LOG!

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Angelo talks to Shan about recent ructions, then tries to convince the twins that stealing Scott's bike wouldn't be a good idea. Really.



In his first free period, Angelo took refuge in the library. He knew he risked running into Kitty there, but the place was big enough he could hide from her if necessary, and not see the general population of the mansion.

"Hey," Shan called, spotting Angelo from where she was reshelving some books. He looked -- not under the weather, but not really like a happy camper, either. "How are you doing?"

Angelo blinked, not having seen her there. "Hey, Shan. Eh. Better than yesterday?"

"Still not great, though, huh?" she asked. She'd been worried about him -- not overly, because he seemed to have a handle in general, but the discussions on the journals had gotten pretty nasty, and she'd seen what that did to people. "How was your mom?"

He smiled slightly. "She's good. Little bit confused about why I turned up suddenly, but she knows it happens. Otherwise, she's fine."

Shan nodded. "That's good," she said. "Nice to have someplace to go when things get -- heated," she added. "God knows I'd need it. You're holding up, though? Not so much with the fiery death posts?"

He laughed wryly. "Most of the fiery death posts didn't come from me. But, yeah, I'm tryin' not to do any more for now."

She grinned. "I know. I was just speaking in general. Things blew up in a hurry, especially with that whole demon thing -- which I don't claim to understand, but I think everyone had the same 'oh hell' reaction."

He nodded. "It was just... too much all in one day, y'know? What happened with LeBeau, we barely had a few hours to bounce back from that, an' then suddenly there's demons on the front lawn. I think a lot of the fights had t'do with people tryin' to stand up for Illyana, versus the posts about the questions she should answer when she's well enough. An' then there were the ones about other stuff entirely."

"Sounds like she's picked up a few pretty vocal defenders," Shan said mildly. "I think the emotions were running pretty high -- and the girl, Illyana, was it? She wasn't exactly endearing herself to anyone before it happened."

"Except Kitty, apparently", Angelo answered, trying not to sound bitter. "An' Jubilee - but I can see why that is. Illyana did go lookin' for her when she ran off."

"Trying to figure out the relationships of teenage girls on any level is probably not something you'll ever quite manage," Shan said with a smile. "It takes a few years before they start making sense to the outside world. But I think everyone overreacted a little bit once the shock was done."

Angelo nodded, the slight smile returning. "Yeah, probably. Amanda's... got demon issues, though. An' she's been wonderin' about Illyana - publicly - for quite a while."

"I get that," Shan said, nodding. "But it did go downhill very quickly, after that. It would probably have been better to go to the Professor with everyone's concerns."

"Oh, probably. But nobody - me included - ever does things the easy way round here."

Shan laughed. "I noticed that. But it's one way of doing things, I guess. And you're holding up otherwise?"

"Otherwise, I'm just fine", he answered almost lightly. "Just the arguments botherin' me right now. Well, an' worryin' about Amanda."

"Sounds like a good idea," Shan agreed. "I think she could use good friends at the moment, by the looks of things on the journals."

Angelo nodded. "Yeah, like I said, she has demon issues. An' it didn't help that whatever happened with Remy, happened right before all this blew up."

"Too much happening at once," Shan said, shaking her head. "It's a lot to take in at once -- I feel for her. And all of you; it's been a hard couple of months, with not much respite."
"It really has", Angelo agreed. "Hard year, really, but we've always got longer than this to recover, before." He glanced round, hearing rapid footsteps somewhere just outside the room.

Shan glanced back, too; after a moment, a black-haired head popped into view. "Hey," said Nga, "it's the pregnant smoking guy."

"He's not pregnant, stupid," another voice amended, before the second twin crept into view.

"Evidence was incondusive," Nga said haughtily.

"Kids," Shan said dryly, "Angelo is not pregnant. Which I thought we discussed yesterday, when you were too polite to ask him in person. What happened to being too polite?" She glanced at Angelo helplessly. "They pick up the strangest things, I swear."

Angelo was trying very hard not to laugh. "Hey, munchkins. Didn't they teach you in health class only women get pregnant?"

"It could be your mutant power," Nga said decidedly. "Or a magical curse. Those exist. I know."

"It's not my mutant power. It could be a magical curse, I guess, but I think I'd know."

"That could be part of the curse," Nga said seriously.

"Or it could be another curse," Leong added.

"Or else it's the government."

"Maybe it's the Spanish Inquisition."

"It could be aliens."

The twins looked at one another, and then at Shan. "None of the above," Shan said, rolling her eyes good-naturedly.

Angelo was highly amused by the proceedings. "You two watch too much TV, I think."

"TV tells us things. Like that we need a juicer."

"No," Shan said, giggling. "No juicer." She glanced at Angelo, clearly amused. "You wanna borrow them? They'll take your mind off all your problems in no time, through sheer force of will."

"I think the mansion already has a juicer", Angelo said thoughtfully. "It has everythin' else..." He glanced up at Shan with a grin. "Be happy to."

"But we don't have the juicer from TV," Nga explained. "It's silver."

"It matches our Batman costume," Leong added. "Only shiny."

Angelo blinked. "Your Batman costume is silver? Aren't they usually black?"

"It's grey and black," Nga explained patiently. "With yellow. Like the cool Batman in the old TV show."

"And it somehow requires a Bat-juicer," Shan added dryly.

"So Batman can have juice if he or she wants it," Leong said with dignity.

"Batman can have juice whenever... he or she... does want it, though", Angelo pointed out.

"Zactly," Nga beamed. "With his Bat-juicer."

"Which we need."

"Maybe when you're older," Shan said.

"That's what you said about Batmobile, too," Leong muttered.

Angelo chuckled. "You don't want a real Batmobile. Where would you put it?"

"The garage," Leong said patiently. "Next to Mr Summers' motorcycle in case Robin needed a ride."

Angelo covered his laughter with coughing. "Right. I think you might have to be a little bit bigger before you have a real car. Or ride Mr. Summers' motorbike."

The twins exchanged shifty glances. "Yes, you're probably right," Nga said with a very much too-bright smile.

"We don't even know where the keys are or anything," Leong added.

"And we don't have a book on how to work motorcycles."

"So how would we work it?" The twins beamed up at him with identical angelic grins.

Angelo eyed them suspiciously, not taken in for a second, before looking up at Shan. "Tell me they don't have a book on how to work motorbikes."

Shan looked horrified. "They'd better not have a book on how to work motorbikes," she said, giving the twins a narrow look. "That is, if they ever want to eat cookies again."

"We might have found one lying around somewhere. And kept it for safekeeping," Nga explained, shiftier than ever.

"We'll give it back," they added in chorus.

Angelo laughed out loud now. "You two are incorrigible. I might have to tell Mr. Summers to move his keys."

"He doesn't have to," Leong said immediately. "He could just label them with a big sign saying DON'T TOUCH."

"In bright colours, so we know it's him," Nga added. Shan covered her mouth, stifling a laugh -- this was serious, No Motorcycles for Children and all that.

"He could", Angelo agreed seriously. "But I don't think that'd quite have the effect he'd be aimin' for."

"I think he would be a safety hero if he did that," said Nga.

"My safety hero," Leong added, as if that settled the matter. Something sounding much like "Oh, god," came from Shan's direction.

"I think movin' them might be better", Angelo answered carefully, before adding with a wicked grin, "Might be able to talk him into a sidecar, though."

The twins glanced at one another. "I don't think Mr Summers would fit in a sidecar," Nga said doubtfully. "He's kind of big for the Robin costume we have, too."

Angelo shook his head. "No, no, you two would go in the sidecar, at least until Mr. Summers wouldn't get arrested for lettin' you drive the bike."

"Well, he can't drive," Nga said indignantly. "We're Batman."

"Maybe Batman has a driver", Angelo suggested. "Just sometimes."

"Um," Leong said.

"Well, it's not Robin. Robin's always tied up somewhere. If Mr Summers is Robin, he can't drive," Leong said patiently. He glanced at Angelo thoughtfully. "Can you drive a motorcycle?"

Angelo looked shifty. "Um. Not legally?"

"I bet he could if we gave him our book . . . that we found," Nga corrected hastily. "Yay! Angelo can be our driver. As long as he's not pregnant. But we'll have to fit Mr Summers into the sidecar somehow."

"I'll need to take the test", Angelo answered quickly.

"We've got the book that we found, it's okay," Leong assured him. "It has everything in it."

"Still an' all. Should have all the papers in order first."

Leong and Nga exchanged a glance. "We could get you papers," Nga said. "We have lots of paper."

"Official papers", Angelo answered seriously. "Otherwise I could go to prison for drivin' you."

"Oh." Nga paused. "Well, we'll lend you our book -- that we found -- sometime, 'kay? And tell Mr Summers about the bright colours thing. It'll help us remember."

Angelo grinned. "Will do. You wanna go do somethin' now?"

The twins nodded vigorously. "You're a braver man than I," Shan said with a grin. "Have fun."

He laughed. "We will."

Comments

[xp_daytripper]

*dies* *re-reads* *dies again*

"It could be your mutant power," Nga said decidedly. "Or a magical curse. Those exist. I know."

"It's not my mutant power. It could be a magical curse, I guess, but I think I'd know."

"That could be part of the curse," Nga said seriously.

"Or it could be another curse," Leong added.

Damn, I need Lauren. I have this image of Nga and Leong bailing up Amanda in the girls' suite demanding she check Angelo out for magical curses...

"What for?"

"To see if he's pregnant."

"And doesn't know about it. Because he's cursed."

"..."

"It can happen. You're a witch, you should know this."

"It's too bloody early in the morning for this..."

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the best part is that I posted this for Kate b/c her LJ was being all spazzoid and was reading mpreg b/c well...I'm a horrible person who likes to read an occassional trainwreck to remind myself what GOOD fic looks like.

but yeah. lovely log.