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“Can we ride in the Porsche?” Jubilee asked, nearly vibrating with enthusiasm.
“It might be a bit overkill,” Scott said.
“Come on, Cyclops. I mean, what’s even the point of having such a rad ride if you don’t show it off?”
“Two mutants in a supermarket can be enough of a spectacle. We don’t need a flashy car to add to it.”
“We don’t look like mutants. I won’t set off any explosions and you won’t use your lasers. We’ll just be two awesome people with a gorgeous car. It’ll be fun! Don’t you ever want to be the star of the show?”
“The grocery store isn’t exactly a show, Jubilee. And given what I’ve experienced of being a TV star, I don’t love it.”
“Aw, that was MojoWorld, not the real world. I’m talking about being a star on your own terms. Like, wearing what you want, looking amazing, and catching people’s eye! You can’t tell me you’ve never wanted that.”
“You sound like you’re trying to recruit me for a movie,” Cyclops said with a slight smile. “Get in the car. We want to get to the store before it’s crowded with people.”
“The more people, the more attention you can get. I don’t see the problem,” Jubilee countered.
Scott silently walked past the sedan they usually took into town. Jubilee tugged on the locked passenger door, anyway.
“Hey, Scott—” she huffed, repeatedly pulling on the handle to get his attention.
“I said, get in the car,” he called, heading deeper into the garage. “Not the bucket of bolts.”
He smiled secretly as he heard her gasp in delight. He slipped his hand into his pocket, feeling the key to his Porsche. Even the key felt stylish.
“Oh my gosh, Cyclops!” she shouted.
“No fireworks in the garage,” he warned her, looking back over his shoulder to see her fingers charging up.
Sometimes it was fun to tease and annoy Jubilee. It was the side of having a younger sibling that he had never gotten to enjoy before.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” she kept repeating, as she melted into the leather seat. “This is so cool. Why don’t you drive this all the time?”
He just smirked as he switched on the ignition. The engine purred like a big cat. He liked to hold onto the clutch a little longer than necessary, just to hear the crescendo and feel the perfect launch of acceleration.
“Woah,” Jubilee gasped, as he released the clutch and they took out of the garage.
“Jubilee, buckle your seatbelt,” he sighed, as he noticed she was just lounging freely in the passenger seat.
“Ugh, fine.” She clicked it in place and put on her sunglasses.
It was a gorgeous spring day. Scott felt his body being nourished by the warmth and the sunlight. This was the first day where a jacket wasn’t necessary. The sun shone on his bare arms as the wind rippled through his hair. It was the best feeling in the world.
Jubilee switched on the radio. He had left it on the rock station from the last time he was in the car.
Scott felt his pulse adjust to the rhythm. Duran Duran was playing on the radio. It reminded him of his early days at the Academy, when Jean would play him songs from her Walkman, watching him as he listened with her headphones on.
“Ooh, some dad rock. That’s fun!”
“Wait, what do you mean, dad rock? Duran Duran isn’t even old.”
“It’s older than me,” she teased.
“Who’s your math teacher?” he asked, accusingly. “I need to report them to Professor Xavier.”
“Oh, lighten up, Field Commander. I actually like Duran Duran.”
She turned up the volume dial. Scott swore his heart physically warmed as she started to sing along with the song.
He couldn’t let her sing alone. Not when there were such fantastic harmonies. Synths and drums accompanied them as they tore down the country road.
When they arrived at the supermarket, Scott parked in a distant parking spot, far away from the front doors and other cars that could damage his precious Porsche. Once they were parked, he drew the grocery list from his pocket.
At this point, he had memorized all the usual kitchen staples to last the X-Men a week— six dozen eggs, four loaves of bread, nearly forty pounds of meat. Scott wondered what percentage of their operating budget went to keeping everyone fed. He knew their grocery bill had gone up substantially back when Logan joined, and spiked again when they took in Jubilee. Suddenly, he felt a surge of humility as he considered how much it must have taken to provide for five athletic teenagers, when Xavier was teaching his very first class.
The list Scott had taken on the trip was for special requests, anything outside their typical provisions. He felt that they always ate well, but some people (Gambit in particular) had raised a demand for some finer ingredients. So they kept a notepad posted to the fridge, where anyone on the team could write what they wanted. The results were sometimes interesting.
In Wolverine’s fancy, 19th century handwriting:
- Fresh soba noodles (not dried!!!)
- Red miso paste
- Dried kombu
“Do you even know what kombu is?” Scott asked Jubilee.
“Don’t look at me,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.
“Maybe we should’ve read through this before leaving the mansion,” he said to himself.
“Hey, how were we supposed to know we’d need a Japanese dictionary just to buy groceries?” Jubilee said.
“I don’t think they sell this kind of stuff here,” Scott said. “We can try, but I’m not making a stop at an Asian market. If Logan wants Japanese ingredients, he can go to the city.”
“Maybe the rest of the requests will make more sense,” Jubilee said.
In Gambit’s messy scrawl:
- Okra
- Frozen shrimp
- Fresh garlic
- The holy trinity
“Okay, what the hell is this?” Scott muttered.
“Ooh, I actually know that one!” Jubilee chirped. “He means onions, bell pepper, and celery. You chop those three up and put them in everything.”
“We need to hold a mandatory seminar on how to write a grocery list for these people,” Scott said, rolling his eyes.
Finally, written in gel pen, with big, bubbly letters:
- Maybe some snack food for once??
“We have snacks, Jubilee!”
“Yeah, right,” she replied, crossing her arms. “Tiny little oranges are not snacks.”
“They are, by definition. And they’re delicious. Who doesn’t like the little oranges?”
“We need other kinds besides oranges, Scott.”
“We have other kinds,” he said.
“Yeah, cashews and string cheese. I want something crunchy. Something salty.”
“I started buying you those string cheeses because you complained about the cashews,” Scott argued. “Besides, you should check out the sodium content in string cheese. It’s more than salty enough.”
“Oh my God, you read the nutrition facts?” Jubilee said with a melodramatic sigh. “You need a more entertaining hobby.”
She slid her sunglasses down over her face, crossed her arms, and collapsed into the passenger seat.
“It’s not a hobby, Jubilee, it’s necessary to make sure the team have adequate nutrition. Now get out of my Porsche,” he added in a playful tone.
“Fiiiiiine,” she said in mock aggravation. She leapt out of the car without using the door.
She nudged herself right up against his ribs and spoke in nearly a whisper. “Seriously, Cyclops, your car is so cool.”
“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “I know.”
Scott grabbed the cart. He did not quite trust Jubilee not to use it as some kind of skateboard. They only got a small number of head turns from the human customers and employees, about what was to be expected for a man wearing sunglasses indoors and a teenage girl with such a loud outfit. Scott was satisfied that this would be a normal errand.
As they went through the aisles, he made sure to throw in the extras he meant to add to the grocery list— smoked salmon, lentils, protein powder.
“Yuck,” Jubilee said, as he picked up the latter item. “You actually eat that stuff?”
“You don’t eat it, you drink it,” Scott explained. “And I do, every day. You’ve seen me do it.”
“I just always figured that was some kind of medicine you had to take. Not something you ate on purpose.”
“It’s kind of important if you want to keep on a lot of muscle without hurting yourself.”
“I don’t see Wolvie drinking that weird chalk.”
Scott just barely managed not to laugh at her cutesy nickname for the Wolverine. He wondered if she knew anything about his career as a weapon, if she understood how lucky she was to see him as some type of nurturing uncle.
“Yeah, well, you don’t see me with a crazy healing factor. I bet if there was a supplement that could turn a person’s eyes into deadly weapons, Logan would be drinking that up.”
“I don’t care if it would make me live forever, I’m still not drinking whey protein.” Jubilee grimaced.
They scoured the store twice for Logan’s special requests. Miso paste was easy to locate, but the only soba was the dried kind that Logan so clearly prohibited. And there was no sign of anything called kombu, dried or otherwise.
“Wolvie’s gonna be disappointed,” Jubilee said.
“He should know better than to expect imported items from the supermarket. I think he’ll survive, Jubilee.”
“Yeah. And I should know better than to expect fancy, exotic items like potato chips or cheese puffs.” She put on a tone of sheer tragedy, doing her best attempt at doe eyes.
“You’re not winning any Academy Awards any time soon,” Scott said. “Or whatever recognitions they give out in MojoWorld.”
“Ugh, you’re no fun.”
She hopped onto the bar at the bottom of the shopping cart and pushed off with her left foot, riding it down the aisle.
Scott smiled as he watched her sail, her yellow coat flapping behind her. He was glad Jubilee was getting a chance to be a kid. She still had a few years of childhood left ahead of her. Those years oughtn’t be filled with loneliness, rejection from foster families, isolation, or fear of violence. She was a vibrant young thing. She deserved to shine.
The radio was playing The Clash when he turned the car back on. Jubilee immediately began bobbing her head. Her huge earrings shook as she moved.
“Oh, damn. I think I left my wallet in there,” Scott said, convincingly patting his pockets. “You keep the car running, Jubilee, I’ll be right back.”
“For the field commander, you’re awful forgetful,” she said, before adding her voice to the chorus of the song.
It was too easy to pull this off. For a moment, he was worried she would spot him carrying the precious goods through the parking lot as he walked back out of the store. But he was able to open the trunk and stash it inside one of the paper bags without her noticing a thing. He figured it was hard to pay attention to one’s surroundings while listening to “Train In Vain.”
Jean used her telekinesis to carry the bags inside to the kitchen, then headed to the rec room with Storm. Then, Wolverine and Gambit appeared, ready to see if their requests had been fulfilled.
“I’m sorry, Wolvie, but they didn’t have the stuff you wanted. We got your miso, though.”
“Ya tell us we can ask for special items, I figured we could get special items,” he said, more to Scott than to Jubilee.
“Only as special as you can find at the Stop & Shop,” Scott replied. “We weren’t going to drive to Little Tokyo for fresh noodles.”
“We found you some dried soba,” Jubilee said, trying to be encouraging. “Just be glad you don’t have to make your noodle soup with spaghetti.”
“How’s it that Stop & Shop has got fresh okra and no kombu?” Logan complained, jealously eyeing Gambit, who seemed happy with his produce haul.
“Maybe because neither of us had any idea what kombu is,” Jubilee asserted.
“It’s dried seaweed, kid.”
“Well, if you had written that, we could have bought some,” she said.
Wolverine put away the pantry goods with an angry look, with particular animosity for the dried soba noodles.
“Better luck next time, Wolverine,” Gambit said, with a pat on his shoulder.
Logan popped just one particular claw at Gambit, and Jubilee laughed.
“Okay, you guys can take that to the Danger Room,” Scott said. “No need to break anything in the kitchen.”
Gambit made a quick dive into the newly stocked fridge, taking a couple of the tiny oranges and a string cheese, before getting ready to disappear down the hall.
“Glad y’all got more of them petites oranges,” he said. “Gambit can’t get enough of dese li’l things.”
Scott turned to Jubilee with a look of smug victory. She made a sour face in return.
“Hey, Jubes, I tease ya, but thanks for findin’ me that miso,” said Logan. “Some time this week, let’s head to the city and get the rest of what we need for some proper soba.”
“Can I drive your Jeep?” Jubilee asked.
“Not a chance, kiddo.”
And then Logan headed out.
“Whew, I never realized how much work it was to buy and put away groceries for a superhero team,” said Jubilee.
She wiped her brow, and then leaned her elbows back against the kitchen island.
“I really need a snack after all that,” she continued. She turned and opened the refrigerator door.
“Actually, Jubilee, I think I’ve got you covered there,” Scott said, setting the treasure on the countertop while she had her back turned.
“You didn’t!” she gasped, throwing her hands over her mouth.
“Scott!”
Jubilee tore off the plastic covering and unscrewed the lid on the oversized container of cheese puffs. She immediately threw a fistful into her mouth and went up onto her tiptoes.
“You’re the best,” she said, through chipmunk cheeks.
She dashed in and squeezed him around the waist. Scott put his hand on her messy, wind-blown hair and patted her shoulder. In the past, his identity as a big brother had been loaded with shame and regret. Today was a bright spot instead. He was grateful to have a little sister here at the X-Mansion.
Scott reached into the container and ate a handful of the cheese puffs.
“Beats whey powder, doesn’t it?” Jubilee said, pressing her sharp shoulder against his chest. She didn’t seem to be aware of her almost cat-like cuddling.
“It’s no substitute for protein,” he replied, “but it definitely is more fun.”