Before the Worst

[WrittenHollowness]

"Logan is a brute...although I can see what that red-headed lady saw in him." Evan mumbled as he placed the beanie on the top of his head. "Logan has courage. Pure courage. And, it shines in his leadership. He may not know all the answers, but that isn't enough to deter him." Evan smiled at Darren. "You and he are a lot alike in that way." He then punched the taller teen's arm. "Except you're a lot more hard headed than he is." he laughed.


'But that's okay, because you'll always be there for me.' he thought.

 

[ROUX]

Darren laughed. "That depends entirely on which side of my head you're talking about," he shot back, tapping the right sight of his head for emphasis. The complement had lifted his spirits considerably-being compared to Wolverine was no small thing in his world. The gruff X-Man had become a bit of an idol for him, and he worked hard every day to get there because of it.


He watched as the two older mutants came out of the arena, breathing heavily as they congratulated eachother on another well - done session.

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"Hey Kurt." Evan said, high-fiving the blue man. "Beast wants to tinker a bit with the image inducer, to run a diagnostic. He asked me to retrieve it from you." he lied, putting on his best and most devious innocent face.

 

[ROUX]

"Of course," Kurt nodded, switching it back to his true form before he unstrapped it from his wrist and handed it to Evan. "Ask him o fix the fourth setting would you? It's making my skin green," he said with a frown before retreating to the locker rooms. Darren waited till he was out of earshot before shaking his head. "Forget the X-men, you need to be a spy."

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"Do you have a thing for spies of something?" Evan asked, smirking to himself. "So what's the next step in our grand plan, sir?" he asked, a sort of high coming from the rush of tricking someone. He looked to Darren, and for a split second, his eyes flashes a almost green color. "I'm actually pretty excited." he admitted, finally feeling like he belonged.

 

[ROUX]

"We'll go see Forge. I think he's still reprogramming Cerebro, but he could figure this thing out in two seconds.He replied. "And of course you're excited. Now you can finally show off all those dance moved that you've been hiding," he said pointedly, referring to how he had caught Evan in a jamming session a few days ago.

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"You wouldn't have seen me dancing so well if you hadn't been secretly checking me out." Evan snickered, mentally bashing himself for making that kind of joke once again. "We should get this over with soon, I don't want Uncle Charlie to catch me lying." He sighed, wrapping his arm around Darren's waist in a platonic manner.

 

[ROUX]

"Chillax, Ev, its only for one night. What could possibly go wrong?" He said, walking toward the room that housed the supercomputer. "Besides, its not like we're changing anything drastically, just giving you a few mutant features so you can have a good time for once."


"a few mutant features for what?" Darren stopped in his tracks as Forge walked up behind them, eyeing them questionably. "Darren showed him the gadget, and the man snatched it, already deducing it based on its features.

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"There you go...you said it...expect the world to collapse on itself." Evan laughed. He felt when Forge came up behind the two and had to fight to keep a straight face. "Darren is taking me on a date." was all Evan said to the man, while his friend relinquished the device to him. "You scratch my back, I'll keep my mouth shut about that experiment you've been keeping hidden." he added as leverage.

 

[ROUX]

He nearly gave the entire operation away at those words right there. Darren made a sound that was suspiciously close to laughter, and he covered it up with a cough as he struggled to keep his expression neutral. Forge glared at Evan, then at Darren, before shrugging in defeat. "All right, fine. What do you want me to do?"


Darren glanced at Evan. "I don't know, what do you want him to make people see?"

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"Wings." Evan said simply. "I wan't wings that will look and feel the part. And don't tell me you can't do that. I've seen the tech used on the Danger Room's holograms...I know you can localize those beams to fit my body." he said matter-of-factly. Truth be told, Darren said he had wanted to see him as an Angel. And, he wanted to impress the guy for once.

 

[ROUX]

Forge produced a yellow tape measure from his tool belt, and proceeded to measure Evan from several different angles. When he had finished, he again pocketed the tape before sniffing in displeasure. "I'll have it ready for you in a half hour, and no less. Now would you do me a favor and go elsewhere?"

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"Love you too, old man." Evan said, hugging Forge before running off. He reached the end of the corridor, smiling. The buzzing started off in his head again, but he wrote it off as the blood ruahing to his head. "This has bern a pretty sweet day so far." He laughed out loud.

 

[ROUX]

Darren chuckled at the events that had just transpired. "Did you see the look on his face when you told him I was taking you out? Priceless," he laughed. "I was so close to loosing it - I make a terrible spy."

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"Yeah," Evan chuckled weakly, "Funny." They were doing that thing they were good at: Darren beung oblivious while Evan pined. "Do you wanna go for a swim?" He asked, tired of being a lovestruck monkey.

 

[ROUX]

"Sure," he replied, looking a bit confused after Evan's weak reaction. Was it something I said? He thought to himself, before starting off for the pool. "I've got to remember to bring goggles this time though, my was burned for an hour when we last went swimming."

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"Of course, I didn't mean we should just jump in the pool, haphazardly." Evan mumbled. It wasn't Darren's fault he was feeling so touchy at that moment. But, he wished he could say what he wanted to say without anyone getting hurt. That's what he was afraid of: Darren McAfee telling him no.

 

[ROUX]

Darren glanced at him, wanting to ask him what was making him so irritated, but decided not to push it. "So how's the squad doing? They all seem to look up to you," he said, remembering how the younger mutants lit up whenever Evan came around.

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"I've got the sun shining out of my ass." Evan seethed. As they turned the corner, be began to think on how his actions could be coming across for Darren. It was all unjustified, but he could not help but sorta gripe at everything the boy had to say. Usually, he could keep his emotions in check, but that was not the case for today. Plus, that buzzing in his ear was becoming louder as the day went on. He was starting to suspect something weird happening--but he kept quiet as they walked to Darren's room. "I'm sorry..." he whispered as they approached his door.

 

[ROUX]

Darren shook his head, opening the door and leaning his arms against the top of the doorframe. "It's alright. I can tell you've been stressed lately." He didn't like seeing Evan like this, it made him feel like he was completely missing something important that he should have known. He shrugged and cocked his head to the side. "The water might help. Getting smacked in the face with a wet pool noodle will loosen anybody up."

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"I'll take you on." Evan smiled, stepping in. He shyly hunched his body over, not wanting Darren to see him nude, to any degree. It wasn't that he had shame in his body--it was nice enough-- but, he didn't want the boy to get a bad opinion.

 

[ROUX]

Darren stripped his shirt off, tossing it onto his bed before he rummaged through the drawers looking for shorts. "You know what really sucks?" He asked, taking the belt off of his jeans. "It takes me three bottles of good vodka just to get buzzed," he laughed. "Pretty much always makes me the designated driver."

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"I've never had alcohol." Evan admitted, grabbing a pair of Darren's "skimpier" trunks. He quickly switched his underwear for the piece, then balled up his clothing and put them on top of his shoes. "Ready?" He asked, blushing ferociously.

 

[ROUX]

Darren snickered, grabbing goggles and couple towels from the bathroom before heading out the door. "Yep. And how have you never had alcohol?" he asked, looking at Evan incredulously. "Students found Logan's beer stash years ago, and somehow, he hasn't noticed yet..."

 

[WrittenHollowness]

"I try not to do anything I'm not allowed to do, Darren. We are only 17." Evan quipped. In all actuality, he was actually scared of what would happen if he was ever drunk. He'd had the feeling that something like that wouldn't end well. "I might try it out tonight though." he chuckled, grabbing a towel from Darren's hands. A swim would be nice...


He stole a glance at his best friend's body. All muscle, hard and strong, Darren towered over him. And he liked it. 'Yep...swimming...nice...' he thought incoherently as he walked out of the room.