X-men: Mutant Awakening (Ch. 3)

Author Note: BIG THANKS to deathklat for his assistance regarding 'certain' matters involving our beloved Logan :D And more thanks for Kindar for his critiques and suggestions. 

Warning: Implicit Sexual situations in this chapter. 

Chapter 3

Tad was livid to think that just because one mutant professed they didn't pry without permission, here was another one who apparently didn't follow the same rules...

Brenda visibly winced at the onslaught coming from Tad.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she hastily erected the mental shield, just as the Professor had taught her. The waves of anger beat against them, but now she was able to think again.

She rubbed her temples, and glanced up at Tad with an apologetic expression. With a grimace, she sighed. "I didn't read your mind. It wasn't exactly hard to pick up your emotions."
Tad's anger faded as quickly as it exploded. He stared at her in confusion. "...My emotions?"

Brenda nodded, then took a deep breath before explaining. Tad seemed at least willing to listen. She lowered her shields slightly, so she could sense his mood a bit better. "I'm a telempath. I can project emotions and sense general ones in others. It was obvious to me -- the bruises, your evasiveness, and your reaction to Logan."

Tad sat there, not quite sure what to say. "Isn't telepathy where you read someone's mind and the emotions along with it?"

Brenda shook her head. "Not necessarily. It can have an emotional component to it, but it's primarily speech, and imagery, whereas telempath is primarily emotional with maybe some imagery."

Tad looked slightly puzzled.

She caught his expression. "They're complementary. Kinda like two sides of a coin."

Tad nodded, vaguely surprised they were talking about psychic powers, and that Brenda hadn't batted an eye at his homosexuality. He glanced down at his hands. "...Yeah. They were beating me up at first because they thought I was gay. I just wandered into the wrong bar at the wrong time."

Brenda nodded, and laid a hand on his arm. "It was just bad luck, that's all. You survived it after all."

Tad snorted dismissively, speaking with dripping sarcasm. "Sure. With the ability to teleport. Fun."

Brenda frowned. "You haven't tried to teleport since then, have you?"

Tad shook his head. "Too scared. What if I ended up in a wall, plus I'm not sure if I want this ability or not."

Brenda nodded. "...I can sort of see how you feel. When I became a mutant, I was picking up everyone in sight and almost snapped. Luckily Ororo got to me before that happened."

He pressed his lips together and exhaled contemplatively. "...I... I do have a book in my duffel bag that I really love. When I picked it up today, it reminded me that it might not be so bad to be able to teleport."

Brenda's curiosity was kindled as she leaned forward. "What book?"

Tad chuckled. "You'll think it's weird."

Brenda shook her head, looking earnest. "Nah, go on. Tell me."

Tad blushed slightly, then whispered. "Jumper, by Steven Gould"

Brenda chuckled. "Oh, yeah. I vaguely remember that book. It was about... a teleporter, wasn't it?"

Tad blinked in slight surprise. "You know the book?"

Brenda smiled. "I read science fiction occasionally."

He nodded as his smile faded. "That's why it seems weird. I'm kinda like the boy in it who discovered he could teleport, but not really anything else in common."

Brenda nodded, and spoke quietly. "Um, You know the guy that scared you -- he is a bit, ah, rough around the edges, but he has a good heart. He won't hurt you. Unless you did something wrong to one of the kids here."

Tad felt a blush coming on, as he averted his glance. His shyness came back. Even if he was afraid of him, the little Tad saw of him was hot. "Um, I see. Can I have my duffel?" He asked, to cover up his embarrassment. He intended to show her his book.

Brenda grinned mischievously. "Oh really?" She had a twinkle in her eye, as she bent over to the side slightly to pick up Tad's bag and handed it to him.

He unzipped it and rifled around until he dug out the "Jumper" book.  Tad spoke with a hint of nostalgia. "I bought this book about ten years ago from the store largely on a whim, and it was worth it. I devoured it from cover to cover. I still read it from time to time...but it has been a really long time."

Brenda smiled gently. "It means a lot to you?"

Tad nodded. "It helped me through a hard period of my life -- like an escape, if you will."

Brenda had a sweet smile on her face. "That's really cool. I can understand that totally."

Tad chuckled and rubbed the cover of the book affectionately, then placed it back in the bag.

* * *

Logan moaned in blissful relief as the hot water sluiced away his sweat, and relaxing his muscles. No matter if he could regenerate, he would still have soreness for a few days. His Danger Room session had been difficult, but worth it -- he had worked off most of his pent up energy. He started to soap himself up, with his hands all over his body. His nose was starting to clear up from his own stink, and the soap's scent of sandalwood was soothing.

His thoughts, now that he wasn't on the simulated battlefield, gradually returned back to Tad. He knew he really ought to at least make a token attempt to apologize, and introduce himself properly.

His hand crept down his stomach, and started soaping his loins. He closed his eyes, enjoying the sensations from the lathering. It'd been way too long since he had gotten laid. His hand kept rubbing his loins and he let out a low pant as he started to stiffen. His thoughts drifted away from Tad and to the last time he'd had an half-attempted tryst with Jean. Her red hair, her scent, her supple form...

Placing the soap back in the cradle, he started fondling himself with slow strokes peeling back the skin and pushing it back over the head with his thumb and forefinger. With a growl, he enclosed it in his fist, letting himself wallow in his slow self-pleasuring, while holding her image in his head. He panted heavily as his hand flew up and down his dick.

He was getting close, and his mind wandered for a split second. Tad's face suddenly formed inside his mind, and his dick throbbed involuntarily. His mind reeled in shock, but the bliss from his jerking was escalating his dick to new heights. Logan held himself up by pressing his hand against the wall next to him, trying to focus on Jean's image, but it kept shifting to Tad. His hand flew up and down his rigid dick rapidly. His moaning grew louder as he surrendered to his orgasm, splattering against the shower wall.

His free hand let go of his dick as it jumped up and down, still spurting ribbons of cum everywhere, to grab the shower curtain for support as he nearly fell over. He cursed as the curtain fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Quick reflexes had kept him from tipping over entirely.

Logan panted heavily, as the water ran down his hair and back. His thoughts were scrambled and unfocused. He felt angry and guilty, feeling like he had betrayed her memory. He spent several minutes in the shower until the water turned tepid. He managed to wash off the shower walls without really thinking about it, and shut the water off. He glanced down at the curtain in disgust and threw it in the bathtub after he stepped onto the rug.

Logan grabbed a towel, and began drying himself briskly, feeling a bit pissed. Throwing the towel in the hamper, he walked into his bedroom, still slightly damp.

* * *

Tad laid back on the bed, trying to relax again. Brenda had gone scrounging for food for them, and had left him alone. He wasn't sure he wanted to be alone here. This place was very sterile-looking, and even vaguely smelled of antiseptic. But he had been told to stay here, at least overnight. He wasn't really sure what time it was, except his stomach had let him know that it was time to eat.

Tad had left the duffel on his lap, primarily because it was his last link to his home at the moment.
He frowned. He could teleport. Maybe. It wasn't like his place was unreachable, or was it? Granted, from what he could remember, he managed to 'jump' at least several blocks to his living room.

Tad ran his hand through his brown hair and bit his lip in thought. He really needed to at least call his parents and tell them not to expect him at Thanksgiving this year. How did he do it anyways? He probably would only be gone for a moment, and he doubted Brenda would know.

He frowned in concentration, and tried picturing his living room. Tad grunted as he tried to put himself there, then had a splitting headache that flattened him back onto the bed.

"Oh dammit. Ow. Ow."

He cursed under his breath, cradling the fading pain that had stabbed him right in the forehead. Tad slid himself up to a seating position with some difficulty. Thank god the pain faded away nearly immediately.

He suddenly felt slightly curious as to why his head had exploded as he attempted to jump. He shook his head, feeling exhaustion sweep through him. It was probably just his head injury that prevented him from jumping. It didn't seem as important to do it right this second, anyways.

Brenda returned within ten minutes with two steaming plates of food on a tray. With a smile, she shifted the duffel bag into a flatter position and moved one plate onto it, along with some silverware.
Tad was pleasantly surprised to see real food, and glanced at her curiously.

"What? Did you really expect cafeteria food?"

Tad shrugged his shoulders lightly. "Well... Who knows with this place."

She scrunched her nose at him in a mock glare, and laughed. "Nah. Everyone gets good quality and nutritious food." She nodded. "Eat up."

Tad started digging into his food, tentatively at first, then with gusto as he tasted it. Once he cleared his plate, he leaned back with a sated smile. "Wow. You were right. This was fantastic."

Brenda's eyes sparkled. "Compliments of the chef, yours truly."

Tad blinked in surprise, "You made this?"

Brenda giggled quietly. "Yup, been cooking since I was 15. Have a talent for it, but thank god I don't cook for all the people in this mansion. That'd be too much work for just me. Thought you'd appreciate some good cooking."

Tad smiled. He felt sleepy, and yawned.

Brenda stood up and collected his dinnerware, putting it on top of her own empty plate, and put the tray of dirty dishes aside. "I'll be right back."

Tad nodded drowsily, and laid himself back on the pillow. He drifted into slumber, then awoke when someone shook his arm lightly.

A feminine voice whispered, "Tad? Wake up."

Tad opened his hazel eyes and saw Brenda standing over him with a guarded smile. "Hello. Um...You've been sleeping most of the afternoon. Uh, remember that guy you saw this morning? He wants to apologize. Is that okay?"

Tad felt a pinprick of fear as he sat up again. He wasn't sure if he wanted to, but Brenda seemed to sense it, and shook her head.

She spoke quietly. "I can always tell him to come back later. But he's a good guy."

He fumbled over his words, and gave up after speaking three words.

"I... um, sure."

Brenda stared at Tad for a moment, then smiled reassuringly.

"Okay. I'll let him in. I have to go out for a few minutes, but I'll come back."

She left around the corner, and he could hear a low whisper, but couldn't make it out.

Tad began to tense up slightly, as his hands gripped the blanket.

Logan stepped around the corner, and paused ten feet away, looking hesitant. He could smell Tad's unique musk, and it was strangely alluring. He gazed at Tad for several long moments before he realized he was staring, and rudely.

Tad flushed, feeling uncomfortable, as his dick got hard under the duffel bag. He was immensely thankful that it wasn't apparent at all to this studly man... He looked uncomfortable though, and Tad wondered why.

Logan could smell the sexual tension in the room increase the longer they stared at each other. He abruptly broke the eye contact and spoke quietly. "Uh... I, I wanted to say I'm sorry I scared you. I'm Logan. You must be Tad."

Tad was finding it slightly hard to breathe. He made his head move in a very almost unnoticeable nod. His shyness was making him stutter, and he never stuttered. "N-not your fault... It was an accident."

Logan nodded, feeling suddenly uncomfortable for some reason. Irrational impulses kept flitting through his brain, and it took his willpower to not act on them.

This man didn't seem so remarkable, appearance-wise, but something about him made him feel protective... among other things. He savagely pushed those thoughts aside. He smiled quickly, and waved. "Okay. I should go. Take care, and I'll see you around the place."

Tad fiddled with one of the handles on the duffel and nodded with a shy smile. "O-okay. Thanks..."

Logan left slightly faster than he had arrived.

On her way back inside the Med Bay, she thought she sensed a chaotic pile of sexual frustration and confusion as Logan swept by her without a glance. Was Logan really possibly ...maybe... interested in Tad? She paused, studying the closed Med Bay doors for a moment, then turned the corner.

Tad suddenly found air in his lungs. He heard the doors swing shut, and then a second or two later, Brenda returned.

She stopped a few feet away from him.

She stared at him, and nearly choked in surprise. "Oh my god. You're smitten." Covering up her glee with her hand over her mouth, she tried to compose herself.

Tad leveled a glare at her. "Oh shut up."

Brenda doubled over and laughed. "You're not the only one who's had an eye for him. He is one serious hunk."

Tad frowned, not wanting to quite admit the depth of his own attraction, which vaguely disturbed him. "If you say so."

Brenda smirked. She frowned inwardly, then looked at him again with more composure.

"Seriously. No one had his heart other than Jean Grey..."

She suddenly grew quiet, and thoughtful.

Tad's curiosity was piqued -- as he leaned forward with an arched eyebrow. "What happened?"

Brenda sighed sadly. "I didn't know her. I've only been here a few months. She died like less than a year ago."

Both fell silent, with Tad feeling guilty for no reason, and Brenda looking contemplative.

(TBC)

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