James had woken up later than usual, nine in the morning was two hours earlier than the usual. Meaning he had to do his run at double the usual speed. Great. Groaning James rolled out of bed, showered and pulled on his running clothes. The typical sports wear, trainers a polo shirt and a tracksuit.

The air outside was cold and the roads were slippery with trampled snow. He really shouldn't be doing this but he had to get used to the extra weight that came with his peculiar ability. Pulling off his gloves, James walked up to the nearest lamppost and put his palms to the metal, willing it to have its usual effect.

The cold feeling crawled up James's body, turning all of his skin to steel up to the collar bones. Pulling back on the gloves he jogged on the spot for a few seconds, getting used to the weight, and then set off.

James ran, settling into the music which blasted in his ears while thinking over recent events. Time flew and James was shocked when he looked down at his wrist, checking the time.

"Quarter to ten already? What...how long have I been..."

*CRASH*

Again! He. Had. Managed. It. Again.

Groaning James sat up, rubbing the back of his head which had struck the concrete. It would be the only unprotected part of my body, wouldn't it? However it wasn't himself he was really worrying about, the last person he had run into like this had ended up with a concussion. He'd felt like crap for days. A human shaped wrecking ball was still a wrecking...person, After all.

Looking at the other person on the floor, James apologized as quickly as possible. "I'm so sorry, should have been looking where I was going."

He got a proper look at the other person. Oh...Damn.

Chad woke up that morning feeling a whole new level of pathetic. His head was throbbing, his back and shoulders were aching, he was cold, and there was a foul taste in his mouth. He opened his eyes, blinking once... twice...

He was in an abandoned building. There was a thick layer of dust everywhere, the walls covered up in plastic and the windows boarded up. He could still see sunlight coming through a crack, which was his only indication that it was morning. He groaned, webbed fingers running through a mass of unruly teal-blue hair. A rat skittered across his outstretched legs. Oh, man...

He really needed to come up with better sleeping accommodations. Maybe he could go and check out one of those mutant-friendly shelters Blondie had mentioned the other day, if only for the winter months... I mean, sure, his skin was thicker than most and resistant to cold, but not that resistant. Plus, he was starving.

As he made his way out of the rundown building and onto the streets again, his mind found itself in an intense battle of pros and cons. The last thing he wanted was to admit he needed help, but how long could he survive out here in the middle of winter? He'd been fortunate enough to have a place to stay last year, given he'd been working as a farm hand somewhere in Maine, but this year... he had no such luck.

So he started walking, something he'd been doing a lot of lately. He didn't really have a set goal in mind, letting his feet lead the way.

He couldn't have been walking for much longer than an hour and a half when it happened. He collided into something made of metal, the impact sending him straight to the ground, wincing as he clutched his left shoulder. It had to be dislocated.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." he told the man of steel, using his right hand to push himself off the ground and onto his feet again. He eyed the stranger; that look was clear as day on his face. "Yeah... I have that effect on people." he said gruffly, dusting off the snow from his backside.

The guy was blue, with orange eyes. An obvious mutant, who, by the state of him was worse for wear. If the tatty clothes and general scruffiness weren't enough of an obvious inclination, his body language was. If James were to make an educated guess he would say the guy was homeless. 

Pushing to his feet James noticed the mutant wince and clutch at his shoulder. His stomach lurched as guilt invaded his body. Great...Just freaking great. Whatever the blue guy said, he blatantly wasn't okay. If he was lucky, he would be on his was to the mansion. If not, James thought he looked as if he really needed it. They were close to the place anyway, maybe he hadn't heard of it?

The mutants comment surprised James, had he looked affronted by this guys appearance? Well, he probably looked shocked about the guys homeless look, but James lived in a massive building full of people with physical mutations, they were nothing new.

Even so, James couldn't help smile at the statement, most mutants had that effect on people. If I said that I hadn't scared a few people, I'd be lying. Even so, this guy looked like he could use a meal, or at least some new clothes.

"Yeah, so do I. Sometimes" James replied, pulling off his gloves and wiggling his silver fingers at the other guy to make a point. After all, blue scales were normally something found on animals and generally accepted as natural. Steel on the other hand? Nope. That stuff isn't natural, a lot of people would say because of that, neither was James. Hell, even his own mother thought that and had kicked him out for it.

"Besides, that shoulder needs looking at. You have obviously hurt yourself." That much shouldn't go unsaid. If the guy needed help, as the one who had caused the injury, James felt responsible.

"Yeah, so do I. Sometimes"

Sometimes being the key word.

Chad didn't like the way the steel man was looking at him, as if he was evaluating just how much of a freak show he was.

Chad crossed his arms over his chest, only to wince in pain. Yeah, there was definitely something wrong with his left shoulder. He swore under his breath; it's not like he had any health insurance, and even if he did, hospitals really weren't his thing. They'd probably just end up prodding and probing him like some guinea pig in a lab.

The man made of steel had noticed. Great. Chad was tempted to just shrug it off and go on his merry way. You see, Chad Basil wasn't exactly the kind of guy to accept help from other people, as it usually meant he'd be in their debt. Owing people? Not something he was very fond of.

"It's probably no big deal," he tried again, although it was an obvious lie.

He tried to cross his arms and winced again. Right, there is definitely something up there. James wasn't surprised the guy was trying to shrug it off as nothing, most mutants didn't like help from others. He was one himself, but sometimes it was necessary.

He wanted to help, but the look he was getting from Mr. Blue was one of stubbornness. James had quickly come to learn that people like him usually have some unfortunate history or story, which left its scars. Maybe this guy had trouble with trusting others, or something along those lines. Maybe an introduction was in order, great.

As James got ready to speak the social awkwardness gripped his spine, turning it stiff. The shock of possible danger usually stopped it for a while, but now it was returning.

"Listen, I...err"  Scratching the back of his head James considered what to say. Should he just go; Hey, if you want to walk around with a injured shoulder. Fine by me? No, he couldn't do that. James had relied on others in the past when it wasn't ideal, and he'd been stabbed in the back, but still. Mutants had to look out for each other, this world was a harsh place for them. That much he knew.

"I'm James. Sorry, what I said earlier might have been a bit insensitive. Either way, one thing I've found out from living at the mansion is that people like us have to look out for each other. That plus I kind of really hate hurting people who don't throw the first punch..."  He waved a hand idly at the other guys shoulder. The guilt in his voice was kind of obvious to the point where it was a bit embarrassing.

Truth be told, Chad was nothing more than an average nineteen year-old male; he was stubborn as all hell and convinced that all he needed in the world was himself, when in reality he was merely afraid of letting other people through those walls he'd spent almost two decades building up. He was afraid of letting anyone know that he actually cared, because when they found that out, they could use it against him and break him.

There was something about this kid, though... He seemed okay enough, although what really got to Chad was the fact that this kid was as socially awkward as he was, if his introduction was any indication. Oddly enough, it was exactly the thing to make Chad slightly more at ease. Of course, maybe the steel hand he'd showed him earlier also played a role in that.

Either way, it still wasn't enough to get him to cooperate on the whole 'your shoulder needs checking out' front. "The Mansion, huh?" he asked. What were the odds of him meeting two people from that school in the span of a week?

The guy — James, he said his name was — looked as if the guilt would eat him alive if he didn't accept his help, though. "I'm Chad." he said, the word feeling foreign on his lips. He hadn't used it in a while, usually going by a nickname he'd given himself: Baze. Call it a fegense mechanism... a way for him to detach himself further from his past.

Chad, it was almost enough to make him chuckle. Meeting someone with superhuman abilities and hearing them say "I'm Chad" or "I'm Ben" was still something James was getting accustomed too. He half expected them to say "I'm Silverfin!" Although, he knew the X-men did use code names.

"Well, Chad." James said, looking at his watch. "I should be making my way back to the mansion, and...Urm...your shoulder looks like it could use some attention. Sorry about that, again"

He knew the other mutant would probably not want to go straight into the mansion, guns blazing, flaunting his abnormalities - or as they called it at the mansion, just what we are all used to. So he would propose that Chad, who looked like he didn't really have all that much to do, would walk with him and leave if he changed his mind.

"You could come with me...if you want or just walk in the same direction. That's if you don't have somewhere to be?" Besides, even if Chad didn't want to come. James couldn't really do anything about it, apart from hope the guy would be alright by himself.

Chad didn't have to stay at the mansion if he didn't want to. He could literally come in, visit the Doc and be out in a flash...at least James thought that was okay. He knew it had been done before.

"I've had plenty worse." were his only words when James apologized for the whole shoulder thing — again.

Chad Basil had quite the story, one he was still trying to run from, without much success. He'd spent his first fifteen years bouncing around the foster care system, going from one home to the next, never quite feeling as though he belonged. He'd never known what family was supposed to feel like until the age of fourteen, when he'd taken on the role of big brother to a bunch of snotty kids in a similar predicament as his. Ironically enough, that particular home was the worst as far as foster parents were concerned...

"You could come with me...if you want or just walk in the same direction. That's if you don't have somewhere to be?"

He opened his mouth to decline the offer, but changed his mind at the very last instant. What the hell? It's not like he had anywhere better to be at this point. "Sure, why not?" he shrugged, digging his hands into the pockets of his coat.

He was genuinely curious about the place, to be perfectly honest. Twice now he'd been invited there. He could check it out, see for himself what all the hype was about, and then be on his merry way. "So this place of yours," he said in an attempt to fill the silence, broken only by the December wind whipping at his face. "You got some kind of doctor on hand or something?" The way James was speaking, it seemed as though the Mansion would be able to tend to his shoulder.

Hell, given it was the headquarters for the X-Men, having a doctor on hand was perhaps a very good idea.

Some kind of doctor? Well, Doc Prof wasn't your usual doctor, but yes. James had only been to see him once and that was because he had been impaled in the shoulder after his best friend turned out to be a homo superior psychopath, then his other friend accidentally stabbed him good. Fun times.

"Yeah," James nodded. "The Doc is a mutant. Hes can heal wounds just buy putting his hands over them, its good to have around"

Without meaning to he rubbed his shoulder where there had been a gaping hole, along with the most pain James had ever experienced. Like white hot pins. "Trust me, That man is a lifesaver"

James wasn't sure if Chads shoulder warranted superhuman healing powers but still, that's what the Doc could do. They weren't that far from the big building, a couple of minutes at max. Turning to the blue guy, a question sparked in James's head. Was it a good idea to ask? Probably not.

"How long have you been in New York?" He asked cautiously, not meaning to pry, just make conversation.

A mutant healer, huh? Chad nodded. "With all the shit that seems to be going on in this city, I'm sure he's been useful once or twice." he chuckled, digging his hands into his pockets; this time around, hi movements were slower, careful not to do anything that could further harm his shoulder.

"How long have you been in New York?" It wasn't the worst question to ask, and it wasn't one Chad minded answering, really. It was still a good question, though. Chad didn't exactly have a calendar to help him keep track of the days, and living the way he was living at the moment, everything seemed to... blend together.

He knew it was less than a week until Christmas, and he'd arrived into the city some time at the beginning of the month, give or take a few days. "A couple weeks." he replied casually.

Chad had only been in New York for two weeks? Damn, he had done a pretty good job of keeping himself safe. James had lived in New York for two and a half years roughly, but had only known that he was a mutant for about a year. Of that year he had spent about seven months at the mansion. As a mutant who wasn't particularly obvious most of the time, he had avoided fuss over it. Even so, he had been attacked once recently and only just escaped.

For Chad, who was a physical mutant, it was a lot easier to notice what he was. Damn guy has been lucky, even I've been attacked by Anti-mutant thugs. Its a good job I found him when I did.

It occurred to James then, that Chad might have been attacked. Hell, James didn't even know what he could do. Was he super strong? Super fast? Unlikely, he had been knocked over as easily as anyone else would have been.

"You have done a brilliant job of staying safe then, When I made my way to the mansion it was during the riots" James shook his head. "I had to run at every corner after my mother kicked me out. If I hadn't been found by two other people from the mansion..." He shrugged, who knows? Maybe he would have made it there safely, maybe not.

They were nearing the mansion now, only a couple of turns away. James hoped Chad liked the place, it had become his home, even more so than his mothers house when he used to live there.

Two weeks, three weeks... it didn't really matter how long he'd been in the city. He'd spent all of his life fighting to survive, building up walls around himself in an attempt to keep safe; it was all very close to second nature by now.

"I'm used to it," he said with a shrug, leaving the statement to interpretation. The last thing he wanted to do was dive into the details of his past with this complete stranger. He just wanted to get this damned shoulder checked out and this guy off his case.

He continued walking, keeping his fiery gaze locked in front of him, taking in the sights. He'd never been to these parts of the Bronx before, so he made a mental map for future reference - you know, for when he had to leave.

'Cause either way, he figured he'd have to at one point. He'd just have to make sure it was by choice... He couldn't get attached to this place, or anywhere. Anything and everything he'd ever cared about, even for a little while, ended up ripped away from him.

"I'm used to it"

"Right." James nodded. He wasn't so socially inept that he didn't get a well disguised "Could you shut up now?" Clearly has a story, this one.

They rounded the last corner and walked up the road. The mansion was clearly visible, in all its massiveness. Walking up to the buzzer James cleared his throat and pressed it, speaking into the intercom and looking up at the camera above it.

"Hi, Its James with a..." What should he say? Acquaintance? Stray? Mate? Friend? Mutant? Eh, friend will do. "...friend. Knock, knock." There was a quick reply and they were let into the grounds, looking up the long pathway to the front door. Good job James came in and out every morning.

"Home, sweet home. Come on, lets get that shoulder looked at." James said to Chad and set off down the path.

Friend.

Well, that sounded strange.

Chad waited by the large gates; broad-shouldered and standing at six feet and two inches tall, the blue man felt small compared to the Mansion that was casually sitting, just past those gates and up the path. He twisted his hands together, as much as his webbed fingers would allow, feeling uncharacteristically nervous.

What if coming here was a huge mistake? He wasn't exactly the picture of lawfulness, spending the last four years of his life on the streets, working odd jobs when he was lucky and, when he wasn't, having to resort to theft.

Then there was his past. Just a few clicks of a mouse, just a few phone calls, and these people would see his whole history: all of the homes, all of the complaints made by foster parents... Child Services might as well have stamped "rpboem child" in big, bold red letters on his folder.

Why would the people here want to take him on, when everyone else had easily looked the other way?

"This place sure looks... uh... fancy." he commented in a low voice, glancing about as he crossed the grounds, James by his side.

James glanced at Chad. The guy was glancing around, his body language screaming insecurity. He obviously didn't like standing out in open places. Not that he could help it, really. Then again, that explained the dark outfit and hood.

As for the mansion being fancy? James wasn't so sure, the place was nice but a place was usually judged by the people who owned it, right? Was it the other way around? Either way, the people here weren't really fancy...if you didn't count James, his fellow Englishmen and women with their kind-of-but-not-really-posh British accents. People seemed to think it was fancy, for whatever reason. Kind of got on his nerves.

"I guess it does look that way, doesn't it? The people are mainly pretty normal." Admittedly James didn't know how true that statement was, considering the amount of time he had been at the mansion, he had only met about three people and spoken to them properly.

All three seemed quite average, not that James was against people who were strange, he was himself. He couldn't even hold up a five minute conversation with someone of the opposite sex for more than a few minutes. That and he spend most of his time alone reading, exercising or playing games.

The grounds were mainly empty apart from the odd figure moving up and down the main pathway, same as them. Chad seemed pretty contained, his reaction was considerably tame compared to what his own had been. James had been gobsmacked by the whole place.

They reached the front of the large house and entered the huge lobby, which was sadly almost as cold as the air outside. Ignoring it, James beckoned Chad towards one of the two main stairwells which would take them into the maze which was the mansion.

"This way, not that far to go now."