Scott and Jean, post-switch

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

Spontaneous gender-switching is even more awkward when you're a married couple, isn't it?


Jean eyed her ankles with a dissatisfied look on her face. "Scott, your pants are too short." And it was still seriously weird to hear that low voice coming from her mouth.

"You're, um, a little taller than I am. Was," was the muffled reply from beyond the closed bathroom door.

"I'm kind of a lot taller than you are, yes." She... He... No, dammit, SHE eyed himself in the mirror and cursed the mental use of pronouns. At least the shirts fit well enough, if they were slightly baggy. Scott had rather a broader chest than she... he did now. Glancing back at the bathroom door Jean cocked his head. "You ok in there?"

"Oh fine." The tone of Scott's voice, a startingly resonant alto, suggested that really, 'fine' was exaggerating the situation by a considerable degree. "Be out soon. I'm just..."

Jean sat on the bed, briefly trying to wait, but it wasn't long before she was on his feet, moving about the room. There was just way too much energy for her to sit still. Hovering on the otherside of the bathroom wall, he called out, "Do you need some help?" Tact briefly dropped by the wayside due to shock.

"I'm good!" The door opened - slowly, and Scott slipped out, shoulders slightly hunched in the over-large t-shirt he - she - was wearing. Jean's clothes didn't quite fit. Scott had lost a good five inches in height. She tucked jaw-length hair behind an ear nervously, looking up at Jean. "Damn. You really are tall."

Jean hooked his hands into the back pockets of his pants and shrugged - a remarkably easy gesture. "Seemingly." She smiled at Scott. There was something incredibly attractive about the hesitation visible in every line of her body. Well, actually, there was just something incredibly attractive about everything to do with this female Scott, but Jean was avoiding analyzing too much. And, given Scott's obvious uncomfortableness, she wasn't going to push. "I got started packing," he added, waving a hand backwards at the mess on the bed, "but I keep getting distracted."

"Packing." Scott's expression lit up and she fairly pounced on the mess on the bed. Packing things was good. Putting things back into some semblance of order... a noise escaped her, and Scott turned crimson, placing a hand over her mouth at the sound of the slightly hysterical giggle. "This is worse than the angry Norse God," she muttered.

"Oh, Scott." She couldn't quite help it. Coming up behind Scott, Jean slid her arms around her waist, pulling her back against his chest in a gentle hug. "It'll be ok."

There was a term for this, wasn't there? Cognitive dissonance? No, that didn't quite cover it. Scott closed her eyes and concentrated on the feel of the link. "Right," she said a little more steadily. "We're fine. We're just... um... okay, the words are just not coming." Another disbelieving laugh - thankfully not quite a giggle -slipped out. "Oh wow."

It was a good thing that Jean was a very capable telepath. She radiated love and concern and Jean-and-Scott-ness at him on the link, carefully locking away the bits of her brain that would probably freak Scott out more. The 'God, does she feel good in my arms' bits. "Wow, I think, definitely covers it."

"The problem-solving part of my brain is whimpering under a bed somewhere." Scott turned slowly, not quite pulling away, but enough to be able to look up at Jean. And up. "You," she said more steadily, "still look like you belong on a runway somewhere."

The shortness was strange on Scott. Also weirdly comfortable. God, this was messed up. "Lucky bone structure. Sarah hates me for this and oh-my-God my mother can NEVER KNOW." The strange tenor rumble just shot through the roof as his eyes widened.

Scott choked, the unfamiliar features rearranging themselves into a surprisingly lovely smile. "I won't tell if you won't."

Jean dropped his head to rest on top of Scott's (the closest she could get to hiding it in his shoulders now) and did his best to neither laugh nor whimper. When he'd regained control of himself he straightened, grinning slightly. "Wow. You really are short now."

"I know. Watch, we'll get back to the mansion and I'll feel the need to overcompensate with all kinds of stereotypically masculine activities. Riding my bike way too fast and drinking and... um." Scott's brain did her the courtesy of stalling.

"'Um' indeed." Scott's brain may have stalled, but Jean's was more than willing to pick up the slack. "Watching baseball?" he supplied, although his voice seemed to have dropped half an octave into what could very easily be termed 'husky' territory.

That's not what either of us was thinking. Augh. Scott looked up at Jean, unintentionally doing so through lashes that was considerably longer than they had been prior to the whole gender-switching thing. One of her eyes was still artificial; it didn't really diminish the effect.

#Really wasn't,# Jean agreed, and at least the mental tone was in the right octave. But that look was doing very, very dangerous things to his mental capacity. Jean couldn't quite help himself and before he knew it he had tightened his grip around Scott, leaning down to kiss her.

Jean had stubble. The thought was more than a little inane, really. Jean had a number of things Jean had not had before, and stubble was probably the least of it. Part of Scott just wanted to relax into the kiss, even so. Not nearly a large enough part, however. Not nearly as large as the part that wanted to tear her own skin off at the moment to see if he was under there somewhere.

it didn't take long for the mental pressure to break through the hormone fog. Jean's eyes opened and he stepped back, giving Scott room. "Sorry. Sorry. Fuck." Reaching up he rubbed at his temples, breathing deeply. "You're... I... Sorry."

Scott gazed up at Jean, jaw dropping as she realized. "Oh... okay, I get it. Don't worry." The smile was a little forced, although there was more than a hint of real amusement behind it. "You know all those times I couldn't seem to keep my hands off you? It's a guy thing."

Jean dropped into a chair, sliding a hand back to rub at his neck in an awkward sort of gesture. "Yeah... yeah. Right. I get that." Looking up at Scott he grinned, somewhat wryly. "Doesn't help that you're, you know, really cute. And very much Scott in my head." He groaned. "Sorry."

"You think I'm cute?" The smile playing on Scott's lips was faintly awkward as she sank down on the edge of the bed. "I guess that's reassuring. You don't feel any different in my head, either..."

Jean's grin widened. "Oh, very. Shy, confused and verging on demure is a weird thought to connect with you, but... it works." Back to the wry. "Possibly a bit too well."

"Mmm. Well." Scott ran a hand through her hair - then paused, blinking, as if he'd just realized he had a lot more hair than before. "Okay, so you wound up with short hair and mine grew," she said, examining the ends. "Very odd." It was lighter, too.

Sticking to the weirdness of the effect was good. She could do that. "Yeah, this is seriously strange." Leaning back in the chair she scratched at the stubble on her chin. "And five o'clock shadow sucks from this end, too. Ooh, but, bonus!" Jean's eyes lit up. "I don't have to shave my legs!"

Did that mean that she did? Scott opened her mouth, then closed it again. "Charles is not going to believe this," she muttered softly. "He really isn't."

Jean nodded. "This may well take the cake on weirdness."

Comments

[x-polarisstar.livejournal.com]

Best log ever!

[x-rahne.livejournal.com]

"You know all those times I couldn't seem to keep my hands off you? It's a guy thing."

I am slain. *g*

Also? Kudos for the plot idea.

(You know, my first encounter with the word "Kudos" was some kind of very tasty chocolate/granola bar, or something like that. When using it to indicate praise, I have never quite shaken the image. "Yay you! Have a tasty snack.")

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

Yay, snacks!

I'm loving all the switch logs. For serious.

[x-plosive.livejournal.com]

I had Kudos for breakfast. They were YUMMY.

[x-rahne.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've seen them in years. Actually I think I bought some a while ago and didn't like them as much as I remembered, but it's entirely possible I grabbed the wrong flavor.