A/N: To answer the questions people asked in reviews:
Snow Shadow 17: You'll have to wait and find out about Tia's powers!
Chcocegg333: Yeah, the girl is meant to be his younger sister, who appeared briefly in the movie. I'm taking some creative licence and deciding to call her Stella. She's a mutant too, with the power to control plants (like Poison Ivy from Batman).

Tia's ear pricked as she heard a knock at the door. She crawled out from the pile of laundry she was folding, and brushed the lonely odd socks off her jeans as she stood. Tia knew almost no-one, and had no idea who could be at the door. She supposed it was probably a salesman, or someone from a religious group. Tia pressed her eye to the peep hole in her door and saw a man outside with light brown hair, sitting in a wheel chair. Tia didn't recognise him, but figured he was relatively harmless.

She swung the door open, greeting the man with a friendly smile.
"How can I help you?" she asked, feeling a sense of sympathy for the man's disability.
"Can I come in?" he asked, his blue eyes sparkling with confidence and charisma that defied his crippled appearance. Tia frowned at him.
"I don't think so" she cautioned as she placed her foot down on the front wheel of his chair, stopping him from moving forwards.
"I'd just like a few words with you. My name is Charles Xavier-"
"Are you a cop?" Tia snapped, narrowing her eyes and pushing her door until it was almost closed, only a sliver of light shining through.
"No. Why would I be a cop?" he asked in an incredulous tone.
"It's against the law to lie about not being a cop, right?" Tia shot, narrowing her eyes at the man's happy and friendly face.
"I honestly don't know", he confessed, shaking his head as he watched Tia. Her hostile eyes, watching him through the ajar door.
"You can come in", Tia decided as she opened her door, still very suspicious of Charles. You know what they say about men with two first names.

Charles wheeled himself into Tia's apartment, his eyes bulging as he took in his surrounds. Every shelf, every bench top, every surface, including the floor, was piled with belongings. Jewels, perfumes, records, shoes, wine, dresses, books, jars of coins, rolls of notes, piles of cigarettes, cassette tapes, televisions, car keys, gold bricks. Tia swept her foot through the chaos, trying to clear a path for Charles's wheel chair.
"Sorry, I'm kind of like a crow, I collect shiny things" Tia apologised, acting the part of the humble hostess as she offered Charles a drink, which he though he ought to decline for his own safety. He doubted Tia knew the contents of her own fridge, let alone what was safe to consume.

Tia pushed the items that covered her floor aside with her feet, clearing a space across from her lounge chair where Charles could sit. Tia carefully cradled a crystal bottle in her hands as she swept the rest of the treasure away.
"Why pick up that bottle, but kick the televisions aside?" asked Charles, trying to act unperturbed by the contents of her apartment.
"This was much more expensive than a television" Tia mused, fingering the gold bottle neck with the diamond inset.
"It's a perfume?" Charles asked, scanning her face and her mind simultaneously as she tiptoed through her possessions to find a safe place for the bottle.
"It's the perfume" Tia smirked as she sprayed it onto her wrists, before setting it down amongst a plethora of similar crystal vials.

"Tia", Charles called in an attempt to catch her attention. Tia was easily distracted, she had poor social skills, as you would expect from someone who saw people so rarely. Tia looked up from the clump of necklaces she was detangling and whipped her head around.
"How do you know my name?" she demanded, marching over to Charles, towering over him as he sat in his wheelchair.
"Tia, I'm a mutant just like you. I have the power to read minds. I also know that your perfume is the only thing you care about, because it's the only thing in this room you actually purchased." Tia backed away from Charles as he explained. The irrational urge to hide under the couch popped into her head, but she squashed it down, not wanting to show him how scared she was.

"I run a school for gifted young people. Mutants, like you and me. A safe place where we can learn to master our gifts", he tried to reassure her. She looked down at him like he was scum.
"I don't need to learn to master anything. There's nothing to master. I'm not a mutant, I hate mutants" Tia sneered as she turned her back to him, trying to sound brave though her hands were beginning to shake.
"Tia" Charles said, the word echoing in Tia's mind rather than around the room. Tia blocked her ears with her hands, crouching down and curling into foetal position in panic as Charles spoke in her mind.
"You need to be honest with yourself in order to make your life better. You are a powerful mutant with a wonderful gift. Let me help you learn to control it", Charles offered.

Tia turned and attempted to give Charles a sardonic smile. It annoyed her immensely how he seemed to think she needed help and guidance. Tia had made her own decisions in life, and she wasn't going to let someone come in and mess with her mind.
"You want honesty?" Tia threatened, smirking as she stood, "Your jacket is stupid" she spat, unable to think of a witty insult, and saying the first thing that came into her mind.
Charles looked around awkwardly, wondering whether Tia was being serious or not.

"This one would be better" suggested Tia, holding up a dark leather jacket.
Charles smiled cautiously at Tia as she twirled the jacket over her head.
"Where's the jacket from?" Charles asked, "You didn't have it a second ago."
"No, someone else had it a second ago", Tia murmured dreamily. "It's still warm", she said, rubbing the soft lining of the jacket against her cheek as she met Charles's eyes, before tossing the jacket over to him.

Charles looked at the eccentric young mutant with sad eyes. She had become strange in her solitude.
"Will you come visit the Institute? Please, as a favour to a friend?" he begged, wanting desperately to help Tia.
"We are most definitely not friends. How about a favour from the stylist to her client?" Tia asked with a smile, twirling her toes through a pile of coins on the floor.
"Is being a stylist your real job? Do you even have a job?" Charles asked, his voice filled with concern.
"No, I don't have a job, Charles. I'm a crow. I just build my nest", she replied.

Charles looked around Tia's cluttered apartment one last time.
"Thank you for your time, Tia. I look forward to seeing you at the Institute" said Charles, handing Tia a card with the address on it.
"Yeah. I'll be there" said Tia as she read the card. She stood up and began to make her way to the door to let Charles out of her apartment.
"No don't worry. You stay seated, I can manage" he assured her. Tia nodded, watching Charles weave through her apartment and towards the front door. She turned on the television before settling back into her chair. The television began to play news. Tia groaned, knowing she'd have to have get up and change the channel, but a story on the news caught her eye.

Charles turned back as he reached the front door, hoping to catch Tia's eye to say a final farewell before he left, but she was transfixed on a news story. The television screen showed a Police sketch of a young blonde woman, who was described by the presenter as "potentially armed and extremely dangerous."
The presenter announced, "The suspect is also possibly a mutant. Police reports suggest that the suspect has used super-human means to evade police multiple times, and has caused injury and extreme inconvenience to the police force on multiple occasions. Her suspected mutation has been nicknamed "The Hangover" by local Policemen, who say after an encounter with her they open their eyes and don't know where they are or how they got there. The suspect has resisted arrest on 6 separate occasions, and has therefore not yet been jailed or charged for the many burglaries and armed robberies she has been suspected of committing."

The screen switched from the presenter's face to security footage of a robbery. A small person dressed in entirely denim, wearing a balaclava and sunglasses over their face, was shown holding a revolver near an elderly man's temple as he emptied the cash register. With their other hand, the burglar ripped cigarettes from the wall and piled them onto the counter. Tia glanced over to the mountain of cigarettes sitting on her coffee table. The presenter continued speaking,
"Locals believe that this spate of robberies is just the beginning of what they describe as, "The Mutant Menace", however authorities are assuring locals that this has been an isolated incident. Mutants in the local area have come out in support of the police, saying that everyone needs to face justice. Mutant activists have said that if the suspect is in fact a mutant, they do not support the way she uses her 'gifts' for nefarious means. Now it's back to Rob for the weather…"

Tia jumped in her seat as the door slammed shut. She cringed, her breathing shallow and her heart racing. But it wasn't just because the noise startled her. She knew Charles had seen the television. He was trying to help mutants and meanwhile she was giving them a bad name.

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