Coming To Terms
By Lyo
Legals: Same. Characters are not mine, have never been mine, and blah.
WARNING: deals wirh SLASH (guy/guy) situations; mentions Lance/Rogue, but that's not really the central theme of the story.
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Lance threw the multi-colored shirt down on the floor when he came in from work. Fred and Todd were home as usual, playing the old Nintendo that the latter had found in the basement a few days ago. It worked all right, and the three games that came with it were good ones. It was cheaper than buying a new Playstation after the accident involving Pietro, Todd, and coke that had fallen to the last one.
Money was exactly tight. Between his degrading job and Fred's mysterious one, they paid the bills and kept food on the table. Wasn't the greatest food, but it was good still. They could have used the money in Mystique's account, but since Tolensky got them locked out, they'd been on their own. And things were pretty good. They just couldn't afford certain luxuries, like getting his headlight fixed after Daniels threw a bone spike into one of them.
The misadventures of Mario and Luigi were pretty soothing as he stretched out on the floor, watching the little mushroom things bob up and down. The game itself wasn't interesting. He'd beaten it when he was eleven or twelve and never looked back. But it made the house peaceful for hours at a time, although that music was beginning to grate him. It was better than the music on every day at his workplace, and it was MUCH better than the screaming wail of "I NEED MORE TOKENS". He sighed. The joys of working for Chuck E Cheese's.
"Did you get any applications today, Todd?"
"No. Nobody's interested in me, yo. I told you that I couldn't get no work for awhile."
Lance nodded, knowing that that was going to happen no matter what he tried. Todd was too young, and Pietro was at the community center. He got paid a little here and there for odd favors, but not enough to consider it a real job. Most of Pietro's money went to the emergency money that was on top of the fridge in an old spaghetti sauce jar.
"How many days are you working next week, Fred?"
"Three." He shifted his bulk around. "And maybe Saturday if they need me."
Lance nodded. That meant he had to work five again. Fun. At least tonight he'd been working a birthday party. That always gave a nice tip. "Gotcha. Todd, I need you and Pietro to buy groceries this week."
"When?"
"How much food have we got left?"
The game was paused again, Todd grumbling about Lance being a dictator, and the boy leapt off his spot on the arm of the couch. "Drop me there on your way to work tommorrow, yo."
"You guys eat already?"
"Yeah." Lance nodded, dragging himself back up off of the floor and then up the stairs, his feet like lead. His bed felt warm and comfortable as he crashed onto it, not bothering to take off his work pants. The job situation was looking good. His manager seemed too like him, despite all else, and that could lead to a promotion.
A small part of him wished that Pietro had bit the bullet with him and Freddy, and just gone to a normal job. The center paid almost nothing, and he didn't get tips or anything like that...but Lance really couldn't get mad at him. He wanted to, don't get him wrong, but that place meant something to the white haired boy.
He was more worried now that he thought about it. Pietro was...a pretty looking boy with his icy eyes and delicate, almost effeminate, features. He looked fragile more than anything, and an easy target. Of course, Pietro would never let himself be hurt by any one in that neighborhood...but still Lance worried.
The boy's eyes shot open, recounting his previous thoughts and ground his teeth together. He had to stop thinking about Pietro. The boy was fine. He was always fine. Lance didn't need to worry about him. Had to think about something else.
He switched his mind to thinking about the girls at school. Jean Grey, annoying and bland as she was, had been wearing a new shirt today that left very little to the imagination. It had gotten the desired affect, apparently, having Summers and Matthews following her around all day. Kitty looked the same as usual. He still thought she was kind of hot, but her voice grated his nerves. Then there was Rogue.
Lance sighed, looking over at a picture of them at McDonald's. They'd been dating now for a week or so. It wasn't anything remarkable. She couldn't really touch him, and he really didn't think much about touching her. It didn't feel right. It was more like an excuse for them to get out and away from everything. He sighed, slowing closing his eyes when the phone rang.
He waited a moment, waiting for Todd or Fred to pick up. They didn't, too wrapped up in their game to care about the phone, and the answering machine wasn't hooked up. Again. "Hello?" He grabbed the extension by his bed, sitting up.
"Hey, Lance?" Pietro. He was going to choke him. Sure it was Friday, but it was also one in the morning and he'd been working since three with screaming children while confined in the shell of skanky fake mouse fur. Why wasn't that community center closed anyway?
"Let me guess? You need a ride."
"Actually...no. I was just calling to tell you that I'm going over Blue's for the night. I know how you worry." There was a hint of nervousness in the younger mutant's voice, something Lance caught right away.
"Blue?" he sat up, "Is that your new girlfriend or something?"
"Uh...no, well, not really. It's not like that or anything. We were just out late and, well, Blue lives across town,andit'stoolatefrome togetalifthomewiththem.And you worked,soI figured--"
"Okay, okay. You can stay." Lance rubbed his eyes. "Are you coming home or do you have work again?"
"It's Youth Night at the center. I'm going to that. I go to every Youth Night." He went from nervous to defensive in a moment, as if Lance intended to tell him no.
He shook his head, "Call me when you're coming home. I'll pick you up or she can drive you home or whatever."
Pietro let out a breath, "Thanks." Then he hung up and Lance yawned again, embracing his pillow as sleep over took him.
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He hung up the phone, smiling a little to himself. That had been relatively easy. Actually, that had been a cakewalk. Lance was clueless to what was really going on. Cute, but insanely clueless. He'd been working at the GLCC for the past few weeks, though he'd been attending a little more than he let on. That had been one of the first things he did when he came to Bayville was go there.
Lance never knew about the GLCC. He thought he was working at the Jewish Community Center, placed conviently across the street. After work, he'd just call the older mutant and take a stroll across the street and wait on the steps. Alvers would never be the wiser.
Not that he wasn't careful. He'd purposefully not put the phone number anywhere around the house. All he needed as Fred or Todd to have to call him while Lance was at work. They didn't use intials when they answered the phone. They used the full, blantantly true name that he couldn't even bring himself to use quite yet.
The possible scenarios for him telling the other guys about the center he really worked at scared him. He couldn't go anywhere else. His foster parents kicked him out when he'd gotten caught ripping off the lockers. And the X-men scared the hell out of him. Especially Daniels. He hated admitting that, but it was true.
Daniels' friendship had been the start of the lies when Pietro came to terms with the truth internally. He'd stopped off at a center in New York City, talking to a conselour and then heading home when Evan had seen him coming out of the building. That had been the first time he'd been scared of what he was, when he saw the fear in his friend's eyes.
"You were in there? Why? I mean....you're not, are you?" Evan took three steps back, his eyes growing ever wider.
Pietro shrugged, "Nah. Just looking around a little. Guess I was curious to see if the walls were pink...But it wouldn't be that big a deal if I was. I'm still gonna kick your ass tommorrow at the tourdament."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WOULDN'T BE THAT BIG A DEAL!?" Evan practically screeched it, his eyes looking ready to pop out of his head, mouth wide open. Looking back, he resembled some kind of a fish. "That's sick! People in there are...perverted. They like...Aw, that's just gross. You couldn't be on the team if you were. That's like letting a girl into the locker room. C'mon, Pietro, don't be gross."
He forced himself to laugh, sure his face was scarlet red and he was sweating. He wanted to get away from Evan. Had to run. Had to get out of there. "Yeah, guess you're right."
Evan smirked, "Sure. Besides, a great basketball player like you couldn't be like that. Only wimpy assed little nerds are like that. Not jocks like us."
That had been the start. He hated Evan from that day on. He had to prove himself every time they were on the court. He had to be awesome. If Daniels came out shining, it was an insult. Of course, then Daniels had been what? Ten or eleven? He thought using words like "perverted" and "ass" made him sound cool, like the high school players. Pietro frowned a little, forcing his one time friend out of his head. He was here to have fun with Blue and listen to her gush about Leigh. Not think about his lies to Evan or Lance.
They'd be happier never knowing the truth.
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Ew....I hate it. R/R if you so wish.