Chapter Text
"Doesn’t it make you dizzy to be upside down for so long?” Morph asked, entering the school lab and finding Beast hanging from the ceiling.
“It’s not a problem for me,” Hank said, climbing down. “Can I help you with something, my friend? What brings you to my lab?”
“I just came to make sure everything was alright. You’ve been in the lab for a while, and I didn’t see you at breakfast or lunch.” Morph put their hands in their jacket pockets
Hank went over to one of the tables and started assembling something. “Being busy in the lab… it’s my way of distracting myself.”
“…Is this because of your date that went wrong the other day?” Morph didn't want to be so direct about the subject, but they didn't know how to ask without being blunt.
"She made it pretty clear I wasn't her type..." Hank replied, gesturing with his hand towards his body.
"I know how that feels," Morph leaned back on the table. They understood Beast not only because they too had a visible mutation, but also because of the rejection. The shapeshifter had tried to make it clear to Logan how much they cared for him on several occasions, but morph only ended up remembering that Wolverine only had eyes for Jean, so they had given up trying.
"Maybe I should stop being interested in humans. Other mutant comrades would surely be more understanding of my appearance..." Hank said, his gaze fixed on the device in his hands.
Morph looked at him silently for a second before speaking in their typical joking tone. "Maybe we should go out together. We'd make a great couple, two extremely good-looking mutants. Everyone would be jealous."
Beast turned to look at them in surprise. Morph was about to explain that they was just joking when Hank put a hand to his chin and spoke.
"It's not a bad idea."
"It isn't?" Morph said, their eyes widening.
"We've known each other for years and fought side by side. We don't have to worry about being judged or having to explain to each other how difficult it can be to suffer discrimination for being a mutant," Beast explained. "We can go on a date as a test."
Morph thought about it. They didn't have much in common with Hank, but Kevin knew they wasn't going anywhere with Logan, and saving the world every three days didn't leave much time to meet new people. It would be nice to have a partner sometime. "I guess a date won't hurt... and if we see we don't like it, we can still be friends."
Hank smiled. "I'll think of something we can do that we'll both enjoy.”
—
Logan was fixing his car, and Morph was leaning against the wall, still thinking about their earlier conversation with Hank. They'd never thought of nerds as their type, maybe strong guys, and Hank had muscles, which gave him points, right?
"Spit it out," Logan said, making Morph look at him.
"What?"
"You want to tell me something, You've been standing there silently for like 10 minutes. Just say it, bub." Logan wiped his hands with a cloth as he approached Morph.
"...Hank asked me out."
"What?" Logan looked at them, confused. "I had no idea Hank liked you."
"I don't think so, at least not as more than a friend. I think he's doing it because he's lonely."
"That's not a reason to ask someone out," Logan said. "How did he take it when you said no?"
"I said yes."
"What? Why? Do You like Hank?"
“Not like that, but…”
“Then why did you say yes?”
“Because Hank is a great guy, he’s thoughtful and sweet, and we’re already friends. Maybe you should try that instead of still being in love with someone who’s married.”
Logan was glaring at morph.
Oh, they said the last part out loud.
“Sorry,” Morph said.
“Fine, do whatever you want.” Logan walked past Morph, bumping shoulders roughly before leaving the garage.
Morph thought, maybe they’d been too honest. They should have just said, “Hank and I are dating now!” and hoped Logan would say he was happy for them.
—
Hank was surprised when he entered his lab after getting something to eat and found Morph sitting on one of the tables. Judging by their sad expression and the fact that they was there again so soon, Hank guessed there were only two possibilities: Morph was feeling unwell or morph had changed their mind about the date.
"Is something wrong?" “Hank asked, approaching
“I told Logan about this,” Morph said, gesturing with their hand toward the two of them, “and it went badly.”
“Logan’s opinion is important to you,” Hank said, more as a statement than a question.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind about going out with you. It was my fault I mentioned Jean.” Morph shrugged before getting up from the table.
“A wounded deer leaps higher… Emily Dickinson.”
“That’s from one of the many books you have here.” Morph went to the lab bookshelf to look through the books. “You must have a book that’s fun, maybe one with pictures.”
“Most of the ones with illustrations are scientific illustrations,” Hank explained as Morph took out a book and flipped through it.
Suddenly, Morph had an idea. “Oh, I know! We should go book shopping! That could be a date.”
“Oh.”
“We can buy a book we both like and Then we can go for coffee.”
“They’re used to seeing me at the library. But going to a coffee shop isn’t such a good idea; other people might feel uncomfortable.” Hank grabbed his lab coat and covered himself with it.
“Sorry, we can have coffee here then,” Morph said, then looked at the author of the book they were holding. “And I’m sure Water Benjamin is someone interesting.”
“It’s Walter.”
Morph put the book back on the shelf when they noticed something and made a surprised noise. “No way!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Beast, I had no idea you were a communist,” Morph joked, showing a book on the subject.
“It’s important to have diverse reading material.” Hank watched as Morph pulled books out and rearranged them on the shelf. “Maybe we can go to the library like you say. If we buy a book, we can read it together and discuss what we thought of it.”
“Like a book club!” Morph said, “I’ve never been to one of those, but it sounds fun.”
“I’m almost finished with my project; we can go tomorrow.”
“If we don’t have a crisis to deal with… tomorrow sounds good.”