Hanging Out

Posted on Sun Feb 4th, 2024 @ 1:41am by Ethan Hale & Elias Buckley

2,857 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 3: X-Tra Ecclesiam
Location: Mansion Hallway
Timeline: TBD

It had been a couple of days since the rescue mission had taken place and Ethan was bored. He could have gone the the Danger Room, or just down to the living room, he could have done some chores around the house, but none of those ideas appealed to him. So he knocked on Elias's door.

"S'open," Elias called out. He didn't get up, but remained flat on his back on his bed, just shorts a sleeveless tee, and a Walkman on, his feet bare.

Ethan stepped into the room making a valiant effort to not stare at the chest of the other teen, or let his eyes, and mind wander in the wrong direction. He mostly pulled it off. Mostly. He shifted his eyes to Elias; face, hoping he hadn't noticed his previous stares. "Hey," he said, "we've got the afternoon off. Thought you might like to, you know go somewhere and hang out. Maybe grab a slice or two of pizza, or go to Central Park, or I don't know, whatever you want to do."

Taking the headphones off at the same time he hit stop on the cassette player, Elias sat up, brushed the crumbs of a long-ago-eaten crisp packet off his shirt, and regarded Ethan. If he had noticed the lingering looks, Fable didn't draw attention to said fact. His face quirked into a friendly enough smile as he bounced up to his feet and he looked about the place for wherever his sneakers had been kicked. "I could eat pizza," Elias conceded, dark eyes locking with Ethan's own as soon as the other teen allowed it. "I could eat pizza in the park," he continued, raising one eyebrow as he added. "We can watch the joggers circle..." he threw that out there, not averse to a little eye candy.

"I'm always hungry and can always eat. Pizza it is," he said with a smile. It was probably nothing, but he liked the way Elias held his eyes if only briefly. "Watching the joggers sounds good." He was pretty sure the two of them wouldn't be looking at the same joggers, but he kept that to himself.

"So you want to take Gryphon Air, or take our chances on the subway?"

"There is a third option," Elias noted for the record. "But hey, sometimes the long way around is more fun." Porting everywhere was faster, more efficient, and... useless for sightseeing along the (real world) route, and today? Today lazier ways would be more interesting, and give the two of them a chance to interact some too.

"Let's go Gryphon Air," he decided, closing that thought with a firm nod. "So how does this work? I ride on your back, or you carry me like momma with a kid?"

"Well I could do either, but I think it would be easier with you on my back. I could focus more on flying. And I've never tried to catch a thermal with someone on my back."

"You going to change your clothes, or just go like that."

"Gotcha," agreed Elias, simply. He nodded, emphatically, not overthinking a simple agreement. "I'll ride on your back then."

The 'porting teen raised an eyebrow as Ethan questioned him with regards to his clothing, shrugged, and responded without discussion. "Like this." He did reach for a pair of Converse hi-tops though, pulling them onto his bare feet. Summer weather, summer outfitting. "Good to go?"

"We're good to go." Ethan agreed. The two teens decided to leave through the window rather than go downstairs and out the front door. Elias's added weight didn't bother Ethan much, though he did have to adjust for it. They had flown for about ten minutes and were almost over Central Park when Ethan looked at the teen on top of his back. "You comfortable up there?" he asked. And do you want to try catching a thermal and see if we can go higher, or did you just want me to fly down to the Park so we can get our pizza?"

"Thermal!" Called Elias into the wind. "And yeah," he added with a wild grin. "You're kinda comfy for a ride." Shifting position just a little, he checked his hand placement around Ethan's wings and settled himself a little closer in, ready for some fun moves if the other lad was truly up for it. "Ready when you are!"

Ethan was getting used to the weight on his back by that time, not to mention that he liked how Elias was holding on to him. So, he flew a little higher beating his wings to increase his speed. "Hang on," he called out. But then, instead of continuing to climb, or trying to catch another thermal, he dove toward the ground.

The temptation to port out of there was strong in Elias as Ethan shifted to a steep dive groundward. He didn't take that chance though, knowing that he could change his mind in a split second, but also trusting - a rare event indeed - the other teen to not want to kill him. As Ethan plummetted groundward, Elias whooped a long, drawn-out call of excited happiness. Adrenline rush, good!

Ethan was just as excited as Elias. He was after all a thrill seeker, and he was confident in his abilities. About fifty feet above the ground, he pulled out of the dive flapping his wings harder and harder. "Hang on," he called back. "You okay?"

Over the rush of air and beating wings, it was hard to hear anything but the physical environment around him, but Elias caught the gist of the question. "I'm good!" He yelled back into the wind. "That was AWESOME!"

Ethan slowly descended to the ground. and Elias hopped off his back. "Sounds like you had fun. Do you want to grab some food now, or do something else?"

With a nod, Elias regarded the world around them for a moment, then readdressed Ethan. "Yeah," he said, eloquently. "Was good to take Gryphon Air for a change. Slower than porting, but nothing like the rush of real air past your ears." He considered options and tilted his head to the side. Always there was that hunger calling in his belly. "Food," he said.

"Food it is then. What if we get a couple of slices now, scope out things in the Park like we talked about for a while Then we can, I don't know maybe see a movie or something, then, then get dinner someplace?"

"Pizza good!" Enthused Elias, with happy simplicity. Then he raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Dinner and a movie? Sounds like a date?"

Ethan kept his face as neutral as possible. "It could be if you wanted to be. Have you ever thought of going on a date with another guy?"

There followed a classic double take as Elias caught up with current events, but he didn't run screaming or start cursing at his friend either. A moment passed in quiet contemplation. Elias shrugged with a casual flair for understatement and he answered with a calm, pensive tone.

"Not really thought about dating at all," he said, honestly. "I see someone I like, I spend time with them if they allow it." There followed another shrug as if this should be obvious. Then Elias leapt to the next carriage on his train of thought. "You date guys a lot?" An eyebrow quirked in curiosity. "You ever had sex?" He asked and remained non-specific with regard to any need for gender in that response.

"Back before I came to New York, back when I was in Los Angeles, one of my teammates was gay. We went out a few times, but he's the only one I've ever dated. We were, I don't know what you'd call us back then. Boyfriends? A couple? I'm not sure."

"And yeah we had sex a few times. More than a few times if you include making out and foreplay. No so many if you mean intercourse. What about you? Have you ever had sex?"

"And I'm totally cool with it if you just want to hang out. No labels."

Elias nodded as Ethan spoke, his attention on the words. They seemed to be spoken easy enough which helped him towards an honest response. Still, it took him a moment before he made that decision to speak about his past, his privacy and his words were shorter and a little less revealing than his friend's.

"I've had sex, yeah," Elias said. It wasn't entirely clear from that initial statement if this was a good thing or not. It took him a minute before he added more. "Never had a boyfriend or girlfriend though." Another long pause. He'd never really been in the same place long enough to tie himself to anyone else that way, not through choice at least. The shrug was back, lazy and noncommittal but for reasons deeper beneath the surface than it might seem to Ethan right now.

"What's it like?" Elias asked. "Having a... relationship I mean? How come you're not... y'know back in LA with your boyfriend?" Asking about someone else was easier than addressing his own past.

"it was good, for a while, but like that old cliche goes, we wanted different things. Our desires were too far apart."

"Your desires? Like sexual..." Elias stopped, realising that was a very personal question.

There was a pause where Ethan thought about how much to admit to. "I know I look like a mutant, but I'm not. I'm an experiment. So was he. We were turned into what we were by the government, well technically a contractor, to hunt down mutants. He wanted to continue to go down that path. He's still going down that path. I could no longer justify it or live with myself."

"He would try to kill me if he saw me again. Knowing who I am, or who I was, you probably hate me now too."

Well, yeah that made more sense, thought Elias. Desires being career options and all. Still, this was some heavy-duty stuff Ethan was sharing. Almost made him feel guilty for keeping his own secrets close, but there wasn't exactly a choice from his point of view.

Elias shrugged in response to Ethan's last assumption. "Hate you? No." He quirked a wry smile. "You were created to do something, by people who didn't give a fuck, right? They told you what to do, you did it." Another shrug. "So what made you change your mind and follow the mutant path instead of the government stooge one?"

"I think it had been building for a while. I began to notice little things that didn't add up, that no longer made sense. But what really did it was when were chasing this kid, probably the same age I was at the time, sixteen or seventeen. I caught him and was doing what I'd been taught to do. Beating the shit out of him. It hit me then that I was the monster. So I stopped."

"My handler demanded that I finish it. That I kill the other boy. I did kill someone that day. It just wasn't the guy I'd caught."

"Oh as to your question about our sexual tastes. No, they were about the same. We were into the same things, which you probably don't want to know the details of."

"The hunter becomes the hunter," Elias said, enigmatically, his expression distant in that moment. Then he offered up a wry half-smile. "Sounds like they got what they deserved," he stated, resting a supportive hand on Ethan's shoulder. "They made you, so it's their responsibility. And you chose not to be the monster," he added, then shrugged. "Or just a monster on the other side?" A dumb grin followed that rhetorical question.

As to the matter of sexual preferences, there followed a frowny face, a tilting back and forth of his head and Elias shrugged.

"I know where all the bits and pieces can go," he said, dark eyes looking directly into Elias'. "But yeah, I save the details for personal situations and porn." That was the flippant, teenage reaction response. It wasn't entirely left there. He decided to clarify more for Ethan's benefit. "My ability got me out of some bad situations as a kid," Elias stated. "I've helped others get out too." Like that sister, he wasn't about to mention to anyone.

"Then we share a few things in common. I guess that is why we're teammates. But I've hogged all the spotlight. Tell me about when you helped someone out."

"Not really a fan of the spotlight," Elias said with a casual shrug. "Or helping people out." There followed a wry smile as if there was some depth to that statement, but he wasn't currently in the mood to overshare. "Enough talking for now, let's get some pizza, yeah?"

"Yeah, let's get some pizza."

The two walked into a hole-in-the-wall pizzeria. When they did, every head in the establishment turned to look at them and murmurs could be heard.

Head held high, haughty look on his face, Elias stood tall and ignored the menu. He knew what he wanted. As they waited to be served, he cast his gaze about the other patrons in turn and wasn't shy about meeting their eyes. Without saying a word, Elias took Ethan's hand in his own and squeezed the other teen's fingers firmly.

Ethan had thought that the stares were because they were mutants and for no other reason, but he wasn't going to deny he liked the feeling of another boy's hand in his. It had been a long time. He squeezed back, unfurling his wings and daring anyone to say anything. He glanced over at Elias and in a voice pitched so that only he could hear it, said, "Are you sure?"

Protection. That's what Elias had been thinking above everything. Ethan had shared his vulnerabilities, and Elias had avoided following suit, because, well, emotions were difficult, messy things. And because he was still protecting others who hadn't yet been named. Still, faced with a situation where a bunch of people were looking - no, staring - at them as if they were aliens from another planet, his first instinct was to show solidarity and protect. While he had no outwardly obvious sign of being different himself, Ethan's appearance spoke for him as a first impression.

"We're in this together," he answered, enigmatically. "What do you want?" He asked, looking from Ethan to the menu. "It's on me."

Ethan, like almost everyone, had good qualities. How many good qualities was a matter of debate, but patience was not one of his virtues. Some would argue correctly, that he was not only impatient but also a hothead. He'd been about to fire off a nasty retort, maybe even flex his wings and extend his claws, just to make the crowd back down. But Elias' reaction, though more subtle, was far more effective.

Gryphon's face grew into a wide grin. "Two slices of pepperoni," he said. Then because he couldn't resist goading their audience a little, he turned his gaze from Elias to them and said. "He doesn't think I'm a freak. He's my boyfriend."

It wasn't true of course, but the crowd had no way of knowing that.

Most of the patrons backed off after that. There was one exception. A middle-aged couple, the wife a redhead turned and walked out the door. "Faggots," the man muttered. "Mutant freaks," his wife replied. Reverend Stryker was right again.

Elias looked to the ceiling and silently rolled his eyes. There was no way to 'win' an exchange like this, not really. Enemies he and Ethan could fight, but ignorant and unkind humans were another matter. Murder was still murder. It wasn't worth it. He let the 'boyfriend' comment slide in favour of a peaceful resolution, wanting his food right now more than he wanted a fight, and he focused on the server.

"And two pepperoni with extra mushrooms, please," Elias said, taking the dollars from his wallet and handing them over as the order was prepped. "Nice customers you have there," he added, a wry grin on his face as he refused the change. "Keep it, if you have to deal with arseholes like them all day you deserve it."

"As long as their money is good, my manager wants them around. As far as I'm concerned who you sleep with or who you love is none of my business," the waiter said.

Internally, Elias rolled his eyes at his own nice guy act but outwardly, he offered up a semi-amused smirk and nodded. "Sex, love and rock 'n' roll," he noted. "Personal choice, right."

That said, he picked up their pizza slices and looked to Ethan. "Let's roll."

And they were gone.

Only to materialise on the sandy shore of a warm ocean, one with fuzzy trees on rounded islands out into the bay like offshore watchmen. "Ever been to Thailand?" Elias asked.

Ethan looked over at the other youth, "We're in Thailand?" he asked.

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