Paris, Round Two

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh walks down the hallway, whistling to himself.

He can’t help it. Everything was going well. Laurie’s mother had settled into life at the Institute over the last couple days, despite her house getting blown up and all. Both his college classes and his Institute classes were going pretty well, if you didn’t count the sheep brain incident the week before last in Advanced Bio. He didn’t. Toni regularly had unscheduled explosions in her lab periods, so flying cortex didn’t even make him blink.

He and Warren were even having a surprising amount of together time, taking into account their jobs and his own classes at Columbia. In the last week, they’d had difficulty coordinating their schedules, but it was always a comfort to crawl into bed and snuggle up to him. It was midterm time, so he’d been spending a lot of time at the library in the city, and Warren had been grading papers constantly.

Still was, in fact. But that was about to change.

Josh arrives at Warren’s office, tapping lightly at the door. “Hey.” He grins. God, I love you so much, you doofus. His heart still jumped a bit whenever Warren flashed that smile in his direction. Josh moves over behind Warren’s chair, wrapping his arms around the other boy’s chest, and leans in to kiss his neck.

“How’s the grading going?” Josh rubs his hands across Warren’s shoulders, which were tight with fatigue. “How long have you been at this?” He lightly prods Warren with his telepathy, confirming his suspicion. "Your mind is tired, too. I can feel it."

[Warren Worthington III]

> "How’s the grading going? How long have you been at this? Your mind is tired, too. I can feel it."

Warren grins contentedly, leaning back into Josh's hands. He'd actually been surprised by Josh's tap on his office door, which in retrospect was indication enough of how absorbed he'd become in grading essays... normally, the whistling would have caught his attention minutes earlier.

"Well, yes. The problem with teaching a class full of incredibly bright, creative, utterly undisciplined thinkers is they end up coming out with ideas that aren't easy to evaluate. I think I end up spending more time grading these things than they spend writing them." Which isn't really true, much as it feels that way sometimes, but the papers are nevertheless remarkable. "Not, mind you, that I'm complaining. I'm just amazed that these are high-school students, is all. I thought you were an exception!"

He leans up for a kiss and adds "Which, of course, you are. How's your midterm paper coming? And have you decided where you want to go for your birthday, yet? Anywhere is fine with me as long as they don't have an army."

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh places a kiss on Warren's nose, and then takes a seat on his desk, careful not to crunch any term papers. As Warren goes on about the students, he smiles slightly. It's funny. I wonder if you though you'd be such a... I dunno, a dad, even a year ago. Probably not. He didn't think he'd be playing dorm parent so soon, either.

> "Well, yes. The problem with teaching a class full of incredibly bright, creative, utterly undisciplined thinkers is they end up coming out with ideas that aren't easy to evaluate."

Josh nods. "Yeah, here's to that. I'm having Advanced Bio come up with an lab experiment of their choice, and you wouldn't believe some of the projects I've been proposed. I had to explain to Doug that isolating his mutation sequence wasn't really a viable project at this point, since the paper is due in a month. And Jubilee and Staten started having a fight during last week's dissection and there were chunks of brain everywhere..." He winces. "At least nothing exploded."

>"Which, of course, you are. How's your midterm paper coming? And have you decided where you want to go for your birthday, yet? Anywhere is fine with me as long as they don't have an army."

He grabs Warren's hand and laces their fingers together. "Nice recovery, love." Josh closes his eyes for a second. "It's finally done. I just printed it off. You know, college is an entirely new ball game. My last two years here were mostly college-level stuff, but everyone holds you to such a higher standard there. I guess it doesn't help that it's Columbia." He puffs a breath out, and opens his eyes. "Thank goodness it's done."

"Funny you mention my birthday. Think you have time to take a break?" Josh's eyes glitter with mischief. "I promise there are no armies involved."

[Warren Worthington III]

> "… chunks of brain everywhere... "

Warren grins broadly. "Yeah, I heard… you can imagine how quickly that story made the rounds. Complete with the predictable assortment of adolescent zombie humor. "

> "… at least nothing exploded... "

"…as far as you know," he adds with finality. "Personally, I try hard to tune out the sounds of explosions, or I’d spend half of any given day checking up on Jubilee. Especially during her breakups. And, come to that, her dates. " Truthfully,

> " Funny you mention my birthday. Think you have time to take a break? I promise there are no armies involved. "

"For you? Always." He kisses the back of Josh’s hand lightly and stands up, letting himself be led to his office door while taking advantage of Josh’s proximity to turbo his TK. "I figure any date that doesn’t involve our being shot at is automatically a good one, " he comments distractedly, while project folders put themselves away and desk drawers lock themselves behind him.

"Then again, " he adds more attentively, "…some of the ones that did weren’t so bad, either."

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

> "Personally, I try hard to tune out the sounds of explosions, or I’d spend half of any given day checking up on Jubilee. Especially during her breakups. And, come to that, her dates. "

Josh stretches, pulling his arms behind his head. "Maybe you have a point there. It's hard to ignore all the blasts coming from the chemistry room, though... it's only on the other side of the hall from the biology laboratory." One of the benefits of being at the Institute was that they had top-notch equipment for just about any discipline one could imagine. Most people weren't aware of just how extensive the subbasement was - they had, for example, a miniature particle accelerator. It was necessary because of the PET scanner in the med lab. The hangar wasn't exactly small, either. "I hear them while I'm studying in the medical lab. I started studying there because it was quiet and peaceful, but I can't get anything done during her lab periods." Josh is grumbling, but rolls his eyes in an over the top way. Toni was too hilarious to be actually upset with.

> "I figure any date that doesn’t involve our being shot at is automatically a good one, "

Josh leads Warren towards the office door by the hand. "Well, good! I'm not planning on any alley fights or car chases. You never can tell, though. Sometimes it's safe to be prepared." His eyebrows waggle up and down in what he hopes is a mysterious manner. I wonder why no one ever told me romance is so goofy.

> "…some of the ones that did weren’t so bad, either."

The two of them get onto the subbasement elevator. "Yeah, you're right. Like the one with all the black ops assassins? Not normally my cup of tea, but we made it work." As the elevator door closes, Josh traces a finger up Warren's face and into his hairline. "You cut a mean figure in that tux, Mr. Worthington." He slides a hand through Warren's belt loop and skooches him closer, initiating a kiss.

I'm so hot for you right now. We finally get to spend some time together! Josh pushes Warren gently into the elevator wall. There was something about taking him off-guard in random places around the Institute that was exciting - although given his telepathy, whether sexual excitement between the two of them could ever be unexpected was debatable.

Far too soon, the elevator doors open, and Josh hears a surprised intake of breath.

"Ugh. Can't you take that someplace else?" Julian Keller's sarcastic voice cuts into Josh's ears. He turns around quickly, spotting the dark-haired boy, as well as a brightly blushing Doug Ramsay, who smiles nervously at him and looks intently at his shoes.

A voice comes from behind them. Dani Moonstar, bringing up the rear, rolls her eyes at Julian and lightly pushes him in the chest. "I don't know, Jule. Mr. Worthington and Josh are like the hottest men at the Institute. And they're together." Her eyes slide slightly out of focus, and she blinks.

They talk about us? Josh's mental voice is part embarrassed, part intrigued.

[Warren Worthington III]

A slow smile spreads across Warren's face as he watches Josh stretch.

> "Maybe you have a point there. It's hard to ignore all the blasts coming from the chemistry room, though [...] can't get anything done during her lab periods."

"Mm? I'm sorry... were you saying something? I was distracted..."

He's joking, mostly, but his admiration of Josh's physique is entirely sincere... all the more so because he knows how much work is involved in maintaining it. Even when juggling classes and school projects and personal experiments and working with the new mutants and training sessions with the X-Men, even though his mutant abilities are psychic rather than physical, Josh sticks to his workout regimen religiously.

It's easier for Warren himself: his mutant physiology keeps his body at flight-optimum with hardly any work on his part. Even the months he'd spent poisoning himself with every "recreational" toxin he could get his hands on, shorting himself on sleep and nutrition, hadn't had a noticeable impact; now, when he's eating healthier and avoiding anything stronger than the occasional glass of wine (though, admittedly, still getting next to no sleep), his periodic flights around town provide more than enough exercise to keep him in shape... and he does those mostly for the fun of it, anyway.

> "Like the one with all the black ops assassins? Not normally my cup of tea, but we made it work. You cut a mean figure in that tux, Mr. Worthington."

It was, of course, more or less the anniversary of that particular debacle of a date; it had all started when Warren took Josh out for his 18th birthday. His own memories of the event are less pleasant than Josh makes it sound... they'd both almost died, several times, and they'd just barely made it home only to find the Institute itself under siege.

But Josh's kiss pushes those memories aside, replacing them with far more exciting -- if, admittedly, painful -- memories of the plane-ride in between. As do you, Mr. Worthington, he murmurs into Josh's mind, his tongue and lips too occupied by more important tasks to be bothered with forming words. though an even better figure out of one.

Josh pushes him against the elevator wall, and he pulls Josh against him, and a vague intention bubbles up in his mind to press the STOP button... sure, it might annoy anybody waiting in the basement for the elevator, but, well, they can wait. But by the time he frees up enough attention to actually do anything about it, the doors have opened. Remind me to have somebody slow this elevator down...

He's aware of their sudden audience almost before the doors open -- three of the freshmen, judging from overall size and shape, and the Moonstar girl's bracelets give off a distinctive rattling noise -- but largely indifferent to them until Keller's comment distracts Josh.

> They talk about us?

Josh's embarrassment at the idea is still kinda sweet. Warren himself has long since gotten used to the idea of his sex life being a topic of public discussion... and, for that matter, photographic evidence. Truthfully, he finds the idea something of a turn-on, and judging from the intrigued tinge to Josh's mind, he's not entirely alone in that.

Raising a wing to screen them from the kids in the hall, he whispers teasingly into Josh's ear "Yup. Wanna give them something to talk about?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

> though an even better figure out of one.

Josh giggles slightly, his finger moving from Warren's belt loop and traveling up and under the other's t-shirt. He brushes his fingers lightly across Warren's abs and ends up tracing mindless circles around his nipple. It was something of a relief to goof off with Warren in the elevator. He's been under a lot of pressure from projects, classes, and X-Men things over the last few months. His life seemed to have changed quite a bit from his senior year. Thanks for noticing. It's something of a relief that I can still drag your eyes away from those term papers... It felt a bit dirty to be making out in the elevator - even though it was rather exciting.

> Remind me to have somebody slow this elevator down...

Don't fiddle with it, or it's likely to stop working altogether. I think Hank might be the only one who knows how to fix it. I'd hate to have to call the repairman and then have to wipe his brain - I'm not very good at that yet. The mental comment was mostly inane, but he's quickly losing the capability for rational thought. Josh places another kiss on Warren's lips, and then moves his attention to the other's earlobe.

Rational thought returns with Julian's comment. Retorts ranging from 'I can kiss my husband wherever I want to' to 'Hear that? It's the sound of me teeking your pants down' run through his mind quickly. In the split second before Warren's wing wraps around him, Josh scans their faces. Julian's outraged expression looked a little too forced to be genuine. Doug was visibly embarrassed, but Josh caught mental intrigue. Dani was unabashedly gleeful.

> "Yup. Wanna give them something to talk about?"

Josh bites his lip, trying not to grin. Julian's just venting because I'm his Danger Room trainer. Bobby and I ran him through Storm's Alkali simulation in November and he was not so thrilled with us.

...but if you were looking to firmly establish your Institute reputation as a sex muffin, Dani looks like she might snap pictures. He bats his eyes at Warren.

[Warren Worthington III]

...but if you were looking to firmly establish your Institute reputation as a sex muffin, Dani looks like she might snap pictures

Warren laughs at the thought… certainly, she wouldn’t be the first. Or even the thousandth. Hank keeps threatening to set up his own Internet server for the stuff; some theory of his about how regional variations in hit-rates on mutant celebrity photos and video correlate with local support for the MRA and similar legislation. Warren still hasn’t decided whether Hank is kidding or not… with him, it’s hard to tell.

On the other hand, he’s not sure he wants to be the one to explain that particular non-academic extracurricular to Moonstar’s grandfather, should the subject arise. He’d met the man exactly once, when his granddaughter first arrived at the Institute, but he’d left an impression… the sort of man you don’t want disappointed in you, simply because of what that implies about your own character.

So, somewhat reluctantly, he foregoes the “free show for freshmen,” steps away from Josh and out of the elevator. "Gentleman and lady… and Mr. Keller… I’m sure you all have more important assignments to be working on right now. And I’m even more sure that you don’t want me to know about it, if you don’t. You were waiting for the elevator, I assume?" Just in case the emphasis in his voice is not sufficient hint, he holds the door open for them with a wing.

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh feels Warren’s internal amusement at his comments through their mental link, but just as quickly, he feels Warren push the laughter away and compose himself. With a flourish, his wings retract, but not before Josh straightens his own collar and checks to make sure all of his buttons are still done.

> "Gentleman and lady… and Mr. Keller… I’m sure you all have more important assignments to be working on right now. And I’m even more sure that you don’t want me to know about it, if you don’t. You were waiting for the elevator, I assume?"

Danielle looks crestfallen, and troops into the elevator with Julian on her heels. Julian himself is somehow diminished, as if he’d been spoiling for an altercation. Doug heads up the back, Josh resists the urge to ruffle the younger boy’s hair. He was just adorable, in an innocent little brother sort of way.

Josh throws a mock salute, and depresses the button in the inside of the elevator with his powers. The door closes, sending the freshman upwards towards the foyer.

“You know, at the time some of the parts of me that don’t like thinking were crying out in pain, but it was probably a good idea not to make that into a scene. Julian’s parents throw some serious heft around New York City, and I can almost see the article - ‘Gay high school teachers warp children’s minds’ or something along those lines…” Josh grins and pecks Warren on the cheek as the two head down the silver-blue hallway.

“Dani’s attitude is refreshing, though. I mean, apart from the part where she makes my life sound like a porno. We really are just like everyone else - well, except the part where we have better sex than everyone else - and should be treated as such.” Josh looks over at Warren quizzically. “Speaking of better sex - is anyone actually getting any around here? You’d know better than I would.”

“Oh, and I wanted to give you a heads-up.” Josh glances in each direction at the hallway intersection, but the subbasement appears to be deserted. “I’m about 99% sure that Doug is gay. You might want to rehearse your ‘these feelings are completely normal’ speech. He’s getting to be that age…” When did we sign up to be dorm parents? I guess this comes with the territory. “I’ve been noticing little things since August, but he broadcasts definite mental interest whenever you’re anything less than platonic with me. Have you caught anything like that?” Josh raises an eyebrow in question. “I only hope that Julian doesn’t give him hell when he finds out…” He frowns a little.

[Warren Worthington III]

> " Julian’s parents throw some serious heft around New York City, and I can almost see the article - ‘Gay high school teachers warp children’s minds’ or something along those lines… "

Warren shrugs. "I wouldn’t worry about it too much… the Kellers are terrified word will get out about their son being a mutant, and the Institute is something of an open secret among the movers and shakers, these days. The impression I get is that Mr. Keller’s is somewhat on his own with respect to his family."

He smiles faintly, amused by the symmetry… after all, he could say the same about himself, though in his case it’s not the mutation that caused his family’s estrangement. "Which, in my opinion, is the best thing that’s happened to him in years. If he’s lucky, it may put him in a position to actually learn something."

> " Speaking of better sex - is anyone actually getting any around here? You’d know better than I would. "

Warren laughs. "I know as little as I possibly can, actually. I gather Miss Pryde is the latest of Mr. Keller’s little conquests, though. And as far as I know the Drake/Allerdyce/D’Ancanto hormone stew hasn’t boiled over, which is probably a good thing… the pup doesn’t need any more ice cream, right? "

> " I’m about 99% sure that Doug is gay. You might want to rehearse your ‘these feelings are completely normal’ speech. He’s getting to be that age…” "

"Fair enough… though, really, I’m not too worried. Mr. Keller notwithstanding, it’s a fairly tolerant environment; I’m sure he won’t have any more trouble navigating the frothy waters of adolescent sexuality than any of our other students." He hesitates a moment at that thought, and adds "Well, when I put it that way… maybe I should have a talk with him, at that."

Warren palms open the Danger Room door. "Anyway… I thought I was taking a break from my new academic responsibilities? "

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

> "Well, when I put it that way… maybe I should have a talk with him, at that."

Josh laughs. “Yeah, maybe so. Though I get the feeling that he’s the type to die of embarrassment at that kind of thing. He’s a cute one, though, so I’m sure there will be plenty of interest once he’s ready for that kind of thing.” After a moment, his eyes narrow. “Yeah. Maybe one of us should have that talk, after all.”

> "Anyway… I thought I was taking a break from my new academic responsibilities? "

He nods and pecks Warren on the cheek. “You were… you are! Hey, I blame the Freshman Patrol back there. But now… I’ve got your undivided attention.” The two of them arrive at their destination, and Josh hits the control panel. The doors slide open silently.

They step through the doorway, and sunlight streams down at them. Pointedly, Josh locks the entrance down. “I don’t think we need any nosy students in here today.” After slipping his hand into Warren’s, he picks his way through a picturesque garden to his destination - the edge of the river. Paris bustles around them, but the Jardin de Tuileries is impossibly empty.

Spread out in front of them is a blanket, complete with a picnic basket and small CD player. “I thought you could use some relaxation time.”

[Bobby Drake]

> " He’s a cute one, though, so I’m sure there will be plenty of interest once he’s ready for that kind of thing. "

Warren mock-frowns at Josh… "He’s also 14. So, if I’ve correctly understood the contractual language that Hank has ever-so-subtly asked me to review several times now, our official position on “that kind of thing” involves discouraging it for the next four years." He does an admirably job of keeping the wry grin off his face as he contemplates the absurdity of that situation, but doesn’t even try to keep it off the surface of his mind.

"Incidentally, you might want to find an opportunity to casually remind your friend Mr. Drake of that fact. Unrequited lovestruck teenagers feeding ice-cream to our dog was bad enough, but… " he lets the sentence trail off without specifying the possibilities; confident that Josh’s imagination is more than up to the task.

All thoughts of official Institute responsibilities fade away when Warren recognizes their holographic location. They haven’t been back to Paris since their ill-fated trip there for Josh’s 18th birthday… too many unpleasant memories, at first, and not enough free cash to support expensive vacations, afterwards… but Warren has definitely missed the city.

> “I thought you could use some relaxation time.”

"After the last time, I’m not sure I’ll ever actually relax in Paris again… I’ll be too busy looking around corners for commandos." He grins and stretches as he says it, though, and slumps bonelessly down to the ground to inspect the picnic basket. "On the other hand, this isn’t really Paris, and I’m assuming you left the commandos out of this particular simulation."

He’s briefly startled by the interior of the picnic basket, which seems significantly larger than its exterior volume can account for. As he pulls a small roast out of it and lays it on the blanket, he adds "Pup is going to do his ‘betrayed and forlorn’ routine for you when he smells this on your breath, you know…"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

> "On the other hand, this isn’t really Paris, and I’m assuming you left the commandos out of this particular simulation."

Josh grins and flops down on the blanket. "Wouldn't you like to know? I definitely can't remember Paris without thinking of blowing open plate-glass windows and stealing police cars. But... no, I didn't include the commandos." Josh raises an eyebrow. "Unless you were wanting a nod to your group sex days." He grins and bats his eyes.

The two of them just had so much fun together. Josh considers it for a second. It wasn't just the sex, of course. He himself had no comparison - Warren had been his only sex partner, ever - but Warren had been with more people than Josh generally liked to think about, and he seemed, well, more than content with it. No, there was something about your soul mate that made even the most mundane day so much better.

Josh watches briefly as Warren pulls the picnic lunch he'd packed out of the picnic basket. They had sandwich fixings, some fruit, a bit of dessert, and some drink choices. As hungry as he was, though, he was a bit more interested at the moment in continuing what they'd started in the elevator.

Josh carefully climbs over their lunch and straddles Warren. He rucks up the other man's shirt and slowly kisses his way up Warren's tanned chest. "I'm hungry for lunch... but you, well, kind of got me hungry for something else in the elevator there. I've been gone at Columbia so much lately that it's been a couple days." For them, a couple days was an eternity... and the hardness in his jeans attests to it. Josh carefully lets it come into contact with Warren's package. "Look what you did. What are you going to do about it?"

[Warren Worthington III]

> " I definitely can't remember Paris without thinking of blowing open plate-glass windows and stealing police cars. But no, I didn't include the commandos. Unless you were wanting a nod to your group sex days. "

Warren laughs. "Not with that group, certainly." He kicks his shoes off and telekinetically peels off his socks, just to feel the grass growing under his bare feet. Yes, neural-interfacing repulsion-field-augmented holographic grass, but his feet don’t know that and he’s not interested in convincing them. "Though I have to admit, stealing the police car might’ve been a lot more fun if they weren’t shooting at us at the time. Or if my jaw’d been in one piece. Which, I should point out in case I’m being too subtle, it is now. And they aren’t."

He turns around to face Josh as he pulls out the last bits of picnic lunch, alerted by the rush of arousal over their link.

> " Look what you did. What are you going to do about it? "

"Hrarrgle?" He’s not entirely sure what he was trying to say, as the forming of words is suddenly relegated to fifth or perhaps seventeenth place in the prioritization scheme in his mind. "Well, um… that depends on two things," he rasps out over surprised gasps – and how is it that, despite the fact that his lung capacity is adequate to let him fly faster than a train without even breathing hard, that Josh always leaves him gasping for breath like this? -- "first, whether you’ve shut down the DR cameras…", he pulls hard on Josh’s shirt, tugging it out from under his belt, and "…second… or maybe first, come to think of it…" sliding it up over his arms, sliding wings across bare skin and bare feet against the backs of clothed knees, "…do you care?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

> "first, whether you’ve shut down the DR cameras… …second… or maybe first, come to think of it……do you care?"

Josh shivers slightly as wingtips brush lightly down his bare back. He lets out a panting breath. "I did... I mean, I think I did. No one ever turns them off, so I had to look through the... maaaaanual." His last word turns into a gasp as Warren thumbs fingers over his nipples.

As he unbuckles Warren's belt and unzips his jeans, Josh takes hold with his telekinesis and pulls the pants and boxers down in one fell swoop. He knew Warren found the telekinetic-stripping somehow erotic. "I've got you where I want you now..." Josh grins through the kiss, and runs his hands down Warren's naked body, taking care to pay attention to a key area or two.

"Well... almost." He wraps his hands gently around Warren and yanks them to the side, putting himself on the ground and Warren on top of him. "Much better. These jeans are getting kind of cramped, though."