Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution belongs only to those who had the amazing sense to create it before I came along.

Title: Slowly

Summary: Love can be a scary thing—how powerful it is, what it can do to you. Not to mention, how much it can hurt.

Author's Note: So the last chapter introduced Wanda's story. It is quite obvious from just the bit I gave, but just in case I will go ahead and mention the gist of it. Basically we will see her "relationship" with Duncan turn out to be nothing more than some sort of cruel bet or joke or whatnot. On that note, I know it is a little strange that I have paired the two up like this. However, the only person I thought might be stupid and selfish and cruel enough to pull something like that was Duncan Matthews.

Chapter 4

- Burn

Kitty shrieked. Even with the raucous chatter that erupted when all of the students were released into the halls to go to lunch, her scream pierced through the noise. It certainly caused a few heads to turn in her direction in curiosity.

"Kurt, don't do that! You're gonna, like, give me a heart attack."

Kurt Wagner rubbed the back of his head nervously and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Kitty," he apologized.

She shook her head, her brown ponytail wagging behind her. "It's fine. You just shouldn't sneak up on people."

Kitty began walking quickly down the hall, or at least as fast as she could go given the sizeable crowds attempting to push their way through. Kurt was close in tow. The gawky teenager had been friends with Kitty for a while, ever since he had moved there as an exchange student from Germany. Almost right from the moment he had met her, too, he had tried several futile attempts to get her to go out with him.

"Why are you so jumpy today, Kitty?" he asked in his thick accent.

"I'm not. I'm just, like, ugh." She snorted in frustration then glanced over her shoulder at him. "Will you, like, stop following me?" She pointed an accusatory finger at him.

Kurt's hands shot into the air as if she were holding him at gun point. "Geez, someone's got her panties in a twist." The thing about Kurt was that he used a lot of American phrases that he didn't always know the meanings of. This almost always worked to get a laugh from Kitty. But not that day. She was much too tense to react normally to his antics.

"Ew, Kurt, that's not it at all." She groaned, turning away from him.

As her eyes scanned across the crowds in front of her, the students parted just right in order for her to catch a glimpse of her date waiting by the cafeteria doors. Suddenly, her nerves increased tenfold. Whatever she was feeling before was enhanced by the mere sight of Pietro Maximoff.

"There he is," she hissed. Then she began to glance about frantically, to which Kurt remained highly confused. "Hurry, Kurt, disappear." She shoved him away from her so hard that he collided with a couple other students and nearly face planted into the floor. She couldn't very well have Pietro get the wrong idea, after all.

Kitty couldn't concern herself with Kurt's well-being. She approached Pietro, who had his arms crossed over his chest and leaned casually against the wall. Nervously, she tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

"Hello," she greeted with an anxious giggle.

Pietro glanced coolly at her and gave his winning grin. She just about melted right there. Even though her heart pounded in her chest, she couldn't say that she was nervous anymore. She was just grateful to be in his presence. The smile was contagious and she found herself returning the gesture. It was accompanied by a small blush that had crept to her cheeks because, though she hated to fawn over it, he was just too damn beautiful!

"I'm, like, sorry I'm late," she breathed, though she was pretty sure she had arrived close to the precise scheduled time.

"No worries," he dismissed nonchalantly. "This may actually sound kind of lame, but I came here early. I couldn't wait."

Kitty blushed even more profusely. She felt self-conscious and giddy. "Well, what did you have in mind?" She needed to continue with the date or the luncheon or whatever the hell this was. She was afraid that at any moment she might awaken from some sort of dream.

"I'm glad you asked," he said, righting himself. He offered his hand for her to take. "Come with me."

With her hand reluctantly in his, Pietro led Kitty outside to the gardens where there were already a good number of people enjoying the weather. He bypassed all of the crowds, winding her farther from the actual building and deeper into the maze of flowers and shrubbery. Kitty could honestly say that she had yet to explore the gardens to that extent since she had first arrived at the school.

They eventually came upon an area that was void of any other people and just out of earshot of any of the noise. The path met a dead end at a nice, but miniscule clearing. The stones opened onto grass with a bench at the far side almost surrounded by flowering bushes. There was a blanket spread in front of the bench and a closed basket sitting directly in the middle of it.

Kitty gasped when she first saw it, her breath then catching in her throat. It was idyllic, to say the least. She had thought that perhaps the lunch date would have been mediocre, seeing as how they had little options at their disposal. But somehow Pietro had managed to find a way to make it perfect.

"Have a seat." Pietro ushered her to the blanket. She swept the skirt of her uniform under her bum then lowered herself onto the blanket. Pietro followed with less of a hassle then opened up the basket to begin partaking of whatever he had packed. "Sorry that there aren't more options for us."

He handed Kitty a sandwich encased in plastic wrap and placed two diet sodas on the blanket in front of them. She looked down at the sandwich between her hands and smiled. When she heard him begin to unwrap his own meal, she began to do the same. She took a small bite out of the cold contents. She was used to the taste. It was a simple sandwich from the cafeteria. However, she made herself believe that it was even more delicious because she was eating it with Pietro in the most beautiful setting she had ever seen.

"Thank you for inviting me here," Kitty said after she had swallowed her first bite. Though the silence didn't seem strained at all, she knew her nerves would burst from her body if she didn't make some sort of conversation. Besides, she wanted to get to know this mysterious newcomer. "This place is, like, amazing." She nervously contained some hair behind her ear again.

"Well, you're worth it." Pietro gave his fantastic smile again. Then he took a big bite out of his sandwich and masticated it.

Kitty tossed her head. Whatever Pietro said, she tended to believe it. There was just something about him or the way he stated it that made her believe she was worth such consideration. She took a sip from the soda, unable to keep her eyes off of him, though.

Pretty much just to usher in a change of subject, but also to, in a way, prove that Wanda had no idea what she was talking about or who she was dealing with, Kitty breached the topic of yesterday's meeting. "So I, like, ran into your sister yesterday," she stated. Her eyes fell onto the soda can and she adjusted it awkwardly on the blanket. "You two don't seem to have, like, too much in common."

When she raised her gaze, she froze in her place. The expression on Pietro's face was so loathsome that it stopped her dead in her movements and made her heart race for all of the wrong reasons. It was a complete 180 from where they had just been. Not to mention, it made Kitty as uncomfortable and fearful as hell. Like she did best, though, Kitty tried to play it off and pretend she hadn't noticed his change of attitude.

"Are you getting along in your classes?" She turned her head away, while at the same time berating herself for not coming up with something more convincing.

"Kitty, can I ask you one thing?" Pietro said in a low voice. It was obvious that he was attempting to keep it under control.

"Of course." She looked toward him again, grinning and giggling half-heartedly. "You can ask me anything, Pietro."

"Never bring up my family again."

She swallowed. The threat in his voice made her nervous, but in the next instant, he slumped and appeared defeated. She had no idea what was going on with this kid, but her sentiments ran high. She knew there had to be some issues he was dealing with. Obviously, they affected his relationship with his sister, that was for sure.

"I'm sorry," she replied quietly.

Pietro shook his head. "It's just that my father was all we had, but he was never really around. He was always too busy tending to his precious corporation, Magneto. Then when my sister did pretty much the same thing, I was left all alone. I can't forgive them for abandoning me, Kitty." He looked up at her through his lashes. "You won't abandon me, will you, Kitty?"

His pathetic look made Kitty want to hug him tightly, but she refrained from doing so, not without difficulty. Instead, she scooted closer and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, afraid to rouse him into the emotionally charged figure he had just been.

"Of course not," she whispered, not really knowing what else to say in that moment. "I'm so sorry, Pietro."

"It's ok. You didn't know. You couldn't have known."

Pietro raised his eyes to her, pleading and hurt. In that moment, the blame that she had thought she had caught in his tone just a second earlier dissipated immediately. All she saw was the young man in front of her, so full of life and longing. She was reminded of the person she had been so attracted to, but it was deeper now, much deeper.

Pietro leaned in, pulling her head in closer to his, and laid his lips upon hers. He kissed her deeply, passionately. He felt her relax in his hands and against his mouth. Kitty's lips had gone numb and submissive, and he took that time to thoroughly explore her mouth. She felt as if she were melting. Her heart raced, this time for all of the right reasons. She felt hot and flighty, as if she couldn't think. She didn't even want to think. She just wanted to fall into him. She wanted them to slowly burn together.

After having walked back to the institution hand in hand, Kitty reluctantly parted from Pietro to attend her next class. They had barely heard the bell tolling the end of lunch period. The walk back to the building would have nearly seen them late enough, but the leisurely stroll they took just ensured that. Kitty had to admit that she had never been tardy for class before, especially one taught by Professor Logan. However, she couldn't say she really cared at that moment whether she would make it to class or not.

Just inside of the building Kitty nearly knocked into Kurt, who was rushing through the hallway to make it to his own class. Kurt, unlike Kitty, made a habit of being tardy. He slid to a halt, despite the elapsing time, surprised by her presence outside of the classroom.

"Kitty, what are you doing?" he asked her.

She seemed to snap back to the present. "Oh, what?"

"You're already late for class," he announced. "You're never late!"

She just grinned and placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Kurt, you shouldn't, like, worry so much."

He grabbed her arms and leaned in, barreling into her eyes. "What's gotten into you?" he asked her, perplexed.

Kitty just shook him off and turned back around to view Pietro one last time before she started farther into the building in the direction of her class. Her expression slowly fell while she studied his features through the glass doors. He had that same look he had gotten when she had mentioned running into his sister. She couldn't determine whether he was staring at her or at Kurt with that irate expression. But, her wonder was fleeting as she did have to get to class and did have other things on her mind. After all, she couldn't get caught up on that when she had so much to be happy about.