11/17 Issue: Swimmers for Science

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Slarti
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11/17 Issue: Swimmers for Science

Post by Slarti »

<Jamie> Jamie stared at the door with a frown so deep he would likely have wrinkles from it for a week. "This is weird." Super weird. For a super human. Super sperm. Super human sperm. WHATTHEHELLSHUTUP. He wished he had brain bleach for his own thoughts. "We should go." And with that, Jamie turned on his heel, digging in his pocket for his keys.

<Jean> His super panic attack was giving Jean a headache. "How is it weird? He's a doctor!" Jean grabbed for his wrist to stop him but missed and got his ass instead. Also a good option, so she left her hand there.

<Jamie> Jamie jumped a tiny bit at the ass grab, but it felt nice, so he stopped and turned to her, grabbing her ass too. "It just is... Jerking off for anybody but myself and you is just... weird."

<Jean> "Well you're not doing it for funsies." She grinned at the return grab and squeezed. "It's to understand how your powers work... and make sure our kids will be okay."

<Jamie> He stared at her in silence for a looooong moment then huffed. "Fine. But they don't get to know any of this happened."

<Jean> "Deal." She gave his ass a shake.

<Jamie> "It never leaves the three of us." He gave her ass a pinch and turned back towards the door and knocked before he lost his nerve.

<Pietro> Aha! There they were! Pietro was wondering if they'd reconsidered and forgotten to call... or chickened out of calling. Due to privacy concerns because Jean was a public figure now, he'd given his very limited staff the time off so he opened the door to greet them himself.

<Jamie> Jamie gave a weak smile back and cleared his throat. "H-hey."

<Jean> "Hey!" Jean spun around and greeted him way more enthusiastically than her fiance.

<Pietro> Pietro smiled brightly back at them and gestured them inside, "We have the place to ourselves so make yourselves at home and help yourself to snacks." There was always snacks.

<Jamie> Don't do it. It has to be done. Says who? Jean. Dammit. He took a deep breath and stepped through the door. "Thanks..."

<Jean> Jean took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. To himself huh? At least Monet's not here! "Ooo, snacks."

<Pietro> Pietro led the way through the reception area to his office and sat down in his favourite chair. The office itself was very un-office-y to help his clients relax and had lots of comfy seating options.

<Jamie> She would tease me mercilessly, I'm sure. Jamie looked around as they walked and picked the couch-slash-oversized-chair-slash-what-the-hell-was-it-anyway to sit in, pulling Jean onto his lap for comfort reasons.

<Jean> Oh, absolutely. Especially since she'd totally remember you like you were in school. Jean snuggled into him, turning her face to nose at his cheek before looking back over at Pietro. "Thanks for seeing us."

<Pietro> Pietro waved it off, "Anything for fellow XU students. God knows we earned some favours." He offered a small grin.

<Jean> "The school go boom discount?" She smiled a little.

<Pietro> "... I'm definitely not calling it that."

<Jamie> "No, you definitely should call it the Christmas Rocket Special. Many... many... rockets."

<Jean> "And not even a raccoon in sight..."

<Pietro> "Please don't mention the raccoon. I'm sure I'd have nightmares about that guy if I slept."

<Jamie> "Because he's a raccoon... Who talks? We've literally made friends with scarier things."

<Pietro> "No... because he's worse than Broo when it comes to weaponising anything that's not nailed down."

<Jean> Jean cocked her head. "I should call Jack, speaking of fluffy people."

<Jamie> "Oh, are we just naming off creature-type mutants?" Isn't that derogatory? Not if it's true? Maybe. "We could go down into the sewers and play whack-a-mole with a bunch of them."

<Jean> Jean gave Jamie a wide-eyed look and a smack for good measure. "Jack is not a creature!"

<Pietro> "I know a few feral mutants that would chew your head off in the very literal sense for calling them a creature."

<Jamie> "Whoa!" Jamie held up both of his hands in a surrender gesture. "I didn't mean it in a bad way! Just... Y' know... They look more like animals than homo sapiens."

<Pietro> "The accepted term is feral mutant... some still have a problem with that but that's the word you wanna use." Pietro advised, "Some have a harder time controlling their more base nature than others. I have a lot of them on my client list."

<Jamie> "But don't feral mutants not always look like animals?"

<Pietro> "It's less common, but yeah there are some that just manifest the heightened senses without any outer differences... but they can still have just as much trouble with the inner voice." He paused, "Much as I could spend all day discussing the ins and outs of various mutations... I think we're here to talk about yours... so how about we start there and do the tangents afterward."

<Jean> "Tangents are totes part of his powers though," she observed, settling back in since she'd finished defending Jack's honor.

<Jamie> Jamie wrapped his arms around Jean's waist as she settled again and gave a one-shouldered shrug. "My mind just does that. Tangents are a fun, and sometimes annoying to the point of deadly, side effect of having just a handful too many mes up in my noggin."

<Pietro> "Right... but you want to keep all that happening and just cut off the non-consensual duping, right?"

<Jean> That was a polite way to put it. Jean slid her arm around his shoulders and gave him a squeeze before he could tense up.

<Jamie> Just as Jean's arm squeezed he was about to roll his shoulders so he stopped himself. "I thought we were just going to make sure we could have kids."

<Pietro> "Well, lucky for you, I can help with both things... and only one of them is going to be awkward for you."

<Jamie> Jamie groaned and let his head fall forward. "Fan-flipping-tastic, dude."

<Pietro> Pietro gave him a grin... and a cup. "Open up." He held up a swab, the gloves seeming to appear on his hands.

<Jean> Jean kissed his cheek and shifted a bit to get out of Pietro's way. "If it makes you feel better, he's totes gonna do me too."

<Jamie> Jamie took the cup and glared at Pietro. "I'm the only one who does Jean. I don't care how fast you are. Mine."

<Pietro> Pietro raised an eyebrow and produced a second swab.

<Jean> Jean gigglesnorted.

<Jamie> Jamie's cheeks flushed and he rolled his shoulders. Better to keep the mouth shut. Except... Open. Obediently, he opened his mouth for the first swab Pietro had brought out.

<Pietro> Pietro swabbed the insides of Jamie's cheeks and set the first swab to one side then turned to Jean with hers, "While you're having some time with your cup, do you mind if I take a look at your coat?"

<Jamie> Time... with his cup... Jamie squeezed his eyes shut and leaned forward to pinch the bridge of his nose. Then the second half of the question caught up to him and he jerked his head up to look at Pietro. "You're not going to be with me while I do that, dude."

<Pietro> ".... No, I was hoping you'd remove the coat."

<Jean> Jean smacked her lips after the swabbing was done. "Cottony." Then she looked between the two of them. "Babe... let him look at your coat?" She turned on the eyes.

<Jamie> "But..." He groaned after he saw Jean's eyes. "It's... fiiiine." Jamie shook his head, not sure why he wanted to look at his coat anyway. He was working on it just fine by himself. He didn't need help.

<Jean> Jean turned the eyes up a notch. Her lip quivered.

<Jamie> "You break it, you're a dead man."

<Pietro> "I won't break it," he assured Jamie, "I'm a professional."

<Jamie> Jamie blinked at him. Professional with Dad's genius? Doubtful. He grumbled under his breath in acquiescence anyway.

<Jean> Jean reached to squeeze Jamie's arm in thanks, even though she could feel his saltiness.

<Pietro> Pietro picked up the swabs to get started on the DNA work up, "You can go through there," he gestured to a door across the room.

<Jamie> Jamie stared at the door that was pointed to and sighed heavily, letting his head fall forward in shame. Weird powers that no one understood made for embarrassing situations. Dammit. "Yep. Thanks."

<Pietro> "If you're worried about anything, remember this is my job. Just relax, take your time. There's not going to be a queue."

<Jean> "I should go, um, assist!" she chirped.

<Jamie> Jamie perked up a little at the thought of being assisted. But then remembered he was asked to leave his coat. "NO!" Too loud and panicky. "I mean.... no. It's not safe."

<Pietro> "If your powers are a concern, there's several inhibitor options available in there," Pietro added over his shoulder while he prepped samples.

<Jean> Jean had started to get up, then sank back down, feeling his rush of panic. She tried to hide her hurt. "It's safe..."

<Jamie> "Those don't work. I've almost got the SHIELD one, kind of right." Maybe. Possibly. Probably not. Oh, shuttup. "Babe, I'm sorry..." Jamie squatted in front of her to catch her eyes. "I love you. I'm doing this for you."

<Pietro> Pietro was glad his back was turned so Jamie couldn't see the look on his face. It was five minutes! He finished up prepping the samples and set the relevant machines to run them before returning to his seat and helping himself to candy.

<Jean> "I know. And I love that you are. You're doing this for us, even though you don't want to. I appreciate it." She took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

<Jamie> "I don't want to, but I do want the outcome of fixing this, so I'll do whatever it takes." Within reason. Not now. Jamie lifted a bit and gave her a kiss then stood and held his breath while he shrugged off his trench coat to hand to Pietro.

<Pietro> He hopped up to take the coat and take it over to a table to lay it out on. Science!

<Jean> Jean floated up and gave him a quick kiss before he could stop her, then backed up to let him go. "Yeah you will."

<Jamie> Jamie took a deep breath and slowly turned to face the door. So weird. Very, very weird.  It better be soundproofed. "I'll be back in... however long it takes."

<Jean> Jean snorted at his thought, unable to help herself. "I'm sure it's soundproof!" He's got Monet for his kicks!

<Jamie> "JEAN." Jamie stopped in his tracks and flailed internally for a moment, then took another breath and kept walking. Say that part out loud. Not the part about me!

<Jean> Oh, good idea. Jean wandered over to follow Pietro.

<Pietro> "Not that I'm trying to make it worse, but there is sound proofing," Pietro supplied helpfully.

<Jamie> Jamie groaned and shut the door behind him. Fuckity fucking....Dammit.

<Jean> She giggled. "Sorry. We share a brain, y'know. Gets... overshare-y."

<Pietro> He nodded, "It's fine, I get it. I know a lot of psychic mutants, even outside of work. Honestly, I don't think I could handle it if I had that kind of power," he gave her a grin, "I don't need to know what's going on in other people's heads. Got enough happening in my own."

<Jean> "That's kind of Jamie's powers, too. He's always got a lot going on in his head. All his dupes talking to him at once. Sorta." His power was so hard to describe.

<Pietro> "I can kind of understand that... I don't have a bunch of mes in here but I do think about a lot of things all at once.... and at very high speed. It makes telepaths dizzy." Even while he was talking he was sketching at high speed and making notes, having turned the coat inside out.

<Jean> "Yeah..." She could understand why, since she was shielding against his mind right now, but his surface thoughts and feelings were ... hella fast. Whoa! "Um, was it inside out a second ago?" She frowned, glancing at the door. Jamie would not approve. Also, pit stains! Ew!

<Pietro> "Probably not." Pietro replied, he wasn't sure because seconds were a tricky measure when you were working at two speeds at the same time.

<Jean> "Be careful. That's all he's got right now..."

<Pietro> "I'm always careful," Pietro assured her, "Even when I bought that Sentinel... especially when I bought that Sentinel. I wanted to know how it worked."

<Jean> "Yeaaaah, I heard about that." From Jamie. After his terrible first proposal. "It freaked Jamie out." She watched him manhandle the coat some more and winced. Also... she could... um... feel things from the other room. Jean squirmed in place.

<Pietro> "It was an excellent class project," Pietro pointed out, "and topical. And completely harmless because I deweaponised it."

<Jean> "Still creepy though." Jean shuddered, but realized it wasn't from revulsion. Oh. Oh shit.

<Pietro> "Yeah... they really hit the nail on the head with that design," he agreed with what he assumed was her point. Done making notes, Pietro turned the coat the right way out and folded it neatly.

<Jean> "And now he's running for president. Again. With no Tony Stark to stop him from winning." Jean swallowed and tried not to look over her shoulder. Jamie?

<Pietro> "Yeah..." He sighed, "Whatever happens, we'll figure it out. If nothing else, us muties are a tenacious bunch."

<Jean> "Tenacious, yeah..." Jean nodded absently and shifted her weight. "Lotsa... stamina."

<Pietro> Pietro frowned hard at her for a moment then decided to offer her a bottle of water as a distraction.

<Jamie> Jamie stared at the closed cup in his hand and wished he had something to cover it with before going out there. But he didn't. Yep. He took a slow, deep breath, and opened the door. His eyes landed on Jean and a slow grin crept up his face. Jamie knew very well what those flushed cheeks meant. Jeannie?

<Jean> Jean fumbled the bottle of water and spun. Oh. Moments like this, she wanted to pounce him and he knew it. She bit her lip and gave him a small grin. Hi.

<Pietro> "So... shall we call it a day here and you can come back when I have results?"

<Jamie> Jamie's eyebrows rose in a question, even though he didn't need an answer. "Hi." Have fun in here? Oh. He turned to Pietro. "Um. Well. So." The most embarrassing powers. Fuck. "You know what this part is about, right?" He lifted the cup a touch. "But, don't..." Fucking hell. "Don't my dupes need to, too?"

<Pietro> "...you could have just left that in the other room, you know." He pointed out, "And I guess if you want to rule the dupes in or out then, yes one of them would also need to provide a sample."

<Jean> "Can I help him?" It was out of her mouth before she could think better of it.

<Jamie> Why?! Why say anything?! Jamie resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Sometimes the curiosity of his brain did not work in his favor. And then Jean spoke. "My dupe?!"

<Jean> "Well yeah! He's you!"

<Pietro> Pietro could give them some privacy for this... and he should.... but it was entertaining.

<Jamie> "....Except not! I'm all the mes! He's only one-however-many-nths of me!"

<Pietro> He needed candy. Pietro returned to his desk for snacks.

<Jean> "...how come whenever I use that argument you tell me I'm wrong!"

<Jamie> "Because he's me but he's not all of me! You just say he's not me."

<Jean> "Nooo, I totally do! I say he's you but not all of you! He's a part of you! Like Diet Coke you!"

<Jamie> Jamie flailed at that description. "You don't even know which one would come out! What if it's one you hate?"

<Pietro> Don't say it. Pietro decided to yoink the cup from the distracted Jamie.

<Jean> She recoiled. "I don't hate any of you!"

<Jamie> "Oh no? Bar dupe?"

<Jamie> Jamie flailed at his suddenly empty hands. What just happened?

<Jean> "I so don't hate him. He hates me!"

<Jamie> "He doesn't hate you! He's me!"

<Jean> "Well there you go!"

<Jamie> Jamie used his now empty hands to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Jean."

<Jean> "Jamie." She took a step into him and went up on her toes to put her arms around his neck.

<Jamie> Jamie stood very still when he felt her touching him, lowering his arm so he could look at her. "Jean."

<Jean> He was all tense now and it made her sigh. "It's safe. I'm safe. You aren't going to hurt me by me hugging you."

<Jamie> "Babe," he said softly and sighed. "Just. Be careful." Also! "No, you can't help him because he can dupe, too."

<Jean> "Not if he dupes once he can't." She didn't get any closer to him, but she did give him a little squeeze and a mental hug. "I am being careful. But I wanna be able to touch the man I love."

<Jamie> "I know, baby." Jamie sighed again and leaned his forehead lightly against hers. "Me, too."

<Pietro> Pfffffft. Pietro helpfully applied Jamie's coat to his shoulders. Problem solved! Dispense with the soap opera.

<Jean> The coat appeared, the fabric slipping past her hands, and Jean jumped and eeped.

<Jamie> Jamie felt the weight of his coat and also jumped. "Don't do that, dude!"

<Pietro> "I didn't want to interrupt!" Pietro gestured between them.

<Jean> Jean shrugged, then tackled him.

<Jamie> Jamie panicked and made sure the coat was secure before he grabbed Jean with a laugh. "You still can't help me."

<Jean> She made a frustrated noise.

<Jamie> Don't worry, babe. I'll help you later. He leaned down and gave her a hard kiss.

<Pietro> Pietro deposited a fresh cup in the other room then went to take his seat again and look over the notes he made about the coat.

<Jamie> Jamie took a small step back from Jean, handed her the coat and punched a fist into his palm. He gave himself a resigned look and nodded his head towards the room. "Sorry. Your turn."

<Jean> Jean made a thorough assessment of them both. For science. "I'd totally help you, but he's mean." She poked her tongue out at Prime.

<Jamie> "I'm not mean." Prime frowned and the dupe made a face. "I'm goin', I'm goin'."

<Jean> Jean giggled, unable to help herself, and wriggled her fingers at the dupe as he trudged to his fate.
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