Angelo and Paige

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Paige comes to see Angelo, who is finally back. They snog, they talk, Paige distracts him away from the serious conversation with more snogging... that's about it.


Angelo was in his room, rosary clenched firmly in his hands as he tried to concentrate on that and not think about what might be happening to Nathan. Startled out of his concentration by a knock at the door, he got up off the bed to open it, but the door swung open before he reached it.

Paige stood in the doorway, hand still attached to the handle. “I heard you were back,” she said simply, before literally flinging herself at him, legs around his waist and mouth to his mouth. There was a long, hard moment where she just kissed him soundly before pulling back, looking down at him. “And I didn’t get to do that before you left.”

Angelo had recovered from the surprise quickly, and now had his arms around her, anchoring her in place. "Yeah, 'm sorry about that. Mom was really freaked 'bout it all, an' it's not like I can blame her. I'm here now, an' not goin' anywhere."

“No blame. Zero amounts of blame. Large amounts of missing, though,” she replied, leaning down to kiss him again. “You might want to lean against the wall at some point, I’m quite heavy.”

Angelo kissed her back quickly, before pulling away to say, "I missed you too, a whole lot. I love you. An' let's just sit down, huh?" He made his slightly clumsy way over to the bed, still holding her, and dropped carefully onto it, with Paige in his lap.

“I love you- oof,” Paige said as they dropped onto the bed and proceeded to rearrange herself more comfortably. “This will do as well I suppose.”

Angelo chuckled slightly, drawing her closer. "I think so. More comfortable than the wall."

Paige smiled but said nothing for while. That was possibly best kept secret, at least for now. “And how was your stay? Puppy enjoy all the new smells?” she asked, looking over at the sleeping dog form, who had barely snuffed at all the fuss the two of them had caused.

Angelo smiled, reaching out to pet the sleeping puppy without waking her. "Yeah, she did. She liked the city, I think, even if there's no rabbits t'chase."

Paige could only smile some more at that, watching her sleep. She’d done a good job at the dog picking out if she did say so herself. Angelo and his dog was an especially cute picture to watch and she realized how much she’d missed this.

Angelo smiled back, then it faded slightly when his attention strayed to the empty bed across the room, and he asked tentatively, not wanting to break the mood but concerned, "D'you know why Jono left so suddenly?"

Following his gaze, Paige found it couldn’t quite return to Angelo once she had figured out what he was looking at. “Yes. I do.” This was going to be a world of awkward if she burst into tears over Jono while sitting on Angelo’s lap.

"Is it somethin' you can tell me about?" Angelo persisted gently, knowing that if she really didn't want to, she could have just lied.

“I suppose so,” she answered quietly. “You’re his roommate after all and he left in such a hurry I doubt he had time to leave much of a note.” Paige cleared her throat, guilt creeping up on her. She knew that Jono had stayed because she wasn’t home yet, even if he hadn’t said quite as much, and if he didn’t make it because he hadn’t got there in time, she thought she might possibly... Well. “His mutation started malfunctioning again. Breaking him up.”

Angelo took a moment to work through the implications of that, then winced. "So that's why Ms. Frost went with him. She'll know the right people to help him, he'll be fine", he offered, trying to believe it.

Paige nodded slightly, looking down against what could be the beginning of tears. “Yeah. I hope so. I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” she replied, not sounding all that convinced.

Angelo reached out to her. "Hey. He's gettin' the best possible help, you know that. He will be fine", he repeated firmly.

“The best possible help hasn’t done much for him in the past, now has it?” Paige shot back, lack of sleep and pent up worries fueling anger. “In case you missed it, he still had a giant hole in his chest when his mutation was supposedly functioning.”

Angelo looked back at her, knowing her anger wasn't anything personal directed at him and therefore refusing to respond in kind. "I didn't just mean the people here. 'Cause he's not here anymore, an' wherever Ms. Frost's taken him, I'm sure it's to people who know what to do. It's true it shouldn't've come to this before she took him to meet them, but it seems like it did."

“No,” she said firmly, almost cold. “It shouldn’t have.” She wasn’t going to point fingers at anyone but herself, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t upset about it.

"But it did", Angelo said again. "An' given that it did, they're doin' the best they can for him now. D'you know if he ever talked to Nathan, or Askani?" he asked, a little abruptly.

Paige shrugged, shaking her head. She’d decided it was best to ignore the circle of it did/it shouldn’t have. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. You know Jono, he never asks anyone for help. I think he talked to Professor Xavier once, but that was a while ago.”

"I think when he comes back", he carefully avoided saying 'if', "he should. Nathan an' I talked about it, awhile back, an' Askani sounds like someone who could help him. Nathan said somethin' about her bein' a psion so powerful she didn't really have a physical body anymore, which is why she lived the better part of a hundred years without losin' her strength. Sounds a lot like Jono's situation."

“It makes perfect sense. We might just have to knock him out and lock him a room with Nathan, that’s all,” Paige agreed, if not somewhat wryly. “Welcome home ambush.”

Angelo chuckled a little wryly in return. “Let's just hope this thing makes him more willin' to work on it.”

Paige smiled, resting her forehead against his with a little effort. “I doubt it. But it sure makes me more willing to beat him up until he works on it. Which is just as good, really.”

Angelo nodded, wrapping his arms more firmly around her in an attempt at comfort. "It is. You're good at that."

“I’m a bully, what can I say?” she asked, relaxing into his hold. She’d missed this. Missed it a lot, actually, and it was painfully obvious at the moment.

"Only when it matters", Angelo tried to reassure her, kissing her gently. "Only when it helps."

Paige snorted, not all that delicately, but didn’t object to the kiss. “You’re a very good bender of truth when you’ve missed me.”

Angelo shook his head. "I don't always mean the big stuff. But it does always help. Seriously."

“Mm,” Paige hummed thoughtfully. “Too much serious, not enough kissing, thanks.” At that, she pushed him backwards, settling at his side and leaning over him. If she’d wanted a distraction, she’d come to the right place.

Angelo laughed, pulling her down. "Works for me." And he proved it by stretching up to close the distance between them, kissing her soundly.