WHO: Jean Grey and Harry Dresden WHAT: Hanging out together WHEN: New Year’s Eve WARNINGS: Cuteness STATUS: Closed and Completed Gdoc
Harry was excited to have Jean coming over. She was a good friend so far and cute, and fun, and he was blushing. Darn it! He washed his face and managed to control the blushing before heading out to wait for her, ignoring the knowing looks of his guardian. He had drinks and snacks in his room, all laid out for them in his room, along with a television, currently muted, tuned to the countdown. He just hoped they could hang out and enjoy the evening.
***
Following her telepathic call from Harry, Jean gathered her purse and tugged her warm, snug winter jacket on. It was particularly cold this week and Jean had taken the extra effort to wear a scarf, floppy hat, and gloves too. Leaving the party, the redhead carefully picked her way around the snow and ice on the sidewalk. There had been a heavy snowfall and the last thing Jean wanted was to end up slipping and falling. Part of her knew that falling was almost an impossibility for her because of her strong telekinetic abilities; they were so powerful that if she invoked them right, she could probably catch herself before she ever made it to the cold concrete. It was a skill Jean had yet to develop fully though and she was not all too keen to try it on a cold night like this...especially seeing she was going to someone’s house.
Lucky for her, Harry’s house was within decent walking distance and she arrived not too long after she’d left the warehouse. Though she’d yet to actually lay eyes on him, the thoughts he’d sent earlier remained strong in her mind. He was excited to see her and yes, she could feel that even now. It was strange since Jean hadn’t experienced someone so happy to see her outside of Bobby a lot of the time. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves a bit, Jean made her way to the door. Should she knock or just call out to him?
Because exercising her abilities was always a good idea and well, it was fun at the moment, she decided to telepthically speak to him.
Hey Harry. I’m here.
***
He smiled as he heard her in his head and answered, concentrating. Coming to the door, now. Welcome to my house, oh groovy Jean Grey. he felt silly and bouncy as he opened the door and waved, eyes finding her easily after her hello. As he saw her he swallowed, eyes wide. She looked amazing! You look really good!
***
Well, groovy Jean Grey was certainly a new one for her, but it made her giggle as she waited for him to open the door. He was definitely different than most guys she’d run into, but he had a good sense of humor like Bobby and that was something Jean liked. It helped her to drop some of her guard too a lot of the time. Plus, she felt like she could be a bit more silly herself without there being major repercussions for it. That was one of Jean’s problems actually: she was too mature a lot. She figured it had something to do with having command of two powerful abilities, but then again, she always felt that way. Jean always felt like she had to have a sense of control to protect others as well as herself.
Feeling his presence approaching the door, Jean put on a bright smile and offered a wave before coming closer. The mental message had Jean blushing instantly and she shook her head. Thanks. It’s mostly just static and frizz for the hair though. She offered the explanation with a shrug despite it not being necessary. If someone was passing by, well, the situation had to come off as a bit awkward.
***
Harry grinned as he opened the door, and beckoned to her, stepping aside. I don’t think so. I think you always look good. he grinned at her. “Welcome to the Home of Sigrun Gard, and her apprentice and ward, Harry Dresden. Enter freely.” His words were quiet, but held weight, since in wizard culture, that let her keep all of her power, all of herself, when crossing the threshold and entering their house.
He beckoned her toward his room as he reached for her hand, and smiled bashfully in the doing. Thank you for coming. I have snacks, water, soda, and I made the bed up so we can sit up with lots of pillows. We can watch stuff, or talk, or play games. He nodded, feeling like he was babbling, but also happy.
“Sigrun is doing some paperwork.” And letting them have some freedom.
***
Jean did not know much about wizards or magic in general. Despite being in Madison Valley for quite some time now, she was yet to become familiar with it. She was aware that such a thing existed and had talked to a few magic users on the network from time to time, but otherwise, she was at a loss as to the variety of different magics in this place. During ice cream that night, he had told her a bit about him, including the magic stuff, but most of his culture remained a mystery to Jean. It was not as if she could not unravel it easily if she wanted to with her abilities, but that not how actual friendships were built. She’d rather Harry tell her himself when he thought the time was right.
Jean stepped into the house and while his words were rather strange, Jean figured it had a special meaning of some sort to it. It had to have significant meaning and a time if he said that just as she entered and obviously it had something to do with magic. Though, the thought was lost for the moment when he offered his hand shyly with a bit of a bashful smile playing on his features. The redhead could sense he was nervous just like herself. Reaching out, she took his hand, allowing him to lead her to his bedroom; a blush burned her cheeks still from his words. She certainly didn’t think she looked good all the time, but the compliment made her smile uncontrollably and gave her a whirlwind of butterflies.
The bedroom certainly did look comfortable and cozy. “I’m good with any of those things,” Jean assured him with a gentle, warm smile. Gently, she tugged on his hand and covered the short distance to the bed where she sat down. She released his hand briefly to flop back against the stack of pillows. She felt all the stress of the party slip away at touch of those fluffy pillows and she looked over at him. “You’re guardian sounds cool,” Jean offered. Bobby would probably be standing like right outside Jean’s door the entire time. “Thank you for having me by.” Jean reached for one of the Diet Cokes and popped the top before taking a sip.
“What was that thing you said when I was entering?”
***
“Sigrun is cool. One of the coolest.” He admired Sigrun a lot, and he was grateful to her for so very many things. Training, looking after him, being strict without brutality,all of it. He was becoming quite attached to her as a mother-figure.
He smiled and hopped up next to her, except turning some to face her, grinning as their legs and hands, briefly, again, touched. “You can come here anytime.” He liked this, just hanging out with her. The door was mostly closed, but he didn’t close it all the way. He had no intention of going too far with Jean, even if they did... anything like that, but he also wanted a backup like Sigrun around in case he slipped. He didn’t really trust himself.
He liked Jean, because she was cool, and nice, and she made him smile. And he felt like her powers and her personality meant that he could be himself with her without fear. Which was nice. He settled in, nabbed a straight Coca Cola and sipped it. At her question, he sat up a little more and nodded.
“Oh, what I said about welcoming you? In my world, and here, Wizards, when they live somewhere as a home, they exude magic, like how electrical things exude electrical fields. And the magic forms along the outside of the home and creates what is called a Threshold. That threshold becomes infused with the magic, and when other magic users or beings of power come to it, if they cross without permission, they leave the bulk of their power behind the line. So.,.. Inviting in someone is trusting them to be, well, behind the wizard’s defenses in the place they relax.”
He blushed as he explained it, his mind embarrassed a little too as he tried to express the trust and almost intimacy of what he had done.
***
Jean had yet to meet Sigun, but hopefully through hanging with Harry more she might get the chance to know her. She sounded pretty cool and along the same lines as Bobby when it came to being a guardian.
Jean knew she was lucky to have him; she could have easily ended up in some resident home where there would have been little to no understanding of her abilities. It was a scary thought and one Jean didn’t like to dwell on. She couldn’t imagine living anywhere else without Bobby being around somehow. Even if she decided to ask the Professor to let her have a room there when she no longer needed a guardian, she would want Bobby to come live there with her.
At the offered explanation, Jean nodded. The significance of what Harry had done for her was not lost on the redhead. In granting her permission to enter, he was trusting her to not do him or Sigun harm. Even without the Threshold in place and the words, Jean would obviously have not done them any harm. She had absolutely no reason to hurt them unless they attempted something against her, but she did not see this ever occurring. “It means a lot that you trust me, Harry,” Jean said after a moment. She’d picked up on the slight embarrassment he felt by attempting to expression that what he had done was actually quite intimate and a sign of vulnerability.
***
Harry was glad Jean got it, and he could see that she did. He smiled at her. She was a good woman. How amazing was it to meet someone like her? And then he realized his feelings and thought were probably loud and blushed. “Sorry. I’m not good at mental shields yet. Still working on that part of what I recall. I hope I can find some books like those from home, someday.” He wanted to know more!
“So what do you do for fun?” Subject change!
***
Easily picking up on the thought, Jean flushed brightly. He didn’t know her very well yet and he was saying and thinking such wonderful things about her? Well, Jean only hoped she would let him down in the end of all of it. Thoughts of the Phoenix and all its power always lingered in the back of her mind and it was always a point of worry for Jean. Using it in Charle’s mind minimally had been enough to scare her for a least a week. It had also taken a lot out of her mentally. While she didn’t foresee a reason to tap into that kind of energy again, there was always the possibility it would happen without her consent.
Thatt frightened her more than anything because of the possibility of unleashing its fury on someone like Harry or Bobby. She couldn’t bear the thought of hurting anyone, especially people she cared for. Of course, all of these thoughts remained safely housed behind mental shield, but a bit of shadow had crossed Jean’s face at the thoughts. She quickly extinguished them when Harry spoke up again.
“Hey, it’s okay. You’ll figure it out and if you don’t want me to read you, I can put wall down if it is easier on you,” she assured him with a warm smile. “And I can help you in the learning process too even if I’m sure it is a lot different than teaching a mutant.” Harry being a wizard would be different, but Jean doubted it was impossible to help him in some way. “Fun? Well, I train a lot with my guardian with my abilities and school. Mostly, I like to read if I can or watch Netflix,” Jean smiled sheepishly. “What about you?”
***
He saw the shadow and was concerned, but he smiled a little as she went on. “I don’t mind you reading me. You seem to be nice and kind and kind of cool. And you don’t seem to be offended or want to hit me yet, so I must be doing something right.” He shrugged, ducking his head shyly.
“Also, I like how you talk and do things.”
He listened to her and nodded. “Mostly, uhm… fun… uh.. Well… watch shows on netflix and… hang out with new friends like you?” He didn’t do a lot of fun things, really. “Also magic. Magic can be fun.”
***
“I would never hurt you Harry,” Jean said suddenly and quickly looked away, flushing badly. Normally, Jean had fine control of her thoughts, words, and feelings, but when he said she hadn’t hit him yet, it kind of stirred something within her. Prior thoughts of the Phoenix did not help that either. Taking a deep breath, the red head slowly turned back to him. “I’m sorry. It just came out. I’m better than that with my feelings, thoughts, and words usually,” she apologized in a soft voice. She probably freaked him out and that was something that being a mutant should have done in the first place.
Normal chatter of Netflix and doing magic helped soothe her heated cheeks and she nodded. “I’ve never seen anyone do magic before. I mean not up close,” she replied. “I know people do it all the time probably in town.”
***
“I know.I meant more in the way, like I say something stupid and you slap me or slug my shoulder way. I’m sorry. I didn’t ,mean to imply anything else.” His eyes were wide, and he sighed. “Sometimes, words seem to come out of my mouth wrong, or without me thinking first. I’m sorry.”
She wasn’t like DuMorne, where thinking or saying the wrong thing would get him whipped or put in the suspense tank. She was a good person and awesome, and he had offended her. He sighed again. He tried to compose his thoughts and get calm, pushing away his old panic at saying the wrong thing. He could do this. He could.
“I would never be angry at you, Jean. You’re one of the nicest people know.” And cute, he thought, but did not say, but knew she would pick up on. He liked talking to her. “You make me smile.
Harry smiled and did a small hand gesture, and spoke a single word. “Servitas” and a whirl of wind, warm, and gentle, surrounded her for a moment, like a hug, before fading.
***
“Harry…” Jean trailed off, herself feeling badly for blurting all of that out without a single thought ahead of time. “It’s okay. I would never do anything like that. Besides, that’s what thoughts are for. You can always just reach out ot me.” The redhead reached out and gently squeezed his shoulder. “I promise. No matter where I am, I will answer you. There is not much, if anything, that can keep me from hearing you,” she added. Potentially, another telepath could disrupt the connection, but she could not foresee anyone in this town doing that. If anything, she wouldn’t be able to answer because she was unconscious or badly wounded enough to throw off her concentration. Another reason could be a powerful flux of emotion, but unless the Phoenix appeared again, this was unlikely.
She sensed he was trying to calm himself and she immediately projected a feeling of strong reassurance.
He would get there eventually, but change took time and she didn’t have an exact picture of what his life was like before she met him. She wanted him to share all of that himself or be the one to give permission for her to telepathic experience it. At his compliment, Jean smiled once more. Cute. She would definitely take that. “Good. You should always smile and I know you wouldn’t,” the telepath added. It would take a lot to physically wound her anyway; the Phoenix had a way of making her untouchable.
The use of magic, though brief, caused Jean to pause and she simply watched the brief gesture followed by a single word with obvious curiosity. It was as if telekinetically someone had touched her; it felt like a hug of some kind before it faded. Jean shivered, the brief wind rustling her strawberry blond hair around her shoulders, and flushed. “That was amazing, Harry.”
***
Harry blushed and smiled to her. He took a long breath. “Sorry, its hard for me to get used to people being nice, and not… not like Justin DuMorne. He was my previous mentor and my previous foster father. It was… I didn’t… like it there.”
For a second his mind unfolded images of beatings, being shouted at, being trained with baseball bats and baseballs as threats if he got things wrong. Harry pushed the imaged away, locking it up behind strong walls again, and took a long breath. “Sorry.”
He swallowed and smiled at her. “You’re a good person, Jean and I like talking to you.” He smiled warmly. “You make me happy when we talk.” His cheeks colored, but he was telling the truth, warmth and like for her in his mind and eyes as they slipped away from hers. A flicker of a word, soulgaze, and the idea of not wanting to inflict it on her, ran through his mind.
“You like it? I’m still learning control, and more subtle spells, but when i found out about your telepathy, Sigrun let me study hard to learn a spell to reach you. And I like it. Your mind is awesome!” he grinned at her enthusiastically.
***
It was not uncommon for Jean to happen upon someone’s darker, painful memories. At Harry’s admittance about his foster father, the redhead was already anticipating a few such thoughts escaping his walls. He was letting Jean in and it was more than just verbal. It was a mental act as well and when the horrible memories flooded her head, appearing before her green eyes with all the pain and agony they’d held, it was a bit overwhelming. It was something Jean was sure she would never get use to experiencing those sort of thoughts, but she did have a better handle on herself than she did when she first was hit with her friend’s death.
Taking a deep breath, Jean nodded, feeling as he sucked all those bad memories back and locked them up tight behind his walls again. “I’m sorry, Harry,” she said sincerely, sadness reflecting in her green eyes. “No one should have to live a life like that. Everyone deserves love,” she added. “However, I’ll have you know, you are speaking to a girl who saw the end of the world at one point.” The last part was kind of meant to be funny with the intention of hopefully to lighten the mood, but she knew it could also easily backfire.
Yes, focusing on the magic would definitely be a good thing to get his mind off his foster father. “Yes, it’s cool,” Jean replied quickly. “And you learned a spell to talk to me?”
***
He felt a little bad about letting her see his past. He didn’t want to hurt her or inflict more bad memories on her. He had a lot of dark ones and she deserved better. He made a note to push those memories back more.
“Really? Wow! What was that like?” His eyes were wide, and curious. But he smiled softly. “I did. Magic can do lots of things. That spell is how I was able to reach out to you.” he nodded. Its like an amplifier for my thoughts. We can talk like this whenever you like. He felt giddy and a little silly, but he liked doing this, communicating with her and talking to her, this way. She made him smile..
***
Jean was use to experiencing the good and the bad memories of people. She had come a long way since experiencing her friend’s death and all of the agony and trauma that had caused her. It was also how her powers had originally manifested. It had devastated Jean both mentally and physically. It was only because of the Professor that she was able to become cognitive and gain control over her telepathy and telekinesis.
“Painful,” Jean replied simply. “I felt the death of thousands of people and it was a nightmare. A true nightmare.” Her bedroom had shook and if it hadn’t been for the Professor, she might have caused some horrible damage. “But we saved the world. It turned out okay,” the redhead added quickly. Jean had to tap into the Phoenix to do it, but they had managed to stop Apocalypse. It was scary, but they had saved the world. She hoped she would never have to do that again.
“Well, I’m glad,” Jean added. “I like talking to you like that.” She smiled as he reached to her with his mind. Good, because I like talking to you like this.
***
“I’m so sorry, Jean. That had to be horrible.” One of his hands found one of hers, squeezing gently. “You’re an amazing woman, and a strong one. I’m glad you’re here.” He nudged her gently, smiling softly at her. She was already someone he trusted and saw as someone he knew he could trust, and liked.
The sound of her voice in his head made him grin.
Cool. You make me smile
***
When his hand found one of hers and squeezed it gently, the redhead smiled. “It’s okay, Harry,” she replied softly, blushing a bit. “It hasn’t happened since. I don’t think it will ever again.” Well, she couldn’t promise it, but so far, she hadn’t experienced anything like that again. Being close to people, she would always pick up on something and her powers were only enhanced by the phoenix force, but nothing to that extreme had happened since she arrived in Madison. “Thank you, but you’re pretty strong yourself,” Jean added. ‘You’ve been through a lot too.” Those brief images had showed Jean enough to know this for sure.
I noticed. She squeezed his hand. Want to watch some stuff for a bit before I got to go home?
***
Absolutely. And maybe we can do this again, sometime. He grinned at her as he lifted the remote and turned on the tv. He was enjoying himself and happy, and he was absolutely glad he had reached out to her. She was amazing!
He squeezed her hand back and nodded. This was cool. The best night ever.
Yes.
***
Of course we can. I promise. Jean reassured him and smiled at him gently. She was having a good time and definitely wanted to spend more time with Harry. He was a cute, nice, and funny guy. It was a difficult combination to be beat. Happy New Year, Harry.