xp_logs | Kevin & Laura | Thursday afternoon

Kevin finds Laura taking a lunch break from work to tell her that he's made plans that don't involve New York, but that isn't the only thing he reveals to her.

With everything that had apparently happened while they were in New Orleans, Kevin didn't even bother to look for Laura around the mansion. Instead he went looking for her at the X-Factor offices after he'd left the ELPIS offices. Of course, she wasn't there, but Bishop had thought he'd known where she was so the Southerner went out on a mission. It was strange to think that he had spent so much time with her pretty much around the clock on that trip but he wasn't sick of her presence. Quite the opposite, really. For that reason he wasn't sure how to tell her he'd decided to leave and go back to Georgia for who knows how long.

Laura was out, sitting outside a café, eating a hot dog as she stared outside, not a care in the world...or so she tried to think. Truth to be told, not knowing if Vanessa was just disappearing for a while or...well, something else bothered her a little, but she trusted Bishop enough to at least remember to eat and sleep and live. Spotting Kevin was simple for her; even if she wasn't looking for the boy, his figure was already memorized in her mind. Wondering if he was looking for her, or actually going somewhere else, Laura stayed silent, although her eyes were set on him now.

Kevin was scouring the signs of the businesses for the next one on his list. He'd struck out twice already. District X was much more mutant friendly, but that didn't make him any more comfortable in the crowds here. Sure, his mutation was probably technically off but the possibility of stuff coming out to startle him or otherwise trigger his fight-or-flight response was greatly increased out in the world. He was going to have to learn to deal with that better. There was no Xavier's and likely no District X equivalent in Atlanta or anywhere else he ended up.

Spotting Laura, though, relaxed the Southerner almost instantaneously. He made a bee line for the brunette. The cafe's outside tables were all taken up by customers, but the crowd walking by gave the tables a comfortable cushion of space which helped. "Hey, beautiful. Ah'm lookin' for my girl. She's 'bout yay high," he raised a hand to indicate Laura's height, getting it almost dead on, "gorgeous, dark hair, killer smile...you seen her?"

Falling into his little game almost instantly, Laura looked around for a little bit. "Afraid not, pretty boy. But why would you keep looking for her when you can sit here and stay with me?" She flashed a wide smile a him, expertly showing only the tip of her upper teeth as she leaned on the table a bit. Almost at the same time, her foot pushed a chair on the other side of the table, as if inviting Kevin to take sit. "After all, she might come along."

"She....might," he agreed uncertainly. Kevin glanced around as if he knew he was doing something wrong, then slid into the offered chair. "And she might not mind. Y'know, pretty girl like you just...keepin' me company until she comes 'round, right?" He flashed her a slightly nervous smile, holding the act for a few more moments. Then it dissolved and it was Kevin's typical grin he wore instead.

"Takin' a break from work insanity? Ah saw that board your boss' got up with all the yarn and stuff on it. That his crime board or whatever for your other boss?"

Laura rolled her eyes as she munched over her sandwich. "Someone like 'Nessa, you have to check a lot of different ideas of where the heck she might be, and believe it or not, the crime board kicks ass all the way." And she sincerely hoped it didn't let her down, not now. She watched him in silence for a moment, eyes stopping at every little detail of his face. For a second, she imagined how it should look for someone that passed by; just a young couple sharing a moment. It carried a surprisingly heavy weight, but it also made her happy. Laura frowned a little, arranging her ideas as she leaned a bit more on the table.

"So, looking for me, I suppose?"

"Yeah, Ah'm lookin' for you." The smile that went with the reply faltered and then disappeared. Friends were easy to tell you were leaving for a while. Friends got it, understood, kept in touch and moved on. But Kevin came here to tell Laura he was heading out of town and he didn't know when he'd be back. Suddenly, the idea of not having her around was incomprehensible. "Y'know how when we were in New Orleans Ah told you it'd been the first time Ah'd been in the South since Ah manifested and Ah should go back one day? Figure out what happened to my house, visit my mom's grave, see if my dad ever got a grave, that sorta thing?"

Laura noted the change, she could even smell the change, actually, hear his heartbeats and his breathing change. "I remember," she said as she nodded slowly, and smiled. It was a smile that surprised her, because she could see where he was going already. But Laura was...happy, not only for her but for Kevin. "Hitting the road again, aren't you?" Resting her chin on one of her hands, Laura failed to suppress the tiniest tremor that crossed her entirely.

He nodded slowly. He caught the tremor and wasn't entirely sure what it meant when coupled with the smile. "Yeah Ah figure it's probably time, y'know? Confront the past, revisit it or whatever. But Ah'm not sure how long Ah'll be gone. For a while Ah've been thinkin' of just traveling around. See the country, find inspiration, make art. Live the life of a nomad for a while. And Ah might do that once Ah'm done in Georgia. Not real sure yet, but it's a pretty strong possibility."

Almost as if she hadn't heard him -almost- Laura carefully extended her arms on the table, hands meeting and holding each other lightly as she set them on the table's surface, eyes always following their movements. Sighing, Laura looked up at him. "So are you...breaking up with me or...?" She couldn't help biting her lower lip at that point.

"No!" came the immediate, knee jerk reaction. "Ah'm not, Ah mean, Ah don't wanna unless it's what you want." Gloved hands held hers tightly, maybe a little too tightly before he remembered to ease up. "Ah don't even if if Ah could since we're not technically officially a relationship or whatever. But not the point. Ah'd be asking you to come with me if your boss wasn't missing. If you didn't seem to like your job most of the time Ah'd be askin' you to quit and come." He bit the inside of his cheek, eyes falling to their hands. Kevin's voice seemed to mimic the motion, growing even quieter. "Ah'm all kinds of stupid crazy 'bout you. You gotta know that."

"Oh." Whatever was going on in her head seemed to solve itself then, and Laura suddenly recovered some composure, and color. "That's...all I wanted to know. I want to quit and go with you- but! Vanessa...I need her too. Preferably in one piece, you know." She smiled a bit, getting a hold of one of his hands. "I'm not really good with relationships, so I can't even tell how a long distance one would go...but I'm all for it if you are. Also, once we find Vanessa...no matter where you are..."

"Ah've never tried the long distance relationship thing before so Ah don't really know either." Kevin trailed off, thinking about what he'd just said. The stuff about Vanessa was technically more important but he couldn't help but focus on a single word. "This mean we're actually in a relationship? In the monogamous, serious sort of way?"

"We can try," was her almost immediate answer. Only then Laura realized she was stepping into new territory, or at least territory she hadn't visited in quite a while. Going serious with Kevin, especially now that he was leaving? "Yeah, how about we go the monogamous way? I think- I think I'm ready, at least for getting into some serious commitment. You go and do your thing, I'll go and do my thing, and we catch up... well, I'll know you will be there for me, and I will be there for you." She was getting some awful corny points on her book, she knew it, but it seemed appropriate. "So, want to be my boyfriend?"

Kevin grinned the grin of a cheesy but stupidly happy guy. "Hell yeah Ah do." It was an interesting contrast to months before when she had wanted it and he had panicked. There had been a lot of reasons then, chief among them his worry she was doing it more as a response to what she'd just gone through in the brothel than because she was ready. She wasn't "over" that stuff yet, wouldn't be for a while he guessed, but things had calmed down some and it had been made perfectly clear that Kevin go as slow as she needed, he would wait as long as she needed. Oddly enough, starting their relationship might be the best thing for them. It gave emotional intimacy without the pressure - real or imagined - of physical intimacy.

He was still grinning, somewhat giddy, but he refocused on the other important thing that he'd gotten completely derailed from. "So Vanessa, y'all don't know anything yet, huh?"

Oh, this was good. He was leaving, but it was actually good, gave her something to look forward, a goal in the horizon and all that jazz. It meant she could worry about one thing less, and actually do her job. She needed a couple of seconds to realize he was talking about her job. "Ah? N-no, we haven't heard nothing of her, but if she's trying to prank us in any way, this is beyond unfunny. I honestly hope she is okay though."

Kevin gave her a curious look when her speech stumbled but he said nothing about it. Instead he shrugged a little. "Me too. 'Sides, finding folk is what y'all do, right? If anyone'll find her it'll be you and the others at the office. But the real question is, do you want me to let you eat and get back to work on that or do you want a distraction?" Kevin grinned, feeling he was an excellent source of distraction when he chose to be.

"I've been working on it for a good while now, so I could use some...distraction." And even if she went back to work, Laura would probably pull Kevin along if she could, unless he had something important to do, and she doubted it. At any rate, she would gladly accept being diverted from checking once more all those leads that didn't really take them anywhere. "What do you have in mind, good sir?"

"Mind? Ah've gotta have something in mind?" He actually had half a mind to just lean over the table and kiss her but that would be too much of a rupture of her bubble. Kevin leaned back and shrugged. "Ah dunno, it's a big city, all partly in ruins and what not." He was very casually pulling one glove off. "Ah'm sure we'll find somethin' to do." He sounded almost like he was up to no good, which he would have been if it wouldn't have sent Laura screaming into the fetal position. He reached across the table again and took her hand once more, this time with a bare hand. Kevin played it off as if it was no big deal. Six months ago Doc McCoy had told Kevin his theory on Kevin's mutation and he still hadn't told anyone but Jean-Paul. It seemed time he clued his girlfriend in, what with her being his shiny new girlfriend and all.

The only thing that prevented Laura from retrieving her hand was the absolute trust she had on Kevin, and by the time she realized what was happening, all she could do was inhale slowly, as if she feared his mutation could notice her surprise and rot her hand. Which was a silly thing to think, but Kevin was holding her without gloves, so she had little space to imagine. "How..." Taking the initiative, she got a hold of his fingers, feeling them without the gloves for the first time; it wouldn't be too different for a normal person, but Laura's enhanced tact registered a number of differences, which she greatly enjoyed. Looking up to him, she couldn't help but smile in amazement. "How...?"

With a very guilty expression on his face Kevin confessed, "Been like that for a while. Not sure if something weird happened when Ah took my mutation back last summer or if it's 'cause Ah finally got rid of enough stress for it to turn off. Doc McCoy thinks my mutation turns on sorta with my fight-or-flight response. Which means random loud noises, people sneaking up on me, when Ah'm made, or when Ah'm frustrated or whatever it turns on. If Ah'm calm, and if Ah stay calm, it stays off. Or if Ah'm happy, Ah think." The tug at the corner of his mouth suggested happy was probably exactly what he was. "Jean-Paul found out by accident once. And he knew my mutation was bein' weird for a while. Ah can't really control the on/off other than tryin' to calm down. Anxiety spikes usually turn it on. That's why Ah stay covered still but..." he shrugged. "Ah probably shoulda told you a while ago but there didn't seem like an appropriate time."

Her touch almost tickled. Kevin was sensitive to touch through sheer lack of it. His hands were rough and calloused from working with metal, often without gloves. Laura's skin was so unbelievably soft against his. Kevin had the sudden desire to run his hands over her skin. Over her entire body. It was a very pleasant, very naked mental image. He knew it would have to stay there, but he couldn't help that it popped up.

Laura was thinking about pretty much the same, although she knew that would probably be a particularly bad idea. But they had time, right? She had to conform with thinking that now it might be possible to consider the day she could really venture beyond hugging Kevin through a blanket, which was honestly a lot to consider. And with time she was sure those hands would be all over her. But not now, she reminded herself as she tried to regain some composure. "We are going to eh, talk about this later. A lot. Probably while I kiss you." She wasn't sure of what she was actually trying to say, but Laura honestly didn't care.

Kevin grinned at the word "kiss." It was almost like for a moment Laura had forgotten the last few months and had rewound to February or so. He wouldn't hold her to the kissing bit, but it was a nice thought anyway. He missed having a barely clad Laura teasing him with all that exposed skin and winding up in his bed kissing him for God knew how long. But now he was getting distracted, and damn near in a rather not helpful way given his whole currently out in public location. The Southerner made an effort to tone his grin down to a smile and tugged on her hand. "C'mon, let's go distract you before Ah gotta give you back to Bishop."

Laura smiled back and stood, letting him take the lead. She didn't add anything else, because there was no need to. It wasn't like Bishop needed that much anyway.