"Somewhere else" is a good place to hide

[Alex Carpenter]

"Yeah, but then everyone thinks you're a sellout and you lose your street cred," Alex joked.

[Christine Bowen]

"Fuck street cred, I want a action figure."

[Alex Carpenter]

"Well, okay, yeah that would be pretty badass. You've obviously given more thought to the perks of selling out than I have," he joked, putting a comic back down and taking a peek at another.

[Christine Bowen]

"Well yeah." Christie said "How else am I supposed to piss off my dad....." she looked at him, and trailed off, having an evil thought.

[Alex Carpenter]

Alex, sadly (or possibly fortunately) didn't see the evil look, as he was at that moment glancing through a Batman book for a moment. He did, though, smirk. "Saving the world to piss off your parents. Now that's one you don't expect to hear."

[Christine Bowen]

"And because my Mom would think it was cool." Christie said "She was all about the superhero thing."

[Alex Carpenter]

Alex snorted. "My mom says it'd make our insurance go up or some crap like that. Lawyers and superheroes don't go together, apparently."

[Christine Bowen]

"What about Daredevil?"

[Alex Carpenter]

"Exception that proves the rule, maybe? Maybe it's lawyers and mutants, I dunno. She's got some serious overcompensating going on, so it might just be her."

[Christine Bowen]

"Maybe she's just worried about you getting hurt."

[Alex Carpenter]

"No, that's my dad. She's worried that we'll get sued for something," he said, rolling his eyes. "Or else she wants a good public mutant rights court fight, hard to tell sometimes."

[Christine Bowen]

"Aren't we on the school's insurance or something, anyway?"

[Alex Carpenter]

"I've got no idea. I kind of learned to tune my mom out when she started going on about stuff that bored me to tears."

[Christine Bowen]

"Yeah, ditto." Christie said "So, do you hang with your uncle much?"

[Alex Carpenter]

He shook his head. "Not really. He's visited a couple times, but... eh, I don't know. Always seemed pretty high-strung. And Dad didn't take to him very much, and given all the publicity he gets, Mom just told him to sit tight and that she'd do the visiting. Sometimes."

[Christine Bowen]

"Cities must be tough for him." Christie said "With his mutation and everything."

[Alex Carpenter]

"Maybe? I dunno. I mean, he's living in London, so... Eh. I have no idea how stuff like that works," he admitted. Now Uncle Johnny, on the other hand...

[Christine Bowen]

"Yeah, I'm totally happy I'm not a telepath."

[Alex Carpenter]

"Yeah, it's crazy enough guessing what people think, I don't want to actually hear whatever passes for their thought process," Alex smirked as they headed down the street.

[Christine Bowen]

"Yeah, ditto." Christie said

[Alex Carpenter]

"Not to mention it's just creepy to think about," he added, shuddering a little. "I don't need to know what people think. I like to guess."

[Christine Bowen]

"What am I thinking?" Christie asked, grinning at him.

[Alex Carpenter]

"I am way too much of a gentleman to repeat thoughts like that in public," he teased, grinning back.

[Christine Bowen]

"Jerk." Christie said, sticking out her tongue.

[Alex Carpenter]

Alex smirked. "Yeah, but I don't hear you telling me I'm wrong," he shot back.

[Christine Bowen]

"Well, you're kinda cute, and getting freaky with you would piss my dad off, so yeah." Cristie said with a grin.

[Alex Carpenter]

"Well, I've never been someone's teenage rebellion before," Alex said, grinning back.

[Christine Bowen]

"Of course, I have to weigh that against getting Brigid pissed at me."

[Alex Carpenter]

"Please," Alex scoffed. "Don't think she wants anything to do with me. If you weren't still cool I'd say that my power was to turn girls nuts when they're around me for more than twenty minutes."

[Christine Bowen]

"Please, that is because she's totally into you."

[Alex Carpenter]

"See, problem with that idea is that I know that Kay isn't, and she's acting like Kay," he pointed out. "Buuuut... unless television's led me wrong here, you wouldn't be talking like this unless you weren't either. Looks like I'm batting a hundred at this place so far," he added with a smirk.

[Christine Bowen]

"But if teen sex comedies have taught us anything, its that making someone think you've slept with someone else is the best way to get them to fall for you. Besides, and I'm not trying to be mean, but I don't want to sleep with someone just to piss off my Dad. Now when I can do that by making him think I'm sleeping with you."

[Alex Carpenter]

"Nah, no offense, I think I'd be worried if you'd do that just to piss off your dad," he said. He chuckled, thinking it over. "So... this sounds like a conversation that we should finish where we're not going to have someone overhear us. If we're still learning how to do this from movies, at least."

[Christine Bowen]

"Your place or mine?" Christie asked with a laugh of her own.

[Alex Carpenter]

Alex laughed at that. "Oh, I don't know, how crazy are your roommates?"

[Christine Bowen]

"Crazy enough that we should talk it over in your room, and you should sneak out of mine."

[Alex Carpenter]

"I love it when a good plan comes together," Alex said with a smirk as they headed down the street.