Just a Minor Rescue (Colt)

Blake wasn’t well liked in school. He knew that, and he didn’t really care; if anything, he was proud of it. He was disliked for being honest about his criticisms instead of webbing himself in with white lies of false praise, for not trying to look like a macho football guy, for not trying to hoard praise and adoration from the popular kids, for not fighting, and for generally not following or trying to follow the mainstream culture’s standards. He was proud of that, and didn’t much care if they criticized or mocked him for it; it didn’t matter.

Of course, then there were the people who hated him for what his religion believed. He was less proud of that, though he wasn’t ashamed; he couldn’t control what God said, after all. And there were the ones who didn’t feel the need to stop at criticism or mockery. They did matter; they were a problem. Especially when they found him out of school, and away from anyone’s parents. That was more of a problem.

Also, when they were bigger than him. Blake let himself frown, and tried to keep his shift from foot to foot subtle enough not to be noticed. Neither Alek nor Jason had touched him yet, but they were noticeably in Blake’s personal space. And he was carrying a sketchbook and a box of pastels; he couldn’t run, even though there was probably room to. It obviously wasn’t going to end well; Blake would honestly prefer he got hit anyway, since the only other likely alternative was them messing with his sketchbook or pastels somehow. And he certainly wasn’t backing down.

“My cousin’s boyfriend is a mutant, and she says he’s the best person she knows. You calling her a liar?” Alek was glaring. Probably; Blake wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Alek not look like he was glaring, but now his posture echoed it too.

“Everyone’s a sinner, not just mutants.” If anything, Blake thought mutants were lucky; their sin was obvious, and some would even help them do things to redeem themselves. Normal people could delude themselves into thinking they were sinless; that was a lot harder to do when someone was a mutant. That none of this logic was applied to Blake himself didn’t occur to him. “He can be better than most people and still be a sin.”

Blake jumped--which was an entirely different thing from flinching--when Jason grabbed his shirt. “Mutations aren’t sins! You’re just a bigoted little **** looking for something to look down on, since being human’s the only thing you’ve got to be proud of!”

Blake scowled until is eyes narrowed again, and tried to bat Jason’s hand away. “I never said I liked that mutations are sins.” And he’d never said anything truer than that in his life. “But I can’t change what God says, and God says that mutations are sins.”

“God doesn’t say anything like that!” Jason let go, and shoved Blake back so he stumbled into a wall. Blake didn’t move as both of them advanced. “Not even going to try defending yourself, huh? Wimp.”