Disclaimer: Own nothing and no one used herein. Marvel owns the X-Men (Hodgepodge of movies, cartoons and comics that I've used here) and Joss owns Buffy and Co.
Title: Learning Family
Author: Kate R.
Rating: Teen to Adult
Pairings: N/A for now
Summary: Xander has a brother named Remy Le beau. He takes his friends to him after some mess or another. Not sure which at this time. I imply season six but not season seven so we'll say AU after season six
Notes: I have read in about every Xander-centric Fic that Tony and his wife are racist bigots. If Xander grew up with it, He'd ave some of it, so sorry if that upsets you but there were no real other races or examples of other ethnic groups that I saw in Sunnydale High and even if there were, Xander never did mix with anyone but those who were white. But in this fic, he will be learning other ways to behave.
Also note: The whole family abandoned Gambit. Xander had Tony and Willow's attitude about things being a certain way, Gambit learned another way and that way is about real family and how it should be. What Gambit says is in response to the fact that Xander turned around and left him, too.
Warning: If people say Xander being left behind and being bitter about it isn't his fault because he was little and even if the person who left him had no choice then the same rules apply to Gambit. Everyone who knows my fics knows I don't hold that double standard of one rule for him, another for everyone else. If that bothers you, if you think that double standard should be in play, please, hit the back button now. This is the only warning. This warning will not appear again in any other part of this fic.
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Jubilee didn't like these guests that had come asking for sanctuary. She didn't like the snobby blond, the whining red head, the bratty teen or the goofy looking jackass who was the one who claimed blood relation. She hated that one, especially, because of how he spoke to Gambit.
No one liked them, really. The Professor didn't mind the British guy so much, mostly because Sean and Terry okay-ed him, but the kids? They were annoying. And older than her or not, they 'were' kids. Or at least, they certainly acted like it.
'Wah, I was chosen and have these powers and I don't want to be the one it all comes down to so I run away from my responsibility and people die and then I feel guilty, Wah!'
'Wah, I'm a mystical Key thingie and was ignored for a few months because my bitch sister was throwing a tantrum about life not being fair so I started shoplifting and got in trouble for it, Wah!'
'Wah, My magic got cut off because I abused it, my lover died because of same, and I'm not the most powerful person magically on earth, Wah!'
'Wah, I'm normal and everyone around me has power or magic or personality and treats me like a joke because I acted like one, Wah!'
All she could think was 'Oh, Grow Up!'
And she'd come damned close to saying it at breakfast this morning when Xander, the 'normal' one, had taken another snide shot at Gambit. If the Cajun didn't care so much about blood, Jubilee knew Logan would have thrown them all out on their asses by now.
From what she could gather, Xander and his parents had abandoned Gambit, not the other way around, Gambit didn't owe him anything at all, but he'd said they were blood and in the Bayou, Blood was important. No matter how jealousy and petty and spiteful it was.
Rogue was about to Throw Down with Buffy, the whining blond who always ran away, Storm had already slapped Willow, or maybe that was why Dr. Strange had visited the other night but either way, Willow had been sulking ever since, Dawn had gotten it from Jubilee herself about the shoplifting and whining and better Jubilee than Terry to scream at her. Terry had her Daddy's Mouth. Xander though, he was being an asshole. And everyone knew it was jealousy. Not only of Gambit's powers but of his charm and personality and how about everyone here, boy and girl, except maybe the professor, had a slight crush on him.
Gambit really was what Xander used to try to be: A babe magnet.
And with Gambit? It wasn't a fantasy that people were trying to think of comebacks for his remarks or that he had one to fire at the people who took shots at him. He really did always have a snappy comeback.
He wasn't an idiot.
Gambit really 'was' a charmer and a ladies' man. And he was genuinely sincere. Even if he was using his powers, he was sincere.
Something this group couldn't be if their lives depended on it.
Willow, the redhead, was a manipulative bitch. She was mean, too, especially to anyone who was smarter or better than she was.
Buffy, the Slayer, was a whiny cry-baby because life wasn't fair to her spoiled brat self or her friends.
Dawn was just a plain brat.
Xander was jerk who thought just because everyone around him was special he should be treated like he was special, too.
All four of them had entitlement issues.
All four of them seemed to think the world owed them because they'd had it rough.
How. Pathetic.
And to make people like them even less, if that was at all possible, they refused to mingle with anyone at the school. They stayed in the little common room of the suite the professor gave them unless it was meal time. Then they came down and acted like rude slobs, taking seconds before everyone had even had firsts. That had been stopped by Storm shocking them all.
But it was soooooo annoying.
They seemed to think that because they'd saved the world a few times they were entitled to be elitist snobs. Like they were royalty or something.
Please.
As if.
The only Royalty at this school were Lord Sean Cassidy and his daughter, Lady Theresa.
And if these ignoramuses from Small Town America with its easy to tell, fight, and beat evil didn't get over themselves soon, Sean and Terry were liable to slap them in the face with it.
Of course, that was assuming they survived Hand to Hand with Sean. And he taught the basics. If they couldn't beat him they'd never get to Logan's level.
And she knew that drove them all nuts.
They were considered babies in real fighting.
Especially after the Professor blocked the Zeppo's (Her nickname for Xander) possession left overs. He really was a nothing without others backing him up, be it the girls or the two possessions.
Gee, no wonder Logan wouldn't respect them.
Well, that and none of them had ever fought humans, or their own kind, anyway, the hard way.
Until they did, (if that Miracle ever occurred) they wouldn't have the respect of any of the X-Men. Not even Scott and Jean.
Of course to have real liking they'd have to interact and not act all high and mighty. They at least had homes. Maybe not the best but they did have them.
Their foster father wasn't a pedophile, they didn't get thrown out on the streets for being different, and they still had beds to sleep in, in the houses they'd always lived in.
If even three of the students here now still had homes and families other than Kitty and Sam, it'd be a miracle and news to her. Well, other than Terry.
But Terry was another story. She came with Sean. And she was only here for six months of the year. The other six months she spent with her Uncle Tom. Sean said she'd brought peace between them because they both loved her so they were learning to be brothers again.
Of course, that meant Sean wasn't always here, either. Sometimes he and Tom tore it up someplace, brotherly bonding they called it. Terry didn't mind. As long as they didn't get each other killed, she was happy.
"Jubilee?" Storm called. She looked up and saw Storm in the doorway of her room.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Gambit would like you to join him on a day out, you and Terry and Kitty."
"Why?"
"As a thank you for not killing his brother and his brother's friends," Storm told her, "He said he thanks you for leaving that to Logan, Sean, and the Professor."
"Oh, okay," Jubilee said, hopping off her bed and grabbing her yellow trench coat, she followed Storm downstairs.
"What do you mean you're going out?!" Xander was railing at Gambit, "You can't go out without me, I'm your brother!"
"I can and I am," Gambit told him, "And we only brothers by blood. You ain't Gambit's Family, deese people are. You here because we share blood but you ain't acted like Family since you got here. You start and maybe I treat you like it more. You don't and you only stay 'cause of blood. Excuse me now, I got a family outing to go on. Come on, kids. Gambit got a nice place to take you all today."
"Where?" Jubilee asked as she and Terry and Kitty and some of the others caught up with him.
"That three hundred store mall," Gambit told her, "Gambit know how much you like to shop."
And then they left, taking one of the school vans, and Xander just stared.
"Not the way you thought it would be, is it?" Giles' voice came.
"What do you know?" Xander asked.
"I know you were expecting him to be grateful you cared to acknowledge his existence," Giles told him, "And that hasn't happened, has it?"
"No," Xander growled, "And he should care. No one else in my family bothered to find out how he was."
"And you only did it when you needed or wanted something," Giles told him, "The sad thing for you is, Remy doesn't need your family anymore. He'd made his own. One that loves him for who he is, flaws and all. Something your family could not do. Be glad blood matters to him at all because in his chosen family, you don't figure in. Not unless you prove to him and to them you're worthy of it. Now, I advise you rethink your attitude since we got here because if you don't you four will be very lonely indeed."
And Giles walked away. His disgust at their behavior showing in his stride.
Xander stared after him, feeling outraged that Giles wasn't on his side about this.
So what if it was only because he needed something. Wasn't that how all families worked? Of course it was. Remy should have been glad he'd come to see him. That was how it was suppose dot work. The ostracized one was always supposed to be super happy someone paid attention to them.
That's how things worked in his family, damn it!
Why wasn't Remy playing by the family's rules?
'This Gambit's Family,' he suddenly remembered his brother saying the day he'd arrived and told Gambit, arrogantly, he admitted, what he expected to happen because he'd said they were brothers, 'Gambit don't need drunks to tell him what he should do wit' his life. Gambit know who he is. I am not thief or assassin, and I'm not a Harris, either. I am an X-Man. And this is the only family I need now. You can stay because you blood. Your friends can stay because they important to you, but you only blood to me. You not family. You walked away and left Gambit, too. Gambit don't need you to make him complete. Gambit know who he is and who his family are. And that's these people. Not you, not Tony and Laura not no one with the Harris name. So you earn my respect now. Gambit owe you nothing. Period."
'Earn his respect?' Xander wondered, 'Why do I have to earn a Mutie's respect?'