Shiro and Alex, backdated to Saturday afternoon

[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

Shiro had a Summers-filled Saturday. After talking to Scott, he relays the big brother's concerns to the little one. Alex is not impressed.


"Ba da bum ba da bum BUM." Stepping into his room, Shiro waved to Alex and continued humming the Super Mario Brothers theme song awfully off-key. He started rummaging through his drawers to find his gi so he could change to meet Marie in the gym before his scheduled DR run. Maybe he'd try the Nintendanger Room again.

Looking up from where he was reading, Alex raised an eyebrow at Shiro. "Are you humming?" He never really could remember the last time, if ever, he had heard Shiro hum.

"Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun DUN DUN!" Shiro continued, tossing a wadded up t-shirt at Alex playfully. "I am psyching up for today's training, thankyouverymuch."

"Oh right...the Nintendo thing in the Danger Room that you told me about." Alex chuckled as he sat up. "You seem...perky today." It was kind of odd and Alex was amused.

"It's sunny," Shiro replied, nodding at the window. "You know how that affects us solar-powered types. Speaking of whom . . . I just went to see your brother today."

"Yes I know doofus, it's just odd seeing it on you!" He threw the shirt back at his best friend with a laugh before sobering. "How is he? I don't think he's honest with me anymore...now he just wants me not to worry which he should know won't happen."

Shiro couldn't help but scoff a little at Alex's comment. "He is more worried about you handling your own abduction than you worrying about his. I have a feeling that this will be going in circles for a while before you resolve it."

Alex blinked in surprise. "What the fuck?" Scott hadn't even mentioned anything of the sort to him. "I feel guilty they used me to get to him...but that's about it really. Why is he worried?"

"'Alex doesn't really need any undealt-with trauma piled on top of what he's already dealing with,'" Shiro said, mimicking Scott's voice a little too well. "You know, the traditional big brother gig."

Alex groaned loudly as he picked up his pillow before falling back on the bed, putting it over his head so he could scream into it. "And neither does he! He doesn't need to worry about nothing!" Okay so it was something, but it was just Alex's guilt and feeling of uselessness, as this had been the second time he'd been used to get an X-Men. Who would be next? Someone trying to get at Shiro.

Shiro nodded and started undressing to put on his gi. "I said as much to him. But . . ." He paused, trying to find the right way to word his next question. Not that he was worried about offending Alex, but tact was a special privilege reserved solely to him (and maybe Clarice, if they were talking). "How are you handling your own guilt?"

Putting the pillow under his head so he could look over at Shiro, he sighed. "I'm fine, really. Nothing I haven't handled before."

Shiro raised an eyebrow at Alex disbelievingly as he tied his belt.

Alex returned it with a glare. "What?"

"If I had a degree in psychology, then I would posit that trying to outrun gallons of cold, salty water is escapism, not therapy," Shiro said, not unkindly.

Alex blinked. "What does my guilt have anything to do with my surfing?"

"That is how you 'deal,'" Shiro replied, emphasizing that last word. "Your brother drowns himself in administrivia, I kick things, Doug sits himself down in front of a dozen computer monitors, and you surf."

"And? I'm afraid I missed the point..."

Shiro could almost feel the oversized anime sweat drop appear on his forehead. "Your sense of management revolves around surfing. You do that to get out of bad mental places. But like your brother said, that amounts to just bottling it up." He paused and shivered. "I think I have been talking with Marie too much. Anyway, listen. My point was that you are Cyclops's younger brother and you take after him too much, so stop it."

Alex frowned. "I'm not bottling up. It's nothing to worry about! Really!" Okay so maybe he was, but it wasn't like he was stressing himself to death like Scott does. He didn't see the harm in loosing himself in surfing. "What would you like me to do, oh know it all Sunfire?" He ask sarcastically, as he was on the defensive now.

"Hey." Shiro's expression darkened. That comment reminded him of his last conversation with Clarice, and damned if that was going to repeat now. "I am not attacking you. And I am certainly in over my head here, trying to tell someone how to cope with anything. How much have you told your brother?"

Taking a moment before he answered, Alex rubbed his eyes. "Sorry...just Lorna brought up the same thing and well...yeah." He didn't need to explain to Shiro about how anything having to do with Lorna stressed him out. "And I haven't told him anything. If I did, he'd have an X-Man following me around all the time since I seem to be the bad guys’ favorite target." He said the last bitterly.

Shiro couldn't help the little growl that escaped his lips at the mention of Lorna's name. Righteous indignation, he reminded himself. Nothing to be ashamed of. "Well, if your university has an art department, then I could be tempted to study abroad for a semester or two . . ."

Alex glared at him. "No. I will not have you disrupt your life for me. I'll..." he wanted to say 'be fine' but they would both know he was lying. "Deal with it."

"Baka." Another t-shirt to the face. "I doubt that he would ever go that far. We all take risks, being associated with this place. Spreading the X-Men in that manner would be counter-productive to our mission. But even so, I am insulted that you do not want to go to school with me." Shiro harrumphed in a dignified manner.

"Never underestimate me brother. You would be surprised at what he would do." Alex sniffed and then sighed, chuckling softly as he threw the t-shirt back. "You know I'd love to go to school with you. But I think you would hate it in Hawaii....we are much to laid back for you."

"Hawaii is, what, twenty percent Japanese? There is sushi. I think I would survive." Shiro put the shirt away and glanced at the alarm clock on his nightstand. "Speaking of laid back, it is time for Marie’s thrashing."

Alex snorted softly. "Good luck with that, man. And really, don't worry about me. I'm fine. Honestly."

"Famous last words," Shiro muttered.