Gilmore and Illyana

[ax_magik]

Having mistimed her return from Genosha, Illyana pops in somewhere unexpected - Gilmore's room.



The upbeat thump of "Roll Up" by Fitz and the Tantrums poured out of the speakers attached to Gilmore's NolPhone in his and Molly's dorm room. It was one of Gilmore's favorite songs, cropped up on almost every playlist he ever created, and was on permanent rotation whenever this particular dorm room needed a dance break. Like right now, for instance.

Gilmore was recently out of the shower, clad in a pair of boxer-briefs and nothing else, and dancing back and forth between his closet and his bed as he considered half a dozen trousers and shirts for what must be a very hot date. He pulled a very soft-looking shirt that looked like it would fit him like a second skin out of the closet, and held it up to himself as he spun in a circle and hopped over to the mirror, singing (very well, actually) to his reflection, "Don't ya want me? Don't ya want me? I need some mercy on my soul, come on..."

Nothing, not even living for over a year and a half in a school for superpowered kids, could have prepared him for the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar blond girl in the middle of his own private dance party.

Nonetheless, an unfamiliar blond girl appeared, wearing only a black bikini. Her hair was tangled, as if she'd been in some kind of scuffle while it was wet and hadn't brushed it since, which was in fact what had happened, and she blinked eyes that weren't tracking quite properly when she caught sight of the unfamiliar guy dancing around in his underwear who was very obviously not Pietro. Or Kitty, for whose room she'd actually been aiming.

"Umm, hi?" she offered awkwardly. "Sorry, wrong room. This is Xavier's though, right?" Her tone was doubtful, because - well, the dorm rooms had never had doors that led to their own bathrooms when she'd been here. With any luck, she was in the right place and not too far from the right time.

Gilmore jumped, stumbling back toward the other, unoccupied bed in the room, and a screech escaped him not unlike a startled pterodactyl. He first dropped the shirt he was holding, then realized that he was just about naked, and scrambled to catch it and hold it up to cover his chest. Which pretty much did nothing. Then, he promptly toppled onto his roommate's bed, almost hyperventilating.

"Jesus... who... what... who are you?!" Gilmore exclaimed. He blinked rapidly a few times, taking in the girl's disheveled appearance and limited attire, and asked quickly, "Are you all right?!"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm okay." She glanced down at herself, grimaced, and looked back up. "Or, y'know, mostly. I'm Illyana. I used to be a student here." She frowned as she tried to remember why he looked familiar, then smiled a little, mostly with relief, as she managed to identify him. "You're Vax's friend, right? The one who's dating Kitty's boss?"

Wow. All of those things did describe him, technically, though Gilmore had never heard them arranged that way before. Usually people at school recognized him before his relationships. It was weird to hear it the other way around. "I... am? Yes. I am both of those things. I'm Gilmore. Shaun... Gilmore."

Now that his heart rate was running a nice and steady million beats per minute, he was starting to see the entirety of the situation. Mostly that he was still in his underwear and Illyana was still in a bathing suit. Gilmore scrambled up from Molly's bed and crab-walked over to his closet, as if turning around and showing Ilyana his rear end was the rudest thing he could possibly do.

"Do you want to borrow...?" Gilmore offered her an oversized (even for him) purple hoodie that looked extremely soft. "You must be freezing."

"I mostly don't get cold." Nonetheless, she shivered as she stepped forward and helped herself to the sweatshirt. Whether it was reaction to the drugs she'd been given or what she'd seen afterwards she really wasn't sure. "Thanks. Are you sure you don't mind?"

In fact, Gilmore looked fairly desperate for her to take it, and relieved when she did. He reached back into the closet and pulled out a silky, gold bathrobe that he quickly swirled on and tied around his middle. It wasn't that he was modest or prude, exactly, but he didn't know this girl at all, and he didn't really want to have a conversation mostly naked. "Not in the least. Do return it, though, if you could. It's a particular favorite."

His voice settled and evened out into his usual rich rumble now that he felt a little more secure. "Dare I ask... how did you end up here?"

Illyana finished pulling her mess of hair out from underneath the hood of the sweatshirt that hung to about mid-thigh, and offered a crooked, tired smile. "Sorry, complete mis-aim, I think? I teleport, but I'm not...exactly at my best at the moment. And the more tired I am, the more likely I am to end up in the wrong place." She frowned. "Not sure how I ended up in the wrong building, though. I was aiming for Kitty's."

Now that he had his footing back, Gilmore almost immediately went into host mode. He swept over to his own bed and piled up all the clothes he'd scattered around on it, offering the richly-colored comforter and pile of jewel-tone pillows with a gesture. "You must be really tired then. Please, sit, take a breath. Do you want a soda? I think I have a bottle of frappucino too, if that sounds good.

"Hey, Sherrie?" He paused, half-turned, and a little round device on his desk lit up blue. "Turn the music down by five?" Obligingly, the peppy, upbeat playlist quieted, but didn't turn off completely.

"A soda'd be awesome," Illyana admitted. She took the offered seat on the bed, making a face as she did. "I'm sorry. Were you in the middle of something? Or just getting ready to do laundry?"

Gilmore laughed warmly, padding over to the room's mini-fridge and retrieving two chilled and caffeinated cans of soda. He handed one over to Illyana. "No, Nolan's taking me out later, and I want to look hot as hell. Sometimes he'll start subtly showing me off like he won me at the fair? And that's an ego boost I could really handle this week."

He draped himself comfortably on Molly's bed across the way. "But my mother would be so disappointed if I was inhospitable to a guest."

"Technically, I'm pretty sure that someone who accidentally popped into your room uninvited doesn't qualify as a guest," she pointed out, and while she accepted the soda, she also got to her feet, wobbling only a little. "I should let you get back to getting ready. I hope your week gets better."

Gilmore watched Illyana sway as she got up, and arched one finely-shaped black brow. "Oh, honey, no. Sit down, get off your feet, and tell me everything about how you ended up in my room in a bikini when you meant to land at Kitty's."

"I don't know - I mean, I lived with Kitty, its usually one of the places I can find, no problem." Illyana considered his request, then sighed and sat back down. Honestly, she really didn't feel up to moving, anyway. "It's probably whatever they drugged me with. We ended up in Limbo's past, too." She frowned and cocked her head. "What's today's date, anyway?" Just in case she'd accidentally ended up somewhere in the future. Given that her phone was still in a hotel room in Genosha, it was also the easiest way to check.

Gilmore sat up from his lazy lounge very quickly, looking alarmed. "Wait. You were drugged? By who? We should be reporting this to the staff here, even if you aren't a student. One of the docs should take a look at you, make sure you're okay." He frowned, glanced over at his desk where his NolPad was in snooze mode, displaying the time and date in a wispy font, floating across the screen like a cloud. Absently, Gilmore read the date off to her. "What's the date you remember?"

Illyana let out a sigh of relief. "Just a few days before that one, so that's no big deal And I'm okay." She wrinkled her nose. "I'd really rather not deal with reporting shit to the Professor, though. Bad enough I'm going to have to go back to the base and tell Wanda and Pietro later."

While Gilmore really didn't know how the Brotherhood did things, he did know that people were people and deserved a few basic things. One of those things was not being randomly drugged. "Hey, I'm not going to force you, but it sounds like you were, y'know... assaulted and kidnapped. That's not okay. When it happened to me last year I was messed up for weeks." He didn't say it for sympathy; he said it so hopefully Illyana wouldn't dismiss his concern.

"At least consider hanging out here and resting for a few?" Gilmore suggested, trying on about half of his most charming smile -- which was both gorgeous and a little goofy. "If only to indulge me, that is."

Illyana let out a soft laugh and nodded. "Well, okay. Just for you. But seriously, it seems sometimes like I've spent most of my life getting assaulted and kidnapped. Never had it happen on vacation," she admitted, tilting her head to consider that, "but that's probably just because I've never really been on vacation before. Anyway, I'm okay." Mostly. But the things that were bothering her most didn't have much of anything to do with the abduction.

Gilmore lifted both brows this time, leaning back into the comfort of Molly's bed, and gave her a long look. "Illyana, I don't mind saying that you seem like a woman in real and true need of a sassy gay friend. Have you ever had a sassy gay friend? Because I can tell you we are miraculous. I may not be the sass monster that Vax'ildan or even Nolan are, but honey, I am completely gay. I'm gayer than two guys. And that? Is the textbook definition of 'gay'."

He took a long swig of his soda, then made a little inviting gesture with his free hand. "So, come on, come on, tell Gilmore all about it."

"About my having a sassy gay friend?" Illyana teased. "I mean, I have Pietro, who's very definitely sassy. But I'm not sure if he's gay or bi, to be honest. And there's Billy, who's gay, but he's usually not all that sassy. Not in your league, anyway." She grinned, took a sip of her soda, and shrugged. "Anyway, Pyro and I went to check out Genosha. You know, that island that advertises itself as the perfect mutant vacation spot? Except it's really, really not. Though I have to admit," she added a little wistfully, "they had an awesome beach."

A little encouraging nod indicated that Gilmore had heard about Genosha, though other than looking over their advertising, he hadn't thought much about it. Not with everything else he had going on at the moment. "I do enjoy a good beach, though, I tend to prefer to remain, ah, unmolested. I take it the beach did not end well for you and your... friend?" Gilmore didn't think one probably went on a beach vacation with a 'friend', when that friend's name was Pyro.

"Boyfriend," Illyana corrected without a great deal of enthusiasm, because she was still annoyed with him, but nodded. "But yeah, not so much. Went to the bathroom, and got jumped by a couple of cops or soldiers or something. I took one of them down," she smiled a little at that, "but the other one knocked me out. I woke up tied down to a table with shit burning all around me and Pyro trying to get me up, so I'm not sure what all happened other than that I got drugged and there were wires stuck to me." She made a face. "Turns out they lure mutants in to mess with their heads and use them as slaves. Definitely not in their commercials."

Gilmore's eyes widened again with alarm, but he managed to quell the urge to insist they go and tell the world about this fact right fucking now. Expose's could wait until Illyana was settled and rested, he supposed. Besides, she seemed so... nonchalant about all of this. Shaun had pretty much fallen apart when it happened to him. "We're going to put a pin in that," he suggested weakly, "and come back to it later."

Illyana frowned, confused by his reaction, and nodded slowly. "Okay. Are you alright?"

"Honey," Gilmore answered significantly, "I'm not the one who's been drugged, kidnapped, tied to a table, and nearly burned alive. I should be asking you."

"Burned?" Illyana's forehead furrowed for a moment, then she laughed and shook her head. "Oh, no. That was just Pyro. I wasn't in any danger; he had the flames under control. I'm guessing he fought his way in - he really did't say. Anyway, I'm just fuzzy headed from that. It wasn't that big a deal." She made a face. "What came after that sucked more."

The nice thing about attending Mutant High for almost two years was that Gilmore instantly could understand that a boyfriend named Pyro would naturally have fire-related powers, and that, at least, seemed to comfort some of his concern. It did still seem like sort of a big deal, though. "Is this the part that Uncle Gilmore can help with?" he rumbled in that chocolatey low voice, with a crooked smile.

"Y'know, that sounds kinda creepy," Illyana pointed out, her lips quirking up in a smirk. She held it for a few seconds before deflating and shrugging her shoulders, eyes slipping from his to focus on her soda can. "Anyway, there's nothing to help with. I just screwed up my stepping disks when I 'ported us out, and ended up in Limbo's past watching myself."

Gilmore nodded as if he understood. He did not. But he did know TJ and had heard about her adventures through other worlds. Maybe this was something like that? "I'm not fully versed in interdimensional physics, but, I'm going to assume that's not supposed to happen?"

"It's okay, physics-wise," Illyana corrected without looking up. "Personally? It kinda sucks. And I realized - I mean, I'm pretty sure - that my best friend there/then? Is an older, Limbo-warped version of my best friend now."

"You mean... Kitty?" Gilmore asked, a small frown pinching between his brows.

Illyana nodded, her expression awkward as she peered up at him. "Yeah. I mean, I never realized it - Cat - well, she really didn't look a whole lot like herself when I last saw her, before I met Kitty. But seeing her again how she was before that, now that she's older now? I think it was her. Or another dimensional-her, maybe. But still."

Gilmore thought this over for a moment, to be sure he had it straight in his head. "So, you think that your friend when you were younger, is an older version of Kitty? That's... wow. I don't have any idea how time travel works, but I never thought of it working like that."

"I think it's maybe a Limbo thing." Illyana shook her head and waved that aside. "Anyway, it was weird, because - well, stuff happened. Before. And watching it was weird, especially after I figured out that, and then Pyro made a snotty comment about Kitty being a bitch then too, right after she'd just died, and...yeah." She took another sip of her soda, lowered the can to her leg, and her eyes back to the can. Because yeah. That had been just what she'd needed. Right after watching herself kill her best friend.

"Ex-cuse me?" Gilmore straightened, an expression of offense and disbelief casting across his face. "Oh, no, no, no. He did not. It's not allowed to speak that way about Kitty Pryde if I have anything to say about it. And I do."

"Well, he's not exactly a fan. For reasons," Illyana managed to summon in Pyro's defense, but it was more by rote at this point than anything. Because honestly, it'd been way over a year, and Kitty'd said she was sorry. She was sick of it, herself. "But she'd just - I'd just - Cat was dead, and I was explaining how Belasco had turned her into a cat demon, and all he could ask was if he'd made her a bitch, too. Because, y'know, he hadn't tried to kill me when Belasco'd fucked with him. So I pointed that out."

Gilmore still didn't understand half of what Illyana was talking about. Demons? Belasco? Who? He didn't want to force Illyana to explain things that were scary or painful, though. This was about her, not his confusion. He pursed his mouth briefly, then observed, "If Nolan ever said something like that about my best friend, I... " Gilmore sought for the words for a minute, and found he couldn't come up with anything. He shook his head. "No, Nolan wouldn't. Because he respects the people that are important to me, because they're important to me."

Illyana made a face, but fell silent while she mulled that over. "That's...important, huh?" she asked finally. "The whole respect thing? Because...well, Pyro's mostly stopped saying shit about my friends. But he doesn't like them, and he doesn't make any secret of that."

"My friends are loud and disruptive and messy," said Gilmore with a note of fondness. "Nolan is... not any of that. But he knows how important they are to me, and that makes them important to him." That was really all there was to it, with him and Nolan. "It matters very much to me that my partner respects things that matter to me. How else am I going to know that he respects me?"

"Pyro respects me," Illyana countered automatically. Because he did, she didn't doubt that. He had respect for what she could do, and had always encouraged her, and...

And there was more to respect than that, wasn't there? Because he might respect what she could do, but he really didn't respect her choices, or what was important to her. She wasn't sure he really cared what was important to her, and when she tried to explain, he always seemed to take it personally. She rubbed at her forehead. "I don't know what to do," she admitted. "Other than not go back to the base for a while. It's not like he'll care - he stormed off on me anyway."

"How mature," Gilmore noted, not at all dry, and deeply sarcastic. He had promised the 'sassy gay friend' experience, after all. "Sounds like you're pretty used to altering the way you live based on his moods," he added, flat-out, cocked eyebrow and head-tilt and all.

Wasn't that normal? Illyana opened her mouth to ask, then realized what Gilmore had meant. "Oh, I meant I wanted to calm down before I went back, not that I was waiting for him to. But..." Her face screwed up and she looked awkward, "Isn't that normal, anyway?" She'd spent most of her life altering how she lived based on the mood of who she was with. Of course, that maybe didn't mean much, considering the people she'd lived with, but...uggh. Things were even more complicated than she'd thought.

"What's 'normal'?" Gilmore countered, with a shrug of one shoulder. "It hardly matters what happens with other people, does it? This is your life, and your relationship. So far? Everything I know about Pyro is that he belittles your friends, gets mad when you're upset, and expects you to keep away from your home when he's in a temper," he pointed out. "Oh, and he didn't actively try to kill you. You're not really selling me on this guy, so I have to wonder how you're selling yourself on him?"

"Hold it - I didn't say all that," Illyana protested. "He doesn't expect me to stay away - I said, that was my choice. And the only time he tried to kill me was when he was possessed. That doesn't count." The rest of what he'd said, though...there was some truth in all that. Except...

"He loves me," she added quietly, meeting Gilmore's eyes. "I mean, he's never said it? But even Kitty thinks so. Despite what I am. Or maybe because." She shrugged awkwardly. "Where am I going to find that? I screwed things up with Tommy in under a month."

Literally anywhere else? Gilmore wanted to say, but didn't. Illyana seemed to think there was something about her particularly unworthy of love, and didn't Gilmore have first-hand experience with that. He'd worked hard to get his friends past that, even Nolan to a certain extent, and frankly he just had no patience for it. "Listen, gorgeous, I'm not gonna tell you to ditch your boyfriend," he said honestly. Even if I think you should.

"But I am gonna tell you that you deserve somebody who has your back, and treats you kindly, and who loves you with his words and his actions. You deserve that, and you should hold out for it, and that is your patented Sassy Gay Friend advice," Gilmore finished with authority.

"Thanks," Illyana said distractedly. She deserved - honestly, she had no idea what she deserved. Having just watched herself kill Cat, she didn't feel as if she deserved much. But maybe...maybe he was right.. Maybe Cal was. Maybe she deserved better, at least.

She chugged the rest of her soda and got to her feet. "I - thanks. For the soda and everything. I really should go find Kitty, though."

This was as far as Gilmore was going to get, but he hoped it was far enough to prompt Illyana to think. After all, this wasn't really about her boyfriend as much as it was about what Illyana believed about herself. In his (admittedly kind of limited) experience with relationship advice, it usually was. He slid off Molly's bed and got up as well, moving to get the door for her -- and check, with a sidelong glance, that she was looking more steady this time. "But of course. Feel free to drop in anytime, by the way -- just be advised that my roommate is purple and utterly lacking in any form of modesty."

"So am I - the modesty part, I mean." Illyana smiled, her eyes tired. "Obviously not the purple. I'll get the hoodie back to you once I've washed it, though. Thanks for the loan."

Gilmore bowed, which gapped his silky robe open, and looked positively decadent. Anyway, she'd already seen almost everything he had to offer when she teleported in. He opened the door for her. "Take your time. And take care, Illyana. It was positively glorious to meet you."

Illyana laughed. "You too. Both." She headed out the door, looked both ways to get her bearings, and headed towards the other dorm.