I have no excuses. Life just gets in the way sometimes. Hopefully I can make up for it now.
disclaimer: I do not own Wolverine and the X men.
"I don't understand! Why vould you-?"
"Rule number three Kurt." Dani answered flatly, turning the wheel onto the highway sharply.
"Do you know how dangerous-?"
"Number three."
"Your father truly has no idea?"
"3.."
"Dani, -" He started, a sternness in his tone that he seldom ever used inserting itself before he could even notice it was there. But it didn't have the chance to play out, Dani was swerving towards the breakdown lane and towards the treeline, presumably to drop him off.
"Ach, alright alright! I get it, rule number 3! I won't ask again!"
That must have been good enough for her, because she indicated back into traffic and carried on driving like nothing had happened, leaving Kurt to grumble to himself.
He had heard of children running away from home, for various reasons. It was unfortunately not an uncommon thing, even for normal humans. He had met a good number of mutants at the institute who had started out as runaways themselves. Back then he could understand their pain, and why they made the decision. The way his life was in Germany, he wondered why he hadn't run away himself a lot sooner, maybe because he had no-where else to go.
But Dani wasn't a mutant, nor did she seem the sort to have come from a particularly rough background. She was sarcastic, but well rounded and with a good sense of morals. All signs that she came from someone willing enough to teach her and love her for that to be the case. Why would she willingly run from something like that?
Perhaps her parent weren't the problem..
"I vill not ask anymore of your decision, but I may ask other questions?"
"That was the rest of what rue number 3 allowed, right?"
He nodded, urging himself to think of how he could word things carefully, lest he set her off again. Even if she seemed to be taking things in stride, unperturbed and staring pointedly at the road ahead of them. But Dani's shoulders were rigid with agitation and the leg she wasn't using to drive was bouncing her heel up and down restlessly.
"Alright...then, may I ask how old you are?"
Dani's shoulders relaxed just the barest amount , but not completely, "17 and a half."
She's not sure why she added 'and a half' that was something kids did to feel like they were closer to one-upping an adult in an argument. As if Kurt needed anymore reason to think she was some hapless waif making uninformed life decisions.
She already knew she was making uninformed life decisions. She had that covered and was just fine with continuing to muddle herself out of this pickle she'd put herself in, thanks.
Kurt's frown deepend. Legally, he supposed, she was nearly an adult. Only a minor by sheer technicality. However, he could remember being 17, and alone. It wasn't easy, and now with the added perspective and adult, he knew it wasn't right. If he told Dani as such he suspected he'd need to tuck and roll into the tree line, and he had no desire to jump from another moving vehicle for quite some time after the truck incident last night. So for now he bit his tongue and decided to continue to investigate what he could.
Perhaps he was delving into things that weren't his wasnt as if he had any right to intrude on what she decided to do.
But as she said, it was going to be a very long car ride. And it wasn't as if he had any sudoku puzzles at his disposal. Attempting to unravel this mystery could at least help pass the time.
"Anything else? Or can I turn on the radio now?" Dani's fingers tapped her steering wheel in a steady rhythm. Extended silences made her antsy.
"How long have you been...traveling?" he asked carefully.
Dani took a moment to calculate. It was definitely long enough to get really sick of fast food. "I dunno, like a week?"
"I see.."
Dani could hear the faint hint of disapproving in his voice, but he wisely let it drop once again at that. Which she could appreciate, most adults, mutant or otherwise, wouldn't have learned past the first time she threatened to kick them out of the car. Still, why give him time to think up more questions?
"So.." she began, "..if you're part of the X-men how come they weren't with you last night?"
Kurt glanced at her, yellow eyes slightly wider in what she supposed was quiet surprise. She shrugged.
"What? I'm curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want to.." Rule number 3 was a two way street after all, whether Kurt had realized it or not. She wasn't sure what went on in the life of your average mutant but she could guess a fair amount of action and stress was involved.
"Nein, it isn't a problem.." He started slowly, "I just...there may be a limit to vhat I can tell you about it."
"That's fine. Just tell me what you feel comfortable telling me."
He paused thoughtfully, before coming up with an answer. "It was my mission to help another group of mutants safely make their way to genosha. The MRD have taken to..intercepting them before they can even make it to the boats."
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Wait...but i thought that's what people wanted. For the mutants to go to their own little corner of the world and leave the rest to humans.." she realized how that sounded and tried to amend it quickly, "I mean humans that care about stupid stuff like that. I don't really care as long as you guys aren't trying to kill us...I mean-"
"It's alright, I understand vhat you mean," He gave a briefly amused chuckle.
"But it still doesn't make any sense.." She said incredulously.
"Racism rarely does. Nor does the irrational mind of someone who fears vhat they don't understand."
She went quiet for a moment , and he was pleased to see she seemed to be deep in thought about this. It meant she was listening, and hearing what he had to say. That seemed to be a lot to ask of humans lately.
"So...if they could only send you to one spot there must not be many x-men around huh.."
He settled back in the chair, letting his head rest against the top of the seat. He was a little tall for it so it had his head crane just the barest amount upwards.
"We had been a bit..scattered until recently. An old friend brought most of us back together again." Kurt felt himself smiling, just a little bit, "As chaotic as this world has become, it's starting to feel a bit like old times. Vhen we get a quiet moment."
Dani glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. For the first time he actually seemed to be relaxing. She wasn't sure if he knew this, but his tail had been thrashing nervously pretty much all the time since she picked him up last night. From the sounds of it, he had a lot to be anxious about. And they had a while yet before he'd be able to do anything about it really..
"..tell me about them." Her voice had softened somewhat, it came out as a request, not a demand. It was gentle enough for him to know it was his choice if he did or not.
He supposed it was a matter of survival instincts he'd picked up since joining the x-men when his first inkling was quiet suspicion. He watched her for just a moment, looking for any sign that she was indeed trying to gather information to use AGAINST the x-men. Her fingers were tapping at the steering wheel still, but he had noticed that some part of her always seemed to be moving. Whether it was her fingers tapping or leg bouncing. But when she did it the rest of her seemed relaxed, so he supposed that must be a way of her dealing with the restlessness in her limbs being trapped in a car all day.
Once again, he knew he couldn't tell her everything...but he could tell her some things..
So he did. Being careful to use their X-men code names only for now, and avoiding speaking about their powers and what the institute was for. He instead stuck to talking about them. Which Dani seemed perfectly content with.
He told her how Ororo had taught him plant language whilst he helped her weed in the greenhouse at the institute. How Hank would now and then if the weather was good, start up a baseball game, and would hog the umpire position. How he and Logan would sometimes like to watch football and drink beer, even if Kurt himself wasn't much for the sport itself. And so on and so forth.
And, because it was his story to tell, he even spoke of how the professor had found him in Germany. And of when he first joined the X-men.
Once again, Dani listened to all of it. Oddly quiet for her, but he could see a gleam of intrigue in her eyes as he told her these stories. She was paying attention, but not in a way that seemed suspicious. After a while she'd smile at him. And he realized he had been smiling as well.
She enjoyed the stories, and he enjoyed telling them.
He just hoped someday, she'd be comfortable enough to share hers.
/
Sooner or later, Dani supposed one of them would need to stop for a pee break. She was just surprised Kurt had been the first to break. Then again he hadn't been out of the car since last night, the guys bladder probably deserved a medal..
But now it was uncomfortable quiet again without Kurt telling his tales of the X-men, and she was getting fidgety. It was getting that sticky sort of warm that can happen on summer mornings, and she'd been staring entirely too long at a fly buzzing around the campsite bathrooms she's parked outside of. Speaking of which, Kurt was taking a lot longer that one would think to stick around in a public bathroom..
It couldn't hurt to turn on a few tunes while she waited. Regardless of this guy's taste in music, it was still her car, right? Besides, socializing tired her out. She needed to unwind.
Making up her mind, Dani started the car, still in park, and turned up the volume of her CD.
What had started out as her head bobbing gently to the music eventually graduated to her swaying in time. That alone wouldn't be so embarrassing, it was a natural reaction to music.
Unfortunately, another natural reaction to music for her specifically, was to sing along. And for a few minutes, she completely forgot she had a guest on his way back to the car. Besides, it was Avril. She was doomed from the start.
"Singin radio head at the top of our lungs, with the boombox blarin as we're falling in love! Got a bottle of whatever cuz its getting us drunk singin 'heres to never growing up!"
She was grinning like a moron but didn't care, her arms waved and she probably looked like she was having a fit or something instead of dancing. What did she care? She felt free. As bittersweet as her leaving home had been, that was a feeling she certainly didn't regret.
"We live like rock stars, dance on every bar. This is who we are, I don't think we'll ever change!'
'They say just grow up! But they don't know us! We don't give a fuck! An-"
"Language." Kurt said from right beside her, and Dani choked.
There he was sitting with his seatbelt already on and this amused looking smirk on his face. How the hell had she been so out of it she didn't even hear him get in the car?
"You- what- how-?!" She sputtered
"I hadn't meant to disturb you," he smiled "You seemed like you vere having fun."
Dani stared down at the steering wheel in her hands, face turning red. Shame, buckets of shame now. To her, singing was very private, she loved to sing, but the only person she had ever seriously sang in front of was her dad. Thinking about people listening, or even watching her sing had terrified her too much to even try. Now not only had she done that, but she'd been flailing around like a complete spazz doing it.
Kurt had that look on his face that her cousins would get if they ever caught her singing into her hairbrush in her room when they'd come to visit. A quiet sort of curiosity mixed with a spark in his eye that was obviously teasing. She used to beat up her cousins for it even if they had only heard a few seconds of it..
Hmm..Kurt was trapped in a car and couldn't teleport like he apparently normally could. Maybe if she knocked him out with a hairbrush now he'd forget what he heard..
He chuckled beside her, "There's no need to look so embarrassed. You should be proud, I think you're very talented."
"Shut up. No I'm not." She groused blushing harder, and started to grind her teeth when that only made Kurt chuckle harder, "laugh it up fuzzball.." she growled. She'd have time to enjoy her Star Wars joke later.
"I'm sorry Dani, I'm not laughing at you liebchen. I just don't understand why you'd feel so ashamed of something that obviously makes you happy to do."
Dani refused to look at him, she stared ahead at the dumb fly again near the campsite bathrooms and hoped she looked sullen and not like she was pouting. "It's one thing when your dashboard is the only one listening and judging. Its another when you have to face comments from the peanut gallery."
"But I believe I just said you were good." Kurt cocked an eyebrow, still smiling but making a conscious effort not to look so damn smug.
Dani yanked at her hood and pulled it up and over her face, closing the ends together over her mouth as she made an incomprehensible noise between a groan and a scream. "I can't explain it, okay? But even that's embarrassing!"
Kurt sighed and shook his head, "I'm confused, but I will do my best to keep my comments to myself in the future while you sing."
"Don't worry about it. I'm not gonna do it again.."
"Come now, I've told you exclusive stories for the good part of 2 hours. Don't be a tease."
"I said I ain't doin it, ya blue chia pet!" that one didn't even make sense but she didn't care.
Kurt stared at her like he was up to something for a moment, and it set her neck hairs on end and she glared at him.
"I'll tell you vhat," He said finally, "If you win at a thumb war against me, I promise not to mention it again. But if I win, you sing at least one song."
From some of his stories, Dani knew that Kurt had a playful side. If not a bit of a buried one underneath a few extra layers of quiet angst he'd picked up, understandably in the past few months. But even this seemed a bit juvenile and her face told him she thought as much.
"Seriously…"
"It has been a very long car ride. At least it is something to do."
She sighed, exasperated and her forehead fell forward to thunk against her steering wheel. Kurt waited patiently until dani stuck her hand out with her thumb upwards and fingers ready to lock with his.
One of his fingers were about the same size of two of hers pressed together, so the grip was a little bulky. But they managed.
"One two three four, I declare a thumb wa-ACK!" She yelped when her thumb just barely managed to escape from being pinned, "I barely even finished, what the heck?!"
Kurt just started to laugh again and from there it really was an all out war. Dani's thumb joint was sore trying to keep it stretched away from his.
"It's not fair! Your thumb is bigger and taller than mine!"
"You agreed to the terms of war, fraulein."
Dani was nearly twisted over in her seat, just trying to evade capture rather than actually take part in the war. Despite her efforts, her thumb was eventually pinned, and despite her actually using her foot to brace herself against his leg to try and pull it free, Kurt barely budged and languidly counted to ten before he released her.
"You cheated.." she muttered sullenly.
"I did no such thing" He snickered, clearly satisfied but it softened after a moment as she went back to refusing to look at him, "It's alright, I'm not going to force you to sing if you don't vant to. It vould hardly make you happy as it did before in that case."
Dani peered at him from under the brim of her hat, like she expected him to be messing with her once again. He seemed sincere enough, and while she appreciated it she was still a bit sore that she lost the bet. She gave a nod and started the car once again, driving out of the campsite and back onto the highway.
...it was half an hour later, of complete silence, that she felt herself starting to crack. Of course Kurt was content to just sit quietly and look out the window, but Dani could feel her brain simultaneously trying to melt out of her head as well as send every nerve prickling and jumping under her skin. She needed SOMETHING to break the silence. But if she put her music on she was likely to sing along again and…
And would that really be such a terrible thing?
It had been embarrassing as all hell. But she hadn't blown up or anything when she found out Kurt had heard her. He'd been downright respectable about it. The marshmallow just seemed glad to see something make her happy and not salty for once. He'd already made the effort to open up a little to her, when she asked….
A moment or two more of deliberation, and she let out a long sigh that turned into a raspberry with her lips. "Oh what the hell." She reached up to her sun visor and picked out a new Cd from where she'd memorized the order.
She skipped ahead a few times, and on the speakers came the deliberate strums of an old school electric guitar and a clipped drum track before a series of clapping hands counted in the beat,
"I saw him Dancin there by the record machine, I knew he must have been about seventeen!" She let her voice get rougher than when she'd sing Avril, and she was a little more subdued than what she had done before. But still, she could already feel the effects calming her nerves, and saw Kurt turn to grin at her in her peripheral vision, "The beat was goin strong, playin my favorite song.."
"Joan Jett? I thought you only listened to Ms Lavigne." He arched an eyebrow at her and smiled.
She returned the look in kind with her own satisfied smirk, "You know who Joan Jett is?"
"I vas in America in the 80's."
"Dinosaur." She snorted
"I love rock n'roll! So put another dime in the jukebox baby! I love rock n roll, so come and take your time and dance with me!"
/
And yes, she eventually did convince Kurt to try and head bang.
He was terrible.
It was glorious.
/
Kurt obviously wasn't the only one who'd need to heed the call of the wild, eventually. An hour or two after the 'private concert' of sorts, dani was indicating to stop at another rest stop. This one had gas pumps and what looked like a gift shop. And of course yet another dunkin donuts.
On top of that, there seemed to be quite a few cars, and patrons with them.
"Dani, are you sure about this.." Kurt said warily as he slipped his borrowed disguise on.
"Number one, I gotta take a wazz. Number two, we need gas. And number three, there's a gift shop, and you need a better disguise. Sorry fuzzy, but I don't think the skinny jeans look is your thing."
Kurt looked down at the jeans he'd had to borrow for the rest of his camouflage should they go anywhere populated. The fabric looked like it'd been through hell and back, as the style seemed to be nowadays, and they clung so tightly to him he almost mistook them for some new form of spandex. Albeit far more torturous. His tail was bent in a loop so it could tuck within the disguise and it was already starting to cramp.
"Just how long do you plan on poking fun at this?" He gave her the closest thing to a pout he had come in a long time.
"Forever. As long as this car ride lasts and we have contact. This is officially my favorite moment in our brief relationship," Dani snickered, "Just be glad those are unisex."
Kurt groaned and ran a hand through his hair, "I don't like zis.."
"They aren't that ba-"
"Not the pants. I mean this," He gestured outside the window, where Dani was searching for a parking spot, "I don't see any MRD, but they could still be here, watching. If someone sees me and starts a panic, they'd come running even if they veren't there already."
"That's why I'm parking all the way over here. You've already got the brooding hipster look going for you right now, just keep your hands in your pockets and hang back far enough and you'll be fine. People will be too afraid of your pretentiousness to notice the blue face."
"That is not comforting in ze least.."
Dani shrugged, but she did seem to make a conscious effort to park around the back of the building, where there were fewer cars and a less crowded entrance. The girl twisted in her seat to face him directly.
"So, I'll go look and see if i can find a decent pair of pants for you, you hang here, stretch your legs and wait for me to come back. We'll get gas, then be on our merry way. Okay?"
She said it with such confidence, Kurt couldn't find it in him to argue, so he nodded still looking uneasy.
Dani watched him for a moment before holding up a hand, her pinky finger extended, "Promise, no freaking out, and no getting caught."
Kurt glanced down at the finger, and felt one side of his mouth quirk into a smile. He hooked one of his fingers as best he could with hers, considering how much bigger and blockier they were in comparison, and they shook on it.
"That alvays seems to be the plan from the start fraulein, hopefully it holds true this time."
Keeping this promise in mind, Kurt watched as Dani made her way into the building. He had slipped her hat onto his head, and pulled the hood of the sweatshirt over his head as he'd seen her do that morning. He probably did look quite harrowed as she said. As predicted, an older woman glanced his way then simply rethought her decision to bring her umbrella inside. All his layers must have convinced her that the overcast clouds that had come in we're going to open up with rain.
Only when she was inside and the parking lot was quiet and empty apart from cars, did Kurt allow himself to lean against the warm hood of the car and take in a breath, stretching his legs as far as he would dare at the moment.
It had only been a few hours since they had left that camping sight and made their deal, but they seemed to stretch as long and flat as the highway they traveled on. It wasn't as though Kurt disliked traveling with Dani, despite her salty nature he was actually becoming fond of the child.
It was just….he hadn't realized how inconvenient traveling without teleporting could be. Even when the X-men flew on the Blackbird he could teleport easily within it and often there was a mission to concentrate on that they could implement a plan on in very little time. A car took about 5 times as long to get anywhere as the Blackbird, he thought he had realized that before he had asked Dani for a lift. But he had just listened to over two hours of Avril Lavigne and Dani's constant ribbing, and had no way of knowing if those mutants he'd had to leave behind were any closer to being rescued. It left a sick, burning feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Just what were they going through because of his choice? His teammates would surely try to say it was justified, a tactical retreat in a hopeless situation. Even Logan might say, albeit grudgingly, that it was what he had to do. What would have been the point in him getting caught. So he could feel better? When he was the only hope of getting warning to the X-men for a rescue?
He wouldn't have had to see them being herded onto trucks like animals,for one thing. He wouldn't have had to see their eyes burning with fear and confusion as they watched him get away, as clumsy of an escape that it was. Thier gaze would haunt him for the rest of his life, no matter how this played out.
But had he really made the right choice? Had he done everything he could have done? If he hadn't been so foolhardy as to let them place this cursed bracelet on him.
As if to remind him it was still very much there, the bracelet hummed when his hand instinctively had started to fiddle with it again. He knew if he tried to force it off anymore a warning spark would be issued for his troubles.
He felt lost, and uneasy. He'd spent a good deal of this past year or so feeling that way, if he got a quiet moment to himself. For the first time since he was a teenager he had been alone, the team had gone its separate ways. When Wolverine had pulled them back together it still wasn't the same, and it likely would never be the same again. Not really. The blast had done more than destroy their home, and take two members of his precious family away. It had shaken his faith that whatever they faced they could get through together. Now he was alone again..
'When you are an X-man Kurt, you are never alone.'
Charles Xavier had told him that once, shortly after he'd first joined the team. He would never forget it, as he vowed he'd never forget a lot of what the man had taught him.
'But you aren't here professor..not really. I feel as though there's still so much you needed to teach me..'
That at least, he could settle as a definite in the ongoing internal war in his head. After all, what good was he when he couldn't even teleport? What use was he?
..Ach, now he really was brooding, and Dani didn't seem the type to put up with it, despite her taste in music.
She had been gone a while now, So Kurt finally chanced a look up after tugging the brim of the baseball cap down enough to hide his eyes should anyone happen to look out the window. He scanned the entrance she had gone through, The gift shop almost immediately across the hall while the food court seemed to stretch to the other side of the building, where most everyone was gathered. Next to the bathrooms, his heart leapt when he saw a payphone symbol, then sank again when he realized it had been disconnected long ago. The shell lay forgotten on the floor, the fact that cellphones had graduated from being a luxury to a necessity in recent years was probably the culprit. In fact apart from the gift shop, this entire half of the rest stop seemed abandoned as well. The fluorescent lights flickered and buzzed in a few places. It was...unsettling.
It seemed the only ones who didn't mind the dim setting were a handful of men drinking coffee and looking drowsy where they sat at the final scattered tables left over from the food court. He assumed most of them were truckers, in the middle of a longer trip and taking a needed break as he and Dani were. They looked harmless, just going about their business..
Apart from one.
This one was leaning back in his seat, a paper bag in his hand rather than a coffee cup and he knew what was inside probably wasn't root beer. He supposed so long as he wasn't driving, that wasn't an issue. What bothered him was his eyes. He was looking..no..leering towards the giftshop, more specifically towards Dani. He couldn't even call it as a listless drunken stare that happened to be in her direction, as the man of what looked to be about 40 wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stood a moment later. Not one wobble in his step.
Kurt felt uneasy for an entirely different reason now, his hands twisted into fists inside the hoodie's pockets. This man was a predator if he had ever seen one. The casual smile that stretched his lips wasn't right. The way he was looking at her wasn't right..
He took a deep breath and let it through his nose slowly. There was no need to freak out,as Dani would say, not yet. She was in a populated area, surely he was not the only one seeing this. The cashier of the gift shop-
Was buried in a rag newspaper and not paying attention to his customers at all. Vunderbar.
The man was engaging with Dani now, leaning on a shelf of snacks as she thumbed through some commemorative clothing racks, supposedly still trying to find a pair of pants for him. Mostly she seemed to be ignoring him. He had gotten the notion she wasn't one for people on a good day anyways.
He probably had no reason to worry. It wasn't as if Dani was so young or naive enough to fall into a creeper's trap. She was nearly an adult, in the legal sense, and she was smart. That much he had gathered. She'd be fine.
It wasn't his place to interfere...
Then the man leaned forward, blocking Dani from view as he stood directly behind her. His hand lowering to rest on the shelf nearest her hip. Kurt felt something ferocious and angry surge inside him, which was severely out of character for him. It was the same protectiveness that had driven him in the fight against spiral on the ship to Genosha, when Sammy had been threatened. The same that filled him when Kitty was younger and had just joined the team, and would come home crying some days because of what she would hear the other children call mutants at school. The injustice of it all. There wouldn't be a thing he could do about it, to retaliate would blow all of their cover. So all he and the others could do would be to comfort her and assure her what they were fighting for was the hope for a better world, and better people.
Kitty grew older, as well as grew a thicker skin and sharper tongue. He didn't have to protect her so much anymore. But Dani was still so young, and whether she would admit it or not she was just as lost as Kitty had been back then. She needed someone
Cover be damned, he was not going to let this continue. This man had no business pursuing a child.
Dani, meanwhile, was handling the situation about as well as to be expected. She tried not to jump to conclusions about people before she even knew them. As evidenced by the way she had plucked Kurt from the highway after determining he wasn't any sort of threat to her. But this guy in the flannel was seriously starting to give her bad vibes.
She wasn't sure why, but she'd heard that when you have that instinct not to look someone in the eye, it was your brain instinctively telling you they WERE a threat. Whether or not this was true, her gut feelings hadn't killed her yet..
"So, little lady, is that your jeep out there?"
"Yeah.." she tried to roam casually closer to the cash register, even if the cashier himself was about as useful as a bump on a log.
"Thought so, I heard it rattlin soon as it pulled up...Ya know I got a tool box in my truck, you're welcome to borrow it 'fore ya leave.."
She grimaced, nope, soooo much nope in this situation right here. She tightened her grip on a pair of sweatpants she'd found for Kurt, taking another step back and opening her mouth to tell him where he could stick that tool box-
And backed up into someone else. Her heart dropped and she turned quickly in case one of this guy's buddies had decided to approach her too. When she saw it was Kurt, the brim of the hat pulled so far over his eyes it was in danger of falling off, the feeling didn't go away.
The lighting was shitty enough in here that it was hard to tell he was blue, but that didn't mean they wouldn't pick up on it EVENTUALLY.
"You vere taking a long time, so I came to check on you.." Kurt tried to downplay his accent to the best of his ability, and reached forward to ruffle Dani's hair in a familiar way. Dani's look was incredulous, but when she didn't pull away it set the cashiers mind at ease, who only NOW had decided to take a gander around his store. That and a brief incline of his head in the creeps direction sent the message that the girl was not only not alone, but guarded.
The man stared a moment, as if trying to determine if it was worth it to continue to talk to Dani. He casually put a hand on her shoulder, bracing his shoulders in a way that said 'you are not welcome' without him having to stare the man down.
To his relief, the man must have decided it wasn't worth a potential lawsuit. He ran a hand through his hair and mumbled something that was either a curse, or a halfhearted farewell when he finally retreated. Hunching his shoulders and skulking back toward the food court.
Dani had meanwhile had the sweatpants rung up, and looked thoroughly unimpressed by the whole thing as Kurt used his hand on her shoulder to steer her out of the store.
"I had that…"
"Of course you did." His answer was only a little bit sarcastic. He stuffed his hands into the sweatshirt again and kept his head down as they made a beeline for the exit.
"I did! I could tell he was bad news Kurt, he reeked of booze."
"A gut instinct won't alvays protect you Dani, you should have come to get me as soon as he approached you."
Dani threw up her hands as they finally exited the building, but Kurt wouldn't be able to breath regularly until they were safely hidden in the car once again.
"I didn't want to cause a scene! By the way what happened to lying low? Do the words 'don't get caught' mean something different to the X-men, cuz I thought we were on the same page!" she snapped, the words coming out as a sort of sharp whisper.
"I have been living as a mutant amongst humans for a long time child, I know how to hide myself as well as move alongside them" for a short period at least. It helped if his audience was either inebriated or low on intelligence, "Your safety is important to me also.."
She hesitated a fraction of a second, then the tense indignation left her shoulders, and the fight in her diminished to an eye roll, "I was fine, it's a public place-"
"That man had at least 40 pounds on you, a secluded area is all it vould take." Kurt pointed out grimly.
He disliked discussing things of this nature with Dani, he didn't really want to frighten her. Especially as, all things considered, shed handled the situation well. He just wanted a small dose of the truth, a hint of a reality check, to be enough to keep her thinking of this in the future, so she could prevent the need for anyone to step in again.
This was just one of the dangers she would face nearly every day if she stayed on the current path she was on.
Dani had paused just in front of her car, to think it over he hoped. She stared down at her hood and shook her head to cover up for a hot chill crawling up her spine as the ominous words sunk in.
"Can we just drop it? I got your pants, the guy is gone, so LET'S get gone." She swung herself into her seat and started the car, unlocking it so Kurt could slide in as well. He didn't say anything more about it as he did so she assumed that meant he agreed.
She muttered for him to lie down in the back seat before they reached the gas pumps so he wouldn't be seen. He did as he was told, flattening himself as best he could amongst the minutia spread across the back seat area as they pulled up to a pump. He chanced a brief peek outside and noticed a minivan parked across from them. An old man dozing in the front seat.
"DOGGIE!"
The high pitched squeal made Kurt duck so fast his forehead hit the armrest of the seat. His heat hammering, he waited a moment as the giggling continued followed by 'doggie doggie doggie!' and he lifted his head just enough to see over the bottom of the window.
In the same minivan a toddler, from his carseat, was peeking from his half open window, grinning and clapping as he looked at Kurt. Notably behind Kurt. The blue mutant cursed as he glanced backward and realized his tail had escaped its confines in his disguise and had been waving about of its own accord while he'd hidden.
"Oooh blue doggie."
He hastily tugged his tail down and sent a furtive glance at the rest of the pumps. No one seemed to pay the baby any attention, his mother supposedly was inside the gas station. He didn't know how long that would last as the child decided to go on and on about it.
A pleading look in Dani's direction was no help. He could see her almost biting threw her lip to keep from laughing out the adjacent window. When she caught his eye she simply gave a discreet shrug, like 'what do you want me to do about it?'
She would be the death of him. This girl and this road trip were going to end up killing him.
Kurt stayed flat against the back seat, his tail now tucked into his disguise again up until dani had re-entered the car. Just before they pulled away, he decided one more peek, and a small wave in the toddlers direction couldn't hurt, as he'd begun to fuss when the 'doggie' had disappeared.
Only when they had merged onto the highway did Dani start to snort. Kurt scowled
"Dont-"
The girl erupted into pure unabashed laughter, having to work extra hard to keep the car straight as tears of mirth gathered in her eyes.
"Oh gawd my stomach!"
Kurt actually was pouting now, folding his arms disapprovingly. He could only watch her laugh so long however, before it started to become contagious, and he could help but laugh as well.
That reaction to his appearance was certainly one for the books. At least he could look back on it fondly.
It was only when things quieted down, that Kurt thought back to what he was thinking, and feeling before the creeper fiasco..
And he knew what good he could do now.
He could remember another time he and the professor had talked, quietly at the kitchen table while everyone else had fallen asleep. He'd been up worried sick that he would get in trouble for revealing his appearance to a human family that had nearly got caught in a fire, due to a fight with Magneto and his brotherhood. But the professor had not been mad, he actually told Kurt he was proud of him. Something no one had told him before.
'After everything humanity has put you through, you've still realized why I wanted to start this school in the first place.'
'Vhat's that?"
'To protect mutants, and humans as well. To show them there is a better way, to a better world. We have no way of discerning who deserves our help Kurt, and who will appreciate it. But I can tell you this. There will come a time when even humans will listen to what we are trying to say."
He couldn't change what had happened the other night. All he knew was that it had lead him on a path to where he would find Dani. He held a strong belief that things happened for a reason. And he didn't want to think about what could have happened back at the rest stop if he hadn't been around.
He still wanted to get to home, to have this inhibitor bracelet off, and to rescue those other mutants. But he realized now what good he could be, and what use he was.
It was his place to help the other mutants, and Dani, both find their way home.
