Title: “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” 4/?
Author: sharonmjl47
Rating: NC-17
Category: Movieverse.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and no one. Sad, isn’t it!
Spoilers/Continuity: None.
Genre: A lot of things.
Notes: Set after X2.
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They got to the barn, and the girls were still moaning about the amount of dust that they would most probably get covered in. Jubes was more worried about the spiders; she had hated them ever since she was a kid. Now she was a kid, she hated them even more.
Scott and Logan had carried the boxes that the caretaker had provided. Jubes had the packing tape, and Marie had a marker and some labels. All four stood outside the barn’s double doors, just staring at the huge padlock.
“Great, he never give us the key.” Jubes threw her hands up in defeat. “Rock, paper, scissors to see who goes back for it?”
“Rock, paper, scissors? Yellow, I got my own key.” Logan popped a single claw and snapped the padlock off with a quick flick.
“Nice, Wolvie. He’ll make you pay for that.”
“So? Do I look like I care? No, cause I don’t.” He walked in and coughed at all the dust floating around. “Come on, let’s get this over with. Then maybe Hank will have sorted that machine out.”
Marie came up behind him and wound her arms around his waist. “What’s the matter, sugar? Fed up with being young and virile?”
He turned in her embrace and cupped her face with his hands. “Darlin’, I’m always young and virile.” He kissed her and easily slipped his tongue into her mouth.
“Again, eww.” Jubes brushed past them into the barn.
It was a huge barn, one level, but you could tell it used to have an upper level. There was a small window at either end near the ceiling and the old wooden ladder that would’ve been used was up against the far wall.
There were about six or seven rails of costumes and countless boxes of hats, shoes, and feather boas. Further back, there was even more bags, old broken boxes and baskets filled with props like swords, plastic Tommy guns and silly stuff like that. Also right at the back in the centre was a huge tarp, with something bulky underneath it.
“Shit! This is going to take us hours.”
“Scott, my friend, I think that’s the point.” Marie threw the labels and marker pen on a small table to the side. She was glad that she had put her gloves back on. She hated the idea of getting dust under her nails. “Why don’t we start with the props at the back, then do the clothes?” Marie was trying to be methodical.
“Why not? Guess we have to start somewhere, and it’s not like we have much of a choice.” Scott started to make his way to the back of the barn; he had to move a few boxes to get through.
The boys started with the broken boxes at the back, but Jubes and Marie couldn’t resist looking through some of the clothes.
There was an old couch that had most of the broken boxes stacked on top of it. Logan and Scott noticed that the girls weren’t planning on doing any work any time soon, so they dumped the boxes and slumped on the couch and were immediately rewarded with a small cloud of dust.
Marie ran out from in between two of the clothes racks. “Hey, Scott, look! I found a ‘Robin’ costume.” She held up the Batman’s sidekick outfit. Jubes and Logan both started laughing.
“Very funny. There a Neanderthal man one in there for Logan?”
“No, how about an Astronaut?” It was Scott’s turn to laugh this time.
“Yeah, he could be ‘Johnny Neutron, Astronaut’ or ‘Johnny Neutron, Farm Boy’!” He snorted as he laughed.
“Scooter, stop with the farm boy crap!”
Marie and Jubes started calling to them from the rails. “How about an American Football Player?”
“No,” They replied in unison..
“Abraham Lincoln?”
“No.”
“Bugsy Malone, or is it supposed to be Al Capone?”
“No!”
“Ooooh, white naval officer’s suit!”
“No!”
“Marie, this one looks way too big. Who the hell would have worn that?” Marie laughed, grabbed whatever Jubes was holding and ran out to the boys.
“Hey guys...” She held up a large sequinned dress. “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert?”
“NO!”
“Hey ‘Ree, look at this one.” Marie ran back to Jubes in the racks. Logan and Scott rolled their eyes when they heard them giggling. “You have to put this on.” There was more giggling and the distinct rustle of clothes, and Marie ran out in front of Scott and Logan.
“Forget Johnny Neutron. How about ‘Pumpkin Woman’!” She struck a stupid Kung-Fu pose and laughed. She was dressed in a baggy plastic pumpkin outfit.
“Even better than that - ‘Inflatable, Pumpkin Woman’!” Marie turned to Jubes when she said ‘Inflatable’, but wasn’t quick enough to stop her from pulling the inflate cord on the side of her costume.
Marie screeched as the inside layer of the pumpkin began to inflate. It was obviously meant for a larger person, because it made her completely round. She wobbled comically, showing only her feet out of the bottom. “Let the sir out!” Her arms were out to her sides, and she couldn’t reach to release cord herself. Logan and Scott were laughing so hard, they made another dust cloud rise up around them. They laughed and coughed almost simultaneously.
Marie was still wobbling around in a circle, and when she tried to follow Jubes to get her to deflate it, she fell forward and rolled from side to side. “Someone just help me!” Her so-called friends and boyfriend laughed even harder.
After a couple more minutes of hysterical laughter, Jubes wiped her tears away and pulled the deflate cord. With a rude noise, Marie’s costume went down almost instantly. She got to her feet and huffed back in between the rails to take it off again. “Not funny!”
Logan was still laughing at Marie when he slung his head back over the edge of the couch. The big hulking tarp caught his attention. Sitting up straight, he elbowed Scott. “What’s under that?”
Scott shrugged, and they both got up to look. They ignored the girls giggling and started to unwrap the tarp. A good yank, and it flew off completely. “Why the fuck does the school have one of them?” Logan just couldn’t believe his eyes.
There stood, dusty and unused, a fully-built medieval catapult. “I can’t really remember. A class project, I think. They had to build a Catapult or a Treb’uchet. Um, the class was about…..” He scratched his head.
“War, by any chance?” Jubes had joined them, leaving Marie to grumble back into her own clothes, and smirked at her own sarcastic remark.
“Something like that. They tested it with a sack full of old clothes. Still managed to break the greenhouse.” Marie joined them as they were looking over the huge contraption. It was on four huge wheels. Resting in the centre was the spring mechanism and further back was the ammunition cup.
“What is it?” Logan and Scott turned to look at her, astonished that she didn’t know. “What? I don’t know.”
“It’s a catapult. Medieval or Roman.” This time all three of them turned to look at Jubes. “What? I actually paid attention in History class. Do you think it still works? We could inflate Marie again and fire her off!”
“Oh ha-fucking-ha, Jubes. I’m not getting in that thing!” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, and Jubes laughed.
“We can’t fire it in here, but…” Logan jumped up onto the machine base and then up into the ammunition cup and started to bounce it. “You can bounce in it. Marie, wanna try darlin’?”
She laughed at him. “I’m not coming up there! Forget it, mister.” He was still bouncing.
Marie moved round the other side. “What does this do?” She was about to touch the firing arm.
Scott, Logan, and Jubes all yelled at her, “DON’T TOUCH THAT!” But instead of stopping her from touching, they made her jump and push it anyway.
There was a split second of complete silence as the firing arm fell forwards. Then there was a loud creak. The cup flew forward at incredible speed, hurling Logan along with it. He flew the entire length of the barn. Then he smashed loudly through the window at the end. “OOOOHHHH SSSHHHIT!” He kept going another 20 feet or so, then came to a stop with an enormous splash in the middle of the lake.
Xavier was sitting at his desk, his back to the window that looked out over the lake. Hank sat in front of him. “Charles, you have to admit it was rather amusing.”
“Yes, it was, but they really should know better.”
“There isn’t really an increase in hormones, but it’s just that their young bodies are reacting to it more. It reduces their ability for rational thought, fear of getting caught etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t get into more trouble.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be surprised either. They’re occupied for now, though. How much longer do…?” He didn’t finish his sentence because Hank put his hand over his mouth and stood up with a horrified look in his eyes.
“OOOOHHHH SSSHHHIT!” *splash*
Charles heard the splash and, without moving, calmly took a sit of his tea. “Mmm, I did briefly wonder if putting them in the same room as the catapult was wise.”
Jubes and Marie sat crossed legged in the centre of the med lab. Scott was leaning casually against the wall, and Logan was shaking himself dry like a wet dog. Hank handed him a towel, then stood by his lab equipment and pinched his nose to hold in his amusement. Bobby and ‘Ro stood behind the Professor’s wheelchair, listening to him scold his X-Men.
“You are not to leave this room, you are not to touch anything, and you are to leave Dr. McCoy to complete his research. Your actions have not been what I have come to expect of you as X-Men. I realise that this *situation* is more than a little unusual, but that is no excuse for irresponsible behaviour. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” all four replied, and Logan shook his wet hair out again.
“Good.” The Professor, ‘Ro and a stony-faced Bobby left the room.
Hank looked at them from over the top of his glasses. He walked into the corridor and came back with a dry t-shirt and hooded top for Logan. “I’m afraid I don’t have any jeans, but this should help make you a little more comfortable.”
“Thanks, blue.” Marie bit her lip and smiled when he stripped off his shirt and undershirt, revealing his wonderful chest. He winked at her.
Hank took Logan’s wet clothes and walked from the room. He stopped at the door. “I trust you four will be fine by yourselves?” They nodded, and he left.
Logan sank to the floor behind Marie and snuggled into her neck. She giggled as he licked her skin, making her blush and smile. “Sorry I shot you through a window, sugar.”
“It’s ok, darlin’. It was kinda fun.”
Jubes laid on the floor and stared at the ceiling. “This is so Breakfast Club.”
“I like that film. Charlie Sheen, right?” Marie moved away from Logan slightly; he was making her feel a little light-headed.
“No, Emilio Estevez. Wasn’t Molly Ringwold in it too?”
“Yeah, she was the girl who could put her lipstick in between her breasts and put it on her lips. What was the other guy’s name, the one who was in St. Elmo’s as well?”
“Can’t remember.”
“Never heard of it.” She rubbed Logan’s leg.
“Why am I not surprised, sugar.” She turned to Jubes again. “Didn’t they have to get to the cafeteria and back without getting caught?”
Jubes sat up and smirked. “Yeah, they did.” She glanced at Scott and then at Logan. “Fancy a dare?”
“We’d never make it to the cafeteria and back.” All eyes turned to Scott. “But we’d make it to the garage.”
*************END OF PART FOUR
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Summary:“Why the fuck does the school have one of them?” Logan just couldn’t believe his eyes.