The next morning Victor is already gone when she wakes up. She looks to the side at the empty spot and feels relieve. It would've been awkward and uncomfortable were he still here. And he surely would've used it against her. She throws her head back in the pillows as she groans, frustrated with herself for giving in so easily last night. She wanted him to stay, she did not object when he pulled her against him and she curled up to him like a little kitten...
Phoebe slams into the pillows with clenched fists. Anger and frustration boiling up inside her. He will use this against her. God damn it, if only she'd shown a little more restraint so she could've kicked him out.
However, part of her is also disappointed that he's gone already. His scent is still strong on her pillows and sheets. She roles her face in it and inhales deeply. That is one unbelievably sweet smell. Hard to stay away from. If not impossible.
There's no one here to see her do this, so there's no harm in. And his smell, his scent, they're extremely hard to pull away from.
Phoebe groans and punches the pillows some more as she gets out of bed. Time for a long shower and some decent clothes. At 11 a.m. she's got a class to teach so this Victor bullshit needs to be far from her mind.
An hour later, when she walks through the hallway, she passes Logan.
"Morning" she greets him rather icy.
"You've got his stench all over you" Logan spits.
"Up yours Logan" she continues her walk without stopping or even looking at him.
"Language Phoebe" Scott is suddenly walking next to her. She rolls her eyes.
"And that goes for you too pink-eye" she replies as she opens the door to her class and leaves him standing.
"Morning everyone" she greets her class warmly "I hope you've all slept as well as I did because today we'll be discussing cell theory. And at the end of class I'll be handing out your grades for the papers you wrote on homeostasis. For now I can tell you that you've all passed, so congratulations".
The class cheers and Phoebe smiles widely at them. She loves teaching, especially to these kids who are motivated and eager to learn. Not all of them enjoy biology, but they do need to pass it. She feels it's her job to motivate and inspire them, but for some of them it's good enough to just pass a test so they can get on with it and focus on subjects they like better.
At the end of class she hands out the papers and lets them know to contact her if they have questions or concerns about their grading.
"Miss" Alex raises his hand instantly.
"Yes Alex?"
"For our next paper, I was thinking about writing about feral mutants and stuff. For example, about you and that man who arrived here yesterday, the Sabretooth?".
Alex is grinning and more laughter comes from the rest of the student. They're all looking at Phoebe in anticipation.
Phoebe can't help but laugh with them.
"Yes Alex, you could do that" she replies ironically "But since our the next semester is about bacteria, I will fail you if you do so".
Now Phoebe is the one grinning smugly.
The class laughs again. Riley jokingly throws a little ball of paper at Alex' head.
"What about the semester after that?" Alex continues "It's about genetics then, so my subject about ferals would be perfect. I could also interview you and him".
Phoebe smirks as she cracks her neck "Oh Alex. If only you were as interested in cell theory as you are in my love life, you'd ace every test I give you".
She bites her lip at the wrong choice of words.
"Love life miss?!" the class suddenly cheers and mischievous snickering echoes throughout the classroom. "So it's true then!" several students start whistling.
Phoebe holds up her hands, trying hard not to laugh with them "I meant private life guys, thank you very much. And did you all not hear me when I said class dismissed?".
"But we wanna know more about the man in the long creepy coat" Riley joins in.
Phoebe is slightly flushed and can't stop laughing which makes it difficult for the kids to stop asking questions about Victor Creed, or as they call him; Sabretooth.
Finally, after some more slightly inappropriate questions, she manages to end the storm of questions, but only because Charles Xavier enters the class to teach a different one.
"Until tomorrow miss!" several students call after her as she exits the class.
She waves and chuckles as she walks out the door.
Unbelievable. Some of these kids...
For the next few days she decides to avoid Victor as much as possible. Apparently he has a job, so it's not even that hard. She wonders what he does, although she's quite sure she already knows what he does for a living. Besides, Logan told her.
By the end of the week after class, she decides to search out Rogue again. They've been friends ever since they started school here together and they see each other practically every day. Rogue teaches history and they hate each other's subjects which makes for good conversation.
When she crosses the corridors and walks around the corner she bumps straight into him.
These days it's hard to smell where he is exactly, since he's basically everywhere and so is his scent. At least for her. She smells him the entire day long, everywhere.
Her glasses fall to the floor and he picks them up.
He raises his brows "You have feral eye sight, so what are these for?".
"None of your business" she replies defensively as she crosses her arms.
He cocks a brow and smirks "Just curious Kitten, no need to get your panties in a twist".
"Yeah, well-" she stammers, slightly bewildered by his sudden appearance "Curiosity killed the cat".
"So why do you need them?" he ignores her remark.
"I don't" she replies as she takes them from him "The glasses make me look older and more serious. Comes in handy when teaching at my age".
It irritates her instantly that she answered him. She doesn't need to explain this to him. She puts the glasses back on "Can I help you with something?".
Victor smirks. For someone who slept peacefully in his arms a few nights back, she has a lot of attitude.
"Your boss man asked me to start feral training with you as soon as possible. So tomorrow at 8 p.m. we start".
Phoebe cocks her head "Tomorrow at 8? Ah damn, I'm afraid I can't do that. Shit, I was so looking forward to it Creed. But I've got this thing you know".
"What thing?" he grumbles.
"Well you know, I'm cooking a massive vegetarian dinner for my vegetarian tree lover association".
For a moment he looks mildly shocked, disgusted even as he stares at her.
Phoebe slowly starts to grin "That was a joke Creed. I'm not a fucking veggie, how would that even work? And where is that famous feral sense of humor I keep hearing about, hm?".
He smirks and suddenly pushes his body against hers. She groans, her back is slammed against the wall behind her, her front is in full contact with Victor's.
He brings his mouth down to her ear "Tomorrow, 8 o'clock, be there. Or I'll come and get you. How did you enjoy that last time Kitten?".
His voice is deep and she can feel his breath on her face. She subconsciously licks her lips as she gazes at him.
"This man bothering you Phoebe?".
It's Rogue. She's standing next to them suddenly and is slowly taking off one of her gloves as she gives Victor a deadly glare.
Victor carefully moves away from Phoebe.
"That's what I thought" Rogue replies as she stares at Victor.
Rogue sticks out her gloved hand to Phoebe "Wanna go for a walk and eat something?".
Phoebe smiles meekly, still a little off guard by the feeling of Victor's body against hers "Great idea".
Before they can walk off, Victor pulls her flush against him "You smell like you're disappointed we got interrupted there Kitten" he whispers darkly and then suddenly lets go of her arm as he walks off.
She wants to reply that he shouldn't get any crazy ideas, but the words are stuck in her throat.
"So" Rogue decides to start the conversation "How are you handling this situation with Creed?" she asks as they walk across the yard.
They've talked about it before, so Rogue knows the whole feral mating story.
Phoebe shrugs "I've decided I'm not gonna let him get to me anymore. But everything feels so different these days. My life is upside down you know. It's weird that this man, who I know on a rational level is a very dangerous man, can bring out-" she stammers a little, not really wishing to finish her sentence "Certain feelings I didn't think I had".
"Sexual feelings?".
Phoebe definitely doesn't want to answer that. "I always believed there was something wrong with me because I never had those" she replies sadly.
"I know" Rogue sits down next to her "And I've always told you that there isn't".
Phoebe chuckles at the memories "I used to think that perhaps I was A-sexual, because I was never attracted to anyone".
"You had a minor fling for Logan once" Rogue shoves her playfully.
Phoebe smiles as she thinks back on it "Hank says ferals are most likely only capable of being attracted to other ferals. It wouldn't surprise me either, knowing what I know of genetics and mating in the animal kingdom".
"But this with Victor is different right?" Rogue guesses her thoughts "Can you even compare it to that high school crush you had on Logan?".
Phoebe scoffs out a laugh "No. I can't. It is completely different".
"Try and explain it to me".
Phoebe groans "I really don't want to".
"Why?".
"I-" she bites her lips "I don't want to say it out loud. Those feelings I have towards him-" she thinks carefully about her words again "They agitate me".
"Oh my God" Rogue snickers "You're angry because you have feelings for him. That's why you fight it so hard. It's your rational self against your better instincts".
"Well, that's the thing Rogue" Phoebe replies sarcastically with her hands in the air "They aren't feelings, are they? They are signals that my inner feral is sending to my brain because after years of studying biology and teaching it, I came to find out that I am no more than a biologically programmed mammal without a free will".
Rogue takes a deep breath as she thinks about how to falsify her friend's radical theory.
"Phoebe, when other people are attracted to each other, it has nothing to do with common sense either. You meet someone and in a second your brain decides whether or not this person is sexually attractive to you. This is not that different, its simply a stronger bond".
Except, other people don't die if they decide not to follow their urges. But Phoebe decides not to tell Rogue because she knows what Rogue would do. Even Rogue would then side with Victor if it meant Phoebe would live.
Phoebe looks at Rogue with a mischievous grin "You find it romantic don't you?".
Rogue roars with laughter "I do, I'm sorry! Imagine this: Two people who are meant to be. The chance of them finding each other in time is close to none. But then they do. Come on, it's the most romantic thing I've ever heard".
Phoebe can't help but laugh with her "You're sick. And you've watched too many Disney movies".
"You haven't watched enough of them. Anyway, you never answered my question Phoebe".
Phoebe sighs "Fine, what do you want to know?".
"What is it that you really feel for him when you see him? Forget his history, the fact that he abducted you and all that, just tell me what you feel when you're near him".
The question slightly annoys her. She knows it's wrong to cut her friend off, and that she should talk about things like this. And perhaps it would be good to talk about it, perhaps it would take off the load a little.
"What do you want me to say?" Phoebe starts to explain as they walk across the yard towards a big oak "I think about having sex with him all the time, yes, I can't help it. I can't ignore his smell because it's mind numbing and always around and I am more than just extremely attracted to him, it's driving me fucking nuts. He's in my head and my feral side is begging me to let go and give into him. But as soon as I let out those feelings, once I start admitting to it, it's too real. I am programmed to want him Rogue. And that's simply not fair".
Rogue bites her lip, she doesn't agree with her friend.
"Hypothetically, what would happen if you do let him claim you and accept him as your so called mate?".
Phoebe makes a face "I dunno".
"I mean" Rogue continues as she thinks about a way to form her question "When ferals accept each other, what happens after? Do you stay together and do you automatically like each other?".
"No" Phoebe replies determinedly "You are drawn to one another. You feel the constant need to be with this person and make sure he or she is safe and in good health. And that attraction is extremely intense. But it's not a given that you'll like each other's personality. We're still humans. We still have-" Phoebe suddenly stops talking.
Rogue smirks "Free will?".
Phoebe chuckles "You got me there, so I'll give you this one".
"Oh man, you walked straight into that" Rogue continues to laugh some more "But it would be nice though, right?" she finally says as she's gets a hold of herself again "To have someone who always has your back, unconditionally. Always wants to be with you and only you, no one else. Always safe, always protected by someone who cares more about you than anyone could ever care for someone?".
Phoebe blushes slightly at the thought. The way Rogue puts this, it does sound nice. More than nice.
"You know what's funny?" Phoebe wonders "I called my mom the other night, told her everything. And besides the fact that she was shocked, she said exactly what you just said".
"Because we're smart and we know you" Rogue winks.
"Ah shit" Phoebe suddenly remembers something "My car, it's still at his place, where ever that is. I need to get it or arrange for someone to get it. I Almost forgot".
"No I think your car is here already".
"Huh? What do you mean?".
"I heard Creed talking to Hank, he drove it here".
Anger spikes "He drove my car?!".
"Yeah, he was complaining about it being too small for him and being all careful with it because of emotional value" Rogue replies in a meaningful way, as if Phoebe should be honored or thankful somehow "I think he somehow knew it used to be your dad's car and realized how important is was for you. That's nice of him right?".
Phoebe chuckles, Rogue obviously started to join Creed's camp as cupid.
"I guess it's kinda thoughtful of him" she finally admits.
AN: I know, it's kind of a filler. But we need Phoebe to talk to a friend about what she thinks and feels, because she sure as hell won't admit in a conversation with Victor, right? xD At least, I don't think that would make sense at this point. p.s. last night I dreamt that Victor and I had a kitten together, it was weird. But the kitten was cute. Though in real life I am allergic...
