Gabriel & Darcy | Clearing the Air
Jul. 17th, 2023 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logs(backdated) Gabriel lets Darcy try her first edible and they end up clearing the air.
Darcy felt a little awkward about seeking her teammate out after the mission in Kenya. But... ugh, zombies. And the creepy, still quiet of an empty city that should've been bustling with life. And her own inability to sleep worth shit, despite Kevin finally convincing her to sleep under the mansion's roof again. So here she was, with two of the vodkas she preferred to drink and a bottle of rum for good measure. The bottles clinked lightly as she shifted, finally knocking firmly on the door.
"It's open," Gabe called out after a moment of hesitation. He'd decided not to get up from his spot on the couch, where he was rifling through the plastic container where he kept his weed, rolling papers and assorted marijuana paraphernalia. He was still mentally and physically exhausted from Kenya, and nothing had been helping. Pot, he figured, couldn't hurt.
She was talking even as she twisted the handle to get into the room. "I've got vodka. And rum. Juice too, but these are fine for drinking alone, mostly." Darcy flashed him a hint of a smile as she set the bag on a counter. "So, zombies. Fuck our lives, right? Where are your shot or sipping glasses, or are we going to be very unclassy bitches and use plastic cups?"
"Oh, uh..." Gabriel turned toward the kitchenette. "There's some stuff in that cabinet there, above the sink, but if it's just the two of us, we can use the heavy-duty glasses on the bar cart." He stood, somewhat reluctantly, and moved to the opposite end of the living room, where he'd set a rattan trolley with some glassware and some of his bottles. It was an impulse purchase he'd made at a furniture store outlet, and he still wasn't sure it fit him or the space. But he liked the warmth it brought, and having a nice display piece for his booze made him feel like less of an alcoholic. "Ice of many sizes in the freezer."
"Heavy duty with the nice ice it is." Darcy joined him at the trolley, three bottles appearing out of her bag. "Pick your beverage. Vodka of air, vodka of rice, Harlem Haberdashery rum."
He did not know how to tell her that none of those options felt particularly appealing, or that such a reaction was in its own way alarming. "The rum, I think," he said after a second. He flipped two glasses over. "I've got soda and tonic for the vodka, if you want it."
He sized her up, considering, then nodded back to his coffee table. "Weed and edibles too, if that's your poison." He took the rum bottle from her, perusing it, then opening it and sniffing. "I'll probably just sip until the high hits," he added.
"I've never been high before," Darcy mused as she lightly dropped a large orb made of ice into each glass. Her hand didn't shake as she poured his, which she counted as a personal triumph. "Unless that time I accidentally doubled my anti-anxiety meds counts, but I don't think it really does. Why not? First time for everything." Did Laurie's interference count as being high, or just under the influence? She was too sober to think about that. Air vodka went into her own glass. "Air vodka is a sipper, I'm good. Feel free to try a sip of it, it's sneaky smooth."
"Nah," Gabriel shook his head. "I'm not really a vodka-straight person. Not my spirit of choice." He shrugged. "All those years bartending when trendy brown liquors were the thing, you know?" He swirled the glass in his hand, then returned to his seat.
"I'm..." He tried to consider how to phrase what he wanted to say to her. "Ok, full disclosure, not sure I'm necessarily gonna be present enough to guide you through your first time with an edible." He winced a second after he finished. "I mean, I am just... still not feeling quite like myself, and I wouldn't want you to have a bad time."
"Yeah, fair." Darcy thought about it, eyes dropping to the ground as she calculated potential ramifications. Eh. Her finger tapped the rim of the glass in her hands. "How about I draft a text to Matt to come pick me up if shit gets no good, and you hand me the lowest dose edible you have in that stash? You're not on the hook for Darcy-sitting and he knows his way around dealing with bad high experiences. And me in general."
Gabe nodded. "Sure. We can start you light. They're always a little more powerful than you expect anyway." He put the drink on a coaster and started rifling through his kit. "You more of a gummy candy or a chocolate gal?"
Darcy saved the mentioned text to her drafts. "Chocolate. I mean, both, but in this case chocolate." She snagged a coaster and took a seat on the floor in reaching range. She knew herself, and was wiggly enough tipsy to guess that if an edible had a remotely similar effect, she'd probably end up down there eventually. Better now than risk falling. She let out a snort at the thought, waving a hand at Gabe. "The look on Kevin's face if I somehow managed to fall off furniture and injure myself because I wasn't sober. Don't mind me."
Gabriel said nothing for a few seconds. Then, he handed her a chocolate-covered espresso bean. "Bite off half," he said. "And we'll see how you feel." He then took out one of his own. "You're not gonna fall," he added after a second. "Not with these, unless you're crazy sensitive, which I guess we'll find out." He paused, then popped the bean in his mouth.
"I get... wiggly when I'm drunk. Better to just not risk it." She carefully took a half-bite of the chocolate, eyes lighting up at the espresso bean underneath. "Ooh, a drop of caffeine too. What does high, tipsy, and caffeinated get me? A human hamster ball to run in?" Probably more talking than normal, and less filter. Too late to think about that now. Darcy tipped her head back against the couch with a smile. "Hopefully a relaxing night."
Gabriel shrugged again. He picked up his drink, swirling it a bit. "Let's hope," he said after a silence that almost became uncomfortable. "Could use one of those." He lifted the glass to her. "Cheers."
Darcy lifted her glass in return. "Sláinte!" Hazards of an Irish roommate, these days she was more likely to give back an Irish toast than something in English. She took a long sip of vodka to follow it up, still too sober to get into anything beyond pleasantries and the initial commiseration about Kenya. Her eyes traced the ceiling without really paying attention to it, content to let her mind wander as she sipped her drink, wondering if she'd notice the edible kicking in at all.
Gabriel took a sip, then traded the glass for his phone, tapping a few buttons before putting on some reggaeton. He considered lighting a cigarette, but instead he decided to settle into the couch, grooving to the music.
They sat there for some time, trading small talk but largely sitting and sipping in silence, until Gabriel opened his eyes once and realized more than an hour had gone by. He wasn't sure where the time went, but he had a mild body high that left him wanting nothing more than to settle into the floor.
Still, he kept his perch on the couch and looked over at her, studying her expression. "You good?"
Relaxed, but still in control of her faculties. She said as much from her place on the floor where she was absently rubbing her fingers against her shirt. "My shirt's really soft. Good choice, earlier today me. Wanna touch it?" Darcy held out a corner in his direction with an easy smile. "It's too bad I didn't bring one of my blankets, I'd rub my face on it."
"Yeah, no I'm good." He waved her off. "Keep your shirt." He stood and stretched, then used his powers to refresh his drink in an instant. When he was high, he sometimes thought he could feel the time stretching and compressing, but this wasn't one of those moments, and he suspected Darcy had something to do with it.
Eyeing her again, he announced, "I'm gonna get you a water." Then he did so.
"I still have..." she trailed off, looking at her empty glass. "Huh, when did I finish my drink? Thanks." Getting up to pour another drink would be too much effort. "This is better than a Xanax. Or Ambien. Both." Less perfect timing required, that was a huge plus. If she managed to sleep better like this, she was getting her own supply, especially now that she'd agreed to actually stay at the mansion instead of moving around off-site. "Are you good? Like. In general."
"Sure." Gabriel flicked the faucet on, then wiped his hands on his tank top. "I mean, you know," he added as he headed to the freezer. "Tired. Well, no, but like, kinda wiped out. Kenya really did a number on me." He slid a spherical cube of ice in the glass. "And Mexico. Kind of a lot going on."
"Story of our lives now, yeah? I didn't have zombies on my bingo card for this year. Or being tempted to take Stacy up on her offer." Darcy rolled over, pillowing her face on her arms. "At least I'd be able to sleep at night. During the day. Whenever, really."
It was to the weed's credit that Gabe did not immediately bristle at the mention of either zombies or Stacy. Instead, he filled her glass, then set down the water in front of her. "What was Stacy's offer?" He finally asked, because he couldn't help himself. He wanted a cigarette.
"Full-time talent." It was an easy admission. "If she'd asked me fresh out of law school, I might've said yes. Passed the bar in Nevada instead." Of course, that was before... a lot of things. X-Force. Her relationships. "It was still tempting, she was willing to loan me out to Kevin as requested and the pay's great. So's the staff. Wary at first, of course, but politely professional. Now that they know I'm not going to shy away from people it's better. Nobody there thinks I'm not queer or mutant enough to be one of them." Darcy held her glass of water up silently in thanks, then took a long sip. "I'm surprised you're not taking some time to readjust after being in Kenya and Mexico back-to-back. Mini vacation. Staycation. Whatever."
"I'm laying low. Same idea." Yes, Gabriel decided. If she was going to bring up Stacy X and also that other mess, he would have a cigarette. And so he reached into his pockets and pulled out a pack, lit a smoke in a half-second and reached for an ashtray. "And I travel plenty. Things have been busy. Not a bad thing to stay put for a bit."
"Mm yeah, staycation then." Darcy let out a yawn. "I'm doing as much travel as I can until Forge and I get my room fixed."
"What's wrong with your room?"
Darcy waffled on answering for a minute, then decided to be honest. Kevin was still on her about trusting her teammates. "You remember that lockbox we had to put our devices in before the Nevada thing? It's gonna be like that when we're done. Humanoid-safe, but silent psychically."
"Oh," he said after taking a drag on his cigarette. "Seems sensible." He had the feeling he'd missed something. Or maybe he'd just forgotten it because the weed was clouding his mind. He studied her for a second, something she'd said moments earlier nagging at him. He stubbed out the cigarette for now, deciding he'd had enough, and picked up his drink again.
"So," he said, sounding more curious than anything else, "you've been mad at me for what, like, weeks?" He took a sip. "I didn't realize until about 30 seconds ago."
She shook her head. "Not mad at you," she replied. "Annoyed and hurt at first. Disappointed." And maybe more than a little sick of other people who passed just as well as she did handing down judgement like they knew her, but she was far too sober still for full unthinking word vomit. "Somehow missed that your opinion of me was so poor. And yet, here I am."
"What?" Gabriel was confused. "It's not?" He tilted his head at her, because it felt right. "What?"
Darcy shoved her hair out of her face, taking in Gabriel's genuinely confused look. "I'm too sober for this," she muttered, turning and pushing herself carefully to her feet. She made her way to the bar cart, dropping a sphere of ice into her glass before pouring an incredibly generous amount of vodka over it and downing it in one go. Her glass clinked lightly on the cart. "Give that a few minutes to hit me."
She grabbed her water as she sat down in one of the chairs, letting the silence linger until her face and fingertips started to feel fuzzy. Not drunk, not yet, but working towards it. "It's obviously not very good, if you think I'm not the right sort of person to be at a party for queer mutants so they can feel safe. Which. I mean, love to be told I'm not welcome in my own communities. I'm just not used to it coming from people that are supposed to be my team."
“Yeah, I… never said that?” He wanted to warn her about mixing too much alcohol and weed but Darcy was a grown woman. “I in fact at no point said that?”
"Maybe it wasn't what you meant, but I'm not sure what else I was supposed to think when being specifically reminded a party is for queer mutants who don't pass by my fellow passing queer mutant coworker just because I told someone being an obnoxious asshole to shut the fuck up." Darcy let out a loud sigh, fumbling for her phone and pressing the button to send the text off to Matt. "This was a mistake."
"Wait, hold on..." Gabriel wasn't even really sure he meant that, but he needed a second to process, and the edible was slowing down his cognitive functions. "I'm sorry if I made you feel that way," he said, and he did mean it. "Honestly, I was just trying to tell you..." He closed his eyes to think. "Well, I think I was trying to say not to bring that aggression with you, since you were gonna see that exact attitude a lot at the thing that night."
"I dunno." He kept his eyes closed, trying to remind himself what headspace he was in. "I wasn't trying to say you weren't queer enough or mutant enough. I don't think that." He hadn't really thought about her personal life much at all, frankly. It wasn't personal; the distance he'd been keeping from most of his co-workers and teammates had all but ensured that.
"Anyway," he opened his eyes, looking at her now. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel shit." He frowned a little, in part because he felt bad, but in part because he didn't think he had any reason to feel bad. "I would have apologized sooner if I realized you took it that way and had been holding onto it for that long."
"Oh, that... yeah. Not what I took from that at all. But I wouldn't have. I just wanted to go and have fun without really having to hide shit for once. Well, less me, more the boys. Electricity's only visible if I want it to be or forget my bracelets." Darcy shrugged awkwardly. "Now that I know better, I apologize for taking it so poorly? I was already on edge, but that's a reason, not an excuse." Her phone buzzed, and she looked at it briefly. "Still, I didn't show up to ruin your night, so I'm gonna make all this a Matt problem instead."
"No, it's fine." He wasn't really sure what to say. "I mean, you know, I'm glad we cleared this up." Which he was, even if he hadn't really fully understood the problem until this evening anyway. "I do like you," he added. "I mean, you know. Still on your team."
"Yeah, same." Darcy made a broad gesture. "With the clearing and the liking and stuff." She stood, proud when she only wobbled for a second, and gathered her glasses. The least she could do was rinse them and leave them in the sink. "Do you... want a hug or anything? Otherwise I'm gonna go."
“God no,” Gabriel wrinkled his nose. “I’m not Jubilee.”
Darcy let out a snort of laughter. "I figured, but worth the ask. Goodnight, Gabriel."
Darcy felt a little awkward about seeking her teammate out after the mission in Kenya. But... ugh, zombies. And the creepy, still quiet of an empty city that should've been bustling with life. And her own inability to sleep worth shit, despite Kevin finally convincing her to sleep under the mansion's roof again. So here she was, with two of the vodkas she preferred to drink and a bottle of rum for good measure. The bottles clinked lightly as she shifted, finally knocking firmly on the door.
"It's open," Gabe called out after a moment of hesitation. He'd decided not to get up from his spot on the couch, where he was rifling through the plastic container where he kept his weed, rolling papers and assorted marijuana paraphernalia. He was still mentally and physically exhausted from Kenya, and nothing had been helping. Pot, he figured, couldn't hurt.
She was talking even as she twisted the handle to get into the room. "I've got vodka. And rum. Juice too, but these are fine for drinking alone, mostly." Darcy flashed him a hint of a smile as she set the bag on a counter. "So, zombies. Fuck our lives, right? Where are your shot or sipping glasses, or are we going to be very unclassy bitches and use plastic cups?"
"Oh, uh..." Gabriel turned toward the kitchenette. "There's some stuff in that cabinet there, above the sink, but if it's just the two of us, we can use the heavy-duty glasses on the bar cart." He stood, somewhat reluctantly, and moved to the opposite end of the living room, where he'd set a rattan trolley with some glassware and some of his bottles. It was an impulse purchase he'd made at a furniture store outlet, and he still wasn't sure it fit him or the space. But he liked the warmth it brought, and having a nice display piece for his booze made him feel like less of an alcoholic. "Ice of many sizes in the freezer."
"Heavy duty with the nice ice it is." Darcy joined him at the trolley, three bottles appearing out of her bag. "Pick your beverage. Vodka of air, vodka of rice, Harlem Haberdashery rum."
He did not know how to tell her that none of those options felt particularly appealing, or that such a reaction was in its own way alarming. "The rum, I think," he said after a second. He flipped two glasses over. "I've got soda and tonic for the vodka, if you want it."
He sized her up, considering, then nodded back to his coffee table. "Weed and edibles too, if that's your poison." He took the rum bottle from her, perusing it, then opening it and sniffing. "I'll probably just sip until the high hits," he added.
"I've never been high before," Darcy mused as she lightly dropped a large orb made of ice into each glass. Her hand didn't shake as she poured his, which she counted as a personal triumph. "Unless that time I accidentally doubled my anti-anxiety meds counts, but I don't think it really does. Why not? First time for everything." Did Laurie's interference count as being high, or just under the influence? She was too sober to think about that. Air vodka went into her own glass. "Air vodka is a sipper, I'm good. Feel free to try a sip of it, it's sneaky smooth."
"Nah," Gabriel shook his head. "I'm not really a vodka-straight person. Not my spirit of choice." He shrugged. "All those years bartending when trendy brown liquors were the thing, you know?" He swirled the glass in his hand, then returned to his seat.
"I'm..." He tried to consider how to phrase what he wanted to say to her. "Ok, full disclosure, not sure I'm necessarily gonna be present enough to guide you through your first time with an edible." He winced a second after he finished. "I mean, I am just... still not feeling quite like myself, and I wouldn't want you to have a bad time."
"Yeah, fair." Darcy thought about it, eyes dropping to the ground as she calculated potential ramifications. Eh. Her finger tapped the rim of the glass in her hands. "How about I draft a text to Matt to come pick me up if shit gets no good, and you hand me the lowest dose edible you have in that stash? You're not on the hook for Darcy-sitting and he knows his way around dealing with bad high experiences. And me in general."
Gabe nodded. "Sure. We can start you light. They're always a little more powerful than you expect anyway." He put the drink on a coaster and started rifling through his kit. "You more of a gummy candy or a chocolate gal?"
Darcy saved the mentioned text to her drafts. "Chocolate. I mean, both, but in this case chocolate." She snagged a coaster and took a seat on the floor in reaching range. She knew herself, and was wiggly enough tipsy to guess that if an edible had a remotely similar effect, she'd probably end up down there eventually. Better now than risk falling. She let out a snort at the thought, waving a hand at Gabe. "The look on Kevin's face if I somehow managed to fall off furniture and injure myself because I wasn't sober. Don't mind me."
Gabriel said nothing for a few seconds. Then, he handed her a chocolate-covered espresso bean. "Bite off half," he said. "And we'll see how you feel." He then took out one of his own. "You're not gonna fall," he added after a second. "Not with these, unless you're crazy sensitive, which I guess we'll find out." He paused, then popped the bean in his mouth.
"I get... wiggly when I'm drunk. Better to just not risk it." She carefully took a half-bite of the chocolate, eyes lighting up at the espresso bean underneath. "Ooh, a drop of caffeine too. What does high, tipsy, and caffeinated get me? A human hamster ball to run in?" Probably more talking than normal, and less filter. Too late to think about that now. Darcy tipped her head back against the couch with a smile. "Hopefully a relaxing night."
Gabriel shrugged again. He picked up his drink, swirling it a bit. "Let's hope," he said after a silence that almost became uncomfortable. "Could use one of those." He lifted the glass to her. "Cheers."
Darcy lifted her glass in return. "Sláinte!" Hazards of an Irish roommate, these days she was more likely to give back an Irish toast than something in English. She took a long sip of vodka to follow it up, still too sober to get into anything beyond pleasantries and the initial commiseration about Kenya. Her eyes traced the ceiling without really paying attention to it, content to let her mind wander as she sipped her drink, wondering if she'd notice the edible kicking in at all.
Gabriel took a sip, then traded the glass for his phone, tapping a few buttons before putting on some reggaeton. He considered lighting a cigarette, but instead he decided to settle into the couch, grooving to the music.
They sat there for some time, trading small talk but largely sitting and sipping in silence, until Gabriel opened his eyes once and realized more than an hour had gone by. He wasn't sure where the time went, but he had a mild body high that left him wanting nothing more than to settle into the floor.
Still, he kept his perch on the couch and looked over at her, studying her expression. "You good?"
Relaxed, but still in control of her faculties. She said as much from her place on the floor where she was absently rubbing her fingers against her shirt. "My shirt's really soft. Good choice, earlier today me. Wanna touch it?" Darcy held out a corner in his direction with an easy smile. "It's too bad I didn't bring one of my blankets, I'd rub my face on it."
"Yeah, no I'm good." He waved her off. "Keep your shirt." He stood and stretched, then used his powers to refresh his drink in an instant. When he was high, he sometimes thought he could feel the time stretching and compressing, but this wasn't one of those moments, and he suspected Darcy had something to do with it.
Eyeing her again, he announced, "I'm gonna get you a water." Then he did so.
"I still have..." she trailed off, looking at her empty glass. "Huh, when did I finish my drink? Thanks." Getting up to pour another drink would be too much effort. "This is better than a Xanax. Or Ambien. Both." Less perfect timing required, that was a huge plus. If she managed to sleep better like this, she was getting her own supply, especially now that she'd agreed to actually stay at the mansion instead of moving around off-site. "Are you good? Like. In general."
"Sure." Gabriel flicked the faucet on, then wiped his hands on his tank top. "I mean, you know," he added as he headed to the freezer. "Tired. Well, no, but like, kinda wiped out. Kenya really did a number on me." He slid a spherical cube of ice in the glass. "And Mexico. Kind of a lot going on."
"Story of our lives now, yeah? I didn't have zombies on my bingo card for this year. Or being tempted to take Stacy up on her offer." Darcy rolled over, pillowing her face on her arms. "At least I'd be able to sleep at night. During the day. Whenever, really."
It was to the weed's credit that Gabe did not immediately bristle at the mention of either zombies or Stacy. Instead, he filled her glass, then set down the water in front of her. "What was Stacy's offer?" He finally asked, because he couldn't help himself. He wanted a cigarette.
"Full-time talent." It was an easy admission. "If she'd asked me fresh out of law school, I might've said yes. Passed the bar in Nevada instead." Of course, that was before... a lot of things. X-Force. Her relationships. "It was still tempting, she was willing to loan me out to Kevin as requested and the pay's great. So's the staff. Wary at first, of course, but politely professional. Now that they know I'm not going to shy away from people it's better. Nobody there thinks I'm not queer or mutant enough to be one of them." Darcy held her glass of water up silently in thanks, then took a long sip. "I'm surprised you're not taking some time to readjust after being in Kenya and Mexico back-to-back. Mini vacation. Staycation. Whatever."
"I'm laying low. Same idea." Yes, Gabriel decided. If she was going to bring up Stacy X and also that other mess, he would have a cigarette. And so he reached into his pockets and pulled out a pack, lit a smoke in a half-second and reached for an ashtray. "And I travel plenty. Things have been busy. Not a bad thing to stay put for a bit."
"Mm yeah, staycation then." Darcy let out a yawn. "I'm doing as much travel as I can until Forge and I get my room fixed."
"What's wrong with your room?"
Darcy waffled on answering for a minute, then decided to be honest. Kevin was still on her about trusting her teammates. "You remember that lockbox we had to put our devices in before the Nevada thing? It's gonna be like that when we're done. Humanoid-safe, but silent psychically."
"Oh," he said after taking a drag on his cigarette. "Seems sensible." He had the feeling he'd missed something. Or maybe he'd just forgotten it because the weed was clouding his mind. He studied her for a second, something she'd said moments earlier nagging at him. He stubbed out the cigarette for now, deciding he'd had enough, and picked up his drink again.
"So," he said, sounding more curious than anything else, "you've been mad at me for what, like, weeks?" He took a sip. "I didn't realize until about 30 seconds ago."
She shook her head. "Not mad at you," she replied. "Annoyed and hurt at first. Disappointed." And maybe more than a little sick of other people who passed just as well as she did handing down judgement like they knew her, but she was far too sober still for full unthinking word vomit. "Somehow missed that your opinion of me was so poor. And yet, here I am."
"What?" Gabriel was confused. "It's not?" He tilted his head at her, because it felt right. "What?"
Darcy shoved her hair out of her face, taking in Gabriel's genuinely confused look. "I'm too sober for this," she muttered, turning and pushing herself carefully to her feet. She made her way to the bar cart, dropping a sphere of ice into her glass before pouring an incredibly generous amount of vodka over it and downing it in one go. Her glass clinked lightly on the cart. "Give that a few minutes to hit me."
She grabbed her water as she sat down in one of the chairs, letting the silence linger until her face and fingertips started to feel fuzzy. Not drunk, not yet, but working towards it. "It's obviously not very good, if you think I'm not the right sort of person to be at a party for queer mutants so they can feel safe. Which. I mean, love to be told I'm not welcome in my own communities. I'm just not used to it coming from people that are supposed to be my team."
“Yeah, I… never said that?” He wanted to warn her about mixing too much alcohol and weed but Darcy was a grown woman. “I in fact at no point said that?”
"Maybe it wasn't what you meant, but I'm not sure what else I was supposed to think when being specifically reminded a party is for queer mutants who don't pass by my fellow passing queer mutant coworker just because I told someone being an obnoxious asshole to shut the fuck up." Darcy let out a loud sigh, fumbling for her phone and pressing the button to send the text off to Matt. "This was a mistake."
"Wait, hold on..." Gabriel wasn't even really sure he meant that, but he needed a second to process, and the edible was slowing down his cognitive functions. "I'm sorry if I made you feel that way," he said, and he did mean it. "Honestly, I was just trying to tell you..." He closed his eyes to think. "Well, I think I was trying to say not to bring that aggression with you, since you were gonna see that exact attitude a lot at the thing that night."
"I dunno." He kept his eyes closed, trying to remind himself what headspace he was in. "I wasn't trying to say you weren't queer enough or mutant enough. I don't think that." He hadn't really thought about her personal life much at all, frankly. It wasn't personal; the distance he'd been keeping from most of his co-workers and teammates had all but ensured that.
"Anyway," he opened his eyes, looking at her now. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel shit." He frowned a little, in part because he felt bad, but in part because he didn't think he had any reason to feel bad. "I would have apologized sooner if I realized you took it that way and had been holding onto it for that long."
"Oh, that... yeah. Not what I took from that at all. But I wouldn't have. I just wanted to go and have fun without really having to hide shit for once. Well, less me, more the boys. Electricity's only visible if I want it to be or forget my bracelets." Darcy shrugged awkwardly. "Now that I know better, I apologize for taking it so poorly? I was already on edge, but that's a reason, not an excuse." Her phone buzzed, and she looked at it briefly. "Still, I didn't show up to ruin your night, so I'm gonna make all this a Matt problem instead."
"No, it's fine." He wasn't really sure what to say. "I mean, you know, I'm glad we cleared this up." Which he was, even if he hadn't really fully understood the problem until this evening anyway. "I do like you," he added. "I mean, you know. Still on your team."
"Yeah, same." Darcy made a broad gesture. "With the clearing and the liking and stuff." She stood, proud when she only wobbled for a second, and gathered her glasses. The least she could do was rinse them and leave them in the sink. "Do you... want a hug or anything? Otherwise I'm gonna go."
“God no,” Gabriel wrinkled his nose. “I’m not Jubilee.”
Darcy let out a snort of laughter. "I figured, but worth the ask. Goodnight, Gabriel."
