Chapter Text
It starts with one of the students pulling Hank aside after class one day.
“Dr. McCoy, I have a strange question,” she asks.
“I'm sure nothing too strange,” he re-assures, wiping his glasses on his shirt. “What can I help you with?”
The student innocently holds up her phone and asks, “Can you do a TikTok with me?”
Hank blinks, confused. “What does that entail?”
“It's just a video of us dancing together, basically!”
Hank chuckles. “I don't see the harm in it.”
A short time later, he learns the simple choreography from a Korean pop song, and dances with his student.
Soon enough, it's all that the students can talk about at the school; TikTok trends, the newest installment in their favorite funny short-form series, or the newest memetic sound that circulates. The students take it further by seeing how many professors they can get to feature in their videos.
In order to motivate the kids to keep their phones in their pockets while they're in class, the adults had to get creative. Storm adopts a policy of collecting phones at the door. Jean deducts points from classwork if she detects mental distraction. Logan... refuses to engage with any discussion around the application with students.
But it is admittedly difficult for the professors to be insulated from TikTok; basically everyone is hooked. One week, Scott jumps in on the “pass the phone” trend.
Scott starts the video with, “I'm passing the phone to someone who needs subtitles when he talks!”
The visual shifts to Remy, who quips, “I'm handin' the phone to a fella who jumps 'fore he thinks!”
The phone shifts to Logan, who frowns.
Storm does a video where she shows the process of her doing her hair and makeup, but Scott, Remy, and Hank narrate the process... though the narration is mostly a confused chorus of the three shouting, “This is concealer, right? No, that's concealer, that's concealer!”
Rogue even joins the fun when she makes a video overlayed with the acoustic version of a rock song, as she acts out a scenario of herself as a young girl boasting that when she grows up, she won't be able to keep boys off of her. The music suddenly shifts to a silly kazoo solo, where she stares into the camera, and text sits on the screen, saying, “grows up, basically gets if boys touch me they die disease.”
Logan sighs after teaching one day, retreating to his quarters. He finds Steve reading in his bed, and lies on his stomach next to him. Steve runs a hand through Logan's hair.
“Long day?” Steve asks.
“I'm so sick of these kids and their TikToks!” Logan groans. “It's all anyone ever wants to talk about anymore.”
“It's a fun and exciting tool where people can express themselves,” Steve says.
“Well, can they express themselves without pulling me aside everyday and askin' to do some weird dance?”
Steve puts his book down and wraps his arms around Logan, facing him now. “I don't know what you're talking about, you're a shoo-in to be a background dancer for a K-Pop group.”
Logan rolls his eyes. “Next time I'll just call you over and make you do these silly videos in my place.”
Steve chuckles. “Perhaps in another life I would passed for a classically trained dancer.”
Logan chuckles back. “Well, in this life, you're stuck with me.”
“Not a bad position to be stuck in.” Steve leans down to press a swift and gentle kiss to Logan's lips. “I can think of much worse.”
Logan leans up to reciprocate a few kisses back to Steve.
“So does this mean that TikTok is completely out of the question for you?” Steve asks.
Logan quirks up an eyebrow. “Why, are you in on the craze, too, now?”
Steve pulls out his phone from his pocket. “Perhaps.”
Logan thinks for a moment. “...I'll hear you out.”
It doesn't take much convincing from Steve to get Logan to do a “couple quiz challenge.”
Soon after, the newest video to go viral around the school is a collection of sneakily taken clips of Steve and Logan standing together in the hallway, Logan leaning against Steve, and Steve looking enamored at Logan. Text across the video reads, “Get you someone who looks at you the way Cap looks at Logan.”