fic: four X-Men: First Class drabbles
Written for firstclass100. All are 100 words.
Title: Just Rip it Off
Rating: all ages
Characters/Pairing: Darwin/Alex (could also be read as gen)
Warnings: none
Challenge: heat
The question’s been on the tip of Alex’s tongue for days, ever since Darwin returned. He’s never going to ask it, and watching him struggle with it is frankly annoying, so one morning Darwin just comes out and says, “It hurt, okay? It hurt like hell.”
They’re jogging around the mansion and Alex stops short, like a string attached to his spine has suddenly been pulled taut.
“I’m sorry,” he says, ashen. There’s an entire ocean of sorry in his blue-gray eyes.
Darwin wraps a hand around the back of Alex’s neck, bringing their foreheads together. “It’s okay,” he whispers.
_____
Title: Conflagration
Rating: teen
Characters/Pairing: Alex
Warnings: swearing
Challenge: heat
Alex feels the heat from the burning garage all along his back, sees the flicker of flames in his foster father’s terrified eyes as he scrambles quickly backward, mouthing wordlessly.
“Say it!” Alex shouts. “Say that word again!”
“Fucking freak!” his foster father chokes. Then he dashes into the house, slamming the door behind him.
Ash singes Alex’s hair. Still, he stands there until the firemen arrive to douse the flames. He watches, waiting.
When he realizes that his foster father hasn’t called the police - apparently he’s so done he won’t even press charges - Alex goes and turns himself in.
_____
Title: Innocence
Rating: all ages
Characters/Pairing: Raven, Charles
Challenge: hidden
Raven tries not to think about anything, but Charles finds her and crawls behind the curtain to sit next to her.
“Bad day at school?” he says gently.
“I don’t wanna go back,” Raven whispers.
“Didn’t you have fun?”
She shakes her head and pulls out the crayon drawing of the blue girl. “The teacher asked why I drew an alien. I said I drew a person, but she said people don’t look like that. I said some do, and she got mad. I don’t wanna go back.”
Charles hugs her and ruffles her blond hair. “You don’t have to.”
_____
Title: Just Out of Reach
Rating: all ages
Characters/Pairing: Moira McTaggert
Warnings: none
Challenge: hidden
Moira’s memories are still there, just hidden, tucked away out of reach. Sometimes, when she’s deeply asleep, she catches glimpses: flashes of insight, like the sudden sparkle of a diamond, or missiles exploding in chrysanthemum bursts against a brilliantly blue sky.
She’s tried therapists, on the CIA’s dime. She’s even tried some self-proclaimed psychics, without her bosses’ knowledge; her integrity’s under enough scrutiny. She wants her memories back, but it’s like trying to claw open a geode with her bare fingertips.
She wants to know what she’s lost, why she wakes up gasping for breath, her hands at her throat.
_____
Title: Just Rip it Off
Rating: all ages
Characters/Pairing: Darwin/Alex (could also be read as gen)
Warnings: none
Challenge: heat
The question’s been on the tip of Alex’s tongue for days, ever since Darwin returned. He’s never going to ask it, and watching him struggle with it is frankly annoying, so one morning Darwin just comes out and says, “It hurt, okay? It hurt like hell.”
They’re jogging around the mansion and Alex stops short, like a string attached to his spine has suddenly been pulled taut.
“I’m sorry,” he says, ashen. There’s an entire ocean of sorry in his blue-gray eyes.
Darwin wraps a hand around the back of Alex’s neck, bringing their foreheads together. “It’s okay,” he whispers.
_____
Title: Conflagration
Rating: teen
Characters/Pairing: Alex
Warnings: swearing
Challenge: heat
Alex feels the heat from the burning garage all along his back, sees the flicker of flames in his foster father’s terrified eyes as he scrambles quickly backward, mouthing wordlessly.
“Say it!” Alex shouts. “Say that word again!”
“Fucking freak!” his foster father chokes. Then he dashes into the house, slamming the door behind him.
Ash singes Alex’s hair. Still, he stands there until the firemen arrive to douse the flames. He watches, waiting.
When he realizes that his foster father hasn’t called the police - apparently he’s so done he won’t even press charges - Alex goes and turns himself in.
_____
Title: Innocence
Rating: all ages
Characters/Pairing: Raven, Charles
Challenge: hidden
Raven tries not to think about anything, but Charles finds her and crawls behind the curtain to sit next to her.
“Bad day at school?” he says gently.
“I don’t wanna go back,” Raven whispers.
“Didn’t you have fun?”
She shakes her head and pulls out the crayon drawing of the blue girl. “The teacher asked why I drew an alien. I said I drew a person, but she said people don’t look like that. I said some do, and she got mad. I don’t wanna go back.”
Charles hugs her and ruffles her blond hair. “You don’t have to.”
_____
Title: Just Out of Reach
Rating: all ages
Characters/Pairing: Moira McTaggert
Warnings: none
Challenge: hidden
Moira’s memories are still there, just hidden, tucked away out of reach. Sometimes, when she’s deeply asleep, she catches glimpses: flashes of insight, like the sudden sparkle of a diamond, or missiles exploding in chrysanthemum bursts against a brilliantly blue sky.
She’s tried therapists, on the CIA’s dime. She’s even tried some self-proclaimed psychics, without her bosses’ knowledge; her integrity’s under enough scrutiny. She wants her memories back, but it’s like trying to claw open a geode with her bare fingertips.
She wants to know what she’s lost, why she wakes up gasping for breath, her hands at her throat.
_____