Disclaimer: I own nothing, none of the characters, places, or names. Just the situations.
A/N: Kindergarten situation for the X-Men, based on Evolution and a few friends of mine's ideas. Spiderman included in this fic (He does fit… It is proved in the comics…) If some of the pairings are weird, blame Mrs Jean Grey Summers board (though it rocks beyond belief). Oh and I'm gonna say they know Logan's proper name, as it seems weird not to if I do know… Just an opinion and just this fic…
Thanks to: CloeyMarie, Agent-G, angelic devil 656, Nettlez, amazing redd phoenix, Thanagarian Angel, kittyangel7501 and Rising Goddess.
Last time:
"I'm Ben Parker, this is my wife May, and this is our nephew Peter. He isn't exactly what your Professor spoke about on that TV broadcast, but he is gifted."
…
"Mister Logan?"…"Kid, get away from me."…"But Mister Logan, I wanna tell you somethin'. It's important."…"WHAT!" Logan yelled, his patience breaking.
…
Charles' smile broadened as he listened to his colleagues, both new and old. "Then I suppose we shall wait and see what our future can bring these miracles of evolution. Our present, our future,… Our dreams."
And now – chapter four, lesson time! Poor teachers….
"CHILDREN! PLEASE CALM DOWN!" Hank bellowed, trying to sound patient, yet get their attention. Jean stopped, as did Scott, Kurt, Peter and Sam. Kitty stopped a minute after Kurt, as she had taken to hanging with him more than Lance as she and Kurt didn't argue as much.
Rogue was already quietly sitting on the floor in the corner, allowing Remy to sit close to her and talk to her, though she didn't answer him at all. He was happy enough just to not be snapped at or totally ignored, so he carried on regardless, becoming more animated whenever she added one word to the conversation, even if it was sarcastic. Logan chuckled at her being able to use sarcasm, though she wouldn't know the meaning of the word or understand what she was doing. He rolled his eyes at Hank's attempts and stood up, and growled, popping all six claws.
"Sit-down." He ordered through gritted teeth and there was a rumble as every child sat suddenly. Logan looked back at Hank who was rubbing his eyes and shaking his head at Logan's method of 'persuasion'.
Charles wheeled into the make-shift school room and smiled at the vast group of children. Peter looked behind him and waved to his aunt and uncle who were sitting at the back. They smiled and waved back, then looked intently at Professor Xavier. He turned around and whispered to Kurt and Sam who smiled and nodded.
Jean sat next to the wall, kneeling up and with a hand on Scott's shoulder to steady herself. Scott smiled as he crossed his legs and let her lean on him. He looked up at her and found himself thinking how pretty she was again. He'd seen the others and, much to Kurt's delight, he still wanted to be friends with every single one of them. Actually, the others had taken to Scott as some sort of leader, as he was softly yet firmly spoken and knew his own mind more often than the others.
Kitty sat next to Kurt and behind Jean, trying to find out more about them, then repeating it in a louder voice to herself and giggling. She seemed to have lots of energy, but that suited Kurt fine as he often felt the same. He told her all about the circus he had grown up in and promised to show her some of the moves later. Kurt was also next to Peter, and Sam sat in the middle behind them. They had already come up with a new game, but they wanted Evan to play too, though he was rather quiet.
Jubilation had joined Logan again and was sat on his knee after his claws had been withdrawn and he had sat down again. She hugged him and looked across at Kitty interested in her and the blue boy beside her. Ororo again had Wanda by her side and had consented to sit on the floor by her as a way to help Wanda keep Todd away. Wanda had led her over and sat near Peter, trying to get a response from him. Todd, Fred and Lance were scowling at the side, Todd as Wanda seemed to like Peter, Lance as Kitty seemed to like Kurt and Fred just so he could fit in.
The pyromaniac was sat near Pietro and Remy as they seemed to share ideas of destruction. Evan had been invited to help, but had refused as he wanted to 'think' – as he told them. Remy crawled back over to Rogue after he had given John a poke in the back and smiled as he tried to talk to her again, resulting in her placing a gloved finger to his lips and shaking her head as she pointed to Charles. Nodding in agreement he looked expectantly over to the Professor and waited.
As silence fell, well as much silence as there can be in a kindergarten, Charles leaned forward in his wheelchair and smiled. "Good morning class."
"Hello." Evan spoke up, causing giggles to echo round the class. He turned and grinned at them, before looking back to Charles, whose eyes were dancing with mirth.
"Hello Evan. Now, shall we progress?"
This gained the Professor a roomful of confused looks and he sat up straight, trying to remain in control. "What I mean, children, is shall we learn something today?"
Now the confused looks turned to smiles and nods, causing the two at the back to smile, Logan to shake his head and Ororo to hug Wanda as she was told that Charles was very clever and that Wanda wanted to learn. Jubilee poked Logan in the cheek and told him to sit up as Charles continued.
"Now how many of us know the alphabet off by heart, hmm?"
Jean shakily raised her hand and looked around as no one else copied her. Charles gave her an encouraging smile. "That's wonderful Jean, can you tell us what it is, please? Go ahead, don't be shy."
Swallowing, Jean turned around to face the rest of the class and gave them a nervous smile, then froze. Scott sensed something was wrong and whispered to Kurt who shrugged and said he didn't know what to do. Biting his lip, Scott stood up too, causing Jean to look at him blankly. He held her hand and she smiled, beginning to recite the alphabet how she had learnt it, as a song.
Ororo looked back at Logan and they shared a secret smile, as did Hank and Charles. It was obvious to them that the two children shared something, but how much they shared would be discovered in later years…
Charles clapped Jean as she finished, the rest of the room joining in as she and Scott sat back down again, Jean blushing and smiling, whilst Scott just didn't let go of her hand. After the applause had died down, Charles took control.
"Now do you think we can all learn that today? We will do some pictures to help, then you may all play for a while, and we shall finish today by a game I call circle time."
Logan stood up and put Jubilee on the floor as Charles passed out chalk boards and packs of chalk to every child. He laughed to himself as they spilt up, now forming two very decisive groups. One led by Scott and Jean, and the other led by Pietro and Wanda. Wanda however didn't seem keen on this and dragged Ororo to the others.
"Can I play and stuff here?" She asked Kitty as she was the closest. Kitty nodded and smiled, scooting across so Wanda could sit by her. Wanda beamed and let go of Ororo's hand as she sat down. Jubilee pushed past Logan and Ororo and sat down on Kitty's other side, telling them both her name and asking what their favourite colour was.
Jean was singing parts of the song slowly and the others repeated it, then she asked them to try that bit on their own. Ororo chuckled at Jean's teaching skills and moved away from Wanda so she could play with people her own age.
Scott sat close to Jean again, but no-one disputed that. Rogue gave her a look at one point from the other group, but then she gave up and contented herself with plaguing Remy by giving one-word answers and not meeting his eyes or smiling. Kitty looked over to Lance to see if he missed her and was horrified by the look he shot Kurt. Turning back around she gave Kurt a hug out of the blue, causing him to grin and Lance to scowl even more. Wanda was ignoring Peter to see if he'd talk to her, which, in turn, was making him curious and want to talk to her. Sam tried to convince him to as he thought it was a fun game between the two of them. Kurt nodded as he listened to Jean and Sam and tried to sing the song after her and agree with Sam at the same time.
"Ay Bee Cee – you should – Dee Ee efF Gee – go talk to her – Haich I Jay Kay – ozzervise – elL eM eN Oh Pee – you vill regret it – Queue aRe esS Tee yoU Vee – trust me – double yoU eX whY and Zee. Hey I did it!" Kurt grinned as he finished the song, then his tail pushed Peter gently towards Wanda. "You go man, go."
Peter glared at Sam and Kurt, then got up and walked across to Wanda. "Ahem." He coughed behind her, causing her to turn around and look at him. "Um, hi, I'm Peter, umm, you wanna learn together, maybe?"
Wanda looked at him in surprise and felt a warm feeling in her tummy. "Okay, you don't mind do you Jubes, Kitty?"
Kitty and 'Jubes' as Jubilee had been dubbed shook their heads and had a race to see who could get over to Sam and Kurt first. They drew, but that left Wanda and Peter alone. Peter sat down and put his chalk board in front of him and tried to remember the song. Wanda pulled out a piece of chalk and scribbled on her board to make it a different colour. Red and black was soo better than just black.
"So umm, you've got a brother?" Peter asked carefully, breaking the silence. Wand nodded.
"He's not nice though, I hate him sometimes."
"He seems hyper."
"He is." Wanda smiled. "Do you have a brother or sister?"
"No, and my parents are in heaven, so I won't have any more, less they send one from there." Peter admitted quietly. Wanda had an urge to hug him as he looked so sad, but she fought it back and instead touched his hand, which sent a shock through her body, but a nice one. Peter felt it too and met her eyes.
"Did you feel that?"
"Yeah… Is your tummy weird?"
"Uh huh, it's all warm and fluttery like butterflies in Summertime."
Wanda's eyes widened and she smiled "Mine too. I think that means we have to be friends. But I don't feel the butterflies when I talk to Kitty or Jubes."
Peter nodded and was puzzled. "Nor me when I talk to Sam and Kurt and Scott. It's weird, but cool."
"Uh huh." Wanda mimicked his earlier agreement.
Smiling, Peter touched her knee and held out his pinky. "Friends?"
Linking pinkies, Wanda nodded and a matching smile spread across her face. "Friends."
They continued to work on their alphabet puzzle as Pietro joined Todd in giving them a sour look. Pietro continued to try and say his as fast as possible so it sounded right. He figured if the Professor thought he said it right then it was as good as. Fred frowned to himself as he tried to learn it from the little tape that had begun to play in the corner with it on. Lance nudged him and pointed to a pot of paint over on the table. Grinning, Fred realised Lance's plan and allowed the smaller boy to help him learn so they could play. Todd soon noticed them working together and hopped over.
"What's happenin', yo?"
Lance rolled his eyes and shrugged, so it was Fred who answered. "We's is learnin', aintcha doin' th' same Todd?"
"Too right. But with my back to them over there. They bug me, yo."
"Quit it!" Lance hissed and looked up at Todd. "Come here and we'll help each other, or go away so we can do it and play later."
The three settled down to work quickly, much to Logan's glee as he was watching this half of the room with Hank as back up. John, however, wasn't as quick to calm down. He jumped up and tugged on Logan's leg and grinned as the man became frustrated when he didn't stop pulling, even after Logan had asked what he wanted. "Logan, Mister Logan, Logan, Mister Logan." He chanted, a whining tone in his voice as Logan's expression soured further and further.
"What…kid?" Logan spoke through clenched teeth, his fists balled up and the muscles in his arms twitching as if his claws wanted to pop out.
"Nothin'." John said smugly and turned away, smirking at Remy as he completed his dare.
Remy shook his head and knew he now had the task of repeating the exercise with an angry to begin with Logan. He stood up slowly and looked to Rogue for support as she had chosen to sit by him still, instead of moving over to the other group. Rogue flashed a small smile his way and Remy felt four feet tall. Cautiously, he made his way over to Logan and put his hands behind his back and looked up at him, smiling an innocent and charming smile at the man he was about to annoy to the extremes. If he died, Remy thought, it was John's fault.
"Monsieur? Monsieur? Logan?"
"Hm?" Logan grunted in response, still trying to calm his raised temper, not wanting to take it out on a kid.
"But Monsieur Logan! Logan? Monsieur Logan? Logan?"
"What?" Logan snapped, not looking at Remy, afraid that if he did he would explode.
"Monsieur? You won't look! Logan? Monsieur Logan? Monsieur? Monsieur? Logan? Logan? Logan? Logan?" Remy continued to change between the three titles he had at the current time for Logan and interjecting himself with comments such as 'look', 'but, but, but…' and 'oh, but look'.
Logan's temper rose and he closed his eyes trying to block out the noise. Remy took this as a sign of weakness and grinned further, the children behind him in fits of laughter as he continued. Suddenly Logan snapped and grabbed Remy's shoulders tightly as if to shake the boy. Remy's eyes widened and he shut up at once, going completely rigid in Logan's hands. All the laughter stopped behind him and even the opposite side of the room shut up to look at the furious Logan and terrified Remy.
"You want something Gumbo?" Logan breathed and smirked as Remy shook his head stiffly. "Then quit buggin' me an' go learn yer alphabet."
Logan could smell the fear coming off Remy in waves and let him go abruptly, letting the boy run quickly back to his friends who were still silent. Raising an eyebrow at them, he turned and walked away, heading for the door. Ororo stood and let the Parker's take over her side of the room as she cut Logan off halfway. The chatter rose again and Ororo could see Rogue hugging Remy behind Logan's back, which was sweet, but she had to calm down the man in front of her.
"Logan…"
"Let me outta here, now 'Ro. Or else-"
"Or else what Logan?" Ororo snapped back and stared at him, challenging him to speak, and folding her arms. "What will you do?"
Logan glared at her and tensed his arms up, the intensity of their look not unnoticed by the other teachers. He eventually dropped her gaze and looked away. Ororo grinned triumphantly and touched his shoulder. "You don't have to get angry, play them at their own game Logan."
She smiled as the thought trailed across his mind and hit home. He smiled triumphantly and nodded. "Yer right. They'll never know what hit 'em!"
Ororo laughed and went back to check on Remy. He was shaken at first but after Rogue had hugged him, he seemed to be melodramatically telling it so he was braver and smarter than he had actually. Jean, across the other side of the room, had seen how Logan reacted to being annoyed and now was coming up with a scheme of her own, especially as he was nice to her all the time, then spoke behind her back to the other teachers. A devious smile formed on her face and Jean knew her plan would be perfect.
A barking noise was heard from the hall and Logan turned to see Moira in tears holding a small puppy, and pushing a small boy forward, who looked younger than the others. Logan growled and the pup shut up and whimpered at Moira. "What's that thing doin' here Moira?"
"She, and it's my daughter in a way. Jamie go in there."
Logan's eyebrows raised as Hank dashed past him, Jamie going the other way to sit by Jean and Scott who looked comforting. Hank's eyes widened. "Rahne?"
Moira nodded and tears shone in her eyes again. Hank took the puppy from her and petted her gently. "Rahne, you got stuck?"
Jean heard the noise, but before she could react, Jubilation had thrown herself out and was squealing "PUPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Moira held Jubilation back and looked to Hank, but he gave her big eyes and she let the girl go. Cautiously, she approached Hank and the puppy, putting out a hand to pet it. "Nice puppy…"
"She is called Rahne." Moira chipped in, still looking at the puppy with worried eyes. "Can ye not do somethin' Hank? She needs t' be back t' normal!"
Professor wheeled across and looked from Moira to Hank to Rahne. "Down to the med bay Hank, I will assist. Children please be good and you may play whilst we are busy."
"I wanna play with the puppy." Pietro cried, his eyes brimming. Wanda did the same and trembled, feeling the emotions of Pietro being upset as they were so used to being together. Peter hugged her and she smiled weakly, but kept looking at the puppy.
Rahne leaped from Hank's arms and tore into the room, yapping and barking at everyone, licking the few that didn't squeal and run off. Jamie fell backward as Rahne leapt up at him, recognising and liking his scent. Suddenly there were three Jamies, one being licked by Rahne and the other two looking quite annoyed and scared. Jean squeaked and held Scott's arm, looking at the three boys that had been one.
"Down Rahne. Bad Rahne!" the original Jamie giggled and pushed her down, sticking his tongue out as he concentrated on pulling his selves together.
Jean stepped out and stared at him, then grinned wickedly and called to the boy mentally. What's your name?
Jamie looked around confused and spoke out loud. "Jamie. Where are you?"
Giggling Jean called again, and Scott rolled his eyes behind his new glasses to signal he thought it was dumb to play games on the younger boy, though the gesture was pointless. Behind the boy with red glasses on. Turn around.
Jamie turned slowly and smiled at Jean, waving happily. She waved back and giggled again. "Come play!"
Happily ambling over to the girl and boy, Jamie had Rahne at his heels until Ororo picked her up. Jamie smiled at her. "Bye bye Rahne, back soon."
Rahne whimpered and was passed back to Hank who kept hold of her and took her to the lab, where the Professor was already waiting. The Professor laughed at the look on Hank's face and shook his head. Hank grinned and put Rahne on the table.
"You'd better try first Charles, who knows what would happen if I attempted without any knowledge."
Charles nodded and concentrated on the mind of Rahne, willing her to listen and change back.
Hank and Charles were down in the lab for quite some time. Ororo carried on playing with the children, trying to play with some of the boys, but that proved hard as the girls didn't want to let her go, except Jean and Kitty. They were more than happy to play with the boys, as that was the gender of their best friends. Jean was still plotting against Logan happily, but she continued to play with the others and help Scott learn, as he refused to play until he learnt the alphabet.
Rogue was still being followed by Remy, but she didn't find it annoying anymore, in fact she quite liked it and was upset if he wasn't there, though she didn't let him know that. He was a boy and not allowed to know. Then again, neither were the girls, so it didn't make much difference.
Peter and Wanda were in different groups again, but they kept glancing at one another, both shocked if anyone noticed what they were doing and horrified if the other saw. Todd was trying to keep Wanda's attention on him by bouncing up and down and acting stupid to make her laugh. At first she got annoyed and yelled at him, firing mini-hexes in his direction. Then she gave up and talked to her brother, whilst looking at Peter. Peter was trying to play games with Sam, then he switched to helping Jean and Scott. It was easier, he found, to stay quiet whilst helping.
Moira was on edge, sitting by Jamie, who was talking to Kurt, throwing strange glances at her as if to ask why she was sitting there. A small yap however made Moira stand. The puppy from before burst into the room and ran to Moira, licking her leg, then hiding behind the sofa, barking happily and wagging her tail.
Hank followed on his hands and knees. He looked up and grinned at Moira, before scrambling forward and attempting to follow the canine. Jubilation wasn't helping. She jumped on Hank's back and squealed with joy, crying 'Giddy up!'. Moira bit back a laugh and blinked unshed tears from her eyes.
Don't be disheartened Moira
Charles wheeled into the room and smiled. "Rahne? Come out the others want to meet you."
The puppy yapped and wriggled out of Hank's grasp, skidding across to run past the Professor. Moira sighed and shrugged. May and Ben chuckled thinking the same thoughts. The other children all got up, the noise level rising as the commotion was realised.
"Professor?"
All the noise stopped as a new voice was heard. A girl about Jamie's age could be seen behind the Professor's chair. She had one thumb in her mouth as she looked around the room. Moira froze then ran to the girl, and hugged her tightly.
"Children, this is Rahne Sinclair, she will be joining us from now on." Charles smiled. "Go ahead Rahne, you can go and play now. Lessons will begin again tomorrow. Try and finish learning the alphabet though."
With that he wheeled away and smiled at Moira's thankful expression. Each day brought a new challenge, he thought, and new friendships, trials… Possibly this was going to be the biggest mistake or the biggest achievement in his life. There was no in-between for this one. No chance for guessing, or slipping up.
He smiled slowly as he turned his head to look at the room of students and teachers. Achieving would be easy with such bright and interesting young people and with the experience of the elder ones the task was made easier again.
Annnnnnnd it's here. By the way, Kurt was saying the alphabet, so I put the noises, the sounds of the letters, so show he was learning and speaking. The capital letter was the actual letter he was saying.Fini! For now anyway, there is so much more to tell! You will all see…
Please review and I hope you enjoyed.
Summers Groupie
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