So Be Good

Link to this fic on Livejournal.

Title: So Be Good...

Series: X-men Evolution

Characters/pairings: Toad/Nightcrawler.

Rating: PG-13

Word count: 1057

Summary: Todd gets a Christmas visit and a gift.

Notes/Warnings: Fluff!

Beta:

takeru_bill08 beat my commas into submission. Thank you!Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all and I certainly don't make any money from writing this. *sniff*

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Todd woke up, not quite sure what could have pulled him from sleep. It was 5 AM according to the dented hands on the old ticker on the window sill, and there was no fucking way in hell he would ever wake up that early by himself. There was an odd smell, but hey, this was the den of The Toad. Everything here was smelly.

He was just about to turn over and go back to sleep, when something prodded his shoulder. He jumped out of bed in shock; and when The Toad jumps, it's not just a little hop. Consequently, he ended up on the ceiling, clutching an exposed pipe that squeaked pitifully at the abuse.

“Hey! Hey! Todd, it's ok! It's me!”

Todd sent a suspicious upside down glare at his visitor, confirming with his sleep gunked eyes what his ears had already told him. His kinda-sorta boyfriend had chosen to pop by. Literally.

Letting himself drop to his bed, making it sag in the middle where the springs were tired from use, he buried himself under his covers again and grumbled: “Whatever it is, Fuzzy, it can wait until mornin'. In case you didn't notice, it's the middle of the night.”

There was a heavy silence that stretched so far that Todd had begun to hope he would be allowed to sleep. Alas, nothing was that easy when one was kinda-sorta dating the weirdest weirdo in the biggest sea of teenage weirdos in the country.

“Don't... don't you know vhat day it is?”

Pulling the covers tighter over his head, Todd replied sourly: “It ain't day. It's night. And no. Don't know, don't care.”

Todd could hear Kurt moving about and something rustled at his bedside, before his mattress sunk almost to the floor from the added weight of another teen.

“I'm sorry, Todd. I really am. I thought everybody vould be up early today.”

Popping his head out to glare again at Kurt, knowing his golden eyes could easily see it even in the complete darkness, Todd resigned himself to the horrid fate of being awake before daylight.

“No shit, Nightcrawler. What, did I forget your birthday or somethin'?”

Kurt shook his head, and Todd could only detect the motion, because of the glowing eyes swivelling.

“No. It's Christmas. Christmas morning. Everybody is already avake at the mansion, opening presents. I thought the Brotherhood vould be too.”

Oh. Well, that explained it. Didn't make it any less annoying, though.

“Well, you thought wrong, Fuzz Face. Look around. Do you see Santa Claus around here somewhere? Or maybe you have to be an elf...”

For that remark, Kurt cruelly flicked on the only lamp in Todd's room, making him groan and hide under the covers again.

“No, Frog Breath. I just came by to give you your present.”

The covers drifted away from the muddy-yellow eyes, wide with surprise. “My... what?”

Kurt held up a little box, wrapped in paper so explosively colorful, it almost hurt Todd's eyes more than the unforgiving light. Apparently waiting for some sort of response, Kurt simply stared at Todd and kept holding the present towards him. Todd swallowed and eyed the gift with disbelief.

“I didn't get you anythin',” he mumbled.

Shrugging, Kurt pushed it against his chest with a crooked smile, so Todd had no choice but to take it. Holding it in his hands, he stared at it for a long while.

“Vell? Open it!” Kurt was grinning with excitement, so Todd picked at the tape holding the wrapping together for a few seconds, but then he let his hands and the gift drop to his lap. Kurt inched closer and his eyes darted from the present to Todd's face. “Vhat? Vhat's vrong?”he asked quietly.

Todd simply looked away and held the gift back to Kurt. “Better take this back, dawg. I don't deserve it.”

Kurt refused to take the gift and pushed it back into Todd's lap. “Vhat are you talking about? Of course you deserve it!”

Frowning at Kurt, Todd said flatly: “Oh yeah? Remember that song? About the kids bein' naughty or nice? Where, on that check list, do you think my name would be? I ain't exactly no angel.”

To his surprise, Kurt grinned. “I've been called a devil many times, but I have alvays gotten presents for Christmas anyvay.” Suddenly his face fell as he realized something. “You... you've never gotten Christmas presents?”

Todd shrugged and and picked at his bed covers. “I dunno. Might have. When I was little. Don't remember. I always figured that there was no point in tryin' to be nice, when nobody was around to care, you know?”

Kurt looked at Todd with such pity it made him squirm and want to get away. “Look, Fuzzy... it's ok. Really. I don't care about presents. I don't expect any and I'm not good at... well... bein' good.”

There was a brief silence, heavy between them, until suddenly, Kurt leaned forward and squeezed Todd tightly to his chest. He buried his head in Todd's shoulder and mumbled: “You've been good to me. Good for me. You deserve presents. And I'm sorry I vasn't there to give you some sooner.”

Getting all choked up from all the emotional shit, Todd tickled Kurt's spine and deflated the moment with a joke. “Oh, you gimme plenty, Hot Fuzz.”

Kurt chuckled and let go of him in favour of giving him a heated look. “Maybe later. But if you don't open that gift, you von't be getting anything for a vhile. Your choice.”

With a quick kiss to his cheek, Kurt vanished in a flash and a smell of rotten eggs, leaving Todd on his bed, awake at an ungodly hour with a present in his lap. After a while, the smell and Todd's doubt both dissipated and he ripped off the paper to find a pair of boxers with frogs printed on them, and a note on top.

In Kurt's messy hand, it said simply:

“I will be back later to see if they fit ok. And then I'm going to get you out of them again. Your Fuzzy.”

Todd couldn't help but grin to himself. Sometimes it wasn't such a bad thing being kinda-sorta dating a weirdo. Especially when that weirdo was Kurt Wagner.

End