When you look in the mirror, wish you were somebody else.

GenX, Jono and Angelo. Possibly getting incorporated into something longer, later. I'm still sulking over Uncanny X-Men: Holy War, so we'll see if I actually follow through with it. (Re: Holy War- AUGH. WHAT. WHY. SO. ANTICLIMACTIC. WHERE IS MY CLOSURE, YOU BASTARDS.)

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He finds the folds in the creases of Angelo's body- elbows, knees, groin, behind his ears, the bottoms of his feet. All of that extra skin has to go somewhere when Angelo smooths himself out; he keeps it stretched tight, folded over, and tucked away, hidden.

Jono traces the thin line of the fold in Angelo's elbow with his thumb and watches a gray fist clench in reaction.

"Cut that out." Angelo pulls his arm away, but Jono follows it, running his hand from wrist to elbow in silent apology.

It looks like a scar, just one of the many dark and pale lines on his friend's body, and he touches it again. It reminds him of nothing more than the crack under a doorway: a tiny, secret way in. He is caught by the sudden, sick desire to strip Angelo open, exposed; he tries to slip a fingernail under the edge of the fold, to peel it apart.

Angelo moves quickly, wrapping one of his hands around both of Jono's and pinning the other boy down, a heavy weight on top of him, pressing down on the fragile shield of his bandages. Angelo glares down at him, but Jono is looking at his hands, at the stretch of Angelo's skin around his wrists, unfolded and spun into the long, unbreakable strands of his fingers.

Another set of long gray fingers touches his face, curling around the strips of black cloth there. Jono's eyes snap up to Angelo's face, wide and white around the edges, as Angelo slips a fingernail under the edge of the folds, and tugs.

*Don't-* It doesn't matter that Angelo sees him with the wrappings off all the time, or that he hasn't lost control of the fire in over a year. He's still suddenly sick with shame and terror- it would be like Gayle all over again, like Paige, and even if Angelo survived, he wouldn't, not again.

But Angelo doesn't pull the bandages away. He just leaves his fingers tucked under the very edges of them, and glares. "Not so fun when someone's doin' it to you, right?" His voice is low and angry. Angelo is always angry, but never at him.

Jono closes his eyes and tries to form an apology in his head, but Angelo untangles himself and is gone before he can say anything.

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(They knew all the best ways to get under each other's skin.)