Premiere: The Red Carpet

[Iceman]

Paige’s eyes snapped around to look out Bobby’s side, and she took a deep breath, putting on a beautiful, and quite genuine smile. She nodded. “You bet.”

As Bobby reached for the door, she grabbed his hand, and squeezed. “Thanks for bringing me along,” she said, and let him go.

Bobby smiled at her. “No problem,” he said warmly before he opened the door. His nerves had taken over again, making in impossible for him to dwell on his complicated feelings about her and about their ended relationship.

As soon as the door was opened, the volume of the crowd outside grew to a roar. Bobby stood and cast a look around at the crowd, managing a wide smile (though he couldn’t see what he was smiling at, with too many cameras flashing at him), and he turned back to offer Paige a hand as she stood.

Paige stepped out, slipping her hand into his again to help her. Making sure her dress stayed where it was supposed to as she got out, she dropped his hand and smiled briefly at Bobby before looking around, that supremely confident, radiant look falling into place cleanly. Paige wasn’t vain exactly; she just knew who she was.

Lifting a slender arm to wave a bit at a group of people screaming and jumping up and down- she couldn’t see much more than that- she had to wonder if any of them were wondering who in the heck she was. Surely Bobby was recognized, thus the screaming. Yeah, they were definitely going to think she was dating Bobby. To be fair it was only a technicality that it wasn’t true.

Putting a hand on Bobby’s back to encourage him, she stepped forward with him toward the building a bit.

“This is amazing!” she said, leaning in toward him a bit so he could hear her over the crowd.

[Iceman]

After shutting the car door, Bobby turned and looked at the crowd. Many of them held signs, which seemed to be largely for Roman Nekobah and Alison Blaire, with a slightly larger number being for Roman. Guys didn’t tend to faun over female celebrities as much as girls did over male ones. But they were all yelling and waving their arms at Bobby and Paige anyway, even if they weren’t the two that they were so excited to see.

“It is,” he agreed with Paige with a nod as they moved forward. He put a hand on her opposite shoulder, so that he didn’t exactly have his arm around her, but looked more like he was encouraging her as she was with her hand on his back, as well as keeping her close without looking intimidated by the commotion. A wide, teeth-baring grin was on his face – after all, this was pretty freaking cool. They were acting like he and Paige were celebrities. The fact that most of them probably weren’t fans of his wasn’t—

His train of thought was interrupted by a scream of a girl in the crowd that rose above the others. “I LOVE YOU, ICEMAN!!!”

Bobby didn’t know whether he should look or not. Though his smiling expression didn’t change, it sort of froze, which in itself was an indication that he’d heard the shout and had no idea how to take it.

“What?” he asked under his breath, an awkward sort of laugh escaping his throat as he waved to the crowd on the other side of the walkway from the direction the yell had come from.

[angel]

Unusually sharp eyes scanned the area around the theatre as well as they possibly could, but the darkness hampered him as Warren began lowering the pair of them to the red carpet. He had to trust that it wouldn't be too dangerous, and it didn't help the butterflies that were already abusing the inside of his stomach.

The turbulence from his large, white wings blew at the hair and clothing of those people nearest to the end of the red carpet as he finally approached the ground, letting Alison down gracefully only moments after his feet had touched solid earth. His wings folded behind him, and Warren gave the crowd a grin with perfectly straight, white teeth. The grin only increased when he saw Paige looking absolutely stunning and Bobby looking stunned at some girl's screaming.

One hand on Alison's lower back to steady her, Warren leaned over - still smiling - to speak quietly into her ear. "Alright, are you ready?" There were already reporters clamouring to speak to her, the flashes from what seemed like hundreds of cameras enough to make his eyes hurt, the screaming of Alison's fans almost overwhelming in its volume. "Go get 'em, Tiger. You look great."

[Alison Blaire]

The crowd of fans and reporters went from being a dull roar to...something incredibly louder as Warren descended on them with Alison Blaire in his arms. Cameras clicked picture after picture at the amazing sight, and reporters began furiously writing instant ideas for the articles that would surface in magazines and tabloids as soon as they could print them.

Alison slid her arms from around Warren's neck as he set her down, keeping one hand on his shoulder as she stood beside him. She looked away from the cameras for a moment, giving him a dazzling grin. It didn't take words to convey her excitement.

She looked back to the flurry of motion from the other side of the railing, her grin never fading in the slightest. When Warren encouraged her to go, she looked to him again, and said through her smile, "Come with me." Not because she was scared to go by herself, but because it looked much better if they stayed by each other for the first...minute or so, at least. If they arrived and parted immediately, it would look like they had just paired up for show and didn't even like or maybe didn't even know each other very well. While they weren't trying to look like a couple, though they'd be proclaimed as one in the magazines, they did want to show that they were friends.

Alison had learned all of the little rules like that from years in the business, but Warren didn't. Which was fine - he knew how to behave politely, and professionally, and that was enough. So long as nothing unexpected happened, they'd be just fine.

Keeping a smile on her face, she walked to Paige and Bobby. She leaned in toward Paige and out her arms around her in a hug. "Oh my gosh, it's crazy here..." she said to her. Though she didn't know her well, having just met her that day, Paige seemed like a likeable person. And she seemed just as comfortable as any world-famous celebrity would be to attend the premiere.

Well, Warren had told Ali that she was training to become an X-Man. Training like that - Alison could only imagine that it must be something like military training, since the X-Men were essentially soldiers - probably eliminated the jitters to a certain extent.

[husk]

Paige waved at the voice that yelled for Iceman, and gave Bobby a quick one-arm hug behind his back, laughing. "Come on, Iceman, play the part! You thought you were a celebrity before??"

Then Warren and Alison arrived. Paige's head turned with the others, and the impossible volume of the noise around them increased tenfold.

Alison looked beautiful. It wasn't difficult, with a crew of hair and makeup people and a good few thousand dollars worth of spa treatments likely paid for by the studio to make sure their front-and-center star looked her best. Paige waited for her with Bobby a good distance from the start of the red carpet.

And Warren. Did ever look anything other than incomprehensibly gorgeous? Even when he'd just woken, hair messed up and staggering a little to breakfast... Paige caught herself staring like so many others, and cracked a smile when he looked back at her.

Alison walked up to her and opened her arms for a hug. It was clear on Paige's face for a split second that she was totally caught off guard. Paige was a friendly girl, but Alison hardly knew her. Another split second and Paige understood- this really was about surrounding herself with mutants. She wanted to seem legitimate. Either that or this was some charity thing. Look, see, the negroes aren't so bad after all. Something in Paige burned angrily, but she decided to deal with that later. With a sweet smile, she hugged Alison back, and patted her shoulder, looking at Warren as she did so. When she pulled back she glanced at Bobby, took his hand, and moved down the red carpet a bit toward the press area.

"We should get a move on so we have time to talk to everyone," she said sunnily.

[Iceman]

Bobby laughed at himself as Paige jokingly reprimanded him. As he got over his suprise, he looked to the crowd. It was hard to pick out who had yelled, because of all the movement, and because there was more than one face looking at him and yelling, and more than one sign with his name on it. He flashed the crowd a grin, waving.

The screams got incredibly louder, and Bobby felt like the coolest guy in the universe.

Then he saw that people were looking not at him, but up in the air, and he turned, following their gazes. Warren was arriving, with Alison Blaire in his arms.

Oh.

Bobby grinned at them as they landed and moved toward him and Paige. He smiled when Alison gave Paige a hug, though it definently seemed like it was all for publicity, since the girls had only met earlier that day and hadn't talked much. Bobby looked past her to Warren, giving him a grin and stepping to him. Bobby was about to start hamming it up for the cameras just a little bit, and he looked to Paige and Alison hugging, then back to Warren, then shrugged and opened his arms in an exaggerated offer of a hug.

He closed in on Warren before his friend would have time to fend him off, though he seriously doubted Warren would have tried, and threw his arms around Warren, thumping him hard on the shoulder since the wings blocked his back and Bobby didn't want to risk breaking any delicate bones in his wings. "You didn't drop her, congratulations," Bobby joked next to Warren's ear, grinning over his shoulder.

[angel]

Snorting with laughter, Warren took Bobby into his arms and took the opportunity to give him a few very firm pats on the back.

"All these times I haven't dropped you, why do you think I'd start with someone who is actually cool?" With a cheeky grin, he stepped away, watching as Paige and Alison seperated and the former started pulling Bobby down toward the press area.

Oh. No greeting for him, then. Re-jec-ted.

Taking Alison's arm in his, the winged mutant followed the other pair, stopping occasionally as Alison had to speak to one fan or another to keep up appearances. He didn't know how she managed to do it all with such a smile the whole time - some of them were actually kinda weird.

But soon enough, they were down talking to the press and then finally getting moved into the theatre to watch the film. He was glad to see that Alison had indeed made sure that there was a backless chair for him to sit on.

Of course, the comfortable chair didn't do much to wipe away the discomfort of having spoken to so many press, having had so many pictures, and knowing that it was all going to start over again once the film had finished.

Definitely not a business that he wanted to go into. As fun as being an underwear model had sounded at the time.

[Alison Blaire]

Alison's publicist flitted around them like a fly, directing her where to pause and sign autographs and pose for pictures with the fans, and finding the next place to go as Alison went to the first. There were stations with several different TV and magazine reporters, where Alison paused to answer a couple of questions. As they moved down the red carpet, sometimes Alison would do a certain spot alone, sometimes she and Warren would do one together. The reporters were just as eager to get to the three X-Men, and they did some talking seperately, some with all three together, and some with Bobby and Paige as Warren was with Alison. At one point, Alison and Roman met, and greeted each other with hugs and cheek kisses as though they were great friends. All in all, things went smoothly.

After what seemed like an eternity later, they reached the end and went inside. From there, the rubbing elbows commenced in full--Alison introduced her three guests to celebrities the likes of Kirsten Dunst, a friend of Ali's, and Sean Penn, who was a good friend of the film's producer. Not to mention Angelina Jolie, who had put her crusade for underprivileged babies on hold to join the spotlight of mutant rights. Alison half-wondered if Angelina would be scouring orphanages world-wide in search of a blue-skinned baby for her next addition to the Pitt-Jolie crew.

They were shown to their seats, and Alison stayed standing, prolonging her conversation with someone so that the other three could decide where they wanted to sit out of the three seats that weren't backless-and-obviously-for-Warren's-comfort. She was looking forward to talking with them, though--she hadn't gotten much of a chance to talk to Bobby or Paige earlier that day, and she hoped to. It was about time that people were heading to their seats, which was a slow process. Alison knew she'd be summoned backstage shortly, so she parted ways with the person she was speaking with and made her way to the other three.

"My mouth hurts from smiling so much," she admitted with a laugh, french nails gleaming as her fingers massaged her jaw. "So. Good insane or just insane?" she asked Paige - Bobby seemed to be trying to figure out if his eyes were decieving him or if that truly was Jessica Alba across the walkway in a very sheer gown, and he was prodding Warren to get a second opinion, so Alison focused on the only other female of the group.

[husk]

"A bit of both," Paige said, folding an arm over the back of her chair. A few eyes followed them, the star speaking to some unknown blonde woman. "I suppose you're used to it by now. I guess now you might understand the whole mutant experience a bit," her eyes narrowed, a smirk on her perfect coffeed-pink lips. "Except, you know- without all the fear and hatred."

Sure, it was catty. But she'd just spent an hour outside answering questions about Alison when she had hoped to speak about mutant affairs. She got an offer for an interview from someone from Time, and another from Playboy... of all places. She supposed it was better than nothing, so long as they didn't ask for her bra size. Paige was starting to realize just how precarious the world of fame was.

"You going to be joining us?" She smiled a little more warmly.

[angel]

"Yup, that is so her." He wasn't paying much attention to the girls, having been grabbed by Bobby to check out Jessica Alba in the hottest dress.

Even though he was with two gorgeous girls, Warren was still a guy, so they couldn't expect him to not look, could they? Wait, that was right - they were girls. Girls seemed able to make a big deal out of anything. So going over to speak to Jessica seemed like a bad idea, even though he really, really wanted to.

Plus, it would probably look bad, him just wandering off on his date like that to talk to another woman. Alison was the star of the show, after all, he had to keep that in mind. Yeah, they weren't actually dating as such - but the press didn't know that, and rumours of him going off to hit on Jessica Alba were sure to make Alison look bad.

"Close your mouth, Bobby." He elbowed his friend, giving the other mutant a cheeky grin, before raising one hand in greeting. Well, that was only polite, wasn't it?

[Alison Blaire]

"I suppose you're used to it by now. I guess now you might understand the whole mutant experience a bit...except, you know- without all the fear and hatred."

Alison's eyes, which had been glancing around, flitted to Paige's face at the end of her comment. Though her friendly smile didn't change at all, she wondered if she was taking Paige's words the wrong way. Maybe she was being honest - and she was right, Alison hadn't experienced it herself. She had experienced it during filming, which had actually been very scary - and had cemented her fear of telling her secret - but she knew that it wasn't the same, and would sound ridiculous to Paige.

Ali also had to remind herself that Paige knew her as a pampered human who had no personal experience with mutantcy. Heck, she probably thought Alison was in the whole thing for the publicity. But thats what it looked like, and it would look like that until she showed anyone otherwise.

She nodded in response to Paige's words. Thankfully, Paige continued.

"You going to be joining us?"

Another nod. "Yeah. Well, we have to do some intro stuff - and I'm singing - but once the movie starts, I'll get to sit out here. I'm so excited," she continued, glancing to the stage and the large screen. "Finally get to see the whole thing put together...all the scenes I wasn't in...It's the best part, to see it all finished and ready." Her enthusiasm was obvious, and it was clear that this was the spirit of what Alison loved.

[Iceman]

When Warren confirmed that Bobby was indeed seeing Jessica Alba in the skin - and he could see lots of it - Bobby shook his head faintly. "Oh my God, she's even hotter in person..."

Then Warren waved, and the actress turned - and saw him. And Bobby happened to be staring not at her face when she looked at the two of them. He tried to stop Warren, but it was way too late. "Oh-why'd you do that?" he asked under his breath, sounding like he'd been punched in the stomach. She gave them a smile and a small wave, and Bobby grinned at her before turning away, looking to Paige, who was talking to Alison Blaire.

"I could get used to this," he announced with a nod and a lift of his eyebrows.

[husk]

Paige caught the guys oggling Jessica Alba, and smirked. Nodding to Alison's comment- she seemed really into this thing, which she supposed was good- Paige playfully swatted Bobby's pantleg from where she sat.

"Don't you think she'd got enough men oggling her?" She teased, smiling. Then she gestured to herself and Alison. "Besides. I believe you have enough pretty girl to stare at over here." Her grin and her tone revealed the thing about Paige that was different from most women- her ability to be 'one of the guys'.

Except, of course, the whole incredibly female body thing.

[Iceman]

Bobby grinned, lifting his arm and laying it around Paige's shoulders at her feigned complaint. "You have a very good point there. It's just that...we're here to rub elbows, right? Seeing new faces is what I'm all about when they look..."

Bobby glanced over his shoulder for barely a second before turning back to Paige and Alison. "--Almost as beautiful as you two lovely ladies do tonight," he finished smoothly, turning his head to Paige beside him and grinning.

"Oh - by the way, did any of you have somebody ask you to sign a toilet seat?" Bobby asked, looking to Paige and Ali and then turning his head to inquire of Warren. "I didn't know whether to be insulted or honored that they wanted to think of me every time they answered nature's call."

Bobby was full of jokes, and why not? It was a fun night out, not only was he with friends, but he was amongst celebrities. And he kind of felt like he could get away with maybe forgetting a little bit that he and Paige were no longer dating, and she wouldn't notice or maybe wouldn't care. Like the way he had his arm around her, for instance. A little thing, but it was better than remembering that they'd broken up.

[husk]

Paige was, as had been learned early in their relationship, a much more physically affectionate person than Bobby. So when he put his arm around her, she didn't think a thing of it, grinning back at him.

"Damn right," she said, her accent slipping back in. "And honey, I didn't get asked to sign anything, so consider yourself honored." She laughed. "I guess it's the closest anyone's gonna come to your hand on-" she cleared her throat, stopping herself, then laughing at the fact that she'd had to.

You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. To spite her best efforts.

[angel]

His attention brought back to the girls, Warren realised that Alison would be leaving soon. He reached out to touch her arm gently, giving her one of his most dazzling smile. "Hey, knock 'em dead. Or break a leg, or whatever it is I'm supposed to say. You'll do great."

Then what Bobby had actually said hit him properly, and he blinked for a few moments to collect his thoughts. "No toilet seats, no." One girl had asked him for a picture, another his number, and as he'd leaned over to shake hands with the crowd, one had whispered some incredibly lurid suggestions in his ear, but Warren hadn't been asked to sign anything either.

"No autographs at all. But I wasn't in Teen People, so..." He shrugged, smiling good-naturedly. Warren certainly didn't mind that Bobby was getting more female attention than him - for one, he was trying to be good about being Alison's date, not do anything to make the press say anything bad, and for two, he'd had enough attention to last him a lifetime (female or no) in the past few hours.

Taking his seat in the one backless - but comfortable looking - chair, Warren stretched his wings a little before settling into it properly. Yep, it didn't just look comfy.

"When's it all supposed to be starting?"

[Alison Blaire]

Alison covered her mouth to hide her laughter at the talk of the toilet seat. When her hand dropped, she toyed with the folds in the fabric of her gown down at her side, content to listen to Paige and Bobby banter back and forth. 'They're a cute couple.'

She returned Warren's hundred-watt smile with a smile of her own. "Thanks," she said appreciatively. As he answered Bobby about the toilet seats, Alison's eyes wandered outside of their little group. They fell on Roman Nekobah, making his way down the walkway on the other side of the middle sea of seats. His eyes were scanning the crowd, and their gazes met. His eyebrows rose only slightly, and his expression wasn't obvious, but to Alison it spoke volumes - volumes of arrogance. He might as well have been yelling across the room for her to hurry up; she could just hear his condescending tone asking why they were always waiting on her. Even when they'd been dating, he'd been that way at times.

"When's it all supposed to be starting?"

After giving Roman an equally cold stare for a few moments' time, Alison turned back to the three she stood with. She took a moment to remember what Warren had asked. "Oh--soon. In fact, I should probably get back there. So...I'll see you guys in a bit." She smiled a close-lipped smile and turned. She didn't get more than a few steps before she was caught by someone else, but she slowly made her way down the aisle as they talked, and soon, she excused herself through a side hallway and left the noisy theatre.

[husk]

Paige smiled a bit at Alison as she left, then slapped her hands on a knee of the boys to either side of her. "Well, thanks for having me along guys."

Looking around for a few minutse as they waited for things to start, Paige bit her bottom lip. This whole night had left her feeling strange. Jealous, uncomfortable, exploited... not the feelings she had hoped for. After a while she got up.

"Gonna hit the bathroom before the show starts..." she whispered to Bobby, and disappeared through the doors quickly.