brandon sharpe | striker (wannahookup) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-06-27 01:50:00 |
|
|||
The night was supposed to be about spending time with TJ, about dancing and forgetting her troubles for a couple hours, about trying to find someone for TJ to hook up with (also known as being a good friend, as far as Julie was concerned). She’d tucked her phone away in her purse and she’d forgotten all about it. It was the sign of a good night: she’d been able to relax and laugh, and even though she had no plans on going home with anyone (or bringing anyone back to the tower), it felt good to dress up and have eyes on her again. So what if most of them were gay men? She wasn’t feeling up to being picky; she’d take attention where she could get it, as long as it was of the flattering variety. By the time she excused herself and wound her way through the crowd to the bathroom, she had a couple phone numbers stuff into her purse beside her phone, written on napkins and coasters. She doubted she’d give anyone a call, but it felt good. She wasn’t the one who’d lost anything, she reminded herself. Her ex-boyfriend had. After fixing her hair and make up, she pulled her phone out to check her messages - and the network, just out of habit. She hadn’t believed it at first, but when she blinked a few times and his name was still there, Julie struggled to fight back tears. Brandon. It’d been months since she’d seen him, and until that moment, she hadn’t realized just how much she needed him. It took a few minutes to find TJ after that, and a few more before she was back at the tower, leaving a rainbow in her wake (and more than a few confused glances from passersby). It took entirely too long to get into the building and up the stairs to his floor, but she wasn’t even breathless when she stopped outside his door. “Brandon!” she called out, knocking quickly a few times. She smoothed down her short purple skirt self-consciously, practically dancing from one high-heeled foot to the other. “Come on, come on, hurry up.” This was a completely new experience for Brandon. He'd gone through a shit load, yes. He'd gone through several portals to different parts of the world but that was different because that was always the same world. His. But this was apparently something new and he had nearly freaked out when he saw SHIELD guards standing over him, wondering if the professors of the Academy had decided to shift them off here. Despite being given the explanations, he still remained suspicious, but the more he talked to the other Academy kids in his entry, the more he started to believe. But, really, in his situation, it would be hard to believe anything. A world where fictional characters came to life? There was really a Superman here?? And Grey's Anatomy characters?? Whoa. First and foremost, he thought when he heard the knock on the door, was that he was going to find his best friend and hear it straight from her that he was being told the truth. Because how was it even possible that he had just seen all of them that very same day and yet Hazmat had been here for months? And really, this place had nice digs, nicer than the Avengers mansion, but considering the nicest thing he had had was given to him by Osborn, he was totally aloud to have any sort of judgment he wanted. "Oh, my God, you sound like you haven't seen in so long!" Brandon unlocked the door and swung it open, with a large smile. When the door opened to reveal Brandon on the other side, Julie was finally convinced that it was really him. Everything from his perfectly messy hair and his scars down to his shoes screamed Brandon. Her chin quivered slightly as she gaped at him, speechless, and her eyes filled with tears again. Julie didn't like being an emotional wreck like she was in that moment, but she couldn't help it. It'd been a long roller coaster of a week, and she needed her best friend. Without a word, she flung herself at Brandon, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face against his shoulder, embarrassed by her emotional display. "It's been five months," she mumbled into his shirt, unwilling to let go even for a second. Not yet. Okay, wow. He hadn’t expected his entrance to make that big of an impact. And his smile dropped a little when he saw she was verge of tears. Had something happened? Was it one of their own? Was it Julie herself? Before he could even ask what was wrong, she was suddenly on him and he stumbled two steps back as his arms went around her waist automatically. “Wha- whoa. Five months? Really?” Once again, this whole differing timeline thing? Uber weird. “Well, hey, sorry I took so long. I was trying to come up with my entrance speech but nobody warned me about the SHIELD guys and I fumbled. So there goes my Oscar.” Julie stifled a laugh against his shirt. Leave it to Brandon to joke around about that in a time like this, she thought. If his physical appearance hadn’t been enough of a sign that it was really him, that would have been. She pulled back then and swatted gently at his shoulder before wiping the heel of her hand against her face. “You’re an idiot, Striker,” she insisted, rolling her eyes. “Maybe you fumbling is all part of the script. Now you’ll have a chance to redeem yourself. Hollywood loves a story like that.” Teasing him was a distraction, and a way to put off all of the awful things she had to tell him about. She didn’t want to tell him about the arena, and no matter what Humberto had to say about it, Brandon deserved to know what was going on with all of their friends. Of all of the Academy students, Brandon was the least likely to be able to say the right thing, but he needed to know what he’d walked into. And then there was a full six months to update him on, and Julie wasn’t sure how she’d go about that, either. She smiled up at him, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I missed you.” “I see. Improv.” Brandon gave a serious nod. “This is why you’re my sidekick. I need you around for these things. And pretend I missed you for half a year too even though I just saw you.” He reached behind her and with one hand, he pushed the door shut to give them some privacy. Even though for all he knew they could have had cameras set up in this place. He hadn’t exactly checked. He could use his powers and possibly turn them off but, meh. No reason to just yet, right? “So, tell me. What’s been going on? What did I miss? When the hell did our power couple decide they wanted to get married here?” Any other day and Julie would have protested him calling her his sidekick (even though it was true in some ways, even though she was older and more experienced), but not that night. She was too glad to see him to fuss about that, despite the usually playful nature of their friendship. And, as he just reminded her, they had a lot of catching up to do. Julie sighed heavily and stepped away, running a hand through her long hair. "We're gonna be here for a while," she stated, "so I hope you're not too tired. And they decided last month. They're getting married in July, on the 20th, so you'll need a suit." She took a deep breath and steadied herself, looking from the rest of his apartment to Brandon and back again. Telling him about the arena was going to be hard, but it had to be done before Brandon put his foot in his mouth. She tugged on his arm, pulling him towards the living room so they could sit down. "Let's sit. It's not all good news, and you need to know what you're getting yourself into. The good news is that you got here just in time for Pride Week in New York." Julie knew he'd be just as excited about it as she was -- maybe even more so. “Well, I wish I had some ice cream to give you but uhh..” Brandon reached back to scratch the back of his head as he turned his upper body to look at the fridge. “I just got here and have to get any Ben and Jerry’s.” And some clothes. If he was stuck here but at least had a thousand bucks a month in the meantime, he would have had to get some clothes for him other than the jeans and top he’d been wearing over his costume when he got sucked over here. Once at the living room, Brandon flopped back onto the sofa and tilted his head up at Julie. “I made it for Pride Week? Yeeeeeesss, can I request my own float? Do you think they’d mind if I do a lightning show or something during it??” That was just the sort of reaction Julie expected, and the normalcy of his excitement was something she’d been craving. It’d been so long since she’d heard his voice that she almost thought she’d been starting to forget it, much like she thought about her siblings. Having him right there next to her -- well, it was a dream come true. She sat down next to him and curled one of her legs underneath her. “I can ask, but probably not, as long as it’s not too big. I’m going to be flying around some, I think. What better time than for the biggest Pride march, right?” It was fitting that she left a triad of colors behind her, and for a second, Julie grinned at how obvious it really all should have been. Of course she didn’t just like men; her power left a big sign on her back. “So,” Julie cleared her throat and looked at him with a serious expression suddenly. “What do you want to hear about first, me dating Howard Stark up until a week ago when he dumped me, Xavin being alive and here with Karolina or the death match arena that a bunch of our friends are in?” To anyone else, the casual tone of her voice might have seemed insensitive, but Brandon knew her better than most. How she really felt about all three topics was written in the furrow of her brow. It was easier to pretend things didn’t hurt as much as they did than actually face how much it broke her heart. "Wait. What?" Brandon sat up from his slouched position from that super comfy couch. Never mind anything about the Pride march. Everything she had just listed became much more important. "So you're not dating Karolina? I didn't even know she was here actually. Any of the other Runaways here? I don't think I know Xavin. But what the fuck is a death match arena? Is this a broadcasted thing? Howard Stark?!" If anyone expected Brandon to pick which topic should have been dealt with first well... those were hopeless expectations. One of the reasons Julie had laid everything bare the way she had was to see how Brandon reacted. Maybe it wasn’t right, but it was amusing, and she needed all of the cheer she could get. It also told her a lot about where he was in their lives: obviously, he was from before any of them discovered that their friends were missing and in the arena in their timeline, if they ever did at all. She decided it was easiest to cover everything in the order that he’d answered: “No, I’m not, and Nico, Chase, Gert,” she paused there, not sure if Brandon would know who Gert was, “Molly, Victor. Xavin’s Karolina’s ex... they were engaged for a while. I told you about that, remember? But then Xavin left.” And had been gone long enough that no one knew what had happened or if Xavin would ever come back. “And it’s like the Hunger Games.” Or Battle Royale, except Julie knew that Brandon wouldn’t know what that was. “Only it’s our friends stuck there, and Arcade is making them kill each other. And yeah, him, but he’s not old, he’s only thirty, but he’s not interested so it kind of... doesn’t even matter anymore what happened with us, you know? Because it’s... I was an idiot to fall for him and let him sweep me off my feet when I knew I wasn’t ever going to be anything special, and you weren’t here to stop me.” She took a deep breath. “That covers a lot of it.” "Did you two break up or something? Or is it because her ex showed off and she went riding off in the sunset with her?" Brandon let out a slightly disgusted snort on Julie's behalf. He didn't know much about her outside of dating Julie and knowing that she's gay too but hell. If she left Julie and went running back to someone else, he felt entitled to hate on her. "And yeah okay not old old but still. You can't just bring that up and brush it off. What happened?" He shook his head confused, finally at the last topic (regardless of importance). "Hunger Games was broadcast. Is this a future thing? Are we all stuck in it because Pym wasn't paying attention or something?" Julie shook her head. “No... not really. Everyone’s coming here from different points in our lives, so we hadn’t even started dating, for Karolina. She’s months behind me. So Xavin showed up, and she went riding off into the sunset, but I was dating Howard at the time, so it’s --” She was going to say it was fine, but it wasn’t, not exactly. “What can you do?” There was no point in dwelling on something she couldn’t have, whether it was Karolina or Howard or someone else. “And I’m not really sure. I thought things were going well, but I guess not... he just doesn’t think he’s good for me, and that’s that.” It still bothered her that she never got to decide whether or not being with him was worth it, but there was nothing she could do about that now, either. It was too late to show him that she’d always thought he was worth it. “It’s not important when you compare it to what Arcade’s doing to our friends, anyway,” she added, feeling guilty for being upset about her own rocky love life when her friends were going through so much worse. “It’s a future thing. We’re not in it as far as I know, but Jenny and Ken are, and Berto, and Laura and Nico...” There had to be others, but no one seemed to know who, outside of their small group. “It’s really a big mess, and I’m only telling you because it’s probably going to come up and I don’t want you saying something stupid and upsetting anyone more than they already are. You should know where things are with everyone, you know? Before you stick your foot in your mouth. I don’t know how much Pym knows. No one does. I didn’t even know when I first got here.” Brandon blew out a sigh. “Julie. If that’s a reason to break it off? You are totally too good for him.” He took that moment to give her a giant smile. Just that moment because the rest of it didn’t seem like news to smile about either. “And segueing it for just a bit, this just means we’re both going to be having extra fun at Pride. We can wear something skimpy.” And then his smile dropped and turned into a wince. “You’re spot on there. With the... foot in mouth.. and shit. But wow. Yeah. Totally going to keep that in mind. What the hell would Arcade want with that anyway? Is he trying to piss off the teachers? Musing aloud, not asking.” He’d heard of Arcade... it was hard to miss the ridiculousness behind a guy who liked to pit people against each other but apparently, it seemed to work. Which made Brandon wonder about the supposed veteran superheroes. After a week of feeling sorry for herself, Julie was starting to grow tired of not being the person she'd always believed herself to be: someone strong and confident, someone who didn't need a man's validation to feel good about herself. "TJ said the same thing about Pride," she admitted, wrinkling her nose up as a warm blush filled her cheeks, "and I fully intend to make the most of the all ladies party, because I deserve it." Though the smile she gave to Brandon in return wasn't as wide as his, she did feel what he was saying. There was no going back from what had happened, and she knew that she and Howard weren't meant to be, but that didn't mean he was right about her -- or himself, for that matter. And to his credit, he'd taught her a lot about herself in the last six months. Julie knew that she'd look back on it and appreciate the short time they had together because she'd be stronger from it. Julie shrugged. "No clue, but it sucks." Without a doubt, dealing with the aftermath of the arena was going to be one of the most difficult things she'd ever have to face, and the dread made her sick to her stomach. "I guess he's bored or something. If it was just about pissing off Pym and Tigra, he would have just taken all of us. But he didn't." “I don’t know who TJ is but he sounds smart. So I’m going to say I totally agree with him.” Placing both palms on the cushions, Brandon scooted over until he was sitting right next to her, so to swing an arm over her shoulder, most definitely because pouring all of that out, it seemed like she needed it. Heck even without the Arena thing, he figured she could use it. “Alright. So, I know better than to open my mouth. And if I do, you have every right to kick me in the head for it.” Brandon nudged at her slightly. “And well, Arcade isn’t here, right? Most of us are here though so it’s good, yeah?” Brandon's instincts were spot on. Julie's smile was a little watery, but she leaned into the embrace anyway. There wasn't much left to say about Howard, and nothing that would change anything. She didn't want her friends to hate him for making the decision he wanted to make, either, no matter how much it hurt her. "Trust me, I will. Don't mention it if it doesn't come up, but..." She sighed. "We're okay, sort of. We're alive here and we're okay, but Jenny and Ken have been through parts of it, and it's really hard on all of us. Emotionally, mentally. And I don't know how to help them. But we're here and Arcade isn't as far as we know. We're just missing Veil and Finesse of the originals, and Klara from the Runaways. Life's not so bad. I'm going to college, and working, and making friends... It's so normal, Brandon. We have training with a couple Avengers every Sunday, and Quicksilver's helping me, but otherwise it's really just normal." "I'm sure at some point they'll end up joining us." Brandon shrugged although he made a slight at Quicksilver's mention. He was not a fan but the guy still had done a better job at teaching than Pym. But he wasn't about to bring up how he felt about the guy. Totally low on the priority list! "I guess I shouldn't miss out on that training then, right? And classes, you say? Is this something you are going to end up roping me into too?" “No, you’re required, as a member of Avengers Academy,” Julie replied, tilting her head slightly so she could look up at him with a grin. “We can’t drop our training just because we’re in a world where there aren’t as many big bad villains. You never know when something might happen.” As much as she hoped that nothing would, they needed to be prepared for anything. Her own training had slacked lately, as she’d started going to school, switched her work schedules around and gotten more involved with Howard -- but now that one of those things was out of the picture, she’d realized she’d been foolish to get in over her head with other things. Being a superhero and using her powers for good was integral to who she was; she couldn’t let anything or anyone keep her from remembering that. “But classes... no, not unless you want to. I’m actually going to college. You can take some classes through the Educational Services Division - like Modern Culture, which I’m teaching with Buffy Summers, but that’s all optional for us. There’s some cool stuff offered, though. Otherwise you could join me in college.” She nudged his side with her elbow. “Think about all the college aged guys you could hit on.” “College, huh?” Because that was really the most important part of everything she had just said. More important than training. In his head at least. It wasn’t like Brandon was not going to train but.. hey. College! “Well, you’re going to have to tell me how you pulled that off because with all of us ending up here with nothing more than whatever the heck we’re wearing -- and thank god I had something over my costume otherwise, I’d just have that to wear -- I’m just wondering how anyone could have gotten here with any sort of paperwork. And training... yes.. of course I’m on for training.” “Well... it wasn’t easy.” Julie wrinkled her nose, thinking back on the tests she had to take to prove she had the knowledge that she claimed she did. “It’s weirder for us, because we can’t just... look ourselves up on the internet and say hey, look, it says here that I graduated high school. You know?” On one hand, Julie felt really lucky that her life wasn’t as public as everyone else’s, but on the other, it made proving anything that much more difficult. “But there’s a school here who’s more willing to work with us. We just have to take some tests, you know, like the GED and placement tests. I could help you study if you want.” She paused for a moment and then pushed herself away from him a little, enough to look at him. “And tomorrow, we’re going shopping. You’re going to need much more than just this atrocity.” It was like starting all over again, Brandon realized. No mother of his here to remind people that he was a child star, no one to push random villains like Whirlwind at him to draw out paparazzi on him, no one to really know about what went through their pasts -- though its not like anyone knew about Brandon's outside of the whole child star thing. And the mutant thing. But basically it was like starting all over, and this... felt nice. He looked down at his shirt before looking back up and frowning at Julie. "What? What's wrong with this?" "It's dirty, for one," Julie answered, holding back a laugh as best as she could. "Two, it's not cute." That wasn't true, but teasing each other was a way of life for them, and it gave her a sense of normalcy that she desperately needed. "But we can get you sorted out in the morning." After another moment, her chin trembled slightly as she thought about how glad she was that Brandon was there, and how much she'd missed him. "Don't you ever leave me again," she stated, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to look very serious in her threat. "Or else." “Ugh, well. Yeah.” Brandon shrugged as he dropped his gaze back at his shirt again. “Someone needs to tell SHIELD to keep their floors dirt-free. Totally was their fault.” Actually, it was probably like that before he showed up. “Alright. I trust your judgment. And I trust you’d make me look good in nearly anything. So tomorrow, you and me hit the streets.” He laughed and lightly tapped at that wibbling chin with one finger. “I’m staying. I promise.” |