wintersoldier
Noctis
Bork Lazer
mickilennial
Nallore
Marik
Ivar
Lord Wraith
Half Pint
AndyC
“Jean I...you...can-” Scott stopped, leaning his head up before flopping back in his seat. Jean felt her spirits deflating, but at the same time there was a shade of amusement in seeing him squirm like never before. His thoughts were bouncing all over the place: gripes of befuddlement, tidbits of fear, and a conflict of a deep respect for his wife with the new need to reconcile with- “I just don’t understand how you can think of something so reckless!”
Nathan let out a low whine, so Jean plopped him on the floor and watched him shuffle off to play with some of his blocks. “Look, it’s just… After yesterday I’ve been thinking a lot about what to do about, well, not even just the mutant kid. But that was what started it. I think this can be a way to make a better world for mutants!”
Scott gave a slow nod. He lowered the volume on the TV. “Sure, but there’s also activism, which is less...illegal.” The TV was on some daytime television, but the vague gesture conveyed plenty of his intent. “I really don’t think the government is going to let this go. It’s catching on fast: the news can’t keep up at all. There’s plenty of heroes and there will be plenty more.”
“Are there any here in Baltimore yet?”
Scott was given pause, licking his lips before flipping the channel to local news. They happened to be covering some sightings in Washington D.C., concerns being cited about the safety of government officials, but it was quiet on the home front. Scott picked up his phone, typing in a search before scanning the results and giving up. “Well Google sucks but no, there aren’t any Baltimore heroes yet.” Cracking a smile he admitted, “You got me there but you’re not out of the woods yet!” Heel bouncing up and down, he let out a sigh before relenting, “I know you have nothing but good intent, and you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met. I just want to make sure you’ve thought this through.”
Jean leaned forward, reaching a hand out and stroking Scott on the knee, the limb slowing to a stop. He took a breath to steady himself. “I know you don’t want me to get hurt, but even if I don’t become a hero, I can’t abandon him, and he might hurt me if I try to reach out. I’m strong: me and those inhibitors never got along, you know that.” Scott shuddered. Jean didn’t need to peek into his mind as he recalled her recounting a childhood of drugs and prayer used to keep her powers in check. In high school she’d taken him to the ruins of an old mansion, crushed and burnt. Officially it was blamed on vandals, but Jean claimed her parents brought her there to try and ‘let it all out’. She didn’t even remember a bit of it, just that she’d been told it hadn’t worked. What followed had no doubt been more inhibitors, more sedatives, more prayer, more memory loss. Even if the systems in place worked for most, some slipped through the cracks. Some weren’t a fit at all. “I could use some practice, but I can think that I can do more.”
Scott flashed his teeth in a grimace. He looked over at Nathan, who’d just collapsed a block tower, letting out a squeal of surprise and looking over at his parents, who gave smiles and waves. “I’m sure if you had this thought last year-”
“Oh, you wouldn’t have heard the start of it.” Newborns were always a handful, and Nathan had been no different. Even having made the work schedules work to ensure he had constant care, things were much calmer now all things considered. While he was certainly rambunctious, Jean had begun to suspected he had mutant powers already (though Scott insisted it was parental bias: the tendency for the average kid to be seen as above average by their parents). Still, he had an uncanny sense of picking up on emotions, staying away in this moment of parental agitation. He was also more than willing to playing on his own for fair periods of time. Maybe he would be the loner type? He certainly wasn’t at a lack for parental smothering, but if he wanted space Jean and Scott were more than eager to give it to him. He even tended to sleep when they did. Usually. He had his bad days naturally, but he was a goddamn angel.
“I don’t know if you can be a superhero and a teacher. We need the money, and if anyone is going to quit I’d rather it be me. You already help those kids just by being there for them! Having the calendar so they can set up days to talk to you in private, I love that! And you make more money than me. Things are hurting enough as it is.”
Jean raised an eyebrow. “You said you didn’t want to let our student debts get in the way of doing what we want to do.”
“Yeah, like...travel.”
“Look, I think there’s some areas I can be a bit more efficient. I can cut an hour more of sleep, I already can’t stay awake for long. I think Nathan’s prevented me from ever having deep sleep again. And let’s not think about if we ever do decide to have another kid.”
“Wait, you are thinking about another kid?!”
“No! Well, not soon!” Scott puffed out his cheeks, before bursting out in a chortle. Jean slapped him on the shoulder but she was laughing too.
Catching his breath. “Two kids, a teaching career, and a superhero? You really are a Superwoman.”
“I can come up with a better name than that… I was thinking, like, resilience. Mutants have been tread on for so long, but we’re strong and can be stronger.”
“Like as in just 'Resilience'? Hmm, we could workshop it.”
“No something that gives the idea of resilience. Like...'Firebird'. Rising from the ashes again and again. And...you know.” She waved her fingers, imitating the motion of fire.
Scott thought on it for a moment, before blurting, “...So if we stick to a mythological creature thing I would be 'Cyclops'?”
Jean gawked. “Well they’re usually just evil monsters. And wouldn’t it be 'Biclops'?”
Shaking his head, Scott revealed, “I took some videos before to see what my beams were like, years ago. They end up becoming one, so it’s like I have one eye.” He mimed his own laserbeams, two hands coming from his eyes and lightly clapping to form one.
Jean stared “...You’ve thought about this before. You’ve been thinking about!” Planting a hand on her face she gave a smile of disbelief, standing up.
“Of course I have! Everyone’s thought about being a superhero, or having superpowers.”
“I can’t believe you.”
“If you don't believe me you could always check!” Scott tapped his fingers against his brain case. Jean shook her head. She knew that he had no interest in being a hero himself. He was happy with things as they were and Jean wanted to upend that for her selfish desires. Selfless in the macro sense, sure, but with a heavy cost to their domestic life.
Feeling Nathan tug at her pant leg, she lifted him up, pecked him on the cheek, and sat back down. “Do you wanna be a superhero? Huh?”
“Bbabababa.”
“I don’t think the news outlets will be able to spell that name very well but it’s bold! Daring!”
Scott whispered to him, “Go with Cable.” Jean gave him a look. “He pulled the cable from behind the TV and tried to bite it earlier. I dunno, it just hit me.” Jean shook her head, and Scott reached over, running his fingers across her cheek, catching a lock of her hair. “Even if I wasn’t terrified of losing you, do you think you can go out there and fight knowing what might happen if your identity gets out there? I’m so glad we’re talking about this and I’m not finding out the Fantastic Firebird on the news is my lovely wife in a goofy mask, but what happens when everyone else finds out?”
Jean winced, her face screwing up in pain as she imagined the worst case. It was far from the last thing she thought of. In fact, it was first. The elephant in the room Scott finally paid mind to. She reached up and clutched his hand, running a thumb across its back. “I know,” she silently mouthed.
Scott gave her a long hard look, then took a long hard sigh. Nathan took a few steps across the couch towards him. “Well, I trust you with my life. If you still think it’s a good idea, I’ll be behind you every step of the way.” Tapping his sunglasses, he added, “If some bad guy knocks on the door maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to figure this thing out. But I just don’t want you to have second thoughts when its too late. No half arsing something, full arse it. Oh, oop.”
Scott’s careful words were punctuated with Nathan grabbing his sunglasses and gradually pulling them from his face. Jean sat up straight, but Scott only smiled, eyes perfectly closed. “We’re good, we do this all the time.” Scott took Nathan up from his underarms before placing him on the ground, letting him run off, Scott’s sunglasses waving in his hand. Scott quietly counted to ten before standing up, carefully stalking after the child, trapped in his pen. He didn’t collide with anything, brushing lightly against their table and couch before swooping in on Nathan with a playful growl, the toddler screaming in glee. Curling on the couch as he put his glasses back on and wrestled with Nathan, she felt her heart melting. Came out of the eyes for some reason. Beating back tears, so too did her doubts wash away, as she saw the two things she most loved in the world somehow give her something she never would have had the courage to ask for or the confidence to think she deserved: more to love.
Jean and Scott had gone through so much that she didn’t want Nathan to go through as well, if he was as much a mutant as them. For all that she’d been blessed with, in order to give Nathan what he deserved, she’d have to find her wings, and fly.
