X-Men Evolution is a trademarked product from Marvel, all the characters are owned by Marvel and not me. This is a work of fiction based off of said series. I make no money off this, yadda yadda yah.

"In The Garage" - by Val Shrum (kiyonekatz at yahoo dot com)

Chapter 3

***************************************************************************

Afternoon sunshine crept through the dark curtains of Lance Alvers' room. He yawned and glanced at the clock. His hair poofy from his usual amount of movement in his sleep. Lance stretched his arms, folding them behind his head as he gazed at the ceiling.

'Did yesterday really happen or was that all a dream? I hope it was real. It was nice...' His mind trailed off when he heard a doorbell. '... at this hour? Great. I know no one else'll get it either. Man...'

Lance pulled on a pair of flannel pants and a tank top. He yawned again and made it to the front door in one piece. He opened it up, "Yeah?"

"Hey! Goodmorning to you, Mr. Sleep-the-day-away!" The young girl known as Kitty Pryde greeted him at the front door.

Lance widened his eyes. He almost closed the door all the way, "What are you DOING here so early!?" He looked through the leftover crack.

"I'm here for my lesson, silly. What, you forgot already? I would have like... called, but you guys don't believe in phones or something." She commented.

"No! Just that... well... I just woke up, okay?" He opened the door a little more again. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd like to wake up a little bit and maybe shower." He leaned against the door, almost as if he were tapping his head against the edge, like one would bang their head against a wall in pantomime. 'Why am I telling her to leave, am I nuts? She came to ME, she's at MY place!' He took a moment to compose his thoughts into a sentence, "But uh... I guess you're welcome to stay in my room till I'm ready. I guess."

Kitty smiled, and giggled. She squeezed Lance on the shoulder as she stepped in, "I'm fine with that if you are." She raised an eyebrow, "Cute pajamas, too. Though, red gingham is never really in style."

Lance shook his head and covered his eyes, "Oh man, I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" He lead her to his bedroom and gathered some clothes for himself. He looked at her and said, "... uh, it's probably safe for you NOT to leave the room. I mean, it'd be weird if the guys found you here and all. Just a heads up."

"Yeah, sure." She waved a hand, picking up an entertainment magazine left on the floor. "Go shower, I'm fine."

Lance took a look back at Kitty one last time before closing the door.

Kitty flipped through the magazine with idle thoughts. She was here rather early. 'That was rude of me, huh. I should have at least waited until way afternoon to stop by. I mean... is it like... bad for me to want to learn more? Or is there something more than learning I'd like to do?' She shook her head, leaning back to lay on the bed and look up the ceiling. A faint knock came from the door. "Forget something?" She asked.

The door opened. At it stood a girl around Kitty's age with short black hair. "... Kitty? What are you doing in Lance's..." Her voice trailed off.

Kitty sat up and waved a hand, "Wait! Wait, Wanda! It's totally not that! I just showed up... like... ten minutes ago, I swear!" She blushed. "Lance is uh... teaching me how to play guitar. He offered lessons, and like a dweeb, I showed up way too early. I mean, like, it is Saturday. Kids are supposed to sleep in on Saturdays..." Kitty rambled.

"Oh." Wanda raised an eyebrow, "Well, good luck? I was going to give Lance some gas money." She pulled out a few bills and put them on his dresser. "Let him know it's there."

"Yeah... sure, okay. Hey Wanda, do you know much about this music stuff?" Kitty asked.

"Not too much, sorry. I once had a guy try to teach me how to play bass. That was a waste of a month of my life." Wanda shrugged at the vague memory.

"Bass... guitar? Is that much different from regular guitar? I feel like such an idiot."

"...yes. Don't worry about it too much. I'll see you around." Wanda left the room.

'No, don't worry, Pryde. Wanda KNOWS you're an idiot, now.' Kitty laid back on the bed, covering her eyes with her hand.

The door handle jarred and a freshly washed Lance stepped into the room. He wore his favorite pair of ripped jeans with black shirt. A towel hung around his neck to catch water that dripped from his still drying head of hair. He raised an eyebrow, "Something got you down?"

"Huh? Uh, no." Kitty sat up and pointed to the dresser, "Wanda stopped in and left you some gas money. It'd have been funnier if she told me it was for --" She put her hands up to form the 'quote' motion, "services rendered. But she didn't. What a waste of a good joke."

Lance shook his head and pocketted the cash. "So did you want to just jump into lessons or what?"

Kitty shrugged her shoulders. "Have you eaten?"

"What do you think? I just woke up." Lance dried his hair.

"Then maybe we should go grab something to eat, then come back. I wouldn't want to start something and like... stop and pause for food, y'know?" Kitty watched Lance dry his hair, with a bit of facination.

Lance nodded, "Time for brunch, it is." He grabbed a jacket from his closet, then picked up his keys from the nightstand. "Anywhere in particular?"

"Nothing special comes to mind. I'm at your mercy, Mr. Alvers." Kitty headed for the door.

"You know, in the wrong context..." He started.

Kitty turned around. She had a smile on her face, but poked him in the chest. "Such a dirty mind. I meant NO such thing, Lance."

"Hey! You said it, not me! I'm just the driver." Lance followed Kitty out to his jeep. He warmed up the engine with a gentle start.

They drove to the nearest waffle-type place. It was a local establishment that had a feel of late-night-college-student-mealtime, including a foosball table and air hockey. They sat down and ordered from the waiter.

"So uh... I was online last night, doing some research on the internet." Kitty started.

"This ought to be good." Lance took a sip of his drink.

"Wait, hear me out. So like, apparently Bayville has some sort of talent show every year over at the big performance hall. Kids and teens. Comedy, acting, and even music. There's big money for those who win."

"... I'm not sure I like where you're going with this..." Lance leaned back, a look of almost fear on his face.

Kitty rolled her eyes, "Anywhos, the auditions are next week, for a show that will go on at the end of the month. I was just thinking that you're so talented and ---"

"No." Lance cut her off.

"What?"

"Not a chance, Kitty." Lance stated.

"Oh c'mon! You're not even giving the idea a chance! Why don't you TRY?" Kitty looked annoyed.

"Unlike those jokers, I don't need to prove myself to a bunch of people. Talent, whatever, it's just music to me. It's something I do for just for me. No one else."

"Sure, Lance, but wouldn't it be nice if someone actually heard you once in a while?" She raised an eyebrow, taking a sip. "I mean, like... you've got this ability and you're doing nothing with it. You're okay with going off and being posterboy for Mr. Macho Mutant of today, but you don't want to label yourself as a musician?"

Lance shrugged, "It's more complicated than that, Kitty. Do you KNOW any musicians? I mean, seriously KNOW any of them? I hate to ruin the illusion, but they aren't just all nice people. The ones I had met left a bad taste in my mouth from the experience. Why would I want to become that? Something I hate?"

Kitty blinked and made an 'oooooooooooh' noise as it finally had all clicked, "I get it! You've already TRIED that, and it left you bitter and mean inside! I get it. Well, this just won't do." She waved a hand at him, "You're obviously not like them, and you wouldn't allow yourself to BECOME like them, so I personally don't see any harm in trying."

"Why are you trying to convince me to do something I really don't want to?" He sighed.

"... because... well... because..." She looked to the window, then back to Lance, "I know it seems strange, but I hate to see your potential go to waste. You lit up when you started playing. And I mean, the room, your expression... you so obviously love it. I know, I'm just this girl you sometimes date, but like... for that moment, you totally had the magic. I wanted to share that with others, is all."

Lance smiled at Kitty. Her blue eyes shimmered at her own speech. He sincerely felt the warmth of her intention about his well being here. It got to him, bad.

"... so what, a week, huh? That doesn't give us much time." Lance started.

"Us?" Kitty blinked.

"Well, of course. I'm not going to go into this alone. You want me to do this? You're the second member to my band." Lance smiled.

"W...what? NO! I can't play! I SUCK. We won't even make it past the audition! Are you crazy?" Her voice had raised, "And we don't even have anybody else."

Lance smiled, "Then we'll find some. I mean, if you don't wanna do this Kitty..."

"You! I want YOU to do this, not me." Kitty was firm about that.

"I won't do it unless you do. I see we have a dillema." He smirked.

"I'm SO going to get you back for this. Fine, FINE. I'll do it. I'm sure I can learn a song or two in a week. Gives me somethin' to shoot for." She surrendered to his request. 'At least it'll get him to do this. Even at risk of my own embarassment.' She thought to herself.

Lance started on his meal as it arrived, "So, who else do you have in mind?"

"Shouldn't we think of a name first?" Kitty rolled her eyes.

"Name? Names come to people easily. I'm not worried. So you think of people, and I'll think of some people, and we'll get a band. We need a drums, bass, and maybe keyboard. We can live without keyboard though."

"We're just going for the gritty basic rock band, huh?" Kitty munched.

"It IS what I know best, babe. Punk, Rock, Ska, it's all good to me."

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm going to do this. I totally don't fit the rocker persona." She made a face.

Lance shook his head, "Naw, just buy a shirt or two with a witty slogan or some cool image on it, a few extra bracelets and a neat haircut... you can easily fit into it. We'd need to lose a little of the pink, but... I can rebuild you."

Kitty threw a wadded up napkin at Lance. He laughed and batted it aside. Kitty took a moment and smiled. Lance was excited and happy about the idea. The operation was a successful. Lance smiled back at her as they finished their meal.

***