wings ↣ w. worthington iii

2. who would ever want red sunglasses after meeting him? ✓

"I think you've still got lightning in you." (Suzy in Moonrise Kingdom)

Word Count: 2774

"NOW, EVERY ONE OF THE MUTANTS you are about to meet fought in the war with Apocalypse." Professor Xavier was saying as he and Hank led Lilli down the hallways of the school. "All of them except Warren and Ororo fought on our side, against Apocalypse. Ororo came back with us immediately following the war, but Warren only came to us this month."

"So basically, you're the only one who hasn't fought in a war, and the only one who didn't fight against Apocalypse." Hank said, summing it up. Lilli nodded.

"I'm fresh meat," she muttered, a twang of fear striking her at that moment. It was just now hitting her that since she was the weakest member, the rest of the X-Men would be stronger, smarter, faster, and more powerful. On top of all of that, they had scarier mutations than hers and were most likely very savage. Lilli suddenly felt small and minuscule compared to these new mutants, and she hadn't even met them yet. Would they bully her and exclude her? Would she be an outcast? Would she be ridiculed? She didn't like being ridiculed by anyone, even if the perpetrator was a mutant.

"Now, don't feel nervous, Lilli," Professor Xavier said from in front of Lilli. Lilli immediately blushed as she remembered he could hear her thoughts. What a strange, lonely mutation to have. "They're normal, average, every-day mutants, just like you. They're also your age, roughly. High school, yes?"

"Yeah, I was a senior. I'm eighteen," Lilli replied. "They're all eighteen?"

"No, but they're roughly around that age. You'll fit right in," Professor replied calmly. Lilli felt a little better. At least these X-Men weren't double her age or something. She could do well with other teenagers. Or, at least better than with adults. "Ah, here we are!" Professor Xavier exclaimed, pulling Lilli out of her anxious thoughts. The three had made their way down a long hallway and stood in front of a door at the very end of it.

Lilli took a few slow, calming breaths to soothe herself. She started cracking her knuckles and pulling at her fingers; a bad habit of hers thats he did when she became nervous. Lilli didn't feel safe in the slightest and a few worrying thoughts entered her mind just then. What if this was all fake? What if it was a trap and she was being led to a room full of savage mutants who would sell her into slavery? As these thoughts entered her mind, Lilli felt her visibility start to flicker. She had a feeling she wouldn't be visible the whole time and desperately was regretting her choice to run down that driveway.

Hank opened the door. Professor Xavier went in first, followed by Lilli and lastly Hank. Lilli nervously flickered her eyes all around the room, taking it in as much as she could.

It was a normal sized room with big windows on the far wall that had views of the front lawn. The windows let in a lot of natural light, so no lights were on inside of the room. There was a couch and a loveseat in the center of the room that were facing a small TV. Around the edges of the room were other chairs, tables, a mini fridge, a pool table, and another small loveseat. These chairs were inhabited by a handful of mutants that looked like they'd been made by a rolling of a die. They had different skin colors, hair colors, and mutations, forming a sort of zoo in the lounge room.

Lilli looked around at them all one by one. They were all lounging on couches and chairs, talking and laughing and reading and studying and listening to music and all the stuff that normal teenage kids do. Lilli was terrified. Mutants weren't supposed to be like that! They're supposed to be savages! Crazed! They're not supposed to act so... normal.

Lilli didn't want to have to make small talk with them. She'd rather talk to savage mutants than ones that seem like normal teenagers. Her social anxiety started rising up as she realized just how normal they seemed.