Obligatory warnings and disclaimers:
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If reading this is in any way illegal where you are or at your age, or you don't want to read about male/male relationships, go away. You shouldn't be here.
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The X-Men and any related characters are property of Marvel Comics, trademarked and registered and copyrighted and all that. I'm using them without permission.
For those who read the comics and worry about such things, this story takes place in the (much simpler and easier to follow) Ultimate X-Men universe, right around issue 54. If you don't want to dig out your copy, the team at that time is Jean Grey, Cyclops, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Angel, and Dazzler.
Comments can be sent to "dustyh75@hotmail.com"
Thanks.
Seth moved quietly around his room, wondering where everyone else was and if the house was always this hushed in the morning. No one had mentioned there being a specific schedule around here, and his room didn't have an alarm clock. It didn't have anything, really, besides the furniture and the other outfit he'd found in the dresser drawers this morning. The bathroom, a shared one between his room and the room next door, was stocked with towels and a toothbrush and all the rest of the essentials, but the whole thing still felt kind of like a nice hotel. There wasn't anything about the space that said anyone lived there, but Seth didn't even know what he would start buying, or when he would have money to buy anything. The Professor said all their needs would be taken care of, but did that include allowance? Seth had been too happy just having somewhere to live to ask.
Based on the sun out his window, Seth guessed that it was a little after nine, and his stomach was growling, so he decided to head downstairs to grab some breakfast. He paused at the doorway, worried for a second. What if he ran into Scott? Were they supposed to say something to each other, or just pretend it hadn't happened? And how the hell had that happened anyway? When Scott left the first time last night, after they'd practiced using Seth's power, Seth had been firm in his resolve not to do anything with Scott. He'd been convinced that it was a bad idea for the team, for his new life here that was barely a day or two old, and for him and Scott specifically. And then when Scott had shown up at the door in his boxer briefs that was the end of it.
And what were they supposed to do now? Scott had apologized, apologized again, and then claimed that it was all his fault, as if the whole thing had just happened one way. Scott hadn't walked into Seth's room and stubbed his toe. They'd had sex. SEX, the capital letters kind. And it was dirty and sneaky and wrong, and damn, had it been hot. Seth hadn't ever randomly hooked up with a stranger before, and even though they'd talked they'd just met yesterday so Scott practically was a stranger, but for just a second, when Scott grabbed him, the spark between them had been irresistible. Scott might be straight again today, might still be saying that it was his fault because he didn't know what he wanted, whatever the hell that meant, but last night he'd definitely wanted Seth, and Seth had felt how much he wanted him through his power.
But what were they supposed to do now? Seth had no idea, and all he wanted to do was avoid Scott long enough to get some breakfast and then maybe try to remember where the library was.
"Good morning," someone said softly behind him. Seth jerked to a stop halfway down the stairs and slowly turned.
"Good morning," he answered, trying not to stare.
It was the blue demon guy from the alley, Kurt. He looked fairly normal now, in jeans and a polo shirt, if by "fairly normal" you meant "blue", "fanged", "yellow eyed", "three toed", and any of the other words that described him. In the daylight coming through the stairwell windows Kurt didn't look so shadowy and sinister, if you could ignore the tail flicking behind him. He was more of a royal blue than shadowy black, and his skin almost seemed to have a shimmer to it from all the tiny little blue hairs on it. The little gold hoops in his ears added a jaunty, somewhat odd touch, but they matched his infectious smile.
"We have not properly met," Kurt said, holding out his hand to shake as he perched on the banister. His bare feet wrapped around it like monkey feet, and Seth had to force himself to look up into Kurt's eyes. Maybe if he lived here long enough the blue people and the winged people and all the rest of this would become normal, but right now it was all still a little strange, even if he was one of these people. "Kurt Wagner, the amazing Nightcrawler. You might remember me from the alley."
"Seth Rand." He held out his gloved hand, and even though Kurt took it Seth saw his eyes tick down to the glove for a second before coming back up to his face. "I have to wear the gloves for now. To keep stuff from happening to you guys again. I'm sorry about that, by the way."
"There is nothing to apologize for," Kurt said, hopping onto the stairs alongside Seth. He moved like a gymnast, graceful yet agile, and waved an arm expansively down the stairs. "I was actually coming to invite you to breakfast."
"Thanks," Seth said, smiling. "I didn't know if there was a time for meals or whatever, so I was just going to go down and get something quick."
"There isn't really a time for breakfast or lunch," Kurt explained. "We try to have dinner together, if we're all here, but most of the time we just eat whenever."
"Cool," Seth said, unsure of what else to add. He hadn't ever been very good at small talk, but he appreciated that Kurt was at least making an effort. The kitchen was empty when they walked in, and the two of them stared uncertainly into the refrigerator.
"I'm not a good cook," Kurt confessed finally, raising an eyebrow at a carton of eggs.
"I tend to burn things," Seth added, wondering how one might go about making pancakes. You needed flour, maybe? And syrup?
"There's always cereal," Kurt suggested.
"Cereal it is," Seth agreed, pulling out the milk. He didn't really know where anything else in the kitchen was, but Kurt took care of it in short order, and they were both hunched over bowls of cereal in a few minutes. After the way he'd clung to the banister this morning Seth kind of expected Kurt to perch on the chair, too, but he sat pretty normally, if you could ignore the flicking tail behind him. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," Kurt said, looking up.
"Your accent, where's it from?"
"Bavaria," Kurt answered proudly. "I learned how to speak English from the television. You are from where, exactly?"
"Cleveland," Seth answered glumly. "Not nearly as exciting as Bavaria."
"Ah," Kurt sighed, nodding. "I wasn't sure, since we found you there, but you seemed to be on the streets."
"Yeah, I," Seth began, looking away. The cereal was suddenly a huge lump in his throat. "I had some trouble."
"That is terrible to hear," Kurt said simply. "I know what it is to have trouble."
The two of them continued eating in silence. Seth wanted to say something else, to thank Kurt for understanding, but he wasn't sure how to phrase it in a way that didn't sound stupid. Kurt, for his part, was content to just let the moment sink in. It was clear that Seth had been hurt, but he would start to understand soon that the X-Men could be a safe place, a home, and eventually a family. If nothing else, it was a place where you could walk around without people calling you a demon, no matter how different you were.
Before either of them could say anything else their breakfast was interrupted by Jean and Kitty.
"We were looking for you!" Jean burst. "Kitty and I went to your room, and you weren't there, so I did a quick scan to find you."
"Sorry?" Seth said uncertainly.
"You didn't eat yet?" Kitty asked, frowning. "We're supposed to go shopping."
"Sorry," Seth apologized again, shrugging. "I didn't know we were on a schedule or anything."
"We're not," Jean said, peeling a banana. "Kitty just wants to go buy something for her next date with Spider-Man."
"I do not!" Kitty protested, her face reddening. "I wear my uniform!"
"You're dating Spider-Man?" Seth asked. He kind of figured that superheroes all knew each other, so they'd probably all be dating, too. Hey, wait, was he a superhero now, too?
"Kind of," Kitty answered, leaning back against the counter.
"That means yes," Kurt stage whispered loud enough for people in Jersey to hear.
"We're not dating!" Kitty argued, flipping her brown hair as she pushed her lip out into a pout. Kurt and Jean both gave her skeptical looks, and she shrugged. "OK, we're sort of dating, but it's not official or anything."
"What, exactly, would make it sort of official?" Jean mentally broadcast, chewing her banana. If Seth hadn't seen her closed mouth, he would have just thought she'd spoken. None of the others seemed to notice at all, taking it for granted that Jean did this sometimes.
"I don't know," Kitty shrugged again. "I mean, I don't even know his real name or anything, and we're kind of just hanging out and fighting bad guys and stuff, and, you know, we haven't really said we're dating."
"That's a lot of words for `not dating'," Jean smirked. Kitty shifted uncomfortably.
"Why are we talking about me, anyway?" she asked suddenly, trying to deflect attention from whatever she had going on with Spider-Man. "Seth, do you have a girlfriend?"
"Uh, no," Seth answered, blushing automatically now that every eye in the room was on him. He shifted in his chair, looking down and avoiding eye contact.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" Jean asked, raising an eyebrow.
Just yours, Seth thought, and then felt a momentary wave of panic. Oh, God, did she hear that?
"No," he said, wondering if he'd already paused too long. "No, I don't have a boyfriend."
"So, if you were going to have one, which would it be?" Kitty asked, curious.
"Kitty!" Jean snapped, frowning. Did she miss that Seth was suddenly completely uncomfortable? Even without reading his mind on purpose she'd just caught this wave of panic, and realized that her question hadn't quite been the joke she intended it to be.
"No, it's ok," Seth said, looking up. He could do this. He'd been out in school, and eventually he'd be out here, too. It might as well be now. "I don't have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, but if I started looking for one, it, um, it wouldn't be a girlfriend."
"Figures," Bobby snapped from the doorway. He stomped through the kitchen, managing to sneer at Seth and Kitty at the same time even though they weren't really that close to each other.
"Good morning, Bobby," Jean frowned, her hands on her hips.
"Morning," Bobby grunted, not looking at her as he slowly picked through the refrigerator.
"Do you have a problem?" Seth asked, and everyone else in the kitchen turned to look at him. Everyone else might have been willing to overlook Bobby's moody temper tantrum, but Seth wasn't about to let what he'd just said go. All he'd heard since he got here was "Bobby's mad about this" and "Bobby's mad about that", and he still hadn't even met him yet. He'd been planning to try to approach Bobby in friendliness, but that didn't seem to be the way things were going.
Bobby turned from the refrigerator with deliberate slowness, his hands starting to ice up. For a second it was like he was wearing gloves made of frost, and then Seth realized he could see through Bobby's hands entirely. He also realized that Bobby might actually mean to hurt him, and he stood slowly, peeling off one of his gloves.
"Yeah, I have a problem," Bobby answered, ice sweeping up his arms and across his torso.
"Robert," Kurt said sharply.
"Let me guess, it's me?" Seth asked, pulling off his other glove. He saw Bobby's eyes tick toward his hands, and knew that he had the upper hand. Bobby, however much he might be blustering, was scared of Seth, but he'd never back down in front of the others. Seth would have to take this the way Warren had suggested, and put Bobby down again, even though his heart was hammering in his chest and he couldn't believe he was actually picking a fight. It was completely unlike him, but he just felt tired, tired of running and tired of backing down. "Or did you have some other cliche in mind?"
"Fuck you!" Bobby snapped, lunging toward Seth.
Seth raised his hands, ready, filling his head with thoughts of pain, knowing his power would work this time, and Bobby wouldn't pull this shit again, but suddenly he couldn't move. Blinking, he saw that Bobby was motionless as well, caught in mid-lunge and just kind of hanging there in the kitchen.
"Enough," Jean said, still frowning. "Knock it off, both of you."
"Screw you," Bobby hissed, his teeth gritted.
"I can hold you here all day," Jean said casually, turning toward him. Seth felt the air around him relax, like he'd been in an elevator than went down really fast, and he realized it was Jean's power letting go of him. He grabbed his gloves off the table and started to pull them on, not looking at anyone. "Now, what the hell is wrong with you? Seriously?"
"What's wrong with all of you?" Bobby demanded. "Half our team is gone. We don't know where they are or if they're ok, and what are we doing about it? Running to Ohio to save this geek."
"That half of our team chose to leave, if I remember correctly," Jean said, her voice hard. No one was going to bring up Rogue, but everyone knew that was why Bobby was pissed at Kitty and now, apparently, at Seth.
"Yeah, well, we should have gone after them!" Bobby yelled.
"This is stupid," Kitty sighed.
"You're stupid!" Bobby snapped back, and Kurt bit back a chuckle.
Despite his anger, Seth almost laughed, too. He'd spent days agonizing about meeting Bobby, and built it up in his head as this big thing, and he turned out to be a pouty little baby. He was obviously upset about something, but that didn't mean Seth was going to stand around and be his target. Looking Bobby in the eye, he walked quickly to the kitchen door.
"Look, Bobby," Seth sighed, crossing his arms. He had no intention of making this easy, even though it wasn't hard to be brave when Jean was holding Bobby in place with her telekinesis. "I'm sorry I knocked you out by accident when you charged into battle without stopping to evaluate your opponent. I'm sorry the Professor invited me to live here without checking with you first. If you feel like my apology isn't good enough, I'll be happy to duke it out with you in the Danger Room man to man, or whatever other stupid thing you want to do to prove what a man you are, but I'm not going to sit here and listen to your temper tantrum, and I'm not going to be your punching bag. I've done enough of that for other people already."
"Yeah, we can tell by your eye!" Bobby snapped at Seth's back. Seth just kept walking, and then he was around the corner and gone. Everyone else in the kitchen turned to stare at Bobby, and he felt the air around himself relaxing as Jean released him. "What?"
"That was extremely rude," Kurt said, his normally happy face downturned into a frown. He started gathering up the breakfast dishes.
"I can't believe you did that," Jean said, shaking her head at Bobby. "What are you, four? Five maybe?"
"Careful, now he'll tell you you're stupid," Kitty said, rolling her eyes at the ceiling. Bobby glared at her, making a little grunting noise but not saying anything, and Kitty just shook her head, turning to Jean. "I don't really feel like shopping now. I'm going to go play on my computer for a while or something."
"You sure?" Jean asked. Bobby was doing a bang-up job of putting everyone in a bad mood. Maybe she should mention it to Scott.
"Yeah, I'm trying to track something down, anyway," Kitty shrugged, walking past Bobby like he wasn't there. Jean looked at Kurt, who was loading the cereal bowls into the dishwasher.
"I guess I'll take Seth shopping by myself," she sighed.
"Have a good time," Bobby sneered. Jean whirled around, her face angry. Last time she'd looked this mad that guy from the Hellfire Club got incinerated.
"Again, what is wrong with you?" she demanded. "Would it kill you to be a little friendly to him?"
"Why?" Bobby snapped back, turning to stomp out of the kitchen. He yelled back over his shoulder. "You guys are all brand new best friends with him anyway! Nevermind that we have other friends who are out God knows where, running around with thieves and murderers, and nobody here seems to care! You just go ahead and make friends with every homeless nobody loser fucking fa-"
Bobby's last word was cut off with an "Oof!" as he collided face first with Peter's bulk. Bobby practically bounced off of him, the air whooshing out of his lungs, but Peter didn't move. He towered over Bobby, his hands clenched into fists, and Jean and Kurt both stepped back. Peter had a quick temper and was a big pile of muscle compared to Bobby's skinny little punk-ass, and Bobby had just stepped over the line. He hadn't gotten the last word out, but everyone in the room knew what it was.
"You should be careful not to say things in anger that you may regret later," Peter said carefully, ice dripping from his voice. "You never know who might be listening and might not like what they hear."
Bobby's only answer was a swallow so loud he expected it to reverberate off the walls.
"If you recall, you were also living on the street when we found you, and none of us held it against you," Peter continued, brows furrowed. His nostrils flared above his firmly set jaw with every sharp inhale, and his biceps were like rocks. His whole body seemed ready to spring, and Jean got ready to freeze him in mid-motion, too. If he turned to steel he could break Bobby into little pieces, literally. "Now, was there anything else you had to say?"
The silence yawned in the kitchen, none of the four of them moving, and when Bobby finally spoke he didn't look at Peter's face, his eyes reaching about as high as Peter's chin before they slid guiltily away.
"I wasn't saying anything," Bobby muttered, sliding around Peter and vanishing down the hall. Peter glared at Jean and Kurt for a minute.
"Take Seth to the mall and get him some clothes," Peter said finally, and then stomped off, his footsteps echoing loudly through the house.
"Damn," Kurt said, when he was sure Peter was out of earshot.
"Shit," Jean agreed. "I guess I better go get Seth and take him shopping."
"I guess so," Kurt said, nodding. "That was some breakfast."
They looked at each other again, but there wasn't really anything else to say.
The day didn't get any better from there, although that wasn't really all that surprising considering how poorly the morning had gone. Seth had found the library, picked out a book, and headed out to the garden, determined to continue avoiding everyone even though he was still supposed to be going to the mall. So far his luck with the team was a little shaky. Allison, Warren, Kurt, Kitty, and Jean liked him, but Bobby hated him, Scott was in a category all by himself that Seth didn't even want to consider at the moment, and he hadn't met Peter yet. Joining the X Men wasn't nearly as exciting as it had seemed all the times Seth had seen them on television.
He'd barely gotten started on the book, some Stephen King thing that he'd been surprised Professor Xavier even owned (he just didn't seem like the popular literature type; Seth had expected to find a bunch of leatherbound classics but had, instead, found a decently eclectic selection), before he heard the Professor's voice in his head, summoning the team to the Danger Room for a briefing. The others were already there when Seth walked in, even though everyone but Allison had apparently stopped to change into their uniform, and he got his first look at the entire group together. Bobby, fully iced up, sneered at him, while Peter, armored up in his Colossus form, appeared impassive, nodding when Seth walked in but not introducing himself.
Seth smiled for a minute when he saw Scott, but Scott didn't even turn his visor toward him, and Jean smiled back, thinking it was for her.
Great. Scott was still weirded out about last night, and they weren't going to get a chance to talk about it, because as soon as Seth walked in the Professor started a briefing on some mutant on Krakoa, an island Seth had never heard of, who was being hunted on national television in Genosha, another island Seth wasn't able to find on a map. Kitty had found the film on her computer, hacking into some international webfeed, and now the Professor was sending half the team around the world to investigate and possibly rescue him. It was Seth's first briefing, and was pretty boring up until the point when Peter starting screaming at the Professor and got benched from the mission.
"Is it always this much fun?" Seth asked Allison after everyone had dispersed.
"Not usually," she answered, "but the big guy has a temper, and he's been pissy since Wolverine took off with Storm. Actually, everyone's been kind of a bitch around here lately."
"Yeah," Seth agreed. "Bobby picked a fight with me in the kitchen this morning."
"No shit?" Allison asked. They were back upstairs on the first floor, but no one seemed to be around. Seth was starting to feel like the house had secret passages or something with the way people just dropped out of sight. "You won, right?"
"Jean broke it up," Seth answered, shrugging. "I don't even know what his problem is, but I kind of called him out for a fight in the Danger Room."
Allison stopped, smirking at him.
"So, he's got range, practice, and training," she began, toying with her wallet chain. "You have to get close to do anything, have no practice, and will probably get frostbitten fingers just from touching him, and you still picked a fight? You got some balls on you, new kid."
"Thanks." Even if she was being half sarcastic, Allison had a point. Bobby could freeze him solid from the other side of the room and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. "Maybe I should just let him win."
"Maybe I should kick your ass, too, if you're gonna be that stupid about it," she said, frowning. "All you need is some strategy and a little practice."
Before Seth could say anything else, he heard the Professor in his head again, his mental voice the same clipped tone he'd used in the briefing.
"Seth, please come to my office."
"I guess practice is going to have to wait. The Professor just called me."
"Good luck," Ali said. She started to walk away, but turned back. "I mean it about the fight. I like you, new kid. You got spunk, and I bet we could get Warren to give us a little programming help to run you through some practices. Think about it."
"Thanks," Seth said, watching her walk away. Maybe Allison had a point again. Who knew how long Bobby would be away on that mission? It might be worth trying to cram in a little practice time before he got back. He was still thinking about it when he reached the Professor's office, wondering if there were rules about fighting other students as he knocked softly on the door. "Professor?"
"Come in, please," Professor Xavier answered.
Seth pushed the door open. He hadn't been in the office yet, since his only other discussion with the Professor had been in the infirmary after they picked him up. The office was nice, more of a study, and the Professor was seated behind his desk, his face neutral. Seth was honestly a little creeped out by the Professor, but figured it was probably just because he didn't know him. Everyone else seemed to like him, and maybe Seth would, too, when he'd gotten to know him a little better.
"Please, sit down," the Professor said, gesturing at a pair of chairs in front of his desk. As Seth started to sit he heard footsteps, and he turned to see Peter, no longer armored up or in uniform, stepping inside. "I've asked Peter to join us."
"Hi," Seth said, holding out his gloved hand.
"Hello," Peter said, shaking it. He looked completely different without the steel around him, his eyes bright but his face a little guarded. Seth could feel the tension between the other two men, leftover from the briefing, and figured he wouldn't want to be in the Professor's shoes. Peter looked like he benchpressed small cars for fun, even in his human form, and his muscles strained against his tight white t-shirt. It was intimidating, but also sexy as hell.
"Seth, I know this may be a difficult subject for you," the Professor began, but Seth cut him off.
"Is this about breakfast?" he asked, nervous suddenly. The house must have cameras as part of the security system. Maybe the Professor had seen the argument this morning and wanted to talk about it, but then why would he have Peter there? "Because that wasn't my fault."
"Breakfast?" the Professor asked, raising an eyebrow. "No, it's not about breakfast. I would like to speak with you about your parents."
To be continued.