Scott and Manuel, Monday morning

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

Scott picks Manuel up after his successful driver's test. All due congratulations are delivered. There is no hugging this time. A certain amount of thoughtful conversation, however...


Manuel walked out of the Testing Center with a grinding headache, a renewed appreciation for how much humanity could still piss him off just by existing - and his driver's license. "I passed." he told Scott unnecessarily, as he was still holding his brand-new license in his hand. "And I did it the deadhead way."

"Nice job," Scott said with a smile, brief but sincere, as Manuel got into the passenger's seat. "I know how hard you've been working to get that."

Manuel basked for a moment in that sincerity, and used it to bulwark his internal emotional state. "Thank you." he said simply, with none of his usual attitude. "I've earned this. I am ... not accustomed to earning much of anything."

Scott started the car. "There's a certain sense of accomplishment," he said, "when you look back at something about which you can say 'Yes, I did that.' And you did," he said. "I may have facilitated, with the lessons, but you're the one who mastered the skills plus a new country's traffic laws."

Manuel nodded. "And now I can officially get put on the Permitted list to check a car out from time to time. That will be very nice. There are times when just getting away from the crush does me and everyone around me a world of good. I miss the Box."

"That's a little disturbing, Manuel," Scott said wryly. The traffic wasn't bad today, but he still took it a little slower than necessary, mostly because he was tired and didn't always trust his peripheral vision at times like this. "But in general, yes. You're talking to the person who has two separate and heavy-on-the-horsepower ways to get out and away from everything, remember?"

Manuel smiled thinly. "And that's your perogative. I don't have much beyond the student stipend for indigent charity cases." he sighed. "Which keeps me in Red Bull and the occasional night out with Amanda, but it's nowhere near sufficient to acquire an auto of my own."

"I was in the same spot, finances-wise, when I came," Scott said with a faint smile. "I was, in fact, the first indigent charity case, I think."

"But now you work for Charles as a teacher and you do the leather-clad thing." Manuel pointed out. "Teaching isn't my style, and I would be an extremely poor X-Man."

"Just an illustration, Manuel," Scott said with a sigh. "I was where you are, and now I'm not. And you don't have to stay where you are, either, no matter what route you choose to help you get somewhere else."

"I'm a little worried about my future - or, more precisely, my lack of one. I don't have a means of support, so when I graduate I'm in a real bind. I'll figure something out, I suppose." he said casually. "I have a few months yet to try to figure it all out. Don't have to do it right now."

"You've got what, two terms left?" Scott asked.

"Assuming this summer goes well, which it is so far, then yes, just the two terms left." he replied, rolling down his window to enjoy the air rushing past.

"Plenty of time," Scott said. "And we have plenty of contacts to help you find something after you do graduate. You realize that, right?"

Manuel shrugged. "Guess we'll find out." he said, in far from his most confident voice. "You have done a lot for me already - the rescue, the training, the education ... I already know that there's no way I can possibly repay all of you."

"We're not in this for the repayment, Manuel. Haven't you figured that out yet?"

Manuel shook his head. "A de la Rocha ..." he started to say angrily, then shook his head. "I pay my debts." he continued, much more calmly. "One of the things my father taught me that I don't want to lose."

Ah, yes. Delicate ground, there. "Repay us by doing well and being happy," Scott said quietly. "It's about the best reward I can think of, personally."

Manuel shrugged, but let the issue go at that. Cheap at five times the price. "So how are things with you and Doctor Grey?" he asked with a smile.

"Quite well, thank you. Despite all the time I'm spending in the hangar," Scott said with a faint chuckle.

Manuel smiled again. "Good. I like the happiness between you two." he said
voyeuristically. "I've been so busy with school and training that I really haven't had the time to do much of anything fun."

"You should rectify that," Scott said. "Grab Amanda and one of the cars and head out for the evening."

"I've no time." he said with a sigh. "Not if I want to finally get a full grip on my damned power and do well in my coursework. As much as I might like to, the best I can do is to steal a moment here and there."

"This is going to sound ridiculously hypocritical of me, all things considered, but you'll do better in both if you do try and steal more than a moment." Scott glanced sideways at him with another quick smile. "Take it from someone who makes an art of driving himself into the ground."

"You're right. It is ridiculously hypocritical." he said with a laugh.

"But," Scott said more seriously, "I've been handling things a lot better recently specifically because I have made time for having a life, amid all the things that need doing."

"You're also not trying to construct some sort of a life for yourself. You have one of those." he pointed out. "And, as much as it pains me to admit it, you get laid far more often than I do. That's just criminal, man. I'm far better-looking."

"Manuel, do you think the life I have got dropped in my lap?" Scott asked patiently, ignoring the rest of it. Was mildly amusing, in any case.

Manuel shrugged again. "Don't know." he admitted. "Never really cared."

"We all have to work for what we want," Scott said. "You're making some major steps towards that... hell, you took one today. But you're not the only one who's ever had to build from next to nothing. You might even find that those who were in similar situations... note I'm saying similar, not 'same'... might be able to-" Scott couldn't help a faint, amused smile. "-empathize with you. Or help."

Manuel thought that over for a few very long minutes. "There's some possibilities in the idea. On the other hand, I have a vast dislike of being beholden to people. It usually ends up badly."

Scott felt a sudden, surprisingly strong surge of... well, empathy. "I was sixteen years old when I first came to the mansion," he said quietly, keeping his eyes on the road. "I thought for sure there was a hitch. That at some point the illusion was going to crack, and I'd be expected to-" He paused, the smile not really possessing any actual humor in it this time. "-earn my keep, maybe."

Manuel grinned. "And so you do! First among Xavier's shock troops, an instructor ... I would say that you pay your debts reasonably well."

"It's not about that, for me," Scott said, and was a little startled by the sudden depth of that realization. "It's... really not, actually. It's something I have to do, yes, but most of it is because it needs doing. I have a great deal of loyalty to Charles, but no sense of... indebtedness."

Manuel thought about that for a few moments. "Dare I suggest that that may be because Charles is a brutally powerful psi?" he asked quietly. "Although it would seem somewhat out of character for him."

"Try entirely," Scott said with a laugh. "There are a lot of things... a whole hell of a lot of things I worry about, Manuel. That Charles would ever try and change my thinking with his powers doesn't even make the list. And it's a list that stretches from here into infinity at times."

Manuel laughed. "It must be nice to have that kind of faith." he said, and then let the subject drop again. "You still listen to that adult-alternative crap?" he asked.

"My taste in music has not changed since the last driving lesson, no, Manuel," Scott said with a chuckle.

"Can't fault a man for asking. I was hoping I'd get lucky." he said with a smirk. "You want to ... go get a cup of coffee or something?"

"See the road we're on?" Scott said instead, smiling. "I have a suspicion that a certain coffee shop can be found on the next right."

Manuel grinned. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a mindreader."