Scott and Jean, Friday night

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

While Scott's being a bit of a freak with the laundry, Jean's tired and wanting a distraction. Scott tells her about Pietro's flirtation with a job offer.


Scott was folding laundry, very meticulously. Small manifestations of obsessive-compulsive behavior were perfectly all right, and this one had the fringe benefit of keeping his clothes perfectly in order. Perversely, it improved his mood to do things like this. Left him genuinely cheerful.

"It's not the laundry love that worries me," Jean commented from the other side of the room where she was working. "That's kind of useful, actually. I simply find your obsession with the iron a tad disturbing."

"The iron is a perfectly lovely piece of engineering, and allows me to work out my frustrations almost as well as the heavy bag does. Plus my knuckles wind up a lot less bruised," Scott said, giving her a 'I'm cute, don't kill me?' look that was a bit half-hearted. He was tired.

"Which I approve of..." Jean sighed slightly, not really feeling up to the banter. "Scott, these test papers are terrible. Three separate children have written 'midichlorians' instead of 'mitochondria' and I can't tell if they're trying to be clever or really have failed to learn anything in the past two months. Tell me you have something good or noteworthy to distract me from this?"

Scott, ironing the collar of one of his shirts, paused, giving that some thought. "Potential new X-Man?" he said. "Well, actually, almost certainly a new X-Man, whatever he says... Pietro's hooked, he just has to satisfy himself that Lorna's not going to quit in a rage when he signs on. Which I highly doubt she will, so we're all good."

Jean's eyes shot up and without a thought she set her pen down, staring at Scott. "What, really? Finally? And yet, that didn't take nearly as long as I thought it might." Jean considered. "No, Lorna won't quit in a rage, but I doubt that's the only thing he wants to assure himself of, and I can understand it."

He gave her a slow smile, not at all surprised that she'd predicted it too, and finished with the shirt. "Well, here's hoping he assures himself of it all fairly quickly, because I want to get him into what training he'll need ASAP."

"Does he do anything any way other than quickly? It was his complete inability to sit still and stay out of things that made it almost inevitable he'd come to this decision." Jean shrugged. "I assume you've already started thinking about what that training will need to entail?"

"The independent streak is going to be a bloody pain in the ass," Scott said with a perfectly straight face, "although conversely, I suspect he'll be a better team player than we expect, when need be. I want to build on the connections he's made already with various team members, see if we can't ease him into things more smoothly that way. The actual specific tactical training is easy, and I've been fantasizing about the possibilities for months."

"Makes sense," Jean agreed, smiling at the indecently pleased look Scott had slipped into at the last. "Start with three man training, maybe. First him and two who have no problems working with him, then get those who are more reluctant into rotation in those three man groups, so there's a buffer."

Scott's expression shifted back into something more thoughtful as he turned off the iron and went back to folding. "I want that mindset," he said after a moment, almost abruptly. "That level of dedication. His powers are almost secondary to the issue, although yeah, the fastest man alive's a little more useful that someone who... turns things shocking pink."

"The ones who are against him are going to call it obsession. Fanatacism. It's one more thing they won't trust." She was playing devil's advocate, as she tended to do, but wasn't going to name names - people could still surprise her and she wouldn't damn anyone yet. "Pointing out that dedicated fanatics get results doesn't change the fact that they're fanatics."

"It's not like fanaticism's something new, for us," Scott pointed out a bit wryly. "Some people would call me a fanatic."

"Focused," Jean countered, shaking her head, "but hardly fanatic. It's a difference in what you're willing to sacrifice. It's the difference between Charles and Eric. You and Charles would give all of yourselves to what or whoever you believed in. But that's the line. You don't give anything that's not yours to give, and won't take for those goals. Eric... He'll give all he can give, whether it's his or not -he doesn't see the distinction. The fact that Pietro does is why he's not with his father."

"So what's the solution, then?" Scott asked, inwardly reflecting on how very much he loved her for discussions like this. The devil's advocate-playing, the insight... all of it. If he was a strategist by nature, he was a far better one for having her and conversations like this in his life. "Overtly addresing the issue isn't going to work, obviously. Easing him in will solve some of it. Encouraging him to start... um, diversifying will help, too. And it's for his own sake that he should do that," Scott said, more firmly, "not just for the peace of mind of his teammates. I really want to see him... have a life, Jean. He deserves it."

"He does," Jean agreed, nodding. She stretched slightly as she thought, easing the kinks from her neck. Too much desk work of late. "There's still too many variables, I think," she said after a moment. "How many of his teammates will rise above their worser selves and make an effort? How many of them will he piss off simply by opening his mouth? For that matter, how is his conversation with Lorna going to go? If they manage to not only be on the team together, but everyone else can see them actually working together? Would mean a lot, I think."

"We've successfully integrated all kinds of people," Scott said after a moment, thoughtfully. "Some of whom have had some highly questionable backgrounds. It's committment level that matters, I think - that and people being willing to give him a chance. And I know that we have enough people who'll be willing to do that to make a difference, too..."

"Yes, I think you're right. It... I won't say it shouldn't be a problem, cause there are always problems. We're people, we have issues. But it probably won't be a big problem."

Scott set his laundry down and came over to where she was sitting, bending over to kiss her. "I love you, have I mentioned that lately?" he said as he straightened. The expression on his face was unabashedly warm and tender. "Sometimes even the problems we know are going to be a pain in the ass don't seem quite so bad when it's just you and I talking over them like this..."

She smiled up at him, catching his hand and pulling it to her cheek. "Love you, too."