A/N: this is my take on Toad from his POV. It's a little angsty, but
not really as much as Pietro's rant (can you tell who's my favorite?) this
includes references to drugs, and some swearing (you should know all of these
would include swearing!) so be AWARE!!! (whahahahah!!!)
Anyway, enjoy! And R&R!!!
Seeing the obvious
I'm the perceptive one. I'm always the one who gets to see what happens and I'm the one who gets to clean up the mess, keep us together.
It's like everyone else is wearing glasses, cracked glasses that only see the things that can't be ignored, not that people don't try to.
We live in a house that's barely standing…actually, we live in a house that's standing, but the roof leaks, the floor creaks, and the kitchen sink reeks. (People think I'm bad with English, people don't know who I am!) Living like I do, with three other guys and no adults in sight, my 'power of perceptiveness' gets used a lot, it also gets battered and dragged and sat on by Freddy, but it's still good for use the next day.
When Pietro and Lance fight, I'm the one who knows why they're still there the next day, when Freddy comes home looking glum, I'm the one who tries to talk to him. Mind you, I'm not the one who really gives The Talk, nnnooo…that's Lance, who's acting all Big Brother Jo for us because he's the one who has to 'take care' of us. Talking to people who feel like shit (more then usual anyway) is just part of the bargain.
I'm the one who sees things first, though.
Once, a little after Mystique left, we started having problems, (I'm talking before Pietro got that job) not only money problems, but just problems, Freddy got laughed at more and more and started dropping his grades and stuff because he was too angry to care, Lance got overworked, I got bullied to death, Pietro gave up on us all and went on drugs.
Quicky was the worse though, he went on crack, the stuff didn't really kill him, since things went through him in seconds, but it slowed him down, weighted him, made him different, not Pietro any more.
No one noticed until a few weeks after he started, Lance was sleeping on his feet, Fred was always studying and trying to keep himself in school, I was always licking my wounds from the day. Pietro seemed fine, so I figured that he could take care of himself and ignored him. (I'm still suffering over that, never ignore your friends!!) That went on, until Quicky started having nightmares and skipped school and such.
Lance noticed, a little after I did, but he noticed and started trying to find out. By the time he stared trying to talk to Pietro, the guy was a wreck, moving slower and slower until even the X freaks noticed.
I knew something was wrong, and I tried to talk to him, we talked and talked and he almost started telling me what was wrong…Pietro mentioned that his foster parents always gave up on him. That's how I figured it out. (was kinda proud of myself too, Lance is Quicky's best friend and he was still in the dark…)
Everyone tried to talk to him, even the X freaks…Summers, the fuzzy freak show, even Rogue, who managed to drag something out of him but refused to talk about it, even after Lance attacked her after school, dragged her up against the lockers and said he'd throw her into a lake and weight her down if she didn't tell him.
She didn't.
I think I understand now, why she shut up and left…She trusted Pietro to do the right thing…which is a lot more then I've ever associated with the traitor, but I guess she's not really that bad.
She really trusted Pietro, to the point of making sure that he would have all the time he needed to come to terms and tell us, which he didn't, but that's besides the point. (I knew any way, so I think it's beside the point)
Eventually, I found the drugs, I told Lance, Lance got him help, they talked, Pietro got off the stuff. He still sleeps in Lance's room, just in case things go down hill.
The thing is, I understood, I understood why Pietro did it, why Rogue wouldn't tell, why Lance was freaked out and going crazy…I understood why Freddy was worried but didn't show it, I understood why the X jerks were scared (well, maybe not that much, but freaked? Yeah.)
It's like I can see all the things that people miss, small things, that Lance doesn't have time to think about, the Pietro simply misses because he's trying to ignore details, concentrate on the large, good things. Things that Freddy can't see. I know it.
I also understand why Lance is trying to keep us safe, why he needs us, as much as that shouldn't be associated with Lance Avlers, I understand why he needs a family.
Something to protect. Some one to keep.
Someone like Pietro, and Freddy, and maybe me.
The thing with the drugs? It scared me, I never really thought that I could loose the Brotherhood…that I'd care much if I did…But seeing Pietro almost kill himself with substance abuse scared me so much that I was afraid to let him go. I was afraid that maybe they would leave me, that I'd be alone again.
I used to listen at night, just to hear them breathing, so I'd know they're there.
It scared Lance too. Some of us couldn't tell, the X freaks couldn't…except Rogue, who talked to him for about two minutes and then left, shaking her head.
I could tell, he was freaked out too, scared that Pietro would die and it would be his fault.
That's why he got Pietro to sleep in his room I guess, to make sure that he'd be in reach in case he happened to have a seizure and die.
Freddy tried to tell everyone that he was stupid and didn't understand, or didn't care. But he did, he was trying to keep himself away from people so that they wouldn't hurt him, the way it hurts when someone who knows you betrays you. His policy seems to be "If they don't know you, all they can do is laugh." (I think it's a good idea, maybe a bit extreme, but then, people like us need it.)
Ever since, we've been a family. A real, growing (maybe not literally, but yeah), needing family. Which is more then any of us have had in a long time.
I think that it would break us if Pietro had died. I think that I would have cried myself to death if I knew that Pietro Maximoff was never going to race into my room (and my life in general) again. I think Lance would kill himself.
I think that even without Rogue as our "older sister" we're still the best damn family on earth.
I'm the perceptive one, I'm the one who sees things the others miss, I'm the one who tries to help, and I'm the one who still listens, in the middle of the night, to the sound of my family breathing.
I think I'm seeing the obvious, and Lance thinks he's saying the obvious, and Freddy thinks he's doing the obvious, and Pietro knows we're all right.
I think I need the guys more then I need air, but maybe that's just me.
The End
A/N: ok, so that's Todd's rant, which turned out almost as good as Pietro's. Please R&R as much as possible, hints and criticism on both structure and content is welcome (and needed). I hope you guys like this one, and if so, please tell me which character should be next in line? Rogue? Scott? Kurt (I am NOT going to do a kurtty, you've got plenty of those elsewhere, neither will I do a Scott/Jean, because they're the obvious couple. Please don't ask for those. Any other couples slash or otherwise, are welcome!) I think about doing an Evan next, or maybe Fred. (Just for My sake, there will be no Storm or Wolverine rants, I'm doing this based solely on knowledge from fics posted on FF.net, and there isn't enough material to cover those characters.)
Please R&R/C&C/whatever, I really need advice.