The morning dawned wan and chill, because it was, after all, a morning in the fall-end-slipping-into-winter. Wan and chill was only appropriate. Lance slouched on an armchair (old, polyester, and falling apart) across from the window and watched the frost glisten on the glass with odd wistfulness. He considered just watching that all morning and letting school and sick mutants move on as they would without him, until they sorted themselves out. Any other course required effort -- and work was just not Lance's thing.
It was with great reluctance that he stretched, grunted, and got up. He stumbled up the stairs with numb feet, clinging to the bannister because it was easier. Why do the bedrooms have to be upstairs? Finally, he reached Kurt's room and zombied inside. Kurt was sprawled out on the bed, snoring. Lance considered taking the day off. Hey, why not? Taking care of an invalid is totally a reason for missin' school.
Bedsprings from the opposite room creaked in terror as Freddy let out a bellowing yawn. Lance whipped out of Kurt's room, hissing a warning to keep it down. Freddy sat up and blinked at him blearily.
"Wha?"
"Kurt's still snoozin'."
"Oh." Freddy collapsed on his bed and resumed his personal brand of snoozing. Lance shrugged, half decided on catching up on sleep himself when the doorbell rang.
"Ggggggrrrrhhhgh," Lance growled as he clambered down the stairs and pulled open the door, expecting the dude on the doorstop to be a Principal Kelly predicting truancy . . . but it was just Toad.
"Augh, whatsit. To-o-o-oad, you could've just walked in . . . eh . . . "
Toad never classified as . . . clean, but he usually wasn't blatantly filthy. His clothes were caked with something grey and sticky speckled with thick white. He was missing one of his goth bracelet things and one knee-out had ripped to include most of his lower leg.
" . . . you're a mess."
Toad nodded and slipped in under Lance's arm. "Called spendin' the night in a dumpster, yo," he muttered as Lance slowly turned to face him.
"What did the dumpster have in it that you wanted so badly?" Lance asked, deliberately not understanding.
"It's not what was in the dumpster, it's what was hangin' around outside it. It's all wicked-cool to spy on gangs an' all, but gangs got knives and they ain't as slow as you claimed."
"Sorry . . . . I mean, you weren't 'urt or nothin'?"
"Nah. But I didn't learn anything either."
"They didn't say anythin' about mutants?"
Toad scratched the front of his scalp. "No. Until I showed up, no. They're just punks. Nothing else."
"Sure there weren't any obvious ties between them and the 'ospital?"
"Yeah. Bob's gang is just a . . . " Toad was either tired or exasperated. "Gang, y'know? Maybe Kurt's just sick. I don' think they did anything to him. I mean, has he said anything to suggest . . . ?"
"Ah, he's been out. Hasn't said a thing." Lance glanced warily up the stairs. "He's just slept and . . . yeah, slept."
Toad shrugged. "Oh. Pietro's back in town."
"Eh? How's that?"
"Pretty sure I heard his voice when I was in the dumpster."
"Whadd'he say?"
Toad repeated it. Lance, who was not prone to blushing, colored a little and whistled. "Think 'e was mad, then?"
"Man, I probably dreamed it."
"You'd think 'e'd come back 'ere if 'e were back in town."
"Euh, I dunno. Pietro's kinda wired funny. And he was pretty ticked off, if that was him I heard. So . . . maybe he's tryin' to cool off or something like that."
"Hmmm. Maybe 'e's wit' the 'ospital?'
Toad stared at him.
"I weren't serious. But, Toad, they did 'ave Kurt in a vault, see . . . "
"What if he has malaria or some new and really contagious disease?" Toad spread his hands for effect. "We don't know. They might not even think he's a mutant, think of that? I mean, I walk around as me and my eyes are just as yellow (okay, yellow-green) as his and I hop. Maybe we're jumpin' the gun."
"He was in a vault," Lance pressed stubbornly.
"AAAAAAAAUGH! AAAAAUGH! WHERE'S THE . . . (german) (german) TYLENOL?!! AAAAUGH!"
"And now he's awake," Toad sighed. "I don't know about this . . . "
Lance was already up the stairs. Toad sighed again and leaned against the bannister, waiting for something to happen.