13449/He ain't heavy, he's my brother.

He ain't heavy, he's my brother.
Date of Scene:	06 June 2021
Location:	Harry's Hideaway (Bar), Salem Centre
Synopsis:	A long over due conversation between the Summers boys ends in a long over due reconciliation.
Cast of Characters:	Havok, Cyclops

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Havok has posed:
    Maybe Scott's wondering if Alex will actually show. Actually, Alex was wondering if Alex would actually show. But there he is, sitting in a back corner booth. His head's leaning against the wall, blue eyes staring a little vacantly up at the ceiling. Under the table, his leg is bouncing a mile a minute and he's chewing and snapping a piece of gum.

Cyclops has posed:
Scott Summers walks into Harry's as casually as he can even with worry for his brother written on his face. He waves to the bartender who points to that back corner booth and there Scott sees Alex in that vacant anxious state. A sign for two goes to the bartender who nods and then Scott shifts to walk towards that corner booth, sliding into the seat to be across from his brother. "Hey Alex."

Havok has posed:
    Alex lets his head fall forward a little, but doesn't sit up straight, not yet. "Scott..." There's all sorts of shit wrapped up in the way he says his brother's name. Of course there's all that anger and attitude, but beneath that there's... what? Fear? Maybe. He just looks lost and confused. He also smells a little like a three day dead skunk again, don't judge, it keeps him from blowing a fuse at every turn these days.

Cyclops has posed:
Scott Summers raises a brow some and adjusts his glasses just a bit to make sure they're set proper on his face. He hears the anger and attitude, but it's whats beneath the surface of that which concerns him more. "What's going on, man? Talk to me. I'm worried about you. Jean is too. Says you were the one that called her about Lucy..." He offers at least this much while watching his brother, making no comment about the stench. He's not about to judge the man.

Havok has posed:
    "Yeah, that was fucked up," Alex covers the bit about Lucy first. The rest of it, well, that has him chewing the inside of his cheek a minute instead of that annoying piece of gum. Don't worry, he goes back to snapping that shit soon enough. He rolls a shoulder in a shrug. "I'm good..."         The younger Summers boy IS a good liar, always has been, but not so much when it comes to Scott. "Jean doin' okay?" he asks, an attempt to change the subject.

Cyclops has posed:
"She's fine. Just worried about you. We all are. She mentioned last night you looked like you had something churning in your eyes. Like you were planning something." Scott, unlike Alex, is not a good liar. People are fine. They're worried. And maybe if he tells Alex about Jean's thoughts that'll help Alex open up a bit. Beer is served. Scott sighs. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. I'm sorry we've been fighting lately...I don't want to fight with you. I want to help you...if you'll let me?"

Havok has posed:
    "Did you get my letter?" Alex asks, voice dripping with anger... but only because anger is the easier emotion to deal with. The hurt though, it's there in his eyes loud and clear. He looks back up at the ceiling, maybe he knows his eyes tell the truth so he's trying to keep Scott from seeing it?

Cyclops has posed:
Scott Summers blinks, even though the blink can't be seen behind those ruby glasses. His brows, however, show surprise where his eyes can't. He also shakes his head. "Letter? No. No I never got a letter from you..." He offers this much and then seems to think hard. Surely he didn't get it. "Honest, Alex. I never got one."

Havok has posed:
    Alex's blue eyed gaze falls hard and heavy on his brother with the first 'no'. It's clear that he's studying Scott for any indication that he's lying. ...and of course there isn't any. For a second or two, Alex isn't sure what to do with that information. He's been so angry at Scott for *ignoring* that letter that... now he's not sure what to do with all that anger. In the end, he just looks a little defeated, deflated... the wind is all out of his anger sails and he's not sure how to power the boat anymore. "I got arrested while I was on vacation," he finally blurts out. "... for assault."

Cyclops has posed:
"Arrested? For assault?" Scott tilts his head while considering that, lifting his beer to take a drink from the glass. "What happened?" It's asked, and then he'll give his brother time to answer. The fact that he can see the anger in Alex's sails sort of fizzle out and the man is a bit beside himself tells Scott that maybe a lot of that anger was at him. "I'm guessing the letter was important to you. I'm sorry I never got it..."

Havok has posed:
    "Stopped at a rest stop, buncha hick truckers were hassling a mutant girl, about eighteen maybe." Alex finally leans forward and picks up his beer, if only to focus on peeling the label off, it's something else to focus on besides Scott. His voice is just above a whisper. "I had one phone call. I called Lorna even though she was halfway across the globe. I wanted to call you..." He kind of leaves that hanging, like he's not sure where to go next with it, but there's obviously a reason there, a reason that he didn't.

Cyclops has posed:
Scott Summers listens to Alex, and he also watches as Alex peels the label off the beer. Fingers tap on the table for a moment while words settle and he takes another drink from his bottle. "Well, Lorna's like your best friend right? But if you wanted to call me...why didn't you? I have to think there's a reason behind that, yeah?" Asking it that way before he takes another drink and watches his brother for a moment longer.

Havok has posed:
    "I knew you'd be disappointed in me," Alex admits in barely above a whisper and without looking up from his beer. "I thought they were going to send me to..." He doesn't need to really finish that, Scott's well aware of the things that can happen to a mutant that harms a human. "...when those asshats snagged me, I thought... they said they were placing me under arrest for murder, used the name of the guy that pressed charges in California. I thought... I thought maybe he'd died later, like some sort of brain bleed or something. That shit happens sometimes, you know?"

Cyclops has posed:
"That you beat up some humans to save a mutant girl they were harassing?" Scott asks, settling back in his seat a moment before taking a breath to let out slowly. "Look. I might have standards that people disagree with when we go on missions...but I'm also not dumb. There are several on the team who do things off the books when I'm not around." A pause then. "I can understand your fear, and I can appreciate that you went silently...for the reasons you expected. But from what I understand, you had been lied to, and were being taken for other reasons entirely."

Havok has posed:
    "Yeah..." Alex is still focusing an awful lot on getting that label off that bottle. He seems to be trying to do it in one piece. "Still not sure exactly what they wanted other than the fact that they wanted both of us..." He looks up from that delicate label peeling work. "I thought you were just ignoring the letter," he all but whispers. It's definitely clear how much THAT thought had hurt him. "I guess I've been kind of an ass," he admits in that same whispered voice, but... well. "I just... I wanted you to tell me it was okay to come home." And Scott didn't because well, he didn't get the letter!

Cyclops has posed:
"That's something we should maybe work on figuring out together. If they wanted both of us, then it's both of our problem yeah?" The brother says, watching Alex peel that label so delicately away from the bottle. When there's admission that he thought Scott ignored the letter, Scott nods. "I can see where you would think that. Not knowing I never got it. But you know what happens when you assume shit, Alex." A little smirk plays on his lips before he sombres up a little. "Well then. Let me tell you to your face." A pause. "It's okay for you to come home. Hell, it's never not okay. Even if we're punching each other in the face one night and drinking it off the next."

Havok has posed:
    "Yeah." Still with that damned label, but it looks like he's just about succeeded! "I'm still confused as fuck, Scott," he admits. Finally the label is free and he tips back that beer to down half of it before lowering it again. "I want to hurt these people, all of them, the ones that tried to snag me, the ones that want to do the same to you, the ones that sell our kids to the highest bidder or use them for their own gain, the ones that spit on us just because we're mutants..."

Cyclops has posed:
Scott Summers nods and lifts a hand to run through his hair. "I do too. Honestly. I do. It's just..." He pauses, takes a breath, a drink, and then he shakes his head. "I know you don't really believe in Xavier's dream like I do, but Alex, it's all I've had since I was a teen. So I try to hold true to that." Another pause. "Will you come home? We can work out a plan together. I'll listen to you, truly listen this time. I came off a lot strong when we last talked, and that wasn't fair of me. But I don't want you to just go balls to the wall against these people either. Fair?"

Havok has posed:
    Alex reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. It's something people do when they're warding off a headache, but it's also something people do to keep tears from escaping. "When they put that collar on me, it wasn't just that I couldn't use my powers," he explains in a halting voice, filled with more emotion than he intended. "It was like the *took* part of me away, my identity." When he's sure those tears aren't coming, he lowers his hand and looks at his brother. "Yeah, I'll come home," he agrees and then he finally cracks a little half smile. "Me'n Lorna are dating now." That only took what? Five, six years?!

Cyclops has posed:
Scott Summers just watches, cause he doesn't really know what to say, and then he shakes his head. "That's what those collars do... or when people put together ways to supress our powers on a bigger scale. We're mutants. Our powers make up part of us. So losing them..." He stops and shakes his head. "I'm being dumb again. I'm sorry, Alex. That never should have happened." Then he lets it go, and the topic changes. "Oh? Am I supposed to say that it's about damned time?" A smirk. "...Jean and I moved into a house together...I'm still not sure about...her and me..."

Havok has posed:
    "I guess I could say the same about you and Jean, yeah?" Alex counters. "Just, if you figure it out, don't wait like I did. I was too worried about fucking up what we had to realize that I was missing out on what shoulda been." He lifts his beer again, just a sip this time. "She wants these guys, Scott, bad. You won't be able to stop her from tearing them apart when we find them. She has a little bit of a protective streak when it comes to me." ...understatement of the century that. "The collar was bad," he circles back. "But... the other thing they did to me." He actually SHUDDERS. "That shit they gave me, whatever it was. I was pulling in all this energy and I couldn't let any of it go."

Cyclops has posed:
"Truth be told, I've been waiting already...course, she's psychic...she's got to know how I feel." Scott offers and then shrugs. "Like I said, some of the X-Men do things by their own books. And I'm beginning to see that there's a line you just shouldn't cross with us. There are humans who don't quite understand what they're getting into. Then there's those who do what they did to you. What they did to Lucy. To the kids and.." He stops. "I won't stop her. I won't stop you. But we need a plan before we just go after them. At least give me that much. Okay?"

Havok has posed:
    "Yeah, okay." Alex really isn't all that disagreeable most days. Nothing about his behavior in the past few months has been normal *Alex* really. ...and he's still not exactly feeling *normal*, better but not normal. "I think I need to stay out of Logan's way for a bit though. Almost blasted him through the garage wall the other day. I dunno what's wrong with me. Maybe it's just all the shit that's happened, but my trigger is held in check by a hair these days for sure. He comes at me again laying hands, I dunno if I can stop myself." He doesn't sound ANGRY with Logan, not at all. He's just being honest.

Cyclops has posed:
Scott Summers seems to consider this a moment and then finishes off his beer. "Would you be willing to let Jean poke around your noodle? See if there's something there that just doesn't wanna come out yet?" He offers. "You can answer that later. Right now, just come home to the Mansion, okay? We'll figure everything else out as we go along. I'll tell Logan to leave you alone and you just try to stay out of his way for now." A smile. "We'll figure it all out together, Alex. I promise."

Havok has posed:
    Alex's eyes widen just a little. "Uh... I mean..." He trusts Jean *completely* and always has. In fact, she's always been like the sister that could talk him down when talking down was needed. But does he want her privy to all his secrets, even the ones he doesn't know he has? "I'll think about it." He polishes off his own beer and pushes himself to his feet. "I gotta run by the apartment in Bushwich and pick up a few things. The mention of Bushwick seems to remind him of something. "Oh, and Scott? Lucy wasn't given whatever did that to her unwillingly, she took it. Someone's dealing that shit in Bushwick."

Cyclops has posed:
Scott Summers pushes to stand himself and then he nods. "So long as you actually think about it." He says with a smile and then nods. "We'll see you at the mansion then. Just let us know when you're there and we'll come meet you." He offers. It's the last bit that pauses Scott and he shakes his head. "Dealing it? That... puts a wrench in Hank's theory. I'll pass that info along. Do you know who she got it from?" Asking that while likely walking his brother out of the bar, having left some cash behind on the table to pay for the drinks and a decent tip.

Havok has posed:
    "Uh-uh, but I can find out," Alex replies cryptically. "Just heard some stuff." He has been hanging in Bushwick quite a bit lately and, well, sometimes it's a boon to not be so squeaky clean as his brother. "I'll look into it." A beat before... "And I'll take Lorna or maybe Remy..." Another beat before, "Because one look at you and they'd head for the hills. Sorry, bro, but you kinda just scream 'authority figure, red alert, cops, we're busted'."

Cyclops has posed:
Scott Summers laughs at that one. "Yeah. I know I do. See what you can find out. We'll see you soon." Then he's pausing, and before Alex can likely say anything, he's giving his brother a hug. A genuine love-you-brother hug. If it's returned, he'll hold it, if he's pushed back he'll accept it. Either way and after, he walks to his bike, getting ready to leave.

Havok has posed:
    At first Alex stiffens a little bit, almost like he doesn't know what to do with that hug. It's more that he's been guarded toward and angry with Scott for so long that the gesture just takes him by surprise. In the end, he returns the hug, maybe a little too tightly before 'bro pounding' Scott's back a few times. "You're so gay," he teases before walking through the door and heading for his jeep. It is true, the two of them couldn't be more different, even in appearance. Alex with his long hair blonde hair and scruffy face coupled with his hippy beatnick surfer mannerisms and dress and Scott... with his neatly trimmed dark hair, clean shaven face and a penchant for 'dress casual'. But maybe that's why, when they work together, they work WELL together.