Title: "Glimmer of Kindness"
Author: Kat Lee
Rating: PG/K+
Summary: No one seems to care about Toad.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

His stomach had already been rumbling for hours, and his eyes began to water with tears he wouldn't shed around his so-called friends as he watched them gobbling up the burgers as fast as Pyro cooked them. "Come on, guys!" he said, hopping around them and trying desperately to grab a patty. "I stole the food, the grill, everything!"

"You didn't steal enough," Lance spoke with a mouthful of greasy hamburger that looked delicious even inside his mouth to the hungry Toad.

"Yeah." Blob belched so loudly that the putrid stench set Lance's, Todd's, and Wanda's hair standing on end. He grabbed the grill while the others were complaining of the stench and Wanda was preparing to zap him and guzzled down another six patties.

Todd wailed and hopped toward the plate of remaining hamburgers, but Pietro snatched it directly out from underneath the younger boy's grasping hands. "Now this is what I call fast food," Quicksilver exclaimed, eating three burgers as quickly as Blob had eaten six. He looked pointedly at Toad. "You've never been fast in your life," he told him, "so it's no wonder you didn't get any!"

"Yeah," Wanda added. "Don't complain to us because you weren't fast enough to get supper."

"But I did get supper!" Toad wailed again. "You wouldn't've had any of it if not for me!"

"Yeah, we would've," Blob snapped, his massive stomach still rumbling.

"Next time," Todd was told again as he hobbled sadly away, "steal more!"

"Go eat flies!" Wanda called after him, bringing the others' laughter to a roar.

Toad forced himself to eat a bug but was still hungry when he curled up on the steps. The bright, Summer day hazed out before him, and for a moment, he thought he saw Cyclops looking with compassion down upon him. The other young mutant held out a hand to him. "You can come with us," the mirage told him. "You can come eat with us and live with us. You can be an X-Man."

Toad must have answered him in his sleep, because he was awakened by the shrill laughter of his team mates. "Aw, inn't that sweet? He thinks he can be an X-Man!"

"That title won't fit you any better than it did me," Lance spoke with both sadness and underlining anger as he stepped over him, shook his head, and continued on his pathway.

Each of his so-called friends stepped over Toad. Each made a comment about his failures and why his dreams were so stupid. Each laughed at him until his cheeks burned as red as Wanda's top, and after they were gone, he saw two women standing and looking down upon him. He cringed and curled into a tighter ball at the sight of the tall woman with blue skin and hair as red as his cheeks. "Go 'head," he murmured, expecting to be slapped, beaten, anything but what he got.

Raven held out a hand to him, and if her smile was forced, for the first time, he didn't notice it. "Irene and I were just going out to dinner, Todd. Would you like to accompany us?"

His beady eyes darted between the two. "Really?"

Irene nodded. "Yes," she answered before Raven could lose her patience.

"Boy, would I!" Toad jumped at the opportunity, knowing right then that he would follow Mystique forever for that small glimmer of kindness she had shown him. Raven might have failed her own children, but there was still something maternal within her. She still cared about him, and she and Irene were the only ones who did.

The End