Yo, there's a reason I eat flies. 't's not like they're my favorite food or nuthin', even if they do call me Toad. An' I don't really like wearing the same damn thing all the time, or my hygiene. This stuff just kinda happened.
Look, my parents ain't bad people. My family has issues, just like everybody's. 'ts not like they beat me or nuthin'. They don't really wanna drink all the time; they just don't know what else ta do. So, mosta the welfare cash went ta pay for their booze, and I stole school lunches. And, once I got my powers, ate flies. They tasted really bad at first, but I got usta 'em. High protein and whatever. I didn't really have the option of bein' all picky. An' before you say it, my parent's didn't ditch me for bein' a mutant. They wanted me ta live in at the Brotherhood 'cause they knew it would be better for me, gettin' decent food an' stuff. They call sometimes. I visit a couple time a month, an' they're always happy ta see me. We're lovin' and stuff, but kinda broken too, ya get it?
Look, I don't feel too bad stealin' luches from anybody who's drivin' around in a convertable or somethin' an' probably buys 'is lunch anyway. I'd work for my food if I could, but it ain't happening. Come on, if you were some fast food joint, or store or whatever, would you hire me? Didn't think so. The more I wash, the faster I sweat slime. Gave up after awhile. I brush my teeth twice a day, but they stay green and my breath still stinks. I ain't gonna get a job. So, same clothes every day, and I keep eating flies.
Now, from what I hear, they gave me some sorta trial run up at the mansion once. An' when I failed, the jerks wiped my memory. What'd they expect? I ain't gonna fit in up there. No table manners for one. Heck, we don't even have a table back home. Well, we had an old card table, but it's not the kinda thing you use for them fancy dinners an' stuff like I bet they have up there. Hey, I wanna eat some snails, I don't need ta make a big deal 'bout it. An' I never heard that they gave blue boy a test before they let 'im in. My powers just ain't powerful enough for them X-Geeks. Who needs 'em. As if I went an' picked out my powers. Look, if I coulda picked bein' super fast or makin' stuff float around instead a' hopin' an' havin' a long tongue an' slime, I woulda.
I like the Brotherhood for a reason. They accept me here. I remember once, Lance went out ta the store, an' picked up like, a whole ton of different soaps and shampoo an' stuff. Pietro acted like it was some kinda…'clinical trial,' he called it. I used one product each day, an' they figured out which worked best on me. An' then, nobody ever mentioned my hygiene again, but they always made sure ta buy the right stuff.
Freddy knows what it's like better'n anyone else. Maybe that's why he's my best bud. I've seen 'im try to diet an' stuff. It don't matter how much or how little he eats, he's still gonna be the same size, an' people are gonna make fun of him. What they don't know is how much he likes all that health crud. Freddy'll eat chips and stuff, but he also eats tons of fruits and veggies. He thinks he might become a vegetarian. Say's if he's gonna hafta eat so much, he doesn't wanna be eatin' stuff that feels pain.
An' Wanda. She's messed up, yeah, but she has reason to be. Her dad's a real piece a' work. She couldn't control her powers as a kid, so he abandoned her. He had her locked up in some nuthouse, an' never visited her or let Pietro see her neither. She has nightmares all the time where I hear her screamin' for her ol' man. She says she's sorry, she'll never do it again, please don't send her away. The only time she lets me touch her is when I wake her up, an' she cries. I'm thinkin' that maybe when he was tryin' to teach her to control her powers, ol' man Xavier shoulda been tellin' her it wasn't her fault instead. Maybe she'd be able to control her powers if someone helped her fix her mind.
See, here's the reall difference 'tween us and those X-greeks. They keep tryin' ta pass for normal. We know we ain't never gonna be normal, and we're tryin' ta deal with that. Yeah, I know everyone knows who they are now, but they keep at it. They're all tryin' ta pretend that beein' a mutant don't mean more'n havin' blue eyes or bein' double jointed. Tell that ta me'n Freddy. An' if ya look at who they let in, ya gotta think they only want the pretty mutants or ones with real special powers an' stuff.
I know I'm the Toad, an' no matter how much I wanna just be Todd, that ain't gonna happen.
I ain't gonna try and play superhero so people'll tolerate me bein' in their presence. I'm not bitter anymore, 'cause I got my buds. I don't worry 'bout where my next meal's comin from no more. I'm just real sick of people actin' like I don't exist, or like I'm somethin' that exists just for them to mock. If the only way I'm gonna get a little respect is ta fight for it, I'll do that. But I ain't gonna fight for the same jerks who try to trample me. An' if you don't wanna try an' understand me, at least don't try an' make me somethin' I'm not.
't's hard bein' in love. Worse when you're like me, or Freddy, or even Lance. It hurts.
You'd think Lance'd have it easy. He looks human, an' he can control his powers mosta the time. That Kitty girl barely gives him the time of day, though. Yeah, I know he tried to get her ta use her powers for him once, 'an he scared her, but he said he was sorry. He's been tryin' not ta scare her. The guy just wants her ta look at him as if he were halfway decent, instead of like people look at me. Like he's lower than her or somethin'. He's always watchin' out for her, an' she don't even care. Gets me mad sometimes.
Freddy's got it bad too. He's got a thing for Boom-Boom. Tabitha, y'know? I gotta say, I can see why. Tabs ain't like Kitty. She treated us the same as she treats them X-Geeks. Like we're normal. Tabs never flinched away from me, or glared at me for snappin' up my food as soon as it was on the plate. She helped Freddy find some cookbooks for that vegetarian crud. She's pretty, but that ain't why he likes her. Freddy likes her because she don't think she's too pretty for people like us.
Despite his size, Freddy is the only one outta all of us that might actually get a girlfriend. He and Tabs did go ta that dance together. Yeah, she danced with me a bunch too, so I wouldn't look like some pathetic wallflower, but she wasn't really my date. An' once, when we were all watchin' TV, she fell asleep on his shoulder. Snuggled right up ta him. Freddy blushed so much, he turned bright red. He kinda reminded me of a tomato, an' I know I wasn't the only one, but we didn't say nuthin' about it. Good that somebody's happy, right?
I don't think I'm gonna be that lucky. Wanda never sleeps where someone might see her. She don't like to be helpless around people. I know she thinks I'm gross. Compared ta her, I'm real weak. That might be the only thing that gives me a shot. Wanda don't like strong guys ta get too close ta her. She starts flinchin' like someone's gonna hit her. It makes me wanna break inta that nuthouse she was in an' stat smashin' some of them' orderlies for whatever they did ta her there. She knows I'm not like that. I'm too weak ta be a threat ta her. Maybe that's why, even though she don't like me much, she don't smash me when I wake her up from a nightmare.
A few nights ago, she had her worst nightmare yet. I'm surprised she didn't wake the whole house up, she was screamin' so loud. From what she yelled, I think it was a memory of some crazy guy back at the nuthouse. He was tryin' ta hurt her, an' she was all scared an' beggin' her dad ta' save her. When I woke her up, she actually grabbed me. Started sobbin' inta my shirt, an' kept sobbin until she cried herself back ta sleep. That's whay I don't care if she likes me or not. She needs me, so I'm gonna be there for her, even if I'm just her punchin' bag and wake-up call. I love her.
So, I heard the Professor had this monster vision 'bout the future. I heard the X-Geeks were still out bein' boy scouts an' stuff, and we're still gonna be the bad guys. I gotta say, I ain't surprised. I'm happy.
No matter what mutants do ta make the normals like us, they ain't gonna. We're always gonna be the freaks ta them. The X-Geeks act like they gotta change themselves ta be like everyone else. It's nice ta know that the Brotherhood will always keep it real.
That's another thing we got goin' for us. Those guys are the X-Men. Professor X's Men. No matter who we work for, or what we do, though, we're always gonna be the Brotherhood. We look out for ourselves, an' so we'll always be able to trust each other more than those wusses out to save all mankind or somethin'.
Here's what I see when I think about our future. If we're still together, that'll mean Pietro finally had a chance to talk to Wanda, and they're okay. Lance ain't chasin' Kitty no more, 'cause he don't need her. He'll be his own man. Freddy'll be able to walk down the street, an' won't care what anybody says about him, 'cause he could crush 'em inta the pavement if he wanted ta. An' me? Well, maybe I ain't gonna be datin' Wanda. Maybe I'll never be the kinda person an X-Geek would respect. I'm can live with that. My brothers respect me, and as long as I'm Todd ta them, I don't care if ta everyone else, I'm just the Toad.