Title: Everybody's Looking for Something: Chapter 5: Choice is Yours
Pairing: Lance/Todd
Summary: Todd gets confused; Lance helps him out.
Notes: I like to play pretend that Todd takes more baths than he does. Because other than that he's not bad. And he's not going to say "yo" all the time. If he did, I'd go insane. The chapter title comes from "Come as You Are" by Nirvana.
Technical Notes:
***** for scene changes.
Feedback: Yes please. If I don't know what was bad, it ain't ever gonna get better.
~Choice is Yours~
Pietro was surprised the Brotherhood had taken so long to pick up on him and Scott; they had even done it on the kitchen table, for God's sake.
Eventually, enough evidence mounted that it couldn't be ignored. Pietro thought that Scott showering at the house one morning had been the definitive clue. Now, everybody knew. Well, Freddy probably didn't, but he didn't know much of anything.
It was really nice having a boyfriend that could come over and nobody minded. Sure they spent most of their time in Pietro's room, so they didn't see the other members of the house often. But that was because nearly every activity they did together ended in sex.
Walking (instead of running for once) down the stairs, Pietro noticed Todd looking at him.
"What? Do my clothes clash or something?"
"No, you just don't look any different."
Pietro paused in the kitchen doorway. "Huh?"
"You did just have sex, right?"
"Mm-hmm. Now if it's no bother to you, I'm going to get some food and go back to that."
Todd continued to watch Pietro, now moving at his "normal" speed, go back upstairs in a matter of seconds.
The next person to go under Todd's scrutiny was Tabitha. She flopped onto the area of the sofa next to Todd and turned on the tv. She flipped channels, finally settling on some music station, before she noticed Todd's stare.
"Don't you have anything better to do than bug me?" she asked testily.
"No, not really."
Tabitha gave a long-suffering sigh and went back to becoming a brainless vegetable through tv. Well, more brainless than she normally was.
After a short time, Todd asked, "What's it like to be kissed by a guy?"
"You going fruity on us like Pietro?"
"No! Just wonderin' if it's different from girls, is all."
"Yeah, Todd. Right. I still think you're fruity," Tabitha teased.
"Whatever. I'm leaving."
Todd hopped out of the room as Lance entered. Lance leaned his butt against the back of the couch. He twisted so that he could talk to Tabitha.
"Are you picking on Todd again?"
"He's asking for it. Coming up with all sorts of fruity questions."
"I heard the whole conversation. So I'm telling you to stop picking on him. And learn a larger vocabulary."
Lance left to go find Todd. Poor boy could never hold his own against Tabitha. Hell, Lance himself rarely beat the girl at her games.
Todd was in the backyard, crouched down, and probably contemplating... something. It looked like he was just staring at empty air to Lance, however. Lance came over and stood beside him.
"You should just ignore whatever she says."
Todd shrugged but didn't turn around.
Lance wasn't sure how to proceed. Todd was probably just confused and thrown for a loop by Pietro. But maybe it wasn't confusion; maybe Todd was figuring new things out about himself. Either way, delicacy was called for. And Lance didn't normally deal in delicacy. He much preferred a rock pun before kicking his opponent's butt.
It was Todd who broke the silence first. "You going to mock me too? Start prying into why I'm askin' such 'fruity' questions?"
Lance sat down next to Todd, legs straight, but kept his gaze forward. He'd thought it might be like this.
"No," he answered.
Lance kept quiet, hoping Todd would choose to confide in him if he did. If anyone could see him, they'd laugh. Lance, caring? Yeah right. But he did; he cared about his brothers. He just couldn't always show it and still be their fearless leader.
Lance's feelings for Todd were a bit more confused. Todd was extremely innocent, despite--
"You never been curious?" Todd asked.
"About what?"
"About guys. About what's so great that makes Pietro and Scott go at it like the Energizer Bunny. About maybe the fact that certain people should just give up on girls altogether."
"If you like girls, you like girls. And giving up on them won't make you like guys any better."
"Don't avoid the question."
"Yeah, I have been curious. That enough of an answer?"
"Why? I mean, you have Kitty. Don't you?"
"Somehow, I don't think I do. If she wanted me, she'd have made some obvious sign or move by now."
"So who's the guy?"
"Look, Todd, I don't mind answering your questions, but that's my own business. Not yours."
"Avoiding again. Bet it's someone I know." Todd smirked.
"If you want to converse intelligently, instead of gossiping like school girls, I'll be inside."
Lance left; Todd didn't follow.
*****
After dinner at the Brotherhood House was homework time. Lance, Freddy, and Todd worked together in the kitchen so that Lance could help the other two. Pietro and Tabitha generally went to their respective rooms, not wanting to be bothered by their other teammates' academic difficulties.
Freddy was done quickly for once; his teachers had been generous and assigned little homework. Freddy left to watch tv in the living room. Unfortunately, Todd kept getting distracted by the tv's bright lights and loud colors. When he stopped even bothering to make it look like he was working, Lance spoke up.
"Eyes on your work, Todd."
Todd turned away from the tv and focused on his work.
"I think I know who the guy is," Todd said out of the blue.
"Hmm?" Lance responded, not really paying attention.
"It's one of those X-Geeks, isn't it? That's why you don't want to say."
Lance glanced up to answer. "No. I have more taste than that."
"He is a mutant though, right?"
"Mm-hmm." This time Lance didn't glance up.
"Can you tell me his powers?"
"No. That's too much of a hint."
"It's not Pietro, is it? 'Cause he's taken."
"Yeah, I know that."
There was a pause.
"Why do you keep avoiding questions? You never answered me about Pietro."
"No, it's not him."
Todd stopped working on his homework once again and scrunched up his face in thought. "But we don't know any other mutants."
"Keep thinking. It'll come to you." Lance started gathering up his books. "I'm going out now. If you need any help, ask Pietro. Later."
Lance walked out the front door. Todd heard Lance's Jeep start and pull out of the driveway.
Todd harrumphed. It wasn't very nice of lance to abandon him like that. He was on to something; he could feel it. But just when-- oh. Todd remembered where Lance had to go. Tonight was grocery night, and it was best to sneak out when Freddy was distracted.
Maybe he could brainstorm whom Lance liked with Pietro.
Deciding this was a good idea, Todd picked up his English text and headed upstairs. He paused before the door. It was always a good idea to listen before knocking; one never knew when Scott was over.
The sounds of a one-sided conversation emanated from behind the door. Pietro was on the phone. Again. The only real upside to the relationship, that Todd could see, was that it kept Pietro amused and out of everyone else's hair.
Todd knocked, and the door was open. Pietro stood at the far side of the room, engrossed in whatever Scott was saying.
"Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm." Pietro nodded vigorously. "Look, Scott, hold on a sec. 'K?" Pietro moved the phone away from his mouth. "What do you want, Todd?"
"I was wonderin' if you could help me study."
"Why not Lance?"
"He's at the store."
"Oh. Right." Pietro moved the phone back. "I've got to go. Sorry. ::pause:: Yeah, me too. Bye."
Pietro hung the phone back in its cradle. "What do you want me to do?"
"I've got a big poetry test tomorrow and was wondering if you could quiz me on the terms."
Todd handed his book to Pietro. Both boys sat, facing each other, on Pietro's bed. Pietro quizzed, and Todd quickly answered with all the correct definitions. Pietro soon switched over to harder words, words like envoy and caesura. Todd had no problems with these either.
After the fifth "hard" word, Pietro put the book down. "Why am I doing this? You already know the words."
Todd didn't answer. Instead, he said, "Did you know that Lance likes some guy?"
"I should have expected this. No one, man or woman, can resist my charms."
"It's not you."
"How do you know?!"
"He told me."
"Hmph. Well, it had better not be my Scott. Because if it is, he's in a world of hurt when he gets home."
"It isn't him either."
"Good."
"Lance said he had more taste than that."
"Why that little.... I'm going to do more than hurt him; I'm going to kill him. Nobody insults Scott-- or my taste-- and gets away with it."
"Whoah, dude. Hold on. He didn't say that; I was joking. Really."
"You sure?" Pietro asked distrustfully.
"Totally." Todd figured that the lie was a small price to pay for his friend's continued health.
"Do you know," Pietro asked, "who it is then?"
"No. That's why I'm asking you if you have any ideas."
"Well then, what do you know?"
"He's a mutant but not you or one of the X-Men."
"But... that only leaves you and Freddy."
"Me an' Freddy?"
"Yeah. Unless you know of someone else."
"Urp. I gotta go. Bye."
Todd grabbed his book and hopped out of the room at top speed.
"Weird," Pietro muttered. He picked the phone up and began dialing Scott.
*****
The next day at homework time was awkward. Lance didn't know about Pietro and Todd's conversation from the day before; Todd... twitched every time Lance paid him any attention. As a consequence, Lance focused on helping Freddy. With Lance's help, Freddy finished early once again. And, just like every night, Freddy watched tv once done.
Lance turned to Todd. "What's the matter with you?"
"Oh, uh, nothing."
"Really."
"Really. Now stop buggin' me."
"'K. Whatever you say." Lance threw his hands up in defeat.
Todd was the one who finally broke the following silence.
"Pietro and I talked last night. He said that the only people for you to crush on were me and Freddy."
Lance stood up and walked to the fridge. He opened it and started to examine the contents.
"I don't think it's Freddy."
Lance closed the door. He stood up straight, rolled his shoulders, and walked back to the kitchen table. The house started to tremble.
With Lance standing up, towering over him, Todd felt small and inconsequential. The shaking house didn't help matters either. Todd very nearly decided to drop the subject and flee. But one didn't get into as many fights as he did without having at least a bit of a backbone.
"Why?" Todd asked.
Lance didn't answer. The house shook more, enough to start dishes falling off the countertop, but he didn't look murderous. Yet.
Freddy called out from the living room. "Hey, Lance, stop shaking the house. The tv's getting all staticky."
Lance glared into the living room while he finally sat down, but the house did stop shaking.
Todd waited, patiently, while Lance appeared to calm himself.
"I don't know why. You lose fights-- a lot-- but you don't seem to care? You're naive despite your tough talk? People underestimate you?" Lance sighed. "You probably want some time to think, don't you?"
Lance started to stand but paused when Todd spoke.
"You're underestimating me too."
Lance sat back down. "How?"
"Well, you're assuming that I haven't already thought things out. That I need time to digest this information. That, maybe, I'm a little bit disgusted."
"Yeah...."
"You're wrong. It's kind of flattering, if you want the truth." Todd took a deep breath. "And I might be willing to try... being with you. If you'd like."
"Oh. Well. Sure, I guess." Lance looked flabbergasted.
"Good."
Pairing: Lance/Todd
Summary: Todd gets confused; Lance helps him out.
Notes: I like to play pretend that Todd takes more baths than he does. Because other than that he's not bad. And he's not going to say "yo" all the time. If he did, I'd go insane. The chapter title comes from "Come as You Are" by Nirvana.
Technical Notes:
***** for scene changes.
Feedback: Yes please. If I don't know what was bad, it ain't ever gonna get better.
~Choice is Yours~
Pietro was surprised the Brotherhood had taken so long to pick up on him and Scott; they had even done it on the kitchen table, for God's sake.
Eventually, enough evidence mounted that it couldn't be ignored. Pietro thought that Scott showering at the house one morning had been the definitive clue. Now, everybody knew. Well, Freddy probably didn't, but he didn't know much of anything.
It was really nice having a boyfriend that could come over and nobody minded. Sure they spent most of their time in Pietro's room, so they didn't see the other members of the house often. But that was because nearly every activity they did together ended in sex.
Walking (instead of running for once) down the stairs, Pietro noticed Todd looking at him.
"What? Do my clothes clash or something?"
"No, you just don't look any different."
Pietro paused in the kitchen doorway. "Huh?"
"You did just have sex, right?"
"Mm-hmm. Now if it's no bother to you, I'm going to get some food and go back to that."
Todd continued to watch Pietro, now moving at his "normal" speed, go back upstairs in a matter of seconds.
The next person to go under Todd's scrutiny was Tabitha. She flopped onto the area of the sofa next to Todd and turned on the tv. She flipped channels, finally settling on some music station, before she noticed Todd's stare.
"Don't you have anything better to do than bug me?" she asked testily.
"No, not really."
Tabitha gave a long-suffering sigh and went back to becoming a brainless vegetable through tv. Well, more brainless than she normally was.
After a short time, Todd asked, "What's it like to be kissed by a guy?"
"You going fruity on us like Pietro?"
"No! Just wonderin' if it's different from girls, is all."
"Yeah, Todd. Right. I still think you're fruity," Tabitha teased.
"Whatever. I'm leaving."
Todd hopped out of the room as Lance entered. Lance leaned his butt against the back of the couch. He twisted so that he could talk to Tabitha.
"Are you picking on Todd again?"
"He's asking for it. Coming up with all sorts of fruity questions."
"I heard the whole conversation. So I'm telling you to stop picking on him. And learn a larger vocabulary."
Lance left to go find Todd. Poor boy could never hold his own against Tabitha. Hell, Lance himself rarely beat the girl at her games.
Todd was in the backyard, crouched down, and probably contemplating... something. It looked like he was just staring at empty air to Lance, however. Lance came over and stood beside him.
"You should just ignore whatever she says."
Todd shrugged but didn't turn around.
Lance wasn't sure how to proceed. Todd was probably just confused and thrown for a loop by Pietro. But maybe it wasn't confusion; maybe Todd was figuring new things out about himself. Either way, delicacy was called for. And Lance didn't normally deal in delicacy. He much preferred a rock pun before kicking his opponent's butt.
It was Todd who broke the silence first. "You going to mock me too? Start prying into why I'm askin' such 'fruity' questions?"
Lance sat down next to Todd, legs straight, but kept his gaze forward. He'd thought it might be like this.
"No," he answered.
Lance kept quiet, hoping Todd would choose to confide in him if he did. If anyone could see him, they'd laugh. Lance, caring? Yeah right. But he did; he cared about his brothers. He just couldn't always show it and still be their fearless leader.
Lance's feelings for Todd were a bit more confused. Todd was extremely innocent, despite--
"You never been curious?" Todd asked.
"About what?"
"About guys. About what's so great that makes Pietro and Scott go at it like the Energizer Bunny. About maybe the fact that certain people should just give up on girls altogether."
"If you like girls, you like girls. And giving up on them won't make you like guys any better."
"Don't avoid the question."
"Yeah, I have been curious. That enough of an answer?"
"Why? I mean, you have Kitty. Don't you?"
"Somehow, I don't think I do. If she wanted me, she'd have made some obvious sign or move by now."
"So who's the guy?"
"Look, Todd, I don't mind answering your questions, but that's my own business. Not yours."
"Avoiding again. Bet it's someone I know." Todd smirked.
"If you want to converse intelligently, instead of gossiping like school girls, I'll be inside."
Lance left; Todd didn't follow.
*****
After dinner at the Brotherhood House was homework time. Lance, Freddy, and Todd worked together in the kitchen so that Lance could help the other two. Pietro and Tabitha generally went to their respective rooms, not wanting to be bothered by their other teammates' academic difficulties.
Freddy was done quickly for once; his teachers had been generous and assigned little homework. Freddy left to watch tv in the living room. Unfortunately, Todd kept getting distracted by the tv's bright lights and loud colors. When he stopped even bothering to make it look like he was working, Lance spoke up.
"Eyes on your work, Todd."
Todd turned away from the tv and focused on his work.
"I think I know who the guy is," Todd said out of the blue.
"Hmm?" Lance responded, not really paying attention.
"It's one of those X-Geeks, isn't it? That's why you don't want to say."
Lance glanced up to answer. "No. I have more taste than that."
"He is a mutant though, right?"
"Mm-hmm." This time Lance didn't glance up.
"Can you tell me his powers?"
"No. That's too much of a hint."
"It's not Pietro, is it? 'Cause he's taken."
"Yeah, I know that."
There was a pause.
"Why do you keep avoiding questions? You never answered me about Pietro."
"No, it's not him."
Todd stopped working on his homework once again and scrunched up his face in thought. "But we don't know any other mutants."
"Keep thinking. It'll come to you." Lance started gathering up his books. "I'm going out now. If you need any help, ask Pietro. Later."
Lance walked out the front door. Todd heard Lance's Jeep start and pull out of the driveway.
Todd harrumphed. It wasn't very nice of lance to abandon him like that. He was on to something; he could feel it. But just when-- oh. Todd remembered where Lance had to go. Tonight was grocery night, and it was best to sneak out when Freddy was distracted.
Maybe he could brainstorm whom Lance liked with Pietro.
Deciding this was a good idea, Todd picked up his English text and headed upstairs. He paused before the door. It was always a good idea to listen before knocking; one never knew when Scott was over.
The sounds of a one-sided conversation emanated from behind the door. Pietro was on the phone. Again. The only real upside to the relationship, that Todd could see, was that it kept Pietro amused and out of everyone else's hair.
Todd knocked, and the door was open. Pietro stood at the far side of the room, engrossed in whatever Scott was saying.
"Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm." Pietro nodded vigorously. "Look, Scott, hold on a sec. 'K?" Pietro moved the phone away from his mouth. "What do you want, Todd?"
"I was wonderin' if you could help me study."
"Why not Lance?"
"He's at the store."
"Oh. Right." Pietro moved the phone back. "I've got to go. Sorry. ::pause:: Yeah, me too. Bye."
Pietro hung the phone back in its cradle. "What do you want me to do?"
"I've got a big poetry test tomorrow and was wondering if you could quiz me on the terms."
Todd handed his book to Pietro. Both boys sat, facing each other, on Pietro's bed. Pietro quizzed, and Todd quickly answered with all the correct definitions. Pietro soon switched over to harder words, words like envoy and caesura. Todd had no problems with these either.
After the fifth "hard" word, Pietro put the book down. "Why am I doing this? You already know the words."
Todd didn't answer. Instead, he said, "Did you know that Lance likes some guy?"
"I should have expected this. No one, man or woman, can resist my charms."
"It's not you."
"How do you know?!"
"He told me."
"Hmph. Well, it had better not be my Scott. Because if it is, he's in a world of hurt when he gets home."
"It isn't him either."
"Good."
"Lance said he had more taste than that."
"Why that little.... I'm going to do more than hurt him; I'm going to kill him. Nobody insults Scott-- or my taste-- and gets away with it."
"Whoah, dude. Hold on. He didn't say that; I was joking. Really."
"You sure?" Pietro asked distrustfully.
"Totally." Todd figured that the lie was a small price to pay for his friend's continued health.
"Do you know," Pietro asked, "who it is then?"
"No. That's why I'm asking you if you have any ideas."
"Well then, what do you know?"
"He's a mutant but not you or one of the X-Men."
"But... that only leaves you and Freddy."
"Me an' Freddy?"
"Yeah. Unless you know of someone else."
"Urp. I gotta go. Bye."
Todd grabbed his book and hopped out of the room at top speed.
"Weird," Pietro muttered. He picked the phone up and began dialing Scott.
*****
The next day at homework time was awkward. Lance didn't know about Pietro and Todd's conversation from the day before; Todd... twitched every time Lance paid him any attention. As a consequence, Lance focused on helping Freddy. With Lance's help, Freddy finished early once again. And, just like every night, Freddy watched tv once done.
Lance turned to Todd. "What's the matter with you?"
"Oh, uh, nothing."
"Really."
"Really. Now stop buggin' me."
"'K. Whatever you say." Lance threw his hands up in defeat.
Todd was the one who finally broke the following silence.
"Pietro and I talked last night. He said that the only people for you to crush on were me and Freddy."
Lance stood up and walked to the fridge. He opened it and started to examine the contents.
"I don't think it's Freddy."
Lance closed the door. He stood up straight, rolled his shoulders, and walked back to the kitchen table. The house started to tremble.
With Lance standing up, towering over him, Todd felt small and inconsequential. The shaking house didn't help matters either. Todd very nearly decided to drop the subject and flee. But one didn't get into as many fights as he did without having at least a bit of a backbone.
"Why?" Todd asked.
Lance didn't answer. The house shook more, enough to start dishes falling off the countertop, but he didn't look murderous. Yet.
Freddy called out from the living room. "Hey, Lance, stop shaking the house. The tv's getting all staticky."
Lance glared into the living room while he finally sat down, but the house did stop shaking.
Todd waited, patiently, while Lance appeared to calm himself.
"I don't know why. You lose fights-- a lot-- but you don't seem to care? You're naive despite your tough talk? People underestimate you?" Lance sighed. "You probably want some time to think, don't you?"
Lance started to stand but paused when Todd spoke.
"You're underestimating me too."
Lance sat back down. "How?"
"Well, you're assuming that I haven't already thought things out. That I need time to digest this information. That, maybe, I'm a little bit disgusted."
"Yeah...."
"You're wrong. It's kind of flattering, if you want the truth." Todd took a deep breath. "And I might be willing to try... being with you. If you'd like."
"Oh. Well. Sure, I guess." Lance looked flabbergasted.
"Good."