Disclaimer: The X-Men are not mine! They belong to Marvel! Please don't sue me Marvel...! I don't have any money anyway. As for the unprotected sex... this is just a story, and mutants can't get AIDS anyway! Always use condoms in real life, they protect you from STD's and getting pregnant up the butt!
This story is hella gay, with gay sex, glitter, divas and drama queens everywhere. But I guess, if you guys had a problem with that or reading such a story is illegal for your country and age, you wouldn't be browsing in Nifty in the first place!
Any comments, criticism and suggestions about new subplots and characters are absolutely welcomed! Just e-mail me at: mitsaso@gmail.com
Note: The song used in the beginning of the chapter is "Halfway to Paradise", sang by Tina Charles... you guys can hear it in this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co8v8LmJpKI
SLUTTY X-MEN
Chapter 14:
The One That Was Always There
A couple of weeks had passed after Kitty Pryde's tragic death, and things had eventually gotten back to normal.
I mean, nobody had any idea who the killer was, so he was surely still at large, but Emma's psychic scans over the school had no result, so we assumed that it was someone from outside the Institute, and simply took more security measures. Everyone felt slightly safer and, with assistance from a bit of a natural denial over the possible danger and the sting of recalling Kitty's death, soon nobody talked about her murder anymore. Everyone was obviously upset over her death, though, and one could easily tell.
Speaking of denial, I never admitted to anyone how close I came to being friends with Kitty the day she died. Telling them would make her death, and my correspodent loss, much more real. And let's just say I wasn't ready to deal with the grief.
I had promised to myself I'do something to avenge her death, but so far I was avoiding to deal with my sacred oath. As the days went by and we reached the day of the infamous Karaoke Contest at "Rectum" that we were all waiting for, I had found myself a great distraction from the pain, the grief, the guilt and the loss that I should have been feeling.
Not to mention that my quest on finding my phantom lover had been put to an abrupt hiatus. Kitty had the tape that would reveal who gave me the best sex in my life that foggy night (which I couldn't recall), and she died the very same night we were about to watch it. Snooping into her room for the tape would be terribly not classy and also disrespectful to Kitty, so I put my phantom lover quest on ice for the time being.
So, while everything around me was shrouded in mystery and weirdness, here I was this morning, singing along with Gerry, practicing for out duet in the Karaoke Contest that would take place the same night.
The epic disco music behind us started playing, making everything seem less sad, less murky, making us lose ourselves in the fun little song that would make us forget about all the things we should worry about. Taking my most enthousiastic diva visage, I led into the song, with Gerry singing opposite me, the both of us acting as two people that long to become a couple, but they never confess their feelings to each other...!
DAVE: "I want to be your lover"
GERRY: "But your friend is all I stayyyy..."
BOTH: "I'm only halfwaaay to paradiseeeee!"
DAVE: "So near... " GERRY: " ...yet so far away!"
GERRY: "I long for your lips... to kiss my lips!"
DAVE: "But just when I think they may"
BOTH: "You lead me halfwaaay to paradiseeee"
GERRY: "So near!"
DAVE: "Yet so far awaaaaay..."
GERRY: "Being close to you is almost heaven for meeee But seein' you can do just so much...!"
DAVE: "It hurts me so to know your heart's a treasure, oh yeaaaaah And that my heart... is forbidden to tooooooouch!"
GERRY: "So put your sweet lips close to my lips" DAVE: "And tell me that's where they'll stayyyy"
BOTH: "Don't lead me halfway to paradiseeee! Mmm, so near, yet so far away..."
Suddenly, Gerry stopped singing and turned to me.
"Why are we singing this specific song?" he asked matter-of-factly.
I just stood there, slightly surprised by that particular question. "What do you mean, Gerry?"
"I mean, is there a deeper meaning to us singing this specific song? Why did you choose this one, Dave?". Gerry seemed to really give too much thought into this. His thick, sculpted eyebrows knotted quizically above his emerald eyes.
I scoffed, trying not to read too much into what he was saying. "I chose this song because I like it. I love Tina Charles, and I wanted to honor her in some way by singing her disco rendition of this rather classic ballad."
"Oh." he put his index finger on his lips, as if he was contemplating something.
"So?" I asked in turn, curious to see what came up in his mind.
"Nothing... It just stroke me that, we're singing this as if we were two people in love that they wouldn't dare confess..."
"Yeah. That's what the lyrics say."
"Couldn't we just sing something fun and kitschy?"
"Why do that? Lola is bound to sing something kitschy and you know we don't stand a snowball's chance in Hell to win this competition if we do something similar to Lola. And this one is a fun song anyway!"
"Yeah but... this song makes me feel weird when singing it!" Gerry whined. He WHINED. That was a first for Gerry, who's usually so innocent and carefree. I was initially surprised at the tone of his voice, then I got angry.
"Are you a homophobe?" I asked sternly.
"Wha.... No! Of course not!" he seemed hurt that I would even ask such a thing.
"I'm just saying, Gerry... if singing a love song with another guy in a gay bar's singing contest makes you feel uncomfortable, or or if it makes you think that maybe it will tag you as "gay" to the minds of women and thusly you won't be getting as much pussy - especially now that your fuckbuddy Zazelle turned out to be evil and is locked up in a cell..."
Gerry was turning red by that moment. "Zazelle was not my fuckbuddy!" he stated.
"What? You guys actually had a relationship?" I said, more ironically than I intended to.
"NO! I never did anything with Zazelle. She tried to convince me otherwise, but... it just wouldn't work out." he explained.
Secretly I was relieved that the mutant whore never got the chance to break Gerry's heart, but I didn't want to show it. I just scoffed. "Whatever. That's not my point, Gerry. The ladies around here see you walking around almost-naked every day. Half the time you're showing off your hot little body and your adorable butt for all to see. And you tell me that you won't be getting any pussy? You could put on high heels, feather boas and dress up as Lola's younger sister Faguette and women will still throw themselves on you! So you don't have to worry about this singing thing, okay?"
Gerry ignored most of what I said and blushed, unable to hide a shy smile. "You really think my butt is adorable?"
"Gerry!" I said with a scolding tone. "Don't change the subject!"
"Okay, okay...! It's not what you think, though. I don't care about my image with the ladies. I just... believe it's weird that we ended up singing this song. That's all. I didn't mean that I actually have a problem singing it."
"I should have known" I retorted. "After all, you sing it with such gusto... it's as if you actually mean it!"
At those words, Gerry blushed even more. "Maybe I'm too talented to be an X-Man!" he joked. "Maybe I should become a singer instead... or maybe I should just tell you what it's all about".
"Or maybe we should get our asses to work and nail this song! We're already really great, but if we want to win tonight, we'll have to be nothing less than spectacular!" I changed the subject.
"Do you really want to win so much? I thought we were doing this for fun..." Gerry rolled his eyes and looked at me, expecting an answer that would satisfy him.
"Oh c'mon Gerry, don't make it harder for me... After everything that's happened to me lately, I just want to win at something!"
And it was true. I lost my boyfriend (and found out that I never had him in the first place), two of my best friends were gone, and Kitty, a girl that was slow becoming something more than an acquaintance to me, died horribly and I never got to know her as I should. Winning this seemingly unimportant singing contest would surely be a breath of fresh air into my morale.
Gerry gave a little sigh and took a deep breath, as if he was unloading all of his doubts and issues in the air around him. Then he looked up to me and gave me his usual toothy and honest smile. "Okay, David. No more qualms about it. For you and you only, I will sing this duet with you."
"That's my boy" I said, giving him a rather spontaneous hug. I broke it off quickly though, because the warmness I felt emanating from his body started giving me a boner, so I had to avoid the awkwardness of him finding out. Jeez! I had to get laid, and soon! Maybe it was time I did something to find that Phantom Lover of mine...
Later, as I walked towards Dead Girl's room, I contemplated what Gerry's sudden qualms earlier were all about. We've been close to each other since the day he arrived at the Institute, but maybe due to his language issues he was never one to open up much to the rest of the gang. He was more like a pleasant, pretty-looking decorative feature. A VERY good looking one, I must say.
I guess now that he was getting more and more proficient with the english language he was starting to speak up more for himself. But why would this have to start with my pitch-perfect choice for a song? The tune was happy and dance-provoking, the melody was addictive and the lyrics... wait, could it be about the lyrics? Maybe Gerry wasn't worrying about his image as a straight guy, but that my specific choice of song was all about me projecting some secret desires I might have onto him. That maybe I had a secret crush on him and that was the reason I wanted us to sing as two people romantically interested to each other. And maybe his small freak-out was some kind of intervention, so that I'd admit the truth and he'd put me down gently before I did something stupid and messed up our friendship.
As a young female student passed by me giggling, I realised that I had reached Vivian's room ages ago and was standing still in the middle of the hallway, lost in my thoughts, making a fool of myself to anyone walking by.
"Stop overthinking things, David Darrington" I told myself. My imagination had been running wilder than a cheetah on crack, making me jump to conclusions. I'd simply have to talk to Gerry again about it. Probably after the contest, so that we don't lose our focus in such a crucial day. And if he really thought I was hot for him, I'd reassure him I didn't delude myself by having dibs on that sweet ass of his.
I opened the door and walked into the room, only to find out that there was a severe lack of light in there. Vivian had all the lights turned off, and I could see her lying sideways on her bed, the dim light from the TV showering her figure and making her the only visible thing in the room. The sounds that were coming from the TV were not exactly loud, but their nature was telling... Dead Girl was watching lesbian porn!
"Vivian! What are you doing over there?" I asked in shock.
"Shh. Now comes the dramatic climax." she whispered to me, then turned back at the screen, which was starting to emanate what sounded like serious orgasmic screams from the female leads of that movie.
"Why are you watching porn in the middle of the day? Especially when there's a girl who has the hots for a cute little corpse like you and is probably willing to relieve all that sexual tension?" I asked her, snapping my fingers at her to make her look at me and not at the damn porn flick. I had to reason with her somehow and make her turn off the porn. I had severe pussyphobia and even the audio from lesbian porn could give me a faux allergic shock after a while.
"Meh. Me and Squirrel Girl aren't girlfriends, you know." Vivian shrugged at me, as if nothing mattered anymore.
"Well DO something about it!"
"But I cant!" she tried to reason with me. "It's easier said than done. She's such a nice, decent girl, and while friendly, she's still very shy. I can't make the first move Dave, I'll just freak her out!"
This was getting hopeless. "I know Squirrel Girl likes you. And YOU know she likes you. And, more importantly, FRANK knew she'd like you, which is why he introduced you guys in the first place!"
Vivian got up from her bed and leaned close to me, trying to see if I was shitting her. "He did?"
"Yeah, Vivian!" I threw my hands up in the air to sell my point. "Why did you think he got out of his semi-deathbed and brought her to you before he went away? If FATE says that you and Doreen belong together, who are YOU to defy it?"
Dead Girl still looked unsure. "But... but she's so innocent... what would she be doing with a freak like me?"
I finally saw where she was going with this. "Oh, spare me the self-esteem drama, Vivian Anderson! The real reason you're not making the first move is because you don't believe Doreen will be putting out, so you just take out your frustration on brazilian lesbian porn!"
Vivian blushed. Which, for a dead girl like her, meant that her pale green color just turned a little less pale. "Is it that obvious?" she gave me a sheepish grin, which then turned into a smirk, accompanied by a raised eyebrow. "How could you tell it's brazilian porn?"
"Heeey, babe, I lost my virginity to a brazilian, and I never forget that sexy accent that portoguese-speaking people have when they talk in english." I smirked in turn.
"Oh, David! How could you? I thought I was your first!" she mocked, reminding me of the faux relationship we kept as teenagers so that none of us would have to come out to our parents.
I ignored her little jab and dove in the sheets next to her, making sure that my virgin little eyes weren't looking at the porn. Vivian suddenly went all silent, as if she remembered something.
"Now that we mentioned first times..." she spoke up, "there's a chance that you can find today who took your anal virginity."
"What do you mean?" I asked. "The tape is somewhere in Kitty's room, and I just won't dare to go snooping in the deceased's room. It would be simply disrespectful."
"Well, that's what I was gonna say" she explained, "it's not gonna be her room anymore. A new guy is moving in today, and he's supposed to take her room as well as her place in Nightcrawler's team."
"Already so soon?" I jumped up from the bed, slightly angry at what I was hearing. "She hasn't been dead for two weeks now, and they're getting a replacement already?"
"Well, this isn't a corporate thing, Davey dearest... it's a school. And with Kitty gone, there are more mutant kids who need the education offered in this school. It's only fair, isn't it?"
"Fine." I said, crossing my arms. "What am I supposed to do now? Go and greet the guy?" I mumbled.
"Exactly! But don't be friendly to him just for the sake of being friendly! He's moving in today, Kitty's stuff are bound to still be in her room, since none of her family came around to pick them up yet, so the new guy might need a hand moving her things out and maybe even packing them... just offer to do the chores and you'll be free to search through her stuff for your precious tape. And it won't be disrespectful! Her things need to be moved out of the way anyway. Plus, I'm sure you'll do a much better job caring for her things, since you also cared for her."
"You're right in every single thing you just said." I mentioned as I got up and planted a kiss on her forehead. "The only thing you ain't right about; sitting on your ass and watching porn instead of getting the real thing! Wasting your time, you are!" I blew her another kiss as I opened the door to make my way to Kitty's former room.
As Vivian put another porn film on her dvd player and I turned around to close the door behind me, I caught a glimpse of a tiny teeny squirrel sitting by her window and watching her every move with commitment. Maybe a certain mutant who could communicate with squirrels has sent the cute rodent to spy on my undead friend...?
"Hey buddy. You need a hand there?" I shouted, as I pretended to be walking by chance by Kitty's room, which was now going to be his. The door was open, and I could see a guy in baggy clothing squatting over some cardboxes.
"I guess I do, hey." the guy said, as he got up and turned to me. He was a rather tall and well-built guy, with beautiful face structure, blondish hair and green eyes. What the hell was going on with this mansion? All the mutants here were either paranormal-looking or extreme hotties (and sometimes both).
I extended my hand towards him. "Hey there, I'm Dave. Also known as Melee. You must be the new student, right?"
As he shook my hand, he looked me up from top to bottom and nodded in confirmation (or was it appreciation?). "Ja. My name's Terence. I just flew in today from South Africa. They haven't asked me for a codename yet, but I think I'm gona pick 'Overture'. "
"That's great!" I gave him a wide smile, trying to seem as warm and welcoming as I could. I had to, anyway, because I wanted to get on his good side in order to search the room without problems, but his good looks were really helping me nail my "friendly student" role. Maybe if the whole Phantom Lover thing didn't pan out well, I could just ditch my neverending quest and hook up with the new guy!
"You gonna stand there and eye me up or you're gonna actually help me out?" I heard Terence asking. The boy was already showing an attitude. I liked that.
"Sure!" I said in a happy-go-lucky manner, avoiding to respond to him in a similar manner. Since I wanted him to like me for now, maybe I shouldn't be giving him any lip yet... at least not THAT kind of lip. "I'll gather and pack the stuff of the girl who lived here, you can bring your own stuff in and start unpacking. I knew Kitty well, so I'm the perfect guy for the job" I said, wanting to convince him to give me the assignment most convenient for my ulterior motives.
"Sure" he said, then he walked over to his cardboxes and started taking things out. Turning around to face me, he paused to conemplate something and then decided to ask me. "Kitty...?"
"The girl whose place and room you're taking." I explained.
"Oh." he resumed. "Why did she leave, anyway? This seems like a nice place..."
Oh that's just great. Nobody bothered to explain him what the deal was? Now it had come to me. I was the one who had to spook him out... "She couldn't help it." I said. "She died."
He let the console games he was unpacking fall on the matress. "Really? What of?" he asked with genuine interest.
"We don't know yet. The headmasters are ... working on it."
"Oh. Cool." he said, then resumed his work. "Maybe my room will prove to be haunted."
I didn't know if he was joking or simply saying something nonsensical to kill time, but it stroke me as highly innapropriate. However, I restrained myself from pointing that out to him. I kept my anger bottled inside and resumed searching for the tape.
After half an hour, I had packed every single personal item that Kitty had in her room. I had one last look over the bunch of cardboard boxes containing all of her stuff and let out a sigh of exasperation. Maybe it was because I hadn't found the tape yet. Maybe because I realised that the remains of one's life were barely enough to fill a few boxes, ready to be stowed away forever and forgotten. I wasn't sure.
"Holy fuck!" I heard Overture yelling. "What the hell are all these?"
It seemed that he had opened the only place that I hadn't had the chance to search yet, the drawer on the nightstand next to Kitty's bed. I walked up to him, only for my eyes to start threatening to gouge themselves out of my sockets.
It was Kitty's porn stash!
"She must have been one. Filthy. Girl!" Terence turned to me with an evil smirk.
Inside the drawer there was a sea of polaroids, depicting several of the unnasuming inhabitants of this mansion having wild gay sex! Half of them were of Cyclops and Wolverine, some others were of Colossus riding the ass of some lucky guy I couldn't recognise, for his face was always obstructed by Piotr's massive muscles.
"Is everybody here gay?" Terence said, looking at each pic for a prolonged period of time. "Awesome! I think I'll fit in here quite well."
I didn't answer to his blatant way of announcing that he was also gay. Instead, my eye immediately got to the tapes that were stashed underneath the photos. I glanced around and saw that Terence was busy eyeing up the photos. Without him noticing me, I grabbed all of the tapes - one of them was bound to be the one I was looking for, after all Kitty must have categorised it as porn (although I mentioned it's from the camera that was OUTSIDE my room that night) and put it in her porn stash. I quickly stuffed the tapes down the baggy pants I was wearing, the all slid down to the elasting band keeping my pants tight around my ankles (don't ask! Dead Girl told me it's be the perfect outfit for stealing things and shoplfting- I don't know how she knew that).
"Hot damn!" I heard Terence exclaim. I glanced over his shoulder, and to my horror I realised that he was looking at polaroids of me and Mystique-as-Bobby having sex during that Danger Room session quite some time back! "You REALLY do know how to handle your 'melee weapons', heh!"
"Gimme those!" I yelled, grabbing all the pics from his hands in a semi-demented way.
I gave them a better look, then stuffed them down my pants as well. "Jesus Christ, Kitty Pryde, you sure could perv with the best of them!" I said, looking up at the ceiling. (I was going for sky, but it just wasn't directly visible, you know?)
"Well, now that we're pretty much done with the unpacking, what do you say we go downstairs for a drink?" said Overture, as he seductively walked closer to me.
He couldn't have had a worse timing. Now that I probably had the tape with the answer I've been looking for in my hands (pants), even a date with Ryan Reynolds wouldn't be able to keep me one more second from watching the tape.
"I'm sorry, I have something to... do, right now." I stuttered. "But... hey! There's this karaoke singing contest tonight. At the nearby town, in a club named 'Rectum'. You wanna come and watch? It will be fun!" I said, slowly walking away from him.
"I would love to, but I can't." he said with slight dissapointment. "With the way my powers are working lately, I probably can't be around music at the time. Maybe when my powers get more under control, yeah?" he added, as he watched me reach the door.
"Okey dokey." I said happily. "Hey, what are your powers, anyway?" I asked out of courtesy, since the subject had been brought up. Then, without bothering to stay for his answer, or even take Kitty's stuff with me, I hastily got out of the door and left.
Which, in retrospect, might have been a little rude of me.
Mere minutes later, I was locked in my room, had gotten the old VCR player from my closet (it's good that I'm too sentimental to throw away my old stuff, after all!)
I looked at the bunch of tapes, security or otherwise, that I had retrieved from Kitty's porn stash. "Do I really have to go through all of that?" I asked myself.
I walked over to my closet, opened it, and pulled the lowest drawer so that I'd open. Inside, there was a sealed envelope, with the words "To David Darrington" on it. It was Frank's mysterious farewell letter, the one he made me promise not to read until after I've found out about who fucked me that fateful night. I looked at the tapes, and then at the envelope. I was close to finding out who my Phantom Lover was, so maybe if I opened it right now it wouldn't make much of a difference. It could take me hours to find a clue through the tapes, so why not cut things short?
I looked at the envelope again, noticing the scribbled letters a bit better. God, Frank had an awful handwriting! Or maybe he was just too sick to bother with making his handwriting neat at the moment he wrote this...
I instantly had a mental image of Frank writing this letter in what might have been his deathbed, sweat forming in his forehead, sickness making him dizzy, his fingers trembling, but still pulling himself together and managing to finish it. For me. His friend.
Guilt flooded my mind for even considering to open up the envelope and I stuffed the thing in my pocket. What if the tapes contain nothing of importance? Maybe then I'll have dissapointed Frank for nothing. And something inside me told that, the moment I opened the envelope, he would know. That was his power. And if he was making enough progress not to know things, then Monique would have called, right?
And what if the dissapointment from me breaking my promise was what ended up killing him? I wouldn't bear to be responsible for this!
"Ok, pull yourself together, David!" I told myself. I probably had the proof I was looking for -the tapes, not the letter- right in my room, and instead of getting to it right away, I was standing here and angsting pointlessly. What was wrong with me? Maybe I really needed to get laid!
A wave of decisiveness took over me, as I grabbed the tapes, determined to watch them all, until I had a definite answer.
The first tape was a french, vintage gay porn flick. Something about horny hairdressers or something. After fast-forwarding the whole flick to make sure there was nothing important in it, I stashed the tape under my bed for... future use. Hey, some of those hair stylists were hot!
I anxiously shoved the second tape in the machine. What the hell? It was the legendary so-bad-it's-good movie "Mommie Dearest", starring Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford. That film is very well known to most gays due to its camp factor, but I don't think gay boys of my age have actually watched it. Curious to see some of the most famous scenes, I watched a little. I ended up watching the whole film, I even made pop corn for fuck's sake! As the credits started rolling... I realised that time had passed! The karaoke contest was in a few hours, and here I was sabotaging myself by watching camp films. "Tinaaaaaa... bring me the axe!" I told myself as I hid the precious tape between my copies of 'Eating Out' and 'Eating Out 2'. "Here. Marco Dapper will keep you safe, Mommie Dearest!" I told the tape.
Resisting the urge to do a double take at my own bizarreness, I put the third tape into the VCR. It was an old Barbra Streisand concert. "Jesus Christ!" I whispered to myself. "Kitty really had an obssesion with the gay community, their culture and their idols!"
I stashed away the Barbra Streisand tape (it would make a fine birthday present for Lola, hehe I'm so cheap!) and picked up a new one. The sticker outsided only had an undecipherable code and a series of numbers. It was probably the security tape! My fingers trembling, I pushed the tape in and stared at the screen with a distant feeling of impending doom creeping up my spine...
What if the man who took my anal virginity was someone I didn't wanna know about? What if it was Xavier? How creepy would that be...? Was it something I really wanted to know? What if it was Lola? How would I convince her to give me more orgasms without all that sticky and annoying glitter on her?
In the screen, I could only see a steady image of the corridor exactly outside my door. The lights were all turned off, but the moon outside the hallway windows was graciously illuminating most of the place, and all I could see was a static world of lights and shadows. All the doors were closed, nothing was moving, except for the basil plant across my door, whose leaves were whoosing by a slight breeze every now and then.
After ten more minutes, not one soul had passed by the camera.
"I have no time for this" I thought as I pushed the fast-forward button. Well, when absolutely nothing is moving in an image, you can't see much of a difference when it goes twice and thrice as fast. I was still watching a still life image.
Suddenly, something blurred the image for a fraction of a second, as somebody passed in front of the camera. "Omigodomigod!" I whispered to myself, quickly pausing and rewinding the image.
Now I could clearly see Pixie, that cute girl from Surge's team, stumbling her way from one side of the hallway to the other, walking in circles. She must have been drunk that night. I made a note to myself to talk to her and help her out someday soon, but then I saw her straddling the pot with the huge basil plant across my door, and... lowering her panties?!?!
What the hell? Pixie was drunkenly peeing on the plant! I started caughing neurotically. I fucking use the leaves of that basil to make pesto and other sauces! "Weak, dude!!!" I yelled in disgust, and fast-forwarded the video again. I would have puked right then and there, but I had forgotten to eat that day.
Soon enough, another dark blur appeared at the camera. I rewinded to the exact moment of its appearance, and I saw a male figure entering the scene. The way he was standing, I couldn't see his face or make out his features, but maybe I would get lucky later. The dude walked slowly over to the basil plant and brought his nose to it's upper leaves, inhaling the sweet aroma. Ewww. If only he knew. Turning around, he slowly walked over to my door. From his steps I could tell that there was something peculiar in his movement... as if he was drunk or high on drugs... or under the influence of a certain horny hormone-controlling slut...!
The man opened my door and stepped in my room! That's it! That was my phantom lover! But, alas, I couldn't make out his face in the dark, especially since he came in in such a way that he was facing away from the camera...
"There's still hope!" I told myself as I fast-forwarded again. When I woke up that morning, I was alone, so the fucker must have been gone long before I'd wake up. Let's just hope he got out of my room before the tape changed, because I was in no mood to revisit the survaillance room.
And thankfully, I got lucky.
What must have been an hour later, the door of my room was re-opened and I let the video flow regularly again. The man stumbled out of my room, probably not under Zazelle's influence anymore, and in panic after waking up next to pretty and oblivious me.
My Phantom Lover closed the door to my room in a hurry and gave a confused look to the camera before walking out of the screen.
Those green eyes that briefly looked at me through the screen, I had looked at a million times before without realising what they were hiding.
"Gerry?"
I walked into the infirmary and saw Lola and Gerry humming a lullaby above Magneto's comatose body. Lola was stroking Magneto's thick, grey hair, while Gerry was stealing glances around to keep an eye on his bunny Fluffy, which was bouncing around the floor close to them.
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are"
Walking up behind them, I joined them in hovering above Magneto and had a good, long look at him, trying to distract myself so that I wouldn't make a scene in front of the ever-loving ninja drag queen. This was something I had to settle with Gerry and Gerry alone.
Magneto was looking like he was just peacefully sleeping, like he could arise from his bed any moment now. What was really amazing, though, was the huge change in his looks. I knew he was rather old, but, after Zazelle fucked him into a coma and gave his body to Sinister, it seemed like he was experimented upon. I could see some barely visible cuts on his arms, his neck and his eyebrow, his skin in every visible part of his body wasn't wrinkly anymore, but rather lean and healthy-looking. Magneto's face was looking much younger now, he wasn't exactly a tween, but he looked like a hot DILF between 35 and 40 years old.
"Geez, Sinister should have made a deal with a cosmetics company instead of cutting up dead mutant girls." I stated, making Lola and Gerry jump a little.
"Dave! You scared me!" Gerry said. I just briefly threw a glance over him, to aknowledge his statement, and spoke mainly to Lola instead;
"Maybe now Sinister would be an eccentric millionaire in a cozy villa instead of a corpse in some hidden, cold laboratory in Miami" I shrugged. "So, what's your deal, guys? The singing contest is beggining in an hour or so, and you're here singing lullabies to a mutant terrorist? Plus, he's sleeping already, what was the point of a lullaby?"
"It's a wake-up lullaby." Lola explained. "I sing them to Magneto every night... but since tonight I'll be busy whupping your asses on the stage, I thought I'd sing him his lullaby earlier than usual..."
"A wake-up lullaby?" I arched my eyebrow, somewhat confused.
"Lola has this theory" Gerry butted in to explain, "that if a lullaby can be sang to make a person sleep, then it can be used for the reverse."
"It sure beats a screaming alarm clock!" Lola flashed us a smile.
I arched my other eyebrow, too, at her. "And why on Earth would you want to wake up a comatose, homicidal mutant terrorist?"
"Oh, please, Davey boy. Mags here is such a misunderstood personality. He just wanted the best for the rest of the mutants, and simply had a violent reaction to all the bullying he got all those years from the humans. Imagine a kid rising up to punch the bully who's been stealing his lunch every day at school, only on a bigger spectrum."
"I do not believe that the whole human population - which Magneto sneakily tried to get killed a year ago- was stealing Magneto's groceries!!!" I kinda yelled.
"My, my, we are bitchy today!" Lola scoffed. "Whatever, Davey-buns. I'll be going now, have to get ready for the show. You better take all that anger and translate it into talent tonight, or esle you're never gonna look at a karaoke contest ad again without bursting into bitter tears! Shall we, Gerry?"
"No." I said. "I need to talk with Gerry. About our... strategy for tonight. Yeah, our strategy."
"Oh... okay then. Bye Lola!" Gerry shot her one of his trademarked innocent smiles.
"Take the bunny with you, too." I told Lola, motioning at the fluffy white rodent.
"Why, you're afraid he's gonna tell on your strategies?" she shot me a bewildered look. "What a primadonna! Fine, whatever, I'll take him. Say goodbye to daddy, Fluffy!" she said, as she picked up the bunny and moved one of its front feet as if it was beading us farewell. Then she bent over, kissed Magneto's cheek, and walked out of the infirmary.
I was now alone with Gerry, and I just couldn't contain my anger anymore.
"So, what did you want to talk about--" Gerry started saying, only to get slapped across the face unexpectedly. It took him by such surprise, that he lost his balance and fell to the floor.
Seeing him vulnerable and hurt like that, lying on the floor and looking at me with a bewildered look, I suddenly felt sorry, I wanted to take the slap back. But I couldn't, so I just went with it.
"When were you gonna tell me?" I asked.
"Dave, I--" he mumbled, stroking his reddening cheek.
"WHEN?" I yelled, then paused, trying to get my breathing right. I was hyperventilating, and sweat was dripping down my forehead. "When were you gonna tell me that you fucked me, Gerry? Or was I too lousy in bed to even bother informing? Was it funny to you? Ooooh, let's fuck the bleached faggot in his sleep, then never mention it again and revere in our false straightness!"
Gerry looked at me with a look that betrayed more hurt than just the physical slap. For several seconds he didn't speak, as if he was contemplating if he's start apologizing or lie further and deny knowing what I was talking about. "I didn't decide to do it. It was Zazelle who--"
"THAT doesn't excuse you from not telling me about it!" I snapped at him.
"I thought you REMEMBERED and just didn't want to talk about it!" He said, his eyes going red around the edges, his tears threatening to burst out. "I thought you... considered it a mistake and wanted to forget it ever happened..."
"Maybe you wanted me to think it was a mistake because YOU thought it was a mistake!" I retorted.
"I didn't--"
"You know what, Gerry... it's just..." I paused, trying to collect myself and find the right words. "It wasn't the intrusion, or the sex itself, that was even great, I must admit. And okay, it was under Zazelle's influence. The problem is, if it was ANYONE else who fucked me that night and forgot to mention it afterwards, I would be fine, I wouldn't have cared much..."
"Then why--"
"Because it was YOU, Gerry! My FRIEND! Or, at least, I thought you were... I believed you were the best, most pure thing into this rotten world, and here you are now, proving me wrong. You lied and hid things from me, and made me believe you were someone you never was. I only wish that you never get to feel the dissapointment I'm feeling right now."
Gerry got up from the floor, and cautiously walked towards me, his hands trying to decide what to do; hug me? wipe his face?
"Don't. Try. And touch me." I told him, making him stop dead on his tracks. I looked right into his eyes, wanting to make sure my next point will get across. "You never really were my friend. Just... go. I can't look at you right now."
He looked at me with a puzzled expression. "What about the singing contest? It's about to begin..."
"Do I look like a care for your fucking contest? Go sing by yourself or whatever! Get out of here" I snapped, yelling at him for daring to think of a stupid contest at a time like this. Even if it was me who dragged him into competing in the first place.
Suddenly, innocent, astounded Gerry was gone, and I could see a hint of anger in his eyes. "Fine. I'll make you a favor and get out of your life." he said, choking on the final word of his sentence.
He turned around and started walking away from me. As he reached the door, he looked at me one last time and spoke to me: "For your information, I never said that I'm straight."
I shot him a look that was half anger/ half surprise. "Why the hell didn't you tell me, then?"
"Because you never cared enough to ask." he said, and with that he closed the door behind him.
I sat there in the infirmary for quite some time afterwards. Trying to think and mentally congest everything that had happened, I ended up keeping company to the comatose bodies of Magneto, Pyro, Sabretooth and Toad.
I still couldn't get my head around why things went to shit like that. Gerry was supposed to be this nice, pure boy that never harmed anyone. How could he ever hide something like this from me?
Then I remembered Frank, as well. Frank, who knew all that time what had happened and refused to tell me what was going on. Some friend he was, too!
I suddenly realised that it was TWO of my friends that treated me shittily and I felt like crying, but I didn't. I did not want the comatose Magneto to see me... hear me like that. Whatever, it was just awkward.
Then I remembered! Frank not only knew that Gerry had been the Phantom Lover all along, not only he kept it a secret as well, but on top of that he had the NERVE to hand me an envelope with all the answers and demand that I do not open it before I knew for myself what had happened.
How fucked up and inhumane was that? I pulled Frank's envelope outta my pocket and got ready to rip it in a hundrend pieces.
Suddenly, I recalled. Frank is not exactly healthy. I might never see him again. Do I really want this to be the last action I ever do towards him? Rip into pieces the letter he trusted me with? Who knows, maybe his sickness somehow excused his behavior...
I decided to open the envelope instead of ripping it and throwing it away. "Frankie, you better have a good explanation in this piece of paper..." I whispered as I ripped the side of the envelope and pulled the letter out. My movements when unfolding the letter were so erratic, that I managed to give my index figner a paper cut! I put the finger in my mouth and suckled on it, as I read the letter. The hastily scribbled sentences on the neat piece of paper were very few and laconic, but... shockingly, they provided me with something more than a good explanation.
"He loves you.
He loved you from the very first moment he laid eyes on you.
If you somehow manage to lose him, you will be the greatest fool in the planet.
Stop thinking, and have your heart dictate you what to do.
And make it quick, before all is lost.
Godspeed.
Love, Frank.
P.S. Please water my gardenias."
I re-read the letter again and again in astonishment.
"Gerry... in love... with me?" I managed to mouth, as I folded the letter and put it again in my pocket, using the caution a precious artifact would demand.
Then, against all that Frank had just advised me, I started thinking again.
That was the reason Gerry wouldn't talk a lot around me, apart from the language thing. It was the reason he never mentioned that fateful night, when Zazelle influenced him into fucking me. He was in love with me from the beggining, and was hurt thinking that I remembered everything and avoided talking about it. I remembered what Zazelle told me about that night. She said that she put her mojo on him, and instead of fucking with the closest available guy, he walked half a mansion away just to reach my room and do it with me. How romantic was that? I mean, when Zazelle used her powers on me, I just did it with Colossus who happened to be around, I didn't even think about reaching Bobby's room...!
All of a sudden, I was recalling all the moments we shared together as friends and started seeing them from another perspective. He fell in love with me from the very start, but I only had eyes for Bobby, who was still with Rogue back then. I remembered talking about my dreams about Bobby and how it was making Gerry uncomfortable, telling me that it was too much informantion. That wasn't about him being straight and uncomfortable of listening to gay antics... it was him being hurt by my obssesion over another man. My ignorance was what was hurting him.
And when I finally got together with Bobby? I thought of how horrible Gerry must have felt when he watched me being all romantic and mushy with Bobby. Or whom I believed was Bobby, anyway.
I realised why he was uncomfortable singing a love song in a duet with me! It had nothing to do with him wanting to be all macho and straight... he just felt weird singing it with the man who didn't love him back...
I thought about Gerry's quick learning of the english language. How eager he was to impress me and get my attention with his work and his progress.
I remembered how friendly he initially was to Zazelle. He wasn't into her, he just didn't find her hot so that he'd have to act in any way other than being himself around her! Then they kinda stopped talking to each other. It wasn't because they fucked... it was because they didn't fuck! And, then, probably for revenge, she made him have sex with me!
Then I remembered the day after... when Gerry came back from that trip, while I had just become a couple with Bobby. I mentioned something about the night before, thinking that he hooked up with Zazelle...
I could just see the scene in front of me, like it happened just yesterday:
"Well I wouldn't blame you" I said, " you must have been too beat to chase after a bunch of kiddies after what happened last night, right?" I winked at him. This was the perfect chance to fish out information about what happened with Zazelle the other night.
"Huh? What do you mean? Ooooooh!" He finally said as his eyes lightened up. "You mean...last night?" He said cheekily as he winked back at me. His eyes had a very mischevious glimpse, so I guess maybe Zazelle was bluffing when she hinted that something went wrong with the two of them last night. That made me feel happy for Gerry, but more than a little gutted too because something new came up in my mind...if Gerry and Zazelle had hit it off good the night before, then that probably meant that I was slowly losing my adorable buddy to a dirty man-eating slut...
"Yeah," I finally said with a grin, shaking off my negative feelings, "It turns out that last night proved to be benevolent for the both of us."
"You bet it did!" Gerry flashed me a painfully cute smile. "Wait a minute...what does 'benevolent' mean?" he asked me as his face darkened with confusion.
Bobby and Lola started snickering behind me as I tried to explain. "I mean that since last night things went very well for the both of us. You hooked up with Zazelle" -while saying that I tried to supress my disgust- "and I finally found love in Bobby! We're officially a couple now!" I said sheepishly as I grabbed Bobby's hand and brought him a step forward.
Gerry didn't respond, he just stood there with a blank face.
Maybe he was trying to even out an unknown word or two from my last sentence, or maybe the news that I hooked up with my neverending - and seemingly straight- crush I was telling him about all the time those last weeks needed a couple of minutes from him to sink in.
He frowned a little, then he flashed me a smile of approvance. "I guess it was about time...I'm very happy for the two of you!" He said as he patted Bobby's shoulder.
So there it was.
The moment where I fucked everything up. When I mentioned the night before, Gerry believed I was aknowledging the sex we had together, and that maybe something was starting between us two... then, the moment after, I shoved Bobby as my boyfriend in his face.
Which is why he never talked about it. He thought I considered it a "good luck charm" for getting Bobby as a boyfriend. And so he stayed close to me, trying to be a friend, although he saw me with another man all the time...
And what did I have to show for his love? Trying to find who fucked me that night, I went around fucking and sucking people so that I'd recognise whose cum it was that I found in my butt?
Gerry was in LOVE with me and I repayed him with being a complete slut!
I broke his heart, and all I did was blame him on top of that.
Suddenly, I really couldn't take it anymore. I sat on the chair next to Magneto's body, hid my face in my hands and started sobbing. Not for me, but for Gerry, and the way I treated him unknowingly.
But no, being guilty suddenly didn't seem to be enough. That was because I had another realisation, this time without Frank's written help.
So Gerry loved me and stuck close to me. I treated him badly, in retrospect.
But what was I really feeling all that time for my friend?
I loved him for being a happy, good natured, calm and collected personality.
For the support he showed me every single step of my life.
I was jealous when I thought he was getting it on with Zazelle. And not because Zazelle was a complete cunt, but because I was scared of losing him.
I was enamored with his sexy, frequently exposed body. I was ogling him every chance I got, and I was always asking for more... I even wanted to see the one part of his body his g-string was hiding!
I adored him for the small, romantic monologue he gave during that Danger Room battle, when he was looking for romantic touches in a hard-light Austrian Alps setting.
And that time at Mr.Sinister's lab? I was far more bewildered when he threatened to harm Gerry than when he tried to do the same thing to Bobby.
I was such a complete idiot!
I had fallen head over heels for Gerry for a long time and never admitted it to myself... I just told myself he was a hot str8 guy and then obssessed over the utopia that Bobby was!
He loved me... and I loved him... and I just gave him pain instead. And now? He mentioned he was "getting out of my life" for good! Was he going to leave the fucking mansion? Because of the way I treated him?
I got up from my seat and spoke out loud. "That just won't do!" I told myself. "I have to find him... bring him back... The contest! He might have gone to the singing contest! I bet I can find him there and fix things before he leaves forever!"
I ran towards the infirmary doors. I was foolish enough to let him slowly slip thgough my fingers all that time. I would NOT allow myself to lose him for good.
"Here I come, Gerry... hang on!" I said as I reached the doors.
But, suddenly, the doors closed all by themselves, right on my face. I got up and tried to open them, to no avail. It was like they were glued together, or like an unseen force was keeping them closed shut and I couldn't overcome it!
"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere, young man..." I heard a voice behind me say.
I turned around and I saw Magneto, sitting on his bed, awake from his coma! His left arm was extended towards the doors, using his magnetic powers to keep them shut.
Instinctively, I morphed both my arms into hige hammers, but, just as I was thinking how stupid an idea it might have been to morph my limbs into metal weapons to attack a Master of Magnetism, he proved me right by making me fly up and stick on the doors, my hammer-arms stuck on them.
I cringed and tried to go free, but I couldn't even morph my arms into something else while Magneto had them on hold... I was trapped in there with him, in his complete mercy!
"Please let me go... before it's too late..." I managed to blurt out.
"I'm sorry boy... but I won't let you go. There's something I need and you are my only means of getting to it." He said, with a bizarre smirk marking his face.
TO BE CONTINUED...!!!
So, guys, how did you like that? I hope the reveal was worth the wait! :D The next chapter will be from Gerry's point of view in his last hour before he leaves the mansion, just to get the suspense higher!!! :D Also, we get to see who wins the singing contest! (if anyone still cares about that) Ciao for now! Don't forget to send feedback at mitsaso@gmail.com