xp_logs | And previously, on All My Mutant Children....

x-pyromaniac.livejournal.com posting in

John decided to go for a nap, now that his body has been thoroughly worked over in all sorts of ways we won't go into, and so he slumbers lightly, stretched out on one of the sofa's in the TV room, a crumpled jacket - not his - under his head as a pillow. The TV blares in the distance, colours flickering over his reclining body, and he almost seems to be at peace. Amazing, that.

Doug wandered in from his discussion with Paige, having been told to look for John around here. Seeing John stretched out and sleeping, he debates whether or not to wake him up.

John makes one of those glottal choking noises people do sometimes in their sleep and he blinks, gazing up at the other young man. "Hey. You're blocking my TV. I need it to sleep...but now you're here. You must be Doug, right?"

"Um, yeah. I'm really new here. Like a couple of days before you got back new. So I'm really not up to speed on half of the interpersonal crap around here. And there seems to be a metric assload of it." Doug offers a hand.

John moves to sit on the couch, looks at him blnkly for a few moments, and gets a wicked grin that anyone else would have known was trouble. He takes the hand, shaking him firmly, before tugging, and pulling Doug down onto the couch with him. "Well, most of it is a case of who fucked who over; both literally and metaphorically," he begins.

Doug is a little startled at John's action, but recovers and chuckles wryly. "That seems to be the story of human nature. I once heard political science described as 'the study of how and why nations fuck each other over'."

"History sure is full of it," John nods, grinning knowledgably. "So. What do you wanna know?"

"Well, I know about," Doug strikes an obvious parody of a newscaster pose, "'the capture of the dangerous mutant terrorist Magneto', as it was shown on the news, but I'm beginning to understand that there was a lot that the news either didn't know or didn't say about that. Not to mention him apparently getting out and working briefly with everyone here. Basically all I know is that I know mostly nothing. I have no idea where to start."

"Oh, shit," is John's first response, and he takes a few moments to sort things out in his head. "Right. What I tell you now, you tell no-one else...or I wipe that permanently confused expression off your face with a good screw, which you'd probably spend the entire rest of your life denying you ever had."

Doug blinks. "A good screw? And yeah, don't tell anyone. Got it."

"Where to begin. Well. There was Magneto. Who is the other extreme - if you like - of the mutant political spectrum, as opposed to the Prof. He's all, mundanes are a disease, inferior, they should be wiped out before they kill us." John shrugs.

Doug nods. "Well, I wonder where that puts me. Cuz I'm not sure that I'm a mutant."

John blinks. "Why the fuck are you here then?"

"Because I tested X-gene positive. But there isn't really anything I can do."

"Is it mental? Are you like, super-smart or some shit?"

"I don't know. I mean, I'm smart, but I'm not exactly Albert Einstein rethinking the way we look at the universe. Just your basic kinda smart high school geek."

"Maybe your evolution is waiting to happen. You know. If we throw you off the building you'll find out you can fly."

Doug tries to decide if John's being serious or not. "I think I'll pass. If my ability _isn't_ flying, I'd be kind of screwed."

A bitter laugh. "You'll get screwed here one way or another."

Doug looks assessingly at John. "I sense more backstory."

"Sheesh. Just call you the next Sherlock fucking Holmes. Okay, okay. What I'm going to tell you I haven't told anyone else. Alright?" It's kind of incredibly stupid and incredibly liberating at the same time.

Doug senses the gravity of whatever he's about to hear. "And 'anyone else' won't be hearing it from me. Promise."

"I had a reputation. For skiving off class, and being a trouble-maker, and not taking anything seriously, and I didn't - I don't, because world peace is great and all, but if the mundanes wanna kill me they can and learning Ghandi and shit doesn't help."

Doug nods, keeping quiet and letting John say his piece.

"So, you know, I was always on edge. Always ready to run. But one thing kept me here." He snorts, and a slight change comes over his face, lost in the memory. "What an idiot I was."

Doug snorts himself. "You don't have a monopoly on that. Trust me."

John licks his lips, nervous, seeming young, and almost innocent for once. "His name's Bobby. Bobby Drake. He's real cute - kinda looks like you - and most straight-laced, buttoned-down good boy you ever did see. And him and me, we were...best friends. I always used to get him in trouble, and without him, I would probably gone mad and killed someone years ago."

Doug keeps nodding, let John continue at his own pace.

"Thing is...Bobby got himself a girlfriend." Nod, wry grin, trying to hide his own bitterness. "And she and he...they looked good together. They really did. And they were good for each other. And I was just the fucking third wheel, trying to impress him and impress her, and keep my position as Court Jester cause it was better than nothing."

Doug's heart aches for John, but he keeps quiet for now.

"And then there was this guy called Striker. Who basically hated mutants. Mundane Government secret-ops bullshit. And one night, he and some army people stormed the school and tried to tranq us all so they could carry us off to do experiments on."

Doug has heard virtually nothing about all of this, but tries to remain quiet and listen.

"Logan got me, Rogue - Bobby's girlfriend - and Bobby out and we went to Bobby's family for somewhere to hide. Except Bobby's own brother called the police and said they had dangerous mutants in the house. And we're suppose to let these people walk all over us."

A pause, and he continues. "I torched some police cars - and some police and then the X-Men arrived in the Blackbird - because some people were out of the mansion when the attack hit. We then got co-opted by Magneto, who'd escaped and knew about Stryker's plans, and told us, so did the brief unity thing to whip his ass. And Magneto...told me I was a king amongst insects, and it's more than I ever got from this crowd, so I went with."

"A short while later, I heard-" deep breath, John, keep going "-that Bobby was in fact taking it up the ass from someone. Someone male and not me. Magneto didn't seem to have major use for me, although he gave me lessons and all. It got by turns both boring and terrifying, cause, you know, they could kill me at any time. And last week, I got sent on a suicide mission and rescued by the good guys, cause that's what they do."

Another pause. "So. I'm back. Haven't talked to Bobby - no surprise there. Rogue is missing. I think that's kind of it. Did it help ya?"

Doug nods. "Some. I'm...I'm sorry, man," Doug says with feeling. "I'm sure there's a lot of other subtext around here, but that's other people, and at least I know some of the basics, now. I really appreciate it. It must have taken a lot to be so honest with me, some guy you've never even met before."

"Hey. I'm just helping some cute newbie avoid the pitfalls," John says, dryly. "No skin off my back."

Doug shakes his head. "Cute? Me? Nuh-uh."

John teasingly punches him lightly on the shoulder. "Sure y'are. Not really my type, but cute."

Doug is dubious. "I'm...average. People don't find me cute. I'm the good close platonic friend. Always."

"Cute geek boy? There's probably a whole community of gay men who'd wanna jump you," John says absently stretching his arms up.

Doug shrugs. "I'll take your word for it."

"Anyways. If you ever need to talk to someone, y'know, who's not 'anyone else', you know how to find me."

"Sure. And thanks." John's already looking at the TV.

Doug wanders off, with a last look at John. You can't fix everyone all at once, man, he thinks to himself. Just be there, listen, and take it a step at a time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

x-cypher.livejournal.com

How did I know you'd use the "completely fail to have sex" thing?

And man, this "fix the world" complex is really going to get Doug hurt one of these days, I think.

From:

x-dazzler.livejournal.com

And man, this "fix the world" complex is really going to get Doug hurt one of these days, I think.

He and Alison can bitch about how people are uncooperative about it over ~~whiskey~~ tea when that happens.

*nods wisely*