xp_logs | Angelo and Shinobi (Reply)

Immediately after leaving Nathan's rooms, they go out to the porch for a smoke, and have a post-mortem of the Talk, then an increasingly silly conversation. Approximately 50% fluff.

After leaving Nathan's room with Shinobi, Angelo followed him to the smoker's porch, content to stay quiet for the moment, hands buried in his pockets. It didn't take them long to arrive.

Shinobi had been equally content to let the silence hang for the duration of the walk. He only broke it once they were out on the porch, reaching over to lightly nudge the other boy in the shoulder with a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "Here."

Angelo glanced over with a faint smile, taking the cigarettes to pull one out and light it, before handing them back. "Thanks. Could use it."

"I had a hunch." Smiling wryly, he accepted them back, acquiring and lighting a cigarette of his own before tucking them back into his pocket.

Angelo shrugged. "Could almost always use one, but sometimes more'n others."

Shinobi nodded simply, casting a look around. "I hear that." He found what he was searching for in short order, and moved to a clear, relatively clean portion of the porch, lowering himself down to sit.

Angelo took a few paces over towards him and sat down too, curling his legs comfortably beneath him and taking a drag on his cigarette.

"Well," Shinobi said after a moment's silence, slowly nodding to himself, as if in approval of something unsaid. "That could have gone far worse."

Angelo nodded, a little wryly. "I'll say. He didn't lose his temper this time, or not much."

"Or if he did, it wasn't in English," Shinobi chuckled. "You handled it very well, all things considered."

That brought a sharp glance his way, betraying surprise and maybe a flash of hope, quickly stifled. "You think?"

"You were quiet when you didn't need to speak, and spoke clearly and honestly when you did," Shinobi replied simply, looking over at Angelo with a slight shrug. "Noone can ever expect more out of anyone than that. You did very well."

Angelo smiled slightly, accepting the honesty in Shinobi's words. "Good to hear. Thanks."

He offered a reassuring grin, inclining his head. "Welcome. Hopefully, a round two once he's gotten some rest won't prove to be necessary."

"Hopefully", Angelo echoed, the sentiment of the words not really making it to his voice. "Think he'll still be mad, though, even if he doesn't lose it again like he did."

"Probably at me, if it's any comfort," Shinobi mused, leaning back against his hands. "This isn't the first time I've felt a need to lecture him. I imagine it drives him quite nuts."

Angelo chuckled. "You were right, though, an' when he's slept I figure he'll see that. When he's all the way back to English."

Shinobi nodded, pursing his lips in thought. "Well, I hope I was right, anyway. Be rather embarassing if I wasn't, after all that."

"I think you were", Angelo repeated. "Hope you were, too, anyway. Don't wanna think he'd lose it like that if he wasn't sleep-deprived."

"Thanks for the reassurance," Shinobi replied with a slight, genuine grin. "We all need it, once in a while. Not too terribly sore with me for herding you back in there, then?"

Angelo shrugged. "I was, at the beginnin'. But if you hadn't, it'd only've dragged on like it was. Least now, there's a chance it'll change."

Shinobi nodded in agreement. "Hence the herding," he grinned. "Any time you need it, I'm happy to oblige."

Angelo laughed slightly. "Might well take you up on that."

"Even if it means a phone call," Shinobi nodded, grinning wryly. "I'd drive out to do it, if you asked, and driving winds up being necessary."

Angelo paused to take that in. "You think you might not stay, then?"

Shinobi shrugged a shoulder. "I wouldn't mind, but I wouldn't mind if we don't, either. Freedom's pretty sweet. Depends on what Sarah wants, and what the Powers that Be say."

Angelo nodded. "Makes sense, I guess. Hope you both stay, though, at least for a while. When she's fit to go, I mean."

"We'll have to see," Shinobi nodded, smiling a bit. "I wouldn't mind the chance to catch up with folks, without a crisis looming."

Angelo laughed. "Yeah, crisis-free time'd definitely be good. Long may it last."

"I'd toast to that, if I had a drink," Shinobi chuckled, grinning lopsidedly.

"Cigarette'll have to do", Angelo answered lightly, making a vaguely toastesque gesture with the one in his hand, then brightening. "Speakin' of drinks, it's my birthday next month. Gonna be eighteen."

Grinning, Shinobi lifted his own cigarette in a salute, inclining his head. "You say that like the legal drinking age 'round here is eighteen," he mused, arching an eyebrow. "Got plans, do we?"

"Not yet - or rather, not's far as I know. Wouldn't put it past Amanda to be plottin' somethin' she isn't tellin' me about, though."

"She does that sometimes," Shinobi agreed, nodding solemnly. "Well.. if nothing else, there can be a clubbing trip. You can bring your better half." He paused. "Or better thirds, I suppose, kind of?"

Angelo grinned. "Kind of. I guess. Clubbin' trip sounds good, yeah. Haven't been out in way too long."

"Didn't know you swung that way," Shinobi teased lightly, winking and reaching over to pat Angelo on the shoulder, to make it clear he was just joking. "Things are working out, then?"

Angelo smiled slightly. "Yeah, we sorted stuff out. Nothin's really changed, we just all know where we stand now."

Shinobi nodded approvingly. "Good! That's a bloody important thing in any relationship, no matter how many people are involved in it." He paused, and mused, "Pretty bloody important when it isn't a relationship, even. Would be some prety chaotic orgies, otherwise."

Angelo, in the middle of drawing on his cigarette, suddenly found smoke going down the wrong way as he laughed, and coughed for a moment, nodding seriously when his eyes had stopped watering. "You'd think so, yeah."

Grinning impishly when the other boy coughed, Shinobi reached over to give him a pat on the back, eyeing him with a mixture of amusement and concern. "Couldn't resist. Alright?"

"You couldn't wait 'til I'd finished, could you?" Angelo accused jokingly. "Yeah, I'm okay now."

"What, and take all the fun out of it?" Satisfied that Angelo was alright, Shinobi settled back down, grinning brightly.

"Evil", Angelo muttered, shaking his head, but clearly not even close to meaning it.

Shinobi looked at the other boy, arching an eyebrow in an expression that very much says 'well, duh'. "Shaw."

Angelo chuckled, tipping his head in acknowledgment. "Of course. Sorry."

"Evil is what we do best," Shinobi grinned, inclining his head.