Disclaimer: "How's it goin?" "I'm 37 years old and I'm a janitor. How do you think it's going?"
(An: There probably isn't gonna be much, but yeah, this series ships Romy and Kurtty. Rahm's the only one that's probably gonna get represented.)
When Morph walked out of Hank's lab, a tall, slim, black woman was waiting for him. "Come on," she said, turning and walking down the hallway.
"An-"
"I'm Ororo, most of the people here call me Storm because it doesn't sound as weird. I have your room assignment," she continued, keeping up that pace so that Morph pretty much had to jog. "Your roomate is Roberto DaCosta. He's kind of quiet and he gets a little cranky at night because his powers have to do with the sun- he gets strength from it. Don't be suprised if he swears at you in Spanish, he likes to freak people out and he's from Brazil, so don't ask him about soccer if you like your limbs. Or if you do do it at night and Godspeed to you because if you do we'll be adding your body to Jamie's duckling cemetary." Morph opened his mouth and Ororo went on. "Your backpack is already in there, dinner is at five and breakfast is at seven, be fast, because we eat quick. And I mean quick, five seconds and every last cinnamon roll is gone, down to the last chocolate-covered donut- uh, yeah, if one of the girls wants a donut, give it up, because she'll completely kill you. It's- oh, here's your room." She knocked on the door and a tall boy with dark skin and a scowl answered.
"Si?"
"Meet your new roomate," Ororo said, grinning.
"You are a sadist," Morph commented.
"Why, thank you," she said, beaming at him. "You've talked to Rogue, haven't you?" She grinned at Rob. "I'm sure you two'll get along great." She walked off, her skirt swishing and hiding the totally awkward silence between Morph and Rob.
"Uhm... hi," Morph said, blinking. "I'm Morph."
"Roberto," responded the boy, still scowling. "Call me Rob, I kill you. Got it?"
Morph beamed at him. "I think we're gonna be great friends," he chirped.
Rob's jaw dropped. He stepped aside and let Morph in, still gaping.
Morph clapped him on the shoulder. "Good man, Rob, good man."
About five minutes later Rob cried, "I told you not to call me Rob!"
"Ok, so your reflexes are pretty slow... but we can work on that!"
THE NEXT DAY...
"So how are you and Rob getting along?" asked the brown-haired girl... what was her name? DAMMIT, Morph thought. He sucked at names. And there were just so many people here. She seemed to realize that, scowled at him, and said, "It's Amara Aquilla, and I expect you to remember that, got it?"
Morph nodded, blinking.
The black-haired one, with the gum, leaned over and smirked at her. "But she wants it soon to be DaCosta, right, 'Mara?"
Amara blushed and looked down at the table, but did nothing to deny this fact.
Morph beamed at him. "Dude! We get along great! ...and no, he hasn't said anything about you."
"Damn," Amara muttered.
IN THE GUYS BATHROOM
"So what's it like having a crazy person for your new roomate?" Sam asked, digging around in his locker.
"Crazy, the hell do you expect?" Rob responded, scowling. "I can't STAND him!"
Sam shook his head and walked out.
Morph, meanwhile, decided to get while the getting waws good. catching up to Sam. "Hi!"
"Your roomate isn't exactly into you, my friend," said Sam, hands in his pockets.
"Would I want him to be?"
"He's longing to kill you, to be more precise."
"You seen Rogue?"
"Nope. You seen Rahne?"
"Nope."
"Figures," said Sam, tipping back his head and staring at the ceiling.
"Shouldn't you be watching where you're going?"
"I can fly through a steel wall. I'm not scared of hitting my head."
"But-" That was when Sam walked into the wall, just as Rahne stuck her head out of her room.
"Smooth, Sam, smooth," she commented.
"I meant to do that."
"Sure, boyo, sure."
"Aren't you Scottish?"
"Have you seen Rogue?" Morph interjected.
"Why are you so obsessed with finding her?" Sam responded, standing up.
"Because she's the only person in this place that I know how to treat?" Morph suggested, looking at the ceiling and shuffling his feet.
Rahne yawned. "Probably in the DR, with the rest of the seniors?"
"Damn," Morph muttered.
Sam shot him a look that suggested that swearing in front of a girl was the most despicable act any man could commit.
"Ah, well, I'll just have to spread the looove to somebody else," Morph sighed.
"Ye mean the annoyance, right?" Rahne suggested, leaning on Sam.
"The only way you could annoy more people here is by hanging around Jamie and bumping into things," Sam agreed.
"Right, right, harass the newby," Morph said.
"That's what we're here for," Rahne responded, as Morph flapped a hand at her and she walked off.
Morph meandered through the hallway, trying to remember where the DR was again...
FIVE MINUTES LATER...
Morph ran into the DR room, literally, turning a corner and almost smacking into the door.
He had particularly bad luck, because just then the doors opened to reveal Evan, shooting off one last spike. It hit Morph on the shoulder, pinning him to the wall.
The X-men froze. Everyone ignored the announcement of "Simulation complete" and the disappearing background.
"Oh mah God!" said Rogue.
"Uhm..." said Evan.
Morph scowled at the spike and pulled it out, wincing. "MAN that smarts," he muttered, as the wound slowly knitted itself up and disappeared, to reveal normal skin. "And it ruined my shirt, too!" He glanced up and happened to notice the stares he was getting. "...What?"
Rogue facepalmed; the other X-men just kept on staring.
A FEW MINUTES LATER
"So let me get this straight," said Rogue, propping her chin on her hands. "Thanks to your chemical makeup, you can heal yourself?"
"From straight cuts, yeah," Morph said, shrugging. "Now, you see, beheading, or burns, stuff like that, uh... no. They hurt like a bitch."
"You've been beheaded?" Kurt asked, looking squicked.
"Uh, no, obviously," said Morph, tapping his skull, "but I figure that's what'd happen."
"How do you know about this stuff, anyway?" Kitty interjected.
"I stole the blood tests readout," said Morph, shrugging again. "No big."
"To you, maybe," Rogue responded.
LATER THAT DAY...
Morph was playing with the stereo in the common room, blasting Simple Plan (1) throughout the room. Sam was beginning to consider ditching his attempt at his homework in favor of strangling him when the senior X-men came in, fresh from another DR session.
"Do you guys have those every day or something?" Morph asked Rogue, not turning his back on the stereo.
"When we've got punishment duty, yeah," said Rogue, flopping backwards over the arm of the couch.
Sam let out a silent scream as Kurt turned on the tv.
"What's your problem?" Remy asked him.
"Only that this essay is due tomorrow and I can't find any peace!"
"Try your room."
"Jamie's on a sugar high."
"Oh, well, then, how about de courtyard?"
"Rob and Rahne are playing frisbee."
That was, of course, when they came in. Rahne shifted to human and jumped onto the couch next to Sam. Sam gave her a look somewhat reminiscent of a crabby, sleepless vulture. Rahne just grinned at him.
Remy's eye twitched. "Turn that merde off!" he cried to Morph, who blinked.
"Ah don't think he speaks French, Rem," Rogue commented.
"Did y' actually just call me Remy? Not Gumbo? Not swamp rat? Not LeBeau? Y' tryin' t' make me blush?"
"Ah'll try to make ya hurt if ya don't shut up," Rogue replied.
"What's the matter with Simple Plan?" Morph demanded.
"It's whiny merde. And I'm a jazz person, anyway."
"Only because you can't walk five feet in New Orleans without bumping into a jazz club," Sam commented, without looking up from his essay.
"And why do y' think you're allowed to comment, Kentucky boy?"
"Ah hate to agree with that, Sam, but it's got a point. You're like Southern 'lite'."
"I am not!"
"Oui, y' are," Remy replied, poking him.
"They've forgotten we're here again, haven't they," Rahne sighed, as she watched Rob go over and rip the stereo plug out of the socket. Simple Plan stopped abruptly.
"Yep," Kurt said. "You get used to it after a while."
"Or you have a, like, psychotic episode," Kitty agreed. "But plenty of things around here can trigger that reaction."
Rahne kicked Sam, annoyed with being ignored. He blinked. "Oh... we did it again, didn't we?"
"Aye."
"Damn," Remy muttered. "I'm gettin' out of here before anythin' else annoyin' can happen." With that he got up and walked out.
"Ah second that," said Rogue, pointedly going out the other exit.
(The reason this chapter is kind of short is because I forgot Tabby wasn't still at the 'stute. Ah, well.)
(1) FYI, I hate Simple Plan. Simply loathe them with every atom in my body. Except "Shut Up." That's tolerable. Otherwise, noooo.