A/N: So I fell in love with X-Men and comics all over again and banged out this. Powerless is not on hiatus, and depending on what kind of mood I'm in this week I could pick it up again...
Meanwhile, this is the continuation to Truth or Dare by MultiFandomSF, nine years later, so you'll probably want to read that first – it's excellent. With this, I'm going for a more comic book-feel from Ororo's point of view, with less prose padding the dialogue and action. The basic premise is, what would happen if the X-Men didn't act with responsibility and discretion? There would be consequences, that's what. Get ready to see the characters (Jean, Ororo, Logan, Scott, Xavier... Magneto and more to come) developed a little differently, and there is an impending plot. Enough said; read (and review) away!
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Truth or Dare
Chapter One: Jean's Birthday
Twenty-three candles on the cake. Twenty-three candles exactly. Scott had counted them, well, countless times, Ororo observed wryly, and this was after he'd rushed out of the mansion in something akin to panic when he realized that the Payard had only put twenty-two candles in the box. Ororo shook her head. Of course Scott would drive all the way back to New York City to get one matching candle, she thought. Everything has to be perfect.
"Everything has to be perfect," Scott muttered wildly, wiping the palms of his hands on his pants, with their perpetual line ironed straight down the center.
"Hmm?" Ororo contributed, but Scott just kept muttering to himself as he paced the room, straightening cushions, chairs, anything unfortunately enough to be in his path. It was just as well he'd begun preparations for Jean's birthday celebration more than three hours before he needed to.
It was a surprise party. Jean had been somewhat unconvincingly told it was just an informal gathering.
"I'll call her," Logan had offered.
"Why?" demanded Scott.
"Because you can't lie to save your life, boy scout. Not even over the phone."
"Oh? What're you going to say?"
"Only as much as I have to. Date, time, place." Logan rolled his eyes. "She knows her own birthday, one-eye. I think she can work out the rest from there, though I guess it could be challenging for you if you were in her place, couldn't it?"
"I could call her, Logan," Ororo had offered.
Scott and Logan had exchanged a look before they both burst out laughing.
And so she'd laughed too – but only weakly.
And now the day had come. The doorbell rang. Before anyone could get to it, the locks clicked open by themselves and Jean burst in, grinning from ear to ear.
"'Ro!" Jean squealed, hugging Ororo, even as the other woman winced. Always thought that was a silly nickname. It sounded effete. She hoped Jean hadn't picked that up, or the thought that Jean might pick that up, or... Ororo bit her lip. Why did she always feel like this around Jean?
Jean, a regular ray of sunshine as usual. Today she was wearing her white lab coat, usually pristine, but today doodled over in bright marker ink.
"What's all this? That famous already?" Ororo joked, tugging at a sleeve.
"Oh, yesterday while we were waiting for the gels to run we all sat down and signed one another's coats for no reason at all. Just one term left to graduation!" Jean twirled, making the colors spin. Ororo envied how even a vandalized lab coat could look good on Jean. "And in a few years my signature will be worth something, I can tell you."
"Youngest person I know to finish med school," Scott said, proudly kissing her on the cheek.
"With a double concentration in biomedics and genetic mutations, don't forget." Jean brushed him off impatiently. "Did anyone else remember my birthday?"
Scott's face fell with dismay at how easily his ruse had been seen through, but he reached for Jean's bags to carry them in.
"Missed me, Red?"
Logan was leaning carelessly against the wall, arms folded. Ororo felt her pulse quicken...
"Logan!" Jean ran over and hugged him tightly, almost disappearing into his embrace. Pausing in his labors, Scott frowned. Ororo realized that she was frowning too.
"Well, well, well." Charles Xavier wheeled into the room. "If it isn't my four favorite students."
"Your four only students," Ororo reminded him, peevishly, but no one seemed to hear.
"It's so good to see you again, Professor," Jean enthused, bending down to hug him too. "I have so much to tell you. I think I'm beginning to perceive - "
"Wouldn't we all be more comfortable in the dining room? It's so drafty here," Ororo put in.
Jean rolled her eyes. "Okay, 'Ro, if you insist." She began pushing Xavier's chair, being the only person he would expressly ask to do that. "I hope the Payard wasn't out of Chocolate Flourless."
--
Cutting generous slabs of the flourless chocolate cake – Jean's favorite, they got it year after year – Ororo thought over the years thus far.
I'm twenty-seven. Twenty-seven. Three more years, and I'll be thirty.
Goddess, I'm going to rot here.
Not that I hate the place – far from it. Coming to Xavier's was the happiest day of my life. Meeting Jean, and Scott, and Logan... They're the only real family I've got. My dad stopped making contact with me after my eighteenth birthday – he probably can't even afford a phone anymore, whatever he's doing. He never wanted me, especially after he found out I was one of those –
A mutant.
A freak.
The reason why, whenever I was sad or angry, storms gathered over their house and destroyed his garden...
But here I learned that my powers aren't a curse, they're a gift, albeit a gift that has its own cards to play. When I saw Jean lift that first spoon without touching it... How I hoped my own abilities would develop to the point that they came under my control.
"'Ro!" Jean said sharply, causing Ororo to snap out of her thoughts. "I said, watch."
"We're all watching now," Logan said, seriously. "Come on, show us what you've got."
Jean giggled, winked at him, and then pointed to the five slices of cake on their individual plates. "Are you watching these carefully?"
"Are you going to eat them all telepathically or something?" said Ororo.
"Better." Jean adjusted her posture. "Watch."
She stared straight at the original cake. About a third of it was left on its platter. Without breaking her gaze, the five smaller slices slowly rose up in the air and fitted together onto their original positions on the platter.
Scott applauded politely, but Logan complained, "You've done this before, Jeannie. What's so great about it?"
Jean didn't answer. She shifted her gaze until she seemed to be staring into the cake. And the cake – Ororo blinked. It couldn't be...?
Jean picked up the cake knife and tapped the chocolate shell of the cake gingerly. It was completely smooth, as though it had never been cut.
"Impressive," said Xavier, chuckling. "But if you've melted and fused the molecules together, Jean, I'm not going to put it into my mouth."
"See for yourself," Jean beamed. She cut a slice and handed it to him. It was perfect.
Ororo sighed. "Now I'm going to have to cut the cake all over again."
"No need, I'll do it," Jean said cheerfully. Opting for the normal approach, she picked up the plastic knife and set to work. "My piece was a little much for me to finish anyway."
"But this is your favourite," Scott said worriedly, as he got out a bottle of white wine.
"Need to watch my waist," Jean said, handing him a slice. Underneath the labcoat she had on a light spring dress, taken in perfectly at the waist, showing no signs that it needed any watching. "The saddest thing I learned at med school. Cake, Ororo?"
--
Med school, that's right. Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters wasn't on anyone's list, and the professor himself was strictly opposed to standardized testing, except for a few specially devised tests of his own, that had shown Jean to have an IQ of over 130.
When she'd expressed an interest in biology he called a couple of friends who called a couple of friends, and a few years later Jean's well on her way to holding an Ivy League degree. While Ororo takes courses on useless subjects (various unrelated pockets of history) that Xavier disapproves of, and will land her on the street living alone in a cardboard box someday.
While Jean shares a room with Scott every time she comes home, and the professor doesn't bat an eye, so it's only a matter of time before they get married, and maybe even move out...
Ororo looked morosely at the now-discarded birthday candles, flecked with chocolate cream, lying on their side in a napkin.
Get a grip on yourself, Ororo.
You're twenty-seven.
Scott got to his feet. "I'll wash up," he said, collecting plates.
"I'll come with you," said Xavier, wheeling away from the table. This is a sign that he has something private to discuss with Fearless Leader, as they have dubbed Scott; the group let it pass without comment.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Jean leaned forward over to Logan and Ororo and whispered, "Wanna see something really cool?"
Logan threw her a rakish grin. He'd declined the wine for his own case of Canadian stout, and he was beginning to get comfortable. "Really, Jean? With Ororo here watching?"
Ororo blushed furiously. Jean giggled. "Ororo's okay. It's the professor who musn't see yet."
"And Scott?"
Jean snorted. "He'd only get jumpy too. I'll show them later, but you'll appreciate it better. Watch."
She held up one remaining candle between two fingers and stared intently. For a minute, nothing happened.
"Red -" Logan began, but Ororo shushed him. Something about Jean was ever so slightly different, the expression on her face, or even the color of her eyes...
With a faint, faint hissing sound, like sand trickling down an hourglass, the candle slowly began to disappear, as if being burned from the top down.
"No tricks, ladies and gentlemen," said Jean, still concentrating on the candle, "it has vanished before your very ey- ow!" She dropped the remaining stub of the candle. "Are my fingers still there?"
Her fingertips were bright red, as if burned. "Yeah," Ororo said, "are you okay?"
Jean nodded. "My hand's a little numb, that all. Not the first time that's happened. That's why I can't show the professor just yet." Her eyes sparkled. "But it was great, wasn't it?"
"I'm still waiting for the main show," Logan said, grinning.
Jean giggled again, taking a sip of her third glass of wine. "I know, I'm such a tease!"
Jean and Logan...? What the hell is going on? Actually, it didn't surprise her. They were just old friends, having fun...
So why do I feel so damn uncomfortable being around them, suddenly?
And why am I letting that bother me more than seeing Jean disintegrate something just by thinking about it?
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