Tongues ‘n’ Tails [Kurt x Todd] [X-MenE]

[NicTheDjinn]

Gym class was hard enough as a normal human teenager subject to the whims of elite jocks and the perils of a rigid social hierarchy. Gym class was a minefield as a fuzzy blue mutant who avoided being touched, and nearly impossible as a fuzzy blue mutant who avoided being touched and spent much of his free time fighting other mutants.

Given his flexibility, Kurt should have excelled at dodgeball. The game consisted of ducking, bobbing, weaving and throwing, movements that he practiced in his sleep while his mind replayed Danger Room simulations. Unfortunately for his team— which included one particularly slimy individual today, much to his horror— he was exhausted and aching from a quarrel with the Brotherhood the night prior. His hologram may have masked his split lip and the ugly way his skin gleamed purple under the fur along his ribs, but he could still feel every place Toad’s heels and knees had caught him.

Realistically, he should have called out sick today. The Professor would have been glad to phone the school, Mr. McCoy would have been glad to give him something for the pain, Kurt would have been glad for the rest. The foil in Kurt’s plan was that no one else called out sick. Scott had been lowered gently from every potentially catastrophic fall by Jean. Evan had kept himself well insulated from harm with bony armor, which Rogue borrowed. Kitty... let projectiles pass through her. They all arrived at school bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, so to speak, and for all the German’s manufactured bravado he could not stand to be the weakest link. When it came time to leave the manor he had switched his watch on, donned a grin that stretched a little too wide, and followed his team into another day of lessons.

Having to endure Toad’s presence in even just one of his classes was the icing on a very bitter cake. He zipped around the other boy as best he could, avoiding him with a wide berth as the game raged on— both because the little weasel was the source of his discomfort and because Toad was apparently a prime target for the opposing team. Nearly every other ball went for his head, and if not for superhuman maneuverability he would have surely been struck out ages ago. Kurt watched the scene develop as he skidded between his teammates, taking note of the opposing duo of Duncan-wannabes who had kicked off the initiative. Those two quickly became three individuals, then four who had it out for his rival. The game within a game was spreading, as it seemed far more entertaining for a group of teenagers desperate to prove their superiority to pick on the kid with questionable hygiene than play the game as it was intended. Kurt thinned his lips as he observed and narrowly avoided the thunk of another ball.

.....

When it came to life, in general, hadn't been kind to Todd. Abandoned by his parents, raised in an orphanage that abused him, only to cling to a villain that offered him only the barest scraps of affection which were still more than he'd ever gotten. Utterly stared of love, it didn't take much for him to become desperately loyal and after the half-assed attempt to recruit him given to him by the Mansion, his fate seemed sealed. This was only cemented down further each time the two teams of teenagers locked horns in relative secret to the rest of the world.

When it came to his standing among The Brotherhood, he was unsurprisingly at the bottom of the pecking order. The other members still treated him poorly in general, but the abuse he got from them was still less than he'd ever gotten and it was broken up by small shows of what might be considered friendship. He'd grown closest with Freddy most of the group and he liked to think that his best friend considered him to be his too. Then there was Wanda... Easily the one that treated him the worst while also being the kindest when the mood struck her, which was quite the rare event. Still, he would walk through hell and back for his beautiful goth angel...

When it came to fighting, he was unfortunately also at the bottom of the pile. The Unmovable Blob was that for a reason so injury wasn't generally a concern of his. You'd have to catch Quicksilver completely off guard for him not to casually side step out of the way of whatever would do him harm and his twin could catch anything and throw of protective shields as she needed. Even Avalanche was safer as he was a long-distance fighter even if he didn't have the defenses the others had. Toad on the other hand had little more than skill. He fought mid to close range and though he was incredibly agile, he was no where near Pietro's speed and though he was superhumanly strong and tough, he couldn't hold a light to Fred. He was the Jack of All Trades but Master of None in the group and it showed. Still, he fought fiercely and his now fairly ingrained loyalty meant he was willing to take hits for his companions on top of any injury he sustained on his own.

He was nothing if not tough however and even though he'd taken a beating only the night before, he acted and moved no differently than he normally did. It wasn't that it didn't hurt, of course it did, but he had a staggering ability to truck through pain. Unlike Kurt, however, he lacked any sort of fancy watch to hide all the telltale signs. He looked battered and bruised, every blotch on his skin on open display. He wasn't worried... With as much bullying as he had to deal with at school, people made assumptions about where his bruises came from and no one cared enough to look into it further. Toad just got into another fight again, no big deal.

The way he acted at school really wasn't helping people like him though and this was one of those games who's rules had distinctive grey areas. While the ring of students on the outside were a definitive team, those on the inside were both a team while also being every man for themselves. Tolansky was leaning heavily on the latter. He had an uncanny habit of dodging, be it side stepping, dropping into a very frog-like crouch, or even hopping straight up if he needed to, though he tried not to make it obvious that he could jump leagues higher than he was. There were already rumors about his mutant status and though he hated hiding what he was, he also realized that his life was hard enough without having to deal with the speciest bullshit on top of it.

The last tactic he was using was what was making a target out of him now. He had no qualms about ducking behind someone else to escape being pelted by the ball. His human shields didn't appreciate it. Still, their revenge would be hard-won as this was a game he was actually very good at. "That the best you got?! Come on! I'm fall asleep at this rate and still be able ta beat ya, yo!" He baited, honestly enjoying himself in spite of the complaints from his bruises. The numbers inside the circle were dwindling at this point and if he could make Kurt's life a little harder because of it, that was just the icing on the cake.

Despite his words, he wasn't even bothering to look at the last person with the ball, focusing on the locations of the balls themselves. With there being two of them, he needed to focus at least some to keep out of their way. The next ball that whizzed past him he ducked under, squatting low enough for his chest to nearly brush the polished gym floor. His smirk was unnaturally wide when he spoke again. "Who taught ya how ta throw, man? Did Daddy never play ball with you as a kid?" Says the orphan, but who's keeping track right? The wisdom of mocking a football player about his throwing skills was questionable though... He figured this would bite him in the ass later, but the embarrassment he was causing in front of so many people was too hard to resist.

......

Honestly, this wasn't a popular game in Germany. Between reality TV and dodgeball, Kurt was beginning to think that America was the land of masochists. It just wasn't fair. Everyone within the inner ring was at a severe disadvantage, especially when people banded together on the outside. He twirled to dodge another ball and swallowed a hiss at the dizziness it produced, silently vowing that he would call out sick next time dodgeball was on the menu. This was ridiculous.

With fewer people available to pummel, the team-up against Toad was amplified. Kurt was blessedly neglected as they targeted his greener rival, with one boy especially-- nearly six foot with arms like tree trunks, what were they feeding that teenager?-- putting every ounce of muscle into his throws. His next ball missed Todd but struck a girl hard enough to topple her, with Kurt scrambling to cushion her head before it bounced against the linoleum. This much contact was okay, he reasoned; she wouldn't be able to feel his fur or missing fingers with the back of her hair. "Dude!" His voice was a little higher and more panicky than he'd been going for, but he settled an even glare at the boy nonetheless.

"That ball wasn't for her," the boy answered with a roll of his eyes. "It was for the slimeball."

"Doesn't make it better, man!" Slimeball or not, that much force could've caused an accident. Kurt helped the girl up so she could stagger out of the ring. "C'mon, just play fai-- ach!" He side-stepped another ball, winced and cast an expectant look toward the PE teacher. Said teacher didn't look up from her phone. Wunderbar.

The next wave of balls came suddenly and viciously, but by then Nightcrawler had summoned his second wind. Teeth grit, he watched the boy take aim for Toad, steeled himself and-- leapt. Was it a little higher than he should have jumped? Sure. Seemed both he and Toad were showing off today. Should he have done a front flip while he reached for the ball? Probably not. But he did intercept it, snatching it out of the air before it could connect with the other's back and using the momentum to tuck himself forward. He rolled up smoothly to his feet and used both hands to smack the offending boy squarely in the face with the ball... gently. "You're out," he wheezed. He promptly earned himself a fist to his (bruised) ribs.

The cacophony that followed finally alerted the teacher, who jerked the boy back by his collar and dismissed him to the principal's office as Kurt swayed on his feet, groaned and ultimately fell back into a hard sit while clutching his side. "Didn't even hit you that hard, fuckin' pussy! That's what you get for hitting me in the face!" The boy cried as he was escorted out.

Kurt flopped onto his back and arched, then curled inward as pain bloomed up his side. The teacher returned to hover over him, concerned at last. "Do you need the nurse?" A huff answered her before words did as Kurt rubbed his face. "Ah, no. Nein. Just give me a minute, please."

.....

Todd had no trouble getting out of the way even when the next throw was pelted at him with a vengeance but was startled by the severity of the yelp that followed a split second later, not to mention the flurry of movement in his peripheral. A small pang of guilt made his chest feel tighter as he found Kurt nearly on the ground himself, having taken the risk of exposing himself to catch the ball's victim so her head wouldn't crack soundly against the floor. She probably wouldn't have gotten seriously injured unless she was particularly unlucky, but she was going to have to deal with a hell of a bruise that she wouldn't have had to if it weren't for him. He wouldn't have felt bad if he knew she was anti-mutant for example, but the truth was, he knew nothing about this girl. He hadn't even bothered learning her name, let alone her stance on mutants.

He turned large, but narrowed eyes on the jock, but said nothing. What was there for him to say really? Still, he would have to keep a sharper eye on that one, if he managed to snag a ball again, he might cause trouble. He couldn't say he was surprised that their German classmate had something to say on the matter, nor was he shocked at the answer he got in response. Not even an insincere 'oops, my bad' for the poor girl. He hated jocks... Regardless with the poor girl having limped off to join the ranks of those on the outside, their numbers shrunk and the game was back on.

Like before he was on top of his game, but apparently he'd pissed enough people off for them to actually start working together rather than picking whoever happened to be closest as their target. With some silent communication he'd failed to notice, two people had synced up and threw together. Dodging the first ball was cake like all the others, but he'd been too focused on the first ball to even notice the one careening at him from behind. What he did see was the disguised mutant next to him pulling a particularly flashy move only to hear the distinct sound of a dodge ball being caught. While he could have caught any of the balls hurled his way, he'd always had much more fun on this end of things so he never bothered. The gesture wasn't lost on him however and as he turned large, startled eyes he was just in time to see the caught ball very precisely thrown.

The toss wasn't even hard considering the light bounce that resulted, but it seemed his football player 'friend' had been caught so off guard with how quickly things had turned on him that he still somehow failed to catch it. Apparently, it was still enough to get the asshole to break rank and come after the offending teen much more directly. Chaos followed suit in an instant. Figures that's what it took for the teacher to do their fucking job. Without even realizing it, he'd rushed to the other's side fully intending on defending him, but things were broken up quickly after that. Angry though he was, they weren't worth losing his spot on the team he supposed.

"Seriously, dude? How ya still on the team if ya can't catch a ball thrown right at ya? Guess they always need someone ta warm the benches, right?" Shot back the short teen, casually flipping the jock off while the teacher wasn't looking. A sharp word from said teacher a moment later had him quieting down though. He really didn't need to get in trouble with school again. With a sigh he huffed out through his nose, he looked down at his classmate, not firmly seated on the ground, realizing the issue with going to the nurse the instant it was offered. Unsurprisingly, he refused, but with how breathless he was and the way he clutched his side, he wasn't fooling anyone. Hm... He remembered that from last night actually. Had he broken ribs with that kick? Nah. The reaction wasn't nearly big enough for broken ribs, just bruising.

"Don't be stupid, let's get ya some ice, yo." He offered, looking up at their teacher. "I'll make sure he gets there," false promise in place, he offered a lightly webbed hand out to the other to help him to his feet. While Kurt obviously avoided touching people, he figured there was no harm in it considering he knew very well what he looked like under the thin veil of a hologram. "Ya know, for someone that's tryin' ta keep the whole 'grew up in a circus' thing on the down-low, you're pretty shit at hiding it." The half-lie came so fluidly that it was nearly impossible to know he had, short of knowing the truth. If nothing else, it was proof that he was lying for the other teen. Toad wasn't the brightest guy, but he wasn't stupid either. "Need a written invitation...?" He sneered waiting impatiently to get them both out of there and someplace where they could hide out for a while.

.....

Hesitation. Toad was not his friend and, despite the specific circumstances that had put them here, trusting someone who had repeatedly kicked him in the head in the past was not high on Kurt's list of priorities. He glanced around at the circle of faces staring down at him, at the students impatiently waiting for the foreigner to make a move so they could resume their game before the bell rang. He hated being stared at like this. If he were actually performing acrobatic marvels he'd be eating up the attention, but as it was he just felt out of place. "Ja. Okay. Sanks." Mouth twisting to one side, he reached up for clammy fingers, gripped them firmly and allowed Toad's weight to rock him up. A pause, one eye narrowing comically. "Ha, ha." He withdrew his hand as soon as he was able, pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't sticky-- just cool.

Every step burned in his chest, pain lighting up the nerves beneath his ribs to make breathing a tight, uncomfortable process. Nothing he couldn't handle, though. He could still walk perfectly fine, following Toad across the gym floor and stopping only once halfway down the hall to stretch his arms up high and cringe, trying to work out the ache of pins and needles that trailed down toward his hip. "Dude, vhere are ve going?" His voice was low and soft, head turned in toward his "escort" as they walked almost shoulder to shoulder. Mutually poor posture meant that they were often closer to eye level than not despite the height difference. Since they were out during an active period, they encountered very few of their fellows: a blessing, because they were doomed to a flurry of rumors otherwise. No one outside of the Brotherhood bunch entertained Toad's company, after all. "I can't go back to ze Institute, ze Professor vill know und ask me vhat's wrong." Nothing about his tone of voice suggested he was in the mood to provide his benefactor with explanations. "Und I haf class in," a brief glance to his watch, which served more functions than projecting a pretty face, "sirty minutes." The nurse's office was also out of the question, a fact that Toad obviously already knew, but if they weren't going there then they needed somewhere to ride out a moment of rest and recovery in peace and quiet. Somewhere that maybe wasn't a library full of their peers.

.....

He waited impatiently for his invitation to be accepted, halfway expecting his out to be shrugged off and rejected. In the end, his help was reluctantly accepted and he was pulling the other to his feet, not letting go till he was sure the other had his balance. A part of his mind noted just how velvety soft the hidden fur was under his cool touch, he told that part of his mind to shove it. He supposed he couldn't help noticing something like that considering the physical contact they usually shared was very brief and generally painful.

Turning on his heel, he walked side by side with the boy that was usually pitted directly against him in combat. Thankfully with class still going, they didn't have much in the way of company in the hallways. Unsurprisingly, he was being questioned about where they were going. He was honestly surprised it took this long considering there was no reason for the other teen to trust him in any capacity. "Bathroom." He answered simply, looking up and down the hall as they approached the door. There were a couple of students rummaging in their lockers way down the hall, he was sure they weren't paying attention to them.

Opening the door and stepping inside, he squatted down without touching his hands to the floor because like hell was he touching the floor of a boy's bathroom. Keeping the door open for the other with a sneakered foot, he checked the stalls for feet and thankfully found none. Good, they would be alone. Only once Kurt had joined him did he allow the door to close and then casually locked it. This gesture might have been alarming if he didn't look as relaxed as he did. He knew that Kurt wouldn't hurt him unprovoked and he had no intention of doing so. This time at least.

"You're a fuckin' moron, ya know that? That bastard's gonna start comin' after you, yo, so you'd best keep your head low for a while and hope he's stupid enough to forget why he's pissed at ya." Snagging a few paper towels, he went over to the sink and pressed the stupid timed faucet down and wet them. "It ain't ice, but cold should still make it feel better, right?" He wasn't thanking him. He wasn't. At least he was trying to make it seem like he wasn't. The kind gesture was hard to miss, even under the insults obviously meant to hide them. It really came down to what the blue-furred teen chose to focus on.

.....

The bathroom. Of course. Kurt should have assumed as much, but he'd been hoping Toad had somewhere slightly less risky in mind. Locking the door helped, nervous as it made him, but he bent low to double check Toad's work and glance below the stalls to satisfy his paranoia. He couldn't afford to be seen in his vulnerable state, he couldn't afford to be outed as a mutant and he certainly couldn't afford to be seen on friendly terms with Tolansky. After pushing a few stall doors open to ensure no one was hiding out on top of a toilet, he turned back to his rival with brows furrowed and discomfort oozing from every pore. Insults did not make for good standing. "I just helped you. You should be kissing my feet, dude!"

But then a cool hand was holding an even cooler wad of wet paper towels, and Kurt's expression gradually softened. He waited a beat, considering with enough concentration that the gears turning in his head were nearly audible, then reached out and gently plucked the offering from webbed fingers. "Thanks." One word, soft and quiet and perhaps still a touch suspicious. He backed up several paces until his back met the wall, then dropped into a more familiar, far more comfortable crouch. After several further beats of awkward silence, he tapped "paired" fingers over his watch's array and dropped the hologram. Sitting in school in his natural state made him squirm, even if no one else could see him. "Can't see vhere the bruises are vith my inducer on." A half apology for exposing himself.

Nose wrinkled, Kurt peeled up the hem of his v-neck and applied the paper towels to his side. The flesh there was discolored, a clearly tender indigo peeking through the velveteen coat of his fur. "You should, ah. You should vet some for yourself, too. I didn't realize I'd hit you so hard." The color peppering Toad's skin was evidence enough that they were both losers last night. "Didn't mean to mark you up." He lifted and dropped a shoulder, glancing up as his shoulders sagged with relief. The cold really did help. "But you did insult my mom." A corner of his lips barely twitched, amused. Yo momma jokes seemed to come as easily to Toad as bad fashion choices came to Kurt.

.....

"Yeah and last night we were tryin'a beat the hell outta each other! I don't owe you jack shit, yo! I didn't ask for help and if given the chance I wouldn't of. I'm tougher than ya fuckin' think. I'm not responsible for your fuckin' hero complex! 'Sides, I covered for your gymnastics bullshit and got ya outta there didn't I? We're fuckin' even!" The amphibious teen shot back with a sneer, even as he prepared the paper towels for him. He hadn't missed the way the stalls were double-checked and though he didn't comment, he assumed the other thought he was being led to an ambush and took silent offense.

He had been about to lose his patience and simply drop the cool, wet offering on the ground and stalk out when it was finally accepted. With a scoff at the thanks he got, he moved away then and over to the far wall instead, looking up at the tiny window as he shook water off his hands. "Ya don't gotta explain shit ta me, yo. Not like I ain't seen what ya got goin' on under that fancy-ass watch of yours." With that he was casually hopping up to stand on a sink like it was a completely normal thing to randomly stand on a sink.

He glanced over as the other continued to speak then refocused on the small window, leaning in to scan outside with paranoid yellow eyes. "Don't talk like we're friends, yo. You ain't shit! I get worse at home. Hn... I can tell ya for sure that yo mom hits a lot harder than you do." He said that as if it made everything better somehow and not worse. Once he was sure no one was outside, he brought both hands up and pressed them to the glass, a pleased shiver skittering down his spine at the warmth under his unnaturally cold hands. There was a reason he wore long sleeves even in the summer. His thermoregulation was abysmal.

"Wh..." The dirty blond hesitated only to force himself to speak. "Why did you help me anyway...? Just gonna make things harder for ya..." He muttered quietly, halfway hoping that his words would somehow get missed in the otherwise silent bathroom. He couldn't help wondering why anyone would want to help him, let alone someone that was usually directly opposed to him during their teams' brawls.

[m^2]

Todd, Kurt realized, was a ball of defensive rage. The only three emotional states he seemed capable of achieving were anger, panic and the cocksure attitude that never quite seemed to match his actual physical ability. There had to be more to him than that, but Kurt wasn't sure he'd ever have the opportunity to see it. Even now, in the quiet calm of the bathroom, they were bitter enemies.

He sighed, rolling his shirt up further and tucking it under his arms as he settled in against the tile wall. He might as well have been talking to that wall with how well this conversation was going. "Stop talking about my mom," he requested with a touch of irritable impatience, gaze slanting toward Todd. He studied the boy curiously as he pressed his hands to the window, nose scrunching subtly with confusion. He could think of no reasonable explanation for the behavior outside of the usual Toad is weird, but now that he actually had the chance to probe that weirdness, he figured the other mutant couldn't get more mad at him for asking. "Vhat are you doing?"

The question made his brows hike up, shoulders rolling back. He tore his gaze and pinned it toward the ceiling, as if the white surface held all his answers. "I don't know. It vas ze right sing to do, maybe." He squirmed, a sliver of pink peeking out between his lips to wet them, sliding over dry skin anxiously. The vivid contrast against his blue fur was almost comical. "Ve don't like each other, ja, und you are not ex-zactly... nice. But zen, if zey vant to bully you for zat, zey should bully you for zat. Not for vhat you look like. You cannot control zat part." He visibly tensed, the muscles in his jaw bulging as he braced for an expected onslaught of fresh rage. "Vould you haf rather I let you be beaten?"

[NicTheDjinn]

"Why do you even care? Not like she raised you or some shit." He pointed out keeping an eye out as he continued his strange behavior, web hands pressed firmly to glass. Said behavior apparently was attention-catching enough to be questioned. Then again, maybe the other teen just couldn't help being social, even if the only person to be social with was him. He hesitated for a moment, not sure if he wanted to answer. He probably wouldn't have, but... The question was so far removed from the usual animosity involved with talking to him that he felt strangely compelled to answer, just to keep the conversation going.

"Sun's on this side so the glass is really warm. My hands are cold." He explained, though his explanation still left a few things unexplained. He'd only wet his hands in the sink and while that water was cold, it wasn't icey either. It hinted at his unvoiced cold sensitivity even if he didn't outright state it. Generally, he didn't talk to anyone, not even his friends, about how amphibian-like his quirk made him.

When he'd gotten an answer to his own question, he huffed softly. "I'm tougher than you, dude. I coulda taken then hit. We wouldn't be here right now if you'd just butted out. Do ya really think standin' up for me once is gonna make a difference in my life? That bastard is still gonna have it out for me tomorrow, just like he'll still have it out for me next week and the week after that. Nothin's changed. All ya managed ta do is get him to come after you for a while at least. If you stay under the jock radar, he might forget about it, if you're lucky."

He shrugged his thin shoulders then. "This is just my life. Always has been." The way he said that was so painfully matter-of-fact. He didn't sound sad or bothered, he didn't even sound resigned. It was so casual, like admitting what your favorite music genre was. Something inconsequential and normal. This was just his normal and he didn't seem to register how horrible that fact was. "Just stay outta this. You're fuckin' hero complex ain't gonna do either of us any good." He warned, apparently so settled into the state of his life that he thought himself unsaveable.

[m^2]

“I am not defending her. I do not vant to hear about her,” Kurt answered with a little less patience, eyes narrowed into golden slits. His relationship with his mother was complex and unpleasant. He defended her life, her right to exist, but he did not want anything to do with her company and he wished beyond wishing that they were not related by blood. If he had one purpose, it was to grow up to be the exact opposite of everything Mystique represented. “Please,” he added in an effort to be civil. “Just don’t mention her around me.”

He stared at Todd for a long second when provided an explanation for his strange behavior, then flicked his eyes toward webbed fingers and looked away. “You are too cold, I am too varm,” he said with a shrug, examining his own fingers. The velveteen fur that coated them made the hotter months almost unbearable. He liked to think he was better suited for Germany’s climate than New York’s sweltering summers.

“It is not...” He forced out an exasperated, nasal sigh, brow creased and mouth slanted with mounting frustration. “It’s not even about zat. It’s the principle of it. He should not haf vanted to hurt you, Toad. Doing the right sing isn’t a hero complex, it’s just the right sing.” Kurt winced and turned toward the other boy slowly, hand still pressing cold to his exposed ribs. He remained one of the thinnest members of the X-Men group, but months of too many Gut Bombs and even more exercise in the Danger Room had softened the angles of his shape with compact muscle. “I don’t care if he comes after me. I can take it, too. But just because your life is zis vay now, just because it has alvays been, does not mean zat is how it should be. I used to sink like you, und if I never changed my mind zen I vould not haf accepted the Professor’s invitation. I vould still be in Germany, being hunted und burned like a monster.” And maybe there was more acid in his voice than he intended, maybe he surprised himself with the bite of his words and reeled back, but he didn’t regret his answer. “I am not going to turn avay vhen somesing is wrong. You can be as mad as you vant about it.”

[NicTheDjinn]

Ah, so that's what it was. Well, at least he wasn't doing the 'blood is thicker than water' bullshit. Just because you were biologically related to someone didn't mean you had to like them and certainly didn't mean you owed them a damn thing. "Sure... Whatever." He softened his agreement with a half-assed attempt at indifference but shockingly dropped the subject instead of taking another stab at the obvious sore spot. He couldn't even remember his own parents so he understood not wanting anything to do with blood relations. Still, the wisdom of showing your enemy sympathy like he was, was a bit... Questionable. This was a good way of getting himself hurt.

"And you wear long sleeves and shit year 'round so no one will touch you. Hah! Sucks to be you, dude." Little creep took way too much pleasure in the suffering of others. Slimy little sadist... Still, he could have taken that admission and really run with it, but he didn't push the subject on just yet, at least not unless he was given a reason to. "Winter's probably sweet on ya though? Heh... Wonder which one of us will have some lame weather-related death, me freezin' ta death or you burstin' into flame." That was a morbid thought, though one had to question how much he was exaggerating or not. If doing something as negligible as putting his hands under cold water was enough to have him seeking warmth, how bad was winter, not to mention snow?

"Do you know what a hero complex is, yo? 'Doin' the right thing' is just bein' a good person. No one should be expected to risk their ass if they don't want to. Heroes are all about that, all self sacrificin' an' shit... Heroes like ta stick their noses into fuckin' everythin' with there 'I gotta try' attitudes like it makes a difference. You saved me a fuckin' bruise today and you'll be givin' me a different one yourself in a couple of weeks, tops! That jock bastard is still gonna keep comin' after me. You ain't changed shit!! Stop actin' like what you did for me made a difference. Not you or anyone else is gonna save my sorry ass! Not all of us can live under a roof where they feel safe or have friends that actually love th-theh---" The amphibious teen cut himself off, yellow eyes wide at his own outburst. He hadn't meant to bare that much to his rival of all people.

He looked away, glaring at the window he still touched for warmth, pressing his palms against it more firmly than he really needed to. "Not everyone can be saved... You'll learn that someday and when ya do, I'll be there to cash in my 'I told ya so'." He muttered, clearly having lost most of his momentum. Yes, he was blinking more than usual, no, he definitely wasn't fighting off a good cry. Fuck you. He wasn't. He... He wasn't gonna cry... Dammit... Why did life have to suck so much...?