"Vocations" WIP
X-Men fic, Remy/Nate story in the Turn Away No More series:
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“Vocations”
By Viridian5
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Remy stared into space and absently brushed powdered sugar off his faded black jeans. He wasn’t really in a beignet mood but all the restaurants closed before midnight and he didn’t feel like doing a bar, while Café du Monde stayed open 24 hours. He didn’t feel like doing much of anything lately.
Took a lot of the fun out of life wondering what the New Son would do next, or what his body and powers would do to him next. He didn’t want to have to go to Sinister to downgrade his powers again, but the X-Men didn’t have a clue what was up with him and if he became too dangerous....
Being hated by so many of the people he was supposed to be leading didn’t brighten his outlook either, not that he’d ever been popular in the Thieves’ Guild. They only watched his back to figure out the best place to stick a knife into it. He knew they had people watching him.
He was home, and it didn’t feel like home no matter how many memories the scent of the Mississippi nearby stirred. The breeze coming off the river played with his hair, but it didn’t really touch him.
He missed the X-Men, even if they still hadn’t forgiven him. Once he’d been a little angry over that, because he felt so guilty over his role in that deadly mess, but he hadn’t been as bad as they made him out to be. Really.
As time passed, he’d stopped being angry. What was the point? Their minds were made up. They’d left him to die in Antarctica for his sins, but he had to be the one to grovel. And he had, until his responsibilities called him back here.
Him being responsible. It shocked people.
He missed Rogue too. They were poison to one another but still had such trouble staying away from each other. Distance made it a little easier. A little.
He had to stop the pity party. Things could be worse. He could have frozen to death in Antarctica.
“Hey,” someone said. Remy nearly knocked his small table over to stand up and face whomever it was. How did someone get the drop on him so thoroughly?
“Oh, Dieu, Nate,” Remy said as he recognized his visitor and steadied the table. “Sit down.”
Looking half-dead with exhaustion, Nate sat. “Sure.”
Remy draped his leather jacket over Nate’s shoulders to disguise a bit of Nate’s new, flashy costume, skintight blue with the large X crisscrossing it. Even for the French Quarter it looked odd. Remy shivered a bit from the breeze, but he could deal with cold. In fact, he’d gotten real good at it.
He hadn’t forgotten about Nate and that night and half a day in New York City, but he hadn’t thought about him in a while either. Too much going on, and they both lived that superhero life of crazy travel. It wasn’t an accident that hero teams tended to romantically pair up teammate to teammate. That way you actually got to see your loved one.
“What ‘appened to you?”
Nate nearly smiled. “It seems like I’ve been everywhere.”
“Alternate universes, time travel, space?”
“Pretty much.”
“Ditto. I did time travel and space all at once recently.” Remy waved a waiter over. “A plate of beignets and an orange juice, please.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Dat’s not what your looks say. ‘Sides, the orange juice is fresh-squeezed.” Remy wondered if he had any observers right now and what they thought of this. The thought of Nate getting tangled in Guild political infighting annoyed him.
Nate needed sleep and to be invisible. Remy had a non-Guild contact that could help with both. Remy took a deep breath and sent out a mental beacon of sorts.
“What was that?” Nate asked. “It was almost telepathy.”
“Long story. I’m surprised you noticed.”
“Yeah. Hey, I have my telepathy back.” He sounded nearly drunk with fatigue.
“Dat’s great. I know what it meant to you.” Even if Remy was certain Nate had never lost as much of it as he’d thought. Still, he had to have all of it back if he could sense what Remy had done, since Remy had quickly and softly called on an old link, without using real telepathy, to ask for help.
“You’re still hard to read. Fast. All this movement and static....”
“Merci.”
Nate smiled. “Not too awkward, are we?”
“It’s been a while. Seems even longer when you go all over de place like we do.”
Then Nate’s order arrived, and Remy stared him into accepting it. Once Nate started eating and drinking, he didn’t need any further encouragement. Remy tried not to feel *too* smug.
“Good luck with that,” Nikki said as she appeared next to him. Literally appeared. One moment she must have had her telepathic “cloak” going, and the next he could notice her.
“I ‘ate it when you do dat.”
“I saw her the whole time,” Nate said. Well, meow. Remy hated seeing people react to her this way when he’d never even slept with her. Not for lack of trying, but hey.
She didn’t look too thrilled with Nate either, her slit-pupiled green eyes narrowing. “You’re an alpha class telepath. It gives you a better chance. Remy, this the guy I got a room for?”
“Afraid so.”
“Lovely. This pays up for the Guild intervention.”
“Not even.”
She snatched a beignet from his plate. “Blow me.”
“You mean it?”
Nate’s annoyance at her turned to what looked like amusement at them. Bastard. Still, it cheered Remy to see even a smirk on his face.
“Remy, you’re like some kind of weird doll where if people pull your string a come-on comes out,” Nikki said.
“Are you cloaking us now?”
“Right to business? Something’s definitely up. Yeah, I put you both under it. The guy with the dreads over there is looking pretty anxious now that you’ve disappeared.”
“Good. ‘ave a seat. Once Nate finishes, we’ll be off.”
“No, I’m done,” Nate said.
“Did you breathe while you ate?”
“I was hungrier than I thought.”
Since the waiter couldn’t see them anymore, Remy left his money on the table partly under the napkin dispenser. He didn’t like to stiff people when he didn’t have to.
“Olivier?” he asked Nikki as they walked up Toulouse.
“Yeah. Since I’m a good friend, they wrangled me a room. Wasn’t easy.” Because of Jazz Fest, yeah. She shrugged. “You’ll have to pay more than usual, but that’s true all over right now.”
Nate watched everything with fascination, so Remy said, “Wait’ll you see it by day, when everyt’ing is open.”
“There are beads stuck in the cracks in the pavement.” He sounded almost like a kid in his quiet joy.
Remy suddenly wanted to show him everything, do all of the tourist shit. They could do it tomorrow. “Gutter glitter. You’ll find strings of beads stuck in de trees along de Mardi Gras route too.” He wanted to see Nate’s reaction to the loops of plastic beads hanging haphazardly from the branches and shining in the sun.
The streets were quiet and dead until they reached Bourbon. Remy took Nate by the hand to lead him through the masses of wandering, drinking people. Nikki would have seen a hand as insulting and a prelude to a come-on, and she’d be right about the second. Nate seemed a bit stunned by all the music, lights, and drunkenness. Right, telepath. Better: a telepath who hadn’t had his full talent back for long.
When they walked into Olivier House Hotel, Remy noticed that Nate stepped only on the black squares in the checkerboard pattern on the floor. It was cute. Sue at the small check-in/checkout table greeted them with “Remy, you’re not gonna cause trouble this time.”
“Wasn’t my fault!”
“Just be careful whose girl you bring here next time.”
“No girl. Dis is Nate. ‘e needs sleep.”
Sue went into protective mother mode. “I can see that. Good evening, Nate. We’ll take care of you.”
“I can see them to their room, Sue,” Nikki said.
“We have staff for that.”
“I want to.”
“Sure, sure.”
Nikki took the key and led them out the door into the courtyard and to the first room. As she opened the door, Remy asked, “Ground floor?”
“They’re not gonna bump guests for me,” she answered.
“It’s good, Remy,” Nate said as he looked up at the giant palm tree in the courtyard.
“You should see it by morning,” Nikki said. “The light filters through the leaves. It’s very pretty.”
“You’re staying ‘ere?” Remy asked.
“Yeah. Your friend will know where to find me if you need me.” Being a telepath and all. “Try really hard not to need me.” As she left she closed the door behind her a little more emphatically than she had to.
At Nate’s questioning look, Remy said, “When I was younger, I talked ‘er into doing somet’ing stupid.”
“No, you?” Nate fell back onto the bed and sprawled, which in that skintight outfit was an invitation to riot.
Remy kept himself under control for now and wondered if Nate had meant to get that reaction. “I’m gonna ‘ave to ‘urt you for dat, you realize.”
“I’m not afraid. What did you talk her into doing?”
“Stealing’s just a job for ‘er, which is so wrong, so I told ‘er to piggyback my mind while I was on a jaunt and see ‘ow much fun it could be. De first ride went fine, so fine we did a second. Predatory telepath went after me on the second. I would’ve been lobotomized if I ‘adn’t been traveling wit’ an expert in my brain, but she ended up seeing a lot more of my mind dan anybody’d want to.”
“She won’t fall for your come-ons because she knows you too well?” Nate sounded way too amused.
“It’s a bitch, yeah. A tiny link stayed too, so she knew when I was dying in Antarctica....” Actions had consequences. Life just kept reminding Remy of that. “She’s not Guild, which in dis town means she gets a lot of grief and needs bailing out at times, which doesn’t make ‘er Little Miss Mary Sunshine either. But enough of Nikki. I’m tucking you into bed.”
Nate closed his eyes. “I know I should make a sleazy reply right now, but I just don’t have the energy.”
“Dat’s what tomorrow’s for.”
Nate struggled to get his boots off, then stopped and said, “I can’t see you, but I know you’re laughing at me.”
“You’re pretty pathetic, true.”
“Are you gonna help me?”
“Nah. Figured I’d stand ‘ere, watch, and laugh.”
“Bastard.”
Remy climbed onto the bed and took Nate’s boots off for him, then helped him out of the leather jacket. Looking at Nate’s new costume, he said, “Dis outfit shows you off nicely, but it’s not all dat practical.”
“I’ve seen yours, and you don’t really have cause to talk.”
“I can put lots of stuff in de pockets of my duster.”
“Yeah, but you wear it over that magenta and indigo thing and the indigo boots.”
“Dere’s black in dere.”
Nate smiled. “Uh-huh.”
“You suck.”
“Not tonight.”
Remy couldn’t help grinning. “Most people don’ come to me to get sleep.”
Nate opened his eyes and brushed Remy’s hair back from his face. “You’re the person I trust the most.”
Poor guy. “Your life must be shit.”
“Probably.” He grabbed Remy’s wrist. “Hey, where are you going?”
“You’re going to sleep. At least dat’s what I ‘ear.”
“You can stay, you know.”
“Oh, *can* I?” But it would be nice being invisible and clear of all the Thieves’ Guild shit for a while. Maybe he could get a vacation along with Nate.
“Park it here.” Nate patted the bed.
“You romantic.” But Remy took off his boots and belt and settled in beside him.
It took Nate about three seconds to fall asleep. Weirdly, it didn’t take Remy that much longer.
******************************************************
Nate awoke feeling safe and a little overheated, tangled with Remy. Since it had been a long time since he’d felt any of those things, he smiled.
===============
“Vocations”
By Viridian5
===============
Remy stared into space and absently brushed powdered sugar off his faded black jeans. He wasn’t really in a beignet mood but all the restaurants closed before midnight and he didn’t feel like doing a bar, while Café du Monde stayed open 24 hours. He didn’t feel like doing much of anything lately.
Took a lot of the fun out of life wondering what the New Son would do next, or what his body and powers would do to him next. He didn’t want to have to go to Sinister to downgrade his powers again, but the X-Men didn’t have a clue what was up with him and if he became too dangerous....
Being hated by so many of the people he was supposed to be leading didn’t brighten his outlook either, not that he’d ever been popular in the Thieves’ Guild. They only watched his back to figure out the best place to stick a knife into it. He knew they had people watching him.
He was home, and it didn’t feel like home no matter how many memories the scent of the Mississippi nearby stirred. The breeze coming off the river played with his hair, but it didn’t really touch him.
He missed the X-Men, even if they still hadn’t forgiven him. Once he’d been a little angry over that, because he felt so guilty over his role in that deadly mess, but he hadn’t been as bad as they made him out to be. Really.
As time passed, he’d stopped being angry. What was the point? Their minds were made up. They’d left him to die in Antarctica for his sins, but he had to be the one to grovel. And he had, until his responsibilities called him back here.
Him being responsible. It shocked people.
He missed Rogue too. They were poison to one another but still had such trouble staying away from each other. Distance made it a little easier. A little.
He had to stop the pity party. Things could be worse. He could have frozen to death in Antarctica.
“Hey,” someone said. Remy nearly knocked his small table over to stand up and face whomever it was. How did someone get the drop on him so thoroughly?
“Oh, Dieu, Nate,” Remy said as he recognized his visitor and steadied the table. “Sit down.”
Looking half-dead with exhaustion, Nate sat. “Sure.”
Remy draped his leather jacket over Nate’s shoulders to disguise a bit of Nate’s new, flashy costume, skintight blue with the large X crisscrossing it. Even for the French Quarter it looked odd. Remy shivered a bit from the breeze, but he could deal with cold. In fact, he’d gotten real good at it.
He hadn’t forgotten about Nate and that night and half a day in New York City, but he hadn’t thought about him in a while either. Too much going on, and they both lived that superhero life of crazy travel. It wasn’t an accident that hero teams tended to romantically pair up teammate to teammate. That way you actually got to see your loved one.
“What ‘appened to you?”
Nate nearly smiled. “It seems like I’ve been everywhere.”
“Alternate universes, time travel, space?”
“Pretty much.”
“Ditto. I did time travel and space all at once recently.” Remy waved a waiter over. “A plate of beignets and an orange juice, please.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Dat’s not what your looks say. ‘Sides, the orange juice is fresh-squeezed.” Remy wondered if he had any observers right now and what they thought of this. The thought of Nate getting tangled in Guild political infighting annoyed him.
Nate needed sleep and to be invisible. Remy had a non-Guild contact that could help with both. Remy took a deep breath and sent out a mental beacon of sorts.
“What was that?” Nate asked. “It was almost telepathy.”
“Long story. I’m surprised you noticed.”
“Yeah. Hey, I have my telepathy back.” He sounded nearly drunk with fatigue.
“Dat’s great. I know what it meant to you.” Even if Remy was certain Nate had never lost as much of it as he’d thought. Still, he had to have all of it back if he could sense what Remy had done, since Remy had quickly and softly called on an old link, without using real telepathy, to ask for help.
“You’re still hard to read. Fast. All this movement and static....”
“Merci.”
Nate smiled. “Not too awkward, are we?”
“It’s been a while. Seems even longer when you go all over de place like we do.”
Then Nate’s order arrived, and Remy stared him into accepting it. Once Nate started eating and drinking, he didn’t need any further encouragement. Remy tried not to feel *too* smug.
“Good luck with that,” Nikki said as she appeared next to him. Literally appeared. One moment she must have had her telepathic “cloak” going, and the next he could notice her.
“I ‘ate it when you do dat.”
“I saw her the whole time,” Nate said. Well, meow. Remy hated seeing people react to her this way when he’d never even slept with her. Not for lack of trying, but hey.
She didn’t look too thrilled with Nate either, her slit-pupiled green eyes narrowing. “You’re an alpha class telepath. It gives you a better chance. Remy, this the guy I got a room for?”
“Afraid so.”
“Lovely. This pays up for the Guild intervention.”
“Not even.”
She snatched a beignet from his plate. “Blow me.”
“You mean it?”
Nate’s annoyance at her turned to what looked like amusement at them. Bastard. Still, it cheered Remy to see even a smirk on his face.
“Remy, you’re like some kind of weird doll where if people pull your string a come-on comes out,” Nikki said.
“Are you cloaking us now?”
“Right to business? Something’s definitely up. Yeah, I put you both under it. The guy with the dreads over there is looking pretty anxious now that you’ve disappeared.”
“Good. ‘ave a seat. Once Nate finishes, we’ll be off.”
“No, I’m done,” Nate said.
“Did you breathe while you ate?”
“I was hungrier than I thought.”
Since the waiter couldn’t see them anymore, Remy left his money on the table partly under the napkin dispenser. He didn’t like to stiff people when he didn’t have to.
“Olivier?” he asked Nikki as they walked up Toulouse.
“Yeah. Since I’m a good friend, they wrangled me a room. Wasn’t easy.” Because of Jazz Fest, yeah. She shrugged. “You’ll have to pay more than usual, but that’s true all over right now.”
Nate watched everything with fascination, so Remy said, “Wait’ll you see it by day, when everyt’ing is open.”
“There are beads stuck in the cracks in the pavement.” He sounded almost like a kid in his quiet joy.
Remy suddenly wanted to show him everything, do all of the tourist shit. They could do it tomorrow. “Gutter glitter. You’ll find strings of beads stuck in de trees along de Mardi Gras route too.” He wanted to see Nate’s reaction to the loops of plastic beads hanging haphazardly from the branches and shining in the sun.
The streets were quiet and dead until they reached Bourbon. Remy took Nate by the hand to lead him through the masses of wandering, drinking people. Nikki would have seen a hand as insulting and a prelude to a come-on, and she’d be right about the second. Nate seemed a bit stunned by all the music, lights, and drunkenness. Right, telepath. Better: a telepath who hadn’t had his full talent back for long.
When they walked into Olivier House Hotel, Remy noticed that Nate stepped only on the black squares in the checkerboard pattern on the floor. It was cute. Sue at the small check-in/checkout table greeted them with “Remy, you’re not gonna cause trouble this time.”
“Wasn’t my fault!”
“Just be careful whose girl you bring here next time.”
“No girl. Dis is Nate. ‘e needs sleep.”
Sue went into protective mother mode. “I can see that. Good evening, Nate. We’ll take care of you.”
“I can see them to their room, Sue,” Nikki said.
“We have staff for that.”
“I want to.”
“Sure, sure.”
Nikki took the key and led them out the door into the courtyard and to the first room. As she opened the door, Remy asked, “Ground floor?”
“They’re not gonna bump guests for me,” she answered.
“It’s good, Remy,” Nate said as he looked up at the giant palm tree in the courtyard.
“You should see it by morning,” Nikki said. “The light filters through the leaves. It’s very pretty.”
“You’re staying ‘ere?” Remy asked.
“Yeah. Your friend will know where to find me if you need me.” Being a telepath and all. “Try really hard not to need me.” As she left she closed the door behind her a little more emphatically than she had to.
At Nate’s questioning look, Remy said, “When I was younger, I talked ‘er into doing somet’ing stupid.”
“No, you?” Nate fell back onto the bed and sprawled, which in that skintight outfit was an invitation to riot.
Remy kept himself under control for now and wondered if Nate had meant to get that reaction. “I’m gonna ‘ave to ‘urt you for dat, you realize.”
“I’m not afraid. What did you talk her into doing?”
“Stealing’s just a job for ‘er, which is so wrong, so I told ‘er to piggyback my mind while I was on a jaunt and see ‘ow much fun it could be. De first ride went fine, so fine we did a second. Predatory telepath went after me on the second. I would’ve been lobotomized if I ‘adn’t been traveling wit’ an expert in my brain, but she ended up seeing a lot more of my mind dan anybody’d want to.”
“She won’t fall for your come-ons because she knows you too well?” Nate sounded way too amused.
“It’s a bitch, yeah. A tiny link stayed too, so she knew when I was dying in Antarctica....” Actions had consequences. Life just kept reminding Remy of that. “She’s not Guild, which in dis town means she gets a lot of grief and needs bailing out at times, which doesn’t make ‘er Little Miss Mary Sunshine either. But enough of Nikki. I’m tucking you into bed.”
Nate closed his eyes. “I know I should make a sleazy reply right now, but I just don’t have the energy.”
“Dat’s what tomorrow’s for.”
Nate struggled to get his boots off, then stopped and said, “I can’t see you, but I know you’re laughing at me.”
“You’re pretty pathetic, true.”
“Are you gonna help me?”
“Nah. Figured I’d stand ‘ere, watch, and laugh.”
“Bastard.”
Remy climbed onto the bed and took Nate’s boots off for him, then helped him out of the leather jacket. Looking at Nate’s new costume, he said, “Dis outfit shows you off nicely, but it’s not all dat practical.”
“I’ve seen yours, and you don’t really have cause to talk.”
“I can put lots of stuff in de pockets of my duster.”
“Yeah, but you wear it over that magenta and indigo thing and the indigo boots.”
“Dere’s black in dere.”
Nate smiled. “Uh-huh.”
“You suck.”
“Not tonight.”
Remy couldn’t help grinning. “Most people don’ come to me to get sleep.”
Nate opened his eyes and brushed Remy’s hair back from his face. “You’re the person I trust the most.”
Poor guy. “Your life must be shit.”
“Probably.” He grabbed Remy’s wrist. “Hey, where are you going?”
“You’re going to sleep. At least dat’s what I ‘ear.”
“You can stay, you know.”
“Oh, *can* I?” But it would be nice being invisible and clear of all the Thieves’ Guild shit for a while. Maybe he could get a vacation along with Nate.
“Park it here.” Nate patted the bed.
“You romantic.” But Remy took off his boots and belt and settled in beside him.
It took Nate about three seconds to fall asleep. Weirdly, it didn’t take Remy that much longer.
******************************************************
Nate awoke feeling safe and a little overheated, tangled with Remy. Since it had been a long time since he’d felt any of those things, he smiled.