A reunion.

[girlverine]

Laura stripped off her uniform top and let it drop to the tile floor, the fabric a wet, sticky mess of blood stains and tears that could barely be called a shirt anymore. After the battle with the would-be goddess, Laura actually felt a little...tired. Almost sore, even. Apparently getting punched by a deity was a bit much even for her healing

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[ex_julianhe]

It had taken Julian a while to get away from the base. He'd found out that Laura had been kidnapped while Josh was recovering, and he'd wanted to leave then. Cyclops, with frustrating predictability, had said no. Leave it to Wolverine, he'll take care of it. Even though Laura had been on his team when she was taken and Wolverine still hadn't been able to stop it happening. Julian was less concerned with that and more with what he could do to help. But, according to Cyclops, that was nothing. And then Josh had been all right, and had left again, and shortly after that the base was attacked zombie-versions of the X-Men's dead friends. Julian had fought, but like the others who'd fought with him, they weren't too clear how they had won. It seemed like the battle had ended on another stage, and he had no idea what had actually happened

[ex_julianhe]

He didn't care about Utopia either. There was a part of him that thought the whole idea of Utopia was ridiculous, an island where mutants walled themselves off. Once upon a time he'd seen the X-Men in their mansion in Westchester, and they had the life he wanted.

This wasn't the same. That dream had died a long time ago, and Utopia was nothing but a shadow of that. They weren't secret heroes anymore, they were holed up and fighting for survival all the time. That wasn't what he had wanted to be. But these days, he couldn't imagine being anything else. When Laura was around, things were different for him. He liked her in a genuine way. He wanted to spend time around her.

When she asked him to stay he looked up at her, trying to read her face. He failed, as usual. He never knew what she was thinking, could never even guess at it. She gave so little away. And what did she mean, if that would help? Help what? Help him not to miss her? He'd learned that was a given, no matter what else was going on

[girlverine]

Laura remained silent, one arm pressed across the front of her chest to keep the towel held in place, as she waited for Julian to sort out his thoughts. She could tell he was thinking...she never knew what, exactly, but she could tell from body language and scent that he was...working through things. So she waited.

"You may stay, then." She echoed her previous offer after he spoke, giving a little unnecessary bob of her head that she probably didn't realize she had done. She didn't react at all when he stepped closer, just watching him, her eyes slightly narrowed. When his jacket wrapped around her shoulders, there was a momentary unconscious shiver at the warm material against wet skin.

"It is going to get wet." She pointed out. Not that she tried to take it off. Her arm shifted slightly to draw it around her some, though it didn't cover enough to make the towel unnecessary.

[ex_julianhe]

He made an amused noise and smiled a little. "Yeah, I guess it will." He very carefully lifted her hair over the jacket. That was a natural thing to do because she was soaked to the skin and looked freezing, even though she probably wasn't. But as soon as he'd done it he was aware of being close to her, much more so than he normally was, and he dropped his hand again.

"Best I can do, I didn't exactly bring a suitcase." He found her eyes, because looking anywhere else was quite frankly dangerous. "You should probably dry off, though. I'll give you space."

He was giving himself space, too. She'd made him think about a lot of things, not all of which he liked. And the part he liked least was that absolutely none of it changed the fact that he didn't want to leave her without--

Without what? Whatever it was he wanted her to understand, he couldn't even name it to himself. Couldn't articulate it. And he was thinking too much. He moved to the door. He'd wait in the hall till she was ready.

[girlverine]

Laura did freeze up for a moment when his hands were in her wet hair, her breath catching as she waited for him to do what he was doing. And then suddenly he was moving away, and she frowned faintly, mentally wondering if she had done something wrong. She didn't think so, but it was so difficult to tell sometimes. She never quite knew what 'right' was in most situations

[ex_julianhe]

He raised his eyebrows a bit when she told him not to go, but he at least stopped heading for the door. He turned and came back, looking skeptical, but moving to sit on the couch all the same. He tried hard not to let his eyes follow her into the bathroom. That obviously failed, but he managed to look away when she slid the jacket off.

God, what was he doing? Seriously. He hadn't even thought this through properly. He'd come here with no goal in mind other than to just see her. Make sure she was okay. Because he was sick and tired of not doing anything, and he'd heard she'd been in trouble. Now that he knew she was fine, what was he supposed to do? He shouldn't be here. He hated it every single time Cyclops was right

[girlverine]

Laura paused there in the doorway as Julian approached, just...watching him. She'd seen him without his shirt on before, but her mind couldn't help but think it was a nice enough view. Which made sense, considering his training, so she didn't know what she felt the need to think about it

[ex_julianhe]

He had his back against the doorframe and his thumbs hooked in the pockets of his pants. He was very resolutely looking up, as if the ceiling was the most interesting thing in the world, but he couldn't help looking round when she talked. The door was mostly closed, but he kept catching glimpses of her. The shape of her arm, her skin, her hair. Every time it happened he looked up again.

Laura looked good. Any guy would think so. That he was dwelling on it was not only natural, it was basically expected. And had she been another girl, he'd have been trying to see more than that. He'd probably be trying to be in that bathroom with her.

But it wasn't some other girl. It was Laura, and that made a difference to how much of a womanizing lout he was. The thing making that difference was very simple. It was that he cared about her. She was one of the few people left on this God forsaken planet that he still did care about. That was why he'd sneaked off in the night to make sure she was okay, and it was why he didn't want to leer at her

[girlverine]

"It's better if I get sliced up than someone who cannot heal," was all Laura had to say to his advice, as she finished drying off

[ex_julianhe]

Oddly enough, being cold was not a problem Julian was having right now. He hadn't had that problem since he came into the room and saw Laura. Actually he had no idea what temperature the room even was, but he had a tendency to get hot under the collar when he was around her, and this was no exception.

He briefly wondered when he'd last given anyone his shirt. He couldn't remember, because he didn't do that. He wouldn't even normally give a girl his jacket the way he'd done with Laura, unless he was trying to charm her or something. That kind of sharing had an associated intimacy which he tended to avoid.

But on Laura, he liked how it looked. And his eyes were very much on her, even though he knew he should look away. He moved to the couch again and leaned back on it, running a hand through his hair to feign a nonchalance that he didn't feel.

"I can deal. I don't care about the cold." Lie. He was from California. He hated the cold. "Anyway you wear about this much on missions. Doesn't bother you."