It had been a week one that seemed to never end until it was today, Saturday. Thankfully it was still early or late. He wasn’t sure he hadn’t checked his phone all day, which was nice. The danger room too was nice helped him get out of his funk get his head on straight.

Mae turned him down for a second date, which sucked but they were friends so less sucky. He was beaten by Serena and worst still lectured by her. He was yelled at by both Ami and Lenna which could have been worse. He could have still been in T.A.T. was it… yes; he was in a way better position than he had ever been. Even better than old drunk Sam, he just survived a few hours in his old simulations free of Serena so he was in his own thoughts out of his funk.

The last session was combating a fire mutant who he assumed was called hot hands because his hands got hot and burned things. It just made sense. It was also the reason he smelled like fire, had burnt arm hairs, soot on parts of his face and burn holes in one of his favorite ‘Chicago’ t-shirts because, they kicked ass.

Almost back to his room he rounded the corner to his hallway then stopped when he spotted someone at his door it was a woman. He wasn’t expecting anyone… He had a second to stop and turn around but decided it was already too late at this point. Bruno needed to be let out and if he was going to talk to anyone he figured a change of shirt would be best.

Thankfully it was Juniper someone he actually enjoyed talking to. She said what she meant didn’t offer any lectures (yet) and was apparently looking for him. Yep, checked all the boxes for a good conversation. ”June bug.” Sam shook his head, ”Swing and a miss” deciding he wasn’t going to use that nickname again. ”Sorry, long week.” he shook his head and offered her a high five because that’s what they did.

Heh. June bug. That one was apparently just as catchy as Juni was.

"Have to do better than that! Someone else already beat you to that nickname."

She had to jump a little for the high five, but still hit it. She figured he took pity on her for being so smol.

"Long week? What's go you so-...hold up, were you on fire at some point?" She reached out to poke exposed skin through one of the holes in his shirt, while her nose wrinkled. Using one sleeve of her sweater she reached up to try and rub away some of the soot on his face.

"Danger room?" She questioned, already assuming things. Either that, or he'd been in a fist fight with a fire bender. Or blue.

... Or April.

Heh. She knew too many fire people in this city.

"I was bored after class got out and wanted to see if I could hunt you down to go do something fun. Anything fun. This place sucks the life out of you if you're a student here." She eyeballed him as her hand dropped back down to her side.

"You look like you've already been doing something fun though, so I can scram if you need a nap or something."

She jumped and Sam smirked he was tired but she seemed to give him a little energy, ”At some point.” Sam agreed as he was poked and cleaned he leaned into it a little. It was more comforting than he cared to admit it was a long week.

”Danger room.” Sam nodded his head in conformation. ”One of the few places I can get my head on straight. Less thinking helps.” he smirked. No one could ever say he over thought.

”Anything huh?” Sam said raising his eyebrow and opening his bedroom door. ”I should be good. You might be the pick me up I need. Just let me change shirts real quick.” As soon as he opened his door Bruno bolted past him to Juniper and started to dance around her.

”Man, even he is more excited to see you.” Sam laughed as he took off his shirt and threw it into what he called the ‘burn’ pile that started collecting for the week. He hadn’t thrown any of the shirts out yet but they varied from acid splashes to knife holes and now fire damage. He sighed and grabbed his next shirt out of the closet.

Putting on a RHCP shirt he sighed and smacked his face. ”What did you have in mind? Been meaning to look at the Jet. Haven’t really found a good time. Always someone down there. Have you been to the danger room?” Sam said throwing out two possibilities.

While she wasn't exactly of the same mind frame, she could understand to a degree. His type distracted themselves through action. Her kind distracted herself through other means. She wasn't gonna comment on it, because it was as normal as pie; just a different flavor. She certainly could understand the 'less thinking' aspect. That was the peanut butter to her jelly, after all.

"Aaaaanything. If I have to read one more book I will explode." She mimed the kind of explosion it would be, too. Just for an extra dollop of drama.

Her favorite big canine came bounding out and ran a few circles, before she could catch him and impart a few good scratches here and there on him. "Bruno! My favorite boy, how are you? Who's a good doggo?!"

She'd managed to get a good leg thump going by scratching him under one ear, by the time Sam returned and was ready. Her eyes sparkles by goddamn jewels at the mention of a jet. How had she not known this place had a jet?! It had freakin everything else at this point!

"I maaaay have snuck down there already." She started, managing to both look guilty and impish at the same time. "Met a really hot blonde down there who showed me how it works and all that. It was pretty cool."

She tucked her hands in her pockets once Bruno was satisfied with his scratches, and grinned a little wider. "I've never seen a jet up close before."

The icemancer caught the look from his dog and almost detected a wink as Bruno was getting pets. ’The look said this could be you but you are too busy.’ Sam rolled his eyes as he exited his room and shut the door behind him. Willing an extra large ice ball to life Bruno’s tail started to wag excitedly. Throwing it down the hall Bruno gave chase, ”Outside boy.” the dog then rounded the hallway to leave Sam and Juniper to their mischief.

”Ah… the blonde.” Sam said as he started to walk towards the danger room. The Jet was on the same floor but the opposite side of the mansion. ”Hot blonde… you mean Serena.” he added a little venom in her name. ”Hot yes, full of lectures though. Kept talking about how old me was better.” Sam scoffed and rolled his eyes.

”Danger room is indeed cool, tis my happy place. Let me know when you want to go down there next and you won’t have to sneak in.” he said, ”I got codes to everything in here.” Sam summed up the mansion.

”So it’s safe to say you’ve never been inside a jet either?” Sam said with a smirk. ”Well you, Juniuary are in for a treat.” Sam cursed, ”Thought I had one.” add that to the list of names not to call her.

She frowned slightly. "Well that's a sh@#$y thing to say. I've never met an older Sam, but I like you just fine as you are right now." How awful of a thing to say. She couldn't imagine being in his shoes and having someone tell her that her older self was better than her younger self. That just didn't seem kosher to her.

She willingly let the conversation move on, not one to pry or linger on subjects like that. Her grin returned at the mention of codes to everything. "What other secrets does this places possibly have? You'd think a jet, a magic training room, and a man cave tucked behind a book shelf would be enough."

... Juniuary...?

That got a snort of laughter out of her. "Nice try, but that ones definitely a fail."

She linked her arms behind her head as they walked. "I've never even seen a plane up close before, let alone a jet. I drive everywhere and having a fake ID makes it hard to attempt any air travel." The fact that she had never been pulled over was a miracle, considering that her real ID was a few years expired by now. She'd only need the dang thing for her drivers test and to set up a bank account.

"So this Jet... it must only be for like, official X-men stuff then? If someone's always guarding it?"

Shrugging, ”Old Sam was old and fat.” he said summing up old yes, fat no but he was a drunk so he just assumed he had a beer gut. ”Eh, I got thicker skin than that.” he said smirking at Juniper. ”But thanks.” he said sincerely but tried not to make it seem like it mattered too much to him because he’d never admit it.

The icemancer looked back to Juniper and raised an eyebrow as he rounded some stairs to the next level lower. ”Fake I.D.?” Sam faked a shocked look. ”I don’t believe it.” he then kept moving down the stairs. Most kids now had a fake I.D. Sam was one of them but his was also his older self so it was him technically. He didn’t pry as to why she had a fake I.D. to drive it wasn’t any of his business unless she wanted to share. That was one of the beautiful things about this friendship.

The icemancer nodded his head as he jumped a few stairs to the next floor then started to head to the basement. ”Yep, official X-men stuff.” Sam agreed, X-Men stuff and whatever else X-Men wanted to use it for. ”I don’t know if someone is always guarding it, just last time I started the thing up one of the teachers started to yell till I got out of the thing.”

Sam shrugged, ”Every time after that there just happened to be someone walking down here. Kinda hard to sneak in there if you are in plan view.” Sam said as he stopped before the basement hallway. Sam held up his hand then looked around the corner.

There was someone in the hallway. Sam knew him as DocProf the healer. He was walking down the hallway reading something. Looking back to Juniper and holding up his hand to hold position. The icemancer started to make it colder. Sam pointed next to himself in the stairs and willed an ice clone to jump the rest of the flight and run down the hallway towards the danger room. “Sam stop running! I don’t care how old you are!” Doc called as he looked back at his paperwork and entered another room. The whooshing sound of the doors closing meant the cost was clear.

Sam looked back up to Juniper and gave the thumbs up and the move out gesture. ”First time he was here.” Sam whispered as he tiptoed past the war room, thankfully the doors were still shut. Sam started sneaking down the hallway over exaggerating his tiptoeing.

"I know, it's shocking. I totally pass for an adult all the time, right?" Christ, someone had carded her for trying to buy a can of compressed air the other day. She knew why, but really? Was she that baby faced?

It was a funny visual image imagining him in some kind of plane, flicking switches on while outside faculty members were scrambling around trying to get him out. "How Rude. Don't they know you're former faculty? Isn't there like a grandfathered in clause?" She chuckled.

Juniper dutifully stopped when he motioned to stop, edging closer to the wall and behind him, and peeking out around his side a bit. His power was certainly an interesting one, and it entertained her to no end that she knew two hot heads and one ice maker all quite personally too.

The whole clone thing was new and pretty cool. If Juniper had been the type it might have made her jaw drop. Instead, her eyes widened marginally and her fan-girled to herself how cool it was, both literally and figuratively.

Once the coast was clear she followed after him again, wondering vaguely what all of his little hand gestures meant. "Was that the doctor everyone here talks about?" She whispered back. He looked the part, from the description she had gotten from fellow students.

She kept a wary eye on the door he had entered until it was out of sight, barely suppressing a shudder at the thought of what the students had told her. He had some kind of ability to see your past or something, by touching you. She wasn't sure how accurate the rumor was, but didn't like it regardless. Adapteds and mind readers were just... not her most favorite types.

When she turned back and spotted his dramatic tippy-toes, she literally had to slap her hands over her own mouth to keep from cackling, and hurried to keep up with quiet footsteps.

It was both exciting and terrifying being this deep in the school, likely where she wasn't allowed to be. She was a sort-of student, not an X in any fashion, and moonlighted as a criminal a few times out of the year.

That kind of make it even more exciting.

"Christ, this place is big. I didn't know there was this much down here." Thankfully, it was easy to whisper.

Nodding his head to her question Sam knew to keep clear of the healer. He as for the most part a good guy but both he and his older version hated lectures and apparently the healer was full of them.

When he got to the door he leaned in to Juniper, ”That was the healer. Mind giving us a way in? If I do anything to the key pad they will know I was here again and I’d like to keep it a secret just in case I need to… borrow the jet.” Sam said with a mischievous grin. He knew Gawain would try to kick his butt at the thought but if he ever needed a quick escape this was the place to get one.

Sam nodded his head, ”Makes you wonder who pays for everything right?” the icemancer asked as he offered up his hand for Juniper to take.

Oh ho ho! Already plotting to steal the jet out from under their noses at some point? That made her an accomplice, didn't it?

Giggling nefariously, she ignored his hand and lurched forward to wrap her arms around his middle, phasing the both of them and dragging him through the solid door with her.

"Ta-daaa~!" They were on the other side. She let go and spread her arms out, before dropping them to take a look around.

"I dunno, I figured that you guys for fat government handouts for all this stuff, or something." She paused, waiting for him to take the lead again.

"I don't know much about this school, really. My friend is the expert."

She ignored his hand and wrapped around him and dragged him through the wall and felt himself back on his solid feet. He shrugged a little louder now that they had a metal door between them. ”Investors and government checks I’m sure. Got to teach mutants to control their powers. It’s an investment.” Sam said figuring that was the case, his older self could have given her a better answer but he was here now and he was pretty sure his older self wouldn’t need to sneak around the mansion.

”I’ll have to meet the expert at some point.” Sam said as he started to walk towards the jet. The hanger was pretty spacious even if there was a jet in it. There was a runway that exited some kind of rock face and then the basketball courts opened up above the jet he could see the line where it separated.

Sam looked for the closest security camera and blasted the thing with a beam of ice causing the lens to cover up. Call it paranoia from his old days normally he’d freeze the thing to break it but if he did that he knew someone would have to come fix it. If it was just blurry it just meant a reset.

”Clear.” Sam determined as he gestured towards the jet. ”Welcome to the X-Jet, piloted by none other than yours truly.” Sam said in a mock bow. He decided not to mention who else could fly the jet. He was trying to impress Juniper.

"You will, i'm sure. He's kinda hard not to run into."

She normally wasn't one to marvel at things, but...duuude! This was more than she had been expecting. Also, the freaking jet didn't look anything like she had imagined it would.

Color her impressed, indeed!

"Seriously... is there anything you can't do?" She laughed, still caught up on looking around. She did catch his bow though.

"Like, for real. You can actually fly[/i that thing? I can barely navigate a remote controlled drone."

She headed for the jet a bit cautiously, having never seen anything like it before. It looked... military? Maybe? Something like that.

”Enjoy country music.” Sam said flatly as he started to walk closer to the jet. He really hated the genre. Even if Juniper would suggest it he would do what he normally did. Tune it out. Why all of the music in the Man cave was everything but country the only thing he agreed with Old Sam on.

Sam nodded his head as he walked up the ramp into the jet. ”Yep, kinda what I did before I came here.” Sam said leaving it as vague as possible. He doubted Juniper would still actively seek him out to hang if she knew what he had done. Most people probably wouldn’t. Old Sam had years here before the information slipped. He didn’t it was still very raw subject for him.

”and no one can fly those well. I can fly this.” he hadn’t yet but he knew he did before he de-aged and it wouldn’t be the first time he sat down and just gave it a shot. Not to mention older Sam left him a little information on the jet. He probably suspected that his younger self would accept the environment.

When he entered the jet he studied everything about it where everything was and if it matched up to the information he had. Sam shifted from the ramp and the seats to the bathroom and then cockpit. Stepping past all the seats he went to the head controls and whistled. ”Damn… She’s sexy.”

The blonde snickered at him. Apparently he was still sore about the time she had fiddled with the station in his man-cave and put country on. "Oh, come oooon. You have to forgive me at some point for that!"

She followed him up the ramp like a curious puppy, staying close, but not too close and looking at virtually everything. "You were a pilot before? Nifty. What kind? Like... air force?" He was young, so she could only assume some many things. Unless he was talking about his older self, before he had come to the mansion?

Meh. This whole de-aging thing was complicated.

The jet has seats, storage areas, various things she could only make guesses at. It was big on the inside, too.

"I'd say that again." She commented, standing behind the other chair in the cockpit area and wrapping her arms around it lazily.

"Everything is so advanced looking." Like, jeez, seriously. She couldn't figure out what any of the controls were supposed to do by just looking at them.

A smirk wormed its way onto her face and she shifted a side-eyed glance at him. "Does it count as being part of the sky high club if the jet is still on the ground?"

Still looking at everything Sam shifted himself to the captain’s seat and sunk in. ”Best kind? Still alive, right?” Sam debated on spilling more information but again he was worried about how she would react so he left it at that. His hand ran across the console as he studied everything, there were little labels in front of everything giving him the rest of the map he was looking at earlier.

Sam leaned back in the chair looking back to Juniper, ”No, but I’m up for working our way up to the mile. Maybe a little more?” Sam said hitting a button to the ramp lifting it up. ”Pretty sure there is a speaker system in her somewhere.

He found the cord jax and offered it to her. ”Anything but country. he smirked, ” and no I don’t think can ever forgive you for that.” Sam said as he started to flip some switches, turning on navigation and dimming the lights to the cockpit.