Maya & Wade | Saturday Evening (Backdated)

[x-deadpool.livejournal.com]

Maya meets Wade in the garage for a discussion after her journal entry following the events in The Plaguebearers.


Wade's feet stuck out from under the side of a lifted car. He'd checked the oil when he got to the garage, decided it needed changing, and set about getting that done. Now he had a good amount of nasty, black sludge splattered all over his already grungy looking, formerly white t-shirt — but the oil was still pouring into the pan beneath the oil drain plug, so he'd decided to stay where he was as he waited for it to slow and eventually stop.

There was something very meditative about working on cars. You had to be methodical, had to know what you were doing, and had to be willing to go slower than you'd like to get it done right. Considering he had no idea what mood he'd catch Maya in once she finished her run with Monica, he figured it was best for him be in a good mindset.

"Wade?" Maya hadn't bothered to change after her run with 'Nica, figuring she'd be better off talking to Wade before she found a nice, long bath to soak in. Other then the woods, water had always been a go-to for her when she wanted to calm down. "Um, you here?"

"Under the car at the back," Wade called. "Changing some oil, so I can't leave the pan right this sec. C'mon back, though."

"Why are you changing oil? I thought that Scott guy did all the car repairs." Maya said, heading toward the back where she saw his feet sticking out.

She'd wanted to ask about learning all the car stuff herself, but given her complete inability to actively be inside a car, it seemed like a pretty stupid waste of her time, and considering she wasn't willing to have someone say that to her face, she'd never asked.

"Scott's great at cars," Wade said. "But I enjoy working on them recreationally. Me and a couple guys have side projects going. Logan's good to have around when you need something gutted. Anyway, these are... I guess they're memorial cars? Maybe. I don't know." He watched the oil as it began to taper off. "This is one of the newer used cars I've got. So it's not all fancied up or anything. One of the ones I finished last year just sold at auction. Donated all the proceeds to a charity."

"You do that a lot, don't you?" Maya stated, what might have been a tinge of respect in her tone.

She sat down on the ground beside his feet, tucking her legs into a meditative position as she peered under the car at his somewhat dirty face. She'd thought he was one thing when they'd first met, but he kept surprising her, and now she wasn't entirely sure who he was. That he could protect her was something she'd never doubted, her dad wouldn't have given her into his care if he couldn't, but she still wasn't entirely sure how she felt about him.

"Sure," Wade said, finally reaching up to close the oil drain plug as the drips of black stopped dropping. "I mean... it's constructive? My friends wouldn't want me to be angry about their deaths for forever. This helps me remember them and gives something to some of the causes they cared about." Checking down at his feet to make sure he wasn't gonna hit Maya, he rolled out from under the car and sat up.

"I get that," Maya said, looking up at him. She wasn't short for her age, but she was still only fourteen and hadn't exactly come into her true height yet, not that it would be a truly epic height given what her dad had said about her mother. 'Petite' and 'pocket-sized' had been two terms he'd used. "You angry with me?"

"Not angry," Wade said, shaking his head. "I can see why you asked that question. It's the context of the situation. I don't actually know who you're friendly with here, besides Monica. So I don't know who you've talked to about what, the kinds of things they might've told you, or if you know anything at all about what happened during M-Day. Y'know, with our people specifically." He paused to shake his head.

"There were a lot of us out there. A lot of people trying to... stop bad stuff from happening, trying to keep it from getting worse once it went bad." Stretching his shoulders a little to make his back crack, Wade went on, "I've finished four cars. That's four friends. I got another... I dunno, upwards of fifteen left to go? That's a lotta friends that didn't make it outta M-Day. A lot of good people. There're others here at the mansion that're in the same boat as me. But see, our friends died to keep people here safe. It's just... difficult to see those kinds of questions thrown around by somebody that you don't really know after something like what went down with the X-Men — with Keller specifically. He's one of your mentors, right?"

"Sort of, I speak to Jessica more often though," Maya murmured, a blush of shame darkening the skin on her neck before she shook her head. She curled her arms around her legs and placed her chin on her knees, just looking at him for a moment. "I'm sorry you lost people, that everyone lost people. I wasn't trying to dredge all that up, I was just scared."

"I know you didn't — I know you were. That's why I'm not angry. You've been through some rough stuff. Nobody's discounting that. But you gotta remember that other people've been through some rough stuff, too. That's why half of us wound up here in the first place. So it's the same as... I don't know. It's the same as people not giving you a hard time when you don't wanna ride in a car, right?

"Sometimes avoiding topics or not making a big deal out of 'em's for the best. Sometimes people need a push. But you gotta let them decide when they're ready to confront whatever ghosts they got haunting 'em. It's courtesy," Wade said, frowning just a little. He realized that could be taken negatively a moment later. Clearing his expression, he continued, "So like I said — you got a question like that, you come to me or somebody else that you trust to talk things over with you. Hell, I can go through all the security protocols we've got set up and talk about the teams' risk management strategies and preventative measures, if you want. Whatever you need to feel safe, right? But other people deserve to feel safe, too. And dealing with trauma like M-Day... not everybody does that by restoring vehicles, making 'em gorgeous, and auctioning them off for charity."

"Could we do that?" Maya asked, feeling some of the tension leaving her body at his mention of security protocols. She knew the teams had scenario training, Julian and Jessica had gone over with all the kids what they were supposed to do if the mansion ever got attacked, which had frankly kept her awake for nights afterwards before she convinced herself they were just being paranoid in a good way and not actually serious about someone coming here. "Right now, I mean?"

"We can do that right now, yeah," Wade said, pulling a dirty rag out of his pocket so he could wipe his hands and face off. "There'll probably be things you can't specifically see for security reasons — just so you can't accidentally mention them somewhere. I don't think you'd do that on purpose or anything, you're smart when it comes to caution. It's just like we won't let anybody here see certain things. But if it'll help you feel more secure, I'll give you the basic tour."

"It would, thanks," Maya replied, letting some more tension that had been resting in her back go. She still couldn't quite relax yet, the idea of danger was always more terrifying then the actual reality of it, at least for her. Facing it head-on had always felt like something rather then just sitting around waiting for the next bomb to go off. "You never said if you'd go camping, you know."

"No problem," Wade said. "And you never asked me if I'd go. Just how I felt about it. Why don't you check in with some of the other Gen-X kids. See if any of them might want to come, too. I'll see if Angel or Jessica want to go, maybe drag Glowstick into it. It'll be good, now that it's starting to warm up."

"I can do that, I'm pretty sure I could convince Clea and Nica to go at least, maybe Stephen and Miles too. You think we could actually go to Yellowstone?" Maya's smile lit up her eyes with excitement as she bounced to her feet and pulled at Wade's arm to get him to his, wanting to get on the way to whatever this security tour was. Then she needed to ask people if they wanted to go camping, and maybe she could show them what she was like outside of this place.

"Assuming Skittles is down for 'porting us in, yeah," Wade said, allowing Maya to pull him to his feet. "If not, there's places around here. We could hit up a camping spot near one of the really good hiking trails. Do some of that. You gotta remember what I said, though. And I know apologizing is never fun, but maybe consider doing it anyway to whoever you upset. Might help clear the air some."

"I guess." Maya replied, her tone saying that she actually didn't guess and probably didn't want to do anything even close to apologizing but if it would make him happier, she might consider it. "Last time I did that, I lost my roommate though. They went all aggressive on me and called me names. Seems like people around here don't think much about words."

"It's all about context," Wade said. "Most of the time, they're just reacting to things you've said or done. And things with Xavin seemed pretty tense for a variety of reasons. It's a shame that went down the way it did, but you're all teenagers, for the most part. You'll figure out how to socialize with one another without anyone having a meltdown." Eventually. Probably. He hoped.

"That Kyle guy isn't a teenager and he hates me," Maya pointed out, almost like she wanted the scenario of everyone here hating her to be true. "He doesn't seem like he 'learned to socialise'."

"Context," Wade sing-songed. "Kyle's got some other stuff going on on top of the M-Day stuff we're all dealing with. And you hit a nerve. I mean, let's be real. You hit a lotta nerves with that question. But he's got things in his head that you and me can't really understand. That sucks a lot. I'm not saying you have to put up with it. Sometimes it's probably best to not engage. But when you get scared, you kinda start really obviously not caring about other people. That lack of empathy's what set him off, I think. You gotta know your audience before you ask those questions where anybody and everybody can see."

"I guess," Maya said, doubtful. She dropped his hand and fell in beside him as they walked, content now to simply follow. "Can I still think he's a complete tool till he proves otherwise?"

"Sure," Wade said, shrugging. "It's your brain. You're allowed to think whatever you like. Just remember, everybody else is, too. And goin' after 'em won't change anybody's mind about anything."

"I think you like people more than I do," Maya informed him with a shrug. It was the closest she could come to 'nice' given that her current opinion on other people's opinions was best described as 'dim'. "But if it'll help, I can try to pretend I don't hold most of them in utter contempt."

Snorting, Wade said, "Good idea. Most people don't react so well to the whole 'utter contempt' vibe. Probably best to just ignore them, though. Don't engage, y'know?"

"So what you're saying is I should go hit the heavy bag more, rather then take my frustration and annoyance out on poor, unsuspecting mansionites?" Maya asked with a wry grin. She knew the answer to that, obviously but why stay silent when you could be witty?

"Ding, ding, ding," Wade said, amused. "Give the lady a prize!"

"Donuts," Maya replied with a smug look. "If I get to choose the prize, that is."

"Sounds like a plan. Been a while since I went by Count Donutula's. Let's get this security tour wrapped and we can head over," Wade said, nodding.