Log: Garrison and Jubilee

[xp_jubilee]

“So Gar, how’s life?”

Jubilee racked up the balls, moving the triangle back and forth to make sure they were all in place before taking it away and caulking the end of her pool cue. It had been an age since she’d made it to Harry’s Hideaway and even longer since she’d been in country for more than a few days at a time. You missed things, people’s lives weren’t things that stayed static while you were off trying to not get shot by sketchy dudes in army fatigues.

"It's a dog eat dog world, Jubes, and I somehow dipped my balls in Alpo." Kane sighted down his cue stick, making sure it was straight. "How about you? The spy business being good to you?"

“It’s been a shit year, Gar,” Jubilee replied, taking aim and then breaking, she watched as balls drifted everywhere but none hit the holes. “I don’t think I’ve put my head on the same pillow for more than a day since January.”

"Ah, to be young again." Kane lined up the 7 ball and whacked it into the corner pocket with an authoritative strike. "Lots of that seems to be going around these days."

“Perils of the job, I guess,” Jubilee noted, watching as he lined up another shot. “Of course, it has made memorabilia sales skyrocket, or so I’ve been told, last year being a shit year for people dying off, that is, not people not getting enough sleep, although I suppose that could help as well.”

"Well, unfortunately, I have a feeling that 2017 isn't going to be a walk in the park either. There are a lot of storm clouds on the horizon."

“Story of my life,” Jubilee muttered somewhat under her breath before grinning at him brightly. “How is your whole ‘cop from a foreign country’ thing working out? Surprised they haven’t’ deported you yet as a ‘hostile alien’”

"There are some advantages to the badge. Also, I'm technically on loan to the FBI, so I don't need a visa or a green card. What about you? You're kinda Asian looking, you know. They might try to send you back to Singapore or Japan, or one of the other two Asian countries they've heard of."

"They'd have to find me first," Jubilee quipped, leaning a hip on a nearby table to watch Garrison. "And you've got no idea how awesome it is trying to decide which identity I'm gonna use to marry Kurt."

Garrison was a cop, yes, but he was also aware of the realities of the world. While he might arrest her if he felt what she was doing was truly not for the benefit of the world, a little 'ghost in the machine' action wasn't going to be the straw that broke that camel.

"You spies live weird lives." Garrison shook his head as he lined up his shot. The 7 ball dropped with a crack. "Getting married in the first place. You do know 'something blue' usually doesn't refer to the groom, right?"

"And yet..." Jubilee trailed off with a grin, scrunching her nose as he made the shot. "I was thinking of inviting you as the 'Something old'."

"Oh please. You know you'd invite me as 'Something borrowed'."

“True dat, guess I’ll just have to invite Xavier for the ‘something old’.”

Jubilee raised a finger in a ‘just a second’ gesture before heading off to the bar to get a drink.

Kane toyed idly with the six ball, occasionally tempted to throw it at her.

“You know I’d just catch it,” Jubilee quipped, noticing the ball as she came back with a fifth of scotch in one hand and what she believed was Garrison’s favourite beer in the other. “No comments about the drink, I was told I needed to start drinking the non ‘puke coloured’ stuff.”

"You wouldn't. That's why it is so tempting." Kane switched it for a Moosehead and took a sip. "OK, look... this is a bit weird, but... you've talked to Kurt about us, right?"

“Catch it, dodge it, explode it with a well aimed paf, same diff, Jubilee replied, expression sobering slightly. “You haven’t been like, guilting it up all this time, have you? Cause, I talked to him when we first got back from that whole thing. He was a bit weirded out, but he trusts me and well, fun as it was, neither of us would have deliberately hurt him like that.”

"The only reason I haven't been guilting is because my brain was broken. I just... look, with everything over the last couple of years... the number of new people, I wanted to be sure he knew."

“Gar…” Jubilee started, unsure of what to say to make him feel better about this. It was different for her, sex had been a commodity for so long that the act itself had no meaning to her. It was only with Kurt that she involved emotions, that it meant anything beyond a bit of fun or a means to an end. “What do you need me to say here? You have told Adri, right?”

"I don't need you to say anything. I just... I need it to be out there. Is that fair?"

“I guess that would depend on what you want his reaction to be,” Jubilee said, her words soft and her gaze suddenly worried. “Do you want someone to punish you for what happened? Cause Kurt ain’t going to do that, the guy is too damn noble for that shit. If it’s just that you want to not feel like you have to tiptoe around mentioning it, then dude, it’s mentioned, he’s cool. No need for sackcloth and ashes at all.”

"Jubes, don't get me wrong, but the last of things I'm going to beat myself up on that is sex. I've had much worse sins to deal with." Kane said. "But... we haven't talked about it..."

“Dude, you almost gave me a heart attack. Thought you were like, some kind of closet puritan or something,” Jubilee said with a noticeable lessoning of tension. She rubbed a hand across her close cropped hair, she cut it for a job a few weeks back. “I guess I’m not great at the ‘morning after’ stuff. It was kinda awkward, what with the whole magic roofies and weirdness. I’m like, great if you’re great, I just didn’t want to make it a total ‘let us now discuss our feelings’ scene or anything.”

"Okey. As long as you're alright with it." Kane shrugged. "I don't need a blue guy kicking my ass."

“Dude, what I’m not okay with is you kickin’ my ass at this game, you gotta give me pointers,” Jubilee replied, waving his comment off as she downed her drink and moved closer to the table. “And I think I might pay to see Kurt kick your ass, gotta keep you humble somehow.”

"Love Kurt, but the day he kicks my ass is the day you beat me at pool." He lined up another shot. While it had been weird to bring up the topic of an event already three years in the past, he was glad to know the answer. Kurt never would have brought it up, and Jubilee was only around for short beats. With the idea of a wedding coming up, he wanted to be sure.

“Is that a challenge, oh strong and unbeatable one?” Jubilee replied with a bright grin. “Because I’m pretty sure my middle name is ‘challenge accepted’.”

"Really? Weird. My parents considered that same name before deciding on Johnathan."