"Okay, so who's Toad?" Jake repeated as he forked a fish filet.
"Like Bobby said, Jake, it's easier for you to meet him rather than explain him," Rogue offered.
"Okay," Jake sighed. "Is he an X-man?"
Kitty just about choked. "Heavens no! He'd never be an X-man! Not Toad!"
Bobby put a hand on Kitty's shoulder. "Calm down, Kitty."
"He's that bad?" Jake asked.
Bobby made a face. "Let's just say that Toad's a character. You'll meet him at the school today."
"School? Isn't it supper time?"
Bobby nodded. "Yeah, but there's a football game, and one of the kids is on the team. We go to suport him."
Jake nodded, fully understanding about support. "What's a football?"
"Oh, my word, Jake! You don't know about football?" gasped Kitty.
"Nope," Jake shrugged. He figured it was a game and must be a lot of fun fun if Kitty seemed to like it.
"Oh, he just has to go with us, Bobby!"
"I can, unless Scott and Logan have more training for me,"
"Ugh...those two are putting you through the wringer!"
Jake had to agree with Rogue. They had been working him rather hard the last few days, and he secretly hoped Logan would allow him to go.
000
When Jake went into Scott's office, he was not prepared to see Logan standing there talking to his mentor.
"Logan!" Jake cried out and ran into the ferel's arms.
"Hiya, Kid." Logan forced a smile.
"What are you doing back? Did you get the answers you needed?"
Logan looked over at Scott. "You told them?"
"I didn't have any alternative, Logan. But I didn't tell them everything."
Logan gave him a concerned look and Scott shrugged.
"You didn't tell me I couldn't, and I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't."
"Why didn't you want us to know, Logan?" Jake asked, looking down at his earth father.
"We'll discuss this later, kid. Right now I want to know why you came to see Scott."
Jake asked about the football game, and Logan shook his head uncertainly. "I don't know, kid," he said.
"Oh, c'mon, Logan! You've been working me to death the last couple of days! I need to do something!"
Logan looked over at Scott, who had been silent through the whole deal. He knew Scott was apprehensive about letting Jake out in public. Sure, they went to the country club for a little R&R, but this was different. Jake would be around 'normals,' who didn't like mutants, and Logan wasn't sure how the they would react to an honest-to-goodness alien with multiple powers.
"Scott?" he finally asked.
The tall thin man sitting at the desk propped his elbows on the desk and rested his chin on his hands. "Who will you be going with?" Scott wanted to know.
"Kitty, Bobby, and Rogue. I'm sure others are going, just not sure who."
"Hmmmm. To be honest, I'm a little uneasy about letting you go," Scott sighed. He straightened his back against the leather chair and looked into the green eyes. He knew Jake was aching to go out with other people his age and that he felt like a caged animal cooped up in the mansion all the time. "Well, all right. As long as you stay close to them, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to go," he finally said.
"Thank you, Scott!" Jake squealed. He changed into a cat, leaped onto Scott's table and began to lick the mutant's face.
"Okay, okay! You've thanked me enough! Now, go thank Logan!" Scott chuckled, trying to get away from the sandpapery kisses.
"No..." Logan muttered, but too late. Jake sprung unto Logan's chest and dug his claws into the man's chest. He began licking his face and felt the strong hands holding him. This feeling of love was much stronger than he had perceived when he had first arrived. He felt comfortable; he felt safe. Safe...was that the word?
Finally, Logan put Jake down to the wooden floor, and the alien changed back into his original form.
Someone knocked at the door; when Scott opened it, he was not surprised to see Bobby there.
"So? Is the answer yes?" the teenager wanted to know.
Scott smiled. "It is."
"All right!"
Logan held up his hand. "But..." he cautioned.
"Uh, oh." Bobby sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. He hated it when Logan did this.
"Jake will have to stay close to you and the others. Don't let him outta yer sight, not even for a minute. People will already know that he's not from around here, let alone that he's not human. And once they figure out he's got powers, well...."
Bobby nodded. "We've been talking it over. He'll be well taken care of, Logan."
"Do we have that in writing?" Scott asked, a hint of teasing in his voice.
Bobby grinned at the older mutant and looked up at Jake. "Well, my man, looks like we're goin' to a football game!" he said.
"Cool!" Jake grinned back.
Bobby chuckled. "You've been hanging out with Kurt," he said, mock-accusingly.
"Is it that obvious?"
"Uh…yeah," he said, drawing out the word, then assured his friend, "It's okay, as long as you use the language right."
"You guys better go before I change my mind," Scott warned them.
Bobby grabbed Jake by the arm. "C'mon! We don't want these two to spoil our fun!"
Almost within a flash, Logan and Scott saw the two younger mutants leave the room. Okay, make that one mutant, and one alien.
0000
Later at the game, Jake was in awe at the number of people there. It was noisy, and the band was playing songs Jake had never heard.
"Have you ever a had hot dog?" Kitty asked him.
"A hot dog?"
"Then the answer is no. I'll be right back." She disappeared into the crowd.
Jake looked over worriedly at Bobby. "Won't she get lost?"
"Trust me, she'll find us."
Jake felt uneasy. He knew people were eyeing them, and not because he was so tall. It was because he was green. Green with red hair.
He was beginning to pick up feelings. Anger, fright, even hurt. It was almost overwhelming. If it weren't for the fact that they were outside, he'd go nuts.
Kitty came back with an armload of hot dogs and drinks.
Jake eyed the hot dog in his hand. "Which end do I eat it from?" he asked.
The small woman laughed. "It doesn't matter, Jake. Pick one; either end is fine."
Jake allowed the flavor of the dog to work through his mouth. The taste of the sourkraut was a little strange to him, but he decided he liked it.
"Hiya, guys!" a squeaky voice startled him, and he looked down. He was facing a younger man who was just as green as he was, but this one's eyes were kind of a yellow-white color, and Jake was picking up some sort of odor. This must be Toad, Jake thought.
"Toad, would you please stop creeping up on people?" Kitty groaned, stepping closer to Jake.
Sensing her annoyance and uneasiness, Jake put his long arm around her protectively.
"Sorry, toots, but I couldn't help but noticing there was someone here who was just like me," Toad replied, looking up at Jake.
"Jake's nothing like you, so get that out of your cotton-picking mind!" Kitty said angrily.
"Kitty," Bobby said with warning in his voice.
"Well, he's not!" Kitty said defensively.
"Hey! The game's about to start!" Kurt said, stopping the argument.
Jake was thankful that Kurt had stopped the escalation. His head was beginning to ache from all the anger.
The game lasted nearly two hours, and Jake enjoyed himself. Though Kitty, Bobby, and Rogue had gone off somewhere, Kurt had stayed with him to offer explanations of what was going on. Every so often, Kurt would take him to the front row near the bench so he could see the game better. After the last such move, they returned to their seats just before the other three came back. Jake had wanted to changed into a bird, to fly out and hover around the whole game but decided to keep a low key. He knew that people would not have freaked out over a green bird; he had seen a few like that since he'd been back.
"So, you enjoying the game?" Bobby asked as he sat down next to his friend.
"Very much!" Jake accepted his third hot dog of the day and took a huge bite of it. He didn't tell his new friend about Kurt's way of showing him the game. He wanted to keep that secret between them, and them alone.
After the game, they went to an eatery. Jake sat in between Kitty and Rogue, and Bobby sat with Kurt.
"So, what kind of food do you eat, freak?" someone asked behind Bobby.
Bobby's blood boiled when he recognized the voice. "Vance, leave it alone," he snarled.
"Shut up, Bobby. You're just as much a freak as he is, only you're human. At least I think you're human."
Bobby got up and turned to face the blond teenager. This was what Scott had been afraid of. "At least he's got feelings!" Bobby growled, clenching his fists.
"Bobby, please..." Jake groaned, starting to feel the emotion. He gritted his teeth as his own anger began to bubble inside him.
"Oh, I'm so scared." Vance mocked, only to cut off when he felt himself rising toward the ceiling. "Hey! What's going on!?" he cried out as all attention turned towards them.
Bobby looked at Jake to find him with closed eyes and knew his friend was the culprit.
"Jake, it's okay." Kitty said, putting a hand on the alien's arm. She could feel his tension.
"You better behave, Vance. I don't know what he'll do while you're up there," Rogue said.
"Put…put me down!"
"Jake..." Bobby said and was relieved when Jake opened his yellow eyes. "Let him go, Jake."
Relunctantly, Jake gently lowered Vance to the floor.
"You're all freaks!" Vance growled and left the building with his cronies.
Jake relaxed and looked over at Bobby. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it," he said.
"It's okay, Jake. I wish I could have done it!" Rogue said, patting him on the back.
A man came over. "I'd like you four to get out, please. We don't need any more trouble."
"But..." Jake began, but Kitty hushed him.
"Don't worry, sir, we're going." Kitty told the man and they left the diner gladly.