Chapter Text
Kurt's classes continued as normal and he made a few friends with the people he sat next to. After class, he heard a voice in his head.
‘Hello, Kurt,’ the voice said. Kurt was confused. ‘I am Professor Xavier.’ It was like he knew Kurt didn't understand what was going on. ‘If you need anything at all to help you adjust, please let me know.’
He thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to talk to the Professor through his mind. ‘Vould it be possible for me to set up an acrobatics area?’ he asked. Kurt wasn't sure how to word it, but he hoped that was enough.
‘You want to simulate your old circus?’ Charles asked.
‘How did you know?’
‘I am inside your mind at the moment, Kurt. I know what you are thinking.’
Oh, well that's a little creepy. ‘Zhen yes, is zhere a place vhere I can set up silks?’
‘You can use the Danger Room, if you can find a teacher to watch over you.’
‘...Danger Room?’
Charles laughed, ‘It is only dangerous if you want it to be.’
‘I just vant it to look like my circus,’ Kurt said.
‘See if one of the teachers will help you. I'm busy at the moment, but I believe Gambit is available. Go ask him.’
‘Zhank you, Professor.’
‘Of course.’
Kurt felt the presence leave his mind. He wanted to find Peter first, maybe he could help him talk to Mr. LeBeau. He didn't know where Peter would be, however. Even though they just met that day, Kurt had a feeling it would be hard to track down the boy.
“He's back there,” a ginger girl passing Kurt said to him.
“Excuse me?” Kurt asked.
“You're looking for Peter. He's back there,” she pointed down the hall she came from.
Kurt nodded. “Zhank you,” he said. He just had a conversation with the Professor by thinking, mind reading can't be weird at this point.
He walked down the hall, looking for the older boy. Kurt walked past an open door and spotted Peter playing ping pong with a girl he knew as Kitty. He had his fifth period class with her. Kurt walked into the room and watched them play. Surprisingly, he was able to follow Peter's movements.
“‘Sup, Blue?” Peter asked, acknowledging the German.
“I zhought you vould be cheating vith your powers,” Kurt said lightheartedly.
“I'm trying out this new thing some guy told me to do. ‘Try existing in normal time’, or whatever,” he blew a raspberry. The ping pong ball bounced past Kitty and she left to pick it up.
Kurt smiled at Peter, “I vas vondering if you vould come talk to Mr. LeBeau vith me.”
“Gambit? That guy hates me. What do you want with him?”
“I vant to ask him if he vould vatch over ze ‘Danger Room’. Ze Professor said I could practice my act in zhere if I had a teacher vatch.”
Peter looked down at Kurt. “Can I come?” He'd never seen a circus act before and was curious about how it looked.
“Ja, I just need Mr. LeBeau,” Kurt said.
“C’mon then!”
He took Kurt's hand and ran out of the room. Once again, to Kurt's surprise, Peter wasn't using his power. They left Kitty standing there with the ping pong ball in hand. Kurt was able to keep up with Peter's speed when he wasn't using his power. His tail swayed happily behind him as they ran down the hall looking for Gambit's office.
When they got there, Peter excitedly rapped on the door. He was smiling and bouncing on the balls of his feet. Kurt felt him occasionally squeezing his hand. Rogue opened the door and the two boys came in. Kurt wanted to wait until they were told to come in, but Peter dragged him behind immediately.
“Heya, boys. What kinds of trouble are you two gettin’ in now?” Rogue asked, shutting the door behind them.
“Can one of you watch the Danger Room for Kurt?” Peter asked.
“Why d’ya need the Danger Room, sugah?” She asked. Gambit was sitting behind his desk, shuffling cards.
“Ze Professor said I could use it to practice my old act, as long as I had a teacher vatching,” Kurt said. “He told me Mr. LeBeau might be available.”
“You wan’ ta use the Danger Room for somethin’ not dangerous?” Gambit asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“I wouldn' mind watchin’,” Rogue said. “C’mon, I'll show ya the way.”
Gambit stood up and jogged after her. “He follows Ms. Rogue around like a lost puppy,” Peter whispered to Kurt.
“He is a lost puppy,” Rogue rolled her eyes.
“How did you hear that?” Peter asked.
“Some girl with super hearin’ accidentally bumped inta me when I was puttin’ on my gloves. She's doin’ just fine, don' worry, but I did get her power.”
Kurt was acutely aware of the fact Peter has yet to let go of his hand, but he's not sure if Peter knows that. He doesn't know what Peter notices or not. If he does know, he doesn't seem to mind. Peter was happily biting his lip, he seemed eager to watch Kurt's performance.
When they got to the Danger Room, Rogue led the group up to the control room to show Kurt how it works. She explained how to use it to simulate things and that everyone in here is able to see him and the holograms within the room. He, albeit clumsily due to his large fingers, typed in the simulation he wanted and was amazed at how similar it looked to his circus. Gambit gave him the go ahead and he teleported into the room.
Kurt teleported into the middle of the room and looked around. His eyes caught something on the roof and he teleported up there to release the silks. He dropped back to the floor and felt the silks, relishing the familiar feeling. These ones were purple, a lavender color, rather than the red ones he had in the circus. If the simulation could do whatever he wanted, why not choose a color that would look better next to his fur?
He shedded his jacket and threw it to the side before wrapping his arms in the silks. He twisted his body up so he'd be held in the air by the fabric, and lifted himself with his arms while rotating his body to wrap himself in the cloth. He got halfway up before he stopped climbing, and dropped down to the ground. The silks fell around him in a ribbony way and he was caught just above the ground by the first step he took.
Even though Kurt couldn't see his audience, he felt eyes on him. He imagined the gasps he usually got after pulling that move. In retrospect, he should've warmed up with something easier, but he's here for fun.
Kurt climbed back up the silks, making his way up one. He had no problem climbing the silks because of the shape of his hands and feet. He wrapped the fabric around him again, this time having it hold him up by the legs. Kurt got into a front split with one silk around each leg and nothing holding his upper body. He had a lot of practice balancing his weight in order to do that.
He slowly, and somewhat seductively – though that wasn't his choice to have that in his act – unwrapped his front leg. He held onto the silk behind him with his hands above his head as he released his leg from the cloth. Kurt twisted again so he'd now be upside-down with one leg wrapped in the silk and the other one fully extended in front of him. He pulled his leg back in and stretched it out beside the one that was still wrapped.
“Ms. Rogue,” Kurt said. He was reaching up to turn himself upright, “Could you send Peter in here? Tell him to valk.”
“Sure, sugah,” she said, pressing the intercom button so he could hear her.
The entire time Kurt was in there, Peter was silent. He was just watching the acrobat do his thing. Gambit had never seen Peter sit so still before. Peter left the room and started walking downstairs in the Danger Room. Rogue and Gambit watched Kurt set something up. The boy twisted himself in the silks again and teleported onto the platform. He flexed his hands on the silk a few times until the doors started to open. When the doors were almost fully open, Kurt ran off the platform and swung around on the silks.
He slammed into Peter and picked the older boy up with him. Kurt was laughing the whole time, while Peter panicked a bit before accepting that his friend must know what he's doing. Kurt’s legs and lower torso were wrapped in the silk and he had his tail holding onto the cloth above them, his arms were wrapped around Peter, making sure the older boy felt secure.
“Isn't zhis fun?” Kurt asked with a big smile on his face.
Peter looked weary. “Sure, just don't drop me.”
“Wrap your arms around my shoulders,” Kurt told him.
The older boy was not about to ignore direct instructions from the person holding him up from falling several feet onto a hard floor. He wrapped his arms around Kurt’s shoulders and looked down at the height they were off the ground.
“How did you pick me up from this high?” Peter asked.
“I didn't. I dropped lower to grab you, zhen twisted up so ve vouldn't be near ze ground.” They were slowly coming to a stop. When the momentum slowed down, Kurt looked at Peter with a big, but now slightly mischievous, smile. “Do you vant down ze easy vay or ze fun vay?” Kurt asked.
“Can I ask what the options are first?”
“I can teleport us down, or…” Kurt’s smile widened, “I can drop us.”
“‘Drop’?” Peter asked, panicked. “What do you mean, ‘drop’?”
“You saw ze first zhing I did, correct?”
Peter nodded.
“Zhat.”
“Is that safe with someone else?”
“I have done it before, but it can be scary. Zhat is vhy I am letting you choose. You are not a professional, so I understand vhy you may not vant to try.”
Peter looked down at the ground again. They looked higher up than they were before. “I…” he started. “I trust you.”
Kurt flashed his teeth again. “Wunderbar!”
“I'm going to regret this, aren't I?” Peter said, only half joking.
The German laughed. “Ve can start slow. Not vhen ve are falling, but to get into ze position.”
Peter nodded again. “Tell me what to do.”
“Put your arms underneath mine,” Kurt said.
He raised his arms a bit so Peter could wrap his arms around Kurt’s chest. Kurt very carefully maneuvered his hands around so one was under Peter's ass and the other was holding Peter's head and chest to his shoulder.
“I am going to flip us now, ja?”
Peter nodded. He held tightly to Kurt. Kurt slowly leaned back and let go on the silks with his tail. His legs were still holding them up.
“You can not have your legs on ze silks,” Kurt said to Peter. Peter adjusted slightly so he wouldn't touch them. He looked down – up for them – and saw the ground.
“Are you ready?” Kurt asked.
“Uh, maybe. Yeah?” Peter said, unsure.
Kurt smiled again. He laughed as he let go with his legs and they dropped towards the ground. The silks caught them a couple feet up, and Peter was clinging to Kurt as if he was about to die. The silks started rotating a bit.
“Do you vant down?” Kurt asked, still holding Peter.
“Yes please,” he whispered.
Kurt used his tail to haul them back upright and he helped Peter drop to the ground. He slid out of the silks after and landed beside Peter. “Vasn’t zhat fun?” He asked excitedly.
Peter was still trying to regain his balance. “Mhm, yep, whatever you say.”
Kurt laughed. He teleported into Peter's arms with his legs wrapped around the speedsters waist. Peter was caught off guard by the sudden weight, but he held Kurt under his legs to support him. Kurt teleported back off and ran up the wall again, looking for more things to mess around with.
“I'm gonna sit out for whatever you're doing next,” Peter said. He walked over to the edge of the room and sat on the floor.
The German laughed again while tying up the silks. He scampered over to the side where Peter was sitting, though Kurt was on the ceiling and Peter was on the floor, and pulled down a metal ring. As the ring lowered, Kurt hung from it from the back of his knees with his arms outstretched in a T.
“What else can you do?” Peter asked.
“My act consists of many zhings, mein freund,” Kurt said. “My main vas ze trapeze, zhough zhat is hard to do alone.”
Rogue’s voice was heard through the speakers hidden in the room. “Sorry to interrupt, but your time's almost up,” she said.
“Ve vill get out of your hair, zhen,” Kurt said, dropping from the ring. He teleported onto the ground and grabbed his jacket. “Zhank you for letting me do zhis, Ms. Rogue.” Kurt gave Peter a hand up and they left the Danger Room.
“Do you still zhink living in ze present is a bad zhing?” Kurt asked Peter.
“That was fun, though terrifying,” Peter muttered that last bit.
Kurt laughed, “It is scarier to do it for ze first time alone, Peter. Many zhings are.”
“Yeah, well, plummeting to your death makes the top of that list.”
The two boys laughed again. “I suppose it does,” Kurt said.