Holiday Ficlet #11: "Fielding Trouble" [X-Men/E.R.]
Title: Fielding Trouble
Fandoms: E.R./X-Men Movieverse - Allegiance 'verse
Characters: Scott, Ray, Scott/Jean
Wordcount: ~480 words
Summary: Scott still remembers the first time Ray came home from college.
AN: For scribble_myname.
Fielding Trouble
Scott still remembered the first time Ray came home from college. They were sitting in the common room, curled up on the chairs around the fire while the first snow of the year started falling outside the window, stark white spots sprinkling the night.
The Professor had to have let him in. There he was suddenly standing in the doorway, duffel bag still slung over his shoulder, having a strangely resilient look around - like Scott himself might check out the perimeter before a fight. Despite the fact that he'd spent the last year writing papers and getting involved with some garage band, Ray looked more like Threshold than Scott had ever seen. A trained eye would immediately notice the lean frame he was hiding underneath his shirt, though said shirt featured a slogan about zombies and gore, matching worn jeans riddled with holes. An X-Man's eyes, pothead style - too surreal to process.
Scott had noticed him first, looming at the entrance and searching for traps.
Then 'Ro said, "Oh my god," because nobody had expected Ray for another day and he'd been missed. She rose, one graceful motion like a movie star, "Look who the cat dragged in."
There was a jostle then, everybody crowding and laughing when the school's three-headed menace was reunited - because Jean, so much older than Ray and 'Ro and even Scott, hadn't shared the teenage angst with them and didn't count. Scott hung back while Ray dropped his bag to answer Jean's hug in that careful way he had with her, giving him a pang of jealousy because -- Stop it. He's too young for her. But so was Scott.
Hank squeezed Ray's shoulder on the way out, and then it was Scott facing the punk rock kid who'd once been his room mate and had moved from being the annoying little brother to someone who belonged.
Ray smirked when Scott offered his hand, reaching out to clasp it.
"You gonna tell me you missed kicking my ass?"
Scott smirked back. "The Danger Room just isn't the same without someone easy to slap around."
Nothing should have changed after half a year, Scott thought. Nothing had changed when he had gone away to college a few years prior. Ray's handshake still felt the same kind of careless and firm, the banter definitely hadn't changed, and there was a whole list of X-Men stuff to train for the two weeks they'd have a full team.
But Scott couldn't shake the first impression of a stranger at the door, checking out the room for signs of peril. It was a ridiculous observation, but he couldn't help but think that there was something off about the image. As if Ray had reached a decision while he was off on his own, one that Scott really wouldn't like.
He'd never before looked like he was ready to fight.
Fandoms: E.R./X-Men Movieverse - Allegiance 'verse
Characters: Scott, Ray, Scott/Jean
Wordcount: ~480 words
Summary: Scott still remembers the first time Ray came home from college.
AN: For scribble_myname.
Fielding Trouble
Scott still remembered the first time Ray came home from college. They were sitting in the common room, curled up on the chairs around the fire while the first snow of the year started falling outside the window, stark white spots sprinkling the night.
The Professor had to have let him in. There he was suddenly standing in the doorway, duffel bag still slung over his shoulder, having a strangely resilient look around - like Scott himself might check out the perimeter before a fight. Despite the fact that he'd spent the last year writing papers and getting involved with some garage band, Ray looked more like Threshold than Scott had ever seen. A trained eye would immediately notice the lean frame he was hiding underneath his shirt, though said shirt featured a slogan about zombies and gore, matching worn jeans riddled with holes. An X-Man's eyes, pothead style - too surreal to process.
Scott had noticed him first, looming at the entrance and searching for traps.
Then 'Ro said, "Oh my god," because nobody had expected Ray for another day and he'd been missed. She rose, one graceful motion like a movie star, "Look who the cat dragged in."
There was a jostle then, everybody crowding and laughing when the school's three-headed menace was reunited - because Jean, so much older than Ray and 'Ro and even Scott, hadn't shared the teenage angst with them and didn't count. Scott hung back while Ray dropped his bag to answer Jean's hug in that careful way he had with her, giving him a pang of jealousy because -- Stop it. He's too young for her. But so was Scott.
Hank squeezed Ray's shoulder on the way out, and then it was Scott facing the punk rock kid who'd once been his room mate and had moved from being the annoying little brother to someone who belonged.
Ray smirked when Scott offered his hand, reaching out to clasp it.
"You gonna tell me you missed kicking my ass?"
Scott smirked back. "The Danger Room just isn't the same without someone easy to slap around."
Nothing should have changed after half a year, Scott thought. Nothing had changed when he had gone away to college a few years prior. Ray's handshake still felt the same kind of careless and firm, the banter definitely hadn't changed, and there was a whole list of X-Men stuff to train for the two weeks they'd have a full team.
But Scott couldn't shake the first impression of a stranger at the door, checking out the room for signs of peril. It was a ridiculous observation, but he couldn't help but think that there was something off about the image. As if Ray had reached a decision while he was off on his own, one that Scott really wouldn't like.
He'd never before looked like he was ready to fight.