Outside, in the hall, a certain Quicksilver was on a mission. It was a reluctant mission but still a mission. He wasn't having any luck at all finding the appropriate room to drop off his 'precious cargo' in either.

"Don't you dare peek in it! Just give it to Kitty and leave!" Lance had all but threatened.

Pietro brushed him off and took the small package. He was at the mansion in under five seconds, but it was taking a little longer to find the right girl. The last girl to slam her bedroom door in his face had been slightly indisposed. He recognized her as one of the new girls, younger than the others. Her reddish brown hair was sticking up wildly from her head due to her having just stepped out of the shower. Pietro had caught her in her towel.

"Get outta me room!" She screamed bloody murder. Pietro's eyes went wide for a moment, taking in the sight as quickly as he could (which, as everyone knows, was extremely fast). She slammed the door and he ran again, this time into the room of another one of the new girls. This one he knew as Jubilee from Lance's descriptions.

"What the hell did you do to Rahne?!" She pushed him violently. Once he was on the ground, fireworks sparked on her fingertips.

"Nothing!" He barely dodged a blast of pyrotechnics. He stuck his tongue out at the angry Asian chick. "Missed me! Haha!" he cackled madly and was out the door in a gust of wind.

He opened and closed several doors in rapid succession, still not seeing Kitty and angering several only partially dressed X-Girls in the process. "We are on the hunt for the elusive shadowcat..." he said, imitating the host of the nature documentary he'd just seen on the Discovery Channel while creeping around like a demented version of the Pink Panther on fast forward.

He opened another door and got an eyeful, but this time it wasn't the good kind. "Spiderman?!?! You wear SPIDERMAN underwear?! LOSER! The whole school's gonna hear about this one!!!"

"NOOOO!" The brown-haired boy shrieked as Pietro slammed the door shut. After making a mental note to bring a camera next time he was sent on a run to the mansion, he kept moving along. Seeing only two doors left to check, he chose the closer one. And he couldn't have been prepared to see what was inside.

It seemed as if his feet had been cemented to the floor as he stared in morbid fascination. Jean and Scott were sitting on her bed, kissing very intimately. A small squeak escaped his mouth and adverted the attention of the two lovebirds. Jean's green eyes flared up with fire and her face blushed a deep red the same exact shade of her hair. Without a single word, she flung Pietro out of the room into the wall across the hall and slammed the door. "Thank you!" Pietro hollered back, now happy his perfect eyes weren't being exposed to that horrid sight any longer. 'Boy, do I have things to tell the others,' he thought with a sigh. 'Just one door left, nothing should go wrong,' he told himself.

He opened the door to find Rogue and that Cajun guy on the bed in a position that, had it been pretty much any other couple, would've likely lead to other more "interesting" activities. As it was, even with Rogue's untouchable skin and the necessary clothing between them, the guy seemed to be doing pretty well.

Rogue rolled her eyes towards Pietro's intrusion, an expression of "Ah could give two shits" very apparent. "Somethin' you wanted?" She asked her former teammate, snuggling closer to Remy in the process. Oh yes, she wanted some juice going on about her at the Brotherhood house. Show them who's the ice queen now. Ha!

"I, um..." For once he was speechless. Pietro, Quicksilver, the teenager who could talk more than a fifty words a second, speechless. "Ican'tfindKitty'sroom," he said at a forced speed.

"Y' must've missed it, homme." Remy said to back her up, his nose toying with a couple of her strands. He didn't even bother looking at him. "It's de first room in de hall. Two beds, shares de room wit' ma belle femme here." With that, he moved his hips in a fashion that Pietro almost gulped at. Rogue just breathed out quick, loving the show they were putting on for Pietro.

"Umm... Thanksforyourhelp. I'mouttahere!" He didn't even bother shutting the door this time, he just ran. 'Mental note: Lance is doing his own gift-giving from now on.'



Rogue turned to Remy. "Ah, told ya we shoulda checked."



Pietro zipped back down the hall. "I'msoneedingtherapyforthis. Lance,youowemeBIGTIME." He didn't see the ice until he was literally on top of it. Time seemed to slow down as he tried to stop. Unfortunately this time his own momentum was working against him and his feet flew out from under him and he crashed into someone. "Ahhhh!" Thud. "Oww..." He looked down at his victim. It was Kitty.

"Like, get OFF me!"

He was up in a flash and pulling her to her feet. "Here. LoverBoywantedmetogiveyouthis. Don'ttellhimIbruisedyou. IratherlikegoingtosleepknowingI'llwakeupinthemorning," he blurted, shoving the gift at her and turning to leave, leaving Kitty frowning as she tried to translate what he'd said into 'normal person speak'. There stood Evan. They faced off.

"Daniels."

"Maximoff."

Doors were opening on either side of the hall with curious faces peering out. Jamie began humming the music they usually only played for old western showdowns.

Evan wiggled his fingers down by his hip, a spike sliding out into his hand. Pietro mirrored his move (sans the spike) but crouched down, ready to pounce. Kitty just stood behind Pietro, holding the box she had just received. The other X-Girls were gathered around, whispering and giggling secretly while stealing glances at the two 'duelers.'

Pietro rolled his eyes. "Anytime now, Daniels. I haven't got all day." He tapped his watch impatiently. The spike went flying. Pietro dodged easily and it stuck in the wall, quivering. "Is that all you got? Man, I knew you were pathetic but this? This is a new low, even for you." Evan released a flurry of spikes, all of them missing. Evan was now looking slightly ill. "Ruining the decor AND guaranteeing punishment for fighting. Bravo! See ya, see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" He was gone in a blur of silver.

"Evan! What is the meaning of this!" Storm demanded coming up to him, frowning and using that 'I'm very disappointed with you, young man' tone that always made him feel guilty.

"I- He-"

The other students quickly ducked back into the rooms that they'd been previously standing in front of before Ororo could glare at them. Kitty phased through the floor beneath her, still clutching her gift. Down the hall, Rogue had actually clawed herself away from Remy for a split second when she heard the African goddess's voice from down the hallway. She peeked her head out and watched as Evan took the fall.

"What are you going to do about these holes, Evan?" She waved her hand around gracefully, but with a stern look still in her eyes.

"I, um, aww jeez, man..." He plodded away. "I'll go get the spackle from my room and fix 'em up before we leave..." he moaned.

"Good. If you get it done quick enough, I won't mention it to your mother when we get back." She watched him go, and then floated over the still present ice sheet on the floor. She shook her head with a small smile on her face and went up to her room to grab her bags.



AT THE BROTHERHOOD HOUSE...

There was a slamming of the door and a paler than usual Pietro standing there, panting. "Man, you would not BELIEVE the WEIRD shit that goes on at that place."

"Did you give it to her?" Lance asked impatiently.

Pietro glared at him. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking," the white-haired boy responded sarcastically.

"Well?"

"You have a one-track mind, do you know that?" Lance continued looking at him expectantly. "YES, I gave her the stupid present."

"It isn't stupid," Lance pouted. Pietro sighed.

"So what happened, yo?"

"Yeah, Speedy, enquiring minds wanna know," Tabitha agreed.

"Well, the defenses were a breeze for someone with my superior abilities." Pietro paused to preen and strike a pose while the others rolled their eyes. "Then came the weird part. Practically all the girls were semi-nude which ALMOST but not quite makes up for the mental scarring that occurred afterward."

"You'd better not have seen Kitty naked," Lance growled, the house beginning to shake.

"Hey, chill! The only time I saw her she was completely clothed and this house can't afford to have anymore damage done to it."

"Yeah, save that for the school, yo!" The rumblings subsided.

"So, what did you see?" Freddy asked.

Pietro sniffed theatrically. "It was horrible! Horrible, I tell you!" He covered his eyes in an overly-dramatized fashion.

"Well... are you gonna say it or what, Pietro?" Lance asked, exasperated.

He peeked from behind his hands. "Oh, I wouldn't want to put the images in your heads. It was awful enough for ME to have gone through it, but I will spare you."

"Dammit, Pietro, spill it!" Fred shouted. Tabitha and Todd both crossed their arms over their chests impatiently.

"Alright. But you may want to sit down..." Then he began recounting the events of minutes before. Shock and horror crossed the faces of his teammates, along with laughter over Bobby's under garment choice.

"So, lemme get this straight," Todd held his hands up to stop Pietro from talking for a moment. "Rogue was in bed, with that Cajun guy they picked up awhile ago?" Pietro nodded, his face turning paler than his hair. "Umm... how?"

"I don't know. I've heard things... The kid is crafty. Probably do her some good."

Tabitha rolled her eyes. "At least she isn't pining over Scott anymore. That guy has too many girls fawning over him. Me, I like my guys blue." She grinned while the boys rolled their eyes.

"Speaking of Scott, him and Jean finally got it together, huh?" Fred asked. He quickly added, "Not that I'm jealous or anything. Better him than me, right?"

"Definitely. Let X-Geeks deal within themselves, I mean," he stuttered after receiving glares from both Tabitha and Lance. "Right, like I said, I need to wash my brain out. Later!" And he zipped away.

TBC...