Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or X-Men. My man Mahershala Ali is going to be Blade? Alright. After Wesley, you've got some big shoes to fill, because I love the Blade films (Blade II is still one of my go-to action movies), but I'm down for the journey. Let's do it.

Chapter 32: Perception Is Belief

In the afternoon after classes ended, I indulged in my traditional practice of taking one of my consoles into the common area of my dorm to play games. It was a good way to run into people who were usually too busy to hang out otherwise, or who I didn't think about hanging out with until I saw them.

On this day, my presence attracted the attention of Julian, who had been looking for a bruising in a few games, and Laura, who just wanted a comfortable, spacious place to study. How she got anything done over Julian and I howling at each other with game noises flying out of the TV, I don't know.

Eventually, a lull came when we decided to switch over to a different game. The fucker thought he could handle me in NBA 2K. I had to show him how wrong he was.

As we waited for the game to load up, Julian's eyes strayed past me over to Laura, nose-deep in her notes and assignments, "Does she have to do that here?"

I spared her a glance and shrugged, "Laura can do homework anywhere she wants," I certainly wasn't going to begrudge her company. I was just glad she was alright being around me again.

He couldn't argue my point, and it wasn't like Laura was hurting anyone. He could only get so uppity about her presence, "I guess, but it's just weird. Who comes to hang out and doesn't say anything?"

I shook my head as I started rifling through teams on the selection screen, "Julian, not everybody has to fill silence when they're around other people. Just relax and soak in the chill of the atmosphere."

Julian though, couldn't help but be obstinate, "I can't relax. She doesn't look relaxed at all, Marcher," He was still glancing at Laura every so often while trying to pick his team, "It's like any second, she's just gonna jump on the first thing she thinks is a threat, and we all know I'm the strongest student at this school," He said, none too humbly.

"She can hear you," Laura said in the third person, never looking up from the homework she was dealing with.

"Her name is also Laura Kinney," I added, seeing as how Julian had literally never referred to her by name, "Codename-," I stopped, getting her to look up, "We still don't have a codename for you. We really need to fix that soon."

"How about 'Homewrecker'?"

Julian and Laura both turned around while I leaned my head over the back of the couch to find a group of nondescript students standing there, "...Who in the blue hell are you?" I asked.

Some girl stepped forward with a stern look, "I can't believe you've got the gall to flaunt her around right after the thing with Pixie," Some of her friends shared the same look. The smarter ones looked more apprehensive. Good for them. Still, guilt by association.

Julian looked at me and then Laura, "What are you talking about? They're on the same team."

I didn't even bother dignifying them with a proper response, "If you don't tell me your name, I'm just gonna call you 'Riffraff', because I don't care what your name is. Go away," I'd been having a decent afternoon up until the court of public opinion decided to remind me of my current approval rating.

"Seriously, Marcher's right," Julian said, floating off of his seat, clearly annoyed, "Who are you and why are you talking to us?" As the girl went to open her mouth, Julian cut her off, "I don't care. Shut up," He gestured to us, "Pixie broke up with him. And they're just sitting there. It isn't like Marcher has the clone in his lap with her tongue down his throat. Quit projecting and get over yourself, loser."

Wow. He had our backs and actually kept me from having to verbally fillet someone myself. It was something I didn't feel like doing, because I would have been much meaner about it.

Once in a while, Julian proved to me that he wasn't a complete ass, and reminded me why we actually wound up being something resembling friends. The guy did have a sense of right and wrong.

"Besides," Julian added with a laugh, "If Marcher cheated on Pixie, I'm pretty sure he could do better than Wolverine's creepy clone."

...And then he could just as quickly remind me why he annoyed me so much a lot of times. The guy had worse foot-in-mouth syndrome than I had, and that was saying something.

Julian seemed proud for what he would have defined as defending us. Laura seemed slightly irritated at being called creepy, and again not being referred to by name. I was... conflicted, "I'm torn between thanking you for standing up for me, and hitting you for Laura's sake. I'm just going to call it a wash," I said, regretting ever bringing my console out of my room and into the common area.

XxX

There was nothing like training to kill some time and take my mind off of things. With the social fallout of Megan's breakup beginning to come down on my head, and the pending threat of... something transpiring during the Field Day opening ceremony, I needed to vent.

The chance to focus on something else other than the poisonous shit that permeated my brain whenever I was left alone to think was always welcome. Lifting weights was fine, but I really liked fighting – a lot. Fortunately for me, I had plenty of willing and able participants to feed the need, so to speak, and they were on my team.

Laura was a serious challenge for me to keep up with – a guaranteed bloody nose if there ever was one. I only sparred with her when I wanted a real test of how I was progressing. On the other hand, sparring with Hisako was a much more casual affair. We still trained pretty hard, but the fighting was a lot less serious than if I were doing it with Logan or Laura. Of course, maybe that was just me, because honestly, when she wasn't armored up, it wasn't really that difficult for me to kick Hisako's ass.

And she was definitely trying to kick mine. The operative word being 'trying'.

For the umpteenth time that afternoon, Hisako came right at me, set on punching my nose flat. She'd even come up with a new trick to do it: armoring up certain body parts only, like her arms and legs, instead of her entire body. It was a way to save energy. Still, she never really got close. At one point, I leaned back out of the way of a punch and extended my leg forward. With all of her momentum moving ahead, she basically stamped herself in the chest with my foot and knocked herself down to the floor of the Danger Room.

"Oof!" Air left Hisako's lungs as she hit the ground. She held her chest and coughed before glaring up at me, "You kicked me in the boobs, bonehead."

"No, you ran your boobs into my foot," I defended. She had absolutely been coming at me with the intent to clean my clock, even though we were just sparring. But I was nine goddamn inches taller than her, outweighed her by ninety pounds, and was better at fighting than she was. I could go thirty-percent against her ninety, and still overwhelm her. She had no advantages over me, "I'm your worst matchup ever. You know that, right?"

Both with my powers and fighting hand-to-hand. If she fully armored up out of frustration, I'd just shoot through it and get to her directly.

Hisako smiled when I reached down to help her up, "It'll just make it sweeter when I put you in the dirt," she tried to kick out my legs and pull me down to the ground for a submission hold, but again; me... too big... too strong, "Damn it," She complained when I lifted her clean off of the ground and put her down on her feet, "I've been training with Logan since spring. Why can't I beat you yet?"

I chuckled as she walked over to the side of the dojo and reached down for her bottle of water, "Because I had training before I came to school, I've been training with Logan since winter, and I train way more than you do," Thanks, insomnia, for preventing me from sleeping, and thus forcing me to find other things to pour my time into, "I'd better be better at this than you. I have to be good at something. Clearly, I'm not much of a lover. That must mean I'm a hell of a fighter."

Hisako looked up from her bottle, frowning at me despite having her cheeks full of water. She quickly swallowed before admonishing me, "Don't do that, Bel."

"Do what?"

She rolled her eyes and slung some water at me, "What you just did – making a joke about the thing with Megan," Before I could say anything, she cut me off, "Don't lie. I know the only reason you said that 'lover' crap is because it's still eating at you."

I took a measure of offense as I wiped water from my face, "And what if it is?" It still sucked to think about, and I thought about it all the time. If I had to think about it, why not try and make it funny for someone else? Everyone else in school thought it was already, "What does it even matter to you?"

Hisako smacked me on the arm and leaned next to me against the wall, "It matters to me, because you deserved better, idiot," She huffed, arms crossed over her chest, "Yes, you're a jerk sometimes, but you're our jerk. And more importantly, you were never bad to Megan or anyone around her. You were good."

I sighed. Not good enough, it seemed. As much as I was holding onto a smoldering ember of anger in my gut, I didn't need my friends doing the same, "Hisako, it's not like she signed a contract, sticking her with me for so many months or years. She has the right to break up with me whenever she wants."

Hisako nodded in agreement, even though she never stopped glaring out into space, "Oh, I agree. She was well within her rights to break up, whether you did something wrong or not. What I'm upset about isn't just that I don't think you did anything to deserve it. It's that she couldn't break up with you herself, or tell you to your face. And that no one's stopping the rumors about you and Laura."

Finally, for once her ire was directed at someone who wasn't me. And, miracle of miracles, it was in my defense. Go figure, "Well, thank you," It was all I could think to say.

Hisako let out a grunt and pushed herself off of the wall to leave the room, "Don't mention it. You really need to start taking better care of yourself," She said, punching me in the arm before leaving me alone.

I lingered behind in the gym for a little longer before going my own way. Apparently, I had other places I needed to be.

XxX

I had to have spent more time in the medical wing of Xavier's than any other student on the roster.

The order for the time being in regards to preventing students from exploding was to make sure there were no anomalies with anyone that would cause such a reaction. That meant extensive checkups for all the good little boys and girls... myself included.

I stood nearly naked, being analyzed by some machine down in Dr. McCoy's lab, under the supervision of the good doctor himself and Mister Rasputin, "Why am I here? I'm the one who smartened you up about what's going to happen. Also, I get Fantastic Four checkups every other week. If I was going to explode, you'd know it."

Dr. McCoy kept his attention on the readouts the machine gave on my current condition, "No special treatment, Mister Marcher. It's all in consideration of your good health."

Being that it was supposedly for my own good made it hard to go against. But I was feeling something of a petty streak at the moment, "I know. But Mister Rasputin is right here, and I know he's super jacked... just standing there... judging me for my tiny muscles," I looked down at my wirier frame. I had good muscle, but I wasn't a brick shit-house like Mister Rasputin, "Look at me, dude. I feel inadequate."

"You're just fine as you are, Bellamy," Dr. McCoy said, trying to encourage me, "You're a very imposing figure for your age."

Mister Rasputin chuckled and made a show of crossing his arms over his massive pecs, "Do not lie to the boy, Henry. He is still just baby."

"I don't like you right now," I shot back, getting more snickers out of Mister Rasputin before I turned my attention back to Dr. McCoy, "So, can I put my clothes back on now? I'm telling you, I'm not gonna blow up. Not because of this, at least."

Dr. McCoy nodded his consent to clear me from the medical tests, "It serves as a good sign to everyone else that you took to your checkup so willingly, my boy. Leading by example, and all that."

It sounded good, but these measures would only do so much in the grand scheme of things. If only it would be that easy to find if there was something wrong with anyone else, "I wish I could just point you in the direction of the person who went up. In the vision Ruthie gave me, I wasn't looking in the right direction."

Mister Rasputin waited until I was dressed in our team uniform and went to guide me out of the lab, "Come. We are late for squad practice."

Fine with me. I'd been making a habit of coping with whatever was going on at the time by keeping myself moving and thinking about something else. Any excuse to pay attention to something other than things I didn't know how to deal with was welcome to me.

For being in Dr. McCoy's lab, I was gifted with a distinct lack of a certain someone's annoying telepathic voice in my head. That was fine with me. Quire could screw off for the time being. I had more pressing personal issues to deal with than some dickhead in a jar. And I hoped he heard me when I thought that.

XxX

Team training had gone the same as most times – nothing out of the ordinary. Eddie and I split off from the girls to get changed out of our uniforms in the boys' locker room and find something to occupy our time afterwards. We settled on helping Saberwolf patrol the grounds. It gave us enough privacy to talk about sensitive matters without causing a panic with others, because it was obvious Eddie had plenty to say.

While I rode on Saberwolf's back, Eddie hovered just off of the ground, too irritated to walk, "Again, we're stuck in this bullshit position where we can't do anything to help anybody until whatever happens is already happening," He complained, and not without good reason, honestly.

The Field Day meeting where death and destruction was supposed to occur was two days away, and as far as we knew, nothing had been resolved yet, "We don't have any more details, and everybody already knows what we know, man. Don't flip out. We know when everything's gonna go sideways. It's all a matter of keeping our t's crossed and our i's dotted until it's over."

"So, head on a swivel?" Eddie asked, getting a nod from me, "Man, why do we have to be neighborhood watch for the school? I guess it comes with the gig of being baby X-Men."

"Who would you be referring to when you say 'we'?" Saberwolf said.

I laughed. Wolf also had a point. It was his job to be security, and events just seemed to transpire in my vicinity, "It seems like stuff always drops on me first, then trickles down to the rest of you."

"Yeah, and you wouldn't have it any other way," Eddie said, "So... provided we survive Wednesday, Homecoming is next week. You going?"

I suddenly wanted to clam up and say nothing, but my mouth decided otherwise, "Do you know if Megan is going?" I asked flatly. Eddie didn't answer, "That means yes, so I say no."

"Dude, come on," Eddie tried to reason, "Don't let that be a reason why you don't go. You normally put your head down and just bulldoze through unpleasant crap. You're, like, the master of ignoring awkwardness."

"I don't want to go to begin with," I insisted, "The fact that going might end up in some kind of ugly, social situation is only more of a reason not to," Why would I do something that would almost undoubtedly end in a confrontation. Especially one that I didn't want to have. I wasn't that much of an asshole, "I was going to hate being there anyway. She can at least enjoy it."

"You're really going to be letting some people down," Eddie said, trying to play on my loyalty to my friends. He had to work harder than that to sway me.

"Who? Who would I be letting down?" I asked, slightly amused, "You don't need me to wingman for you anymore, do you?" It would be different without a girl of my own to give me an excuse for hanging around. I really didn't feel like being a third wheel.

Eddie rubbed the back of his head, a pensive look on his face, "No. Things with Cess are going pretty well," It was good to hear that he hadn't bottled it yet.

"Right," I continued, after his confirmation, "Plus, I know Hisako's got a date. And if you think I'm opening the Pandora's box that going with Laura would cause, you're out of your mind," Just because I tried not to care what people thought didn't mean I liked inviting confrontation. Would Laura even go if I asked her? I didn't want to humor that train of thought any further.

"There's Blindfold," Eddie pointed out, thinking that he had me.

"There is Ruthie," I agreed, taking a moment to think about it, "...And I guess doing the sibling thing at the dance wouldn't be too weird if I just went ahead and owned it."

Eddie rolled his eyes, "I don't know why you always say that, Sol. You two aren't even close to being related."

How could he say such a thing? I gasped in shocked offense, "You shut your mouth, Wing. We're related in spirit. That's my little sister right there. You're telling me you can't see the resemblance?"

My attempt to sidetrack Eddie only worked for a second before he got back to the subject I'd been trying to avoid, "Whatever you do, just don't sit against the back wall and mean mug. Try and have a good time."

"If you wanted me to have a good time, you wouldn't tell me to go," I muttered.

XxX

The day of the Field Day meeting came, and we were all a bundle of nerves. Ruth was fidgety, trying to scan whatever minds she could for any warning of potential detonation. Hisako was tense and ready to armor up at any second. Eddie bounced on his toes, but every time he went up, he lifted off of the ground a bit. When I leaned close to Laura, I could hear the growl building in the back of her throat, just short of letting it out.

I don't know how much everybody knew, but it seemed like it was more than just the Paladins keeping an eye out for anything shifty. It might have just been me projecting onto the tension of all of the competing teams being amassed in one place. Waiting for the other shoe to fall was utterly painful. I wasn't even listening to what Mister Summers was saying in regards to the competitions, teamwork, and preparation… and how we were the future, and blah. Who cared about that? A fucking kid was going to explode.

All of a sudden, he said something that triggered some déjà vu in my brain. This was it. This was when it had happened in the vision. Ruth recognized it as well. She reached out and grabbed my hand tight in anticipation. We were both expecting an explosion at any moment… only nothing happened.

Mister Summers' speech continued to its conclusion, and that was that. No major snafu. No loss of life. Nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. That left me and my team as the last ones standing in the field with our metaphorical dicks in our hands.

"That's it?" Eddie exclaimed, as though he felt robbed, "We've been thinking that shit would go down for days here, and nothing? Dude… blue-balls."

Hisako gave him a smack on the arm, "It's a good thing that nothing happened, you goon. Are you saying you actually wanted someone to go boom?"

Eddie looked rightfully chastised, "No... it's just... I mean, what now?"

With seemingly nothing happening, I felt Ruth let go of my hand. The lack of action had to be a load off of her mind, "We do today's challenge and move on," I said, "Or do you not want to win today's Field Day?"

The guy just wanted a chance to prove himself as real X-Men material. He was just a little overzealous about it sometimes. That was all, "Of course I do!" Eddie exclaimed, "Now we can actually focus on it. Come on. We got so close back in spring. We can pull this off!"

We finally headed off to gather with the other teams to prepare for the first event. Much to my chagrin, it didn't involve fighting. We were meant to solve a series of clues that would tell us which one of the senior staff we were after, then we would capture them.

We were fucked on the first part, the clue-solving part. Not that we were dumb. It was just that our smarts didn't extend that far. Hisako was book-smart. I was street-smart. Laura was tactically-intelligent. The New Mutants would possibly smoke us there. David could probably do that on his own. The second part though, with Laura as our secret weapon to track for us, we would blaze through that part once we got that far.

Again, Eddie, who was hungry for something bombastic to prove himself, was not pleased, "A scavenger hunt! How is this X-Men stuff?"

Hisako smirked at him before dropping some knowledge, "Remember the time Sol and Blindfold got kidnapped and the X-Men had to find them in New York? Or the time Sol had to find Laura when she got kidnapped? Figuring out how to find people is definitely X-Men stuff."

I added to my friend's good point, "I heard some dude who used to go here named Madrox is a detective now, or something," It was pretty weird to find out about people who went to Xavier's who weren't active X-Men and had lives elsewhere. Just an example that everyone had choices.

As we waited to get our assignment from Mister Rasputin and the area cleared out with teams getting ready for the okay to search, we got close to the Paragons. Way too close, as in I was ten feet away from pink hair, and Megan and I made eye contact.

So awkward.

I couldn't remember ever being at a loss for words to such a degree. What could I say that wasn't going to be laced with anger, or pathetically sad? Neither was good for me. I just ended up staring and looking dumb, "Uh..."

I couldn't be all cliché and say something like, 'How have you been?' It had been four goddamn days since she broke up with me. The answer probably would have been along the lines of her not being able to so much as look at me without it being a problem, because it definitely was for me.

Megan wasn't any better. Complete deer in the headlights reaction, "H-Hey, Bel," At least she could string together two words.

Idly, I noticed that our two teams had put themselves between us, as if they were expecting some sort of nastiness that they would have to defend us from. That was where I reached my limits to the drama.

"This is so stupid," I muttered and broke ranks, walked away with as much dignity as I could muster after I spent ten seconds stammering and another ten assessing the situation.

There was no chance I was going to let some kind of b.s. feud between 11 people start over a breakup.

Eddie caught up to me first, "Hey, Sol," He floated nearby, keeping up with me while everyone else caught up, "Why'd you walk away?"

Hisako grabbed me by the arm to stop me from going any farther, "I swear, you'd better not still be kicking yourself over Pixie. We talked about this; I don't think you did anything wrong."

"Hell no," Eddie cosigned, gesturing to Laura, whose eyes were set to the floor, "You had our teammate's back, like you were supposed to. We can go back and I'll give Pixie a piece of my mind if you don't want to-."

I had to stop him right there. I appreciated the loyalty, but for everyone's good, that was as far as it could go, "Do you want to have some kind of stupid Hellions-New Mutants beef? Because this is how petty shit like that starts," I said. The two of them looked thoroughly chastised, "Guys, it's not... it's not worth it."

Both Eddie and Hisako didn't know quite how to react, "...I'm not used to this whole 'zen', 'bygones be bygones' Sol thing. I miss the 'cock of the walk', 'beat me if you can, survive if I let you' Sol."

By this point, Hisako had let go of me, "Yeah, I'm not comfortable without you cutting an angry ninety-second speech, finding a way to shoehorn in compliments for yourself no less than three times."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. It was always fun to find out just what my friends expected of me, given what they'd experienced thus far, "Fine. I promise, if we win and there's some kind of award ceremony afterwards, I'll give a super-long speech that'll make half the school want to take a swing at me. And I'll make it a point to flip them all off at the end. Happy?"

Eddie meekly raised a hand, as if he were in class, "Can I flip them all off instead?"

Despite myself, I smiled. I couldn't stay in a bad mood around the Paladins, "Yes, Eddie. You can be the one to flip them all off. But we have to win first."

XxX

We won. Not really a surprise, as the hardest part of everything was the brain-bender portion. From there, we had a walking cheat code in Laura to find who we were after... and we didn't even have to take down our target once we found them. Easy stuff.

The Paladins got some accolades, and we verified that Mister Rasputin was good at his fucking job of advising us by pulling out a clean win. He was so pleased with our performance, that he took us out to eat afterwards. Free food and a chance to celebrate? We were all onboard for that.

Mister Rasputin didn't cheap out either. He took us to a pretty good steakhouse in town, and didn't put any limits on what we could order. If I didn't have good home training, could have ordered some needlessly expensive crap. But as it stood, I found a steak on the menu that was 15 oz and left it at that.

Mister Rasputin looked around the table at the five of us with a pleased smile on his face, "You all did exceptional job today," He complimented all of us, "You handled yourselves in the field like real X-Men."

Even as he ate, Eddie kept a tight grip on the trophy we'd won with one arm. He hadn't stopped clutching the thing since it had first been handed over to him. I was pretty sure he'd end up going to sleep with it every night for the next week, "Let's not act like we didn't have a team full of ringers for this thing. Two of us technically are real X-Men; Sol. Armor."

Hisako ignored Eddie's pointed look in our direction, "-And the fact that Laura's probably done more real missions than some active X-Men," She accurately added. Laura just shrugged her shoulders from what she sat, keeping her eyes down as she sipped at her drink.

"Still, it feels good," Mister Rasputin said, "You remember, I was not certain I would be good advisor in place of Katya."

Yes, I did remember that. And what I said in response on that day still stood, "And I told you, you're a Paladin just like the rest of us. Of course we're gonna try to make you look good."

He had nothing to say in opposition to that, "That you most certainly did," He said with a chuckle.

Hisako grinned mischievously, "How many of the other advisors were mad about us winning?" She asked. Mister Rasputin didn't answer aloud, but held up two fingers, still smiling about the whole thing, "Ha! It was Gambit and Wolfsbane, wasn't it?"

Eddie raised an eyebrow, "Why those two?"

Hisako poked me in the nose, getting an annoyed snort out of me, "Because Gambit probably remembers Bel threatening to blow the three of us up during the last Field Day, and Wolfsbane because she advises she-who-shall-not-be-named-right-now."

Mister Rasputin wasn't much of a liar, and honest guy that he wasn't couldn't deflect when someone was right on top of the truth, "Hisako... is not wrong."

I made a note to myself to avoid any classes taught by Wolfsbane when signing up for courses for the next semester. There was no telling when any bad blood over the Megan breakup would subside. But what was with thinking about negative things? The day had by far been a net positive for the Paladins, and I said as much.

"Today was a good day," I started to say. For the most part, I was right, "And I think we need to celebrate two members of the best goddamn team at Xavier's right now," I reached out for Ruth and pulled her closer, "First, Ruthie. I know your precog powers aren't the most fun... but I really think you telling us something was going to happen kept it from happening."

All of the attention had Ruth shrinking in on herself, even though she was among friends. She'd made big strides in being comfortable with herself and her powers since we'd met, but there still some adjusting needed. We'd get there eventually if we kept working at it. And the rest of the team were quick to back me up with the positive reinforcement.

"Isn't there some kind of theory that knowing the future negates that future?" Hisako asked, her brow furrowing in thought, finally nodding to herself, "That sounds right. Let's go with that."

"That, or Blindfold telling us about it created an alternate reality," Eddie said with a shrug. It wasn't like any of us were experts in time and space, "Either way, I'm going out on a limb and saying lives were saved today," He said, leaning back cockily in his seat, "Certainly makes me feel a hell of a lot better about myself."

"That's right!" I exclaimed, in agreement with Hisako and Eddie. Whatever could be done to give Ruth's self-esteem a much needed boost, "And the second teammate we need to give it up for today is Laura," Her eyes went wide and she froze in place like she'd been caught by a predator whose sight was based on motion, "Don't look all shy now. You're the reason we won today."

Eddie let out a sigh that was half relieved, half mortified, "We took so much time on the first part, we would have gotten smashed if we didn't have the best tracker in the school on the squad," He then stage whispered to Laura as a show of humor, "Psst...that's you."

"I was just doing my job," Laura said quietly. Jesus, did she ever get any positive reinforcement before she showed up at Xavier's? She never responded well to it.

Fortunately, Mister Rasputin was full of encouragement for all five of us, "When you do your job well, you deserve reward, Laura. You and Ruth should take more pride in your abilities... though I know it is hard for both of you."

Laura looked around the table, getting encouraging looks from Eddie, Hisako, and I. I reached over and gave Ruth's hand a little squeeze. 'Little sister' grinned over at me and fidgeted a bit in her chair. Warm thoughts were projected to all.

I seriously loved my team.

XxX

Dinner ended and Mister Rasputin went back to campus. Laura had no reason to stick around, and Ruth was her roommate, so they took a shuttle back to the school. That left Hisako, Eddie, and I to knock around Salem Center for a little while longer. We would have gone back as well, but someone was in need of a caffeine bump.

Eddie and I found ourselves standing around inside of the Grind Stone Cafe waiting on Hisako's coffee order, "We just ate," I complained, "Why do you need coffee before we go back?"

Hisako leaned against the counter, fingertips drumming off of it, "It's a latte. And I don't need it, I want it. So shut up, Bel."

"If you didn't train so much, all the sugar you're having them put in that thing would go straight to your ass," Eddie interjected, a stupid grin on his face as he continued to clutch the Field Day trophy in his arms, "I'm sure Bel wouldn't complain about that."

Of course, he had to drag me into it, "Why? Because I'm black?"

At that, Eddie paused and considered his options for replying, "...If I said yes, would that be racist?"

"Yes, because who doesn't like-?"

"-You're both morons," Hisako cut in before I could really get going. She sighed in exasperation, giving us both a half-hearted glare, "You didn't have to come. Neither of you had to come."

Eddie wagged his finger, as though he were chiding her, "No one goes off-campus alone anymore. We roll at least two deep anytime we step foot outside of Xavier's."

I nodded in support and agreement, "That's right. That's a Paladins rule, in case you didn't know."

Hisako scoffed, "Since when?"

"Since ten seconds ago when it came out of Eddie's mouth," I replied, giving Eddie a thumbs-up, "Good idea, Wingman!"

Eddie stood at attention, trying to cut a serious figure, despite the fact that he was desperately clutching onto a trophy half his size, "It's what I'm here for, boss."

No, it wasn't. But we would ignore that just this once, because tonight was a night for relaxation and celebration. To that end, Hisako could drag us to a goddamn coffee shop that Eddie and I didn't want anything from. The evening was young, and we didn't have anything else to do.

Eddie and I wandered over to the counter where Hisako was chatting with Noriko at work. She greeted the two of us with a wave before including us in the conversation, "Hey, have you seen Jay?"

Eddie and I looked at each other strangely before he answered, "Earlier. Like, during Field Day. Why? What's up?"

Noriko huffed in frustration, "He's always been kind of spacey, but he's been really hard to find lately," She said, throwing her hands out, "Like, right after scores were announced he just up and disappeared. He didn't even stick around for the ceremony."

He didn't stick around to see me gloat? Now that was inexcusable, "If we see him, we'll shoot you a text and tell him to get in touch," I assured her, trying to make a joke, "If anyone knows about teammates flaking out, it's me."

Hisako rapped me on the arm, "I thought you weren't mad at Laura about that."

"I'm not," But that incident ended up in my relationship crashing and burning, so if I were a little salty, I hoped it was understandable, "But there's nothing else I can call leaving to meet her psycho half-brother, or whatever Daken is, without saying anything."

"Fair enough," Hisako muttered, taking a moment to say thanks when Noriko passed her finished drink over, "We'll keep an eye out for Jay, okay Nori?"

Noriko smiled gratefully, "That's all I can ask for. Thanks, guys."

We headed out of the cafe with Hisako a latte richer, and new things for me to think about. Something that caught Hisako's attention as we eventually made it back to school and headed for the dorms.

"What's with that look on your face?" She asked in between sips of the latte she'd been nursing since we boarded the shuttle, "Be careful. Think too hard and something in there might overheat," She said, tapping my head.

"Nothing," I said, swatting her hand away, "It's just weird seeing some kind of dysfunction on someone else's team instead of mine for once."

"Other teams have problems too, dude," Eddie said matter-of-factly, "And I wouldn't say we were ever really dysfunctional. We always liked each other well enough."

"I didn't like Bel for months, remember?" Hisako replied quickly.

Eddie quickly amended his statement, "...We always worked together well enough," He said, before yawning and giving the Field Day trophy a loving pat, "Well, I'm gonna head in and find the perfect place to display this baby."

Hisako and I watched him leave, "He's wanted that trophy ever since Field Day has been a thing," She said.

"He's gonna sleep naked with that thing tonight," I commented, "He'd better not fuck the trophy."

Hisako's face twisted in disgust, and she gave me a good shove, "Bel, gross!" Her imagination was clearly vivid enough to weave that picture together, "I don't want to think about that!"

"I wouldn't put it past him!" I argued in return, keeping my balance, "He needs to save that shit for Cess if he wants his dick on something metal."

Hisako did her best to give me a stern look, but I saw her lips twitch, "If she heard that, she'd punch you in the face."

"I would deserve it, and I would argue it was worth it for the reaction," I said in return.

Hisako let out a chuckle and shook her head. By now, she knew what I was about. If I really offended her sensibilities with any of the stupid things I said, she wouldn't have hesitated to let me know about it, "Well, I'm turning in for the evening. Don't piss anyone else off until tomorrow."

"I didn't piss off anyone today."

"You pissed off half the school when we won."

"I don't count people's reactions to our being great," I argued, "They should figure out how to beat us, or they can bask in my glory."

Whether she heard my blusterous remarks or not, she didn't turn back around and dignify me with a response. That was fine. She'd been playing this game with me for almost a year now, and I amused myself well enough with the things that came out of my mouth, even if there were some around me too savvy to react to everything.

My team dismissed from having to deal with me for the night, I took a moment, hanging around outside, to think about how my imsomniac self was going to pass the time. Video games, a workout, getting a jump on some school stuff. I could even find Saberwolf and help him patrol for a bit. I had options.

I saw a shadow fly overhead and land on the roof of the dorms. If something that wasn't supposed to be there was trying to sneak around, Wolf would have been on it already, but with my paranoid self, I had to boost my way up there to see what it was anyway.

"Jay?" I said upon seeing the red-wings and red hair before he could find a way to slip inside the building, "What the hell? Doors and stairs exist, you know."

A smart-ass question received an intelligent, logical out answer, "I live on the top floor. Why walk all the way up when I can just land here and get to my room?"

"That's fair," I admitted begrudgingly, before remembering the request from an hour or so ago, "Your team's been kind of worried about you. Nori came to me of all people. She should know better than to count on me for anything," I grumbled.

Jay, to his credit, seemed properly shamed at putting his friends out, "I know... I know. I'll set things straight with them tomorrow when we meet up," He said with a sigh, "...By the way, I just wanted to say, thanks, Bellamy."

"Don't mention it, Jay," I responded automatically, before realizing I didn't know what he was referring to, "...Especially since I have no idea why. What'd I do?"

Jay chuckled, "Remember before? You told me to talk to someone about how I was questioning things."

Oh yeah. That time with Reverend asshole Stryker on TV. I remembered that conversation being really tense, "Yeah, I do. I take it you reached out like I said to get some things off your chest?"

"It was something I really needed," Jay said, with what sounded like a sigh of relief, "All this stuff was just swirling around; my place at school, who I am as a mutant, God's will..." He trailed off and shook his head, "Just too much."

"I'll bet," It was definitely out of my wheelhouse. Definitely uncomfortable. That was why I pointed him in the direction of the goddamn therapist, "I'm glad Dr. Garrison could help you, Jay."

At that, he seemed a bit skittish for some reason, "I wasn't really talking about him. I went to someone else."

I hadn't been expecting that, but it wasn't a reason to be scared. What I told him the other day had just been a suggestion. That didn't mean he was obligated to follow my words step-by-step, "Oh. Well, as long as they were able to help, that's all that matters," Anyone but me. Take that shit elsewhere. I had my own problems to work through.

He seemed more at ease than the last time we'd spoken, which was good, "Yeah, I just had to hear things from someone else's point of view," Having spoken his piece, he nodded my way and headed inside, "Anyway, just... thanks again. Have a good'un."

Sometimes, that was all it took to leave you feeling content. You didn't have to punch your enemies in the face to get a warm feeling. What a fulfilling day. The Paladins won Field Day, and my half-assed advice actually wound up helping someone out. A much-needed win for Bellamy in 'rebuild mode' after taking a hit from getting dumped.

My mood improved, I went inside to my room to relax for a moment, only to unlock the door and find Laura there. She sat on my bed, watching my TV, shoes off. I wasn't too terribly surprised, as she'd left with Ruth earlier and she never hung around their room very much. I didn't expect to see her anywhere near mine though.

When she saw me come in, she looked at me for a moment, only to acknowledge my presence, as if I were the one intruding on her safe space, "Yeah, sure, make yourself at home," I muttered, kicking my shoes off and emptying my pockets on my desk, "So, did you need to get away, or were you just waiting on me?"

"Only for a moment," Laura said, switching the sound down on the TV, "I just wanted to tell you to be careful around Jay."

Jay? I was taken aback somewhat by Laura's statement, "Okay... but if Icarus of all people tries anything shifty, I'm pretty sure I could take him down," All the guy really had on me was mobility because he could fly, and I trained with Eddie, who was definitely faster and able to move better. If I could hit Eddie, I could hit Jay, "Where's this coming from anyway?"

Laura winced, trying to think of a way to word what she wanted to say. She swung her legs over the side of my bed onto the ground, "He just... he smells of death."

"I didn't smell anything," I quipped. Laura didn't crack a smile, or so much as blink. The girl was dead serious, "I don't know what you mean, but I'll take your word for it. I promise I'll be careful. I don't even hang out with the guy."

"You and I both know that doesn't matter," Laura deadpanned, "You're a magnet for bad situations."

I jumped past Laura and landed on my bed, head on my pillows. She didn't flinch, "Oh, I guess you of all people would know," Definitely a case of the pot calling the kettle black, "At least we dodged one today."

Laura drew her knees up to her chest, "Why doesn't it feel like we did?"

Not a bad question. Indeed, nothing felt complete, "Because nothing happened, I guess," I tried to explain, "We were expecting something bad, so when things work out, it's anticlimactic."

All of that thinking, speculating, precautionary measures, and it was all for nothing. To be fair, that was why precautions were taken, so that things wouldn't go wrong or that they would at least be minimized. Laura had plenty of reasons to feel the way she did though. Things didn't have a history of working out smoothly around Xavier's.

I wasn't going to say that Ruth's vision had been wrong, because we'd acted on it and probably changed the outcome. But Laura had a point. This was all too clean. It didn't feel right; didn't feel resolved.

"If it's not over, we just have to keep an eye out," I said. Laura nodded in quiet agreement, "I'm counting on you. You're the only person on the squad more paranoid than I am."

Laura huffed, as though she'd taken offense, "My paranoia is grounded in past experiences."

"What a coincidence, because my paranoia is grounded in insomnia," I joked in return. Again, no reaction. No smile, no snide remark, "...What else is wrong, Laura?"

Laura's head whipped over to me suddenly, her expression turning more downtrodden, "Is it obvious?"

"Not to everybody," I said, pushing myself up to sit next to her properly, "But I spent the summer with you, so I know when you're being extra moody," I nudged her, trying to get her to open up some.

To my surprise, she actually did find it in her to share, "Homewrecker."

Unfortunately, I couldn't tell what her problem was from that alone, "Say what?"

"That's what I've heard people say about me for the last few days," Laura said, "People don't seem to understand how good my hearing is. Or, maybe they do."

It took a moment for what she said to register, because to my knowledge she hadn't slept with anyone at school, let alone someone in a relationship. But then, my stupid brain realized I was overthinking, and that the answer was right in front of me... or, more specifically that the answer was me, "I'm gonna need some names."

I must have spoken in a tone that let her know that bad things were in the future of whomever she named, so she didn't, "Please, don't get upset."

Fuck that. It was too late for that. The annoying situation in the common area jumped to mind, "Who's saying it? Is it those fuckers from the lounge the other day? Wait, it was Trance, wasn't it?"

"I have heard it from several people behind my back."

"You didn't say she wasn't one," I jumped up from the bed, my mind already turning on how I was going to ruin at least one person's evening, "Oh, man. I was looking for something to do tonight, and I've been waiting on an excuse to wild out since Sunday. I'm gonna-."

"-Anything you do will just make things worse for both of us!" Laura growled.

She was right. Lashing out hastily had never solved any of my personal problems. Worse still, I wouldn't be the only one affected if I mucked things up further. Laura had skin in this game, the same as me, "Fine. But if I actually hear anyone say anything like that about you for myself, all bets are off. You aren't stopping me."

"That will just make everyone think it's true," Laura mumbled, "...That you cheated on Megan with me."

I sat back down with Laura on the bed, a little closer this time to provide friendly support, "Lots of people believe that now, and if they do, it's because they wanted to in the first place," The same went for Megan in my mind, "We didn't do anything. We know that. That's all that matters," Not really. But if I repeated it enough, it would mean something, wouldn't it?

Laura sighed, her hands folded in her lap, "This was one of the reasons I left this school the last time," She looked over at me, her emerald green eyes beseeching me for some kind of answer, "What do you do when your words don't work, the truth doesn't matter, and lashing out isn't allowed?"

"Go to the teachers," I replied, breathing out a laugh through my nose at my own joke, "Nah, I'm kidding. They can't do shit."

Laura held up a hand and popped her claws, staring at the metal-coated appendages for a moment before letting them slide back beneath the skin of her knuckles, "I was never prepared for this. All of my training never extended to... this. High school," She said 'high school' with complete distaste.

"Try going to a regular school," I said, offering a grin, "At least this place is kind of lax. I've shot kids in the face and didn't get anything worse than a slap on the wrist. I'm pretty sure you could nick someone on the cheek and get away with it. A little warning cut."

Finally, I managed a little smile from her, "You're a bad influence."

"Eh, only if you listen," I shrugged, leaning in closer to whisper, "If I were you, I would ignore 30 percent of the things that come out of my mouth. The trick is picking which 30 percent."

She tried to hide it, but I saw the shiver roll through her when I got close to her ear. At that moment, I stopped. I looked at where I was, at where Laura was, for once read the situation, and realized that I needed to tread carefully.

I had been flirting. I hadn't even meant to. It was just so easy.

Laura was usually so chill, it always seemed like there was no consequence for it. Most girls would flirt back or tell me to buzz off, but I could be as cheesy as I just was around Laura, and it wouldn't even register... or so I thought. Here, she was... receptive. In fact, she seemed to be waiting on something from me.

Lips slightly parted, eyes half-closed, she was waiting on me to kiss her. Had I not stopped to think, I probably would have. As Laura had said before about me hounding her detractors, this would just make things worse for the both of us.

But why did it even matter?

As I had said before, people were going to believe whatever they wanted to in the first place. All that mattered was what we thought and how we felt. So, how did I feel? I'd always thought Laura was gorgeous, and I liked her as a person, but I was just coming off of a rough ending to a relationship, and this felt a lot like the start of that – as something I was falling into and going along with because I didn't mind it.

In the end, I stopped myself. I had to. It wasn't fair to either one of us, no matter how much my hormones were screaming at me to go for it. Sorry, I'd burned my hand on the 'just go for it' stove before.

When I moved away, Laura opened her eyes, looking at me confusedly, "Bellamy?"

"Shit," I said, conflicted and frustrated at not taking the chance to make out with the hot girl who had already let slip that she was into me, "I'm sorry, Laura. I can't. Or more like, I shouldn't."

Laura looked like a scolded puppy, "Right. We just talked about making things worse, after all," I wanted to give her a fucking hug.

"I don't give a crap about that," I said, nipping that line of thinking in the bud before it could take root. She had to know my real train of thought, "I first got with Megan out of indifference. I didn't have a reason not to, so I just went with it," She was a nice girl who wanted a piece of me. I had no reason to say no, "...Hisako says I didn't do anything wrong, but in hindsight, it feels like a dick move."

Mister Rasputin had tried to help me out of a dilemma before by asking me if I loved Megan. At that time, I'd danced around saying no, but that had definitely been the answer. I did have a soft spot for her, and it grew into affection over time, but indisputable love? No.

The same went here. I liked Laura a lot, but love? No. I hadn't even thought of being with her romantically until two weeks ago. And doing the same goddanm thing with her that just got Megan and I burned not even a week before this would be doing a good friend a disservice. Repeating your mistakes did not lead to healthy growth.

But what could I say to make it better? Some cliche like, 'It's not you, it's me?' No way. Or, 'You deserve someone better?' While that was true, as far as I was concerned Laura deserved whatever she wanted.

Before I could think of anything to say, Laura beat me to it, "I understand," She said with a sigh.

"I just-. Wait, what?" Now I was confused, "You understand? What do you understand?" I sure didn't understand. What was I not understanding?

Laura's expression shifted to one of pity, "Cessily advised that I should wait, because you would be emotionally vulnerable. I didn't know why I would. It seemed like a strategic advantage. But here in the moment, it doesn't feel... right to take advantage of you."

I was stunned. I never figured those words would be associated with me, "T-Take advantage of me?"

"I believe Cessily called it 'being on the rebound'," Laura confirmed, paying no attention to my stunned reactions, "She didn't tell me not to pursue you now, but she warned me that things might go poorly later if I did."

I narrowed my eyes at her, "...I'm still stuck on the you taking advantage of me part," That was what was important here. No one took advantage of Bellamy Marcher.

Laura gave me a wry smile, "I was a prostitute for a time, and I am well trained in seduction techniques."

I raised an eyebrow, "And?" After Ruth's little crash course on Laura's life from months ago, I knew she had been a prostitute. Not that it had ever come up.

"Having been around you for months, I am well aware of how to tempt you."

I looked around at our proximity. We were way closer than we had been when I'd started the conversation. I didn't even notice it. I looked at how our meeting had gone since I'd walked in, how I'd gone from taking her advice as a confidant, to supporting her, to flirting. I looked at how and where I'd found her when I'd walked in, lying comfortably in my bed, waiting on me... invitingly.

The girl hadn't just watched the Bellamy Marcher movie, she'd read my fucking book and wrote her own plot.

How I overlooked the fact that an assassin trained to be the best in the world could be subtle was a mark against my general awareness. If she'd been out to kill me, I'd have been dead ten times over, "You manipulative little... was any of that even legit!?" I was starting to question our entire conversation.

Laura nodded, almost offended, "Yes. All of it was. You don't respond well to dishonesty," She said, with the astute observation, "I really do want you to be wary of Jay Guthrie."

I felt a loss when Laura brushed off her jeans and stood to leave, "Where are you going?" I winced. Goddamn, did I sound needy.

Laura stopped and turned, blinking owlishly at me, "To my room. Like I said, I would feel bad establishing relations if I didn't wait until you were in a more positive frame of mind."

"But... but..."

"-I will see you tomorrow."

Leaving no room for further conversation, or whatever one would call my stammering, Laura closed the door behind her, literally and figuratively. The girl left me by myself on my bed, staring at nothing. I was flabbergasted, and at a complete loss for what to make of everything that had transpired.

Wow. What she'd done had been extremely effective, and I didn't know if she knew just how effective it was... or if it would be worse if she did or not. For some reason though, I felt like prey, and the predator after me let me go to play with its food.

"Okay, what the fuck just happened!?" As usual, I received no answer from the world around me and was left to figure out the answer on my own.

Omake: Gracious in Victory

"I've been waiting for this day my entire life," Eddie declared to the rest of the Paladins as we stood gathered together on the stage.

The New Mutants had just received the second-place prize for this Field Day, which only left the award for top honors.

"It's beautiful," Eddie said in reference to the trophy. I could swear I saw him wipe a tear from his eyes.

Hisako didn't have much patience for hijinks after the work we'd all put in today, "Your whole life? Sure. You've only been at this school for two years."

Eddie turned his nose up at Hisako, "Are you kidding? My life started when I got my powers, Armor. Read between the lines, jeez."

"Field Day wasn't even a thing until last year!"

"I saw it in a dream. I was destined to hold that trophy."

As fun as it was to see Hisako getting a headache over something unrelated to me for once, I deescalated the conversation, "Isn't precog Ruthie's thing?" I said with a grin. We needed to be a united front for when we were called on, "Ruthie, did you ever see a Field Day trophy in your future? Is that why you got me a spot on the squad? Am I your ringer?" I teased.

Ruth laughed, "Yes. No. Laura is the ringer. Sorry," She said, patting me on the head sympathetically.

I winced, as though hurt by her words, "Ouch. That's fair," I spared our quiet fifth teammate a glance. Laura didn't seem to care one way or another about winning, "How you feeling over there?"

Laura's attention was taken from Mister Summers droning speech (did the man ever love to hear himself talk sometimes) to me, "We performed adequately."

"Adequately?" Eddie seemed offended at the pedestrian outlook on our victory, "Sister, we won this thing. I'd say we performed kickass, above the bar, shattered the mold-ingly."

"And the winners of today's Field Day competition – the Paladins!"

Having been given our cue, we all started to walk up to the front of the stage as the applause started. All but Eddie, who ran up and basically snatched the trophy out of Mister Summers' hands as he went to pick it up and present it.

To be fair, he always really wanted to win a Field Day, and Mister Summers let it slide. Good, because for what was going to happen next, he probably wouldn't.

I stepped forward to the microphone to say some words. By the time my hands were on it, Eddie was already chanting at my back.

"Do it. Do it. Do it."

I didn't need the reminder. I remembered what I'd promised him and didn't need anyone's prompting to get started. All I needed was to clear my throat before I began, "Ahem. Friends... they say all men and mutants are created equal. But you can look up on this stage right now and see firsthand that statement is not true."

"It's false!" Eddie shouted, backing me up.

"Oh my God," Hisako held her head in her hands, mortified, as she realized what was coming, and how powerless she was to stop it. Laura looked confused, while Ruth just giggled, having already read out the speech as it came up in my mind, "Mister Rasputin, stop him now," She asked, leaning over to our advisor on-stage, "I mean it."

It was too late for Colossus to do anything. My train had already left the station, "-Because the Paladins are the best. Even one down from a full squad, we're still the best! And as the leader of the Paladins, that makes me the best of the best."

I gestured out at my 'adoring' audience, likely a combination of people who were mad that I'd won and people who still saw me as a philanderer. If they wanted me to stop, reacting in any way was the worst thing they could have done. That just poured more fuel on the fire. Now that I knew I could get a response, I wasn't going to stop.

"Now, I see a lot of angry faces out there," I pointed out with what felt like the biggest shit-eating grin on my face, "Alright, show of hands. Who here thought they could actually beat us?" Many a hand went up, "Huh. A lot of you are either liars, or just ignorant. But that's okay! That's okay! That's why we're at school, children – to learn! And the next lesson all of you jabronis need to learn is that you don't beat Bellamy! Fucking! Marcher!" I punctuated, beating my chest.

"Bellamy!" Mister Summers snapped, presumably admonishing me for my vulgar language and my less than gracious speech.

"Sorry!" I apologized for the profanity at least, walking the stage to avoid him as he tried to approach me. All the while, I never stopped talking, "Some of you are slow to learn that lesson, and that's okay too! We have remedial classes for you. That's gonna be called winter Field Day when I whoop all of your asses again!" By now, boos were cascading from all over the crowd of students, "Hey, I'll tell you what. To save me some time, come January, why don't you all just line up, turn around and assume the position so I can-," By this time, Mister Summers had taken some hefty strides to catch up to me and take the microphone. Eddie grabbed me and flew me into the air, out of his clutches, "-Hey, I'm not done yet, Cyclops."

If it didn't take the press of a button on his visor to blast us, I was certain the intensity of his stare could have shot us both down, "Wing, Solaris, how much detention do you two want? Bring the microphone back to the stage."

Eddie wasn't about to let a little thing like detention ruin his victory lap, "I was promised an obnoxious winner's speech. I want my obnoxious winner's speech. To the victors go the spoils," He said, before looking to me, "Out of steam yet?"

"Absolutely not," I assured him, before getting back on the mic, "I mean come on, people! I'm just the best there ever was. I wake up in the morning and piss excellence. I'm just a big, glowing American winning machine," I pointed a glowing finger at the crowd, "Look at all of you starter-ass Pokemon down there. I see a Bulbasaur, I see some Treekos and some Tepigs and some Oshawotts. You're a fucking Mudkip, Julian."

"Fuck you, Marcher!"

"I'm a goddamn LEGENDARY!" I bellowed, "You bust out the fucking Master Ball if you want to catch me!"At that point, the sound system cut out, "Hey, don't cut my mic! I'm not done yet!" I continued to yell over the sound of booing, "You will listen to me gloat! That's the price you pay for losing! I could do this shit all da-!"

I was cut off by a well-aimed red concussive blast that clipped Eddie enough for him to drop me from ten feet in the air. I hit the stage belly down with an awesome thud and didn't move.

Mister Summers calmly walked over, finger still on the button of his visor as he reached down and took the microphone from my hand, "You are in so much trouble."

"Whatever I get... totally worth it," I said, turning my head to the side so I could be heard, "You have no idea how much I needed that."

Alright guys, that's the chapter.

Man, I had a chunk of this written, but data got corrupted and I lost some work, so I had to grab a backed up version where I'd made less progress. So, that was fun to deal with.

Anyway, no action this chapter – a bit of a red herring – but fear not. Nothing ever stays calm for long in Marvel. Expect things to turn pear-shaped very soon. And that's going with the other shit percolating around here.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading. I'll have more next time.

Kenchi out.