"Todd is a Manly Man"

"I am a manly man. Beneath this sissy frame and obviously rib-laden chest lies a heart that beats to the drum of a native-american ritual dancing wildness. It pumps an ever cascading supply of untamedness that a herd of wild mustangs have yet to grasp." Bradley Hathaway.

Disclaimer I don't own the x-men. There is no Amara in this chapter, though her name is mentioned a few times. Basically this chapter is here because its necessary for the story, though its not the most interesting chapter in the story. Sorry about that, I am hoping to update next week, but I can't make any promises because life has become very busy as of late. Still there will be another chapter sooner or later. Thank you all for your reviews and you people who are reading it, its appreciated very much.

heartsyhawk: sorry I didn't update wayyy soonish, but um here the new chapter be's

Beany: here you go mans, another chapter. I promise I will have a new chapter for I Have No Lover next week at the latest, glad to see you're writing again

Readerrr Grrrl: thanks for the compliment. I think I screwed up Scott's personality in this chapter, but I didn't really want him to mad, there's a rational side to him too...Oh well I hope you enjoy this chapter and again thanks so much for your encouragement and reviews

ldypebsbaby: yes, belittling is wrong. see, people, even good people sometimes play by a double standard, it sucks, but its true. I hope this chapter is alright and soon those who belittled Todd will have revenge taken on them, in one form or another.

Todd walked down the street from the Brotherhood house. As he walked down it he saw the houses were less shoddy, the lawns better kept than in his part of the neighborhood. In a way it was almost depressing. When he left the Institute he would have watch the houses slowly deteriorate as he walked home until he would be at his house... a falling down wreck. He couldn't think about that now, though.

What was he going to say to Amara? He stopped short. Why was he even going to the institute? He looked back at his house and decided he might as well continue his walk to the institute. Going back to his house now would make him feel like he'd chickened out. He needed to speak to Amara for... for what? Clarity's sake? He needed to let everybody at the Institute know that he was...dating Amara? This wasn't an easy conversation to have, especially not with people who didn't like him in the first place.

He arrived at the Institute quicker than he wanted. There was a part of him that realized change would be necessary if he were to walk through those doors, and not just change in him, but in the entire world around him. He could feel his lungs trying to tighten at the thought. What was so great about his current life that he didn't want to change it? Comfort? He couldn't stay where he was at because it was comfortable. Comfort alone wasn't worth it. He steeled his nerves and rang the buzzer at the gates.

Logan picked up a smell. "At least the kid bathed," he growled out as he got up from his chair in the living room and began to make his way to the front gate. "What do you want," he asked. The only time guys seemed to visit here was to see the girls in the institute, a fact that never sat well with Logan.

Todd felt all of his earlier courage diminish almost to the point of non-existence, but a fear of not answering the man kept him alive. "Um I just wanted to see you guys and say something."

"So talk," Logan said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well, uh, y- Wolverine its just dat I like Amara and she seems to like me-"

"Nope," and with that Logan began making his way back inside.

'Nope? No? No what?' His shoulders sagged for a moment, but then- He landed on the other side of the gate and ran to catch Logan before he got inside. The man turned him, claws beared. "You got somethin' to say bub," Logan growled out.

"Yeah I got somethin' to say, yo. Why're you treatin' me like this? I came here to make peace with you guys."

"Its already been done kid. We haven't fought in a year now. I said nope cuz I can already see where you're headed with this. It was the same with Lance when he came up here to make peace with us."

"So? Its not like Lance hurt Kitty, yo. She's still here ain't she? She might've been late for her curfew once or twice, but-"

"Alright kid you said your piece, now let me say mine," Logan said as he sheathed his claws and walked until he was towering over Todd. He placed his finger into the boy's chest and then began to speak again. "You hurt her in any way, you're dead," he whispered.

"I won't I'd never-"

"Save your breath kid. We got our understanding. You got fifteen other people to make your peace with, so get to it." Logan went back inside, still unsure if he had made the right decision.

Todd waited a few moments. He didn't want to talk to Scott because he suspected it wouldn't be much better than his previous talk. Most of the girls here despised him, except for Kitty and Amara. Come to think of it he didn't really want to talk to anyone here except for Amara, but he knew that this had to be done. He took a deep breath and tried to smile, but figured it wasn't really worth it. He opened the door and began to make his way down the hall and tell each person he saw that he and Amara had something going on. Some laughed, the younger ones simply shrugged their shoulders as they had never been involved in the battles between the X-men and the Brotherhood and as a result had no idea who he was. A few of the X-men made a disgusted face, but he suspected Scott would be the worst of the students to deal with.

He knew that Scott wasn't a bad person per say. He knew the guy would lay his life down for his teammates and Todd respected that. Scott had even rescued him from Duncan one time. Still, that didn't mean he liked Scott. The guy was known for looking at everything in black and white and his protective streak seemed to get him in more trouble than anything else. Todd knew that he couldn't just ignore Scott though, of all the people Todd had spoken to earlier in the day, Scott was one of the more important people. He had asked several of the younger X-men where he might find Scott and they gave him directions to Scott's room.

He knocked, heard a chair moving and was then greeted by Scott. "What do you want Tolensky?" He wasn't nice about it.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm thinking about asking Amara out and if she says yes I don't want there to be any bad blood between us."

"You're going to ask Amara out?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to-"

"I'm sorry Todd I'm having a hard time with this. First off you're here and you haven't been here in a year. Second, you're telling me that you're about to ask out one of my teammates."

"Yeah..." Todd was at a loss for words. He had expected shock, anger and a few demeaning words, but not confusion and...whatever this was.

Scott sighed. He had been through this with Alvers and knew it was only a matter of time before some other kid from the Brotherhood wanted to date an X-man. There was a part of him that wanted to say, "No," and then blast the kid out of the house, but he couldn't. "Listen to me Todd. I don't like this, but I am willing to give you a chance. You screw it up and you're mine," he said and then caused his to light up for just a moment, adding weight to his words.

"Um, ok, yo," Todd said as he began to wander off. There had been no fight, no argument. A threat was made, but all in all it hadn't been as bad as he'd hoped. Todd stopped upon realizing there was someone he still hadn't talked to. Amara.