Chapter 7

When the boys finally made their way outside, the scene that met them stopped them dead. There were a half dozen barricades – shields, Scott suspected – scattered across the Institute's grounds; they were made of hard-packed snow, and stood about four-and-a-half feet high and more than six feet wide. The girls were nowhere to be seen.

"Oh crap," Evan muttered, surveying the area in front of them.

"I knew she was up to something," Scott said aloud, more to himself than to the others.

"Ahlright boys, these are the rules," Rogue's disembodied voice called from somewhere across the yard.

The boys listened nervously, waiting for her to continue. Suddenly she stepped out from behind one of the shields and smirked at them.

"There are no rules," she finished, refocusing her attention on a spot above the boys' heads. "Bombs away, Jean!"

All three boys snapped their heads back just in time to see a wall of snow rush towards them. Scott acted quickly and flipped his glasses up to blast it; but it was a largely ineffective move, leaving the boys covered head to foot in white powder.

"Ok, this means war," Kurt announced, bamfing to where Rogue had been standing seconds before.

Evan launched a couple of spikes, shattering the closest shields. "They can't launch a sneak attack if they don't have anywhere to hide," he grumbled.

Scott scanned the terrain before him, waiting for the next attack. Kurt and Evan had engaged Rogue and Kitty in a snowball war, but Jean had yet to appear. A snowball suddenly pelted the side of his head. He looked around sharply, but couldn't figure out where it had come from. Another one hit him, this time on the top of his shoulder. Confused, he glanced up and saw a half dozen snowballs hovering no more than three feet above his head; suddenly they dropped.

Scott threw himself to the ground and rolled out of the way, then stood to see if he could figure out where Jean was hiding.

"Jean, we need back-up!" Kitty screeched as she and Rogue hid behind one of the shields, desperately trying to form enough snowballs to keep their attackers a bay.

Scott watched in veiled amusement as the snow from the branch of a nearby evergreen tree lifted and floated towards the other two boys. He knew he had to find Jean now, while she was distracted, if he wanted to be able to take her by surprise. Finally he saw a flash of red peaking above a shield; he grinned victoriously and charged.

He tackled her from behind, making sure that he hit her at an angle that wouldn't really hurt her. She grunted as she hit the ground, and the pile of snow she'd been carrying with TK landed harmlessly several feet away from the other boys.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" Scott asked her, trying not to laugh as she struggled against him. "I thought you learned your lesson the last time you tried a sneak snowball attack on me."

"Why are you acting so smug?" Jean asked with a smile, using her TK to shove him off her and pin him against the wall of snow she'd been using for cover. He was clearly surprised at the force behind the action. She got to her knees and put her face right up to his, nose to nose, meeting his eyes through his glasses. She flashed a predatory smile. "You boys are going down." She left him pinned as she ran off, not even sparing him a backwards glance.

"Kitty! Rogue! Regroup!" Jean ordered as she ran across the field. Scott was released from her hold as she refocused her energy towards putting up a shield to protect her and the other girls from the snowballs being pelted at them.

"Daniels, Kurt, over here!" Scott hollered at the boys. They glanced at each other once before retreating to where Scott was holed up.

"What's the plan?" Evan asked the older boy.

Scott shook his head. "I don't have one. But I'm working on it. Just give me a few seconds."

"We're at a total disadvantage," Kurt pointed out, shaking snow out of his hair. "With Jean on their side, they're going to kill us. She can just keep up a shield and the other two can attack."

"Yeah. I mean, Kitty totally throws like a girl, and never even comes close to hitting her target, but it's still distracting," Evan added.

"I know, I know," Scott muttered, wracking his brain for a solution.

"We've got to take out Jean," Kurt said in exasperation. "It's the only way."

"I already tried that," Scott told him.

"Then what do we do, man?" Evan asked nervously as a lone snowball arced through the sky and over the top of their barricade.

Scott sighed. "We hit them with everything we've got and hope for the best."

"That's it? That's your big plan?" Kurt yelped in dismay.

Scott ignored him, busying himself with the task of forming an arsenal of snowballs. The other boys exchanged a look and joined in, scooping up snow, packing it into a sphere, and piling the finished ammo in a pile. After several minutes they had a good supply. Kurt peeked his head around the corner of the snow shield, only to jump backwards to avoid having his head taken off by several snowballs that whipped by.

 "Ok guys, it's time to divide and conquer," Scott ordered. "Jean can only put up one shield, and you know she'll cover Kitty and Rogue instead of herself. Jean will be unprotected, so I should be able to take her out. When she drops the shield around the others, take them."

Evan and Kurt carefully stood up, trying to pinpoint the girls' location – then the snowballs started flying. Scott leaned around the barrier and blasted the remaining snow shields. He knew that with Jean's telekinetic shield they didn't need the others, but he hoped the blasting snow would act as a distraction. It seemed to work.

The boys charged from behind the wall, firing snowballs. As Scott predicted, Jean concentrated on shielding Kitty and Rogue as they pelted snowballs at the boys. She was so focused that she didn't see Scott sneak around behind her until it was too late.

"Jean!" Rogue shouted in warning just as Scott neared.

Jean spun around and shoved Scott backwards, knocking him down. As Jean turned, Kurt and Evan made their move. Kitty and Rogue had been relying so totally on Jean's cover that they'd misjudged their opponents. The boys were on them before they knew it, knocking them down and pounding them with snowballs as they shrieked and held their arms in front of their faces in self-defense. Scott scrambled to his feet and tackled Jean once again to prevent her from helping her teammates.

Kurt and Evan were cheering their victory as the girls surrendered. Scott lay half on top of Jean, grinning down at her.

"I think that means we won," Scott laughed at her. Her face was a mixture of surprise and anger, though the anger quickly melted away.

"Yeah, well, just wait 'til next time," she grumbled as she gently pushed against his chest for him to move. He rolled off her and grinned again, eliciting a smile in reply. She stood up, brushed the snow off her jeans, and held her hand out to Scott to help him to his feet. He took her hand, and jerked her off her feet and back down into the snow. She landed on top of him with an "oomph".

He heard the other four hooting and hollering. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Scott chuckled and Jean blushed, hiding her face in his chest. "Do you want to make them shut up?" he asked quietly, grinning at her.

She laughed and glanced over her shoulder at their friends who were watching expectantly. "I don't think we have much of a choice," she told him. She looked down at him and smiled before dipping her head down to meet his lips. The cheers were deafening. They held the kiss for a few seconds, and then broke apart when they could no longer keep themselves from dissolving into fits of laughter over their friends' reactions. Scott's head fell back into the snow, and Jean fell forward, with her face once again hidden in Scott's chest. 

"Ok, enough," Scott finally announced, trying to stop laughing. "Get off me, I'm getting soaked," he told Jean as he rolled her to the side. Scott stood, and he offered Jean his hand to help her up. She arched a skeptical eyebrow at him, but allowed him to gently pull her to her feet.

"You two are, like, so totally adorable together," Kitty said dreamily as she watched them.

The group started walking back to the mansion. Scott and Jean brought up the rear, holding hands and smiling.

~~

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