Chapter 41 - So Much Teenage Drama

While Nate was taking a day with his team fo a seminar and James was with Tony working away, Kate was more than happy to take a day to go visit Mia. It was overdue anyhow - and the way she'd heard it from her sources on the ground in Westchester, Mia was in hot water over her speedy boyfriend. And by all her sources, that meant Billy, who had an inside scoop on everything concerning his twin.

But he hadn't gotten the time to relay to Kate what he knew, or what was going on with how grounded Tommy was via remote, including how Storm was in charge of enforcing his punishments. Mia knew, though. And she was not thrilled.

The fact remained that Ororo was in charge of both of their punishments on a level that was more meaningful than just headmistress. Especially when she was making sure that the punishments were complementing each other.

When Kate got to the Institute, Billy and Mia were getting the snacks together in preparation for their night in. Mia had insisted Kate bring a couple of new movies, but the moment she'd walked into the room it was pretty clear that Mia had zero intentions of watching them. Especially when so much in her world was so epically unfair.

"We haven't even done that much," Mia lamented as she perched on the back of the couch with Kate and Billy watching her rant as they shared the popcorn.

"Whose definition of 'not much' are you working off of?" Kate asked with a smile. "Because there might be a sliding scale for you know … time dating and age ... "

"Doesn't count as much when you're like … practically living together," Mia argued. "Which … same building."

"Different wings," Kate laughed.

"I know you're enjoying pushing things, but … you really should be careful with Tommy-," Billy said.

"You mean like your grandfather told you to be careful - no. that wasn't it," Mia said with her finger on her chin. "He told you to steer clear of James. Not just to be careful."

Billy stared at her for a moment in shocked silence. "How did you…"

"Yeah, Tommy totally threw you under the bus once he got started on perfect little Billy." Mia shook her head. "He was honestly surprised Magneto was even mad at you, but he wasn't surprised you didn't get in trouble while your boyfriend did."

"How … how mad was he?" Billy asked quietly. "My grandfather, I mean."

As Mia lifted one eyebrow, Kate pushed him in the shoulder. "Are you kidding? He totally rearranged James' lab." Kate frowned, though she stopped short of telling him anything else if James was going to try to keep secrets. "You knew about that. I know you did."

"I thought it was more sweeping than just James' lab," Billy said, looking honestly alarmed. "That would explain why there wasn't an answer yet."

"An answer to what?" Mia asked brightly, though the way her tail was swaying was a dead giveaway of how much she was enjoying someone else in trouble.

Billy glanced up at her and shook his head. "Nevermind. We should just … focus on how you're going to have your mother stringing Tommy up and how you'll never be able to be on any team because you love trouble so much."

Mia gasped dramatically and threw a handful of popcorn at Billy. "Like you have room to talk! You're spending every minute you get trying to be just as speedy as your brother!"

"Time out," Kate said, holding her hands up in a 'T' in front of herself. "We are not talking about who got how far with who. At all. Ever." She turned to Mia with a grin. "You're too young. And I like coming here to see you." But she honestly couldn't help herself. "But he looks like he's fun. You know. With the kissing and troublemaking and … yeah...still not nearly as interesting as my Superior Summers, though."

And while they were chatting and comparing Nate Summers to Billy's twin with a level of detail that Billy wasn't entirely comfortable with, Billy took his phone out to text James and find out how bad it had been when Erik had come by. He really wanted to know since James hadn't said what had gone down at all. Of course, halfway through drafting the text, he second guessed himself, deleted it, and instead sent a selfie with Kate that Mia photobombed upside down at the last possible moment with a caption of 'wish you were here'.

He wasn't expecting James to reply with 'me too' and a selfie taken by Tony that had both of them, Peter, and little May Parker all working on the military project. Or to be more accurate, Tony, James, and Peter were. May was there simply to keep her out of trouble and it was clear from the pictures she wasn't amused, even if the three brainiacs were having a good time. She was gravitating toward the one person closest in age, though.

But on seeing what was going on - the three guys picking on May, with her hating every second of it and trying to use James as a buffer - Billy didn't want to push or to come off as too … needy. Especially if James wasn't telling him things like when grandfathers attack. So instead of trying to find out what had happened, Billy did the wisest thing he could think of and kept it light with a few comments on how James looked and a few emojis. But it wasn't long before he had to ask how things were going with May in the middle, too. He cringed at himself as soon as he'd sent it, but … it was too late to take it back. But the response felt almost mixed.

Mayday really isn't helping much one way or the other, James wrote - which was both a little dismissive of her while also going back to her nickname.

Billy knew that he and May had been a pretty serious item, but again, he knew that more from the spilling that their friends had done. Not so much what James had said.

"Hey! Are you going to be here with us or are you going to daydream about your man-candy all night?" Kate teased before she reached over to steal Billy's phone.

"Like you're not texting Nate," Billy said, turning away from her to keep it to himself, not that it did him much good with Mia there to snatch it away then teleport to the other side of Kate, smiling at the string of texts as soon as she looked.

"Awwww, you two are so sweet," Mia said, her tail swaying behind her. "I thought it would be more steamy than 'oh, I miss you why can't we be kissing' kind of stuff."

Kate snatched the phone from Mia. "If it was, all the more reason for you not to read it!" When Billy tried to take it back, Kate held it tight to her chest, protecting it. "I'm not going to read it. I'm just going to keep you from going off the deep end when we're supposed to be having a movie night!"

Billy paused just long enough to decide on his course of action and lunged to steal Kate's phone. Which he managed to get as Kate protested loudly in his ear. Clearly, she'd thought he was going for his own phone. "Fine. But I'm keeping yours and answering Nate's awkward flirting myself until you give mine back."

Kate grinned in spite of the situation, but it was pretty clear neither one of them wanted to share their texts. "Trade on three. And no more having a whole facial journey while staring at your phone."

"You're one to talk," Billy laughed. "You should see yourself when you and Nate have your telepathic flirting sessions in public."

"I'm not that bad," Kate defended with wide eyes, thunderstruck at the accusation, but she ended up throwing a pillow at her friends when Mia slid over to sit by Billy, nodding solemnly.

"You really are," Mia said.

Scott had been increasingly quiet around all three of his kids, and not one of them had missed it. At all. Family dinners were getting less frequent from the kids' work with the two teams, and when they did happen, they were mostly in silence. No one wanted to talk about much of anything to avoid hitting the wrong nerve.

The four of them were more or less staring at each other as Nate tried to casually mention that he needed a sign up time for Scott to talk to his homeroom teacher, who also happened to be his history teacher. And the more Nate tried to press the subject, the more James and Rachel were sharing a raised eyebrow look Nate's way.

You're not subtle, Nate, Rachel projected to him. You're lucky Dad's distracted, or he'd bust you for matchmaking.

Why do you think I'm trying? Nate replied. Look at him. He needs the help.

Rachel bit her lip as she watched Scott. Okay, but your history teacher?

She's nice, she doesn't take crap from anybody, and she's always gushing about her nieces and nephews. Dad needs 'normal family woman' so…

You just want Dad distracted with Ms. Hale so you can get distracted with Kate.

Not 'just'...

Uh-huh, Rachel said, and Nate shot her a dirty look.

"Hey, Dad," James said, blatantly ignoring that his siblings were again clearly having a telepathic chat. Especially when what he had to ask would make some waves. Especially after Magneto's little warning. But just because Magneto didn't approve did not mean that Billy didn't want to move forward. And he'd been gently hinting to see if James had even asked about the trip. It was pretty clear that Billy was concerned that Erik was going to chase him off, but James wasn't going to let Magneto mess up what he thought was a good thing. Even if he was concerned his dad might not be as approving after the incident in the lab. "Spring break is coming up pretty soon." When Scott didn't really seem to react much, James pressed on. "So if you don't have plans already, Billy invited us to go to Genosha for the week. He wants me to officially meet his parents, and he asked me to extend the invite to you, too."

Scott looked up in obvious surprise at that. "Wait, what?"

James frowned at him as he answered slowly. "Billy invited us to Genosha for spring break. I'm asking if we can go, since I'm sure you don't want me to go alone and probably end up locked up for breathing or looking like I do."

Scott blinked at James slowly and then nodded. "Alright."

For a moment, James looked surprised at how quickly that had happened - with no further questions at all. He blinked a few times and glanced at his siblings. "Great, I'll let him know you're on board. Thanks."

"Absolutely," Scott said, looking back down at his dinner, though that just left the three kids sharing confused looks across the table.

He can't wait to get rid of me, James projected to Rachel, only halfway joking and still in shock at how easily Scott had rolled with it.

No, that's not it, Rachel said. He wants to go to Genosha… but he's blocking me on why.

Yeah, that can't be good, James projected.

He didn't mean to let me know he was thinking that way, but he was so… pleasantly surprised when you brought it up...

Doesn't make me feel any better, James said. This has that whole 'hiding things' stink to it. He frowned to himself and then pointedly took his phone out to text Billy - just to see if Scott would say anything like he used to do.

"Phones at the table," Scott said after a beat too long.

"Just checking for a pulse," James said, then finished his text before he put the phone down.

Scott looked up and saw that all three of the kids were watching him, and he let out a small breath. "Sorry," he said. "I've just been distracted."

"So let us un-distract you," Nate said.

"Right." Scott cleared his throat. "This homeroom teacher - I thought I already went to the parent night before the semester started."

"I may or may not be failing history," Nate said.

"Nate." Scott was suddenly much more engaged in the conversation. "If you can't keep your grades up, you can't be on any team at all."

"Yeah, I know," Nate said. "But that's why she wanted to talk to you. That's what I was trying to tell you."

"I'm sorry; I -" Scott took a deep breath and, seeing how the kids were looking at him, decided to tell them at least some of it. "An old friend of mine reached out to me. I'm sure you remember Kitty. She's worried about… everything. I told her I'd … well, I'm trying to ease her mind."

"So …you're agreeing to let me go to Genosha because it's tactical," James said slowly.

Scott nodded. "Kitty is worried about Magneto stepping out in the open again. Historically, he's been reasonable when he's left to his own devices, but when he's on a mission like this, everything falls to the wayside and he doesn't stop unless - well, it used to be that the professor would remind him he wasn't a monster…"

"And it's got you worried enough that you totally missed the reason behind the trip," James said, raising an eyebrow. "Awesome."

"I'm sorry, James," Scott said, reaching out to put a hand on his arm. "I was listening. I think it's great that Billy invited you, and I'm glad you've found someone like him that wants you to be more involved in his life. I really am."

"Good," James said. "I'll take that double standard." But at that, Rachel telekinetically tipped his chair back and rolled her eyes at him.

Scott shook his head at them both. "Anyway, this trip will let me get a good idea of how far off the reservation Magneto is so I can help Kitty," he explained. "So, yes, I was distracted. I'm sorry."

James nodded slowly as Scott seemed to at least begin to tell them what was going on, and after a little while, he reached out to Rachel again. First thing tomorrow, I'm going to finish the panic buttons with no metallic components. If he's this worried, we should have them for the trip - and we should be able to leave some with Kitty and the others.

Agreed, Rachel replied. And see if you can manage to drop one on him without him noticing. He's definitely holding back, and he's got that look like he and Natasha get when they're about to overhaul the security.

You want a bug on Dad? Really? Or just a tracer? Either way, I'm going to have to make something that will go around the tech in his eyes, too.

Rachel paused and bit her lip. Just a tracer. For now. I'd feel weird spying on him, and it does sound like he's trying to help.

But not weird trying to pick it out of his head.

Oh, like I don't spy on everyone that way, Rachel said with a shrug.

My point is what's the difference?

Well… he can block me telepathically, Rachel said. So it's … it feels more invasive to eavesdrop anyway.

Alright, got it. You want to be the one to hear it, James teased. Like the Punisher but with eavesdropping.

That's not what I said!

I'll get the tracer, sis. Don't worry.

Rachel let out a breath of a laugh. Alright. And… if we still don't feel like we know enough after you get back from Genosha, then we can old-school spy.

I'll try to put one on him when we're in Genosha, James said. Ready or not.

Might help us if we eavesdrop on Magneto…

I'll try to wear one when I'm stuck around him too, James said. I know it'll have to happen.

Be careful. If Dad's this worried, enough to actually put himself out there, in the field...

I know. This is bad.

Something goes wrong, reach out to me and the Avengers, please. Me first. If Dad's in trouble, or my little brother…

Sure you don't want to go too? James asked. I'll bet Billy wouldn't mind.

Rachel paused. Maybe I will, she said at last.

Might help him focus if all of us weren't off doing missions while he's gone.

Very true. And he'll probably make Nate study all break, she teased.

Which won't be possible if Kate's around to help him.

He's not even really failing. He'll be fine. He knows the material.

Yeah, but like Dad's going to let it stand at that. This is obviously a set up.

Honestly? I think Dad doesn't see it. Which just means the Magneto thing is so bad…. That maybe this setup will work. Which is kind of nuts.

Good, James said. He's been unhappy for too long.

Fingers crossed, Rachel agreed before she got up and smiled at Scott. "Come on, Dad. Let's have a movie night. We haven't done that in forever."

It took a solid week to schedule out all the repairs to the lab and to have the work actually done, and yet, by the time Tony's workers were moving the equipment back into James' lab, the boy still hadn't said more than a handful of words to any given Avenger about what had happened in the lab between himself and Magneto. So naturally, Tony felt like it was time to step in and make sure that his favorite of the team was actually okay. The trouble was finding the right time to do it.

As soon as the last workers cleared out and James started setting things up, Tony dove in with him, getting the more delicate equipment set up properly so they could run some tests to make sure everything was in good working order. Magneto's little hissy fit had set his work back considerably.

His computers were humming in the background rebooting and preparing for whatever might be asked of them as they started on the last of the equipment, and Tony paused when he saw a mass of ceramic circuitry. "What … are you working on here?" He turned the mass over in his hand, frowning at the vague familiarity of it, and barely getting ahead of James' explanation as he realized that it had been in the base of the 3D printer he'd made.

"As soon as the team started up, I began working on better communication systems," James said. "You knew that. You came in to yell at me after I made the panic buttons."

"Yeah but this …"

"Is a grade or two above what I came up with for the prototypes," James finished, then turned toward Tony with his arms to his sides. "I know everyone thinks I have a death wish, but I don't. I had no intention of facing Magneto with metallic components. That-" he gestured to the mass Tony was holding. "Is hopefully, a way to go around him so if we end up needing help you won't have to listen for the silence and the news reports."

Tony blinked and glanced at James as he continued setting up his equipment. "Is this what you're printing and didn't want to tell me about?"

James didn't turn around as he kept working. "No. I'm printing what it's going to be housed in." Finally he turned and gave Tony a significant look. "It's not just the new team that I want to see protected from this guy in particular. You might be freaking out about what happens to your company down the road, but what about now? What about Jan? Or the rest of the team? If you know you're going to eventually face a guy that manipulates metal, why the hell would you bring him some when you end up talking to him?"

Tony couldn't dampen the smile that was cropping up in spite of himself. "So what's your plan now?"

"Finish your armor first, because he will definitely come back at some point and I want to know that you have that much at least. Then I'm going to re-create everything here that I can in this new material to replace anything metallic in my lab. He had too much to work with last time. No reason to make it so easy."

"James, half the city is metal," Tony pointed out.

"I'll deal with it," James said with a grim smirk. "Don't worry. I've got a few contingencies in place. I just need to build them and test them."

"Ah. And we're back to the devious look. Good," Tony said, nodding before he set the circuits down and simply started working with James to make things go a little quicker. "You mind if I ask what your boyfriend thinks of his grandfather threatening you?"

James hedged for a moment, but kept working. "I maybe didn't give him specifics when he asked what happened."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to be the source of any discord between him and his family," James said. "And without even trying, I already am. So I'm not going to make it worse. Either Magneto will find a way to cope or Billy will get tired of me."

Tony frowned, but didn't stop working. "And if neither of those things happens?"

"It'll be one or the other," James said, then blew out a breath. "If you really need to talk though, could it be about something … not Magneto related?"

"Sure. As soon as Magneto stops trying to threaten you into … something. Are you ever going to tell me what he said to you?"

"No," James said quietly.

"Hey. You know that even if I didn't want you to take over for me down the road, I still want you safe, right?"

James was thankful Tony couldn't see the look on his face at that moment, because the idea that he was safe at this point was laughable. Chatter was up - he knew that from watching Natasha, and any promise that the tower was a safe haven was up in smoke since Magneto stuck his nose into things. It was all the more irritating when he knew that now he couldn't tell Billy where the real house was since that could get back to Magneto and put his family at risk. But instead of voicing any of that, he did what was quickly becoming the norm for him and did what he could to ease Tony's mind. "Yeah. Love you too."