A/N: Poor Julian. He's like a squeaky toy to me. mwahaha...ha... sort of a character building issue. Next arc is more plot based.
(Volume: 2 Arc: "Cause and Effect" 6 Issue: 2/2 )
Chapter 55: broken
Julian dropped a big stack of books on the table and gave Laura a stern look she did not like. Not one little bit. It was a look that said
'we have work to do'. She decided that now was a good time to act on the idea of going out she'd had earlier.
"Bye," she said, grabbing her jacket off the chair.
"Fuck that," he said, slamming the door shut with his mind before she could reach it—and turning the lock.
"Tomorrow's Field Day Midterm…and you are helping me come up with a strategy for it, miss ma'am."
There was a special field day scheduled: researched strategies. The squad leaders had to present three strategies each, then demonstrate
them in action as they applied to a situation. Julian had received a list last week, which had been crammed into his pocket, forgotten, and
then washed with the laundry. He'd had to go back to Emma for a new one (she was distinctly unimpressed with this).
"I don't want to! I didn't ask to be on your stupid squad! I won't do it!" Laura began to storm rebelliously.
"Too bad, 'coz somehow, you became the co-captain," he said, handing her a book. "You can look up Zortega if you're going to be so difficult.
I think it's under Z, but I'm not exactly sure…it could be under X."
Laura glared daggers at him, popped a claw and stabbed it into the book's center from beneath. "Forget it."
Julian swallowed. "You know, Summers is going to be really upset you did that. He wrote this as a guide for us squad leaders and had it bound
at his own expense. They're kind of special."
Laura retracted the claw. "Keller! I am not spending my Friday evening reading battle tactics. This is your squad. All I'm good at is spotting
when your brain shuts down. I hate research with a passion." She put her jacket on. "Me and the twins are going out for fun. Spelled F-U-N.
Something we haven't done for a while. Good luck with your research-shit."
She turned her back on him and touched the doorknob; immediately she yelped and retracted her hand.
"Huh?" he asked. He'd been glaring down at the book, trying not to act angry and hurt at Laura's lack of care, so he'd missed whatever had
bothered her now.
"Holy fuck! The doorknob's smoking hot!" she said, shaking her fingers.
He glanced up in time to see red blisters fading. They must have been ugly for him to still be able to see them.
"Really?" He put the book down and examined it. He dug into his pocket, withdrew a receipt he had from town, and poked the corner inquisitively
against the metal. "Oh shit!" he said, yanking it away and blowing out the flame that had risen up.
"What the hell is going on with you?" Laura asked.
"I don't know," he said, staring at the doorknob. "Pretty fucked up, huh? Guess I won't be doing you-know-what for a while."
He grinned apologetically at her; she huffed and folded her arms.
"It's not that great, you know. I can live without it." She sat down on the bed. "Do you really have to read those gay books all night?"
Julian nodded, his eyes wide. "You gonna help me now?"
"Oh, all right. Give me the damn thing." He passed the book to her, not risking setting it on fire on top of the claw marks.
…
"That sucked," Julian said bitterly, kicking the muddy ground. The New Mutants had just won the prize, far better prepared; it was that stupid Alleyne.
Julian hated him; he wasn't sure why. He had no reason except for the fact that he kept beating him at everything, including school. They were in the
same math class, and Alleyne always had a higher score than Julian.
Laura cuddled her new jacket around herself, looking unconcerned. "Well, they were well prepared. And Sofia's just made for presenting…I can't say
you're the best public speaker I've ever heard."
Julian had stumbled a bit from exhaustion; besides, half the school hated him for being a jerk. He usually did great (in his opinion at least), but he kept
seeing the cafeteria incident in the back of his head. It was equivalent to showing up for class bare-ass-naked in his opinion… probably worse, because
he could laugh off a situation like being naked. No, he'd never, ever laugh at the black hole. Ever.
"Alleyne didn't just stand around looking bored and pretty," Julian grumbled.
"…" Laura raised her eyebrow. "Thank you?"
"It was sarcastic," he clarified. "Pretty as in blond."
"You could have stopped there," Laura pointed out, turning away.
"Guys…please don't fight," Cessily said, looking distressed. The other members of their team were standing with them on the muddy school grounds, in
the cold late January weather, waiting for Summers to announce the runners up.
"It's what married couples do," Santo grinned.
"Don't remind me, please." Laura kicked the ground herself.
"She's such an asshole!" Julian said angrily.
"Ass-hole?" Sooraya asked, her arms folded tightly against her burqa.
"It means, uh, the butt-hole," Cessily said. "You know what a butt is, right?"
Santo giggled. "Can I start with the anal jokes yet?"
"No," Julian and Cessily answered in unison.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Jules," Brian said. "Not your fault they're ass-kissers."
Laura's eyes widened. "Yeah, don't be so hard on yourself…Jules."
Julian scowled, understanding just what she was getting at. "Yeah…my friends have nicknames for me… they have nicknames for you, too."
"Julian!" Cessily said. "You can't talk like that to your, uh…"
"You should hear how she talks to me," he mumbled.
It started to rain.
…
"I want to lie on my back," Laura said. "Move!" She elbowed Julian in the ribs; he sat up and rubbed the back of his head, annoyed.
Laura was just getting more and more impossible to live with, the last few days. Granted, she did now have a bit of a noticeable bulge…it
might be uncomfortable…but…
"Urf!" He fell off the edge of the bed and scrambled to his knees, pissed off. She was curled in a fetal position…diagonal on the bed, with the covers
twisted to one side. "Laura…what the hell?" he hissed.
"My back hurts," she whined.
"Well, now mine does, too," he growled, climbing back on the bed.
"Good," Laura said, sounding satisfied.
He laid back down; she yanked the pillow out from under his head and shoved it between her knees.
"LAURA!" he snapped. "Stop being such an asshole!"
"…" She inhaled through her nose sharply. He shouldn't have said anything, he really shouldn't have. He'd just given her cause to go off on him.
"THESE ARE YOURS!" she exclaimed, waving her hands around her stomach. "These—these two demon children are yours! I could do anything I fucking wanted
to you and nothing would compare!"
"Laura…shut up, okay? I don't want to fight now, I want to sleep…I have exams tom—"
Laura slapped him on the cheek, hard, and it was on, no pulled punches. When it was over they lay quietly, satisfied and too exhausted to complain further.
"Damn…they really are demons," Julian said sleepily, his arm sliding around her waist below the rounded area. She arched her back against his front and proceeded to
fall asleep…and snore, loudly. Julian didn't care, though; he pulled the covers up over her and pressed his face into her neck, happier than he'd been in days. When he
woke up the next morning, Laura laughed at him for a while because he'd developed a bad bruise on his neck.
…
"Viagra morning?" Santo asked, at breakfast. Everyone had a hard-boiled egg in a steel cup.
"Kinda," Julian said, on his second. "How'd you guess?"
"You've got a good hickey going there. She sucks like a Hoover, huh?" Santo batted his eyes at Laura, who ignored him. She didn't care much for Rockslide;
he was mostly a big dumb strong guy to her. She didn't talk back to him—she tolerated all of Julian's friends—out of respect to him, as odd as it sounded.
"Is this the part where I'm supposed to defend you?" Julian asked her.
"You can, if you want. I don't really give a damn," Laura said, chewing her pancake slowly. He reached under the table and curled his fingers around hers
affectionately. When the others were busy discussing the results of the last field day, he kissed her cheek and mouthed "I love you" in her ear. She glanced
at him quickly, sharply, but before she could retort, Santo cleared his throat.
"Dude, I'm eating. If you could, like, go in the broom closet or something to do that."
"Or you could leave," Julian responded easily.
"Would the food and the table come with me?" Santo asked.
"Santo, shut up," Cessily said, rolling her eyes.
"Laura…you look a bit pudgy, of late," Brian commented. "Should lay off the—OW!"
Cessily flicked him on the forehead, leaving a tiny mark because her fingernails were metal.
"Wow," he said, touching the wound.
"I'm sorry, Laura…they're awful," Cessily said, smiling at the other girl across the table from her. "I hate boys sometimes. I really do. Do you wanna hang out
sometime? Like…go for coffee or something?"
Laura blinked. "Umm—" she was surprised by the offer; she'd gotten the sense that Cessily didn't care for her all that much. Which made sense, since she had
been quite unenthusiastic about the team and therefore her company.
"You should," Julian said. "You need more friends here."
"Well, if the mansion's Jewel says so," Laura shrugged.
"Thanks a lot, Brian," Julian hissed. She hadn't let the nickname drop; she'd used it at every possible opportunity since hearing it…in every demeaning manner she
could think of.
"Don't get it angry," Laura advised. "It might make another Roger."
She nodded to the 'black hole', which was still in the cafeteria. Jean hadn't been able to undo the gravity knot, but she had been able to move it to the corner of the
room. A few peas and the salt and pepper particles were the only things still left in the knot; anything that got within two feet of its radius was sucked in and suspended,
unable to move. They'd roped the area off with caution tape, and Dr. McCoy performed experiments on it almost every morning. Laura had named it Roger, for no
particular reason; and the name had stuck.
"I will do no such thing," Julian said calmly, picking up his plate and getting up. He stood behind Laura for a moment, then bent down and pressed a kiss to her hair;
she continued eating.
"Wish me luck. Better yet, wish that I beat Alleyne."
"I don't believe in luck," Laura said, wrinkling her nose. "How about, if you fail, I'll disown you? I hear it's the thing to do."
"Thanks. Thanks a lot." Julian pushed the tray into the rack and left the cafeteria, his hands in his pockets.
…
"AHHH!" Everyone was slammed backwards on their behinds from the resulting explosion. Laura could feel the danger room rock on its foundations; she blew
her hair out of her face and looked up. Julian was sliding down from the metal wall, unconscious; it would have been funny to her if she hadn't distinctly have
heard the sound of his bones breaking on impact. Many bones. She fought a tightness in her throat. Laura scrambled to her feet and ran over to his limp form,
catching him as he reached the floor. She struggled to support him while keeping him as straight as possible—he was heavy.
"Emma…we need Elixir," she called to the control room. "Vaccarro, I need help! We need to lay him down."
The squad practice had been going smoothly—Julian pulling his weight, Laura supplementing his strategies, himself using his increasing power as a part of the plan,
and it all worked until he tried to focus on a small object in the danger room—a very small radius bomb that he was supposed to telekinetically disarm (Jean and
Scott having decided he was ready to move on to such practices). Somehow, he had amplified the explosion, and some other kind of reaction had occurred.
Laura glanced at the still-smoking area, and saw the same kind of strange, distorted globule as had been left in the cafeteria.
The doors hissed open, and Emma ran in. "Elixir is on his way," she said, looking concerned. Not that she didn't care equally for everyone at the school, but
Hellion was one of her favorite students. "It was very odd. He kept saying 'this is wrong' in his mind, just before it happened."
Santo helped Laura stretch their unresponsive leader out on the floor, trying not to jostle his spine, which had probably been the source of the noise.
"Stupid thing," Laura mumbled, touching his forehead as she crouched by his side and read his pulse with the other hand.
"I do not think he should be playing with bombs just now…at least till he can handle a paperclip without destroying it."
"Mmhmm," Emma said, stiffly. She, like Laura, had been opposed to the idea of Julian tinkering with bombs at this time. She had been overruled, however;
Scott had declared that the only thing that would help Hellion was practice, energy release, and pressure to do so.
The doors opened again, and Josh ran in, his eyes wide. "What's he done now?! Keller, you stupid bitch!"
"He's gone and broken most of his spine," Laura said calmly. "I distinctly heard the lumbar and thoracic vertebrae levels snap, possibly a few of the cervical vertebrae.
Whiplash. His spinal cord is severed in three places, and bruised in others. You will need to heal them, or he will be paralyzed."
Santo blinked. "You heard all that?"
"Yes," Laura said, watching as Josh dropped to his knees and touched Julian's forehead. There was a brief golden glow, then his eyes opened and he began to cough.
Blood leaked out of the sides of his mouth. "—oly fuck!" he finished the sentence he'd begun during the explosion, Laura smiled grimly.
"That was quite an event, Mr. Keller," Emma said, her arms folded. "I think you had better stick with your regular training programs for the moment. We're just lucky that
no one else was hurt."
"…" Julian closed his eyes, opened his mouth, and swore, quite elaborately as his body began to register the pain.
"I'm sorry," Elixir said. "I fixed the spinal cord, and the bones…well, best I could, not completely…but you're going to be hurting a bit tonight, buddy."
…
"Ahhhh…" Julian lay on the bed, moaning, tears of pain running down his face. Laura approached him warily with a glass of water, a few tablets in her hand.
She felt sorry for him, but didn't really know how to express it. "No body likes a pussy, Keller," she said instead.
He cracked one eye open. "Go…break your back…then talk to me...asshole."
Laura sat down on her side of the king-sized bed as softly as she could. He still hissed in pain. Laura's small standing mirror on the bureau shattered, and a
painting fell off the wall. She stared at the mirror; it had been a special gift from her mother.
"Here, can you sit up a bit?" She poked his shoulder.
"I fucking have a broken back!"
"Well, je-eez," Laura said. "Fine. I'll take your morphine then and hope it gives me a warm glowy feeling for, like, thirty seconds. If it's good stuff it will."
"…" Julian drew his eyebrows together.
"At least raise your head? You'll choke like that."
Julian frowned. "Can't."
"I could get it as a suppository," Laura said. "As scarring as that experience would be for the both of us, it would be better than sleeping with the English Patient."
"Alright, alright…give me a minute. I hate you."
"I love you, too," Laura said, meaning for it to be sarcastic; but it came out honestly, catching her by surprise. "You scared me today."
Julian opened his eyes, then reached very slowly and painfully with his hand and touched her knee. He gritted his teeth and forced his head up slightly.
Laura fed him the pills and the water, impressed that he'd stopped sniveling long enough to take them. "Lean down," he told her; she complied, and he kissed her lightly.
"Wow, that took balls," she said sarcastically, as he slowly straightened out.
"Of steel," he said, grinning slightly between facial twitches of pain. "Couldn't have the Shrimps thinking their old man is too whimpy to take his meds."
"Cheese ball," Laura said, patting his hand. "I guess you won't be satisfying me for a while, huh? Shame. I think I'm just about to hit the second trimester."
Julian had been making jokes for a while (ever since he had seized Laura's favorite pregnancy book from her hand and read aloud the summary page on the second
trimester, which included graphic descriptions of symptoms—the only positive one of which was an increased sexual drive), asking Laura constantly if she was in that
'magical phase' yet. Then he'd told her she was to inform him when this level-up occurred. He'd also asked her if it would happen like it did in a video game.
He opened his eyes. "No…you're not."
Laura nodded grimly.
"Son of a fucking bitch!" he said. "Get Elixir here. He's going to fix this, now."
She grinned. "I hope you heal quickly, Keller. Otherwise me and the Shrimps might be forced to…you know, disown you."
"Will you shut the fuck up about that," Julian said, closing his eyes again. "God, Laura, you're such an asshole."
"Eww, I think it likes me!" she said, ruffling his hair affectionately.
…
"Keller, I'm getting sick and tired of repeating every class for you. Take the fucking wheelchair and go yourself," Laura grumbled, slamming her books
down on the table.
"Do you know how many Xavier jokes I would get?" he asked, glaring at her. "I don't see why you're complaining. You need to make notes anyways,
and it's great review for you."
"Have you not noticed that I seem to be quoting Professor McCoy directly?" Laura asked after rolling her eyes. "Keller…I have phonographic and
photographic memory. I get 100% on my exams. I don't need to study outside the classes."
Julian stared at her. "Laura! I asked you to help me before, and you told me your grades were shit! You know I'm not doing well in this course."
"Oh, I know. You're the one, after all, who always tries to share grades with me," Laura grinned. "Failure. Keller, I hate it when people ask me for help…
just because I'm good, doesn't mean I can make you good. I can't make a dumb brain any smarter. Wouldn't that be a cool power though? Hey, maybe
one of the Shrimps will get it…" She sat down on the edge of the bed, ignoring his scowl.
"How much longer are you going to be lying around, you useless lump?"
"For fuck's sakes, Laura. I'm actually hurt…you could have a heart. Or is yours made of diamond, like Frost's?"
"At least I have something made of diamond," Laura snorted, flashing her makeshift ring.
"That's it. Go for a walk till I'm not mad at you anymore," he snapped. Laura laid her hand on his shoulder; he closed his eyes, suddenly less angry.
He didn't move as she ran her fingers across his bare chest, although his muscles twitched involuntarily as she touched a ticklish area on his stomach.
"How do you stay in shape, even after three weeks of being a couch potato and eating out of depression?" Laura asked softly.
"I have a high metabolism," Julian said, not opening his eyes. "And I have not been eating out of depression…it's called a 'healthy appetite'. Real men have one,
and they eat real food."
"Real men eat Peeps?"
The corners of his lips tilted up slightly. "You'd be surprised."
Laura leaned in and kissed him lightly, surprising him. She didn't initiate much; she had only begun to do it regularly, of late. He wondered if she really was getting
into that second trimester shit.
"You need a shower," Laura whispered against his lips. "You stink like rotten eggs that have hit puberty, Keller."
"Hrumpf," he said, the moment ruined for him. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Laura grinned.
…
"Why are you in Math 10?" The blue-haired girl asked Laura, pulling out the chair beside her in the otherwise empty classroom. "I thought you were all advanced and shit!"
"Keller broke his back," she answered casually. "I'm taking notes for him." She grinned at Nori's shocked and then disgusted expression.
"Ew. Are the rumors true, then? I didn't believe it…" Nori shuddered.
"Depends on what the rumors are," Laura said calmly.
"I thought it was all based on you guys coming into the cafeteria, holding hands…and figured Keller was just trying to rub his layer of slime on you," Nori continued.
"Well…the rumor going around is that you married him, but I seriously doubt that. Did you, what, give him a pity fuck or something?"
"No…I did marry him," Laura said, unzipping her pencil case like she was talking about the weather. "Should I use a pink highlighter on his notes?"
Nori slammed her math book down on the table. "WHAT?! You're kidding! You married him?! Laura, you're just a teenager! And he's a slime ball with about a million
bad qualities! For one, he's so mean to everyone. For another, he pervs on all the female professors! Didn't you hear about Frost's shirt?"
"OHMIGOD, NO!" Laura gasped. "Here, save my seat. I'm going to go divorce him, be right back."
Nori grinned, despite herself. "Seriously…Laura…really, Julian Keller? You could've…"
"Done better?" Laura suggested. Nori bobbed her head in agreement.
"Actually, I don't think I could," Laura said, her tone serious. "He's been there, for me, more than anyone else in the past half year of my life…which would have probably
driven me insane otherwise. I don't think another guy his age would have stood by me for this." She put her hand on her stomach. Nori's eyes widened. "Holy…"
"It's twins, too," Laura grinned. "It wasn't even his fault. You remember how I told you about that lab thing a while back?"
"Oh my god," Nori said. She sat down. "Laura…I'm so…"
"It's okay. I'd rather they were his than some stranger's," Laura said, drawing a big heart on the cover of Julian's notebook, then writing something in the center.
Nori leaned over and began to laugh. "He'll love that," she said.
"Mhmm. I'm actually excited about the Shrimps. I was initially against them…I felt really violated…but we talked it over…and little by little they've grown on me. Or in me, I guess.
Here, help me decorate this."
"With pleasure," Nori said. "Wait…I have glitter pens…"
Laura's eyes gleamed.
The door opened, and the boy who had helped Laura home that time Julian had been shot walked in. Alleyne, she recalled. She'd already done the detail recording, subconsciously,
the first time she'd met him, so she only observed his behavior. He seemed serious, no-nonsense, but not overly geeky.
"David," Nori greeted him, grinning and fluttering her eyes at him. Laura detected hormones, increased heart and ventilation rate, and rolled her eyes. Teenagers.
"Hi, Alleyne," Laura said. "I'm filling in for Keller today. What does he normally do? I wouldn't want to deprive the class."
Alleyne blinked.
"Let's see…he usually makes mean comments to David…he tries to be a smart ass…he messes around with his telekinesis, draws things on the chalkboard, and the few times
we had a female sub teacher—"
"I see," Laura said. "Well…I guess it's time for me to do a bit of damage control." She grinned evilly. "Gather 'round…this may be the one chance you get to hear everything
embarrassing that Keller does in his sleep…"
…
"LAURA!!!" Julian roared a week later, banging the door open. He was halfway through recovery, and leaning heavily on crutches with each step.
"Hello, Jules, darling," Laura said, blinking innocently at him from her study table. Her elbows were resting on her open Biology textbook.
With a shaking hand, Julian lifted his books, leaning on one crutch. Big hearts—in glitter—were drawn all over the covers, with the words 'I love David Alleyne' and
'Julian Keller + David Alleyne 4ever', along with a few nasty limericks.
"That's not all," he snarled. "My classmates had some…interesting…stories about me sleeping…that took place from your point of view!"
"Mmm, really?" Laura flipped a page calmly. "Must be a psychic amongst them."
"You fucking wet asshole!"
"There are children present, Keller," Laura said sternly.
"GOD!" Julian slammed the door and threw his crutch down, hobbling to the bed. "You suck, Laura, you really, really, really suck. I wasn't in the mood for this! Why
the hell would you tell Ashida and Alleyne that I get the beer farts?! And that I'm lactose intolerant?!"
Laura grinned. "I wasn't lying."
Julian sat down and put his head in his hands. "You were so. They made it sound like I had some sort of major gastric problem!"
"I may have elaborated a little," Laura said. "It's hard for me to tell. I can smell a fart before it comes out, you know."
"Ashida called it an atomic explosion! And she said I drooled like an old toothless man in a nursing home!"
"Okay, so maybe I elaborated a lot," Laura said. "Still, there was this one time were I thought you made a crack in the wall…"
"God. To think, I could have had Sofia…and I gave her up for you! Even Sophie would have been better. Even Noel!"
Laura raised her eyebrows. "You're welcome to call it quits, if that's what you want. I'm not about to beg after you."
Julian raised his head. "No. As angry as I am…and believe me, I'm pretty pissed off at you right now…I still love you. It's pretty fucked up, but I admire your nerve. It's
what attracted me to you in the first place. But if you ever, ever quote me on that…" he pointed his finger at her.
Laura grinned again, and he knew he'd made a mistake that would come back to haunt him.
"I also didn't appreciate you sharing my nicknames with them," he ground out. "Ashida led the balls jokes for the whole fricken three hour class. She even had Alleyne going."
"I like Nori," Laura smiled. "She carries out my dirty work for me…like a minion."
Julian scowled. "I'm going for a shower." He struggled to stand up, then limped to the bathroom without his crutches, his shoulders hunched in anger.
Laura stared at her textbook for a second, then got up and followed him silently. She slipped in when his back was turned; and somehow he did not see her as he closed the door
(possibly due to the fact that he had to turn his whole body to look at things.
"AHHHH!" he yelled when he turned back—to find Laura standing in front of him. He almost lost his delicate balance, letting go of the counter for a moment in his surprise.
"Jesus Christ! You bitch!"
"Did you just call Jesus a bitch?" Laura asked.
"Shut up. I'm still just as mad at you as I was a few moments ago in the bedroom. Nothing has changed between now and then."
Laura bit her lip, then stepped forward and pressed her cheek to his chest. Julian froze, then wrapped his arms around her—unable, as always—to refuse Laura's small gestures
of affection. They were different than any sexual advances she made. She was good at those—very good—but she was almost shy about displaying affection of any kind, be it
kissing, or hugging, or cuddling. Inexperienced. It was another intriguing thing about her, and it always made the approaches she did make all the more special.
"Still mad?" she asked a few minutes later. He opened his eyes, his mind had drifted off, his nose in her hair, examining the different scents. Laura used unscented shampoo, so all
the smells were her own. They were quite pleasant; on a scientific level, Laura's healing factor killed all unnecessary, odor-causing bacteria; on a more emotional level, he didn't
need to explain it, just enjoy it.
"Not really," he mumbled. "Shower?"
"Okay," Laura said, her fingers reaching for his shirt hem. She rolled it off his torso and shoulders, then pulled it over his head and tossed it at the hamper in the corner. He leaned his
behind against the counter, to have two hands free, and reached between her breasts for the laces holding her corset-style top closed. She looked a bit fuller than before…and suddenly
he couldn't move fast enough.