Disclaimer: Yes, that's right, I don't own X-men
Evolution. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this disclaimer, right? Leo,
however, is mine.
Enjoy. And please review.
Rogue dropped into a seat at the dining room table. Kurt sat down next to her. I considered sitting on her other side, but Logan sat down on the other side of the table right then, so I dropped into a seat next to him. He looked vaguely startled, but then relaxed.
Kitty came in a few seconds later, glanced around the table, and put her hand on the empty seat next to Kurt.
"Like, can I sit here?"
Kurt looked surprised. "Vhy not?" He shot a smug look at me, and I glared at him.
Rogue flagged down Scott and began murmuring to him quickly. Scott threw a surprised look in my and then Kurt's direction, then went back to listening to Rogue.
After a while, everyone was seated at the table, and Professor Xavier started the conversation.
"Have you been thinking about a code name yet, Leo?"
I jerked in my seat. "I'm sorry?"
"Most of us have code names for when we're training or fighting," Scott explained.
"Oh, well, I don't know. I have the ability to create fire, so… Pyro, maybe?"
"Zat's not very original." Kurt said. Subtle jerk, you had to be looking for it to tell that he was mocking me.
Two could play that game.
"Oh, really. Have any suggestions?"
"Vell, you look like a 'Tiger Eye'.
"No thank you! I've been mocked all my life for being cat-like. I'll stick with fire."
Rogue was elbowing Scott, who looked shocked.
The professor tried again. "Well, Leo, we are trying to get you enrolled in the local high school. Do you know what grade you might be in?"
"I'm sixteen. A sophomore."
"Oh really. Kurt is also a sophomore."
Scott and Rogue started making signs of no, stop, and so on. I ignored them.
"That's just great. Good to know I'll have friend in my classes, maybe." Rogue, Kurt, Scott, and, to my surprise, Logan, were the only ones who caught the sarcasm. Logan was looking from me to Kurt and back, wondering what was going on.
Conversation had already pretty much dried up, and for a few minutes, we ate in silence. Logan suddenly chimed in with, "So, given any thought to my suggestion earlier?"
I gave him my half-smirk. "What's to think about? It makes too much sense to ignore. The only questions are, where do I get the part, when, and how."
"What are ya guys talkin' about?" Rogue chimed in.
"Junior here…" Logan pointed at me, "has been building a bike from the ground up for the last two years."
"Really?" asked Jean, sounding impressed.
"Well, yeah."
Rogue leaned across the table. "What type of bike is it?"
"It's a Harley and a Yamaha. I call it the Harlaha."
Kurt laughed. "Vhat kind of a name is zat?"
I started to reply angrily, but then realized that the whole point of this topic was that I'd be talking about something I cared about and wouldn't insult Kurt, and Kurt would see that everyone was impressed, and not insult me. Obviously, Logan was better at this than I thought. For some reason, I decided to let him have his way.
"Actually, a friend thought it up." I said peaceably.
"You built the entire thing?!" Kitty said while sounding impressed.
"Yeah." I took a bite of my dinner.
Kitty grinned. "I like a guy who can work with his hands."
I promptly choked and started coughing. Logan hit me on the back a few times.
Luckily, Logan's suggestion set off everyone and we were all making small talk for the rest of the meal. Well, all except Logan. Once we were all talking, he quickly dropped out of the conversation, and nobody's attempts to pull him back in were working.
"I still don't understand why you two remind me of one another so much," Scott told me.
"I still don't understand why you don't just drop it. It's all in your head," I replied.
"Yeah, well, maybe the fur-no fur thing makes sense, but why do you and Logan look so much alike?"
"Simple. We do share some qualities, like eyes and chin. And your subconscious is rationalizing noticing that I looked familiar earlier."
Scott looked surprised. "How do you know all this stuff?"
"The woman who home schooled me was a retired psychiatrist. I also got my extensive vocabulary from her."
"Extensive?"
"Okay, that was on purpose." I admitted.
"Hey," Kitty said, "what do you look like with your hologram on?"
I flipped on my "watch" quickly. Kitty's eyes bulged.
"Wow! I didn't think you'd be like so totally cute."
I fell out of my chair. It wasn't that I wasn't enjoying it, but too many more compliments from this girl would be the end for me. Once I had regained my position in my chair, I shot a smug look at Kurt.
Kitty, meanwhile, had gotten Rogue's and Jean's attention. She asked them "Don't you think Leo looks cute?"
Jean was startled. "I- I guess so."
Rogue quickly said, "Ah like him with the fur." Then she blushed.
Me being an idiot, I didn't know why. "Thanks, Rogue." And I smiled at her.
She blushed hotly and asked to be excused.
After that, I got into a lengthy discussion about school with Evan and Jean, and finally decided to call it a night. I hadn't had a chance to rest after the Danger Room, and I was exhausted.
Not that it mattered.
Time on the streets had trained me to fall asleep at two a.m. and waking up at six. One night in a nice house was not going to change that.
So, once I had gotten bored of staring at the ceiling, at around eleven-thirty, I decided to go around the house, and see how well I had learned the general layout.
I had managed to find everything and was heading upstairs to try to get some sleep (fat chance, it was still one in the morning), when I heard a soft yell coming from the left hall.
I quickly headed toward the room that I thought the yell had come from. Opening the door, I saw Rogue, sitting on the side of her bed, crying.
Needless to say, I was a little startled. But I quickly stepped forward, grabbed a blanket, and threw it over Rogue's shoulders. Then I hugged her, letting her sob into my chest.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
"It was horrible," she hiccupped.
"Tell me about it." I said, trying to sound soothing.
Rogue sniffed. "Ah… Ah don't know if Ah can.
"Just try. If you can't, then I'll understand."
She nodded into my chest. I felt it, rather than saw it.
"When Ah touch someone, Ah don't just steal their powers. Ah also steal their thoughts. Ah'm in my head, sorta, and I have all these thoughts bouncin' around, like ah've touched a lot of people."
She looked up at me. I nodded. "Go on, if you can."
"Ah just feel so shut out, like Ah can't think or nothin'. And then, Ah... loose myself. Ah die."
I felt cold. I hate death dreams.
Suddenly, Rogue pulled away from me. "Ya must think Ah'm such a wimp, Leo."
"Because you had a nightmare?"
"No, because Ah cried." She looked ashamed, which annoyed me.
"Look, Rogue, everyone cries because of nightmares."
"Oh, really? Have ya ever cried because of a nightmare?"
"Actually, I have."
She looked shocked. "Ya have?"
"Yeah. Building the Harlaha was actually not my idea. It was a friend's."
Now she was the one to prompt me. "Go on."
"This friend was an orphan, like me, but for different reasons. He didn't care if someone was a mutant or not. He was a good guy. We were both fourteen, and we became friends."
I paused to take a breath. Talking about him was hell.
"He was the one with the dream to build a motorcycle from two old wrecks he'd found. I was the one who didn't believe anything would change when we got out of Seattle. The realistic one."
"Anyway, he had set up some things in an abandoned garage not far from where we stayed. He was going to the garage to do the first actual work on the bike, when he ran into the Darks, a street gang in the area."
"One of the gang recognized him as a friend of mine. And this was a very anti-mutant gang. They asked him if it was true, and he didn't deny it. So they shot him. In cold blood. I had nightmares for a full year. I kept on working on the bike, though. That was his dream, and I knew that as long as that bike was being worked on, he would still kind of have a place somewhere."
Rogue looked shaken. Without speaking, she wrapped her arms around me. We sat there, holding one another, until we fell asleep.