Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat

Posted on Sat Jan 27th, 2024 @ 6:42pm by Scott Summers & Jean Grey & Warren Worthington III
Edited on on Sat Jan 27th, 2024 @ 6:48pm

4,733 words; about a 24 minute read

Mission: Episode 0: X Lang Syne
Location: X-Mansion
Timeline: 1983

Warren was not a fan of mornings, far more night owl than early bird, he preferred to skip the whole ante meridian section of time. But his lack of enthusiasm for mornings was something the Professor refused to accommodate; a hard rule of having to be out of bed by nine o’clock was established for the entire first class because of Warren. A deadline that he pushed to the very last minute every day, the loophole he lived in was awake, not functional, at nine. This choice to sleep in left him alone for breakfast most days, the rest of the X-Men having been up for hours, it made it less than desirable to sit and eat in the dining room. Instead, Warren often wandered the mansion, cup of coffee in hand, seeing who he would run into first.

Today was a lucky day because he found Jean outside by herself. There was always someone with her, usually Scott, making it hard to talk to her. So without hesitation, he opened the back door and made his way over to her.

“Jean, Jean, my beauty queen, how are you doing this fine morning?” Warren said with one of his plastic, perfect smiles.

Jean had her leg lifted and stretched out on the patio railing, one of the final steps in warming up before her run. A Walkman was clipped to her shorts, their headphones already covering her ears, she was almost ready to leave when she felt, then saw Warren approaching. His mental signature was sleek, refined and confident, she often compared it to a commercial for a sports car.

“Hi Warren.” She said while sliding the headphones off her ears and around her neck. “I’m okay.” Jean glanced at his attire, he was shirtless and shoeless, only wearing his pajama pants as he wandered the house. Warren always felt like a peacock to Jean. “I see you managed to get up before nine this morning.”

He laughed at her comment and noticed her eyes taking him in. Warren flexed his beautiful white wings in response, the movement meant to look like a casual stretch. “Oh you know me, I would much rather see a sunset than a sunrise, unless you wanted to watch one together.”

“Maybe.” Jean said the word in such a way that it held no promises. Warren was always looking for some sort of attention, if she ignored him it made him even more relentless, she had found that neutrality kept his banter tolerable. “So I’m just supposed to wake you up, that’s all we’ve needed to do to get you to participate in morning training?”

Warren laughed again, a smooth rich sound. “How about we don’t go to bed? I just got my new Mercedes, let’s drive to New York and paint the town, then you wouldn’t have to wake me up.”

“What about our curfew? I don’t think a night on the town would be a good enough excuse for the Professor. You would get both of us in trouble.” Jean switched legs for her final stretch, and she pretended not to notice that Warren was watching.

“Some things are worth a little punishment. I promise I’ll make it worth your while.” Warren’s grin turned wolfish with that remark.

“I don’t know, Warren, I’ll think about it, okay?” Jean dropped her leg and started to head out towards the woods. “I’ll talk to you later Warren.” She returned her headphones to her ears before he could reply and turned her back towards him. Jean began sprinting, maybe a little faster than usual.

Warren watched her go, her high ponytail of red hair swished across her shoulders as she moved and he did absolutely nothing to hide the fact that he was staring at her ass as she left. Only once Jean was gone from view did he go back inside.

Stepping back into the mansion he found Scott standing inside, he was near the windows and had possibly watched his entire conversation with Jean. Warren wouldn’t have been surprised if he had been, they all knew Scott was lovesick over Jean. He was just too timid to do anything about it, so he just followed her around, hoping and waiting for something to happen.

“Slim.” Warren nodded his head in recognition as he shut the door behind himself. “Doing some bird watching this morning?”

“Yeah,” Scott said evenly. “Could’ve sworn I heard some clucking outside.” His ruby glasses reflected the morning sun when his chin tilted down to take note of the coffee mug, the lack of day clothes and any semblance of humility. “We missed you at drills earlier. Didn’t realize it was your day off.”

Warren laughed through his nose and shrugged off Scott’s comment as he took a sip of his coffee, knowing that he got under Summers’ skin made it worth it. “I didn’t realize your schedule was mandatory, last time I checked it was Xavier’s name by the front door.”

“Names are important, aren’t they?” Scott said. “For some of us, it’s all we can bring to the table.” Orphan. Adopted by the school. Technically disabled. Scott wouldn’t take an ounce of flak off a posh preppy playboy like Warren. He couldn’t afford to. “If you want to keep playing a hotshot solo game like when the Professor first found you fighting petty crime in New York, you’ve already identified where the door is. Otherwise, we need you to start being a team player. I’m sorry the Professor picked me over you as team leader…” Scott again gave Warren an appraising stare and clearly was not impressed, “but that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.”

“A good name creates a lot of opportunities, but that’s okay, I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” Despite Warren’s charming smile there was venom in his words, everything was and would be easier for him and they both knew it.

“I can be part of a team Slim, you’re the only person who seems to have an issue with me. Ask Jean, we seem to get along just fine.” There was coy innuendo in that remark and enough confidence in its delivery that it made Scott wonder if there was more to it.

“She sure couldn’t run away fast enough,” Scott noted with no slight sarcasm, “so maybe you’re onto something there.” He sighed and tried to reel it back in. What would the Professor say? “I don’t have a problem with you, Warren. I could do without your constant attitude though. Even Bobby puts in more effort than you and he doesn’t take anything seriously. Is this really who you want to be?”

“Whatever, Slim.” Warren rolled his shoulders and stood up a little straighter. He was irritated by Scott’s response and his attempt at being the levelheaded and grounded leader. “I’m not looking for your approval or to fit your standards. If you want me to be at your morning drills, why don’t you start a nine-thirty? Then it wouldn’t be some self imposed issue that I’m not there.” Warren’s wings fluttered a little as his ire grew, words that had gone unsaid which were now starting to fester. “Just because you were assigned as leader doesn’t mean all of us have to fall in line to your whims. You know you’re being a dick about it but you don’t care, because you think she’s just going to wake up one day and magically think you’re hot shit. The only way you can make yourself look good is if you’re actively trying to step on the rest of us because without this bullshit title you’ve been assigned you know you're nothing.”

Don’t do it. Don’t take the bait. Be the bigger person. “Nah…” Scott’s hand flew up from the side in a lightning quick right cross. His fist only closed a split second before impact against Warren’s left cheek. “I’m still taller.”

The strike sent Warren stumbling backward. “If you want to talk tough, we can rumble right here. Maybe you’d finally figure out why drills are important.” Scott stuck his finger right at him. “If you think you can do better, then put up or shut up.”

“You son of a bitch!” Warren’s hand touched where Scott had landed a punch. Offended that Scott would dare touch his handsome face. “Once an asshole, always an asshole.”

Warren’s hand balled into a fist and he charged towards Scott. He moved like he was going to strike with his freehand, but he used that motion as a distraction in order to dump hot coffee on Scott. It was a dirty move, a cheater’s move. Only when the coffee hit him did Warren actually throw a punch at Summers, his first making contact with his jaw, Scott felt his own teeth split his lip.

The spike of pain activated Scott’s training. While the coffee burned and the first punch hurt, his arms reflexively trapped Warren’s second punch. He widened his stance, which locked Warren’s arm at full extension and pulled him off balance at the same time. From there it was just a matter of pivoting. Warren flipped across Scott’s hip right onto his head.

There was a sickening snap as Warren landed wrong on the hardwood floor, followed by a long eerie silence as he remained still and stunned by the searing pain. Scott had thrown him in such a way that his primary feathers had broken.

“If you actually showed up to practice once in a while, you might actually be worth a damn in a fight,” Scott said, standing over him with a busted lip. “Right now you’re a spoiled punk. Be on time tomorrow and maybe you’ll learn to do more than bleed on the floor.”

“You motherfucker.” Warren got to his feet and continued to stare at the damaged wing. “Those are the feathers I use to fly, you’ve grounded me for over a month.” Warren began to seethe over the damage Scott had done, he would have charged and smashed Summer’s face had he not remembered the house rules. Xavier would have punished him for continuing this fight in the sitting room. No, their fights had to occur in a more regulated manner. He pointed an accusatory finger at Scott. “Oh I’ll show up tomorrow but it will be to beat your ass Summers, watch yourself!” With a scowl and absolute outrage Warren stormed out of the room, taking a moment to lick his wounds before he retaliated again.

---

Jean returned from her morning run and noticed the crooked furniture and spilled coffee on the floor of the sitting room. It made her brow furrow in consideration but not enough to prevent her from heading into the kitchen for a glass of water. When she turned the corner, she found Scott leaning over the kitchen sink nursing a split lip.

“What happened!?” She gasped as she moved in closer to Scott, her eyes surveying the rest of his body. “Why are you all wet?”

“Warren showed up for drills after all,” Scott said, his words a little stilted from his fat lip. “Spilled his drink. I think he went to go clean up.” Adrenaline was something he could control in the moment, but after the fact, it still made him jittery. His nerves itched for a release of the fight-or-flight energy he had summoned. Seeing her concern, though, he changed the subject. “Done with your run already?”

“Yeah, I was kind of tired after this morning.” She said softly, Jean could feel his nerves and knew that what happened between him and Warren was more than just a drill.

“Your lip is swelling, you need ice.” Jean stepped away and pulled a dish towel from the drawer. She placed a few ice cubes in the towel and came back to him.

“Here. Hold still.” She held his head in her hand before placing the ice on his split lip. Jean’s eyes focused on his mouth as she held the ice in place and a different type of nervous energy filled the room.

“I’ll buh fah,” Scott said, trying to protest even as Jean held the ice against his mouth. Seeing she wasn’t about to be dissuaded, though, he just sighed and let her have her way. A tingle from her touch went through his jaw clear down his spine. He clenched his teeth for a moment, clamping down on the inner turmoil he felt whenever she was near. There was nothing more he wanted in this world than to sweep her up in his arms and carry her off… to… no.

Scott blinked away his fantastical thinking. They were friends. Team mates. Fraternization was a terrible idea. Look what it was doing to him and Warren. Bringing Jean into a mess like that could fracture the team. If that happened… it could be the end of more than just the X-Men.

He took the towel from her and stepped back a pace. “Thanks,” he said, shifting it more to one side so he could talk more freely. “I guess we got a little carried away.”

“You’re welcome.” Jean looked away quickly as he took the ice from her, she felt her cheeks heating and she was sure he could see her blushing even through his ruby tinted vision. She felt stupid for letting him see her fluster. Scott was so nice to her and there were times when she thought he liked her more than just a friend, but then he would pull away and change the subject it. Jean was always left feeling embarrassed when she found herself hoping that he actually did like her as something more than a friend.

“Why did you guys fight?” Jean kept her back towards him as she busied herself and poured a glass of water.

“Who says we fought?” It wasn’t a denial exactly. Scott was just preparing a carefully calculated explanation that would hopefully obscure the fact he had resorted to violence. Sometimes violence was called for, as per their field training. But what he’d done was a sucker punch and he was less than proud of it. “It was… aggressive team-building.”

A derisive snort escaped his nostrils despite his best attempt. “Warren might need some ice, too, though mainly for his ego.”

“Oh okay.” Jean took a long sip from her water; she wasn’t really sure what Scott was saying with his remark. Sometimes he became so stoic and calculated and other times he was so warm and sweet. “Should I go check on Warren then?” Jean asked with some hesitation, there was more to that question.

“I don’t know.” Scott shrugged, turning her loaded question back on her with a tentative statement. “Depends if you’re that worried about his bruised ego.”

When she turned around, he pretended as if he’d been staring somewhere else the entire time. His eyes only found an empty corner. Busted. Maybe. He should just play it cool either way. “I, uh… could use a drink myself, actually.”

Smooth. Scott rolled his eyes at himself as he stepped closer to Jean and prepared to serve himself. “Excuse me…” he said more softly than he’d intended. Hopefully it didn’t make him sound weak.

“I don’t.” Jean responded a little too quickly. “I don’t care about Warren’s ego or any other part of him for that matter.” She didn’t move out of his way as he went for a glass of water, forcing him to come closer to her than he usually did.

She huffed out a breath as she worked up the nerve to continue. Jean looked up at him, making sure their eyes met before she said it again. “I don’t care about Warren.” That tension returned between them as he realized what she was actually saying.

Scott felt his heart leap into his throat. It didn't take telepathy for him to divine her meaning. Being the reserved personality that he was, though, he wanted to hear her say it.

“What do you care about then?” His hand froze in place near the glass, hovering while time seemed to stand still along with his bated breath.

Jean couldn’t maintain eye contact with him any longer; it was too much to hold his gaze and confess something so painfully obvious but still so impossible to say. She felt her cheeks getting hot again and the fact that he was looking at her made it even worse. Jean couldn’t say it out loud, it was easier to think it, to answer his question mentally than verbally ~* ‘You, I care about you.’ *~

That. That was Jean's voice. In his head. Telling him she cared about him. And there was no ambiguity in her meaning. This was more than platonic care. There was an unmistakable romantic overtone.

Scott's mouth formed an Oh shape that almost constituted a word. Even if he could have enunciated it, the air in his chest refused to cycle. Was this a dream? God knew he had dreamed this moment a thousand times.

~I care about you too~ He wanted to say more than he'd ever wanted to say anything before, but he was so stunned that full apraxia had set into his brain. Why couldn't he say it? The moment was burning away one painful second at a time.

~Hell with it!~

Seizing her arms, Scott leaned forward and kissed her. The action was panicked, nervous, desperate, and so charged with literal years of pent-up and repressed adoration that once their lips touched, he couldn't bring them apart. Breathing finally kicked in again. Her mouth was like an electrical outlet that he'd plugged into. Oxygen broke open his emotional cistern, freeing him to be more expressive beyond his normal taciturn exterior.

Jean inhaled sharply out of surprise from the sudden and unexpected kiss. Their lingering glances and occasional flirtatious remarks usually resulted in awkward silences before one of them deflected and changed the topic to something more amiable. She had expected today to be more of the same, a bashful confession that made them both shy away from the other. Whatever had happened between Scott and Warren today had emboldened him enough to finally act on their pent up longing for one another.

While the shock from the kiss had caused her to gasp it was the charged and ardent affection that passed between them that made her hold her breath. The kiss itself was innocent enough as their inexperienced lips merely pressed against each other, it was the swell of emotions behind the gesture that left her tense and breathless. Jean felt her heart trip and fall from those emotions.

There was no protest from Jean at any aspect to his touch, so he slid his hands around her back and pulled her into an embrace. The close crush of their bodies tilted Jean's head backward to sustain their lip lock. First kisses were supposed to be short and sweet. Scott lost all sense of time and space.

The crash of her body into his was enough to remind her to breathe again and he felt the initial shock and tension leave her, causing Jean to soften and melt into him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him tightly as the euphoria from the long lasting kiss warmed her and caused her thoughts to dissipate into fuzzy nothingness.

Jean dared to deepen their kiss as her tongue softly brushed against his lips, she was greeted with a salty and almost coppery taste in her mouth. The taste was enough of a surprise that finally made her break away from him. “Your lip!” Jean pulled away enough to better see his face. “It’s bleeding again.”

Reality set back in while the world returned to focus for Scott. The sudden loss of physical contact was almost jarring. At her word, though, Scott realized she was right. He ran his tongue along his swollen lip and winced when he found the cut again.

“Yeah,” he agreed with a slight grimace. “There it is.” The familiar taste of blood threatened to wash away the magic of the moment, so he had to commemorate it before it was lost. “Totally worth it though.” He cracked a smile and winced again. The kiss hadn't hurt but the cat-ate-the-canary grin sure did.

“You’re making it worse," she said with a smile before reaching for the makeshift ice pack that he had abandoned on the counter. Jean placed the cold cloth against his bleeding lip again. She made no effort to pull away from him as his arms remained wrapped around her, their bodies pressed together.

She looked up at him, a little less timid about holding his gaze now that they had finally acknowledged their feelings for one another. Jean felt that familiar tension building between them as the proximity of his body to hers created a different kind of thrill inside of her. Once the bleeding had stopped, she pulled the cloth away from his lip.

“Now what?” asked Jean. A loaded question that held a lot of implications beyond this moment.

That was a great question. Scott felt the greatest of reliefs to be open and honest about his feelings. And it was the joy of joys that they were reciprocated. It filled him with giddy delight.

“No more running,” he said, his voice a low, dusky whisper. “No more hiding. Not from each other. Assuming you have no regrets, of course.” He forced back his growing smirk to favor his cut lip. “I don't. I had excuses before but they feel pretty flimsy now. You're my best friend, Jean, but deep down…”

Now he was the one who choked up, again unable to say what he longed for her to hear. This time it wasn't out of fear. It was out of pure inability to fully express what he felt inside.

~You’re my world~ That sounded so good, Scott nearly teared up. What was wrong with him? Wanting to cry at a time like this? He clamped down on that emotion and tried to regain his core strength that he knew inspired Jean and allowed her to rely on him. That only compressed the truth of the matter into an undeniable surge of emotion that filled his mind with a realization, a confession, a promise. ~You’re my everything~

Now if he could just say any of it.

“No regrets.” Jean parroted his words but she spoke with her endearing trait of absolute honesty and candor, it made it impossible to ever doubt or question her character. “I don’t want to hide this, I don’t want to stop this.”

She titled his head down so she could press her forehead against his, a gentle expression of admiration and a connection that went beyond the surface. Jean listened to his thoughts as they passed through him, he had never been afraid of her and her ability to hear him, to know what he felt inside. Maybe it was because Scott always knew that Jean was meant to know him in that way? That she was the person who he could love and trust enough to finally let in.

~* ‘I want to be your everything.’ *~ She answered him with her own thoughts, keeping their declaration as something private, a moment reserved just for the two of them to experience.

~* ‘I would have been lost without you.’*~ Jean’s own throat bobbed as she swallowed her own desire to be moved to tears over their long suppressed confessions.

“You heard that, did you?” Scott’s chest rumbled with chuckling. Smiling hurt but he couldn’t stop it. Normally he would feel embarrassed for such intimate thoughts to be laid bare, but instead it felt liberating.

Other thoughts took form. Scott wanted to build a home with her. Make love to her. Have a child with her. Start a real life together. None of those were happening today. Scott was too intentional and meticulous with every action to do anything hastily outside of an emergency situation. For today, it was enough that Jean hadn’t run away in rejection of his impulsive advances. They would build from there.

~You have always been my reason~ Scott thought, wondering how well she could actually hear his thoughts when she wasn’t actively staying out.

Jean stood up on her tiptoes to kiss his forehead before he stood up straight, she was too scared to kiss his lips again for fear of aggravating his injury. She looked up at him with a disarming smile, her eyes had softened and she looked at Scott with fondness. He had seen that look in her eyes before, but it has always been a fleeting moment before one of them looked away. To face it and bask in it, the feeling was liberating and captivating.

“I’m so glad to hear that.” Jean whispered the response to his thoughts and Scott shivered a little from the sound. If she allowed herself, Jean could hear and feel everything that passed through Scott’s mind. In a moment like this, where his thoughts were saccharine sweet and only about her, it was an indulgence to listen in.

“Do we go on a date?” She mused “Or do we just kind of fall into things? Do we tell everyone?” Jean wasn’t sure how to go about any of this, their lives were so different than an average teenager’s.

All were good questions. Scott thought for a moment. “I don’t have to tell you that Warren has his sights set on you. After the…” He paused for a moment, considering his words, and decided to come clean. “...the beatdown he had today, it might be best if he didn’t know right away. Maybe same goes for the others?”

Scott couldn’t be sure, but he suspected the Professor already knew about their feelings. Despite his insistence that he didn’t intrude on people’s minds without their permission, the man still seemed to know things without having to be told.

“I think getting to know each other more openly before we tell everyone is for the best,” Scott concluded. “One last secret until there aren’t any others between us.”

“Scott Summers asking me to keep a secret.” Her tone was playful and the coy smile on her lips only added to the filtration. “Now I’ve heard everything, I’ll just have to sneak away with you whenever I can.”

Jean let go of his neck and reluctantly slipped out of Scott’s arms. If they were going to take some time before letting everyone know they were a couple, they couldn’t stay like this in the kitchen. She paused after that thought, it was a surreal moment, to think that she was actually dating Scott. A notion she had frequently considered but never thought would happen.

“I have geometry homework and my book report on East of Eden is due tomorrow. But I’m free after that, should I find you when I’m done?” Jean asked with that coy smile still on her face. They typically played a game of excuses to try and see each other when they had free time, to just come out and say it, that created a new kind of excitement between them.

Scott grinned at their plotting. It was a whole new thrill. “Yeah. I've got trig myself. Shouldn't take too long. I'll wait for you out under the willow tree.”

It was a dominant feature out on the greens, situated on a rise that overlooked the rest of the mansion grounds as well as the trail leading to Breakstone Lake. The drapery of leaves made for many a fun game of hide-and-seek when they were younger. Now Scott envisioned a different game altogether.

 

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