Disclaimer: The characters in the following fic are property of Marvel Entertainment and are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment, not profit. Meats of evil.

Author's Notes: This story is of course part of the Mutatis Mutandis timeline, which after September 14 will officially be A/U I suppose. This story takes place after Bloodstained Machinations at about the same time as Awakening and Home Sweet Home. Stories are archived at www.originofspecies.cjb.net Death threats can be sent to decadentmazohyst@yahoo.ca

Conversations
(In the Dark)
Part One
By N

The public was in an uproar so the government was in chaos so the media was in a feeding-frenzy that served to agitate the public even more… One couldn't turn on the TV, pick up a newspaper or listen to the radio without finding something mutant-related. None of it positive, of course.

By unspoken agreement the television and radio were left turned off. The only noise came from the CD player, which seemed to be stuck repeatedly playing a stream of discordant, angry screaming. That and the mental stress of keeping a house full of negative thoughts out of her mind had conspired to give Jean Grey one HELL of a headache.

And of course there was no aspirin to be found in either the kitchen or the bathrooms. That left her with one last very unsavory option…

She rapped her knuckles against the cracked wooden door, biting her lip and trying to convince her face to set itself into a civil expression. It was well past eleven o'clock but there was still 'music' blaring from every available speaker in the house and she had to knock again before there was sign of life from behind the door. It was yanked open suddenly, leaving her hand raised in mid-knock.

"Yeah?" Lance snapped, then blinked as he recognized who was at his door. His surly expression deepened. "What do YOU want?"

Jean struggled to keep her tone polite. "We're out of aspirin. Fred said you might have some."

"Got a headache, Red?"

"Yes."

Lance leaned against the doorframe, his expression changing from sullen reproach to one Jean liked considerably less… A slow, easy grin spread across his face as he looked her up and down appraisingly. She could feel the wheels in his dirty little head turn round and round.

"Yeah, I got aspirin," he said amiably. Jean was immediately suspicious; Avalanche had not once addressed her nicely since she and the other X-men had taken up residence in the Brotherhood Boarding House. "You want some?"

"Yes please," Jean replied. She waited for the catch.

"Sure. No problem!" Lance turned and walked away from the door, flinging it open as he did so. He strolled over to a decaying desk set up against one wall and started rummaging around inside. He gestured and Jean entered his room cautiously, her nose wrinkling a little as she did so.

What a sty, she thought. You think it would kill them to pick up after themselves even a LITTLE…

"Here it is," Lance exclaimed. He looked up at Jean, still grinning lopsidedly. "You REALLY have a headache, huh?"

"Yes. Thanks, Lance, I appreciate-"

"Whoa, hold on there, Red. What do I get?"

Jean stared at him. "What?"

Lance's grin had spread. "For the aspirin. Ain't like I'm gonna give it to you for FREE."

Jean felt a flash of real anger. She did NOT need this. "And just what did you WANT for it, Lance?" she asked, her hands curling into fists at her sides.

Lance chuckled. "Well, let's see… your head hurts… Hm. I'm sure you can think of something appropriate."

"Oh you scummy little--! What the hell Kitty EVER saw in you I don't-"

Lance held up his hands in a warding-off gesture. "Calm down. I didn't mean THAT. Ugh. Give me SOME credit… Snotty society bitches aren't my type."

Jean forced her fists to unclench and took a deep breath. "Look, are you going to give me the aspirin or not?"

"Yeah. All you gotta do in return is answer one little question."

"Fine."

Lance looked her in the eye, smirking. "Did fucking you give Matthews' cock frostbite? You being such a frigid bitch and all."

Jean's mouth fell open in shock and Lance laughed. It was a mean, petty sound and upon hearing it Jean felt all her frustration of the past few days boil over into an exquisite rage.

"I've HAD it with you!" Jean yelled. Lance had enough time to look at her in surprise before she telekinetically slammed him against the far wall. He let out a startled grunt, his eyes narrowing into animal slits.

"Let me down from here, you b-"

"Bitch, yeah, I know. Shut it." Jean walked across the room and took the bottle of aspirin out of Lance's desk. "You know, I'm getting really tired of everyone calling me that when they think I can't hear it. That's the thing about being telepathic; you hear everything." She regarded Lance with smoldering eyes. "And you know what else? I've had it up to here with your shit. Nobody is happy about this situation, Avalanche, but we all have to deal with it."

"Fuck you," Lance grumbled, trying with no success to pull himself away from the wall.

Jean threw up her hands in exasperation. "Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall," she said. "You're such a JERK! Why do you have to be that way?"

"Why do YOU have to be such a snob?" Lance countered.

Jean planted her hands on her hips. "Oh, I'm a snob? 'Snotty society bitch,' right? Well, you don't KNOW me, Avalanche. All I've ever done is try to be nice to people, something you might want to consider doing every now and then." She folded her arms across her chest and regarded Lance with bogus sorrow. "But you hate popular people, right? Here's a news flash: I never asked to be popular and it's not my fault that people LIKE me because I'm NICE to them."

"The fact you've got big tits probably helps," Lance added from his position on the wall.

"Oh, it's impossible to talk to you about anything. I feel sorry for Kitty since she for some unimaginable reason thinks you have a GOOD side."

Lance started to reply but wound up just letting out a brief yell as he fell to the floor when Jean released her telekinetic hold on him.

"Thanks for the aspirin, Lance," she said from his doorway. She looked over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at him. "And Lance? Don't piss me off again."

She slammed the door on her way out.