"You, you, you and…maybe you. Ick I actually almost take that one back."
A slender, well-manicured French-tipped finger with a white gold ring that had a sparkling diamond dome center around it, pointed at three girls sitting together in a classically furnished sitting room, and then landed again on a woman standing near them, whose radiant electric blonde waves bounced as she jerked her head back, bewilderment written on her face.
A thin, sun-kissed woman in a pure white tube top, white blazer, short white mini skirt, and a frosty sheen of sheer white eye shadow matched with wet pink lip-gloss, cast her very long lashes downwards, accentuating her high cheekbones in shadows underneath what she considered to be the unflattering lights of Xavier Institute's recreational room. Sparkling platinum hair glazed down her fit back.
Without looking up, her glittering pink lips announced, "You can all sleep with my-with Scott."
A ruffle of magazine pages sounded, then a clearing of throat from the large groomed blue beast man behind the magazine. The young man sitting next to him on a sofa, sat straight up and shook his straight shaggy dark hair out of his eyes, and beamed at the platinum blonde with huge puppy dog eyes.
Still without looking up, she snapped, "And no, not you, Julianne, I'm afraid that would never happen."
The dark haired boy slumped back against the sofa, shot down.
A head ducked into the room, belonging to a tall brown-haired man with chiseled muscles everywhere, and ruby glasses shading his eyes.
He stared at the woman, having been passing by in the hallway, and heard his name.
Raising her ice blue eyes, she placed them on a woman that was passing by in the hallway also, her honey blonde hair in a sporty pony tail. Every part of her body was defined on her built physique, yet her sky blue eyes gave off an assertive but good natured sweetness that contrasted with the glacial eyes that were on her.
The woman stopped in her tracks, as if frozen by the stare.
Without blinking, the glittering pink lips added, "I can't let you either, Carol, there's actually the chance that he could fall in love with you, had he the chance to know you. " Addressing the man in the hallway, she murmured, "Of course, darling, I could easily mind control you to a certain degree in loving me forever with no eyes for other women, but there's only so much and so long that your brain could be obedient for, you are still a man after all."
Shimmering platinum bangs fell over an arctic white-blue eye, and her pink lips curled into a coy, almost evil smile.
Not affected by the cold, chilling, and sinister quality of that look that would have paralyzed anyone else, the brown haired man with browned skin from working outside protested, "But I will only ever have eyes for you, and that's coming from me, you don't have a say in it…What are you saying anyways?" He curiously peeked around.
Looking haughtily over her nails, flexing out her fingers, then curling them back up towards her, she breezed, "Oh nothing, just how you're getting my permission to sleep with other women. It's only fair, and after all, it's only sex. I won't mind, no strings attached from anyone like myself, and you have my bidding, love, you can do whatever you want."
Scott's jaw tightened, he stepped towards her, "I don't need your permission, babe. I don't even want it. And I will never need it, nor would I ever use it. Stop being silly. Nobody's having sex with anybody."
The women who had been selected looked disappointed.
Sweeping her arm across the room, she asked amusedly, "You're telling me that you've never even thought of having intercourse with any of the women in this mansion?"
One of the girls that had been sitting, with two other girls identical to her, and actually very similar looking to the woman in white, commented vaguely in a very neutral tone, "Gee, when you put it that way,"
Her twin next to her hollowly added, "How could we resist?"
The third admitted, "With the three-in-one,"
"It would not be hard to please Mister Summers." The first one concluded.
The second punctuated, "He is already fond of us."
Keeping his eyes trained on her icy irises, he said without a fault, "Yes, I have not, as hard as that may be to believe for you for some reason. When some people are in relationships, they don't see others as appealing if they are completely satisfied with the one they're with. If I wanted to be with anyone else at all, I would be with them, but I am with who I want and I love them, regardless of how aggravating and silly they can be."
She looked bored, "Here I am giving you the ultimate freedom in a relationship, and any other man would be ecstatic and probably grateful to run with it."
He ground his teeth together but did not speak, thinking very loudly to his telepathic mistress, "I'm not any other man, is that what this is about? Do you want to be with other men again? Are you trying to gain that freedom from me with this outrageous proposition? Why don't you meet me upstairs to talk about this in private? This is not a conversation topic to bring up with everyone else. Please, Emma."
"What's this business about, sleeping with Scott?" A purple haired woman barged in to the disrupted room; she was clad in skin tight black uniform, and looked around in a mock-cluelessness.
Emma's lips curled into a nasty smile, and she almost disdainfully purred, "Ah, you too Betsy, I suppose there would be no stopping you anyways so I have to consent."
Gesturing lazily at the indignant man standing before them in a plain, teal cotton t-shirt and light jeans, Emma sneered, "You can have your way with Scott with my permission granted. Not like that matters to a savage like you."
Barely concealing a snarl, Betsy spoke airily in a dry British accent, "Oh luv, peg yourself down before I can, will you? I was going to suggest that you shan't flatter yourself thinking a flimsy excuse of a girl like you or your permission would ever have any influence or stand a chance of being in the way of me sleeping with a man. If I wanted Scott that is my decision, and only a matter of me approaching the chap. Stop pretending you've got all this power."
Betsy smiled sweetly at Scott who only lifted a brow in skepticism.
The man in question spoke up, "Stop this right now, Emma, there will be no discussion about this. What about me? You would need my consent and participation too, but I am telling you now that will never happen, I would never even think about anyone else."
Carol offered, "So basically you are giving anyone permission to sleep with Scott? More than you are giving him permission to sleep with anyone?"
Nodding, Emma said, "Yes, exactly. I'm afraid it does not matter Scott, what if you were locked in a room with any of these fine candidates and they are more than willing while you are not? You're saying even in that situation you would not sleep with them?"
Laughing almost angrily, Scott countered, "That is not the usual immediate reaction I would get. There is nothing in logic that would say, 'Oh I'm locked in a room somehow with another woman, this means sex!' Who thinks like that, Emma?"
Biting his lip, he realized the err of his response, remembering that this was a telepathic and psychologically adept woman he was dealing with, whose questions would not be without a purpose.
Before she could give him a dead on look, he added, "Okay, but you know I don't think like that."
Agreeing, Emma said without any force, "I know, but still…you are a man."
"Bullshit Emma, that means shit, I'm a man, and that's why there is only one woman for me."
Emma sneered and said stickily, "How touching…"
Confusion and aggravation twisted his face, and catching himself Scott looked around at the women in the room and apologetically pursed his lips, then sighed, "I'm not going to have a scene in front of everyone, I will not play your little games, Emma."
With that, the mutant leader left, leaving a stifled atmosphere.
Betsy spoke up, "I'll go comfort him!" The ninja sped off, and Emma looked after her as if she had eaten a dead mouse…or as if she had eaten her very own words.
Coming up to her bedroom after dinner, Emma quietly closed the door behind her and began to undress.
She walked into her bathroom, carefully slipping off her shoes then blazer and hanging it on a towel rack, she stopped, noticing that she had company already occupying the bathroom.
Scott had just gotten out of a shower, a towel loosely wrapped around his waist, and he had a creamy layer of shaving cream coating his face, and with a steady and meticulous hand, scraped off a streak, revealing fresh, smooth skin underneath his knife.
Emma had bought him an expensive shaving kit, the man liked shaving the traditional way with the more hazardous blade used in the past, so she had bought him a box set complete with a fine brush for dusting off the residue.
"Going out tonight?"
The man's ripped shoulder blades lifted, then fell back down and he mumbled through contorted lips as he ran the sharp stainless blade against his jaw. "Just wanted to look nice for you."
Emma thought about reaching a hand up to rub his bare back, but her pride from earlier prevented her and she stiffly inquired, "You don't have to do that for me… You're doing it for the other girls aren't you? I already heard Megan drawing up a bet on when she can have you." She said that bit out of spite, as if to provoke reaction from him.
It worked.
The blade clinked as he set it down on the sink and looked down for a moment, then inhaled deeply and turned to his woman, about half of his jaw covered in white, and the other half gleaming shaven skin.
"That's exactly why I didn't turn up for dinner, I didn't want to deal with all that…nonsense you've conjured. What is this really about?"
He sucked in through his nose and then broke down for a moment, his composed posture struggling and he rummaged through his slick wet hair with his hands, brows furrowed up and looked at her with a pleading desperation.
Finally, he spoke his unspoken fear, "Are-are you having an affair, Emma? Do you want to be…with someone else?"
The absolute collapse of his stoic brows and straight mouth showed a vulnerable man, completely naked to her except his towel and the fogged-up red goggles squeezed underneath his worried, scrunched up brows.
She knew she had caught him off guard at a private time, but she felt no mercy, her own womanly desires and emotions paining her.
However, she wavered at his sudden and ready break down in front of her, and she realized how far they had come, for him to not be able to keep up his strong composure in front of her, at her mercy. Then she realized that she was not relishing in this man's defeat and vulnerable state.
She was genuinely surprised and taken aback
He explained further, "I know…you are an independent woman, I would never try to take that away from you…and I know…that you like your sexuality and that even with multiple partners you pride in not taking them seriously, but I can't keep pretending I'd be okay with every man you'd ever flirt with or-or, worse! Please, be honest with me, I'm in this for you, but if you don't want that…just release me."
Almost snapping impatiently, she retaliated, "I think you know me enough to know that if I were to ever cheat on you, I'd break your heart first, and then do it, I'm not so sneaky with my sexuality, I wouldn't dare insult the man Scott Summers is by doing it behind your back! No, Scott, this is merely a woman consenting to the idea that her man is a desirable specimen, and being psychic, I know when every woman in this place is after my one and only."
Branching off a little, she rambled, "And I can hear their…lustful thoughts at almost every hour, Scott, you have no idea. The things they'd like to see you in, their personal thoughts on the handsome and brave Scott Summers, how they would be better fits for a man in 'need of such understanding', their own played out fantasies and day dreams worthy of decent adult film scripts! Every bloody hour! At first, I was flattered, I enjoyed this power, this luxury of being the envy of every girl, but-but when those other girls' desires become reality and they want enough to try….Then-then, where would I be?"
"Emma…you know better than to worry about that…" Realization dawned on Scott's forlorn face slowly. He felt the answer out, "Are you actually…worried about the other girls?" He stated it as simply a question; he was really wondering if she would go there.
"It's just sex, Scott, you and I, make love, and I would never be able to blur those lines again after being with you… But, I mean, it might be fun for you to loosen up, I mean doesn't it just…bother you? How many people I've been with? I-I know you try your best to be understanding and you hardly say much on the matter, you know what it was like and how much I've changed, but you are a man, and when you're trying to hold back judgment and accept me for some bloody reason, for who I am and was, I can sense the held back jealousy, Scott. You-you would never admit this to yourself, but you can't stand the idea of me being deplored by countless other scoundrels! I-I just know it…"
She finished shakily, chastising herself for revealing too much weakness in the heat of the moment.
When she was met with his astounded silence, she babbled on uncertainly, wavering, "It doesn't bother you that I've been in bed with all those villains, egomaniacs, and rotten men? That there were so many more before you?"
She had crossed one arm across her stomach, and was holding onto her other arm which hung down limply, as if comforting herself. She faced the floor and hid behind some fallen ash blonde hair.
His hand reached up and closed the distance between them, he caressed the hair out of her face, tenderly behind her ear and with more compassion, said softly, "Is that what's bothering you, Emma? You're worried about the other guys? I mean, I guess you're right, I couldn't honestly say it doesn't bug me a bit, but I know I can't change that and I can't judge you, you do what you want. But it seems to bother you more… Are you trying to settle a score or something? Like it would make you feel better if we were even and I caught up with your track record or something?"
Hanging her head ashamedly, the White Queen admitted aloud for the first time with a child-like nod, coming from a stubborn girl who had just been too proud and ashamed to admit her regrets to the man she loved.
Enveloping her quickly in his strong arms, and feeling her slender weight fall readily against him, he breathed into her hair, "Ohh, Ems….That's not really how this works."
She mumbled thickly through restrained tears against his bare, clean chest, "B-b-but, even then, I can't control the thoughts of others, if they want you, I can't as well stop them, and I'd be a raging hypocrite, what with my history of men and how I came to be with you. Even if I trusted you with all my being, I can't trust the other women, their thoughts can't be helped either, you are attractive to them, and I can't cage you with threats of devotion, then I'd be imprisoning you and it'd be hypocritical. You may be noble and love me, but the other women! If I give them consent to have you, then it's within my power, and no one gets hurt if it's to be expected. And I wouldn't blame you either for falling for their advances, you see, it'd only be fair, and who am I to say anything when I've slept around with half the male population?!"
He squeezed her even tightly as if to silence her and squeeze out all the paranoia and insecurity the White Queen secretly harbored.
He stooped down slightly to accommodate his tall frame over her, and gently taking her chin in his hands, he made her look at him, "Even if it would make you happy, or help you feel justified, I would never want to be with or sleep with anyone else for the life of me. Do you understand this?"
With a firm assertiveness, he emphasized, "Never. You hear? I. Am. In. Love. With. You. Get this through that thick skull of yours; it shouldn't be too hard to figure out, m'lady."
Tears erupted from her hard cold eyes, and he kissed her lips softly, and murmured, "I don't care what your past has put you through, it does bother me to know how many unworthy men were given the…privilege of being with you, but as long as I know they mean nothing to you, as long as you swear that you are mine, then it doesn't matter."
He sternly confirmed her answer, as she nodded again, obediently, and whispered, "Of course, of course. I am yours, I belong to you Scott Summers, only you, as chauvinistic as that sounds."
"I'm not perfect, I have a messy history too, we both do, but who we are with each other counts the most. Now though, if any of those slimy guys were to show up or if anyone ever tries to touch you again, I will pound them senseless, and I will kill them, whether you like it or not. You are mine, and anyone who so much as thinks about you that way will have their necks broken."
Slightly delighted over the change in tone and the aggressive dominance Scott showed unexpectedly, Emma hugged him closer, squishing her face against his chest even harder and rubbing his hardened back with her hands fervently, "I should give you a hit list then; of all the men that think about me and that I want you to off."
He smiled wryly, and squeezed her back with his arms tightened around her, "For you? I'll kill anyone."
Her frown lifted into a smile and she retorted, "And any slobbering girl who so much as thinks about you naked will suffer debilitating pain as a vegetable whose preferences will be any inanimate cactus plant."
Scott frowned and looked down, "That's a bit harsh, isn't it?"
Emma leaned in, "When it comes to prize meat like you, these measures are necessary."
"No more ludicrous talk of this free for all Scott thing?"
Emma replied, "Never again, my love."
She tiptoed daintily and kissed him, smearing white shaving cream on her nose and face.
Pouting, she said, "You've got me all dirty now…Clean me up now will you?"
Grinning from ear to ear, he picked her up and gently threw her in the shower, before whipping his towel off and climbing back into the shower stall, much to her delight, as the sound of running water turned on and mixed with the sound of playful splashes and delirious yelps.
