Midas Touch ➸ Taekook

- Sixth -

Taking advantage of the fact that all the students were at school, Professor Xavier sat down by the kitchen window, a steaming cup of coffee in his hands. He adored his students and had a close relationship with all of them, but he had to admit that a little silence from time to time didn't hurt. He let his gaze wander over the Institute's large garden, where he had set up a number of facilities for the children. His aim was to make them feel as comfortable as possible. Some were sent here by their parents to learn to master their powers, but for others it was much more complicated than that. Many of them simply had nowhere else to go. For many of his students, the Institute was their one and only home. It was his duty to make it a warm one.

As he took a deep sip of his coffee, he suddenly saw a car pull into the driveway beside the manor house. It was a rather recent model, even if the black bodywork and long shape of the car made it rather discreet. Xavier smiled, knowing full well who the car belonged to. A long-time friend, whose occasional visits never augured well.

The car door opened and a strange man stepped out. His skin was completely blue and, despite his tailor-made suit, his imposing size and his blue fur gave him a bestial appearance. The effect was accentuated by the two protruding canines that protruded from his lips.

The professor quickly left the kitchen, leaving his wheelchair to wander to the entrance of the manor house, a huge hall with an enormous staircase at its centre. Of course, the whole Institute was equipped with an elevator, mainly for Xavier's movements.

There stood the mysterious man, standing up straight with his hands behind his back. He looked like a true gentleman, if you overlooked his atypical appearance. And his eyes lit up, accompanied by a broad smile, when he caught sight of the professor.

"Charles!" he exclaimed as he approached. "How are you, my friend?"

Charles smiled back.

"Very well, Hank. It's been a long time since you've been here. Is working for the CIA so demanding?"

Hank sighed, his smile suddenly more hesitant.

"Now that the existence of mutants is no longer a secret to the rest of the world, things have really become complicated. On the one hand I have to deal with mutant terrorists, and on the other I have to stop the government from launching a full-scale witch-hunt. It's pretty... exhausting."

Xavier offered him a sympathetic look, while indicating that he should follow him into the living room, where they could talk comfortably. By the time they were both seated with a cup of coffee in hand, Hank's face had darkened considerably. It didn't look good.

"I suppose you're not here today to take a few days off." Charles guessed. "Does your visit have anything to do with the CIA?"

Hank hesitated at first, before nodding slowly. He looked deeply uncomfortable, and above all, very worried. That didn't reassure Xavier at all.

"I need your help, Charles. Or rather, the X-Men's."

***

As Taehyung passed through the entrance to the Institute, he came face to face with Chris, much to his delight. The two teenagers stared at each other briefly, before Taehyung looked away, resuming his walk along the long driveway towards the mansion. It wasn't long before he heard someone running behind him, and Chris was soon walking beside him, though keeping a distance of a metre between them.

Taehyung felt like crying or screaming in rage. What exactly was he playing at? Okay, their classes had finished at the same time so they were both here now, but that didn't mean they had to make the journey together! Especially as Taehyung had no desire to make it with him.

"You know, I feel like you've been avoiding me lately...'" Chris said suddenly, looking embarrassed.

Taehyung rolled his eyes.

"It's not a feeling."

"But why?"

Taehyung stopped dead in his tracks, turning wide-eyed surprise on Chris.

"Are you kidding?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?"

"Chris, we dated and then you broke up with me. Why should I talk to you? Ex don't talk to each other after they broke up!"

"We said we'd go back to being friends, like we were before..."

"That's what you said. I never agreed. And I don't. Now leave me alone."

The boy started walking again, faster this time. His cheeks were on fire. How could Chris do this to him? He already felt miserable enough after their break-up, which had only happened a week ago. Did he really have to inflict this humiliation on him? Pretending that they'd never been lovers, that their relationship didn't mean anything? What if Taehyung had been deeply in love? Chris didn't even know if he'd broken his heart. And he'd literally made him realise that with his powers, being in a relationship would be impossible.

There was no reason for them to be friends anymore.

"Taehyung, please listen to me... I didn't want to hurt you... But you have to understand, I had the impression that our relationship was destroying our friendship..."

Taehyung didn't listen to him, even closing the mansion door behind him to put some distance between them. But Chris was persistent, and kept running after him to finish their discussion. Or rather his monologue, if we assume that Taehyung had never intended to speak to him.

"Tae-"

"Taehyung!" Namjoon suddenly exclaimed from the top of the stairs. "I've been looking for you! Put your bag in your room and meet us in the meeting room!"

"Okay!"

Namjoon disappeared immediately, and Taehyung turned to Chris.

"You see, I'm busy now, so leave me alone. And don't come back to me about this, it's useless."

He walked away, hurriedly putting his bag in his room before going to the meeting room, where all the members of the X-Men were already gathered. However, when he arrived, Taehyung noticed that there was a man he didn't know, with a beastly blue appearance.

"Well, now that everyone's here, we can get started." Professor Xavier began. "This is Hank MacCoy, he's an old friend, he was a student here a few years ago, at the same time as Namjoon and Jin. He now works for the CIA."

All the teenagers cast curious glances at their two teachers, then at Hank.

"I didn't know Jin was so old..." murmured Hoseok.

"I'm not old!"

"Anyway," continued the professor. "Hank came today because he has a request to make to the X-Men. It's a different mission from what we're used to, so it's up to you to decide whether you want to accept it or not."

Hank stepped forward, greeting everyone with a small nod. Despite his appearance, Taehyung was obliged to note that he seemed genuinely benevolent, rather like Professor Xavier. Further proof that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

"Hello everyone. I would have loved to have the time to get to know each and every one of you better, but unfortunately we don't have the time. A few weeks ago, we discovered that mutants were being smuggled into the United States from the southern part of the continent. However, the American government is refusing to intervene because of the tense atmosphere surrounding the mutant cause in recent weeks."

A dead silence settled over the room. So the government had chosen its side: mutants were not considered full citizens of the United States. It was... quite painful to hear.

"So basically... you want us to dismantle this traffic ourselves?" Logan asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Seriously, the X-Men are mostly kids, you're asking them to do the work of normally over-trained cops. It's madness!"

"I know my request is insane, but I'm desperate. We're talking about innocent people, children who will be sold to arms dealers and used in gang wars. This is slavery, and most of them won't even survive. We have to save them."

Logan sighed, because he didn't need to look at his team-mates to know that they'd all already made up their minds.