Hey people, Sketchy here again.
Well, this is it. The final chapter of 'Like Father like Son".
Wow, three fanfics to the series done now. Haha, and I still don't know if I wanna go through the rest of the material to make more or not.
Well, at least this one was finished. Guess we'll just hafta see for the rest, huh?

Thanks to all of you who took the time to read this, and extra love to all our awesome reviewers! I can't get enough of you guys.

Well, enough of my babbling. On to the final chapter!

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Todd gripped the handle of the SUV, one tug and he'd open the door to a place he really didn't want to go.

He didn't want to face the few X-men that had seen the tears shining on his face the day before, he didn't want to need to stay silent and hidden all day so his dad wouldn't find him, and he didn't want to ask Kurt for his help again. It hurt too much when all the Blue mutant said was a emotionless 'okay'.

But He had work to do, and all those things needed to happen do it. So with a heavy sigh, he opened the door and got out.

Hardly three steps away from the car, and Todd saw Kurt not far away. Giving another sigh, Todd plodded over to the boy, and gave a quiet greeting. "Hey Kurt."

Kurt turned, and gave Todd a smile. Not his strongest grin... but a real, genuine smile. "Oh hey, Todd!" He said warmly, and pulled the younger boy into a gentle hug.

Todd gave a start. What was Kurt doing? Didn't the Fuzzball hate him full force yesterday? Wasn't Kurt supposed to say his cold 'okay' and move on? Wasn't...Wasn't...Wasn't Todd supposed to be hurting right now?

Todd couldn't help the swell of emotion building up in his chest. Kurt was touching him again; with the same tender feeling he had when they were first dating. It made Todd want to cry with happiness and relief, though he still had no clue why Kurt was doing this.

"H-Hi, man." Todd hesitantly put his arms around the other boy, holding him loosely so Kurt could pull away when he wanted to.

Kurt gave a final squeeze, and then let go. The lift in Todd's mood was almost palpable, and it made Kurt happy despite himself. "So, you ready to get to work? The garage is almost done! Ve just have to work on the paint while the workers finish some things up inside!" He handed Todd a bucket of paint and a brush. "So... let's... as you Americans say... 'hop to it'!" He winked. Even Kurt was surprised at the cheerfulness he was able to muster.

Ever since his realization, things didn't hurt as bad. The dark room in his mind was being illuminated, little by little.

Todd blinked. Was Kurt forgiving him for what he did? It sure felt like that.

Todd knew he didn't deserve that, but he wanted it so much, so he didn't protest.

Giving a small laugh at Kurt's joke, he grabbed an unneeded hard hat from the table, and grabbed a bucket of paint waiting nearby.

"Let's do it, yo!"

Lance and the other Brotherhood members were painting nearby, but neither boy seemed to notice them.

The morning progressed pretty smoothly. Kurt made conversation easily with Todd, and the time painting seemed to go by pretty quickly. Some of the X-Men who saw them puzzled at the cheery mood between the rivals, but they quickly dismissed it as a fluke-the two boys weren't allowed to fight, so their jokester personalities were probably just doing what came naturally.

As Kurt finished up another area of wall, he glanced at Todd. "So, happy it's your last day of hiding, huh?" He said, quietly.

Todd frowned, "I guess so. The first two days were hell, but-"

He turned to give a look of hesitant hope to the taller boy.

"I'm kinda havin' a good time today."

Kurt smiled. "Vell that's good." As he turned back to his work, his forehead creased. "Are you sure you're not going to do anything about... you know who?...This might be the last time you ever get to see him... After this project, who knows vhere he'll go..." Kurt inwardly chastised himself for saying it... but he knew too much about regretting not tying up loose ends.

Todd's expression sank, and he leaned his head against one of the few dry spots on the wall.

"He doesn't wanna see me again, yo. An' that's just how it's gonna be." He turned to Kurt, looking him sadly in the eyes. "I'm sorry that I...I took out all my issues with my Dad on you. I'm a real hypocrite, getting mad at other people who hurt you, then doing it myself the next day." Todd gulped, and looked pleadingly into the older boys eyes, "Can...Can you forgive me?"

Kurt turned back to the other boy, meeting Todd's eyes. He laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, touching Todd's cheek with one soft finger. "I think I can." One corner of his mouth dragged up into a lopsided smile.

"You have paint on your forehead."

Todd's heart leapt at Kurt's answer. Maybe things could be better, likely never the way they were, but Todd would take any opportunity he could to prove himself.

Wait...Paint?

Todd reached up to touch his forehead, feeling a streak of dried paint there, he tried to rub it off. "How'd that even get on there?"

Kurt laughed, and pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket. "Here, let me get it! You probably got it on there vhen you put your head on the wall!" He began scrubbing at the younger boy's head.

Todd gave a small laugh, and tried to pull away from the other boy.

"Stop it, dawg, that tickles!"

Kurt followed him, still wiping at the paint on his forehead. "Ach! I think I just made it worse, hold stillll!"

Todd was practically giggling at the other boys touch, and he continued to back away. "Seriously, yo! Yer gonna knock off my skull protector!"

Todd and Kurt continued the following and backing up routine until they had passed the corner of the new garage. The only other person there was a lone construction worker, examining the paint job the kids had done earlier. His eyes shot over to the two boys coming around the corner.

One was that German kid who'd stabbed himself two days ago, and the other one was...Familiar somehow.

Mortimer frowned, what was this? Some kind of school for gifted fags?

Kurt wiped one final swipe across the younger boy's forehead, knocking the younger boy's hat off. "There! Got it!" Kurt laughed, and started to tuck the handkerchief back into his pocket.

Todd gave one final laugh, and was about to say sweetly that the other boy was a jerk, but another, lower voice interrupted.

"You fucking RUNT, what the hell are you doing?"

Todd's head shot around to give a horrified stare at his father. "D-dad! I-I was j-just-"

"Shut the hell up!"

The large man stormed angrily towards the boy, face set in a look of rage.

"I tell you I never want to see your face again, and a week later I find you...FLIRTING with some prep-school trash? Why are you even here you little bag of shit?"

Todd cowered under the mans gaze, "I-I needed tah help fix up the place, an' Kurts not like that, he's not!"

Todd was trying to defend Kurt against the man's insults, but his dad's words made him feel so small...

Kurt reacted instinctively. Stepping in between the raging worker and his son, he spoke. "Please calm down, sir! Todd's just trying to help!" Kurt's stomach dropped in terror-he could see why Todd was so frightened of this man... but he tried to steady his expression as much as possible.

Mortimer turned his rage onto the foreign boy for a moment. "Stay out of this you fuckin' Nazi. This is between me an' my kid." He turned his eyes back to the smaller, trembling boy behind Kurt.

"Get over here you little slut!"

Todd let out a little whimper, but obeyed the man's order, going around Kurt to face the older man. He kept his eyes on the ground, not wanting to see the hate in his father's expression.

A second later, Todd's hair was yanked back painfully, forcing his head up to look the man in the eyes.

"What, so not only are you some ugly little failure, but you're a faggot too?"

Tears slipped down Todd's face, and he started pleading with the older man. "T-That's not it! Let me go, Dad, p-please! It hurts!"

"Please, Mr. Tolensky, let go of him! Todd's not doing anything wrong, he's a really good kid! Haven't you hurt him enough already?" Kurt pleaded.

"I said stay OUT OF THIS you fucking queer!"

Mortimer used his free hand to shove Kurt forcefully into the wall behind him. Making a loud thudding noise and sending Kurt to the ground after the impact.

Kurt felt his head crack against the wall, and he let out a cry of pain. He struggled to remain conscious.

Todd's heart stopped for a moment.

His dad had hurt Kurt. His dad had hurt Kurt. His dad had-

"STOP IT!" Todd struggled against the man's grip on him. His expression gone from fearful to angry, though tears were still streaming down his cheeks. "Damn it, Kurt didn't do anything! Why are you hurting him?"

Mortimer turned, vaguely surprised by the small boys sudden outburst. "What the hell does it matter to you? Why's this bastard so important?"

Todd's eyes flashed to red, and he bared his teeth to the older man. "Because I love him!"

Todd's words permeated Kurt's bleary thoughts. He blinked, and looked in awe at what Todd was doing... Standing up to his father! For him! And... admitting he loved Kurt... in front of the man he feared the most...

Mortimer froze for a moment, before growling down at the boy. "So what? Because you have some crush on a pale-faced queer, you think it's true love? Your little 'relationship' shit is just a fancy way of getting a fucking partner! What makes you think that little Nazi would want you for anything more?"

Todd flinched, but stood his ground.

He didn't know if this was still true, not after he had punched Kurt almost a week ago, but the voice and feeling behind it was ringing in his head.

"Because he told me he loved me more than anyone else before!"

He reached back and ripped his fathers hand from his head, glaring daggers at his father.

"And stop calling him a Nazi! Kurt's a better person than you ever were!" Todd took a step back, and following his rush of adrenaline, he yelled out, "If you don't wanna see my face anymore then just IGNORE IT! I'm not a six year old who won't fight back anymore!"

Mortimer, shocked by his boys sudden burst of confidence, growled angrily. "So you think you can stand up to me? If I tried to throttle you right now you'd fight back? WELL?"

Todd flinched, as much as he meant his words, he wasn't sure he could follow through with his threats right now. He was still terrified deep down.

Luckily, he didn't have to, because the earth started to shake.

Suddenly, in a whoosh of air, Todd was standing a few feet back, with the rest of his crew. Appearing by his side was a tall, silver-haired teen, who sneered cruelly at the man. "Hey! Back off! Toad here may be a punk, but he's our punk. So quit messin' with him!"

Lance glared angrily at the burly construction worker.

"If you want to hurt Todd, you'll need to get through his team first. And we're a lot more dangerous than we look." His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and a small tremor shook the ground beneath them.

"A LOT more dangerous."

Todd looked at his teammates, all of them around him and looking furiously at the man who Todd had, mere hours ago, wanted the approval of more than anything.

Now he just wanted him to get lost.

Turning to look at his father, Todd said with a hesitant heart and a firm tone. "I don't need you, just go away."

Mortimer looked nervously at the three new boys standing around his unwanted son. The silver haired one had moved too fast to see, and one seemed like he was actually shaking the ground! The other one...Well, he just wasn't the kind you wanted to mess with.

Mortimer huffed and gave a shrug. He knew when he was outmatched. He walked past the boys to the group of construction workers that were packing up to leave.

"You're not worth the effort anyway."

Kurt, still a bit woozy, struggled to his feet. Todd had defended Kurt against his worst fear. How could he not forgive him? Stumbling a bit, he strode towards the younger boy-and taking his cheeks in his hands, kissed him. Straight on the lips.

Todd pushed his lips against Kurt's, trying to ignore everything else. Including his father's last hurtful words that were ringing in his head.

Kurt pulled back, looking right into Todd's eyes.

"You're worth it."

"Awww, Toad! The chick you were getting your panties in a knot for was... Nightcrawler? Geez, and I thought the guy had standards!"

Lance sent a hard whack to Pietro's middle. Growling under his breathe, "Shut up 'Tro, now's not the time." The rock tumbler took a quick look at the X-man and his youngest 'brother', but quickly averted his eyes. The two were lost in their own little world for now, and he felt like he should leave them in it for a while longer.

Todd's eyes faded back to amber, and he leaned heavily onto the other boy, too tired to sob out the feelings he was having.

His father would never love him, he'd been wasting his time even trying to talk to the man, and had almost lost the person most important to him. Kurt had forgiven him, made him important in his mind. Kurt was giving what his dad never had, and was giving it with so much less cost.

Burying his face in the taller boys shoulder, he desperately whispered the only thing that mattered anymore.

"I love you."

Kurt wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, pulling him closer. He kissed Todd's hair, and whispered gently something he knew he believed with all his heart. "I love you, too."