Julian & Wade | Friday Afternoon

[x-deadpool.livejournal.com]

Wade kidnaps Julian and they go to get supplies for the boathouse renovation project.


Wade was driving a truck. It wasn't his truck, but it was a nice truck - plenty of room in the back for all kinds of things. Like supplies. Supplies that Minion #1 needed for his super special art project house thing. And Wade, like the good Jedi Master that he was, intended to provide these extra supplies, which was why he'd commandeered a junior minion and hied off to Salem Center's one and only Lowes Home Improvement.

At least that was the plan, anyway. They needed to find parking for the truck and then they'd get the supplies. But first, food. "Come, young minion, we feast before we shoot ourselves with nails by accident."

Julian was, for the most part, glad to be off the mansion grounds, even if it was with the new guy who he could only truly describe as, odd. "What sort of food? I'm up for anything myself, so...your choice." He was wearing work clothes that he'd hastily assembled before heading out the door- had it not been for Jean's request to help Wade, he probably would not have accepted it.

Wade looked at his current partner in crime with slightly narrowed eyes. "Moroccan it is," he said, not actually sure if there was a Moroccan restaurant anywhere in Salem Center but kind of wanting to see if he could get a reaction out of the kid. Admittedly, the kid was like twelve, so maybe he hadn't gotten to the stage of development where he had opinions. "Or Swahili, that'd be fun. Termites are delicious."

The teenager had tried both, "I'd be up for Moroccan first, even if it is disgustingly spicy. What about Indian? There's a nice restaurant on the West end and neither of us are visible mutants, so they shouldn't have a problem with us." A bit of sarcasm was added to the end of the last part of his statement.

"I did find a really great Indian place here a little while back," Wade said, nodding. He parked the truck and cut the ignition, then raised an eyebrow. "It's just past some theatre or something, isn't it? The one I'm thinking of is, anyway." Opening the door, he slid out and closed the door, waiting for the younger man to get down and out before locking the doors.

Julian hopped out and shut the door with his telekinesis, hitting the auto lock button inside almost immediately. "Yeah, that's the place. The theater is an art house, most of what they play is crap. But every once in a while," Julian shrugged and followed the slightly taller man.

"Every once in a while they put on a production the likes of which Salem Center hasn't seen in decades. The governor shows up, his wife sheds hears that sparkle like diamonds in the soft light coming from the stage, the actors hit every mark, every beat, every line... and it's perfect?" Wade's eyebrows rose as they headed toward the restaurant near the theatre.

His young companion raised an eyebrow and gave him an appraising look, and spoke plainly, "What?"

Wade snorted. "Every now and again... c'mon, sparky. Finish your thoughts."

"Oh," Julian shook his head and opened the door for Wade. "So you really like Swahili food?"

"It's alright," Wade said, shrugging as he walked inside. "Not my favorite food ever, but I've definitely had worse."

"Cambodian?" Julian offered as he pressed his hands together and gave a kurt bow to the hostess who returned the gesture with a polite Namaste. "Never been a large fan of chilled monkey brains myself."

"You eat what you gotta eat," Wade said, giving the woman a smile as she led them to a table. "If you've got chilled monkey brains or nothing, you're gonna go with the chilled monkey brains. I think my least favorite dish ever, though, was this beetle thing in Zaire." He considered that for a long moment, sitting before continuing, "No, I take that back. The beetle was far superior to the hundred year old eggs in Japan. Definitely take the beetle over that any day."

The younger mutant choked slightly at the thought, "You're not serious...no, wait, yes, you are. God there's a lot of weird stuff in Japan."

"Try every thing in your life once," Wade said, nodding sagely. "Just never try hundred year old eggs twice." He grinned, then, and continued, "They're not really a hundred years old, obviously. They're more like pickled eggs, really. Sort of. But they've got actual baby chicks in them so you're eating their bitty baby beaks, too, and that was just too much for me to stomach."

Julian couldn't tell if his companion was serious, "So what do we need to get at Lowes?" They'd been briefed on the job before leaving, but it was never made clear what was being made with the stuff.

Wade pulled a list from his pocket and handed it over. "Nails and screws, for the most part. Some kind of really specific lights that are good for painting or something. Minion Number One kept going on about natural light versus florescent stuff, so I figure the florescent's bad. I don't know, though - art's not really my thing.." He shrugged.

Keller took a menu from the stand as they waited to be seated, "Light is light- isn't it?" He shrugged and handed the plastic coated paper to Wade.

"Not according to the artistes," Wade answered, shrugging. "I'm just doing what needs doing to maintain my minion. A happy minion is a productive minion." He nodded to himself, then looked over the menu and considered his options. He was sort of hungry, so when the waiter came back, he said, "Could we have an order of the Kalakala Sweets, the Masala Vada, and Na'an to start with." He raised his brows at Julian. "Anything you want to add to the appetizers?"

With a slight smile, Julian shook his head, "I will defer to your apparent expertise." He shifted in his seat, getting comfortable since it seemed they would be enjoying the ambiance of this place for a while.

Wade grinned, then ordered the rest of the meal, which was going to be spicy and delicious. Who needed taste buds? Not him, of course. Settling back, himself, he tipped his head to the side and studied the kid across from him. "You said something about that theatre and you never finished your thought. Did you have a thought to finish?"

"Not really," Julian shrugged, "they occasionally have something good, but it's a rarity. You're still on that, huh? Don't like unfinished business?" The younger man grinned and shook his head.

"Unfinished business has a tendency to come back and bite you in the ass, sparky," Wade said, shaking his head. "What's the last good thing they put on?"

"Whatever it was it was before my time," Julian frowned, "the last time I was in it, things went very wrong." It had been a turning point in his relationship with Nick, realizing that he would kill the werewolf if it meant protecting his friends.

"Howso?" Wade was only mildly curious - what could really go wrong at a theatre? Someone actually breaking their leg? Teenagers were so melodramatic. He couldn't remember being like that when he was that age. Of course, he hadn't really had a chance to be like that, all things considered. His outlook on life had been decidedly skewed.

"An illusionist made us think we'd been transported back in time to Victorian England and drove one of our fellow actors into thinking he was Mister Hyde- tried to attack us and...yeah, that's pretty much it. Of course, the time before that, we tried to put on Midsummer's Night Dream and had a naked invisible boy sabotaging the play. He almost killed a couple people." All of it was said rather mater-of-factly, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"The illusions were real enough to make you think you'd actually been transported back in time?" See, Wade figured that Artie kid could be really useful, if he developed his powers more.

"Yeah, the bitch that was responsible has some sort of telepathy according to the files. Something about perception manipulation," Julian shrugged.

"Huh," Wade said, nodding. He'd have to ask Artie about that later, maybe. Except for how he still wasn't recruiting, damn it. Besides, the kid was like twelve. That was such a bad plan. His brain was so off sometimes. "That... sounds like not a lot of fun." He shook his head. Sometimes people were weirder than he was. And that was saying something. "What was the point of making you all think you'd gone back in time?"

Julian shrugged as the first plate of appetizers was delivered by a sweaty looking man in a dirty black apron, "She had a grudge against someone? Honestly, who knows why these psychotics do what they do." Keller steeped his fingers and gave a quick sign of thanks to the waiter before he moved on.

"Valid point," Wade said, nodding. If nobody specific had died, the chances of it being a hit were pretty much nil, which he was fine with. Maybe somebody just liked fucking with other people. That was entirely possible.

About halfway through the main meal, Wade felt the back of his neck prickling. He was always aware of the entrances and exits in a place, part of his brain always scanning for possible threats. This didn't feel like someone was sneaking up on him with a knife in hand. Rather, he got the distinct impression that someone was watching them. The mercenary continued the conversation he was having with Julian while taking a surreptitious look around the restaurant again. Nobody struck him as being suspicious right off the bat, but the feeling of being watched hadn't gone away when they left, so he hurried them along to the home improvement store.