xp_logs | Kurt and Scott, late Friday night

They have a somewhat overdue conversation, which could have gone much worse than it does.

Kurt hadn't really left his room much, in the last few days. He hadn't been avoiding anyone in particular, really, he just... hadn't felt like going out.

He couldn't put certain things off forever, though, so he slipped quietly out of the suite late one night and headed down the corridor.

He wasn't sure if he was hoping Scott would be awake or asleep when he got there.

Scott was indeed awake. His arm was throbbing, and as usual, he was somewhat loathe to opt for a painkiller for something this comparatively "minor". Jean was on the night shift, so he didn't have to worry about bothering her with his machismo, at least not at close quarters. When the knock came at the door, he got up from where he was sprawled on the couch, setting his book aside and going to answer it.

"Well," he said, seeing who was on the other side. "I was wondering how long it was going to take."

"I did not want to risk Jean's wrath for interrupting your recovery", Kurt answered dryly, not moving to enter the room. "And it has only been a few days."

"I've had worse," Scott said, not quite wryly as he turned away from the door. "Come in here before you draw attention."

"It comes with the territory", Kurt half-agreed, then finally stepped inside. "It is healing well?"

"Mm. I should have some interesting scars," Scott said, raising an eyebrow as he went over to sit back down. He didn't offer Kurt anything to drink. "I suppose I should concede that I really kind of want to kick your ass, still."

"I expected nothing less", Kurt allowed, walking over to stand by the couch without sitting down. "But what I did, I had to do."

"Oh, you had to separate from your partner, without letting me know?" Scott wasn't sure why he wasn't yelling. Possibly just because it was late and his arm hurt, and he wasn't in the mood for an argument. Besides, Kurt likely knew precisely where he'd gone wrong here. Failure to self-flagellate had never been one of the man's faults.

"In the circumstances, yes", was the calm response. "I knew Peter would tell you, and in my estimation there was little time to waste. Which was true - Mystique would not have taken long to get through those men."

"Possibly true. But we had too few people on the ground to start with-" He'd come to terms with making that mistake, at this point. "-and to have one of them drop out of contact didn't help matters. You're not the first to pull a lone wolf trick, Kurt, but I wouldn't have expected it of you."

"I had my communicator", Kurt objected. "I was not out of contact, if there had been need to contact me. That is how I knew where to find you, after all."

Both of Scott's eyebrows were up. "Are you really debating that you deviated from the plan of your own accord," he said, almost patiently, "or are you just being defensive?"

"...defensive, I suppose", he admitted. "I cannot deny that I did that, after all."

"I know you probably think that it's fine because it turned out well," Scott said in the same steady tone. "But it's not. I'm glad it didn't turn into a catastrophe, don't get me wrong. But you screwed up. We needed more communication in a situation like that, not less."

Kurt took a moment to take this in, and visibly came to a conclusion about where Scott's words were going. "I suppose I will be going home, then, since this is the outcome of the chance you gave me."

Scott rolled his eye. "Don't be an idiot," he said briefly. "If I wanted you to turn in your leathers, do you think I'd be this indirect about it?"

"I would not say you have exactly been indirect. What is it you do want, then?"

"I want you to understand why you're never going to do anything like this again," Scott said, and this time there was iron in his tone. "I'm not asking you to turn in your leathers, because you followed up the act of stupidity with a couple of timely outbursts of intelligence - and I'm not talking about keeping me from bleeding to death. You managed to defuse the situation with the kid and get Veres away from the march. But just because you pulled yourself back from the brink doesn't mean you should have been near the edge in the first place."

"You know how I felt about her", Kurt retorted flatly, nothing at all in his own voice. "You knew what might happen. And I will tell you now, because you would not ask that if you understood it, that she misplayed her hand. She will not push me to the edge again."

"I trusted you to not let it happen," Scott said, very quietly this time. "It's going to take me a while to figure out how I feel about the fact that it almost did. That doesn't mean I can't respect that you still accomplished the mission, defused a situation we didn't even know existed, and deeply appreciate the fact that you probably saved my life. That's about all I can give you right now, Kurt."

"Then that is all I will ask to have", he said simply. "That and being allowed to remain on the team. I do not want any leave."

"No... heading to the opposite end of the spectrum now," Scott said warningly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're seeing her for what she is now-" Or claiming to, at least. "-but don't overreact to that. It's a fact that all of us want to see her, and every other member of the Brotherhood, brought to justice. It is not your responsibility, or your place, to be the one who does that for Mystique. And the moment I see anything that makes me think you're not
being a team player on that score... well, then I get to worry about you on Brotherhood-related missions for entirely new reasons."

"I will see her jailed, Scott", Kurt informed him. "By any means necessary... which will most likely mean being a team player. I doubt I could bring her in alone, even if she had no support."

"Nothing wrong with the desire. Just be careful of how it manifests."