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During the second week of Spring Break, a small party visits Kurt's family in Germany.


The troupe was waiting for them when they arrived. They appeared shortly outside of the circus campground, the troupe surrounding them in a semicircle. Kurt immediately broke away from the huddle of TJ, Jeanne-Marie, and Clarice and ran towards the troupe, teleporting when he was halfway there to appear in his mother’s arms. He pulled his brother into the embrace with his hand, and his sister in with his tail.

Kurt squeezed his eyes shut against the threat of tears and just held on to his family, in no rush to let go. “I missed you so much!

"We've missed you too!" Jimaine assured him, sounding a little rough herself. Though she peeked over her shoulder at the newcomers with Kurt, too, deciding who she wanted to approach and hug first. "And you brought... family!

They’re hot,” Stefan remarked, grinning at the group of strangers.

Kurt smacked his brother’s shoulder at the same time as Jimaine did. Their mother was already walking over to the group to introduce herself. “That’s TJ, who I called you about. Jeanne-Marie, who I also told you about. And our friend, Clarice,” he told his siblings.

Riiiight,” Stefan said. “The girlfriend and the alternate-reality daughter. Is Clarice single?

"Does anyone speak German?" Jeanne-Marie asked her two friends from Xavier's quietly. She was flushed and grinning, seeing Kurt's reception and waiting for her own turn to say hello... and her German was very, very bad.

"Totally single!" TJ called out to Stefan, in German, with a sharp grin, even as she stepped forward to meet Jimaine, her smile softening. "Hi. I'm TJ. Thank you for the invitation.

Clarice just watched the rest nervously; so far, the only person she'd understood was Jeanne-Marie, to whom she offered a helpless shrug. JM's German might not be great, but hers was non-existent.

Still, she remembered her own family well enough that seeing Kurt reunited with his made her feel genuinely happy. For that alone, she'd have brought them all twice as far. As it was, she was mostly hoping not to get in the way. And try not to regret leaving the image inducer back at the school.

Stefan playfully shoved Kurt out of the way and flung an arm over his sister’s shoulder. “Nice to finally meet you, TJ,” he said in heavily-accented English.

“We are thrilled to have you all here,” Margali, extending her hands to the two girls closest to her. Her English was accented too, and she spoke it more haltingly.

Jimaine approached TJ. "My niece!" She seemed truly amused. "And you're so welcome, you two! We've been dying to meet Kurt's friends--and girlfriend!"

Jeanne-Marie flushed and took one of Margali's hands, nodding demurely. She was so happy, but suddenly shy. What was wrong with her!

"Officially your sister," TJ retorted with a grin. Really neither, but TJ really hoped they would be family, all the same. "It's so nice to meet you all."

Accepting Margali's other hand a touch self-consciously, Clarice tried not to shrink into herself; confidence wasn't an issue for her, most days, at least not back at the school. But this was different. This was ... a personal kinda thing. And, really, she was mostly just a transcontinental shortcut; it wasn't as if she actually needed to be there. "Thanks for havin' us," she offered. "Is a nice place y'all have here.”

Margali squeezed their hands warmly.

“Thanks. We picked the nicest patch of ground out of the one they told us we could have,” Stefan joked, grinning.

Kurt rolled his eyes fondly. “Ignore him. He is just trying to impress everyone.”

“It’s working,” Jeanne-Marie piped up.

Jimaine laughed and reached out to take TJ’s hand.

"Is it?" TJ asked with raised eyebrows, before grinning, and taking Jimaine's hand. "Hey. It's so nice to meet you."

Once Kurt's mummy relinquished her hand, Clarice was happy enough to recede into the background as much as a purple girl, green eyes faintly luminous in the waning light, possibly could. Which was to say, not very much. She offered a tentative wave to some of the other members of the troupe surrounding them in a loose circle, seemingly waiting for the family reunion to end before approaching the new arrivals themselves.

Stefan offered a hand out to TJ too. “Welcome to the family.”

Kurt moved to stand beside Jeanne-Marie, who had been looking a little nervous, and took her hand. “And welcome to Germany.”

Jeanne-Marie breathed a tiny sigh of relieve. Kurt made everything... easier, really. “Danke,” she replied squeezing Kurt a little.

Jimaine was enchanted by TJ. “She’s prettier than you, Kurt. Ha! It’s like that where you’re from too, yes?” She directed the last question to TJ.

Jeanne-Marie giggled.

"I'm always prettier than Kurt," TJ confirmed with a grin. Of course, she usually had age on her side. She reached out to shake Stefan's hand. "Thanks."

Kurt shrugged. “I am confident enough in my prettiness to be able to admit when I am beat.”

“How big of you,” Stefan joked, laughing when Kurt’s tail took a playful swat at him.

Margali couldn’t stop smiling. Her boy was home, all her children were together again, and she had been gifted with new friends and new family. She gestured for her guests to follow her. “Come. The troupe wanted to celebrate your visit. They organized a dinner.”

Jeanne-Marie bounced a little. "How kind! Oh, I can't wait to meet everyone else."

Jimane laughed at Kurt and waved them all to follow her.

***


TJ grabbed the last empty dish with her tail, already carrying a load of glasses in her hands. She headed back towards the kitchen, depositing the dishes on the counter. "Where am I putting all this?" she asked Margali.

“Just in the sink, dear, thank you,” Margali replied, gesturing to the tiny sink that was already brimming with dirty dishes.

"I don't think there's any room," TJ pointed out. Of course, there was an easy fix; make room. She left everything on the counter and moved to the sink to get the water running.

Margali offered TJ a rag, shooing her to the side. “I’ll wash. You dry. No need to get your fur wet.”

"Is that Kurt's excuse for getting out of doing the dishes?" TJ asked, taking the rag and dutifully moving aside.

“Laundry,” Margali replied with a laugh. “Kurt hates doing laundry.” She started the water, adjusting it until she had it at the temperature she wanted, and started to wash.

"And you let him get away with it?" TJ asked with a sharp smile, happy to hear anything at all Margali would tell her about this Kurt. "Or am I getting special treatment?”

Margali’s laugh was warm. “No, but lucky for Kurt, Stefan hates doing dishes.”

"Special treatment it is," TJ concluded, grinning with amusement as she started wiping. "I'm not gonna complain.”

“And it’ll continue, but only if you rub it in their faces,” Margali joked, leaning in like it was a secret.

"It'll be my pleasure," TJ told her with another sharp grin.

Grinning, Margali handed off a clean dish to TJ. “You’re a Wagner through and through.”

"Don't go underestimate my Maximoff blood," TJ told her easily, as she reached for the dish to start wiping it. "Fortunately, ribbing on close family is a trait they have in common.”

Margali chuckled as she buried her hands in soapy water to scrub at a pan. “All the best families do.”

And TJ's, as far as she was concerned, was definitely among the best, if not the best. A pang of longing squeezed her heart, but she ignored it as she focused on the dish in her hands. "Where does this go?”

“In there,” Margali replied, pointing to one of the overhead cabinets with a sudsy hand. “I’m glad you could visit. Kurt’s told us so much about you.”

"Has he?" TJ put the dish away, and turned back to Margali with a small smile. "I'm really grateful I'm here.”

Margali smiled. “We’re grateful to have you. We’ve been looking forward to it ever since Kurt told us about you.” She passed TJ the pan, and started on a dish.

"I still can't believe you accepted my story so easily," TJ admitted as she wiped the pan. "I mean, I've lived it, and it still sounds crazy to me.”

It still sounded crazy, and Margali had definitely had her doubts. She’d worried it was a trick, or a lie, or that the girl was confused and was really his sibling. Countless possibilities had run through her head, and eventually she’d had to admit that they were as unlikely as anything else. Not enough people knew of Kurt, or where he was to do any of that.

“Kurt trusts you. That’s enough for us. He’s trouble, but he’s a good boy.” Margali scrapped hard at a stubborn bit of something. “And, now that I’ve met you, you’re too much like him for it not to be true.”

"Trouble?" TJ only echoed, tail shaping a question mark, as if to emphasize the question.

Margali gave TJ a doubting, but amused look. “I find it hard to believe he hasn’t caused at least some mischief at school.”

"Oh, that's not trouble," TJ replied with a chuckle. "That's character." She'd always known her father had had that mischievous aspect to him, too (Aunt Kate loved to tell her stories, for one thing), but she had seen so little of it, demanding as he had been the last couple of years before she'd been unhinged from time. And it was different to see it first hand. Maybe he hadn't been quite the same, but it felt like her dad might have been close enough to this Kurt, when he was young.

It just made her miss him even more, in some ways.

Margali laughed. It had sounded exactly like something Kurt would say. “Don’t let him hear you say that. He’ll be impossible to live with.” She handed TJ the clean pot, and started on a handful of utensils, smiling as she added, “We love him very much. We were lucky to find him. Doubly lucky since it brought you to us.”

TJ put the pan away with some she'd spotted earlier, and grabbed the pot. "Thanks," she said, with a genuine smile. "If I was going to be stranded somewhere, I lucked out with this world.”

“Is the one you’re from very different?” Margali asked.

"Not really," TJ stated with a shake of her head. "I mean, mutants became a thing a little earlier than here, but the world make-up is pretty much the same. We even also had Obama for a president, when I left.”

Margali wondered if that made things harder. Would a place that reminded you so much of home make the homesickness better or worse? She hoped it was the former. “And Kurt?” She offered out a handful of clean utensils.

"Way older, obviously," TJ replied as she grabbed the utensils. "He's this kickass, hardass leader of the X-Men. He's still completely in love with Mom. But they have a lot in common. It's not difficult, seeing how this Kurt could grow into someone like my dad.”

“Oh?” Margali had a hard time seeing her silly, sweet boy becoming a hardass. “What are the X-Men?”

"You know, like X-Force, only..." TJ rolled her fully yellow eyes. "'Invisibilising women,' apparently.”

Margali had no idea what that meant, but she nodded. “That’s the team you’re all on? The one that’s supposed to help people?”

"We do help people," TJ answered, looking over at Margali to see what she'd meant by that.

Leave it to Kurt to leave the circus and join a team of superheroes. “That’s good. I always knew Kurt would do something important.” Laughter drifted in from a nearby open window and Margali looked toward it with a smile. It was so nice to have everyone here together. “You two look out for each other.”

TJ was quiet for a moment, before explaining, "Half the family I have back home, we're not even related. They're X-Men. I mean, this isn't the same. There's so many of us, and we're all kids. But maybe it's just the beginning. And X-Men, they look out for each other - you know, whatever we're called. We'll look out for each other, but we've got a bunch of other people who'll look out for us, too." A pause, and she held up the utensils in her hand. "Where do these go?”

Margali pointed out a drawer near the sink to TJ. She understood where TJ was coming from. The troupe was one, big found family, after all. But, the rest of X-Force weren’t her boy or her granddaughter. “All the same,” she said.

TJ put the utensils away, then turned back to Margali with a small smile. "Yeah. We will. We are."

* * *


The club was the busiest, most crowded place Kurt had ever been. Bodies were pressed close together on the dance floor, swaying and bouncing to the thumpa-thumpa of the music. In the dark room, highlighted by the fluorescent lights that weaved across the floors and walls they looked ethereal. The DJ, under a spotlight all of his own, let out a shout that was drowned out by the music, and the beat changed. A new song started, and a new wave of dancing with it.

And in the middle of that wave stood TJ, having a blast dancing like there was no tomorrow. Sure, some people kept looking her way, and some were outright staring, but she was used to it even in her world, and she wasn't going to let that bother her here. But as the songs changed, she looked around for her friends, spotted them, and gestured for them to come join her. "Come here! Dance with me!" she shouted, trying to be heard over the music and, obviously, failing.

Jeanne-Marie got the idea, though. Berlin was crazy and magical at night, and she’d been soooo excited when TJ suggested clubbing. She ignored the eyes on them and danced like no one—except maybe Kurt!—was watching. And when TJ waved, she tugged him in her direction, bopping and swaying the whole way Until she could reach out and touch her fingers. “This is so cool!”

As always, Kurt willingly and gladly let himself be pulled along by Jeanne-Marie. They weaved past Stefan who was dancing with a girl, and came up alongside TJ. “Are all clubs like this?” This place was insane! It was so loud, and exciting!

"Only the best ones!" TJ replied, shouting to be heard over the music as she started dancing with both of them. She only wished Clarice was here, but they would have to work up to a full clubbing experience, clearly.

"We used to sneak into them in Montreal--but this one is better!" Jeanne-Marie executed a little turn, shaking her hips with the beat.

Kurt reached for Jeanne-Marie’s hand and pulled her in with a spin that brought her back to front with him. His arms went around her waist, moving with her to the rhythm of the song. “We should go dancing more often.” He’d always loved dancing and, while this was night and day different than the dancing in classic Hollywood films that had been his first love, it was still a blast.

"You're totally on!" TJ assured him with a grin. She'd missed clubbing, although this was making her miss Clarice (her Clarice) and Mariko. She owed it to them to dance twice as hard, really. "I've missed it too much!"

Jeanne-Marie lifted one arm and used it to tousle Kurt's hair behind her. She leaned back into him as she moved, letting the music and him guide her, so she didn't have to think at all. Her body told her to rub up against Kurt a little more... but she didn't. TJ was there, after all, and he was her father! Also, they were in public. She was getting carried away. "It's so easy to forget everything else!" she said instead, by way of agreement, keeping it clean. For the moment.

Not that easy! Kurt was all too aware of Jeanne-Marie pressed closed to him, moving to a song that, now they were dancing like this, he realized was kind of sexy. He took her hand to spin her out, then pulled her back in. “What kind of music is this?”

"Electro!" TJ told him, not anywhere near weirded out by their dancing, so far. It was a club; how else were they going to dance, as a couple? "With added beats because, club!" Remixes were very necessary, and she loved the way those low beats thrummed through the body.

"Oooh, added beats!" Jeanne-Marie spun out again, sort of willing Kurt to move with her. "We should have dance parties in our rooms with some of this music."

Laughing, Kurt spun with Jeanne-Marie. He dipped her with his tail when it ended, then pulled her back onto her feet. “It will be the coolest room in the dorm.”

"Screw the room!" TJ offered. "We should do that out by the lake!" Weekly club nights, whole student body invited. She could get behind that.

"Then it could be even louder!" Jeanne-Marie was still giggling from the dipping, her cheeks bright pink. She hadn't even had a drink and she already felt drunk. "We should start it when we get home. Take advantage of the summer."

That was a great idea! Kurt bet most of the kids stuck at the school over the summer would think so too. “We could even get some of those light-up things,” he said.

"Glow sticks!" TJ grinned at the thought. "Best idea!"

"I can be a strobe light!" Jeanne-Marie laughed. "A soft one, though, I promise!"

“The prettiest strobe light ever seen,” Kurt replied with a grin.

"You could start now!" TJ pointed out. Because why not?

Still laughing, Jeanne-Marie disentangled partially from Kurt to hold up both her hands. She started with a slow throb of white light, up and down, up and down... and then it went faster and brighter--though not bright enough to hurt! It went with the pulse of the music as she bounced.

A cheer went up from the crowd when they realized what was happening, and many of them began to bounce in time with Jeanne-Marie. Kurt joined in, joyfully dancing alongside Jeanne-Marie and TJ. It was moments like this that made every second of how hard and how much work coming out had been worth it—Two blue devils and a girl that shined like a star surrounded by sea of people who didn’t seem or notice or care they were mutants. There were just three more teenagers dancing at a club.

* * *


TJ was so, so looking forward to this. She loved the circus, obviously; as Kurt's child, she figured she could either love it or hate it, but there would be no in-between. Thankfully, love it it was, and her tail swished with excitement as Jeanne-Marie, Clarice and she took a seat in the stands.

"This is gonna be so awesome," she stated, yellow eyes bright with excitement, ignoring the fact that quite a few people in the public were staring at them.

Jeanne-Marie sat in the middle and grabbed one hand for each of her companions. They got plenty of looks, of course, but Jeanne-Marie held her head high and was proud of her friends, just like she was with her boyfriend. She'd also pulled up her hair, so her ears would show, in solidarity. "I can't wait to see it! It's like I can finally see Kurt's whole life!"

The looks they were garnering didn't do much to make Clarice more comfortable with this crowded, unfamiliar, mostly-German-speaking situation in which she now found herself. Still, those looks were more curious than hostile, for the most part; maybe it helped this was the circus? Among the costumes and the lights and the general excitement building up to the start of the actual show, even the most colorful mutants didn't stand out that badly.

She squeezed Jeanne-Marie's hand. "I ain' never been to anythin' like this," the lavender-skinned girl admitted. "I don' really no what to expect, but e'rybody seems really enthusiastic."

"You're in for such a treat!" TJ said enthusiastically, leaning forward a little to look at Clarice around Jeanne-Marie, before shifting her gaze to their friend in the middle. "What about you, JM?"

Jeanne-Marie shook her head. "The circus was always considered--you know. Sort of a place where evil could happen..." She rolled her eyes. "I always thought it looked amazing!"

"It is," TJ confirmed with another grin. "You're both gonna love it!"

"We never really got the circus, out in the islands," Clarice admitted. "So I's have no idea what's going to happen." Whatever she might have said, it was clear from the girl's posture she was excited, sitting forward eagerly with her hand twined with Jeanne-Marie's, and sucking in an excited breath as the light's suddenly dipped.

The audience fell into a hush as bright and lively music rose up into the air. There was a flash of fire from the far end of the tent and performers came spilling out of the now open tent flap. People clad in glinting sequins came out first, they rode horses and performed tricks in the saddles. They were followed by sword-jugglers and fire-eaters and tumblers that flipped and cartwheeled alongside cavorting grease-paint clowns. Darting amongst them were dogs who’d double back to jump through hoops, and after them came contortionists twisting in impossible ways. A woman dancing with a snake draped around her neck brought up the rear, and beside her a massive mountain of a man. It was a parade of color and light and, when it was over, the lone ring master stood in the center of the tend, resplendent in a scarlet coat and a black top hat.

Good evening and welcome one and all to The Fair!” he called out in German. “Tonight, for your pleasure, we have tricks that will astound you, feats that will thrill you, and acts that will leave you breathless!” The patter continued into an introduction for the first act—Haus, the strongman. Different acts followed, each one as amazing as the last, and each time the ring master announced them with flair until finally, the ringmaster said, “And now a special treat! Tonight, for one night only, we have returning with us a legend on the the trapeze! The one, the only, the Incredible Nightcrawler!

TJ did her best to translate what the ringmaster said, each time he spoke, but in a hushed whisper, so as not to bother the other nearby spectators. She clapped excitedly with each act, but never more enthusiastically than when Kurt was announced. "Woohoo!" she cheered loudly.

Jeanne-Marie waved one hand in the air and lit it up so he could see her--them!--out there, cheering for him. She tried to whistle, too, and failed, so she ended up following TJ's lead and yelling instead.

Between the excitement of the crowd and TJ's hushed voice, it was hard for Clarice to catch most of her translation of the ringmaster's introduction. But she could read the physical cues well enough. And she joined the other girls in cheering and applauding energetically when Kurt was presented. Her eyes scanned the center ring, looking to see whether he would appear there or already in place atop the trapeze.

The spotlight swung up from the ringmaster onto Kurt who stood on a platform high above the crowd. He bowed with a flourish, then took a step back as a drum started to roll. As it reached its crescendo, he ran and jumped from the platform, grabbing hold of the trapeze bar in time with the cymbal clash. An adventurous instrumental song that sounded vaguely like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean started up. A thrill had gone through him at that first leap, and now it was soaring.

Grinning breathlessly, Kurt swung from one trapeze to the next, flipping twice in the air before catching hold of it with his hands. He did this back and forth a few times, moving to the music as he front flipped, back flipped, and spun between the two trapeze bars. The next jump came without any frills, but, as his hands reached out for the bar, they missed. A gasp went up from the crowd. He tumbled and, for a moment, it looked like he was going to plunge headfirst into the ground, but then he grabbed hold of the bar with his tail and swung easily, arms outspread. A cheer erupted from the audience.

It didn't matter that TJ knew that he would be all right, she still gasped when he missed the bar - and then erupted into applause when his tail did the trick. Tails for the win!

Jeanne-Marie clapped so hard her hands hurt. "He looks so heroic and handsome! Even more than usual--which is hard to do!"

Clarice had been three-quarters of the way to blinking Kurt out of his apparent danger, and when he caught the bar again her breath audibly hitched. That was ... exciting. And terrifying. Maybe a little more of one than the other. "I don' know how you can watch him up there and not come down with a nervous condition," she admitted, though her grin had returned.

The show went on with each trick getting more death-defying than the last, Kurt’s heart soaring higher and higher with every trick. As the song reached its crescendo, he launched himself straight up into the air, spinning like a top, then gracefully arced backwards, soaring past the bars and disappearing in a flash of smoke. He reappeared on the platform, and swept into a flamboyant bow, his eyes searching for his friends, and his girlfriend, in the crowd.

TJ, for her part, had jumped to her feet at the finish, and now whooped loudly, clapping as hard as she could. "Nightcrawler! Nightcrawler!" she began to chant.

Jeanne-Marie stood and joined the chant--and people around her started to stand too. "Nightcrawler!!!"

Joining the other girls on their feet, Clarice added her applause to the thunderous sound now filling the spacious tent. She wasn't quite bold enough to join in the chanting, but she knew she'd just shared in an amazing experience--both with Kurt, and with the rest of the audience. And, for all she knew that between Kurt's powers, hers, and Jeanne-Marie's, he probably hadn't been in a whole lot of actual danger ... she still couldn't help but feel more than a touch of exhilaration, bringing a flush to her lavender cheeks and causing her breath to catch.

Kurt caught sight of Jeanne-Marie, TJ, and Clarice in the crowd and, grinning, bowed to them with a flourish. A warmth blossomed in his chest and he sent a silent thank-you to God. It had been amazing to be on the trapeze again, and even more so to get to share it with his friends. He was so grateful.

Bowing once more to the audience, Kurt disappeared in a flash of smoke and reappeared backstage. Performers streamed past him, shouting congratulations before running through the tent flap to take their places for the final act. He turned on his image inducer, the hologram of a pale, dark-haired boy flickering on over him, then slipped out as well. Weaving through the benches, he found his way to his friends and plopped down beside them to watch the rest of the show.

TJ's tail flicked once at seeing him join them looking like that, but best not to distract the audience from the rest of the show. She smiled at him and leaned in to whisper, "That was amazing!"

Jeanne-Marie scooted over and threw a leg over his lap. Then she kissed his cheek. "So amazing, Schatz!"

"I don' really know circuses," Clarice admitted, grinning. "But I know what is cool. And that was definitely cool, man."

The praise made Kurt break out in a wide, happy grin. “What was cool was having you all here! I have been wanting to show you what I used to do that for ages!”

Kurt put an arm around Jeanne-Marie. “The show is almost over. What do you guys say to sneaking off and celebrating with some drinks? The view from the top of my family’s caravan is pretty great this time of night…”

TJ was tempted to stick around until the end, but she figured Kurt wouldn't have offered if he thought there was anything they had to see. "Let's do it!"

Jeanne-Marie leaned into Kurt and giggled. "Jaeger for everyone!"

Wrinkling her nose, Clarice added, "I do better with rum, if you's have it. Or even schnappes."

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