Scott and Johnny

[x-ricochet.livejournal.com]

After contacting Johnny's father, Scott has a talk with the mansion's newest resident.


Memories, it seemed, were fickle and irritable things, insistent upon coming back with slowness and a total disregard for order. At least in Johnny's case. It was different for some of the others, the ones that still remained anyway, not yet picked up by families or government officials. There weren't many of them left now and it felt strangely akin to the beginning of some playground game from his childhood. Nobody wanted to be picked last.

Still, his walk with Jean-Paul the night before had done him some good, allowing him to clear his head and put his gloomy mood into some kind of understandable context so that it might gradually begin loosening its grip on him. The book he'd been allowed to borrow probably wasn't hurting matters either. He'd never heard of this James Clavell guy, but he could still spin a good enough yarn to distract a restless teenager.

The knock was on the doorframe, not the door itself, which Amelia had left open the last time she'd been in to check on him. "Hello, Johnny," Scott said quietly, giving the boy a slight smile. "Can I come in?"

Johnny was in much the same position he had been in when Amelia had left that door ajar, curled up with the book and visibly distracted, but raised his head upon hearing the familiar voice. The older man looked different without his uniform and the smile seemed somehow out of place. Of course, the first time they had met, he hadn't had much reason for such an expression. The white-haired mutant smiled a little himself, though half by force, and sat up, "It's your building."

"Yeah, but this is your room. For the time being, I mean," Scott said, coming in the rest of the way. The smile grew a little. "Infirmary rooms aren't made for long-term occupation. I think the longest I've been stuck in here is... almost a week, and I was going insane about three days in."

The younger mutant's expression finally relaxed enough to appear genuine, "I know the feeling...I think I'd have been planning an escape by now if I didn't have something to read. It's so...quiet in here. It's a little freaky." A native of New York City, accustomed to constant car alarms, sirens and general noise, the sentiment was hardly surprising.

"We'll get you out of here soon," Scott said, sinking into one of the chairs. "Our medical staff just likes to be very cautious. I'm actually married to the nicer of the two full-time redheads."

Johnny watched the man seat himself and nodded stiffly, suddenly afraid to ask what that meant. The mention of a certain red-headed telekinetic seemed to cheer him up a little, earning a look of approval that was both obvious and unintended, "Dr. Grey?"

"Dr. Grey," Scott confirmed, smiling again. "I've always thought she has a really good bedside manner to make up for the fact that Dr. Voght has... well, none."

"None at all," the concurrence came with a small, but airy laugh. The white-haired mutant cracked a thin smile and leaned forward, closing the space between them very slightly and speaking with a quiet tone, as if the woman in question could somehow hear if he didn't, though she was on her break, "That's why you pretend to be asleep when she comes."

"Smart man. I've done precisely the same thing a few times." He really would have liked to continue with the banter indefinitely - Johnny seemed to be relaxing, which had been the goal, but putting it off wasn't going to make what needed to be said any easier. "Have either of them, or Jean-Paul, talked to you about what we do here, at the school?" he finally asked.

Johnny grinned momentarily, amused by the notion of their shared plan. The change of topic was unexpected, though not entirely sobering and certainly not as cumbersome as some of the other topics currently occupying his gray matter. He considered the question as his features evened, his fingers idly toying with the closed copy of Shōgun still resting in his lap. "...Jean-Paul told me it's 'a refuge as much as a school'. That..." This was the disheartening thought that brought a frown back to his face, "...I could stay here if they don't want me at home anymore." The fact that this child of a single parent household was referring to a set of parents he didn't have was unlikely to escape Scott's notice and made Johnny's mood seem all the more pitiable.

Scott chose his words very carefully. "It can be a refuge, yes. But we like to think that it's a very good school, too... someplace where you can be yourself, as a mutant, in a way you sometimes can't in the wider world. You get the best possible powers training in the world here, too."

Johnny listened quietly to those precisely planned words. He liked the idea of this place far more than he would have expected, even if he couldn't place precisely why, and smiled just enough to make it clear his next words were made in jest, "You do know what my powers are, right?" He was abnormally agile; it wasn't exactly rocket science. What training was there to be done?

"I need to introduce you to Kurt," Scott said in a more natural tone, but the smile faded a little. "The reason I'm trying to sell the school to you," he said, "is because I spoke to your father earlier."

"...my dad?" Johnny slipped into a long, unhappy silence and sat with the unspoken but obvious truth hanging heavy in the air between them. "He..." the name came back to him, suddenly forcing its way from his lips, "Darren doesn't want me to come home, does he?"

Scott paused a moment to silently curse the man, again. It had been hellishly hard to keep a professional tone, in that conversation. I'm not surprised Johnny doesn't call him 'Dad' - he didn't seem to be much of one. When your son had just been rescued from crazy mutant kidnappers, you were supposed to care.

"He thinks this might be the best place for you, for now," Scott said gently.

The young man's expression was multifaceted and hard to read, his response slow to come. "...what do you think?"

Scott thought about his answer very carefully, before he gave it. "I think," he said, "after what you've just been through, and everything we can offer you here... you might like it here. Stranger things have happened." His smile was a little rueful. "But then, it all comes back to the sign on the gates. 'Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters'. We do believe that, you know. That kids like you are gifted - are special. And we try to make being here as good an experience for you as possible."

School for Gifted Youngsters? Johnny smiled a little despite himself, silently considering that this place sounded very much like a mutant magnet school. Still, what Scott had to say was nice to hear and it suddenly seemed very important to prove the man right, to show him his faith was not misplaced. "...I want to stay."

A real smile broke across Scott's face. "I'm glad to hear that. So, how about I go exert some pressure on both redheaded doctors for you, to get you out of here sooner rather than later?"

The surprised enthusiasm that touched Johnny's features was just as genuine, "You can do that?"

"Are you kidding?" A very faintly wicked laugh escaped Scott. "I have no trouble at all sweettalking my wife. And frankly, if you know how to do it, it's not hard to play the two of them off each other. Of course, if Dr. MacTaggart was here I wouldn't even dare... she's the scary Scottish one."

The young man couldn't help laughing outright. Scott wasn't nearly as stern as he'd seemed in Washington and he was grateful for that. Feigning a transparent seriousness through which his own amusement was readily visible, Johnny nodded and replied, "Saving me twice in three days. I think I'm in your debt, Mr. Summers."