In All This Chaos We Found Safety

Two days later, Louis and Professor Xavier weren’t back yet, and everyone was growing a bit concerned. The Professor had been gone for days at a time before, but never with a student, and it was almost time for lessons to start.

“Do you think they’ll be gone much longer?” Ramona asked as she stretched her arms up, trying her hardest to soak up some sun beside the lake. The girls were out having a break from Liam’s pre-term freakout, and a couple other people were splashing around in the water.

“Louis probably did something stupid and I bet the kid doesn’t want to come anymore.” Jess joked from under her umbrella, but Mac and Ramona could tell that she was worried. She and Louis were the closest, coming in at the same time years ago, and they were never really separated aside from summer breaks, but she tried her best to play it cool for everyone else. “I’m sure they’ll be back by tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest.”

“I hope so, it feels like they’ve been gone for forever.” Mac sighed, wiggling her toes in the water.

Jess huffed and glared at the other two. “Louis may be a rotten sod sometimes, but he’s smart, and he’s with the Professor. They are fine.”

“Calm down, Jess.” Ramona said, finding some grass in her cousin’s direction. “It’s just weird not having mommy and daddy bantering every second of the day.”

“Louis and I do not-”

“Jess?” The three of them looked up towards Alex Summers, who had managed to creep up on them without any of them noticing.

“Yes, dear?” She asked, giving him a sweet smile. Mac and Ramona snickered, while Alex just rolled his eyes and ignored her comment.

“I need you to come with me. The Professor said that if he wasn’t back in a couple days, we need to do his other job.”

“I will follow your delightful biceps anywhere.” Mac had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing, while Ramona rolled over and buried her face in her arms. Alex, however, didn’t seem as amused.

“Seriously, we’re picking up a kid from Ireland. Get your stuff and let’s get going, it’s a long trip.”

At first she was surprised he was so short with her, but then she realized the full extent of his words. “Wait, we’re leaving? Like, leaving school? England?”

“Yes! For all the other times you act smart t impress me, you’re doing a shit job now.” The edge in his voice was gone and he was wearing a smile, but the seriousness was still there. Jess got up quickly and grabbed her bag, hurrying over to him.

She turned before leaving, however, blowing her friends a kiss. “Goodbye, my darlings! Mommy loves you! Tell daddy when he gets back that I’ll be home soon!”

Even though she was laughing and joking around, they both knew that she was pretty concerned.

{&}

“I don’t understand.” Louis was at a loss for words as he stared at the small, slender boy before him. He may have been 17, but he was shorter than Louis and his dark curls framed a very young face. The boy in question glowered at him, growing more confident as he argued his point.

“These ‘powers,’” the boy insisted, using air-quotes and emphasizing the word, “are not natural. They’re an abomination and I will not use them!”

“Kid, I know you’re using them now. There are other people I know like you, and their natural state is not anything anyone would deem normal. “ He wasn’t sure how he could be having this argument, much less with anyone who actually had powers, but he was trying his hardest. Professor Xavier was convincing the kid’s parents that the school was a regular boarding school, and Louis’ job was to convince the kid to go. So far, he was doing a bang-up job of it.

His comment seemed to hit the kid, however. “Stop calling me kid!” He shot back, though he bit his lip and had a pained look on his face. “I just want to be normal.”

“Fine, Harry.” Louis gave an exasperated sigh, rubbing his face with his hands. Taking a glance at the broken boy before him, he made his way across the room to sit beside him on the bed, making sure to keep a couple inches between them. “You want to be normal because your father is a political figure and says so, but what do you want?”

He let Harry think about it, watching the smaller boy chew on his lower lip in concentration. For the most part, he kept his face free of emotion, and Louis had no idea what to do or say. Then, after maybe five minutes of silence, the boy beside him began to change. Sure enough, Louis had been correct in his natural form being different, as his skin began to get a soft blue tint, and his eyes become a bright yellow. His hair stayed the same, dark and curly, but he got taller by a couple inches; not quite the description of Mystique from what he’d heard about her, but close.

As he finished changing, Harry’s eyes began to brim with tears. “I don’t want to be like this.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you.” Louis responded, putting all his heart into his answer. It only seemed to set Harry off, however, the boy quickly standing up and glaring at him.

“Nothing wrong? I’m hideous! The only reason my father lets me stay here is because I keep myself normal! Everything about the way I look is wrong!” He burst into tears suddenly, immediately covering his face with his hands.

Though he was fairly good with crying people -four younger sisters will do that to you- this kid had been quite hostile the entire time Louis had been there. Throwing caution to the wind, he stood up and slowly made his way over to the younger boy, gently rubbing his shoulder until he could ease him into a hug. Sure enough, Harry wrapped his arms around Louis’ waist and pressed his face into the older boys’ neck, tears falling down onto his shirt and quickly causing a wet patch. Louis ignored it, rubbing Harry’s back and muttering reassurance to him instead.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, I swear it. You’re beautiful, and anyone who tells you otherwise is an idiot. You have so much power and potential, please don’t let it go to waste.” He whispered, trying to calm him down. Harry's tears slowed as Louis held him, but he didn't release his hold on Louis' waist even a bit.

When Harry's breath slowed to a soft, normal pace. Louis tried again. "You shoulder at least try going to Xavier's school. I think you'd really like it. Most everyone there is real nice and welcoming, and my friend will just beat up everyone who isn't for ya." He joked.

Harry let out a soft laugh against Louis' neck, then raised his head slowly. "Would he really? Mutants are that nice?"

Louis nodded and brought a hand up to wipe away the tracks of his tears. "She would, and yes. People are very nice there. Most of them, anyway. They're just like regular people- generally good with a few bad apples."

The smile that crossed Harry's face at his words warmed his heart, and he moved his arms back to hold the boy out at arm's length. Sometime when he hadn't noticed, Harry had changed back, his pale young face looking sad despite the slight smile he wore.

"Okay." He sighed, not looking Louis in the eye. "It would be good for me to try it, at least." It sounded like he was trying to convince himself, but Louis was going to take the win while he could.

"Good, you'll love it!" He answered, giving Harry the biggest smile he could muster.

{&}

"Stop offering to carry people's things! It's weird and drawing attention to us." Alex muttered, grabbing Jess' wrist and pulling her closer to him. She glared at him, yanking her arm away.

"I just feel bad, some people's things look really heavy and it'd be no problem for me! Besides, it's probably your bad attitude they're noticing." She responded. Ever since Storm had taken them to the airport, Alex had been grouchy and anti-social, more so than usual, and people had been throwing them questioning glances.

"I'm sorry! I just... I'm not good with people, and the Professor sent us to do this? Why not Scott and Jean? I don't get it." He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Jess laughed, poking him in the side. "Aww, little Alex. Shall I pretend to be the teacher and you can be the overexcited student?"

"Fuck off, you. I'm 27 and you look 12, that would never work. It's just that I shoot rings of energy, I can't do fancy mind games."

"I am 19, you asshole!" She punched him in the shoulder lightly, though he still winced. "I know you can do this, you just gotta believe in yourself. You're perfectly fine at school!"

"That's because it's just dealing with sassy kids like you." He retorted, laughing at the glare she gave him. "I guess it doesn't hurt to try."

"Exactly, you'll be fine. Besides, the kid will probably hear one word about it being a school for gifted students and be stupid amounts of excited to come." Looping her arm around Alex's, she led him towards their terminal and sat him down, then reached up and ruffled his hair, much to his dismay. "You're over-thinking things."

"Story of my life."