Angelo and John | Saturday Afternoon

[x-pyromania.livejournal.com]

'It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"' -A.A. Milne-

John was making a habit of returning to New York every two weeks or so. It wasn't what he'd originally planned, having decided to move to Chicago for the year, but he was glad Angelo hadn't commented about it so far. They were at the airport and his flight was in two hours. They had some time to kill and lunch to eat. John fussed over which sandwich to get as they stood in front of the counter, taking the longest time with making a decision only to finally decide on ordering the chicken pie instead. He then proceeded to take another five minutes deciding between having coffee or tea, but finally settled on getting a bottle of sparkling water. It was a good thing no one else was in line behind them.

"Hold up. Maybe I should get that tea. What flavors do you have?" This was definitely going to take another few minutes.

"When did you get so fussy?" Angelo asked, not without affection. "Time was, you ate what was there."

It was probably because he'd been eating plenty of home-cooked food lately. Nothing tasted as good as mom or dad's cooking. That was for sure.

"Look, if I'm going to be forking out a ridiculous amount for lunch at the airport, it better be something good." John wasn't going to mention anything about being spoiled rotten by his parents. What was he? Twelve? "Are you going to swing by next weekend? We're having a big family brunch thing." He made a face at that.

"Not looking forward to it?" He shrugged. "Yeah, if your folks are okay with it, I could come by."

"Yeah. Of course they'd be okay with it. Just... you know." John gestured at him as they made their way to the table, having paid for their food. "Be human-like." His parents knew he was a mutant and were accepting of the fact, but they were not going to tolerate him being completely open about it. The only reason John was willing to play the part of the filial son at this point was because he didn't quite have a choice if it meant the only option he had was to cut ties with them; something he wasn't willing to do right now. Besides, the last thing he wanted was to put his parents in danger if anyone in the neighborhood knew he was a mutant. He just hoped Angelo would understand.

"You know that gives me headaches", he objected. "Or d'you mean go all the way and bring an inducer?"

He let out a nod, despite cringing inwardly. The last thing John wanted was to subject his friend to all that trouble, but it wasn't like there was any other choice.

"You'll only have to use it until the guests have gone home. They don't mind you being you. It's just the rest of everyone else thinks we're some perfect, normal, regular, boring as fuck family and it's why I need you there. I don't want to accidentally set something on fire and you don't want to have to attend my goddamn funeral if I'm going to get shot and dragged through the streets by these mutant hating bunch."

"Is it that bad around there?" he asked, not really doubting it. "Yeah, okay - for you, buddy, I'll wear an inducer."

"Thanks. I appreciate it," he responded. "And it isn't all that bad. It's just been pretty fucking bizarre." He'd never felt more uncomfortable in his life. The only reason John was adamant about sticking around was so he could get to know his father and spend some quality time with the old man. "I mean..." He leaned forward to whisper the next few words out. "I know they're not really my real family. I'm not deluded, Ange."

"You can't think like that", he answered instantly, voice pitched low. "They're what you've got. And they're close, right?"

"Yeah. I guess." The fact of the matter was his parents were exactly as he remembered them. At least, before his father had died and everything went to hell. But the rest of his siblings weren't part of the picture. He'd turned out to be the only son which was something he was finding a little hard to accept. "I just don't want to forget."

Angelo nodded.

"You won't. Like we won't forget our friends just 'cause there's - people like them."

Angelo was right. It didn't seem likely that they would, but it didn't make it any easier to accept the ones who were here, the ones who had no clue about what really happened.

"Enough about me." He stabbed a fork in his pie and sparked a flame over it to heat it up a little more. "What's been going on with you lately?"

He shrugged. "Not a whole lot. Trying to put things back together with the Underground. We need them more than ever now."

"It's actually really great what you're doing with the Underground." Unfortunately for John, the whole Mutant Underground thing wasn't inspiring him into action. He felt somewhat guilty for not helping Angelo out with that, but he wasn't interested in helping to bring these new mutants over to safe houses or worse to the mansion. If he had to deal with that, soon enough, he'd likely be tempted to start a mutant revolt so he found it best to stay away.

"How are things with Colbert?"

"That's good." He smiled a little. "Boring and domestic. What about you, there somebody you haven't told me about?"

"Boring and domestic, huh? Sounds like you two are practically married." He made a mental note to bug Jean-Phillipe one of these days. He really should spend more time getting to know the guy who's been dating his best friend for over a few years now.

"Unlike you, I think I'm going to die alone, but that's fine."

"Bullshit", Angelo said cheerfully. "You're not thirty yet, and even without an SO, you're not going to die alone."

"Hate to break it to you, pal. But I am thirty and I'll be thirty one in a couple of weeks. I'll be expecting a huge birthday surprise."

"...dude, really?" He leaned back. "Just goes to show you should spend more time in New York. Will you be here then?"

John shrugged. "Guess so. I'd much rather spend being a whole digit older with friends, you know. Besides, pretty sure Mandy will be up for having a few drinks with us. She never misses celebrating our birthdays. It makes me feel bad I missed her last few ones."

"She's been busy too", Angelo noted. "Got quite a big magic class to teach these days, as well as the one she gives about how to deal with magic stuff if you're not into it."

"Sheesh. Who wouldn't be into magic? Magic's great. If I had magical abilities, I'd be turning the bad guys into roaches and I'll just stomp on 'em. Easy peasy, right?" John scrunched up his eyebrows just then. "Did you ever worry that she'd turn you into a newt or something when you two were dating? Say, you had a fight. Did you feel the need to run for your life?"

"No", he said without hesitation. "She never would have done that. Not with what she knew about the dark side of it."

"Huh." Of course there would be a dark side to it. One couldn't just be reckless with their abilities without having to deal with some sort of repercussion. "It's a good thing she's teaching then. You thinking about doing the same?"

"I've thought about it", he admitted. "But this new class of kids are a bit too familiar in one way or another."

"I think you should just do it. You're good with the kids." John lacked the patience to deal with them.

"I don't think even I could get through to Maya Lopez. Only adult that's managed it so far is Wade, and he's her guardian."

"Well, you're not going to be able to win all of 'em over." John didn't know who Maya Lopez was, but he knew that some of them were just more prone to lashing out than others. Some of them have had more traumatic experiences than others. And some were also just plain brats. Whatever it was, those working for Charles had an obligation to help turn these kids into functioning adults at some point. "But they're not all going to be as difficult to deal with," he said. "I don't know about me, but you. You've turned out fine. Outstanding even."

"Thanks, Firebug." He grinned crookedly. "And you can't say you turned out so bad."

"Eh. I like being a little dysfunctional." John let out a playful smirk, picked up his carry on and slung it over his shoulder as he stood up. "I should really get going. You keep in touch and stay out of trouble, alright? I'll be seeing you next weekend?"

"Yeah", he agreed, stealing a bit of John's leftovers. "Have a good flight."

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