Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 22:59:12 -0400
From: Dusty Hansen <dustyh75@hotmail.com>
Subject: newest ultimate x man part 5

Obligatory warnings and disclaimers:

1) If reading this is in any way illegal where you are or at your age, or
you don't want to read about male/male relationships, go away. You shouldn't
be here.

2) The X-Men and any related characters are property of Marvel Comics,
trademarked and registered and copyrighted and all that. I'm using them
without permission.

For those who read the comics and worry about such things, this story takes
place in the (much simpler and easier to follow) Ultimate X-Men universe,
right around issue 54. If you don't want to dig out your copy, the team at
that time is Jean Grey, Cyclops, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler,
Colossus, Angel, and Dazzler.

Comments can be sent to "dustyh75@hotmail.com"

Thanks.

***

Seth moved quietly around his room, wondering where everyone else was and if
the house was always this hushed in the morning.  No one had mentioned there
being a specific schedule around here, and his room didn't have an alarm
clock.  It didn't have anything, really, besides the furniture and the other
outfit he'd found in the dresser drawers this morning.  The bathroom, a
shared one between his room and the room next door, was stocked with towels
and a toothbrush and all the rest of the essentials, but the whole thing
still felt kind of like a nice hotel.  There wasn't anything about the space
that said anyone lived there, but Seth didn't even know what he would start
buying, or when he would have money to buy anything.  The Professor said all
their needs would be taken care of, but did that include allowance?  Seth
had been too happy just having somewhere to live to ask.

Based on the sun out his window, Seth guessed that it was a little after
nine, and his stomach was growling, so he decided to head downstairs to grab
some breakfast.  He paused at the doorway, worried for a second.  What if he
ran into Scott?  Were they supposed to say something to each other, or just
pretend it hadn't happened?  And how the hell had that happened anyway?
When Scott left the first time last night, after they'd practiced using
Seth's power, Seth had been firm in his resolve not to do anything with
Scott.  He'd been convinced that it was a bad idea for the team, for his new
life here that was barely a day or two old, and for him and Scott
specifically.  And then when Scott had shown up at the door in his boxer
briefs that was the end of it.

And what were they supposed to do now?  Scott had apologized, apologized
again, and then claimed that it was all his fault, as if the whole thing had
just happened one way.  Scott hadn't walked into Seth's room and stubbed his
toe.  They'd had sex.  SEX, the capital letters kind.  And it was dirty and
sneaky and wrong, and damn, had it been hot.  Seth hadn't ever randomly
hooked up with a stranger before, and even though they'd talked they'd just
met yesterday so Scott practically was a stranger, but for just a second,
when Scott grabbed him, the spark between them had been irresistible.  Scott
might be straight again today, might still be saying that it was his fault
because he didn't know what he wanted, whatever the hell that meant, but
last night he'd definitely wanted Seth, and Seth had felt how much he wanted
him through his power.

But what were they supposed to do now?  Seth had no idea, and all he wanted
to do was avoid Scott long enough to get some breakfast and then maybe try
to remember where the library was.

"Good morning," someone said softly behind him.  Seth jerked to a stop
halfway down the stairs and slowly turned.

"Good morning," he answered, trying not to stare.

It was the blue demon guy from the alley, Kurt.  He looked fairly normal
now, in jeans and a polo shirt, if by "fairly normal" you meant "blue",
"fanged", "yellow eyed", "three toed", and any of the other words that
described him.  In the daylight coming through the stairwell windows Kurt
didn't look so shadowy and sinister, if you could ignore the tail flicking
behind him.  He was more of a royal blue than shadowy black, and his skin
almost seemed to have a shimmer to it from all the tiny little blue hairs on
it.  The little gold hoops in his ears added a jaunty, somewhat odd touch,
but they matched his infectious smile.

"We have not properly met," Kurt said, holding out his hand to shake as he
perched on the banister.  His bare feet wrapped around it like monkey feet,
and Seth had to force himself to look up into Kurt's eyes.  Maybe if he
lived here long enough the blue people and the winged people and all the
rest of this would become normal, but right now it was all still a little
strange, even if he was one of these people.  "Kurt Wagner, the amazing
Nightcrawler.  You might remember me from the alley."

"Seth Rand."  He held out his gloved hand, and even though Kurt took it Seth
saw his eyes tick down to the glove for a second before coming back up to
his face.  "I have to wear the gloves for now.  To keep stuff from happening
to you guys again.  I'm sorry about that, by the way."

"There is nothing to apologize for," Kurt said, hopping onto the stairs
alongside Seth.  He moved like a gymnast, graceful yet agile, and waved an
arm expansively down the stairs.  "I was actually coming to invite you to
breakfast."

"Thanks," Seth said, smiling.  "I didn't know if there was a time for meals
or whatever, so I was just going to go down and get something quick."

"There isn't really a time for breakfast or lunch," Kurt explained.  "We try
to have dinner together, if we're all here, but most of the time we just eat
whenever."

"Cool," Seth said, unsure of what else to add.  He hadn't ever been very
good at small talk, but he appreciated that Kurt was at least making an
effort.  The kitchen was empty when they walked in, and the two of them
stared uncertainly into the refrigerator.

"I'm not a good cook," Kurt confessed finally, raising an eyebrow at a
carton of eggs.

"I tend to burn things," Seth added, wondering how one might go about making
pancakes.  You needed flour, maybe?  And syrup?

"There's always cereal," Kurt suggested.

"Cereal it is," Seth agreed, pulling out the milk.  He didn't really know
where anything else in the kitchen was, but Kurt took care of it in short
order, and they were both hunched over bowls of cereal in a few minutes.
After the way he'd clung to the banister this morning Seth kind of expected
Kurt to perch on the chair, too, but he sat pretty normally, if you could
ignore the flicking tail behind him.  "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Kurt said, looking up.

"Your accent, where's it from?"

"Bavaria," Kurt answered proudly.  "I learned how to speak English from the
television.  You are from where, exactly?"

"Cleveland," Seth answered glumly.  "Not nearly as exciting as Bavaria."

"Ah," Kurt sighed, nodding.  "I wasn't sure, since we found you there, but
you seemed to be on the streets."

"Yeah, I," Seth began, looking away.  The cereal was suddenly a huge lump in
his throat.  "I had some trouble."

"That is terrible to hear," Kurt said simply.  "I know what it is to have
trouble."

The two of them continued eating in silence.  Seth wanted to say something
else, to thank Kurt for understanding, but he wasn't sure how to phrase it
in a way that didn't sound stupid.  Kurt, for his part, was content to just
let the moment sink in.  It was clear that Seth had been hurt, but he would
start to understand soon that the X-Men could be a safe place, a home, and
eventually a family.  If nothing else, it was a place where you could walk
around without people calling you a demon, no matter how different you were.
  Before either of them could say anything else their breakfast was
interrupted by Jean and Kitty.

"We were looking for you!" Jean burst.  "Kitty and I went to your room, and
you weren't there, so I did a quick scan to find you."

"Sorry?" Seth said uncertainly.

"You didn't eat yet?" Kitty asked, frowning.  "We're supposed to go
shopping."

"Sorry," Seth apologized again, shrugging.  "I didn't know we were on a
schedule or anything."

"We're not," Jean said, peeling a banana.  "Kitty just wants to go buy
something for her next date with Spider-Man."

"I do not!" Kitty protested, her face reddening.  "I wear my uniform!"

"You're dating Spider-Man?" Seth asked.  He kind of figured that superheroes
all knew each other, so they'd probably all be dating, too.  Hey, wait, was
he a superhero now, too?

"Kind of," Kitty answered, leaning back against the counter.

"That means yes," Kurt stage whispered loud enough for people in Jersey to
hear.

"We're not dating!" Kitty argued, flipping her brown hair as she pushed her
lip out into a pout.  Kurt and Jean both gave her skeptical looks, and she
shrugged.  "OK, we're sort of dating, but it's not official or anything."

"What, exactly, would make it sort of official?" Jean mentally broadcast,
chewing her banana.  If Seth hadn't seen her closed mouth, he would have
just thought she'd spoken.  None of the others seemed to notice at all,
taking it for granted that Jean did this sometimes.

"I don't know," Kitty shrugged again.  "I mean, I don't even know his real
name or anything, and we're kind of just hanging out and fighting bad guys
and stuff, and, you know, we haven't really said we're dating."

"That's a lot of words for `not dating'," Jean smirked.  Kitty shifted
uncomfortably.

"Why are we talking about me, anyway?" she asked suddenly, trying to deflect
attention from whatever she had going on with Spider-Man.  "Seth, do you
have a girlfriend?"

"Uh, no," Seth answered, blushing automatically now that every eye in the
room was on him.  He shifted in his chair, looking down and avoiding eye
contact.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Jean asked, raising an eyebrow.

Just yours, Seth thought, and then felt a momentary wave of panic.  Oh, God,
did she hear that?

"No," he said, wondering if he'd already paused too long.  "No, I don't have
a boyfriend."

"So, if you were going to have one, which would it be?" Kitty asked,
curious.

"Kitty!" Jean snapped, frowning.  Did she miss that Seth was suddenly
completely uncomfortable?  Even without reading his mind on purpose she'd
just caught this wave of panic, and realized that her question hadn't quite
been the joke she intended it to be.

"No, it's ok," Seth said, looking up.  He could do this.  He'd been out in
school, and eventually he'd be out here, too.  It might as well be now.  "I
don't have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, but if I started looking for one,
it, um, it wouldn't be a girlfriend."

"Figures," Bobby snapped from the doorway.  He stomped through the kitchen,
managing to sneer at Seth and Kitty at the same time even though they
weren't really that close to each other.

"Good morning, Bobby," Jean frowned, her hands on her hips.

"Morning," Bobby grunted, not looking at her as he slowly picked through the
refrigerator.

"Do you have a problem?" Seth asked, and everyone else in the kitchen turned
to look at him.  Everyone else might have been willing to overlook Bobby's
moody temper tantrum, but Seth wasn't about to let what he'd just said go.
All he'd heard since he got here was "Bobby's mad about this" and "Bobby's
mad about that", and he still hadn't even met him yet.  He'd been planning
to try to approach Bobby in friendliness, but that didn't seem to be the way
things were going.

Bobby turned from the refrigerator with deliberate slowness, his hands
starting to ice up.  For a second it was like he was wearing gloves made of
frost, and then Seth realized he could see through Bobby's hands entirely.
He also realized that Bobby might actually mean to hurt him, and he stood
slowly, peeling off one of his gloves.

"Yeah, I have a problem," Bobby answered, ice sweeping up his arms and
across his torso.

"Robert," Kurt said sharply.

"Let me guess, it's me?" Seth asked, pulling off his other glove.  He saw
Bobby's eyes tick toward his hands, and knew that he had the upper hand.
Bobby, however much he might be blustering, was scared of Seth, but he'd
never back down in front of the others.  Seth would have to take this the
way Warren had suggested, and put Bobby down again, even though his heart
was hammering in his chest and he couldn't believe he was actually picking a
fight.  It was completely unlike him, but he just felt tired, tired of
running and tired of backing down.  "Or did you have some other cliche in
mind?"

"Fuck you!" Bobby snapped, lunging toward Seth.

Seth raised his hands, ready, filling his head with thoughts of pain,
knowing his power would work this time, and Bobby wouldn't pull this shit
again, but suddenly he couldn't move.  Blinking, he saw that Bobby was
motionless as well, caught in mid-lunge and just kind of hanging there in
the kitchen.

"Enough," Jean said, still frowning.  "Knock it off, both of you."

"Screw you," Bobby hissed, his teeth gritted.

"I can hold you here all day," Jean said casually, turning toward him.  Seth
felt the air around him relax, like he'd been in an elevator than went down
really fast, and he realized it was Jean's power letting go of him.  He
grabbed his gloves off the table and started to pull them on, not looking at
anyone.  "Now, what the hell is wrong with you?  Seriously?"

"What's wrong with all of you?" Bobby demanded.  "Half our team is gone.  We
don't know where they are or if they're ok, and what are we doing about it?
Running to Ohio to save this geek."

"That half of our team chose to leave, if I remember correctly," Jean said,
her voice hard.  No one was going to bring up Rogue, but everyone knew that
was why Bobby was pissed at Kitty and now, apparently, at Seth.

"Yeah, well, we should have gone after them!" Bobby yelled.

"This is stupid," Kitty sighed.

"You're stupid!" Bobby snapped back, and Kurt bit back a chuckle.

Despite his anger, Seth almost laughed, too.  He'd spent days agonizing
about meeting Bobby, and built it up in his head as this big thing, and he
turned out to be a pouty little baby.  He was obviously upset about
something, but that didn't mean Seth was going to stand around and be his
target.  Looking Bobby in the eye, he walked quickly to the kitchen door.

"Look, Bobby," Seth sighed, crossing his arms.  He had no intention of
making this easy, even though it wasn't hard to be brave when Jean was
holding Bobby in place with her telekinesis.  "I'm sorry I knocked you out
by accident when you charged into battle without stopping to evaluate your
opponent.  I'm sorry the Professor invited me to live here without checking
with you first.  If you feel like my apology isn't good enough, I'll be
happy to duke it out with you in the Danger Room man to man, or whatever
other stupid thing you want to do to prove what a man you are, but I'm not
going to sit here and listen to your temper tantrum, and I'm not going to be
your punching bag.  I've done enough of that for other people already."

"Yeah, we can tell by your eye!" Bobby snapped at Seth's back.  Seth just
kept walking, and then he was around the corner and gone.  Everyone else in
the kitchen turned to stare at Bobby, and he felt the air around himself
relaxing as Jean released him.  "What?"

"That was extremely rude," Kurt said, his normally happy face downturned
into a frown.  He started gathering up the breakfast dishes.

"I can't believe you did that," Jean said, shaking her head at Bobby.  "What
are you, four?  Five maybe?"

"Careful, now he'll tell you you're stupid," Kitty said, rolling her eyes at
the ceiling.  Bobby glared at her, making a little grunting noise but not
saying anything, and Kitty just shook her head, turning to Jean.  "I don't
really feel like shopping now.  I'm going to go play on my computer for a
while or something."

"You sure?" Jean asked.  Bobby was doing a bang-up job of putting everyone
in a bad mood.  Maybe she should mention it to Scott.

"Yeah, I'm trying to track something down, anyway," Kitty shrugged, walking
past Bobby like he wasn't there.  Jean looked at Kurt, who was loading the
cereal bowls into the dishwasher.

"I guess I'll take Seth shopping by myself," she sighed.

"Have a good time," Bobby sneered.  Jean whirled around, her face angry.
Last time she'd looked this mad that guy from the Hellfire Club got
incinerated.

"Again, what is wrong with you?" she demanded.  "Would it kill you to be a
little friendly to him?"

"Why?" Bobby snapped back, turning to stomp out of the kitchen.  He yelled
back over his shoulder.  "You guys are all brand new best friends with him
anyway!  Nevermind that we have other friends who are out God knows where,
running around with thieves and murderers, and nobody here seems to care!
You just go ahead and make friends with every homeless nobody loser fucking
fa-"

Bobby's last word was cut off with an "Oof!" as he collided face first with
Peter's bulk.  Bobby practically bounced off of him, the air whooshing out
of his lungs, but Peter didn't move.  He towered over Bobby, his hands
clenched into fists, and Jean and Kurt both stepped back.  Peter had a quick
temper and was a big pile of muscle compared to Bobby's skinny little
punk-ass, and Bobby had just stepped over the line.  He hadn't gotten the
last word out, but everyone in the room knew what it was.

"You should be careful not to say things in anger that you may regret
later," Peter said carefully, ice dripping from his voice.  "You never know
who might be listening and might not like what they hear."

Bobby's only answer was a swallow so loud he expected it to reverberate off
the walls.

"If you recall, you were also living on the street when we found you, and
none of us held it against you," Peter continued, brows furrowed.  His
nostrils flared above his firmly set jaw with every sharp inhale, and his
biceps were like rocks.  His whole body seemed ready to spring, and Jean got
ready to freeze him in mid-motion, too.  If he turned to steel he could
break Bobby into little pieces, literally.  "Now, was there anything else
you had to say?"

The silence yawned in the kitchen, none of the four of them moving, and when
Bobby finally spoke he didn't look at Peter's face, his eyes reaching about
as high as Peter's chin before they slid guiltily away.

"I wasn't saying anything," Bobby muttered, sliding around Peter and
vanishing down the hall.  Peter glared at Jean and Kurt for a minute.

"Take Seth to the mall and get him some clothes," Peter said finally, and
then stomped off, his footsteps echoing loudly through the house.

"Damn," Kurt said, when he was sure Peter was out of earshot.

"Shit," Jean agreed.  "I guess I better go get Seth and take him shopping."

"I guess so," Kurt said, nodding.  "That was some breakfast."

They looked at each other again, but there wasn't really anything else to
say.

***

The day didn't get any better from there, although that wasn't really all
that surprising considering how poorly the morning had gone.  Seth had found
the library, picked out a book, and headed out to the garden, determined to
continue avoiding everyone even though he was still supposed to be going to
the mall.  So far his luck with the team was a little shaky.  Allison,
Warren, Kurt, Kitty, and Jean liked him, but Bobby hated him, Scott was in a
category all by himself that Seth didn't even want to consider at the
moment, and he hadn't met Peter yet.  Joining the X Men wasn't nearly as
exciting as it had seemed all the times Seth had seen them on television.

He'd barely gotten started on the book, some Stephen King thing that he'd
been surprised Professor Xavier even owned (he just didn't seem like the
popular literature type; Seth had expected to find a bunch of leatherbound
classics but had, instead, found a decently eclectic selection), before he
heard the Professor's voice in his head, summoning the team to the Danger
Room for a briefing.  The others were already there when Seth walked in,
even though everyone but Allison had apparently stopped to change into their
uniform, and he got his first look at the entire group together.  Bobby,
fully iced up, sneered at him, while Peter, armored up in his Colossus form,
appeared impassive, nodding when Seth walked in but not introducing himself.
  Seth smiled for a minute when he saw Scott, but Scott didn't even turn his
visor toward him, and Jean smiled back, thinking it was for her.

Great.  Scott was still weirded out about last night, and they weren't going
to get a chance to talk about it, because as soon as Seth walked in the
Professor started a briefing on some mutant on Krakoa, an island Seth had
never heard of, who was being hunted on national television in Genosha,
another island Seth wasn't able to find on a map.  Kitty had found the film
on her computer, hacking into some international webfeed, and now the
Professor was sending half the team around the world to investigate and
possibly rescue him.  It was Seth's first briefing, and was pretty boring up
until the point when Peter starting screaming at the Professor and got
benched from the mission.

"Is it always this much fun?" Seth asked Allison after everyone had
dispersed.

"Not usually," she answered, "but the big guy has a temper, and he's been
pissy since Wolverine took off with Storm.  Actually, everyone's been kind
of a bitch around here lately."

"Yeah," Seth agreed.  "Bobby picked a fight with me in the kitchen this
morning."

"No shit?" Allison asked.  They were back upstairs on the first floor, but
no one seemed to be around.  Seth was starting to feel like the house had
secret passages or something with the way people just dropped out of sight.
"You won, right?"

"Jean broke it up," Seth answered, shrugging.  "I don't even know what his
problem is, but I kind of called him out for a fight in the Danger Room."

Allison stopped, smirking at him.

"So, he's got range, practice, and training," she began, toying with her
wallet chain.  "You have to get close to do anything, have no practice, and
will probably get frostbitten fingers just from touching him, and you still
picked a fight?  You got some balls on you, new kid."

"Thanks."  Even if she was being half sarcastic, Allison had a point.  Bobby
could freeze him solid from the other side of the room and he wouldn't be
able to do anything about it.  "Maybe I should just let him win."

"Maybe I should kick your ass, too, if you're gonna be that stupid about
it," she said, frowning.  "All you need is some strategy and a little
practice."

Before Seth could say anything else, he heard the Professor in his head
again, his mental voice the same clipped tone he'd used in the briefing.

"Seth, please come to my office."

"I guess practice is going to have to wait.  The Professor just called me."

"Good luck," Ali said.  She started to walk away, but turned back.  "I mean
it about the fight.  I like you, new kid.  You got spunk, and I bet we could
get Warren to give us a little programming help to run you through some
practices.  Think about it."

"Thanks," Seth said, watching her walk away.  Maybe Allison had a point
again.  Who knew how long Bobby would be away on that mission?  It might be
worth trying to cram in a little practice time before he got back.  He was
still thinking about it when he reached the Professor's office, wondering if
there were rules about fighting other students as he knocked softly on the
door.  "Professor?"

"Come in, please," Professor Xavier answered.

Seth pushed the door open.  He hadn't been in the office yet, since his only
other discussion with the Professor had been in the infirmary after they
picked him up.  The office was nice, more of a study, and the Professor was
seated behind his desk, his face neutral.  Seth was honestly a little
creeped out by the Professor, but figured it was probably just because he
didn't know him.  Everyone else seemed to like him, and maybe Seth would,
too, when he'd gotten to know him a little better.

"Please, sit down," the Professor said, gesturing at a pair of chairs in
front of his desk.  As Seth started to sit he heard footsteps, and he turned
to see Peter, no longer armored up or in uniform, stepping inside.  "I've
asked Peter to join us."

"Hi," Seth said, holding out his gloved hand.

"Hello," Peter said, shaking it.  He looked completely different without the
steel around him, his eyes bright but his face a little guarded.  Seth could
feel the tension between the other two men, leftover from the briefing, and
figured he wouldn't want to be in the Professor's shoes.  Peter looked like
he benchpressed small cars for fun, even in his human form, and his muscles
strained against his tight white t-shirt.  It was intimidating, but also
sexy as hell.

"Seth, I know this may be a difficult subject for you," the Professor began,
but Seth cut him off.

"Is this about breakfast?" he asked, nervous suddenly.  The house must have
cameras as part of the security system.  Maybe the Professor had seen the
argument this morning and wanted to talk about it, but then why would he
have Peter there?  "Because that wasn't my fault."

"Breakfast?" the Professor asked, raising an eyebrow.  "No, it's not about
breakfast.  I would like to speak with you about your parents."

***

To be continued.