Chapter 2
Kurt teleported them to a small trail right on the edge of the institute. It was quiet and secluded and the gravley trail seemed to lead into the woods. They had been teleported to one of the trail markings and that had a small stone bench next to it for any hikers to rest by. As Jade looked around, she realized that this place was special. It was the place she always came to when she needed a little bit of quiet from the busy, ever bustling mansion. It was also the place where Jade went when she was upset, hurt, or triggered in some way.
It was made much more special because it was also the site of her and Kurt’s first long talk about the universe and their mutant powers. It was a late night when that happened. A surprising amount of stars dotted the sky and the summer wind blew right through leaving a sweet scent in the air. Jade sat on the small stone bench, panicking over something that happened recently and unbeknownst to her, Kurt was in the tree right above her. Of course, she was startled when he popped up out of nowhere, but they were soon deep in conversation that would last a couple of hours. It wasn’t until dawn they went to bed and they didn’t have classes which was good.
Jade turned to Kurt, who was still getting over the nervousness and slight embarrassment he had, and smiled. Without many words she sat down on the small, stone bench and let her legs dangle ever so slightly over the edge. She looked around some more, taking in the trees that were lush with leaves and the harmonious sounds of the birds chirping all around her. Taking her lead, Kurt sat down on the bench next to her, pressing himself all the way into the bench’s rail.
Jade stayed surprisingly calm and didn’t even look when he started to shrink. “You really know how to pick places,” she said. “I really like this place. It’s where I feel the most at peace. It’s also the sight of one of my sweetest memories.”
She turned to Kurt, her face now red, and smiled once more. The fear she felt before had long since faded away as she looked at him. He really was beautiful. Perfect skin, hair swooped to the side that was as dark as a raven, and big, red, goofy eyes that seemed to light up every time she looked at him a certain way. She started to realize that what her friends had said was true. She truly was falling deeply and madly in love with him and she didn’t know if she knew how to stop it or if she wanted to stop it.
“Well, I have fond memories here as well,” Kurt said. “That night we talked until dawn made me feel more at home than anything anyone else did. I never did thank you for that night.” He began to settle down more as the conversation started to be more friendly and open.
“You don’t have to thank me for anything,” Jade said. “Just promise me you won’t go do something stupid like jumping in front of a train or something else.”
They both gave short smiles before they both got well acquainted with their shoes once more. Silence ensued as both of them thought about what to say next. Jade moved her feet in circles, creating little patterns in the dirt and Kurt watched as he scrunched and released his toes. It was nerve wracking for the both of them. They didn’t know what to say or how to even begin to explain the feelings bottled up inside their chest. A first crush was intimidating enough, but when that crush reciprocated those feelings it was ten times worse.
“You know, I’ve never really thought that a world like this could exist,” Jade said with a gasp that startled both of them.
Kurt gave her a quizzical look and stared at her side profile. Her green eyes looked like sea glass as she raised them to look at the sun. Actually the sun accentuated all of her. Her features such as her jawline and her white hair looked radiant and to him, she looked like a goddess among all of the lowly commoners around them. With a slight dusting of pink on his cheeks, he swallowed the lump in his throat and continued on.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well,” Jade said and she swallowed the lump in her throat as well. “A place where mutants can exist outside the general public. A place where I can feel safe. A place where I can meet lifelong friends.”
Kurt shook his head from side to side. “You do have a point in-,” he said.
“A place where I can meet someone like you,” she said, cutting him off slightly and finally bringing her eyes to look at him. Her cheeks were aglow and red due to the rush of heat that filled her body. Her chest was rapidly rising and falling with her deep breaths as her nerves got a hold of her. Her once settled fingers became restless as she picked at the chipping paint on the stone bench with her fingernails. She couldn’t help it. The way Kurt looked at her with his glowing, soft eyes. The way he seemed to know what she was feeling before she even knew herself. The way he made her feel so comforted without even doing anything and just being by her side. It was enough to undo the stony, at times unfeeling facade she put up nearly everyday. She wondered if he knew that right now.
When she looked at Kurt, his heart nearly exploded. She looked so cute the way she blushed and looked so nervous. He could tell without even asking that the worry was eating her alive. He wondered if she knew how highly he regarded her, the way she made him feel so at home and comforted. It was something he never knew before and something he wanted to hold onto for the rest of his life.
Suddenly, doubt took a hold of him. What if she was saying these words just to make him think that someone actually liked someone who looked like him? What if she was lying? What if she wasn’t being sincere? He wanted to believe with all his heart that she wasn’t lying and that this moment, as lovely and fleeting as it was, wasn’t all fake. He wanted to believe in the soft, love filled eyes she was giving him. He wanted to believe her flushed cheeks weren’t due to guilt and instead of a feeling she could no longer get away with keeping inside her chest. It was hard for him to believe anything. With his past and with the way people have treated him, he knew that this was a fear he’d had for his whole entire life. The question was, would he be able to get over it enough to actually believe that someone wanted him as much as he wanted them?
With the doubt still growing in his chest, he answered her. “Do you really mean that?” he asked, tearing his eyes away from hers. He put a hand to his head and looked down. “Why would you fall in love with someone like me?” he continued. “I’m…I’m…”
“Beautiful beyond words,” Jade said. She put her hand on his cheek and pulled his face forward to look at her. For some reason, her eyes were misty and she looked like she was about to cry. But for what reason, Kurt wondered. “I think every inch of you is beautiful from your pointed tail to your soft, big eyes,” she said. “To the scars all over your body that I know that you gave yourself.”
“How…how did you?” Kurt asked.
“I have to apologize,” she said. “I read your mind when you were rounding a corner. I was startled. I did it on instinct.”
Kurt laughed. He wondered if that instinct ever got her in trouble with her professors or others who weren’t too fond of being snooped on. He would forgive her for now, but she needed to work on that. One day, she might come across someone who might not react too gently to her intrusions.
“You know, we’ll have to work on that,” he whispered to her. Before he knew it, he took her hand that was still on his face and pulled her close. Their lips touched and it was like the whole world faded away around them. It was just them, slowly embracing and kissing as the world around them seemed to stand still. Every laugh of the other mutants, every call of a nearby bird, even the wind that danced around them didn’t matter to them and didn’t exist for five blissful moments. Neither of them wanted to pull away. For once, they were both comforted by who they were with and this very new thing they were experiencing.
It was soft. It was sweet. It was everything they’ve ever dreamed of. When they finally pulled away, they instantly touched their foreheads together and stayed still for a moment. Jade’s hands were warm against Kurt’s face as she started to wipe away tears he hadn’t realized started to cascade down his face.
“I knew from the very moment I saw you that you were someone like me,” Jade said. “Someone who has seen horror beyond measure and who had the scars to prove it.” She smiled sweetly as tears fell out of her own eyes. The flood of relief had finally washed over her, causing the tears. It was a hard feeling to describe. It was happy. It was sad. It was sweet. It was bitter. She was so incredibly ecstatic, but at the same time she was saddened by the fact that she had so little faith in someone she’s known for a good amount of time now. Part of her wanted to be hard on herself for not realizing it sooner. The other part, the stronger part, knew that this was new. Incredibly new. Something she’s never experienced before so she should give herself some slack.
Kurt leaned forward and kissed each of her cheeks in an effort to get the tears to stop flowing from her eyes. Jade laughed as his lips touched her heated skin and when they pulled away, she pushed his hair behind his ears to reveal the big, goofy eyes she’d grown to love. She smiled once again. Kurt smiled as well and he took one of her hands in his and squeezed tight. “Out of all the things that were wrong in my life, I know that this, this right here is incredibly right,” he said. “Thank you, Jade. For accepting me for who I am. For believing in me when I thought I was useless.”
Jade’s smile faded for a moment, she took her hand from his head, and she looked to the side. Her sudden change of expression caused a heavy weight of dread to drop into Kurt’s stomach and he gulped. He watched as Jade’s eyes darted from side to side as if she was trying to decide on something. The last thing her eyes landed on was her stomach. She took her other hand away from Kurt’s and started to lift her shirt up. A tidal wave of embarrassment washed over Kurt. This was moving too quickly! At least that’s what he thought at first. When he noticed the dark, jagged scars that ran across her belly and reached under her shirt to the rest of her body he gasped. What happened to her?
Jade gave a short laugh at his shocked expression and the way his eyes watered. That was everyone’s first reaction to her scars. Though most weren’t as gentle as Kurt was with their reactions. “You don’t have to prove anything to me,” Jade said, catching his attention. “I told you we have similar scars.”
“If there’s one thing I do with this life it will be protecting you from ever feeling this amount of pain again,” he said, his eyes sincere and his expression serious. “I promise you.”
Jade was tempted to cry again but instead she dropped her shirt and kissed each of his cheeks like he did for her. After she pulled away again they sat there on that stone bench, hands connected, and talking for hours and hours before it was time to go back to the mansion.
Jean, Storm, Peter, and Scott heard the two as they teleported back to the mansion and the four of them poked their heads out from a room. They watched as the two walked sleepily down the hallway, hands still clasped and leaning on each other to prevent the other from collapsing from sleep. Scott and Peter gave a small high five while Storm and Jean smiled at each other, their hearts bursting with joy for the two. They ducked back into the room before the two walking down the hall could notice and they all looked at each other.
Jean nodded as they shared the amicable silence and said one thing. “You know what, I think we’ll be okay,” she said.