This story happens a few weeks after the events taken place in Six Seeds

Mondegreen: A series of words that result from the mishearing or misinterpretation of a statement or song lyric.

Citizens of Mondegreen

By Mice

When I grow up, Bobby Drake once confided to himself in a dark room at a young age after yet another argument with his father, I want to be president of the world and establish world peace.

-1-

May

Everyone had left him two days prior, but Bobby still stared at the door because one part of him hoped that they'd come back and tell him that it was all just a mistake.

The other part hoped they'd come back so he could hurt them the way they hurt him.

The room was sparse and had only what was essential. It was almost like a hospital, but as Jean kept stressing on the ride upstate, it was a rehab clinic, not a hospital.

He was a dog being taken to a farm, never to be heard from again.

He shook his head in disbelief. He didn't have that big of a problem. He couldn't sleep. He took pills to help with that. He didn't want to live. He took pills and a long swim to help with that. Compared to everyone else, it wasn't really that big of a deal.

There hadn't been a night since he had taken the plunge that he had even considered thanking Hank for pulling him out of the pool. He hadn't regained consciousness in two days. When he came to, he was dealt two blows: "Congratulations, you're alive!" and "She read your note."

He remembered Hank giving him a piece of paper that had laid crumpled on his floor that had his handwriting on it. He barely remembered writing it. He was almost sure he hadn't. But all the actions and crimes against him listed were his. And they were his thoughts, no matter how dark they were.

Bobby wanted nothing more than to talk to her, but couldn't talk to anyone on the outside for at least twenty-eight days.

When I grow up, Jubilee said to herself one lazy morning when the idea of getting out of bed was the last thing on her mind and the only thing on her mother's mind, nobody is going to tell me what to do.

-2-

The first thing Jubilee did when she saw her new bed was leap onto it and jump. She forced a smile when Annie came in. "Just trying out the new wares."

Annie nodded. Annie didn't talk much, lately.

"How's yours?"

Annie shrugged.

"Not in for small talk?"

Annie handed her the phone.

"Who is it?"

Annie spoke slowly and carefully, "Harpo."

Jubilee took the phone and promptly hung up.

Annie stared at her.

"Don't judge me."

Annie continued and spoke again. "Cruel."

Jubilee pointed her finger directly in Annie's face. "Don't you dare do that! You just ditched Bobby! You have no right to tell me what I am! You ran out on Bobby - after he tried to kill himself - with no explanation! For all he knows, you two are still in a relationship!"

Annie shook her head. "Why would he?"

Jubilee rolled her eyes. "Nobody told him that you left."

"He wouldn't care." Annie turned to walk out of the room. Doing so, she felt Jubilee's hand clamp on her shoulder.

"You don't talk about him like--"

Annie grabbed Jubilee's hand off of her shoulder, turned to the teenager who was inches shorter than her – though had far more field experience than she - and stared her down. As much as she hated the sound of her own voice since biting off the tip of her tongue, she spoke. "Listhen to me, because I'm only going to say thish once - I didn't invite you here. I'm not here to take care of you. While you are here, you are responsthible for yoursthelf.

"I left him, but I had good reason. I'm shtill unclear why you left."

Jubilee rolled her eyes at her new roommate.

"You don't have to tell me. I truly don't care if you do. But if we're going to be here together for however long, let's agree that you don't judge me, and I don't judge you."

Jubilee opened her mouth to retort when Annie spoke again. "I'm not Logan. I'm not Jean. I'm not another authority figure for you to wear down. You wanted to be my roommate, you are going to act like it. You are going to be responsible for you because I have a lot of shit to go through and I don't want to be bothered with yours."

Annie pointed to the sink. "Dishes - you use it, you clean it. Food, you eat any of mine, you buy me more before I get home. Phone - you pay for your calls, I'll pay for mine. You will not bring anyone here to have sex with if I am here. Bathroom - we are blessed to have two. Living room - don't leave shit in front of the door, watch television at a reasonable volume and if you rent a good movie, we watch it together. If you order take out, you ask me if I want some. If you bake, you offer me some. If you have an explosion in the kitchen, you clean it up before the end of the day. Music will be played at a reasonable volume, the exceptions being Bananarama, play loud, Roxette, play loud, Air Supply, get the fuck off my island.

"You are now an adult living with an adult - and don't give me that crap about your age, you are more mature than most. With that expectation comes the perksh--perks. I don't care where you go off to, I don't care when you come back. If I don't hear from you in three days, though, I will file a report with the police and will begin pricing your stuff."

Jubilee glared, not quite knowing what else to do.

"The same goes for me, you know." Annie explained.

"You barely lisped."

Annie nodded. "It hurt, but I tried."

When I grow up, Hank McCoy thought while watching his father toil on their farm while ignoring the task of slaughtering hogs, I am never going to get my hands dirty.

-3-

"You just had to draw the short straw, Henry. Out of all the straws, you pulled the short one, " Hank - or Henry, since he was very displeased with himself - muttered while cleaning out Annie's room. "On the one hand, it's interesting to note that nobody noticed my dear crush on the girl - and that makes us feel sneaky. On the other hand, we must wonder what kind of dim bulbs we have on our current roster."

"If it's any consolation, then, Ah knew."

Hank turned around to find Harpo Lubbock in the doorway - nearly a dead ringer for Bobby if not for the long locks of hair - right down to the pint of cookie dough ice cream in his hands.

Hank recalled that the boy was somewhat involved with Jubilee. Even more, he was somewhat involved and didn't get a scratch on him from Logan. He seemed to recall that Logan liked the boy. Hank hadn't talked to his best friend's cousin much, though. In a sad thought, Hank decided that if Bobby couldn't be here, then maybe --

"Ah'm not that much like Bobby, Dr. McCoy."

Hank nodded gently. "Empath."

"If it makes you feel any better, you're not much like Jubilee, but I had a similar thought." Harpo pulled out another spoon and offered Hank some of his ice cream. "You two were good friends."

"Jubilation was one of a kind," he replied while digging in. "A most interesting young lady."

"She was definitely different," Harpo agreed. "Ah knew she would do this and Ah was still shocked, is that strange?"

Hank shook his head. "Why did you think that she would--"

"Ah tried to control myself around her - she asked me if Ah could try to not read her mind so much. This is what always pisses me off about the energy manipulators - some things you just can't control - can you control being big and blue?"

"No, but to be fair I haven't tried..." Hank took a minute and squinted in an act of concentration. "Am I still big and blue?"

"Yeah."

"Then you most definitely have a point.."

"Same thing for empaths. You can ask some of them on the team - we do our best, but it ain't always one hundred percent effective." Harpo dug his spoon in the ice cream, trying to harness his spoon with maximum cookie dough. "It's like she was just going through the motions of what she thought she was supposed to do...and to be honest...Ah tested them. Ah pushed her and she just...she caved." He swallowed the bit on his spoon and continued. "That's not the girl she is! She doesn't cave or bend and she did both. It's like Ah dated a pod person…"

"There's an awful lot of cookie dough in here...what brand is it?"

"Ah added some...a lot...there's never enough cookie dough in these things..."

Hank sat motionless, not quite sure what to do. He certainly wasn't friendless in the mansion, but Bobby was gone. And Annie. Two people who he care a lot about had left within a span of two days, just like that. Someone who was going through a similar thing would be most welcome to share the pain. But he--

"You can either go back in your lab and sulk until someone comes back or you can come with me and eat some brownies."

When I grow up, a very bored and very young Annie Peckenpaugh thought while returning back to the bus after her father didn't come to pick her up, people are going to line up to meet me.

-4-

In this particular strip mall Annie was at, you could get a Slurpie, a gyro, get your laundry done, take a yoga class, learn how to be a realtor, and buy doughnuts. Annie wasn't doing any of these things (though she made a mental note about the doughnut shop for later) – she was here for reasons dictated to her by Charles Xavier.

"My name is Ben and…I'm a mutant."

"Hi, Ben!" the group responded.

"I first noticed when I was about eighteen…I know that the scientific reports say that you can first notice around age thirteen, but I didn't."

Annie was sure that there was a special circle in hell reserved for Xavier for requesting her to attend these meetings. In this room, she could tell that people made the same mental note about the doughnuts as she did, but went before and went often. There were men peering at her cleavage, which struck her funny, as she didn't have any. She could tell that there were some souls here who needed help, but there were others…

"At first, the spoons would make such normal requests – like asking to be handwashed instead of being put in the dishwasher. But then…they became a bit bloodthirsty. I can't remember much of the next five years of my life – I was rather heavily sedated in prison, but I remember that when I got out was the first time I learned that my mother was dead – of course, it was the spoons that told me so…"

Annie knew plenty about subtle mutancy, having one of her own. What she never put together that there might have been others who went through the same process she did when she was a teenager – going through the symptoms with no obvious signs and no outward proof. She sometimes envied her previous housemates with the obviousness of their mutations. To have that instant answer that you can shoot beams of energy from your eyes or read other peoples minds. The confusion she had as a teen left her thinking that she may have been crazy – it was only by the unlucky fact that she had to have a bloodtest done after she wrecked her knee that she got a solid answer. She couldn't quite come up with what might have happened if she hadn't gotten that answer, but this twelve-step group was a clear indication of confusion gone wrong.

Ben sat back down at his seat as they were all dismissed to drink punch and eat cookies. Annie decided against both and got her things to leave. She didn't tell her tale and had no intention of doing so.

"Make love to me all night long in weird and taxing positions if I am wrong, but I'm sure I've met you before."

Annie glared at the blonde haired man in glasses who had been staring at her non-existent cleavage. "I'm sorry, but I think you may have to go solo on that thought. You know Hank. I was his…student for a while."

"Can I make another proposition to you, then?"

"You've already propositioned me five times, Dr. Knight. Three times back at a lecture Hank gave, once when I was trying to go to the bathroom, and then just now."

"Only five times? The ego is wounded."

Annie dragged him over to a more private corner of the room. "You're not a mutant."

"I may be!"

Annie glared at him.

"I said I "may" – giving to the allusion that I could or could not be a mutant."

"Then why are you here, Dr. Knight?"

"Why you are here? I thought you would have already come to terms with your abilities by now."

"I'm here as a favor to my alma matter – an investigation of sorts. Now, why are you here?"

"Bored."

"You're bored?"

"Really bored. Physics is a harsh mistress, and harsh in the way that isn't fun." He began to smile as she began to walk away. "I take it you graduated, then?"

"Yes," she called back.

"How did you do?"

"First in my class."

"Can I take you out then? Celebration dinner?"

Annie turned back to him once again. "Dr. Knight, I—"

"Never call me that again unless your naked and covered in coconut."

Annie rolled her eyes. "You have no idea who you are up against, Chris. You can't wear me down with optimistic sarcasm."

"Can I whisper sweet equations in your ear?"

"You can't wear me down that way either."

"I just want dinner."

"I just want to be left alone."

Chris smiled. "You just broke up with someone."

"How do you know, I don't recall you being an empath?"

"I'm not, but I am observent – you just have that look – your breasts are covered in flannel, your hair is in that in-between ponytail that says "Tomorrow, I'm chopping it all off", and, most importantly, you're rebuffing me instead of boffing me."

Annie rolled her eyes.

"Did Hank do this to you and your breasts?"

"I'm leaving now. Are you going to be here next week?"

"Are you?"

"I have to be."

"Then so am I."

When I grow up, Harper Jacob Bass thought to himself the Labor Day Weekend before entering his first co-ed school, watching his mothers make out, I am going to be the most understanding man on earth and women will flock to me.

-5-

"Ah have the tools necessary, Hank, what Ah don't have is…ya know…" Harpo motioned to the air around him as he cut brownies with the other hand. "Ah was patient, understanding, Ah didn't push her to do anything she didn't want to do, and Ah get dumped. No, Ah didn't get dumped, Ah got eviscerated."

"At least you didn't lose her to your best friend."

"She was mah best friend!" Harpo licked the knife before putting it in the sink, removing the chocolate goo from it. "Ah didn't go to a lot of huge schools…and Ah was always the weird kid. Ah thought that with Jubilee, she understood that and things could just be normal in a way that they weren't before – that the secret was finding someone as odd as you and then things could find their own place." He placed a brownie on a plate for himself.

"Are you sure you should eat that now?"

"Ah want a brownie. Ah need the brownie. It's mah brownie." Harpo shoved the brownie in his mouth and tuned out his big blue companion who stared at the pan longingly.

Harpo's logic made a lot of sense at the moment. Hank almost went for a plate, but then decided to go for it, though he'd be cleaning his fur for a bit. He followed suit and shoved the brownie in his mouth and couldn't remember when he tasted something quite like it.

"Uhm…Hank?"

"Yes, Harpo?"

"There's something I need to tell you about these brownies…"

"Yes?"

"Uhm, how to put this…you know that nostolgic feeling you're tryin' ta place right now?"

"…yes?"

"Think back to your dorm room days."

Hank thought back to when there were home baked brownies in his dorm rooms – a memory came back of him winning the Cheeto eating contest in the next hour and the proclamation that he was Sugar Bear and that he couldn't get enough of Sugar Golden Crisp, which at first meant the sight of various lovely young women in the dorms, before it became an actual craving for Sugar Golden Crisp.

"Oh my stars and garters…"

Author's Note: Most characters belong to Marvel Comics. Annie (though definitely the superior Annie to Marvel's) and Harpo are not. Chris Knight has been borrowed from the movie "Real Genius". Don't look at me like that. Seriously, don't, it's creepy. And I'm going to tell Mom…