Formula

by: WHM Yayo

setting: post-X2

characters: Scott "Slim" Summers/ Cyclops, "Marie"/ Rogue, Katherine "Kitty" Pryde/ Shadowcat, Jubilation Lee/ Jubilee

Notes: This may or may not be a one-shot. It all depends on the feedback.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any mentioned characters, places, films or any other intellectual properties mentioned herein. All rights belong to their respective owners, which include, but are not limited to, Marvel, comics or films, Inc.

Scott was awake again. That was no surprise, as it was well past the time he should have been in bed. Ever since Alkali Lake. However, ever since Jean's death, sleep had been difficult. The bed felt empty, and every time sleep did come, a recurring nightmare awoken him. Always the same: Jean, dead, her eyes glazed over, wet, rising from the depths of the lake like a phoenix from the ashes, a dark phoenix, accusing him, questioning him. Why hadn't he done more? Why hadn't he tried to help her? He knew, of course, that this was ridiculous, Jean could no more come back from the dead than he could have a brother from outer space. Jean had prevented anyone from helping her, it wouldn't make sense. But this knowledge did not come with comfort. So what did he do to seek out comfort? Take one depressed mutant, add one pint of Chunky Monkey and a Spanish soap opera, rinse and repeat until the formula worked.

This was the normal plan, anyway. But when had his life ever been normal? Never. As such, this particular Saturday night, when he walked into the common room, he was less than surprised to find Rogue, Jubilee and Kitty awake, disturbing his ritual with the end of some horror movie. He had apparently walked in upon some unannounced "Girls Night In." He attempted to leave and respect the girls privacy, and perhaps try again to sleep, possibly with his dreams devoid of warring beasts and angels, but the girls called over to him, stopped him, told him to sit with them. Not having the strength to argue, he quietly sat down next to Kitty, with Jubilee and Rogue on his left, and asked "So, uh, what are you watching?"

"We're finishing up SAW right now, and then we're gonna put something else in. Go ahead, take a look at what we got, if you're gonna stay with us for a while." Kitty replied, motioning to the stack of DVD cases on the coffee table.

Picking up the collection, he started to read off some titles. "Dogma... The Goonies... Army of Darkness... The Punisher... Layer Cake... what the hell? What's this?" he asked, stopping his list.

"What? Lemme see." Kitty asked. He handed the DVD to her, and the other two girls crowded around her to see what the fuss was about.

Kitty looked over the case, eyes wide as saucers, and Jubilee took the case from her friends hand and threw it under the TV stand.

"Breathe, Kitty-Kat. Just chill, OK?" Jubilee told her.

Finally, Rogue spoke up. "Ah am never, never borrowin' Logan's DVDs ever again. 'Specially without askin'." Scott couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'm sure it was just an accident, girls. He probably left them all around and didn't sort them. Hell, he probably knew you were going to take his stuff and did it on purpose."

"Yeah, Mr. Summers, real accidental. Like how he stole yoah motorcycle, stole yoah car, left yoah car in Boston, and hit on yoah girlfriend at every opportunity." Seeing the sudden pang of sadness in her teacher's face, she caught herself and quickly apologized.

"Mr. Summers, Ah am so sorry! Ah- Ah wasn't thinkin', Ah didn't realize-" Scott cut her off.

"No, Rogue, it's OK. You're absolutely right. He did hit on Jean. But I'm OK with that now. It's over, and I accept that."

Sensing that her teacher needed to be alone, Jubilee decided to depart, announcing her impending leave in a way that only she could.

"Well, Fearless Leader, if we ain't gonna watch nothin', me and the Kitten are gonna hit the sack." Catching on to Jubilee's plan, she stood and grabbed her friends hand, pulling her off the couch.

"Want a phase ride up to your room?" she asked.

"Sure." the Asian girl replied.

"OK, grab on." Jubilee threw an arm around Kitty's shoulder, and they began to air-walk up to the girls dorms.

"Look, Mr. Summers, I can air-walk with someone now." Kitty said excitedly.

A slight grin came on to Scott's face. Depressed though he was, he couldn't help but be happy at the sight of one of his students learning to control their powers better.

After the girls disappeared through the ceiling, phasing into Kitty's room, Jubilee went to te door, opened it, turned to give Kitty a goodbye hug, and walked across the hall to her dorm room.

Back downstairs, Scott and Rogue were talking.

"So, ya wanna watch another movie, or just chill out or something?" Rogue asked, trying to start up a conversation.

"Speaking of chilling," Scott started, countering the question with one of his own, "why aren't you with Bobby?"

"Oh... well, we sorta... broke up." she responded.

"Why?" Scott inquired.

"A bunch o' reason, ah guess. He was mopin' around cause o' John leaving Alkali Lake with Magneto, and 'sides, he was kinda clingy an' possessive, anyway. Ah feel like ah've gone everywhere ah want to with him. Ah'm on the lookout for someone new, now. A new guy to hang out with, some one to get close to."

"What kind of guy?" he asked.

"Ah dunno. Maybe someone rugged, ya know? A tough Cajun guy with an attitude."

Scott scoffed. "Well, chere, maybe t'ings wouldn't be dat great wit' a guy like dat, non?" he asked playfully, putting on his best Cajun accent.

"Yeah, maybe yoah right. Guy like that'd prob'ly be a thief or gambler, or a womanizer or something."

"Hm... hey, Rogue?"

"Yeah, Mr. Summers?"

"There's a 7-11 around the block and Mi Amigos y Familia doesn't start for another 15 minutes. Wanna go pick up some Chunky Monkey?"

"Uh...sure, Mr. Su-"

"Scott. You can call me Scott."

"Sure, Scott. Ah'd think that'b be cool. Lemme get mah shoes."

That night, the formula yielded positive results.

Read and review, folks. I need the positive energy to survive, or I'll start feeding on the souls of the innocent, and you wouldn't believe how high the calorie intake on that is.