It was sheer luck that Logan hadn't woken up as early as usual, because if he had, he'd have noticed very early that his keys were missing. He'd have very likely gotten disruptive with the perpetrator, and he'd have very very likely started a fight.
But none of that was the case.
In fact, Logan had started to wake up at his usual time only for K to throw her leg over his waist and refuse to let him go. "No. I've earned my lazy wake up," she informed him. "And that includes you being here in bed." When he opened his mouth to argue it -just a little - she reached up and covered his mouth with a whisper soft 'shhhhh'. Not that he was in the mood to argue with her on it.
So, by the time the two of them finally decided it was time to move, Scott was waiting by the coffee maker as it finished brewing. "Still in recovery mode?" he had to tease, though there wasn't much mirth to his tone. Especially considering the fact that he hadn't gotten any closure on his issues. Not when so much of what Scott needed to do hinged on what Logan was up to.
"Somethin' like that," Logan agreed, though it was clear to him very quickly that Scott's playful tone was a thin veneer. He watched Scott out of the corner of his eye as he helped the twins settle in at the table then walked over to get coffee for himself and K. "Got a little time to clear up some crap before things get movin', eh?" He'd expected Scott to speak a little faster, but it wasn't until he had filled both mugs, picked them up, openly watched Scott from two feet away and then turned back toward the table before Scott actually opened his mouth.
"Yeah. That's ... a little time," Scott's voice faded off in spite of himself then cleared his throat, and for an instant, Logan could have sworn Scott wanted to joke around a little more. But that was, of course, wishful thinking. Especially when the next words out of his mouth were: "I'm going to need you to finalize your schedule for fall sooner rather than later."
"I thought that's what you were doin' with Charlie the past few days," Logan said with a frown while K got the little ones settled in with a bite to eat.
Scott paused, the muscle at his jaw working under strain as he tried to choose his words carefully. There was so much wrong with that sentence and Scott wasn't sure which part was even setting him off at this point. The almost lazy tone to Logan's voice on something that would make or break any one of the dozen schedules Scott had already laid out ahead of time since Logan had been so hard to corner to make one plan? Or was it the fact that he insisted on calling the professor 'Charlie' or 'Chuck' or any number of other nicknames that wasn't respectful or appreciated by anyone? Or maybe it had more to do with how easily Logan could drift between one group or another like he just belonged there.
Scott let out a slow breath and wrapped his hand around the keys in his pocket that he'd stolen the night before, realizing for an instant that he was falling back into old patterns. All of this had been resolved. Mostly. Then he caught Logan smirking at K and again his irritation flared up. It was a little of all of that, sure. But it was the fact that Scott- no, the team needed Logan to stay close and he was flaking off with the Avengers. Again. Like he had nothing and noone to answer to, and what was worse, K seemed to be going along with it.
"I can't do that until I know if you'll be available or not," Scott said through his teeth - his meter slow as he tried to keep his temper. "And before you tell me that Captain Rogers will be calling, I'd like to remind you that it hasn't ever happened yet when there needed to be coordination. It's pretty clear that the Avengers still don't give a damn about how or if this place runs. Especially when they're getting everything they need."
It was a slap - and a good one. And Logan took it exactly as the attack he'd heard. His easy smile slipped in a blink and he narrowed his eyes at Scott, reading between the lines at the blatant 'you don't care about the school' that had slipped into Scott's commentary. Whether or not he meant Logan to be lumped in with the rest of the Avengers really didn't matter anymore. Not just then.
"You got somethin' you want off your chest, Fearless?" Logan shot back. "Cause I'm pretty damn sure I already told you I wasn't plannin' on teachin' for them come fall."
Scott held his gaze stoically as always. "Right. You still haven't told me what you are planning on either."
"I'm runnin' with it as I go," Logan said in a disbelieving tone that had Scott bristling as he got to his feet, and James stood up next to him - on his chair, defusing the two men as he leaned into his father - and quickly reminding them both that they needed to take it down a notch. Logan sighed as he let James snuggle in - one hand covering most of the little guy's back. He didn't want to fight with Scott. Not over this. Not when he knew it'd just be a strain on Jeannie, too. And that was the direct opposite of what Logan was shooting for. "I'll get an answer for you today. And if I can't get a straight answer out of 'em, then you can just go ahead and pick it for 'em. Cap said he'd call. If he drops the ball, just work out the schedule you like best."
James wrapped his arms around Logan's neck and pulled, and a moment later, Logan had picked him up.
"Jean's trying to rest up," Scott said after a beat. Watching James and Logan seemed to remind him that this was a little bigger than the petty squabbles they were used to tossing around. "The kids are wearing her out."
"I'm takin' 'em with today," Logan said, setting Scott back.
Scott's shock replaced the deep frown he'd been wearing and his lips parted in silent protest, since the words he wanted to say anyhow simply weren't anywhere near the forefront of his mind. Logan hadn't taken the kids to the tower for more than a drive by in ... well. Ever, he didn't think. And Rachel was going to be miserable if her best friends weren't around to play with. "You don't have to-"
"She needs a break, you're plannin'," Logan said. "An' if we're gonna get Cap set before class starts here, I need to get it done. Won't hurt 'em to spend a day in the tower."
"Think of poor Jan," K said, her focus on the paper and her coffee halfway to her lips. "She's deprived to the point of depravation."
And though Scott really hated the idea of the kids going to the tower to be around the Avengers ... even he had to admit that Janet Van Dyne around small children was something kind of magical. He'd seen her in the field calming down kids and crowds ... and he honestly couldn't figure out why she wasn't second in command on that team. Until, of course, he figured in the egos in play. "Even so," Scott said. "That's a long day for them to be stuck in a building like that."
K smirked to herself, well hidden behind her mug. "They'll just be that much happier to see you tonight when we bring home burgers."
"It's Bobby's night to cook, you don-" Scott said, then stopped short and laughed to himself. "Right. Smart."
As the Howlett family packed up to go, Scott felt a heavy weight over his head, realizing that he hadn't exactly gotten his point across. Still. Somehow, the big fight was avoided, but he didn't know how that had happened. And he knew that it would come back around. But before he could open his mouth again, the phone rang with the caller ID showing up as 'Stark Industries'. Scott didn't realize he was playing with Logan's keychain as he frowned at the name on the ID.
Logan whistled shrilly, earning himself giggle from the three kids, but Scott barely registered it when Logan called out 'Give me my damn keys'. Scott didn't look up for more than an instant while he answered the phone. As he said 'hello', he tossed Logan the keys - and before he could fully register that it was Pepper and not Cap speaking in her usual brisk and business like tone about scheduling issues, they were out the door leaving Scott with a different kind of burn starting up.
Logan didn't see it. He couldn't. The Avengers weren't taking the X-Men seriously. Again. Already, from what Scott had heard from Pepper, the Avengers were trying to lay down when the X-Men could have access to Logan and K - not the other way around. Which only left Scott with his jaw flexing again and wanting to blast a hole through something vital. It left a bitter taste in his mouth when he thought about it.
Clearly, Hank was right, just not in the ways he thought. From what he saw, the X-Men were losing the whole damn Howlett family - and they were losing them without even the courtesy of an honest conversation. He didn't realize how angry he was getting, either. Not until Warren interrupted his thoughts.
"Woah. Take it down, bright eyes. Who made you mad?" Warren asked. "Or do I even need to ask?"
When Scott turned his way with a scowl, Warren pointed at Scott's head. "You're glowing more."
"Right." Scott didn't bother trying to rein it back though. Not when he knew he needed to burn off some frustration. But first ... Rachel and Jean were still in their suite. And he'd promised Rachel that he'd bring his girls blueberry pancakes since Jean was starting to really feel symptomatic. And that was what was really important.
Scott took a moment to close his eyes as he returned to the kitchen - he could walk through every inch of the mansion and the grounds blindfolded if he wanted to - and then set himself to work to take care of his family. He needed to step back a little, and that, he decided, was what he'd focus on for the moment. As much as it pained him to do so, he knew that the professor could manage on his own. He always had. Even if that meant Scott distancing himself a little, too.
The Howlett kids ... weren't sure what they could or should do with themselves once they got up to the tower. There were no toys or distractions for them to make use of. No games they could play. No coloring books or age-appropriate movies queued up for them to dive into. And all of the adults were caught up with the planning for the Academy. Which meant it wasn't long at all before the three of them were bored.
Abbey had it easiest, of course. The girl had an eye for color and she loved to wear pretty things, so finding Jan and making a friend was easy enough when she said hello by asking if the dainty gold and black watch bearing two back to back 'c's was Chanel. Jan spun on her heel with a disbelieving look on her face before she crouched down and grinned up at Abbey.
"Did your mom teach you about that logo?" she asked as the light danced in her eyes, taking in the tiny details on the little girl that were harder to see from above. The girl had her mother's features and her father's coloring, though the smirk ... that smirk was clearly 100% Logan. And Jan loved it.
Abbey nodded her head. "And my Auntie Jeannie and Auntie 'Ro. They're really smart about that kind of stuff."
"Oh, totally," Jan agreed, then leaned toward her to let her voice drop to a whisper. "Did you know I design things too?"
Whatever Jan was expecting, it was not for Abbey to smile widely and nod slowly before telling her what she knew. "Uh-huh. My Auntie Jeannie bought me a dress you made." Abbey leaned forward and whispered to match Jan. "It's my favorite on account of it's yellow, and yellow's my very favorite color."
"Mine too," Jan said, even more wide eyed - and clearly enchanted with Logan's daughter. "Would you like to help me design something?"
"Really?" Abbey asked, blinking innocently. "Can we make something for Rachel?"
"Is that your Auntie Jeannie's little girl?"
When Abbey nodded, Jan nearly melted on the spot. "Yep! She's my favorite little kid that's not my brover and sister."
"Uh ... yes. Yes we can make something for Rachel." She offered Abbey her hand then put her other hand to the side of her mouth to call out to Logan and K. "I'm taking your daughter to my studio - you might not get her back!"
"Wouldn't advise that," Logan called back. "Keepin' her that is."
"Why? Does she bite?"
"Yes," Abbey said with a wicked little smile that had Jan laughing.
"Okay. Then we'll just design some things, how's that?"
As the two of them skipped off, the twins stood away from the rest of the group, side by side, holding hands and staring out of the large windows overlooking the city. Rose didn't want to get too close to the glass and James wasn't going to let her stand there alone and nervous. So he held her hand and stayed close as Rose clutched her blanket tightly under her chin.
K was near them, watching over the two of them while listening to Steve, and Logan make actual progress on their plans for the school - primary of which was Logan insisting that they consult Charles now before they got too far ahead of themselves.
Oddly, though this was the kind of thing that Tony would have spearheaded, Steve was running the show. And to top it off, Steve seemed reluctant to reach out to Charles. It was strange enough that when Tony made it into the kitchen where they were trying to chat away from everyone else, he seemed to have quite suddenly realized how much Steve was over-doing. He opened his mouth to say something when K simply reached over and covered his mouth. "You have control issues," she said.
"Says the woman that can't keep her hands off me," Tony countered.
"You should be so lucky," K deadpanned.
"I should be," Tony agreed, smirking to himself and settling in to drink coffee with her as they watched Steve and Logan go back and forth. Logan was clearly tired of the back and forth and the pressure for him to come to the city full time, though, and as Steve pushed for more, Logan got out his phone to call Charles. "He seem more pushy to you?" Tony asked quietly.
"Lil bit," K agreed, which had the two of them sharing a look before Charles' voice could be heard on speakerphone. Which caught the twins' attention.
Rose had spun in place so quickly, her little curls had swung out from her head, and without another cue, James fell into step with her toward the sound of Charles' voice. As they so often did, the two of them watched the adults as they talked about things that made precious little sense to them. They heard a lot of the same kind of things that Uncle Scooter and Uncle Charlie talked about ... and since Charlie was chatting, that wasn't a surprise. But the facial expressions that Steve was making ...
James gave Rose's hand a little squeeze then let go of her to wander over to Steve. He didn't like it when people he loved looked that irritated, and he had thought it was going to be a fun day with less irritated people. But that wasn't what he was seeing.
"We don't plan to offer the same classes that you do," Steve said. "We don't need to, and we should, in fact, have entirely different options, if I'm being frank. The reason we haven't reached out for curriculum advice is that we don't want to offer anything like what you do." He frowned when he felt a tug, but his expression softened when he saw James looking up at him and a moment later, Steve picked him up and lowered his volume. "We don't have a telepath on staff to teach psychic defense and it's just not something we run into. That's an X-Men problem, professor."
"Maybe so," Charles said. "But it is a basic part of self defense. And a skill that your team as it stands could benefit from greatly."
"I was under the impression that the world isn't full of evil telepaths," Steve said dryly.
"It only takes one or two evil telepaths for a bad day," K pointed out as she picked up Rose, who looked like she was starting to have a bad day herself. She was clutching her blanket tighter now that James wasn't at her side and making soft noises of discomfort. K pulled her into a hug and held on to her as Charles and Steve continued their discussion. But K was too distracted by Rose as she pushed her forehead into the crook of K's neck and squirmed uncomfortably.
Tony had never seen Rose act like this, and it took him no time at all to try and help her, too. He started out making a few faces at her and trying to get her to smile, but when it was apparent that wasn't doing the trick, he reached out to push her a curl out of her face ... and Rose leaned toward him with her arms up.
Naturally, he abandoned his coffee and picked her up from K to let her curl in, which left Steve in a bit more peace as he found himself unable to get too angry with James looking appropriately upset with him when he'd start to get frustrated with Charles. "How about this," Steve said as James crossed his arms and did his best imitation of his father glaring. "We'll focus on the basics for now and when we get closer to the school actually opening, we'll figure out a time for someone on your end to come and talk to whatever kids we have about psychic defense?"
"Fair enough," Charles agreed. "We truly would like to see your school flourish, Captain Rogers. As it stands now, we could use someone else picking up some of these kids, too."
When the line when dead, Steve picked up James and tossed him in the air - higher than he was used to being tossed. He laughed until he realized how high up he was - then there was a sharp little intake of breath before James stiffened up - and Steve caught him an instant later. He hadn't even gotten close to considering another toss when James latched on to him and held on tightly, redirecting Steve entirely from playing to wrapping the little guy up. "Too high?"
"Mm-Hmm," James agreed, holding on tighter.
"Wanna watch a movie?"
"Ninjas?"
"Sure," Steve agreed. "We could use a little break from all the school talk anyhow, right?"
"Pl-e-e-ease?" James said, drawing it out. When Steve opened his mouth, he leaned forward and covered Steve's mouth with both hands.
"Got it," Steve agreed, well muffled. "Enough talking."
The group settled in, and all was relatively quiet in the tower as Steve assured Logan that they'd reached out to handle any scheduling issues between the two teams. James was effectively monopolizing Steve and Logan - shushing Steve every time he tried to talk shop to the point Steve was openly laughing. It wasn't good for productivity, but there really wasn't much else going on - and the antsiness that Steve had been showing so clearly seemed to melt away with James picking at him.
But Rose still looked like she was hurting more than she should, and though she seemed pretty comfortable with Tony, it was clear they weren't going to get a full day at the tower.
Scott frowned deeply to himself when someone started to pull on his shirt. His eyebrows drew together and he shifted his head slightly only to realize that somehow, he'd fallen asleep at his desk. When he opened his eyes, it was to see James - with his head on the desk next to Scott, smiling crookedly. Which was enough to startle him awake fully.
"You needed a nap?" James asked, not slowing down as Scott sat upright and stretched before he climbed up in his lap. "Not 'sposed to sleep onna desk."
Scott looked around the room and bit off a curse at the papers that were scattered around him. The window had been open and the breeze had apparently picked up, though for the life of him, Scott couldn't remember falling asleep - though he hadn't been sleeping well at all lately. "Yeah, bud, I know." He turned and peeked at the clock, shocked at the time. "You guys came home early, huh?"
"Rosie didn't feel good," James explained patiently. He'd only been speaking more clearly since the Howletts had gotten back from their vacation and Scott had been honestly disappointed to hear that James was losing the little lisp he'd had. But when he said his sister's name - it was still barely there, softening up the 'r' just enough that it was hard not to smile at him. "So we came back."
"Did you have fun at the tower?" Scott asked as he stood up with James in his arms, blinking a few times to himself at the fact that he was a little more off balance than he'd expected to be.
"Yeah. I watched ninja movies with Cap!" James sighed to himself. "But he didn't wanna have a popcorn fight because he would lose."
"Who told you that?" Scott asked, though he was a little irked that Captain Rogers needed them for movies of all things.
"Aunt Nat," James said in a matter of fact tone. "An' Uncle Purple."
Scott smiled widely. "You mean Hawkeye?"
"No," James said, shaking his head. "Purple."
"Alright, bud," Scott said, smirking to himself. "Why don't you tell me about it over dinner?"
"O-kay," James agreed. "Then ice cream?"
Scott turned to James. "Since when do you want ice cream?" James shrugged, but didn't answer, so Scott took it to be a sign that something was wrong with the family. Which only had him half dreading the 'discussion' that was soon to follow. But for the moment, he had his godson to take care of him.