The first few winters Shatterstar was on Earth, X-Force was in Arizona, and then Mexico— few rain storms, no snow fall. The weather ranged from rather bland to scorchingly hot. The cold nights in the desert were a thing to behold— but no rain, no snow.
The first time Shatterstar heard rain was the first time Rictor saw the other teen raise his head from the remote control and look genuinely confused. They were back from Arizona, adjusting (sort of) to life at Xavier’s, and a curtain of rain had unleashed two weeks after Cable moved X-Force back to their original roots.
"What is that?" the redhead asked, staring outside. "Is it a static force field of some sort?"
Tabitha and Rictor exchanged looks. “Wait— seriously?” Tabby raised a blonde eyebrow. “You’ve never heard of rain?”
"Rain?"
"Water— y’know, moisture from the sky, building up until it falls down. Madre de Dios, Shatty, it’s everywhere."
For once, Shatterstar put the remote down and wandered over to the window where he sat himself down and stared, much in the same way Longshot had once stared at the pool: it was a mixture of awe and uncertainty tinged with a little bit of longing. “May I touch it?”
"Touch the rain?" Rictor asked incredulously while Tabitha put her magazine down all the way and shrugged.
"Sure, go for it."
"It is allowed?" he asked, eyes never leaving the window. As though it could be something wonderful and forbidden at the same time.
"Uh, yeah, dude. Totally allowed. Just don’t track mud everywhere when you come back in."
Shatterstar may have been given clearance to go out in the rain, and may have gone out there alone, but there was no way the other kids were going to miss this chance. It was like when they introduced him to microwavable popcorn and then watched him pop ten bags in a row (half of which had not been consumed and had to be thrown out— no more popcorn after that).
"What is he doing…?"
"For real? He’s never seen rain?"
"Ah guess Ah can’t blame him’r’anythin’. Must be strange if he’s never seen it before."
Indeed, it was weird to see the normally fierce ‘Cable Junior’ ease himself outside during a spring shower, palm spread out to catch the rain drops on his hand. He moved carefully, like it might be some trap, some trick to lure him out into the open. Probably because something like that had likely happened— a thought that made Rictor swallow and tap his hand on the window.
"Okay, okay. Whatever. Dude’s never seen rain. Let’s grab towels, let him do whatever it is he wants to do out there; we don’t have to gawk."
Close to half an hour later, Shatterstar came back in, soaked to the skin and greeted with grins and towels (Tabitha had taken a lot of pleasure in being the one to stand on a stool and dry Shatterstar’s hair, throwing a smug look at Rictor while the other boy pretended not to notice).
"That was simply astonishing," the tall Mojoworlder said, his baritone, accented voice muffled by the large pink towel Tabitha was currently trying to dry him off with. It was slow going until Roberto offered his assistance with his powers, heating the area with a fine touch until everything was more or less dry.
"Yeah, s’real wonder," Roberto remarked, not unkindly, but with a small chuckle. "Get up stairs into some new clothes before you catch cold or something."
"I don’t think I can do that," Shatterstar said as he left to change clothes nonetheless. "My healing factor fairly prohibits catching viruses and colds. And the rain was warm." He said that last bit almost wonderingly.
Fast forward through the years, there’d been many opportunities to enjoy (lament) the weather. It wasn’t until they were with X-Factor, though, that it snowed heavily in Mutant Town. It wasn’t until then that an almost bright expression of happiness came over Shatterstar’s face.
"It snowed?" He asked it like it was a question, but this time, he did not ask permission before bolting out of the brick headquarters and down into the mostly undisturbed mounds of white. Before Rictor could even get out the muffled (hey, it was seven thirty in the morning for fuck’s sake) ‘I guesso’, Shatterstar was gone, outside, engulfed in snow in just a matter of moments.
"Does he have a coat?" Terry asked, red hair ruffled from sleep, hands curled around her mug of coffee.
"Yes, he has one," Rictor said, scanning the street below to see if he could find his errant (and entirely too excited) boyfriend down below.
"Is he currently wearing it?”
"That would be a ‘no’."
"Must be why Layla piled all those towels and blankets by the door last night."
It took fifteen more minutes to find ‘Star; Rictor pulled on clothing, his own jacket, and boots, cursing the snow, the month, and his idiot boyfriend for running out in it with just pants and a t-shirt on in thigh-high piles, some even waist-high depending on where you stepped. Even Rictor was regretting not putting on gloves and a scarf, and swore to whatever spirit of misery that was making this happen, that ‘Star was going to get a slush ball to the face once he found him.
"You idiot!" Rictor shouted when he finally found Shatterstar, shivering nearly violently. "Why didn’t you put on a coat!?"
"I saw no point— and I wanted to see the snow. It didn’t look as cold as this," Shatterstar said. Or tried to. Mostly it came out "It d-di-didn’t look ah-as c-cold…’ By the time his already-blue lips had formed the words past chattering teeth and shivering, seized-up limbs, Rictor had half-dragged ‘Star back to the door and was working on getting him inside. It was a little amazing and scary how quickly Shatterstar seemed to turn into a block of ice. While Rictor and Terry attacked the prone Mojoworlder with towels, dry clothing, and finally blankets, Shatterstar kept babbling on about the wonders of snow.
His damp hair drying in tufts, Shatterstar looked younger than a man who had seen more battles than a Greek army had any right to look. With a mug of hot chocolate shoved in his hands and wrapped up in a blanket the way he was by Rictor’s side, ‘Star seemed almost child-like. Despite the near freezing he’d endured, he hadn’t stopped smiling.
"—can’t make that weather up! It’s so changing and chaotic. Do you suppose it will snow again today? I can go out if I’m properly attired, can I not? Where did we put the coats, Julio? I thought I saw—-"
‘You idiot’, Rictor thought fondly, interrupting Shatterstar’s rare stream of chatter that was far more reminiscent of Longshot with a kiss and request he drink his cocoa.