Fred and Yvette - Rainy Afternoon Picnic

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Backdated to Sunday, May 19th. Which was actually rainy. Yvette and Fred spend some time together.




Fred hefted the picnic basket out of the trunk of his old Bel-Air, and turned to face the nigh-solid wall of water pouring right outside the open garage door. He sighed a plume of smoke around his cigarette, and set the basket down.

It'd been pouring since he'd woken up, and the weatherman wasn't giving him any good news, either. Yvette had mentioned maybe having a picnic, and of course Fred had offered to take her on one without maybe scoping out the Weather Channel or something.

"Great," he muttered to his cigarette, and sighed. Well, she hadn't gotten to the Garage yet. Maybe he could find her before she found her way here, and offer to order some pizza or something. If he hurried, he may be able to catch her before she got to the Gara-

There was the distinctive click of Yvette's feet on the concrete floor. "Hi, Fred!" she called as she came into view. Not being bothered by the cold, she was wearing a pretty floral spring dress over her body suit and her eyes were glowing happily. Then she caught sight of the downpour. "Oh, dear. Not exactly the good picnic weather, is it?"

Fred turned to see Yvette, and grinned broadly at the be-dressed Yvette, suddenly unsure what he was complaining about. Something about weather...?

He shook his head, and frowned a little, looking outside the garage, "Yeah, sorry Vette. It, uh, really doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon, huh...?"

The way he got that goofy grin when he looked at her always made her toes tingle. "It is all right, Fred. We will just have to do this another time." She was a little disappointed, however. She'd really been looking forward to this. "Or perhaps we could find somewhere else to go? Somewhere where it is dry?"

Fred looked from the garage, to the blanket on top of the basket, to the pouring rain, and then back to Yvette, "Why not right here?"

Pulling the large, thick blanket out and shaking it loose, Fred did his best to spread it across the floor, and placed the basket in the middle. He looked back up at Yvette, and offered a helpless shrug, "Ah mean, we were proally gonna find a shady spot anyhow, and it don't get much more shady than inside, yeah...?"

The garage would be her first choice for hanging out, but she had to admit, it was a very Fred sort of suggestion. Which made it kind of endearing. "It sounds perfect," she said, reaching for the basket and bringing it over. "And we can watch the rain falling while we are safe and dry, yes?"

Fred nodded, flicking his dying cigarette out into the deluge and reaching over to turn the heat up in the garage a bit. He sat far enough back on the blanket that he could lean against the car, if he wanted, and also to give Yvette plenty of space. Or to let her sit on her own. Or to not crowd her. One of those. Or all of them. Something.

Fred chewed the inside of his lip, and lit another cigarette as he pulled out some plates and napkins. They hadn't been doing this long, and he had honestly little to no idea what he was doing in the dating thing. When he'd been with Callie, they hadn't even called it 'dating'. And none of his experience before coming to the Mansion was really of any use to him either...

Yvette was so used to needing a lot of space about her, she didn't really notice in any real sense that Fred was sitting away from her. It was just what people did, at her own request. Reaching for an apple, she pulled off her glove and started slicing it, holding out a piece for Fred. "This is nice," she said inanely, not really sure what to say. What was the protocol here? Were they "dating" now? Movies didn't really go past the first date - there was kissing and then happily ever after.

Fred nodded, taking the apple slice from Yvette and giving her a small smile, "Yeah. It is." Fred chewed on the apple, looking from the rain, to Yvette, then back before he started gawking. He an Callie had never called themselves anything, there was never any situation to try and define, and none of his...earlier experience...prepared him for being a boyfriend. Fred started to say something, stopped, chewed the rest of the apple, looked like he was about to say something else, before sighing and scratching the back of his neck, "...sorry, Vette."

"For what, Fred?" She looked over at him, confused by the apology. "I really do not mind the rain and this is a very, well, a very you sort of place. Which I like."

Why had he? Fred was sure he'd had a reason when he said it. Something he could eloquate. He rubbed his chin, and shook his head, "No, Ah mean-well yeah Ah'm sorry for the rain and sittin in tha garage an' all but Ah meant..." Fred resisted the urged to just shut up and light a cigarette, "Ah meant that Ah'm sorry that Ah...don't know how tah do this, really. Tha datin' thing..."

She giggled softly. "Oh, Fred. I was just thinking the same thing, that I did not know what to do next. I mean, it is not like I have dated much before..." Or ever, really. "And I do not know what happens. The movies are not so helpful at this point."

"We watch different movies, Vette. Usually in mine, after the first date, the huge alien monster attacks." Fred, finally at least a little more comfortable, started unloading the rest of the picnic basket. There were apples, of course, and Fred had found an apple pie. He had also made some chili, with a lot less heat than he usually did, and had wrangled some fried chicken as well. Yvette had enjoyed the Albanian restaurant that they had gone too; maybe she'd like the next best thing to homecookin' Fred could manage.

"Considering who we are and what we do, I would not rule out the alien monster yet," she replied with amusement. "Wait, did you make all of this yourself?" she continued, looking at the spread appearing.

Fred pulled a few sodas and macaroni out of the basket and smiled a little, waving his hand back and forth, "Nah, Ah mainly cheated. Chicken and pie came from the store. Ah can't cook most anything that ain't made in a pot..."

"So the chilli is yours, then?" she asked, looking for a spoon to dip into the container. There wasn't one immediately handy, so, with a slightly guilty air, she stripped off a glove and scooped out a chunk with her finger. "It's very good," she said, not pretending for the sake of politeness - it really was tasty. "I did not know you could cook. You are the man of mystery, Fred."

Fred grinned broadly as Yvette ate with her fingers, and pulled the plastic silverware and plates from the basket, "My Uncle Frank taught me how. He used to say, 'kid, a guy needs tah know how tah cook, a lady needs tah know how tah fight, and they both need tah know how ta...' uhm..." Fred blushed a little and cleared his throat, and started filling a plate, "An Ah forget tha rest. Not important. Ah'm glad yah like it, though."

Yvette frowned a little as she considered what else Fred's uncle had meant, and she suddenly let out a startled "Oh!" as she realized. Her eyes flared bright in a Yvette-blush. "I think all of those things are important," she said, daringly for her. "Your uncle sounds like the wise man. Are you still in contact with him?"

Fred did his best to avoid Yvette's eyes for the moment while he finished being embarrased, which was difficult because they glowed bright enough for a brief second to illuminate his coat, "Ah do. Mainly letters. Uncle Frank's old fashioned like that. He's a kinda guy likes ta keep busy, but Ah'd love for him to come up an meet everyone iffen he ever got a chance..."

"That would be a lovely idea, him coming to visit." Yvette took especial interest in her friends' families when the relationship was good, having none of her own these days. "Or maybe during the summer, we could go visit him?" She paused, realising she'd invited herself along. "Um, if you do not mind, that is?"

Fred coughed up a small amount of soda he'd been sipping in his laughter, "Ah, uh, heh...! Nah Ah wouldn't mind at all." He wiped his mouth, and gave Yvette a soft grin to let her know the joke wasn't on her, "It's nothin, just that Uncle Frank has a lot of acres, and not a lotta ammenites. It's, uh, hard tah explain, but Uncle Frank...he don't live inna Mansion..."

"Not many people do," she replied with a grin, reaching for a bottle of water for herself. "Before I manifested, my mother and I lived in a very small government apartment. The whole place was the same size as my suite here."

Fred, instictively reached out and softly rubbed Yvette's shoulder when the subject of her mother and former living arrangements came up. It was something he'd started even before they'd started going out, and Fred could remember doing at far back as their last little visit to Europe. Trying to keep the subject light, Fred smiled, "Uncle Frank's place is maybe about as big as...this garage, maybe? But he's got a spare bed, so you'd be more'n welcome, Ah'm sure. He'd probably be happy tah meet onna tha folk Ah'm livin with now. Ah can ask him bout it next letter Ah send, ok?"

She smiled and rubbed her cheek against the hand on her shoulder in a rare gesture of affection. It was taking time, but she was slowly showing more of the little physical closenesses that normal couples - normal people - showed every day. "That sounds like fun," she said. "I have not really seen so much of America, except the parts we have gone to on X-Men missions. And California. What is it like, where you grew up?"

"...Lubbock?" Fred had been distracted, Yvette's head on his hand and inching close enough to her for the pair to get comfortable, and forgotten for a moment to be incredulous that anyone would have any interest at all in his hometown, "Ah...well it's not like much, really. Anywhere, U.S. A., yah know? Ah lived outside tha actual town, mostly. Folk who worked in shipping, packaging, stuff like that. Yah could see for miles around...Days were hot, but nights were always the same kinda chilly. We lived in..." was there a more PC term for it? One that had been invented by richer people? If so, Fred couldn't think of it, "Well a trailer park. Bigger one. Lotta kids my age, like Trace and Arlene..." Fred looked back out at the rain for a minute and popped a new cigarette into his mouth, but resisted the urge to light it, "Everyone knew each other, but kept mostly outta each other's business. Not a lot tah do that far outta town, so yah had'tah sorta make your own fun..."

She scooted a little closer as well, although careful not to catch her hair in his shirt - whatever it was they were doing, it was proving hard on Fred's wardrobe. "Tell me about what you were like, as the little boy? And your friends?" she prompted. Listening to Fred talk about his life was important to her, and so different to her own background. "Was it like the movies, with the tumbleweeds and cactus plants everywhere?"

"We had cacti, yeah some. But mainly it was just..." Fred sighed, and grinned at Yvette. Usually the last thing he wanted to do was rehash his time at home. He hadn't done it much at all since coming to the Mansion. But Yvette was one of the few people he'd talk to about it pretty much at all, and she wanted to know, "Ah guess Ah should start with mah Uncle Frank's place. He lived further out than we did. Didn't like bein' round too many folk..."