Shout out to NachtcGleiskette, another fantastic X-Men writer. Hi!

KURT

Weeks passed and summer turned softly to autumn, the air growing chilly and crisp, mist creeping up the cliffs from the ocean. Everything settled into the usual school year routine, with classes and danger room sessions and the odd mission. Mutant/human relations weren't doing too bad, but there was always some sort of trouble to be sorted out.

There was trouble at the institute, too. Pietro and his little band of friends very quickly turned into bullies, and Kurt was one of their favorite targets. But he managed. He was used to such abuse.

After that day at the movies he thought maybe he could get Wanda to hang out with him and Jean and Scott, or Kitty and the others, but Wanda went back to being standoffish, reading her books and declining every time someone asked if she wanted to play board games or run through an extra DR session.

The only time she would even talk to Kurt was if he got her alone. One late afternoon after lunch he found her out by her favorite oak tree, reading a book on the rusty brown grass.

"Hey," he said awkwardly, dropping to the ground near her. His breath plumed in the air and he tossed a green apple between his hands. "Vhat are you reading?"

She glanced up and he was surprised to see her blushing. "It's nothing."

One of his eyebrows quirked. "Very interesting. I'll trade you this apple if you tell me what it's about." He polished the apple (her favorite kind, he knew) on his jacket and grinned.

Her blue eyes locked on the apple. He knew she must be hungry because half the time she skipped lunch altogether. After a minute she sighed and reached for the apple.

"Not so fast," he said, holding it away from her. "I want to know about the book first. Is it...salacious?" He could barely manage the long word with his accent.

Wanda's nose crinkled, and she hesitated again. Kurt definitely expected something like the bodice rippers Rogue sometimes read, and was surprised when she lifted the book to show him the cover.

"How to Speak German?"

"I'm also teaching myself Mandarin and Russian," she said, that aloof tone coming back into her voice.

Kurt blinked at her for a moment, both baffled as to why she was embarrassed and a little bit enthused by the idea of her learning his language.

"Have you learned much?" he asked. "I could help. I know German."

Her eyebrows raised. "No kidding."

Now it was his turn to be embarrassed. Something about Wanda always left him flustered.

"I mean, I could...tutor you if you want. Not that you need it. Just because it would be nice to talk to someone..." he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

To his surprise Wanda smiled. "I'd like that."

Thus the routine changed, as he met Wanda after classes and training every day, and helped to teach her German under the oak tree. Sometimes they ate apples, or brought a picnic, or steaming cups of hot chocolate to ward off the cold. It wasn't a friendship, really, but it was the beginning of one.

Kurt was on his way out to their tree one foggy afternoon when something hit him in the chest.

"Auscht." he gasped. Why hadn't he just teleported to the tree? It wasn't like it was a nice day out.

He blinked away a few stars to find the source of his pain: Toad. Domino stood behind him, her hands on her hips and a sneer on her face.

Verdammt.

Kurt held up his hands. "I don't want any trouble."

Toad cackled. Domino smiled. "That's just the thing. We want trouble."

Before he could teleport to safety, Toad hit him again with a powerful kick to the stomach. He went down, the grass cold and icy, and for a moment it felt like all his powers deserted him as a wave of panic took over. He was a little kid again, being beaten into the ground as people yelled curses at him.

Her curled in on his side as Domino and Toad battered him with kicks. He heard their taunts, too, but it was hard to make out specific words over the blood roaring in his ears. Why did they hate him?

"Leave him alone."

With a painful effort Kurt lifted his head, surprised to find Wanda facing down his tormentors, fists clenched at her sides, fingers seeping wisps of scarlet light.

WANDA

"Why should we listen to you?" Domino raised an eyebrow. "Are you his girlfriend?"

Toad cracked up at that, laughing so hard he almost fell over. "The rodent with a girlfriend, that's a good one, Dom. Tell me another, go on, tell me-"

"Shut up," Domino said, casting a vicious sneer at the younger boy before turning back to Wanda. "Does the little princess want trouble?"

Wanda's eyes burned with anger. She couldn't believe that these two would hurt their own kind like this, and the sight of Kurt laying on the frosty ground made her sick.

"I want you to leave him alone," she repeated. "This doesn't have to get messy."

"Oh, it's gonna get messy." Domino pulled a heavy-looking metal boomerang from her coat and lightly flipped it in her hand. "What do you want to bet that I can hit you with this? Feeling lucky, princess?"

"Don't call me that."

"What are you going to do? Run back home to daddy's castle? Girl's like you, born with a silver spoon in your mouth, think you can fight someone like me. Someone who's had to fight to survive. Life isn't always a castle, princess." She aimed a heavy kick to Kurt's ribs. "Take the rodent for an example. Life isn't kind to ugly freaks like us, but he hasn't let life's cruelties make him stronger. He is as weak as you are. I'm just giving him what you need, princess; a healthy dose of reality."

Domino aimed another kick but it never landed because Wanda raised her hands, which glowed with scarlet orbs of energy. Anger fizzled inside her, wanting a way out.

"I told you to leave. him. alone!" Domino was flung back in a raging blast of scarlet light and energy, landing hard several yards away, her head making a terrible cracking sound as her body jerked against the frozen ground. Toad was gone in an instant; maybe to get help or maybe just to hide. Kurt was sitting up now, looking dazed and wide-eyed.

"Are you alright?" Wanda asked, kneeling on the cold, frost-hardened ground. Her mouth opened in a gasp, one hand covering her mouth. His face was covered in blood, a red sticky sheet of it seeping from a cut on his forehead. "You're bleeding."

"I'll be alright," he said, looking over at Domino splayed on the dead grass. "I'm not sure I could say the same for her."

"C'mon." She offered him her hand and helped him to his feet; he wobbled slightly and she wondered if he had a concussion or broken ribs or something. "We should get you to the infirmary."

He shook his head, letting go of her hand and staggering over to Domino, where he knelt and touched her forehead, then her pulse. "We need to get help. Find Logan or the Professor."

Wanda looked across the lawn to the mansion; it seemed suddenly very far away. "I'm sure Toad went to find someone, and anyways, why do you care? They were the ones beating you up. She deserved what she got."

Kurt turned those yellow eyes on Wanda, and the lack of anger or bitterness in them astounded her. He looked hurt, and sad, but so genuinely concerned for Domino that it only made Wanda angrier. "You should hate them for what they did," she said sharply, "for going after their own kind. It's despicable."

"Ja," he said, offering her his hand. "But I don't want to be the demon people think I am. Is it alright if I teleport you?"

"You have a head injury, I'm not sure it's a good idea."

"I like to live dangerously. So it's okay?"

She nodded and a moment later they were walking through the doors of the institute to find Toad talking to Logan and several other students, including Scott and Warren, who both looked shocked to see Kurt bleeding.

Wanda shot Kurt and I told you so look but he ignored it. Toad gave a little shriek when he saw them, and half hid behind Logan.

"She did it!" he exclaimed, "she killed Dom right in front of me, I swear man she's crazy."

"She isn't dead," said Kurt, sounding suddenly very tired. "We were coming for help. I didn't want to teleport her because I wasn't sure what the effects might be on someone in her condition."

Logan gave a terse nod to Scott and Warren. "You two are comin' with me. Toad, go find Doc McCoy. And you two-" He looked first at Kurt, with what passed for sympathy on Logan, then at Wanda. He paused for a heartbeat. "Kurt, go to the infirmary. Miss Maximoff, I want to see you in the Professor's office, understood?"

They both nodded.