Oliver

[nola_cyclops]

Sam had started the drive from Westchester to Connecticut quietly, shifting between X-related rumination and affection for Oliver. He would drift away on some thought or memory or other (a softball game, a funeral, a moment with a student, playing chess with Charles) and then return back to reality -- back to Oliver -- and reach out to him with some topic of conversation or other.

But as an hour turned into two hours, Sam was feeling more solid. His shoulders loosened, the knots in his muscles gradually uncoiled, and he found his smile more frequently. He even, at one point, sang along to the car radio. It was good to be going home, to be chasing a tricky Scott moment with a positive Sam one.

And now it was time for Oliver to meet the Scotts. When they arrived (they had pulled over to cast critical eyes over their appearances; Scott had changed his shirt and combed Oliver's hair), it was like stepping into a sunny patch of day, even though it was getting late.

Sam had grown up with just his mom and his aunt. His mom had bought the house when she was pregnant with Sam; they had lived here his whole life. It had never been weird that he raised by his mom and her sister; they loved him like parents and loved each other like best friends, and they were fun, outgoing, loving people. They were women quick to laugh, women who played board games like they were the coolest thing in the world, women who owned a karaoke machine and who still, even without Sam, hung out at the piano in the living room and sang songs together.

When they arrived, it was all a happy blur. Sam's aunt ("Call me Sarah", she had ordered Oliver with a hug and a kiss on each cheek) had greeted them with cocktails. Well, more specifically, a cocktail called "The Oliver," which was minty and zesty and disturbingly accurate. She was talkative and friendly, and she managed to take Sam and Oliver on a tour of the house -- excluding Sam's room -- in which she lovingly made fun of Sam in every single room. (If Oliver had been nervous about fitting in with this family, maybe this introduction would make him more relaxed).

And then Sam's mother had arrived home from work, and Sam, who now remembered a life where he had lost a mother in a horrific way, hugged her a little too hard and too long. But he was comfortable here at home, and he held Oliver's hand under the table at dinner and laughed as he accused his mother and aunt of cheating at a brisk game of monopoly (Oliver had been given first pick of player piece, because he was the guest).

Finally, though, they were alone again, and now, Sam could show Oliver his room. It was exactly as it had always been: neat and orderly, clean, a slate of neutrals. There was a Top Gun poster on the door, of course, and a keyboard stand and guitar stand next to it in the corner (the keyboard was in New Orleans, the guitar was exactly where Sam had left it). His bookshelf was stacked with books and model planes, and a few model cars; there was a framed photo of Sam, his mother, and his aunt on his desk (his mom must have kindly removed the photo of Sam and his ex that used to sit beside it). There was a corkboard with old pennants, photos of Sam in baseball uniforms or costumes, an invitation to a wedding he'd attended with his ex, his college acceptance letter, little slices of his quiet little life. The room was an oasis from the colour and happy noise of the rest of the house, and it was here that Sam leaned against the wall, finally fully loose-limbed and comfortable, and watched Pietro-Oliver meet baby Sam through his things. For once, there was a free and uncomplicated smile on his face. "So this is it."

Comments

[nola_cyclops]

"I can't believe we haven't been in love for years," Sam countered, kissing Oliver's neck. "I promise you a proposal, but I'm not going to rush it." Even though they had rushed everything.

[nola_quicksilver]

"Come on, it's been almost five months," and this time Oliver was obviously joking.

[nola_cyclops]

"Five months after I met my first spouse I'd barely even said a full sentence to her," Sam replied, with a deliberate 'in my day' tone.

[nola_quicksilver]

"You're sure bringing up wives a lot to the man lying naked on top of you," Oliver said dryly. "And I was married to Crystal within about five months."

[nola_cyclops]

"I love the naked man on top of me very much," Sam assured him, kissing his cheek. But wives were part of past and couldn't be avoided! "My whirlwind."

[nola_quicksilver]

"Hmm." Oliver made a show of grudgingly accepting the kiss and the pet name, which actually made him shiver inside. "Things went fast with Madelyne, though, didn't they?"

[nola_cyclops]

"They did." It was much, much easier to talk about Jean and Emma than it was Madelyne, and Sam knew it wasn't helpful to fall back to two-word answers.

[nola_quicksilver]

"Why do you that is?" He started tracing little designs on Sam's chest.

[nola_cyclops]

"I was grieving," Sam answered quietly, after a moment. "And I didn't want anyone to tell me to stop and think about it, because then, you know." Because then Jean would be really dead, and Scott would have had to confront it. Or he would have to say aloud that he thought Maddie was Jean in some way, which of course had turned into its own hellish truth.

[nola_quicksilver]

"Oh, Scott." Oliver kissed him softly. "Someone should've said it."

[nola_cyclops]

"I'll never regret it, because god, I love Nathan. And I can't imagine life without my son. But it was such a bad marriage, and it was my fault. Maddie didn't know she was a clone, then, she wasn't villainous. She was just a good person who trusted me. All she knew was that her husband wished she was another woman, a dead one, who then left her the second he got the call that Jean was alive. And when I went back to them... it was too late."

[nola_quicksilver]

"You should've been in therapy," Oliver said firmly. He wasn't ever going to not be on Sam's side, even if he agreed Scott hadn't handled the situation well. "Someone should have suggested that too." He was thinking of Xavier, of course.

[nola_cyclops]

"You're right, but I'm not sure I would have listened." He would have, of course, if Xavier suggested it. "It was the isolation too, I guess. We'd split up the team and were trying to lead other lives, there weren't all that many people around to see it all."

[nola_quicksilver]

"Is that part of why you like a bigger team?"

[nola_cyclops]

"I like that because there's a bigger one, people who need to stop for a while really can," Sam said thoughtfully. "I think that's good for everyone. Getting to take a break or get out of the field, but still be family. I think we all needed to deal with the shock and get some space and do other things. I isolated myself, really. The second I saw them all again they knew exactly what I was feeling about Jean and Maddie and talked me through it all night.. I hadn't wanted that any earlier."

[nola_quicksilver]

"You still needed therapy, though." He stroked Sam's hair back. "Someone needed to take care of you."

[nola_cyclops]

"Most of my bad decisions probably could have been avoided with therapy," Sam could admit. "I don't make it easy for people to take care of me." And also, who had the time be taken care of when mutants were dying?

[nola_quicksilver]

"You've let me try," Oliver pointed out. "Remember your migraine?"

[nola_cyclops]

"I remember. You were so good to me. The Sam part of me is better at being taken care of than the Scott side, I think. But it means everything to me that you try."

[nola_quicksilver]

"So Scott wouldn't have let me try?"

[nola_cyclops]

"He might have, but I think his pain threshold and mine are very different." He, I, it was all the same. "But now I'm both Scott and Sam, terrifying as it is, all I want is for you and me to take care of each other."

[nola_quicksilver]

"We will," Oliver promised, and then he smiled a little. "Can you imagine Pietro feeding you Tylenol and sips of water? Making you chicken soup?"

[nola_cyclops]

Sam grinned. "Absolutely not. But now I know his secret."

[nola_quicksilver]

"Which is...?"

[nola_cyclops]

"Pietro Maximoff would do anything for the select group of people he dearly loves. And he loves me so dearly."