[Paul, Angelo] Laughter as good medicine.

[x-vega.livejournal.com]

Angelo and Joyita run across Paul washing Vega and stay around to help.  Things get a little wet and silly, but the car gets clean in the end and Angelo laughs a lot, which he needs like crazy.  Delphine decides that Joyita is /her/ puppy now.  Be warned.


It was a good day to wash the car so Paul found an old pair of shorts to wear, saved for such occasions, and gathered Delphine up. 

"Let's go wash Vega," he said, kissing her nose.  Delphine purred and patted his face with a paw.  "You can tell Papa if he's doing it right."  Oh yes, that was what she was good at, making sure Papa did everything correctly.  Delphine cuddled up against her Papa's bare chest and batted at the silver crucifix he was wearing today.  She liked it when he wore toys for her to play with.

Paul backed Vega out of the garage and put Delphine in the driver's seat while he went to get a bucket of hot, soapy water and a couple sponges and a chamois. 

Angelo, having checked he had permission to go out on the grounds since Joyita needed walking, headed out.  Passing the drive, he saw that the garage doors were open and Paul's car was there, and wandered over to see what was going on, puppy bouncing along behind him.

Delphine heard them coming before Paul did and stood up, looking over the back of the driver's seat, ears pricked.  "Mew!" she said, in her distinctive Siamese drawl.  Paul came out of the garage and put a full bucket of water down by the front fender. 

"Good morning, Angelo."  He tilted his head back and looked for the sun.  "Yes, good morning."

Angelo managed a half-smile, wandering over to scratch Delphine's ears.  "Nice day for washin' the car", he observed, glad of the chance to make small talk for once.

"Yes, and good thing too," Paul said, noting Joyita bouncing up and down like a rubber ball on the end of her leash trying to see the cat.  It wasn't more than ten seconds before her dewy, gritty little puppy-paws were plastered against the car door, her tail going almost fast enough for her to achieve take-off.  Her whines were pitifully eager.  Delphine put her paws on the top of the door and looked down at Joyita with a warning "Mrrrr."  Joyita was tall enough, and the car low enough, that her bouncing brought her nose within inches of Delphine's.  "How're you doing?" Paul asked, choosing to let the animals work things out for themselves. 

Angelo shrugged.  "Been better.  But he's back an' the Professor'll be workin' on him, so I guess things are as good as they could be right now."  He turned to watch Joyita, who was still bouncing, apparently with the intention of licking Delphine in greeting.  Delphine was now watching her with pure Siamese scorn.

"Professor Xavier's an excellent safety net," Paul said breezily, bending to pull a sodden sponge out of the bucket.  He began to wash Vega's hood with long lazy strokes, one foot on the fender for balance as he reached for the far side.  "Things will work out one way or the other.  All and all, this has unfolded fairly well."

Angelo nodded.  "Best it could've done, far as I can see, after he got taken.  Even got him back without anybody gettin' seriously hurt."

"Glad you're able to see that," Paul said, tossing his hair out of the way so that he could look over at Angelo. 

Angelo shrugged, idly giving Joyita a bit more slack on the lead before she choked herself trying to be friendly at Delphine.  "Doesn't mean I wish he hadn't got taken in the first place, but there's nothin' to be done about that.  An' from what I hear, there wasn't much anyone could do to stop it."

"Exactly."  Paul looked over at the animals.  Delphine was now teasing Joyita, leaning over just enough to tempt but not so far that she could be licked.  Grinning, he leaned his weight on the foot he had on the fender, dipping that side of the car down a little.  Joyita, much to her surprise as well as Delphine's, managed to give the cat a full-face slurp with Paul's help.  Delphine squawked and tumbled back into the driver's seat.

Angelo laughed out loud for the first time in days, seeing this.  Since Paul obviously had no objection to his cat being licked, he moved over to the car and picked Joyita up, looking to Paul for permission before putting her in with the cat.

Paul wiped Joyita's paws off with the sponge and then pointed at the backseat.  "There.  They'll be fine."  Delphine, looking betrayed, sneezed pointedly at Paul.  "Oh, hush," he told her.  "If I have to put up with puppies, so do you."

Angelo chuckled, depositing Joyita in the backseat and turning back to Paul, though keeping half an eye on the animals just in case.  "She likes to watch you work?"

"She's supervising," Paul said, crouching down to rinse the sponge off.  He looked up at Angelo, smiling.  "To make sure I do things right.  Someone's got to keep an eye on me, you know."  Delphine was now peeking over the back of the driver's seat at Joyita who was doing her best jumping bean imitation in the back seat, complete with joyous stacatto barks.

Angelo nodded earnestly, enjoying the light-hearted conversation.  "Oh, of course.  What does she do if you get it wrong?"  Joyita, spotting Delphine again, put her front paws on the back of the seat and tried to lick the cat's face again.

Delphine, feeling the need to educate Joyita in the hierarchy of the animal kingdom - where cats rule over dogs, of course - raised a paw and smacked the dog firmly on the nose.  With her claws sheathed it wasn't exactly punishment but it had to sting a little.  "That," Paul said, pointing with one soapy hand.

Joyita yelped, tumbling comically back onto the seat with a wounded expression.  Angelo raised an eyebrow at Paul.  "She smacks you on the nose?"

"Anywhere she can reach," Paul said dryly, smiling at Angelo.  "Only she doesn't keep her claws in."  Delphine mewed imperiously at the chastized puppy.

Angelo chuckled.  "Hear that, Joyita?  You got off light."  Joyita raised her head, studying Delphine hopefully and yipping with a clear questioning note in it.

That was better.  Puppies should sit.  Delphine leaned between the seats to sniff Joyita experimentally.  "I'm not a puppy, I'm afraid."  Paul bent to scrub the bugs off of the chrome grill.  "She doesn't buy my innocent act.  She's too smart for that."  He looked up at Angelo one of his better guileless expressions, complete with wide blue eyes and slight pout.

Angelo grinned.  "She's been with you awhile.  I never had a cat, but people tell me they learn real fast how t'get their way."  Joyita was being cautious now, but sniffed back at Delphine warily.

"I'm also the world's biggest sop," Paul admitted.  The wind blew hair into his eyes and he pushed it away with the back of his hand, leaving soap bubbles along the strands.  "Don't tell anyone though.  Might ruin my tough-guy reputation."  He managed to keep a straight face for a moment, then laughed.

Angelo joined the laughter, before answering would-be seriously, "Secret's safe with me."

Delphine, getting closer to Joyita without being assaulted, let out a small "mrrt" and rubbed her cheek along Joyita's muzzle to mark her, so that people would know that Joyita was Delphine's puppy now.  What a good puppy to sit!

"Going anywhere at the moment?" Paul asked.

Angelo glanced at the animals in slight surprise.  "Looks like they're friends now", he observed, before answering Paul's question.  "Uh - I wasn't plannin' anythin' in particular.  Why'd you ask?"

Paul pulled another sponge out of the water and grinned at Angelo.  "How about some theraputic distraction?" he suggested.  "Also known as helping the lazy teacher cut his car washing time in half." His grin was shameless and his eyes flashed with good humour.

Angelo reached for the sponge with an answering grin.  "Oh, I think I can manage that.  Distraction's always good."

"I agree," Paul said, using his thumbnail to scrape gnat corpses off the near headlight, making a face at the task.  "Keeping busy is always good, even if you're keeping busy by doing nothing.  It's a skill I like to practice as much as possible."

Angelo chuckled.  "Not sure I've got the hang of that one.  I usually end up in the gym, hittin' the punchbags.  Or sparrin' with Sarah."

"You have to work up to it," Paul said seriously.  "You can't just go flop in the sun in the middle of a crisis and have it work.  You need to practice putting things in perspective, trusting the people in charge to tell you when you're needed, trusting yourself to do everything you can when it's your turn, and letting it go the rest of the time.  Of course having your face rubbed in your limits for a few years always helps the process."

Angelo nodded, taking it in.  "Lettin' things go's never really been my strong point", he admitted quietly.

"You're young," Paul said mildly.  "There comes a time when it's let go or lose it all.  Sometimes you have to get there first.  It's nice if you can skip it, though." 

There was a strangled noise from the back seat and Paul stood to look.  There was Joyita, firmly pinned to the seat by one ear while Delphine washed the puppy's face with her rough little pink tongue.

Angelo glanced over that way too, and burst out laughing.  "That's either revenge, or my dog's been adopted."

"Both, I think," Paul said, laughing as well.  He had a wet sponge in one hand that he'd just swished in the rinse-water and Angelo's back was to him... the opportunity for a lesson in relaxation should never be passed up, when the situation allowed.  The water was still relatively clear and soapless.  So it was with a clean conscience that Paul squeezed a sponge full of warm water over Angelo's head. 

Angelo spluttered, shaking off the excess water as he turned (and not at all aiming it at Paul.  Really).  Eyes glinting with amusement, he looked pointedly down at the equally soapless sponge in his own hand, before retaliating in kind.

Paul laughed and scooped water out of the bucket with his free hand, showering Angelo with it.  A few drops sailed into the back seat and Delphine let Joyita go to bounce over to the side of the car and mew in protest. 

Angelo glanced at her, then back at Paul.  "You're gonna get smacked by an annoyed cat in a minute", he observed, trying to judge if he could get to the bucket before Paul could.  Deciding it wasn't likely, he lunged for the hose instead, aiming it at Paul with a triumphant "Hah!"

"Merde!"  Paul was immediately drenched in a blast of cold water; not that he minded much.  Laughing and sputtering, he grabbed the bucket and retaliated at top speed, soaking Angelo from head to toe. 

Angelo spluttered in turn, sweeping his wet hair out of his eyes.  Also laughing, he pointed out, "Now you've got no more water, an' I've got the hose.  How fast c'n you run?"

"Faster than you can think," Paul said, dodging the spray.  "You know, there's a whole pool over there."  He was grinning, keeping just ahead of the water.  "And I can have you in it in no time."

Angelo, seeing that Paul was evading the thin spray, resorted to a childhood trick: holding his thumb over the end of the hose, so that it splashed out in a wide fan in Paul's direction.  "Gotta get me over there first."

Delphine was standing up and looking over the back of the car at them, her expression disapproving, and Joyita was beside her, barking wildly. 

Paul got sluiced again and put on a burst of speed.  Ducking around Angelo and catching him around the waist from behind, Paul locked one strong arm around him.  "I can do that," he said in Angelo's ear.

Angelo put up at least a show of a struggle, laughing too hard for a real one even if he'd particularly objected to being thrown in the pool on a hot day.

Paul managed to wrest the hose from Angelo's hand; there was no sense taking it with them,  he thought.  Then, keeping his grip on the wet, wriggling, laughing teenager while still laughing himself, he launched them both in the direction of the pool.  There was a rush of air past them as they arced towards the water, then they hit the deep end with a monumental splash. 

Angelo, finding himself free, surfaced with a somewhat smaller splash, laughing like a child and completely distracted from Nathan's troubles at least temporarily. 

Paul swam to the side and pulled himself out.  He wrung out his hair, then held his hand out to Angelo to pull him out. 

Angelo followed with a grin, reaching out to take the offered hand, while putting some of his weight on the side of the pool.

Paul pulled him out easily, looking him over to make sure there were no bumps or scrapes.  "This isn't getting my car clean, you know," he said with mock sternness, failing not to smile. 

Angelo chuckled.  "Hey, you started it.  An' you brought us here."

"No logic!"  Paul admonished, shaking his finger at Angelo before slinging his arm loosely over the boy's shoulders and steering them both back toward the driveway.  "It doesn't work on me," he explained.  "I'm immune.  Especially when it involves things being my fault.  I think it's a side effect of my mutation.  I need to go into town after the car's clean, want to join me?"

Angelo blinked at the sudden invitation, then grinned.  "Sure, why not.  Be good to get out of here for awhile."

"Consider it fair trade for helping me out," Paul said.  The scene around Vega looked like a miniwarzone.  "Hmm.  We'd better get this clean before someone responsible comes along."

Angelo shrugged.  "Nah, it's mostly only water.  It'll dry up by itself, on a day like this.  Probably most of it'll be gone before we finish the car."

"I like your attitude," Paul said, ruffling Angelo's wet hair lightly before bending to pick up the empty bucket. 

Joyita and Delphine had both managed to get into the driver's seat and were waiting, two sets of paws on the steering wheel, for their owners to return.  When Angelo came near, Joyita barked happily and then stepped on the horn by accident, startling everyone.

Angelo chuckled, scooping her up and getting her fur somewhat damp in the process.  "Silly dog.  No treadin' on things that make loud noises."  He put her firmly in the backseat and turned to look for his discarded sponge.

"Yes, good advice."  Paul comforted the unnerved Delphine and rubbed his nose against her.  "What a good kitty to babysit the puppy, yes," he murmured in affectionate tones.  "Papa needs to go get more hot rinse water.  The rest of it got on Angelo somehow."

Angelo picked up the hose again, looking innocent, and turned it on the car, careful to avoid getting any water on Delphine and not quite as careful when it came to Paul.  "Somehow.  Right!"

Paul skipped out of the way as cold water washed up the backs of his calves.  "Yes, somehow," he said dryly, putting Delphine in the car again.  "A freak accident that could happen again at any time."

"Not with an empty bucket", Angelo pointed out.  "An' it does slow down washin' the car quite a bit."

"I'm going, I'm going," Paul said, making a face at Angelo and picking up the bucket.  "Slave-driver," he sniffed as he headed for the taps in the garage. 

Paul returned and got to work on one side of the car, leaving Angelo to do the other.  "How's your mother doing now?"  He remembered that Mrs Espinoza had been distressed over Asgard.  He'd avoided the parents as best he could while they were there, he didn't know their children well enough to be of any help to them and being reassuring was not a strong point of his.

Angelo paused in his work for a moment, looking up.  "She's not too bad.  Talked for about a day about pullin' me out of the school, but I'm better off stayin' here, even with everythin' that's happened.  An' I like it here, she knows that.  's just, Asgard was double bad for her 'cause I kinda disappeared on her once before.  After I manifested.  Couldn't get in touch with her until after I got settled in safe here.  Ended up bein' a few months before someone went to see her."

"I can see how that would worry her.  It would worry any decent parent, I think."  Paul looked thoughtful, rinsing soap off of the door while Delphine inspecting his work. 

Angelo nodded.  "I wish I hadn't had to do it that way, but there wasn't a lot of choice.  Pissed off some people when I manifested, an' I wasn't gonna risk what they might do if I went home."

"Understandable."  Paul nodded, musing that he might have done the same thing, if he'd had a family he'd cared for.  "If you have family, it's not right for them to take the brunt of other people's ignorance.  It might not have been the wisest thing but if you didn't have a choice, then you did what you had to do."

Angelo turned his attention back to the car, wiping it down with his sponge, and summoned up a crooked smile.  "Yeah.  All turned out pretty well in the end, anyway.  An' she's living in NYC now, so I don't even have t'worry about goin' to visit."

"It goes that way, mostly, with good people around you."  Paul sprayed the tires and attacked them with a stiff brush.  "Things working out in the end."

The smile widened, became more genuine, at the mention of the people in the mansion.  "Yeah, I've noticed.  I've been lucky as hell."

"Like calls to itself," Paul said calmly.  "People find their own kind sooner or later.  It's not all luck; some of it, yes, but there's more to it than that."

Angelo tilted his head.  "You don't just mean mutants, do you?  Never thought of it like that.  Back in the barrio, I never thought I'd make it out, not really, even after I manifested, until Scott showed up."

"How'd he find you?"

"The Professor sent him.  He'd been in Cerebro, picked up that I'd had... problems when I manifested, that I'd likely need a way out, so he sent me one."

Paul nodded, smiling.  The more he was around the place, the more he liked Xavier.  He remembered Mac's timely arrival in his own life.  That wasn't luck either, he'd been under observation for his involvement in the FLQ and whatever Mac saw in him, it was enough for Alphaflight to approach him.  "Smart man."

Angelo nodded.  "Yeah, he really is.  An' he does his best for us, whatever happens."

Paul passed Angelo the brush so he could do the other tires.  "Just one of the many reasons I took this job," he noted.

Angelo took the brush automatically and started using it.  "Where were you before?" he asked curiously.

"A government agency in Canada called Alphaflight, on and off.  That is, we were government on and off.  It's complicated," he said, giving Angelo a crooked smile.  "I was recruited by the director when I was twenty.  I worked for them as well as doing other public service work."

Angelo looked startled for a moment, then laughed.  "Huh.  Small world.  I think I've got a couple of friends with Alphaflight - they were here, then they headed up north to work there."

"Wolverine and his girlfriend, yes?"  Paul nodded.  "Call it a trade, maybe?  I'd retired before they signed on this spring, but I was glad to know that they got Logan back.  With any luck, the girl will fill my spot nicely in time."

"Marie's a good friend", Angelo answered.  "She was actually the one that went an' told my mom what was goin' on, after I came here.  I miss her, but as long as she's happier up there..."

Paul smiled.  "I expect he is, so she probably is.  He's the kind that if he's not happy, nobody's happy.  I worked with him for quite a while.  He's a hell of a man to have at your back, but I wouldn't want to live with him for long."

Angelo nodded.  "I don't know Logan all that well, but well enough.  He's a good guy.  Drove me out to the mountains once, 'cause Marie asked him, so I could have Valentine's with Paige - she'd gone snowboardin' with some of the others, but I was still recoverin' from... a thing, so I couldn't go for the whole time.  Definitely a good guy.  But he keeps himself to himself."

Paul nodded.  "A lot of the older guys are like that, you'll find.  Shaman, Puck, that generation, they keep closed-mouthed about things."  He polished the rear fender.  In the back seat, Joyita and Delphine had made a purring, snoring yinyang of cat and dog.  "Me, I got kicked out of the closet so hard and fast, both times, it wasn't worth being silent and I felt like I had to talk about it to people.  I regret it sometimes but if I didn't talk, the papers would, and that always left me screwed."

Angelo, not sure what to say to that, just nodded and returned his attention to the last of the work on the car.  "I think we're about done here..."

"I think we are too," Paul said, looking pleased.  "Now, about that trip into town."  He looked into the back seat.  "Should we take the kids for a ride?"

Angelo grinned.  "Yeah, I think they'd like that.  Where d'you need to go?"

"I want cookies," Paul admitted.  "And I can't make them to save my life, at least not ones I can share with Delphine.  So, vegan bakery, and I think I'll probably hit their freezer case.  Ice cream sounds good too."

Angelo restrained himself from bouncing, but only just.  "Ice cream definitely sounds good.  Think I'll get some too." 

"My treat," Paul said, heading for the driver's side, smiling at Angelo's enthusiasm.  "Let's go."