Fred and Yvette - Reassurance

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

During movie night, Fred and Yvette talk about their mutual fear of abandonment. And movie preferences. Backdated to December 14.



Fred was incredulous, and was glad Angelo had taught him that word, cause that's what he was.

"Lemme just get this straight. Ah got some of the absolute best Kaiju movies tah ever come outta tha Far East. Ah got every movie Lloyd Kaufman has ever had anything tah do with. Ah've even got the full Twin Peaks Series and tha under-appreciated movie supplement..."

He looked on at the Netflix queue pulled up on the television, listing 'Romantic Comedies', in fearful awe as he brought in the large batch of popcorn from the kitchen, watching the terrifying display of movie selection from behind the couch, "...ahn this is the list we are choosin from...!?"

Yvette turned wide-open glowing blue eyes on him. "Please, Fred?" she pleaded. "We can always watch the monster movies after." She glanced at the television and paused at a selection. "And Angelica was saying that "The Proposal" was funny and romantic..."

Fred stuck out his chin in mock defiance, though 'mock' was all it was; he hadn't really learned how to say 'no' yet when Yvette gave him the Big Glowie Eye Look. "Yah sure ya wanna make that deal, girl? Cause every time yah do, yah always end up sleepin' through the second movie..." Not that Fred was complaining, per se, cause Yvette curling up to sleep was one of the cutest things he'd seen in his life...

Her eyes glowed brighter, and there might have been just a hint of a pout, although a grin was trying to sneak out as well. "You are saying you do not like me using you as the pillow?" she said, mock-innocently.

Fred chuckled as he sat down, putting the popcorn on Yvette's lap. Served him right for trying to pull a fast one on her, "Ah'd say that, but mah mom didn't raise a liar, Copper Top." Fred picked up the remote and moved to hand it to her, taking another longing look at his massive abandoned DVD collection off to the side of the TV, "Are yah sure Ah can't interest yah in Friday the 13th Part 5? Ah believe there is a couple in love in that one, and it is pretty funny, so Ah think it qualifies as 'Romantic Comedy'..."

She wrinkled her nose and stabbed a piece of popcorn with a finger. "After this," she replied, offering him the impaled popcorn. "It is my turn to choose first, and this is what I want to be watching."

Fred laughed and shook his head after popping the piece of popcorn off Yvette's finger with his teeth. He deposited the controller into Yvette's lap, "Nah, you can go first, girl. But yah better be glad Ah love yah, or else we'd already be neck deep in hockey masks and dead teenagers." He'd said it. The words came out of his mouth. Fred, however, didn't seem to realize he'd done anything at all out of the ordinary. Oblivious was more than likely a part of his mutation. He currently was trying to pry his boots off his feet without actually leaning down to take them off, blissfully unaware of what it was he'd just said...

Yvette, on the other hand, was acutely aware of what he'd said. Her English was much better than it had been when she'd arrived, but she was still acutely aware that certain slang and idioms meant different things than the dictionary and so she paid very careful attention to words. She delayed starting the movie, while she thought over her response. "I am glad," she said at last. "That you love me. But not because of the movies." There was a certain amount of hair spikage as she nervously waited for his reaction.

'Love'? Fred looked back to Yvette as he just finished liberating his feet from his boots. What was she talking about? They were just talking about movies and-

Oh no. No no no. "Vette, Ah didn't-Ah mean course Ah-Nah Ah didn't wanna weird-it's not somethin we gotta-Ah it's not like weird or we gotta..." Dammit, he knew words not even a minute ago!

Yvette watched his flailings with increasing mortification. She'd gotten it wrong, apparently. Stupid English and its stupid way of having words mean a dozen things depending on the context... She managed a airy little laugh. "Oh, silly me. I was misunderstanding what you said. It is like when you say you love the pizza, not the other thing. Perhaps we should watch your movie, I obviously have the head stuck on the one-train thought..." Just as Fred lost words, Yvette was losing English grammar. They'd both wind up gibbering at each other soon.

Oh shit. Shit Fuck Shit this was worse. Now she thought he didn't but he did and Fred actually thought he may have been blushing, or accidentally said 'shit!' when he meant to think it. Sort of like 'love'. And that went swimmingly ! Dammit, Dukes, stop thinking and say something! You're gonna hurt her feelings. Tell her no, that she heard right, and apologize.

"No!" Fred finally managed, reaching for Yvette's hands as he spoke. Okay Dukes, good for a first word. Good start. Keep going. Do Not Mess This Up. AGAIN. Look her in the eye. Breathe. Breathe some more. Okay, keep doing that , and try again....now: "Ah mean, No Vette. Yah heard right. Ah do..Ah didn't mean tah just drop it on yah like that, but..."

She blinked, trying to process what he was saying. "You... do?" she managed, wonderingly. Her eye glow went neon, to match the smile that was creeping across her face, all signs of stress smoothing away the jags from her ever-expressive powers. "Really?" It wasn't that she didn't believe him, but given the casual nature of their relationship, she hasn't really expected it.

-Okay, Dukes. I know her eyes are glowing and she's smiling. But no kissing or groping right now. You actually have to manage to have a conversation.- Fred nodded slowly, a small smile turning up one side of his lips, "...yeah, girl. Ah do. Ah know we aren't...Ah dunno..." Super serious? Steady? Official? "...but if yah'd like to...or feel the same?...or might feel tha same?...Ah mean, Ah know it's proally not sumthin yah've thought about..."

Or something she'd been thinking about more and more after every date. Fred was sweet and kind and funny and a whole lot of other things. "I have," she said, eyes softening a little with shyness. "About the love, I mean. Only I did not say anything, because I thought you would think I was being the silly romantic girl..." Which she totally was, but there was more to her, too. "I love you too, Fred."

"Silly? Only in a good way. Romantic? Duh. Girl? Ah'd say more Woman, myself..." Fred's small smile spread, and he couldn't and wouldn't stop it. They'd said it. It was out there. It was part of the real world, and not just in their heads, "A pretty damn fine woman, Ah'd say...Ah mean both pretty an' fine. Fine meanin' good, not like fine but, Ah, uh..." - Dammit, Dukes. Are we seriously back to this!? -

She laughed this time at his babbling. "You are the pretty fine man, too," she said, feeling both shy and kind of liberated about saying it. If her family could see her now... but then again, her family had made it very clear they were done with her. She was making her own life now. "Can you say it again? The love part? I like to hear it."

Fred grinned and pulled Yvette closer to him, scooping her up and handing her the remote in one quick motion. Even in her quietest, softest moments, Yvette always seemed to try and leave a little distance. He enjoyed every minute of trying to show her she didn't have to with him, "Ah, uh, love yah, Yvette..." He said. It still came out small and sheepish, with a little smile he couldn't stop...

The smile was adorable, as was the sheepishness. "Me too," Yvette replied, before leaning up and kissing him, cupping the side of his face with her still-bare hand.

***

Fred chuckled a little through the credits as they rolled by. Okay, admittedly the "Proposal" movie was pretty funny. For a romantic comedy. And Yvette made more popcorn halfway through, so Fred had little to complain about, "Alright, Ah'll admit Yvette..." he had to find the easiest admittance of enjoyment, which took some doing, "...that wasn't as terrible as Ah feared it coulda been."

"Such the generous concession," she replied, mock-haughtily, before snuggling up to him with a happy noise. "But yes, Angel was right - it was a fun movie. Sandra Bullock is such a good actress, even when she is in the foolish positions."

Fred pulled her in closer, idylly picking at the material on the blanket he'd covered her with, "She's no Jaime Lee Curtis, but she's pretty good, yeah..." It felt...odd. The small talk. They'd just hopped right into the movie, right into enjoying one another's company. It had bothered him, not saying everything he thought. Everything he was bothered by. Yvette was earnest and honest before she was anything else, practically. He wanted to tell her things that had just never come up, things he wasn't sure how to really put into words. But how do you have a conversation you can't actually put into words, "So...Yah think you'd manage to stay awake through another movie, girl...?" -Probably not like this, idiot.-

"I am not so sleepy yet." Yvette wasn't the only one with powers that reacted to her mood - she could feel a strange kind of tension in the body she was cuddled up to. "Or we could perhaps have the quiet time for a little while?"

Fred rolled his back a little, trying to calm himself down by getting comfortable. He left the TV on, enjoying the soft glow of it as the only light in the room, "We could, Vette. There's no rush. Ah mean would could talk, iffen yah'd like..." He may not have be quite sure how to word how it was he was feeling, but almost more than figuring out how he felt, he wanted to hear what was going on in her head.

"Talking is okay." Yvette shifted slightly so she could see his face. "Especially since we have the trouble with the words sometimes," she added with a small smile. "Sometimes it is the miracle we ever got this far, with all the confusion."

"Well, Ah guess we both do have a certain way with missin some key things more'n once, huh...?" Fred sighed, and moved some of Yvette's hair out of her face almost without thinking about it, "An a lotta that's mah fault, Vette. Ah'm...Ah ain't had the best track record in mah life. With women, with feelins, or with words..."

"And I am not so good with such things either, so that is making two of us," she replied, not even twitching as his hand moved towards her face. If anything, the gesture resulted in a slight softening of her hair, so it responded more like metallic ribbon than wire, curling slightly around his finger. "For me... I suppose I was afraid to say anything that would make you run away. You are so strong and independent... I think you would not like the... how you say? The cling-film person?" She shook her head. "No, that is not right. I mean like the creature that sticks to the ships. The...barnacle, yes?"

"Clingy? Nah." Maybe it was that 'barnacle' was a funny word, or that it was just endearing to hear Yvette try and clarify her metaphor, but Fred couldn't stop grinning broadly, even when he started speaking again, "An' it ain't your fault, girl. Ah've been told more'n once Ah'm pretty, uh...well Ah mean Ah don't really get it when girls are tryin tah, uh, y'know...uhm..."

"Make the macking onto you?" Yvette suggested innocently. Her grasp of slang was sometimes precarious.

There was one...two...three beats where Fred gawked at Yvette in his version of a blush. He was trying to deny her interpretation and simultaneously laugh at the idea of 'macking' at all, so it only came out as a sputtering, head shaking, chuckling mess, "what? Uhm, no, Ah, huh? Nah, Ah, uh...Ah, uh, mean, Ah Guess...? That's a way a puttin it..."

Yvette giggled too, realising she'd made one of her more amusing language gaffs. And she liked it when Fred laughed. "We both were not used to people noticing us in that way," she clarified once the laughter had died away. "And like I was saying, I did not want to frighten you away by being too close." She shrugged a little. "My family was not so good with that," she said sadly. "And my powers... it is hard to be close to people. So I did not want to hold on so close that you would run away."

Fred reached out, putting one of Yvette's hands in his palm. He'd done it for a while now: touched her and shown her she wouldn't hurt him when she started talking about her power, "Vette, trust me, Ah understand...familial issues. And Ah ain't gonna run, if you promise tah do tha same." Fred wanted to tell her, after his mother and Earl and Arlene and Tommy and Callie and all the friends he'd had at the Mansion going, or leaving, or falling out of touch, or drifting apart, that the idea of someone else leaving...someone as close to him as Yvette...was probably the singularly most terrifying thing he could think of, "Ah...it scares me some...people leavin', Ah mean..." was about all he could manage.

"It scares me too," she replied softly, wrapping her long fingers around his palm and squeezing slightly. The fact she would do that with a bare hand was the clearest sign of her trust in him. "But... I will not go anywhere, Fred. Not unless you want me to."

"Only place Ah want yah tah go is tah get more popcorn." Yvette had never burned a single bag; Fred was convinced it was part of her mutation, "Cause we're totally watchin Friday the 13th Part 5, an you ain't goin' tah bed or no place any time soon."