Simon and Jeanne-Marie, November 8
Nov. 8th, 2017 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainWhile Jean-Paul is in Montreal, Simon warns Jeanne-Marie that changes are coming.
Jeanne-Marie lounged on her bed with a book, feeling restless and not sure what to do about it. She could go for a flight, but she'd just done that an hour ago. She couldn't relax, and it was annoying. She threw aside the book and put on some music. Something nice and mellow--Air. The old album, Moon Safari. There. That should help...
Not helping. She sighed and threw herself back onto the bed, picking up the book she had no intention of reading at all. Maybe if she pretended to read, she'd just fall asleep.
Simon knocked lightly on the door, praying she was in. He knew that he was going behind Jean-Paul's back, but in this instance, he figured it was warranted. No, he knew it was warranted. And whether or not the two of them had reconciled their differences (and similarities), Jeanne-Marie was entitled to know about something that may change her life forever.
Jeanne-Marie hopped up and opened the door immediately, pleased to have a visitor. She smiled brightly when she saw Simon, as her first reaction, before she became slightly more circumspect. Simon was her brother's roommate, after all. "Simon! Hello, would you like to come in?"
Some tension unknotted in his chest at that smile. He breathed out slowly, and nodded as he took a step inside. "Yes. Please. Thank you."
She shut the door after him and gestured to her neatly made bed. "How have you been? I feel like you're always hiding in the laboratory."
"I suppose it does feel like that," Simon agreed, taking an awkward seat on her bed. "I'll be honest with you. Some of the time, I'm just hiding from the rest of the world down there."
Jeanne-Marie's smile went wry as she settled next to him, then leaned back against the wall and pulled up her legs lotus style. "I can't say that I blame you. Things keep getting more and more... strange."
"Well, it's about to get worse," Simon sighed, looking over at her. "Which is why I'm here."
Jeanne-Marie’s eyes went wide. “Is it Jean-Paul? What happened? Is he okay?”
Simon held up his hands. "He's fine! He's fine. I mean, fine is relative, because he's been miserable without you, and now he's looking at possibly losing his career, but physically, he is completely unhurt."
Jeanne-Marie swallowed hard. She wasn’t sure she believed he was miserable without her—he had his boyfriend, so what did he care? But the other bit... “What happened to his career?”
Simon sighed softly and turned toward her. "Jeanne-Marie, Warren and I are going to come out as mutants, publicly, at the end of the week, and your brother is considering doing the same."
“Oh.” For just a moment, that’s all Jeanne-Marie could think, let alone say. She felt as if she’d been suddenly slapped by an invisible hand.
Her mouth suddenly dry, she said it again: “Oh. Wh—when—I mean, good for you, and I—I wish you the best. But when did you...?”
Jean-Paul coming out as a mutant? After everything he’d said, done, disparaged for months now? And what about her... was he even going to tell her?
"Magneto," Simon told her. "I made the mistake of telling my father that I was studying mutants in the vicinity of Salem Center. He was fine with it, at least until Magneto's announcement. Now he wants me on the first plane back to Washington. And Warren's parents want to pull him from the school as well. If we don't come out, we're as good as gone, and if someone doesn't take a stand and stand in front of the world and say that not all mutants are bent on war, the only thing the world will ever hear is Magneto's story. And, it's safer, at least, that well-known mutants take the first stand. It will be harder for us to be quieted. I'm not sure what Jean-Paul's motives are. As a celebrity, he could do a lot of good...but he may also likely lose his career, and his reputation as a champion. He could even be sued. I wish he'd reconsider. I know he's gone up to Montreal to take some time to think about it."
Jeanne-Marie hadn’t even known he was gone, let alone... she looked away from Simon, blinking hard to fight the burning in her eyes. How could he be thinking of this and still not speaking to her? Didn’t such a thing transcend... or maybe it didn’t? What had she done or said that was so anti-Jean-Paul, so destructive to his core, to make him cut her off so completely?
Through a tight throat, she managed, “I’m proud of you... Standing up like that. A bully’s a bully, mutant or not. That’s—that’s just what we need.” A tear escaped and she wiped it away quickly.
Simon reached out, very tentatively touching the cloth covering her arm. "Jeanne-Marie...I know there's a rift between you right now, but he's not...he's not deliberately trying to hurt you. Brothers are...sometimes idiots," he told her, recalling River's words.
She laughed--not in a pleasant way. "I know. He'd have to think of me to try to hurt me." But she leaned into him, only narrowly remembering not to grab for his hand. "Shen said Warren told her he's miserable too. I don't want him to be miserable--I only want..." She took a deep breath, trying to stop the tears before it got out of control.
Realizing that he was only making it worse, he hesitantly outstretched his arm, offering, if she wanted to lean into it, a sort of half-hug. Though he was entirely ready to keep his hands to himself if it looked like she was in any way put off. "You want a voice?"
"I wish." She leaned into him carefully, resting her head on his shoulder. "I wish I wasn't so preoccupied, so I could work on finding one.
"Simon, tell me really. Should I try to stop caring? About what he thinks and does? Will he always be angry at me?"
"No," Simon assured her quietly. "He won't. And you shouldn't. From experience, you both love each other very much, but don't have the years behind it all to temper your passions. If you want, I'll try to get him to talk to you."
"No. No, you have enough to think about." She sniffled but didn't sit up. "Maybe later. I--I can't right now. I hardly know how to feel or think. I'm scared of him--not of him, but of what he might say to me."
"Just...remember that whatever he does say, stupid or hurtful or otherwise, he does love you, and miss you," Simon sighed. He had no idea how to handle this. It should be Warren in here, trying to talk her down. Someone who actually knew how relationships worked.
"That's so good of you to say." She lifted her head and swiped one last little droplet from her eyelashes. Now was no time to think of herself, though. "But--tell me what you have planned. I'm surprised to hear that you want to do this--but glad."
"I don't want to do it," Simon told her. "But I don't want Warren to do it alone, and besides which, he needs the credibility of my research. So I'm doing it, but I'm letting Warren handle the details. I think he's planning a private, controlled press conference at the end of the week."
“You’re a true and excellent friend,” Jeanne-Marie said with a sincere smile. “It’s brave of you—and smart, of course. It’ll be less terrifying together.”
She swallowed something bitter there and kept smiling. “Your research will be a great asset. You’ll be very much in demand.”
Simon didn't say, but thought, I'll be very much crucified. But at least he wouldn't have to do it alone. And it was the best answer he had to Magneto. "It's the only way I can stay here, really. So it's a little bit selfish."
“Nothing is entirely altruistic,” she said, finding her reason and clinging to it as if for life. She squeezed his arm—through the shirt, of course. “You could run from it all, but you choose to stand with your friends. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
"My. Ah." She didn't know. The way she said 'friends', he could tell. She had no idea. Simon swallowed around a small lump in his throat. "Jeanne-Marie, uh. You know...they're not just my friends, right?"
“They’re not just...” but she didn’t even have to repeat the whole sentence before she realized what it was about. It made sense, with the little things she’d heard and seen around the school. She just hadn’t put them together. Still, it seemed so... strange. She flushed, mostly because she felt like such an idiot. “You are... together? With both of them?”
"It's...not entirely conventional. Not even a little bit," Simon agreed. "But Warren seems to love it, and Jean-Paul isn't backing down either. I never meant to insert myself into their world, but it just sort of...happened. And now I'm too selfish to walk away."
Jeanne-Marie’s first reaction, now she understood for certain, was humiliation tinged with envy. Jean-Paul not only had Warren and Raymonde, but also Simon in more ways than she’d known. Of course he didn’t need her. “I’ve been an idiot.
“I’m—I admit that it’s strange to me, but as long as you’re happy, Simon...”
Simon blinked at her, confused. "How could you possibly find yourself an idiot in all of this?"
Her smile was a little helpless. She blinked hard. "For not knowing. Anything." She gripped his forearm and squeezed gently. "Thank you for telling me. About your--ah, relationship. About your plans to come out to the world. You've saved me a lot of pain. You're a true friend."
"I would want my sister to know," he smiled helplessly. "I mean. She - she does know. But if I were Jean-Paul."
Jeanne-Marie smiled. "I understand.
"Will you let me know if I can help--with anything you need? I want to support you in this."
He looked up and smiled softly. "Of course. Thank you. I'll keep you informed. Honestly, it might be nice to be able to talk to someone about this that isn't...well, Warren or Jean-Paul."
Her smile went even more genuine, most of the sadness gone from her expression now. "Any time--and I truly mean that. I'm always here for you, okay? And--outside of my own issues, I'm so excited for you. We couldn't have a better representative. And even Warren--he's as good-looking as you, so that's always likable." She gave a little laugh.
Simon quirked an amused smile at her. "You think that's all there is to it? Look good and they'll like you?"
She chuckled slightly. "It's as good a start as you can get, anyhow."
"Maybe I should have you pick out my attire for the press conference, then," he smiled.
Her eyes lit up with excitement. "Can I really?"
He hesitated for a moment, then laughed softly. "As long as it passes Warren's muster. Yes."
"Challenge accepted," she said with a grin.
Jeanne-Marie lounged on her bed with a book, feeling restless and not sure what to do about it. She could go for a flight, but she'd just done that an hour ago. She couldn't relax, and it was annoying. She threw aside the book and put on some music. Something nice and mellow--Air. The old album, Moon Safari. There. That should help...
Not helping. She sighed and threw herself back onto the bed, picking up the book she had no intention of reading at all. Maybe if she pretended to read, she'd just fall asleep.
Simon knocked lightly on the door, praying she was in. He knew that he was going behind Jean-Paul's back, but in this instance, he figured it was warranted. No, he knew it was warranted. And whether or not the two of them had reconciled their differences (and similarities), Jeanne-Marie was entitled to know about something that may change her life forever.
Jeanne-Marie hopped up and opened the door immediately, pleased to have a visitor. She smiled brightly when she saw Simon, as her first reaction, before she became slightly more circumspect. Simon was her brother's roommate, after all. "Simon! Hello, would you like to come in?"
Some tension unknotted in his chest at that smile. He breathed out slowly, and nodded as he took a step inside. "Yes. Please. Thank you."
She shut the door after him and gestured to her neatly made bed. "How have you been? I feel like you're always hiding in the laboratory."
"I suppose it does feel like that," Simon agreed, taking an awkward seat on her bed. "I'll be honest with you. Some of the time, I'm just hiding from the rest of the world down there."
Jeanne-Marie's smile went wry as she settled next to him, then leaned back against the wall and pulled up her legs lotus style. "I can't say that I blame you. Things keep getting more and more... strange."
"Well, it's about to get worse," Simon sighed, looking over at her. "Which is why I'm here."
Jeanne-Marie’s eyes went wide. “Is it Jean-Paul? What happened? Is he okay?”
Simon held up his hands. "He's fine! He's fine. I mean, fine is relative, because he's been miserable without you, and now he's looking at possibly losing his career, but physically, he is completely unhurt."
Jeanne-Marie swallowed hard. She wasn’t sure she believed he was miserable without her—he had his boyfriend, so what did he care? But the other bit... “What happened to his career?”
Simon sighed softly and turned toward her. "Jeanne-Marie, Warren and I are going to come out as mutants, publicly, at the end of the week, and your brother is considering doing the same."
“Oh.” For just a moment, that’s all Jeanne-Marie could think, let alone say. She felt as if she’d been suddenly slapped by an invisible hand.
Her mouth suddenly dry, she said it again: “Oh. Wh—when—I mean, good for you, and I—I wish you the best. But when did you...?”
Jean-Paul coming out as a mutant? After everything he’d said, done, disparaged for months now? And what about her... was he even going to tell her?
"Magneto," Simon told her. "I made the mistake of telling my father that I was studying mutants in the vicinity of Salem Center. He was fine with it, at least until Magneto's announcement. Now he wants me on the first plane back to Washington. And Warren's parents want to pull him from the school as well. If we don't come out, we're as good as gone, and if someone doesn't take a stand and stand in front of the world and say that not all mutants are bent on war, the only thing the world will ever hear is Magneto's story. And, it's safer, at least, that well-known mutants take the first stand. It will be harder for us to be quieted. I'm not sure what Jean-Paul's motives are. As a celebrity, he could do a lot of good...but he may also likely lose his career, and his reputation as a champion. He could even be sued. I wish he'd reconsider. I know he's gone up to Montreal to take some time to think about it."
Jeanne-Marie hadn’t even known he was gone, let alone... she looked away from Simon, blinking hard to fight the burning in her eyes. How could he be thinking of this and still not speaking to her? Didn’t such a thing transcend... or maybe it didn’t? What had she done or said that was so anti-Jean-Paul, so destructive to his core, to make him cut her off so completely?
Through a tight throat, she managed, “I’m proud of you... Standing up like that. A bully’s a bully, mutant or not. That’s—that’s just what we need.” A tear escaped and she wiped it away quickly.
Simon reached out, very tentatively touching the cloth covering her arm. "Jeanne-Marie...I know there's a rift between you right now, but he's not...he's not deliberately trying to hurt you. Brothers are...sometimes idiots," he told her, recalling River's words.
She laughed--not in a pleasant way. "I know. He'd have to think of me to try to hurt me." But she leaned into him, only narrowly remembering not to grab for his hand. "Shen said Warren told her he's miserable too. I don't want him to be miserable--I only want..." She took a deep breath, trying to stop the tears before it got out of control.
Realizing that he was only making it worse, he hesitantly outstretched his arm, offering, if she wanted to lean into it, a sort of half-hug. Though he was entirely ready to keep his hands to himself if it looked like she was in any way put off. "You want a voice?"
"I wish." She leaned into him carefully, resting her head on his shoulder. "I wish I wasn't so preoccupied, so I could work on finding one.
"Simon, tell me really. Should I try to stop caring? About what he thinks and does? Will he always be angry at me?"
"No," Simon assured her quietly. "He won't. And you shouldn't. From experience, you both love each other very much, but don't have the years behind it all to temper your passions. If you want, I'll try to get him to talk to you."
"No. No, you have enough to think about." She sniffled but didn't sit up. "Maybe later. I--I can't right now. I hardly know how to feel or think. I'm scared of him--not of him, but of what he might say to me."
"Just...remember that whatever he does say, stupid or hurtful or otherwise, he does love you, and miss you," Simon sighed. He had no idea how to handle this. It should be Warren in here, trying to talk her down. Someone who actually knew how relationships worked.
"That's so good of you to say." She lifted her head and swiped one last little droplet from her eyelashes. Now was no time to think of herself, though. "But--tell me what you have planned. I'm surprised to hear that you want to do this--but glad."
"I don't want to do it," Simon told her. "But I don't want Warren to do it alone, and besides which, he needs the credibility of my research. So I'm doing it, but I'm letting Warren handle the details. I think he's planning a private, controlled press conference at the end of the week."
“You’re a true and excellent friend,” Jeanne-Marie said with a sincere smile. “It’s brave of you—and smart, of course. It’ll be less terrifying together.”
She swallowed something bitter there and kept smiling. “Your research will be a great asset. You’ll be very much in demand.”
Simon didn't say, but thought, I'll be very much crucified. But at least he wouldn't have to do it alone. And it was the best answer he had to Magneto. "It's the only way I can stay here, really. So it's a little bit selfish."
“Nothing is entirely altruistic,” she said, finding her reason and clinging to it as if for life. She squeezed his arm—through the shirt, of course. “You could run from it all, but you choose to stand with your friends. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
"My. Ah." She didn't know. The way she said 'friends', he could tell. She had no idea. Simon swallowed around a small lump in his throat. "Jeanne-Marie, uh. You know...they're not just my friends, right?"
“They’re not just...” but she didn’t even have to repeat the whole sentence before she realized what it was about. It made sense, with the little things she’d heard and seen around the school. She just hadn’t put them together. Still, it seemed so... strange. She flushed, mostly because she felt like such an idiot. “You are... together? With both of them?”
"It's...not entirely conventional. Not even a little bit," Simon agreed. "But Warren seems to love it, and Jean-Paul isn't backing down either. I never meant to insert myself into their world, but it just sort of...happened. And now I'm too selfish to walk away."
Jeanne-Marie’s first reaction, now she understood for certain, was humiliation tinged with envy. Jean-Paul not only had Warren and Raymonde, but also Simon in more ways than she’d known. Of course he didn’t need her. “I’ve been an idiot.
“I’m—I admit that it’s strange to me, but as long as you’re happy, Simon...”
Simon blinked at her, confused. "How could you possibly find yourself an idiot in all of this?"
Her smile was a little helpless. She blinked hard. "For not knowing. Anything." She gripped his forearm and squeezed gently. "Thank you for telling me. About your--ah, relationship. About your plans to come out to the world. You've saved me a lot of pain. You're a true friend."
"I would want my sister to know," he smiled helplessly. "I mean. She - she does know. But if I were Jean-Paul."
Jeanne-Marie smiled. "I understand.
"Will you let me know if I can help--with anything you need? I want to support you in this."
He looked up and smiled softly. "Of course. Thank you. I'll keep you informed. Honestly, it might be nice to be able to talk to someone about this that isn't...well, Warren or Jean-Paul."
Her smile went even more genuine, most of the sadness gone from her expression now. "Any time--and I truly mean that. I'm always here for you, okay? And--outside of my own issues, I'm so excited for you. We couldn't have a better representative. And even Warren--he's as good-looking as you, so that's always likable." She gave a little laugh.
Simon quirked an amused smile at her. "You think that's all there is to it? Look good and they'll like you?"
She chuckled slightly. "It's as good a start as you can get, anyhow."
"Maybe I should have you pick out my attire for the press conference, then," he smiled.
Her eyes lit up with excitement. "Can I really?"
He hesitated for a moment, then laughed softly. "As long as it passes Warren's muster. Yes."
"Challenge accepted," she said with a grin.
