From: "lucindas43302" To: x-fiction@yahoogroups.com Subject: [x-fiction] fic: Don't Touch the Sunglasses! (Madelyne/Scott, Something in Red #3) Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 05:01:09 -0000 author: Lucinda Series: Something in Red #3 rating: pg disclaimer: Nobody from Marvel belongs to me. distribution: please ask first. Scott had made dinner, something Italian with chicken and pasta. It had been delicious, and the romantic mood that their candlelight dinner had generated had been almost tangible. There had been this light wine that had gone well with the chicken, and a fresh salad, and lightly toasted garlic bread, and desert had been this wonderful chocolaty confection with layers of firm chocolate interspersed with whipped cream, and what might have been chocolate pudding. She didn't even want to consider how many calories something like that had contained, but it had been delicious. Now, they were snuggled on the couch, breathing each other's scent in, kissing, hands touching each other's bodies. It was a sweet and tender moment of exploration and discovery. Madelyne was seized by the sudden urge to know what Scott's eyes looked like. He always wore his sunglasses, odd red ones, indoors and out, even after dark. She wanted to know what color his eyes were, to see the emotions in his eyes. After all, your eyes were the windows into your soul. Her hand lifted, slowly moving towards his sunglasses, almost of it's own volition, although she was intensely curious. "NO!" Scott practically yelled the word, his voice full of intense... something. At the same time, he seized her wrist, and pushed her hand back, not letting her touch his sunglasses. She gasped out of shock and surprise. What had she done? Why was Scott so... was he angry? "Scott? I only wanted... I wanted to see your eyes." Her voice was soft, filled with the hurt and confusion that his bellow had caused. Apparently Scott realized that he'd upset her, that she didn't understand why her curiosity had caused such a forceful reaction from him. He spoke, his tone more reasonable, his words filled with something else, something tinged with frustration and despair. "I'm a mutant. I can project an optic blast, it comes from my eyes. Unfortunately, I can't control it. If I don't wear the sunglasses, the beams just pour out, like a faucet that's always on. I can't stop them, can't even slow it down. If you'd taken them off, the beam... you would have been hurt. I don't want to hurt you, Maddie. Not ever." Scott was a mutant? She hadn't realized, hadn't suspected anything like that. She'd thought maybe he'd had some sort of injury to his eyes, or maybe he was just sensitive to the sunlight, but... she'd never considered the possibility that Scott might be a mutant. She could understand why he wouldn't go around telling people though. Mutants were feared by people, and often beat up simply for being different. Mutants scared people, especially some of the ones that she saw on the news. "Do they hurt you? When the beams come out?" He still held her wrist, although his grip had loosened. She rested her other hand on his knee, and looked at him, trying to read his face for the little clues that might tell her how he felt. This was a new thing that she had learned about Scott, although it somehow didn't feel like the surprise that it should have been, as if some part of her had suspected already. Scott looked as if he was searching for the right words to use to describe it. "It doesn't exactly hurt, but it has this feeling, sort of like a ripple or a slowed down shiver. Somehow, I'm immune to them, they don't hurt me, but I can break through concrete walls with them." Madelyne felt herself gasp, as her mind tried to envision what he'd described. She tried to picture something coming from his eyes, something powerful enough to pulverize a concrete wall. Then, she found herself wondering how it would feel, to know that you had that sort of ability, but couldn't make it stop. She shivered. "I'd be afraid of myself if I had something like that. The power to crush walls, and no way to make it stop." He let go of her wrist, and shifted slightly on the couch, as if he were preparing to get up, to leave her behind. She could see the muscles of his cheeks tensing slightly, as if... as if he feared that she would want to leave him now that she knew the truth. Madelyne turned, shifting her body so that she could lay back across Scott's legs. Settling against him in such a way that he was pinned to the couch, she smiled at him. "I think I'm falling in love with you, Scott. It doesn't matter that your a mutant. I think I love you." They stayed there, holding each other for a long time. Madelyne was almost certain that Scott had tears of joy sliding gently down his cheeks. end Don't Touch the Sunglasses.