Even though he was getting used to the idea of working on the costume of one of the (in)famous X-men, Javier still felt more than a little intimidated as he crossed the threshold of the (in)famous Xavier's mansion for the first time. It was a school for mutants, sure. It was also center of operations for the X-men (which was an open secret, really). But Javier himself had never really been one for superhero teams. Or mutant communities. His own powers being barely reliable, he liked to live as simply one of many New York residents.
Until the opportunity came along, and in a moment of weakness he refused to pass it up.

Maya's new costume must have drawn attention among the other team members. That was the only logical explanation. Javier did his very best to make it comfortable, functional, and stylish. He did some inspired planning with the materials and the design, and the end result was much worth it. But still, he was an outsider, dabbling in the X-men's secrets. His professional pride told him he was invited to the mansion to be complimented. His anxiety told him he was invited because he was a liability. And as usual, the latter was louder.

Javier was let in at the gate, and pointed to the office where he was supposed to go. Knocking on the door, he waited. Should he walk in? Should he turn and run?...

It was always odd to Sam when people knocked on his door, they seemed to walk in anyways. So what was the point? He wasn’t mad someone was knocking, he was mad at the paperwork that seemed to stack up over his time abroad. Honestly if he wasn’t the only one that used the office he would have been sure this is where paperwork went to die. Pushing himself up from his chair Sam started to walk towards the door.

”It’s always open.” Sam said waving his hand and then grabbing the handle and pulling the door open. ”Unless it’s locked, then it isn’t.” Sam looked at the guy and raised an eyebrow. ”New resident?”

>>”It’s always open. Unless it’s locked, then it isn’t.”

Javier looked at the man with the eye patch. He opened the office door, but didn't immediately recognize the tailor. Javier, however, did recognize him - he was one of the X-men. It was not the first time Javier met one of the famous team, but it was still a little... awkward. Like meeting a movie star.

>>”New resident?”

"Um... no." Javi blinked, and quickly offered a hand "Javier Moreno. I made Maya's new costume?"

With the heels and the skirt gone, he costume was definitely an upgrade. But now it probably also looked very different from the rest of the team...

Sam reached for the hand and shook it. Nope, he wasn’t a resident. He was the new tailor, already removed the ‘old’ design. Frankly Sam didn’t understand what was wrong with the old suits but Sam was also not running around in heels and a skirt (Sam still didn’t understand how most of the X-women and Gawain did that.)

Normally Sam would offer a drink but he was trying not to drink. Like a good X-man. He hated being good, most of the time. ”So… have a seat… it’s come to my attention that we are getting rid of the skirts… gonna miss those things.” Sam smirked, ”It looked nice and from what she said it was a good fit.”

”Personally I got nothing wrong with my suit, in fact I hardly wear it. Usually I don’t get a chance to run back here and grab it when I need it.” Sam walked over to a wardrobe in the corner of the room where his alcohol was sometimes stashed however he pulled his X-suit out instead of the one thing he wished jumped into his hand.

”Little charred still from the volcano but it’s still in one piece.” Sam walked over and set it on his desk for Javier to look at. ”It’s not a leather jacket but the scars on her give some character.” Sam said strolling down memory lane. ”So… what are you thinking for me?”

They shook hands. So far, so good. Initial misunderstanding cleared up, Javier got his awkwardness under control and found himself a seat in the office. Sam Johnson, as he had been told, was a leader of the X-team, and he certainly carried him in a way that suggested he had seen a lot.

>> ”So… have a seat… it’s come to my attention that we are getting rid of the skirts… gonna miss those things... It looked nice and from what she said it was a good fit.”

Javier thought it wise not to comment on the skirt issue. The skirts had been objectively terrible, but of course, a guy would not be aware of that... not usually, anyway.

"I am glad you thought so." he nodded at his compliment of the new uniform.

>>”Personally I got nothing wrong with my suit, in fact I hardly wear it. Usually I don’t get a chance to run back here and grab it when I need it... Little charred still from the volcano but it’s still in one piece. It’s not a leather jacket but the scars on her give some character. So… what are you thinking for me?”

Javier looked over the uniform that was spread out in front of him. Once he was working, his awkwardness ebbed, having something else to focus on, something he knew he could do well.

"Well, that's one of the changes" he noted "Maya's was designed so that she could get in and out of it fast... and possibly have it under clothes, if she wanted. The rest is... well, it has to be able to keep up with abilities. I am told yours would have to handle extreme temperature changes?"

Sam smirked, ”Like a second skin almost?” he raised his hand and iced it over covering all the skin. ”Understatement.” Sam smirked and shook the ice off his hand sending bits of frozen water to drop on his desk and the floor. He wasn’t too worried about watermarks on his desk. Defiantly an easier liquid to clean than whiskey… or beer.

”Last I checked I out colded liquid nitrogen… but it’s been a year or two since I last checked. Normally don’t have a reason to get that cold… however, extreme heat is an issue. My pants burned off one time. Lot of paperwork after that one.” Sam sighed a little glad he hadn’t had a run in with ‘Hot hands’ recently, Sam was really tired of having to replace his clothes.

”Needs to be flexible more than anything, I need to move a lot. Running jumping, but… figured you already had something in mind for that. Pouches still a thing? I mean I can make most of the tools I’d need in the field but I usually end up dropping or losing my communicator, been yelled at enough times for that.” Sam said scratching the back of his head.

”So what's the process like?"

Javier had to admit, he liked the challenge. Maya, Ghost, had different powers that the suit needed to adjust to, so technically, with each new uniform it was back to the drawing board all over again. Well, at least this assignment was never going to get boring. He watched curiously as Sam demonstrated his powers.

>>”Like a second skin almost? Understatement. Last I checked I out colded liquid nitrogen… but it’s been a year or two since I last checked. Normally don’t have a reason to get that cold… however, extreme heat is an issue. My pants burned off one time. Lot of paperwork after that one.”

"You also generate extreme heat?" Javier blinked. He knew about the cold powers, but heat was news to him. He took some notes.

>>”Needs to be flexible more than anything, I need to move a lot. Running jumping, but… figured you already had something in mind for that. Pouches still a thing? I mean I can make most of the tools I’d need in the field but I usually end up dropping or losing my communicator, been yelled at enough times for that.”

More notes followed. Range of movement was a basic requirement for all X-men outfits, but being able to carry tools was an added challenge. Something that fit like a second skin did not give much to work with in terms of storage space. Javier wrinkled his nose.

>>”So what's the process like?"

"Well, uh... at first, I'd need to know specifics on your powers. You said you haven't tested them for a while... would it be possible to run new tests? Especially if heat is involved too. I'd need to know what the material will have to withstand. And I'd need a list of what you'd need storage space for. Other than the communicator..."

Sam shook his head, ”No, I just get into fights with people who can. Or burning buildings, been a lot of those lately. Ice melt pants catch on fire.” Sam said giving it a ‘you know’ hand gesture occupied by a decent should shrug. Sam knew it wasn’t normal but most of his life was anything but normal. In fact the most normal things he had in his life was his cat and his dog. Both of which were things Sam never thought he’d be able to have in life.

”Tests?” Sam pushed his chair back as he stood up quickly, ”Tests we can run right now. Ever been to the Danger Room?” Sam asked, hoping he said ‘no’. Normally Sam didn’t bring random people to the danger room for obvious reasons but Javier already did some work on other uniforms for his teammates so more than likely the guy was going to see it sooner or later.

”We can run any kind of test there. Now that I think about it, electricity is another issue. It hurts.” Sam said walking to his door. Not the secret one, the normal one. He was going to keep that ‘secret’ to himself and the rest of the alcohol thieves for a little while longer.

Sam opened the door then waved for Javier to follow to the danger room as he rambled off a list of things. ”Obviously my powers are pretty versatile but I have been in situations where I can’t use them. Some things I need to survive or escape…” Sam said as he left that pretty vague. ”You can be the ‘Q’ to my Bond, only with clothes… unless you can make some cool gadgets…”

A stairway led to the metallic hallway that lead to the danger room, ”Any who, set of files, lock pick set, water purification tablets and a small knife?” he thought about it, ”Yeah a knife, not a big one something small that could fit somewhere someone might not find it.”

Sam shrugged as the doors ‘whooshed’ and the lights in the large dome lit up. ”Fires are easy enough to make with a knife, but if you got some room for some flint I’m cool with. I don’t really get cold but if I’m in a situation where I need to make a fire for someone if I have everything literally on me I won’t complain.” Sam smirked, ”Now what Tests you want to start with?”

The uniform for Sam would be a challenge, Javier knew that. He generally did not like challenges, except this one was right up his alley with design, tailoring, and a touch of chemistry. Cold and heat would be what he'd have to defeat.

>> ”No, I just get into fights with people who can. Or burning buildings, been a lot of those lately. Ice melt pants catch on fire.”

"Uh-huh" Javier nodded slowly. Sure, the costume was also protection from whatever was thrown at the X-men on the field. It made sense.

>>”Tests? Tests we can run right now. Ever been to the Danger Room? We can run any kind of test there. Now that I think about it, electricity is another issue. It hurts.”

"I haven't?..." Javier shook his head tentatively. Danger Room? They had a place to run tests on powers? It made sense, really, but it still sounded... well, dangerous.

>>”Obviously my powers are pretty versatile but I have been in situations where I can’t use them. Some things I need to survive or escape… You can be the ‘Q’ to my Bond, only with clothes… unless you can make some cool gadgets…”

Javier followed along as they made their way down the hallway. He got the pop culture reference, but only barely, and he definitely did not feel like he could fulfill that role on the gadget front. He was busy thinking about what he'd like to test first, if they had the option right now.

>>”Any who, set of files, lock pick set, water purification tablets and a small knife? Yeah a knife, not a big one something small that could fit somewhere someone might not find it. Fires are easy enough to make with a knife, but if you got some room for some flint I’m cool with. I don’t really get cold but if I’m in a situation where I need to make a fire for someone if I have everything literally on me I won’t complain. Now what Tests you want to start with?”

"Huh?" Javier had been more than a little distracted, walking into the space that was called the Danger Room. It looked impressive, even if mostly empty. He wondered what it was equipped with. Turning, he admired the whole thing, and for the first time it dawned on him that he was somehow working for a legit, high-tech superhero vigilante team.
As a tailor.

"Oh. Um. Well, first off, it would be good to know the extremes the suit would need to handle. You said you don't know how cold your powers can get... is there a way to measure that?..."

”Yes and no, I’ve only had to go so cold once and that was to counter the heat another was giving off, we both ended up passing out after but a demonstration won’t hurt anything. Though, if I do this you should keep back a bit less you gets covered in frostbite or turn into a popsicle.” Sam cracked his neck and pulled his arm across his chest to stretch it out. It had been a while since he tried pushing his powers; the last time was when he was in his hideout in the artic circle. Which was a great place to test powers, his at least.

”Danger,” Sam shouted, there was a small humming sound in recognition as the room acknowledged it was getting directions. ”Sam safety protocol 22 over Javier.” a dim warm light appeared over Javier as Sam started to back away from him. The light would counter act the cold Sam gave off, of course he’d do his best to direct the cold elsewhere but with him testing his limits the whole room would be frozen in no time. He didn’t’ want to scare off the new tailor.

Once he was a considerable distance away Sam called out to the danger room and a clock screen and temperature reading appeared before Javier in the cone of the warm light. The timer read zero and the temperature read the room. ”You get too cold yell to stop and I will.” Sam called out. He wasn’t worried about Javier slowing due to the cold the cone of light overhead should keep him moving normally.

Taking a deep breath Sam slowly exhaled allowing his breath to come out in the form of frost. His body coated in patches of ice as the temperature quickly dropped below frozen. The focus of the temperature drop was around Sam but at this point Javier should have felt a quick chill before the light started to counteract his powers. The ground around Sam quickly frosted over then became a thick layer of ice. Every time Sam too a breath the temperature dropped rapidly again.

The light over Sam seemed to dim slightly the colder it got the ice started to give off a mist and he started to become obscured by his powers. He kept breathing, if he was fighting Javier at this point the guy would have gotten a nasty frostbite and would have started to slow. Sam was at the temperature now where he was able to slow down other things, time didn’t slow just everything else. The screen in front of Javier read -320 degrees Fahrenheit.

When it came to mutant powers of the physical kind, costumes needed to withstand more than one would think. Javier knew that from personal experience. Sam was a powerful mutant, from what he gathered, and very active in the field; his powers manipulating temperature and his tendency to fight other powerful mutants put an extra strain on his outfits. This was hard to plan for, especially when Sam himself was not sure what the extremes of his powers were. Luckily, the Mansion had a room just for that. Which Javier was still quite stunned about.

>>”Yes and no, I’ve only had to go so cold once and that was to counter the heat another was giving off, we both ended up passing out after but a demonstration won’t hurt anything. Though, if I do this you should keep back a bit less you gets covered in frostbite or turn into a popsicle.”

Javier instinctively took several steps back. He did not want to risk either of those options. The Danger Room hummed to life, surrounding him with protective light, and providing visuals for time and temperature, which made Javier feel like he was on some sort of a spaceship.

>>”Danger, Sam safety protocol 22 over Javier. You get too cold yell to stop and I will.”

It did get cold. Very cold. Javier's eyes widened as he watched Sam ice over with alarming speed, and watched the digital numbers count down to holy sh*t we are nearing absolute zero. "Madre de Dios..." Sometimes mutants tended to forget how incredible, nature-breaking their powers could be, until they witnessed someone else in action. The chill was serious, even through the protective field. Javier wondered what it would feel like when someone was facing it head on. He also kept an eye on the timer. "Very cold, very fast. Got it."