"Have you heard?" Tiffany asked in her girlish voice, her blonde pigtails bouncing. "What?" The chorus of similar looking perfect-girls alongside her asked in perfect harmony. "Kitty Pryde is going to be on the Winter court. It's all over school." "Ooooohhh." They replied. "Should we get rid of her?" They asked in voices that disguised their malicious intentions. "Too messy." Replied Tiffany. The other girls nodded. "Besides, we could use another brunette in our group. We've been too blonde lately." The girls gasped. "Not like that's a bad thing." Tiffany added quickly. "So what do we do?" "We let her into our group of course. With an iniciation. She's going to the dance with Jake, right? Well, we could use a popular guy like him to boost our social staus. Understand?" A plethora of "O Tiffany you are SO smart" and "Like, totally!"'s rang through the gym. "So I told her to come here, right about now." "What's her iniciation?" "To stay in the boy's locker room-during change time- for a whole five minutes!" She giggled evilly.
Kitty walked cautiosly into the gym towards the group og giggling blonde cheerleaders. "Um....Hi." Kitty said gingerly. Who knew what would happen if she upset them, they would probably leap on her and attack her with sets of perfectly manicured nails. "Why hello Kitty!" The one that seemed to be the leader said. "Your iniciation-should you choose to accept it- is to stay in the boy's locker room for..... Five whole minutes!" Kitty smiled inwardly. This was going to be easy. She had already heard from Evan that boy's basketball practice had been cancelled today. The locker room would be empty and she would come out five minutes later looking bewildered. "I'll do it." Kitty replied. "The boys are probably all in there right about now.." The leader said while looking at her watch which Kitty noticed was digital. "Bye gals!" Kitty chirped in a mockingly sweet tone and headed right into the boys locker room. "We'll come for you if you don't come out in five!" One of them yelled after her.
Kitty held her breath as she entered. It was dimly lit and she could swear that the smell of old sweat socks would permeate her clothing if she stayed too long. When she could hold her breath no longer she was forced to inhale. Something else was there- the overpowering smell of something familiar. She also noticed that a shower had been left on. She walked over to the shower area slowly, half expecting to see someone naked gawking at her in surprise. She didn't, but she recognized the smell. It was blood. Kitty's pulse quickened. Was this part of a joke? She forced herself to look down in the shower stall and what she saw nearly gave her a heart attack.
Crouched low with his marred back exposed was an unmoving figure. It was Pietro. At first she thought he was naked but with relief she spotted black boxers. "Pietro?" She asked shakily. He didn't move. She held out her hand to him but pulled it back quickly. The water was icy cold. She turned it off and knelt on the cold tiled floor in front of him. The bandages on his wrists were open and he was bleeding. He wasn't holding anything sharp, so how he opened teh wounds was unexplained until Kitty saw the long deep scratches running up and down his arms. He had torn them open himself. His back was a similar mess of deep wounds, but it was impossible that he had done that to himself. "Oh God Pietro..." She whispered. She once again put out her hand and this time she touched hs face. His body was colder than the water had been. "What happened to you?" She whispered, lifting his face to hers. To her surprise, he wasn't unconscious. Who knew how long he'd been there. His deep blue eyes were open and a tear slid out of one at the precise moment she looked at him. "Pietro..." She breathed. He seemed unable to speak.
"Kitty! We're coming iiiin!" The blondes screamed. "Oh no..." kitty said aloud. She couldn't let them find Pietro like this. She couldn't let them find Pietro with her like this. It would be all over school in a matter of minutes. She hurriedly locked her arms beneath his and tried to pick him up. She couldn't. So she dragged him to a nearby sports bin. Opening the door as quietly as she could she got inside and pulled him in with her. Closing the door just in time, she heard the girls stampede into the shower area. It was pitch black in the sports bin and she could smell the old rubber of the balls she was siiting on. Pietro's head was resting on her chest, and she could feel him breathing. He was scared. He didn't even seem to know who she was. "Pietro." She whispered. "It's me... Kitty." She grasped his hand, weak from the self inflicted wounds. He gasped in pain. "Shh.. It's okay." She said soothingly, running her other hand through his wet ruffled hair. She moved him up so that his head was resting on her shoulder. His lean muscled stomach pushed against her soft one and she began to feel self conscious. "I'm going to get you out of here, and we'll find out who did this to you, okay?" He jerked away from her-or tried to. Suddenly aware of the small space they were in Pietro began to hyperventilate. The girls were still in the locker room and even though they'd given up trying to find her they were rifling through the lockers to find useful information. Kitty knew that they would hear him. Kitty wrapped her legs around his in a vain attempt to stop him from thrashing and tightend her grip across his back, unknowingly sending blinding bolts of pain through his nerve system. He buried his head deep into her shoulder to try and make the pain go away. Kitty lessened her grip and he calmed down. He was emotionally and physically exhausted.
Whoever this was, he decided, it wasn't his attacker. This person was more gentle. Or tried to be more gentle. It was a nice change from the ice cold shower. He became aware of the fact that he was freezing. Whatever it was that was holding him was warm, and in his current state- he couldn't get up and leave.
Kitty ran her fingers down his muscled and scarred back. The wounds were deep, some very old. Surely the X-men hadn't caused any of these. Pietro was shaking, and still very cold. What if he has hypothermia? Kitty asked herself. It depended upon how long he had been in the shower. "Pietro? Can you hear me?" She asked, her fingers gently caressing his back. "mmmm." He replied. "Can you walk?" "No." "Who am I?" "Not sure." At least he could talk. That was always a good sign. "It's Kitty." She felt his body stiffen on top of hers. "It's okay.. Easy." "What are you doing here?" "I came in on some sort of dare. Basketball practice was cancelled." "I know." "What are you doing in here?" He turned his face away from hers. "That's not really any of your business Pryde." He replied, trying to keep his voice from breaking. "If I hadn't found you you would have died!" Kitty snarled, taken aback by his sudden cruelty. What had she expected? He was Pietro. "You should have let me." "What?" "Why didn't you just let me die?" he asked, unable to keep his voice steady. He was crying again. "Oh God, Pietro... Who did this to you?" "Why didn't you leave me there!?" He asked harshly. "Is it so hard for you to believe that someone might actually care whether you live or die?" "Yes." "Well I.... I care." He said nothing. Realizing that her fingers were still roaming his back she asked "does it still hurt?" "Yes." "Is there anything I can do?" "No." "Why do you cut yourself?" "Again, none of your business." "Pietro please... I just want to help you. It...." "It what?" "Nevermind. Listen. I just.. I care, okay? So please, tell me what's wrong with you and maybe I can help you fix it." "Nobody can fix it. He'll never go away." "He?" "Nothing." "Pietro..." "What makes you think that I'll just spill out all my problems for you Pryde?" "This." Kitty replied, taking hold of his wrists and squeezing. "Arrrgghhhh.." He growled, trying to wrench his maimed wrists away. He couldn't. He wasn't strong enough. "Jesus Kitty. Please.." He begged. "Stop it please.." Kitty felt guilty but held on. "Not until you start giving me some answers Pietro." She tightened her grip. Seeing no other way to make her let go Pietro bit her deep on the neck. Determined not to back down, Kitty held on, despite the white hot pain. Pietro hit blood and Kitty let go, whimpering. She couldn't reach her neck because her hands were pinned to her sides by his body. Sensing her pain, Pietro eased his teeth out of her neck. A wet tear hit him in the face. It was hers. "Kitty..." He whispered. She didn't answer. Then he did something that Kitty would never have expected. "I'm sorry." He whispered, and then gently kissed her where he had bitten her. Just then she heard the door slam multiple times. A group of people had just left or a new group of people had just come in. Pietro heard it too. He shifted his weight and she rolled out from under him. With all the patience she could muster, Kitty opened the bin door little by little. The coast was clear. Kitty let herself out and stood up on weak legs. The dim light hurt her eyes in contrast to the complete darkness she had just been in. Pietro emerged shortly after, but just barely.
He staggered and Kitty caught him before he hit the ground. His pale skin had gained back some of it's original color and he wasn't bleeding anymore, that was a good sign. "Come on, I'm going to get you out of here." She hoisted his body upward and helped him walk with an arm over her shoulder. "Can't you just phase us out the back wall?" He asked groggily. "No, I've been having a problem with that lately, but don't act like you didn't know." Seeing his surprised expression she added "Evan told me about your little conversation the other day. Which one is yours?" She asked, looking at the row of basketball lockers. He pulled away from her and entered a random combination into the second nearest one. Pietro took out a wife beater and tried to slip it on, but found he couldn't because of the bloody mess on his back. "Here." Kitty said softly, pulling the shirt down over his back. Her touch made him shudder. As he was buttoning up his jeans he asked "you're not going to tell anyone about this, are you Pryde?" More of a demand then a question. "Of course I am!" She replied indignantly. "You think I'm just going to forget about this? Plus, you need to go get help and you're not going to get it from a hospital, not when they figure out what you are!" Pietro turned, too fast for Kitty to stop him, and pinned her back up to the row of lockers. Her face was level to his, her feet off the floor seeing as she was considerably shorter than him. "You're not going to tell anybody about this. Got it Pryde?" He growled. "This is serious Pietro! You have a problem!" "No shit Kitty! I can deal with it myself!" "Obviously you can't! Why can't you let anybody help you?" "Promise me you'll keep your mouth shut." He snarled, deliberately avoiding the question and pushing against Kitty harder in the process. "Pietro.. You're hurting me, I can't-" She cried, trying to breathe in air, but the compression on her chest was too great. "Promise me." Kitty bit her lip and tears rolled down her face. "Pietro.." "PROMISE ME!" He yelled, not letting go. Kitty passed out. "Fuck..." Pietro sighed, backing off a step, catching her unconscious body in his hands. He could still feel her nreathing, and her pulse was steady. He had forgotten how delicate she was. Pietro grabbed his watch from his open locker and checked the time. It was after five. He pulled out a black sweater originally for himself, but then remembered that it was cold outside. He sat on the bench and leaned Kitty forward against his chest while he put the hooded sweatshirt on her. "You sure are stubborn..." He murmured to himself. He grabbed her bag where she had dropped it and rifled through until he found her phone. Scrolling down to Scott's number he hit send and thought about what he would say. Not enough time. Scott picked up on the first ring. "Kitty?" He asked anxiously. "Err.. No. It's Pietro." "What are you doing with her phone, Maximoff?" "Listen, Kitty's passed out and she needs a ride home. You up for it?" "What did you do to her?!" "She's fine! Just come and get her, will ya? She'll be in front of the gym." Pietro snapped the phone shut. God, Scott was anal.
Kitty walked cautiosly into the gym towards the group og giggling blonde cheerleaders. "Um....Hi." Kitty said gingerly. Who knew what would happen if she upset them, they would probably leap on her and attack her with sets of perfectly manicured nails. "Why hello Kitty!" The one that seemed to be the leader said. "Your iniciation-should you choose to accept it- is to stay in the boy's locker room for..... Five whole minutes!" Kitty smiled inwardly. This was going to be easy. She had already heard from Evan that boy's basketball practice had been cancelled today. The locker room would be empty and she would come out five minutes later looking bewildered. "I'll do it." Kitty replied. "The boys are probably all in there right about now.." The leader said while looking at her watch which Kitty noticed was digital. "Bye gals!" Kitty chirped in a mockingly sweet tone and headed right into the boys locker room. "We'll come for you if you don't come out in five!" One of them yelled after her.
Kitty held her breath as she entered. It was dimly lit and she could swear that the smell of old sweat socks would permeate her clothing if she stayed too long. When she could hold her breath no longer she was forced to inhale. Something else was there- the overpowering smell of something familiar. She also noticed that a shower had been left on. She walked over to the shower area slowly, half expecting to see someone naked gawking at her in surprise. She didn't, but she recognized the smell. It was blood. Kitty's pulse quickened. Was this part of a joke? She forced herself to look down in the shower stall and what she saw nearly gave her a heart attack.
Crouched low with his marred back exposed was an unmoving figure. It was Pietro. At first she thought he was naked but with relief she spotted black boxers. "Pietro?" She asked shakily. He didn't move. She held out her hand to him but pulled it back quickly. The water was icy cold. She turned it off and knelt on the cold tiled floor in front of him. The bandages on his wrists were open and he was bleeding. He wasn't holding anything sharp, so how he opened teh wounds was unexplained until Kitty saw the long deep scratches running up and down his arms. He had torn them open himself. His back was a similar mess of deep wounds, but it was impossible that he had done that to himself. "Oh God Pietro..." She whispered. She once again put out her hand and this time she touched hs face. His body was colder than the water had been. "What happened to you?" She whispered, lifting his face to hers. To her surprise, he wasn't unconscious. Who knew how long he'd been there. His deep blue eyes were open and a tear slid out of one at the precise moment she looked at him. "Pietro..." She breathed. He seemed unable to speak.
"Kitty! We're coming iiiin!" The blondes screamed. "Oh no..." kitty said aloud. She couldn't let them find Pietro like this. She couldn't let them find Pietro with her like this. It would be all over school in a matter of minutes. She hurriedly locked her arms beneath his and tried to pick him up. She couldn't. So she dragged him to a nearby sports bin. Opening the door as quietly as she could she got inside and pulled him in with her. Closing the door just in time, she heard the girls stampede into the shower area. It was pitch black in the sports bin and she could smell the old rubber of the balls she was siiting on. Pietro's head was resting on her chest, and she could feel him breathing. He was scared. He didn't even seem to know who she was. "Pietro." She whispered. "It's me... Kitty." She grasped his hand, weak from the self inflicted wounds. He gasped in pain. "Shh.. It's okay." She said soothingly, running her other hand through his wet ruffled hair. She moved him up so that his head was resting on her shoulder. His lean muscled stomach pushed against her soft one and she began to feel self conscious. "I'm going to get you out of here, and we'll find out who did this to you, okay?" He jerked away from her-or tried to. Suddenly aware of the small space they were in Pietro began to hyperventilate. The girls were still in the locker room and even though they'd given up trying to find her they were rifling through the lockers to find useful information. Kitty knew that they would hear him. Kitty wrapped her legs around his in a vain attempt to stop him from thrashing and tightend her grip across his back, unknowingly sending blinding bolts of pain through his nerve system. He buried his head deep into her shoulder to try and make the pain go away. Kitty lessened her grip and he calmed down. He was emotionally and physically exhausted.
Whoever this was, he decided, it wasn't his attacker. This person was more gentle. Or tried to be more gentle. It was a nice change from the ice cold shower. He became aware of the fact that he was freezing. Whatever it was that was holding him was warm, and in his current state- he couldn't get up and leave.
Kitty ran her fingers down his muscled and scarred back. The wounds were deep, some very old. Surely the X-men hadn't caused any of these. Pietro was shaking, and still very cold. What if he has hypothermia? Kitty asked herself. It depended upon how long he had been in the shower. "Pietro? Can you hear me?" She asked, her fingers gently caressing his back. "mmmm." He replied. "Can you walk?" "No." "Who am I?" "Not sure." At least he could talk. That was always a good sign. "It's Kitty." She felt his body stiffen on top of hers. "It's okay.. Easy." "What are you doing here?" "I came in on some sort of dare. Basketball practice was cancelled." "I know." "What are you doing in here?" He turned his face away from hers. "That's not really any of your business Pryde." He replied, trying to keep his voice from breaking. "If I hadn't found you you would have died!" Kitty snarled, taken aback by his sudden cruelty. What had she expected? He was Pietro. "You should have let me." "What?" "Why didn't you just let me die?" he asked, unable to keep his voice steady. He was crying again. "Oh God, Pietro... Who did this to you?" "Why didn't you leave me there!?" He asked harshly. "Is it so hard for you to believe that someone might actually care whether you live or die?" "Yes." "Well I.... I care." He said nothing. Realizing that her fingers were still roaming his back she asked "does it still hurt?" "Yes." "Is there anything I can do?" "No." "Why do you cut yourself?" "Again, none of your business." "Pietro please... I just want to help you. It...." "It what?" "Nevermind. Listen. I just.. I care, okay? So please, tell me what's wrong with you and maybe I can help you fix it." "Nobody can fix it. He'll never go away." "He?" "Nothing." "Pietro..." "What makes you think that I'll just spill out all my problems for you Pryde?" "This." Kitty replied, taking hold of his wrists and squeezing. "Arrrgghhhh.." He growled, trying to wrench his maimed wrists away. He couldn't. He wasn't strong enough. "Jesus Kitty. Please.." He begged. "Stop it please.." Kitty felt guilty but held on. "Not until you start giving me some answers Pietro." She tightened her grip. Seeing no other way to make her let go Pietro bit her deep on the neck. Determined not to back down, Kitty held on, despite the white hot pain. Pietro hit blood and Kitty let go, whimpering. She couldn't reach her neck because her hands were pinned to her sides by his body. Sensing her pain, Pietro eased his teeth out of her neck. A wet tear hit him in the face. It was hers. "Kitty..." He whispered. She didn't answer. Then he did something that Kitty would never have expected. "I'm sorry." He whispered, and then gently kissed her where he had bitten her. Just then she heard the door slam multiple times. A group of people had just left or a new group of people had just come in. Pietro heard it too. He shifted his weight and she rolled out from under him. With all the patience she could muster, Kitty opened the bin door little by little. The coast was clear. Kitty let herself out and stood up on weak legs. The dim light hurt her eyes in contrast to the complete darkness she had just been in. Pietro emerged shortly after, but just barely.
He staggered and Kitty caught him before he hit the ground. His pale skin had gained back some of it's original color and he wasn't bleeding anymore, that was a good sign. "Come on, I'm going to get you out of here." She hoisted his body upward and helped him walk with an arm over her shoulder. "Can't you just phase us out the back wall?" He asked groggily. "No, I've been having a problem with that lately, but don't act like you didn't know." Seeing his surprised expression she added "Evan told me about your little conversation the other day. Which one is yours?" She asked, looking at the row of basketball lockers. He pulled away from her and entered a random combination into the second nearest one. Pietro took out a wife beater and tried to slip it on, but found he couldn't because of the bloody mess on his back. "Here." Kitty said softly, pulling the shirt down over his back. Her touch made him shudder. As he was buttoning up his jeans he asked "you're not going to tell anyone about this, are you Pryde?" More of a demand then a question. "Of course I am!" She replied indignantly. "You think I'm just going to forget about this? Plus, you need to go get help and you're not going to get it from a hospital, not when they figure out what you are!" Pietro turned, too fast for Kitty to stop him, and pinned her back up to the row of lockers. Her face was level to his, her feet off the floor seeing as she was considerably shorter than him. "You're not going to tell anybody about this. Got it Pryde?" He growled. "This is serious Pietro! You have a problem!" "No shit Kitty! I can deal with it myself!" "Obviously you can't! Why can't you let anybody help you?" "Promise me you'll keep your mouth shut." He snarled, deliberately avoiding the question and pushing against Kitty harder in the process. "Pietro.. You're hurting me, I can't-" She cried, trying to breathe in air, but the compression on her chest was too great. "Promise me." Kitty bit her lip and tears rolled down her face. "Pietro.." "PROMISE ME!" He yelled, not letting go. Kitty passed out. "Fuck..." Pietro sighed, backing off a step, catching her unconscious body in his hands. He could still feel her nreathing, and her pulse was steady. He had forgotten how delicate she was. Pietro grabbed his watch from his open locker and checked the time. It was after five. He pulled out a black sweater originally for himself, but then remembered that it was cold outside. He sat on the bench and leaned Kitty forward against his chest while he put the hooded sweatshirt on her. "You sure are stubborn..." He murmured to himself. He grabbed her bag where she had dropped it and rifled through until he found her phone. Scrolling down to Scott's number he hit send and thought about what he would say. Not enough time. Scott picked up on the first ring. "Kitty?" He asked anxiously. "Err.. No. It's Pietro." "What are you doing with her phone, Maximoff?" "Listen, Kitty's passed out and she needs a ride home. You up for it?" "What did you do to her?!" "She's fine! Just come and get her, will ya? She'll be in front of the gym." Pietro snapped the phone shut. God, Scott was anal.