X-Men: First Class Fics

[Mercury]

A/N: This is the first of a couple of x-men fics focusing on characters from First Class who aren’t Charles or Erik. I'll probably post them all here, just to keep it more organized. All will be male, most will be colds, so I hope that's okay.

This one hasn't been re-read. I'm in the middle of exams and too impatient to wait till I actually have time to go through it properly, so please forgive any mistakes.

Anyway, Enjoy!

Sneeze in Red

The mansion was very different to prison, although that kind of went without saying. Sometimes Alex would forget to close the curtains before going to bed, something he’d never had to do before. When the sun shone through the window to wake him up the sight of frames across the windows, sending lines of shadow across the room, it would send tendrils of panic through his chest.

Alex breathed labouredly in the shower, the steam loosening the congestion that had kept him awake. He braced himself against the wall and coughed heavily, his chest rattling as he did.

“Hep’Ttttchhh!” Congestion prevented him getting the release he needed, and Alex groaned as pain shot through his head, the restrained force sending painful tickles through his nose.

The water hissed as it hit his skin and evaporated. The small red licks of energy that had fluttered around his body eased off, reabsorbing into his skin before they grew too big to be pulled back.

There were thin, clean slices that had appeared on the shower wall. They had come close to hitting his hands. He didn’t know whether he could actually hurt himself, or whether some sort of self-preservation would kick in, but it wasn’t something he wanted to test.

“Alex,” came the telepathic call, “breakfast is almost ready if you’d like to come down.”

It wasn’t quite an invitation. After Erik had left with Raven, Charles had been insisting on spending every meal as a group. Alex sniffled and pressed a finger to the middle of his forehead, trying to force the headache back. He didn’t want to see anyone when he was feeling so shit.

“Hit’Ishhhhhoo!” Red energy shivered around him and Alex’s body soon followed as he shut off the hot water, the cold air of the bathroom washing over him. He reached for a towel and ran it vigorously across his hair, trying to move as quickly as possible. He grabbed his t-shirt and through it on, the cotton sticking to his wet skin. He threw on his sweatshirt and leather jacket to keep warm and left the bathroom still steamy.

Padding in bare feet through out through the rooms, Alex sniffled and wiped his nose of the back of his jacket sleeve, but had to keep it buried there as his breath hitched.

“Het’Isshhhtt! Heh’Kisshhh!”

When he was sure another wasn’t coming, Alex lifted his head to see if he’d done any damage to the hallway. He wasn’t close enough to the walls for his licks of energy to hit anything. A wood table had a little bit of heat damage, the varnish showing hazy white marks, and Alex glanced around before rotating it so the mark was invisible.

... It probably wasn’t safe for him to be at a breakfast surrounded by people.

He used to be to prideful to admit he was sick, but his mutation changed that. While people looking at him in pity or disgust at annoyed him, it still wasn’t as bad as them looking at him with the same fear he felt about himself. While his powers never fully lost control, never reached the intensity needed for the energy to manifest and explode from him, it was still terrifying.

Entering the dining area, where the table was laid out with plates of pancakes and fruit, Alex was coughing thickly.

Hank and Sean looked up from their meals.

“That sounds horrid, Alex,” spoke an English accent.

Alex looked to the door with water and spots in his eyes, blinking at the professor for a moment. The older man was looking up at him with the deepest concern, and Alex wished that Xavier would just read his mind, so he didn’t have to speak.

“I'b gettig sick. It's put by powers outta whack too so I thig I should just go back to by roob, sorry.” He sniffed heavily and gave a tired wave to the others before turning to leave.

“I can bring you up some food,” said the professor, “if you’re ill then you should eat.”

Rubbing a finger under his tickling nose, Alex shook his head. “No, I...hehhh... I'll be fide.”

“Nonsense, you’ll nutrients if you want to get better.”

“Hihhh...I thiihhh...”He felt his breath catch as a heat rose from his chest, “thig I should j-just go.” He jammed his fist under his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. “I... hihhh... I gotta...”

Alex turned and ran. He pelted through the halls, his breath hitching and nose flaring. A humming sensation seemed to ring in his ears and crawl under his skin.

“Alex?” Xavier’s mind prodded.

“Please, don’t follow me!”

He shouldered the heavy front door open and tripped. Tumbling down the front steps, Alex held his breath until he hit dirt and could brace himself, on hands and knees, hoping he was far enough away from the building.

“HAESSSHHHOO!!”

Bring red rings circled and shot out from him. He could feel his body shake and convulse as it got its release, gasping for breath.

“Heshhisshhh!! Heh... Et’Tishhhh!!”

Alex blinked his eyes open. The stones beneath him were damp with moisture, a drip fell from his nose and landed between the pebbles as he sat back on his legs, wiping his nose on the leather sleeve. He glanced around to see scorch marks in the grass, a tree that had been sliced half through and was teetering, and the ruined steps to the front door.

“Bless you.”

“Thanks... and sorry.”

Edited October 13, 2011 by Mercury

[Spoo]

Another Alex fic! YAY! Talk about super exciting, Mercury. I love how you set this up so far - especially because it's post-movie. I have a soft spot for loss of control (and powers!) when it comes to mutant/superhuman/not normal person sneezing. Haha. So this was fantastic! I feel so bad for Alex, though. Poor thing. He needs rest!

I can't wait for mooooore!

<3 Spoo~

PS: If you ever need a BETA, I'm more than willing. I often find myself with WAY too much time on my hands.

[Winged]

Mercury, I LOVE your First Class fics! They're so brilliantly done. I really love that you're focusing on some of the minor characters - not that I don't love Charles and Erik (because I do!), but it's great to see some of our other friends represented. Great sneeze spelling, great Charles characterization - well done!

[LeapYearKisses]

I absolutely love the lose-control-of-powers-when-sick convention that this fandom has adopted (I admit I don't know if there's actually a basis for it in the comics/etc, but even if there isn't it's SO worth having!). Thank you for this lovely Alex fic! I look forward to more of your talented work.

[Mercury]

A/N: Thank you all for the kind words so far! Here’s the next bit. ‘Tis Hank in his pre-beast form, and I hope everybody likes it.

BETA-ed by the talented, wonderful and very lovely Spoo

Enjoy!

Sneeze in Notes

Hank ran a hand through his floppy, brown hair and tried to clear his throat to dissuade the annoying tickle. It was nearing two in the morning, unbeknownst to him, and he had been hidden away in his lab for the entire day.

He wiggled his nose and turned to bury it in the sleeve of his pristine lab coat. “Hishhoo! Tishhhh! Etchhoo!”

He snuffled and pulled a tissue from the box he had set down. He’d gone through nearly half the box, discarding them casually on the floor. He had been sneezing constantly for what he estimated to be two hours and twenty minutes. They had been coming more frequently over the past forty-five minutes and, he noted, had been grouping themselves together for the past fifteen or so.

He made a record of it in his notebook.

Hank had never been much concerned with time. He would write down meticulous details about what he was doing with his experiments, but never the time when he was working, which left him at a loss. Something in his lab, some combination of chemicals he had concocted, was making him sneeze, and he couldn’t calculate what chemical he had added when it all started.

He was sure that what he had made would help his problem, would fix his feet and make him... normal, but if he was having this sort of reaction to it, then injecting it into his bloodstream would probably not be a smart move.

“Hitchhhh! Ishhhoo! Hihh... Hishhhh!”

Reaching for another tissue with one hand Hank brushed the droplets from his pages with the other, smudging the already near-illegible handwriting. He placed the tissue around his nose to restrict its running while flicking through pages.

After a moment, Hank brought his other hand to the tissue and used it to help hold the already moist Kleenex more securely.

“Tishhhoo! Hishhhh! Hit’Ishhhh!... Itchhhoo!”

The young doctor blinked his eyes open and reached for a pen to make note of the extra sneeze. He blew his nose thickly before dropping the tissue absentmindedly and reaching for a small, sealed test tube.

Maybe, he thought while staring at its green contents, it should be scrapped. It would work, he was positive, but it really wasn’t worth the risk.

Hank shuddered, setting the vial aside in its rack.

“Hank?”

The scientist jumped, knocking the small notebook (where he had been documenting his nasal reaction) to the floor. Raven, her blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, stood in the doorway.

“Raven. D-Don’t sneak up on me like that,” he scolded. His heart, though, wasn’t into it. She was backlit by the hallway light, and looked like a vision of beauty.

She smiled, her face radiant. “I’m sorry.” Raven crossed the threshold into his laboratory, “it’s late, and I noticed you hadn’t emerged from your lair yet.” She wrapped a hand around him and rested her chin on his shoulder. “So what’s got you so fascinated?”

“The... Our serum.” He explained, “I think I’m on the right track I ju... Hitchhhh!” He turned from Raven and clamped his hand over his nose. “Hishhhoo! Itchhoo! Hisshhhh!”

“Bless you, Hank.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, I-I think I’m allergic to something in the lab, I’m just trying to figure out what combination’s ma.... Ishhhh! Hih’Itchhh!... making me do that.”

Raven giggled and ran a hand through his hair. “Bless you again.” She moved to perch herself on the bench in front of him. Hank flushed red, embarrassed that she had a clear view of how rough this allergy had made his face. He sniffed thickly and ran his sleeve under his nose, worried that with Raven perched in front of him he wouldn’t be able to direct his sneezes away from her.

“Maybe it’s just your nose’s way of telling you that you’ve been playing with chemicals for too long and need a break.”

Hank chuckled, pushing his glasses up his nose. “You’re probably right.” He gave her a shaky smile, which fell as soon as it appeared. He pinched his nose shut and closed his eyes.

The sneezes pressed against his eardrums as his head bobbed silently. When he resurfaced, Raven was smiling at him.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Smiling, Hank looked into her beautiful dark eyes and nodded. She shifted off the benches so he had room to stand while he grasped for one last tissue to help clear his nose, turning from a continuously amused Raven to blow.

He would leave his experiments for now. Raven was probably right, and the small green vial was not the source of his nasal irritation. He would return to his notes in the morning and confirm that it would do what he... they needed it to.

But, for the time being, he would give his nose a break.

[tma]

Awwww!! I sneezy Hank! So cute. *grins*

[VividBubbles!]

Hank, Hank, Hankedy, Hank! YAY! I loved his character in the movie! You should continue your Alex story! Yes, yes, yes. Alex is hot. Yes, yes, yes. Update soon! Yes, yes, yes. Hehe. Yes.

BYE!

P.S. Sorry for bein' so crazy. I need some coffee. Yes, yes, yes.

BYE! Again.

[Spoo]

D'awww! You didn't have to mention me, silly. I was more than happy to BETA for you! I was just lucky the story was already so wonderful by itself.

Haaaank! He's adorable. I don't care how he and Raven end up, I still support their [awkward] relationship! Even though Hank needs to realize that Raven is beautiful no matter what form she's in. Hehe.

More soon, please!

Spoo~

[Anonymouse]

*revives old-ass XMFC stories to add her pointless commentary*

“Maybe it’s just your nose’s way of telling you that you’ve been playing with chemicals for too long and need a break.”

Hank chuckled, pushing his glasses up his nose. “You’re probably right.” He gave her a shaky smile, which fell as soon as it appeared. He pinched his nose shut and closed his eyes.

The sneezes pressed against his eardrums as his head bobbed silently. When he resurfaced, Raven was smiling at him.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

*giggles and kicks her feet like a madwoman because he only started stifling once she got there*

omg and Alex nearly destroying the mansion... goddamn.

I agreed with what Winged said, I LOVE Charles and Erik but I also LOVE the other characters too. Variety is the spice (heh) of life.

[heckyeahsneezes]

OHHHH. I love this. You gotta continue! Don't keep the people waiting! Alex is a smexy beast- I had to put that out there

[RemedyBane]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE continue!!! this is sooo amazing!!!

[ID2006]

Mmmm, yay sick and sneezy mutants.