Howdy all, Raven and Kitten here, ready to bring you some hopefully epic X-Men fics! We're a collaboration team, consisting of kittenstanley and OnTheWingsofRavens, this being our very first story together! It's set after the destruction of the CIA building, at the mansion before Cuba and is slightly AU in the fact that Angel stays. However, Darwin still dies. Contains pairings of Alex/Sean, Charles/Erik and Hank/OC, some chapters will be song-fics. (:

A lot of warnings for this one! Deep breath! Warnings for slash, alcohol + drug use, sexual references + some mild sexual content and some mildly strong language. You know, our usual fare (;

Disclaimer: Kitten and Raven do not own XMFC, though they wish they did! They spend their days dreaming of huggling the cast and thinking up new scenarios to drop the characters into! (Basically, we're fangirls ;D )

Reviews are very much appreciated and welcomed; we would love to hear your thoughts!

XXX Raven and Kitten

This chapter written by Raven

"Uh, Sean? What exactly is that?" Alex strolled into the kitchen, sniffing doubtfully at the rather appetizing smells rising from the pan. Was Sean actually cooking? It appeared so. Sneaking up behind the ginger, Alex slowly slid his hands around the sonic screamer's waist, resting his head on his shoulder and nuzzling the teen's curls, breathing in deeply.

"What's this then? You making me a special birthday treat?"

Sean grinned, turning his head slightly to allow Alex to plant a kiss on his cheek whilst chuckling. He turned back to the pan.

"Sort of," he smirked, staring avidly at the slightly smoking pile of batter, mouthing a countdown. "One!" he exclaimed and jerked the pan upwards, causing the contents to flip upwards before spiralling gracefully back to earth to be caught in the pan. Sean shot a a crooked smile towards Alex who had been watching with a raised eyebrow, nudging the blonde playfully.

"You were expecting me to drop it, weren't you?" he teased. "Go on; admit it!" He tipped the golden brown oval out of the pan and onto a plate, offering it towards Alex. "Pancake?" he asked innocently.

Alex surveyed it doubtfully, giving it a thoughtful prod then leaning in closer with narrowed eyes as he spotted suspicious speckles dotting the surface. "Sean, what have you put in this?" he quizzed, pushing the plate away despite the sugary scent wafting temptingly into his nostrils, a scent that was somewhat sweeter than it should have been...

Sean shrugged, leaving the plate sitting on the bunker as he disintangled himself from Alex's arms and walked over to place the lid on a box of simliar pancakes, still steaming. "For tonight." he explained. "After all, the birthday boy needs to celebrate, doesn't he!" His face suddenly darkened, a strange expression taking hold. "Cause God knows we've had precious little to celebrate about lately. But hey, ignore me! It's your birthday; I shouldn't be depressing you!"

Alex remained silent, staring at the floor as he chewed on his lip. "I miss Darwin." he admitted softly. "It doesn't seem right to be celebrating when...when he's dead." At that point, he abruptly choked up and Sean found himself rushing forward to hug his lover, holding him tightly.

"Hey, come on." he soothed. "It'll be fine! All you need is some good drink, a few laughs and a few of my delicious pancakes and you'll be right as rain! Yeah?" Smiling, he slowly trailed a finger along Alex's jawline, causing the younger boy to squirm and giggle, trying to pull away from Sean's tickling fingers but being held firmly in place, shrieking as the sonic screamer moved his touch downwards until he was stroking that tender spot just above Alex's collarbone, the place that always made the energy blaster putty beneath his hands whenever they were in bed. Laughing, the pair moved closer together, capturing each others lips in a passionate kiss, twining around each other like too parts of a whole. Sean was covered in bits of excess batter and what looked suspiciously like weed but Alex didn't mind, feeling himself get turned on as the ginger deepened the kiss, biting at his bottom lip to ask for entry which he was quickly granted. Abruptly, the kiss was pulled away, leaving Sean frowning in disappointment, attempting to pick up where they left off but stopped by Alex's soft finger against his mouth.

"I think I heard someone," he murmured, cocking his head to one side. From the hall came the sounds of footsteps and someone whistling rather tunelessly; the pair quickly sprang apart, sorting their mussed up hair and pretending to be cleaning up the mess. The door creaked open, Charles poking his head in.

"Oh, hello you two." he said pleasantly, looking around the kitchen in surprise. "Just what have you been doing? You do know I like my kitchen to remain intact."

Sean grinned brightly, holding up the box for inspection. "I made pancakes!" he declared proudly. "For tonight!"

Charles looked confused. "Pancakes for a party?" He gave a sudden shrug. "OK, whatever floats your boat. Er, you wouldn't happen to have seen Erik, would you?"

The two boys looked at each other, a rather sheepish expression crossing their faces. They had been a little bit too preoccupied to bother about where the metal-bender may or may not be.

"Try the lab." Sean suggested, running his tongue across his lips and enjoying how Alex immediately focused on him, desperately trying to look back at Charles but unable to tear his eyes away from Sean. "He's maybe in there helping Hank and Lucy. Or go ask Raven. They seem joined at the hip at times..."

Charles was glancing between them questioningly, eyes narrowed. "OK. Well, thank you. I'll leave you to your cleaning then." With one last puzzled glance, he shut the door and Alex breathed out a sigh of relief before stiffening again as Lucy entered, sniffing hopefully.

"Do I smell pancakes?" she asked curiously, licking her lips. Sean grinned.

"Sure do. Any luck with Hank?" He knew of the troubles Lucy was having with trying to get Hank to tear himself away from his research long enough to notice her and could sympathise. Thr girl shrugged, her expression frustrated.

"That boy is an unbreakable wall of obliviousness." she huffed angrily before smiling again. "Well, I'll leave you two to your pancakes!" With a little wave, she turned and made for the door before stopping, a knowing look on her face. "You remember he can read minds, right?" She disappeared out the door, leaving both boys puzzled.

"That was close." Alex said nervously, brushing a smudge of flour from his shirt with a sheepish smile. Sean rolled his eyes and abruptly pushed Alex from him, turning away with a huff of annoyance and leaving the blonde staring at him in confusion.

"I'm fed up of this, Alex," Sean sighed, running his hands through his hair in exasperation. "Can't you just act normally for once?"

"What did I do?" Alex's face was bewildered as he watched the sonic screamer prowl around the kitchen angrily, clashing and banging plates and pans as he hurled them into the sink. Sean didn't so much as acknowledge his question, visciously turning on the tap and staring at the stream of water as if it had personally offended him.

"Why do you keep hiding?" he demanded furiously. "Am I that embarrassing or something? Am I not good enough to be seen with in public; is that why you never let any of the others see us together? Cause this relationship, man? It's not exactly giving me the most encouraging of vibes!"

"Wha...?"

"Can't we just get it over with and come out? Rather than running around behind everyone's backs like some mutant version of Romeo and Juliet? I mean, come on! Nobody's gonna mind, not here! We're safe; we're fine! No one's gonna judge us or make fun of us; they'll understand! Please, Alex! If you really love me then do this for me! I don't want to keep on hiding!"

Alex looked shell-shocked, standing there gaping like a goldfish, completely lost for words.

"I'm...I'm not ready." he finally protested weakly and Sean shot him a dirty look before stalking out of the room, the door slamming behind him. "Sean!"

Slumping against the worktop, Alex buried his head in his hands and groaned before staring round the kitchen with a frown, realising that not only had he pissed off his lover but he also now had clean this mess up as well. Sadly, he gazed at the pancake Sean had left out for him before shrugging in a 'what the hell' manner and picking it up, taking a thoughful bite, sighing when the smoky sweet taste of marijuana exploded against his tongue. Just as he'd thought; bloody pot pancakes. With another sigh, he finished the sweet confection, licking his fingers in appreciation. Hell, the way things were looking, he needed to unwind a bit. And anyway, what harm could it do?