C&DP HS fic snippet
Sep. 6th, 2010 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rallamajoopRemember that Cable/Deadpool High School AU I posted earlier this year? The one I wasn't going to continue? Well, I... may have written some more of it. Honestly, it's going to be more of a bunch of random scenes in the same universe than anything with an actual plot, but well, given that it is a high school AU, that may have been all anyone ever expected from it to begin with.
Though he may have bought himself some time with the volleyball joke, Wade is neither so hopelessly smitten nor (contrary to the belief of his teachers) so ignorant that it's not going to dawn on him that his new friend is a bit... odd. Sooner or later he's going to notice that Nathan doesn't know a 747 from a 7/11 or Krispy Kremes from Crusty the Clown, and a cover story built out of half-truths and lies is still better than no explanation at all. It'll have to be enough that he's gotten out of introducing himself with a falsehood; next time the subject came up, Nathan resolves not to avoid it.
The subject doesn't come up in their next couple of meetings (and if he's resolved not to avoid it, he's no no great rush to raise it either), but by the end of the week it's more or less moot because the school grapevine has beaten him to it. Wade makes himself sound fairly casual when he asks if Nate wants to hang out after school, but under the mental litany of don't make it sound like you're asking him on a date don'tdon'tdon't make it sound like you're asking him on a date, Nathan can feel him buzzing with curiosity. He's spent all week trying to figure his new friend out, but Nathan doesn't fit neatly into any of his usual boxes. This is just the breakthrough he's overdue for.
“So Nate, let's talk about you,” he says at the first opportunity. “I know you just moved here, but I didn't catch where you moved from.”
Nathan looks at him sideways and smiles despite himself. He can only wish he could be as casual about this subject as Wade's being. “Someone told you, didn't they?”
Wade smiles sheepishly back. “Well, yeah, but you can't blame me for wanting to hear it from you. The school rumour mill is churning out the story that you're, like, some kind of major medical miracle.”
Nathan says, “I suppose you could put it that way.”
“Aw, no need to be modest, Nate-y,” says Wade, slapping him on the back. “No really, how would you put it? Weas said he heard it from a guy who heard it from a guy who heard it from you, but this is the same Weas who believed the rumour that Mr Weatherborn was a brain-sucking alien for a whole week before he found out I was the one that started it.”
“How much did you hear?” Nathan replies, knowing he's cheating but still dealing with a crippling lack of enthusiasm for volunteering anything he doesn't have to.
“Uh, genetic thing,” Wade sounds like he's going through a mental checklist, “you grew up in a hospital, but now you're all better? I'm figuring there's a bit missing in the middle somewhere.”
“Actually, that's about the size of it.” It's almost exactly as much as he's told everyone who didn't ask for more. (It would be closer to the truth to call it something he'd contracted as a baby, though inasmuch as the root problem involves being a second generation member of the X-Men, he supposes 'genetic thing' isn't a bad descriptor. It's nothing like the lie in 'hospital'.)
“So what kinda genetic thing was it?” says Wade. “I can ask that, right?”
Nathan had hoped maybe Wade's own experience with awkward questions might discourage him from prying, but on the contrary, it's becoming apparent he feels it's his turn to grill someone else about their medical history. There's a part of Wade – that part that still can't get his head around the idea that someone as good looking as Nate actually wants to hang out with him – that's relieved that Nathan is, in his own way, a total weirdo.
If only he knew.
Nathan takes a deep breath. “The kind that gives you partial paralysis down the left half of your body, then spreads to several of your internal organs and leaves you reliant on high-tech machinery to keep them running. Scrambles your vision and hearing in some exciting ways too.”
“Whoa.” Wade, possessor of one of the most active imaginations Nathan has ever encountered, is having real trouble picturing him with anything less than full mobility. “What was that like?”
“It's a bit hard to describe. To tell you the truth, I'm still getting used to moving and hearing things 'normally'.”
That much is true.
“So.... this is your first year in a regular school? Damn. That's gotta be a head trip.”
“You have no idea,” Nathan promises him.
“Hey, I bet we could trade weird doctor stories!” Wade sounds altogether too cheerful about the prospect. “You'd win, but I got to be prodded and probed by every dermatologist on this side of the country before they gave up, though they never let me get to miss school over it.”
It probably says a lot about Wade's life that he can pronounce 'dermatologist'. “To be honest, Wade, I get a little tired of talking about it.”
Wade shrugs it off. “That's cool. For what it's worth, you totally don't come across like a guy who lived in a box most of his life.”
Nathan tries to figure out what he's supposed to make of that statement. “Thank you, I think?”
Wade snickers at him. “I mean it, I wouldn't have had a clue! I gotta say, Nate, you're really not built like a guy who's spent the last fifteen years in bed.”
Nathan follows Wade's gaze down to his forearm. Letting himself tense up over the uncomfortable subject isn't doing anything to mask the muscle tone. Trust Wade to notice. “Actually, staying in good physical shape was one way to slow how fast it spread. Doctor's orders.”
Wade scratches an arm, still staring at Nathan's forearm.“Think you lost me somewhere between 'hooked up to a bunch of beeping machines in bed' and 'grew up in a private gym'.”
Nathan does his best to laugh it off. “Physical therapy – I think most hospitals are equipped for it. I might have given you the wrong idea about how much time I spent bedridden.”
Wade still looks a little unconvinced that one can be fit enough to pump weights but not make it to class. He's starting to get dangerously close to questions that fall outside the level of detail Nathan is equipped to deal with.
“I've put on a lot of extra weight just in the last few months since they gave me the all-clear,” he explains. “Actually, I'm still a lot less toned on my bad side. Look, I'll show you,” he adds on a whim.
The look on Wade's face the moment he realises that Nate is about to take off his shirt right in front of him is quite spectacular.
He feels a little guilty about resorting to such unfair tactics, but as a means to shut Wade's brain down long enough for Nathan to steer the conversation on to other topics, it works like a charm.
He's sure Wade will forgive him eventually.
Though he may have bought himself some time with the volleyball joke, Wade is neither so hopelessly smitten nor (contrary to the belief of his teachers) so ignorant that it's not going to dawn on him that his new friend is a bit... odd. Sooner or later he's going to notice that Nathan doesn't know a 747 from a 7/11 or Krispy Kremes from Crusty the Clown, and a cover story built out of half-truths and lies is still better than no explanation at all. It'll have to be enough that he's gotten out of introducing himself with a falsehood; next time the subject came up, Nathan resolves not to avoid it.
The subject doesn't come up in their next couple of meetings (and if he's resolved not to avoid it, he's no no great rush to raise it either), but by the end of the week it's more or less moot because the school grapevine has beaten him to it. Wade makes himself sound fairly casual when he asks if Nate wants to hang out after school, but under the mental litany of don't make it sound like you're asking him on a date don'tdon'tdon't make it sound like you're asking him on a date, Nathan can feel him buzzing with curiosity. He's spent all week trying to figure his new friend out, but Nathan doesn't fit neatly into any of his usual boxes. This is just the breakthrough he's overdue for.
“So Nate, let's talk about you,” he says at the first opportunity. “I know you just moved here, but I didn't catch where you moved from.”
Nathan looks at him sideways and smiles despite himself. He can only wish he could be as casual about this subject as Wade's being. “Someone told you, didn't they?”
Wade smiles sheepishly back. “Well, yeah, but you can't blame me for wanting to hear it from you. The school rumour mill is churning out the story that you're, like, some kind of major medical miracle.”
Nathan says, “I suppose you could put it that way.”
“Aw, no need to be modest, Nate-y,” says Wade, slapping him on the back. “No really, how would you put it? Weas said he heard it from a guy who heard it from a guy who heard it from you, but this is the same Weas who believed the rumour that Mr Weatherborn was a brain-sucking alien for a whole week before he found out I was the one that started it.”
“How much did you hear?” Nathan replies, knowing he's cheating but still dealing with a crippling lack of enthusiasm for volunteering anything he doesn't have to.
“Uh, genetic thing,” Wade sounds like he's going through a mental checklist, “you grew up in a hospital, but now you're all better? I'm figuring there's a bit missing in the middle somewhere.”
“Actually, that's about the size of it.” It's almost exactly as much as he's told everyone who didn't ask for more. (It would be closer to the truth to call it something he'd contracted as a baby, though inasmuch as the root problem involves being a second generation member of the X-Men, he supposes 'genetic thing' isn't a bad descriptor. It's nothing like the lie in 'hospital'.)
“So what kinda genetic thing was it?” says Wade. “I can ask that, right?”
Nathan had hoped maybe Wade's own experience with awkward questions might discourage him from prying, but on the contrary, it's becoming apparent he feels it's his turn to grill someone else about their medical history. There's a part of Wade – that part that still can't get his head around the idea that someone as good looking as Nate actually wants to hang out with him – that's relieved that Nathan is, in his own way, a total weirdo.
If only he knew.
Nathan takes a deep breath. “The kind that gives you partial paralysis down the left half of your body, then spreads to several of your internal organs and leaves you reliant on high-tech machinery to keep them running. Scrambles your vision and hearing in some exciting ways too.”
“Whoa.” Wade, possessor of one of the most active imaginations Nathan has ever encountered, is having real trouble picturing him with anything less than full mobility. “What was that like?”
“It's a bit hard to describe. To tell you the truth, I'm still getting used to moving and hearing things 'normally'.”
That much is true.
“So.... this is your first year in a regular school? Damn. That's gotta be a head trip.”
“You have no idea,” Nathan promises him.
“Hey, I bet we could trade weird doctor stories!” Wade sounds altogether too cheerful about the prospect. “You'd win, but I got to be prodded and probed by every dermatologist on this side of the country before they gave up, though they never let me get to miss school over it.”
It probably says a lot about Wade's life that he can pronounce 'dermatologist'. “To be honest, Wade, I get a little tired of talking about it.”
Wade shrugs it off. “That's cool. For what it's worth, you totally don't come across like a guy who lived in a box most of his life.”
Nathan tries to figure out what he's supposed to make of that statement. “Thank you, I think?”
Wade snickers at him. “I mean it, I wouldn't have had a clue! I gotta say, Nate, you're really not built like a guy who's spent the last fifteen years in bed.”
Nathan follows Wade's gaze down to his forearm. Letting himself tense up over the uncomfortable subject isn't doing anything to mask the muscle tone. Trust Wade to notice. “Actually, staying in good physical shape was one way to slow how fast it spread. Doctor's orders.”
Wade scratches an arm, still staring at Nathan's forearm.“Think you lost me somewhere between 'hooked up to a bunch of beeping machines in bed' and 'grew up in a private gym'.”
Nathan does his best to laugh it off. “Physical therapy – I think most hospitals are equipped for it. I might have given you the wrong idea about how much time I spent bedridden.”
Wade still looks a little unconvinced that one can be fit enough to pump weights but not make it to class. He's starting to get dangerously close to questions that fall outside the level of detail Nathan is equipped to deal with.
“I've put on a lot of extra weight just in the last few months since they gave me the all-clear,” he explains. “Actually, I'm still a lot less toned on my bad side. Look, I'll show you,” he adds on a whim.
The look on Wade's face the moment he realises that Nate is about to take off his shirt right in front of him is quite spectacular.
He feels a little guilty about resorting to such unfair tactics, but as a means to shut Wade's brain down long enough for Nathan to steer the conversation on to other topics, it works like a charm.
He's sure Wade will forgive him eventually.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 10:05 am (UTC)I FEEL RIPPED OFF ;P
no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 10:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 11:03 am (UTC)also:
next time the subject came up, Nathan resolves not to avoid it.
should be "comes"
(and if he's resolved not to avoid it, he's no no great rush to raise it either)
should be "in"
<.<
no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 11:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 03:26 pm (UTC)You realise neither of us have any Inception icons?
Date: 2010-09-08 12:40 am (UTC)Still needs a proper setting. *pokes wikipedia vaguely*
Re: You realise neither of us have any Inception icons?
Date: 2010-09-08 10:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 03:46 pm (UTC)Wade being smarter and more observent then most people give him credit for is going to make Nate's life very ... interesting. :D
no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 03:52 pm (UTC)Even if they don't go anywhere (and several will even end up contradicting each other), I figured a few people ought to be in that boat. *g*
Wade being smarter and more observent then most people give him credit for is going to make Nate's life very ... interesting. :D
Why yes, yes it is. >D
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 09:25 pm (UTC)Most definitely.
Wade being smarter and more observent then most people give him credit for is going to make Nate's life very ... interesting. :D
Why yes, yes it is. >D
Hehee *evil grin*
no subject
Date: 2010-09-17 07:54 pm (UTC)Nate: Let's really throw a monkey wrench into the works. BEHOLD MY MIGHTY TORSO!
Wade's Bigger Brain: This is the 2IC, signing off. Central Command has the con! *BWEEEEE-OOP*
Wade's Smaller Brain (also known as Central Command): Y HALLO THAR. =D
no subject
Date: 2010-09-18 03:51 am (UTC)