Notes: Hello everyone, and welcome back to this universe! If you're new, check out my profile to see the reading order on the 664 Universe before you continue, or you might get just a bit confused ;)

Chapter 1: Tread Lightly

For the last few months, things had been surprisingly and mercifully quiet for the X-Men. Magneto had been calmer after Charles had stepped in, Bastion's group had all died out… And even though Scott hated to admit it, Noh had helped somewhat, crippling the MRD and others that would usually come after the team.

Not that it wasn't without its consequences. Hate crimes were up, and Congress was getting up in arms about the "mutant problem." They were getting a lot more calls about kids being attacked, and there were a few attempts at vandalism on the walls at the outskirts of the lawn. But that was at least normal for the X-Men. Even if it was frustrating.

Still, nothing major had come up in a while, and it was good for everyone, especially the junior team, who were still piecing themselves back together, emotionally speaking. Monet's death had hit them hard, especially after Bastion had messed the team up and blown up their home before that. They needed the break.

It was also better for a few relationships to grow and flourish — though that particular upside wasn't exactly making Logan happy when it was blatantly obvious that Jubilee and Noh were sneaking off together all the time to get wrapped up. It was patently clear to anyone who saw the two of them that they were head over heels for one another, but that didn't change the low growl that Logan had going on knowing what those two were up to. And it certainly didn't change the fact that Logan still remembered that the kid had left Jubilee in the dust at a crucial time after Monet had died.

So Christmas spirit be damned; Logan was just waiting for Noh to make another misstep. He wasn't going to let the kid get away with screwing Jubilee around, no matter how much Jeannie liked him.

Not that Noh seemed to understand how much danger he was potentially in, even with Jubilee helpfully glaring Logan's way every time he would catch the two of them not far out from having fooled around. Or even with Jubilee pointing out that she wasn't some kid anymore and that she was old enough to make her own decisions a-thank-you-very-much.

Noh didn't seem to notice that — or if he did, he shrugged it off as another quirk of living on Earth. He was too wrapped up in Jubilee to really care what anyone else thought — and what's more, he was honestly enjoying the holidays as they rolled around. There was plenty to keep him happy and not at all thinking about Logan's annoyance.

Halloween, for example, had been a delight with all of the candy everywhere as well as the chance to dress up in costume with Jubilee as Charlie Brown and Lucy. They got quite a few compliments on their costumes — and Noh had a blast saying "good grief" on demand just to get Jubilee to laugh. He was trying to do that as often as possible, to make sure that she knew he meant it when he told her that he was going to do everything in his power to make sure she was loved. To make her happy.

Thanksgiving was also an interesting affair, though Noh wasn't sure he completely understood it. He did have tastes, and he did have food preferences, but this seemed to be something else entirely. Still, it was nice to be around friends, so he did appreciate that part of the holiday.

But Christmas… that seemed to be bigger than all of that.

The decorations went up almost as soon as Thanksgiving was over. Bobby had some great ice sculptures and hanging icicles; Jean hung holly on the walls in a matter of minutes… and Remy made sure that there was plenty of mistletoe everywhere.

Everywhere.

Noh was sure that the mistletoe was his favorite part of Christmas. He was, of course, also sure that he didn't fully understand the tradition, but any excuse to kiss Jubilee was a good excuse, in his opinion.

In fact…

Jubilee had just been coming around the corner when Noh smiled and scooped her up to kiss her under the mistletoe, getting a delighted laugh out of her before she responded in kind. "You're totally taking this mistletoe thing seriously, aren't you?"

"Are you complaining?" he teased.

"Obviously not," she shot back, rearranging herself so that her hands were resting on his shoulders.

Noh smiled and pulled her into a deeper, longer kiss that lasted until Remy let out a wolf whistle as he was walking by. "Atta boy."

Noh chuckled and then turned to Jubilee. "This is, by far, my favorite tradition I've discovered on your world," he told her — and then stole another kiss.

Jubilee couldn't help but laugh at him. "You say that every time."

"Ah, but all those times were before I discovered mistletoe," he teased.

"You're such a dork," Jubilee said, though her tone was full of affection.

"Yes, I am," Noh agreed with a crooked smirk. "And you love me for it."

"True," Jubilee said, her head tipped to the side before she smiled and kissed him back.

Noh grinned through the kiss, already starting to carry her away from the more public setting. "And you know I adore you, right?"

"You could stand to mention it more often," Jubilee said haughtily.

"Every day for as long as I live, perhaps," Noh said, nodding along. "Would that be sufficient?"

"It's a start," Jubilee said, though she was blushing high on her cheeks.

The two of them were still grinning at each other as they made their way down, though they didn't quite get the privacy they were obviously headed for when Noh paused, his enhanced hearing picking up the growls out on the lawn before Logan had picked them up to a level the others would have heard them.

"Something wrong?" Jubilee asked with a frown.

"Very possibly," Noh said, already redirecting to head outside. "Though it could just be that Logan is growling at Bobby again after the icicle incident…"

Jubilee had to snort at that. "Yeah, true," she said, though she was biting her lip as they got to the lawn — where she could hear the growls too.

It wasn't hard to pinpoint the problem, either. There was a big, hulking blond out on the lawn, and Jubilee narrowed her eyes when she saw him. "Oh, of course," she muttered out. "He always shows up on Logan's birthday."

"Then you know him?" Noh said as he set Jubilee down, though he still had hold of her hand, not sure if this was something to let her loose on or protect her from yet — he was still learning.

"Yeah. And I'm going to send him into next week," she said — which pretty much answered his question. "His name is Sabretooth, and he has the stupidest grudge against Wolvie because Wolvie is so much better than him."

"That does sound stupid," Noh said mildly.

"It so is."

By the time they got closer, Sabretooth and Logan were already circling each other — though Jubilee and Noh weren't the only ones who had come to investigate. Kurt had teleported out and looked like he was ready to join in at a moment's notice, and K was growling low, shaking her hands out and preparing to dive in if need be.

But then, Victor Creed paused in his circling and smirked to himself, redirecting his path toward K instead of toward Logan. Moving faster than it looked like he should have been able to given his size, he drew back and laid into K, knocking her back several steps and leaving her bleeding.

Logan let out a snarl and dove for Creed, tearing into him deeply as the two of them fell into a back and forth that was familiar to Jubilee but seemed surprising to Noh, especially when he had been working for months now on learning how and when to hold back.

Noh glanced over at Jubilee and frowned more deeply when he saw how upset she looked. "Is this a time to break the rules?" he asked, dipping his head to catch her gaze. He wanted to be sure, after all.

"Yes. Absolutely," Jubilee said through her teeth, little sparks at the edges of her fingers.

Noh nodded to himself, letting go of Jubilee's hand so that he could watch the fight, waiting for a momentary break in the back-and-forth so that he would have a chance to get involved…

There.

Creed had been growling out his venomous abuse through the entire fight, of course. None of it would have been new to those that had seen Logan and Creed clash in the past, but it was, as always, exactly what Creed needed to use to throw Logan off and get an advantage. Promising to destroy his family, his friends, whatever he thought would make Logan mad.

So that was how Creed was able to get in a seriously good shot after he looked toward Jubilee and growled out a "Too bad your little girlie's too stupid to know better'n to stay outta this" that had Logan almost snarling for the second before Creed hit him hard enough to knock him back several yards.

And honestly, Kurt was about to get involved after that, but Noh got there first, rushing in between Creed and Logan with his teeth bared and his own nails out in claws like Creed's. "Stop before you get hurt," he said, if only because he was trying to hold to the X-Men's rules, even if Jubilee said this wasn't a time to apply them. He wanted to hold himself to a higher standard when he'd failed to do so before.

But at that, Creed looked like it was the funniest thing he'd heard in weeks, laughing outright and baring his sharp canines Noh's way in return. "You gonna stop me, pretty boy? That's rich."

"I'm trying to give you an easier option," Noh said, his tone laced with a hiss. "Take it."

Creed laughed again — and then darted forward, obviously ready to tear into Noh. So he hadn't expected the young man to dip around him faster than Creed could react and drive all ten fingers into his back and pull down, ripping him wide open and getting Creed to cry out and lash out blindly to try and hit Noh.

Noh responded with a palm strike to Creed's back that had him snarling in pain as a deep black color spread from where Noh had burst something inside him. But it had also made Creed mad enough that he managed to get a hold of Noh and positively tear into him, ripping five long paths down his chest.

Which would have been enough to stop someone who could feel it.

Noh hissed out his displeasure before he spit at Creed, and Creed's eyes went unfocused for long enough that Noh was able to get Creed to drop him. But before Noh could do anything else or act on the control he now had (however briefly) over Creed, he heard Scott shout, "Noh, get back!"

Given the tone Scott was using, Noh didn't argue and jumped back, away from Creed — and a moment later, one of Scott's optic blasts had hit Creed and thrown him back to the treeline, away from Logan, K, Noh, and Kurt.

Creed was still growling, but it was painfully apparent to him that he wasn't going to win this fight, not with as much backup as Logan had. So he simply snarled his abuse at all of them before he turned back to the trees and left.

Scott shook his head before he turned to Noh and put a hand on his shoulder. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," Noh said, waving off his concern.

Scott didn't look like he believed Noh, though he did look past him to Logan and K, who were both doing their own version of quickly and quietly looking each other over. "You alright?" he asked again, this time directed their way.

"We're fine," K promised, her own injuries already nearly healed anyway, though Logan was glaring toward the trees.

Scott frowned and nodded, though before he could say anything to Logan or K, Noh put a hand on his shoulder and redirected his attention with a question: "Jubilee said that this was a case of being allowed to break the rules…"

Scott nodded quickly, knowing how hard Noh had been working to stay on the path the X-Men were walking and could probably use the reassurance in that moment that he hadn't overstepped. "That guy can heal almost as well as Logan can. And he's been trying to kill Logan for decades. We don't hold back with him."

"Noted," Noh said, though he did pause and cross to where Logan and K were talking quietly to put a hand on K's shoulder and ask, "Are you sure you're alright? I know what he did had to hurt, considering how loud things are in my head right now as I'm redirecting my own pain."

"We're fine, moonbeams," K assured him with a fond sort of smile.

"Believe it or not, this stupid fight that happens every year is usually much worse," Jubilee said as she came to join them, looking perfectly annoyed by even the thought of this particular birthday tradition.

"Then I'm glad that, this year, you had your family and friends to give you aid," Noh decided with a little nod.

That earned him an affectionate smile from K, and she stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "You're a good boy," she said and cupped his cheek with her hand before she looked him over more closely. "Now let's get you cleaned up."

Jubilee made a face. "Oooh, yes, good point. There's no telling where Creed's been. Totally nasty."

"If it's a real concern…" Noh said, not quite sure if they were joking or not, all things considered.

"It so is," Jubilee said with a little giggle. "Come on. I'll help you get all the stupid Creed gunk off."

But at that, Noh couldn't help but smile, finally catching on to her insinuations. "Oh, yes," he said, nodding seriously. "I'm going to need a lot of help getting clean."

Jubilee laughed and grabbed Noh's hand to lead him off — even as K very quietly told Logan to please not kill the boy and redirected him to something a little more fun to celebrate his birthday.

Of course, what none of the X-Men knew was that Creed wasn't the only person who had decided to come to the institute on Logan's birthday — though he was the only one who had actually confronted Logan. The X-Men hadn't known he was there, because he could mask his scent and stay hidden as well as he pleased, but Daken had seen the entire fight between his father and Sabretooth.

At first, Daken had been annoyed. He knew, of course, that Sabretooth always insisted on putting his big, ugly nose into his father's business every year to mark the occasion, but to come so early in the day? That had interfered with Daken's own plans.

Of course, Creed had probably had the same thought Daken did: that earlier in the day would be the best time to catch Logan before he was expecting anything. Not that Logan had fallen for it. He'd clearly been on edge and waiting around for that fight all day. In some sense, Daken was glad that Creed had come and gotten it over with.

Still, it meant that Logan was slipping off to privacy with K, and Daken did not want to be forced to endure dealing with his father and his stepmother's intimate lives.

At any rate, he could easily find something else to amuse himself in the meantime.

Or, if he pleased, he could find someone else.

Daken prided himself on keeping track of important developments, both relating to his own interests in the criminal underworld and his father's interests. It was not only a way to keep himself sharp but a way to find more creative avenues for making his father pay for his negligence. So he'd heard all about the alien that the X-Men had in their ranks, the one who had destroyed all of those anti-mutant facilities and so clumsily brought down even more hatred on a group that was already hunted.

But seeing the boy in person, Daken could almost understand it. Stupid and pretty — it was a common enough combination.

Still, he could be an interesting diversion. Watching that fight, Daken knew the pretty little alien was strong, fast, and resilient. And with a high pain tolerance and healing… well.

This was definitely worth looking into.