Chapter 2: "Flirting With Danger"

The junior team was in a rush to get down to the locker room so they could head out for a quick call to help a group of humans that had been surrounded by Superior Rising creeps. They'd been making examples out of the humans on the internet — one by one beating the crap out of them and doing horrible things depending on what powers any of those in attendance had. But as James rushed down the stairs, he very nearly ran into Howard, who had just come in.

"Business or trying to get your ass kicked?" James asked without breaking stride.

Howard rushed to keep up with him. "Saw the chatter, and I figured you didn't want to leave without the force fields," he said.

James turned his way with a little smile. "You got 'em? Or at least a few of em?"

Howard grinned outright. "I have enough for everybody, but I have to warn you," he added, the smile dropping. "Yours might not work so well."

"If one isn't gonna work, that's the one that we can get away with," James said with a nod.

"No, no," Howard said. "They all work. It's just that you have low-level radiation." He gestured to James. "Adamantium."

"Right. That's what it does," James agreed, then slowed to a stop as he turned Howards way. "Damnit."

"Well, that's why it wasn't working for you. That's why it was being moody," Howard said, nodding as he saw the understanding light up in James' expression. "You haven't had to get used to working around that angle of it, so it's totally understandable. I can tinker up more of these for the senior squad, too, but I thought I'd give you the caveat emptor."

"Please," he said, letting out his breath. "If you're set up to get them done, ask Scott; he can give you the final numbers. But not now."

"I'll keep in touch, too," Howard said. "If this works like we want it to, no reason the reservers can't have something in the wings either. Or the ones that test in."

James nodded and waved for Howard to follow him. "I'm running a little behind everyone else. You can hand 'em out and explain how they work while I get changed."

Howard looked surprised but then nodded, unused to being directly involved with the teams. "Alright. Great," he said distantly.

"Nothing to it, Howard. Should be easier than talking to the press," James said.

"Right. Easier. Okay…"

The two of them headed down to where the rest of the junior team was gathered, and all of them were to the point of just putting their boots on — except, of course, James had yet to totally switch over. "Before you leave the room, one last present for your uniform," James said. "Howard will explain it. He polished it up for me."

Howard waved at the group with a recognizable glint in his expression at getting the chance to show off, quickly explaining the basics of the force field and showing the group how to use it. "Basically, unless someone's shooting adamantium at you, you're bulletproof," he summed up when he was through. "I mean, try not to get shot all the same, because it can wear on the suit, but fatality risks should plummet by a couple thousand percentage points here."

"The part Howard's giving you is powered by the suit," James explained. "It'll be seamless, and there's what—" He turned to Howard for confirmation. "—half inch gap between you and the forcefield around your head?"

Howard nodded. "Little bit of breathing room, less likely to leave a bruise from blunt force if you get hit." He grinned. "And if you feel like headbutting someone, it'll be wicked too."

"Air moves freely through the barrier," James said almost distractedly as he pulled his boots on finally. "So no one's gonna suffocate."

Chance was grinning as he watched the interplay between the two geniuses. "You planned this so you could start off the mission with a dramatic panache," he teased James.

"I wish I could say that I planned that well," James said. "I asked him to figure out what I screwed up." He stood up straight and met Chance's gaze. "Turns out I didn't. Even if I was the problem."

"Adamantium was the problem. Not you," Howard put in. "So James' will be a bit moody. Make sure to keep them separate when you put them away so no one gets the radiated one."

"James isn't going to bother with his when he knows it's not reliable," James said.

"No, you should wear it anyway," Chloe said with a frown. "If there's a possibility it works — I mean, isn't it better to have something that might stop a bullet rather than no protection at all?"

James turned her way and shook his head. "That's not it. It's not just being fritzy for me. When it doesn't work, it shocks me. So, no. I'm not. I don't want it shorting out the rest of it."

"Just try not to catch anymore bullets with your face, then," Chance said.

James gave him a dry look. "Now that I know you're not going to mess up your face for my sister, I'm not gonna worry about you."

Chance smirked at that, though with everyone now ready to go, he simply tipped his head to the exit. "Alright. Chloe, you're running the show with James as your second," he said.

Chloe looked surprised as she turned toward her brother, not just at the change in conversation, even if it had been abrupt. "I … what?"

"Come on, Chloe," James said, draping an arm around her shoulders. "It's his way of saying he doesn't want to screw it up. You got this."

"I just… okay," Chloe said, still looking surprised. But then again, no one on the junior squad could keep up with James and Chance when they were on the same wavelength, so no one had any help to give her anyway.

"You've got all the intel," Elin said. "And James is right. You've got this. Just review it on the way like you always do and you can tell your brother where he can go."

Chance shook his head at Elin as they headed to the jet. "Just can't stop yourself from picking, can you?" he chuckled under his breath at her.

"Do you not like it when I pick?" she asked.

He laughed. "You know I love everything about you."

"Then… quitcherbitchin'," she said with a little laugh.

"Just trying to figure out how trying to transition the team leadership turned into a picking session," he laughed.

"It … is always a pick on Chance session?" she said, scrunching her nose up.

"It's going to be this way when we're on the senior squad with your parents, isn't it?" he said with a smirk.

"No it won't," Elin said shaking her head seriously. "It'll be much, much worse."

Chance just laughed at that. "You're so right," he said before the two of them simply climbed into the jet together, still picking the whole way.

"Thank you, Howard," James called out as they left him standing in the hall.

"Good luck!" he called after them, sort of belatedly, before he shook his head to himself and headed back down the hall to find Scott and explain the new force field. And he really did have every intention of helping… but he diverted when he saw the dance room to poke his head in on Sadie's practice with a grin and a 'hello, gorgeous' — he could get to Scott later.

Sadie stopped her stretches to look up at him in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I was working with James on a project for the team," he said with a grin. "New protective measures — pretty amazing stuff, if I do say so myself."

"So … my siblings should be perfectly safe then, hmm?"

"Well," Howard said slowly, "it'll work perfectly for everyone that doesn't have adamantium, sadly. If I could find a way to work around the radiation, I would, but it screws with everything I've tried, and I wanted to at least get the rest of the team covered while I can."

She stood up straighter and looked thoughtful for a moment. "James knows the radiation is the issue, right?" When he nodded, she bit her lip and nodded once herself. "Then it'll be fine. He spent some time with Dr. Banner. I'm sure he'll have a few thoughts on how to work around it."

"Yeah, and I'm not going to stop either," Howard said quickly.

She gave him a little smile for that. "Good."

"But I thought you'd like to hear at least that your sister and boyfriend are totally bulletproof," he said with a small, crooked sort of smirk.

"I am very happy to hear that much at least, yes," Sadie replied with a little wider smile. "So thank you for being James' little lab monkey assistant."

"Hey," Howard laughed, holding up his hands. "I'm not a lab monkey!"

She shrugged as she started her warm ups. "I don't know about that … you look like you might be … natural habitat is a lab after all."

Howard grinned as he crossed the room to lean against the wall nearest her. "Is that why you're so out of my league? I'm a lowly lab monkey and you're a queen of the fairies?"

"I'm not the queen of the fairies anymore," she pointed out. "Run's over."

"So, just a regular, run-of-the-mill queen," Howard said, nodding seriously.

She shook her head slowly with a drawn out 'mmm-mmm'. "No, just a girl in pointe shoes."

"Not to me," Howard said, dramatically looking her over. "I see royalty."

"You're a terrible flirt, Little Stark."

"I am, and I'm not the least bit sorry about it," Howard said without missing a beat.

Sadie couldn't help but laugh at him. "So … is that all you're doing here? Informing me of your good deed?"

"Well, I was handing them out to the team before they left," Howard admitted. "I saw the thing in Texas and knew they'd be heading out, and I didn't want them to leave unprotected. It's rough out there."

"Awww, such a softie," she said with a grin.

Howard flushed. "I'm just doing what anyone else here does," he said. "Backing up the team."

She stopped what she was doing and gave him an honest smile. "Yes. And I really do appreciate it. Are you sticking around, or are you headed back out?"

"Well, I was going to stick around to talk to Cyclops about outfitting the senior squad too," he said. "And I'm pretty sure if that goes long, Annie won't let me leave unless she feeds me."

"You love when Annie has you stay," Sadie laughed. She abandoned her warm-ups and crossed the room, then stopped next to him and leaned against the wall with him. "If you really miss it that much, you can probably find a way to waste enough time to talk to James and the team when they get back and ask how the … whatever … worked for them."

Howard turned her way with a troublemaking smile. "Well, I have an idea for something to do with my time, but you'll turn me down," he said.

"Probably," she agreed. "But it's never stopped you asking before."

"True," Howard said before he simply leaned in and stole a kiss. "So, what do you say?" he said with a crooked grin.

She was completely shocked by the bold move but didn't immediately react, either. "You didn't say what your thought was."

"I … didn't think I had to," Howard said, though he hadn't pulled back in the slightest.

Sadie was just staring up at him and hadn't quite moved more than to let her shoulders drop a little. "Howard, you know I'm seeing Kaleb." Even if it was a rebuke, she wasn't being harsh with him at all.

Howard didn't drop her gaze, though he did bite his lip as he let his gaze drift to her mouth again and then finally let out a long breath. "I know," he said. "Which is why I knew you'd turn me down. But I had to ask."

She couldn't help but smile crookedly at that. "You didn't ask."

"I did. I just didn't use so many words," he replied with a small smirk.

She couldn't help but chuckle at him. "And this is why you're so much trouble."

"Yeah, but that's also what makes me such a great catch," Howard said with a little laugh.

Sadie shook her head and put her hand on his shoulder to push him back a little bit. "No. It's the sweet squishiness."

Howard let her move him back, though he was still smiling at her. "You know I'll keep asking until the answer is yes, don't you?" he said.

She arched one eyebrow up. "Or until you get bored."

"Nah," he said, shaking his head. "No one I've dated was anything like you. Not gonna find anyone better."

"Though that may be entirely true, I also know you don't like hearing 'no'," Sadie said.

Howard raised an eyebrow. "What, you think I only go for easy girls?" he asked, sounding perfectly insulted.

"The thought had crossed my mind," she said before she turned to walk away from him and take up her spot at the barre.

"Well, you're wrong," Howard said. "I'd rather have to work for it." He gestured to her. "Exhibit A. The only exhibit, really."

She turned to look at him and shook her head. "Uh-huh," she said, biting back a smile.

"Would I be spending my every spare moment trying to impress you if I didn't?" Howard asked.

"I don't know," she replied, though she still hadn't started her dance. "I thought this might just be a matter of stubbornness. That or the whole kindergartners with the shiny toy."

Howard shook his head. "If it was that, I'd have kissed you at your audition and been done with it," he said. "This? I don't want to screw this up. I'm interested, Sadie. I didn't know I had to spell that out for you!" he added, throwing his hands up in the air.

She stopped her picking and watched him get flustered for a moment. "Okay."

He blinked at her, putting his hands back down with a frown. "Okay...?"

"Okay, I believe you," she said.

"Okay," Howard said, starting to grin as he watched her. "Good."

"We'll just have to see how long you stay interested. I'm not going to ditch Kaleb just because you stole a kiss."

"I honestly didn't think you would," Howard said. "You're not that easy."

"No, I'm not," she said, smiling wider. "But I didn't think you were that … focused."

"The month and a half spending every weekend at your ballet wasn't a giveaway?" he teased.

"I tried very hard not to notice," Sadie said before she finally started going through her routine. "Though that wasn't easy to do when you sent so many flowers. Thank you, by the way. They were lovely."

"I thought you might like the roses," he said with a smile. "Someone said they were good for 'new beginnings' and 'remembrances' and I thought… hey. Sounds good to me."

"They also mean 'purity'," she said dryly.

"Well, obviously those don't fit me at all," he said with a troublemaking grin.

She couldn't help but laugh at him for that. "Are you sure?"

"Um, yes. Yes, I am," Howard said. "I can show you what I've learned if you want."

"Obviously a little bit of patience," she said, pausing as she peeked at him over her shoulder. "Though maybe I won't do it for you now."

"One way to find out," Howard pointed out.

She tipped her head to the side and went through a bit more of her program. "I'll put it under review."

"That's not a no," he said, grinning even wider.

"It's also not a yes," she replied.

"I'll take it," he said. "It's progress."

She shook her head at him. "I really should send you to have a session with Charlie."

"You should," he said, nodding along. "You should also probably kick me out. I'm trouble."

"You are trouble," she agreed before she gave him a smile of her own. "But I can take you down a couple notches if I need to."

"You haven't yet," he said. "So you haven't needed to. That's also a good thing, right?"

"You know, if you had a solid excuse to be in here, I'd ask you to stay," she said. "But you're not the dance partner I need right now."

"Maybe next time," he said. "Mom taught me a really good Charleston last New Year's just for fun."

She giggled at that. "I'm sure it's great. But I wanted to work on lifts." She stopped and shrugged. "Oh well."

He blinked at her for a moment before he broke into a grin. "I mean… if you need someone to help you out…"

"Uncle Hawkeye helped me for a hot minute with Aunt Tasha shouting directions at him. It was hilarious."

"And I missed it. Clearly, I need to come around here more often," Howard said.

"That was at the studio downtown," she laughed. "If it had been here, Kate would have never let him live it down. Ever."

"Clearly, I need to come around there more often, too," Howard laughed. "But hey, if a 70-something-year-old Hawkeye can do it, I bet I can. Right?"

She shrugged both shoulders to her ears. "I was going to try to talk a Summers into it."

"No, no," Howard said, grinning as he crossed over to where she was. "One's wrapped up in your sister, and the other is just… not at all your type."

"The other is wonderful and can pick me up like I'm nothing," she laughed.

"Yeah, but…" Howard smiled as he put his hands on either side of her waist. "This is more fun."

"I didn't think you were any kind of a dancer outside of ballroom," she pointed out.

"I've done a few lifts in ballroom," Howard defended.

"Not the same," she said.

Howard didn't move except to lean in slightly. "Okay. Teach me."

"I'm not the best teacher for that," she replied, not giving up her position. "You should definitely ask Aunt Tasha though."

"Don't think I won't. I'll tell her I want to learn lifts and she'll put me to work, and you know it."

"She'll put you to Russian Ballet Boot Camp," she laughed.

"Or," he said, taking a further step closer, "you could just show me."

Sadie smirked and leaned a hair forward. "I'm not interested in teaching you anything."

But that just got a laugh out of Howard. "But you are interested."

She lifted one shoulder and gave an incredibly unimpressed look as she gave him a non-committal 'maybe'.

Howard grinned wider as he held her gaze for a long time. "If I kiss you again, I'll get in trouble with you, won't I?" he said.

"Are you that close to losing your edge?"

"You're irresistible," he said, still grinning. "I lose all semblance of rational thought around you."

"Then I guess it all depends on how afraid you are to get slapped, doesn't it?"

"It's more that I'm afraid I won't get another kiss," he said.

She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned in — only to divert quickly to kiss his cheek. "That's probably accurate."

He was grinning as he watched her, still not moving an inch back from her. "Then… I won't kiss you. I hope you appreciate how hard that is," he said at last. "But I'd rather wait and not blow my chance for something more spectacular later."

She smiled at that. "I appreciate that a lot."

He finally took a small step back and then kissed her cheek. "See you around, Sadie."