This is just a one chapter wonder for all those who have the misconception that I don't like Lancitty. Enjoy :)
Seeing Beyond the Hood
He was so close. So close to kissing this school, this town, and this pawn work between Mystique and Magneto goodbye. In another nine months he would be free. But the first step, the hardest in his eyes, was almost finished. It was his last class tonight and tomorrow he WOULD pass the test that would give him his freedom.
The eighteen year old scruffy teenager readjusted his ratty knapsack on his shoulder and entered Bayville High School for the second to last time. It was six o'clock on Friday night, so the school was deserted. Lance Alvers smiled as he made his way through the maze of hallways to his classroom. His smile fell off his face when he heard the sweet sound of a familiar giggle belonging to a certain Chicago valley girl.
"Our project rocks!" Kitty Pryde exclaimed to her friend and fellow computer genius Doug Ramsey. "And now you can have a totally carefree weekend at your Grandma's."
"Thanks for spending your Friday afternoon on it," Doug replied. "I know you probably had better things to do."
"It was, like, no problem, Doug," Kitty replied as she walked through the halls.
Lance's first instinct was to hide. Even though she had broken his heart, she was probably the only thing that could keep him in the hellhole known as Bayville. He couldn't stand the emotional trauma of a confrontation. Unfortunately, he did not have a choice: Kitty Pryde and Doug Ramsey rounded the corner to find Lance frozen like a deer in headlights.
Kitty stopped dead in her tracks, and Doug followed suit. There were a few moments of silence which creeped Doug out.
"What are you doing here, Lance?" Kitty finally asked.
Lance did not answer her. He started to walk past her and Doug. "I'm late."
Kitty grabbed his arm, preventing him from giving her the brush off. "Late? Late for, like, what? You were expelled, Lance. Twice."
"Yes, yes I was," Lance tried again to walk away. He really was late, but that's not why he wanted to leave without talking to her. He can't let her know; it would be easier to leave this God forsaken town if she doesn't know, doesn't understand, and hates his guts.
"Lance, if you don't tell me why you are really here, I'll call Scott and the others," Kitty threatened.
"So you're hiding behind one-eye now, huh?" Lance said, "Kitty, I'm not causing any trouble so why don't you and your new flatscan boyfriend finish your Friday night."
"Then why are you here, Lance?" Kitty asked, not letting him off so easy. "You have no reason to be here." She then quickly added, "And Doug is not my boyfriend."
Lance couldn't help it; his heart rejoiced at that announcement. His face didn't show much more than a second of that felling before it grew nonchalant again. Lance sent a small tremor through the building. "Just leave me alone, Kitty. Don't pretend you know me and don't pretend to care." Lance turned his back and started to walk away again.
Kitty ran, phased through him, and blocked his path. "Like, what's that suppose to mean?!" she demanded to know with her feet planted and hands on her hips.
"Leave Kitty!" Lance yelled and sent a slightly larger tremor though the school.
"NO! Not until you tell me what's going on! Are you still mad at me for calling you a hood?"
Doug, who was just standing off sides, decided to take his leave. "I think I'll wait outside Kitty." Doug didn't wait for a response and ran out of the building. He had dreamt of the school collapsing, but did not wish to be inside if his dream ever came true.
Lance sighed, "It's not that you called me a hood; it's that that is the only thing you saw."
"You were trying to get us expelled for using our powers!" Kitty exclaimed. "You were acting like some kinda hired thug."
"Yes, Kitty," Lance confirmed her observations. "I am only a hired thug here in Bayville. But what was I being paid? Do you think I enjoyed working for Principal Kelly or jumped at the chance to work with that dip Matthews?!"
"No," Kitty answered. "But why did you do it then?"
Lance tried once again to escape, "If you really knew me like I thought you did, then you'd know." Lance tried to brush past her again with no more success than before.
"What are you talking about?!" Kitty exclaimed. "Why can't you just answer me in, like, English?!"
The tensions of the last few months just seemed to burst in Lance at that second. "I'm sick of playing this game, Kitty! I don't wanna be a pawn in Mystique's and Magneto's and Xavior's game anymore! I'm sick of this town; I've gotta get out of here!"
"I don't understand," Kitty said calmly, hoping her voice would subdue a little of Lance's anger. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Kitty, you have never had a really hard life," Lance started. "You didn't have to live in shambles and wonder when your next meal was. You weren't neglected by your parents aside from a weekly beating you got when their coke ran out. You didn't watch them do the most degrading work that I won't even get into, because they were too stupid to get a job somewhere else. And part of you wished they would stop, but you knew if they did then they wouldn't have any money for you to steal to buy food with. You have no idea!
"After I got out of there I promised myself that I would do whatever it took not to end up like that." Lance paused. "I learned a long time again that I wasn't going to get anywhere until I got an education, a degree. The only reason I went along with Duncan and Kelly was because Kelly promised they would let me, us, the Brotherhood, come back to school." Lance paused a second time this time smiling guiltily to himself. "And to see Summers' ass kicked. Anyway, Kelly reneged on that the first change," Lance sighted. "Kelly was probably going to expel us again after we got you out of the way anyway.
"I am here because I've been taking night classes and tomorrow, I will be taking my GED. I'll be so close to get out of this hellhole, I can smell it, Kitty," Lance smiled again but this time at his freedom looming in the distance. "And all you saw was a bored hood."
Kitty was very quiet for once in her life. "I'm sorry, Lance," she finally said, "I'm sorry I judged you like that. I didn't understand."
"I know," Lance looked at his shoes. "Hey, it's easier this way anyway."
Kitty didn't agree. He was just going to leave and not say a word. She would never be able to se the real Lance again. "What are you going to do after you get your GED?" she asked to break the awkward silence.
"Well, first I gotta get a job so I can get some money. Then, hopefully next fall I can afford some slum of an apartment in the City and go to some community college," Lance told her his plan.
"What are you going to study?" a curious Kitty asked.
Lance shrugged, "Probably auto mechanics, but I do have this inherent interest in geology and seismology. Who knows? What's important now is that I get out of here. Well, now I'm really late for class. I better go."
"Yeah," Kitty solemnly agreed. She never realized how much she would miss Lance if he just walked out of her life without looking back. She wasn't ready for that.
"Lance," she called after the boy who was halfway down the hallway. "Promise me that you'll, like, write or call or something?"
Lance thought about that for a second. He looked into Kitty's deep blue eyes and knew he wasn't ready to sever all ties either.
"Yeah," he responded. "I promise."
A/N: Awww, wasn't that cute. Sorry, had to get it out of my system. I did write a chapter and a half of Nine to Five for all those reading that fic, I just have to type 'em up. I also have a little Romy one-shot too that will go up. Watch for 'em soon!