X-Men fanfic: "Fealty"
Title: Fealty
Characters: Iceman, Northstar, Nightcrawler
Summary: Followers make their leaders, sometimes more literally than others.
"Okay, I'm going to make this as unambiguous as possible," Bobby said, not quite stepping between Kurt and Jean-Paul. They broke off their staring match to look at him when he laid a hand on each of their arms.
He took a deep breath, and dove in.
"Northstar." Jean-Paul straightened at Bobby's unexpectedly formal-sounding use of his codename. "From what your Alpha Flight teammates told me, you sometimes operated as deputy leader of that team, and you usually did a good job. But during the Skrull invasion, you took my orders. There were a bunch of reasons for that set-up at the time, and while I think I could remember not to boss you around, I'm not sure. This is too important to mess up with confusion over who's in charge."
Bobby turned to meet Kurt's glowing, sulfuric-yellow gaze.
"You, Nightcrawler, have years of experience leading Excalibur. Given the personalities involved, it must have been like herding cats." Kurt gave a small, wry smile of acknowledgement, and Bobby plowed on. "I mean Kitty, Rachel, and Brian? With that team line-up, you know when to give your people their heads, and when -- and how -- to bring them in line. I trust you not to steer us wrong in this. I'll follow you."
"Thank you," Kurt said, wrapping his unique hand around Bobby's wrist and giving a squeeze of gratitude.
They both looked at Jean-Paul, who sighed theatrically. "You don't leave me much choice." His tone was grudging, but his eyes smiled as he shook Kurt's hand. "I will follow you in this, as well."
Characters: Iceman, Northstar, Nightcrawler
Summary: Followers make their leaders, sometimes more literally than others.
"Okay, I'm going to make this as unambiguous as possible," Bobby said, not quite stepping between Kurt and Jean-Paul. They broke off their staring match to look at him when he laid a hand on each of their arms.
He took a deep breath, and dove in.
"Northstar." Jean-Paul straightened at Bobby's unexpectedly formal-sounding use of his codename. "From what your Alpha Flight teammates told me, you sometimes operated as deputy leader of that team, and you usually did a good job. But during the Skrull invasion, you took my orders. There were a bunch of reasons for that set-up at the time, and while I think I could remember not to boss you around, I'm not sure. This is too important to mess up with confusion over who's in charge."
Bobby turned to meet Kurt's glowing, sulfuric-yellow gaze.
"You, Nightcrawler, have years of experience leading Excalibur. Given the personalities involved, it must have been like herding cats." Kurt gave a small, wry smile of acknowledgement, and Bobby plowed on. "I mean Kitty, Rachel, and Brian? With that team line-up, you know when to give your people their heads, and when -- and how -- to bring them in line. I trust you not to steer us wrong in this. I'll follow you."
"Thank you," Kurt said, wrapping his unique hand around Bobby's wrist and giving a squeeze of gratitude.
They both looked at Jean-Paul, who sighed theatrically. "You don't leave me much choice." His tone was grudging, but his eyes smiled as he shook Kurt's hand. "I will follow you in this, as well."