[Timeline: Same day but after fic 'Downward Spiral']
Adam was curled tightly in the blanket, a cup of warm milk in his hands as he watched an old series of Thundercats to take his mind off the fact he really needed his meds. But he had to wait at least twenty-four hours...Eddie was going to die for this.
He snuggled down into his cucoon a little further, curled up around a cushion that had a furry cover that was once white and petting it with an uncovered hand unconsciously.
"Oh, hey! I remember those," Kitty grinned coming into the rec room and seeing the cartoon on TV. "Snarf was always my favorite." Her grin dampened at the sight of Adam curled up in a rabbit fur pillow. "What's up Adam?"
Adam looked up at Kitty, biting back the immediate comment - no, she was nice to him, so she didn't deserve it. "...It's nothing..." He gave her a smile instead, sipping his milk. "I um...I like Snarf too...he's annoying, just like me."
She laughed, "Yeah, he was annoying but he always meant well. He - Holy crap Adam!" Kitty exclaimed seeing his face finally. He had a busted lip and his nose was bruised and swollen. "What happened?!" she asked sitting down next to him.
Adam shrugged, looking down, hand picking at the cushion. "Eddie punched me." He said quietly. Not like there was any point in hiding it. "I don't know why, wasn't being especially mean or anything...you know?" He glanced up at Kitty. "Maybe I'm just enough of an asshole that people can just...y' know...tell?"
Kitty knew Eddie and had never thought he'd be the kind to just hit people for no good reason... something must have happened. "Why would he think that?" Adam might have been a little odd, but he'd always been nice to her.
"Well...first time I met him he was..." God, even the thought made him squirm, putting the milk down so that he could rub his hands together. "...He was a girl and introduced himself as 'Emily'...called me handsome and...hit on me..." He pulled a face.
"He...smelt like Emily did and I made a joke about being close to his 'sister'...then he shifted into her and I guess he saw I was going to yell at him about it or something, I don't know, because that's when he punched me." Adam looked away, once again picking at the bandages around his arms.
"...a girl?" That took a few seconds to process. Maybe she didn't know him nearly as well as she thought she did. "So, he can be either a boy or a girl... that's one freaky power." She waved at his hands. "Don't do that - you'll get them infected," she said worriedly.
"Wha-oh." Adam dropped his hands in his lap, before cuddling the pillow again. "Yeah...he's a guy properly though and...I don't like gays. But I wouldn't have done anything to him! Except yelled a lot...the punch made me mad and now I can't take my meds and I feel like shit because of it and-" He cut himself off, looking down at the pillow. "Sorry..."
"Don't be sorry," Kitty shook her head smiling. "It's fine." She'd studied enough in her mutant physiology classes to understand that sometimes a mutant changed physical forms and sometimes they actually became what they were morphing into. She wondered which one was Eddie was. "So how much longer till you can take his meds?"
Adam looked down at his phone. "...Another five hours or so...I've been watching old cartoons to try and take my mind off it but...the crash from the sedative's really bad and I really need those meds...I can't cope otherwise." He picked up his milk and took a drink of it. "I-I haven't slept yet. How's the rabbits?"
"They're fine, Darren watched them while I was gone." She bit her lip. "Hey, what me to go get Little Bit?" she offered. "I'm sure he'd like to see you again," she smiled.
Adam hesitated, but the shy little smile said it all. "...I'd like that...if it's not too much trouble..." He looked at his cushion. "It's not the same. And I think I've nearly petted it bare again. You wouldn't mind?" God, he felt so pathetic like this...
"It's no trouble," Kitty assured him. In truth, Lola and Little Bit were starting to get on each others nerves. A little time apart would probably do everyone involved good. "Stay here, I'll be right back." Phasing, Kitty levitated upwards through the ceiling and towards the girls' dorms.
Adam watched Kitty levitate through the ceiling with wide eyes. "Now that is a cool power..." He murmured. "Why do I seem to have all the sucky ones?"
A few minutes later, Kitty returned with the small rabbit in her hands. Little Bit was squirming in her grasp, kicking his back legs against her. "Here you go," she said passing him over to Adam. "Sorry, he's a little irritable today. I think Lola might have thumped him earlier."
Adam took the bunny in his scarred hands, making soothing noises to the small rabbit and stroking it gently, murmuring something in Irish as he half-curled around it, smiling gently. "Being punched makes even the nicest irritable, I guess." He smiled up at Kitty as Bit settled down for some serious pettings.
Kitty nodded. "Yeah, now that he's not a kit anymore, Lola's pretty much lost her patience. Doesn't help that the poor little guy was the runt." She reached a hand out and scritched at his ear, glad he was settling down finally.
"Tryin' to get rid of him?" The presence of the rabbit was helping to calm him down as he ran his fingers through its fur - definitely better than the pillow, at least Bit was warm. "Is he fully grown then? I thought he was a bit small."
"I'm afraid so. I was going to give him to my little sister - but then the more I thought about the more I remembered that she didn't really do so well with pets." Kitty stopped short of retelling the great 'Hamster vs. Vacuum Cleaner Catastrophe of '09'.
Adam looked down at the rabbit. "I haven't had a pet for five years." He said quietly, then stopped himself. No, he'd managed to keep off that route so far, he wasn't going down it now. "Well, he seems happy with being small and petted...though I'm guessing his size means he gets petted a lot, right?"
"Well, he doesn't usually warm up to strangers so he doesn't get petted as much as his brothers and sister did," Kitty admitted with a sigh. "Glad to see he found somebody he likes," she smiled.
"Really? Heh...well, animals usually like me. Maybe I smell familiar or I'm the same intelligence level." Adam gave her a quick, genuine smile. "So that...phasey thing...that's what you can do?"
"I've seen the books you read; somehow I don't think a lack of intellegence is your problem," she joked reminding herself not to nudge him with her shoulder since he was super sensitive to touch. She nodded at his question. "Yeah, I can phase through... well, through pretty much anything as far as I can tell. Short out electronics too - which has been a nightmare on my laptops and cellphones," she joked.
"That's pretty..." He couldn't use the word 'freakish', not with Kitty. She was actually nice to him. "...Pretty cool, actually." He looked down at the rabbit. "H-how did you find out you were a mutant, Kait?"
"Thank you," she grinned. She'd never thought of it as pretty. Creepy maybe - but not pretty. "I never have to worry about locking myself out of my car." Kitty made light of it. "Well, I had a nightmare one night - woke up as I hit the basement floor. Shorted out half the house in the process. How about you?" She settled back against the sofa cushions.
Adam actually flinched at the question. He didn't like lying to the nice ones. "House fire." He settled for. "I...don't really like talking about it. I got out a-and my parents didn't." Not...quite a lie. Not really. Bit sniffed his fingers as he petted him slowly.
"Oh..." Kitty's face fell a little, sorry she'd asked. "I'm sorry." She didn't know what else to say. The longer she stayed here, the more she saw just how lucky she was to have had the life she did. It was quiet for a few moments. "You know, you can feel free to pet sit Little Bit whenever you like. He likes you," she smiled tryint to change the subject.
"Really?" Adam smiled at her shyly. "I mean...I'd like that. A lot. If you want, I'll look after him so that Lola doesn't get impatient on him again - just until you find him a home or something." He looked down at the rabbit. "Would you like that, Bit?" The bunny nosetwitched at him.
"That would be great! Darren and I have been trying to figure out what were were going to do with him. He can't keep Little Bit, because he has a male rabbit and they'd fight." She looked honestly relieved.
Adam's smile got wider. This was by far the best twenty-four hours off the drugs he'd ever spent. "I-I don't have a hutch for him or anything though...is there one I can borrow while I look after him?"
"I'm sure we can find something. Or maybe build one," she agreed. "Chris made the nesting hutch I used when Lola had her kits. So I know some of the students here are handy with stuff like that."
Adam nodded. "Okay. Well...i-if it's okay...do you mind if I keep hold of him until I can take my meds again? He really does make me feel better." He smiled. "I'll give him back tonight and then go find someone to make me one or something...he's all trained, right?"
"Well, let's see," Kitty said holding her hands out to the rabbit. "Little Bit, you want to come with me back to your hutch or stay here." Maybe it was her imagination, but she could have sworn the rabbit flicked his ear like he was flipping her off. "I think he's fine right where he's at. You can keep him as long as you need to." She started to speak further then stopped.
Instead, she nodded. "He's house broken and mostly trained to a lead. He still like to chew on things though, so you might want to make sure you don't have any books where he can get to them."
"Okay. All my books are up on shelves. I'm sure Angelo'll learn to put his stuff away." Adam smiled, leaning down and nuzzling Bit. "Thank you, Kait. Seriously...I appreciate it."
"You're welcome. And thank you, Adam. This really helps me out too." She scritched the rabbit's head again. "And I think this is a win/win situation." Kitty was glad Little Bit could help Adam - and vice versa it seemed. She smiled at the small rabbit starting to doze off.
Adam smiled down at the rabbit, feeling content despite being off-kilter. "It's a pain in the ass, being the odd one out, but I think he'll be happy."