Disclaimer:
All of the standard disclaimers apply. The X-men are the property of Marvel, and I take no credit for the creation of their characters, only my own. This is a fanfiction, therefore anything dicontinuous to the normal X-men universe, including sexuality of the characters, is the product of my imagination. Any similarities to real people or events is completely coincidental.
This story contains male/male sex and romance. If you find either theme offensive, what are you doing reading nifty stories? And if you are underage or this story is illegal where you are reading, please leave. But if you chose to ignore this warning, it's your own fault!
Chapter Two - Beginnings
When I'd finally finished drying myself and stepped out of the bathroom I found the clothes John had left for me lying on my bed. I had to admit, the guy certainly had a good grasp of style. Once I had pulled them on, I stepped back into the bathroom to see how they looked in the large mirror that was mounted on the back of the door.
The black jeans hugged my flesh like a second skin, doing nothing to hide the sizable bulge in my crotch. John had also left me an orange long-sleeve t-shirt with flame patterns along the forearms. The red t-shirt that I was wearing over the top had a chinese dragon printed across the chest in a dirty gold colour. To finish the look, John had left me a pair of black leather boots and a leather belt with an Australian flag belt buckle.
'Wierd,' I thought to myself, 'I didn't pick up an Australian accent'.
I walked over to the basin and looked in the cabinet that was set into the wall above it. I found a new toothbrush on the second shelf. Assuming that John wouldn't mind, I found the toothpaste and bagan scrubbing my teeth fiercely. After about five minutes, I rinsed my mouth out and began messing with my hair. It didn't take long for me to get it to sit in the same wild style that I'd taken to wearing it in over the last few years.
As I walked back out of the bathroom, the dormatory door opened and John came back in, a guilty expression plastered across his face. Catching sight of me however, his face broke into a wide smile. He was wearing a pair of tight jeans that were a light shade of blue and a pair of white sneakers. His upper body was covered by a dark yellow skin-tight polo shirt.
"You ready for something to eat?" he asked, his voice filled with anxiety.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah," he said, "I just had to deal with something. So, are you ready?"
"Yeah, I'm good".
I couldn't help but be impressed by the mansion's vast grounds. Even on our short walk down to the cafeteria, I had to stop several times just to marvel at things that John wouldn't normally give a second thought to. The one thing that surprised me the most however, was the way that people used their powers without caring whether or not they were seen. Even among the Streetwalkers, the group of mutants to which both Robyn and I had belonged to before we were attacked, powers were used discretly.
"I can't believe how redily you people use your powers," I said to John as a girl walking passed us and then dematerialised into a wall.
"Our powers are as much a part of us as anything else," he said. "What's the point in having something if you're not going to use it".
I sighed, saying, "I guess you're right. By the way, what is it that you can do? I've never seen you use your powers".
"I'm a pyrokinetic. I can psionically manipulate fire, changing anything from its size and shape, to its heat and brightness".
"That sounds very impressive".
"Well, it is a very cool power. The only downside is that I can't create the flame, which is why I carry one of these," he said, pulling a metal zippo lighter from the back pocket of his jeans.
The cafeteria was very similar to what you'd expect from a high school. It was twice as long as it was wide, and filled with tables crowded well past their intended capacity. There were at least a hundred students present and almost all of them turned to look at me as I followed John to a table at the far end.
"Don't worry," he said. "They're always like that when we get a new arrival".
Three people sat at the table John had led me to. The first was a guy about 6"3. What struck you most about him was that both his hair and skin were the colour of the most highly polished gold you'd ever seen. He was wearing a cream sweater and matching pants. He introduced himself as Josh Foley. The man who introduced himself as David Alleyne had the same mocha skin as Ororo. His dark hair was cut short and he wore a dark blue button-down shirt and jeans. Noriko Ashida, as she introduced herself, was a beatiful asian girl with beautiful black hair that she pushed back away from her face where it fanned out in what can only be described as an electric style. Her lithe frame reminded me of Robyn. She wore tight blue jeans that hugged her curves and a tight shirt that left a wide patch of her stomach exposed. What caught my attention were the large metal gloves she wore on each arm.
"Well," John said, "Now that everyone knows everyone I'll go get us something to eat while you all get to know one another".
As he headed off, I sat down.
"Is it true?" Noriko asked.
"Is what true?"
"Did the Professor really make you a X-man?" she finished.
"Yes. The Professor and I came to an arrangement and I joined his team".
"Excellent!" she beamed.
"Are you..."
"We're all X-men as well," Josh said.
"So what can you do?" David asked. "I take it that you're a Psi, 'cause I don't know what you know".
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, severely confused by his words.
"I'm sorry," he laughed. "My power allows me to absorb the thoughts and memories of everyone within a certain distance of me. Well, that is unless their minds are shielded, which yours is. And since only a Psi can shield their mind..."
"Okay, I get it now. Yes, I am a Psi. According to the Professor I'm a class four in Telepathy, Empathy and Telekinesis".
Josh whisled, "That's quite a haul you've got there".
"What about you guys, what can you do?"
Josh answered first, "I can manipulate the biology of living things, which means I can do all sorts of fun things, like heal people or change the way parts of the body would normally work".
Noriko went next. "I can absorb electrical energy and rechannel it into either my speed, or into direct bursts of energy. These," she indicated the metal gloves that she wore, "regulate the energy I absorb, so that my powers don't go out of control".
"Food's here!" John announced, as he returned, placing a tray full of junkfood in front of me.
"John, that isn't food," Josh said, looking down at the hotdogs, hanburger and fries on my tray, "That's a heart attack waiting to happen".
"So says the health freak," Noriko countered. "Don't listen to him Remmy, or he'll have you eating tofu and all of that other healthy crap".
I laughed with John, David and Noriko as Josh huffed. For the rest of the afternoon I hung out with John and his friends. Even when John said we needed to head out to go to the mall, the rest of the gang decided to come along. That night, when I was lying awake in bed listening to my roommates soft snores, all I could think about was how quickly my life had changed. Not twenty-four hours earlier, I'd been a mutant runaway battling for my life against crazed fanatics. Then I met Xavier and his X-men, and then like magic, Robyn and I had a new home and new friends.
'God, that is so damn cute,' I thought to myself as John snorted in his sleep. A new home and new friends, and just maybe, new love.
My breathing was steady as I ran calmly on the treadmill. The mansion's gym was a large room in the eastern wing, filled with dozens of various work-out machines in addition weight-lifting equipment and a make-shift dojo area. In the three weeks I'd been at the mansion it had become one of my favourite places to relax and take my mind of the gruelling training the Professor was putting me through. Not a day went by when I didn't finish my Telepathy lessons with a headache and I always finished my Empathy lessons an emotional wreck. According to the Professor, I was making a great deal of progress, having boosted my power rating in those areas to class three.
Jean had been taking the lead in my Telekinesis training, which was progressing slowly. Initially I had been very disappointed in my progress, but she explained that unlike other mental arts, telekinesis was more like working out a psychic muscle; it takes time to build up the stamina and control. Over the previous week, we'd been working on molecular motion. She hoped to teach me to manipulate energy as well as matter, by having me try to move the flame of a candle. The concept was that if I could master my abilities enough to manipulate the motion of the super-excited molecules, I could apply that control to other things as well. I'd managed to push the flame in one direction and hold it there for a few second, which Jean later informed me was something that only the most advanced of her students could do.
"I realised something today," John's voice startled me, causing me to lose concentration and stumbling sligtly. "Sorry".
"No, it's my fault," I said, returning to my normal pace. "I should have been paying more attention. So what did you realise?"
"I realised that we're roommates, teammates and I like to think that we're friends," he said, stepping onto the treadmill next to mine.
"Right on all counts".
"And yet, I don't really know all that much about you, I mean from before..."
"Before I was thrown out of home by my so-called family and forced to live on the streets where my only friends were other runaways who, with the exeption of Robyn, are all most likely dead, having been slaughtered like cattle by gun-wielding fanatics," I finished for him in a savagely bitter tone.
"So I take it you don't really want to talk about it".
"Good guess," I said angrilly as I shut of the treadmill and grabbed my towel. I knew John didn't deserve my harsh behaviour, but even thinking about my father and brother made me angry.
"Listen, I'm sorry," John said, stepping off of his own treadmill. "I shouldn't have asked you like I did".
The look on his face caused my anger to disappear, only to be replaced by guilt for making him feel bad about himself.
"No. You don't have anything to apologise for. I do. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, it was immature of me".
"I understand. It couldn't have been easy for you. And if I can, I want to help".
It was everything I could do to stop myself from crying right there. It had been so long since anyone had cared enough to echo his sentiment, and coupled with the fact that I was still reeling from my empath training with the Professor, John's word put me on the verge of tears.
"I'll tell you what," I said, stiffling sobs. "If you'd be willing to listen, I'll tell you, just give me half an hour, okay?"
"Sure," he said. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine. It's just these damn empath classes, I'm always a wreck afterwards," I said as I wiped away the moisture that had built up in my eyes.
"Okay. I'll meet you back at our room in half an hour".
John sat cross-legged on his bed with Remmy sitting opposite him. They were both shirtless; a habit that that John had developed during his time without a roommate, and that Remmy had adopted since staying with him. Remmy had his head bowed, staring at the small stretch of bedding that seperated them. He looked dejected, drained, as if the very effort of telling his story taxed him far beyond the effort it took to shape the words.
"I was always closer to my mother than I was to my father. My father, Gabriel St.Cloud, was in the military. The marines were his life, so it wasn't unusual for him to be gone for months at a time. But even when he was home, he didn't have much time for me. No. He loved my older brother Michael. You see, I was always the bookish type, and as far as he was concerned, unless you could throw a pigskin or hit a baseball, you weren't worth the air you breathed".
"My mother, on the other hand, she loved me for who I was without question. Her name was Evelyn, and she was one of the most beautiful people, on the inside as well as on the out. I don't know how I would have survived my father's constant attacks about how I was never going to be the man he thought I should be without her there. She stood by me, no matter what happened. Even when I told her my secrets, she'd just smile and hug me". Remmy paused for a moment and took a deep breath, steadying himself for what came next.
"When I was fifteen, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and six months later, she died".
"Oh my God, Remmy, I'm so sorry," John said, his voice filled with sympathy.
Remmy continued, "Life was hell after that. My mutancy emerged after the funeral when I went back after the service and sat down next to her grave. I was so angry at her for leaving me. Everything just seemed like too much and something inside me just snapped. Whatever I did caused me to black out but when I came to, half the cemetary had been demolished. I was so afraid that I ran home and locked myself in my room for days. Over the next few weeks, I learnt how to block everything out enough so that I could get back on with my life. My father was even worse to me than before, so I spent as much time out of the house as I could. Most of the time I ended up at the gym". He smiled. "I like the irony of that. He always wanted me to be more manly, so I used it as an excuse to be as far away from him as possible".
"I'd just turned sixteen when it happed. My friend Tyron had invited me to go on a camping trip with him and his family but on the night I was meant to be going, my father got drunk. He kept shouting at me over and over, telling me that I was not going to spend the week with 'some faggot' and he wouldn't have a 'fucking queer' for a son. His shouting got me so mad that I lost control. The house was torn to shreds, the cars were crushed like empty soda cans and the lawn looked like it had been torched. It was a small miracle that no one was killed. My father threw me out, literally. And then he said some things that I'm not sure I'll ever get over. When he was finished yelling, he told me that I was no longer a member of the family, and that if I ever went to see my mother's grave he'd kill me because he wouldn't allow me to 'pollute' her memory".
Unable to hold back the emotions any longer, Remmy burst into tears, shaking with the force of his silent sobs. Without thinking, John leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his friends shoulders and drew their bodies into a tight hug.
"Hey, hey, it's alright," John whispered, rocking Remmy gently. The skin-to-skin contact sent shivers down his spine, but John knew that it was not the time for those sort of thoughts. Pulling back, he put his hand under Remmy's chin and lifted his face until their eyes were locked together. "You listen to me. No matter what your asshole of a father said, you are one of the strongest, kindest and most loving people I know, and anybody would be lucky to have you as a friend". Remmy continued to sob, but John pressed on, "If your father can't arreciate that, then he doesn't deserve a family with you in it. Besides, you have a new family now, one that loves you just the way that you are, and would never expect you to be anything else".
Maybe twenty minutes passed by with John holding me and telling me how much of a good person I was, and how much everyone loved me for who I was. I'd stopped crying a few minutes before and just sat, drawing comfort from the warm touch of his body against mine. He pulled back slightly and for the second time that night looked me right in the eyes. Those beautiful saphire gems seemed to peer right into my soul. Our faces were only inches from each other and I could feel his warm breath against my cheeks. That's when I did something that surprised even me. I leaned forward and kissed him gently on his luscious pink lips.
His eyes widened with surprise as my lips brushed against his and I pulled back. The surprise faded quickly, and to my astonishment, was replaced by a wide smile.
"I spent the last three weeks trying to work up the nerve to do that, and you go and steal my thunder," he said.
"You mean?"
"Yeah," John said, rolling back and pulling me down on top of him. "I like you too".
It was as if our bodies were made for each other. I fit perfectly between his legs as he rested them on either side of me while I was lying down on top of him, pressing our lips together. Hit tongue traced the length of my bottom lip and I opened my mouth to let him in. Our tongues battled for control of the kiss, writhing against one another, neither willing to surrender. My hands roamed his chest, feeling the tight knots of muscle that formed his killer pecs and washboard abs. During my exploration of his chest, John's hands began their own journey along my back. His fingers brushed gently over the rippling muscle of my slim swimmer body and began to work their way down towards the firm globes of my ass. I gasped as he squeezed them tightly through the rigid denim then growled into his ear as I grinded our crotches together.
He moaned and rolled both of us over so that he was staddling my hips. I ran my hands along his powerful thighs, still trapped within the confines of his 501s. He nipped playfully at my ear and whispered, "I've wanted you from the first time I saw you".
Shuffling back off of my hips, he reached for my button fly and pulled it open. My fully erect cock, freed from its denim prison, slapped up against my stomach. John leaned down and ran his tongue the full length of it. He chuckled as my entire body shuddered under his tingues assualt. Our lips mashed together as I fumbled the the zipper on his jeans. Agonising seconds passed before I was able to push the infuriating garment down my lover's hips. Freed from its constraints, John's erection rubbed against my own. I looked down between us and marvelled at the beautiful piece of flesh pressed against me. It was at least eight inches, with a perfectly shaped mushroom head.
"You're beautiful," I breathed into his ear.
"So are you," he whispered back, extracting a gasp from me by grinding our cocks together.
He wrapped his hands around our erections and began stroking us both at the same time, eliciting a series of low moans from me. My arms gripped his sweat-covered flesh, pulling him closer to me. The heat between us was so intense that I would not have been suprised if it could melt steel.
John's long, slow strokes were driving me crazy.
"Oh God! I'm not going to last much longer!"
John pressed his forehead to mine and smiled, "Neither am I".
It only took a few more long strokes before we both began shooting. Long ropes of cum covered our chests, mixing together and bluring the line between what was mine and what was his. His hot breath blew against my face. I turned my head and kissed him softly. It wasn't as intense as our earlier exchanges, but it was still the most memorable. Our tongues gently caressed eachother with a tenderness that was reserved for the most precious of lovers and I knew. I knew that what we shared was more than just lust. It was deeper than that. It was the beginning of something that can only be described as love.
To Be Continued
Thank-you for reading chapter one. If you liked it please let me know at: scifi_fanboy@hotmail.com
Authors thrive on feedback so if you have something to say, or you think that something could be done better, please, don't hesitate to let me know, but the one thing I ask is if you're going to offer critisism, at least make it constructive. Also, please write X-Force in the subject line so that I know it's not junk.