#always gives me a bit of an ick when crime dramas are all 'and here's a reporter they're the worst being to have ever breathed in oxygen'

[navree]

one day there's gonna be a crime drama on television, or a movie about an investigation of a crime, and it's gonna be fucking normal about the concept of journalism and reporters, i'm speaking that into existence rn

[djinmer4]

Telling the Truth (Misnamed Soulmates AU)

Kurt rang the doorbell and waited.  After a few minutes, Mr. Sefton opened the door with a frown.  “Wagner,” he said in a chilly tone.

“Uhm, guten tag, Herr Sefton.  I’m here to see your daughter again.”  Kurt waved and cringed.  Thanks to Toad, he hadn’t made a good impression on the Seftons in the first place and they’d never gotten over it.  Mr. Sefton hadn’t banned Amanda from seeing him but he made it pretty clear he didn’t approve.  Tonight wasn’t going to improve his opinion of Kurt.

“Amanda didn’t mention anything about the two of you having a date tonight.”

“We’re not.  I just need to talk to her about something.”  The man moved aside and pointed Kurt up the stairs.  “You can see her but no funny business.  Keep the door open and her mother and I will be passing by to make sure the two of you haven’t crossed any lines.”

“Jawohl, meine Herr.”  The German wasn’t helping but Kurt was too nervous to care.  He walked up the stairs (no teleportation in the house) and knocked on Amanda’s door.  

“Kurt?  It’s great to see you but what are you doing here?  Shouldn’t you be studying for finals?”  She pulled him in and tried to close the door but remembering Mr. Sefton’s words, Kurt used his tail to keep it open.  When she opened her mouth to object, he shook his head and pointed down to where her father was watching.  Understanding the gestures, Amanda left the door as is and went to sit on her bed.  “So . . . “

“Amanda, we need to talk.”

Her eyes widened.  “Are you breaking up with me?”

“Vas?  Why do you ask that?”

“Well, it’s sort of cliche, isn’t it?  If two people get together in private and one of them says they need to talk, and they're not on some sort of crime drama, then it usually means one of them is having doubts about their relationship.”

Kurt winced and sighed.  “I’d like to say you’re wrong . . . but that is what I’m here for.  Yes, Amanda, I’m breaking up with you.”

“Why?  Is it because I’m not a mutant?”

“Nein, that has nothing to do with it.”

“Or because I won’t put out?”

“Natürlich nicht!”

“I-I don’t know what that means.”

“Of course not.  We’re way too young to be having kinder in the first place.”

“So what is it then?  Are you just tired of me?”

“I met my soulmate.”

A pregnant pause filled the air.  “You have a soulmate?”

“Ja.”

“Is this a new thing?  Was she . . . or maybe he just born?”

“I’ve had a soulmark since I was two years old.”

“Wait, you’ve known you had a soulmate all this time and you didn’t tell me?”  Kurt nodded and hung his head.  Amanda digested the words for a moment then slapped him.

The German’s head rocked with the blow, and he looked up with wide eyes.  “You deserve that.  I would have entered this relationship very differently if I knew a soulmate was potentially involved.”

“I guess I do.”  He rubbed his cheek.

“So what made you decide that now was the perfect time to break up?  Did you just meet this person?”

Kurt rubbed his cheek thoughtfully and scooted the chair back.  Amanda got one punch, anything else and he’d strike back.  “No, actually I met her three years ago.  I think I met you first but I’m not sure.”

“So let me get this straight, you’ve known you had a soulmate for as long as you can remember, and you even met her a while back but you decided to enter a relationship with me anyway, and let me believe there was no one else involved.  And now it’s been several months and you decide to break up with me out of the blue.”  Amanda stood and looked out the window.  Turning around, her eyes were filled with tears.  “You’re a bastard, Kurt Wagner.  You deserve more than just a punch to the face.”

“So says Rogue.”

“Is she your soulmate?”

“No, she’s my sister.”

“So who is your soulmate?”  For a moment, Kurt contemplated not telling her, as it really wasn’t any of her business.  But then he realized he wasn’t going to hide his relationship and Amanda would find out anyway.  “Kitty Pryde.”

Surprise stopped the tears flowing down Amanda’s face.  “Your best friend?  I thought maybe it was a guy and you had been reluctant to get into more complications.  Or maybe she’s the one who’s gay?  I always thought her relationship with Lance seemed fake.  Have you told her already?”

“Not yet.  I thought it a better idea to break up with you first.”

“At least you had the decency to do that,” Amanda muttered and Kurt silently thanked Marie for steering him in this direction.  “I guess you’ll be doing that when you leave here?”

“Maybe not.  She doesn’t know yet.  It’s complicated.”

“How?”  When he shook his head, Amanda came back to the bed and gripped his chin forcefully, preventing him from looking away.  “Kurt, you let me get into a relationship under false pretenses, stayed long enough for me to fall in love and are now breaking up with me by revealing that you lied to me for months!  You owe me an explanation and some proof!”

“Proof?”  He thought for a moment, then tapped the heavy watch he wore.  Amanda watched pale skin and blue eyes shudder and vanish, leaving blue fur and gold irises in its wake.  Once the illusion was gone, he shrugged out of his jacket and pulled his shirt over his head.  In any other circumstance, Amanda would have been all over him at that point.  In this case, she was only focused on the rose gold lettering over his heart.  “Katherine Anne Pryde.  You’ve known her this long, and you’ve never told her either?”

“Oh no, she knows.  It’s just . . .”  Amanda’s grip got vicelike as if he was going to run away before explaining everything.  She was probably right to do so.  “It’s just that her soulmark says ‘Michael Sebastian Darkholme’.”

Amanda wasn’t an idiot.  Kurt had explained what happened to the former Principle Darkholme and his connection to her.  She put two and two together easily.  “So the reason you’re breaking up with me . . . you only found out about your real name on that last mission you did.”  He nodded silently.

She let go and pulled away.  "Go away, Kurt.  I don’t want to see you ever again right now.  I can’t even think through the pain and the anger and I don’t want to do or say something I’ll regret later.”  Kurt nodded silently, not that she could see, and left the room.  She’d have to see him on Monday but he’d give her the space she asked for right now.

As he climbed down the stairs, he saw Mr. Sefton frowning and only remembered to pull on his shirt and reactivate his holowatch then.  The older man’s eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to say something but Kurt cut him off.  “Don’t worry, I won’t be back.  And please tell her I’m sorry for hurting her.”  He got out the door as fast as possible and teleported back as soon as he found a semi-isolated area.

“So dude, what’s up with you and Amanda?” asked Bobby through a mouth full of food.

“Ick!  Swallow before you talk, Bobby!” complained Kitty, she and Marie moving from across him to sit next to Kurt.

“Sorry,” Iceman swallowed.  “But really, what gives?  The two of you have been avoiding each other all morning.”

It took a lot more than bad table manners to diminish Kurt’s appetite.  “We broke up this weekend.”

“Oh, Kurt!  I’m so sorry to hear that!”  Kitty leaned over and gave her best friend a hug.  From over her shoulder, Rogue gave him an approving nod and turned back to her meal.

“Wait, you said you guys broke up,” Bobby was still hung up on that.  “So did you dump her or did she dump you?  And who’s fault was it?”

“I dumped her-”

“And it was his fault too.”  The other X-Men looked up at Amanda with shock.  “Hi, guys.  Mind if I join you for lunch?  I just don’t want to sit next to Kurt right now.”

Bobby and Rogue scooted over to leave room between them for Amanda.  “Hey, not that we’re unhappy to see you, but I’m a little surprised,” said Bobby.  “Didn’t you just break up with this joker?  I woulda thought he’d be the last person you want to see.”

Amanda smiled, a bit wavery but still a true smile.  “He is.  But that’s not the fault of the rest of you.  I’m not going to stop being friends with the rest of you just because he lied.”

Rogue gave her a confused but admiring look.  “That’s really mature of you.”

“Thanks, but not really.  I’m also here to enjoy the fallout once he explains what happened.”  Bobby and Rogue turned around to see Kitty glaring at Kurt.

“Oh boy.”