Jean and Johnny (backed to April 7th)

[x-ricochet.livejournal.com]

Feeling overwhelmed by recent events, Johnny seeks out a familiar face in the infirmary.


After several days of self-imposed isolation that hadn't made him feel even the slightest bit better, Johnny was finding his lonely room increasingly intolerable. Especially after the report on Jada Parrish. There were just too many memories of his own decimated family there. He made his way quietly out of his room, through a thankfully empty common room and out into the hall, wandering for a time before he found himself drawn back to one of the few places on campus that held any sort of familiarity: the infirmary. With any luck, the kinder of the doctors would be there too. She had a way of making him feel a bit better and even the thought of her was slightly comforting.

Jean was there, though she was working on grading midterms back in her office with the door standing open so she could hear if anyone needed her in the main room of the medlab. She heard the lab door open, but it was more the unsettled mental presence which had her standing up and heading out into the connecting hallway. "Good afternoon," she said, as she spotted Johnny. "What's up?"

"Just..." Lying to a telepath was a well-known exercise in futility, but Johnny found himself doing it anyway. And not very convincingly. "Feeling a little under the weather. Figured this was the place to go...Do you mind if I stay for a while?"

"Not in the slightest," Jean said, smiling. "Medlab's definitely a good place for feeling down. You looking for me to be doctorly, or is this more of a companionable adult type thing? In which case I'd move that we adjourn to my office, with it's comfortable couch and easy access to hot cocoa and cookies."

Johnny seemed to consider the question for a time, his hands fidgeting in the one large pocket of his hoodie. He was not as swayed by the offer of cookies and cocoa as one might've expected, but the pull of her kind smile was far more convincing. "...The second one, I guess," he admitted finally and with quiet reluctance.

The hesitation and his reluctance definitely caught Jean's attention and as she lead the way down the hall towards her office she said, "You guess, huh? Sounds less than enthusiastic. If you're in need of proper doctoring we definitely do that first." She waved him towards the couch and spun the chair in front of her desk about so she could sit facing him. "I take it you're not doing so well just now?"

The white-haired teen followed close on her steps and shook his head as their paths parted, sending him to the couch and Jean to the chair near her desk. The only physical symptom he could claim with any honesty was a slight headache, but that was more a job for Advil than a PhD. He slumped back in his seat, "I thought I needed some time to myself...but it just made me feel worse." His lips took the shape of a weak smile, "...I'm acting like a little kid, aren't I?"

Jean shrugged slightly, her smile kind as she leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees. "It's not exactly been an easy month, we can probably let that slide. Are you getting on ok with your suitemates?" It wasn't entirely a non sequitur; certainly for him to have been spending as much time on his own as he suggested, Johnny would have had to have been going out of his way to avoid the other boys, but whether it was merely from disinclination for general company or their specific company could be important.

Johnny's own smile softened briefly, looking a little more genuine before it disappeared completely. She was right. It hadn't been an easy month. The mention of Fred and Julian seemed to catch him off guard and he was quick to nod, "Yeah. Yeah...we get along." Not that he had seen much of them lately. They had been, thankfully, occupied the last few days.

"Good to hear, and I'll cross 'roommate shunning' off my list of potential worries. Which begs the question, what's got you avoiding people, kiddo?"

Kiddo. Johnny wanted to argue the point, but it seemed like a difficult case to make when he had come to her as he had, hoping for a pat on the head and soft words of comfort. He pulled his feet onto the cushion, folding his knees and hooking his arms around the thin limbs in a way that made him seem very small.

Finally, he answered, "...Everything else? Darren...my dad sending all that stuff up here so that I have no reason to visit him and he has no reason to think of me. And Mr. Beaubier just up and going. And Jada Parrish...and her mom...and nobody even seems to care." He could feel his chest getting tight and his voice perilously close to cracking and so fell quiet, lowering his eyes and focusing on his breathing.

Quietly, Jean got up and moved over to sit near Johnny on the couch, resting a gentle hand on his back. "No, definitely not an easy month. I'm glad you came down to talk to me, although I wish you'd come before shutting yourself up, because I don't think the solitude helped as much as you wanted..."

If it had helped at all. Johnny kept his eyes low, but didn't draw away from the hand settled between his shoulder blades. He replied quietly, "Who wants to be around someone when they're like this? I just thought..."

"Someone who cares," Jean said, voice quiet. "You'd be amazed at how many around here do."

"...Maybe," the white-haired teen relented at last, venturing a small glance up at the redhead.

"Doubt all you like," she said, smiling gently. "I'll prove it to you yet. And, in the meantime, I now have the opportunity for a little bit of concerned adult type grilling. How are you settling in to your classes? How go things with the New Mutants? We're things going ok before life blew up?"

Concerned adult type grilling? Johnny smiled faintly despite himself; such a thing was unheard of in the Gallo household these last few years. He gave a small nod to the last of the questions before speaking, "Classes are...classes." There was a mild and amusing distaste in his voice at this, then he continued. "I haven't seen much of the others outside of training, 'cept for Julian and Fred, but they seem pretty cool...I've never really been part of a team before."

"The Xavier's answer to sports teams," Jean said, "although I shudder to think what you all would come up with for a team mascot if given the opportunity." The joking about was definitely aimed to get Johnny relax, something that clearly he hadn't managed much of recently.

The tactic seemed to be enjoying at least some amount of success. The boy smiled a little more, even venturing a light joke in return, "Don't worry too much. I think Doreen would probably be offended if we picked anything but Monkey Joe."

"Definitely a fair point," Jean conceded, nodding. "And he's definitely a better choice than some. You can at least take him out in public, which is an improvement over the dragon."

If Jean's newest technique to distract the boy from his problems was leaving him dumbfounded, it worked flawlessly. Johnny blinked slowly, all but gawking, "...'the dragon'?"

Jean chuckled. "Yes, well, that's a long story, and," she glanced at her desk, "I think my grading can wait. You make yourself comfortable while I get some cocoa, and then I think I get to regale you with some of the sillier bits of Xavier's history..."