I do not own X-Men: Days of Future Past.

I do not own Beast, Hank, or Nicholas Hoult.

In Between

Chapter 15: A Girl and a Guy

Hank McCoy woke up early that morning and looked out the window at the peaceful, green vista that lay before him. He thought of everything that had happened from the day he'd first met that group of special recruits in the government facility.

The victories. The defeats.

He thought of all they had lost.

He thought of her.

Raven. Mystique.

Beautiful and blond. Red and blue. Smiling and crying. Happy and oh so angry.

Gone so abruptly. Gone so long.

Leaving them who needed her most. Leaving them behind like so much refuse, used and then discarded.

And then he thought of another her.

Hope. A name and an emotion.

A dark haired beauty with sticky mutant fingers and a warm, peaceful soul. Her with the positive waves and light in her eyes. Her who kept her toenails painted orange as a secret way to carry him with her.

A her who had not left. Well, she had but not really. A her who had been a loyal and accepting friend for five of the darkest, most difficult years of his entire, short life.

A her whom he felt cared for him deeply. And who could care, would care for him more and desired to be cared for by him. If he would only let go and do it.

And he knew he had waited long enough.

He made his decision. He was going to follow through with it.

He was going to leave the manor today and drive to her college.

He would stop somewhere and buy three roses. One white for the purity and light of her and her goodness. One yellow for their friendship that had saved him from the all-consuming darkness of his flatline existence. One red for the deep feelings he had refrained from expressing for so very long.

He would find her and offer the roses to her along with his heart. Tell her how grateful he was that she helped him survive the last five years. Tell her that she was perfect and wonderful and that he loved her.

And then he would finally kiss her.

He'd already decided.

And the decisions beyond that? Well, he wasn't going to concern himself with those just yet. He, they, could figure that part out together later.

And Charles would just have to take care of himself for a while.

Because Hank was going to see about a girl.

He cleaned and groomed himself even more carefully than usual, the beast within him rumbling happily. He dressed himself neatly in bright colors because she was bright. And she had shared that brightness and light with him when he needed it most. And so he dressed himself in dark brown pants, a yellow shirt with thin blue stripes, and a rust-orange colored long sleeve shirt over that.

He checked his appearance nervously in the full length mirror after putting on his socks and shoes. He thought he looked good. Confident and mature. Relaxed and modern. A person with life inside him. Checked his breath again. Good. Brushed his hair again. Good. Mused over his slight shadows of facial hair. That was good too. Made him look more like a man instead of a boy. Cleaned his glasses extra well.

'I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style . . .'

He stood fidgeting in the sunlit room for a few moments more, gathering the needed courage to just get up and go.

'And so I went to see him and listen for a while . . .'

The bluesy tune emitting from the transistor radio wasn't really his type of music but afterward he would always remember it clearly. Because after he reached over and turned the distracting song off, he heard the sound of a rumbling car engine breaking the quiet day outside. Moving to the large window, he saw a big, muscular guy in jeans, boots, blue paisley shirt, and a brown leather jacket exit a black muscle car and head to the front door of Xavier Manor.

The guy had some wild-looking brown hair.

He looked dangerous. Brutal. Animalistic.

The gate, the gate had been closed. He always closed it upon returning from one of his departures. But now here was this big guy and he looked like he had a clear, serious purpose. Like he knew exactly where he was and what he was here for.

Hank headed downstairs to send the guy back on his way.

Hope this isn't going to take too long.

The knocker thumped against the door three solid times.

Hank McCoy reached for the handle.

And opened the door.

And that's the end of that.

So . . . what do you think?

Catch the 'Good Will Hunting' reference? Not my fav movie, but definitely some good stuff in there.

Hank opened the door of the manor so quickly after Wolverine knocked, I just figured there had to be a reason. So here it is. If you don't like it, write the version you prefer, yeah? *winks

Some curious person several chapters back inquired as to what age I thought Hank was. In my eyes, he's 18 or so in FC which would make him 28 or so in DoFP. But really, I'm just guessing.

And that song is "Killin' Me Softly" by Roberta Flack. I simply had to put it in here as a distraction for Hank. NH sang it in the move 'About a Boy'. Warning: Watch the singing clip on Youtube only if you are prepared to die of embarrassment and shame. It is just so bad. Sorry sweetie, but it is. And it's supposed to be, so that's okay.

I really hope you've enjoyed this story. I wasn't expecting to write it, but I did enjoy discovering Hank's journey and I appreciate all the feedback from everyone. I tried really hard to stay true to the characters and cannon and all that (well, except for Hope, I know, but my goodness, our poor Hank was seriously drowning without someone to buoy him up, okay?).

Nicholas Hoult is a fantastic actor (seriously, 'Warm Bodies' – GO, people, GO!) and somewhat overlooked I believe, but I hope I did his character justice here. I really cared about Hank, wanted him to naturally evolve just a little because he does seem to have done so from FC to DoFP.

As a final sendoff, then. Youtube: "Hoult Amazed by Twinkies". Last week I was in a store and saw them and could not buy and eat blue Twinkies with Beast staring at me, going "You're not really going to eat another, are you?" Um, well, yeah, I was gonna. Can't now. Thanks, dude.

I've had requests to write Hank's POV from DoFP (which would be so awesomely fun!), but I can't until the DVD comes out. I insist on getting every single quote correct and every single scene perfect so I guess I'll just have to wait. Kind of a bummer. Maybe if I'm lucky, it will come out by September and I can write it then. If nobody else does it better first, that is.

Would you be interested in reading it if I wrote it? I've already got a couple of notes jotted.

A final thanks to lupoea2, Shanynde, MoonlitShadowsoftheHumanSoul, MonstrousWalnut, de cineribus renascitur, angeleye02, emiliarose357, The Heroine With 1000 Faces, Kh530, Voodoo-Mutant-Child, BlackShadow23, Squintz18, Shelllee24, Aletta-Feather, theFGnat, brigid1318, and guest lol (never apologize for having a life, sweetie!) for being such dedicated reviewers.

A great, big, huge thanks to ChiefPam for reading this entire story in one sitting! Oh my sweet Christmas, did your eyeballs fall out?! Bless you, sweetie! :D

Most grateful thanks to HelloILikeIt for the sparking review! Wow!

Thanks to comealongsong, Mika0050, lula . m . cast, GreatBigFreak, Carly Carnations, princessyuki08, ABewilderedBear, Hermione Sparkle, LilyEvans2510, WIP-Writer In Progress, TheShadowCat008, Mikari Satsuke, angelangie07, Princess Of Darkness12, Abby0512x, SuperPotterMerWhoLocked, Mog161, Magic Detective, benedickybird, ranlou, Utopiste, and I've Been a Labrat (Magneto quote from FC?*grins) for adding your support to this story as well.

You've all been so supportive and kind and I appreciate all you readers (vocal and silent alike) for coming along with me on this journey.

Thank you so much for reading and be well. :)