Side by Side with You: Chapter 2

An X-Men Evolution Fanfic

Evan wondered why he couldn’t make any home last.

He’d tried.

From the day he’d realized he was a mutant, he knew one day he would have to leave home and go to the Institute. His aunt tried to make it sound exciting, but he hadn’t wanted to leave his school, his parents, or his friends. In the end, he never got a choice. His friends had left him, and the professor forced his hand.

And then he hadn’t even fit in among the X-men. The professor and his aunt made that very clear. And though he got along well and had fun with the other members of his team, he’d never been close to any of them–not like they were with each other.

He’d thought, when he joined the Morlocks, that he would finally have a permanent place, a place where he was always needed.

Clearly he’d been mistaken there as well.

Callisto barely turned away from the women she had been talking to. “I already have a group on a supply run.”

“What?” Evan asked. “How long have they been gone?” He was supposed to know when they went out. He was supposed to go on the supply runs in case they needed help. He was supposed to protect them, and he couldn’t do that if they didn’t tell him–

“They’re fine,” Callisto assured him. “Carver and Scaleface went with them. Calliban suggested it, and I thought it would be good for Carver to see how things work around here.”

It . . . it made sense. Carver was strong, but he was still new and getting used to working as a part of a team, and Scaleface could help with that.

Funny. He remembered the professor saying the same thing about him, and yet it had never been a problem with the Morlocks.

“That’s good, then, I guess. I wanted to check on the tunnels near 47th street since they’ve been doing all that construction.” He needed something to do today. Something besides just remember–

“Oh, Facade went to check on it already. He remembered you saying something about it, and thought he’d help out.”

Oh.

“Cool. That’s . . . that’s great.”

He felt something crash into his legs, and saw Torpid get up and keep running, along with another kid who had just arrived with his parents several weeks ago. Their group had grown so much in the past few months that he couldn’t even remember everyone’s names.

And now there was nowhere left for him.

He turned around and walked out. Callisto didn’t ask where he was going. He wasn’t sure she even saw him leave.

It was still early evening, but it was completely dark when he pushed open the manhole and climbed out. It was safer for them when it got dark so early, he knew, but he couldn’t help missing the sunlight.

He put the cover back and walked to the park he usually went to, but the basketball court was empty as he knew it would be. He wouldn’t come out tonight.

Where else could he go?

His aunt had been begging him to come back to the Institute (“home” she called it, as though the past two years meant nothing) for months. Maybe he should go visit. It would give him something to do for the night, at least.

It felt . . . strange to be back on the mansion’s steps for the first time in so long. It felt even stranger to just let himself in, despite the fact that the code hadn’t been changed since he left, so he knocked.

The door swung open. “Evan! Hey, how’s it going?” Sam asked as he held the door open.

“Hey, man.” Evan shook his hand. “It’s good to see you.”

“You here to see Storm? I can go find her.”

“Yeah, yeah, that would be great.” Sam nodded and ran upstairs.

After standing awkwardly in the foyer for several minutes, Evan decided he was being ridiculous and moved into the living room, where he found several of the younger kids playing scrabble. He winced at their bickering and decided to find somewhere else to wait.

He slipped into the library, where he was glad to see a fire had been lit. He shut the door behind him and moved over to warm his hands.

“Evan?”

He froze. Surely–surely he misheard.

Slowly he turned around, and saw he hadn’t made a mistake. Mr. Lehnsherr–no, Magneto, he reminded himself again–stood in the corner, holding an open book.

Evan rolled onto the balls of his feet and clenched his fists. “What are you doing here?”

Magneto raised his hand in a calming sort of gesture. “I’m not here for a fight. Quite the contrary, actually.”

The door burst open, and Evan turned slightly, to keep an eye on both Magneto and the newcomer–until he realized it was his aunt.

“Evan!” She held out her arms to hug him, then faltered when he made no move toward her. “Oh, don’t worry about Erik. Charles knows he is here.”

Evan didn’t relax. “Why?”

Seeming to realize he wouldn’t join her anytime soon, she moved to him and laid her hand on his shoulder. “A lot has changed since you left. Erik is now an instructor here.”

“What?"

No.

No. That couldn’t be right. How could the professor–how could his aunt–have let this happen when they knew–they knew–

Magneto’s expression shifted into a weary sort of sadness that might have made Evan feel sorry for him . . . back in elementary school. “Charles has been ill for some time, and is struggling with running the school as he has in the past. He invited me to come help him, and I decided to accept.”

Was he breathing? He wasn’t sure. He was too angry to think of anything else.

Especially today. Today, of all days, and the man saw nothing wrong with spending it in a school full of other people’s children.

“Evan, where are you going?”

He hadn’t realized he was moving until he was halfway to the front door, his aunt clinging to his hand.

“Away. I refuse to stay here with him."

His aunt cast him a sympathetic look. “I understand we’ve had a troubling past with Erik, but–”

We, she said, like the X-Men’s history with him is the problem here. Like that’s the only thing he could be upset about, like it doesn’t even matter–

“–He seems to truly want to change. He has been an excellent instructor, and the younger students all seem to love him.”

“If he really wanted to change, he wouldn’t be here tonight.”

She frowned, confused, and he didn’t wait for her to realize what he meant. He pulled out of her grip and pushed open the door, stepping back into the frosty night. He walked around the building. He didn’t know where to go yet, but he didn’t want to be caught either.

He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes as he tried to breathe and push away the burning anger. How could they?

A slight rustle that didn’t sound like wind came from the bushes. His eyes flew open, and he spotted a small, shadowy figure walking away. He took a few steps closer, then held out his arm, ready to throw some spikes. “Stop!”

The figure froze, then a familiar voice asked, “Evan?”

He blinked. “Kitty?”

She was in front of him before he realized it, clapping a hand over his mouth. “Shh!” She grabbed his arm and tugged him along behind her. “Come on.”

Still confused, he followed as she walked over to the wall around the property and phased them both through it, then pulled him down the street after her. “Why were you sneaking out?” he asked when they were out of danger of being caught.

She held up a grocery bag full of . . . something. “I forgot to bring this to school with me, so I had to come back to the Institute, and I didn’t want anyone asking questions.”

He had questions, but those weren’t important. “How long has Magneto been a teacher?”

Kitty sighed, and he was relieved to see she looked nearly as unhappy with the position as he felt. “He showed up around the beginning of July, so, like, six months now? I hoped maybe Scott or Ororo would talk the professor out of it, but since the professor said it was fine, obviously he must be right.” She rolled her eyes. “At least he seems to genuinely like the younger kids, or Kurt and I wouldn’t be willing to leave nearly as much.”

Evan wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or worse.

Kitty stopped, and he realized they were standing in front of a house.

A very familiar house.

Crap.

“Wait, Kitty–”

She knocked.

Why hadn’t he paid enough attention?

She turned back to him. “Yes?”

“I-I have to go.”

Her eyes widened, as though it only just occurred to her where she brought him. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t actually mean to bring you all the way here. Of course you don’t have to stay if you don’t–”

The door swung open, and he froze. Wanda smiled at Kitty, then her eyes flicked to him. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, then her eyes widened. “Evan?”

Pietro materialized in the door. He scowled as soon as he saw Evan. “What are you doing here?”

I was just leaving, he meant to say. Or maybe, sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. Instead, the words that had been burning on his tongue all day slipped out.

“Happy birthday.”

He could feel Kitty staring at him, but he look away as Pietro’s scowl only deepened, and–for some reason–Wanda lit up.

“Thank you,” Wanda said as she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. Kitty followed him in, and Todd shut the door behind them. There went his last hope of escape. Wanda dragged him into the kitchen, where Lance and Fred were attempting to frost a cake.

Lance looked up when they came in. He frowned when he saw Evan, then his eyes dropped to Wanda’s hand, still wrapped around his arm. He cast a questioning look at Kitty, who just shrugged.

Wanda seemed oblivious to the confusion. “I was trying to tell them about the cake,” she said when she finally released his arm. “I wanted to have it again, but I don’t remember the recipe.”

“We’ve been looking for that recipe for days,” Kitty said. “I doubt Evan knows–”

“You mean the lemon pound cake?” Evan asked. He definitely knew that cake. Wanda had begged his mom to make it every year.

Everyone but Pietro turned to stare at him. Wanda beamed. “Yes!”

Honestly, he’d be more surprised if she did remember the recipe since they’d only been allowed to help bake it the year before– “I don’t completely remember it, but it’s printed on the side of the bag of flour she always buys.”

Pietro rolled his eyes. “I told you.”

Wanda frowned, confused. “But–but I thought your mom used a cookbook.”

Something . . . changed in the room. Where a second ago, everyone had been relaxed and talking, suddenly the room grew silent, and everyone seemed tense, like they were waiting for something. Pietro’s knuckles grew pale where he gripped the back of a chair.

“Not for that,” Evan said slowly. It wasn’t quite the truth, since he couldn’t remember his mom ever using a cookbook for anything, but it seemed to be the right answer, since everyone relaxed, including Wanda, who seemed to decide it no longer mattered.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Lance said, bringing the iced cake over to the kitchen table. “Since that’s the recipe we used.”

Kitty sat her grocery bag down and pulled out a box of candles. She scattered eighteen candles over the cake, then pulled something else out of the bag.

“Oh no,” Pietro said, holding up his hands and backing away. “Absolutely not.”

She grinned at him. “Come on, Pietro. It’s your birthday. You have to wear a party hat.”

“I do not. I refuse.”

Wanda rolled her eyes and selected a dark blue one when Kitty held out several. Todd hopped over and grabbed one, which he put on and pulled down to cover his forehead. “Look! I’m a unicorn!”

“Or a rhino,” Fred said as he accepted his own hat.

Kitty slipped behind Lance, who was attempting to light all the candles, and stood on her toes to put a hat on him before putting one on herself.

“Come on, Pietro,” Wanda said, holding out another one. “You’re the only one not wearing one.”

Pietro crossed his arms. “Not true. Ev–Daniels isn’t wearing one.”

Wanda frowned, and waved her hand, sending a red haze to surround him.

“Woah, hey! What did you do?” Pietro tried to run away as she stepped in front of him, but seemed stuck to the floor.

“There.” Wanda put a bright green hat on him. She waved her hand again, and the red haze disappeared. Pietro, still struggling, fell flat on the floor. Snickering, Evan held out a hand to help him up, but Pietro glared at him and shot to his feet, moving over to join Lance by the cake. Evan noticed he didn’t try to remove the hat.

Lance finished lighting the candles, and Fred started singing “Happy Birthday”, with Todd and Kitty joining in. It sounded pretty bad, but they seemed to be having fun. Lance cut up the cake, dishing out a piece to everyone, including Evan, and they all crowded into the living room.

It was . . . nice, to be surrounded by a group like this, listening to them all tease and joke with each other. He missed it.

His eyes strayed over to Pietro sitting on the couch and telling a story about work that had Kitty and Fred in stitches, and Wanda leaning into his side, even though last he heard–not that he had been paying attention–they were barely speaking.

“Evan?” Wanda frowned down at her cake. “You didn’t come into town just for this, did you?”

Okay, maybe he really did spend to much time with the Morlocks if the Brotherhood actually thought he had moved away.

“I, uh, still live here, actually.”

Wanda sat up sharply. “You live here? But–since when?”

Pietro stabbed his plate with his fork, and Evan winced at the sound. “For a while? I thought you knew.” Sure he’d been with the Morlocks for a while, but she knew he was an X-Man.

“What?” She looked stricken, heartbroken, like he’d been the one to cut off contact.

At least, he thought she knew.

“Wanda,” Pietro started to say, putting his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off.

“But why? Why didn’t you come to visit?”

“He’s an X-Man,” Todd said. “X-Men don’t come here.”

Wanda rounded on him. “Kurt does sometimes, and Kitty did even before!” She turned back to Evan, and he flinched back from the hurt on her face. He looked at Pietro, who was staring intently at his hands. He wouldn’t get any help there.

“I tried,” he blurted out. “I tried when you first came back, but you refused to talk to me.” Kitty jerked around to look at him, panic on her face, though he didn’t understand why.

“Came back?” Wanda asked, and Pietro went rigid. “I–I don’t understand.”

“Maybe we should get more cake,” Fred suggested loudly, but she didn’t pay him any attention.

“I don’t understand," she said again. “I didn’t go anywhere.”

“Wanda,” Kitty said gently, but Wanda clamped her hands over her ears.

“I didn’t!” she screamed, and the house began to shake. Something crashed in the kitchen, and several picture frames fell off the walls.

Kitty and Lance were moving before Evan realized it, Kitty leaping toward Fred and Todd and grabbing each of their arms just as the large shelf against the wall fell on top of them. She phased them out and pulled them toward the middle of the room. Lance leaned over Wanda and grabbed both of her hands, pulling them away from her ears.

“Hey! Hey, look at me!” he said.

She was breathing hard and shaking now, and he gripped her shoulders. “Breathe,” Lance said. “Just breathe.” She kept gasping as though she couldn’t get enough air, but Lance counted slowly for her, and eventually her breathing evened out, and the house soon followed suit.

“Evan used to be an X-Man,” he reminded her. “We fight with the X-Men all the time, and it’s okay. Like you said, Kitty still came to visit anyway, and now Evan knows you want him to visit.” He turned to Evan. “Right?”

Unsure how else to respond to . . . whatever just happened, Evan just nodded.

“See?” Lance said. “So it’s okay.”

Kitty slipped in beside Wanda, wrapping her arm around the other girl’s shoulders, and pulling the quilt on the back of the couch around them both. “I’m sorry,” Wanda whispered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean–”

“Shh,” Kitty said, rubbing her arm. “It’s okay. It happens.” She grinned. “We’ll let the boys handle it, though. After all, you’re the birthday girl.” She grabbed Wanda’s forgotten piece of cake and handed it over. “Todd, would you get a glass of water?”

“Yeah, sure thing.” He seemed glad to escape the room for a minute.

When he came back and handed over the glass, Kitty coaxed Wanda into drinking the whole thing. When she wasn’t looking, Lance raised his eyebrows at Kitty, who nodded.

That was all it took for both Lance and Fred to go over to the fallen shelf and pick it up. Todd hopped over and joined them in putting all the books and boxes back in their place. Silently, Evan walked over to help.

This was his fault, he was sure, he just didn’t understand how. He should say something, he thought, he just didn’t know what, and everyone seemed to be trying to pretend it never happened.

“Hey, where’d Pietro go?” Todd asked when they finished. “Didn’t he want to finish the rest of his cake?” Fred cleared his throat and elbowed Todd. At least, he tried to. The gesture nearly knocked the smaller boy over.

Evan’s gaze caught on the half-eaten cake left on the table.

“It’s getting late,” he said. “I, uh, I think I should go.”

Wanda, who had been almost smiling at the story Kitty was dramatically telling about whatever shenanigans Jubilee and Bobby had gotten into now, froze. “Is it because of me?”

“What? No, no of course not!”

She didn’t look convinced. “You’ll come back?”

“Yeah, I’ll–I’ll come back.” As long as the boys would let him set foot on the property after tonight.

Wanda turned away, pulling the quilt tighter around her. Kitty gave Evan a small, sad smile and shrugged. He turned and left, but as he walked out the door, he heard footsteps behind him. He made his way down the stairs, and Lance shut the door behind them.

“Hey, uh, thanks,” Lance said. “For coming. I know we’re not friends or anything, but she seemed pretty happy to see you.”

There was a question there, but Evan didn’t feel like answering it tonight. He whipped around. “Thanks?” He pointed back to the house. “For that? I thought you’d be glad I’m leaving.”

“Oh, that?” Lance shrugged. “Just another Tuesday for us.” He grinned like it was a joke, but his expression was tight. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your fault.”

That wasn’t how it looked to him. “Whatever.”

“Is that why you’re leaving?”

“Nah, I have somewhere I need to be.”

For the second time that night, his feet led him to the park. But this time, just as he’d known there would be, a dark blur dashed around the basketball court. The basketball fell from the hoop, though he’d never seen it go in.

“What happened to her?” he shouted.

In a blink, Pietro was in his face, jabbing a finger at his chest. “What do you care?”

Evan stumbled back and swatted his hand away. “She’s my friend too!”

“Then where have you been?"

“I thought you didn’t want me around.”

Pietro whirled around, marching over to a bench. “I didn’t. I don’t. I–” He sat down and pulled his feet up into the seat, burying his face in his arms.

Evan stared at him, sitting alone in a park at night, with his twin back at the house, celebrating their birthday alone, and it reminded him of the first year without Wanda. There had been no birthday party that year, just the two of them sitting in the attic once Evan had finally found him.

Maybe Evan wasn’t the only one who felt lost.

He picked up the ball. “Hey.” He tossed it at Pietro, whose head shot up, and then his hands flew up to catch it. He frowned at it, then back at Evan. “I’m not going easy on you just cause it’s your birthday.”

Pietro sat up straighter. “You say that like I haven’t been beating you since second grade.”

Evan pretended to think. “And yet who won last week?”

Pietro shot to his feet. “Don’t hurt yourself trying to keep up.” He started dribbling the ball, and the game was on.

They played and played and played, until everything else seemed to fade and the world shrank to the half-court, just as it had the night Evan found Pietro here months ago, playing against himself, and jumped in without a word. And just like every night they played since then, they didn’t speak except to throw insults and smack-talk back and forth.

Finally, out of breath, Evan collapsed at the edge of the court and leaned back on his hands.

“I told you you couldn’t keep up,” Pietro panted, but he sank down beside him. They sat in silence for a while, and once Evan caught his breath, he wondered if he should just get up and head back to the tunnels.

“I don’t know,” Pietro said finally.

Evan turned to him, confused, until he realized he was finally answering his question.

“Father . . .” he waved his hand vaguely. “He did something to her. She just forgot about it all. I couldn’t do anything to fix it, and she was happy, so I just . . . I didn’t say anything. But now–” He shook his head sharply. “It messed her up and she’s just getting worse.”

Evan clenched his fists, tempted to march straight back to the Institute.

But if Magneto messed with her mind, then maybe . . . “The professor–” He cut himself off just as abruptly, quickly realizing the problem with that plan. Pietro, thankfully, just snorted and made no comment.

“Jean, then,” he suggested. “She was getting even stronger last time I saw her, so maybe she could help.”

“Believe it or not, Kitty already thought of that,” Pietro said. “But she couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t tell Xavier.”

He wanted to believe she wouldn’t, not if they told her, but . . . she had always been the closest to the professor.

“She told me she never wanted to see me again,” Evan admitted. He had never told anyone about the night of the mall fight, when he’d snuck over to the boarding house to speak to Wanda. When she’d slammed her window shut, and the way he tripped on the lawn didn’t feel natural.

“Yeah,” Pietro sighed. “She told me the same thing.”

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