and decides to catch up with him, only to wrangle him into dinner with her mom. For productive reasons, of course.

The ball slipped out of Kevin's hand and hit the ground with a dull thud. It tried to bounce but the dirt and grass weren't exactly ideal for bouncing. "You'n me are gonna have words, ball," Kevin grumbled as he bent over to pick it up. Apparently not using your hand for just about anything in six weeks atrophies the muscle enough that doctors make you do physical therapy enough to make sure you've still got strength in your hand. Kevin was on a strict ball squeezing regiment for the next week or so before Dr. St. Lawrence would evaluate whether or not he needed real physical therapy. It wasn't like his hand had been in a horrible accident or bashed up with a hammer. It was just a little exploded and now he had his thigh on his hand. That was so weird still.

"So I take it your friend there is winning whatever you're trying to beat it at?" Angel's voice came from, of all places, several feet above him as she slowly hovered downwards in Kevin's direction. She had just flown in from college so she could spend a day or two at the mansion but hadn't been able to resist spiraling closer once she spotted her cranky friend. It had been a while since she'd seen him and she was glad he was out and about.

Angel flipped over so she was upside down, her braid swinging slightly but she was sure to not get too close. As it was, Kevin would already be feeling a change in temperature even with the distance between them.

"Enter the fireball." Grabbing the ball with his good hand, Kevin straightened back up and gave Angel a smile. "Y'know, Ah wear too much clothing already. You should go fly 'round Bobby. At least he can cool himself off when you make him all hot." He backed up several steps until the air around him was cooler, then transferred the ball back to his right hand. "What's with fliers and being upside down? You and Jean-Paul should join the circus."

"Oh man, I'd totally join the circus - I think I'd have an in since I know Kurt. And hey, it's awesome being upside down, at least until all the blood rushes to my head." Speaking of ... with a practiced ease that spoke of years of heart attacks, Angel flipped right side up again and simply dropped the rest of the way to the ground. She landed on her feet but wobbled slightly thanks to the uneven ground. "And it's hard to fly around Bobby - I worry I'm going to melt him!"

"And you don't worry about melting me? Ah'm almost hurt. It's gotta be twenty degrees hotter in here than it is in what everyone else is wearin'." That was the daring and adventurous life of Kevin Ford right there. He even pulled the bottom of his shirt away from his body to air himself out. "Whatcha up to anyway? No good? Lightin' guys on fire everywhere you go?"

"You might try and look like your 100% Polyester Man but at least you're not made of ice half the time." Angel dropped her bag, specially made by Xavier's finest so it didn't even melt unless she went all out, by her feet so she could stretch her arms. "And not everywhere I go - only sometimes! And only when they get like lobster pinchy hands. And only generally in the seat of their pants. But subtle like a ninja with fire."

She eyed him up and down. "And how are you doing? Feeling less - explody?"

Pulling his sunglasses down until he could peer at Angel over them, Kevin turned to the side as if to hide something from sight. "Ah'm feelin' a little eye raped right now," he told her, obviously joking. "D'you practice that leer or are you a natural at it? Graduate from college and now you're all voyeur girl?"

"Now? Do you know how long I spent trying to figure out if I could sneak a camera into the boys locker room in 11th grade?"

A mischievous smile spread across Kevin's mouth. "You probably didn't need the camera. If we knew you wanted in we would've just invited you."

Angel stared at him and, for a moment, was completely still. "Son of a bitch! I'm going to pretend that you're pulling my leg because if you aren't, I'm going to be soooo mad at myself for missed opportunities." With the ability honed by millions of teenagers, she collapsed onto the ground and sprawled out. "FML, man."

Kevin walked over her, each foot to either side of her waist, and looked down at the melodramatic teenager. "What? Guys are vain and we don't get girls catcalling after us. Hot chick hanging out in the locker room staring? Nice ego boost for some guys." His smile kept getting wider. "Some guys are exhibitionists, too. It really helps your cause. Well, it woulda."

"Oh god, I think my mouth is watering and that's baaad because I'm laying down and I don't wanna choke!" Angel glared up at him as her hands landed on the tops of his sneakers. Her fingers drummed out a pretend irritated pattern but she refrained from microwaving his feet. Barely. "You're lucky you're not quite healed yet or there'd totally be retribution! I'm going to go to my grave with that regret now!"

He refrained from pointing out that he was, in fact, pretty much healed. He wasn't exactly recovered because he'd mostly been on his stomach passed out for the past eight-ish weeks. He had to get back in shape, build up the strength in his hand again and all that. But he was healed. "What retribution? It's not my fault you missed out on mostly or entirely naked guys because you forgot that guys don't operate like girls. See, we gotta spy on girls because they get stupidly embarrassed about being naked. They get all shy and freak out over whether or not they look good naked. Guys? We wear clothes because we're required to, not because we want to." Technically there were probably guys in the world who preferred to be clothed, Kevin just didn't know any of them.

"Oh please, I totally got over most of my skin phobia when I burned off my pants and ended up in just my Supergirl underwear!" People still talked about that when they didn't think remembering how Angel manifested the second time would freak her out. She only had nightmares occasionally about it. "Don't blame me because the rest of the girl human race is weeeiiirrd. Except for Jane. And Catseye. And Ororo." She scrunched up her face at him and then busted out laughing. "Man, you know what? You guys are totally lucky to be living here."

"Because we've got a bunch of really weird, hot, spastic chicks? Girls down with nudity," he ticked a finger off on a hand, "Catseye, who didn't figure out guys didn't have cooties until she was like eighteen and is sorta like talkin' to a twelve year old so that's like your little sister running around naked, hot or not." Kevin ticked off another finger, "Ororo who has a really scary boyfriend, could kick your ass and is a respect deserving actual woman. Jane," another finger, "okay Ah've got no downside there. And you," a fourth finger, "who is like a heart attack in a bottle and melts through buckets when she gets kissed on the cheek. All eye candy, no practical use for any of you. That's like torturing us, not hitting the jackpot."

By the time Kevin was done talking, Angel had completely lost it. Still stuck between his legs she had covered her face with both hands and was giggling desperately into them. "Bucket!" she managed before dissolving completely again. There was a blush under her hands that wasn't all hysterical laughter but it did meld in with the rest of the red her face was turning.

Shaking his head, Kevin leaned down and poked her in the side. "See? You're totally useless." There were a couple more poked before he stood up straight again. Obviously Angel remembered melting her way through that bucket she'd been sitting on as well as Kevin had. At least she hadn't set his wallet on fire, what with having stolen it and all. Clearly Angel was a terrible influence.

Eyes brimming with tears peeked out at Kevin through her fingers. It was clear that she was struggling to not blurt something out ... and then she completely, utterly gave in.

"The only thing the X-Men can't save themselves from is a case of the blue balls!"

And then she died.

Eyes going wide, Kevin more or less bit his tongue. He did, however, finally step away from her so she wasn't trapped between his legs anymore. "See, and that's why Ah'm never gonna join the team. Ah'm not a fan of blue balls."

"I think I'm gonna puuuke," she moaned as she attempted to relearn her ability to breath. Angel fanned herself desperately even though it really didn't do much good in her case.

"That's your own darn fault," Kevin told her, pointing at her. "Ah ain't half as funny as all that and it ain't my fault if you amuse yourself to death."

She really had to bite the inside of her cheek because she was going to point out that it was REALLY FUNNY when one considered that Hank McCoy was part of the X-Men. Angel very carefully rolled over and crawled a few feet away as she tried to control her breathing. About five minutes later, she looked up at him and waved.

"Okay. Okay. I think I'm back to normal now..."

"You ain't ever gonna be normal, but you can go on thinkin' you are if you want." Kevin had collapsed down onto the grass while she had recovered and was back to squeezing his ball. For a moment he'd even sat there being glad the ball was green, not blue. All he needed was Angel to go on about him squeezing his blue ball, right?

"I'm normal some of the time, anyway." Angel leaned over so her shoulder was resting against his and she tried to shake off the giggles. "But not now, anyway. Now that I'm done shrieking into the night - I bet the Prof totally buys stock in ear plugs - how're you doing? Anything new besides healing?"

"Uh, healing, no classes for fall semester since Ah pretty much didn't get out of bed all August. Nathan's throwing paperwork at me again. Ah probably shoulda told him Ah wasn't cleared to drive yet. But...that's pretty much it. Still can't sculpt yet. Sorta gotta get back in shape for dragging giant sheets of metal around again." That made him frown. Kevin was an artist, but above all else he was a sculptor. All he could really do right now was draw. Maybe paint by number. "And if my lawyer ever unburies himself from the stacks of paperwork on his desk maybe Ah'll manage to not be a court-ordered prisoner of the mansion, too. How's your first semester college?"

Angel frowned and straightened slightly. Kevin had said a lot and she wanted to talk about all of it, especially his art, but what really caught her attention was the lawyer comment. "Is he giving you the run around on purpose? I mean, becoming a free man is sorta important!"

"Nah, it's just Nathan. Always doin' eighty things at once.It's probably easier to drag him away when you're actually in federal lock up." And wasn't that just the most fun Kevin had ever had in his life? "Y'know, meeting someone for the first time in federal lock up probably isn't a great start. But Ah just couldn't ever get away from him. Ah mean, he gave me crabs and all."

"...you know what, I already said my naughty thing for the afternoon, so I'm not even going there. I forgot it was Nathan - I mean, yeah, I can see why you don't want to look elsewhere but what if I told you that I can recommend someone who'd help you out for free? And was really good?"

Her last comment distracted Kevin from the grin wanting to spread itself across his face at her lack of comment about the crabs. "Ah'd say...that there's probably a really big catch and payin' for a lawyer might be easier'n whatever it is."

At that, she snorted and just smiled. She obviously knew something. "Nope, can almost guarantee you that there's no catch involved. Well. Maybe a teeny catch." Angel looked at him, all innocent. "You'll just have to sit through at least one family dinner with mom."

Eyes narrowing even as an eyebrow quirked, Kevin asked, "Do Ah gotta pretend to be your boyfriend during this? 'Cause Ah'm not followin'."

"Probably the complete opposite 'cause it's not a catch for me but for my mom! She's the lawyer and she does cases all over the place. Mom's always been for the little guy, taking cases for minorities, small companies and such. When mutants starting being dragged into the court rooms, she was just sort of took them under her wing, too."

That was a relief. Sort of. "She's be trying to prove that Ah'm well adjusted enough and in control of my mutation enough that Ah'm not a danger to society who should be locked up for the public's own good. Sorta stupid when they're pinnin' stuff on me from when Ah manifested and didn't know what was goin' on anyway."

A snap of Angel's fingers produced a fireball about the size of a softball. "I don't think she'll have any issues with that," she responded. "Mom's good and she's got enough high flying clients that she can easily take you on pro bono."

"You got an off switch that Ah don't. Ah can walk up to you and touch you without worryin' 'bout bein' hurt. You can't ever do that to me unless you're sure to get cloth and not skin. Someone who don't know better? People can get accidentally hurt with me real easy," Kevin told her with a weight in his voice that spoke of experience. "It's not going to be easy to convince them that lettin' me walk around free's a good idea. Ah think you should talk to your mom 'bout it first. See if she really wants that fight."

"She's due for a trip out here to see me," Angel said, quietly smothering the flames with much less flare. She always had the awareness of Kevin's powers, always made sure not to touch him where he wasn't covered up but ... it was different when he spoke about it like that. Sobering. "Mom would be more than happy to have you out to dinner, talk about the details and get a feel for it. She'll probably want you to bring what you can from Nate, though, so she's got as much information as possible."

"Yeah, Ah can do that. Ah've been deemed sober enough to drive. Or, y'know, there's that speedy guy with the funny accent at my disposal." He didn't think he'd need Jean-Paul to get the files from Nathan for him, but it was nice to know the option was there if needed it. "Ah could do dinner with her and stuff. She's not scary is she? 'Cause Ah remember your dad, he's real nice. But sometimes you're scary and you could get that from her."

Angel giggled and imaged her mom meeting Kevin. It would be for the best if she didn't invite her dad along for the trip - god, they'd kill the poor guy without even trying. "She's not super scary, no, but she's very ... focused. So she won't go springing anything weird on you like I might - I get that from my uncles. But she's not going to let you get away with much, either." She grinned. "So, shall I call her and set a date?"

"Ah don't really try to get away with much." He generally either owned up to something or avoided it all together. Unless it was Jean-Paul, Kevin wasn't exactly the sneaky sort. "Yeah, call her. See if she thinks she can spring me from 'the man.' And thanks." Angel didn't have to offer up her mom to help him. She especially didn't need to put her mom in a position to potentially do it pro bono. No matter how often people were nice to him or how much of a friend he considered them, it still surprised Kevin when people went out of their way for him.

"For you? Any time."