PRE-A/N: Okay, how horrible is this? I was so tired when I was typing the last chapter that I completely forgot where I ended it and had to go look it up. Usually I put a little star next to the spot on the paper where I stopped typing, but I didn't do that. Woops. OH, well.

Oh, and everybody seems to want their own gay man for Christmas, so I'll put you on the mailing list.

-Panther: You just caught me on a day when I was feeling particularly sorry for myself, chic. Didn't mean to be hard on ya. And actually, I'm more myself here than I was at NCH. I don't feel like there's two of me- one at school and one at home. There's just me, at all times. It's pretty nice.

-Ish: Oh, your gay man went away! I'm so sad for you. My friend Tina has her own gay man, too. It was him who first pointed out to me that I was a militant feminist. Who knew? I hope you get another one real soon.

FOR FUTURE REFERENCE: "Blah" = talking, obviously. –Blah-- = thoughts. And [Blah] telepathically talking.

All of the adults of the Institute were waiting for the students when they pulled into the garage with their respective rides. Logan had come back after a big breakfast at the International House of Pancakes, and then hitting some local bars just to make sure he was in the right frame of mind, and had told the Professor what he'd seen that morning. Xavier had then called Storm and Dr. McCoy into his office to tell them and decided on what they should do about the cross-dressing, if they should do anything at all. Hank's answer was to spontaneously draw up a data table and outline the parameters of the bet. He was going to study the little miscreants.

As the transvestite X-Men trooped into the Institute, the adults watched it like a parade. Hank closed his eyes and randomly grabbed two students to question; one male, one female. They were Sam and Tabitha. Amara had been in the process of telling Tabitha about a lesbian who'd hit on her in one of the stores, so she tagged along to finish her story.

"She had on a white and black plaid dress, and one of those circled star thingies-"

"A pentagram?" Hank supplied.

Amara shrugged. "Sure, why not? And she had a vial full of plant stuff on a string around her neck. Isn't that weird?"

"And she hit on you?" Tabitha asked.

"Yeah," Amara nodded. "Well, she announced that she's a lesbian to me, which made me assume that she was trying to figure out my sexual preferences so that she could hit on me. Same thing, in my oppinion."

Sam groaned quietly and hung his head as the three of them followed Dr. McCoy to a spare study room so that he could question them.

-Ah'm fo'evah gonna remembah this as 'Gay Day,'- he thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Roberto was contacting Jean to get some assistance.

[Jean, I need your help,] he thought at her, hoping she understood.

She lifted an eyebrow and nodded, showing that she did. [What's the problem?]

[I want to come out of the closet,] he admitted. [You know, publicly; not just by hearsay and stuff.]

Jean's eyes went wide and starry. She tried to smother a smile, but it didn't work all the way. [That's wonderful, Roberto! You know I have to tell all the girls; they'll want to help too. Ummm...How, exactly, can we help?]

[I, uh, need help trying to figure out what to say,] he said- er, thought. [Considering how some of the guys here are, thing might get...obscene, just with their joking around.]

Jean rolled her eyes, but she had to agree. Not all of the guys here were very mature. [I see what you mean. Rogue would be a good person to talk to for verbal self-defense.]

[Thanks,] Roberto breathed a sigh of relief.

The pair split up until later that night, when Rogue, Kitty, Tabitha, Amara, and Jean (A/N: Yes, the Sirens. I figured that they'd be good at stealth, secrecy, and pouncing only when the time is right; three traits I somehow associate with coming out of the closet. I don't know why) got together to help Roberto figure out what he was going to say.

The verdict for the day wasn't announced at dinner. It was decided that Hank's data table and the information he'd drawn from the two he'd pulled off to question would be the basis for determining who won the bet. Unfortunately, it was an all-or-nothing situation. One mishap on either side, and the game would be lost for everyone. They ate their pot roast with baited breath. The next morning they were to find out who had won.

At breakfast on Sunday, Roberto stood in the doorway of the kitchen, wishing he'd gotten more sleep. Jean gave him the signal as soon as most of the teachers were there. Last night the girls had basically said to be blunt and honest, and to wait for when the adults were watching so that so that the stupider boys (cough Ray cough Bobby cough) would hopefully behave, or so that they'd at least get in trouble. Rogue had helped drill him on what to say should someone (see above coughing fit) decide to make an annoying comment. The women had also elected themselves the brute squad if the boys got out of hand, not to mention, Roberto was armed with note cards. Oh, yes.

The Brazilian cleared his throat. "Um...I, uh, have an announcement."

Everybody quieted down and stared at him, which only served to make him more embarrassed and bumbling than he would have been. Compounded with lack of sleep, his eyesight wasn't the best, and his literacy was down a bit as he tried to read the tiny writing on the top card.

"I- Well, it's not that much of a secret at this point, but, um... I'm..." he squinted down, "homogenous."

There was a dead silence. Jubilee and Jamie started giggling. It was so the wrong word. Jean attempted to shush them, sending Roberto a quick message.

He squinted down at the card. "Oh, right. That's homosexual. I'm gay."

Amara started to giggle, too, even though she'd helped make the note cards. Sam was looking down into his cereal and started to snort, not sure why he found this funny.

Roberto blushed bright red and sat down next to Tabitha.

"You know?" Kitty asked. "That actually went pretty well."

The entire table started laughing. Even Rogue, who'd been trying to stare out into some middle space and not hurt 'Berto's feelings, was having a hard time keeping her mouth even.

After they were done chuckling, a thought occurred to Tabitha that she hadn't realized before. She slung her arm around Roberto's shoulders and hugged him. "You know what this means, don't you?" she asked loudly, so all the table could hear.

"What?" Roberto grimaced.

"It means that all the girls are going to start trying to hook you up with all the other gay guys we know," she answered.

The girls all got quiet for a moment. In that space of time, every female was thinking back through her life and trying to remember the name of a nice, gay guy to introduce Roberto to before everyone started talking at once.

"I know a guy- he's so hot!"

"You should meet Chris who works in the piano store!"

"There's a guy named Rip who Ah hang out with at this club!"

"I met a boy named Tom in CVS!"

"I don't know anyone yet, but I'll find someone for you, I swear!"

Roberto was panicking. He looked down at the teachers and mouthed, 'Help me.' They'd already made an agreement to stay out of it. In no time, Roberto had been set up with three guys to at least meet or call, and there was nothing he could do about it. The rest of the guys at the table were laughing their asses off and making rude comments under their breath. The teasing didn't stop until Dr. McCoy walked in, carrying an antique battle shield in front of him. No one had any idea where he'd gotten it, but he was sure that he'd need the protection when he gave the results of his findings.

POST-A/N: Notice nobody's going to church on Sunday morning. Hmh.