Never Miss A Beat (Part Six)

I wasn't accustomed to utilizing underhanded means to get an advantage, but damn it, you had to take what you could get when it was given to you. When life pitched a slow, fat ball right across the plate, it was your right as an intrepid young contributing member of society to knock it clear out of the park.

I saw Mister Summers more than I used to after... what had happened on the Breakworld. Without a senior X-Man to lead us, it was up to me to requisition things for training and whatnot. It was far too late in the year to get any kind of replacement, so we were on our own until fall semester started up. Not that it would have mattered anyway. It was way too soon for anyone to replace Miss Pryde without carrying the weight that came with it. None of us were ready for it.

Bah. Too depressing. The point was, I had lots of face time with the man, so that put me in prime position to do my job of planting a certain little seed in his head. It had been suggested that I let Ruth do it, but no. It was too risky. The man had a track record of plowing lady telepaths like it was his job. There was no way she was going to be able to get in and out of his head without killing our plans.

That left it up to someone with the right kind of ability to run their mouth, who wouldn't be out of place talking to him about random stuff. i.e. me.

He caught me pacing around outside of his office one afternoon once exams for that day had let out. It was usually the time I came by to ask him something or drop something off, "Bellamy," He said upon seeing me, "Is there something I can help you with? Exams are going okay, aren't they?"

"I guess they're going okay," I said, "I was just around, and I wanted to get a moment of your time to ask you something quick."

Mister Summers nodded his agreement and unlocked the door to his office, letting me inside, "Sure. That's what my office hours are here for," He said before giving me a deadpan look, "There's nothing happening that'll blow up the school again, is there?" He said dryly.

I waved off the completely legitimate concern, "No. Not this time. I've got a question. It's not really a life-or-death thing. More personal. And if you don't want to answer, that's cool. It's just you're the only person I can think of to legit ask, and-."

He held up a hand to stop me from rambling on, "Go ahead, it's fine. I should probably think about bringing on a guidance counselor or something for the students here anyway. What do you need?"

I sat down in front of his desk as he got comfortable behind it to hear me out, "Well, I was wondering what the rule for birthdays is with girls," He raised an eyebrow underneath his visor in interest and gestured for me to continue, "I mean for me, I hate my birthday. But I'm a miserable jerk, so I ignore everything that goes for me when it comes to normal people."

"Whose birthday did you miss?" Mister Summers offered, a wry smile on his face.

I put on a dejected face to try and sell my story, "I'm pretty sure I missed Hisako's a few weeks ago. It'd explain why she's been pissy with me lately," Not entirely a lie. Hisako had been pissy with me lately... on and off, but that was how we always were. Her birthday wasn't actually until November, "So I'm figuring there's some kind of rule there, even if you're not dating the girl."

It seemed like Mister Summers was actually happy to give some advice that didn't involve anyone fighting or getting hurt, "Now this is just from me, so your mileage may vary," He said, "It matters more the closer you are to a girl. The more important she is to you and you are to her, the more likely it is you should go out of your way to get her something or do something nice for her."

That was actually decent advice, "Shit. Well, at least I know for next time. Not like I can do anything about it now without making it worse. I guess I'll just say sorry somehow later," Now here was the important part. This one had to hit deep, yet subtly, "Man, why do you always have everything in control? I bet you've got something baller planned for Miss Frost this weekend."

Mister Summers' entire face and posture froze up, "What?"

I gave him a weird look, as if to wonder why he needed me to tell him what I was saying, "Miss Frost's birthday. It's Saturday," He tried to hide it, but I caught the wince, "...Y-You didn't know that?"

It took everything I had to keep a straight face. I couldn't crack now. Things were going too well to let anything suspicious slip.

Mister Summers didn't admit to not remembering, instead trying to move things back onto me, "Why do you know that?"

The internet. More specifically, the directory open to all students. Not that I said that, "Hellions," I said with a shrug, enough confidence behind it to sound like the truth, "...My bad. I didn't mean to freak you out."

Yes I did. I totally did. Dance for me, puppet X-Man. Do Bellamy's bidding and get your ass out of town so I can throw a mutant rager.

"I'm not freaked out, Bellamy, don't worry," He said before chuckling nervously, probably feeling like he'd just dodged a bullet, "Though I probably owe you one for jogging my memory. I've still got a few days to come up with something good before the weekend."

"Oh, no problem! Glad I could help. I was the one who came for help myself," And he gave it to me, or he would when he took her out for a night on the town in the big city Saturday. A woman like Miss Frost would want something splendorous, "I've pissed off Miss Frost enough times to not wish that on anyone unless I really don't like 'em."

With my problem solved, I said goodbye and left the room, keeping my wits about me until I was back in the comfortable confines of the student dorm area. In the common area, I found Eddie sitting around watching TV with Ruth, who was doing the same, leaning against a sleeping Saberwolf on the floor.

I cleared my throat, getting the attention of my friends.

Eddie set his magazine aside and jumped up with a nervous expression, "Did it work?" I nodded, and a sigh of relief came from him before he pointed at me, "For the love of God, someone 'too sweet' that man!"

He flew over and did it himself. When Ruth registered my presence, she got up and jumped on my back. She weighed next to nothing to me, but for the sake of messing around, I let her drag me down to the ground so we could grapple.

Eddie ignored the two of us goofing off in exchange for rubbing his hands together, daydreaming of what we had ahead of us, "This is gonna be so awesome. Would you two stop rolling around already? Celebrate with me, damn it!"

I was a bit busy. Ruth was still behind me, legs wrapped around my waist trying to sink in a choke. I could peel her arms away from my throat with one hand, "Damn it, girl, you cannot fight me. You're miniature," She didn't answer me, instead focusing on trying to playfully establish dominion over yours truly.

Ruth was getting to be okay at martial arts. She was better at grappling than striking. Unfortunately, I trained every damn night to offset insomnia-caused boredom.

I trapped Ruth's ankle between my legs and reached back to pull off her shoe and tickle her bare foot. She laughed out loud until she let go and surrendered. Not exactly a recognized hold in any formal martial art, but it was good enough to get her to give up, begging me to stop the entire time, "She gives up, yes! Stop, please! Bellamy!"

"And that's how you do that," I got up, picked Ruth up off of the ground under one arm, kicking and fighting the whole way, and dropped her on the couch, "Would you be good already?" I sat down next to her and she quickly squirmed behind me. This time, I let her sink in a rear naked choke. She had the good grace to not squeeze down on it, "We're good to go."

Eddie floated above our heads lazily, "Seeing as how Blindfold here hasn't let us onto any visions of shit going sideways, I'd say so," He knocked on the wooden table for good measure, "By the way, they found a spot that works. Saberwolf took me there after my exams, and it is so choice."

I still couldn't believe Ruth of all people managed to get Laura and Saberwolf to help her scout party locations. Well, I could believe she could get Saberwolf. He was a complete softy for her, but Laura seemed way too antisocial to help out.

I hummed and gave her a pat on the thigh, "Huh. Good for you, Ruthie," That was the moment she squeezed down, "*hack* It's supposed to cut off circulation, not air!"

Despite Eddie being in good position to make it stop, he clearly took pleasure in watching this happen, "Then why is it called a choke?"

I fell over on the couch and glared up at my wingman as I fought the psychic girl on my back for oxygen, "Hate you guys..."