Notes: We're really glad to see everyone liked the chapter! As you can probably tell from the title of the volume, this one's going to be focused on family dysfunction (and not always through any fault of the actual family members involved).
Griezz, I'm glad you liked the names. :) We've had plans to give Scott a family for a while now, but we needed to get him to a point where he was okay enough with his own past to honor Charles Xavier that way or these twins would have made their debut, like, four volumes ago. Seriously. They. Are. Perfect.
Scruffy, lol. We couldn't just leave it in all that awful! Gotta have some sunshine to balance it out!
JD: Trust me, Azazel gives us both the creeps as well, and we highly enjoy hitting him hard. It's, like, pretty much therapeutic. As for moar Kurt, yes, we are actively making sure to give him more of a chance to shine, giving him a few more scenes as we go through to make sure everyone's favorite Elf is well-represented. And admittedly, we have given Kate a lot of focus. We're not trying to ignore Kurt, we promise! It's just that she's lesser-known, so we feel like we have to do a little more explaining… plus she's sort of the first human on the X-Men so there's a lot to do there. But believe you me, we both ADORE Kurt. And want him to be happy. And love him to pieces. (Though also, admittedly… this is the universe where we're trying to make everyone happy, and Kurt is so much easier to make happy than the others. Give him a family, friends, and love, and he's set. The others… are more high-maintenance :P) And he is going to get some great stories in this universe. Everyone is. Azazel… is a long-term problem with Kurt (the way Sabretooth is a long-term problem with Logan) so this is sadly not the last we'll see of him, though thankfully, right now, he's nice and marooned and unable to bother anyone… for the moment.
Also, a note for this particular chapter… Those of you that are familiar with CC's 906 universe… there's… some changes to the 906… um… thing that's introduced here. Just go read the note when you're done with the chapter. I can't… there are spoilers.
Chapter 3: "Stray Kitten"
The excitement of the holidays — and of little Charlie and Chance — was finally starting to die down after a few weeks as school got back into swing. All of the returning students had made it a point to grin at Scott or Annie every time they passed once the news started to spread, hoping to get a chance to have some face time with the mansion's newest celebrities. Those kids were going to be so spoiled with all the attention they were getting, and everybody knew it.
Of course, Kate, on the other hand, was starting to just get busier and busier. Between wedding planning, taking classes at the Catholic church in town so she could be confirmed by Easter to give Kurt the Catholic wedding he deserved, and the movie company that had reached out to her about Kamala's first book, not to mention the fact that she was still creeped out by the visit of the future in-laws and Kurt was still a little bit down about the whole thing no matter how many times she promised him that she was still going to marry him not matter how evil his family was ... she was in clear need of an excuse to get out of the house.
She'd just closed another email from Susan — this one along the lines of her sixth or seventh attempt to accuse Kate of cutting her out of the company, even though Kate made it a point to give her a huge percentage every month, since she felt bad that she'd gotten everything when their Dad died. Susan hadn't tried to visit her at the school again, but she also hadn't called. Angry emails were about the extent of their communication at this point, and no matter how nicely Kate responded and how clear she was that there was no reason to be this upset, it just seemed like Susan was getting more and more worked up.
And Kate was just downright annoyed to boot, because Susan's most recent email had ended out with "And I hope you've finally come to your senses and stopped this wedding nonsense to that freak." As if that was going to go over well. Kate sighed, closed her laptop, and put her head on her desk for a while. She wanted Susan at her wedding, she really did, but this was sending up all kinds of red flags, and she was half convinced she should just… not invite her own sister. Which would really just seal the deal on neither of them having their families at their big day.
There was a gentle knock on her door before the door opened to reveal Scott with a little frown on his face when he saw how she was spending her office hours. "Are … are you okay?"
She picked her head up and shrugged at him, painting on a small smile that didn't look like she was contemplating whatever-the-heck the patricide-equivalent of killing your sister was. "Oh, you know. Just trying to convince myself not to go yell at my sister. How're you?"
"I was getting ready to go on a run... but if you're having a bad day, I can ask someone else. I'm headed to Northern California to the giant redwood forest for a kid that got run out of town. That's all I know right now," Scott said.
"Oh, no!" Kate picked her head up further and pushed back from her desk. "No, no, you can't leave me here. That sounds perfect. Getting out of the house, a little fresh air, I am there." She held up her hand to tell him to stay put as she started to put things away.
"Alright, great. If you didn't want to go, I was going to have to ask K, and she's been avoiding me lately." He shook his head at the thought.
Kate just snorted out a little laugh. "Don't take it personally, boss man. You're dripping with baby glitter. And some of us aren't ready to become parents."
"The fact that she's adopted half the mansion speaks to the contrary," Scott said with a little laugh.
"This is true," Kate agreed, grinning and glad that the discussion was on K, not on her… especially with the recent "family" visit she and Kurt had just had and the way Kurt was around Chance and Charlie… She shook her head and then raised an eyebrow at him. "You gonna be able to stand being apart from the twins for so long?" she had to tease.
He grinned at her, letting the jibe slide — which he had been doing more often lately since the twins came around, she had noticed — and tipped his head to the door. "Come on, I have no idea what kind of shape this kid is in, and there's an outside chance that he might be a telepath or another feral, since Rachel's had trouble pinning him down."
"And we had such success with the last one." Kate grinned at him. "Lead the way, boss man. I'll grab a couple quivers on the way. I've been dying to use an EMP or two."
Scott held the door open for her, and the two of them headed out. For most of the trip, they chatted about the little ones and how Kate's classes at the Church were going. Kate loved being able to talk about her classes with Kurt and get clarification from him on any questions she had — and Scott, for his part, couldn't help himself gushing over the twins, talking about how the two of them already seemed to know each other and were calmed by each other's presence — sure to be the best of friends when they got older.
Kate couldn't help grinning and getting swept up in his enthusiasm as she shook her head at him. "You're such a good dad," she told him, earning herself a look of surprise as he turned her way. "Well, you are. It suits you boss man; run with it."
At that, Scott returned the grin and gave her a light shrug in return. "I'm trying to be," he said quietly, though she could see that he was still trying not to smile too widely at the comment.
When they finally hit the area with the reports of the small mob running a young mutant out of town, the entire forest was covered in thick fog, and the landing was a complicated one. Scott was very serious and quiet as he gently set the plane down over a half mile from where he'd originally intended — not trusting the terrain there.
"Nothing I can do about it. I'd hoped we wouldn't have to go looking that hard for the kid, but we're just gonna have to walk a little further for this one," he said ruefully as he finished up the landing. "With all the rain, the ridge I was shooting for…" He shook his head. "I didn't like the look of it when we got close."
Kate smiled at him for a second and patted his shoulder. "No big. I don't mind walking, and I'm pretty sure Annie and the kids want you back in one piece. Nice flying, Ace." With that, she got up from the copilot seat and made sure her second quiver was secure at her hip as the two of them slipped out into the forest to find their missing kid.
It took them over an hour to hike over to the ridge that they'd originally intended to land on — and they had both taken a moment to catch their breath from the climb when they spotted a tall, broad figure in the trees. "I think that's our guy," Scott said as he tipped his chin toward the blonde-haired young man, though it was hard to tell from this distance.
"Well, let's go introduce ourselves," Kate suggested as she got to her feet.
The two of them split up, with Scott circling around to cut him off at the pass should Kate manage not to catch up with the tall blonde with her more direct route. She was already making her way down the ridge with a broad grin and a wave as she called out to the kid: "Heya! What're you doing out here all by your—"
She got about halfway through the sentence when the ridge very suddenly, and without warning, gave out underneath her, and she went crashing down, slipping and sliding on the rocks all the way down to the bottom of the cut, her arm crushed underneath her at a horrible angle when she finally did lound with a sickening sort of noise that didn't even register to her at first in the chaos of the small rockslide she'd just been part of.
It took her a long second to even realize what had happened as she blinked down at her arm in pure shock before the simple panic set in at the sight of it. That… that did not look like an injury that any archer should have. Ever.
But she didn't have the presence of mind to call for Scott or hit her button, and the ridge hadn't really made much noise when it gave way to tip Cyclops off to the fact that there was, indeed, trouble. Instead, she was just sitting there, hyperventilating, clearly in shock and trying not to be.
Her hearing all seemed to come back to her as she saw the unfamiliar young man sliding down the hill a little further down the way, still somewhat hard to see through all the dust and debris, calling out to see if she was alright. "Don't move!" he said in as calm a tone as an upset teenager could manage. "Try to be calm!"
Calm, yeah. That's gonna happen, she thought, even though she closed her eyes and at least tried to get a handle on it.
When he got down to her, he took off his backpack and crouched over her as he started to dig her out from the mess, being very careful as he moved anything near her arm, repeating himself over and over as he told her not to move.
She had closed her eyes tighter when he started to shift the rocks near her arm — she didn't want to see more of what she was sure would take her off the shooting range for months if she even got full range of motion back, which was shaky at best — though when she did finally get her breathing under control and went to look at the kid to try and tell him he had to be careful, that her arms were her lifeline — what came out was something like a scream and a gasp all at once.
Because that — that kid definitely looked like Sabretooth. And that could not be good.
"I'm not going to hurt you! I swear," he said, wide-eyed. "But I have to dig you out. You can't stay in the dirt like this." He paused when he saw that he'd made no impact on her believing him and backed off, with his hands outstretched and fingers spread wide as he spoke slowly and clearly. "Hi, I'm Tyler. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help. I swear. What can I call you?"
She watched him for a long moment, her teeth clenched as she took in a few shallow breaths. "Hawkeye," she said at last.
"Alright, Hawkeye, where are you from?" Tyler asked as he very carefully went back to digging her out. "I'm from a tiny little no-where's burg in Idaho. Nothing there but rednecks in flannel shirts that get way too excited about elk."
"Typical," she said with almost a smile, starting to relax despite herself at how genuine the kid sounded.
He gave her a real smile that danced in his eyes as he shook his head. "Sad, but true," he said quietly before he frowned hard at seeing the full extent of damage to her arm. "Alright. Don't look, that's first. I don't want you going any further into shock. Before I can move you out of here, I have to ask — does anything else feel broken? Can you feel your legs?"
"Yes on the legs," she said through her teeth, glad for that much, at least.
"Good," he said, nodding his head. "That's good. Okay. I'm going to touch your hand, but I promise not to squeeze, okay?" He very slowly reached out to touch her hand, watching her reaction before he reached out with his other hand to rest on her shoulder. "Can you squeeze my hand at all?"
She was wide-eyed for a moment as she tried to do just that. "I can't," she said in a whisper.
"It's okay," he promised — looking and sounding incredibly sincere. "It'll heal up good as new." At that, he tightened his grip on her shoulder, and Kate's arm suddenly felt very very warm as he focused on her, looking far more serious than he had a moment before. All at once, she found herself on the verge of screaming as the crushed bones in her arm began to snap back into place with an audible popping sound — until it was too much and she did start to scream.
That was what Scott found when he finally got to the bottom of the ridge — muddy and dirty himself as he took in the scene before him. There was Kate, screaming, and the kid kneeling right next to her and not even moving could have been Sabretooth's younger doppleganger. It wasn't hard to put together, and Scott let him have it with a blast that knocked the boy away from Kate as he rushed to go help his injured teammate. "Are you okay, Hawkeye?"
Kate was gasping hard, and she nodded, though she was searching for Tyler. "Scott — wait," she tried to tell him.
"I wasn't done!" Tyler half shouted as he gathered himself up from the brush Scott had blasted him into, stumbling a bit as he got to his feet. But when Scott turned his way — the red glow burning brighter — Tyler held up both hands. "I'm not hurting her. I'm trying to fix her arm."
Scott was still glaring his way until Kate tried to cut in with, "My arm, Scott. Look — it's… better."
"It's not crushed anymore," Tyler said as he started to walk toward them. "But it's not healed either. I'm sorry. It hurts, I know. But I only need another minute or so."
For a moment, Scott looked between the two of them and then positioned himself so he was clearly blocking her off from Tyler's view.
"I swear, I can fix it. And then I'll just go back into the forest," Tyler promised, his hands still outstretched. "If you think I'm doing something wrong, go ahead and blast me. I won't come back."
Scott didn't move for a long moment before, finally, he turned to Kate. "It's your call, Hawkeye."
"Let him do it," Kate said, her jaw set. "I can't lose my shooting arm, Scott. I just can't."
Tyler waited for Scott to look his way and nod before he walked back to Kate and knelt down next to her again, pausing for a moment to glance up at Scott before he took her hand in his. "Can you squeeze my hand now, Hawkeye? Even a little?"
She tried and, with a gasp, managed the pressure on his fingers.
He gave her a tiny smile. "Good. Okay. You're past the worst of it. I'll try to be quick, but it's going to take another minute or so." He rested his free hand on her shoulder again. "Ready?"
"Go for it," she said, her eyes already closed.
He set his jaw and went right back to work, and though the sensation was intense, and seemed to last a long time — definitely longer than Scott was comfortable with watching Kate hurt as the bones popped back together — it wasn't long at all before everything felt sort of like she was just regaining sensation. Tyler didn't let go of her hand or her shoulder as he waited for her to open her eyes again, though he still looked concerned.
She took a deep breath and squeezed his hand in hers. "How's that for introductions?" she asked very quietly and with the tiniest of smiles.
"I was headed your way when you said hello," Tyler said, smiling himself as relaxed on seeing that she was alright. "You didn't have to go jump off a mountain."
"More dramatic that way," she replied. She leaned her head back for a moment and closed her eyes before she looked over at her arm, which no longer looked like it was sporting her favorite color or like it was trying to get away from the rest of her body. "Thank you. Seriously."
"No problem," Tyler replied as he sat back on his heels. "It was way worse for you."
"Yeah, but I'd rather scream a little than lose that arm," she admitted, tipping her head at her quiver a few feet from her. "Archer. Thus the Hawkeye name. And you've got some serious healing talent, Tyler."
"You get what you get, right?" Tyler said with a sigh, glancing over to Scott. "Not quite as cool or dramatic as laser face over there."
Scott had been watching the whole exchange rather warily but had to smirk the slightest bit at that. "Well ... you get what you get."
"So, am I in like ... big trouble or something?" Tyler asked. He was still keeping his hands clearly where Scott could see them, as if he was used to being treated like a threat. "I'm used to cops being on my case, but this is the first time superheroes have been called out. I swear, I was just trying to help that little girl that got hit by a car."
Scott frowned at him for that. "I … hadn't heard about that."
"We were coming to rescue you from the townspeople with pitchforks or whatever people use in California — tanning bed pieces, maybe," Kate said with a little smirk.
"Gluten-free yoga mats, most likely," Tyler countered.
Kate chuckled. "Yeah, that. So ... do you feel sufficiently rescued?" She grinned up at him brilliantly.
"Totally," he agreed, nodding seriously as he offered her a hand up. "I'm guessing you're not taking me to jail or something, right? I mean, I didn't do anything wrong."
Scott frowned deeper but shook his head. "No, that's not how we work."
"Yeah, haven't you heard of the X-Men?" Kate asked with a wide grin.
"I have, but ... I didn't think that it was even an option to me to ask for help?" He gestured to his face. "I know what I look like."
"We sort of make it a point not to judge anyone based on how they look," Scott pointed out with a small smirk. This kid was just so genuine that it was hard to keep up the frown, even if what he was hearing about how people had reacted to him had him frustrated — and feeling a bit guilty, if he was honest with himself.
"Yeah, that's fine and good for everybody else, but that seems to be the root of most of my trouble ... really crappy basic genetics."
Kate let out a little laugh as she rested a hand on Tyler's arm. She definitely liked this kid — especially now that he'd saved her arm — and now that she'd decided she liked him, there was just no way she was going to let him keep thinking that he wasn't going to be able to get anywhere in life just because he too had stupid in the family. Especially considering everything that had happened recently. "Oh. I'm… I'm going to have to introduce you to my fiance. And the stellar genetics problems there," she said with a brilliant, warm, reassuring smile. "You'll be okay. I'll hit anybody who says otherwise."
Tyler rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, well. You're gonna need to eat your Wheaties and work out, because that seems to be most of the people I meet."
"Like you said, I'm a superhero," Kate said with a little grin. "So that'll be my morning workout. Sorry, but you're too nice to get picked on. I said so."
"You know, if you don't have anywhere safe to go, you're welcome to come back with us," Scott offered. "Most of what we do is making sure people don't come after innocent mutants for stuff like that. We've made a whole school for kids like you — though I understand if you don't know about it." He glanced toward Kate with a small smile. "We've even got a stellar archery teacher."
"I … may be a little behind in my schoolwork," Tyler said. "But I really would like to finish. I ... um, is there a way I can call my mom? Let her know I'm okay?"
Scott had to grin at that as he handed Tyler his phone. "Of course. Don't want her to worry. In fact, she's welcome to tour the school if she'd like."
"I'll relay the message," Tyler said quietly. "But I don't know how she'd get there. You can talk to her and explain — it's been a few months, and I haven't seen her."
"Take all the time you need," Scott told him, pressing the phone in his hand. "We'll figure out the details if she does decide she wants to look around. We don't get too many parents that back their kids, so we do try to encourage it when it comes around."
Tyler thanked him quietly and made his phone call, though he kept it fairly short, promising to call back once he got settled then he offered the phone to Scott with a sheepish look, telling him "She wants to talk to you."
Scott covered the phone with one hand for a moment. "What's her name?" he asked.
"Oh. Daisy," Tyler said. "Her name is Daisy."
Scott couldn't hide the smile at that, though he didn't go as far as Kate, who was mouthing the words 'of course' over Tyler's shoulder. He put the phone up to his ear, "Hello, Daisy, it's nice to meet you. I'm Scott. I don't know how much your son has told you about us, but you really do have a talented young man. We'd love to have him at our school."
On the other line, it was clear that Daisy was over-the-moon about the idea, the pure relief of her son getting a chance to finish school. So it didn't take long for Scott to grin Tyler's way and give him the thumbs up before he waved them along and started back toward the blackbird.
Kate was pulling Tyler along by his arm and grinning up at him. "The semester just started, like, a couple weeks ago, so you're not too far behind, and we get kids at all sorts of random times, so it's not a problem — but there are all sorts of things you could do. I mean ... math, science, all that stuff, sure, but I teach archery, and we have self-defense classes, and Kurt teaches drama, and there are dance classes and horseback riding classes, and classes on aliens and gymnastics and home ec — and seriously, if I'd known about this place when I was in school? I would have paid through the nose to join. It's awesome." She was practically babbling as she kept pulling him along.
And she just kept going on the way back to the school, shifting from telling Tyler about the different classes, to the different people ("oh just you wait; Remy has the most hilarious way of teaching you how to cook" and "sometimes I sit in on Storm's literature classes; I'm in publishing myself, you know, so it's good to read up") and promising him that he was going to love every second of his time there.
"Not to rain on the parade, but ... what does it cost to go to this place?" Tyler asked with a concerned expression when he finally managed to get a word in edgewise.
Scott had to smirk on hearing it. It wasn't that long ago in his mind that he was asking the same thing himself. "Time and hard work," Scott told him, his smirk widening. "You don't mind putting in the effort to go to class, do you?"
"No, not at all," Tyler replied quickly. "And I'll work if I need to."
"He means hard work studying, you goof," Kate said, laughing.
"No, I caught that," Ty said, nodding. "I just meant — I can work too. You know. Cover costs. All that."
"If you want to get a job in town to save up for college, that's not a bad idea at your age," Scott said. "But I don't think you understand — we're not asking for tuition. We just want to give you your best shot at being successful and, if you want it, to be part of the Xavier Institute Family. That's how this works."
"It's kind of cheesy, but totally true," Kate said in a low whisper that she knew both of them could hear. "Once you start at the school, sorry, but you'll be ours, and we'll just have to have way too much fun. You should totally sign up for my archery class."
"I'll think about it, but I don't know when I'd ever use that," Tyler said. "I'll try it, though."
"It's just a sport for most of the students," Kate said. "I mean, I use it for superheroing? But mostly it's just fun. You know — fun?" She grinned at him. "That thing people do sometimes?"
"I've heard stories about that, now that you mention it," Tyler said with a mock-thoughtful look.
"Oh, we'll have to introduce you to fun," she laughed outright. "When it gets warmer, we've got a pool, too. The parties are epic. And I throw a big bash every Halloween."
"Pool sounds good," Tyler said. "I like kayaking and swimming."
"I've never been kayaking," Kate said, her grin widening. "I'd love to go sometime. I'll rent out something, and we can make a trip of it."
"If you go in the right places, you can see a lot of wildlife," he told her. "I had a moose stick its nose in my boat a couple years ago. And I watched a bald eagle that couldn't figure out how to perch right. He was hanging upside down for a while."
"That sounds both terrifying and awesome." Kate was grinning ear to ear.
At Kate's clear enthusiasm, Tyler started to tell a few other stories about kayaking adventures and the like — and the kinds of things he'd seen growing up in small towns and occasionally on the run, though he never outright admitted that he'd been on the run, just… outdoors a lot.
By the time they got back to the mansion, Kate had already decided that he needed some new clothes and a hot meal and maybe some ice cream after that and was planning to do just that as soon as she made sure he had a tour of the school. She waited long enough for Scott to say goodbye and head off to go find Annie and the twins before she seized Tyler's arm again and started up the grand tour — from the stables to the archery range to the closed-up pool to the classrooms. All of it.
"Let's grab something to eat before we start signing you up for classes," Kate suggested. "I can practically see the gears in your head smoking after that information overload," she teased as she pulled him along toward the kitchen. "I think there's still some leftovers from Kurt's turn cooking last night if you want something hearty, but you know, snack food in the pantry and stuff."
He was starting to relax a bit, though she was right — there was a lot to take in — and he let her drag him along, already having decided he'd follow her lead. After all, he was fairly sure he would get lost in the huge institute without her. When they stepped into the kitchen, with Kate still chattering about what she personally recommended as his best possible class list, the little cheerful tour was interrupted by a deep growl.
Kate looked over to where both K and Logan had been sitting at the kitchen table with their coffee, though Logan was on his feet. Kate put her hands on her hips to glare at Logan, unconsciously stepping in front of Tyler as she did it. "Hey. That's not a nice way to introduce yourself to Tyler. He's already nervous about starting school up, and growling isn't helping."
"Where the hell'd you find him?" Logan asked, though his growl didn't drop in the least, and he looked ready to spring.
"California, being chased out because of his genetics. You know. Like people who are stupid tend to do," Kate said, her tone nothing like the earlier warmth she had shown Tyler as she looked like she was ready to go toe-to-toe with Logan. All while Tyler looked like he couldn't figure out what to make of the whole situation as he glanced between Kate and Logan.
"You're not funny or cute," Logan told her. "And it ain't the same. That whole family is crazy."
"You're seriously gonna talk to me about crazy families this soon after Azazel?" Kate shot back, eyes narrowed. "That's really the road you want to take?"
K stood up, and Logan grabbed her arm before she could take two steps forward. "What classes are you interested in?" Her tone was much more brusque than Kate had ever heard from her.
"The basics for college — math, biology, literature, history, drama, statistics. Then you know. Riding and archery if I can," Tyler said quickly.
"No self-defense or martial arts?" K asked with her eyes narrowed.
But Tyler shook his head. "I'm really not a fighter," he said slowly, his hands held up in front of himself again. Logan scoffed outright. "I'm not. I have no interest in that," Tyler insisted as K tipped her chin up and studied him, and Tyler shrunk in on himself a bit.
Kate nodded her agreement, still standing in front of him. "He's, like, seventeen and smart as all get out, and he should go to college."
"They're not lying, love," K said softly, half over her shoulder, though she didn't take her eyes off of Tyler. And Logan was still glaring.
"Okay, look, I get it. My biological dad is a total creep," Tyler said. "But I sure didn't pick him, and I've never even met the guy, okay?"
The two little ferals shared a look, though Logan did not look the least bit convinced. So, taking a different track, Kate relaxed her stance for a moment and leaned forward with a much softer look. "Logan, he saved my shooting arm," she said in a quiet tone.
"How?" Logan asked, finally getting in front of K and smoothly crossing the span to get closer.
She held out her arm and flexed it a few different ways. "This," she said, "was totally shattered a few hours ago. A mountain fell on it." She tipped her head Tyler's way. "He healed it right up."
"Wait, what?" K asked, moving up to look at Kate's arm where the uniform was shredded and bloodied. "He healed someone else?" K looked from Kate's arm up at Tyler. "That's interesting."
Tyler rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, that's why I'm not a fan of fighting," he tried to explain. "I see enough of what happens after the fact."
It was clear that Logan and K were watching him and weighing it out. "You know you have a major uphill battle with this one, right?" K said at last, tipping her head toward Logan. "I'm not convinced, but I'll wait a little while before I decide."
The rueful grin on Tyler's face tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Story of my life on that one," he said with an attempt at a wider smile. "Thanks for not kicking me out, though."
"Not my call," K told him honestly. "See you in class." With that, she took Logan's hand and pulled him along with her, though he looked more than ready for a fight, and Kate was still sort of standing in front of Tyler without even realizing that she was doing it.
Kate let out a long sigh after the two of them had left and headed right to the pantry to start pulling out some snacks. "Sorry about them. They… well. Sabretooth likes to make their lives miserable in particular. He almost killed K a few months ago, actually, and I'm sure you've heard about him and Wolverine duking it out all the time."
"Yeah, we do get the news even out in nowheres-ville," Tyler said with a small nod, quickly looking to where Logan had disappeared.
"It's way more personal than the news will admit," Kate tried to explain as she got some popcorn started and pulled down a few mugs for coffee, though Tyler shook his head when she offered. "Your d- Sabretooth totally has it out for Logan. I mean, in the meanest 'I want to make your life miserable in personal, gritty ways' possible… It's just bad."
"I think, from what I understand — that's what he does to everyone he crosses paths with," Tyler said.
"That's true," Kate agreed as she sat down across from him and tossed him a water bottle. "But with Logan it's different. Literally like, a hundred years of just trying to beat him down. In every possible way. Mentally, emotionally, physically. So to say Logan has a problem with Sabretooth? Is seriously underselling it."
He let out a low whistle and nodded as he reached for the bowl of chips she'd put out. "So... the uphill battle ... we're talking a ninety degree incline."
"He'll come around," Kate promised. "He's a sweetheart, and you are too — just give him a chance to see that." The microwave went off to tell them the popcorn was ready, and she poured out a bowl and pushed it onto the table with a grin. "You want me to punch him for you? I said I would if they looked at you sideways."
"If I understand it right? You do that, and I'll just have to heal your hand for you," Tyler teased.
She grinned at him. "I've trained with him a few times. I could do it without breaking anything," she promised. She looked around the table at the chips and popcorn. "Do you want anything else? I mean ... dinner's in a few hours, but the pantry's yours if you have a favorite or something."
"No thank you," he said with a little shake of his head. "I can hold out just fine."
Kate tipped her head at him and pushed the popcorn bowl closer. "You're gonna need to find some kind of exercise, because Scott's wife, Annie, keeps us in good supply of the best desserts."
"I think just walking around this place is going to keep me in shape," he laughed. "I'll probably get lost five times before the first class."
Kate had to laugh at that as she got up to refill her coffee. She had just topped off her second cup when a familiar bamf rang out in the kitchen, and Kate had to grin when Kurt wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Did you miss me, Engelchen?" she teased as she leaned back into him.
"Always," he half purred before he kissed her behind her ear. "Did it go well with Scott?"
She grinned and nodded as she pulled down a mug for him. "Brought him another hawkeye for my class," she said, tipping her head toward the table, where Tyler was watching the exchange with a bit of a bemused smile.
Kate could actually feel the double take that Kurt did as he looked over her shoulder at Tyler and went sort of stiff, holding her a bit tighter as his tail went straight up behind him. "Kate…?"
"Say hi, Tyler," Kate laughed, then laughed even harder when 'hi, Tyler' was the response from the kid at the table. "Be nice. He's an adorable sweetheart, and I'm keeping him," she added as she turned to give Kurt a kiss on the cheek and laugh at his surprised expression. "He can't help who his dad is, after all."
Kurt's entire body seemed to slump at that as he let out a sigh and gave her a wan look. "No. I don't suppose he can," Kurt said finally before he let Kate go and crossed the room to offer Tyler his hand and introduce himself.
"You're welcome to join the impromptu party," Tyler said, gesturing at a chair. "I think your Hawkeye is trying to fatten me up or something. Sure the outside of this house isn't made of gingerbread and candy?"
"Only on Halloween," Kate said with a grin as she sat down between the two of them and put her head on Kurt's shoulder, showing him with her body language as much as possible that she was totally relaxed around this mini-Sabretooth.
"So, are you ready to sign up for classes yet, or do you need a day to decide?" Kurt asked, genuinely interested in the young man. "Scott will want you to start right away, I'm sure."
"I think I've more or less decided," Tyler said, leaning forward. "I'm sort of behind, but I was just going to catch up on the basics, and then a few electives Hawkeye here says are can't miss." He smiled a bit wider. "Apparently, the drama teacher and the archery teacher are in high demand, but I think she might have been a little biased there."
"Lies," Kate said over her coffee mug.
"Well-intentioned," Kurt said fondly. "But you are biased."
"And yet you agreed to marry me anyway. Silly Elf."
"Has he met our little friend yet?" Kurt asked with a frown, ignoring her teasing for the time being.
"Yeah, that was before you came in. That's… gonna take a while," Kate said, frowning to herself.
"Well," Kurt said in a breath. "There are ways. Indirect routes."
She kissed his cheek with a little smirk. "Sneaky Elf."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Vögelchen," Kurt replied with a grin. "But you and I will have to spend some time chatting before I can help you with that," Kurt directed to Tyler.
Tyler nodded. "Yeah, I get that. Really."
"I'm sure you do," Kurt said with a smile before he leaned forward. "So. Tell me everything. We have some time before dinner — and nothing better to do, if you have your classes chosen."
Tyler nodded again and then sat back with a small smile as his shoulders relaxed. "Where do you want me to start?"
"Wherever you'd like," Kurt said.
Tyler took a deep breath and let half of it out in a woosh before he started to tell him about where he was from, and how he was raised — though he got terribly side-tracked bragging about his mother and how she'd worked so hard to go from being a waitress to an EMT. How she worked two jobs and went to college at night to make sure that he was taken care of. How she always made sure he'd gotten to go to scout camp and that he always had chances to learn neat stuff and go places with her, even if they ended up camping out of the car.
He told Kurt about how she pointed out to him who his father was — as a warning — and promised to whip him if he ever tried to be anything like him — not that he ever would. But the kicker — the thing that really got Kurt engaged — was when the young man started to very shyly tell him about his faith. And when he started to look almost embarrassed by it, Kurt was quick to pull him out of it and encourage him to keep talking, sharing his own experiences balancing his faith and his status as an X-Man as the two of them killed time far quicker than should have been considered normal.
By the time dinner was nearly ready, Kurt was so firmly in the 'adopt Tyler' camp it wasn't even funny.
"And how do you like the idea of starting at Xaviers?" Kurt asked with his chin resting in his hand as he leaned toward Tyler — still completely engaged in their conversation.
"Honestly, I'm just glad to be able to go somewhere and try and catch up," Tyler told him with an open expression. "Though I have to admit, it's kind of intimidating when your teachers are on the news every morning? It's a bit of… you know…. sheer terror when you meet your childhood hero."
Kurt tipped his head to the side and glanced at Kate for a moment. "Oh?" he said, intrigued and probably a little bit competitive at the running count among the students for most popular X-Man. "Do you have a favorite on the team?"
Tyler broke into a shy grin. "Yeah, I grew up thinking Wolverine was the best hero — I still do think that, actually. Even with the…" He waved his hand with a self conscious look. "The growling. You're not half bad, though — do you give extra credit for being a favorite?" he teased.
Kurt was grinning now. "No, but perhaps I should; I am once again losing the race." He watched the boy for a moment before he scooted closer and leaned toward him to offer a bit of advice. "If you want to get on Logan's good side, you will never do it by being nice to him. Ever. I'd suggest taking riding classes, and perhaps dance if it's not a conflict with something else."
"I was thinking about riding classes already. I grew up in Idaho; I know a little about animals," Tyler said with a teasing smile and a little nod as he leaned forward too. "Why? Is there some secret riding club obsession or something?"
Kurt just chuckled a bit. "That could be one way to put it," he laughed. "His fiance is the teacher. Get on her good side, and he will be much more reasonable."
"Ah, makes sense."
"She's not a pushover though. You will have to work for it, and she will know if you even consider lying to her. So, even for something small — just don't," Kurt advised.
"Yeah, I met her earlier," Tyler agreed. "And I try hard not to lie, as a general rule. Mom would kill me if I did," he added with a little smile as Kurt nodded approvingly.
"While you're in Logan's classes, stay respectful and you'll be fine," Kurt said.
"And study hard and all that, too." Tyler nodded.
"Study harder than the rest of the class. He grades on a curve — with a baseline from the semester before."
"Thanks for the heads up," Tyler said, still looking and sounding totally sincere and honestly grateful for the advice. "I'll make sure to put in the effort. Like I told Mr. Summers— I'm not afraid of hard work." He grinned at both of them. "Really, I appreciate it. This — this'll help a lot."
"You'll know if K likes you if she gives you a squishy nickname," Kate told him, joining on the "help this sweet teenager get past the growling stage" advice bandwagon.
"And you'll know when Logan doesn't when he gives you something horrible," Kurt agreed.
Kate grinned and leaned forward. "My friend Noh? Gets Sparkly Angel Moon Dust Baby from K — and Bug Boy from Logan. You know. If you want a general idea."
Tyler raised an eyebrow. "Sparkly Angel Moon Dust Baby?"
"One of many. I think she makes them up on the spot." Kate leaned back and grinned at him before she grabbed the empty bowls that had been filled with chips and popcorn before to rinse them out. "You know we like you because I'm taking you shopping for some clothes that don't look like you wore them through the last season of Survivor, and Kurt looks like you just made his whole day." She gave Kurt a fond smile. "He loves getting to talk spirituality — with anyone, really."
"Yes. It is nice to meet a kindred spirit. But I think... he needs the Jubilee test," Kurt said in a false whisper, matching her smile with one of his own as he pressed a quick kiss to her forehead.
"Ooh. Yes. Send one of our little friends to go get her. That's a fun test." She grinned over at Tyler. "I very nearly failed it when I first started dating Kurt and met the rest of the X-Men. I made the mistake of getting into Wolverine's phone, and she is protective."
"She's probably not going to like me then," Tyler said, looking down at his hands.
"Perhaps, but I'm going to make sure to snap her photo when she reacts to blackmail her with later after she's come around," Kurt said before he turned to Kate. "A little turnabout for the after-Christmas pictures."
"Sneaky, sneaky little half-demon," she whispered his way before she turned her attention back to Tyler, still grinning. "Come on," she said. "Let's go find Scott and get you registered for classes, huh?"
Notes from CC: If you're familiar with my 906 universe, you will likely recognize Tyler Creed, but a bit of a note here. In the 906, Tyler, and pretty much everyone else, has had a lot harder time in life than in the 714. He's gruffer, rougher, and has far less finesse. That Tyler was made to be as close to Victor as he could be without crossing the line into sadism and torture. He is (in the 906) a kind of 'best case scenario' version of Victor.
Here, in the 714 however, I wanted him to be essentially a similar person, but not the same. This Tyler, as you can see, has real values that are established to his bones. He knows who he is, and he feels no need to question his own truth, where the other Tyler from the 906 simply wasn't as lucky. He still looks like Victor (obviously) and his power set is the same, but he's a much more pure character. I wanted him to have a good foundation to connect with Kurt, so we gave him a rock solid foundation in a faith, both as a means to help him stay this nicer, cleaner person - and … for other reasons down the line that will show itself later.
If you know Victor's past, you won't be surprised to see that this twist in Tyler's character is not going to set well with Daddy Dearest.
Daisy - sadly has the same backstory as before, with the one change being that the X-Men did not rescue her as a teen and she made her way through life and bettering herself on her own.