Lil and Nick - February 17
Feb. 17th, 2018 12:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainNick and Lil head out to the Valentine's party for their date.
Lil took a long look at herself in the mirror. Her look was a little different from the other parties: no plunging necklines, no thigh-high boots. Instead it was a relatively modest red dress and cute` black flats. Heck, she'd even bought a headband to try and tame her hair for the night. Part of it was Nick's idea for their theme - Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, but it was also because it was Nick and something a little more... restrained seemed to be better.
She turned a leg, posing a little and wishing heels wouldn't turn her into an absolute giant. One of these days she'd try them, but not yet. There'd been years of covering up those legs because her god damn hair was just as invulnerable as the rest of her until she had finally realized that waxing might work. Lil turned, watching as the skirt of the dress flared up. Yup, it had worked.
Alright then, time to go see Nick and then party! Lil gave herself on last smile then headed out to meet Nick.
Suits were so weird to wear. Nick was looking at himself in the mirror, examining himself in the black pinstripe suit that Lil had procured for him. Shiny black shoes, check. His hair was as tamed as it could be. Was he forgetting anything? Jeez, he felt like he was forgetting something. Oh, right, the flower thing. He pinned the red flower to his suit, pretty sure he was doing it as Lil had told him to. Right above the pocket, right? Was it the right pocket or left pocket? He tried it on the right, first, fidgeting with it just a bit. He checked it in the mirror. That was probably the correct pocket. Right? She'd fix it if it wasn't, probably.
Funny how nervous he was. It was Lil. He'd been friends with Lil for so long, now, it felt like. It was great. They were great, together. But he was still nervous. Butterflies and all. And it was only a few days after he'd asked.
He took in a deep breath and headed to his door, taking just a moment to go through everything. He'd brushed his teeth, combed his hair, taken a mint, used just a bit of cologne, everything was in order, dress-wise. Belt was on and secure and his pants weren't too low or too high, shoes were on and shiny, everything seemed in order. It's just nerves.
He turned the doorknob and stepped out into the hall, just a touch nervously.
Lil had beat him. She saw him step out and quickened her step so she'd get to him before he got too far down the hall.
"Hey! You look great!" She studied him for a moment more before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "Mmm. You smell good too."
"You do too," he replied, hugging her back. "On both counts," he said, still a bit of a flutter in his chest. "And you're even taller!" he said, grinning. He didn't mind. "Do I look big and bad enough?" he asked, jokingly.
"Oh yeah. Definitely got the Big Bad Wolf thing going on." Lil stepped back and took Nick's arm so they could start down the hallway. "I wonder if anybody's gonna guess if, or if we're just gonna have to tell them oursevles."
Nick happily started down the hall, arm in arm with Lil. "I dunno, everyone might be busy just, y'know. Doing party things," Nick said, still a bit embarrassed he'd suggested this.
"I guess so. Doesn't matter anyway, we look fantastic." She gave her an a tug. "And people are going to be so happy to see you out. Expect a lot of hugs."
"We really do," Nick said, confident enough to admit that at least she did, and if she said he looked good, well, he believed her. "And it'll be great. To be, y'know... more normal," he said. Things were... slowly going back to normal.
Lil grinned. "That's such a funny thing to say at this school. But yeah, normal's good. I mean, don't sweat it if stuff gets hard again. Sometimes it's not an even road, right?"
"Yeah," he said, smiling and lowering his gaze just a bit to the floor. "I-if it gets too rough, we can always leave early, right?" he asked, gently.
"You let me know, and we're gone, " Lil reassured him. He was getting better on the whole, but things could still get overwhelming at times and as much fun as the night promised, it had that double edge where it could turn into too much. No problem. Lil had already decided that she'd be half date and half bodyguard. If Nick needed to leave, she'd get him out.
"You're the best," Nick said, resting his head briefly against her shoulder. "This'll be really fun. Even though I can't dance," he warned.
"Yeah well, I can't either so you're in good company. You keep thinking I'm ahead of you on some of this stuff but seriously, I was a giant with a bad temper." She gave him teasing nudge with her elbow. "Girls like me don't get asked to dances."
"You're still a little bit of a giant," Nick replied, just teasing her ever-so-slightly. "And obviously they do, because I asked you," he added.
Lil warmed at the compliment and slid her hand down Nick's arm to take his hand. Maybe she had a lot of work to do to figure out exactly how she felt about him, but one thing was for sure. Sh never felt odd or out of place when she stood beside him. "Thank you for asking."
"How could I not?" he asked, grinning at her. "You're the best, like I said. I'd be stupid to not ask."
"Well, if I'm the best I guess... " She smiled and let the conversation fade out for a few moments so she could enjoy the walk with Nick.
He smiled and rested his head against her shoulder again, bringing their walk to a slow stop right outside of the area where the party was being held. They were just slightly, slightly off from the start of it. He took in a deep breath, but not as deep as he was thinking he might. Having Lil here made him so much less nervous. Maybe it was bad to depend on someone this much, but Lil had proven dependable to him, and he was happy for it. Very, very happy. "Here goes nothing, right?" he chuckled, squeezing her arm just a bit with his as he walked them to the door.
"Oh, a bit more than nothing." Lil led him in. The room was stunning. Flowers and vines climbed the wall, stars and a moon hung sparkling from the ceiling. This was like something out of a movie. "Holy shit, they went all out."
"They seriously did," Nick said, blinking at the decorations. "It's... really romantic, isn't it?" he said, wistfully.
"It's something." Lil slowed a little as she looked around, nerves finally starting to work themselves into this date. Romantic had some heavy implications. But what did she expect? 'Date' had some implications too.
"Is... is it not okay?" he asked, hesitantly. He was a bit worried, now, because the sentiment hadn't clearly been shared. But maybe he was just feeling a touch... insecure? Mindful of her feelings? A bit of both? A lot of both, maybe? Hard to say...
Lil gave him a grin. "It's fine, just a little overwhelming. Sorta makes this whole date thing a little more real."
He grinned back at her. "Well, I'm glad it's real," he said. "C'mon. Let's, y'know. Do the date thing."
"All right." Lil squeezed his hand, looked around and decided drinks would be a good start. "Thirsty? Drinking something sounds like a date thing."
"Sure," Nick said, vaguely wondering if she was talking about anything alcoholic. He couldn't really stand it much; the smell was usually just too overpowering for his sensitive nose. But if it was just a soda or some like, punch or something, he'd be fine with it. "I think I see drink stuff over that way?" he said, pointing to one corner of the room.
She nodded and gently pulled him across the room. That seemed to be the pattern - she led and he followed. Lil worried a bit about that, but it was a pretty harmless quirk so far. When they reached the table she let go and grabbed a glass for punch. "Probably way too early for anyone to have spiked this, eh?"
He sniffed a bit. "Yeah, it doesn't smell like alcohol," Nick said, relieved. He grabbed a glass for himself, and grabbed the ladle since it was closer to him. "May I?" he asked, gesturing to her glass with his hand. He figured he could at least try to be romantic and... pour her punch? He wasn't sure. What was he even doing?
"You may!" Lil answered. "And thanks for checking it. I don't drink. Don't know if it would affect me but I don't intend to find out."
He poured punch into her cup, and then poured himself one as well. "It's kinda just, there's a distinct smell. And for someone with a nose like mine, it's usually... pretty obvious."
"Do you drink at all?" She didn't think so. He'd never mentioned it and besides, it just seemed like a weird thing to consider Nick breaking the law like it, but maybe he'd surprise her.
"N-no," Nick answered, honestly. "I-I've been tempted to try it," he admitted. "But I can never get past the smell."
"Well, I'm not going to complain about that. In my experience drinking just turns people into assholes, especially guys." Realizing what she'd said, she gave Nick an apologetic smile. "But I hung around a pretty pathetic crowd back home. So maybe it was just them."
"I mean, my dad would have the odd beer, and my mom would... y'know, drink wine from time to time," he said, shrugging. Wow, he could talk about his parents without getting teary-eyed? Maybe he was just so happy to be on a date. His heart still hurt a little bit when he mentioned them, but... "They never said I couldn't have any. I just couldn't really stand the smell of any of it," he said. "It seemed like they liked it, but they never had like, a lot."
"I wish I could have met them," Lil said gently. She'd never even talked to them but they'd still managed to be kind to her with thanksgiving dinners packed in tupperware and gentle teasing Nick about her first 'date' with him. The thank you card she'd sent with Nick wasn't ever going to be enough. "It sounds like they were pretty sensible around that stuff."
"Yeah," Nick said, quietly. He blew out a breath. Think about that kinda thing later. Don't dwell. Date time. "But it's not about them, right now," Nick said, refocusing. "Tonight's about us. Our date." Their special night.
Lil reached out and gave Nick's elbow a quick squeeze. It was going to be like this for awhile, good moments balancing on top of the painful stuff. Lil wasn't sure what that meant for the whole dating thing, but acknowledging those moments seemed important. "Yup. Although I'm sort of not sure what we should be doing. Maybe find a seat for now so we can chat?"
"Yeah, that sounds nice," Nick agreed, looking around. "Then we can have our punch and keep an ear out for a good song to try to dance to," he said, grinning just a little.
"Oh my God, you're gonna make me dance? As long as it's a slow dance I guess. Then we can just sort of lean on each other and pretend we know what we're doing."
"I..." Was she joking? "I-I mean, we don't have to dance. I-I just figured you might want to slow dance and we could... yeah, like you said. I just figured it'd be nice to, y'know... be close like that," Nick said, meekly.
"Hey Nick, it's okay. We can dance. It's a good idea." Okay, maybe she needed to tone herself down a bit tonight. Nick was a lot more gentle than Tam or Teddy.
"Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm just. I guess I'm just still a bit nervous, 'cause, y'know. Date," he said again, the word making his heart flutter a bit. "Normally I'd... I'd probably have laughed."
Lil smiled and started walking towards the tables and chairs set up at the edge of the dance floor. "I get it. Though... I'm doing pretty good so far. The butterflies are mostly chained up still."
"It's kind of nice," Nick opined. "Like, feeling this kind of giddy nervousness, you know? It... it feels right, somehow," he said, though that was probably really cheesy of him to say.
Not exactly what Lil was thinking, but no way was she going to step on Nick's feelings right now. The last time she'd felt that giddiness had been with Nolan and everything that happened since then with him had made her a little wary of those butterflies. Stupid. This was Nick and no way should Nolan be getting in the way of this.
"I'm glad it does," Lil said.
"Me too," Nick confessed, smiling at her and sitting down at one of the small tables, away from everyone else. Just her and him. Let everyone see. If she was happy being with him out in the relative public like this, then so be it. He wasn't ashamed in the slightest. He was proud of himself for plucking up the courage to do this. And he was so happy that she'd decided to at least give him this date. Even if things went back to just being friends from here, he'd be happy.
He sipped his punch, realizing he hadn't even touched it yet. Tasty, he had to admit. He had to admit he was a bit self-conscious about any potential red or pink stains on the fur of his lips and chin, but he tried not to rub at it with his sleeve like instinct told him to; he didn't want to get this nice suit dirty if he could help it. It was the nicest thing he owned. "They really outdid themselves with this setup," he said, still a bit awestruck and looking around at all the decor.
Lil reached across to take Nick's free hand. That was a date thing, right? "Probably someone's power at work. This doesn't look like anything you could pick up at a party store."
He liked her holding his hand. It felt safe. "Probably, yeah," he mused, quietly. "Which is also neat. I mean, how cool is this place?" he said, grinning.
"Very. Especially with the current company." Lil smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. "Do you know if Teddy and Billy are coming too?"
"No idea," Nick admitted, smiling a little. "Those two lovebirds might make an appearance, I guess, but... they might also stay in." He was particularly mirthful when he said the term 'lovebirds.'
Lil smiled and shook her head. "Lovebirds. Man, Teddy'd light up like a Christmas tree is he heard you say that."
"It's so true though," Nick said, chuckling. "And it's great for them. I'm always so happy to see them together. It's... it's nice, you know?" He sighed.
"You're all sentimental about this stuff, aren't you?" She gave his hand a squeeze to let him know it was just gentle teasing.
"I am, though," Nick said, bashfully. "I just... never thought I'd be in a situation like this."
She was going to brush the comment off, accuse Nick of being silly, but really, before he'd come to the school there really never would have been a chance at this. If it was taking him awhile to shake off that feeling, well, Lil had come to the school with her own baggage too. That stuff wasn't easy to put off. "This school sort of changes expectations I think."
"It does," Nick agreed. "And I'm glad I'm here. I don't think I'd rather be anywhere else."
"I don't know. I mean, the way Vance talks about the Brotherhood sometimes... that sounds nice. Everybody looks out for one another and stuff."
"I think we all look out for each other here, too," Nick said. "Vance seems nice, but... I don't know how I feel about the Brotherhood, still," he said.
"Oh, I think if I were in real trouble people here would come and get me, but the day to day stuff is just the normal high school shit. I went to thank Warren for that meeting today, and he's angry at me again for something. Wouldn't say what so... " Lil shrugged. "I dunno. The Brotherhood seems a lot tighter."
"They're smaller, though," Nick said. "And, I mean, yeah. Maybe." He sniffed. "You're... you're not thinking of going to join them, are you?" he asked, just a bit nervously.
Lil laughed, just a bit because even if it sounded attractive, how she could she manage that? "Yeah sure, I do that, and then the school tells Mom and she contacts the embassy or something, and I'm getting scooped up and dragged back to Canada. I can't just run away to join them. I would like to get to know them though, just 'cause."
That came as a relief. "Getting to know them doesn't sound bad at all," Nick opined, agreeing with that sentiment. After all, if they were all friends, did it make a difference if their groups were named different things? Hopefully, now that someone else was in charge (was it the girl named Wanda? He wasn't sure) maybe they'd take a different direction, but that wasn't his business.
"That's sort of what I think. If this thing about helping mutants that some here like to talk about is a real thing, then they're important too. It's nice that some think coming out is a big move, but I think the real hard stuff is just reaching out to the hard cases." And yes, she meant the Brotherhood, but also Ginger who Lil was worried was heading down the same path Lil had cleared.
"Yeah," Nick said, nodding. "Well, I mean... we can try doing that, too, y'know?" he said, by way of offering, of sorts, he guessed. "I've been--I've been thinking about things I wanna do, and I'm not wanting to move too fast," he said. "It's stuff we can talk about later. I'd rather, y'know, focus on us," he said, grinning. "On tonight. Because I want it to be perfect for you. For us."
"Okay, okay. I'll put all that talk aside for now. We can plot later." Lil let go of his hand and moved her chair around so she could sit right beside Nick and lean into him. She wanted to put her head on his shoulder, but there was that stupid height difference. "But this is already pretty close to perfect, so no worries."
"I'm glad," he said, leaning against her in return. "This is already perfect for me," he said. He grinned, and tipped his head back to give her an experimental peck on the cheek.
It was an odd feeling when Nick kissed her, at once very welcome and something Lil wanted to back away from. No mystery why for the latter, the last time she'd found herself in this situation she'd gotten burned bad, but she wasn't going to let that ruin this and definitely wasn't going to dump that crap on Nick. It was her stuff to work through and she'd find a way to do that without hurting him. She turned and smiled at him. "Thank you."
Lil took a long look at herself in the mirror. Her look was a little different from the other parties: no plunging necklines, no thigh-high boots. Instead it was a relatively modest red dress and cute` black flats. Heck, she'd even bought a headband to try and tame her hair for the night. Part of it was Nick's idea for their theme - Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, but it was also because it was Nick and something a little more... restrained seemed to be better.
She turned a leg, posing a little and wishing heels wouldn't turn her into an absolute giant. One of these days she'd try them, but not yet. There'd been years of covering up those legs because her god damn hair was just as invulnerable as the rest of her until she had finally realized that waxing might work. Lil turned, watching as the skirt of the dress flared up. Yup, it had worked.
Alright then, time to go see Nick and then party! Lil gave herself on last smile then headed out to meet Nick.
Suits were so weird to wear. Nick was looking at himself in the mirror, examining himself in the black pinstripe suit that Lil had procured for him. Shiny black shoes, check. His hair was as tamed as it could be. Was he forgetting anything? Jeez, he felt like he was forgetting something. Oh, right, the flower thing. He pinned the red flower to his suit, pretty sure he was doing it as Lil had told him to. Right above the pocket, right? Was it the right pocket or left pocket? He tried it on the right, first, fidgeting with it just a bit. He checked it in the mirror. That was probably the correct pocket. Right? She'd fix it if it wasn't, probably.
Funny how nervous he was. It was Lil. He'd been friends with Lil for so long, now, it felt like. It was great. They were great, together. But he was still nervous. Butterflies and all. And it was only a few days after he'd asked.
He took in a deep breath and headed to his door, taking just a moment to go through everything. He'd brushed his teeth, combed his hair, taken a mint, used just a bit of cologne, everything was in order, dress-wise. Belt was on and secure and his pants weren't too low or too high, shoes were on and shiny, everything seemed in order. It's just nerves.
He turned the doorknob and stepped out into the hall, just a touch nervously.
Lil had beat him. She saw him step out and quickened her step so she'd get to him before he got too far down the hall.
"Hey! You look great!" She studied him for a moment more before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "Mmm. You smell good too."
"You do too," he replied, hugging her back. "On both counts," he said, still a bit of a flutter in his chest. "And you're even taller!" he said, grinning. He didn't mind. "Do I look big and bad enough?" he asked, jokingly.
"Oh yeah. Definitely got the Big Bad Wolf thing going on." Lil stepped back and took Nick's arm so they could start down the hallway. "I wonder if anybody's gonna guess if, or if we're just gonna have to tell them oursevles."
Nick happily started down the hall, arm in arm with Lil. "I dunno, everyone might be busy just, y'know. Doing party things," Nick said, still a bit embarrassed he'd suggested this.
"I guess so. Doesn't matter anyway, we look fantastic." She gave her an a tug. "And people are going to be so happy to see you out. Expect a lot of hugs."
"We really do," Nick said, confident enough to admit that at least she did, and if she said he looked good, well, he believed her. "And it'll be great. To be, y'know... more normal," he said. Things were... slowly going back to normal.
Lil grinned. "That's such a funny thing to say at this school. But yeah, normal's good. I mean, don't sweat it if stuff gets hard again. Sometimes it's not an even road, right?"
"Yeah," he said, smiling and lowering his gaze just a bit to the floor. "I-if it gets too rough, we can always leave early, right?" he asked, gently.
"You let me know, and we're gone, " Lil reassured him. He was getting better on the whole, but things could still get overwhelming at times and as much fun as the night promised, it had that double edge where it could turn into too much. No problem. Lil had already decided that she'd be half date and half bodyguard. If Nick needed to leave, she'd get him out.
"You're the best," Nick said, resting his head briefly against her shoulder. "This'll be really fun. Even though I can't dance," he warned.
"Yeah well, I can't either so you're in good company. You keep thinking I'm ahead of you on some of this stuff but seriously, I was a giant with a bad temper." She gave him teasing nudge with her elbow. "Girls like me don't get asked to dances."
"You're still a little bit of a giant," Nick replied, just teasing her ever-so-slightly. "And obviously they do, because I asked you," he added.
Lil warmed at the compliment and slid her hand down Nick's arm to take his hand. Maybe she had a lot of work to do to figure out exactly how she felt about him, but one thing was for sure. Sh never felt odd or out of place when she stood beside him. "Thank you for asking."
"How could I not?" he asked, grinning at her. "You're the best, like I said. I'd be stupid to not ask."
"Well, if I'm the best I guess... " She smiled and let the conversation fade out for a few moments so she could enjoy the walk with Nick.
He smiled and rested his head against her shoulder again, bringing their walk to a slow stop right outside of the area where the party was being held. They were just slightly, slightly off from the start of it. He took in a deep breath, but not as deep as he was thinking he might. Having Lil here made him so much less nervous. Maybe it was bad to depend on someone this much, but Lil had proven dependable to him, and he was happy for it. Very, very happy. "Here goes nothing, right?" he chuckled, squeezing her arm just a bit with his as he walked them to the door.
"Oh, a bit more than nothing." Lil led him in. The room was stunning. Flowers and vines climbed the wall, stars and a moon hung sparkling from the ceiling. This was like something out of a movie. "Holy shit, they went all out."
"They seriously did," Nick said, blinking at the decorations. "It's... really romantic, isn't it?" he said, wistfully.
"It's something." Lil slowed a little as she looked around, nerves finally starting to work themselves into this date. Romantic had some heavy implications. But what did she expect? 'Date' had some implications too.
"Is... is it not okay?" he asked, hesitantly. He was a bit worried, now, because the sentiment hadn't clearly been shared. But maybe he was just feeling a touch... insecure? Mindful of her feelings? A bit of both? A lot of both, maybe? Hard to say...
Lil gave him a grin. "It's fine, just a little overwhelming. Sorta makes this whole date thing a little more real."
He grinned back at her. "Well, I'm glad it's real," he said. "C'mon. Let's, y'know. Do the date thing."
"All right." Lil squeezed his hand, looked around and decided drinks would be a good start. "Thirsty? Drinking something sounds like a date thing."
"Sure," Nick said, vaguely wondering if she was talking about anything alcoholic. He couldn't really stand it much; the smell was usually just too overpowering for his sensitive nose. But if it was just a soda or some like, punch or something, he'd be fine with it. "I think I see drink stuff over that way?" he said, pointing to one corner of the room.
She nodded and gently pulled him across the room. That seemed to be the pattern - she led and he followed. Lil worried a bit about that, but it was a pretty harmless quirk so far. When they reached the table she let go and grabbed a glass for punch. "Probably way too early for anyone to have spiked this, eh?"
He sniffed a bit. "Yeah, it doesn't smell like alcohol," Nick said, relieved. He grabbed a glass for himself, and grabbed the ladle since it was closer to him. "May I?" he asked, gesturing to her glass with his hand. He figured he could at least try to be romantic and... pour her punch? He wasn't sure. What was he even doing?
"You may!" Lil answered. "And thanks for checking it. I don't drink. Don't know if it would affect me but I don't intend to find out."
He poured punch into her cup, and then poured himself one as well. "It's kinda just, there's a distinct smell. And for someone with a nose like mine, it's usually... pretty obvious."
"Do you drink at all?" She didn't think so. He'd never mentioned it and besides, it just seemed like a weird thing to consider Nick breaking the law like it, but maybe he'd surprise her.
"N-no," Nick answered, honestly. "I-I've been tempted to try it," he admitted. "But I can never get past the smell."
"Well, I'm not going to complain about that. In my experience drinking just turns people into assholes, especially guys." Realizing what she'd said, she gave Nick an apologetic smile. "But I hung around a pretty pathetic crowd back home. So maybe it was just them."
"I mean, my dad would have the odd beer, and my mom would... y'know, drink wine from time to time," he said, shrugging. Wow, he could talk about his parents without getting teary-eyed? Maybe he was just so happy to be on a date. His heart still hurt a little bit when he mentioned them, but... "They never said I couldn't have any. I just couldn't really stand the smell of any of it," he said. "It seemed like they liked it, but they never had like, a lot."
"I wish I could have met them," Lil said gently. She'd never even talked to them but they'd still managed to be kind to her with thanksgiving dinners packed in tupperware and gentle teasing Nick about her first 'date' with him. The thank you card she'd sent with Nick wasn't ever going to be enough. "It sounds like they were pretty sensible around that stuff."
"Yeah," Nick said, quietly. He blew out a breath. Think about that kinda thing later. Don't dwell. Date time. "But it's not about them, right now," Nick said, refocusing. "Tonight's about us. Our date." Their special night.
Lil reached out and gave Nick's elbow a quick squeeze. It was going to be like this for awhile, good moments balancing on top of the painful stuff. Lil wasn't sure what that meant for the whole dating thing, but acknowledging those moments seemed important. "Yup. Although I'm sort of not sure what we should be doing. Maybe find a seat for now so we can chat?"
"Yeah, that sounds nice," Nick agreed, looking around. "Then we can have our punch and keep an ear out for a good song to try to dance to," he said, grinning just a little.
"Oh my God, you're gonna make me dance? As long as it's a slow dance I guess. Then we can just sort of lean on each other and pretend we know what we're doing."
"I..." Was she joking? "I-I mean, we don't have to dance. I-I just figured you might want to slow dance and we could... yeah, like you said. I just figured it'd be nice to, y'know... be close like that," Nick said, meekly.
"Hey Nick, it's okay. We can dance. It's a good idea." Okay, maybe she needed to tone herself down a bit tonight. Nick was a lot more gentle than Tam or Teddy.
"Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm just. I guess I'm just still a bit nervous, 'cause, y'know. Date," he said again, the word making his heart flutter a bit. "Normally I'd... I'd probably have laughed."
Lil smiled and started walking towards the tables and chairs set up at the edge of the dance floor. "I get it. Though... I'm doing pretty good so far. The butterflies are mostly chained up still."
"It's kind of nice," Nick opined. "Like, feeling this kind of giddy nervousness, you know? It... it feels right, somehow," he said, though that was probably really cheesy of him to say.
Not exactly what Lil was thinking, but no way was she going to step on Nick's feelings right now. The last time she'd felt that giddiness had been with Nolan and everything that happened since then with him had made her a little wary of those butterflies. Stupid. This was Nick and no way should Nolan be getting in the way of this.
"I'm glad it does," Lil said.
"Me too," Nick confessed, smiling at her and sitting down at one of the small tables, away from everyone else. Just her and him. Let everyone see. If she was happy being with him out in the relative public like this, then so be it. He wasn't ashamed in the slightest. He was proud of himself for plucking up the courage to do this. And he was so happy that she'd decided to at least give him this date. Even if things went back to just being friends from here, he'd be happy.
He sipped his punch, realizing he hadn't even touched it yet. Tasty, he had to admit. He had to admit he was a bit self-conscious about any potential red or pink stains on the fur of his lips and chin, but he tried not to rub at it with his sleeve like instinct told him to; he didn't want to get this nice suit dirty if he could help it. It was the nicest thing he owned. "They really outdid themselves with this setup," he said, still a bit awestruck and looking around at all the decor.
Lil reached across to take Nick's free hand. That was a date thing, right? "Probably someone's power at work. This doesn't look like anything you could pick up at a party store."
He liked her holding his hand. It felt safe. "Probably, yeah," he mused, quietly. "Which is also neat. I mean, how cool is this place?" he said, grinning.
"Very. Especially with the current company." Lil smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. "Do you know if Teddy and Billy are coming too?"
"No idea," Nick admitted, smiling a little. "Those two lovebirds might make an appearance, I guess, but... they might also stay in." He was particularly mirthful when he said the term 'lovebirds.'
Lil smiled and shook her head. "Lovebirds. Man, Teddy'd light up like a Christmas tree is he heard you say that."
"It's so true though," Nick said, chuckling. "And it's great for them. I'm always so happy to see them together. It's... it's nice, you know?" He sighed.
"You're all sentimental about this stuff, aren't you?" She gave his hand a squeeze to let him know it was just gentle teasing.
"I am, though," Nick said, bashfully. "I just... never thought I'd be in a situation like this."
She was going to brush the comment off, accuse Nick of being silly, but really, before he'd come to the school there really never would have been a chance at this. If it was taking him awhile to shake off that feeling, well, Lil had come to the school with her own baggage too. That stuff wasn't easy to put off. "This school sort of changes expectations I think."
"It does," Nick agreed. "And I'm glad I'm here. I don't think I'd rather be anywhere else."
"I don't know. I mean, the way Vance talks about the Brotherhood sometimes... that sounds nice. Everybody looks out for one another and stuff."
"I think we all look out for each other here, too," Nick said. "Vance seems nice, but... I don't know how I feel about the Brotherhood, still," he said.
"Oh, I think if I were in real trouble people here would come and get me, but the day to day stuff is just the normal high school shit. I went to thank Warren for that meeting today, and he's angry at me again for something. Wouldn't say what so... " Lil shrugged. "I dunno. The Brotherhood seems a lot tighter."
"They're smaller, though," Nick said. "And, I mean, yeah. Maybe." He sniffed. "You're... you're not thinking of going to join them, are you?" he asked, just a bit nervously.
Lil laughed, just a bit because even if it sounded attractive, how she could she manage that? "Yeah sure, I do that, and then the school tells Mom and she contacts the embassy or something, and I'm getting scooped up and dragged back to Canada. I can't just run away to join them. I would like to get to know them though, just 'cause."
That came as a relief. "Getting to know them doesn't sound bad at all," Nick opined, agreeing with that sentiment. After all, if they were all friends, did it make a difference if their groups were named different things? Hopefully, now that someone else was in charge (was it the girl named Wanda? He wasn't sure) maybe they'd take a different direction, but that wasn't his business.
"That's sort of what I think. If this thing about helping mutants that some here like to talk about is a real thing, then they're important too. It's nice that some think coming out is a big move, but I think the real hard stuff is just reaching out to the hard cases." And yes, she meant the Brotherhood, but also Ginger who Lil was worried was heading down the same path Lil had cleared.
"Yeah," Nick said, nodding. "Well, I mean... we can try doing that, too, y'know?" he said, by way of offering, of sorts, he guessed. "I've been--I've been thinking about things I wanna do, and I'm not wanting to move too fast," he said. "It's stuff we can talk about later. I'd rather, y'know, focus on us," he said, grinning. "On tonight. Because I want it to be perfect for you. For us."
"Okay, okay. I'll put all that talk aside for now. We can plot later." Lil let go of his hand and moved her chair around so she could sit right beside Nick and lean into him. She wanted to put her head on his shoulder, but there was that stupid height difference. "But this is already pretty close to perfect, so no worries."
"I'm glad," he said, leaning against her in return. "This is already perfect for me," he said. He grinned, and tipped his head back to give her an experimental peck on the cheek.
It was an odd feeling when Nick kissed her, at once very welcome and something Lil wanted to back away from. No mystery why for the latter, the last time she'd found herself in this situation she'd gotten burned bad, but she wasn't going to let that ruin this and definitely wasn't going to dump that crap on Nick. It was her stuff to work through and she'd find a way to do that without hurting him. She turned and smiled at him. "Thank you."
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Date: 2018-02-25 08:53 pm (UTC)(B&T definitely did not hit the party that night - they stayed in for V-day. But Teddy appreciates that they were missed. <3 )
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Date: 2018-02-26 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-02-27 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-02-28 11:06 pm (UTC)