Hand Me Down
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Chapter Three
Just Another Day in Paradise
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The phone was ringing, angry and shrill, insisting on destroying the silence that he'd been clinging to since he'd woken up an hour before. He sighed then reached over and grabbed the phone from it cradle before holding it up to his ear.
"'Lo?"
"Damien. It's your father." The voice was thick with the Irish accent Damien fought to keep suppressed and the image of a tall muscular man with red hair and blue eyes came to mind. "Damien?"
"I'm here Da." He said as lightly as he could manage, though his throat was tightening up. "What did you want."
"Hawk called me. Says ye had friends over while he was at work."
Damien bit his lip for a moment to keep from asking how Hawk could has possibly done any such thing when he'd only been home 30 or so minutes. A glance at the clock revealed that six o'clock was quickly approaching.
"I'm not allowed to have friends now?"
"Male friends?" The undertone of accusing to the man's tone mad him bristle. It was so easy to pretend there wasn't an ocean between the two of them and that this argument was just like all the others they'd had over the years.
"So what? I'm a bloke, in case ye haven't noticed."
"I'm aware; I do wonder if yer aware of it."
"I don't know what ye mean by that." Damien ground out, trying not to let how annoyed he was show. "I'm allowed to have friends. Even boy ones."
"After what ye put us through-"
"What I put ye through? I'm so sorry something found out what a freak of nature I am and ye had to go through so much while I got my arse kicked Da! I'll have to be more considerate of yer feelings next time, I cannae imagine what terrible things you must have gone through because of me."
"Stop being such a selfish brat boy, ye aren't the only one who was hurt by what happened. What about yer brother? Or yer poor mother an' sisters-"
"Don't drag them into this. Ye…ye sent me to another country so I couldn't 'shame' you further because of something I didn't even ask for and the only time yer at all inclined to call me is to yell at me! At least leave this between ye and me."
He rubbed at his eyes, silently cursing himself for letting his father once again break down his walls. It just…it made him very angry among other things. Still he couldn't let the man have the satisfaction of knowing he was winning.
"Ye make yer mother cry Damien. She just wants ye to be happy and all you do is piss and moan. I'm trying to help ye by sending you to Bayville, where you can start over, and what are you doing? Doing the same thing you did before-"
"I am not! I'm allowed to have friends and just because they happen to be guys doesn't mean that I plan to fuck them or that they'll hurt me. Not everyone is like that."
"Like Colin?"
Damien was silent for a long moment, ears twitching frantically as he tried to keep himself from giving the response he really wanted to give. "It isn't like that. I won't let anyone else do that me; never again. They aren't even really friends."
"Yer asking to be hurt. Why can't you just find a nice lass to settle down with and-"
"Because I can't! I just…it isn't…Jesus. I can't do this right now Da. They are just two guys who I barely know and let come over for all of three hours. Did ye want anything else, or is that the extent of this conversation?"
There was a moment of silence and then a breathy voice filled his ears, relaxing him before he could even register what was happening.
"Hello Kit. How are things with yer uncle?"
"Fine Mum." He muttered, flexing his fingers. Sharp claws slid out over his fingernails and glinted faintly in the light of the rising sun.
"I'm glad. I was so worried about this exchange program."
Damien's father didn't want anyone to know he'd more or less disowned his son and shipped him off over the ocean, least of all Damien's mother…mostly because of the reason he'd been shipped off. Everyone got to remain blissfully ignorant of the circumstances, against all possible odds. It was almost as laughable as his family thinking he'd spent two weeks in the hospital because of the flu and that his brother, Amos, was simply out of town, not in prison.
He was surrounded by naivety.
She rambled on for a while about his sisters and the school and the town and he simply filtered it all out, making noises when she paused for reaction. Eventually she wore herself down and had nothing left to say and a long stretch of silence went between them. Finally:
"I should go Mum. School and all."
"Okay. Be good Kitten."
He closed his eyes, mentally wincing at the old pet name. It hurt to even hear someone say it now; it stung like a kind of betrayal and made his stomach churn. Still he swallowed the dull ache and tried to force cheerfulness into his tone.
"Good bye mum."
He hung up the phone then stood up, stretching out weary joints. He eyes the phone cord for a moment longer then looked down at his hands. He sliced through the cord neatly with his claws then flopped back into his bed and curled up around his pillow, which still smelled faintly of the ocean.
He missed home.
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Kurt watched, feeling strangely nervous, as the Brotherhood tumbled out of Lance's jeep and headed towards the front door of the institute. Part of the groups combining was the Brotherhood and Acolytes training under Wolverine and magneto's watchful eyes in the Danger Room. It had been rough at first but now most of the conflict was just between Scott and Lance.
Kurt was pretty sure hell would freeze over before those two managed to even pretend to get along for any definable period of time.
"What ya doin' Fuzzy?" A gloved hand touched his shoulder and he smiled at the reflection of his sister in the window. She smiled back faintly then leaned forward some to look over his shoulder. "Ah see. Brotherhood's back for another training session."
"Ja. Is Scott around?"
"Nope. He decided to actually stay in his dorm for a change which means you have to find your own ride to school today."
Bayville College was on the opposite side of town than Bayville High but Scott was always around to take him and others to school in the morning and get them most afternoons anyway. Kurt nodded then, with a smile, shrugged her hand off.
"We should probably get walking then."
"Yeah. Figures, ya never miss Captain Stick up the ass until he's gone." She smiled wryly while raking her fingers through her hair. "Or…we could ask Remy to give us a ride."
"Or," Kurt said as he headed out of his room, making sure to grab his bag. "I could drink bleach and ammonia before teleporting to the White House lawn."
It wasn't that Kurt had anything against Gambit, on a personal level, it was just that as far as he was concerned the swamp rat wasn't good enough for Rogue. One might be motivated to point out that he didn't think anyone was good enough for her, but that wasn't really the point.
"He isn't so bad Kurt." Rogue's voice was thick with annoyance. He shrugged while turning on his holographic watch. "If you would just get to know him."
"It's not that I don't like him. I just…don't trust him, with you. He seems so shady and mysterious, you know? I think he's going to cause you a lot of grief."
She sighed then nudged him lightly. "Maybe. But I won't know until I at least give him the time of day, now will I? I mean things with Amanda didn't end well but you don't wish it'd never happened, do you?"
He glanced sideways at her, frowning. "Only when people talk about it." Rouge had the grace to look embarrassed, but not exactly repentant.
To say that his breakup with Amanda was a sore spot would have been putting it mildly. He'd really liked her and, more than that, he'd trusted her not to leave him because of his appearance. But, as mutant visibility grew Amanda's parents had come to the conclusion that dating someone who couldn't even begin to pass for normal wasn't acceptable.
Kurt could understand that and didn't hold it against her. The part that made it such a sore issue was that she couldn't even send an email from wherever she was now. Her parents had moved over the summer, effectively putting as much distance between the two of them as they could, and now he had no idea where she was.
Amanda, however, wasn't so inhabited. She just…didn't want anything to do with him anymore, or at least that was how it seemed. He wanted to think that it was her parents keeping her from calling or writing but he knew enough to know that unless she went to a school without computers her parents word could only go so far.
Kurt and Rouge turned into the kitchen, finding the usual chaos had broken loose. Jamie, and three of his duplicates, was taking up one side of the table, much to the annoyance of Sam, Roberto, and Bobby. Rahne, Kitty, Jubilee, and Amara were on the other side and watching the ensuing argument.
"C'mon Jamie, your dupes don't even need to eat!" Bobby seemed on the verge of some serious whining. "Isn't it enough you ate the last of the cereal?"
"You should be thanking him for that Mr. Drake." Emma Frost, the newest addition to the teaching staff, walked in through the door that led to the back of the institute. She was dressed in pants tight enough and a shirt low enough to make all of the males in the room blush, along with Jubilee and Amara. "You certainly don't need any of the sugar laden crap. Try some fruit."
"Uh." Bobby blinked, clearly trying to gather the brain cells he'd lost upon the teacher's entrance. "Yes Ms. Frost."
She smirked lightly while walking towards the coffee machine. "Good. Have any of you seen Northstar?"
"I think he said he was, like, going to visit his sister but he'll be back this afternoon."
"Thank you Ms. Pryde." Cup of coffee now in hand she smiled and left the kitchen. There was a moment of silence and then as if nothing had happened the shouting began again. Kurt smiled faintly; this was the typical early morning crap and he had to admit it was strangely…comforting.
It was when they weren't fighting and shouting that you had a reason to be concerned. He walked around the table to the cupboard and pulled down the box of Pop-tarts. They were truly the food of the gods in convenient toastable form.
"Well, if you aren't going to accept a ride from Remy, Ah guess you'll be walking alone." Rouge said finally. Kitty looked up, head tilting to the side.
"You aren't going to ride with us Kurt?"
Kurt opened his mouth to respond but Rouge cut him off. "No, he isn't. Kurt needs a little exercise so it's just us and Remy today."
"Oh. Cool." Kitty said as she stood up and walked over to the sink. "Do you think we can go now? I have to talk to my programming teacher before school starts."
"Sure. See ya later fuzzy."
Kurt waved at them absently over his shoulder. Toaster pastry now, figuring out how to get to school later. If worse came to worse he'd just teleport into the basement or something. It wasn't early enough to be making any really definite plans.
He ate while attempting to finish up his Algebra homework (He still didn't understand the point behind graphing equations, for the record) and by the time he'd finished the work the New Mutants had already left the kitchen. He closed his book, shoving it into his bag, and pulled his coat on.
Now, the problem of getting to school. He needed to learn to drive, seriously. He reached up, raking his fingers through his hair, and started out of the kitchen. Maybe he could get a ride with Hank or something.
"Hey elf!" A second before he heard that a breeze went rushing past and he could only assume it was Peitro. A moment later Todd went hopping past and into the kitchen, Wanda and Lance following at a much more subdued pace. Lance stopped in front of him and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Shouldn't you be gone already?"
"Scott isn't offering rides today."
"Oh. Well. Wait a few minutes and you can ride with us."
"Uh. Okay."
Lance nodded then continued his trek into the kitchen, leaving Kurt feeling just slightly bewildered. Lance had just offered him a ride and hadn't even been sarcastic about it.
Very…unexpected.
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"What do you mean I have to walk?" Peitro looked scandalized at the very implication. Lance just blinked at him, less than impressed at the hissy-fit the white-haired boy was prepared to throw. He was used to the other teen's bratty antics and knew not to indulge them if he wanted to maintain his dignity.
Besides if worse came to worse he could just call Wanda to keep her twin in line. Hell, she could keep armies in line with a dirty look. She was impressive like that.
"I mean you have to walk. It'll be faster for you anyway."
"But why?" The speedster drew out the word enough to make Lance twitch with the urge to smack him. "Lance I don't-"
"I said I'd give Kurt a ride. Captain Stick-up-the-Ass isn't around today."
"Why can't he just teleport?"
"Because someone could see him, idiot." Wanda snapped while slamming a carton of milk in front of her twin. Peitro yelped and drew back. "Walking won't kill you. I do it everyday. We can…talk."
Her lips quirked into a smile that sent chills up Lance's spine. He actually kind of felt bad about inflicting that on Peitro.
Kind of.
"You have more time to eat." Freddy said, looking mournfully at the plate of toast in the middle of the table. He'd finished off the better part of a loaf already but that didn't mean he couldn't eat some more. In his case there was always room for more.
"And you don't have to risk dying due to Lance's crazy driving." Todd added, bouncing from his chair towards the door.
"My driving is not that bad." Lance muttered. "Move it or walk Freddy."
"Yeah yeah." The other boy muttered while pushing off of the bench that had been provided just for him. Lance smiled wryly then, with a wave at Wanda, walked out of the door and started around to the front of the building. Kurt was waiting by the jeep, eyes trained on some point in the sky.
The X-geeks were all so weird. Still Kurt had proven to be almost bearable the day before and so he'd decided to offer the kid a ride. There really wasn't much point in all of this animosity anyway. They were going to have to work together eventually and, if nothing else, mutants had to stick together. This wasn't about friendship, it was about necessity.
Summers was enough of an enemy, why make more on purpose.
Lance had to admit he rationalized very well.
"Thanks for this."
"No big." Lance muttered. "Just don't…let it get around."
"What, that you're a decent guy?" Kurt smiled faintly. "Wouldn't dream of it."
"Glad to hear."
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MeLaiya: Yeah, I think I can manage to update within the month…I have some of this prewritten actually.
Mechante: Dammy does had a tail, though it isn't seen often. Control over his forms means he chooses to be 'human' most of the time. I believe Kurt is blue because A) Mystique is his mother and genetics are funny like that and B) it helps him blend into the shadows. Other than that yeah…mutation is a funny thing.
Askari: Glad you like it.
So. Review and…whatnot.
