Surprise guests: Tony Stark! (Not Iron Man, assume Iron Man is not yet born. Its 2007 remember, Iron Man won't be for another year), also small mention of Peter Parker.

Chapter 26

Expensive Thing and Aliens

Todd watched as couples danced by their dinner table. It was far more formal of a party than he'd thought. He'd definitely under thought this whole thing. He looked over towards where Raven and Sinclair talked about it compared to last year, both dressed to the nines. Candy seemed very content in this whole environment. Todd smiled as she looked up from her plate, beaming. This was more the X-men's thing, not his…. Speaking of X-men, Todd glanced to see a small group of the X-men dance by. He grimaced; this was not going to be such a fun night.

"Sinclair, Raven, so glad you two came," Todd looked up to see the blonde haired ex-wife of Sinclair, Anastasia.

"Ana, I thought you were going to be in …. Italy," said Raven giving a brief pause to think.

"Oh heavens no, I have some wonderful things to tell you later, Hello Candy, Todd," she sat down in-between Candy and Raven.

"Nice to see ya again. Are you a business owner too?" asked Todd.

"No, I'm afraid I don't do much actual work…. Investments and donations mostly," said Anastasia casually.

"Oh…" Todd stared at her for a second as she began talking about Italy with Raven and Sinclair, he leaned over to Candy, "Yo, it's dawning on me that your family is kinda well…."

"Come on let's dance," said Candy taking Todd's hand and pulling them both on the dance floor and away from her parents and Anastasia, "Yeah they are… stocks, bonds, old money… Obviously my dad doesn't broadcast it, you didn't even figure it out till now… but my family is well off…. Is that a bad thing?"

"What? Nah, I just feel like I missed a whole lot of signs, yo… I mean I see how your siblings have such vastly different jobs," said Todd, nodding at finding the money source for their schools.

"Oh, no… Both Ana and my dad agreed that when it comes to education you have to get the good grades and the grants, but they only give so much towards it…. Like… Like, Nature… She was mostly A's and B's in school and got two business scholarships and one for the Arts… It paid for more than half, she got a grant and then my dad and Ana put the rest in. She still maintain her grads and GPA because if she lost any of her grants or scholarships she was on her own… The same with material things. I don't have a car yet because I am terrible at saving money…. My dad made and agreement with me… He'll half but I have to save half," said Candy as they danced.

"I get it, you have to work for what ya get," nodded Todd, "Suppose you wouldn't have money if you spent it all. Guess it helps with…. Responsibility. Hey, but I spend whatever I get like crazy so I hear you."

"Doesn't mean my siblings don't try and help me out… Nature was gonna buy me a car once and my dad freaked, yeah it's all about learning values of money and responsibility. Besides my parents have their money mostly tied into funds, charities, scholarships, that stuff. If you don't work for thing, what are you really gaining?" she smiled.

"Stuff," smirked Todd, "Anyways, how about we bust out some ballroom up in here."

"Thought you'd never ask," laughed Candy.

Todd got some wine for he and Candy as they waiter went by. He'd expected some glances from the older people, but no one seemed to mind. He was actually having a great time, which he was surprised. He'd expected he'd eventually just hang around Candy and her family, Belinda and Blake had also joined the event. However, he'd started some conversations with journalist from the Daily Bugle and a few older gentleman and one woman had sincerely complimented his suite, saying it was vintage. He'd also given Candy some crap because she in fact had still worn purple… shoes.. but purple.

"Why hello Mr. Tolanksy," Todd swung around to see Xavier coming away from a conversation, "How nice to see you here."

"Uh, hey," said Todd, this suddenly became awkward.

"I do apologize for making this awkward, I just wasn't expecting to see the Brotherhood here," said Xavier calmly, there was no undertone to what he said, just plain and simple.

"Actually just me… here with my girl… no big deal… Nice to see some of the X-men around here," said Todd, it dawned on him how very little he'd ever talked to this man, despite the fact the Brotherhood frequented the mansion if only to harass Scott.

"Well I won't keep… oh no," Todd raised a brow as Xavier's voice went from pleasant to foreboding as he looked at the entrance.

"Isn't that Tony Stark… whoa that man's like what the richest in the world?" asked Todd marveling as the guy walked in with three super models on his arm, at least they looked like it, "You know I think Pietro idolizes him, posters everywhere, yo."

"Yes I can see why," said Xavier looking at Tony Stark, Todd swore he heard someone say 'fucking asshole' but the only one around him was the silent Xavier, "Well Mr. Tolansky, enjoy your evening."

"Oh, wow," said Candy as she walked up to Todd staring over at Stark, "Hun, what's wrong?"

"I'm pretty sure that Xavier swear… not to me… but mentally. I'm not sure how to feel," said Todd, Candy snorted, "What?"

"You looked like the sculpture started talking to you," she giggled, "We're heading over to the auction. It's starting in a few minutes."

"Yeah, maybe this year I'll actually manage to buy something," said Belinda pausing by the two, "Last year I got so mad because I bid on this book and it turned out that Nature was also bidding on it for my Christmas gift…. Needless to say I had mixed emotions about the book."

"So it's like a book auction?" asked Todd, he kind of thought going to the local library would be cheaper.

"No, the book she's talking about was some original novel she wanted," said Candy, she whispered, "Wasn't even that good."

"It was an original Scarlet Letter from 1850," said Belinda, "It was worth every penny."

"I beg to differ on what Nature paid for it," said Candy, Todd smirked as they migrated down the hall.

"So if I buy you a book, is there a price limit, yo?" asked Todd with a chuckle.

"Yeah, preferably single digits," said Candy, "Don't get me wrong I spend money on clothes and girly things, but I feel they are all within reason."

"Look me in the eyes and say that?" asked Belinda.

Todd spent the better part of the next twenty minutes listening to the two sisters having a small tiff, it was more amusing. Although he opted to stick close to them as half the stuff up for auction was so ridiculous in price that he knew he was going to break it or something. The most expensive auction piece, apparently from Tony Stark had guards by it, Todd didn't even dare go near it that was the last thing he needed was trouble here.

"I'm not going near that thing," said Belinda as she headed off towards a completely different area, "Anything with guards is a red flag for me loves."

"Dare we look closer?" asked Candy after a brief pause.

"Alright but if I get beat up by armed guards, I think our dates over," said Todd.

"You wouldn't stay to be nursed back to health by me?" she asked, a coy smile on her lips.

"Well in that case, let's see if I can touch it," beamed Todd, Candy giggled.

"Okay don't touch it, otherwise some actual nurses will be attending to you and I may have to guard you," said Candy, Todd was going to reply that it would be highly unlikely any nurses would take interest in him, but then he just smiled and wrapped his arm tighter around her waist as they walked towards the case.

"It's a necklace, yo," said Todd as they looked at a brilliantly blue jewel, "Kinda gaudy."

"I don't know, maybe it's the chain," said Candy.

"I choose the chain myself, added a little something to the old gem," said a man's voice next to them.

"We didn't mean it was that bad…." Said Todd nervously as Tony Stark walked through the guards and towards the case.

"Some believe it to have special abilities, found it in an archaeological dig… well I didn't find it personally," said Tony, "However it's only ability is to fetch a good price."

"Excuse me, would you mind if I got a photo of you holding up the necklace," Todd and Candy stepped aside as the photographer from the Daily Bugle stepped next to them.

"Love too, your Spiderman's photographer, correct, asked for you specially," said Tony Stark, Todd nodded for him and Candy to head to where Belinda had found a seat at the auction, front row.

"What was it?" asked Blake, "I was about to check it out and then everyone started swarming, he sat down next to Todd.

"Gaudy necklace," said Todd, he inhaled sharply as Professor and Mr. McCoy sat in front of them.

"Like how bad?" asked Belinda.

"It was the chain that made it that way, I thought it was okay, a little big…" said Candy.

"That's what she said," muttered Blake, Todd snorted.

"Well I can see the refinement is gone for the evening," said Belinda, but Todd noticed she was fighting back a laugh herself.

"Yeah but according to the rumors it's supposed to be from space or another dimension," Todd jumped as Sinclair sat behind him, "You okay Todd."

"No, I'm good," said Todd taking a deep breath.

"Sinclair those are rumors… power stones in the galaxy that gives its wielders special powers," said Raven with a small smile, "They always fabricate special things to make others greedy, besides it was found in Egypt, not space."

"Yes but there are stories that a power hungry planet leader lost it on earth decades ago…." Todd heard Sinclair trail off with a raised brow from Candy, "Not that… it's believable dear."

"Aliens," Candy rolled her eyes, "Starting to sound like my cousins."

"I dunno, I think aliens exist… probably a whole bunch sitting here right now," said Todd indicating around the area, Blake made twilight noises for sound effects.

"Blake," said Belinda giving a half glare to her brother, who fell silent.

"Sorry, totally right… aliens," said Blake but when the girls went looking Blake nodded in agreement with Todd.

Todd hadn't planned on staying in the city for the night, but it had gotten late and complicated this evening. The auction had been going so well and a little boring on his part. That was until a women dressed in feline demeanor tried to swipe an antique bracelet and Spiderman got involved. Yup, it was pretty exciting after that and Tony Stark's necklace never even made it too auction, turned out a person had paid him a hefty bid during the chaos. Needless to say it was nearly passed one in the morning before anyone could leave due to media and questioning. So at this moment they were all crashing at Belinda's, which Blake was already crashing at.

"If this keeps up, I may need a bigger place," said Belinda as she tossed Todd some pillows.

"I got kicked out of the guest room by my parents, so looks like we're bunking together," said Blake as he flopped on the couch opposite Todd's.

"This place is huge," said Todd looking at the large two bedroom apartment… is this a penthouse?"

"Nah, that's three floors up, but my sister want it… she's waiting for the starchy owners to croak," said Blake.

"I am not and stop saying that!" they heard Belinda yell from the bathroom, slightly muffled by toothpaste.

"She is," Blake whispered, "But she's got years, her and her best friend are thinking of opening up their own spa…. But there are tons of those, lots of competition."

"Hey if you can get the cash, do it," said Todd, "The Brotherhood and I thought about it and tried business for a few months…."

"What happened?" asked Blake as he set up his bed.

"No one seemed to grasp the meaning of babysitting very well and putting laxatives in lemonade for a stand tends to scare away return business," said Todd with a sad sigh, memories.

"I'm not even going to ask…." said Blake with a yawn.

"Sometimes, it's better not too…. Whoa!" said Todd as he looked up at the inverted dropped ceiling above the couches, it looked like thousands of stars as if it was a glass ceiling.

"Cool, ay… I think she wants the penthouse because it has a glass ceiling on one area of the house," said Blake in a mutter.

"That must have cost a fortune…."

"Nah, its painted glass over lights…. Just got scratches…. Stuff… like maybe fifty or…. Something…" Blake yawned again, "Super easy….. but you know their real."

"Stars… yeah," said Todd still staring at the detail painted ceiling in awe.

"No… aliens…. But there not aliens like…. like if you went there… you'd be one…" said Blake, his muttering making less sense as he was falling asleep, "Just like earth but a big… galaxy… wars… planets… people… species… all sorts… I know."

"Whatya mean…. Blake?" asked Todd, "Yo, Blake?"

"Kwhhhha," Todd looked to see Candy's brother snoring into the pink pillow he'd been clinging too, Todd stared for a moment and then went back to looking at the ceiling.

"Huh," yawned Todd as he fell asleep, his mind would swim with aliens, war movies with green men, and powerful gems that he would scarcely remember when he woke the next morning.

TO BE CONTINUED