Paradigm Shift

PARADIGM SHIFT CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies and BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), I'm concerned. The menagerie is wearing coconut bras and hula dancing. Lock up the mermaid. I think they're Borging everyone... InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are squishy lovely bunnies for archiving. And why am I so obsessed with bunnies lately? Erk. ProPhile is a non-squishy smutbunny then, just to be different. ;) Readers/Reviewers: The ducks are in a biting mood. Watch your ankles.


"Just go. Please go, Scott."
"Jean, talk to me..."
She took a deep breath, her shoulders heaving with the effort it took not to sob. "You just couldn't wait for me to find out, could you? Dragging Kurt up here to do the dirty work for you."
"It's not like that," he said, though he really thought it was.
"Shut up." She spun to face him, her face in high color as she practically spat, "You can't stand the idea that maybe, just maybe, I could handle this myself. Maybe I could deal with Duncan and his...his...dalliance...on my own. Yeah, I knew! I knew the whole time! Did you bother to ask me? Did you bother to even contemplate the idea that I had every intention of hashing this out with him on my own?"
"Jean, I didn't..." Scott was a bit stricken at the fury in Jean's voice.
She began advancing on him, punctuating each word with a jab of her finger against his chest. "You didn't think! That's what you didn't do!" A voice in the back of her mind told her that she was being irrational but she could not stop the flow of words spilling from her throat. "You're a jealous idiot and couldn't stand to see me happy with any one besides you!"
That moved Scott into action. He grabbed her finger where it prodded his chest and shook her arm slightly, saying in a low, tight voice, "You _aren't _ happy, are you? All I ever hear is how Duncan keeps staring at other girls, how he treats you like you can't think for yourself, how he paws at you..." The last he had heard from Jubilee and Rogue as they discussed the dating lives of their friends, unaware of their eavesdropper. Jean just glared at him, her jaw set and eyes narrowed, as he forced himself to continue, "And then, a few weeks ago, I had heard enough. I heard you say that you thought Duncan was cheating on you but what I _didn't _ hear was you caring. I didn't hear you say that it bothered you or that you wanted to confront him about it. I was sick of seeing you hurt, Jean. Yes, I got a little... antsy...when I heard what Kurt had seen but I knew you wouldn't listen to me if I told you. I made him tell you...or try to..." He sighed and let go of her finger. "He didn't do that very well, did he?"
Jean turned her face away and pretended not to notice the tears welling in her eyes. "I knew. You think I didn't? He's not exactly the brightest crayon in the box and not that subtle to boot. I knew. I knew the whole time. What's so pathetic is that I didn't care. He never said anything to me, no one did. Not until tonight. I just was happier pretending not to know."
"Why?" he asked plaintively as she tried to busy herself at her vanity. "Jean, I know things have been kind of fucked up between us since last Christmas, but I thought we were still friends...you know you could have talked to me about this."
"No," she said quietly. "I couldn't have because this would have happened, just sooner rather than later. Scott, what happened between us happened. Nothing is going to change that. I just...I can't deal with how you feel about me." Jean did not want to say the words that hung in her throat, that she was scared. Scott said he loved her, he had shown her physically at Christmas, but she could not face the fact that she loved him, too. She settled for friendship but when he pushed for more, she could not handle it. She was ashamed to admit she was scared. Scared of letting go and being herself, not the false front she put on for Duncan.
"Bullshit," Scott hissed fiercely, coming up behind her and forcing her to face him. "I'm not letting you leave here tonight because you want to date a norm. You're a mutant, Jean. You're nothing but a thrill ride for Duncan-dating a mutant is the latest thing in his bag of tricks to keep the attention of the school on him. You know it. Everyone knows it. You think he loves you? You think he cares about anything other than getting in your pants and showing off his card-carrying arm candy?" The slap resounded, leaving a scalding red mark on his cheek.
"Fuck you, Scott." She wrenched free from his grasp and slid around him, heading towards the door. "I'm late."
Something possessed Scott in that moment and he was angry and panicked at once. In two steps, he was at her side, pulling her to a halt before she could open the door. He felt her struggle weakly, but she did not use her powers which he took as a good sign. Her eyes flashed at him and her lips parted to speak, but he kissed her swiftly, pressing her back against the door with a thud, her muffled protest weak as he darted his tongue between her lips. She groaned softly, though he did not know if it was in protest or pleasure. Her hands clenched at his wrists tightly, pushing against him slightly as if to shove him away but she did not succeed. Scott disentangled himself from her grasp and slid his hands down her back, cupping her rear and lifting her, holding her to him as he backed towards the bed. She stopped fighting period, not even a token struggle as he bumped into the foot board and tumbled them both backwards with a grunt and hissed curse at the bruising pain against the back of his knees. Jean was panting for breath as the kiss broke, her eyes wide and startled. Scott saw her through a red haze and wished he could tell if she was blushing or pale with anger. Instead, he settled for reaching up and brushing a lock of hair from her eyes. "Jean..."
"I'm late," she said, though in a different tone than before. "I have to go."
Scott laid on her bed, half aroused and fully annoyed. "Fucking hell," he said to the empty room. "Fucking hell."


Logan was not surprised to find Kurt pacing the front porch when he pulled up with Kitty. The motorcycle's engine echoed even after he cut off the engine, masking the naked thud of Kurt's feet tripping down the steps to the driveway as Kitty cling tightly to Logan's waist, her face pressed against his back as if she were afraid to look. "What happened?" Kurt demanded as he closed the distance between them. Gently, he pried Kitty's fingers from the front of Logan's jacket. "Come on, Katzchen, let's get off the motorcycle..."
"She's never been on it before," Logan grunted rather than answer Kurt's question. He felt Kitty pull away from him and dismounted as Kurt lifted her easily. "I don't think she likes it much."
"I hate it," she said wetly, sniffling. "You drive too fast."
"I went the speed limit, Half Pint," he said, though kindly. "It just feels faster without all that steel around you like in a car."
"Steel is good. It's safe and you won't go splat in a car."
"You can still go splat," Logan pointed out, motioning for Kurt to take her into the house.
"But at least you won't be smeared all over the road," she said, trying not to think of how good it felt for Kurt to hold her, how safe she felt.
"All depends," the older man said prosaically. He held the door open for the pair and followed them into the foyer. "Kitty, you want to do this in the study or the Professor's office?"
"Do what?" she said, striving for innocence and failing miserably. At Logan's hard glare, she sighed. "The study. You can put me down, Kurt. I'll walk."
"Nein," he said firmly. "I'll carry you. You're shaking like a leaf." He nodded to Logan and the older man inclined his head in response. "We'll wait for you in there."
Kitty tried to hold very still as Kurt carried her the few feet to the study. She did not want to cling too tightly or even shift, unwilling even then to give him encouragement. He set her down on the sofa so carefully that she wanted to cry, the tender gesture the last straw for her stressed out psyche. "Damn it," she sobbed as the tears fell anew. "I'm a fucking idiot!"
Kurt bit his tongue. Kitty never swore unless she was very upset. He could not even get her to swear if she was attempting to talk provocatively in bed, but this Kitty would not know that he knew that. "What happened, Schatz?"
"What does that mean, Schatz? That's not another word for kitty, is it?" she sniffed.
"Not even close. What happened with Lance?"
"You were right. You were right that I shouldn't have gone," she sobbed after a moment's pause. "It was awful!"
Kurt cautiously sat beside her, his tail snaking around her waist seemingly of it's own volition. She jumped slightly but did not make an effort to remove it from her person. "Katzchen, please tell me what happened. You aren't an idiot. You just made a tiny mistake."
"Did you tell Logan to follow me? He didn't know I was leaving, only you did."
"Would you hate me forever if I said yes?"
"No," she sighed. Absently, she began to pet his tail where it rest against her leg and she sighed again. "I was expecting him to yell at me and be mean, but he started calling me names and saying lots of gross stuff to me. Pietro told him to shut up but Lance hit him. Tabby got in my face after that, calling me a...a...slut and a...I can't say the word!"
Kurt frowned. "Don't, then. It's not important..." _I'll kill him first, then torture Tabby slowly. Very slowly... _
"Lance made her leave and said he'd do her later to make up for it. I...I had interrupted them. He said because I was late getting there he wasn't going to wait around for a frigid bitch." She closed her eyes and her face flushed with shame. "Tabby was naked in the den when I got there and Lance didn't care that I knew..." Slowly, haltingly, she described the barrage of insults, the crude words and phrases hurled at her and finally, the violence that threatened to escalate, the shove into the piano, the hair pulling, the spitting in her face... "Don't make me keep talking. Please."
Kurt had never been so angry in his entire life. "Can I put my arm around you?" he asked, not wanting her to panic at his touch. Slowly, she nodded and he laid a tentative arm across her shoulders. She shuddered and turned into his embrace, pressing her face against his neck and crying openly. Kurt closed his eyes tightly and stroked the fall of her ponytail, murmuring meaningless platitudes in German and English and Romany against the crown of her head as she shook. The Professor's arrival was not noted by Kitty, but Kurt made a small movement of his head to show that he noticed. "Katzchen," he said softly, "I'm going to let you talk to the Professor, okay? I need to let go of you now..."
She pulled away, looking slightly surprised. Blue fur stuck to the side of her face in tiny threads but she made no move to wipe them away. "Okay."
Kurt stopped in the doorway and turned to face the Professor. "If I'm still here in two days, I may commit a felony."
"And I may let you," the older man said softly.
Kurt nodded and shut the door between them only to face Jubilee standing at the foot of the stairs. "Hello..."
"What's this about you being Starman or something?"1
"Was?"
"Kitty's voice carries." _Especially if you're eavesdropping. _ "What's the deal, Fuzzbucket?"
Kurt feigned innocence. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Listen here," Jubilee said dangerously, stalking closer. "I know you're not normal lately. You honestly had dea dea about mutants having to be carded, which was a huge tip off. You're not hiding from Kitty all the time, you're a hell of a lot more self confident and you're just...wrong!"
"Maybe I've been reading self help books," he said lamely.
"Liar. We can do this two ways. Either come clean and explain what the hell is going on..." she ran down and looked momentarily at a loss.
"Or what?" Kurt challenged.
"Or," she said, brightening. "I'm calling your mother!"
_Just what I need. More complications. _ "Fine. I'll talk." He grimaced at Jubilee's whoop of glee as she dragged him up the stairs.
1 "Starman"...an oldish movie and later a t.v. series about an alien who looks just like this widow's late husband. There's this whole romance angle and it wasn't that bad, actually. A drama sort of a thing.