The Best LAID Plans

Best Intentions

I do notown any Marvel Characters Blah Blah Blah!

* I re-formatted this to avoid needing to scroll right.

Kurt fidgeted absently with his tail. He looked at the calendar with a deep sense of foreboding. His cycles weren't as easy to track as a woman's might be, but the signs were all there. The weather was getting warmer, animals were coming out of hibernation, and Kurt Wagner was plagued by sticky sheets. It wasn't as if he'd never had a wet dream before. He'd had plenty when he went through puberty. But once he had begun to get control over his normal teenage hormones, it only happened occasionally. Usually if he was paired up with one or more of the girls for wrestling practice and went to bed afterward without…well…relieving the pressure. When his cycle neared, his sheets were the first real sign of impending problems. He could control himself and his hormones consciously and the physical exercise he got on a daily basis worked out most of it, but when he was asleep, his more primitive subconscious had free reign.

Kurt was thankful that he couldn't remember his dreams. They were just a collection of images that he was barely able to recall. Sweating bodies, tense muscles, clutching hands and then release. He moved uncomfortably orom rom under his bedcovers. He was, by nature, an early riser and had a roommate who slept heavily. For both of these small mercies, he was grateful. He peeled his shorts off and wrapped a towel around his waist, leaving his room and heading to the laundry. After putting in his sheets and shorts, Kurt walked back up to the bathroom. By the sticky crust that coated his lower regions, he guessed that he’d had multiple dreams in the past eight hours. His body was, for the moment, behaving itself. He turned a corner, however and ran into trouble.
“Oof.” Kurt collided with Jean Grey, the other resident early riser. They bounced off each other and she reached out a hand to steady him.

“Sorry, Kurt.” She said. “I guess I wasn’t paying attention.” She was wearing her short nightgown and her hair was tousled from sleep. She smelled so…Jean. He closed his eyes and his nostrils flared involuntarily. She was warm and slightly damp from perspiration, her blankets had contained her all night and it made her natural scent just a little stronger. His body immediately responded and tented the front of his towel. He couldn’t help it. His imagination was dragging him through the gutter by his heels. Jean’s long legs were wrapped around his waist and she was kissing his neck and whispering in his ear urging him to- “Kurt!”

“Vas?” Kurt’s eyes were wide and he met Jean’s gaze. She was staring at him with her mouth hanging open in shock. “Oh, you saw that?” She nodded, still open-mouthed.

“It was a little hard to miss.”

“Sorry, Jean, I guess I didn’t sleep well.” He rushed past her and to the bathroom where he took a very cold shower. Jean didn’t make any comments so he figured it wasn’t unusual for her to ‘overhear’ other students’ fantasies. After his shower, he felt a little more normal and was able to avoid any embarrassment, though he did have two other close calls. He needed to get away from the house for a few days. He figured he only had another day or two before he started affecting his fellow students.
Kitty spent most of the afternoon in blissful ignorance of Kurt’s precarious situation. She was also unaware of how close she was to finding herself bent over their history teacher’s desk when she stopped suddenly in front of him in the hallway. He wasn’t watching where he was going and ended up with his nose buried in her hair. She kept walking into class and Kurt had to clench his books in front of him and think about cleaning the bathrooms in order to get himself under control. Jubilee barely escaped getting dragged into a broom closet after hugging him when he paid for her lunch after she discovered that she’d left her wallet at home. He was desperate. He needed to get away from temptation.

Xavier asked Logan and McCoy into his study in order to go over the budget for the spring. Logan had the repair bills and projected cost for equipment and maintenance while Dr. McCoy had the projected numbers for medical supplies and training. The three men looked up at the faint knock on the door, which swung open at the Professor’s call. As Logan and Hank nodded greetings, the Professor closed the budget books they’d been discussing and turned his attention to the student who had just entered.

“What can we do for you, Kurt?” he asked genially. Kurt fidgeted for a moment before stammering out his reply.

“I... ah, Herr Professor, I... need a favor.”

“Yes?” he prompted gently. Kurt shifted his feet nervously.

“I, um... I need to leave the Institute for a few days.” Logan frowned.

“What’s up, Elf?” he asked, speaking around his cigar. “Somethin’ botherin’ ya?”

“Not yet, nein, but... well, in two days it will. It happens every two years, and... well, I need to go away from here.” The Professor frowned.

“Kurt, what do you mean?” Kurt gave him a pained look and gestured at Hank and Logan.

“This is... kind of personal. Can we do this without the audience?” Hank immediately shook his head.

“I fear not, young master Wagner. As your appointed medical advisor physphysical examiner, it remains my solemn duty to be fully aware as to your ailments, a responsibility that extends even to such bizarrely periodical ones as this. Which I assume is an ailment of some sort...?” Kurt let out a slow breath.

“Ja. Fein. But does Logan need to...”

“Yep,” he cut in. “If yer gettin’ outa trainin’ fer a few days, I wanna know why.”

When the Professor nodded agreement to this, Kurt glared hot liquid death at both of them for a moment before running one tridactyl hand through his hair.

“Fein. It... it’s a part of my mutation...” he began slowly.

“And?” The Professor prompted again.

“And... well, you know that my mutations give me some... animal... characteristics, ja? Purring, growling, shedding, and so on?”

“Yeah, I sure as hell noticed the shedding.”

“Logan, leave him be – it can be quite inconvenient for all concerned, let me assure you.”

“Gentlemen, please. Let Kurt finish.” Kurt nodded, letting out a lungful of air.

“Danke. Well, you haven’t seen it before – I have not yet been here for three y, an, and the last time it happened I went home – but this occurs every two years, in the middle of springtime.”

“What does?” A faint darkening of Kurt’s fur was all that betrayed his furious blush.

“It... ah... it’s an... animal thing. That happens only in spring. And when it does, it... it’s best if I do not go near other people who might be... influenced... by me...” Hank uncrossed his legs and regarded the younger blue mutant closely.

“Kurt...” he said slowly. “This difficulty you’re speaking of... would I be right in guessing that it’s... ah... hormonal?” Kurt nodded. Logan snred red suddenly.

“So, Elf... if I got this right... in a couple days, you’re gonna... go on heat?”

“Shut up,” the Elf growled. “It’s embarrassing!”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

“And dangerous. The first time it happened in Heirelgart, the girls nearly killed me. When it wore off, their boyfriends nearly killed me. And I do not wish for it to happenin.”in.” Evenk wnk was fighting a grin at the Teutonic teen’s discomfort, but the Professor showed no signs of amusement.

“I see,” he mused. “And how long will this... isolation... have to last?” he asked. Kurt shrugged.

“A few days, at the very least. I would give it a week to make sure.” The Professor didn’t need to consider for very long.

“Very well. I can see that it’s for the best. You will leave tomorrow, I take it?”

“Ja.”

“And where will you go?”

“I need isolation from everyone, not just the people here. I was intending to camp in the forest for a week or two. But-” Kurt hesitated. “Please. Do not tell the others. Say that it’s survival training or something, but I do not want them to know.” The Professor smiled.

“I can understand that. We will make the arrangements. Tomorrow you can go, and the others need not know the true reason.” The relief on Kurt’s face was plain to see.

“Danke! Sehr gut. Well, until tomorrow, then...” With a bow, he vanished in an explosion of brimstone. The smoke had not even finished clearing before Logan and Hank broke out into a fit of the giggles. The Professor regarded them sternly.

“I can see,” he said pointedly, “that we will get no further discussing the Institute budget tonight. I suggest you two find some way to cure yourself of this humour soon – if you ‘spill the beans’ on Kurt, as it were, I doubt he’ll forgive you in the near future.” The two men brought themselves under control.

“No problem, Chuck,” Logan said easily. Hank waved one hand in agreement. With that, nodding in familiarity, they left the room. As the door closed, sniggering could be heard. The Professor himself managed to keep a straight face until he was perfectly certain that the others could not hear him. Then he chuckled.


“Ah, Kurt...” he sighed. “...So many difficulties. Even ones as amusing as this...”


Opening the budget books again, he resumed reading, chuckling every now and then. He, like the others, never noticed the dark figure in the garden outside the open window, even when it stole quietly away a few minutes later.

Kitty heard a knock on her door and got up. When she opened it, she saw Jean standing in the doorway, biting her lip nervously.

"Hey, got a sec?" She asked. Peeking around the room to make certain that Kitty was alone. Kitty nodded and let her in.

"What's up?" She asked the older girl. Now that Jean had graduated, she lived in the house as an apprentice inctorctor to the mutants who came to the house with gifts requiring telepathic guidance or the ones whose gifts were possibly destructive and needed shields. Jean came in and sat on Kitty's bed.

"I wanted to know if Kurt has confided anything to you lately."

"Confided? Like what?" Kitty was concerned. "Is he okay?" Jean looked a little embarrassed and didn't meet Kitty's gaze.

"Actually, I kinda overheard something that the Professor and Logan and Hank were talking about with him tonight. But I didn't hear the whole thing and I wondered if you knew something about it."

"What did you hear? Spit it out."

"I caught the end of the conversation while I was in the garden. And Kurt was talking about needing to be isolated from everyone and Professor Xavier agreed. They said he could leave tomorrow for a week and go camping in the woods."

"All alone?" Kitty looked surprised. "You don't know what the problem was?"

"Nope, just that he didn't want the prof to tell anyone and that he had to be away from everyone." Her forehead wrinkled with confusion. "The weird thing is that Logan and McCoy were laughing at the poor guy after he'd left. I felt so bad, especially after this morning."

"What happened this morning?"

"Well, I ran into Kurt in the hallway by accident and he suddenly projected at me so intensely that I couldn't avoid it." She blushed crimson. "Uh, he was having really dirty thoughts about me." Kitty's eyes widened slightly and one brow lifted with curiosity.

"How dirty?"

"Well, not the worst I've 'read' but I can usually tune out all but the most intense emotions and that's what concerns me. Not that he's thinking about sex, for God's sake he's eighteen years old, but the fact that it seemed involuntary and really harsh. When he realized he'd been caught he just seemed so t and and weak."

"Wow." Kitty shook her head. "I got no ideas on this. Bu. But if he's having a feral spell like Logan had, we owe him a little assistance." Jean nodded in agreement and Kitty continued. "He's always been there for me and if I could get through to Logan I should be able to get through to my best friend."

"Okay." Jean said, lowering her voice to a whisper and automatically shielding their thoughts. "Tomorrow we'll find out where he's going and take turns keeping an eye on him."

"Good idea." Kitty said, getting up. "I'll go see him and try and get him to talk to me." She paused by the door. "Come to think of it, he was acting a little funny. Right before history class, I thought I heard him growling and snuffling behind me. And then he looked really uncomfortable and grouchy for the rest of the class."

"Sounds like a feral spell to me." Jean said. "Grouchy, growling, and sniffing. The last thing we need is another guy like Logan." She lifted her chin resolutely. "We have to help him. He needs us."

"Right."

**

Kurt needed a woman. In the worst way. He was starting to have trouble thinking ightight. He'd made it through dinner but when he'd tried to watch a little television to relax, Jubilee insisted on plunking down next to him and turning on HBO for a Sex and the City marathon. Staring at sexy older women having and enjoying lots of intense sex was too much for him. He went to pack and was loading his bags into one of the Xavier Institute's jeeps when Kitty phased through the garage door.

"Hi, Kurt." She said brightly, pretending not to notice him tense up. "Are you taking off or something?" She leaned casually against the jeep and gave him a big smile. He swallowed with some difficulty and licked his lips.

"Ja, Katzchen." He said, holding his backpack in front of him. He tried to look casual, but his gaze continued to drift to the perkiness of her sweater. "For survival." He paused, then shook himself. "Training that is."

"Where are you going? Camping?"

"Ja, Logan gave me a map to a place where he goes fishing. It's nothing official, just scouting for a potential group trip for the younger students. You know, for summer." Kitty blinked at him with her big brown eyes.

"Really? Before the weekend?" She looked at him curiously. "Kurt, is anything wrong?" She stepped forward and reached for him but he jumped back out of reach.

"Ja, Katzchen, I'm fine. I've just got a headache." He needed another cold shower. Packing the jeep had helped by burning off a little energy, but he always had a weakness where Kitty was concerned. She picked up the map and studied it. Her eyes were drawn to the spot he'd marked with an X.

"I think I know where this is." She said brightly. "It's not too far from where Dr. McCoy took us on that camping trip. Just a little father North, right?"

"Ja, Just a little farther from civilization." He said. She was turned away from him and he could reach out and touch her if he wanted to. He was close. "Just a little farther." He mumbled, leaning in to sniff her shiny hair. He loved hair. Curly or straight, red, brown or blonde, it didn't matter to him. He just loved the feel of it against his face. Kitty's was straight and brown and silky soft. He'd touched it many times during practice. Her head bobbed slightly as she examined the map. Then she straightened and her ponytail brushed across his lips and nose. "Just a little farther."

"Oh, Kurt, I didn't hear you move." Kitty turned and jumped back when she found herself standing very close to her blue-furred friend. He was quivering slightly and sweating. "Fuzzy, what's wrong?" She asked, willing him to tell her. He was abviously horny. Jean had given her the heads up on it. But now she was concerned about the odd feeling of helplessness. His expression was a war of desire and frustration. He managed to back up a step and walk stiffly away from her. He returned to the mansion without another words and she phased through a wall in order to keep an eye on him.

Kurt didn't dare to teleport. He had to visualize where he was going and all he could see was Kitty. He walked to the bathroom and shoved the door open. He went directly to the showers where Logan was toweling off. The stocky man raised an eyebrow curiously as he watched the younger man walk, fully clothed, into the shower room and to one of the taps. He turned on the cold water and stood, with his arms at his sides, under the icy spray. Logan knotted a towel around his hips and stepped onte wee wet floor.

"Elf? What happened to you?" He asked. Kurt turned around, remaining under the water and glared at him, resentfully.

"Kitty. Pink sweater. No perfume. Alone in garage." His words came from a clenched jaw. "I need to leave tonight." Logan nodded; his eyebrows went up in surprise. The kid was really suffering and he'd probably get no sleep anyway so it was better if he just got away from women altogether.

"Xavier's gone to meet with some of the school's benefactors on a semi-annual budget meeting, so I'm in charge. You can leave as soon as you're changed, but take one of the satellite cell phones in case of emergency."

"Ja, Herr Logan." Kurt said, obviously relieved.

Kitty went straight to Jean's room. She told the older girl about Kurt's odd behavior.

"You were right. He was looking at me like he was a starving man and I was a chocolate bar." She said. "And there was definitely an involuntary edge to it. While we're keeping an eye on himwe should be careful. I man, Kurt would never hurt anyone, but Logan was pretty dangerous when he went out of control."

"You can take the first shift. I'll cover for you." Jean said. "I'll call the school and pretend to be your mother or something." Kitty grinned and nodded.

"You don't think the professor will miss us?"

"He's out of town for the next few days with McCoy and Ororo. Just go to the campsite where you went with McCoy. Just as long as you're not seen by Kurt you can probably take the van almost up to the fishing cabin."

"Good idea." Kitty said, fishing out the map she'd taken from Kurt's knapsack. She and Jean plotted out a possible route and agreed that Kitty would leave right after Kurt. Then she snuck back to the garage and returned the map, after she'd copied it in the library. Then she brought her own backpack down to the van and returned to her room. Despite her excitement at the prospect of going on a secret mission, she fell asleep quickly and didn't hear the jeep pull out of the garage and leave the grounds.