Todd actually turned up at school the next morning. He'd lost track of whether or not he was supposed to be expelled at the moment, but there was a good chance Principal Loser had as well, and he didn't actually try to go to class. He wasn't even sure what classes he was signed up for, if any.
He was, in fact, at school for the library. He had to sneak past a crowd where he had no allies at all, but he'd always been kind of fond of the place. He usually didn't bother with books; he'd mostly lost interest in those after Goosebumps stopped being scary and Choose Your Own Adventure had wracked up too many grisly kills. But the library was big, cool, and echoey, full of abandoned corners and quiet spots with no traffic. Good spots to recharge where he was sure no one would think to look for him, whether he was hiding from Mystique, jocks, X-geeks, or the rest of the Brotherhood.
So he did kind of know where to look. You couldn't use a place as a den for a couple years and not absorb at least a little bit through your pores.
He'd figured that The Time Machine would be a giant book since it was old and everything, but it turned out to be short enough to be an enterprising nerd's research paper. He hopped into the library around nine and was done with it around lunchtime. He was a bit surprised by the way it read. It certainly didn't have much in common with the movie he'd sneaked into early last year, which was the only reason he knew "Morlock" had any previous meaning and which featured them as a sort of sexy alien vampire monster. He'd been pretty down with that, but in the book they were more like evil little monkeys that liked to eat stupid people.
Less flattering.
He came away with a headache and not much information. His guess was that Callisto had mostly picked the name because it sounded cool, but he doubted it'd give anyone the right impression.
Lunch was winding down as he left the library. Crowds were only good cover when you could be anonymous, and he was entirely too well known here. He'd probably have much better luck sneaking back out while classes were on and the halls were empty. He took a well established escape route down the rickety stairs that made weird noises and smelled (anyone hanging out there was likely to have just as much reason as he did to stay out of the way) and into the tiny bathroom that was only ever used by janitors and woodshop classes. Todd had just enough technical knowledge to engage woodshop enthusiasts in conversation, so it was one of the better safehavens Bayville offered.
He balked when he saw that he didn't have it to himself, then relaxed again. "Hey, furball."
Kurt also considered this spot a great hideout, though the other times he'd opted to lay low, it was because his inducer had gone on the fritz. It was functioning fine at the moment, especially considering the rest of him seemed to be feeling the aftershocks of blunt force trauma, but apparently his wrist had made it out intact.
"Hey, Todd," he said distractedly, prodding at the tip of his ear gingerly. With the inducer up, it looked more like he was vaguely pointing at but not touching the side of his head. "You see any swelling?"
"Should I, dawg?" Todd hopped up onto a sink and cocked his head to the side. "Looks like your machine thingy's got it covered."
"Ja, it usually does. I just don't want to hear about it, you know? It's not worth it." He sighed and swung his book bag back on.
"Yeah, someone notices a boy scout like you lookin' beat on and they'll prolly do somethin' about it." Todd shifted, the sink creaked threateningly, and he quickly jumped back to the floor with an indignant squawk.
"Exactly." Kurt didn't especially want to talk about it. He definitely wouldn't have attracted the attention if he hadn't bailed Todd out over the hubcap thing, and that was kind of awkward to think about. "Am I actually going to see you in class today?"
"...We have classes together?"
"Guess not." Kurt smiled crookedly. "So you just showed up for that chalk dust and bologna smell?"
"Nah, it's just closer than the Bayville library. I wanted to check some stuff."
He wouldn't have guessed Todd was much of a reader, but Kurt couldn't think of a way to say that without sounding like a jerk. "What stuff?"
"Uh, hmm." Todd rubbed the back of his neck in a way that looked as positively sheepish as his amphibian looks could manage. "You, uh, mentioned Morlocks. I wanted to see what they were. Like, in the book, not the stupid movie." He leaned back sulkily on the cracked tile wall. "Turns out they're creepy monsters that live underground and eat nice people."
"Well, kind of." Kurt was the son of two writers and the house he'd grown up in was half library. Even in an unfamiliar language, he could do simple lit crit in his sleep. And he'd done that book last year. "It's social commentary. The Morlocks are the way the Victorian upper class viewed its workers, but when the world ends, they're the ones tough and strong enough to survive, while the descendents of the elite waste away to nothing and become food for the people they oppressed. It's kind of a mess, but Wells didn't mean it the way it looks on the surface."
"Oh." Todd looked the way Kurt felt when the Toad burst out with complex tactical directions back in the forest. There was a certain satisfaction in that.
"Well, uh, I'll see you soon." He nodded once more and headed to class, glad he'd helped. Knowing he was probably still a target for the football jerks, he tried to move in big groups. Being short did sort of have advantages. He mostly fit in around shoulder level.
Which worked great for the first minute, before the closeness and the noise made him feel boxed in and panicky. Kurt clasped his binder so hard to his chest that it hurt, eyes down and focusing on just getting in the door of 206. It wasn't exactly a spacious, airy room, but at least he'd have his desk and everyone else would have theirs. One he was there, he told himself, he wouldn't feel faint, numb, and short of breath. He'd shake the tunnel vision and the sense of being hunted.
He wasn't sure how he managed to trip. He wasn't even completely sure that "tripping" was what had happened. His knees might have just stopped working entirely. Either way, he wound up on the floor, and was bumped into twice before he felt that fuzzy, chilly sensation that came of Kitty phasing him through... through the floor, turned out. Huh. Back to the basement.
"Kurt? Wow, you look totally terrible. Do you want me to get the nurse or just go ahead and call the professor?"
Kurt swallowed a few times, trying to bring himself back to earth. "I'm fine. I just was dizzy for a second there."
"Yeah, right, totally." She held out her hands and he braced himself on them to stand up. "I got the story from Rogue, you know. Anyone would be pretty freaked out! There's nothing wrong with a panic attack, but, like, there is if you're gonna be all macho about it."
He tried to smile. The result was rather sickly. "What panic attack?"
"That's it, smart guy. I'm calling the Institute to get Scott to take you home."
"No, really, Kitty." Kurt closed his eyes a moment and straightened up the best he could. "I'm feeling better now, and there's only a few hours left in the day. If I go home, I'll just worry people."
"Did you ever think that might be because you give them something to worry about?" Kitty sighed. "Geeze, Kurt, you're a headache sometimes. Will you promise to go home if that happens again?"
"Ja, I promise." He hoped he wasn't lying. The thought of his parents hearing that he hadn't been able to get through a school day, the questions that Professor Xavier would ask if Kurt gave him an excuse, being asked what was wrong by well-meaning friends who didn't know about home or Amanda... All far worse prospects than walking through the crowded hallway again. Still feeling a bit queasy, he walked back upstairs with Kitty, trying and failing to banter about making sure the principle didn't know they'd been phasing through the floor.
He muttered a non-specific excuse as he hurried into Spanish, only a few minutes late. He didn't pay a lot of attention, but he was there and he turned his homework in. Kurt didn't usually mind just scraping by in classes he didn't care about too much, but now that he had no hope of doing better than the absolute minimum, he found himself guiltily unhappy about it.
By Algebra he was feeling physically better, but the bad mood followed him through Economics and all the way home. He made the homework excuse to go hide in his room until dinner time. He knew it was ridiculous to try to hide from a telepath, and therefore the professor was giving him space and waiting for him to come on his own. He wasn't doing that yet.
He was paging listlessly back and forth through "The Lady of Shalott" and not really absorbing much when Kitty stuck her head through the door.
"Scheisse! Don't do that!"
"Well, we tried knocking and you didn't hear." She stepped through the rest of the way and then opened the door behind her for Rogue. "Also, like, I know what that means and it's totally rude."
Kurt didn't have any trouble looking chagrined. "Es tut mir leid."
"Well, now you're just doing it on purpose." Kitty hugged him playfully, but Kurt could tell she was treading carefully. The way Rogue was hanging back quietly made him suspect at least one or another of the teachers had put them up to talking to him. She didn't like doing what she was told, even if she'd probably have done it anyway.
"Anyways, after dinner we're supposed to take some stuff down to the Morlocks." Kurt was usually on the delivery team. Kitty was not. She wasn't really a fan of sewers. Rogue, sometimes. "Do you want to come?"
He thought about refusing, but he really did like the job, and he should get out of his room at least a little. "Sure, I'm not really making a lot of progress here." He closed up the textbook with a satisfying whump and carried his boots and coat down with the girls.
He tried to talk over dinner, not sure if he was doing it for his own sake or to keep from having to open up about having feelings to any responsible adults. Either way, it was the first chance to see most of the younger students after the break, and knowing everyone kept the crowd and the noise from triggering another panic attack. And while he didn't have his usual appetite back yet, the food was pretty good.
It was a nasty night out, the air full of wet, sticky snowflakes that would have been very picturesque if it weren't for the wind whipping them everywhere at once. Kurt wasn't surprised to see more than the usual crates of cans in the back of the van. The sewers must be pretty unforgiving this time of year. He lifted the last box so the girls and their lack of fur could get inside and then hopped into the front seat.
"How yah doin', elf?" Logan managed to grunt, despite expressing a multi-syllabylic complex thought. You had to wonder how he did that.
At least Kurt felt no shame in answering with, "Okay."
And that was the end of that. He was beginning to feel that Wolverine was his favorite teacher. They pulled up to the unclaimed shed that hid the easiest manhole to sneak big boxes into. Kurt quietly appreciated everyone's careful avoidance of the suggestion that he just go ahead and port everything down. He agreeably clambered halfway down the ladder, holding on with his feet and tail while Rogue stood on the floor of the tunnel. Kitty phased the boxes down and they fumbled each crate to the ground with no significant damage to anyone or anything.
Logan passed down a dolly as Kitty jumped through the ceiling. "I've gotta go put gas in the car and run a couple errands for Charles. Pick you up in an hour or so." He kicked the manhole cover back on.
"At least it's a little less gross here in the winter," Kitty said, turning up the collar on her coat and wrinkling her nose before she took hold of the handle to keep the dolly steady.
Rogue rolled her eyes a little, untangling bungee cords while Kurt stacked boxes. "Make sure the cans are on the bottom."
"Ja." Kurt set the extra box of blankets on top of the stack, decided it was too precarious, and opted to carry it. He switched his inducer off with a little smile. Even with the loss of his home, there were still two places in the world where he could be blue and fuzzy. "Which way do we go, again?" He had no sense of direction down here.
"I checked the map. This way," said Kitty, nodding her head to the left while she helped tie the boxes in. The ride could be kind of bumpy. "So, did you guys see that the signup sheets for the winter formal committee are up?"
"Ooh, wow, I'd just love to do all the work for a dance I'll also hate going to," Rogue sniped.
"Okay, so you're not, like, a joiner. But I was thinking it could be a cool way to get some mutant goodwill going if a couple of us volunteered. How about you, Kurt? I bet you'd be really good at hanging streamers."
"Thanks, but I think I'd rather jump off a bridge," he said as pleasantly as he could manage. It wasn't a terrible idea, but Amanda would be gone by then. He definitely didn't want to think about a dance.
"Come on. It won't be that bad."
"Why don't you ask Amara or Tabby?"
"Maybe Amara. Boom-boom would probably make everything Power Rangers themed or blow up the gym."
Either did seem possible. Before Kurt could voice support for a Power Rangers dance, heavy footsteps down a small corridor caught all their attention. It was hard not to be unnerved by a thudding approach from the darkness even when you knew what was coming, and they all held themselves stiffly until the figure resolved completely into Evan.
"This way. We're trying not to use the subway access tunnels until they finish some repairs." He practically growled the words.
"Whoa, did something happen, Evan?" Kitty set a concerned hand on his shoulder.
"Just more of the usual. That thing with the senator's kid has people riled up again." He sighed and took the box out of Kurt's arms, tossing it up on one shoulder with no visible effort. Kurt would have objected, but his arms were feeling numb. He hadn't quite made a physical recovery from his ordeal, putting aside his powers and general mental health. "No one's been hurt yet, but there was a close call earlier today, and Facade lost all the equipment he'd scrounged getting away."
Kurt swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and nodded. "Is it just the local jerks, or...?"
"They've kind of made Matthews a martyr. You know, for being put on six months' probation." Evan tensed for a moment and the hot end of a spike flared in his arm. Kurt still wasn't used to that and his nerves were fraying fast. He tried to pretend he'd stumbled over some nonspecific impediment on the floor, but he was pretty sure that everyone saw him wince.
"At least we brought extra stuff this time," Rogue said evenly. "And if you need anything special, I'm sure the professor could manage."
"Yeah. But, you know, we shouldn't have to." They rounded a corner and before anyone could agree, the tinny echo of a half dozen cheap little speakers hit them all at once. "And that hasn't helped my mood."
"What is that? An alien invasion?" Kitty covered her ears melodramatically.
"Torpid just got a bunch of old toys working."
"Aw, well, at least it makes her happy?" Though Kitty didn't exactly fall over herself to volunteer to babysit, she did have a soft spot for the poor kid. Most of them did. Kurt found her a little spooky, but his experiences with small children other than himself was largely negative.
"It turns out she loves making an unholy racket as long as she doesn't have to use her own voice to do it," said Callisto as she emerged from some shadow or other. She had that habit. "It's kind of soothing once you get used to it."
"Sure, it's really zen after hour three." Evan rubbed at his forehead with his palm, a rather awkward operation with boney armor in the way. "Oh, I should warn you guys-"
The warning became unnecessary as Todd Tolansky rocketed around a corner with Torpid in hot pursuit. She tackled him and he obligingly collapsed (she weighed just enough to knock him down with effort, so a pre-planned prat fall was best for them both) so she could land on his back and fire her light-up ray gun thingy twice into the air. Despite his best efforts the speaker was almost worn out, and the sound was less like sci-fi lasers and more like a Furby.
Todd had pretty much landed face down and didn't notice much about his surroundings until he felt Callisto lift the kid off his back. "You know, sooner or later the gloves will slip."
"Happened earlier. I didn't die." Unpleasant, sure, but she'd only tapped him and he hadn't had far to fall at the time. Now he knew what to expect. Todd hopped to his customary crouch, checking for damage. Just in case. He was really good at falling, but sometimes you couldn't avoid an imperfect impact.
Only then did he look up and realize there were four X-geeks assembled, rather than just the one he'd already been trying to avoid. At least one of them was Kurt.
He was pretty sure that was a good thing, anyway. He was faintly aware that not all of his sudden shrinking trepidation was because of Spike looking for an excuse to toss him under a subway train. He hadn't been that rattled running into Blue earlier, but they'd been alone at the time. He knew how to do that. It wasn't like figuring stuff out actually changed the way they shot the shit.
But other people? That complicated things. With Wanda he was aggressively open, to her and everyone else. But that was his regular kind of crush. It lacked for confounding factors like Kurt being a guy and from the right side of the tracks, actually being nice to him, and, worst of all, that awful niggling touch of hope that made it all a lot worse. He was capable of imagining what might happen if Kurt Wagner liked him back, and that was hard to stand.
And what if people could tell? He didn't know if he could hide this stuff. He'd never bothered. He didn't worry about Kurt noticing. Guy was kinda thick. But Rogue and Kitty struck him as canny, with mysterious girl powers on top.
Too awful to contemplate. He decided he'd play it cool and deny if he had to,because what the hell other options did he have? "'Sup?"
"Looks like you've all met," Callisto said dryly. "Good, that should be enough hands to get all of this put away. Spyke, you know the way." She left them alone and a few beats went by silently.
"I know how much is in here, Tolansky," Evan growled as Todd moved to follow them.
"Enough to fill the boxes, maybe?" He wasn't in the mood to be deferential, since the boss lady had put him on the job.
"And where you're setting up your room."
"Ain't a secret, yo." Todd decided to stand up, though a day spent mostly on rebuilding tiny toy mechanics had left his shoulders even more reluctant to stretch out than usual. "Name one way I've fucked up so far."
"You've only been around a day. I can wait."
Kurt didn't remember deciding to step between them. He was not formidable in a fight-his light bones and size made sure of that—but he could look dangerous if he wanted to. Even glowering up at Evan. "Nein," he said simply.
Behind him, Todd took a single breath a little sharper and faster than usual. If this were Wanda he'd be theatrically melting. Yup. Problem.
It was only a moment, though. Kurt's uncharacteristically menacing grin became his usual bright smile, down a few watts if you paid close attention. "We have all this to put away, right? Come on."
Evan looked confused, Rogue entertained, and Kitty impressed. Kurt took the dolly and let Evan lead the way. It was only down one corridor and into a storage room with a few rusty lengths of replacement pipe left on the shelves. The other racks were a bit sparely decked with assorted cans and plastic cases full of rice. Kitty immediately reached through the side of the bottom crate to pull out a few cans. The ice broke and all five of them busied themselves with unpacking food, blankets, and kerosene.
The cans mostly held vegetables and beans, which could be cooked with rice into bland but complete meals over hot plates. When Kurt had started out on this detail they'd tried to bring along treat of sorts, but junk food made up most of the Morlocks' diet. Expired twinkies and big orders of fast food were the usual fare, with actual nutritious slop the rarity. The kerosene fed the little camping stoves and the heaters. Blankets were the extra this time, but they'd previously covered winter clothes, medical supplies, spare parts and the occasional replacement bit of portable technology, flashlights and batteries...
And for all their effort thing never seemed any less ugly down here. Kurt found it a little disheartening, but at least he could put a little more food on the shelves and he was better at balancing between a corner and a stack of rusty paint cans to check all the rice bins. He only found one corner nibbled on, and not chewed all the way through yet. The rodents down here were a bit scary.
He was taping the corner up with extreme care, not really wanting to jump back down into the awkward silence two feet below him, when Callisto burst into the room. "Scaleface and Lucid should have been back an hour ago."