Dorm Room 229 - Tuesday Afternoon

[furrybluefreak]

Kurt was still trying to adjust to being back, both from jet lag and just trying to get back to his normal routine. After his one class that morning, he opted to stick around the dorms for most of the day.

At that moment, he was sitting in his hammock, laptop perched on his knees, as he worked on sending off more photos from the trip. Between his folks and his team back home, there were a lot of requests for photos! But it was fun looking through them all and remembering all the great times. So Kurt wasn't really complaining!


(Dorm room is open! Expecting one but anyone can stop by!)

Comments

[outofthequiver]

Libby didn't know why she was feeling so nervous about this; she knew she shouldn't, there was nothing to be nervous about....except that maybe there was, because Kurt had been so nice and supportive on the school trip, but some time had passed, and maybe in hindsight, he might feel differently about everything, but would be too nice to really say anything, and...

She shook her head a little, trying to send all those thoughts away. They weren't at all helpful, and, if anything, there was nothing weird about wanting to thank someone for helping you.

And so, with a big breath and a box in her hands that she'd probably spent far too much time decorating, she went over to Kurt's room and knocked on the door.

[furrybluefreak]

Kurt glanced at the door for a minute, and when it didn't open on its own he knew it wasn't Guillermo. So, he set the laptop down and hopped off the hammock.

"Libby! Hey!" he said with a grin as he opened the door and saw her standing there. "Good to see you. How you been?"

[outofthequiver]

Well, so much for just hoping Kurt was out and she could get away with just leaving the box for him to find or for Guillermo to pass along. She needed a second to squash down that terribly nervous flutter in her chest before she smiled back.

"I'm good, Kurt," she said, "thank you."

Thanks to him, really, but she couldn't really bring herself to say that part.

"How are you? I hope I'm not interrupting anything, I just wanted to stop by and give you this."

She lifted the box a little, which contained a batch of cookies she'd made in super-stealthy secrecy yesterday, and handed it over.

"To say thank you," she added, eyes shifting awkwardly away as her face flushed with pink, "for...for last week."

[furrybluefreak]

"Ooooh?" Kurt said with interest as he took the box. "This looks almost too beautiful to open" he said taking the time to admire tge obvious effort that went into the wrapping

"And there's nothing to thank me for, Libby" he said with a soft smile. I'm just glad you are feeling a bit better at least" he said with a small grin.

Kurt then carefully unwrapped the box and opened it up.

"Oh cookies!" Kurt looked at them closer and the grin broaden. "German chocolate cookies! Thanks Libby!"

[outofthequiver]

Libby was about to tell Kurt that he didn't have to open them now, especially since she figured that would save them both the awkwardness, especially if he didn't really like it, but he was half-way into doing just that by the time she managed to start forming the words.

But the response seemed genuinely pleased, and so she breathed out a little with a small nod and an easier smile.

"You're welcome," she said. "And I really do appreciate your help. It was...good to have someone to talk to."

And she seemed to have wanted to add a little more, just on the cusp of letting especially you fall out of her mouth, but she caught it before it could, and tucked it firmly away.

[furrybluefreak]

Kurt wasn't one to have much will power. So a gift given wasn't going to last long.

But the cookies were amazing and he was very thankful for them. And the fact that Libby still seemed ok and hadn't decided what all he had said on the trip was nonsense.

He gave her a small smile.

"Thank you for the cookies! I... I was just going through some of the pictures from the trip. Sending some off to Logan and the rest of the team." Kurt hesitated a moment then finally asked before he could talk himself out of it. "Would you like to come look at them with me? We... Could have some of the cookies while we do" he added as he gave Libby a small, hopefull smile.

[outofthequiver]

"Oh, no," Libby said, shaking her head and very much wanting to say yes, actually, but already feeling like she'd imposed too much, "that's...that's okay, I really didn't want to bother you too much, Kurt, and they're your cookies, for you to enjoy..."

[furrybluefreak]

"Well, cookies aside," Kurt said with a small soft smile. "I'd still love to hang out."

Kurt fell a little quiet for a moment. He had an idea of what was bothering Libby and he wanted to put her mind at ease about it but wasn't sure how to go about it. He didn't want to hurt or offend her or anything.

"We can leave the door open if you want," he finally offered, figuring the whole 'being alone in a room with a boy' bit might be what was uncomfortable about the offer to hang out.

[outofthequiver]

Despite everything else, that last part made Libby laugh, even if it also sent the pink that had been playing across her cheeks into an immediate deep red that almost made her wonder if her face was about to catch flame from the heat.

"I think," she then said, ducking her head, as if that could help with the blushing or the smile she couldn't keep off her face or the...everything else, "we're a bit past that, after last week, but..." She peeked up, lifting her eyes toward Kurt with a little hopeful uncertainty of her own, "...yes, please. If you don't mind."

[furrybluefreak]

Hey, field trips and such were a totally different thing. The dorms were more familiar territory and had certain 'rules and expectations' a trip didn't usually carry with it.

"Not a problem," Kurt said with a reassuring smile as he kicked the door stopper in place. With a quick wink, he ported across the room and set the cookies down on the mini-fridge. He then grabbed the oversized beanbag chair.

"Want the hammock or the chair?' he asked as he put it down on the ground by the hammock so they both would be able to see the computer and talk easier if they wanted.

[outofthequiver]

Libby had to laugh again at the porting (while wondering if it could have possibly have been less effort to port across the room than to just walk, but, then again, there was no denying that the porting was much more impressive), and had to rely on her own two feet to carry herself into the room.

"The chair, please," she said, without even having to think about it, because the hammock...well...

[furrybluefreak]

What? Kurt? Showing off and trying to impress Libby? Never! It was just good practice so he didn't rusty! He was definitely not (definitely was) showing off and trying to impress the girl he was crushing over. Don't be so silly!

Kurt just gave a nod and shifted the chair a bit. "Care for a drink?' he asked with a nod toward the mini-fridge. "There's a couple of sodas, I think there's some of the watermelon and min juice I made yesterday left, and a couple of water bottles even."

[outofthequiver]

"You guys have just about everything you'd need in that little mini-fridge, don't you?" Libby observed, before no doubt getting thoroughly distracted by trying to figure out the most proper and acceptable way to sit in a bean bag chair in a boy's room as a good Christian girl in long skirts could manage. "I do really like that watermelon drink of yours, though, so maybe that?"

She almost added an 'if you don't mind', but he had offered, so that would just be superfluous, really.

[furrybluefreak]

Kurt nodded. "Yeah usually it's full of food too but, well, I haven't gotten back to cooking regularly since the trip," he explained as he grabbed two glasses and the pitcher and brought it over.

"Here you go," he said, handing over a glass before hopping into the hammock.

The way it was set up, they were at about the same level with him sitting in the hammock and Libby in the chair. Made for easy sharing of the computer as Kurt pulled the laptop over and opened up the photo folder.

[outofthequiver]

And, with a little more shifting to accommodate on Libby's part as she took the glass with both hands and nodded her thanks to Kurt, it felt like a good set-up. A little distance, still close, but not too close...

"Did you end up getting a lot of pictures?" Libby asked, her eyes, for a moment, more on Kurt than on his laptop as she took a drink.

[furrybluefreak]

"Aye! And I think there are some really good ones too" he added as he turned the computer a bit so Libby could see easily.

And it was a pretty good setup. The only way it could have been better was if she was sitting in the hammock with him or he was sitting beside her on the ground. But ya know, boundaries and all that. He knew Libby would not approve so he was fine with the current setup.

[outofthequiver]

"Have you picked out any favorites?" Libby wondered. "Maybe we could start with those? Or are there just too many to choose from?"

[furrybluefreak]

"I've gone through already and took out all the blurry, thumb, and too-dark-to-see shots," Kurt said with a laugh. "Brought the count down by maybe a quarter only. Been working on moving them into folders to make them easier to go through and find certain ones."

He headed the laptop over to Libby so she could see the folders easily- ones marked "Buildings" "Food" "The Ship" and of course one there labeled "Friends" among a few others.

[outofthequiver]

Naturally, Libby's attention went straight to the 'Friends' folder, and she nearly suggested that one, until a rush of concern hit her. How would she feel, after all, if it turned out she was in a lot of the pictures? How would she feel if she was in hardly any of them? It seemed a bit like a dangerous box to open, so she was glad she didn't just go with her knee-jerk reaction there.

"Well, definitely not the Food one," she decided with a laugh. "That'll just make us hungry. But maybe the Buildings? There were a lot of good examples of those. Did you get some good ones of the Eiffel Tower?"

[furrybluefreak]

There were some with Libby and some of Libby who just happened to be in a shot he was taking from a distance here and there. Any lack of photos would have come down to them avoiding each other for the first part of the trip so... fault lay with them both on that end of things.

"Got some nice ones during the day. The camera didn't want to cooperate with night shots... but I got a few short videos during the night tour," Kurt offered as he leaned down and clicked open the folder so Libby could start scrolling through.

"There's also some from the museum and the other tours, and the "Scenery" folder has all the ones from the river view and the farmland tour I took one of the days."

[outofthequiver]

"I really wish I had spent more time out and around Paris," Libby admitted, a bit wistfully, especially after clicking through Kurt's pictures. "But even with spending most of that day at the Louvre, I still didn't even get to see a fraction of that! I'm glad I saw what I did, though."

[furrybluefreak]

"I honestly think no matter what we chose for those tours and activities we would never get to see enough of any of it!" Kurt said with a firm nod.

"Who knows? Maybe someday we will get back to France or maybe Paris and be able to spend more time seeing everything else there is to see!"

And maybe it would be the two of them again with less awkwardness this time. But that was NOT going o be something he was quite ready to say out loud yet.

[outofthequiver]

"I'd really like to go back some day," Libby confirmed, a bit quietly, as she clicked through a few more pictures. A soft, thoughtful kind of pause before she found a faint grin.

"I wonder if Paris has any good nursing schools."

[furrybluefreak]

"I am sure they do!" Kurt said encouragingly. "There are probably a lot of amazing places you could go for nursing school! You could even travel several places to get a lot of different experience in different things."

Kurt thought for a moment, and then ventured another question, one he hoped would help encourage Libby and keep her focused on this new vision and possible future goal.

"Have you thought about what specific focus or type of nursing you want to specialize in?"

[outofthequiver]

"Oh, pediatrics, definitely," Libby answered, without even missing a beat. "Possibly obstetrics; it was Mama's last pregnancy that lead to me even thinking I could do something like nursing in the first place, but I think I'd really like working with kids." She grinned over at Kurt. "And I've already got plenty of experience with it, right?"

[furrybluefreak]

Kurt smiled because that totally made sense.

"You will be amazing at that fir sure," he agreed. And he hesitated a moment, hoping what he said next would be as encouraging as he meant it to be. "And it would be a great way to use your God given talent to help people...and be like a mom to many kids who need care and love."

[outofthequiver]

Libby's smile softened a little at that, from the effort of keeping it there despite the particular punch of sadness that hit her with a topic like that, and all the complicated things that came along with it.

"And hopefully maybe some of my own one day, too," she said. "But....I guess..." There was a pause, a hesitation, as she tried to figure out her words, "if I don't end up having any, like I'm--" Here, she cut off the supposed to, just in time, and faltered as she decided whether to try to cover it up or just keep going. "...like I think I'd like to, that's still a good way to serve..."

[furrybluefreak]

"Aye," Kurt said with a smile. "It would be a wonderful way to serve, either way."

He gave Libby a smile, glad she was still walking about this and seemed to be feeling better about at least considering some other option.

[outofthequiver]

"I really do think it's the right way, too," Libby admitted, after another moment of hesitation and realizing that she wasn't really paying much attention to the pictures any more, anyway. It was just sort of nice, that she could actually talk to someone about this now, who understood where she was coming from and, even if Kurt still didn't have the full picture of it all yet, he at least had an idea of what was at stake for her. "It's just...hard, sometimes, when what you feel is right goes against everything you were brought up to believe."

[furrybluefreak]

Kurt sat for a moment, listening to everything Libby said and thinking for a bit before speaking.

"It's not the same as what you are going through, and I won't pretend to know what that is like, but it was similar for me when I decided to come here to the States. When Professor Xavier found me, and invited me to come to the school with the other mutants, my folks weren't sure about it at first."

Kurt gave a small somewhat sad smile thinking about it.

"I understand how hard it was for them. They had spent my entire life trying to protect me and when they felt like they couldn't, that was hard for them. And they were worried, and still are a little I think, about what will happen. But... this is something I want. Something I feel I need to do."

Kurt gave Libby a small knowing grin as he ducked his head slightly, finally saying out loud the thing he had been holding inside for a while now out of fear and uncertainty in his own abilities. "I don't want to just hide anymore. I want to help others and make a difference... if I can. And I think, that is all you are wanting to do now too."

[outofthequiver]

"And you shouldn't have to hide," said Libby, even though she knew that wasn't the biggest take-away from what Kurt was saying, but she felt that was an important point to reiterate to him whenever she could, and she gave him another smile. "I think we both could do some really great things, Kurt. I mean....just look at all the great things we've manage to do in just this past year! And that's only just the start!"

[furrybluefreak]

Kurt smiled and nodded. It WAS good to hear it, after so long hearing and experiencing the exact opposite. It was nice to be accepted and to have friends that weren't your parents. To be able to go to school and be around others without worrying about hiding or fitting in. It was nice to have friends, like Libby especially, and Kurt felt his face heat up slightly thinking about it.

"Aye!" he said with a grin as he finally managed to look up at her again. "Only the beginning! And I can't wait to see what we accomplish next!"