Quatre and Shen - Backdated

[ax_swift]

Not all of Shen's first meetings with new (privileged) students go awkward, okay? These two seem to hit it off!


It was a beautiful day outside. Quatre loved the slight coolness to the air and that they were far enough away from the busy life of the city that he could only hear the sounds of the grounds. He had picked a spot far enough away from the mansion that it would be unlikely to run into any of the other students.

Not that he didn't like his fellow students, on the contrary, he was having a fun time meeting so many different people, but sometimes he just needed time to himself.

Laying back in the thick grass felt nice and Quatre allowed himself to relax...until he saw what looked like a giant bird in the sky.

It wasn't that far from the truth, until it became apparent that this giant bird wore leggings and a tank top. Fortunately, the mutation had stopped at wings and talons before reaching the 'beak' stage, so as Shen flew lower, it turned out that she really looked mostly human. But only mostly.

She'd noticed the new boy staring at her, so she circled down until she could land beside him, knees bending easily before she straightened up, folding her wings behind her back. "Hey! You're one of the new kids."

When the girl -goodness it was actually a girl- landed next to him, Quatre made sure to stand up when greeting her since it was only polite. "H-hello! Yes, I am indeed. May I say, that your wings are magnificent!"

He gave her a large smile and tried his best not to stare at her wings, but they truly were something.

Shen laughed. "Okay, thanks." He wasn't white, so it was easier not to take it as some form of objectification. "I'm Shen. I think maybe we've talked on the journals?"

"Oh, yes." Quatre nodded and held out his gloved hand for her to shake. "I'm glad to finally put a face to the name."

"Remind me which one you are?" Shen asked hopefully, even as she reached out to shake his hand. "Sorry, there's just been a lot of you recently." She frowned at the gloves. "Oh! You're the empath." Not that that told her his name, but still.

"Oh, don't worry. I understand." He gave a good firm shake and laughed. "My name is Quatre, like the number in French...even though I am not even a little French and yes, I'm the empath."

"Right, I remember," Shen nodded, and gestured at the hand she'd just shaken. "Gloves and all. That's really considerate of you, by the way."

"Ah, yes." He pulled his hands towards him, cupping them together and wringing them a little tightly. "But I must admit, the gloves are for my benefit as well. I could only take so many days of experiencing each of my cousins' feelings before I went out and bought them."

Same reason he now only wore long pants and shirts as well. He gave a small smile. "But at least like this I can touch people with out worrying about a transfer or them feeling invaded. Small sacrifice."

"It is, isn't it?" It made her wonder why other people didn't do the same thing. Like, say, Simon Tam. Even before he'd come out, he could've come up with some bullshit medical excuse like a bad skin condition or whatever. She stopped chewing on her bottom lip when she realized she'd spaced out, and smiled at Quatre. "So, what do you make of the school so far?"

"It really is fantastic!" He gushed, dropping his hands to his side and beaming. "I had never before met another mutant until I contacted Professor Xavier. I had been following his work for a bit, so I was a little star struck when he asked if I would like to come here."

Shen couldn't help the amusement at his enthusiasm. "Sorry, I just - didn't realize he had fanboys." It wasn't said mockingly, for all her amusement. "Did you manifest a while back, then?"

"Fanboy?" That was a word he hadn't had used to describe him, but he guessed in a way he was a fan and he was a boy. He chuckled at the term and nodded. "Yeah. For about five years now, and at first it seemed exciting that I was the only one I knew who could do things like that, but after awhile it became lonely."

Feeling lonely in a large family was a weird concept, but it had happened. "So, as soon as I was invited I moved over to America. Did you move far to be here?"

"The other side of the country," Shen answered with a small smile. "Seattle." Five years. That was such a long time to have been on his own. Like Gar. Like a bunch of others, really. It made her appreciate that the Professor had reached out soon after her own manifestation.

"Oh, I hear Seattle is a beautiful place. Not too hot." Not that he hated the heat, most of the homes he had lived in were in places that were incredibly hot, but the idea of wet and rainy sounded wonderful. "How are you liking New York compared to it?"

"Honestly, I haven't really seen much of it, apart from here and Salem Center," Shen replied skeptically, and decided to take a seat, since remaining standing if they were going to chat for a while just seemed awkward. She angled her wings in a slope behind her, so they wouldn't get bent out of shape. "So you've got the 'wow this place is a rich people place' here, including incredibly huge grounds, and the 'wow this town is so small', when it comes to Salem Center. It's been different."

Quatre nodded and sat down next to her once she was settled, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "I haven't been to Salem Center yet, but I think I know what you mean. When I was told New York I immediately pictured the city, I almost completely forgot there are other parts of the state. It's better also to be away from a lot of other people when some are just figuring out their powers."

Shen nodded along to his words. "And there's the whole wanting some time to yourself until your new body parts feel like yours, too, in some cases. It was that way for me, anyway."

Quatre glanced over at her and let himself look at her wings. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to be rude, but may I ask about them?"

Shen smiled at the question. It was nice to meet someone else who thought that maybe jumping on the 'tell me everything about your mutation!' thing was not the best approach. Just because she was completely at ease with hers did not mean everyone else would be. "Ask away."

Quatre smiled when he was given permission and he hugged his knees a little tighter. "Were you born with your wings or did they start growing when you were older?"

"Nah, they started growing in May," Shen told him, wings shifting a little behind her. "They used to take weeks to grow, now it's only a couple of minutes. I can drop them, too," she added, to explain her statement. "They turn into this green goo, it's pretty yucky."

"That is fascinating!" Quatre breathed, knowing that moving with them and going places must be hard on her, but they were really very beautiful. "Is it painful when they grow back or when they turn into a goo?"

"Yes, but it's gotten way better, and no, thankfully," Shen replied with a smile. "Seriously, the pain's not much by now." Two minutes were nothing, compared to what it had been like at first. Even more nothing, compared to what Tamara had had to go through.

"That's good." Quatre nodded and rested his chin on his knees. "Powers that cause the mutant a lot of pain are just awful. I don't know what the design of that was supposed to be, a mutation that causes constant issue. You fly very well with them, by the way, you look very graceful up there."

"Thanks," Shen told him with a grin. "That took a while, too." It was a good thing Warren had been able to give her pointers! And now they'd get to help out Tamara, and that other new guy Vax. Winged life was good. "But honestly, there's nothing like flying. I spent so much time up there this summer."

He glanced up at the sky with a small smile. "I bet. Flying in a plane and seeing the clouds through the window is always exciting but it's not the same I know. One of my uncles as an old biplane that he would take people up in, he always promised me, but we never really had the time. That's the closest I can imagine to flying."

"I'll totally take you some day, if you like," Shen offered. "I'm way stronger than I look," she assured him, "or I would've had a - way harder time with these." She jerked her thumb at her wings, glad that she'd caught herself before saying 'a Tamara-hard time with these'. That was her friend's story, and not Shen's to tell.

Quatre beamed at the invite and nodded. "I would enjoy that a lot actually. I will also try not to hold too tight if we get high enough, I've never had a fear of heights, but you never know once you are up there."

"We can go slow, make sure you don't freak, first," Shen assured him easily.

"That is very kind." Quatre chuckled. "Thank you. Do you have any advice for someone new like me? I have only looked around a little and met a few people, so I'm not very seasoned yet."

"What kind of advice are you looking for?" Shen asked with a small, skeptical pout. "The only advice I tend to give people is Don't be a dick, but you sound like you've got that covered."

Quatre buried the slight flush and smile into his knees at the slight complement.

"Thanks." He muttered into his pants before looking back up at her. "I meant more along the lines of what teachers seem to be nicer or what not to eat in the cafeteria. I'm also not quite sure how a real school works, I was tutored most of my life."

"Okay," Shen nodded, keeping each of his requests in mind. Last one first. "Well, you need credits to graduate. There's a thing online that explains it, I'll show you if you want. But other than that it's just show up for class, do your homework?"

"Well, I think I can handle that. Hopefully." Quatre laughed softly. "Besides flying, what else do you like to do?"

Shen had been about to answer his cafeteria question next, so his new question took the wind out of her sails. "Ah, er. I cook? And I read up a lot, on activism and all that."

Quatre tilted his his head a little at the word activism, wanting to ask about it, but worried it would end up like how it did when talking to his father. Being told he was being foolish and misguided for his views wasn't how he wanted to start a new relationship, but he couldn't always be too scared to ask. "Activism...like the fight for mutant rights?"

"Mutant rights, gay rights, trans rights, people of color's rights, Native American rights..." Shen confirmed, nodding as she listed the options. "You name it, I've probably been to a protest."

Quatre tried to hide his smile in his knees because he knew it could be taken the wrong way, so he quickly tried to explain himself. "I'm sorry. That's very impressive that you strive for such great causes. My father believes in complete pacifism and while a lot of it I agree on, I can't understand the idea of just sitting back completely when others are in pain."

"There are completely pacifist ways to protest bullshit like discrimination," Shen replied, then shrugged, failing to look at all sheepish. "But I'm a lot less pacifist than my uncle would like, yeah."

Quatre nodded and sighed. "Peaceful protests are a thing, you're right. I just can't help that when I see the other side being so violent and unjust. I get..."

Quatre frowned and clenched his hands. " Mad."

Shen made a sympathetic face, seeing a lot of herself in the look in his eyes. "You and me both."

"But I don't want to be mad." Quatre pushed out, unwrapping his arms from around his legs to pick at his gloves. "I want to be calm and rational so I can figure out a problem logically, but it's hard."

"I spend a lot of time wondering what will serve us best," Shen admitted after a beat. "Being calm and logical, or being mad."

"One makes more sense, while the other is easier and feels better." Quatre bit at his bottom lip before turning an apologetic smile towards her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to turn our light heart conversation into something so serious."

Shen smiled at him. "No worries. I like serious about as much as I like fun." Which meant, a whole damn lot.

"Well, then I think we will get along very well." Quatre beamed.

Shen couldn't help but chuckle quietly at how happy he seemed. "We just might."