List by Title
List
by Author
List by Challenge
Challenges
Transcripts
Wall
of Flames
Links
Credits
Contact
Disclaimer
Baggy Pants
By: Shiraishi Mayumi
It had been a very interesting field trip this time around. Instead of a survival training session like they had in the summer, fully supervised and orchestrated events, they were sent into the wilderness alone. Apparently the summer exercise had actually been training for this event. Each participant was given a small pack containing food, water, rope, a blanket, and a basic first aide kit. Nothing more. They were not to use their powers, and they were on their own for the remainder of the day.
Kurt was not amused.
He liked his TV, his video games, his heater. This being on his own thing blew. The worst thing about it? They weren't to rely on their other team members. They were supposed to go at it alone.
Definitely not amused.
Trudging around in the snow, his tail made interesting tracks in the snow behind him. Sure, he had his image inducer on, but all that managed to do was hide his real form with some sort of hologram. His tail, fangs, pointed ears and fuzz were all still there. Just hidden. He curled it up out of the snow and shivered. It was going to be a very cold day.
Glancing around, he looked for a decent spot to sit this one out. He figured if he just stayed in one place long enough, when the bell or whatever it was rang he could just get up and go. Wouldn't have to bother with this survival junk, and he could be playing video games before midnight. Further up the hillside he saw a tree with a hollowed out base more than large enough for himself, and smiled. Perfect. He desperately wanted to just teleport up there and be done with it, but he knew the Professor would be able to tell if he cheated or not. With an overexaggerated sigh, he trudged upwards in the snow, remembering how much he hated the cursed wet stuff.
Over to his left he heard a loud yelp, and saw something white with vague red, blue and brown spots roll past him. Said object halted itself rather soundly at the base of the hill, and Kurt heard something inside it making very high-pitched pitiful noises.
Immediately concerned, Kurt ran as quickly as he could in the ankle-deep snow down the hill, backpack and first aid kit in hand. As he got closer, he recognized the object as Todd - or Toad, as he knew him on the battlefield. His pack was nowhere in sight, and the boy was obviously shook up, cold, and sopping wet. Kurt froze.
We're not supposed to help or interfere with anyone else.. those were the rules! He tried to remind himself. He looked down at Todd, then back up at the hollow base he'd planned on resting in. Sighing, he headed back down the hill. Kurt would never be able to forgive himself if he left anyone like this, even if it was his enemy. He'd take the low class mark.
Todd had been too preoccupied with getting as much snow off of himself as he could and inspecting himself for injuries to notice Kurt's approach. He didn't in fact notice until the slightly older boy was right behind him.
"Uh, hello," Kurt said awkwardly, startling Todd. He in fact startled him so much, he flailed out with powerful legs sending heaps of snow up and on top of Kurt, who yelled and fell backwards into said cursed white stuff. With a flicker, Kurt was suddenly blue and fuzzy, all signs of humanity clearly gone. Kurt looked down and scowled at his image inducer, which was now covered in snow and apparently short circuiting. This sucked.
"Aah.. s-sorry, yo," Todd said, shivering a bit, "J-just didn't expect anyone ar-round, yanno?" He hugged his arms against his chest, rubbing them in a vein attempt to warm up. "Was let out f-further up the hill, but tripped. L-lost my pack somewhere on th-the way down. Damn, I'm a screw up," Scowling, he kicked at some snow, "Not even thirty minutes into this thing, and I've already messed up."
"That really sucks, man. Lucky for you you ran into me," Kurt flashed Todd a toothy grin, hopefully looking far more cheerful than he felt. I am so going to fail this class. "I found a place we can hide out until this thing's over, and you can borrow my blanket if you'd like." Why the heck am I offering to help Todd? Stupid common decency.
Todd, however, eyed him suspiciously. "What's in it f-for you, yo? The hell a-are you helpin m-me out for?" Kurt shrugged, and Todd had no idea how to respond to that. Sighing and throwing caution to the wind, he made up his mind to temporarily trust Kurt. After all, he was one of the good guys. They had some rule about having to help everyone else out, right? "Thanks, man," Todd said finally, standing up and offering Kurt a hand.
The two trudged up to the hollowed out tree which proved to be spacious enough for one person, but terribly snug for two. Kurt opened up his pack and took out the blanket, tossing it over to Todd who accepted it gratefully.
Then, there was an odd silence.
"So... uh. You're blue?" Todd offered. He sucked at small talk, but figured it's the least he could do considering the fact that Kurt was helping him out. "I've never met anyone with a visible mutation besides me before, yo. I mean, yeah, yours is probably worse off, but it's hard to hide a long green tongue and legs like these," He grinned, flexing his Toady, Toady leg muscles.
Kurt couldn't help but laugh a little. "Yeah, I'm blue. And fuzzy, too! I haven't met many people with a physical mutation like mine before, either," He admitted. The two talked at length about being bullied growing up, how unfair it was that some people could hide their mutations by simply not using them. Not everyone had that option.
"But it sucks, man," Todd scowled, "Why should we have to hide who we are? I mean, why should we have to pretend to be something we ain't? Yeah, everyone else can hide, pretend they aren't mutants, but we shouldn't have to. We should get to be ourselves and not worry about pissin people off 'cause of it."
Kurt nodded slowly in agreement. "I had an interesting conversation with Scott about something along those lines. He just kept babbling on about how the Professor had some great vision where we wouldn't have to worry about it, and somehow it made sense that we had to train in some messed up room with deadly robots. I kind of zoned out," He grinned lazily, "His words weren't as attractive as other things at the time."
His eyes widened and he clapped a three-fingered hand over his mouth. The hell had he just said, and to Todd no less? Sure, he'd had a slight crush on Scott before. But no one had to know that. Now Todd was giving him this weird grin, and he was almost positive he was going to live to regret this.
"I knew it, man," Todd said gleefully, "I knew you liked Summers! You two are always hanging out and stuff, I just knew it had to be somethin more than 'team bonding.' Sucks for you that he likes that Jean chick, though," He gnawed thoughtfully at his lip.
Kurt blinked, surprised. "You mean.. you're not freaked out?"
"Hell no, man," The younger boy scowled, "Remember all that shit I just said about bein able to be yourself? That's part of it, yo! Gay, straight, black, blue, it don't matter."
"Well, thanks for the support, then. You're the only one who knows." Kurt rested his chin miserably on top of his knees, which were tucked up against his chest. "He likes Jean, and I don't stand a chance. And hell, how many other guys of my.. ah.. persuasion do you know of in Bayville? I mean, it's hard enough to find a guy who likes other guys.. let alone one who likes guys who are blue and fuzzy.”
"That ain't true," Todd said defensively. He knew of several guys who liked other guys. In fact, Todd himself was one of them. He was one of those people that preferred not to limit his options - he figured he'd get what he could get, and shouldn't let a little matter like gender bother him. Recently Todd had caught himself staring at the mutant next to him in class, or on the battlefield. He'd wondered if that prehensile tail of his was as sensitive as his own prehensile tongue was, and had come up with wicked things they could do with them in his head.
He coughed. "Yeah. That ain't true. I know plenty of guys who like other guys around here."
"Oh?" Kurt tilted his head, blue hair spilling over his arm. "Like who?"
"Pietro, as if that one wasn't glaringly obvious," Todd rolled his eyes. "He might as well paint that spandex suit of his rainbow and have gay sex in the streets. Lance's bi, I know that much," He grinned at a particularly fond memory involving himself, Lance, a broom closet, and no fifth period. "And me, too," He added absently, still remembering the scene between Lance and himself.
"Really? You are?" Kurt had guessed at Pietro, and didn't much care about Lance. For some reason the idea that Todd had the same inclinations as himself intrigued him. The two of them had a lot in common, and it suddenly struck him that if they hadn't been on opposite teams, they'd probably be friends at the very least. More, if you're lucky, A small part of his brain thought devilishly. "Not that it matters," Kurt waved a hand, "Pietro, I have a feeling, is more interested in Evan, or possibly even Lance, than he is anyone else. Lance, even if I were interested in him, is too busy chasing Kitty to pay attention to anyone else, and you.." He coughed. "Well, I doubt that would work."
Todd shook his head, making the memory scatter from his vision. "What do you mean, you doubt it would work? Why do you say that, man? I ain't that bad."
"No, no, it's not that," Kurt said hastily. "It's just.. well. We're on different teams. I don't think it'd work out too well."
He sniffed. "That don't seem to bother Lance none." Todd wasn't sure if he was offended or not. Sure, he knew he wasn't in love with Kurt, but he was definitely interested. The boy was attractive enough, and nice to boot.
"Yeah, well, that's because Lance is stu-" Kurt bit his tongue.
"Stupid?" Todd laughed, "Yeah, that's true enough, yo. Well, he's not stupid, but he's dense as hell. But at least he knows what he wants." He leaned in, stopping inches from Kurt's face, blue fuzz almost caressing his skin. "Question is, do you know what you want?"
Swallowing hard, Kurt fought back a blush that just wasn't listening to him. He thanked whatever deity was up there for his blue fuzz and it's ability to hide such things. What the hell was going on? They'd never really gotten to know each other, not until a few hours ago. And all of a sudden Todd was... what was he doing? Propositioning him? What did any of this mean? Did it mean anything?
And why did Kurt want to lean in those last few inches and see exactly what Todd's tongue could do?
Luckily (or unluckily) for Kurt, the sound of a harsh whistle blew then, signaling the end of this training session. Todd looked rather disappointed, then he shrugged. Prying himself out from the tree trunk he turned and offered Kurt a hand, which he gratefully accepted.
"Well, ah, I guess I'll.. see you around.. or something.." Kurt stammered, turning to walk off awkwardly in the direction of the buzzer.
Todd chuckled, grabbed his arm and pulled him back, kissing him lightly on the cheek. "I meant it, yo. Keep in touch? And I do mean that in any way you can think of," He winked, then bounded off, leaving a very confused Kurt standing alone in the snow.
He blinked and looked down, noticing that sometime in the last few hours his image inducer had switched back on. He also noticed something else.
Thank God for baggy pants.
-End-
Rating: PG
Warnings: Yaoi (no kidding ~_~;), some light cursing.