time's up, you dumb fuck

Nate furrows his brows and studies her face as she takes her helmet off. “Hope and Jean?” His stomach sank. “What do you mean too late? They’ve been brought back.”

He nodded. “What about her?” Nate would be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit concerned about Hope being brought up, but he wasn’t going to jump to conclusions. “She’s set on her warpath, I know that much. If you’re gonna ask me to change her mind, I don’t think I can.”

Nate thought for a moment and then let out an exasperated sigh. “Don’t know if I’m the best person to be getting advice from.” He awkwardly chuckled and then shrugged. “When it gets out of control, that means I’m not doin’ my job. But my job is my life. You gotta ask yourself if that’s what you really want.”

“He was doin’ what he thought he needed to. When he gets older he’ll calm down. A little bit, at least.” Nate remembered how he felt when he was younger— it was like all the raw nerves were more easily aggravated. He had more of a temper, and more of an ego. The weight on his shoulders was harder to carry around back then. He was en emotional person by nature and he hadn’t yet learned how to not let it consume him. He had forgiven his younger self faster than anyone else had. “Believe me, I’m glad to be back. And I’m glad you are too. And Hope. I just can’t shake the feeling that something is still wrong. You gotta feel it too.”

“That’s somethin’ you and I can agree on. This has been a shit storm. If you hadn’t said that, I woulda thought I really was starting to get old.”

“Hm. Guess you’re right.” There were similarities between him and Logan. But it wasn’t just them— they both had daughters who held far too much weight on their shoulders. They deserved better than they had gotten. “And now you’re reminding me of Hope. She wasn’t really either— I tried, but it wasn’t exactly a normal childhood. I know you didn’t either.”

“Most people do.” Nate scoffed. “Either they say too much that means nothin’ at all, or they say shit that’s just plain wrong. I keep my mouth shut when I can manage it.”

“Noted. And I guess I won’t argue with that being somethin’ to celebrate. But something seems off. I’ve got a bit of a knack for sensing that kind of shit.”

Nathan made a face at her. Hope knew him better than most and she was not one to hold back— but he didn’t need her worrying about him. Wasn’t it a parents job to take the blame and try to protect their kid? He rolled his eyes playfully and then moved on. “Things have gotten worse. I didn’t want you making any rash decisions but you might be right.”

“I’m not lookin’ to cause a scene.” His voice softened a bit. Madelyne seemed to be trying, to genuinely want to close the rift between them. It was different, for sure. “But if you’ve got a place in mind, we can go there. Feels right to kind of let you lead the way with all of this.”

“Yeah, you and me both.” Nathan and Jean might not have spent that much time together, but that was something they had in common. She helped raise him but their time was still shorter than he would have wanted. “Coming back feeling better is great and all, but you were targeted. That’s not sitting right with me.”

Nate makes a point to take a deep breath and then release it. “People are either strangely calm or feeling weird that others are strangely calm. From what I’ve seen at least.” He might not be the best with people, but he could read a room well enough. “From what I know of the timeline, something is off. Magneto being taken off the board like this is enough to tell me that.”