A Wild Ride

Bayville High was sponsoring another carnival over the weekend to raise funds for the art and music programs and that's where the couple was heading on their date.

Kitty knew they'd be running into everyone they knew at the festivities tonight, but she was determined that none of their friends – neither the Brotherhood nor the X-Men - would spoil the evening for them.

Anticipating a fun and wonderful date with her boyfriend, Kitty rushed through the gates of the Institute and leapt up into his Jeep the second he pulled it to a stop to pick her up.

Lance turned with a smile at finding her so ready to go and was delightfully surprised when she threw her arms around his neck to kiss him when he did.

Twisting in the driver's seat, he slid his arms around her waist and returned the kiss until she was all soft and clingy against him.

At that moment, he pulled back to smile down at her while he stroked her long bangs away from her eyes.

Her smiling lips were puffy and moist from their kiss, making his chest swell with pride as he bent to taste those lips again.

The blaring honk of a horn interrupted them and had Lance looking up from his girl to see Scott in his precious car waiting impatiently to leave the institute's grounds. Jean was in the vehicle with him, indicating the pair was going on a date of their own.

Kitty looked around to see the older teens frowning their disapproval at her practically making out with Lance in the driveway.

With a weary sigh, she pulled away from her boyfriend and settled into the passenger seat while he moved the Jeep from the other vehicle's path.

This is not a promising start to our evening, she thought as the sting of disapproval of her friends lingered.

~*~*~

All was quickly forgotten when they got to the carnival.

It looked ten times better than the last one and Kitty was clinging to Lance's side as she excitedly pointed out the rides she wanted to go on or squealed over the large stuffed animals she'd like him to win her.

He was very glad he'd taken a part time job at a local garage to get some cash for this night.

The work was good too. Lance had always enjoyed tinkering with engines and getting all greasy. Now he was getting paid to do it. Pretty decent gig in his opinion.

Knowing that before they could do anything else, they had to get tickets he paused to look around for one of the sales booths.

When the crowd parted to reveal one up ahead he stiffened.

Fred, Pietro, Toad and even Wanda hanging out around the wooden stand marked as a ticket sales booth.

From the way the guys were watching the school secretary as she distributed tickets and collected money in that booth, Lance knew they were up to no good.

And would expect him to take part in whatever plan they were hatching.

Normally he'd do just that without a second thought, but he had Kitty with him and he wasn't about to let his friends spoil another one of their dates.

As if sensing that she'd popped up in his thoughts, the girl spoke his name to get his attention.

"Is something wrong?" she asked when he turned his brown eyes to her blue ones.

Gazing down into the innocent depths of those eyes he felt ten feet tall and ready to slay dragons for this girl.

"Not a thing," he replied as he stroked his callused fingers down her face.

With a smile and sigh she turned into his touch then kissed his fingers.

"Let's go on the Ferris Wheel first!"

"That ride is so boring, baby, and we gotta get tickets first," he said when she began to drag him toward the large ride in the center of the large lot where the carnival was being held.

"Ok, but I wanna ride all the rides at least once," she stated as they went to the ticket booth.

So far she hadn't seen the others standing around the stand, but they'd seen her now.

"Aww. Look at the little Kitty with her tomcat," Pietro cooed as he rushed to stand behind her.

"Back off, Quickie," Lance ordered. "We're just here to have some fun."

"Well, now, Lance, that's some coincidence. That's just what we're here for. What do you say we join forces and have all kinds of fun together?"

Pietro slid an arm around Kitty's shoulders - which she immediately threw off with a look of disgust - and smirked at the other boy.

"Not interested," Kitty and Lance answered.

The silver haired boy simply looked at them thoughtfully as the couple stepped up to request their tickets. The other members of the Brotherhood were just lounging around waiting for the booth to empty for a moment so Toad could snatch them all a roll of tickets.

After purchasing enough to get started for the night, Lance and Kitty ignored the others to begin making their way to their first ride.

Bored, Pietro followed and cut them off before reaching the line of people waiting to get on the "Screamer."

"Too good for us again, eh, Alvers? It's a real pity when a guy let's his girlfriend stop him from having any fun," Quicksilver said with feigned sadness.

Lance glared at the boy and the ground beneath them all started to rumble and shake.

"Lance, don't."

Kitty quickly sensed what was happening and laid a calming hand on her boyfriend's chest. She then glared disdainfully over her shoulder at the other boy who was trying to cause trouble for them.

"He's, like, so not worth it. Just ignore him and let's start trying out these rides."

She was looking up at him with an expression that warned and begged him to not let anything spoil their night.

"You're right," Lance bent to kiss his girl before turning to give Pietro one last glare. "He's not worth it."

~*~*~

"I am, like, so never listening to heavy metal again as long as I live," Kitty vowed as they stumbled off of the "Musik Express" ride from which such music was blaring at a deafening volume.

Lance laughed and hugged her closer to his side.

"What next?" he asked.

She ground to a halt, shook her head then lifted it to look up at him.

"Huh?"

"What do you want to do next?" he asked a little louder.

"Anything that's far away from this. I totally can even hear myself think."

A smile seemed permanently on his lips tonight and it got wider at her answer.

They walked away from the noisy ride looking at the various game booths and stalls.

When Lance saw Scott at a booth hurling a baseball at a pyramid of bottles to win Jean a large stuffed Clifford toy he remembered how Kitty had looked at the stuffed Tweety Bird at that same game.

Without hesitation, he led her over to the booth and dug out the money needed for a try at the bottles.

Even with his ruby red shades on, Lance could tell Scott was glaring at him when the other boy noticed his arrival.

Jean frowned at her boyfriend and seemed to be telling the other guy to relax without opening her mouth to nag at him.

Summers turned his back on Lance to fork over more money to try and win the stuffed animal.

"Maybe you outta let Red try, Cyke," Lance taunted as the other boy again missed.

Kitty elbowed him sharply in the ribs and gave him a look that said he better behave.

Grinning he ignored the other couple, picked up his baseball, threw it at the bottles in front of him and toppled the pyramid on the first try.

"Well now, that's the best darn throw I've ever seen," the carnie said as he moved forward to set the bottles back up.

Scott was muttering something about "showoffs" beside him as the man in the booth finished restoring the pyramid and moved out of Lance's way.

Resisting the urge to laugh at the other boy, he concentrated on knocking the bottles down two more times so he could get Kitty the biggest Tweety toy the booth had.

Moments later he and his girl left a glaring Cyclops behind them as they moved away from the game to take a ride on the Ferris Wheel.

Clutched to Kitty's chest was a big yellow stuffed animal that was nearly as big as she was.

~*~*~

"It's so peaceful up here," Kitty sighed as the ride stopped with them at the very top to let someone on to the Ferris Wheel.

Lance resisted the urge to sigh that it was too peaceful and just wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

She snuggled against him with a delighted sigh.

"This has been like the best night ever."

Looking down at the top of her dark head as it lay against his chest he felt the exact same way.

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A/N: Sorry I've been so long in updating, but my mind wandered off to another series. I've got at least two more chapters planned for all lovers of my Lancitty fluff, but please be patient for them. My mind is like scattered and refuses to focus on finishes this series. :-P