Then
*
"So. You gave Pryde the boot... or was it the other way around?"
Pete stared at her for a minute, then said evenly, "So, why'd they send you to play with the kiddies, Jubilee?"
She stared back. His meaning was clear, but he emphasized it for good measure. "That's right. Shut. Up." He swivelled to face the other students lined up behind Jubilee. "That goes for the rest of you."
There were a few murmurs of dissention, but another dangerous glare quieted them down. Only once voice was strangely silent, as he leaned against a wall, towards the back of the small crowd.
Pete went back to his demonstration, wishing for the thousandth time that morning he hadn't volunteered to do this. If Angelo hadn't been standing there at the back, offering his quiet support, secretly looking sexy as hell, Pete would have walked then and there.
But he'd never turned down someone who he could honestly say was sexy as hell.
Jubilee faced him again, and they began to spar. Pete stopped her, after a minute, and explained the flaw in her technique. She bristled, explaining how Wolverine's training was flawless, thank you very much. Angelo snorted quietly. 'And I was worried *I* had a hero complex,' he thought.
That low, gravelly voice he loved broke through his daydreaming. "Espinosa. You're next."
He looked worried. There was no way he was going to be able to stand up against Pete Wisdom, not in hand to hand. He steeled himself to become the laughing stock of GenX yet again, as he walked slowly to the front.
Pete saw his face, and murmured to him, "You're not going to die, kid."
Angelo grinned ruefully. "You wouldn't be that kind, would you?"
*
"Get it, c'mon, Ange!"
"I'm trying, already, Jubecita!" But his elongated leg was too late to snatch the ball away from Paige, who shot her third goal of the game... and effectively wiped the floor of Ange and Jubilee's team.
"Nice work, Ange."
He sighed. "Yeah, whatever, Jubes." Not wanting to argue with her, he started picking up the equipment from the side of the field. They'd dumped a rather large pile of belongings in a heap, and his were vying for his attention, to be retrieved.
"No, I mean, seriously. Missing that one was just brilliant. Lull the enemy into thinking they're winning, then surprise them by having them actually win. Brilliant, I say."
"Ah, fuck off, Jubes." he crouched down to sift through the pile. Of course, having Paige chuckle quietly ten feet away wasn't really helping. He wondered briefly if he could manage to stretch his leg enough to kick them both.
Maybe. But he'd probably run heel-first into his mother's scowl. "We don't hit girls, Angie. Only bullies hit girls."
Ev, bless his peace keeping soul, wasn't grinning. At all. Well, not enough that Angelo'd have to admit to noticing.
He appreciated the effort.
He tossed Jubilee her backpack, and then Paige, and then Ev. Jono skulked off to the side, waiting for Ange.
The rest of them ran off to class, and Ange looked at Jono. "So, it's off to the land of not studying for us, is it?"
<<Course, mate.>>
He stretched, glancing around. "Feel like going to town?"
A shrug. <<And doing wot?>>
"Going to a... mall. We could go to a mall." Jono looked at him. He sighed. "Okay, I see your point."
<<If only we could cut classes at night.>>
"Mmm." He stretched again. "To tell the truth, I think I need to shower before I do anything else."
Jono shrugged again, turning to head towards the dorms. <<And waste this gorgeous out of school time? Suit yerself, mate. I can't smell anything through this shite anyway.>>
Ange poked him in the ribs, familiar enough with the bandages to manage not to disturb them. "Not your loss at the moment, let me tell you that."
They kept walking around the grounds, careful to avoid any of the main ground floor classrooms and their windows. They'd just rounded a corner at the back of the house when Pete Wisdom threw open a side door and stormed out angrily.
It being too late to duck or run, Ange and Jono just stood there, ready to get a lecture on the Importance of Education.
Pete paused, stared at them, and then kicked the thick door. The 'crack' was much less satisfying than he'd hoped, but he managed to calm down enough to ask, "Wot'er you two doing here?"
Ange flicked a glance at Jono, then back at Pete. "Ah, just enjoying the sunshine..."
The older man didn't really seem to hear him, scowling at the building again as though hearing something that just annoyed him further. Ange judged himself and Jono safe enough for the moment to allow for curiousity. "Mr. Wisdom... What's up?"
"Oh, yer headmistress. Nothing much." He eyed the two of them, snapping back into focus. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
Well, shit. "We were just on our way. But then I heard this noise, and I asked Jono to help me check it out, 'cause -- well, you know how this place is with bad people dropping in, or, well, you wouldn't know, but you'll get used to it, anyway..."
Pete raised a hand, looking vaguely amused. "Spare me, mate. Yer worse than Lee."
The embarassment level that comment raised wasn't really appropriate. Babbling like Jubes wasn't exactly a compliment, even if he only did it in the line of duty and as adult-distraction-tactic. But it wasn't all that bad... he could feel faint warmth of a flush he knew no one else could see over gray skin. Thank god for small mercies.
Ange scowled. Pete shrugged, and grinned in apology. "Anyway, I don't care where you're supposed to be. Me big tough spy man, remember?"
Jono, uncharacterically, chose that moment to speak up. <<Big bad spy meaning you won't rat us out to Frost?>>
"Do you *see* me caring you're not in class, here, kids?"
Ange looked him up and down, critically. "Uh... no?"
Wisdom nodded. "That would be because I don't."
Angelo looked a little puzzled. "Okay, then... um. I guess we'll be seeing you..."
Pete blinked, and then a slow grin crossed his face. "You two wouldn't happen to be bored at all, would you? Because I just might have the cure..." Two blank faces stared at him, and he chuckled. Oh, Em was going to have kittens over this one. "Come on, lads. Let's learn All About Espionage."
* * * (We need, desperately, some more post-first-kiss pre-sex scenes.) (Two or three, IMO - and then we'll need a future scene too, in between.) ***