I didn't know where Laura stayed, or what she did for fun. But I did know that eventually, she would need to eat, especially after working out as hard as we all did during our squad training.
I staked out in the cafeteria until I saw her slink in, go through the line and pick up everything she'd planned on eating before sitting down by herself near the back wall. As I started walking over I saw her look at her tray in confusion before growling in annoyance.
She had neglected to get something while going through the line and having to interact with several people, moving amongst so many others, and she didn't look forward to having to do it again.
Fortunately, I picked up that thing she had forgotten and brought it over. She noticed me before I got very close. Her eyes got so wide that someone was approaching her out of the blue that it was almost funny.
I threw my head upwards in greeting, "Hey. Forget your drink?" I tossed over a bottle of juice for Laura to catch. She stared down at it like a foreign object. As she did, I took a seat next to her. She scooted away a bit. I acted like I didn't notice, "You are really hard to find. I just wanted to say, you were outstanding today."
It could not be stressed enough. I had a goddamn ringer on my side. But for as comfortable as she seemed in a fight, she was uncomfortable with everything else that came with being at school.
"Thank you," Laura mumbled, rolling the bottle back and forth in her hands, "You appeared to be in good condition during the exercise. I was worried that you had not recovered, but your performance didn't seem to show any lingering injuries."
I patted the spot on my belly that had been sliced open not too long ago, "Apparently, as long as I have enough energy, I heal really fast when I get hurt bad enough and black out. It ain't as good as yours probably is, but it helped save my butt this time."
"That is good. I would not make a habit of relying on such an ability if I were you," I could only imagine how many times she'd had to use her healing ability in her life to survive things that would have easily killed or permanently handicapped anyone else.
No kidding. I could do without the unwanted part of that whole setup, "I've had to use it three times so far. I don't really like losing a whole day just because I took a beatdown," That was enough about that though. My recovery progress wasn't important, "Hey, this isn't about me. It's about you. Did you think about what I said the other day?"
I didn't want to put her on the spot. I just wanted to have a conversation. Get her to loosen up a bit. It was one thing to be quiet. It was another thing altogether to be so defensive and timid, like she was afraid of herself. It was such a stressful way to live.
Lo and behold, she actually did have something to say to me, "Why does Logan call you 'Glowstick'?" She asked.
I was confused, "Huh?" What did that have to do with anything?
Laura nodded, "'Glowstick'. Every time he references you in any way, that is what he calls you. Even when you are not there."
I raised an eyebrow, "He talks about me when I'm not there?" I didn't think he gave that much of a care about me. I was just the kid he took some time to beat up when he was bored and there was no beer around, "I thought he thought I was annoying."
Laura shrugged and started to dig into her meal a bit, not letting me know if I was right or wrong, "You came up because I talked to him about the things you spoke to me about," Ah. She must have trusted him much more than me. Fair enough. I was some guy she got saddled with working alongside. At least they had the whole shared DNA thing going on, "He said many things about you personally."
"Really? Like what?"
Laura finished chewing before she bluntly began to list every trait Logan gave her about me that she could remember, "He said that you were cocky, competitive, loudmouthed-."
None of these seemed good at all, "Oh," I said, dejected. And here I thought Mister Logan might have actually liked me.
She had more to say, however. The next part, not so bad, "-He also told me to trust you, and to give all of this a chance," She wrapped her arms around herself and frowned, "He said that you would do your best not to let me down. I do not know what that means."
I looked out at the open space of the cafeteria before I tried to interpret what the gruff old bastard had been trying to convey to her, "I think he wants you to lean on me a bit. Not literally," I specified when I saw her face twist in more confusion, "I mean, this place is a little much to take all by yourself. You tried once before right? Didn't like it?" Laura weakly said 'yes', "Why?"
"For many, many reasons," She said, and that was all she planned on giving me, not that I didn't know the gist of her previous hang-ups in the first place.
I didn't have to know how to read her to figure out what one of the bigger issues had been, "I'm guessing one of those reasons was that it never really felt comfortable to be here. No one was really around to help you with getting used to everything."
Humans were social creatures... and mutants were too. It was amazing the kind of situations that you could adjust to, as long as you had people around willing to go through it with you and make the process easier.
I felt bad thinking about it. I wasn't at the school for long at all before Ruth's little know-it-all self wound up coming to me. There wasn't much of an awkward period with me fumbling around, getting my bearings because I'd met my core friends almost right off the bat. Even if I hadn't, I probably would have made something happen myself eventually.
Laura on the other hand, she came in with no support system other than Mister Logan, who wasn't always around. He was busy with his own stuff. Between work with the Avengers, X-Men stuff, and his own personal crap, he had his hands full to begin with. That aside, he definitely wasn't someone that could help her get situated to begin with. She was basically by herself, which would have been hard enough even if she hadn't been socially stunted.
The poor thing never had a chance. I was going to make sure that never happened again, and everyone on the Paladins would be more than willing to help. They already liked her. I was trying to work on being less of an asshole. This sort of thing seemed like it would be a decent start.
Laura's green eyes looked down as she fidgeted with her hands, "I am... used to being told what to do. I have taken orders for all of my life. I feel that, left to my own devices, I am prone to making bad decisions."
What kind of bad decisions did she mean? She sounded so grave.
"Welcome to being a teenager, or so I'm told," I joked to try and lighten the mood a bit. I didn't get so much as a smile. I don't think I'd seen her smile once by that point, "The fact that you're worried about that means you have judgment which is good. You're clearly smart, which is also good. Because I'm going to say and do some asinine things from time-to-time, and if you had any sense at all, you would check me on it."
"I will keep that in mind, Bellamy."
"Good!" I said brightly, leaning back in my chair as I watched her eat, "If I'm messing up, or if I'm doing something that makes you uncomfortable, please tell me. I want everyone on my team to love being on my team. I want all of you to enjoy being here, okay?"
"Okay."
And so I just started talking to her, telling her things about the school that I knew and the particular students and teachers that I figured she may or may not run into. I told her things about our team, so she would know them a bit better before she saw them again, and maybe want to find out more about them on her own.
It didn't strike me that I might have been talking too much until I started asking her things about how she was doing. She would give me one or two word answers, and I would go off on a tangent of some sort. I eventually caught myself.
"Oops. Sorry," I said, getting her to look directly at me for the first time in almost five minutes. Before then, it seemed like she was periodically sizing up everyone in the room and where they were situated, "I've been talking your ear off this whole time you've been eating."
"I do not mind," She assured me, "When there is silence I feel... paranoia. As if everyone is watching me. I am not used to company, and I am not much for conversation, but I find it calming listening to others talk."
"Just not to you?" I drawled jokingly. Laura looked down at her tray self-consciously, and I waved the whole thing off, "It's cool. I have a different problem. When I'm nervous or mad about something, I can't shut up."
"Is this the sort of thing you need help working on?" Laura asked me. Was that an olive branch being extended, or just an observational query?
I shook my head, "No, I don't mind it that much, even if others do," It wasn't as if I disliked that part about myself. I liked it, even if others didn't, "If I'm still talking, that means I'm still alive. And if I'm still alive, then things can't be that bad, can they?"
Everyone had their quirks and everyone had their coping mechanisms. This was mine, and I was glad I found it so early, because things had not been easy since I'd started at Xavier's. Things probably weren't going to get any easier, but for now, it was nice.
Eventually, she finished up and noticed that I hadn't had a bite since I'd sat down with her and started talking. Meanwhile, she'd had her dinner while I'd just sat back and taken a few sips of drink, "Are you not hungry?"
I shrugged and pointed to the clock on the wall, "I already ate. You really don't know how long I was waiting here for you. But I've bothered you for long enough. I'll get out of your hair now."
"I will see you tomorrow."
"Hey, before I go, give me your hand real quick," I started to reach for her, before I remembered the last time I grabbed for her without getting her permission first and stopped. Last time I caught a well-placed elbow, "...Uh, if that's okay with you, that is."
Laura put her hand in mine and watched patiently as I put up her pinky and index finger and curved the rest of her fingers together, "What is this?"
I would never get tired of giving the explanation behind it, "This is the Paladins' team thing. If you're close enough when one of us does this, you do it too and you touch 'em together. Hisako thinks it's dumb. I still get her to do it," In order to shut me up, but the point remained that she still did it.
Laura stared at her own hand and practiced making the symbol a few times before letting her hand drop back in her lap. For someone so dangerous, she really wasn't so scary. Unless you were fighting her. Then she was absolutely terrifying.
"I have one request," She said, stopping me as I got up to leave, "Please, be patient with me. I am... not good with people."
I looked around suspiciously before leaning in and whispering to her, "I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm not really either. We'll both work on it."
"Okay," Laura said, and she sounded like she meant it.
I grinned like a moron, "I know I said it before, but I'm really happy you're on the Paladins. Now 'too sweet' me," I asked, lifting up the hand sign. She hesitated for a moment before reciprocating, "There we go."
A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.