Summary: "Jean and Scott have been practically inseparable ever since Charles introduced them ... and then Logan comes along." Light references to episode 1x20 ("Breakdown") of "Wolverine and the X-Men." Implied Scott/Jean, Logan/Jean, Magneto/Charles. Title is from Marcy Playground's "Sex & Candy."

And Then There She Was

Jean and Scott have been practically inseparable ever since the day Charles introduced them. At first, Jean mostly hid behind John Grey's broad shoulders, peeking out only when coaxed by Charles' most soothing voice; by the end of their visit, however, a small smile graced her lips and, where Scott was concerned, it had never gone away.

Then Logan comes along.

Logan is everything Scott isn't; rough where Scott is smooth; turgid; angry where Scott has managed to find peace after his own considerable hardships. While Scott would like to chalk his paranoia over Jean running away with the Institute's new bad boy up merely to that – a fabrication he's created from little else than a wild, jealous imagination, because maybe he wishes he could be a little bit edgier, too – his fears are confirmed when everyone else starts noticing that Jean's gaze has started to stray. "Dude, what's up with Jean? Is Logan her new boyfriend now?" Iceman asks casually over breakfast; Scott upends his cereal bowl and spends the rest of the morning sulking.

It starts to affect their teamwork, as well. To say that Logan doesn't play well with others is an understatement. He's a lone wolf in a borrowed X-Men costume, and try as he might to remind the older man that, in fact, Professor Xavier has put him in charge, Scott cannot seem to get Wolverine to cooperate with him. Still, it's one thing to have a Danger Room scenario go awry because Logan seems to have selective hearing; it's quite another when the threat cannot be extinguished with the click of a button.

They're losing – badly – to Magneto when it happens: "Shoddy teamwork today, gentlemen," the Master of Magnetism goads them; and then, to twist the knife a little more, "perhaps a little less mooning over Ms. Grey is in order, hmmm?" Scott is so unnerved that even their greatest enemy now seems to have two cents to add to what is apparently a public dialogue over his love life that he only just misses having a bus dropped on his head. As he scrambles out of the way, he hears Jean shriek indignantly at Magneto.

"Nobody's mooning over me," she hisses. A blast of telekinetic energy from Jean manages to surprise Magneto; the older man topples over, and then quickly rights himself, though he seems to give up on attacking the team with public transport for the time being. Still, he smirks, first at Jean, and then individually, at Logan and Scott.

"I know mooning when I see it," Magneto minces. Then he shrugs. "I suppose," he adds after a moment, "that you aren't the only X-Man with a predilection for dangerous men, Charles." Then he levitates himself away, leaving the refuse from their battle strewn across the shopping plaza. Moments later, the team is awash in a sea of protests.

"Nobody was mooning!"

"Does anybody else want to weigh in on my personal life?"

"I do."

"Shut up, Iceman."

Logan quirks an eyebrow at Charles. "What'd Mags mean, about you liking 'dangerous men,' Chuck?" he queries, and Charles coughs guiltily into his hand.

"No idea." He makes a show of being winded, and motions towards the Blackbird. "Come, back to the school. We've lots of strategizing to do." The team traipses after him. Logan makes a show of allowing Scott to board the plane first, an invitation which very nearly deteriorates into fisticuffs when he mumbles, "ladies first" under his breath. Eventually, Jean forces her way between them to break it up, and then sits by Charles, glaring the entire way home.