Kyle and Nick(John)

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

NickJohn comes to find Kyle to give him a CD he found in "his" room and they talk about old movies and how if anywhere's going to fix the amnesia, it'll be the mansion.



The strange boy from New York swore under his breath as he paced down the hallways of the mansion.  If he really did live here at one point, it was becoming very apparent to him that navigation was not an inherent trait.  If it was, he wouldn't have spent the last hour or so wondering around trying to find the room of the mansion's groundskeeper, Kyle Gibney. As he turned a corner, he hoped he had found the right room to return the dvd he had clutched in his hand.  Finding it inside his room with the words "For Mr. Gibney" written on a post-it, "John" had hoped that returning it might at least make him feel somewhat useful.  At least that was his thought as he reached up to knock on the door.

Kyle's reaction to the Professor's email had been relief - and concern, and a decision to let Nick do whatever Nick needed to do. So he hadn't gone tracking him down, even if he'd kept his ears -and nose- alert.  He picked up the sound of someone outside his door, and then the smell - muted and different, Kyle had learned that a person's living space was as much as a part of what they smelled like as the person's habits, but still Nick.  He waited for the knock, and opened the door almost too quickly to be natural. But not so fast that he didn't notice Shamu Jr trying to make his usual escape, and so instead of a greeting, Kyle had to scramble to grab the tiny cat before it went on a mad hallway dash.  "One second! Hang on! Stupid cat..."

As he saw the cat making his way out of the door, the boy quickly fell down into a crouch, serving as a potential backstop.  One of the residents at the homeless shelter had a cat with a similar disposition to escapes, and after a month or so, he had been trained as a certified cat catcher of sorts. He didn't look up as he waited for a response.  "Got 'em?"

Shamu's escape attempt was -as usual- thwarted, and he meow'd in an unhappy manner as Kyle picked him up.  "Yeah. I swear, it's like he knows the Professor's allergic or something."  He waved towards the door with his free hand.  "Come on in. Shamu'll give up if people aren't in the door, and he'll go shed in my laundry basket or something."

"John" slowly made his way inside, closing the door behind him and pushing his hair back with the other hand.  "Thanks...". Before getting too far inside, he shrugged his shoulders as he looked up at the man. "I don't mean to be awkward, but I've been all around this place and just have to make sure.  Are you Mr. Gibney?"

"Uh, I guess but, geez, if you call me Mr. Gibney, I'm gonna think my dad's around."  Kyle said, shaking his head.  "You can call me Kyle. You did before, it's fine, dude. I'm only a couple years older than you."  And even if he hadn't been, Kyle was just not so big on formality.  "The only time I'm Mister Gibney is like, when I'm trying to convince a contractor to come in and fix something, or when I'm ordering new appliances. Or if I'm wearing a tux, but then I make James Bond jokes."

The boy smiled.  "Kyle it is then."  He appreciated that even though he felt the situation being very awkward, the other man had not picked up on his vibe, and was still talking casually.  It gave him enough time to notice the disc cover in his hand.  "Oh, yeah I forgot."  Extending his hand forward, he looked up.  "I found this in Nick's room with your name on it. I thought I'd return it."

Kyle took the DVD, and looked it over.  "I'm pretty sure it's not something you borrowed..."   he said, slightly confused.  "God, you're about the only guy I know who can get away with this."  He grinned, fangs visible and then realize he might have made a huge mistake. "Uh. Oh, hell, I'm not about to like, drop the bomb on you about the mutant thing, am I? I mean, you know you're X-Gene positive, right?"

The boy cracked a smile.  "I'm pretty sure the whole turning into a werewolf thing may have been a bit of a tip off."  He let out a bit of a chuckle. "But between that, losing my memory, and finding out I may have a blue adopted father, I'm not sure which one really is the biggest bomb, ya know?"

Kyle let out a very relieved sigh. "Oh, thank God, dude. Because I so did not want to be the one to be like 'oh, and by the way, you turn into a giant wolf-man, just eff-why-eye.'."  He set the DVD down on a table that held a couple of sets of keys and a couple of assorted hats. "So yeah. You turn into a giant wolf-man, I get to be fangy all the time, but it means you get away with making Teen Wolf jokes at me, and before, the, uh, you know, thing at graduation, we were making jokes about handstands on top of vans and stuff."

"See now that would be cool."  John crossed his arms in front of his chest. "All I know about now is that when I'm strapped to some weird table I turned into the wolfman and barged my way out of there."  A smirk started to appear.  "Trying to do a handstand on a van sounds like a lot less pressure."

"Yeah, the whole strapped to a table thing is like..  basically made of suck."  Kyle agreed.  "I'd get you membership in the club for people recovering from that crap but uh, you know, it sucks so nobody wants to talk about the club."  He shrugged a little.  "I never asked before, and uh, I dunno if you know now, did you get the like, enhanced balance and agility thing with the whole fangs and claws package?"

"Couldn't tell ya."  John began scratching the back of his head as his eyes drifted towards the floor.  "I've only used it that one time.  Trying to fit into a homeless shelter isn't really the best place to suddenly become the big bad wolf ya know."  He tilted back on his heels.  "But it seems to me like this place has enough people they wouldn't look at a wolf more than twice."

That was the understatement of the century, Kyle thought.  "Yeah, we're pretty used to weird, so turning into a wolf? Dude, you're not even the first. Rahne, she used to live here, moved to, uh, Israel I think? Turned into a big red wolf. And Marius used to borrow her powers sometimes, that's what he does, like, borrow powers? So he'd be a big grey wolf, she'd be a less big red one, and yeah, nobody even blinks. Makes it a lot easier to learn to be what you are when nobody's giving you grief over it."

"Good to know."  He nodded.  "Because it looks like I've got a lot to learn about who I am.  And it seems like this is a good a place as any to start down that path."

Kyle nodded. "We're good like that. And dude, at least it's comfortable, right? And there's a killer entertainment center, so even if it takes a while to figure out what's going on in your head, you can catch up on like... huh, you know I dunno if you're even a sports guy. I mean, Wisconsin's the Packers and the Brewers, do you like, have any weird unexplainable urges to wear a giant cheese hat?"

He smiled. "I can't say that I do." He couldn't help but sneak a wink in at Kyle as he continued. "But if I do, I'll be sure that you're the first one I let know about it."

Kyle laughed. "Dude if you like, wake up tomorrow wanting a cheese hat, I think you should announce it to the world. Make a journal post, get comments. Take a picture or something. It'd be fun."

"I can imagine." John's eyes drifted towards the floor. "But you have to promise me one thing." He forced himself to look up at Kyle. "No matter if I get Nick's memories back or not. We've gotta try that van surfing thing some time."

"Might have to be a station wagon. If I do handstands on the van, JP will totally fry my butt." Kyle said. "Dude is possessive of that thing. For a dude who pretends to be so cranky about doing the minibus trips to the city, geez, he's like all about actually keeping it tidy." He pointed a thumb at the ring of keys hanging from a hook on one of the kitchen cabinet doors. "But the wagon's, basically, well, not mine but mine whenever I need it. I'm the only one who signs it out anymore lately."

"I'm in when you are." The boy added with a wink. He needed an escape, and maybe, just maybe trying to do gymnastics on a roof was that release he needed.