The Violet Hour (X-Men AU)

24: Twenty-Four

The hotel was absolutely fucking gorgeous. Tall, royal-looking, a doorman dressed in the most well-tailored suit I'd ever seen. On the doorman. From this, all my guesses about Charles' money had been confirmed true- he was rich. He was extremely, very, really, and truly rich.

        "Well we're here," Logan said, pulling the parking brake. It was a forty-minute drive just to get here and I'm sure all of us in the back seat were excited to finally get our personal space back. I opened my door, stepping out into the parking lot because Logan had refused to use the valet.

         Peter after me, we exited on my side, holding our bags, both of us staring up at this giant regal building. "Holy shit," Peter said under his breath. "This British guy is loaded."

         "I know," I replied quietly. "Must be what Sylvia sees in him."

      Peter looked down at me, but my eyes stayed admiring the golden-rimmed windows and the golden gargoyles that sat on the edges of the buildings. "They're dating?" He said, disbelief in his voice.

     "You didn't place that?" I replied, walking with him and the others across the lot toward the door. "Charles is her boyfriend and Logan is unbelievably her brother. Half-brother, maybe?"

       "And what, Hank is just some guy?"

         "Yeah," Hank answered. He was behind us. Panic panged in my chest with the fear he'd heard Peter and thought it was rude. "But Charles and I are partners. Sylvia is a friend and Logan is... a Logan." Of all beside Sylvia, Hank seemed the next kindest. He was smiling at Peter's comment, rather than taking offence. I liked him.

       "He acts like a Logan," Peter replied. We upped the red steps to the door where the doorman opened it for us, greeting everyone with a wide, white smile. "Vee, I'm gonna go ask Sylvia something and then go steal some shit."

      I shook my head, "I'm going to kill you, Peter, don't steal-" and Peter zoomed off. Rich, wonder-filled places weren't his usual and it was inevitable that in a situation like this he'd seek the comfort of kleptomania.

     He was walking ahead with Sylvia, Charles, and Logan who didn't take so much time to admire the hotel's exterior. My eyes went from the giant crystal chandelier to the woman in a long white gown, to the laughter of a nearby lounge. But one voice was distinguishable, next to me. 

      "I'm Doctor Hank McCoy, we didn't meet on ideal terms," Hank spoke to me alone for the first time. Doctor? But he looked so young- not even over thirty. The resident genius of the four, I suppose? "But it is nice to meet you."

        "Nice to meet you too," I smiled, shaking the hand he had extended to me the moment I snapped out of that little trance. He had a loose grip, but not too loose, and his hands were oddly soft. Borderline feminine. "You're a Doctor, that's so cool."

      "Thank you, thank you," he nodded, letting my hand go. We continued to follow the rest of them down the hall but Peter was nowhere to be seen now. "I didn't catch your full name- I heard Venus. Is that an alias?"

     I shook my head, "Venus is my birth name, actually. Venus Green." I dodged a woman in a ball gown narrowly. "I don't have an alias, am I supposed to?"

       "No, no. It's just that we have those, Logan, Charles, Sylvia, and I. A formality with us mutants, almost? The ones we've known, anyway." He shoved his hands in his pockets as we nearly caught up to the other three at the golden check-in desk. "I hate saying them casually. They're mostly to give us a bit of privacy to the public and they sound cool. Charles Xavier, over there is Professor X. He used to be a telepath but... never mind that."