Car journeys when Hack was in a bad mood were always rough, especially when she was behind the wheel. The hour drive to Manhattan was hard going for Beast.

"Scott is not breaking up my team!" Hack yelled. Beast recoiled away to try and lessen the pain to his ears. "Those guys deserve better after what they went through."

"Scott can be awfully formal, too much so for his own good." Beast said calmly. "I'm sure it is not his intention to break up your team my love, he just wishes to ensure he keeps to procedures."

"He can stick the procedures up his ass!" She replied "He probably has already, which explains why he's so stuck up."

Beast didn't reply as doing so would only fuel the fire. When it came to defending the kids in her care she would take no prisoners and that included him. She loved her team and she was proud each of the unique little misfits in it. Despite being the youngest team Beast did consider them rather talented. To him the time in Las Vegas had shown how good they were, especially little Jake who managed to handle himself exceptionally on his own. He decided to change the subject to something that she wouldn't yell about.

"Finding someone in Manhattan will be difficult, but finding Mystique." He said. "We have to rely on Cerebro, that and my sense of smell."

"I won't doubt your nose. It's gotten us a good lunch plenty of times." She said sarcastically. "To be honest I consider it more reliable than Cerebro."

"You doubt the professor?" Beast said.

"No but the Brotherhood are good at staying under his radar." She replied. "And I don't like pinning all our hopes on one mutant, Mystique of all people."

"Right now that is all we've got." Beast admitted, though it was not through lack of trying since the X-Men had been deployed across the US for months. Yet they uncovered little, at times it seemed as though the Brotherhood were aware of what the X-Men were doing.

"Iceman to big blue dude and sexy computer geek, over." Beast could only look apologetically at Hack, who was mortified. He grabbed the radio before she could to avoid her screaming at it.

"Beast here, what is the matter Iceman?" He said.

"You guys need to get over here. We have a surprise for you." Iceman said. "A pretty big one."

"Ah, there you are." Xavier said just as Jake and Mark took sat down in the lounge having arrived back from the infirmary a few minutes before. 'Busted' sprang to mind as they looked up to see the Professor by the door. He didn't look angry, but then Jake had only seen him so once, the day he rescued Jake from the orphanage.

"I think it would be best talk in my office." He said. Jake and Mark got up and sauntered out with the professor, leaving Quinn and Caim alone in the lounge.

The short walk to Xavier's office seemed to take forever to Jake. He had never done anything wrong before in his life so this was a scary new experience for him. He nervously grabbed Mark's hand, who squeezed back comfortingly. The smell of old, polished oak and leather greeted them as they entered the Office. Jake liked the professor a lot but found his office unpleasant, purely because he only went in when something was wrong.

"Please sit down." Xavier said politely. They obeyed and sat opposite him, his huge Oak desk between them. "I am told you skipped lesson and disappeared without anyone knowing where you were. I can understand your needing time out, but in the future can you please speak to me so that I know where you are."

"Yes sir." Jake said apologetically. "I'm sorry I didn't think."

"It's alright Jake, don't worry." Xavier replied. "Tell me, where did you go?"

"We went for a walk into the forest. We needed to get away for a while." Mark answered.

"I see, that is understandable." Xavier said. "I sense you are more at ease Jake, happy even, you have resolved some of your difficulties I see."

"Yes sir. Err, me and Mark talked about it, he's helping me get over it." Jake said. "You were right about friends helping you to get over your issues."

"I see, well, that is good." Xavier said, giving an all knowing look at both of them. "It is good you have Mark to help you. Let me give you some advice, you are here because the world outside will not accept you because you are a mutant. You will find that this institute is somewhere to be who you are without being ashamed of it, which includes your sexuality. You don't have to hide it and I ask you not be afraid of how others will react. I am here, as are Miss Munroe and many other adults, none of whom will hesitate to help you. I am sure though you will not need it."

"Thank you professor." Jake said.

"How do you think we should, you know, come out?" Mark asked nervously.

"That is up to you, but my advice is to make sure you friends know and then simply not hide the fact you are together." Xavier said with a gentle smile. "It may well surprise a few people but once it is known you will find no issues, I can assure you, if anything else your friendship with Miss Morr shall deter anyone from making ill will towards you."

Quinn sat uncomfortably and watched the clock, it was taking Mark and Kitchie for ever to get told off, it normally only lasted a couple of minutes for her. She turned to Caim, who was reading. She normally wouldn't have bothered him, but she was bored and she couldn't resist.

"What do you think he's saying to them?" She asked casually, he didn't look up.

"I don't know." He said. She found Caim's silence pleasant normally, the contrast to Mark's snide comments and Jake's cheerful but often long chatting was welcome. But for some reason she needed to break the silence, she hadn't been at ease since she had though Mark had died. She never realised how much she liked him, maybe even loved him. 'As a friend' she quickly added, not that it mattered either way now, he wasn't exactly available. The thought of being with Mark made her queasy anyway, 'definitely as a friend'.

"It seems, strange to think Kitchie and Mark are together." She said, hoping to start some kind of conversation. "I don't mind, they're happy and that's all that matters, but I never realised."

"I never thought about it." Caim said, for a moment she thought he wasn't going to continue when he actually looked up. "I'll support them if they need me to, fight for them if someone has a problem with it and be happy for them when want to be, I'm their friend, it's not my purpose to judge."

"I feel the same way. They can do whatever they want." Quinn replied "They sort of make an odd couple though."

"They like each other, nothing else is important."

"I know that, and to be honest I can see why they do, they've always been close." Quinn said. "But they're rather different. Sorry, I don't mean to talk about them, I don't like talking about people behind their backs."

"Neither do I."

"Can we talk though, I don't like the silence." She said. Caim was quiet for a moment but then shut his book and looked at her. "Okay." He said. "I don't talk back easily though."

"Me neither." Quinn admitted. "Err, have you heard any good music?"

"Bach and Beethoven, I listen to modern stuff too but their works…" Caim didn't finish his sentence.

"They what?" Quinn asked curiously.

"It doesn't matter." He said but she didn't drop her expression, after a moment he gave in. "They relax me and help me to focus on the present."

"What's wrong with the past, and the future?" She said, he paused and thought hard about his response.

"The future scares me and the past is painful." He said.

"I can understand that, I feel the same." Quinn admitted. "I hurt people, and I'm frightened I'll do it again."

Caim's expression turned remorseful, and for a moment his eyes seemed to reveal a thousand different emotions. She knew those eyes; they often stared at her in the mirror. He was about to speak when he noticed Jake and Mark had returned and instantly returned to his resigned state, picking up the book again. Quinn stared a little longer until Mark sat next to her and brought her out of it. Jake sat next to him and hung an arm around him, tenderly resting his head against the other's shoulder.

"Are you two okay?" She asked. Mark nodded and Jake smiled.

"Yeah, Xavier was just worried about us, were not in trouble." He said. Mark lightly caressed Jake's back and they looked at each other lovingly. Quinn felt rather awkward, like she was disturbing them at being so close. She gradually moved away to give them some room. 'Why do new couples always have to be so loved up?' she thought.

She noticed they were attracting attention, Jake and Mark seemed oblivious to the stunned faces staring at them. In fact the only ones not looking were Caim and herself. The couple's small kiss was confirmation for everyone of what they thought was happening. Whispering spread through the room like wild fire. Quinn watched vigilantly to see if anyone was likely to cause trouble but no one seemed to be getting angry. After a few minutes it all died down and most of them simply returned to what they were doing. A few continued to stare but their expression was more of someone interested than angry or upset. A couple of kids left, giggling, but Jake and Mark didn't seem to mind.

"I'm tired." Jake said finally.

"You want to go back to our room and watch a DVD or something together?" Mark asked. "I have some good ones."

"Okay." Jake smiled. They got up and left, leaving Quinn and Caim again.

Suddenly three girls surround her, all smiling happily. "Are those guys dating or something?" One asked cheerfully.

"Yeah so what?" Quinn said harshly. The girls giggled and smiled more widely.

"Aw, that's so cute." Another said.

"They're so cool for not hiding it." The third added.

"Totally, and did you see how cute they were together." The second said.

Quinn sunk back into the sofa and switched off, letting the airheads gossip around her whilst growing steadily more annoyed.

"What were their names?" the first asked, Quinn took a moment to realised she was talking to her again.

"Mark and Jake." She answered coldly.

"I've seen them before." Girl number two declared. "That Jake kid is really friendly."

"Yeah he is, I've spoken to him a couple to times." Number one answered.

"Didn't he get picked on by that senior?" Said another girl who had apparently decided to join their conversation.

"Did he, that's awful." Girl number three whined.

"Yeah, but the senior got his ass kicked by her." Said a boy this time, signalling at Quinn. They all smiled at her and suddenly she thought her bed sound irresistible.

"I think it's getting a little busy around her." She said to Caim, who nodded and got up with her.

"I want a gay friend." Girl number one said as they left.

"I know, gay guys are so awesome, they're like, so cool and funny, why can't straight guys be like that." The girl who joined in said.

A/N Hahaha, lol, an insight to what it's like for a gay guy when most girls find out, their comments are funny but welcome, it's better than homophobia. Before you ask, I am the GBF (gay best friend) of several girls, and one straight guy. Anyway, hoped you liked it. I wrote this instead of school work so I'm gonna be in trouble. Oh well…