Stupid Teenagers 2: Halloween

Posted on Sun Mar 24th, 2024 @ 7:18pm by Scott Summers & Bobby Drake & Hank McCoy & Jean Grey & Warren Worthington III & Alex Summers
Edited on on Mon Sep 23rd, 2024 @ 5:04pm

6,853 words; about a 34 minute read

Mission: Episode 0: X Lang Syne
Location: Mansion
Timeline: Halloween Night, 1985

Halloween was always a busy time at Xavier’s. A holiday that they attempted to celebrate; it could be a freeing or disappointing experience for a young mutant. Some chose to go without a disguise, finding the night to be a rare evening where people didn’t fear or hate their physical appearance. Others had never been allowed to dress up, their bodies not fitting in conventional costumes or their families were just too scared to take their children out for the holiday. So a lot of preparation and accommodations had to be scheduled before Halloween, but in the end it was worth it to allow the students to participate in some form of normalcy.

In addition to the holiday preparations the X-Men had a precarious mission come to fruition. A mutant thief known as The Vanisher had started to make national news. A powerful teleporter, he used his mutant abilities to go on a crime spree. Creating headlines and generating negative attention for mutants, he was an individual that Xavier had decided needed to be apprehended before his actions created excessive fear mongering amongst the population.

The problem was finding and catching The Vanisher. Easily scared and quick to run, anytime he was worried or startled he would rapidly teleport to a wide range of locations making it impossible to catch him. They had to trap and outsmart him, devising a false lead that tempted Vanisher, they cornered him before Xavier administered a chilling attack, he made him forget he was a mutant. No longer able to teleport, The Vanisher was easy enough to capture and provide to the police. Now arrested, his trial would occur in the foreseeable future all while he continued to forget about his ability to teleport thus ensuring he would serve his time in prison. It was a level of power none of them had seen from Xavier and it provided a different perspective on their headmaster.

Upon return they were swept up into celebrating Halloween, setting up a school wide party before taking the younger students trick-or-treating. It was only after everyone was home and settled could the First Class take a moment to reflect and discuss what had happened.

Jean handed Scott a glass of orange punch before she sat down next to him on the couch in front of the television, ‘Children of the Corn’ playing on the screen.

“These shoes were a bad choice for tonight.” Jean kicked off her bright red high heels and rubbed her feet with her free hand. She had dressed as a leather clad ‘Bad Sandy’ to Scott’s ‘Danny Zuko’. “Next year I’m picking something that lets me wear sneakers.”

Before Scott could give comment, Bobby leaned over Jean's shoulder and hissed, "Welcome to my nightmare!" The weathered fedora and tattered red and green striped sweater made it clear who he was supposed to be despite the lack of a proper mask. The makeshift glove with salad tongs from the kitchen did little to add to the effect.

"Bobby... give it a rest." Scott sighed in resignation. It was not the first, second, or tenth time Bobby had performed that line in the last few hours.

“I don’t think you want any part of my nightmares.” Jean snatched the fedora off of Bobby’s head and placed it on her own. There was never any malice in Jean’s telepathy but after what they had seen from Xavier there was a new concern about what any telepathy could do. Invasion of thoughts and dreams was something she was more than capable of.

“Are you going to watch scary movies with us or are you going to wander the school terrorizing people?” Jean took off the fedora and elegantly tossed it to the other side of the couch.

"Eh, depends..." Bobby snatched up the fedora and put it back on his head with a slick rub of his fingers across the brim. "What's the lineup?"

"Not sure," Scott said. "All the classics?"

Bobby held up his salad tong glove in front of his face. "Any...sweet fresh meat?"

Scott just sighed again.

Hank was- surprise, surprise- apprehensive about Halloween. He tried to tell himself that he had a ready made Halloween costume and nobody would think anything of him today, but he also knew he had shown his face in town one too many times and people would remember him. He was also not really a fan of scary movies- the premises were often dubious and the plots riddled with holes. But he opted to hang out with his friends all the same.

“What are we watching now?” he asked as he entered the room a chose an easy chair for lounging.

“This is Children of the Corn, which is new, but almost over…” Jean looked around for the TV guide only to discover it on the other side of the room. Her feet were too tired to get up, so she telekinetically brought the book over for further inspection. She flipped through the pages of newsprint until she found the correct date and time. “Next up is… Halloween, how appropriate and predictable.”

“Thankfully it’s lights out for the junior class already.” Jean took a sip from her drink before settling into the overstuffed couch and resting her head on Scott’s shoulder.

“Have you seen Halloween before?” She wasn’t asking anyone in particular, it was more a question for the room.

“Yes,” replied Hank, trying and failing to sound enthusiastic. Couldn’t they watch Psycho instead? At least it wasn’t filled with holes. Or The Birds. Any Alfred Hitchcock, really.

“I didn’t have time to go to the video store and rent a Hitchcock movie.” Jean replied to Hank’s internal thoughts, a sign that maybe it was more than just her feet that were tired. She had explained to all of them that it was an effort on her part to keep their thoughts at bay, like flexing a muscle for an extended period of time, when she was fatigued it got harder to keep their voices out.

“We got in so late last night and then costumes this morning, party set up this afternoon, then taking the kids trick-or-treating this evening. I had no time to pick up different movies, so we’re stuck with what’s on cable.” She bristled a little and then realized the liberty she had taken as well as how inappropriate her response had been. This was Hank’s first Halloween since his accident and it created a lot of conflicts for him.

“I’m sorry, Hank.” Jean sat up from her reclined position, slightly embarrassed by her behavior. She folded her arms across her chest as she sighed in disappointment over her actions. “I guess I’m a little bit more fatigued than I thought I was. I didn’t mean to do or say any of that.”

Another man in a fedora strolled into the room. He was wearing a torn khaki shirt, slacks, and a whip on his belt. He saw Bobby's own hat and barely held back a grimace. He held up a bag of tapes.

"I've seen those movies more times than I want to count. How about something new. I've got American Werewolf in London, Evil Dead, and best of all -- John Carpenter's The Thing. If you liked Halloween you'll love this movie."

"Apparently you'll wear anything too," Bobby groused. But he quickly adjusted his own fedora and gave a manic grin while posing with his tong-glove.

“I hated Halloween,” groaned Hank, but nobody was listening to him.

“Alex, you read our minds.” Jean softened a little from his arrival and the additional movies he brought with him. “But I’ll leave it up to the rest of you to select, I’ll watch anything.”

She sat back in her seat a little and glanced over at Scott who had been exasperated and then silent. He seemed to be brooding over other things than movies. ~* ‘Are you okay?’ *~

~I almost killed someone~ It was an admission to himself as much as a reply to Jean. ~It was a trick shot. Vanisher has gotten away before and I didn't want him to get away again. He would have needed to flee the scene entirely to avoid the split beam. Instead he just froze like a deer in headlights. And he got smashed like one. All because...~

His internal soliloquy was interrupted by Bobby's chanting. "Evil Dead! Evil Dead! Evil Dead!"

Jean turned her body towards his, the angle of her shoulders and knees matched the focus she had on him and what he was thinking.

“But you didn’t.” She said out loud. The words a non sequitur for the rest of the room but judging by her tone and the way the two of them were now sitting it was obviously part of a more serious conversation. “You didn’t kill him and a lesson was learned.”

Their conversation became clear to everyone else in the room, they were talking about what had happened the night before. They had been thrust into the hectic schedule for Halloween as soon as they returned and it was only now that Scott could process what he had almost done.

“It doesn’t happen again, then it wasn’t a mistake made in vain.” Words that they all lived by when trying to navigate their abilities and the incredibly difficult tasks they were asked to do.

Alex fished the right tape out of the bag, but looks back to Scott before popping the tape into the VCR.
"Big brother, you have to learn to cut yourself some slack. Nobody is looking to you to be perfect, not even the professor. You do a fantastic job leading this pack of child soldiers, but you can't beat yourself up so much. So in the immortal words of the sergeant from Stripes, lighten up Francis."

“I agree with Alex” said Hank. “And also, I want to add that if it’s us or them, I am going to choose us every time. There may well come a point when one of us has to kill to protect ourselves or innocent bystanders. I can’t say we won’t regret it, but we should not hesitate to do so.”

"Confucias say," Bobby put in, not to be outdone, "man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day!"

Looking up from his feet, Scott looked around at the group. "You all scare me sometimes, you know that?" He smirked at the light-handed jab. "But if I had to go through Hell itself, I wouldn't want anybody else by my side."

“We love you, too, Scott,” said Hank, not a hint of jocularity in his voice.

“Yes, we all love you very much.” Jean delivered the line with exaggerated affection but she was still sincere. She leaned forward and firmly pressed a kiss onto his cheek, the dark red lipstick she wore as part of her costume left a perfect imprint of her lips on his skin.

“How did you get so smart Alex?” Jean leaned forward a little so she could see around Scott. They were definitely brothers but there were enough differences between them that there was no confusing them.

"Clean living .... " Alex grinned with a smile worthy of a toothpaste commercial. "Well clean living and flawless genetics. All the Summers boys are brilliant. Scotty's just distracted by certain redheads. It's hard to be smart when youre breathless. The oxygen doesn't get to your brain. Who can blame him? "

“I thought Bobby was the one with flawless genetics.” Hank wasn’t good at razzing, but that didn’t stop him from trying. “That’s what he keeps telling us, anyway.”

“Alex, I would like to withdraw my previous statement.” She said with a small smile. His response to Scott’s distress had been encouraging, his explanation for that response was ridiculous. Alex flip-flopped between insightful and absurd at the drop of a hat and sometimes Jean didn’t know what to expect.

“We all know Scott’s better off with a certain redheads in his life.” Jean picked up and draped one of Scott’s arms around her shoulders before looking up at him with a coy smile.

"You misunderstand, Jeanie girl. Scott has a difficult challenge being dour and self-critical when he has you. It's like if you go to the carnival and you don't win the giant stuffed animal, but he has you as a consolation prize. And trust me you are no consolation prize."
Alex gave a fresh smile and popped the tape into the machine.
"You are like a whole pocketful of brass rings in the carnival of life."

That was it. Scott narrowed his eyes at Alex with brotherly suspicion. "Alex... have you been hitting the reefer again?" His suspicious look drifted to Bobby who shrugged and shook his fedora-clad head in firm denial. "You remember what happened last time. Flush it."

Alex rolled his eyes and laughed.
"What are you, 40? Hitting the reefer? Are you aging three times as fast as everybody else, Scotty?"
He put a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Big brother, I totally understand why you would think in order for me to be happy in this place I would have to be medicated somehow. This place fosters dark thoughts and depression. I'm shocked they don't put lithium in the food. I just made the conscious decision to not dwell on the negative and ruminate on the positive. But if you want me to pee in a cup, bring it."

“Maybe he’s asking you to share?” deadpanned Hank. But the idea was so ridiculous, his demeanor broke on the last word and he began laughing.

Jean covered her eyes with her hands and shook her head in disbelief before she smirked from the realization. “Are all three of you high? Is that why everyone was gone from the Halloween party for so long? You guys said you were just going for a walk.”

Alex just sighed and shook his head.
"Now I'm just disappointed. Is it that difficult to believe that somebody can have a positive attitude surrounded by this place? The only mushrooms I've had are on pizza. If you doubt me read my mind."

“I’m not high,” Hank said, still laughing. “I’m just not good at telling jokes with a straight face.”

At that moment, a bag of Doritos exploded in Bobby's face. He had ripped it open entirely too hard, rending it from stem to stern. "What?" he asked innocently. Then a Dorito fell off the brim of his hat and he couldn't hold it back anymore. He startled chuckling like a chipmunk on laughing gas.

"For goodness' sake, guys," Scott said, shaking his head with disapproval. "Where did you even get it in the first place?"

Bobby was already too far gone in a fit of laughter to attempt a response.

Jean dared to take up Alex’s invitation to read his thoughts. She took a moment before laughing a little at what she learned. “The guy at the record store in town sells it. He got it when we were trick-or-treating. I can’t believe you spent that much on pot Alex.”

“I can’t believe he shared it,” laughed Hank, snagging Doritos from Bobby’s hat.

"Just... just..." Scott closed his head and shook his head until his chin sunk down into his chest. "Hell with it. Got any left?"

Alex just pulled a paper sack from his belt pouch and put it to Scott's chest.
"Here you go big brother, it's only fair after all. I used your money to buy the stuff."

Jean bit her lower lip as she attempted to hide her mischievous grin, Scott’s request was completely out of left field but he seemed eager to shed whatever distress he had over their last mission. She wasn’t going to partake until Scott had asked for it, now with the bag in his hand she couldn’t help but be a little curious.

“Where should we go? To the garage?” Her questions answered an unasked question, if Scott was doing it then she would too.

"Hell if I know." Scott gave a weary shrug. "I don't even know what to do with this," he said, looking at the bag like it was Rubik's cube.

“You smoke it,” Hank said as if explaining to a child. “You know, light it up and inhale?”

"Not the bag!"
Alex went and leaned against the wall and watched the cool kids try to figure out what to do.

Jean took the rumbled and rolled up paper bag and opened it. Inside was a plastic bag with several rolled joints as well as brand new Bic lighter, a picture of a girl in a bikini on the side of it. “It is pretty self explanatory.” She offered for Scott to look into the bag alongside her. “Do you still want to?”

Alex nodded his head towards the door to the outside.
" I strongly recommend going down the path to the river. That way no one in the house will be inconvenienced. "

After taking a deep breath, Scott just shrugged again. "Sure, why not? Die all, die merrily." Turning to Jean, he said, "But let's go upstairs. We can open up the solarium windows and air out the attic when we're done."

Alex shook his head when Scott suggested going to the solarium.
"Think strategically, big brother. Do you really want to do something that's going to change the way your brain functions just a few feet from one of the strongest telepaths on the planet? But hey you do you. I'm still going to suggest a van down by the river."

“Yet again, I agree with Alex,” put in Hank. “Out of the mansion is best. At least go down by the lake.”

“Come on, we’ll go to the roof. They don’t have the same attributes as I do.” Jean handed him the bag before she struggled to get up off the couch thanks to the too tight leather pants she was wearing. She begrudgingly put her red high heels on again before waiting for Scott to follow her.

At this point, Scott didn't really care if they got caught. But what remained of his better judgment prevailed. "Alright, lead on." He let Jean guide him away in what was probably a bad choice, just one he didn't feel compelled to prevent. It was Halloween, after all.

"Hey, can I come too?" Bobby asked shyly, though not shy enough to keep silent. "I, uh, wouldn't mind some more..."

“Sure Bobby, Alex bought so much there’s plenty to go around, or I guess I should say Scott did.” Jean looked over her shoulder at Scott with a tease of smirk before taking him by the hand and leading out of the TV room. “Are you two coming or are you just watching the movie?”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world, replied Hank, vacating his seat quickly.

Jean made her way up to the second floor of the mansion and down the hallway to the girls dormitory. A section of the building that was off limits to the boys, especially after dark. She looked back and placed a finger to her lips, a silent shush to remind them to be quiet.

The redhead opened the door to her bedroom and let them in before shutting the door behind them. Jean went over to her window and opened it, the lack of screen making it easier to climb through. A thick patch of ivy and a rain gutter were both positioned just outside her window, making it easier to get up to the roof. Jean climbed onto the sill and with hardly any physical effort she telekinetically made her way to the roof and waited for the others to follow.

Scott knew his way up from past excursions and followed Jean up with ease. The fresh night air and limited physical exertion did something to cheer him up, but he followed anyway. Once committed, he seldom if ever backed down.

When he pulled up himself up over the ledge, he looked down just in time to see Bobby scamper over the window sill and fall head over heels to the ground.

"Fu—" Bobby's profanity was cut off when he landed face first on his ice slide that took him on a corkscrew ride on a track formed out of instinct rather than guided intent.

Hank had an easy time scaling the gutter, though he was afraid it wouldn’t hold his weight. He needn’t have worried, though. The mansion seemed to be build of sturdier stuff than modern homes.

"Oooookay..." Scott blinked a few times and shook his head. "Let's do this," he said, looking at Jean.

Jean couldn’t help but laugh a little at how uncomfortable Scott was after this whole thing had been his idea. Sitting down next to him, she took the bag from him and removed a joint as well as the tawdry lighter. Jean sparked the joint and placed it in her red lips, she took a small hit before handing it off to Bobby.

While still holding her breath she leaned forward and placed her lips against Scott’s. ~* ‘Open your mouth and inhale when I exhale.’ *~ Jean explained to him before she placed a hand on his chin and held him close to her. She did just as she had explained, slowly filling Scott’s mouth with the marijuana smoke that she had been holding in.

A flare of anxiety spread up through Scott's belly and radiated out from his chest. Was that how people did it? He opened his mouth for Jean and inhaled the smoke.

It burned ever so slightly, like fumes car exhaust but less rubbery and caustic. He couldn't help but cough slightly, though that only made him breathe it deeper. Once it moved past his bronchials into his lungs, the sickly sweet aroma began to settle up into the back of his sinuses which made his nostrils flare. A faint numbness crept down his throat with a novel tingle from the lingering smoke that mixed and exchanged air inside his lungs.

"Whoa..." Scott blinked his eyes for a minute. After a few deep breaths, he found himself wanting more. "Again..."

This time, Scott took the joint and inhaled deeply. Too deep. He cough and sputtered, so he took another faint drag to compensate. With a hit finally in his lungs, Scott handed the joint back to Bobby and pressed his lips against Jean's. He savored the familiar tingle while he slowly blew the marijuana smoke into her mouth just as she'd done to him.

Jean punctuated the ending of their sharing of smoke with a brief kiss of her parted lips to his. There was something provocative about the gesture, it was a mixture of intimacy along with the illicit that added to high that soon followed. As Jean pulled away she ran her thumb across his lips, her eyes fixated on the shape of his mouth for a brief moment.

She leaned back on her elbows and huffed out a dreamy little laugh as she exhaled. “That’s called shotgunning… the things people think about doing.” Jean shook her head in disbelief as she explained where she had learned about such a thing. “It’s not so bad.”

Bobby held the joint in his hand, his mouth agape at the scene unfolding before him. There was a voice in the back of his head that said he was being creepy. Unfortunately Bobby was unable to come to the phone. "Wow..."

Hank, however, couldn’t stop giggling. Drinking had been one thing, but this was illegal. Well, okay, the drinking had also technically been illegal. But this somehow felt different. Scott doing something illegal- inconceivable! And yet here they were. “Are you going to smoke that or stare at our friends?” he asked Bobby.

"I wasn't staring!" Bobby lied. He took a puff and handed the joint off to Hank. "Wasn't staring," he insisted with smoke billowing from his mouth and nose.

Hank took the joint and took a puff, holding it in his lungs for a moment before exhaling. “This stuff smells like a skunk,” he said.

“Make sure to tell the guy at the record store the next time you see him.” Jean said with a satisfied little smirk on her face, she had been tired with a faint headache when they first sat down to watch a movie but she felt relaxed and content up here on the roof. “I’m sure he’ll listen to your critique because Scott is his number one customer now.” Her smirk turned wicked as she continued to tease him about Alex taking his money to buy the drugs.

That remark incensed Scott all the more. "Gimme that!" He yanked the joint back from Hank and took three hits at once. The effort gave him a coughing fit. "Oh, shit..." He started gasping like he was short of breath. ~Why did I do that?~

~* ‘Because you’re stubborn’ *~ Jean giggled as she delivered the telepathic statement before leaning forward and taking the joint. She continued with another small hit before passing it back to Bobby. Jean exhaled before scooting closer to Scott and placing a hand on his back.

“Are you okay?” She leaned forward so she could see his hunch over face. Jean smiled at him and pulled his head towards her own with a hand on his chin; examining him briefly before kissing him. “Don’t go crazy or I’ll have to help you off the roof.”

"I'm fine..." Scott tried to clear the rasp from his voice but only managed another coughing fit. "I won't fall off the roof like Bobby."

Finally Alex emerged onto the roof with a frown.
"What did I miss? Damn it !"

“Not much,” Hank replied. “Just Bobby gawking like he’s never seen two people kissing before.”

"I was not!" Bobby protested. "Just... smoking... and stuff. See?!" He took another hit with a defiant look in his eye. "Groooooovin'!"

“Groovin’, indeed,” scoffed Hank, snatching the joint and taking another hit before passing it to Alex.

“It wasn’t kissing.” Jean laughed a little as she blushed “At least not in its entirety. It served additional purposes.”
She rested her head on Scott’s shoulder as she allowed herself to enjoy the fuzzy and inviting sensation the drugs had on her. Jean looked up at the stars and the night sky.

“What do you think will happen to Telford Porter?” She used The Vanisher’s real name, a subtle nod to him no longer being that super villain.

"Jailtime," Bobby said. "Cops got him, so he's going away for good."

Scott was more pensive, though. "Does it matter? We all saw the look on his face. He didn't where he was. Who he was even. I had no idea Professor Xavier was capable of that."

“Of course it matters.” Jean briefly interjected with her compassion for all of mankind. “He’s a person.”

"He was," Scott mused aloud, "but anymore? I'm not sure. Never thought I would see anybody do what the Professor did."

“I don’t think any of us did,” said Hank. “I’m just glad he’s on our side.”

Alex sat down finally and looked at the rest of the team with a thoughtful expression.
"Can you imagine that kind of power in the possession of somebody with evil intentions? Xavier is a good man no question. But what if the next big telepath is somebody with fewer personal scruples about using that power to get what they want? That's why we're training, to be able to defend against such people. If that's even possible."

“We wouldn’t stand a chance.” Jean morosely answered Alex. “Xavier once met a man like that, the Shadow King. He doesn’t like to talk about him but Xavier banished him to the astral plane. The most I have ever learned was that he was a bad man, an evil man, who did terrible things to people.”

She paused for a moment, thinking about what she should and shouldn’t say. But the marijuana had all of them talking. “Telepathy can make everything easy. You can see everything inside of someone. Everything a person needs or desires, all the things that are private and secret. It’s just like reading a book, skimming the pages until you find the words that matter.”

Alex wasn't typically this deep but...
"Sounds too easy. Where's the discovery and adventure of learning about somebody? If you know everything about everyone, what's the point?"
He looked at Jean in a new light.
"It doesn't sound very appealing. But neither does exploding at random times, does it? I think I'll stick with the exploding."

"Explode this." Scott shoved the joint in his brother's mouth. "Because you're talking again." Something about the gesture and hearing his own snarky comment made Scott start chuckling. "Oh, man. I think I get it now..."

“Get what?” asked Hank vaguely, staring into empty space. “That in the vast tapestry of existence, the threads of meaning are woven through the intricate dance of moments, and the profound question of life's purpose unravels itself in the exploration of our experiences, relationships, and the relentless pursuit of understanding our own place within the cosmic symphony? Because I think I get it, too.”

"Pot..." Scott answered, still chuckling with a vacant expression on his face. "I get it now... heheheh...."

“Oh, that,” said Hank. “Yeah, I get that, too.”

Jean shook her head and laughed at the two of them. Both of their moods had improved since the start of the evening, despite the means in which they had gotten there it was good to see them relaxed and happy.

Bobby on the other hand, looked like he was on the moon. “Are you okay over there?”

"Baby, I am solid gone." Whoever or whatever Bobby was looking at seemed just over Jean's shoulder.

Jean looked over her shoulder and saw absolutely nothing, the absence of anything of interest made her giggle. She decided to lay back against the gently sloped roof. Leaning back into a position of repose Jean looked up at the night sky. The stars’ distance and gentle glow of white light were enough to hold her attention as her head mildly swam.

“Do you think you’ll always be an X-Men?” She asked the now thoroughly stoned group.

Alex stared at the same stars as Jean, with a much less optimistic point of view.
"Maybe someday I'll feel like I belong here as an X Man. I don't.... not yet at least. You five came in together. All those shared experiences that I missed. If the X-Men were the Beatles, I would be Pete Best."

“Nah, man, you’d be Yoko Ono,” corrected Hank, which of course was much worse. “Anyway, you’re way better looking than Pete Best.”

"Swell...." Alex said flatly.

“Hank!” Jean said his name with a touch of surprise over his rapport. It took a specific kind of person to be able to handle that touch of Summers' melancholy that both brothers had inside of them. “Give it time Alex, it didn’t happen overnight for any of us and you’re only the new guy until the next guy shows up.”

She smiled a little from her memories. “Scott and I were so nervous around each other when I first moved in, we could hardly talk to one another. Things get better with time.”

Hank blinked, confused. “What did I do?” he asked the stars.

"You compared my brother to the miserable cow who broke up the Beatles," Scott said flatly. "That's what." He flicked Hank at tip of his pointed ear. Looking at Alex, he said, "You get out of this what you put into it, Alex. Keep doing what you're doing. It'll pay off."

“Yoko Ono didn’t break up the Beatles,” replied Hank. “John Lennon’s inability to reconcile and separate his relationship with his friends from the relationship with the woman he loved broke up the Beatles.”

"No, it was definitely Yoko," Bobby agreed. "You done fucked up, Hank. That was wrong and you should feel sorry!" The last sentence was barely out of Bobby's mouth before he started giggling. Whatever else he said after "sorry" was incomprehensible.

Which set Hank off, too. He flopped back onto the roof and giggled along with Bobby. “I’m sorry I called you Yoko Ono, Alex,” he laughed. “We love you!”

Between the weed and the positivity, Alex couldn't be melancholy.
"You guys are the best. Besides, how can I worry when you have gigglebox Bobby around? If he can make the cut, so can I!"

A flap of silent wings and a burst of wind moved across them as Warren landed on the roof, coming home from his date in Salem Center.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” A condescending swagger in his step as he came in closer. “I spy five classmates breaking more than one school rule.”

Dressed like a police officer, Warren seemed to be relishing the fact that he had caught so many of them in a compromising situation. “What are you going to do in order to keep me from ratting you out?”

Alex took a fresh puff before offering the joint to Warren.
"Birds fly into windows all the time. Sometimes they break their little necks, poor things."

“Don’t threaten me Summers.” Warren scoffed at the smaller brother, hating the fact that there were two of them now. “And keep your skunk weed away from me, that shit messes with your dick.”

"Birds don't have dicks. They have a cloaca that serves digestive urinary and reproductive needs all in one tidy little chamber."
Alex looked to the rest of the class with a chuckle.
"You never study, otherwise you'd know that."

Hank giggled. “Cloaca,” he repeated. “Birds are dickless.” And he giggled harder.

Jean sat up as Alex and Hank began to goad Warren, making him mad wasn’t going to make him go away. If anything, it would make it so much worse.

“When we do frog dissections, I’ll be your partner, Warren.” Jean chimed in and it immediately got his attention. “You won’t have to do anything and you know we’ll both get an A.”

Warren nodded his head in agreement “What else?”

Jean rolled her eyes but continued “I’ll wash your car.”

Warren smirked but caught the potential problem with her proposal. “None of that powers of the mind stuff, actually wash it.”

“Fine.” Jean agreed.

Warren looked over at Alex and Hank, his thoughts going towards bullying and how much sweeter the story of them smoking on the roof would be.

“In a bathing suit, the blue one.” Warren said with a smirk.

“Warren, it’s practically November.” Jean replied.

“Then you better pick a sunny day.” Warren folded his arms across his chest.

Jean huffed out a sigh and glanced at the rest of them, stoned and stupid.
“Okay, fine. Now will you leave us alone and promise not to say anything to the Professor?”

Warren contemplated the proposal, his grin widening. “Almost there.”

“Bathing suit!” giggled Hank. “November!” It was all too much for his poor intoxicated mind to handle.

"That's enough," Scott finally said, snapping out of his high.

Before he could say more, Bobby took impulsive action. Not only did Warren ruin his high and threaten to ruin his weekend plans for the foreseeable future, he was also degrading Jean right in front of everyone. Enough was enough, indeed.

"So you want be a buddyfucker, huh?" Bobby shot a dual blast of ice at Warren that completely encased his wings.

With a good hundred pounds of extra weight hanging off his back, Warren lost his balance and teetered over the roof's edge with no way to stop himself. Just before he fell to his death, Bobby grabbed him by his blonde, wavy locks. Warren leaned at a near 45 degree angle and clutched Bobby's wrist for dear life with both hands.

"What are you going to do to keep me from letting go?" Bobby's eyes were wild with repressed anger. "Because that's all you want, right? We're not a team. We're not friends. We're all just suckers to you, aren't we?"

“What the fuck Bobby!?” There was true fear in Warren’s voice as he dared to glance down before looking up at the rooftop dotted with his friends. But it was in this moment that he realized none of them actually considered him to be a friend and he questioned if anyone would actually stop him from hitting the ground. “Calm down, I was only kidding!”

Scott stepped forward, took each teenager by the collar, and tossed them away from the edge. "I said that's enough!" His commanding tone came out like he was giving battlefield orders. "We broke rules, sure, but one bad turn doesn't justify another. We're done here. All of us."

Hank blinked. He had been about to step in when Scott had. He didn’t have any idea why everybody was suddenly so angry, but they were and that wasn’t good.

The tumble made Bobby let out a few grunts and groans, but he said nothing. Even Warren said nothing, especially after Scott shattered the ice around his wings with an optic blast. Both X-Men were a fair brawlers but Scott's grappling skills made untouchable to either one of them close up and nobody stood a chance at range.

Looking at the team, Scott couldn't help but feel ashamed. He'd led them down this path. Yeah, Alex and Bobby and maybe even Hank were already high, but this had been his idea all the same. Now look at them. Fighting amongst each other, blackmailing, trading mean-spirited jabs. And it was all his fault.

"Warren isn't going to tell the Professor," Scott said, "because I am. And when I do, he's going to hear everything." His sunglasses-at-night stare leveled against Warren for a hot second. "Everything."

With that said, Scott slid down the drainpipe to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Jean glanced back at the stunned Warren. Who merely nodded his head in agreement. He was cold and wet, but a hot shower would alleviate his discomfort.

“Scott, wait! I’ll come with you.” Jean called out to him, she wouldn’t let him fall on his own sword for this, not when they had all participated. With a carefree leap from off the edge of the roof, Jean delicately floated to the ground and joined Scott’s side.

“Wait,” said Hank. “What are we doing?” But he dutifully swung himself over the edge of the roof and easily leapt from foothold to hand hold down to the ground. His brain was suddenly foggy and he didn’t like it. But he followed Scott and Jean almost as if he had been programmed to do so.

"I'm not smoking with any of you ever again," Bobby said, jumping off the roof into an ice slide. If they wanted to tattle, then he was making himself scarce. "Idiots."

Alex just settled back on the roof again. He looked over to Warren with a mix of anger and pity.
"So much for a team building exercises. Feather head, you just guaranteed that you'll never be seen as part of this team for a very long time. Nice work. Maybe you'll be able to figure out how to fix this, but I doubt it."

Warren laughed a little at the wounded tone in Alex’s voice, he always took a tiny bit of joy in upsetting a Summers.
"I’m not sacrificing common sense for misguided team exercises. I'd rather be known for critical thinking than blind conformity. You’re delusional if you thought any of you were going to get away with smoking weed on the roof of the greatest telepath’s home. Scott realized that and manned up to it, but you decided to stay behind and talk shit. You’re failing at just as many team building exercises as I am, so maybe you should watch your own back before you worry about mine.” An idol threat from Warren but a threat nonetheless, it would be a cold day in hell before he took any flack from Alex. With a flick of his wet wings Warren stormed off towards the Solarium leaving Alex alone on the roof.

They would all be punished for their behavior tonight but the bigger development was the choices they each had made when faced with adversity outside of a mission. They were all still stupid teenagers, only time would tell if they moved past that.

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