The X-Project

After Wade and David do some unsuccessful scouting of hospitals and police stations for any word of Glorian, they shop. After that, Wade returns to the Snow Valley offices with a present for Marie-Ange, and to show off his new pants. Not surprisingly, Marie-Ange is not as impressed with bell-bottom cords as Wade is.

Warning: Non-ironic use of the word groovy.



Wade put the bag he'd brought back with him on the table in the hall and rubbed his palms against his thighs in an effort to make them seem less sweaty and gross, but he was nervous and he was pretty sure that wasn't going to help much. Then, picking the bag back up, he stuck his head into the kitchen to make sure Marie-Ange was actually in there and slowly inched his way inside. "Uh, hi."

It had been such an exceptionally weird day that Marie-Ange had though she'd reached her limit for number of times she could just stop and stare at something that didn't make a lick of sense. But Wade, who seemed nice enough but was about as awkward as a baby penguin (though cute enough, which fit her baby penguin metaphor just fine, she thought), in ... those... pants, kind of took away her ability to speak, and all she did was sort of make a squeaking noise of surprise. "Ah. Hello?"

Offering her a tentative sort of smile, Wade inched a bit closer and held the bag he'd brought in with him out to her. He'd picked it up when he and David were out looking for this Glorian guy earlier - right after he'd bought his bell bottoms, actually. He'd been really excited to find them in the thrift store, especially since he was apparently several sizes larger than he remembered being and they actually fit. "I ah... I wasn't really sure, but it seemed. It seemed like you were sort of upset and I figured. Well. Girls like chocolate, right? So um. Here."

Marie-Ange had honestly meant to say "Thank you, I'm sure it's very nice." and open the bag, but she kept ... staring at the pants, and so she fumbled, almost dropping the bag. She had to bend to catch it, and stood a little too quickly, because she was all too aware that every piece of clothing she owned was ... clingy, or too short. Even if all that had showed when she bent over was her tights, that was bad enough. She finally stammered out a "Merci." and peeked into the bag, taking out the wrapped candy apple with a curious expression. "It is... this is a very large apple."

"Yeah, I mean," Wade said, shifting from foot to foot. "Girls like chocolate but then they always worry about if it's healthy or not and I figured... I figured it's on an apple, so it can't be really unhealthy, eh?" Which had seemed like really sound logic at the time but as he'd been speaking, he'd had to make himself not say the word 'fat' because he knew that would've led to all kinds of bad places and that wasn't what he meant, anyway. He was so bad at this. And she kept staring at his pants - he was working really hard to not notice anything about her in particular because after waking up the way they did, it was just - it was awkward. But she kept staring at them, so he glanced down, too. "I found these today - aren't they groovy?"

"I.. I think that is perhaps the only word that can be used to describe them." Marie-Ange was trying so hard not to smirk, but those pants were ridiculous. They had flares at the bottom -and- were corduroy. Flare jeans were sometimes fine on some people, although she did not know any of them, but cords were just ... they made silly noises when you walked! "And maybe you watch too much television. That is ... not all girls are like that."

Wade got the distinct impression that she was implying his new bell bottoms were not, in fact, groovy. Frowning, he looked down at them again, but they still looked just the same as they had when he got them off the rack. "Maybe not," he said, addressing her second statement. "But the apple's really good. I tried one. So I um. I hope you like it?"

"You should see Amanda eat. Or Jubilee, they eat everything in sight, because they are always hungry, and they are both tiny." Marie-Ange watched her diet, but not to excess, and certainly she did not talk about it. That was ... rude. She looked at the apple carefully, and nodded. "It looks good. It is maybe too large to eat all at once, but I think I can find a knife and cut it up?" And it would give her a reason to not say anything about those pants. Except she kept looking at them and trying not to laugh.

Rubbing his palms against his thighs again, Wade shrugged a little. "I dunno. I don't. I mean - I don't know many girls." It wasn't like any of them would talk to him at school, anyway. "But uh. Yeah, so. I'll just - I'll leave you alone. And um... I'm... I'm sorry about this morning."

Marie-Ange blinked a few times, and then shook her head. "You do not have to go. I am sorry for shrieking in your ears this morning. I am surprised you are not a little bit deaf by now." She set the apple in it's cellophane wrapper down on the counter next to the coffee machine. "I cannot imagine how girls would not want to talk to you. You are polite, and it is not as though you are unattractive, except..." She paused, and shook her head. "Wade, those pants. Why? Why?"

Wade looked down at his bell bottoms again. "They're pretty rad, considering they're... apparently really old or something," he said, looking back up at her. "I mean, these are some pretty slick threads, ya dig?"

She just couldn't help it, and so Marie-Ange covered her face, and giggled. It was just... so silly. "Perhaps for 1976, yes but I do not think people wear bell bottoms anymore." She thought about that, and then added. "Perhaps if they are trying to be retro. I had heard that retro was coming back, so maybe they do." Oh she hoped not. Giant sunglasses and off-the-shoulder tops were not a look she wanted to see back. "Where on earth did you even find those?"

"Thrift store," Wade said, shifting a little self-consciously now because she was... kind of laughing at him. It wasn't that he wasn't used to that, he just didn't really know what to do with it right that minute. "When David and I were looking for Glorian earlier today. Before I found the apple place."

"David let you buy those pants?" Marie-Ange was still having a hard time thinking of David - or Christoph, as he'd said his name was briefly - as anything but a grown man. "I am not trying to be mean." She did notice the shifting around. "It is just they... are not entirely in fashion and so I was not expecting them." And she was certainly not going to tell him they did actually flatter certain parts of his body. She'd blush, he'd blush and then they would both explode into a pile of embarassment-shaped confetti.

"So it's a good thing I didn't buy the powder blue suit, eh?" Wade quirked a brief smile.