When we got to my door, I stood in front of it and looked at it. Sure enough, in a second I thought Suzan's room. Of course, it was probably suggestive reasoning, but I still found it weird. I shook my head.
Toad, who had been watching me, said, "Don't worry. You'll get used to it. Anyway, I have to go get your stuff pretty soon. Want to come with me?" "Yeah." I said, feeling kind of dazed. I went in, holding the door for Toad, and he entered. I went over to the couch, kneeled in front of it like I was praying, put my hands on it, and began to change the color from mousy-brown to a deep blue, with a silver pattern on it. Toad closed the door and crouched next to me, so close that I had a hard time concentrating. He watched both the couch and me, equally fascinated. Eventually I finished, and stood up to admire my work, but I instead found myself admiring the man beside it. I started to look away, and then realized he couldn't tell with my sunglasses.
"Like it?" I asked him. "Yeah, it's great," he said, looking at it, and then turning to me. "We have to go now if we're to make it before sundown."
"How do you know?" I asked him. He smiled and pointed at the TV. 7:42 was flashing dimly on it. "Huh. This place is really confusing." I complained. He smiled even more, and opened the door for me. I walked out past him, and waited for him in the hall.
"Suzan, look. This is how you lock a door. Run your fingers above the handle. When someone locks a door, no one but that person can unlock it. Except Magneto, of course. It is his house." He gestured for me to try it. I did so, and then tried the door. Sure enough, it wouldn't open. "Wow." I said. "Now, how would someone go about getting out of this place?"
"This way." He said, and started walking. I caught up to him immediately, and walked beside him. Impulsively, I took his hand. He stiffened and looked at me nervously. "Yeah?" he said uncertainly. "Nothing," I said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you." I started to let go of his hand, but something told me he really didn't mind. Instead I just looked at him uncertainly. "It's okay. I don't mind." Was his next comment. He gave me a tentative smile, and continued along the hall, holding my hand the whole way.
Somehow, holding his hand made me feel privileged, like I had gotten past a wall no one else had. Upon further reflection, that was probably true. The silence started to grow uncomfortable on the next floor up, so I said the first thing that came to mind, "Why the nickname Toad? Just skin coloring?"
"No," he answered, obviously glad for something to talk about. "I can jump well, stick to walls, and I have a really long tongue."
"How long?" was my next question.
"Here, look." was his answer. He then stretched out his tongue to grab a door handle, open and close the door, and then sucked it back into his mouth. I wasn't sure whether to be repulsed or impressed, so I settled for feeling both. I nodded and said. "Oh."
I kept walking in silence for another three or four minutes, and then we stopped. There was a door just ahead of us, and it appeared more fancy, and stronger too. Toad twisted the handle in a complete circle both ways before opening it. When we stepped through, I saw a helicopter, and I suddenly realized who the copilot was with Mystique. He handed me into the copilot's seat, and I felt a brief nervousness before he smiled and said, "Don't worry Suzan. I'll do the flying."
I smiled back at him as he walked around, finding how easy it was to remember what Mystique had done to the straps and buckles for the seats. When Toad got in the seat on the other side, he leaned over to check the belts, and looked at me, surprised and admiringly, and he told me that I had gotten them all perfect.
"Were you the one that put me in bed last night?" I questioned. He looked at me and smirked. "Yup." He said. Then he started the helicopter and I jumped a little at the noise. This was my first time on a helicopter, since I was asleep the last time. I had a very disturbing ride, to say the least. I was very grateful when we finally landed. I looked around when we got out, and saw the top of a building.
"Um, no offence, but how are we going to get down? Most people wouldn't let you by." "It's okay. You need to learn to trust me. There's a fire escape for you, and I can jump down."
I looked down, and saw we were about five stories up. I rolled my eyes, and started down the fire escape. I stopped, turned around, and asked him, "Can you jump down with me?"
He blinked and nodded. He beckoned, and I walked over to him immediately and he picked me up with way too much ease to be normal. I knew I only weighed one-twenty, and I was five foot five, but still. It appeared to take no effort for him. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he jumped off without fear. We landed just a few seconds later, and he hesitated before putting me down. He smelled so male that I just wanted to rub my face against his shirt. Instead, I took another breath and kissed him on the cheek. For the second time that day, I mentally smacked myself in the face, worried that he wouldn't like me anymore, but, even though he stiffened again and put me down immediately, he was smiling nervously.
"So," I said. "Where to now?"
"This way." He said, taking my hand again. I followed him gladly, apologizing to myself for the smack. When we got around the corner, there was a rented truck waiting in the street. We went to it and got in as quickly as we could. Both of us buckled our seatbelts, and he started driving. After a little way, he asked me "Why'd you kiss my cheek?" He looked at me briefly then back to the road. "Um," I said. "Because I wanted to, and because I like you."
The mental hand hovered dangerously close to my mental forehead. He looked at me again with an unreadable expression. I said then, mostly to appease the hand, "But if you don't like me, then that's okay…" The hand lowered, and I sighed in relief. I must have looked depressed, because at the next red light he hesitantly touched my shoulder. "I do, but I wouldn't think you would like me." "Why wouldn't I?" "Because I'm really not that great of a person." I laughed a little, startling him. "Are you kidding? You're the only person that's been nice to me since my mother died." I considered mentioning that that was because I had never let anyone, but decided against it when he gave me a look that made me feel really happy somehow. I couldn't remember feeling happy since, well, since my mother died, when I was eight.
"Look," I said. "There's my building. Park in space R-5 if it's empty." As luck would have it, it was. We went inside and quietly up to the second floor and down the hall to my apartment. I unlocked the door and pulled him inside behind me. I closed the door and turned on the light. Then I turned and looked up at him. He looked back at me. I leaned up. He didn't pull back. I kissed him. He kissed me back. My arms found their way around his neck again. He wrapped his arms around my waist. When we finally stopped, I smiled and told him, "That was my first kiss." He apparently didn't know what to say, so I pulled away from him and picked up a box. "We should go." I said. "I only have three boxes. Can you get two?" He nodded.
I opened the door to go, and looked around my apartment for the last time. I felt nothing but relief. This was a terrible place to live! The best sight in the whole place was the man walking toward me. I let him out, tossed my key into the place, locked the door, and closed it. I turned and smiled at him. We made our way back to the truck and, placing the boxes in the back, got in and went back to the building with the helicopter on top of it. The trip back, I was very tired. I can't remember any of it. When we got back, he unbuckled me tenderly, picked me up, and carried me back to my room. "Suzan, unlock the door." He said. I did so, and let my head fall back onto his chest. He pulled back the covers and laid me down on the bed, and then he tucked me in. Just as he was going out the door, I called to him, "Toad! Come back. Stay with me. Please?"
He hesitated, but nodded and said "Okay. I'll just go check on Sabertooth." I tried to keep myself awake until he got back, and had only fallen into a light doze. When he did get back, I snapped out of it and put my arm out for him. He walked to me, and I lifted the covers for him. After another hesitation, he lay down, put his arms around me, and I fell asleep almost instantly.
* * * * *
Unbeknownst to me, once I had fallen asleep, Toad said softly, "I love you, Suzan."
