Elizabeth had changed into something professional looking and she was walking through the atrium toward the door. She had talked to someone on the phone at the pet shelter who sounded thrilled about having a volunteer to help with the animals. She didn't have an appointment but she'd mentioned she might stop by. She didn't have anything else to keep her busy.
Todd walked through the door in front of her and she froze, heart in her throat. He walked up to her, anger showing in every line of his skinny frame.
"You're not even going to tell me that you're breaking up with me?" he nearly shouted at her, "You're just going to stop talking to me!"
Elizabeth went from frozen to flaming temper in a split second.
"Don't you dare shout at me in my own home," she snarled at him, "You're the one who walked out on me."
"You left!" his accusation quieter but he was no less furious.
"You left," she argued, nearly hissing, "Pietro kicked me out." That revelation took the wind out of his sails. He rocked back on his heels, considering.
"He had no right to do that," Todd said slowly, considering that he had secretly hoped she would come up after him so they could talk.
"The Brotherhood is no place for a non-mutant," Elizabeth repeated, tone sharper than a shard of glass, "He told me I didn't belong there. I asked Uncle Logan about it. He said racism comes in a lot of forms, from a lot of sides. He's not happy with you." She glared at him.
Todd swallowed hard, and Elizabeth watched as his Adam's apple bobbed with perhaps more pleasure than she should have felt.
"I didn't know you weren't a mutant," Todd said, trying to regain ground.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "I never hid it from you. You never asked. I assumed you knew because it felt like everyone knew. All of the students here know it."
"I'm not a student here," Todd grumbled, but he was having trouble remembering why he was angry with her.
"If an X-gene or a lack of one is a dealbreaker for you then maybe we shouldn't be together," Elizabeth spoke the words she felt she needed to say, even as they hurt her heart.
"I don't know," Todd said, miserable, "I haven't thought about how I feel about it."
Elizabeth wondered for a moment what he'd do if she throttled him. Her hand was clenched so hard on the strap of her purse that she purposefully loosened and flexed her fingers. She debated hitting him with her purse. It was that moment of reflection that caused her to notice that they had attracted the attention of a few students. She knew it would only get worse and the gossip spread like wildfire in the Institute. She grabbed his arm and pulled him with her out the door.
"What are you doing?" he asked, but he didn't resist. He even got the door for her.
"I don't want to do this with a crowd," she muttered, hoping only he could hear.
"Aren't you worried about being alone with a member of the Brotherhood of Evil?" he asked, bitterly.
"Should I be?" Elizabeth asked, incredulous.
"No," he kicked the ground with his black high tops as they walked around the Institute. Automatically, they both headed toward the Lake.
"Why are you angry with me?" he finally asked as they walked along the edge of the water.
"You're kidding, right?" she asked, almost amused but still unhappy, "Your friends found out I wasn't a mutant and started getting on my case for it. You just sat there and let them. You didn't take my side or stand up for me at all. When you got up and left I was worried that you felt the same way they did."
"I didn't have time to figure out how I felt about it," he muttered, but he thought of the mutants they'd passed on their way around to the back of the Institute. Elizabeth was known to the students and the ones who'd seen them had waved to her. He remembered how angry demented blue elf had been about Elizabeth getting hurt.
"I am sorry that I handled it badly," Todd finally ground out, so quietly Elizabeth almost missed it, "I should have talked to you alone instead of just leaving."
"I'm sorry that I assumed you knew," Elizabeth said reluctantly, "And I should have tried to talk to you about it later."
"Me, too," Todd told her, "I made assumptions, too, and I didn't try very hard to talk to you about it later."
"Well, we did promise each other when we started this that we'd fuck up eventually," Elizabeth reminded him.
"Yeah," he said slowly, considering, "Hey, do you want to just say fuck 'em all and keep at this with me?"
"Depends," Elizabeth said, just as slowly, "Is there anything about my genetics that bothers you?"
"I don't think so," he told her, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "Is there anything about my mutation that bothers you? I mean, we've only ever gotten to second base."
The look Elizabeth gave him could have scalded.
"One has nothing to do with the other," she growled at him.
"You sure about that?" he asked, "I mean…" When he trailed off Elizabeth looked perplexed.
"What about you would be a turn-off?" she asked, genuinely baffled. Roughly, he shoved both hands through his hair. He'd started growing it out since he'd found out that Elizabeth liked the idea of guys with long hair.
"My skin is green. I have superhuman strength in my legs. I don't smell like soaps or perfumes or deodorant because I'm allergic," he blew out a frustrated breath and gulped down air, "My eyes are more like a toad's yellow eyes than a homo sapiens hazel eyes. I spit sticky slime and secrete pungent bodily fluids. My fingers and toes are webbed. I have an twenty-five foot long prehensile tongue."
When he finished the last part of his tirade he stuck his tongue out at her, though not the entire twenty-five feet. Elizabeth nearly missed it because as soon as she felt him pause she went to hug him. She held him close and his arms came up around her.
"You're too good to be true," he said, his tone sharp and biting. She could almost feel his self-destructive tendencies kicking in to pick apart whatever good came to him in life.
"No," she said, shaking, "I'm just not an asshole. I'm a decent person. I'm not perfect. Sometimes I want to smack people, even you. I can be petty and vindictive. I'm surrounded by people like you who are miracles wrapped in magic and sometimes I feel like there's nothing special about me. I'm also a weird person. I like the way you smell. I'm not usually bothered by people's body odor. Yours is straight up sexy to me."
She felt him jerk with surprise and she loosened her hold on him. She pulled back and looked him in the face. He stuffed his hands into his pockets while a flush spread over his face.
"Fuck," he muttered.
"I love going with you when you leap as high as you can; it's fun," she told him, "I love your eyes. I don't give a fuck about the color of your skin."
She took a deep breath.
"I've never heard you swear before," he said while he grinned at her, flashing white teeth.
"Well, you made me mad," she said, meekly, looking at him with big innocent green eyes.
"That look only works on people who don't know you," he drawled, smirking.
"I'll have you know that my innocent face works on everybody but you and Laura," she corrected him, grumpy.
"Anything else you need to get off your chest?" he asked, amused.
"Well, I don't wanting you spitting at me," she said, casually, "I have no idea when you having a twenty-five foot tongue would even come up, much less when it would be a problem."
She started tugging on his arm. Elizabeth held up his hand kissed the webbing between his fingers.
"Fuck," he muttered again, thoroughly thrown off, "What in the hell am I going to do with you?"
"You're going to kiss me," she firm was firm on that point, "Unless you're a complete idjit."