Institutionalized

INSTITUTIONALIZED CHAPTER EIGHT (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies and BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), menagerie aside...mille mille mille grazie for betaing! :) InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are superwonderfulgroovy people for archving. :) Readers/Reviewers: The Killer Kitties (tm) and their Killer Minions (tm) are suspiciously quiet...I think the ducks did something. The armadillos claim no knowledge...where are platypi when you need them? And an aside, because I've had a few people ask, I juggled the ages from what the "official" Evo ages are on the show in order to make them, for the most part, the legal age of consent in New York State.


"Kitty, Jono. Jono, Kitty." Kurt's teeth actually hurt from the volume of Kitty's scream. He had ported to her before she was even done shrieking, pressed against the wall of the basement with Jono looking harassed (Kurt supposed it was harassed...he really could not tell with most of the other teenager's face missing) and rewrapping bandages. "Do you always introduce yourself to people like that? If so, that could be part of your problem..."
_*She wanted to see me...I showed her.1 * _
"I think you enjoy that entirely too much," Kurt said with a mixture of weariness and concern for Kitty. "Schatz, stop freaking out. Jono is going to stay with us. He's a mutant like we are."
"You sure about that?" Kitty asked, shaking. She had been expecting Kurt and possibly Evan when she trekked down there, wondering dimly if Forge had come back, given the sudden intense interest in the basement on Kurt's behalf. Jono had shocked her, to say the least. She had seen him moving in the dark, her eyes long used to picking out Kurt among the shadows, and when she tried to introduce herself... "He scared me!" she complained.
_*I get that a lot. * _
Kurt snorted. "Only because you want to. Here comes everyone else..." True to his words, what seemed to be every mutant in a ten mile radius tried to cram themselves into the relatively small area of the basement.
"What's going on here?" Scott demanded, trying to assume an air of calm authority when in reality, Kitty's scream had made him jump like a scared cat.
"She met Jono," Jean sighed. "I swear, the way yurk urk around..."
*_You don't know me. _ * Everyone heard him then. _* I don't lurk. I just prefer to be alone. In the dark.* _
"Feed ya shit and you'd be a mushroom," Rogue said. "I'm goin' back upstairs if there ain't anyone dead or dying down here."
*_Takes a lot to get to her, eh? _ * Jono asked with a slight tinge of humor.
"Everyone," Kurt sighed, taking charge of the introductions, "this is Jono Starsmore. Jono, everyone."
Bobby gave the English mutant an assessing stare and said, "Come up among the Elohim2 and get to know us. We don't bite unless asked..."
*_Thanks for the offer, but... * _
"Oh, shut up!" Rogue cried, not quite gone yet. "Come up among the living and quit moping in the dark. Don't make me drag you!"
"She will, man," Todd said, nodding. "I've seen her do it..."
Jono seemed to be thinking it over, his barely visible eyes skimming first over Kitty, still pressed against the wall, then to Rogue and then to Kurt. *_Maybe later. * _
Rogue snorted in exasperation and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm goin' back upstairs. There's a pint of ice cream with my name on it. Literally."
Kitty peeled herself away from the wall and bit her lip. "I'm sorry I screamed...you surprised me."
*_I'm sure. * _
"It's just...I thought you were one of the guys trying to play a trick on me or someg," g," she began, but a low sign from Kurt stopped her from babbling onward. "Sorry." She turned and fled after Rogue, nearly knocking Paige down in the process.
"Hey!" the blonde called after her, glaring. She had been halfway hidden behind St John and Scott, not able to see much of Jono besides his arm and part of the black swath of cloth over his chest, but Kitty had forced her out into the open. Turning towards Kurt to make a comment about Kitty's haste, Paige was drawn up short by her first good look at the reclusive teenager. "Hi..." she said quietly.
*_Aren't you going to scream, too? * _ Jono lost track of everyone else in the room. He did not really notice the others trickling out, making comments, entreaties, to get him to come upstairs. He was only barely aware that Kurt still stood there, talking to Scott by the doorframe that held no door, waiting for completion of the new guest rooms. Paige took up all of his attention.
"Do you want me to?" she asked, smiling slightly. "You're not scary."
*_I'm sure that short girl begs to differ... * _
"It takes a lot to scare me. I grew up on a farm. If I can handle seeing limbs mangled in a combine, I can handle a little unusual mutation."
*_I'll test that theory at a later date. * _ Jono took a tentative step forward, eyes searching Paige's face for signs of disgust or laughter or something that would kill the tiny flutter of hope in what used to be his chest.* _ What's your name? _ *
"Paige...but they started calling me Husk in the Danger Room earlier."
*_Husk? * _
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," she said with a slightly wider grin, using the double entendre shamelessly.
*_Maybe some other time, * _ Jono thought to her. *_Are you...are you going upstairs? * _
"Are you?"
*_I asked you first. * _
"Only if you come with me."
*_Alright. * _ He wished he could smile when Paige giggled and moved to link her arm through his, leading him from his basement hideaway and to the first floor of the mansion.
Kurt stared, agog. "Did I just see what I think I saw?"
Scott nodded. "For future reference, the only way to get Jono to do anything is to have a pretty blonde ask him."


"Katzchen?" Kurt was not really surprised to find her in his room. He did not consider it a violation of his privacy as he would should she have been any of the others, but rather a quite welcome intrusion. Except for the fact that she seemed to be on the verge of tears. "You're upset because of how you acted towards Jono," he said, stating the fact rather than asking a question.
"I was awful, screaming like that!" she said, worrying the corner of her sweater.
"You screamed the first time you saw me, too..." he said gently, teasing her as he sat across from her on his bed.
"I think I've made up for that in enthusiasm if not words," she said a bit dryly, giving him a watery-eyed glance. Kurt laughed and she scooted closer, saying "I just wasn't expecting...well, that!"
"The Professor wanted me to talk to him because he thought I'd be able to find some sort of common ground with him over the whole appearance thing, but he did not want to hear it from me," Kurt sighed. "He likes being alone. He thinks he deserves it."
Kitty shook her head. "No one deserves that..."
"He thinks he does and he puts it on himself. And I understand that. I know what it feels like to have everyone reject you and fear you...I had one advantage, though. My family never gave up on me. Jono...Jono had a horrifying time of it." Kurt suppressed a shudder as he thought of all the Professor had told him and the little bit that Jono himself had revealed: being thought dead, waking in a morgue, tagged and all...the very idea made Kurt exceedingly grateful that his own life was going so well.
Kitty leaned against his arm and sighed. "I made him feel bad."
"Liebes, I don't think anyone can make him feel worse than he's already made himself feel."
"But..."
"But nothing. I think that he'll be up and around more now."
"How do you know?"
"Instinct," he drawled, not quite willing to let on about Jono being taken with Paige, given Kitty's tendencies towards romantic notions. "Oh, we're supposed to go out with Amara and Sam tomorrow night. I think Lance and Paige are coming, too."
"Huh? Amara and Sam? Oooooh...that's right." Kitty shook her head slightly in vague disbelief. "She got kind of mad about Lance asking Paige out...I guess Sam is her revenge-date."
"Ugh. Maybe we can get out of it." Kurt idly twined his finger into her ever-present ponytail, tugging the sweet-scented strands gently as he spoke. "I don't want to be part of any Lance and Amara drama."
"No way am I letting Lance alone with Paige! I know him and if he screws up like I know he will, Amara will never go back to him!" Kitty exclaimed, wiggling even closer to him, wrapping both arms around his waist.
"Maybe she doesn't want to," Kurt said, tipping her chin up to trace his fingers across her jaw and down her throat, kissing her briefly but intently.
Kitty let her eyes flutter closed for a moment, licking her lips before answering. "Amara and Lance are meant for each other. Everyone knows it. The only problem is, they're too proud to admit they need each other."
"Katzchen," Kurt said in an effort to change the subject be Kie Kitty went off on a tear, "Logan is making all of us get up early to help finish the rooms this week..."
"All of us?" she groaned.
"Well, the guys anyway." Kurt shifted slightly so that he was leaning against the footboard of the bed, pulling Kitty down to rest against his chest.
"Thank god for sexism sometimes... Though I'm sure Jean will have us all up at the crack of dawn in her effort to promote equality between the sexes," she sighed, pausing to nuzzle his neck. "You smell good."
"Eau de elf," he said, grinning against her hair. "Did you see the chart in the kitchen, who everyone has to share rooms with in case we don't get those downstairs done in time?"
Kitty nodded, sliding one leg to rest across both of Kurt's. "I have to share with Jubilee."
"I lucked out," Kurt said, a little smugly, "I'm alone."
"Why can't I have blue fur and pointy ears?" Kitty sighed, running her bare toes up and down Kurt's leg. "Then I can have a room to myself, too."
"You could have deadly skin like Rogue. She's solo, too." He closed his eyes and tightened his fingers on Kitty's shoulder.
"Then I couldn't do this," Kitty said slyly, moving so that she lay on top of Kurt, kissing him soundly before pulling away and grinning,
"Good point," Kurt said, suddenly flipping her onto her back and making her shriek in surprised laughter. "Shhh...don't want to become known as exhibitionists...we get caught one more time and I think we get the title!"
She giggled, drawing him down for another kiss. "I think Remy and Jubilee are trying for that title themselves...Rahne said they were all gropey in the rec room earlier!"
Kurt rolled his eyes and returned the kiss. "I know...I wasn't going to say anything and let Jubilee think they got away with it."
Kitty snickered, wrinkling her nose in amusement. "At least we're subtle."
"Might I remind you of Lent? At the club?" he prompted, ducking his head to leave a tiny mark of possession at the base of her throat. She gasped softly and pressed her hands against his back, holding him closer as if she could draw more from him by proximity.
"Don't remind me...that was almost embarrassing," she murmured, her voice thick with the feelings Kurt was rousing in her. She was starting to feel pleasantly warm despite the air conditioning going nearly full blast.
"I think," he said, nibbling his way across her collar bone, pushing her shirt down just enough to expose the skin he was so intent on tasting, "that I would've been more embarrassed than you if we'd gotten caught." Kitty groaned in either agreement or pleasure, Kurt was not quite sure, but he decided he liked the noise either way. "Kitty," he said against her shoulder, pausing for br, "I, "I love you."
"Kitty, walk your damn dog!" Logan's voice said through the door. Kurt and Kitty jumped apart automatically, Kurt leaping to his feet, breathing hard from surprise.
"Ouch!" Kitty hit the floor with a thud, landing on her back.
"What the Hell is going on in there?" Logan asked, sounding more suspicious than ever.
"I fell," Kitty shot back. "Kurt, open the door before he breaks it down..."
Logan stood in the open doorway, glared at by an annoyed, aroused blue teenager. Baby whined at Logan's feet but, on seeing Kitty, ran helter-skelter, legs flailing as only a puppy's can, towards the girl. "Half-pint, that dog's been whimpering for twenty minutes to go out... Why are you on the floor?"
"Some hairy lug scared me," she said, standing carefully with Baby under one arm.
"Kurt, you should be nicer to your girlfriend," the older man said with a hint of a smile.
Kurt's eyes widened. _He's not saying anything about what we were obviously up to, he's joking with me, albeit badly _ ..."Who are you and what've you done with Logan?" fell out of his mouth before he could stop it.
"Funny, Elf..." Logan clapped him a little to hard on the shoulder and Kurt staggered forward. "That dog ain't gonna walk himself, Half Pint."
"Okay, Logan..." she sighed. "See you later, Kurt..."
"Tomorrow," Logan called after her as she carried the dog down the hall. "You'll see him tomorrow!"
Kurt thought he was off the hook but Logan did not leave. Instead, he sauntered into the room and sat down on the slightly rumpled bed. "Um...So, new recruits, huh?"
Logan nodded. "More than we thought. Sunspot, or what ever the Hell his real name is, is bringing some friends it seems."
"What about those Hellions? They still around?" Kurt was still standing in the doorway, his fight-or-flight response on edge as it always seemed to be when Logan was in father-mode about Kitty.
"Chuck-the Professor-thinks so... Aw, Hell, Kid, there's no easy way to say this..." Logan stood and crossed to Kurt, putting what the younger male assumed was supposed to be a kindly hand on his arm. "The dog didn't have to go pee."
"Uh, thanks for breaking it to me gently."
"Damn it, let me finish!" he snapped, then paused for a long time. "The thing is, your mom called. Erika got hurt bad and had to be taken to the hospital. They don't know if she'll make it."
1 Jono communicates telepathically in a sort of spectral voice. While he has the capability to be a great telepath, he only developed it enough to talk. His mutation blew out his chest and lower jaw and everything in between and is hideously difficult to control, degrading his body unless he wears these special bandage type things. He has problems especially when he's experiencing heightened emotions or stress. The manifestation of his mutation crippled his then-girlfriend, which he never forgives hlf flf for really. More on Jono later...*g *
2 From The Time Machine. Elohim are surface dwellers, then the Morlocks and then the Mole People.