Chapter 4: It Could Be Worse
Dr. Cecilia Reyes gave Kevin an extremely thorough physical, drawling blood, shining lights in his eyes, making him stick his tongue out, hitting him on the knees with a little mallet. She took a look at the bite mark on his arm and dismissed it as barely a flesh wound. Kevin protested, saying he could have rabies, but she ignored him.
She was the perfect person to examine him, since her ability to form a thin force field around herself kept her safe from any accidental contact with his skin. After she was done with him, she left him alone with Rogue while she went to have a look at his blood and talk to Xavier.
"So, how long have you been here?" Kevin asked Rogue, just trying to break the silence.
"About a year," Rogue said. "I like it here, most of the time."
"Are the other kids afraid of you? You know, afraid that you're going to touch them."
"I think they were at first but not anymore. Some people still keep their distance, but I have plenty of friends. Don't worry, you'll fit in fine."
"Do you have a boyfriend?" The question slipped out of Kevin's mouth before he could stop it.
Rogue didn't answer, and an awkward silence ensued. Luckily Xavier and Dr. Reyes returned soon after.
"From what we can determine, your skin breaks down organic material and decays it," Xavier explained. "As Rogue surmised, you should be fine in synthetics."
"We'll try to find you something more fashionable, but these will have to do for now," Dr. Reyes said, handing Kevin a pile of neatly folded clothes. There were a few shirts, a couple pairs of pants, and gloves. They were all black, synthetic, and skin tight, but they didn't disintegrate when he touched them, and that was all that mattered. "It's too bad you didn't live in the 70s."
Rogue gave him the extended tour of the Institute, lingering in her favorite places and going out of her way to show him the art room. There wasn't an art teacher, but there were a few especial artistic students who had pestered Xavier relentlessly until he agreed to provide them with materials and a space to work on their art. The look on Kevin's face when he saw the art room told her without a doubt that he was going to be spending a lot of time there.
On their way out of the art room, Rogue almost crashed into Kitty. The younger girl's eyes were wide with embarrassment, guilt, and the slightest bit of fear. Struggling to stay void of emotion, Rogue pushed past her and kept going down the next hallway.
"What was that about?" Kevin asked.
"I don't want to talk about it," Rogue said more harshly than she meant to. They fell into an awkward silence as she led him to the dormitories. After what seemed like hours, she stopped in front of a steel door. It looked out of place among all the heavy oak doors. "This is your room. It's one of the specialty dormitories the Professor keeps open. All of the furniture plus the walls and floor are made out of metal," she explained as she opened the door and went in. Just as she promised, everything in the room was made of shiny steel. It was pretty grim, at least it was to most people. "It's only temporary. I know it's-"
"It's kinda cool," he cut her off. "I like it."
"Oh, okay." She was surprised, but she'd met people who like weirder things before. "Someone brought up your things already, so I guess I'll leave you to get unpacked."
Jubilee was in the kitchen, rummaging through the freeze in search of some chocolate ice cream that she knew wasn't there, when Rogue walked in with a blank expression on her face. Feeling a wave of relief at the sight of her best friend, Jubilee abandoned her search and wrapped her arms around Rogue in a comforting embrace. She was the only one other then Logan who didn't worry about Rogue's skin any more then necessary.
"Oh chika, I heard what happened," she said. "I always knew Kitty wasn't as shy and sweet as she acts."
Rogue didn't say anything, just sniffled a little as she tried to blink back tears. When Jubilee finally let her go, she walked over to the freezer and immediately pulled out a carton of chocolate ice cream. Jubilee couldn't believe she found it, but after being momentarily stunned, she reflexively grabbed two spoons and sat down with Rogue.
"Where have you been?" Jubilee asked after a while.
"The Professor sent me to pick up a mutant," Rogue said before shoveling another heaping spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. They sat in silence for a long time before Rogue spoke again. "This ice cream tastes like crap."
"It's low fat," Jubilee told her.
"My life sucks."
Kevin took a look around his new room and couldn't help thinking about all the things he could make out of the furniture. There wasn't much in the room, just a bed, a night stand, a dresser, a desk, and a door to a tiny bathroom. There was only one window, but it was big and had a good view. It looked out over the lake, and as the sun went down, the bright colors of a pollution enhanced sunset reflected on the water. In an hour or so he would be able to see a bright, white orb shining in it, mirroring the moon.
Pulling off his gloves, Kevin ran his long fingers over the cool metal wall, taking comfort in being able to safely touch something for the first time in twenty-four hours. He opened each drawer in the dresser, not expecting to find anything but wondering if he would. It was empty, so was the drawer in the night stand and the steel cabinets in the bathroom.
He sat down on the double bed and opened the small duffle bag he brought with him. Dumping out the meager contents that Rogue had gathered for him before they left his house, he picked up an old photo of him with his dad, but he dropped it as if it burned him when it started to crumble in his hand. He put his gloves back on.
