Ficlet: What you make of it
I had this tag to An alternate Universe in 19 Scenes I wanted to write for a while. Here it is.
Title: What you make of it
Author: mayachain (ms_jvh_shuh)
Featuring: St John, Bobby, St John's Mom and five formerly captured X-kids.
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~580
Summary: When St John was very little, he would spend every morning in his mother's bed.
Note: The happy side of the aftermath. Schmoopiness inside.
When you were very little, you would crawl into your mother's bed every morning, snuggle close to her body and doze until your combined growling stomachs woke her. On the days when she didn't have to go to work around eleven, you'd eat breakfast in bed and stay warm and loved and safe under the covers for half the day.
The men she brought home occasionally never stayed to interrupt your routine, and as far as you could (can) see, what happened a few weeks before your sixth birthday had nothing to do with a man. One morning, the door to your mother's bedroom was just locked, and even when you pounded your tiny fist against the wood, there was no answer.
You still remember you had pancakes for breakfast that day. Momma was not sick, she was not angry, and she took you shopping for things you would need for school. She had simply locked her door, apart from that, everything was normal.
You never tried crawling into her bed again. Sometimes, now, you think maybe you should have.
*
When you were fourteen years old, you spent exactly one night in the same bed as Bobby Drake.
You had been at Xavier's School for the Gifted for three months, and had already found out that your roommate never slept on those nights Professor Xavier directed that strange machine of his from the basement and all your other teachers had flown out.
That night, there had been a thunderstorm that had been woefully undirected by Ms Munroe, and you had still been awake when Drake had come back from his customary ice cream stint. The two of you had played cards sitting on your bed, and when you had woken up the next morning, puffs of air had reached your skin from Drake's faint snoring.
You thought about it, sometimes, especially when you were jolted awake by yet another nightmare. You'd lie in your bed and squint through the dark, over at Drake's sleeping form, wondering what it would be like. At sixteen, you were almost certain Bobby wouldn't throw you out, no matter how much you fought lately, no matter how much Drake suddenly liked to hang out with Rogue.
Almost, but not quite.
*
It starts gradually. Back at the Mansion after your ordeal with Stryker, you wake up to find Artie climbing into your bed. You're so stunned you don't think to protest at all, and the little boy's body against yours feels warm and small.
The next night, it's Funk and Sid together, wandering in, holding hands. The night after that, it's all three of them.
Friday night, you wake to the sound of wood scraping against the floor, and blink your eyes open to see Drake shove his bed over until it's right snug up next to yours, adding up space for the little one's plus Syrin plus Jubilee to sleep in.
In the morning, you wake up meshed together, all seven of you. It's Saturday, and even Drake agrees to lie around lazily until your stomachs start growling.
By the time you turn seventeen, there are no more nightmares, but Drake (Bobby) has become an expert in preserving food from the night before to have for breakfast, and the weekend thing has become a ritual. You think... you know... that if one morning there were to be a barricaded door, this time, the three inches of solid wood would get broken down.
* * *
Title: What you make of it
Author: mayachain (ms_jvh_shuh)
Featuring: St John, Bobby, St John's Mom and five formerly captured X-kids.
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~580
Summary: When St John was very little, he would spend every morning in his mother's bed.
Note: The happy side of the aftermath. Schmoopiness inside.
When you were very little, you would crawl into your mother's bed every morning, snuggle close to her body and doze until your combined growling stomachs woke her. On the days when she didn't have to go to work around eleven, you'd eat breakfast in bed and stay warm and loved and safe under the covers for half the day.
The men she brought home occasionally never stayed to interrupt your routine, and as far as you could (can) see, what happened a few weeks before your sixth birthday had nothing to do with a man. One morning, the door to your mother's bedroom was just locked, and even when you pounded your tiny fist against the wood, there was no answer.
You still remember you had pancakes for breakfast that day. Momma was not sick, she was not angry, and she took you shopping for things you would need for school. She had simply locked her door, apart from that, everything was normal.
You never tried crawling into her bed again. Sometimes, now, you think maybe you should have.
*
When you were fourteen years old, you spent exactly one night in the same bed as Bobby Drake.
You had been at Xavier's School for the Gifted for three months, and had already found out that your roommate never slept on those nights Professor Xavier directed that strange machine of his from the basement and all your other teachers had flown out.
That night, there had been a thunderstorm that had been woefully undirected by Ms Munroe, and you had still been awake when Drake had come back from his customary ice cream stint. The two of you had played cards sitting on your bed, and when you had woken up the next morning, puffs of air had reached your skin from Drake's faint snoring.
You thought about it, sometimes, especially when you were jolted awake by yet another nightmare. You'd lie in your bed and squint through the dark, over at Drake's sleeping form, wondering what it would be like. At sixteen, you were almost certain Bobby wouldn't throw you out, no matter how much you fought lately, no matter how much Drake suddenly liked to hang out with Rogue.
Almost, but not quite.
*
It starts gradually. Back at the Mansion after your ordeal with Stryker, you wake up to find Artie climbing into your bed. You're so stunned you don't think to protest at all, and the little boy's body against yours feels warm and small.
The next night, it's Funk and Sid together, wandering in, holding hands. The night after that, it's all three of them.
Friday night, you wake to the sound of wood scraping against the floor, and blink your eyes open to see Drake shove his bed over until it's right snug up next to yours, adding up space for the little one's plus Syrin plus Jubilee to sleep in.
In the morning, you wake up meshed together, all seven of you. It's Saturday, and even Drake agrees to lie around lazily until your stomachs start growling.
By the time you turn seventeen, there are no more nightmares, but Drake (Bobby) has become an expert in preserving food from the night before to have for breakfast, and the weekend thing has become a ritual. You think... you know... that if one morning there were to be a barricaded door, this time, the three inches of solid wood would get broken down.
* * *