Issue 1 Downtime

Chinese delivery was a blessedly fast matter. So as Ryan pushed open the door to his dorm, bags of Chinese delivery in his arms, he idly wondered if they'd gotten enough so that they wouldn't be hungry again in an hour.

"You are officially my hero for the week," she sighed happily, flopping onto Ryan's couch unceremoniously.

"What do I have to do to make yearly status?" Ryan joked, emptying the bags out onto the coffee table before he flopped over with her.

"Find me a Dr. pepper?"

She was good at the puppy dog eyes.

Ryan looked at her, about to say what he had in his fridge, then he just chuckled and shook his head. "Dammit, you're too good at that. Just a minute," he said, heading for the door and, by extension, the vending machine.

"I'm a girl AND a dog, of course I am," she teased.

"Heh. Part wolf, all lady. I do remember, yes," Ryan teased as he walked back in with her soda.

"I trained you well," she chuckled, cracking open the can and taking a sip.

"How's your love life, beyond being the object of many of our students' affections."

"Nonexistent at the moment," he sighed, taking a seat.

"Aww, really?" she pouted, setting down her drink and picking up a container of fried rice. "I thought you had a good thing going with that one chick, no?"

"It wasn't bad," he admitted. "You ever been in a relationship and not really known why you were except that you didn't have any reason not to? That's kind of how it was. It was good, but neither of is could really get excited over. Just going through the motions after a while."

"Not from personal experience, but I think I know what you mean," she nodded, eating straight from a container with a pair of chopsticks.

Ryan would remember that Stephanie often tried this and usually wound up wearing more of her food than getting it in her mouth, but she seemed to have improved her chopsticking ability since they dated in high school.

"Well, count yourself lucky if you've only made good relationship decisions," Ryan chuckled. Then he sighed. "Sometimes I'm not even sure what I've been doing the last year or two."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that--I've made plenty of bad decisions. They're just usually spectacularly bad like the ass I dated back in Chicago that Trev sent flying into a trophy case with his voice. Just haven't been in a situation where my partner and I are just sort of...bored? Like you said--just not sure why you're together."

"I wouldn't say bored, just... I don't know, it wasn't all there. Like... when you just have that chemistry going on that makes you step back and say 'wow'? That's what was missing."

"Yeah. Yeah...I know that feeling," she said, munching thoughtfully on some noodles. "The guy I dated after you and I were in that boat. I think I just needed to be alone for a while. It was after I broke it off with him that I decided to go spend a few months in the Canadian backwoods to get in touch with my furrier side."

"Yeah," Ryan sighed. Something about that line of thinking made him go silent for a little bit, before he shook his head, as if to shake off the thought. "So yeah. Single now."

"Do I need to start playing matchmaker for you?" she chuckled.

Ryan laughed. "Oh god, no. That never turns out very well." He considered it. "Of course, it never seems to turn out well otherwise, either, so maybe that's not such a bad idea," he admitted.

Steph put on on mock expression of hurt, "so little faith in me, Mr. Gabriel?"

"Wouldn't most ex girlfriends be suspect when they're offering to set you up with someone?"

Steph smirked, "I like to think I'm more than just your ex, you brat."

"Y'know, I'm trying to behave, and then you open the door like that..." Ryan teased. Then he sighed. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just kind of disillusioned with it?"

"Open what door? We're friends and colleagues," she smiled. "Nothing wrong with being single."

He chuckled. "Yeah, but come on, how many people will just be amused as hell that I can't hold on to a girlfriend." He shrugged. "It is what it is, I guess."

"George Clooney pulled it off pretty successfully for a very long time. I'd say you're in little danger of mockery."

Ryan snorted a laugh. "Except for all the people that think he's gay, now, right?"

"I think he's engaged, and you're missing my point. Although I wouldn't mind having someone to go to the mall and talk about how dreamy some of the guys there are," she teased.

"I could do that," Ryan joked. "I'll never agree that they're dreamy, but we could still technically be talking about it..."

"Not the same," she smirked. "And again--you'll find someone. You're a great guy, you're hot, and you're patient enough to put up with someone like me."

"Oh, I know. You asked, I told. Lot worse things than being single, y'know?"

"So... What're we going to do about the kids then? Since that seems to be the REAL problem in our lives."

"That's where I'm lost. There's nothing worse than a teacher trying to be your friend at their age..." she said munching thoughtfully on a piece of meat.

"Maybe we just make class a lot less formal? Do more hands on activities? I mean. Fundamentals and practice are all well and good, but...maybe if there's some interest in the class some of the problems might solve themselves. You know...things that require them to make good, controlled use of their powers in a situation."

"Well, what did our teachers do?" Ryan asked, more or less rhetorically. "I mean... we don't need to be their friends. We need to be their mentors. And if they think we're going to jump all over their asses for everything they do, they won't talk to us."

"I think we need to stop pretending that we can treat them like normal kids taking a normal class at a normal school. I mean, everyone in the rest of the world thinks we're teaching them to be X-Men. We probably should start doing that and not worry about detentions."

Stephanie stirred her chopsticks idly through the takeout container she was holding.

"You're right...some of them probably have siblings older than us and we're trying to just be another set of teachers to them..."

"Let's fix this then. No more detention Oprah. If you see me getting uptight about their abuse of the English language, or angry because they don't do their homework, call me out on it, please."