In The Meantime

[husk]

Paige finally left the cave that was she and Jubilee's dorm room and ventured out into the halls with the intention of going for a run. She wore a blue and yellow jogging top with a matching set of running pants, her tennis shoes a little worn, but mostly from love and use. She rubbed her bare belly with a bit of a yawn as she considered heading downstairs for breakfast before her run.

As she turned towards the stairs she saw Warren, and called out "Hey! Warren!" half jogging back down the hall towards him, she adjusted her ponytail, wild blonde hair falling to her shoulders behind her.

Paige greeted him with one of her brilliant smiles. "Long time no see. You been hiding?"

[angel]

The plan had been breakfast and good coffee, but the sight of Paige jogging down the hall towards him dressed in - well, very little, really - made that go out of Warren's head.

Well, he could appreciate the view, couldn't he? There was, after all, nothing wrong with looking.

At least he'd pulled pyjama pants on - that was one good habit that he'd gotten into since moving into the Mansion.

Scratching his bare chest idly, the winged mutant smiled at his companion.

"Not particularly, just been," he waved his hand vaguely, "busy."

Caffeine was sounding like a good idea. The sounds of the mansion had woken him up earlier than he'd have liked - just another reason to add to the growing list of why he should get back onto that apartment hunting.

"You want a coffee or anything?"

[husk]

Her smile was easy, reflecting his.

She could look. That was all. And while sure, she was attracted to Warren in a big way.. she also knew a decent friend when she saw one.

"Sounds great. Was kind of flirting with the idea myself."

Paige yawned a little as they made their way downstairs.

"So did Logan talk to you, too, about becoming an X-Man? I've heard he's asked everyone."

[angel]

"Yeah. I'm doing a bit of work with Liam - the guy with the bat wings? Not sure exactly how much I can help him - he's been flying for a long time, and our styles are totally different, but I'll try."

He wasn't going to geek out about flying to her, though. He did have a reputation to maintain, after all, and he shrugged as they entered the kitchen.

Reaching up to one of the higher shelves, Warren pulled down a tin of coffee - the good stuff that he always kept. Though the tin was still half full, he'd probably replace it in a couple of days - it was no use having the good stuff if you let it go stale.

As he started the coffee machine brewing, Warren perched himself on one of the high stools with a yawn.

"What about you? You joining the team?" He knew she wanted to. He also remembered that he'd told her that he could get her into the Danger Room - and the idea of seeing her in leather made him smiled again.

[husk]

She grimaced a little, and it was obvious she was doing her best not to look too disappointed. God knows she didn't want to look like a forlorn puppy dog.

"I haven't been asked." Paige sighed. "I think it has to do with my brother. Something's going to have to change...."

She leaned on the counter near his stool and looked at him. "When did you learn to fly? I think of any ability I'm most jealous I didn't end up being able to fly." She smiled at him.

[angel]

"I'll take you down to the Danger Room anyway." He realised that he'd never actually seen her do her thing. Bobby had mentioned it and it sounded pretty impressive, but there probaby wasn't a whole lot that Warren could do to help her learn to use it. After all, all he did was... fly.

"It took a couple of years for my wings to grow in fully." That hadn't been pleasant - he had all the bad parts of being a mutant in his family without the good side of being able to fly.

"But I was probably..." His head tipped to one side as he thought about it, "Oh, like, fourteen when I first managed it? Of course, I totally messed up and got tangled in the branches of this big tree outside my dorm - took me all night to get down. I was lucky I didn't break something." Lucky he wasn't seen, either. His school, full of rich kids from old family money, hadn't exactly embraced difference.

"But I worked it out quickly enough."

Warren gazed over at the coffee machine for a moment as if he could speed it up somehow.

"What about you? Bobby's told me a little about your mutation, but how'd you work that one out?" He smiled.

[husk]

"Well I asked for it, really," she smirked. "My brother was the first mutant in our family, as far as we know anyway. And I wanted to be one SO bad..." she chuckled.

"I'm not sure why I got the one I got, but hey... Darwin's grab bag, right?" She shrugged. "I just scratched myself one day and found my skin peeling away. Beneath it I was metal. It was completely bizarre."

Paige thought for a moment. "You know I'm unsure how it's going to work out in like... combat, or whatever. But I'm sure we'll figure something out."

[angel]

"What, your power? Well, if you can do metal, you should talk to Pete." The big Russian mananaged well enough in a combat situation. He was actually made of awesome in a combat situation, but still.

Turning back to the coffee machine, Warren frowned at it. That didn't help either.

"But yeah, we'll work it out I'm sure." Turning back to her, his expression had changed into a rather suggestive smile.

"Don't you end up, you know, naked though? Maybe the leather'd be a bad idea for you - don't want to shred a new suit every day."

[husk]

Paige laughed softly, looking down with a blush. What Warren didn't know was that it was just as much because he was flirting with her as it was because she felt guilty reacting to his flirtation at all.

Bobby needed to get back. This confusion was awful.

"Actually, yeah. It's something I have to consider. I was thinking of talking to Forge... that is, if I'm ever even allowed to be an X-Man- about creating something holographic. Cause yeah, I'm naked once I shed that first layer." She nodded.

"The other night Bobby convinced me to try out chocolate. That was... interesting." She laughed.

[angel]

"Interesting...?"

His expression went from curious to amused in just a few moments.

"Oh, like, be your own body chocolate type interesting?"

Bobby was a sick, sick boy.

Shaking his head, Warren glanced back at the coffee machine to see that it was finally done. He poured out a couple of mugs and pushed one over at her, shifting his wings a little as he took his place on the stool again.

"I'm sure Forge'll work something out. I've been meaning to talk to him myself about using the aerial advantage or something." Shrugging, he took a sip of his coffee. Warren wasn't exactly a tactician.

"I'm surprised they haven't asked you, though. I mean... They asked me."

Not to mention letting Bobby join. That brought another amused smile to his face.

"Why would your brother have anything to do with it?" That was what she'd said before, but Warren was sure that he'd have heard about Paige's brother being here. Since her boyfriend had been hauled off to jail and all - surely there would have been some gossip.

[husk]

"He used to go to school here, but didn't want to be an X-Man at the time. He's coming back now. And he's a bit um... protective?"

She doctored her coffee until it was nearly unrecognizeable as such, and sipped the sweet concoction slowly, mmming to herself.

"And yeah, but that's still... I don't know, gross I guess." She shook her head with a smirk. "I don't want to eat -anything- made out of my own skin. Nasty."

"But, it was worth a shot right?"

"Yeah.. remind me to introduce you to Sam when he gets here." Paige looked him over. "If I don't, he'll likely get the wrong idea."

[angel]

"Well, you know, experimentation is healthy and all that..."

He looked kind of doubtful, though. Eating your own partner? Yeah, that was nasty.

The doubtful look continued at the mention of her brother getting the wrong idea about him.

"Why would he...?" Shrugging, Warren took another sip of his coffee. So he was a flirt. He flirted with everyone. It wasn't like he was canoodling her in public when her boyfriend had only been gone for two seconds. If she even wanted to canoodle - Warren made no assumptions.

"But yeah, I'll make sure you introduce us. Might be good to have someone... you know, not dating Bobby help explain the situation."

He grinned again. There had, of course, been rumours about Bobby and Warren having a thing, but he was pretty sure they'd died down now.

[husk]

She laughed. "Yeah. That might not go over so well."

"Did you... well. I'm sure you have to exercise your wings a lot more, but would you want to go running with me this morning?"

[angel]

Well, that was one proposition that Warren could honestly say he'd never had from a girl like Paige before. Not something he could say too often.

Scratching the back of his neck, he shrugged.

"Yeah, why not? I'd ask you to come flying with me, but..." He waved his free hand vaguely.

Draining the last of his coffee and tidying the kitchen quickly, Warren pulled his pants up a little and smiled.

"Just let me get changed, I'll be right back."

Well, he couldn't very well go running in nothing but pyjama pants. Particularly since these one had a tendency to fall down if he walked too far.

He thumped up the stairs, and when he returned Warren was wearing joggers, a pair of red basketball shorts and a grey t-shirt. Nothing fancy - Warren burnt most of his energy from flying, so he had never really bothered with nice workout clothes. Still, this was vaguely decent for jogging anywhere near people.

[husk]

He really was a good looking boy. In an oddly familial way she shrugged off before thinking it over too much, it made her feel comfortable.

Maybe she just wanted to be around pretty people? Her own kind?

The thought made her laugh, and she had to stifle it, clearing her throat.

"Outstanding. Good to know you can be quick when you want to be." She winked, and stepped out the door.

Jogging around the grounds reminded her of home, but sometimes she wished they didn't keep it so damned pristine. There was something to be said for mangled underbrush and road dust on the ferns. Oh well. It was better than nothing.

[angel]

"They've told you about me hogging the bathroom, have they?"

He chose to ignore the possible innuendo there. Because as much as she was hot, she was Bobby's girl and Warren wasn't about to go there.

Been there, done that, have the t-shirt. The one stained with blood from the broken lip his friend had given him. Of course, Warren hadn't known at the time that she was already dating someone, but Alex hadn't considered that an excuse. It was probably made worse by the fact that he'd caught Warren with his sister not a month before.

She was legal. Not to mention cute as. That was another group on his 'do not do' list, now.

The jog was pleasant enough, leaving him comfortably warm and coated in a thin sheen of sweat. He held his wings back as he ran, letting the air stream past them to cool him down but also leaving him ready in case anything did happen.

The mansion didn't seem quite so safe anymore.

[husk]

Paige paused by a shallow bridge over a creek near the rear of the property. They hadn't really been encouraged to go out that far since everything had happened, but Paige was nothing if not defiant about that sort of thing.

Catching her breath, she felt the breeze on her face and smiled.

"So Warren... I know we don't know each other that well... but I really like you."

Oh that was just effing brilliant Paige.

She smiled, smoothly continuing. "And I wanted to thank you again for listening to me whine the other day."

[angel]

All he could do for a moment was blink.

No, she doesn't mean it like that.

Did she?

She couldn't mean it like that.

Running a hand through his hair, Warren smiled back when she continued. That was... a relief. He was sure that he'd have liked her in that way if things had been different, but... well, they weren't.

"Anytime. Any friend of Bobby's... And you're a cool chick yourself."

Hopefully she wouldn't take that as patronising. It wasn't intended that way.

"I like talking to you."

[husk]

Yeah, things could have been different. They were a lot a like in certain ways. But she met Bobby first and... well, she really did love him.

There was doubt when she didn't think about him, but the second she really considered how she felt about Bobby Drake, that doubt vanished.

She smiled, and blushed, but it had nothing to do with what Warren had said.

"You know... have you ever met Remy, that guy that goes by Gambit? He hangs out with my roomate a lot."

[angel]

"Gambit? Yeah." The guy with the motorbike.

"I've met him. Lost most of my money to him - don't play cards with him unless you're cashed up."

Of course, it hadn't been a big deal to him - all he had to do was go get more money from an ATM, but still. It was worth warning her about him - the guy had a few tricks up his sleeve by the looks of things.

Not to mention being charming enough that even Bobby's parents wouldn't mind him being brought home for dinner.

"What about him?"