xmutanthigh | [open thread] need distractions!! (iris)

Entry tags:

[open thread] need distractions!! (iris)

Characters: Kevin, Josh, EVERYBODY!
Setting: The room with the biggest TV. Some common area or other.
Content: Anything and everything, I just need fun distractions.
Status: Open! Incomplete! Come play in this!
Thread-jacking: YAY! I need to try this. GO!

[Kevin and Josh are seated in front of the TV of the common room, both of them consulting the papers in their hands. Josh has organized a betting pool for March Madness, and Kevin submitted his brackets to him the other day. Now they're catching up on highlights and making some idle chitchat.]

I'm pretty sure I'm at least going to whoop Jono's ass here. He did his "research" based on prettiest uniforms again. [Josh laughs here and says something about how all the uniforms are ugly before heading to the kitchen for more popcorn. Kevin remains seated on the couch, legs drawn up so he can put his paper on his knees and scribbles out some of the eliminated teams.]

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Just because he doesn't understand it. His idea of a good sport is kicking a ball around for four hours and at the end of it the score's still zero-zero. [Julian pools the popcorn on his chest after he slumps in his seat, stuffing some more into his mouth. His attention is on the television screen and the basketball game. Sorry, Kev, he just nods at you in greeting there.] Are you fucking kidding me? [He's bitterly referring to the state of the twice-tied game here. Is Julian in a sour mood over this? Do human beings convert oxygen into carbon dioxide?]

Edited 2011-03-23 05:45 (UTC)

[Josh notices Kevin's curt nod in return to Julian. But whatever, it's not his problem. Soon the three boys are howling at the TV every time the score ties up again, and once the game goes into triple overtime, Kevin and Josh are angrily pelting popcorn kernels at the screen.]

Come on!!

[Yeah so there's unspoken stuff Julian has left unspoken between him and Kevin. They're not friends, never really were, but the stupid jerk is important to who's important to Julian. And maybe now that Mr. Runaway Emo Kid is back Julian doesn't know what to say to him. 'Welcome back, you're welcome by the way, glad you didn't get yourself killed. Thanks for making my friends' lives a living hell for months.' Maybe another time.

So Julian just watches the game, eventually sitting up for every failed shot at the hoop and piss-poor pass, joining in with the hollers and throwing.]

[Kevin's gotten a bit better about picking up on silent cues, and the ones coming from Julian are subtle... but easy enough for him to read. With Julian, Kevin doesn't even see a point in trying. Julian is everything the X-Men are looking for: determined, leader-potential, and most importantly, a believer in the X-Men. Kevin isn't their biggest fan... and that, he believes, is the biggest obstacle in getting any sort of acceptance from Julian. That's where Kevin doesn't see any possibility of a real relationship of any kind between them. There isn't a point.

He sighs. And tries to enjoy the game. He curls up in the corner of the couch -- far away as he can get from human contact -- and keeps his eyes on the TV. His hometown team isn't playing, but still, Kevin can still enjoy a good show from Steve Nash and Kobe.]

[If anyone asked Julian why he doesn't like Kevin, he would immediately counter that he's never for a moment disliked Kevin. The truth is Kevin is a wild card: he's not confident in his abilities, he has wavering morals and loyalties, and most importantly, he takes unnecessary risks. He's some kid trying to be an X-man but it doesn't take a genius to realize it's because Kevin doesn't know what else to do. He abandoned ship the first chance he had.

It's not that Julian doesn't like Kevin; it's that Julian doesn't trust the guy's loyalty to the team. And team loyalty? That's a priority to Julian. And whatever smidgeon of faith he had in Kevin is certainly bruised now.

So Julian does what he does best to people he doesn't know how to talk to or sympathize with - he ignores them. Way he sees it, it's easier this way. Again, maybe another time. Which is why when the Lakers go into triple overtime, Julian reaches over to slap his hand over Josh's chest and doesn't even look at Kevin. For once Josh is getting treated the best by Julian Keller in the room.]

Oh, come on!

Edited 2011-03-23 21:36 (UTC)

[In the past, Kevin would probably have gotten up and stalked off. But he doesn't care anymore. It's not that he's gotten so calloused to being disliked or hated or anything like that. He knows a lot of the people here, Julian included, are merely tolerating him, and even knows some of the reasons why.

The issue of team loyalty. That same Kevin who would've been so uncomfortable with the tension in the air before would've said, "Why should I stick up for a team that's never stuck up for me?" But deep down, he knows. All that's changed. People have changed his life, as cheesy as it is to admit it. He questioned it before, whether the X-Men only came to get him out of some kind of wounded pride or school integrity. There's no question about it anymore, though. After coming back and settling into a routine at the school again, he feels... cared for. And accepted. Not by everyone, but some. And it's a start.

As the score ties up yet again and the other boys are jumping up and down on the sofa and screaming, Kevin is able to drown out the noise and reflect. He tries to conjure up that old feeling of "Why should I?" again and can't seem to find it. If he had to protect either of these boys jumping on the sofa and whooping at the TV -- he'd do it.

Articulating that out loud, however, would be way too touchy-feely. So he just groans when Steve Nash attempts a three for a total air-ball to remind them of his presence and makes an off-hand comment.]

The old man's getting tired with all these overtimes. You never see him shoot for total air.

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[open thread] need distractions!! (iris)

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