Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 16:31:15 +1000
From: thothboi@hotmail.com
Subject: Weaver X: Chapter Three

Xmen is the trademarked property of Marvel, all Marvel Characters are
copyrighted to Marvel, their characters are borrowed, for the purposes of
the story.

This is a work of Gay fiction, containing adult situations between
consenting males.  If you are under the legal age in your country, DO NOT
CONTINUE, otherwise, I hope you enjoy.


WEAVER X


Chapter 3


Alex walked away from the docks silently and resolutely,
never looking back once.  Six weeks of enforced silence,
darkness and Saul's attentions made him extremely glad to
get off the cargo ship to say the least.  Heading for the
shadows, Alex found a space where he could wait until the
customs people had been and gone, without having to
endure more of Saul's acid breath and equally acid
nature.

Dawn quickly brightened behind the city of San Francisco
as the customs agents went about their work.  Alex had
cleared up after himself, ensuring that no speck or hint
of his presence remained before he'd slipped over the
side, down a rope and onto the docks.  He watched them
depart with a sense of relief and, using his mutant
ability, became invisible, slipping around the shift
workers in the early morning light like a wraith and out
of the shipping yards, into the famed city.

Mid-morning found Alex sitting in Golden Gate park,
eating a sandwich, foresight had led to him changing all
his currency before leaving for the USA, Alex had been
surprised at the substantial amount, nearly ten thousand
American dollars.

As he watched the scattered people, play, walk and run
about the park, he considered what his next move should
be.  Taking a large bite of his sandwich, he decided that
California would do for now, but eventually he had better
head south, Louisiana had always appealed to his
imagination, stories of the bayou and New Orleans had
been a staple of his mental diet for a long time.

Sighing, he finished his sandwich and headed in towards
the famous Market St, in search of a newspaper and
somewhere to live.



***



The flatmate wanted section of the paper was long and
filled with potential, at least that was what Alex had
originally thought.  As he trudged from one place to
another, he began to think again.  Many of the people
were either addicts, kids just out of home, or else just
plain weird.  Finally he walked up to a beautiful
townhouse, certain that the occupant wouldn't be
interested in a foreign national flatmate, but he rang
the doorbell anyway, it was getting dark and he'd have to
find somewhere to sleep soon.

The door was opened by a sad looking man in his mid-
forties.  "Yes?"  His brusque tone was full of repressed
emotion.

"I'm Alex, I phoned earlier about the flatmate ad."  Alex
smiled uncertainly.  "But if this is a bad time, I can
come back tomorrow."

"No, it's alright."  The man hesitated slightly, his sad
brows drooping.  "I'm Dimitri." He shuffled into the
hall, leaving the door open in invitation.

Alex walked in to the dark hallway and stared.  All the
pictures hanging on the walls were covered by sheets of
dark fabric.  Alex had read about how traditional
families behaved in certain circumstances, and this was
certainly a house in deep traditional mourning.  "Are you
sure that it's alright?"  Alex asked as he entered the
lounge.

"It's alright."  Dimitri sat on a couch heavily and
gestured Alex to sit.  "My partner of 10 years passed
away some time ago, it's time to join the world again,
besides, I've got a lot of space."

Alex nodded sympathetically.  "I hate to push you, but if
you could give me specifics?"

"It's $1200 a month, including utilities, no drugs, no
pets and no parties without arrangement."  Dimitri smiled
bitterly.  "I hope that's all ok."

Alex had little choice left given that he'd exhausted
most of the other options available, but it all sounded
good.  "I'd like to make it a temporary arrangement, at
least at first, you may not like me or we could clash
personalities."

"We can give it a months trial."  Dimitri nodded
agreement, straightening in his chair.  "What have you in
the way of furniture and things?"

Alex shrugged, this was the part that had blown many of
the other, seemingly promising opportunities all day.
"I've just come to the country, I don't really have
anything."

"That's alright, the house is fully furnished, you can
use our.my stuff until you get your own or whatever."
Dimitri waved a negligent hand.  "One last thing."

Alex tensed, sure that whatever was coming would be the
condition that would make things untenable.

"Several of my friends and clients are.unusual to say the
least.  I trust that it won't be a problem?"  His eyes
narrowed, the sad look devoured by a piercing gaze of
intelligence and will.

Alex realised that finally he was seeing something of the
man underneath the grief, enough, at least to know that
he would be a formidable opponent.  "Unusual in what way?
I'm fairly open minded, but there are some things I draw
the line at."

"I specialise in mutant medicine, many of my friends and
clients are mutants, as was my late partner."  Dimitri
resumed his grief stricken countenance.  "Is this going
to be a problem?"  His voice harsh with grief once more.

"Nope."  Alex smiled lazily.  "I thought for a moment you
were going to tell me you were all members of a demonic
cult or something.  Mutants don't bother me in the
slightest."

Dimitri smiled in wry appreciation as he rose.  "Well,
seeing as you don't seem to have a problem, I think we
can come to an arrangement, you can move in once you
provide the first month's rent."

Alex rose and dug around in his bag.  He'd carefully
unpicked the seam on the base of the bag to create a
hidden pocket for his money, so if someone tried to take
it, they wouldn't find it, at least not straight away.
Opening the pocket, he took a wad of hundreds out of it
and counted three months rent into Dimitri's hand.  "I
changed my savings before I arrived here."  He replied to
Dimitri's surprised and bemused face.

"I guess I should show you your room then, that is,
assuming that you haven't got any luggage stored anywhere
that you need?"  Dimitri nodded thoughtfully when Alex
shook his head in the negative.

"I was going to backpack across the country, but I
thought it might be a good idea if I stayed in one place
at first, just till I get the hang of things over here."
Alex followed Dimitri up two flights of stairs to what
was clearly a converted attic space.  It was bright, airy
and lovely, a large bedroom, ensuite bathroom and small
living area complete with a small television.

"We converted it last summer."  Dimitri commented,
watching the surprise and pleasure bloom on Alex's face.
"We intended to adopt a young mutant and wanted to give
him some space to be on his own."

"You're sure that you want me to have it?"  Alex asked
caution forced him to ask, it really was the best
possible deal that he could have found in a lifetime for
the money and for the various opportunities he'd have to
observe mutants unnoticed.

"Absolutely."  Dimitri's tone was unequivocal.  "Will you
be looking for work while you're in the country?"

Alex slowly walked over to the couch and dropped his bag
on it.  "Yeah, I'll have to start looking first thing in
the morning."

"If you wish, you can join me for dinner this evening,
nothing fancy, but if you're hungry."  Dimitri walked to
the stairs.

"Thanks, but I'm probably just going to get some sleep,
its been a long couple of days."  Alex smiled ruefully.
"Thankyou.  For letting me stay, I mean."

Dimitri paused at the top of the stairs and looked over
his shoulder, smiling.  "Don't thank me, you're paying
for the privilege."  And continued down the stairs, a
faint thud indicated he'd closed the door at the foot of
the stairs behind him.

Alex heaved a sigh and dropped back onto the couch, then
sprang back up and headed to the top of the stairs.
Using his mutant ability, he wove an alarm, something
he'd figured out on the ship, it was silent, but if it
was triggered, a rainbow of colours only visible to his
eyes would flash warning.  That done, he sound-proofed
the entire attic, ensuring that no noise would filter
down to the house below and went in search of a shower.



***



Alex's eyes sprang open and took in the unfamiliar
surroundings for a moment before remembering where he
was.  A glance at his watch revealed it was still early
morning, and the sunlight pouring in the window
proclaimed it was a beautiful day.

Rolling out of bed, Alex took a shower and shaved the
sparse whiskers that covered his maturing face and
wondered what to do next.  First thing was to look for a
job, second thing.Alex's mind was thrown off track when a
flashing of rainbow lights filled the room, his alarm had
been triggered.  Seizing his mutant ability, he
unravelled the alarm and walked into the bedroom in time
to see Dimitri step off the stairs.

"Good morning, I was just coming to wake you."  Dimitri
smiled.  "Breakfast is on the table."

"Thankyou, I'll be right down."  Alex waited politely for
Dimitri to go, then turned to his possessions.  Regarding
the bag that held everything he owned in the world for a
moment, he drew on his ability and wrapped them in what
he called a sight shield, effectively rendering it
invisible, then stowed it deep under the bed, out of
casual reach.



***



Breakfast surprised Alex.  It was in a light, airy
kitchen at the back of the house, looking over the small
garden, the view wasn't what was surprising, rather the
sheer amount of food was.  Bacon, sausages, eggs,
scrambled and fried, hash browns, cereal boxes of all
sorts littered the table, oatmeal, stacks of toast all
accompanied by two pots of coffee and assorted juices.

Dimitri met his surprised look with amusement.  "I wasn't
entirely sure what you ate, and you cannot start the day
without a substantial meal.  Sit, sit and eat."  He
gestured as he took his own advice, helping himself to a
large plate of food.

Alex stared for a moment, then joined him, taking a bowl
of inoffensive looking cereal and a cup of coffee.
"Where do I go to find out about job vacancies here?  I
mean is it just in the paper or are there job clubs
people go to?"

"Job clubs?  Usually people just use the want ads in the
paper, failing that, the welfare office posts a few job
notices regularly, there are a few placement agencies
around, as well."  Dimitri took a large bite of his eggs,
considering carefully while he chewed.  "What line of
work were you in before you came here?"

Alex stiffened slightly.  "I suppose you could call it a
sales position, ideally it's not something that I'd like
to go back into."

"Ah."  Dimitri nodded sagely.  "It can be a vicious line
of work.  Commission based work is always very
competitive."

Alex felt his face flushing slightly.  "It can be."  He
studied his bowl for a moment.  "You're a Doctor?"

"Yes, originally I was just your run of the mill G.P.,
but then word got around that I wouldn't discriminate
between normal and mutant humanity, events have since
turned me into a xeno-physician."

"What is a xeno-physician?"  Alex knew what the term
meant, having virtually swallowed every book that came
within his reach, but long habit had taught him
misdirection.

Dimitri gave him that considering look again.  "It used
to be totally in the realms of the theoretical, science-
fiction.  A xeno-physician is a doctor that works with
non-human biology, alien life forms and all that.  There
are some mutants that have significantly altered
physiology."  He glanced over at Alex.  "Different body
structure, different systems inside, many mutants need
someone trained in tracking and tracing new or different
systems inside, so I got what training there was and have
been helping out as often as I can."

"That would have caused some difficulties."  Alex reached
for a piece of toast, glad to have diverted Dimitri from
his line of questioning and into something else.

"Yes, it did."  He considered for a moment, and reached
for the coffee pot.  "Eventually all my normal human
clients left my practise and for the safety of my
patients, not to mention myself, I had to close it down,
there were a few dangerous incidents with mutant haters
that made it to risky to continue practising in plain
sight, so I quietly let my mutant clients know that I
would continue my practise from my home."

"How is it any better here?  I mean you said that you're
trained in dealing with the unusual types of mutant
biology, right?  That has to mean that at least some of
them don't even look remotely human, so hasn't that just
transferred the problems to your own doorstep?"  Alex's
brow wrinkled in thought as he took a piece of toast and
chewed it thoughtfully.

Dimitri looked at him guardedly.  "There would be
problems with them coming openly, as you say, but we've
managed to come to an arrangement."

Alex glanced up at Dimitri's carefully guarded
expression.  "If things aren't as different here as back
home, then I'm guessing that either you know a mutant who
can make whole groups of people invisible to come and see
you, or they're using the underground network of tunnels
to move unseen."  He smiled cautiously at Dimitri's
slightly panicked expression.  "I spent some time down in
the tunnels back home, doesn't take a genius to figure it
all out."

Dimitri let out a large sigh.  "I take it that you won't
be letting anyone know what you know about this place?"

"Why should I?"  Alex asked rhetorically.  "It's none of
my business what you do, and I've never had a mutant try
and hurt me, so I've got nothing against them."  He
shrugged.  "But if I can figure it out, then some smart
ass mutant hater will hear about you, figure things out
and sooner or later, find out where you live and try to
start something."

Dimitri stared at him in horror, his jaw dropping open.
"I never thought.I don't want to leave my home!"

"Then don't."  Alex met Dimitri's panicked eyes.  "Ask
one of your clients to see if they can alter your
electronic information, then open a post office box for
all your regular mail."  Alex shrugged.  "You have to
figure that mutants who live underground know how to work
the systems to stay undiscovered."

Dimitri licked his lips nervously and pushed his plate
away from him.  "You, you are right.  I must see to this
right away."

"Get them to see if anyone else has been doing some
snooping around, you know, trying to find you and maybe
ask for a guard to be posted or something.  It's gotta be
low key, but effective.you know what I mean."  Alex
nodded meaningfully at the alarmed man.

"I do, and thankyou."  Dimitri called out, dashing out of
the room.

Alex grinned.  He'd helped the man out, and diverted him
successfully from looking at Alex's past too closely, it
was already turning out to be a good day.



***



Alright, so maybe it wasn't such a good day after all.
Alex thought as he tiredly trudged his way back to his
new home.  An entire day of going to interviews and
filling out applications had been a complete and utter
waste.  No-one wanted to hire a young, unqualified,
foreigner for anything, except maybe sweeping the floors
in a hair salon for what equated to six dollars a day.

Alex sighed in disappointment as he walked up the hill
towards the house.  The one bright point of his day, was
that he'd dug into his savings to buy himself some new
clothing.  He'd bought two new outfits, including shoes.
One semi-formal outfit was for interviews, the set he'd
been wearing all day, the other was just t-shirt and
shorts, what he had brought to America with him was
looking a little worse for wear.

Alex slipped the key into the lock and entered the large
house.  Pausing for a moment, he heard no sounds of life
and climbed the stairs to his room.  Wearily dumping his
bag on the sofa, he headed straight for the shower,
unravelling his sound wards as he went.  As he'd walked
around the streets of San Francisco, that day, it had
occurred to him, that if he wished to keep his status as
a mutant to himself in a house that would be full of
them, all with unknown powers and abilities, that
anything out of the ordinary would be noticed and
remarked upon.  So his sound wards were out, along with
any non-emergency use of his powers.

As he showered and washed the grime of the day away, Alex
became aware of a loud thumping sound.  Ducking his head
under the shower to rinse the last of the soap away, he
cautiously turned the water off and listened.

It was a heavy, rhythmic sound, like a bass beat.  Alex
slowly exited the shower and peered around the corner,
checking his room.  Nothing.  Quickly he dressed and,
silently as a cat, walked down the stairs and opened the
connecting door.  The sound was louder and accompanied by
muffled voices.  Alex crept down the stairs, straining
his ears to hear what the voices were saying.

At  the ground floor, it took Alex a moment to realise
that the voices, were in the kitchen, along with the
incredibly loud hammering sound, which made it extremely
difficult to hear what they were saying.  Senses
straining, Alex seized his mutant power and wove a
personal shield, along with a couple of other potentially
nasty weaves and opened the door a crack.

"We need to get this done before the good doctor gets
back."  Alex couldn't see the speaker, but it sounded
like they were near the pantry door on the opposite side
of the kitchen.

".if you'd just shut up, I'll get this done faster and
we'll be outta here in no time."  A second voice called,
the voice sounded.harsh, almost mangled.

Alex started to form a fireball with his talent as a
female voice spoke.  "If you two don't stop fighting
we're never going to get anything done.  Dimitri said if
you could hide the entrance so well that he'd miss it
after living here for more years than your combined IQ,
then he'd be safe, so stop your bitching and get on with
it."

Alex reeled back in surprise, and extinguished the
fireball.  Thinking fiercely for a moment, he dropped a
silence ward over himself and sprinted back up the
stairs, slamming the door behind him.  As fast as he
could, he got undressed and leapt back in the shower,
dropping the silence ward as he turned on the water.  The
silence ward would have covered the noises he made
running up the stairs, but not the door slamming.  With
luck anyone coming to investigate would think he hadn't
heard anything, that he'd just gotten home and went
straight up to the shower.

Almost panting with tension, Alex washed the terrified
sweat off his body.  Only minutes after making the
resolution not to use his powers, he'd almost blown it
with people Dimitri had gotten to help him.  Slowly, he
regained control of his breathing, and his emotions, the
water seeming to almost bring him back into balance, as
it always had.

Reluctantly, Alex shut off the water and towelled off.
Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself and got
dressed.

"Hi, you must be Alex."  A woman sat perched on the arm
of the couch by the stairs.  "Name's Eloise, Dimitri
asked me and a couple of friends to come by today and do
some maintenance for him."  She looked him up and down
appraisingly.

Alex noted that she was the woman who'd spoken
downstairs.  "Oh, right.  Nice to meet you."  He smiled
vaguely.  "How's it going?"

Eloise smiled, it was reminiscent of a predator baring
her teeth.  "We're almost done.  You really lit a fire
under him this morning, didn't you?"

"Better he knows sooner than later about things that
could be dangerous I guess."  Alex shrugged, walking over
and sitting down on the bed.  "I'm surprised he didn't
think of it before."

"Well, Dimitri's a nice guy, but sometimes, things like
this don't occur to him."  Her smile widened.  "Which
leads me to ask why these things occur to you?"

Alex tilted his head to one side.  "My past isn't up for
discussion, now or ever."  His voice became glacial.
"Suffice to say that I felt I owed Dimitri for renting me
the room and I don't want to see him get hurt."

Eloise stared at him in disbelief.  "You.Dimitri told me
that you know about us being mutants and you're still not
scared of us, are you?"

"Us?  All he said was most of his friends and clients
were mutants, and I don't see why I should be scared of
anyone.  No matter what any of you can do, you're all
still just as human as the rest of us, regardless of what
anyone else has to say on the matter."  Alex smiled
sardonically.

"You and Dimitri."  Eloise shook her head.  "Two of a
kind.  I suppose this means that you wouldn't mind if
Claw and Scales came up to meet you then?"  Her mocking
tone would have been enough to set a saint's teeth on
edge.

"No problem, I can't guarantee that I won't be a little
shocked if their appearance is really different, but
sure, I'd love to meet them."  Alex stood, looking at her
expectantly.

Eloise scowled at him.  "They're busy downstairs."  She
said shortly, clearly disappointed in his reaction, and
just as clearly used to normal humans reacting in a very
predictable fashion.  "You sure you're not related to
Dimitri or something?"  Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Not in anyway I know of."  Alex laughed, sitting back
down.  "I guess I just have a lot in common with certain
parts of mutant life."

"Yeah?  Like what?"  Eloise snapped, her body tensing
just like a cat before pouncing on its prey.

"You know of any other reason a guy would travel halfway
around the world to live in the gay capital of the
world?"  Alex grinned.  "Gays and mutants have a hell of
a lot more in common than most would like to admit."

Eloise stared at him in disbelief once more, all the
predatory tension gone from her stance.  "You have got to
be kidding me."

"Nope."  Alex shifted slightly on the bed.  "Gays have to
hide who and what they are from their family, society and
if they are exposed or choose to let people know who and
what they really are, they face persecution, often from
their closest loved ones.  Parents kick gay kids out of
their homes and never think about them again, except to
curse their names.  If it gets known in the larger
community, they are automatic targets for bashing, abuse
and quite often murder.  If a gay person wishes to walk
down a street in any given place in the world, freely
advertising who and what they are, then they may as well
just draw a dotted line on their throat with the
instruction 'cut here' written underneath it, unless they
are in certain places.  Only in those certain places is a
gay person free to be themselves.  To seek out their own
kind and try to live a happy life.  Sounds a lot like
being a mutant to me, only without the powers."

"So that's why you don't have a problem with mutants."
Dimitri's voice startled Alex slightly.  Dimitri walked
over from the stairs where he'd been listening.  "You're
gay and you understand what life can be like for
mutants."

Eloise nodded at Dimitri.  "The boys should have finished
by now, I'll go and check on them."  She glared at Alex
for a moment, before giving him a look of reluctant
understanding.  "You might have a point."  And walked
down the stairs without another word.

"I was wondering when you'd get around to explaining why
you didn't have a problem with mutants."  Dimitri said
softly, ignoring Eloise's departure.  "Not that you
needed a reason, but there is sufficient grounds for
caution, all things considered."

Alex shrugged ruefully.  He would have gotten around
explaining things to Dimitri eventually, he just would
have preferred not to have to do it the day after meeting
him.  "Well, no offence, but we are complete strangers
and."

"Yes, yes, there was no point telling me anything while
you were still settling in and all that nonsense."
Dimitri waved a hand absently.  "Still, it is good to
know where you are coming from and why you are here."  He
smiled triumphantly.

"Alright."  Alex spoke slowly, cautiously.  "Does this
change anything?"

"What?  No!"  Dimitri spoke with scorn.  "As you said,
why live in the gay capital of the world if you don't
have a little tolerance, at the least, share a preference
at the most."  Dimitri smiled sadly.  "My partner's name
was Angelo.he and I were.well, he at least was a true
angel."  He dropped down beside Alex on the bed and
sighed.  "He and you would have gotten along, I think,
but that is enough of all this, things can wait until we
get to know each other better, then I will bore you with
all my old stories."

Alex couldn't help smiling at Dimitri.  "That might be an
idea.  How did you go finding people to help you cover
your tracks?"

"Oh, good, good."  Dimitri nodded enthusiastically.  "And
thankyou for alerting me to the potential for trouble, I
must admit that I'd overlooked those aspects of things."
He paused and took a long look at Alex's tired face.  "I
take it that you had no luck though."

"No, no luck."  Alex grimaced through a tired smile.
"I'll just have to keep on trying till I get there."

"Well, I'm going to go down and start dinner."  Dimitri
stood and looked over Alex with pursed lips.  "Are you
going to join me this evening or continue as you
started?"

Alex laughed involuntarily.  "I believe I can struggle
through fatigue to join you this evening."

"Good.  I've eaten alone too many times."  A knowing look
entered Dimitri's eyes.  "And so have you.  Time to break
that habit, for the both of us."


AUTHORS NOTE.

This is my first flirt with submitting anything I've written, so please be
nice and give me lots of feedback! And a big thanks again to everyone who
wrote in, it's hugely appreciated!