Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:29:20 +1000
From: Will Burn <july_16th_1945@hotmail.com>
Subject: X-men-new-path/ a place for us all 2

Infatuation Fluctuation

*disclaimer*

I do not own the rights to any of the characters in this story, and make
no claims to the artistic visions of the marvel universe.  I know nothing
of the sexuality of any of the creators, actors, or characters involved
in the Marvel universe.  Similarly, this story contains graphic
descriptions of gay male sex.  If you don't like that, they you should
probably avert your eyes.

This story takes place in an alternate X-Men universe from the one in
which the 3rd movie took place.  Certain events occurred after X2 which
changed the timeline.  Jean, Scott and Professor X are all still alive,
and there was no cure.  The specifics of the timeline changes may be made
apparent as the story progresses. Some characters have been changed a
little from the marvel universe as well and some of the facts may be out
of place because I never read the comics and wanted more characters than
were revealed in the movies.


------------------------If you don't like male on male relationships
please stop reading now------------------------

"Said" `thought' <radio> *telepathic*

~Johnny's P.O.V.~

Sitting down in the mess hall for lunch everyone was starving. After
waking up Sean we  got Mikhail to turn into a human again to stop him
from scaring Scott and Bobby even though it was hilarious. We showered
and got changed into our spare clothes. We had full plates and each one
of us dug in before even thinking of chatting. Piotr only got small waves
from Sean and I but a "hey Tinhead" from Mikhail. They were silent for
another few minutes before they started wolfing down food. Every one of
them except Piotr had missed breakfast and they were sure making up for
it.  I was especially grateful for eating wholesome food with everybody
else except, I got quite a few odd stares when I asked for a raw steak
instead of medium rare like everyone else.

I couldn't help but steal a few glances at Mikhail he truly was a good
looking guy. Tall, a bit lanky even but the most defined six pack and
Pecs I had ever seen.  and the tight navy blue wife beater couldn't have
showed them off better than anything else. Just thinking of him naked
made me nearly drool. It was so confusing these thoughts were meant for
women not other men, why did he always have to be a freak among freaks.
It shamed him so much but one thing the Hand had taught him was never lie
to your self because you can't deny true feelings.

"Jean and me are taking you guys shopping for stuff for your room even
you Sean. " You need a computer and a TV for your room."  All three of us
looked up at Colossus, food even falling from Sean's mouth back onto his
plate and he thought I had bad culinary habits for liking raw meat.

"I'm sorry but I don't have any money to pay the school or anyone for
this, my only belongings are the few pairs of clothes I have, my knives
and a paper back version of 'Catcher in the Rye', I have no money to give
you to even pay for my schooling." I looked down at my food unable to
face the others at the table probably sounding like a destitute whining
brat.

"Hey man its ok, this school is funded by some very rich people that
Professor X knows. They fund everything needed at the school even
personal stuff for the students. A lot of the students here at the school
came here with nothing, being kicked out by parents and having to live on
the street." As Piotr started to say this he got a distant look in his
eyes and Mikhail looked a bit down trodden and sad, seeing Mikhail's face
like that made my stomach flip feeling sad for him and his childhood.
What was I doing! I'm playing my emotions off his, watching his every
move like he is an addictive drug I can't get away from. My heart pounded
in my chest when he smiled and my stomach wept when he looked sad and my
brain turned to mush at his laugh, I didn't even know this guy and yet he
had these effects on me, what's happening to me!

The panic must have shown on my face because Mikhail asked if there was
anything wrong. "No, no nothing wrong just thinking too much." I suddenly
wanted to run but I couldn't because my heart was pounding so hard
because there was actual concern in his voice, he looked at me worry in
his eyes. This must be love, the thing I had thought of the one thing
that will make you die and cause you pain but you cant help but do. The
thought draining, mind numbing power it had over your body making the
simplest things a task. I started getting dizzy, the table suddenly
seeming so close and so far away, seeing black dots through my vision, my
breath racing like I had run for days. I lost my grip on consciousness
and fell off my chair onto the mess hall floor blacking out.

*******

~Hank McCoy / Beast's P.O.V.~

I opened his eyes shining the small torch in them seeing normal dilation
nothing too serious, checking his head for concussion from his fall and
taking his blood pressure just to check if he was normal. From the
information he got it was a full blown anxiety attack, quickness of
breath and dizziness, raised blood pressure and heart rate something had
really worried the kid.

"What happened." A slurred voice came from the slowly conscious gaining
child, he opened his eyes and looked up at me quickly jumping off the
table he was lying on to the one further away making me jump in surprise.

"Hey calm down," I looked at the chart in my hand "Johnny, you're here
because you had an anxiety attack in the mess hall at lunch, I'm Hank
Mc.."

~ Johnny's P.O.V.~

"Hank McCoy also known as Beast, sorry for jumping like that your
appearance can be startling the first sight after coming out of
unconsciousness." I looked up at the hulking blue fur covered mutant
looking oddly out of place in a lab coat and glasses, he smiled a big
toothy grin and laughed at me.

"You're a bit of a scare yourself jumping across the room like that you
know? So, have you ever had an anxiety attack before or is it a regular
thing?"

"First time I have ever had one." Reaching a hand up to rub the egg on my
head were I fell to the floor. "How long have I been unconscious?"

"About twenty minute's Colossus brought you down here. What was happening
when the attack first started?"

"We started talking about going to the mall to buy some clothes and other
things for our rooms and I told them I didn't have the money to pay for
anything and that I don't own very much."

"Ok then if you feel the attacks starting again the best thing to do is
sit down and put your head between your knees think calming thoughts and
take deep breaths. If another attack does happen please come to me an I
will give you some anti-anxiety medication, apart from that you are free
to go i'll call Jean to take you back to the mess hall so you can quickly
finish the last fifteen minutes of lunch." He smiled and walked over to a
wall intercom and called for Jean to come down to escort me back to the
mess hall and got a quick reply of Okie dokie.

A tall slender redhead walked into what I guessed was the medical bay and
smiled to me. "So you must be Johnny huh?" I just nodded in agreement.
"Don't worry kiddo a lot of new students have anxiety problems the first
few days, it's a lot to take in and accept." She playfully punched me on
the arm and turned around and started walking out.

"So you're The Phoenix." I asked blankly staring at her face as she
turned to look at me.

"I heard you grew up in the Hand," I responded with a quick nod. "Well I
guess you read my file then." She smiled down at me.

"So you're really as powerful as they say? Willing anything to change
with your mind making it into reality?" Awe crept into my voice.

"If I'm in the mood and concentrate hard enough." She downplayed the
statement with a laugh. *you know distracting me so I don't read you're
thoughts is a good Idea but I'm not allowed to run through your brain
without your permission*

"Then how do you know what I'm thinking?"

*I'm a telepath as you well know, and when people concentrate on things
so hard its like they are yelling them.* she smiled at me *By the way I
also think that Piotr's brother is cute too.* I could feel the blood
flooding my face going beetroot red.

"Please don't tell anyone," I pleaded putting the saddest look on my
face.

*It's not my choice to let people know about whom you fancy, it's yours.
But I doubt most of the people here wouldn't care they are usually quite
open and accepting.* she smiled at me and gave me a reassuring pat on the
shoulder *Anyways I think you and Mikhail would make a way cute couple.*
this made me blush and even deeper red than before and she started
laughing at my reaction.

Before I knew it we were back at the dining hall and I got waved over to
the table I was sitting at before by Mikhail, I thanked Jean and walked
over to the table trying to suppress a blush. "Look every one Lupa is
back, pay attention and crowd around him." Mikhail called.

"Hey are you aright?" Piotr asked me

"Yeah. Sorry about scaring you if I did, apparently I had an anxiety
attack." I quickly grabbed some more food and another raw steak
considering how I hadn't been able to finish before and went and sat down
noticing the number of people at the table had grown Bobby and Jubilee
were sitting with us and some others I didn't know.

"Johnny, this is Ray or Berserker he is an electro kinetic, this is
Princess Amara or Magma she is pyro and geokinetic, Kitty or Shadowcat
she fazes from reality so she can walk through solid objects, Kurt or
Nightcrawler who teleports, Rahne or Wolfsbane is a wolf animal cross
mutant.  Last but not least St. John who is pyroknetic he just can't
create the flames." Each one waved as they were introduced.

"So what's your full power anyway?" ray asked me.

"Well I have an enhanced sense of smell and hearing as well as a lesser
regeneration abilities..."

"So you are like de Volverine?" Kurt asked me

"I don't heal as fast as he does and I don't have his strength but I can
turn into a half wolf and half human sort of thing..."

"Show us!" Rahne asked quickly, "I always wondered if there was any one
else like me out there." As she talked she changed into a half wolf half
human form that was a dark woody brown. I quickly changed into my wolf
form which was slightly larger than hers with a longer ash white coat
that matched the colour of my hair except for the black patch of fur In
between my eyes.

"Wow, I didn't think anyone would have the same mutation as me." Finally
realizing I wasn't so different in this world.

"Now that looks cool, like the wolfs we used to get back in Russia."
Mikhail said excitedly to Piotr.

"Like this I'm a lot stronger and quicker and my smell and hearing get
allot better too."

"Just like me!" Rahne said and I couldn't help but notice her tail
wagging like an excited puppy "Can you turn into a normal wolf as well?"
she quickly asked then turned into a medium sized wolf that had the same
dark brown coat was her half human form.

"No I can't, but I can go one step further and sort of do what kitty
does." I concentrated and felt the weightless sensation as I changed
forms "Ookami Seishin, spirit wolf it was a name people used to mock me
with when I was in the Hand." I looked down at my semi transparent shadow
that I had transformed into. "When I'm like this I can walk through walls
floors and anything solid really."

"Can you walk through people? I hate it when Kitty does that." Bobby said

"If I walk through someone they will die pretty quickly because there
soul or spirit or life force whatever you call it will come out the other
side of there body with me." A few of the gasped and everyone was silent
for a wile. "It's not all bad I can hold someone in a parallel between
life and death holding them in there body so they don't die even though
there spirit is trying to leave and dissipate."

"That's a little serious, literally holding someone's life in the palm of
your hand." Sean made a bad joke to lighted the situation to lighten the
mood.


~Mikhail's P.O.V.~

While Johnny was down in the medic bay, Wolverine had come and informed
us of the Hand organization and how he had been treated there, used as a
tool for the hands dirty work killing people without question if they got
in the way of Stick who lead the organization.  Just like there family
had been cast around by the mafia for supplying weapons which there papa
had gotten the family into and kicked Piotr out and fled leaving him as a
fourteen year old to supply weapons to the mafia a hard life for anyone.
He knew all to well the pain of being used by someone simply just to stay
alive felt like causing pain for others just so you could see tomorrow it
left emotional wounds that never quite heal. Piotr must have noticed how
sad I was looking because he mussed up my hair and punched me on the arm
telling me to brighten up because we are past that part of our lives.

I saw Jean and Johnny walk into the Mess hall and couldn't help but smile
and wave them over he quickly grabbed some food and cutlery and sat down
next to me and started talking to Bobby and the new people that Piotr and
Bobby usually hung out with after he was introduced he got asked to show
them him powers and we found out one of the others (Rahne) could turn
into a wolf human thing like him.  She seemed all excited and so did he.
In that split second I realized Johnny wouldn't ever like me.  The way he
was talking to Rahne seemed like he was flirting. I was happy he was
happy but so sad and cut up inside wishing he was talking to me that way.
He turned   into the Wolf human form and I couldn't help but stare he
looked awesome his tight shirt showing off fur covered abs and firm Pecs
better than when he was sweaty I couldn't help but stare at the form in
front of me so perfectly muscled.  Looking down he saw that his legs had
become thinner more like a dogs but very muscled with his feet extended
kneed bent looking exactly like a Wolfs legs and feet covered by an "Ash
white" fur as he described it. His face had formed a wolfs snout with
whiskers and wolfs ears but he still had the same steely grey eyes he had
when he looked like a human and the diamond patch of black fur between
his eyes that made me want to reach out and pet him and scratch him
behind the ears.  If his teeth didn't look so vicious and there wasn't a
crowd I probably would have reached out but I held myself back and
admired his beauty.

As I was staring at him I noticed a girl in her late twenties early
thirties with long red hair staring down at me from the raised tables at
the front of the mess hall that the teachers sat. Jean giggled at me
noticing I was staring at her *Take a picture it would last longer you
know?* the same sort of echoing   voice but slightly more feminine. I
blushed a hearty red realizing I had been caught staring by one of the
teachers. I quickly looked down at my plate of food. *Don't worry it's
our little secret.*

*I thought you weren't allowed to read my mind?* a slight tinge of anger
touched my unspoken voice.

*you were concentrating so hard it was a bit hard to not hear them.* she
giggled again *but don't get to sad yet, he doesn't like Rahne you still
have more than a chance to be more than just friends with him.* I
couldn't help the wave of happiness that flowed through my body.

*does he swing that way?* the embarrassment was heavy on the unspoken
voice.

*I can't say that much, it's not my place, but I can tell you not to give
up yet. Have hope.* I looked back to Johnny as he said something in what
I could only guess was Japanese and got a sad look in his face mumbling
something about the Hand. The look in his eyes that drawing sadness of
oppression, one I had seen in my brothers and my own eyes more than once.
I gasped as he turned into a shadow of what he was quite literally the
diamond of black fur in between his eyes slowly spreading over his fur
making him black and translucent you could see through him like he was a
living piece of black cellophane. He mentioned something about
manipulating souls of living things removing them from there bodies or
holding them in there bodies kind of like a forced living state. I looked
in awe at him he sounded like he was ashamed of his Mutation, the tang of
repression was in the undertones of his voice.

Sean made a stupid joke and made everyone laugh to break the mood. Johnny
turned back into a human smiling at being accepted and not judged on his
past.

"Quiet please everyone." Professor Xavier asked his voice raised enough
so it was heard by everyone in the mess hall.  They all stopped talking
and looked up to the professor. "I would like to welcome three new
students to the institute, please give a warm welcome to Sean Augustine,
Mikhail Rasputin and Johnny." The three of us stood up as every one
around us clapped.  I wished I could turn invisible so I didn't have to
be in the center of attention, the shade of my cheeks reddened rapidly.
"Make them feel welcome and a part of our family here at the institute,
don't be afraid to offer a hand to shake and a hello if you see them
before classes or in the rec room thank you very much." Every one clapped
again the mandatory clap that the principle of any school gets when they
announce something good. The hustle and bustle of the mess hall dwindled
down as people went off to do whatever they were doing.

"Hey you guys ready to go to the mall to get stuff for your rooms?" Jean
asked walking up to the table with all of us talking and joking still.

"Can we go too please Jean? It's been like ages since we have gone out,
please." Bobby whined and the remaining three (Jubilee, Amara and Ray)
quickly joined in.

"Quickly go ask the Professor if you can.  We will be down waiting by the
cars.  You have five minutes." All four off them sped out of the mess
hall to what I presumed was the professors office.

"Quick let's run before they get back." Piotr said sneakily when they
were out of earshot and we all got up and followed them down to the
garage as we walked in my jaw dropped at the mount of cars and motorbikes
all kept in top condition around the joint.

"Johnny, Sean you're with me. Piotr ill meet you by the west entrance of
the mall ok?" he just nodded as they parted ways I snuck one last look at
Johnny as we walked away *Adorable you really are its only a 5 minute
drive." The disembodied voice caught me off guard and I herd Jean's laugh
echo across the garage.

We kept walking until we got to a large Silver Hummer Piotr unlocked it
and opened the door for me I had to take a big step to get into the car
it was that high of the ground. "Piotr it woulda been easier to get a
monster truck."

"Probably about the same size man." He laughed as he stared it up and
loud music started playing which he quickly turned off. "Mikhail I have
something I have to tell you." I looked across at him as he said this a
sad look drawn on his face.

"What's wrong?" I rubbed his arm to try cheer him up.

"This isn't easy to say." He swallowed and looked at the steering wheel
taking a deep breath, "I'm gay." The voice was so quite compared to his
usual booming baritone, he looked over at me looking like he was about to
cry. I leant over and hugged him.

"Piotr please don't think that I would disown you because of that." I let
go and he was smiling like a child given free rule in a chocolate
factory.

"Would you like to meet my boyfriend?" he asked sheepishly.

"Sure when can I?" I was really happy Piotr had found someone who made
him Smile like that.

"He comes over in three days.  He is quitting his job and coming to live
at the institute. The Professor has offered him a position as an Xman."

"Piotr I think I have feelings for someone here at the institute even
though I only met him this morning." He nearly did a double take looking
back at me then  to reversing then back at me again as I mentioned "Him."

"You mean you're gay as well?" his jaw dropped.

"I really don't know yet, but I think there is a big possibility." He
laughed at the goofy smile on my face and finished backing out of the
huge garage and started heading down the driveway after Jeans car.

"So, who is the lucky fella you gonna wrap your scaly tale round huh?" he
asked punching me in the arm playfully I hissed at him.

"I'll give you three guess's Tinhead."

"Nightcrawler?" he laughed at me the scary looking mutant coming to mind
sent a shiver up my spine it was my turn to punch him in the arm which he
just laughed at "Bobby?" he asked again a bit more serious this time.

"Last guess." I drew the S out in each word making it into a hiss.

"Johnny?" at his name I went a deep red and Piotr started laughing loudly
making the car zigzag along the road.

"Watch where you're driving Tinhead!" I yelled at him, he started to calm
down and steady the car wiping tears from his eyes.

"At least you have a good taste in guys Mik." He chuckled at me.

"So tell me all about your boyfriend, what dumb ass fell for the world's
largest paperweight." I joked.

"Jean-Paul Beaubier." Piotr said in a pride filled voice.

"What! You mean Northstar?!" I asked in complete shock.  Piotr just
nodded and laughed. "Nope I don't believe you, prove it." He reached into
his wallet and searched through it pulling out a photo of himself
standing behind Northstar hugging him bending down, Northstar's head bent
back kissing each other. I sighed looking at the photo it was romantic
and made me happy to know that while I hadn't been with Piotr he had
found someone to love that loved him back. "Lucky twerp." I said grumpily
handing the photograph back he looked at it for a few seconds then put it
back in his wallet.

Before I knew it we were pulling into a parking lot outside what I
presumed was the local mall. As we hopped out I spotted Jean and focused
on her and thought. *Can you hear me?*

*you learn quickly, that usually takes people who aren't telepathic a
wile to figure out how to do so easily.* she said with admiration.

*Oh no girly you aren't getting out of it that easy! Why didn't you tell
me, you knew about me yet you didn't tell me about him!* she laughed at
me mentally.

*I don't tell anyone anything about other people, it's up to them not
me.*

*fine so your not gonna let on if Johnny likes me at all?* she just
looked at me and tapped her nose and started walking into the mall.


~Johnny's P.O.V.~


We walked into the mall the hustle and bustle unfamiliar. Waiting for
Mikhail and Piotr to catch up I looked around there were stores for
everything from food to sports equipment even a movie theater Sean looked
in awe just as much as I did obviously neither of us had been in this
type of environment before.

"C'mon guys first place we are going is to get some clothes for Mikhail
and Johnny everyone just followed jean from clothing store to clothing
store. Obviously she had done this a few times before because she knew
exactly which stores had what Mikhail and I asked for. Even taking us to
some big brand name stores like Gucci and Armani. Getting clothes even
for Sean that were quite expensive but looked great.   Two pairs of
sunglasses each two ties, a dress suit, ten outfits, underpants, socks,
pajamas.  The woman was on a mission. After we got all this stuff all
three of us were laden with bags full of clothes. We walked back to
Piotr's car and packed them in and went back into the mall.  Going to
office works we picked out a computer desk a computer chair and a laptop
each.  Piotr was kept busy going back and forth between whichever shop we
were in inside the mall and back to his car packing more and
more.  Finally we went to our last stop walking into Radio shack.  Jean
picked up three new touch screen video I pods and got two TVs and went to
the checkout and paid for it all.

"Why did you only buy two TV's Jean?" Sean asked in a confused tone.

"Because Piotr is buying one with his own money especially for Mikhail."
She nodded her head back towards Piotr who was carrying one of the
biggest TV that I have ever seen.

"A Present for you Mikhail I'm just so happy we are back together after
so long apart. I hope you like it." Mikhail's jaw dropped at the sight of
the gigantic television.

"Please Piotr put that back I don't need to have a television that big
and you shouldn't spend your money on me." Mikhail pleaded cutely with
Piotr trying to make the larger yet younger brother put the TV back
without Success. I couldn't help but steal a glance at his ass in the
tight jeans he was wearing and I heard Jean giggle behind I turned and
stuck my tongue out at her which made her laugh more. Mikhail gave up
grumpily swearing at Piotr in Russian he turned around and saw me staring
he blushed and looked away.

*Some one got caught peeking* Jean teased when I turned to scowl at her
she just winked at me and told Piotr to meet her at the car and asking
both Mikhail and I to follow her we walked out of the radio shack to a
different part of the mall and walked into a Virgin mobile shop Mikhail's
face lit up suddenly getting happy knowing he was about to get a mobile
for the first time.

"Ok both of you pick a mobile each you will be put on a plan of $50 a
month after that you wont be able to call or text anyone." I just
followed Mikhail around the shop not knowing much about technology and it
also gave me another reason to be with him.

"What do you think of this one?" Mikhail showed a slim flip phone. "Big
easy to press buttons, big screen, 3 megapixel camera and 512 megabytes
of storage for videos and pictures. Comes in black silver or pink." I
looked down at the phone it looked new and flashy but easy to use.

"If you show me how to call other people and send texts ill be happy with
any phone." He smiled and grabbed a black and a silver one giving them to
jean who walked over to the counter to pay for them.

We walked back to the cars with the last item on our shopping
extravaganza and met up with Piotr and Sean. "Hey what did you guys get?"
he asked.

"We got a mobile phone each." Mikhail pulled the box the phone was held
in out of the bag showing it to Sean.

"Hey I got the same phone for my birthday last year they are easy to
use." He smiled at us.

"You guys talk about phones later ok we gotta get back to the school so
you guys can pack all your stuff into your rooms in time for dinner." I
started walking over to Jeans car when Piotr spoke up to Mikhail.

"Hey man can you take my car, I need to talk to Jean about something just
follow behind us." He threw the keys to Mikhail "Why don't you go with
him Johnny? I don't think there will be enough room in Jeans car because
I need to push the seat all the way back." I had to laugh at the idea of
Piotr struggling into the small hot pink Skyline that jean drove.

"Sure why not." I was grateful for the excuse to be alone with Mikhail,
who had a big goofy grin on his face looking over at his brother. We both
walked over to the large silver hummer and literally jumped in.

"Sorry if I'm a little rusty I haven't driven in four years." The way he
nervously laughed was cute. He slowly backed out carefully trying not to
hit any other cars in the lot "How the hell does he see out of this?" he
sounded annoyed at his brothers choice of car but managed to get out of
the parking lot without wrecking anyone else's car and started to follow
after Jean who was going slow for them.

"So...?" I tried to absently start a conversation about anything really
hating to sit here in silence.

"Are you enjoying the Institute?" he asked me grateful for him to chose a
topic we could both talk about.

"They seem like a genuine group of people that you can trust, which is a
hard thing to come by these days."

"Yeah Piotr was found by Professor Xavier when he first came to America
and asked if he would like to join the school.  I'm sure he was skeptic
at first because in Russia mutants are usually killed when they are
found.  The people aren't as tolerant as they are here." The conversation
went cold after that statement. He drove on in silence that was slowly
clawing at me.

"So have you seen any girls you like at the school?" he asked me out of
the blue.

A bit startled at the question I started to stammer. "U .. um ..N .. not
really .. they seem nice and all but .. not any I would like to be more
than friends with." I hoped this was a good answer and didn't give away
what I thought about him.

"Piotr's partner I guess you could say, is coming to work for the school
in a few days." He stabled through the sentence without the usually calm
voice he had.

"Oh what does she do?" I didn't really care who his brother was meeting
but the smile that was brought to his face when he talked about his
brother was plastered to his face which made my stomach to summersaults.

"Well they are a mutant like us I don't know what their power is."  There
was a small pause as he took a breath.  "But it isn't a she." Mikhail had
a blank expression on his face keeping his eyes on the road.

"So Piotr is gay?" I just got a small nod as a response "Are you ok with
that?" I asked trying not to sound like I was against the idea.

"Yeah, Homosexuals don't bother me at all they never really have. I hope
it doesn't bother you?" He kept glancing at me every few seconds trying
to gauge my response before I vocalized it like he was hoping for
something.

Something in my head screamed and yelled against my better judgment and
come out and admit that I liked him. "I don't mind them at all, it would
by kind of hypocritical of me if I did." Hopping he would catch the none
to subtle hint.


~Mikhail's P.O.V.~

I couldn't help but stare at Johnny he was looking at his lap twiddling
his fingers the only thing bringing me out of it was the sound of another
car beeping.  We both quickly looked up and I swerved narrowly avoiding
another car and going back on the proper side of the road to drive on.

*God damn it, tell him already!* Jeans telepathic message echoed through
my head.

*Stop listening in Jean!* I started to blush really deep as I tried to
build up the courage to tell him.

"Um Mikhail I.."

"IreallylikeyouJohnnypleasedonthatemeforit" I said quickly the shade of
red rising in my cheeks until I was sure I resembled a tomato. I couldn't
look at Johnny as we passed through the school gates I felt something
clutch my arm tightly and I started to panic and looked over at Johnny
only to see his eyes bulging and his chest pumping in and out quickly
realizing he was having an anxiety attack like at lunch I sped up the car
and drove past the garage to the front door of the school jumped out and
ran to the passenger side opening the door and grabbing Johnny and
picking him up like he was a child .

*Mikhail! What's wrong what happened!* Jean must have felt my panic.

*Johnny is having another panic attack, where's the medic bay?* suddenly
a mental flash of images ran through my mind and I realized I was being
shown the way by Jean. I pushed my way though the   front door and ran as
fast as I could to the medic bay running past a few students with
concerned faces.

"Hello?" I yelled as I walked into the sterile looking rooms.

"What seems to be the.." the large blue furry man quickly crossed the
room and grabbed Johnny out of my arms and placed him down on one of the
beds strapping a mask to his face that I guessed was oxygen. "Did he have
another anxiety attack?" he asked not bothering to look at me as he
pulled a needle and filled it with a clear liquid from a small bottle.

"Yeah we were driving back from the mall talking and he was silent for a
second then he grabbed my arm and I looked over and I saw he was
breathing rapidly so I drove as fast as I could to the front door and ran
him down here." As I was talking he injected the substance into Johnnies
arm .

"This should lower his blood pressure and heart beat it might make him a
little drowsy when he wakes up but it will wear off in an hour he should
be awake before then." He crossed the room and put the needle into a
yellow sharps container "I don't think we have met before?" he held out
his hand "I'm Hank McCoy." He flashed me a toothy grin.

"I'm Mikhail Rasputin." I shook his hand and returned his smile.

"Piotr's brother?"

"Yeah I arrived this morning."

"Well nice to have met you. Can you tell me what you two were talking
about when the panic attack started?" which made me start to blush again.
"Please if it is something personal I can understand your reluctance but
I promise no matter the subject we can keep it between us."

"Well.." I stared at my shoos. "I told him that I liked him." I couldn't
look him in the face I was to embarrassed.

"Ah, young love. Something that smites us all and makes us do things we
never thought we could do." He laughed walking to the other side of the
room grabbing a chair and bringing it over to me like it was a paper
weight.

"Thanks for the chair." I sat down and looked down at Johnny and brushed
a strand of hair that was hanging over his eye back. "Will he be ok?"

"He will be just fine, though I will be prescribing some Alprazolam anti
anxiety medication for him which is a fast acting anti anxiety medicine
it might make him a bit unresponsive from any where between half an hour
to an hour." He pointed to the small medicine bottle on the small table
beside me.  "He may not need it after this revelation but its better to
be safe than sorry." He smiled.

"Thank you he really gave me quite a scare in the car."

"While you are down here I have something I need to do, the professor has
asked me to get as large a sample of your venom as you will allow so that
I can work on an anti venom just in case something happens and we need
one handy."

"That's probably a smart idea. How are you going to collect it though?
It's a bit acidic so thin plastics aren't a smart idea."

"Well first off how do you excrete the venom? Through your pores, do you
have a venomous barb or fangs?" showing him being the easiest way   I
opened my mouth wide and extended my fangs, not letting any venom flow
from them yet.  "Ok large size snake like fangs about the length of a
finger. Just a moment i'll go grab a beaker for you to hold the venom
in." he walked over to a wall covered in cupboards and drawers.  Bending
down he got out a beaker large enough that I could rest both my fangs on
it quite easily. "This all you need or do you need to bite down on
something to draw it out?"

"No I don't need to bite anything I can expel it voluntarily." I took the
beaker from him and rested my fangs on the inside edge of the beaker and
emptied all the venom that filled my sacs into the beaker.

"That is a lot of venom, how potent is it?" I handed the beaker back to
him after the last few drops fell from my fangs.

"It would only take about 20 millilitres to kill a human."

"What are its effects?"pen ready on a clip board that he was writing on.

"Involuntary muscle paralysis within two minutes, voluntary muscle
paralysis within fifteen minutes for an average human."

"So basically it would just be better to not get bitten?"

"Or spat at." I laughed "So why weren't you at lunch today?"

"I had a quick bite to eat down here I'm working on my latest invention."
He walked into another room and came back out with a laptop and a device
that looked like a wristwatch. "It is a holographic inducer prototype,
one day I hope I can get all the kinks out of it." The watch looked like
nothing special except maybe that the band was wide and nearly as thick
as the watch itself.

"So what are you going to use it for? Disguising Xmen for undercover
work?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of producing hard holographic like
used in the danger room with analysis of D.N.A from the wearer to create
a disguise for them that would make them look like a normal human, some
of you could easily pass for humans but others," spreading his arms wide
using himself as an example "can't do that so easy but with the D.N.A
analysis it creates a virtual D.N.A removing the X jean and creating an
image that will fool everyone, it could also provide uniforms to the
members of the team that change form and cant consistently stay covered
up."

"Well what's stopping it from working?"

"There isn't enough room in the watch for the processors to manipulate
the images all of the time, sometimes the unit will shut off or freeze
the projection which shows the person behind it or makes them stand still
for a second like a glitchy robot."

"Well why does it all have to be stored in the watch? Why couldn't you
just put a more powerful hard light generator in the watch that receives
a wireless signal from a processor of a larger size so you could
manipulate the holograph 100% percent of the time."

"Why didn't I think of that before?" the large blue man flapped himself
in the forehead. "I could make it custom and flexible too so it could lay
up the side of someone's body under there arm on the side the wear the
image generator on. This means that it could have more battery power as
well!" he stood up carrying the laptop computer typing madly with one
hand and walked back into his office probably caught up in inspiration. I
walked back to the chair and sat down placing a hand on his shoulder as
if the contact would somehow help.

"Is he going to be aright?" Jean came running into the room followed by
Piotr.

"What took you guys so long to get down here?" I quickly sat up and took
my hand off Johnny's shoulder.

"Some of the students at the school have wild imaginations, so we stifled
the rumor mill before it could get started." Jean walked over and sat on
the bed next to Johnny's Piotr went and sat beside her.

"Don't worry your secret is still a secret." Piotr settled my churning
thoughts.

"Jean, are you always so nosy?"

"Yeah she was even nosier when me and Jean-Paul first met." Piotr said
before Jean could open her mouth.

"Oh please that was different; you were both doing goo goo eyes at each
other when one of your backs was turned for over a month!" Jean snapped
trying to defend herself.

"At least she is right most of the time when it comes to it."

"Oh please you both owe your relationship to me for being nosy." She
poked her tongue out at Piotr and turned to me. "Because neither of them
would come out and admit they liked each other I set them up."

"Ok, it was romantic and unforgettable slightly awkward at first when we
figured that Jean had organized it and not the other person."

"Oh please. I laid out careful carefully placed and worded invitations to
a really nice restaurant in North Salem."

"It was so nice and romantic with a single rose a really nice bottle of
red wine and candles everywhere. Jean hired out the whole restaurant for
one night just for us." Piotr said his eyes going glassy his head
slightly tilted lost in remembering that night.

"Basically, I sent them invitations that looked like they were from the
other person inviting them out for a romantic dinner by candle light, and
of course both of them fell for it and I nearly got out of it scot free
until mister manners here thanked Jean-Paul for putting so much thought
into the dinner and from there it snowballed into both of them hunting me
down and tickle torturing me for ten minutes straight until they got the
truth out of me. But the plan worked and now they just make goo goo eyes
at each other even when there backs aren't turned."

"what do you expect us to just start getting it on so you can watch?"
Piotr laughed. Jean punched him in the arm and yelped pulling her hand
back and nursing it with the other making Piotr laugh harder.

"Jean...." I looked over at her and she looked me right in the eye, "Does
he really like me?" I couldn't help the wash of sadness that engulfed my
face. "Because when I told him he didn't reply he just started having an
attack." I hung my head down to scared to look them in the eye in case I
started crying. I felt an arm wrap around my back which I guessed was
Piotr or Jean trying to comfort me and there head was near mine.

"I think I more than like you Mikhail." The horse rasp of his voice was
followed by a kiss on the cheek.

"Piotr don't we need to do something upstairs?" Jean jumped off the
medical bed and tried but failed to drag Piotr along, who after a few
seconds with a confused look in his face got up and walked out the door
after Jean leaving the to newfound lovers hugging and kissing each other.


Thanks to all people who commented, I am sorry for all the errors in the
last story but now I have some one editing my work (Thanks Rob J ) and it
should be more readable.

Please sent constructive criticism, plot ideas and general
congratulations to me at July_16th_1945@hotmail.com if you have the time
please do write in it means a lot to know people are reading and what
they think. :P