When Toad reached Deacon's apartment building the next day, he had to admit to himself that it was nice. Not fancy or anything, but not skeezy either. Just plain apartments with nice little balconies. Parking spaces for each resident. No bums hanging around.
He found the apartment number that was written in the corner of the directions page and hesitantly rang the bell. Just before the door swung open, he felt panicked and wished that he hadn't come. He imagined himself making up an excuse to leave—pretending to be a pizza delivery man or Toad's evil doppelganger—and chuckled grimly to himself.
The door swung open to reveal Deacon, cheery and gaudy as always. "Hey, man! Glad you came. Come check the place out." He waved Toad through the door like a collie herding a sheep.
Toad looked at the small, but functional living room, dining room, and kitchen. He winced at the reggae posters and bright color schemes Deacon had chosen, but it wasn't too bad.
"So where're the bedrooms?" Toad mumbled, trying not to sound like he was sold on this idea yet.
"Up the stairs." Deacon led him up a set of steps to a tiny hallway with a door on either side. "This is my roommate's old room." He swung a door open to reveal an empty bedroom. "There's a bathroom attached and two closets."
"Yeah, because I need room for my extensive wardrobe," Toad snorted, and Deacon laughed.
"Want to see my room?" Deacon asked, mischief in his voice.
Oh, no! He really is hitting on me! Toad coughed to cover up his anxiety. "No, no, that's OK."
Deacon grinned evilly. "Oh man, I think you do."
Toad stopped trying to be subtle. "No, I really bloody don't!"
"Just look." Deacon stepped over to the door opposite and flung it open. Toad looked in cautiously, expecting to see a scary chamber of love or something. What he saw instead was a rather gaudy, but unremarkable room. There were only two remarkable things in it—Allyson and Anya, sitting on the bed.
"Huh? You? What?" Toad babbled like an idiot.
"Oh, hey," Allyson said unenthusiastically.
Anya was making an awkward, clenched-teeth look, and she silently waved. Toad wondered what to make out of this. Then he got distracted by how cute Anya looked. She was wearing a shirt with a hooded jacket (a look he often favored himself), along with a short skirt that drew his eyes immediately to her legs, which seemed to him all creamy skin and soft curves, just a little chubby and altogether the kind of thing he wouldn't mind looking at for a while. His eyes moved up to her face, which still looked nervous, and he smiled when he saw her pretty, flighty hair, which was twisted into two little pigtails.
"Hey, Allyson, why don't you come out and help me get snacks?" Deacon said, peeking in over Toad's shoulder.
"OK!" Allyson jumped up, immediately all enthusiasm. She preened as soon as Deacon spoke, and even Toad, social pariah that he was, could tell that she was smitten with the insouciant DJ.
In a moment, Toad was alone in the bedroom with Anya, who still hadn't moved or spoken. "How's it going?" he said, then immediately felt like slapping himself. Some original opening line.
"I'm going to kill Deacon!" Anya burst out with surprising vigor.
Toad shrank back a little. Was she unhappy to see him?
Anya jumped up off the bed. "I mean, he came to the dorm and invited us over and made it sound like he just wanted to hang out, and Allyson saw him and thought he was hot so we came over but then the doorbell rang and he went to get it and it was you."
Oh, great, Toad thought unhappily.
"Oh, no, no, I mean, I'm glad. I'm just mad that he didn't warn me. I'm going to make him teach me how to trick other psychics, because I really don't get it yet." She smiled shyly as she finished her rant.
"Yeah," Toad said, his heart lightening. He had probably smiled more in the past five minutes than he had in the previous five years.
"So what do you want to do?" Anya said, then blushed. "I mean, like, watch a movie or something? I have this feeling that Deacon and Ally aren't coming back for a while…oh my gosh!"
Toad jumped. His mutant senses making him a bit easily startled. "What? What?"
Anya clapped her hand to her forehead. "I can't believe it." Then she started laughing.
"What is it?" Toad asked impatiently.
"Deacon and Allyson are down there totally making out!" She laughed again. "They've known each other for, like, ten minutes!" She paused, then glared. "Ugh. Deacon is stopping me from spying on them. I guess I don't want to know too much detail."
"Wow, that guy works fast, huh?" Toad felt briefly jealous.
"Yeah, I guess so." Anya giggled. "If only I could use my psychic skills so well."
Toad's jealousy had changed to energy. He felt like springing across the room and pulling Anya close to him and… well, he wasn't sure what then. He had many ideas, but pretty much no experience. Images filled his mind. He wrung his hands, then stuffed them in his pockets. He stood on his left foot, then his right. He avoided Anya's eyes.
When he finally looked at her, he saw her smiling mysteriously. Kind of like the Mona Lisa. Except without a veil.
"Were you… just…" He didn't even have to finish his sentence. Of course she had picked up on his thoughts.
"Yeah. I'm sorry!" She didn't look sorry. She looked smug.
Toad's attraction immediately cooled to embarrassment and annoyance. "I told you to knock that off."
"I'm sorry," she said again, no longer smiling, but still looking sneaky.
"Stop making that face! Don't… flatter yourself." There wasn't really a way to deny his own thoughts, was there? He was stuck.
Suddenly, Anya's eyebrow quirked. "Make me."
Toad gawked. "Huh?"
"Make me stop." She grinned. "I dare you. Make me stop smiling."
Toad was confused. He was partly mad at her, partly embarrassed, partly still full of stupid and sappy longing, and partly turned on by her devious look. She was kind of hot when she was being a jerk.
He decided to fight fire with fire. He began thinking mean things about her—most of them lies. You're a bad mutant. And your hair is too frizzy. And you look fat in that skirt. That would teach her to read his mind!
Anya's smile fell, then disappeared as a sad, scrunched look spread across her face. His plan had worked a little too well. She looked miserable, and he felt unwillingly guilty.
He had a sudden impulse, and for once, he followed it. "Look," he said, surprising himself as much as her. He pulled his sweatshirt off, leaving him in just a worn white T-shirt that showed his arms and let the green tint of his skin shine through. "I'm a freak. You shouldn't care what I think. You shouldn't care."
Anya's face was disarmingly expressionless. She studied him closely, then shook her head. "You can't scare me off. Quit trying."
"Can't? Oh, yeah?" Now it was a challenge. "Look here." He let his tongue hang a few feet out of his mouth.
A corner of Anya's mouth tilted up. "That's weird. But I've seen it before."
"OK, how's this for scary?" Words flowed out of his mouth unbidden, unwanted. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her as he spoke. "I'm a criminal. I kidnap people. I beat people up. I'm a thug. I killed a guy once in a barfight. I didn't mean to, but I… just did. I used to pick pockets. I used to be Magneto's lackey. I hate… well, everyone. And they hate me. I'm not good, OK?" He felt humiliated and empty as soon as the words were spoken. He pushed Anya away.
When he had joined the Brotherhood, he had decided to leave his weakness behind—his years of loneliness and being beaten and learning to fight back. He had learned to pose and strut and fight. He thought he had forgotten how to show his weakness. He knew he had never learned to stop feeling it. He couldn't believe he had finally let it be seen.
Anya was silent for so long that he looked up to see if she was still there. She was. She didn't look disgusted, or afraid. She just looked sad. Maybe even broken-hearted.
"Aren't you going to say something? You know, something like 'Get the hell out of here' or 'Gross'? I've heard it all before." Toad tried to take up his bravado again, but it was too late.
Anya walked slowly toward him and didn't stop until her face was inches from his. She didn't touch him. She just stayed there, then slowly clasped her hands over her heart. She finally spoke.
"I'm so sorry."
"For what?" He forced himself to stand his ground and not back away.
"For you."
He was suddenly furious. She was going to stand there and pity him? He was about to turn and rush out, but her next words stopped him.
"I'm sorry for hiding. Now I understand why you should hate me. I'm a coward. I've hidden for so long. I don't know what to do when I'm not lying." Tears leaked out of her eyes. "I don't know how I thought you could like me. I mean, you didn't deserve any of that. But you got it all, and I got to have powers for free. It's so unfair. I'm so sorry." She was the one who turned to leave.
He grabbed her hand. "Stop."
She shook her head and tried to pull away, but he didn't let go.
"It's not your fault. You are a coward, but you're not the one who hurt me. And I didn't have to do the things I did. Stop beating yourself up. It sucks. I should know."
Anya looked up at him, slow and shy like she expected him to slap her. Instead, he put his hand to her soft, round cheek, still a little damp from tears. Touching her felt nice. He could get used to this.
"Please get used to it," she whispered, a hint of the smile coming back.
Toad was about to yell at her to stop the psychic act, but instead he moved his hand to cover her mouth. She raised her eyebrows, confused.
"No talking. Too much talking today. C'mere." He pulled her against him, hugging her tight, so he could smell her nice girl smell and feel her warm skin through the layers of their clothes. She laid her head on his shoulder and he boldly…stroked her hair. (Well, he had to start somewhere, didn't he?)
Then, proving themselves the most inconvenient couple ever, Deacon and Allyson walked in, finally, looking rather disheveled and carrying snacks. "Hey guys!" Deacon said happily.
Toad expected Anya to leap away from him, but she didn't. Instead she just looked over his shoulder at the pair and glared. Deacon glared back, and Toad was pretty sure that some psychic arguing was occurring.
"What movie do you guys want to watch?" Allyson said, staring at Toad and Anya's embrace, but apparently not too bothered.
"I'm going to sit on the bed," Anya said suddenly, plopping down and staring competitively at Deacon.
"Well, fine, because I like the floor better anyway," Deacon retorted, a hint of annoyance tingeing his usual cheer
"Me, too," Allyson said in a tone of zombie-like approval.
Toad sat down next to Anya, then yelped. "What's with this bed?"
Anya laughed. "It's a waterbed."
"Oh." Toad bounced around a little, making the bed shift around wildly. He flopped onto his back, making bigger waves, and laughed when his motions made Anya bounce.
"I'm glad the bed is so amusing," Anya said, a little sarcastically. Toad wondered why she was making fun of him, then realized that it was because he was paying more attention to the bed than her. But what was he supposed to do with her? He was suddenly nervous all over again.
"C'mere," Anya whispered, mimicking his earlier words. He looked nervously at Deacon and Allyson, but they were distracted, looking through Deacon's DVD cabinet to pick a movie. Toad scooted nervously closer to Anya, wishing that he could suddenly switch brains with Deacon or some other suave guy. Brains, or at least skills.
"Relax. You're making the bed shake," Anya joked. "Oh wait… I mean… that sounded weird."
Toad laughed. "I make the bed shake, huh?" He reached over and poked Anya's ribs, causing her to yelp and jump. "Quit that, you'll make the bed shake!" He stuck his hand out for another attack, but Anya reached over and grabbed it as though to push it away.
"Hey guys, would you rather see Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Romeo and Juliet?" Deacon asked. Anya let go of Toad's hand. He felt annoyed at Deacon for breaking up the game.
"Fast Times," Toad replied grouchily, surprised when Anya said the same words at the same moment.
"You guys! I want to see Romeo and Juliet!" Allyson protested. "Anya, you're a traitor to girlkind!"
"Fine, fine. Romeo and Juliet," Anya acquiesced.
"OK, fine," Deacon grumbled, putting the DVD in.
It soon became apparent that Deacon and Allyson didn't really care about the movie, since they spent half the time whispering and kissing anyway. Anya arranged some of Deacon's pillows into a comfortable pile behind her head and nestled down into the water mattress, her face pointing toward the TV, but her eyes straying toward Toad every few seconds.
Toad shifted around, trying to get comfortable on the waterbed. Did Anya really want to just watch the movie?
He looked over at her
and caught her staring at him. "What?"
"Nothing."
"You're looking at me."
"Isn't that allowed?"
Toad relaxed a little, leaning back on his own pile of pillows. "Yeah, but most people would pay for the privilege of not looking at me," he joked.
Anya giggled and looked back at the TV. Toad did the same.
A few minutes passed.
"Hey, Toad?" she whispered.
"Yeah?" He turned his head lazily.
"Are you really that interested in this movie?"
"Eh… not so much."
"Me neither. I don't like movies that much. I mean, it's pretty and stuff, but I have a hard time caring about anyone in them. It's so weird to see people and not feel them." She paused, then looked over at him earnestly. "You know what I mean?"
"No. You're a freak," he deadpanned. She slapped his arm, but before she could take her hand back, he grabbed it, using her own trick against her. "Sorry, you can't have this back." He tucked the hand into his own.
"I can't? Isn't there anything I can do?" Her voice was suddenly breathy and a little seductive, and Toad's breath caught in his throat.
"You can try." He wanted to put the ball in her court.
It worked. She slid across the mattress and lay right next to him, her free arm thrown across him. She tucked her face into his neck.
"It'll take more than that to make me give your hand back," Toad said, his voice coming out annoyingly husky instead of smooth.
"I don't want it back."
"You might need it someday."
"I don't care." Then her voice whispered into his mind—I need this more.
A/N: Muy romantica¿si? Don't worry—there will be complications, excitement, and more plot in the next chapter!