"That tiny room at the beach was absolutely the perfect place for my first time. When we came together, I could feel the hairs growing on my chest. I saw my future. I saw my past. For a few minutes it was like being alive. They lived happily ever after. All my questions had been answered. All my fears disappeared. All that was left was a kiss. Every move we made was a kiss."
---originally from 'Boards Of Canada - Sixtyniner'
The next morning, Todd woke up and slid out of his bed with a sleepy smile. He reached up and touched the wad of gauze in his nose and remembered the night before. For a moment he wondered what would happen to him when everyone else figured out what had happened between Tabitha and him. He could still hear her voice wishing him goodnight and telling him that Logan, smelling his scent on her, had gone somewhat ballistic and threatened to give her and the rest 5 hours of Danger Room sessions as punishment. He also noted that Logan had told him, through Tabitha that he was to come to the X-Mansion for a 'talk'.
Rising out of his bed, he wondered if this was, in fact, going to be the last day of his life as he knew it. Tabitha's scent lingered with him like a fog and he liked her a lot...a lot more then he wanted to admit. But he also knew that John hated both he and Tabitha, that Kurt was far more angry then he appeared to be and that Wanda was showing emotions he didn't know she had had for him. The last thought in this particular string worried Todd as he had seen Wanda look almost everything in the emotional spectrum but never jealous. Never. He shook off the mounting fear in his mind and decided to get his meeting with Logan over with as soon as possible. He went to the bathroom and took a long shower, deciding on a late afternoon meeting between him and Logan.
"Oh, calm down Badger. He'll be here. He just called me to say so," Tabitha said as she calmly sat in a chair in one of the side studies of the mansion. She watched as Logan paced about the room, concentrating on a small patch of area in front of a window. The sunlight showed off the full profile of the short but intimidating father figure of the mansion and he had a single claw extended on each hand to show how angry he was. "Besides, it's no big deal. We just had sex."
"No big deal?! No big deal???!! With him, you did that??!" Logan growled with a venomous tone. He turned and looked at Tabitha with a surprisingly caring look on his face, despite his excessive anger. "You could do so much better them him, Tabitha."
"No, I can't. And that's the point. He's the one I want right now and maybe for good."
"But why him?? He doesn't shower, he's slime, and he's a hoodlum..."
"And he knows what it's like to be hurt by someone he might have loved." Tabitha let her voice drop a little as she spoke. "Todd is someone I figured could fill the hole inside of me. He did and he does. I think about him so much because I've finally found someone who gets what I feel. I'm not giving him up without a fight. He's a hood like me and I like him for that."
"I still don't like it. I don't like him and I don't like this at all." Logan harrumphed and turned to the window again as he heard a small click and the door hinges creak as Todd stepped into the room. He turned around partially after a few moments to find that Tabitha had gone to the divan on the other side of the room and was now sitting with her head on Todd's shoulder, her hands wrapped gently around his tummy. "You know why I called you here, Frog-boy?"
"I think I have an idea, yo," Todd answered, his face still somewhat swollen from taking John's punch. He involuntarily rubbed at his cheek for a moment and then continued to caress his new lover with his hands idly. "I also get the feeling that you don't like me being involved with Tabitha."
"Frankly, frog-boy, I hate the idea that you weaseled your way into Tabitha's pants but what's done is done. What I want to know is what you're going to do now that you've done all this," Logan said in a stern tone. Todd slid out of Tabitha's grasp and kissed her on the cheek softly to let her know all was well. He then sat up straight and tall, for him anyway, and looked Logan dead in the eye with a very serious expression on his face.
"I'm going to be Tabitha's man. That's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to let you, Professor Xavier or anyone else say what I can and cannot do here because only one person's opinion matters." Todd looked over at Tabitha who smiled and pressed a kiss into her hand then pressed the hand onto Todd's cheek. He smiled back and looked at Logan with a hard look on his face. "I've waited this long for someone to take a chance on me and I'm not letting go. I can't let go."
"...Even if I said if I'd personally beat the bad out of you if you didn't stop seeing Tabitha?" Logan asked, his claws extending fully now, glinting in the sunlight. Tabitha rose to yell something but Todd pulled her back down and shushed her with a fingertip on the lips.
"Even if you killed me, I wouldn't. I want what I want and I want who I want. Tabitha is who and what I want and I'm going to get what I want for once. I just don't care about anyone else except me and her. So your threats mean nothing to me. You want to hurt me, yo? Do your worst. The swelling in my face is from John punching me last night for being with Tabitha. I've been beaten and hurt all my life so it doesn't faze me anymore. Want to hurt me for this, Wolverine? Want to kill me for defiling an X-Man? Step right up. I just don't care anymore. I'm no longer afraid to die because I'm already dead inside, except for Tabitha." Todd spoke with a voice both incredibly impassioned and incredibly dead neutral. His eyes shone with unshed tears but his expression was of someone fully ready to die for what they believed in. He looked like he had already accepted his fate and was now just trying to make the best of what he could. Logan saw all this and for a moment flashed back to other moments in his life when he was at the place where he saw Todd now. Tabitha looked at Todd with equal parts wonder, fear and desire as she heard Todd speak his true feelings. "Tabitha gave me something to fight for again and I'm not letting go. So you can take your threats and kiss off, yo."
"I'm not threatening you, bub. I'm just trying to figure out what this is all about," Logan replied slowly, his mind beginning to dial back his anger as he recognized the extreme nature of Todd's words. "Tabitha is one of us and you've fought us in the past."
"But the past is just that; the past. I'm not a Brotherhood member exclusively anymore. I'm not even a mutant exclusively anymore. All I can be is me and all I can do is start again. I want Tabitha to be a part of my life," Todd replied, squeezing Tabitha's hand softly. Logan grunted and turned back to the window to look out.
"Get out," Logan growled after a few moments more thought.
"What?!" Tabitha exclaimed, her mind trying to follow everything that had just gone down.
"Todd, get up and go off with Tabitha. If I hear you've hurt her I'll kill you where you stand but if you haven't, I'll let it go. Just watch yourself, bub. And get out." Both teens nodded, grateful for the sudden exit line and both stood and quickly left the room. As the door slipped shut, Logan sat down in the chair and put his head in his hands. He sighed as the memory of Todd's eyes made him slightly cringe. Being a parent sucked but being a parent of a kid who was dating someone who wasn't afraid to die was worse.
Todd and Tabitha walked out and proceeded to walk out to the front gate. They held each others hand and didn't say anything until they reached the gate. Tabitha turned and looked at Todd with full, clear eyes, her face saturated with emotions.
"Todd?"
"Yeah, Tabby?"
"Was what you said true in there?"
"What did I say that wasn't?" Todd replied with a rye smile but he slid it off his face when he saw Tabitha's face not change at his joke. He stepped back a little and leaned against a near wall, his own eyes beginning to cloud over a little. "What do you mean, Tabitha?"
"You said I've given you something to fight for, Todd. Is that true?"
"Yeah. It is. For the first time in a long time, I woke up with the feeling that someone liked me. I wasn't just chasing after anyone, yo. You like me. It's something worth fighting for." Todd shrugged and looked at Tabitha with both desire and concern on his face. "Does my admitting that bother you?"
"A little." Tabitha cleared her throat and looked down for a moment. "I just had to deal with a lot of people telling me yesterday and today that you weren't good for me. That we being together was wrong and we should stop it before it got further was all they said."
"They meaning the other X-Men."
"Yeah. But..."
"But what, yo?"
"But I don't want to lose you if you feel like that for me." Tabitha lifted her head and looked at Todd with concern in her eyes. "Todd...I...I don't want this to be a fling, or us to be fuck buddies. I sat up last night alone and I thought about some things."
"About me?"
"About you, me, us. All of it. I..." Tabitha leaned against the wall standing just to Todd's right, her hand sliding into his and her fingers clasping about his with a swift motion. Todd clasped her hand in the same motion and they looked out at the X-Mansion holding each other with one hand. "We moved way too fast, you and me. What we did was beautiful, Todd..."
"But you don't want to think that all I want you for is a fuck and a shoulder, right?" Todd asked, his body not moving at all as he stared off into the distance.
"Right." Tabitha stroked up and down Todd's arm with a light touch and she continued to speak softly. "So many people hate the idea of me and you being together and I have no idea why. I just want to know that you want me for more."
"I see." At that Todd slid out of Tabitha's hand and stepped in front of her. Tabitha looked down at him and saw that his eyes were moist and ready to burst and she reached out to hug him but he held her arms off while still holding her gaze to him. Moments passed as he just stared at the girl he had developed a growing crush for, his mind trying to find the right things to say. "Tabitha?"
"What, Todd?"
"Can you accept the fact that I have a really big crush on you and that I'd like to love you one day?" At that he smiled and hugged her tightly around the waist. She responded by quietly hugging him back and gripping at his hair. The two of them just held each other in the mid-afternoon sun for a long time before letting go. Tabitha smiled down at her man and ruffled his hair with her fingertips.
"I can accept that if you accept that I really, really, really like you, Todd Tolensky," Tabitha said softly as her hands continued to caress Todd's soft skin. He nodded at this and kisses her lips very softly. They held the kiss for a long time then separated. "I'd better go. More explaining to do at home," Tabitha breathed.
"Well, I'll call you tonight. Ok?"
"Ok." At that, Tabitha gave Todd another kiss and then walked off again, her hips swaying and rolling gently as she walked. Todd turned and walked away, not wanting to see anything but the memory of Tabitha's smile as he told her he had a crush for her big time. Tabitha walked into the mansion as if her feet were traveling on the lightest of clouds. She couldn't help but smile as she thought that she had finally found someone she could have.
"I just don't like it," Kurt said frustrated. He sat with his back to a bookcase as he looked at Kitty and Rogue talking about the night previous. He snapped his tail to and fro and looked about, annoyed at the world. "He's just not good for her. Or she for him."
"Oh stop it, Kurt," Rogue chided good-naturedly. "It'll be good for Todd to date someone who isn't going to hex blast him for eating a fly. Besides, Tabitha seemed really happy with him last night, so what's the big deal?"
"Yeah, I mean, Tabitha really seemed much calmer after she was with Todd. And you're going out with Amanda, so why should it matter?" Kitty asked as she reached out to pat-pat Kurt's hand. Kurt drew back with a bit of a hiss and harrumphed as he looked out of the window. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out so he closed it and went back into mega-sulk.
"You know what I think it is?" Rogue said to Kitty.
"What?" Kitty answered.
"I think Kurt is jealous of the idea of Tabitha going out with anyone else."
"So do I!" responded Kitty as she clapped her hands with glee. The girls both giggled as Kurt turned a massive shade of red and stood up, ready to go.
"I am not jealous of her!!" Kurt exclaimed as he sat back down in his chair. "I'm just worried that Todd will hurt her. She's still my friend and I don't want to see her hurt by him."
"It's nice to see you care, blue, but it's a bit too late. He's already asked to become my boyfriend," Tabitha said with a broad smile as she stood in the doorway of the room watching them. Kurt saw the amused and contented look in her eyes and he burned with very unresolved pain and anger, his face flushing over. In an instant he teleported out of the room, unable to trust himself for restraint any longer. The girls looked at the cloud with a bit of an amused smirk as Tabitha sat down and smiled some more. "Well. Maybe this is for the best."
"What do you mean?" Rogue asked softly.
"Todd's asked me to be his girlfriend and I accepted." Tabitha smiled triumphantly and clapped her hands as Rogue smiled with a knowing look. Both Rogue and Kitty understood what it was really all about with dating someone on the "wrong" side and they cheered inwardly as someone else took the plunge. "He might not seem it...but he's just..."
"He's what you want." Kitty smiled at Tabitha and nodded. "Lance and I couldn't define for a long time what drew us to each other but we knew we wanted each other. I guess that's all that matters."
"I'd sure like for Kurt to see that," Tabitha said as he smile dropped a little. "I know he still likes me but he let me go for someone who fit his needs. Why is he so angry that I'd move on to someone else?"
"It's not that you've moved on that bothers him," Rogue said, "It's that you've gotten together with Todd. He really doesn't like Todd at all and I can't say I totally blame him for feeling like he does. But he is wrong to doubt your judgment about your situation."
"But I don't want to hurt him by doing this," Tabitha said softly. Kitty took Tabitha's hand into hers and smiled.
"You won't. Just give him time."
Todd finished the last few footsteps into his house without incident. He did, however, come into contact with a very annoyed John Allerdyce who was standing at the front door waiting for him.
"We've much to talk about, mate," John said in a very uninviting voice.
"No we don't, Pyro," Todd said as he pushed past him to go to his room. "I'm going to go and take a shower then take a nap while you do whatever it is you do. I've got nothing to say to you, yo."
"Yes you do, Toad," John answered back acidly as he grabbed Todd's arm, pulling him back. Todd responded by giving John a swift kick to the ribs and a sharp elbow right in the top of the neck. With just two movements, John Allerdyce lay unconscious on the floor of the Brotherhood house and a very pissed off Todd Tolensky stood over him for a moment.
"No. We don't," Todd said to John's now unconscious body as he turned and walked up the stairs. He got near the top and was about to turn to go to his room when he heard a knock at the door. He hopped back downstairs and opened the door to see a very angry Kurt Wagner standing there, his image inducer not on and his full blue persona showing in the late afternoon sun. With a long sigh he opened the door and smirked. "Hi, Kurt. Are you going to try and beat me up too?"
"What?" Kurt answered back, his anger being temporarily tempered by the curiosity in hearing Todd's words.
"John tried to talk to me about something and he wouldn't leave me alone so I smacked him good. He's lying right there, yo," Todd said with a wide smile as he stepped to the side to reveal the Australian blonde lying spread eagle on the floor. Todd then stepped back into Kurt's full sight and placed his hands on his hips, trying to show Kurt just what he was going to get into if he tried anything with him today. "Now, will you accept that I don't really have anything to say to you or anyone else right now?"
"No, because I only have 2 questions for you." Todd shook his head and smirked at Kurt's response. He decided to hear the blue boy out, if for no other reason then to keep Tabitha's housemates happy.
"Fine. I'll listen," Todd said as he leaned against the doorjamb, a relaxed look on his face. "But you'll have to be quick. Talking to Claws has made me want to take a long shower and a nap before Tabitha's phone call later."
"Why did you and her do what you did, Toad?" Kurt asked angrily. "What did you do to her to get her like that?"
"Like what, Kurt? And I'll remind you, yo, that my name is Todd, not 'Toad'," Todd calmly replied, his face never changing expression.
"What did you slip in her drink to get her to have sex with you?"
"...I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Todd replied as his fists formed into little angry balls while his face stayed decidedly calm, "And say that she started things and let me finish them for now, at least. I didn't do anything to her except maybe listen to her and give her what she wanted."
"I won't let you hurt her, Todd," Kurt said as his body assumed a battle stance. Todd took a deep breath and decided to try and stop the entire situation before it spiraled out of control.
"I'm not going to hurt her, Kurt. I...I love her..." At those words, Todd finally changed expression and let his face fall a little as he admitted to someone else what he had been denying all day. "I mean, I want to love her...and I think I do..."
"What makes you think you're good for her?"
"What makes you think you have the right to be her father, Kurt?" Todd answered back angrily, finally letting his frustration at the situation show through. "You dumped her, Kurt. You left her for Amanda. In my mind, you have no right to say a fucking word, so don't talk to me like I'm less then you when I'm doing for her what you can't."
"And what's that?" Kurt asked, his voice going dangerously soft.
"I love her just as she is and I don't care if she changes or not. I want to love her just as she is flaws and all. She likes me like that and it's all I can do to do the same." At Todd's words, Kurt stepped back and fell silent. He could hear something very hopeful in Todd's words and it was all he could do to stay angry at him. In fact he recognized just how honest the feelings in Todd's words were and it floored him that things could develop that fast with someone he still liked. But then he remembered his first time being with Tabitha and he knew what Todd was saying and feeling. A shudder passed through his body and he turned partially away so he wouldn't show Todd just how much the memories in his head were affecting him.
"You really like her, don't you..."
"Yeah, fuzzy. I do."
"You do know I still...I still had feelings for her a little?"
"You still do."
"How do you know?" Kurt asked bitterly.
"You wouldn't have reacted as you did if you didn't." Kurt looked at Todd and saw that the frog boy had a surprisingly understanding look on his face. No rancor, no triumph, just genuine concern for him. The shame he felt for his actions made him turn away even more till he stood with his back to Todd. "I know what you're feeling. It's part of the reason why John's lying on the floor there."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I know that I going out with Tabitha may hurt you because you never let go of someone you care about. But eventually we all have to move on. I know I did and still do...I just didn't know you still had feelings for Tabitha, Kurt. I'm sorry I'm hurting you, but I have to move on from Wanda and you have to move on from Tabitha."
"I know I do," Kurt said as he turned back to face his rival, "But it's hard."
"It isn't supposed to be easy. Kurt. But you do have someone to go to."
"I know...but how do I explain this to Amanda?" Kurt said softly. "We talked last night and I let it slip that I didn't want you with her because you weren't right for her and she thinks now that I want to leave her for Tabitha."
"Just tell her that you thought about things and figured out that she is the one for you," Todd said. "It shouldn't take much. Just be honest, admit you were wrong, and beg forgiveness. Girls like that." At that he smiled and patted Kurt on the shoulder. Kurt shrugged off the hand and turned to walk off without a word.
"Just do me one favor," Kurt said over his shoulder as he walked off.
"Sure."
"Don't break her heart. If you don't, I'll come after you." At that Kurt teleported away, leaving a smirking and head shaking Todd to look at the spot where he disappeared from with mirth.
'Apparently that's the threat of the day around here,' Todd thought as he closed the door and walked upstairs to take a shower and a nap, stepping over John's still unconscious body to do so.
A/N: This was an odd chapter to write. Writing how Kurt reacted to Todd and Tabitha's sexlove is difficult in the best circumstances, but I think I pulled it off. Some notes:
1. The quote from the song in the beginning of this part is one part of a song by the seminal electronic band, Boards Of Canada. When I was trying to get the lyrics for this part, these struck me as the perfect ones for the aftermath of the first section. Get the song and listen to it to understand what I mean as you read.
2. More John grumpiness will happen along with finally seeing what Wanda's reaction to all this is. All this goodness in the next chapter.
3. I want votes: more schmoop about Todd/Tabitha or a hardcore sex scene? (Only for viewers, BTW. peeps will see just a little bit of stuff.)
4. Review! Please! I'm begging you. Updates on my other works are coming soon but only with some reviews on this one. Review!! :D