Other X-people watched with equal apprehension. With no baseball game and no swimming and no space... someone was going to start something.

"I like it. It's not cold, just nice summer rain..."

All heads turned to look at Havok, who smiled innocently. Warren was the first to speak, after all of three seconds. "Okay, I'll bite. Why are you so damn happy? You haven't stopped smiling all day."

"I'm quitting," Alex said delightedly. Silence fell.

"Quitting....?"

"X-Factor. Superheroing in general. The whole shebang. Somebody better have kids quick, because I'm heading out to pasture and I'm not coming back."

"If you have thought about this seriously and decided that it's what you want... well, good for you." Hank smiled helpfully. "Have you talked it over with someone, or is this the first time you've mentioned it?"

"Oh, I did. I looked at my degree and said 'Babe, you've been languishing behind that glass without doing anything for far too long. Let's you and me head out and go cruising for some cute rocks.'" He bounced off the chair and out the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, this rain's too good to waste."

Iceman blinked as his ex-teammate disappeared into the trees, bouncing exuberantly in puddles. "Well, that was sudden."

"Very..." Jean trailed off suggestively.

"Ah'll go." Sam was nearly as surprised as the rest of them, but continued anyway. "Ah'm not someone he really works with, Ah'll just talk to him. No bias, it doesn't make much difference to me." That was a bit of a lie, but so what.

Jean nodded, pleased. "Good idea. You know where we keep the-"

"Ah won't melt," he said with a smile and followed Havok out into the rain, avoiding the puddles. But he was tempted.

Alex wasn't very hard to find. He'd followed one of the smaller trails quite obviously and was still on it, getting very wet with every appearance of enjoyment. Didn't seem to mind company, either. "I feel great," he declared seriously.

"Ah feel kinda damp, but..." Sam smiled to show the joke.

"I don't mean that. I mean, I just told them all that I'm quitting, so that's it. All out in the open and I can go do things I want to do, not things I should do." He sighed. "I can't wait to find out what that feels like again." He spun, drops flying off his arms and hair even as more fell. "Man, I feel like a teenager again. But without the angst."

"A Summers without angst?"

"I know. Bad Summers, no cookie." He paused. "Hey, if I get my own normal job I can buy my own normal cookies and reward myself for not angsting. Positive reinforcement."

Sam couldn't help grinning a little. "Could get Pavlovian, though... feel happy and suddenly have an overwhelming desire t' eat. Opposite comfort-eating."

"True. Maybe I'll just not angst and eat cookies whenever I feel like it anyway."

"Sounds healthier." Sam brushed the water out of his eyes and watched thoughtfully. "What were you going to do that didn't involve non-angst and cookies?"

"Not entirely sure. I meant what I said about my degree, but I wasn't sure whether I just wanted to do more research with it or go back to college and add to it. Actually there's a lot of things I haven't decided on yet, except for absolutely not doing the X thing anymore."

"You don't have to rush into anything to prove that." He nibbled on his bottom lip for a second, trying to imagine what he'd do in the same situation. "If you really wanna leave, it's worth taking the time to do it right."

Alex blinked, the smile fading. "You don't think it's a good idea, do you."

"No! Ah mean, yes! If it's what you want, Ah'm happy for ya. Honest." Damn. Damndamndamn... Ah really need to learn when to keep my mouth shut and nod and smile instead.

"Thanks. I just... um, you seemed..."

Sam shrugged. "Well, Ah understand why you want to go. But Ah'll miss you."

"Wow." Alex's smile instantly slid back again, brighter. He was almost drunk on freedom and happiness. "I think that's the nicest thing anybody's said to me all day." And before Sam could move the older man had looped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a half-hug. "I keep forgetting what a nice person you are."

He tried to sound casual. "Ah'm not really. Ah just pretend to be sensitive and enlightened because then women hug me and tell me what a sweet person Ah am."

"Not just women either, apparently," Alex laughed. Then he paused for a moment, but the amusement was still apparent in his voice. "And you're blushing. Something about you the rest of us don't know?"

The tone had been teasing, but Sam felt his face glow with heat as he blushed even harder.

"Oh. Touchy subject? Sorry." He didn't sound particularly bothered, but did let go and turn so they were facing each other again.

"Not exactly. And Ah just like to think of mahself as... unusually open-minded."

Alex shrugged and closed his eyes, tipping his face up to the rain with a smile. "Works for me. Right now I feel so open-minded my brain might fall out. As long as it doesn't involve fighting evil or parading in a skintight costume to further mutant awareness, anything sounds like a good idea." Arms stretched out and up, as if embracing the sky.

Sam watched the now-transparent cotton shirt slide over hard muscle, clinging so tightly he was starting to wonder if it was out to get him. "Ah'll miss the skintight costume too," Sam's mouth said before his brain noticed he was saying it aloud. Then he blushed again and decided that he wouldn't miss it so much he didn't want the earth to swallow him up so he never had to see Alex Summers again.

Havok opened his eyes again and grinned. "Gotcha." After a brief pause of self-satisfaction and utter embarrassment respectively, Alex reached out and grabbed Sam's hand. "Dance with me."

"In the rain. With no music."

"Uh-huh." The grin was turning into a particularly wicked smirk as he started to hum.

Sam's brain filled in the words... and came up with 'dancing with you in the summer rain'. "Very funny."

"I thought so." He continued humming, moving gracefully and pulling Sam with him.

Sam hesitated, more than a little surprised at the sudden flirtiness. Okay, just how long am Ah supposed to resist here? Taking advantage of someone in a moment of happiness doesn't sound at all immoral. Come on, Ah've had a crush on him since Ah was nineteen... Sam smiled to himself and gave in. He picked up the tune and began to move more volountarily, catching the old beat easily. "So, now you've quit and don't know exactly what serious things to do next... what fun things were ya plannin' to do with your summer? Aside from pick up cute rocks." They were mysteriously getting closer... and Sam half-suspected he was dreaming. Not that he minded that much if he was.

"Well, maybe get out of the atrocious rut I've been in since forever and try to pick up cute blondes."

Sam glanced up the few inches through spiked eyelashes and couldn't resist the grin that tugged at one side of his mouth or the obvious comment. "Funny, Ah had the same thought." Admittedly the water had darkened Alex's hair to a light brown, but that was hardly the point.

"And you're doing very well." Alex stopped even the faint pretense that the dance had become. "It's working on me."

Sam shook his head and tried to look serious. "Well then, you should have noticed four years ago. Ah'm all over the unrequited lust now."

Large blue eyes blinked twice, surprised. "Well... even if I had noticed... I admit requited lust is an awful lot more fun, but I think Cable would have killed me."

"You DID die."

"I remember. But my little nephew kills people much more permanently than merely being blown up."

Sam shook his head. "Okay, we lost the focus of that sentence. It should have been the lust, not the death."

"Sorry."

Sam looked at him searchingly. It wasn't really just lust. His expression was a cute mixture of happiness, mischief, curiousity and frank interest. Almost speculative, in fact. Possibly wondering which one of them was going to make the first move. That'd probably be me.

Reaching up gently, Sam lightly kissed the droplets of rain off his dance partner's lips. The cool water emphasized the soft warmth and struck an answering slow heat in Sam's blood. It was the best kiss he'd had in months. Very, very reluctantly he pulled back anyway, not wanting to be pushy. Well, yes, he DID, but he wouldn't. Because he was a nice person.

Alex was apparently sick of being a nice person. He frowned in dissatisfaction and followed, closing the tiny gap between them and continuing the kiss a little more firmly.

Hesitation disappearing without a trace, Sam slid one hand up to the back of Alex's neck and pressed closer against the broad chest. His other hand had somehow become intertwined with a friend, one which curled around it to warm cool fingers. It was probably a side-effect of his power, but Alex didn't appear to get cold. Even his fingertips were warm. Heat seemed to radiate softly from every point where they touched, although Sam might have been a bit biased on that.

Alex wordlessly declared an oxygen break, but didn't move away. "You're cold," he murmured.

"No Ah'm not," Sam managed to gasp out. Quite the opposite, when he opened his eyes he was surprised to find that he wasn't steaming.

"Oh. Just shaking, then."

"Yup." He considered pointing out that he wasn't the only one, but decided Alex had probably noticed.

With almost comic synchronization they both looked back the way they'd come. Neither the house or any of the people associated with it were visible. They both looked back at the patch of grass which was nestled very appealingly to one side, and moved towards it in perfect unspoken agreement.

The agreement continued to another kiss, deeper and needier than the first two. Sam's hands began to move all on their own, sliding up under the back of that delightfully clingy shirt to skim over warm, wetly smooth skin. It earned him a soft gasp and his busy lips curved a little in satisfaction.

Shifting his attention to the buttons at the front, he let himself be pulled down until they were sitting on the grass. The lightly tanned chest now available distracted him from the kissing and he looked down instead, tracing each line of muscle definition with soft fascination. Again the fact that both of them were completely soaked added a delightful sensuality to the experience, while the continuing cool shower had no effect at all.

It was just a hint, a gentle flat-palmed push against his chest, but Alex obediently let the weight of one hand press him back until he was lying on the grass.

Sam followed, mentally purring as he pressed small kisses along that distinctively Summers jawline and into the hollow underneath his ear. A quick dalliance with the earlobe produced some gratifying squirms, then Sam moved on again.

Gently down the throat, lingering on the racing flicker of a pulse and the curve between neck and shoulder as his hands continued to trace patterns across the bare expanse of pectoral muscle. Alex moaned and wriggled again, this time successfully pulling Sam closer with one leg so that they lay in a cozy tangle.

Taking that as a message to move a little faster, Sam slid his right hand down and undid the rather strained zipper Alex started in surprise, then made an oddly sweet little noise somewhere between a gasp and a moan. Sam wasn't sure whether it was in response to his hand or the rain on overheated flesh, but it sounded nice.

Sure enough, mouth replacing fingers made him jump again, but this time it was followed with a different cute noise. The new one was a semi-demanding purring sound, complimented by some more moans and hands resting tensely in Sam's hair. Casually just sitting there, but still indicating that for frustration's sake alone if he stopped now he'd better have a damn good reason.

That was okay, Sam had no intention of stopping. The shift in position to being the more 'experienced' one and taking the lead was strangely exciting. Or possibly Domino was right, in their society being able to make a Summers beg was a delightful ego boost. Then again, with their tendency for rebound relationships...

Startled back to reality, Sam swallowed out of reflex and crawled back up, pulling the other man into a comfortable embrace instead. They lay silently for a few minutes as the rain lightened to a steady drizzle and settled there happily.

Alex took a deep breath, which he rather needed. "Well, that answers one question... you've definitely done that before."

"From time to time."

"Hmm."

"Hmm? What's that supposed to mean?"

Alex grinned. "Nothing. Just thinking. Curious."

"About what?" The mischief was back, setting Alex's eyes dancing. Sam wasn't sure he trusted it, it was up to something. He watched with suspicion as the mischief's owner looked guileless and snuggled closer, 'accidentally' sliding the thigh between Sam's legs up until it was all he could do to stay still.

"If I said 'fishing' would you believe me?"

"No."

"Good. I was actually wondering how well I could do it..."

"You weren't the only one."

Alex didn't answer, just brushed his hand thoughtfully across Sam's cheek before kissing him again. An incredible, toe-curling, heart-thumping kiss that seemed to go on for an awfully long time but he wasn't quite sure because his sense of time appeared to have taken a hike about the same time as all rational thought not connected to his libido and maybe the oxygen too...

The kiss didn't so much end as begin to wander. The rest of the world was fading out, all that existed was the incredible tangle of hot mouth, warm hands and cool wetness. Hot wetness too, that was deliberately setting out to tease him. Sam had really had enough of that being all gentlemanly and restrained, now he only had one goal in mind and didn't really care how he got there. "Hey," he managed to gasp out, accent thickening. "Ah'm dyin' heah..."

The answer was non-verbal, but a particularly good one in Sam's lust-hazed opinion. Then he gave up on thinking, just leaning back into the improbable spontaneity of the moment and letting it carry him to climax without any interruptions.

Sam hadn't even opened his eyes before he was comfortably curled in strong arms again. He snuggled in and considered not getting up for a very long time. In fact, he was still resolutely not moving when a droplet trickling down his arm caused a new and rather smug thought association. "Y' know what?"

"Mmm?"

"Ah'm never going to be able to think about rain the same way again."

Alex laughed softly. Then frowned. "You know what else?"

"What?"

"We'd better start thinking up a good explanation for the grass-stains."