Miles & Jean, backdated to Thursday night, January 7

[x-otoxic.livejournal.com]

Miles and Jean run into each other for the first time since their summer misadventures, and find that they have surprisingly a lot in common. They're both huge nerds.


Libraries were by definition quiet places, and the one at Xavier's always seemed especially so. Tonight, the only sound to be heard was the soft snoring of one of the few inhabitants. Miles sat at a desk in the corner, slumped over one of several open textbooks. A thin sliver of drool fell from his mouth onto a picture of General MacArthur.

Jean didn't know why she was in the library. Perhaps it was because she couldn't find anything she wanted to watch on TV and wondered what they might have had to read. Given the way most people had their phone or tablet glued to their hand (herself included), she was frankly surprised the library was still around.

Or that there were still people in it, judging by the sleeping boy at his desk.

The book attempted to gently move its way from out underneath the stream of drool, and Jean smirked a little.

The disturbance snapped Miles back to consciousness, and he bolted up in his seat. "What is the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, Alex?" It took him another moment to realize that he was in the mansion library and not, as he'd been dreaming, filming Jeopardy! Although in his dream, the contestants were dangling over pits of spikes and Alex Trebek was a one-eyed tentacle monster. So he felt some relief to not be there anymore.

"Sorry," a voice spoke up. "That was me. You were getting a little drool on the pages and I didn't want you to get a lecture from whoever is the librarian."

Jean was leaned against one of the tables, her arms folded. "Happened to me once at the medical school's library. I had to pay for the damage...because Irma Harken, the old bat, was a b--not very nice person."

Miles tiredly rubbed his eyes and his vision came back into focus. He blushed with mild embarrassment when he recognized who was speaking to him. It would have been bad enough had a friend caught him sleeping on the job, but Jean, whom he hadn't much spoken with since she admonished him for his choice of extracurricular activities six months ago, was worse.

"It's a high school history book, I think they'd just be happy that someone didn't draw any dicks in it," he quipped nervously.

Jean laughed. "Yeah, probably," she said. She noticed the nervousness but didn't let it show.

"Though there are a few of them already in there so it might be an improvement."

Miles laughed at the joke. He wasn't going to argue with that. "They should just call the class sex ed when you think about all the dicks they make us learn about." He was interrupted by a large yawn and he raised his arms over his head to stretch out the kinks from having fallen asleep at the table. "Sorry."

Jean shrugged, waving the thought away. "Nah, it's okay," she said with a smile.

"I didn't think school started back up for a little while, though."

"Just did," Miles told her, yawning again. "And the teachers can't seem to stop themselves from reminding us that it'll be time for the AP tests real soon. Or they just think it's fun to scare us. Buncha sadists. SAT word."

"I don't miss studying for those," Jean mused. "Not quite sure what it's supposed to measure, other than the ability of someone to be able to take a test. You couldn't pay me to take it over again. But, it'll be over before you know it, thankfully. And then you'll be worrying about other things. College maybe, or whatever you decide you want to do."

"Definitely college," Miles said with absolute certainty, sitting up straight in his seat. "My parents would never let me not go. I'll be the first on my dad's side to go," he added with a small hint of pride. "Just have to get through all this first. SAT in April and four APs in May. And then I guess, you know, actually applying."

Jean took a seat across from him at the table. "College is....different than high school. But I enjoyed it a lot more. Because I was there because I wanted to be, studying what I wanted to study," she said thoughtfully.

"What would be your major? And your ideal school?"

The look on his face made it clear that these weren't questions he'd much considered. Perhaps too much time thinking about getting the grades and resume necessary for admittance and not enough time deciding what to actually do once admitted. "Uh, I guess some sort of science?" he hazarded. "Maybe chemistry. I got a 4 on that one. And my friend, the uh" — Miles looked around to make sure no one was nearby to hear them, and lowered his voice when he continued — "the first Spider-Man, he's also a chem major, and he seems to like it."

Jean's eyebrows rose. She was impressed. Chemistry could be tricky. She loved science, but knew it could be difficult for some people and wasn't for everyone.

"Hey, it's a start. The good thing about the core classes is you have at least a year before you have to really decide what you want to do. And Chemistry's usually one of those core classes. Maybe you could get an internship somewhere over the summer at one of the labs once you start? See if it's really for you. It's easy to like the idea of something because the person you admire does it but once you actually start doing it you might decide you don't like it...or you could love it even more. That's what college is for, trial and error."

"I could ask Warren." That came out more sarcastically than he'd intended. But it wasn't as if Warren hadn't already given Miles enough. It bordered on inappropriate to ask for more. Might as well just ask him to bribe Miles's way into college at that point. "I guess . . . I dunno. I like chem. Maybe some kind of engineering. Something that makes money."

Jean laughed. "Yeah, money is usually a deciding factor. Whatever it is, just make sure it's something you like doing. And if you like chem, go for it. I'm sure there are dozens of ways that skill can be useful for a job. It's...usually more satisfying doing it in your own, in my experience, though. That way you want it more," she said with a shrug

"Anyway, well, I didn't mean to interrupt. I think I'll investigate the scifi section."

Miles shook his head and closed the book, wincing at the too-loud bang it made when it shut. He looked around guiltily, but thankfully, they were still alone. "No, it's okay. I'm not getting any more done tonight, not like this. I should probably update Warren's Twitter before I go to sleep. I have early-morning training with Scott tomorrow."

Jean quirked a brow. "Update Warren's Twitter?" she said curiously.

"How...did you get that job?"

"Told him that Twitter exists," he answered, snorting in amusement. "And IG. This guy still uses IE as his browser, and they don't even make IE anymore. He doesn't know anything about the Internet or social media. And, you know, come on, you've gotta have an online presence these days if anyone's going to take your seriously. Even Norman Osborn has a Twitter. So I made him an account he pays me to use it."

Jean squinted thoughtfully. "I thought I'd be surprised by this but I'm really not," she mused.

"Very entrepreneurial of you. IG...that's Instagram, right?"

Miles nodded. "Careful with that one, though. You never know what he's going to want to post there, guy like him. That's why I haven't told him about Snapchat," he added, winking conspiratorially.

Jean's face fell. "You're right. If he had more tech savvy I shudder to think what he might do. Maybe try to keep him away from that as long as you can.," she said with a smirk.

"I don't really have a lot of time to do social media, but I try to go through the motions to satisfy the family, or check out Tumblr."

"Baby animal videos and European aesthetics," Miles guessed, making a show of eyeing her to size her up. Until he realized that the gaze was probably creepy coming from him, so he abruptly looked down at the books he was supposed to be putting away.

Jean smirked. "Do I look like I'm 50 years old?" she said, putting her hand to her chest.

"That hurts. That really does."

Well done, Miles, the boy thought ruefully. "Maybe I should save the amateur comedy hour for when I'm wearing a mask."

Noticing the embarrassment on his face, Jean smiled softly. "It's okay. Really. I do like both those things, though, among other things. I'm a big Doctor Who fan. And Indiana Jones. Pretty much anything Harrison Ford's been in. Which of course means Star Wars. What are you into?"

"Star Wars is the best!" Miles spat out before he could control himself, his face lighting up. "Have you see TFA yet? It's soooo good! I've seen it three times already and it just keeps getting better. I thought I was going to go as Sunny from Into the Badlands for Halloween next year but duh obviously it'll be Finn now. Maybe I can get Amadeus to make me my own BB-8."

Jean laughed. "That could definitely come in handy. I finally got to see it a few days ago at a midnight showing. There were a few people there in their jedi uniforms," she said.

"I'm not familiar with the Badlands, though. What is that?"

She had clearly found the right key to unlock Miles's geekery. "It's this show on AMC that's like wuxia set in Georgia," he informed her, waving his arms animatedly as he swung his packed bag over his shoulder. "It's all swords and martial arts and white women pretending to be geisha ninjas. It's pretty awesome."

Jean tilted her head. "Reminds me vaguely of Firefly. Mainly for the martial arts and white women pretending to be geisha ninjas. But what's wuxia?" she said. With her free time being nonexistent she felt out of date with what was happening lately.

"It's a kind of Chinese kung fu movie. I used to watch them all the time growing up with . . . my uncle." Memories of hours spent on the floor of Uncle Aaron's apartment watching bootleg after bootleg of these classics came rushing back. A pleasure he would never get to have again, not unless Aaron returned and paid for his crimes. Miles sighed and shook his head, banishing the mournful thoughts. "So. Doctor Who, Indiana Jones, Firefly, and Star Wars. You're as big a nerd as me. Is that why you're an X-Man, too?"

Jean noticed the sadness in Miles' voice and on his face but didn't press, instead focusing back on his question.

She smirked. "Not...terribly, but it's probably had an influence. I joined mostly because of Professor Xavier, but the idea of having adventures and righting wrongs was appealing too."

It had since turned into something she wasn't sure about at times, but she hoped some day it would be worth it.

"With great power must come great responsibility," Miles quoted sagely. "That's what the other Spider-Man always says. I should probably get to bed so I'm not falling asleep during this test."

Jean chuckled. "Probably," she said with a smile.

"And that's a nice quote. I like the way he thinks. Good luck tomorrow."