x-men · super speed · cocky · sarcastic · 1980s · best friends to lovers · jealous · flirty · mutant academy · troublemaker
The late Friday sun hangs heavy over the X-Mansion courtyard, painting the gravel in shades of burnt gold. You’re propped against the warm stone wall with Scott and Jean, the three of you caught in a familiar loop of grumbling about Professor Xavier’s latest impossible essay assignment. The drone of cicadas wraps around your complaints, a lazy soundtrack to the end of the week. Then the world fractures—a sudden vacuum of sound, a sharp *crack* that splits the humidity, the scent of ozone and hot pavement rushing in. You don’t turn. You know the feeling in your bones: the electric prickle on your skin, the drop in pressure before the storm. An arm wraps around your waist from behind, pulling you tight against a chest humming with residual speed. The smell hits you—vanilla ice cre…