Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I OWN NOTHING (laptop and toothbrush are the exception ;) )

My first fan-fiction ever, sorry if it sucks. Some language issues (heck, we're talking Brotherhood). Warning: there will be some fluff involved, this one I'm sure, maybe something more mature, don't know yet, but I'm 100% certain, that this will be slash (boy/boy kind of a deal). You don't like it, don't read it and bug me about it later.

This story is set after the "Hex Factor", but before the fight with the Sentinel (I don't think anybody said how much time went by between them, so I guess you can easily put this into the storyline).

One last thing. English is not my first language (though preferred), so I might have bit of a grammar issues going on, and sometimes make up a word or two, or use inaccurate one. Sorry.

Miss V.

Chapter 1

Pietro lay in his bed, his thoughts running at enormous speed. He had a lot to think about. For one, Wanda, his beloved sister, had joined the Brotherhood, secondly, he had to deal with some of his recent feelings. Well, not so recent. He had hots for that person for a while now. Ok, ok, from the day he joined the Brotherhood!

Wanda. They seemed to get along pretty well, considering she's been locked away in an asylum and hated his guts ever since. Now, she didn't even try to kill him, every time she saw him. He took that for a good sign. Maybe, if he worked an extra time, they could get close together, like they were before…

But then, what would she say, if he'd told her about his biggest crush ever? Would she laugh, reject him, get pissed off, call him names he didn't want to even think about? The memory from last month flooded his mind, making him toss around in his sheets.

"Hey, here he is!" shouted someone behind Pietro.

He turned around to see what is going on. Three jocks, with his favorite Duncan Mathews on the lead, were heading his way. Before the speedster had a chance to say anything, he was punched in the stomach. He doubled over, the opponents hitting his back now. They didn't let him fall though. Two of them grabbed his arms and held him, while Duncan hit him under his eye.

"That's gonna leave a wonderful bruise," thought Pietro, whimpering as another blow was placed on his stomach. "What did I do?" he wondered.

As if Duncan knew, what white haired boy was thinking, he said:

"We don't want anything like you around here, get it queer?"

"I'm not a queer," Pietro wanted to say, knowing it would be a lie. But as he opened his mouth, Duncan's fist caught his lips. Pietro's teeth hurt like hell, but none seemed broken. Blood was running down his chin, dripping slowly on the pavement of the parking lot.

Then the fourth guy called that someone is coming. And they left. Pietro, not wanting to be seen in such condition, run away.

He never told anyone about this. Especially the object of his affection. Besides, they never asked. They just never left his side at school again. And so he was, tortured by His presence not only at home but in school.

"No!" he repeated in his mind over and over again, while giving himself a mental slap. "Lance is straight. So very annoyingly straight. Straight as a ruler. Straightest guy in the world. And he's dating Kitty, annoying little brat she is…"

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What Pietro didn't know, was that Lance was struggling with his thoughts on a very similar matter.

"Kitty is becoming so, like, irritating. Damn, now she's in my dictionary. Been fun in the beginning, but now… I don't know. We just don't get along anymore. And she's still pissed off that she and her precious X-Geeks lost with us. I don't get it. How many times we lost with them? And I never made a big deal about it!"

He decided to end it in the morning while at school. He turned around to check the time.

"3.45. Fucking great."

Rock-tumbler got up and put on his jeans. He knew he wasn't going to sleep, there was too much on his head. So instead he went to the kitchen to make some coffee.

The light flickered, blinding him for a brief moment. Within five minutes, he was sitting at the table, cup of hot liquid in his hands. He sat there and listened. The house was as quiet as if nobody lived in it. Only quiet squeaking of old wood and whistling of the wind in the chimney. It never been so quiet during the day. There was always someone around, making noise, disrupting the peace. But not now.

Suddenly Lance tensed. Had he heard the stairs creaking? Yes, here was it again. Someone was coming down. The boy prayed it would be one of the Maximoff's , at least they could be silent. Pietro's pale face showed up from behind a door frame. His hair was slightly ruffled and he was blinking rapidly, trying to adjust to the light.

"Hey Pietro. What are you doing up so late?"

"Should ask you same thing."

It didn't escape Pietro's attention, that the older boy was without a shirt. He could clearly see his smooth muscular chest, every damn curve of it. He swallowed hard, hoping that brunette won't notice. He didn't, just stared at his coffee.

"I couldn't sleep. Too many things on my mind."

"Like?"

"You know. Wanda showing up, us beating X-Freaks, Kitty not talking to me for the last week…"

"…and you," Lance added in his mind. "Wait, did I just admitted that I was thinking about Pietro?"

"Oh."

"Does he sound disappointed?" wondered Lance. Then he said:

"So are you gonna tell me why you're up?"

"I had to deal with few things. Couldn't sleep because of them. So I thought I could at least make myself something to eat."

With those words, Pietro walked over to the fridge, opening it and looking for something edible. Lance caught himself observing Pietro's ass. Very well shaped ass.

"No!" he almost smacked himself, while yelling inside his head, at that little part of himself which enjoyed the view. "You will not think of Pietro it that way. True, he's damn attractive, but for God's sake, he showed up on a dance with four girls. Couldn't get any straighter than this! And besides, since when do I like guys?"

Fortunately, Pietro took no notice of the stare, and just went on with making sandwiches in such amounts, that even Fred might have trouble eating them all. When he was done, in about fifteen minutes, bless the hyper speed, he plopped down next to Lance, eating one of his creations. Rock-tumbler watched white haired boy eat, sipping his coffee, which was already cold. He didn't mind though.

When they finished, they just sat in silence. For how long, they didn't know. Then Lance spoke up:

"I'm gonna break up with Kitty."

Miss Hope suddenly busted into Pietro's mind. "Why?"

"Well, she's all offended that we've beaten them. Now she won't speak with me. So why to carry on? Besides, I think I like, ehm… someone else."

"Who?"

Lance didn't say a thing, just blushed furiously. Before Pietro could ask him again, Todd came into the kitchen, yawning and stretching.

"What's up, yo. Been here all night, or what?"

"Almost," said Lance and got up to get dressed.

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As usual, school started 7.30, so at 7.00, the four of them was ready to go. Wanda, as always, stayed home.

"You gonna ride with us or run?" Lance asked the speedster.

"I'll ride. Move over slime ball, now."

Reluctantly Todd moved from the front seat. Pietro buckled the seat belt and they moved. The ride was slow, at least for Pietro, but it gave him a chance to glare at Lance, once in a while. Somewhere in the middle of the way to school, their eyes met. They could see surprise all over their faces, but couldn't tear their gazes apart. Suddenly Todd yelled:

"Lance, watch the road, will ya'!"

The jeep made a sharp turn to avoid another car driving straight at them, forcing rock-tumbler to look away from Pietro. They both hoped that the other two boys didn't see their private moment.

"Here we are," said Brotherhood leader as he drove in to the parking lot. It was 7.23.

Pietro waved them off and rushed ahead to his locker. Lance sighed. He was hoping that he could talk with the speed demon about what happened few minutes ago. Whatever. He followed Todd and Fred to school.

The day was quite uneventful. Some X-Geeks picking going on, messing around in classes, disturbing the hallway routine, nothing too fancy. However, as lunchtime was coming closer, Lance found himself deep in his thoughts. He toyed with a piece of paper, while trying to put everything together. In less than half an hour, he is going to tell Kitty that it is all over. And test his feeling towards a silver haired boy he was sharing a house with.

The bell rang. Bunch of hungry teenagers run out of the classroom at such a speed, that he'd swear, that they are all related to Quicksilver. Lance walked out of the classroom, directing himself towards Kitty's locker. Of course she wasn't there. He muttered some curses under his breath and went to the table usually taken by the X-Dorks.

"What do you want, Alvers?" growled Scott Summers. He ignored his rival, saying to Kitty:

"Can we talk? In private?"

"Like what? Like you can't apologize me in front of them?"

"I'm not going to apologize. I want to tell, that whatever we had, it's over."

X-Men stared at him with wide open eyes. Kitty's jaw hit the floor.

"But… Like…"

Lance didn't even bother to explain. He just walked away.

"Mission one, accomplished," he thought to himself and went to find Brotherhood. He got to them just in time to see Pietro leaving, possibly to the bathroom. He followed him. He stopped only before the man's restroom door, taking deep breath and gathering leftovers of his courage. He stepped in.