Missing Life
By Lyo
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. Nothing...All belongs to people with...um...lawyers. o.O
WARNING: Tabitha Smith is not a nice bouncy blonde in this. She's not evil...she's just...>.< PLUS S-L-A-S-H in future parts. Take a wild guess who. ^^
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Glare. Cereal hitting the bowl, sugar coated flakes spilling in with an almost annoying clatter.
Glare back. Pale hand reaching for an apple.
Nails tap off the table, other hand picking out some flakes from the bowl.
Foot taps on the ground. Tap tap taptaptaptaptaptaptap.
Eyes narrow.
Smirk.
Little bomb is flung.
White, brown, and blue blur avoids it. Wince at the explosion.
Another bomb.
Dodge.
Glare.
Smirk.
"Lance!! Pietro's being mean again!"
"Lance! Tabitha made another hole in the wall!"
Scream from behind closed lips as painted nails grab an apple from the basket and figure stomps away.
Smirk.
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The typical morning tradition in the Brotherhood house now that little miss Tabby Smith decided to take Lance up on his 35% serious offer. Something that Pietro, Todd, and Fred gave him no peace on. Freddy and Todd had a good reason though. She wouldn't let them take any of Mystique's money. She didn't think it a very "good" idea.
Pietro hated her because she was the one that Lance paid attention too. She was the one that he nodded at when she walked by him in the hallway, the one that went shopping with him. She was the one that helped him with the bills. Pietro just sort of got shoved to the side in all of this, the new girl much too important for anyone to care what dinky little Pietro thought.
He sighed, wrapping thin arms around himself as he waited for Lance to come down the stairs. Was the older boy deliberately excluding him now? He didn't really think that Lance was like that. It was Tabitha's fault. She was the one who slid in between them when they were talking, threading her arm through Lance's and pulling him away.
His eyes burned again, hands twisting into fists. He didn't want to say what was really bothering him. But it was so obvious. Was he so transparent that even Fred picked up on his problem?
Okay, so he was jealous.
It wasn't any big secret to the Brotherhood that he was gay. Todd had guessed it when they were having a discussion about what they were going to do about the decor of the house now that Rogue had switched sides. Pietro had been the only one, along with Mystique, that hadn't been thrilled at the aspect of having Playboy back issues to use as wallpaper. And they all just sort of shrugged it off after giving him that hard look and the standard, firm, "I'm straight." reply.
But that hadn't stopped him from watching Lance. From enjoying the attention the older boy gave him because he was like a walking calculator. He didn't really care for math, but he could scribble things down and have an answer before Lance even pressed a button. Pietro liked helping with that. He liked when Lance took him aside and told him about his problems with Kitty. Okay, so he didn't like it, but....
Now, that had all changed. Tabitha was here. There was no need for fruity little Pietro...No need at all.
As if on cue, Lance pounded down the stairs, keys jingling in his hand. He stood up, opening the door for his friend. And the boy reached out to grab his shoulder, "Hey Pietro?"
"Yeah?" His heart did that sort of funny half twist that he'd missed. He actually missed the slightly-weak-at-the-knees sensations Lance gave him,
"Would you mind running to school yourself? Tabby missed the bus, and well, there's only four seats in the car." He blinked, once then twice. His hand flew to his stomach, words and air gone from his body. It was like he'd been punched. His eyes stung all over again as he forced himself to nod. "Thanks. Knew you'd understand."
When Lance went to warm the car up, Pietro shivered a little, determined to steady himself. Some one thumped his shoulder, "Sorry about that, Pete. I would have made it if I hadn't been at work all night last night, and then if some one hadn't been rude during my breakfast." There was an edge to her voice as she said it.
His eyes narrowed. Todd and Fred exchanged a "Shit." glance. He didn't care. "We wouldn't need you working, 'Bithy, if we didn't have another mouth to feed. And if you'd stop insisting on glaring at me like I did something to you, maybe I wouldn't be rude."
"Rudeness aside, you eat as much as Fred. Why don't you have a job?" Her lips curved into a taunting smile and she pulled another apple from her bag, biting into it loudly.
The boy opened his mouth, rage stopping words from making out of his throat. Lance came back into view, smiling, "All ready. Pietro...you okay?"
"Fine. Alvers." He walked back into the door. "See you." And he walked back into the house, pulling his arm back when Todd put his hand onto the sleeve of his sweater. Pietro didn't bother looking to his friend before slamming the door. The house shook a moment, the sound of the muffled jeep pulling out of the driveway. Gone.
Tears slid down his face, angry, bitter tears that he refused to admit were there as he tipped his head back, knocking it off the hard plane of the door several times..
Thunk.
Hate Tabitha.
Thunk.
Hate Lance.
Thunk.
Stupid slutty Tabitha.
Thunk.
Stupid horny Lance.
Thunk.
Stupid straight horny Lance.
Thunk.
Thunk.
Thun.
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The chocolate brown eyes were tired as he pulled into the school parking lot, squeezing the steering wheel in his hands as tightly as he could. The night before had been arguing and hatred. Always arguing. Tabitha and Pietro were too similar and too different to get along. They were both energetic and bright and all too proud of their powers. They were both just proud and defiant. But Pietro was that way because of his powers, and it was understandable. Tabby was just...like that.
He slid out of the jeep, swinging the door shut in a quick movement, "Hey, Mudslide, where you going?"
A part of him shuddered. He'd gotten more than a little annoyed at the girl. She clung to him when they were home. She complained about things that there was no control over. She rolled her eyes about Todd's smell. She thought Freddy's ought to go on a diet. And she just didn't like Pietro.
He supposed, mostly from psychology class, that it was the closeness in their ages. She didn't go out of her way to be nasty to him, but he did think she excluded him on purpose. Part of him wanted to tell Tabitha to walk when she complained that she'd missed the bus. Pietro wasn't supposed to run around town at all the time. She knew that. Did she want him to get caught?
Lance didn't like the answer to the question.
Todd hopped beside him, "You really shouldn't have ditched Pietro like that, yo. He's one of us, chick or no chick."
He nodded, "I'll talk to him after school's out."
An arm slid around his, perfume nearly gagging him. He found perfume to be one of the more evil things about girls. When it came to perfume, he could completely understand why Pietro was gay. "But you promised you'd help me with my Stats project. Pete can wait!"
There was a moment, Todd's eyes on his as Tabitha played with a strand of his hair. A standoff. He looked away from Todd first, nodding to the girl, "Sure. I'll help you with the project."
"Not cool." The younger mutant muttered as he and Fred walked off, both casting him glares.
Tabitha grinned at him, pulling something out of her bag. Another apple. Where the hell was she getting these, "So, Rocky, where are we going now that we've dropped the kids off at school? Some place...romantic?"
"Let me go."
"Buuuuut, Laaaaaaaaaaaance..."
"Tabitha, I have school." He pulled his arm away, running to the school. His eyes darted around, looking for a telltale white head bobbing with in the masses of students in the hallway. None came, just X-freaks and normal humans, carrying on just like every other day. Fred and Todd were gone into their classes.
He was alone, partially a blessing. Tabby was gone. And out of the corner of his eye, Pietro appeared, clutching books to his chest in frail arms. There was a red tinge to the blue eyes, face paler than usual. Lance opened his mouth to say something, but instead, just watched as the boy walked to his locker, pulling the door open and shoving books inside.
One of the jocks smacked him in the back, sending his head inside the locker. A flash of anger filled his mind as Pietro pulled himself back out. Where the hell did the flair go? What was wrong with him...
Lance moved across the hall and to his friend without thinking, "You okay?"
There was a moment, "Why wouldn't I be?"
He picked up the boy's book bag, "Because of before."
"Oh, when you ditched me for Tabitha." The bitterness in the boy's voice was a veil to something that Lance couldn't bring himself to identify. "Don't worry about it. I'm used to it."
Lance sighed, shaking his head, "I'm sorry about that. Look--"
The locker slammed, cutting him off, "'We need to make Tabby feel at home. Tabby wouldn't get to the school in time.' I know, Lance. I know. Forbid you not be able to impress some chick."
"Pietro, look, you wanna do something...maybe tomorrow?"
Shoulders sagged down, "Sure. Whatever. Just don't bring Tabitha."
"You should really gi--"
Pools of blue flame flickered with anger and amusement, "Give her a chance? Since when did you turn into Summers with this morale booster babble. Look, Tabitha and I won't get along no matter how hard I try. So get used to it."
The older boy sighed, grabbing Pietro's books from him, "Walk you to class?"
There was a beat, color suddenly rushing to the pale cheeks as the downy head bowed towards the ground, "Sure...ifyouwantto."
Lance smiled, walking along with Pietro in slowly as the classrooms began to pull unsuspecting teens within their evil clutches. Some people shot them weird looks. He tried not to notice, looking back at his friend. What was Pietro's problem anyway? He'd been so quiet lately.
"This is my class--"
"Hey! Decided to come in after all." Tabitha threw her arms around his neck, lips pressing a thick layer of oily lipstick to his cheek. Pietro's books clattered to the ground as new ones were forced into his hands. "Third floor, Jeeves."
"Piet--"
The boy said nothing, picking his books up and entering the class room in a blur. "Are you coming or not?" She pulled on his shirt again, lips pursed with displeasure.
"All right, all right...."
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^_^ Sorry if any of you liked Boom Boom. I don't. I portray her as I see her. >.< Please, r/r