Disc-I DON'T OWN THEM!
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"What did you and Nick talk about?" Jean and Rita walked into the parlor the next day, sitting on the rug near the chair Ororo was sitting in.
"If you two had stayed, maybe you would know." Ororo said, reading Wuthering Heights again.
"It was good we left, I'm sure Nick would rather talk to you alone, he's new here, he doesn't need tons of people standing in the background." Rita looked at Ororo, watching her read the book.
"Somehow I doubt Nick would mind having three women around." Ororo's eyes never left her book as she talked.
"What went wrong? You two seem great together." Jean looked down at the Persian rug she was sitting on, one of the things Charles collects.
"He doesn't want to be here, he doesn't want to be a mutant, he just wants to be normal, he said it himself." Ororo turned the page of her book.
"Who does want to be a mutant? I love the powers and all, but it's not cool being shunned, or seeing your children shunned." Rita said.
"Though, Ororo has a point, he should accept who he is, even if it does make him different." Jean stated.
"'Ro, don't listen to Jean, she's not herself right now." Rita glared at Jean.
"Talking about Nick?" Charles wheeled into the room, looking at the three women.
"Yes Charles, and frankly I don't know why we're talking about him anyway." Ororo finally looked up from her book to look at Charles.
"Charles, please tell Ororo that Nick is great for her." Rita looked at Charles as well.
"I believe it's safer not to get in the middle of this." Charles exclaimed as he left the room.
"At least talk to him some more Ororo, maybe you misunderstood something." Jean stood up and smiled to Ororo before leaving the room.
"She's right 'Ro, make him feel at home." Rita put a hand on Ororo's shoulder, leaving the room as well.
Ororo watched everyone leave before going back to her book.
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Nick sat on the dock that night, looking out over the dark water. "Nick?" Rita walked up behind him, it was midnight and she couldn't sleep.
"Yeah?"
"It's midnight, what are you doing out here?"
"Just sitting here, your Rita right?" Nick looked at her as she sat down next to him, putting her feet in the water.
"Yes, I'm Rita. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"What happened with you and Ororo before?"
"Simple, she accepts herself and thinks I don't."
"Do you mind being a mutant?"
"Can't say I love it, but there's nothing I can do about it."
"I know we just met, but, do you like Ororo?"
"Yeah, I do, she's beautiful, and intelligent."
"Then show her that."
"I cant, our views on humans are too different."
"What are your views?"
"That humans and mutants can never co-exist peacefully, at least not for a very long time."
"You sound like someone I used to work for."
"Who was that?"
"His name is Magneto, our enemy, he believes that mutants should rise up and control humans. My daughter is working for him and is now the leader of the Alcolytes, his team."
"Our enemy? Everyone who lives here is his enemy?"
"Yeah, everyone living here is an X-Men in some sense, the adults are all X-Men, my son and daughter, Shawn and Marie, are close to becoming X-Men, same with Tyler, and Becky will be a new recruit."
"I see."
"Honestly, my views on humans are the same as yours, I don't think they will ever come together, but I still fight with the good guys, and Ororo is still my good friend. As a teenager I was tormented because I was different, and I will never forgive humans for that, ever, but Ororo sees past that, she's a very understanding person."
"She seems that way, but I don't know how to make her happy."
"Stop wearing this." Rita tugged at his trench coat.
"I don't want to scare someone."
"Believe me, you wont scare anyone, we have two people with wings and two blue dudes walking around, you'll seem normal, plus there's Logan scissor hands."
"Logan?"
"Yes, the guy you saw with the 9 inch claws when you met the Professor."
Nick laughed slightly. "Is he dangerous?"
"That's like asking if a dog has teeth, it's always a yes." Rita smiled as Nick looked at her.
"Nice smile, so I'm guessing your with him?"
"Yes, and how'd you know I was smiling? It's like pitch black out here."
"Dragon eyes, I can see in the dark."
"How long have you had your mutation?"
"As long as I can remember."
"But your young, you cant be more then 25."
"Actually, I'm 374." Rita's jaw dropped when she heard his age.
"You don't age?"
"Yeah, I age, I age one year for every 17 years, making my appearance 22."
"Wow, and I thought my husband was old."
"He seems young too."
"Yeah he does, but no one knows how old he is, not even himself." Rita looked down at her watch as she pressed the light button. "It's 1:24, wanna come back to the institute with me?" Rita took her feet out of the water and stood up.
"Sure." Nick stood up as well, walking back to the institute with Rita, the way he did with Ororo.
(A/N: Ok, now that we got the bonding thing done, lets go back to the good stuff.)
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Lynx walked down to the common room, which consisted of a few couches and a TV, which St. John and Piotr watching. "Are you two watching TV again?" Lynx asked, sitting on the first couch she found.
"Yes." The boys said in unison.
"What's so good about it?" Lynx asked.
"We never get it on Asteroid M. but now that Magneto has moved us down to his secret hideout in Westchester, we can watch it again." Piotr responded as he stood up and walked over to the couch Lynx was on, sitting next to her.
"It's so amusing I'm sure." Lynx sighed.
"Sorry you cant watch it Sheila, we'll bring you down here once you get your sight back, promise." St. John said.
"No, I'll bring her." Piotr look at St. John
"I get it mate." St. John winked at Piotr.
"I swear, if one of you just did that winking thing guys do, I'll kill you right here and now." Lynx growled.
"It was St. John." Piotr laughed as Lynx jumped up running towards St. John's scent, only to trip over a coffee table in the middle of the room and be caught by Piotr before she hit the floor. "You need to be more careful."
"I'm fine." Lynx said.
"I doubt that." Victor walked into the room and growled at Piotr since Piotr's arm was still around Lynx, from catching her.
"Shut up!" Lynx yelled at Victor as he walked over to Piotr.
"Let her go, now." Victor growled before grabbing Piotr's shirt collar.
"Fine by me comrade." Piotr gently put Lynx down before putting up his armor and turning around, punching Victor in the face and sending him back into the wall.
"Ugh." Victor moaned, wobbling on his feet before stepping away from the wall, revealing a dent in the metal wall.
"What is going on around here?" Magneto stepped into the room, raising a hand to the wall as the dent bent back to the way it should be, straight.
Victor walked out of the room, mumbling something about 'stupid kids'.
"What exactly went on here?" Magneto asked again.
"Lynx came down and got mad at St. John, like usual and she went to kill him but she tripped over the table in the middle of the room, I caught her and that's when kitty kat came in and yelled at me."
"And you hit him?" Magneto sat on one of the nicely upholstered couches.
"Yeah, he got him good." St. John laughed.
"Maybe you should work on hitting the X-Men and not your own teammates." With that Magneto left the room.
"I still think it was cool." Piotr glared at St. John as he shut up.
"Are you two done acting like teenagers?" Lynx stood up, and walked to the kitchen, keeping a hand on the wall.
"Here." Piotr followed Lynx into the kitchen as he opened a cabinet and handed her a bag of chips as she sat on the counter.
"Do you have anything else besides junk food?" Lynx asked as Piotr looked through the fridge.
"Nope, just junk food, why?"
"It's never in the middle, it's all junk food here, or it's all healthy food at the institute."
"You wanna go back there?"
"Not even if hell froze over." Lynx said, eating a few chips as Piotr leaned against the counter next to her.
"Good."
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Rita walked around the institute the next day, it was finally looking better, all but one room on the second floor was complete and then they could start on the third floor. "You work fast around here." Nick walked up beside Rita.
"Yeah, well, we build the way mutants were meant to build, cool and fast." Rita said as a gust of wind went by her. "Pietro?"
"That's-my-name." Nick watched a silver-haired man almost appear out of no where in front of Rita.
"What are you doing here?" Rita asked as she hugged him.
"I'm-not-allowed-here-anymore?"
"Well, considering who your father is, no, not really."
"You-hurt-me-Rita."
"Sorry Pietro, but that's the way it goes."
"I-got-bored-and-Wanda's-in-a-bad-mood-today-so-I'm-staying-away-from-her."
"Good choice, it may help you live longer." Rita joked as Logan came up behind Pietro.
"What are you doing here?" Logan growled as he grabbed for Pietro, only to grab air.
"Sorry-too-slow." Pietro taunted from behind Logan.
"Pietro! Logan! Stop it both of you, I don't want to hear your stupid fighting." Rita yelled at the two as Logan backed down, walking away and grumbling something no one could understand. "Anyway, can you tell me anything about Lynx?" Rita turned her full attention back to Pietro.
"Nope-cant-except-that-she-kicked-Mystique-out-off-the-team."
"How do you know that?"
"Mystique-came-looking-for-me-and-Wanda-after-being-forced-off-Lynx's-team."
"Lynx's team?"
"Yeah-Lynx-is-now-leading-the-Alcolytes."
"You learn something new everyday."
By the time their conversation was over, Nick's head was spinning from trying to understand what 'Pietro' was saying. "I-just-stopped-to-say-hi-now-I-need-to-go." And as fast as he appeared he was gone.
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"Where is Pietro? He should be here by now." Magneto pace the length of the common room as Victor, Piotr, St. John, and Lynx sat on the couches. "He's never late, he can ran faster then the speed of light." Magneto talked mainly to himself as Pietro ran in and stopped in the doorframe of the common room.
"Sorry-I'm-late." Pietro smiled as everyone's jaw dropped.