Disclaimer: Whee

Disclaimer: Whee! I own Susana and a pseudo-obsolete computer, and Marvel owns the X-men and all their assorted *high-tech stuff.* Damn. I think I got the bad end of this deal. Anyway, there's a slight break between last chapter and this chapter; I figured everyone can guess how Hank reacts to gifts of Twinkies (and yes, a few did escape Bobby's *evil clutches* and make it to him in the lab), plus I just wanted to write this. It's been tormenting me for some time. Hope ya'll enjoy it, compliments of my lame humor and lewd thoughts muses/musi.


Notes:

sound
*thought*
} telepathic conversation {

Setting: Morning in Westchester, August 5th.

Jubilee and Susana were huddled on the floor of the mansion's rec room, looking at old fashion and music magazines stolen; ahem, liberated; from closet bottoms and junk drawers mansion-wide. Jono took one look at the room and promptly decided it was in his best interests to get out. Immediately.

Unfortunately, Susana had other ideas. "Jonnnnnno...get your cute butt back in here."

*Damn. Double damn. Damn ad infinitum. Heh. Being around Hank is good for something after all. Small consolation.* He stepped back through the door, and was confronted by two maniacally grinning faces.

"I think...hmm. Actor?" Jubilee was giving him a very considering stare. It was enough to make a man squirm right out of his skin.

*Maybe that's how Ange's stayed with her all this time.*

"Nah. Musician."

*Well, duh.* Mental sigh. *Of course I'm a musician. What was Jubes talking about, anyway? Actor, my arse.*

"Which musician, then?" Jubilee turned to Susana with an expression as serious as any TV-drama surgeon had ever mustered. It was frightening in its sincerity.

"Maybe...Chris Cornell?" Susana proposed the idea with a definite gleam in her eye. The shorthaired incarnation of Chris Cornell easily topped her "10 sexiest (famously) brooding musician types" list -Jono being, of course, the top of the list when it was expanded to include the non-famous(for music, at least) brooding types.

"No. Wha' bout that kid Travis, was in the band Days of the New like, ages ago? Hair's not right, but that," she waved a hand dismissively, "can be fixed."

"But Jubes," Susana wailed, "he was all grimy looking! Nice music, but the grime factor was way high. How about Art from Everclear?"

"Too blond."

"Dammit, Jubes! This isn't accomplishing anything." Susana huffed in annoyance and glared at her friend. Then her face brightened, and she spoke. "How 'bout Trent?"

"Trent?" Jubilee looked skeptical. "Does Trent have a last name?"

"Reznor." This with a humorless, 'You idiot' glance, which was actually more Warren's thing, but what's a trademark glare among friends...erm, teammates?

"Oh. I see."

"Well? What do you think?" Jubilee looked at Jono and nodded slowly, a Cheshire cat grin splitting her face. Jono fought the urge to run.

~*~*~*~30 minutes later*~*~*~*~*~

He should have run.

Jono stood dumbly in front of the table on his side of the bed while Susana and Jubilee sorted through every article of clothing he owned, as well as a few he really had no clue about. Currently, Susana's head and torso were buried in an old army chest they'd found in the attic. As he watched, she righted herself and pulled out something...small. And shirtlike. And mesh.

}I'm gonna puke.{ She shot him a questioning, 'what the hell are you talking about, oh mouthless one?' sort of look. }I'll figure something out if you make me put that on. Why are we getting ready for Halloween now? It's only the beginning of August.{

"Oh, come on. Look, just try it on in the bathroom. You don't even have to let Jubes see it if it's too bad. And we're getting ready so we know we're set even if we're in battles all through October." She leaned forward and traced a finger down the back of his jawbone and along the side of his neck. He shivered slightly, then nodded and disappeared into the bathroom. Susana shook her head, then leaned back into the trunk to continue investigating the clothes in it. "Wonder where all this came from. Got any ideas, Jubes?"

Jubilee popped out from behind a jacket hanging on the back of the closet door. "Nope. Old uniforms?"

"Might be...but none of these things are burned, or torn, or anything like that. Maybe they're sort of prototype designs? If so, I'm upset, cause I gotta say I'm liking some of these way more than our uniforms."

}'Sana, you want to come see this so I can put normal clothes back on? It looks bad, I'll tell you now.{ She hurried to the bathroom door and slipped through, keeping her promise that she was the only one who was going to see the shirt. She pushed the door closed behind her, then looked at the corner of the bathroom where Jono was standing.

"Wow." *Yep, Bliss, that to the nth power would be a good start.*

}I told you it didn't look good. But you wanted me to try it on, so....{ He shrugged, then turned and faced the window so she couldn't see his bandages through the mesh.

Susana's mouth went dry at the sight of bare arms and broad shoulders, built up through hours of Danger Room practices and gym sessions and wrapped in fishnet mesh. *Yeah. This is niiice.*

}So d'you want me to get m'other clothes back on now?{ He was still facing the window, shoulders hunched over, and when she sent a stray thought his way, she recoiled at the embarrassment he seemed to be feeling.

*Hmm. What to do.* She walked up to the window and stood on tiptoe behind him to press a kiss to the spot just above the edge of the shirt, right between his shoulder blades. "No."

}No, what?{ He half turned to give her a baleful look.

"No, I don't want you to put your other clothes back on. What I really want," she paused for effect, "is to investigate just how much of you I can lick through this wonderful shirt." He turned the rest of the way toward her and gave her an incredulous look. She nodded solemnly.

}Yer just sayin' that.{ He turned back to the window, and she scowled.

}Dammit, Jono, turn around. Now.{ She crossed her arms across her chest and glared as he complied with excruciating slowness. Uncrossing her arms, she put a hand on each shoulder and maneuvered him away from the window and onto the stool in front of the mirror. Once she'd settled him on the stool, she slid a leg across his legs and arranged herself securely on his lap. "I want you to listen to me, ok?" He nodded and met her eyes. "You. Are. Incredible. And sexy. And the man I want to spend the rest of my damn life with. What's tough to understand about that?"

}Aside from the fact that you're lying, that I'm a freak who doesn't deserve you? Nothing.{

"You know, I don't wanna dignify that shitty excuse with an answer."

}So don't.{ he crossed his arms across his mesh-covered chest and leaned back against the counter.

"I'm not like Paige, you know. I'm not a damn kid, and I'm not gonna let you shut me out or drive me away." Privately, she sent a message to Jubilee. }Hey Jubes, I need you to vanish real quick. Go find Ange, we'll work on this more later.{ Once the message was sent, she severed the link and prayed Jubilee would follow instructions. Returning her attention to her seat cushion/future husband, she was surprised to see that he seemed to be laughing. "What?" *Dammit, he's ruining a perfectly good indignant mood.*

}You.{ He shook his head and stared bemusedly up at her.

"What 'bout me?"

}Yer funny. All primed and ready to kick my ass, when you just propositioned me. It's an interesting switch up.{

"Heh. Funny what rejection does to a woman's state of mind. To say nothing of her libido." *damn, why did I just say that? Hmm. What is he doing?* What he was doing was rubbing small, progressively lower circles on her back. It felt, she had to admit, very nice. But she was still mad. "Why do you think I'm not telling you the truth? Might I remind you that three years ago, I was the one pursuing you?"

}And a lovely pursuit it was, gel.{

"So why the fit of morbidity?" She poked him in the shoulder accusingly. "I'm the same Susana I was then. You're...if it's possible, even sexier than you were then because you actually laugh on occasion." She gave him a second poke, and then another, until he suddenly reached up and grabbed both of her wrists.

}No more of that, gel. It hurts.{

She raised an eyebrow and fought to free herself, making a concerted effort to squirm suggestively back and forth on his lap. She laughed softly at the pained expression that lodged itself in his eyes. "Problems, lover?" She shrieked and grabbed his shoulders when he suddenly stood up, lifting her along with him.

}None at all, luv. You got Jubes out of the room, right?{ She nodded mutely, engrossed in running the pads of her fingers over the mesh of his shirt. He turned and used an arm around her waist to keep her anchored at his hip, then used the other hand to open the door. As he passed the bed, he lowered her onto it and left her there while he locked the hall door.

"So...what brought this assertive moment on?" She watched intently from her spot on the bed as he moved around the room, then joined her on the bed.

}I seem to recall a promise, not long ago, that you were going to investigate how much of me you could lick through the shirt. Far be it from me to deny you that opportunity...wow. You don't waste any time, do you?{ She sat back and shook her head.

Placing a finger to his bandages in a shushing gesture, she planted a hand on the center of his bandages and pushed him back onto the bed. "No more talking right now, okay, love? I want to enjoy this shirt, and your 'I'm a monster' shtick...interferes."

}I think I can be persuaded.{ He shivered as the exhalation from her low laughter hit his stomach

Meanwhile, outside the mansion.

Scott gave the hood of his Taurus a final swipe with the drying towel, then stood back and admired his work. His admiration was disturbed, however, by the sound of a large diesel truck on the lane. *Hmpf. Wonder who that's coming for. Whoever it is, they should really try to keep it down. If I can hear it all the way up here...wait a minute. It's coming up our drive.*

The truck stopped, and a burly man climbed down from the cab. "Lookin' fer a.... Jean," he checked the clipboard he carried in one hand, "Jean Grey-Summers."

"Well, I'm her husband. She's up at the mansion, but is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yeh. Ya can help me unload this stuff from the truck." He walked around to the back of the truck, Scott following at a cautious distance. The man pushed the back door open, and Scott was relieved to see that there were only a few things in the truck. The driver climbed up into the truck and stood expectantly while Scott scrambled up onto the truck bed. "How 'bout let's start with this thing," he said, laying a hand on the edge of a dark wood footboard.

*Looks easy enough to lift. After all, I train in the Danger Room. This guy probably doesn't work out at all, and he seems confident he can lift it.*

The delivery driver shifted wearily from one foot to the other. "Well? Do I get help with this, or should I go ahead an' start?"

Scott stepped confidently up to the end of the footboard, certain that he would have no problems. "Sure, let's get moving!" He bent to lift his side of the piece, and backed towards the door with it. He rested it on the edge of the truck bed while he climbed down, then on the ground while the driver jumped out of the truck. Once down, the man grasped the end and pulled it down to the ground. Repositioning his hands, he began to lift, then stopped.

Scott, however, didn't. In the next instant, a bolt of searing pain ripped across his back, and he collapsed to the ground. Simultaneously, Jean gasped and grabbed the kitchen counter to keep herself upright.

"Jean? What is wrong? Are you alright?" Ororo supported her friend's other side and watched her in concern.

"Scott's strained a muscle in his back." She frowned and rubbed at the phantom pain in her own back, then brightened, obviously picking something else up from their shared telepathic link.

"What is it, Jean? What is he telling you?"

"He says...that is, he sees...My furniture is here!" And with that, Jean rushed out of the kitchen and to the driveway, where she helped Scott sit down in his car, then 'helped' the driver unload the furniture through judicious use of her telekinesis.

"You be careful there, miss. I tried t'tell yer husband, this is solid mahogany, real heavy, y'know?" Jean nodded distractedly and backed up until she could add to the growing pile of antiques on the drive. She tipped the driver and sent him on his way, then had Scott lie on the headboard of the bed so he could get back to the house without having to move much. Once he was safely ensconced in the medical center, she returned to the driveway to move and admire her antiques. When she returned to the med center, Scott had been heavily dosed with extra strength painkillers and was mumbling something about overpriced kindling. Jean shuddered and resolved to hide all the axes on campus.