Kurt & Gabriel - Thursday afternoon

[x-velocidad.livejournal.com]

Gabriel finally gets around to thanking Kurt.

Triscuit was ordinarily quite a placid dog. This was not the case today, and Kurt was regretting ever having taken his lead off.

"Tris! Heel!"

It wasn't that Gabriel wasn't a dog person. But since he'd started speeding around, he'd found dogs hadn't been fond of him, for whatever reason. Although the only dog he'd seen recently was Clint's, and he figured any animosity there was for a different reason entirely.

As he sat on the smoker's patio, he reached down to rub the approaching animal's head, he paused and looked up to its owner. "Oh! Hey!" His hand hovered a half-inch above the dog's ears. "Can I, or will he bite my hand off?"

"He does not bite", Kurt assured him, catching up. "He may attempt to lick your hand off."

"That I'm actually familiar with, although not in the way you'd think." Gabriel petted the dog, then stood and took stock of Kurt. Who was still as blue as Gabriel remembered. "So, uh, hey." He extended his hand and offered a friendly smile. "Kurt, right?"

"Kurt Sefton", he confirmed, smiling back. "This is Triscuit, and you are Gabriel. How are you settling in?"

"Hey there, Triscuit." Gabriel looked down, smiling at the dog. "I'm okay," he answered after a second. "I mean, you know, it's all been kind of a whirlwind. About an hour after I got here, everyone tried to warn me about my impending doom. Not exactly the warmest of welcomes, but you know. Is that unusual around here?"

"The warnings, or the impending doom?" he asked lightly. "It was actually likely intended as a warm welcome, in keeping with the tradition."

"The warnings, I guess? Not often I get to hear 'Hi, nice to meet you, don't chaperone a field trip or spend too much time near large bodies of water.'" Gabriel shrugged. "How long have you been here?" He grabbed a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all." He shrugged in turn. "Ten years, give or take a little. The warnings were well meant, I promise, we have a... chequered history."

"So do I," Gabriel pointed out. He tapped a smoke out of the pack. "Which," he looked up a little apologetically, "I guess you sort of know already?" He fumbled around his pockets, searching for a lighter. "Thanks, by the way." He hated how off-handed that sound. "I mean, seriously, thank you."

"You are very welcome", Kurt said seriously. "It is what we do, but I know it means more to you than that."

"Well, yeah." Gabriel tried not to look as awkward as he now felt. "My headline would have been 'Poor gay bartender found dead on public park, probably had it coming.' Not exactly the best way to go." He lit his cigarette.

"And mine might have been 'Terrorist shot in presidential assassination attempt", Kurt said matter-of-factly. "...that is a long story, but the X-Men saved me."

Gabriel focused on exhaling so he wouldn't look as surprised as he felt. "And then what?" He asked, genuinely interested. "That's the part I can't figure out."

"I stayed here. I became a teacher - not to say you must, it certainly is not for everyone - and I made a new life here."

"That's my goal, I guess." Gabriel glanced down at Triscuit. Dogs had it so easy. "Jean wants me to stay on the straight and narrow, which is pretty reasonable of her. But I'm used to going with the flow, and now I feel like I need a plan, and that's... I dunno. Daunting, maybe."

"There is nothing wrong with going with the flow for now", Kurt said calmly. "You have a job, that is a good start. The plan may form itself in time."

"I guess you're right. Being here just makes me feel weirdly... directionless. Maybe cause everyone here's an ambitious help-others type."

"I think that is something else that comes in time, for some of us. If it is not for you, then think of this as a place to get back on your feet."

Gabriel nodded and took another puff on his cigarette, considering. "Yeah, okay. That sounds good." He grinned at Kurt. "Seriously, a superhero and a teacher? You got any flaws?"

"Oh yes." He grinned back. "But those are hardly to be advertised."

"Well, hmph." Gabriel gave Kurt a fake pout. "That's no fun. All my crazy's out in the open."

"...have you met my girlfriend? She is my publicly acceptable crazy."

Gabriel laughed. "Unless yours is the firebug or the rich fashionista - both of whom seem more like the fun kind of crazy than totally loca, I can't say I have."

"No, neither of - well, if by the firebug you mean Angelica, neither of those. Jubilee makes fireworks."

"For real? Shut up." Gabriel glanced at his cigarette, then the sky. "That's a fun power. Probably a hit at parties, if they're the right sort of parties."

"You missed the discussion on the journals about the Bonfire Night party?" He grinned. "Someone fed her excessive amounts of sugar and let her loose. But without C4."

"I saw it, but I guess that didn't make the connection. Couldn't go to the party anyway, so I wasn't paying that close attention." Gabriel flicked the cigarette butt into a nearby ashtray. "I want credit for not making any of the obvious firework sex jokes, by the way."

"Credit granted", Kurt said, laughing. "And I could not possibly comment on our private life."

"Wasn't asking, trust me."