Day 46: Intercom, Evening

[damned_intercom]

The intercom jingle went off, mirroring the cheery voice that came out of the speakers soon after it.

"Hello, everyone, and I hope you found productive endeavors in both your music-making and your therapy sessions! Now, our nurses will be escorting all of you to your rooms and to your delicious dinners. Tonight, we're serving moist slices of

Comments

M01

[gothamsfuture]

For the first time since he'd gotten there, Terry actually felt good as he headed back to his room towards dinner. He, Kurt, and Peter were definitely forming something of an alliance, and that had been the one thing everyone agreed Terry should do when he first got there. And just as important, the Flash had agreed to actually come by. The guy would probably freak out once he realized 'Alex' hadn't been kidding, but so long as he got Wally to stick around long enough to see the batsuit, Terry knew he could convince him. And with Wayne being--unavailable, it was all the more important that he find someone who would at least vouch for him with the Robins and whoever else showed up.

Because that group was anything but trusting of strangers. With good reason, but it was still a pain.

Of course, all of his accomplishments meant Terry now had a little snag. He'd have a hard enough time getting Wally to open up with just him. If Kurt was around though? Terry knew how nice the kid was, and that the last thing he'd do would be to spill. But thanks to the talk they'd all had in the Sun Room, all the reasons not to reveal his secret identity were fresh in his head. What were the chances that Wally West hadn't gone through the same thing at some point in his past?

Which meant he'd basically have to kick Kurt out. Terry could already see the puppy face he'd no doubt get when it got brought up, but really, there wasn't any choice. Kurt would understand, and hopefully not run into anything too bad outside. If he just waited by the door, then it'd be okay, right?

...Maybe Terry really should just get a leash. Okay, McGinnis. He's not your puppy. No matter how much you wanted one when you were five. Or how much he missed Ace. And Terry knew things were bad when he started missing the BatDog.

Re: M01

[fuzzy_diablo]

Finding no note from Terry, Peter, or Kitty on the board, he figured that everyone must have been taking a night off. And the way Peter had looked when he'd brought up Matt and Logan, Kurt could understand why. Maybe everyone was just totally burnt out--though he was still nervous that he hadn't seen Kitty around during the day. Maybe she was resting too.

He was obviously absolutely thrilled at the prospect of food and doing nothing but lazing around with Terry. Maybe he'd show Kurt the suit in his closet. It had looked totally awesome, but Kurt hadn't really seen anything past the red insignia on the front. Maybe he should check his closet too... if his uniform had been in there the whole time, he would kick himself.

Kurt entered the room with his tray, smiling as the nurse closed the door behind him. "Hey Terry!" he said, a bit more chipper after his talk with Tony. "How'sit going?" he asked, mounting his desk while balancing his tray on one hand. He brought his dinner onto his lap, digging in almost immediately.

Re: M01

[gothamsfuture]

Oh yeah. One pout, incoming shortly. Terry hid the pang of guilt behind a smile though, glad to see that Kurt was apparently feeling better too. "Hey Kurt." And like his friend, Terry began eating his own meal. Not quite like mom's Thanksgiving, but he couldn't complain.

"So, listen." Terry knew there wasn't any good way to go about it, so hopefully being direct would be the least painful. "I need to talk to someone from my world tonight. But he doesn't know who I am, and he's not going to want to trust me, especially since he's another one of us who keeps his identity secret." Terry let out a little sigh then, and ran a hand through his hair. "It's going to be hard enough to talk to him by myself, but I'm worried he won't open up at all if you're here too. So...if it's okay, do you think you could leave the room when night starts?"

Hopefully, if Terry was lucky, that didn't make him sound like a complete ass.

Re: M01

[fuzzy_diablo]

"Leave...?" Kurt said, trailing off. Well, there went his plans of hanging out and relaxing. He'd have to sit outside the door all night or something. Though he could see that Terry had a point--if Kurt being there would cause the guy to freak out, he shouldn't be there.

Didn't mean Kurt didn't feel a little left out in the cold.

"Yeah, sure man. No problem. I thought I'd go try to find Kitty anyway." Which was a total lie, but he could go try to find Kitty now that his vacation in his room was defunct and he had no idea where Peter was going to be. Didn't leave him with much choice. Maybe he'd try to find the food, too. He could really go for some cookies or something.

"I'll leave you to you date," Kurt said with a wide grin.

Re: M01

[gothamsfuture]

Kurt didn't seem to be too down, which Terry was thankful for. Especially since he sounded like he had a back-up plan of sorts. "She never got in touch with you, then?" That was definitely something of a concern, but Terry did his best not to let it show. Kurt had already gotten news of a couple of losses, and Terry didn't want him to worry unnecessarily. Hopefully it'd turn out to be a matter of Kitty just not keeping an eye on the bulletin board instead of anything worse.

"Just be careful, yeah? I know it's just the woman's block, but still." The last thing Terry wanted was for Kurt to end up getting hurt because he'd been left alone. "Don't open any doors without knocking. Women can be vicious if they find you peeking." Which Terry knew because no one had missed the black eye Nash got last time he 'accidentally' walked in on the cheerleaders changing. Terry couldn't exactly say he'd felt sorry for Nash, but Kurt would be a different story.

At least until he tried to tease Terry about a date. "It's not a date." Terry protested about as quickly as Kurt had every time Kitty got brought up. "First off, it's a guy coming here. Not that I have a problem with that sort of thing, but it's not my sort of thing. Especially since, point two? I have a girlfriend back home." One who with any luck would only have to hear about Landel's from some sort of newscast or something. The last thing Terry wanted was for Dana Tan to wander the halls.

The second last thing? For Kurt to think any teasing was going to go unanswered. So just to emphasize his point, Terry grabbed a pen off his desk and threw it at Kurt's head. Nothing hard, but enough to know that if the guy really wanted a war, Terry wasn't going to back down.

Re: M01

[fuzzy_diablo]

"Hey!" Kurt laughed and caught the pen and threw it back. "Turnabout is totally fair play! Besides, you could be saying it's a dude, when it's actually a girl~" Kurt teased. Though he totally got the girlfriend thing. Technically he had one too--at least, he hoped he did. He didn't know how she felt about him concealing who he was, or more importantly him revealing that he was a mutant. Was she still disappointed?

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Kurt reassured Terry. "I'm going to take the high road," he said, pointing a thumb at the ceiling. "Smart, huh? No one will even know I'm there. And it's just the patient blocks--no one's really ever attacked there. I'll be safe."

Truthfully, Kurt was nervous about wandering around by himself, but he was gaining confidence. No one really seemed to care how he looked. At least, no one he'd met had. Maybe he was actually in a place of acceptance for now.

"It's just a visit to Kitty after all. And why would she change? We just have these sweatpants and shirts."

Re: M01

[gothamsfuture]

Terry didn't disagree with the idea of a mini-war. Especially since between the teasing and the tossing, Kurt had stopped pouting. So to keep it up, Terry caught the pen and threw it back, adding in another just to keep Kurt on his toes. "Trust me, if it was a girl? I'd let you know."

Not that Terry had any intention of cheating on Dana. He'd learned that lesson after dealing with Melanie, and that was not a mistake he'd be repeating any time soon.

He had to admit though, Kurt seemed to have a good idea. "Well, it's not just people you have to worry about. But it does sound smart." At least enough for Terry to keep any protests to himself.

Terry shook his head when Kurt claimed they were restricted to the uniforms, however. "You never know. Maybe something showed up in her closet too." And speaking of, Terry glanced to the door of the room before standing up. No time like the present to break out his own clothes, especially since tights weren't the easiest things to get into. He opened the closet door, and after a moment of digging, pulled down the costume that had changed his life for the better.

"Did you ever check to see if you had one too?" Terry could immediately tell that the suit had been altered: for one, all of his weapons were gone. It looked like all of the enhancements had been removed too. The costume was just a costume, without a bit Batflash or Batflare. Well, it wouldn't be the first time Terry had been forced to go without. Not to mention he wasn't exactly planning on leaving the room with the outfit on.