AN: Sorry it took me so long to update. I'm quitting my job, trying to focus in on my senior project, etc, etc, I suck. Disclaimer du jour: I don't own Lo-Jack.
Pietro woke up, feeling groggy and slightly hung over. The last thing he remembered was talking to Rogue, she was so sad, and he told her he wanted to be with her-
Oh. Right. That. He sat up, peeling the sensors monitoring his heart and lungs off his torso and put his feet onto the floor. He shook his legs out, testing them, then zipped upstairs. It was a tremendous relief to run, having laid still for god only knew how long. He'd probably do a few sprints up and down the coast before he tagged Rogue again, after all, he didn't want to get out of shape.
Rogue's door had been fixed, and, just to be polite, he knocked quietly.
"Come in," she said.
He opened the door, and there she was, looking out the window, listening to one of those damned depressing CDs of hers, singing along quietly as she looked out the window.
"'Welcome to my glass house, well it'll break real easy but it just won't fall down, and if you're worn down well you oughta be, c'mon let's leave this town come, run with me," she sang softly.
"Sounds like a nice enough invitation," Pietro smiled. She looked up and her face betrayed a war of emotions, and he was pleased to see at least one of them was wanting to jump up, run and hug him. She didn't, so he casually strolled over and flopped on her bed next to her, looking lazily up at her with clear blue eyes. She shrank away from him, moving closer to the wall. "So, fill me in, what'd we do all week?"
"We hung out," Rogue said, shrugging. Pietro looked a little disappointed.
"That's it?"
"It was more than that, dope," she said. "It was great, I just… I can't really explain it."
Pietro sighed.
"Well this is a little depressing. I'm finally in a relationship with an interesting person and I can't even remember it."
"Don't worry about it. From now on nothing goes on between us, that you're not conscious for. I mean it!" Rogue said as he started to protest. "This freaky little mental love affair is done."
"Oh come on!" Pietro protested, throwing his hands up in the air and sitting up. "This is completely unfair!"
"I know. But as people never get tired of telling me, life isn't fair."
Pietro glared.
"I'm not buying into that. Life may not be fair to you, but I'll be damned if I don't force it to be fair to me."
"Pietro-"
"Sorry, sweetheart," he said. "But anything worth having is worth suffering a little."
Really, it was far too much to ask for him to see reason, she supposed as he lunged at her and touched her face again, but at least this time she managed to break the contact after just a few seconds. She was angry for half a second, but it was hard to stay mad when looking at his sweet face.
"Dammit, Pietro," she muttered quietly, picking him up.
Back to the infirmary?
No. You're going home. I'm gonna take you back to the Brotherhood house and leave you there, if Lance and Tabby don't break my legs.
You're breaking up with me?! Pietro exclaimed.
If that's what you wanna call it. I can't keep doing this, you know why.
Lance opened the door to see Pietro slung in a fireman's carry over Rogue's shoulder.
"I was afraid of this," he sighed.
"I keep forgetting how damn fast he is," Rogue said, hauling Pietro into the room.
"Let him touch you again, huh?" Tabby said, glancing out at them from the kitchen.
"I didn't let him do anything Tabby. Christ, I'm gonna have to transfer schools or something."
She carried him up the stairs to his bed, his shoes and shirt still missing from being in the infirmary, then covering him in his comforter. She turned to go and ran right into Lance.
"Look, I'm sorry-"
"No, I believe you, Rogue, Maximoff doesn't listen to anybody's reason but his own."
Best reason there is!
Rogue ignored Pietro's voice and looked up at Lance.
"He didn't touch me for very long, he should be okay by tomorrow. Lance…"
"He's crazy about you Rogue." A wave of panic swept through him as Rogue's face shifted from one of her expressions into one of Pietro's.
"Who isn't?" she said with an uncharacteristic smile, especially given the gravity of the situation. She blinked and the expression fell; she seemed totally unaware of what had just transpired.
"I said he's crazy about you," Lance repeated. This time Rogue responded with her own attitude.
"Operative word being crazy- do not start singing again, Pietro!!" she shouted. Lance swallowed hard as she turned back to him. "Would you help me?"
"What do you mean?"
"You see him more often than I do, can you kinda keep an eye on him? I mean, gimme a holler if he's zipping my way?"
"Yeah. But do me a favor."
"Yeah?"
"If you ever get those power under control, give him a call, all right? Cause you know, he's um…"
Crazy about you, Pietro finished.
"I know," said Rogue. "If I weren't such a big fan of his, I wouldn't care what he did. But you know."
"Yeah, I know."
Rogue looked back over her shoulder.
"Bye Quickie. It's been fun, sugar."
It ain't over till the fat lady sings, which means Blob's getting a sex-change before I let go-a you, stripes.
"INCOMING!!!"
Rogue looked up from her locker, stricken.
"Ah, hell," she muttered, and grabbed the shelf in her locker, hauling herself up off the floor and up top of them, on the grimy ceiling, as a gale force of wind whooshed past. "We gotta stop doing this at school, dammit," she muttered as Pietro skidded to a halt. Lance came barreling down the hallway, Tabby and Todd crashing into him as he stopped, Freddy crashing into all three.
"There he is!" Tabby shouted as she spotted Pietro. "C'mon boys!"
The other Brotherhood members careened after Quicksilver as Rogue let herself down from the lockers, dusting herself off.
"We gotta stop meeting like this," a voice said next to her.
"Damn it," she muttered. She'd be an idiot not to be grateful to the Brotherhood for helping her to avoid contact with Pietro, but when push came to shove he was still too fast for them. She heaved a deep sigh, knowing that it wouldn't matter if she ran away or walked, Pietro would track her down. She could just try to prolong the conversation and hope that Lance and the crew had realized that Pietro'd lost them. The two of them sat down in front of her locker.
"Whatcha been up to?" Pietro asked. Rogue laughed.
"Running from you mostly."
Pietro laughed, but it wasn't the same laugh that it had been.
"I miss you, you know that?"
"I know, but touching me doesn't help that!"
"Wouldn't you miss me if I stopped?"
"Of course I would."
Pietro sighed and rested his head on her covered shoulder.
"You're wrong you know. At least when I touch you, I spend a while unconscious. It's kinda hard to miss you when I'm asleep."
"We could be friends, you know," Rogue replied. Pietro smiled, shaking his head against her shoulder.
"I'm a selfish soul, stripes," he replied. "Tell that bald headed egomaniac leader of yours to get cracking on some kind of a way to control your powers. It's hard to miss you while I'm asleep, not impossible."
"There he is, yo!" Todd shouted from the far end of the hall.
"Uh oh," Pietro said. "Tag time." With that, he reached up and touched her face; by the time the Brotherhood got to him, he was out cold.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Tabby ranted, glaring at Pietro and kicking his unconscious self in the shin.
Hey hey hey!! That better not bruise, missy!
"Sorry Rogue," Freddy shrugged. Todd, meanwhile, had grabbed Pietro by the collar and was shaking his unconscious body furiously.
"Why the hell don't you listen, yo? We gotta put a fuckin' lo-jack on your ass!"
Lance picked up Pietro and hucked him over his shoulder in the fireman's carry.
"Okay, chasing him around isn't working. It's time for plan B."
Plan B? What's plan B?
I dunno, Rogue thought back as the Brotherhood walked away. Rogue cocked her head to one side. Y'know, if Billy the Kid rode with a fat kid, a blonde chick, and a toad-boy, it might look a lot like that…
If you say so. I wonder what they're gonna do to me?
No clue… wanna play Scrabble?
Sure!
Pietro awoke to find himself tied to his bed. Well, not really tied- Lance and Todd had spent over forty minutes winding rolls of duct tape around both boy and bed.
Lance stood at the foot of the bed, flanked by Tabby and Todd, backed by Freddy.
"Um, guys, I'm all for kinky," Pietro said, "but you know I'm off the market-"
"Pietro," Lance said, taking a deep breath. "This is an intervention."
AN: Next chapter: The Intervention. Pietro's clearly not going anywhere for a little while…