Yvette and Julian

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Catching up with Julian in the gym, Yvette offers him some relationship advice while he spots her for weight training.




Up and down, up and down, the weights on either end balanced along the cold steel bar in his tightly gripped hands- it was easy to lift three-hundred pounds on your back compared to having to deal with the things that had been on his mind lately. Julian finally racked the bar and sat up, wiping the sweat off his forehead and padding his smooth chest before shutting his eyes and repeating the exercise in his mind. Unfortunately, thoughts of Nico jumbled into his concentration and the heavy weights crashed to the ground behind the rack. With a sigh, he looked down, "Damn it."

"There is the problem?" came Yvette's unmistakeable voice and diction from the doorway. She was wearing just a t-shirt over her bodysuit as working out tended to overheat her quickly, and carried her extra-large water bottle. As he looked up, she gave him a somewhat sheepish smile. "I did not mean to eavesdrop, I was just coming for my strength training for the team. Can I help, or would you rather that I left you alone?"

Julian lifted the weight bar back into place and stood up from the equipment, going to get a spray bottle to wipe it down. "Sure, what do they have you doing? I think you've got the squats down, so I'm guessing...press?" This was what he needed, Yvette would take his mind off things.

She nodded, poking out her tongue in distaste. She hated the bench press ."I need to be improving my upper body strength," she admitted. "So that I can climb better and faster when I need to," she explained. "And so I can fight better. Kyle says I still hit like the girl."

The young scion laughed as he finished wiping down the equipment and pulled on a shirt before starting to strip the bar, "You may hit like a girl, but you hit like a girl holding a knife or five." When the station was ready, he motioned for her to take her position, "How much have you been working with lately?"

"Ten pounds," she admitted, a little embarrassed although it wasn't so bad for someone as tiny as she was. "Any more and I get stuck."

Julian nodded without making comment or criticism as he lifted the metal bar out and found a thinner one on the free weights rack nearby. He placed it on the rack and stood over Yvette as she maneuverered into position. "Ten pounds is a good starting place, but we do have one pound weights on the racks, so I think it'd be good to push you to eleven today for your last set, sound good?"

"Will you rescue me if I get stuck?" she asked, mostly joking as she looked up at him from the bench. Her hair was tucked into one of her titanium hair nets, provided by Tommy when she'd mentioned to him at one point having issues with the long, sharp tendrils cutting anything she rested on. "Or will you just take the photographs and laugh, as Mr. Logan threatened to do?"

"Nope, I was doing just shy of three-hundred pounds a moment ago," he smiled, "I've got you. Don't worry." He readied himself to spot her.

She managed the first set of twelve easily - a sign that perhaps she should be using more weight - and then rested. "So, how is the extra training duty going?" she asked, with a certain spark of wry amusement in her tone.

Julian rolled his eyes, "Just for that you're going to eleven on the next set." As he put on the weights he answered the question, "It's fine. Jean is trying to figure out what to do with the boy we found in my head that she figures represents my powers...so that's fun. Otherwise, it's not all bad. I've tuned up all our fleet vehicles and they leave me alone for the most part when I'm doing that."

"And the grounding?" she asked, poking her tongue out at him as he increased the weight. "I have the feeling that is harder for you than it was for me when I was doing something not so different to you."

"It wouldn't be so bad if..." he trailed off, unsure if he should talk about his girlfriend to her Resident Advisor. "It's fine."

Yvette cocked an eyebrow, a gesture she could only do if her skin was relaxed enough. "It may not be my business," she said gently. "But I could not help but notice that Nico has not stayed with you since you are getting back from California?" Her eyes brightened a bit, signifying a blush. "I try not to invade the privacy, but she is still a student, so..."

Julian sighed and shook his head, leaning against a nearby piece of equipment he began, "She's changed since she was kidapped, and not just in a 'oh I was kidnapped and now am all angsty' kind of way. You know who Selene is, er, was, right?"

Yvette sat up so she could talk to him properly. "I have read the reports and the team files on her," she replied, gravely. "For what happened to that Sefton girl as well as what happened with Meggan. She was the witch, yes? With the ability to take people's energy, like the vampires?"

"Yeah," Julian nodded, a grim look crossing his face. "Nico's developed a mutant ability like hers. She sucks life force from people to power herself."

Yvette raised a long-fingered hand to her mouth, looking horrified. "Oh no," she murmuered, stricken. "Is she... are they helping her?"

Julian's hands flew up as he looked at the tiny red girl apologetically, "Oh no! I mean...yes, Amanda, Kurt's sister, is helping her with it. And she's upset because she doesn't want to hurt anyone." Though it certainly hadn't hurt when she'd sucked a bit of his chi in the kitchen a few nights past.

"I did not mean... I am not afraid she will hurt people..." Yvette looked just as upset as Julian. "It must be awful for her," she finished lamely. "And for you. Is it when she touches people, that she has to be careful? Like me?"

"Yeah," he said, slightly dejectedly. "But she has some sort of control over it I guess. We were, um, kissing and for a little while it was okay."

"But she has some control, yes?" Yvette pointed out, helpfully. "That means she can be learning more and one day things might be back to the way they were. But," and here she grew solemn again. "You will have to be patient with her. I know it is difficult, not to be able to touch or kiss your girlfriend, but if you make her feel like you are impatient with her, she will have things much harder, yes?" She gave a little shrug. "Or at least, that is how it is for me sometimes."

Julian smirked, "You do realize that when I was dating Angelica, we never did much more than holding hands."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "But you do more than that with Nico, yes? So making her feel like she is keeping you from... that, it is not the best thing." An idea struck her. "You should talk to Mr. Kane. He used to date Miss Marie, and she had the same problem with the life draining."

The slightly older teenager nodded, "I'll do that. But, it's time for your next set, no more stalling." Julian smiled and stuck his tongue out playfully. "Ten reps at eleven pounds. Whenever you're ready."

"Slavedriver," was her equally playful response.