Mornings, loves, and sundaes.
By theM
Rated PG-13ish
Archive: Sure, just let me know.
Disclaimer: Don't own them, no harm intended. Don't think there's any DONE either, but hey. They belong to Marvel.
A/N: Some minor changes added after Valentine. Thanks to my beta, Jazmine.
In one of the many rooms in a grand mansion on Greymalkin Lane, Westchester, a young woman named Jubilation Lee was sleeping.
"Rise and shine Jubilee!" ... WAS being the key word in that sentence. Jubilee groaned something unintelligible and pulled her pillow over head. Sleep good. Waking up bad.
"C'mon Lee, get up!" The pillow was forcefully removed, leaving Jubilee to glare and pout at her tormentor.
"Wasn't I excused from this when we stopped rooming together?"
"No." Paige cheerfully declared. "Or if you were, it was just temporary until we were back in the same house. Now get up, we're going shopping."
Jubilee looked at the clock. "It's not even six! The shops won't open for hours!"
"Yes, but there's breakfast, shower, and a two-hour training session before that."
Jubilee groaned.
"Lee, I thought you LIKED shopping."
"I do. It's the morning person dragging me out of bed for training that wasn't on my schedule I don't."
"Jubilee, you eat more sugar than any two others in the mansion combined; some extra exercise won't hurt you." Paige bend over Jubilee to look her in the eyes. "Unless you want me to talk to Scott about changing your diet again."
Jubilee stared past her, looking at the ceiling, and shook her head. "Why me?"
Paige happily answered the question, rhetorical as it was. "In Generation X you'd have been my second choice. This team however sadly lacks have any women with superstrength. Now why aren't you moving already?"
Jubilee turned away. "You didn't say the magic word."
Paige rolled her eyes and deadpanned: "Chocolate chip cookie dough sundae."
Jubilee blinked and silently considered that for a few seconds. "Good enough."
Watching in amazement as a suddenly energetic Jubilee jumped out of bed and started pulling clothes out of her closet for a workout, Paige decided she was glad she wasn't a telepath. Jubilee might be her best friend, but people like her HAD to cause constant headaches.
"Coming hayseed?" Paige shook herself from her thoughts.
"Race you to the gym?"
"You're on." Jubilee smiled.
**********
A few hours later, the two of them were walking through the mall.
"Okay... So, what are we looking for? Anything specific?" Jubilee inquired.
"It's Valentine's Day tomorrow. I still need to find a gift for Warren."
Jubilee frowned. "That's going to be hard. You realize we're shopping for our token rich dude. It's hard to find something suitable for the guy that could buy the mall itself on a whim."
"Yes. Which is why I enlisted the X-men shopping expert to assist me. And by the sound of it, you've already thought about it." Paige gestured around. "If anyone can find something appropriate in this mall it's you."
"Nice to know I'm appreciated."
"Shopping IS one of the few useful talents you have..." Paige noted dryly.
"Hey! I resent that remark!" Jubilee protested.
"So you're not denying it?"
"I can't! Why do you think I resent it?" Jubilee huffed with a hint of a smile. "Anyway... You had anything in mind?"
"I'm not sure... I just... you know... want to get him something he'll enjoy. Preferably not horrible expensive, but still show some taste."
"Taste? Is this like, going to involve edible bodypaint?"
"Hey!"
"There's always plain old whipped cream I suppose..."
"Jubilee!"
"Strawberry-flavored condoms maybe?"
"JUBILEE!" Exasperated as it was meant, Paige's shouting voice had a distinctly pleading note in it.
"None of those then. Just checking." Jubilee was smirking. "You're way too easy to tease, you know that?"
"It crossed my mind." Paige mumbled, trying to hide her blush.
"Hey, wouldn't that work?" Jubilee asked, pulling Paige's arm and pointing to a lacy see-through teddy in the display of a lingerie store.
Paige looked at Jubilee like she'd grown a second head. "I really don't see Warren in lace."
"Bad mental image!" Jubilee pretended to shudder. "I was thinking of you using it as wrapping paper, dummy."
"Wrapping paper? Oh." Paige asked, understanding dawning as Jubilee shot her an 'are you stupid' look. Paige blushed. "Jubes, I don't think we're quite at that stage just yet."
"Well, I recall you DID say something about wanting to get naked with him earlier..." Jubilee said, giving Paige a look that dared her to deny it.
"Not. Right. Now." Paige gritted out as she put her hands on her face. "This is our first Valentine's Day. Something ROMANTIC. NO BROWN PAPER BAGS!"
"Sheesh. You could have said so in the first place."
Paige lowered her hands and shot Jubilee a look that would have killed her if she'd only had Scott's power. "This is your revenge for waking you up early, isn't it?"
"Speaking of earlier, didn't you mention something about chocolate chip cookie dough sundaes?"
Paige shook her head and suspiciously eyed her friend. "Are you trying to embarass me as a way to blackmail me into giving you sundaes?"
"Yes?" Came Jubilee's hesitant answer.
"You're good at it."
"Thanks."
**********
Fiteen minutes later, the two of them were sitting at an ice parlor. Looking over their table, Paige once again wondered how Jubilee's body coped with her habits. Late hours, too much sugar, and she never even touched the healthy food Paige took pains to keep in stock, sticking with whatever junkfood was at hand. And Jubilee's body took all that abuse without complaining. As far as Paige could tell Jubilee was still in better shape than Paige herself. It had to be part of her mutation. Whatever it was, it wasn't fair.
"You know, that's your second sundae in..." Paige checked her watch. "Ten minutes. And you had breakfast hardly an hour ago. How comes you're not a balloon by now?"
Jubilee shrugged and lifted her spoon to her mouth again. "I can't live on carrots like you. And almost Valentine's Day or not, living on love isn't working out either."
"Nobody in your life?"
"Just the unattainable one right now." Jubilee said distractedly trying to get her spoon under a particular bit of chocolate icecream.
"Wait. The mighty Jubilee has a crush?"
"uhrr..." Jubilee stopped eating and hesitated at the sudden mad gleam in Paige's eyes.
"Spill." Paige demanded.
The asian girl made a throwaway gesture and sidestepped the question. "Ya know... Really easy on the eyes, good taste, loaded, sophisticated, way out of my league."
Paige frowned. "Do I know this wonderful person?"
"Yeah... you do..."
"Jubilee, I love you, but if you're about to confess you're crushing on Warren I'm going to have to hurt you."
"What?! No! It's not Warren!"
Eyes large, Paige did a quick mental elimination of the other X-men. Sophisticated and rich? "Then who... Ohmigosh! Jubilee the prof's got to be four times your age!"
"Eww! Stop it with the bad mental imagery already!"
Paige looked at Jubilee. Jubilee swallowed. Paige continued to stare.
"Frosty." Jubilee softly said.
Paige blinked. "Huh?"
"It's Frosty." The tone was more certain now, almost the defiant Jubilee Paige knew. But it were the words that got Paige's attention once they finally registered.
"Oh." Paige sat in stunned silence, absorbing what she had just heard. She heard a shocked voice say "Frosty, as in headmistress Frost? That Frosty?" and dimly realized that the voice was her own.
"Yes, Emma Frost."
"EMMA?" Paige had definitely woken up to reality again, and was leaning over the table and shouting almost hysterically.
"Yes, Emma." Jubilee confirmed again, sounding vaguely annoyed.
"YOU'VE GOT A THING FOR THE WHITE QUEEN?!?"
"You know, I think we've already established that." A very red Jubilee replied. "But thank you for sharing it with like, the rest of the world anyway."
Paige sank back into her chair. "But... but... weren't you... you know... straight?"
"Apparently not." Jubilee had turned most of her attention back to her icecream, or was trying to avoid looking at her former roomie. Paige wasn't sure which. The silence lasted for a minute or so.
"But... what about..." Paige stopped, unsure of how to phrase the question.
"You mean the Ev thing?" Jubilee helpfully supplied.
"... and the Angelo thing."
"Yeah, and look what became of those." Jubilee said with equal parts sadness and bitterness. "And now this. I like boys, they die. I fall for a woman, and it's Emma. I'm just no good at this romantic love thing am I? Ev dead, Angelo dead, and Emma has spoken like maybe ten words to me in the past two weeks. Strike three, I'm out, thanks for playing."
Paige, unable to hug Jubilee because of the table, settled for grabbing and squeezing her hand in support.
"It's okay, you know? I've accepted it's hopeless and won't go anywhere." Jubilee continued softly. "I'll get over it eventually."
"But..."
"No buts." Jubilee managed a half-smile as she stood up. "C'mon. Let's forget about my problems and go find you something to bag you YOUR millionaire."
"You make that sound like I'm after him for his bank account."
"Oh, I know better." A recovered Jubilee grinned. "You're after him for the hot monkey loving. You sure you don't want those strawbe -"
"JUBILEE!"
TBC.
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