Thanx to DemonRogue13 and Spork Or Foon for reviewing! Hope ya enjoy the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I can't put up a disclaimer today. Pyro torched it, then ran off laughing.
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Pietro couldn't sleep.
He'd spent the whole night worrying about Rogue – he couldn't help it. At the time, it had seemed like a great plan, but after witnessing the explosions at the Xavier Institute he had changed his mind. He was cursing his stupidity and recklessness, there were far too many things that could go wrong and Wanda's reassurances that she'd been careful and no one had been hurt hadn't eased his mind. He'd finally dozed off as the room began to get light and was just going into a deeper sleep, when …
WHAP! Something hit his window.
Pietro stumbled out of bed and over to the window, looking out blearily. The noise had been Rogue, throwing a stone at his window. Pietro realised belatedly that he was wearing nothing at all, as he usually slept starkers, and his hair was a mess.
"Be right there!" he yelled, as loudly as he dared, grateful for the wall hiding his nudity. He dressed, washed and brushed his hair at super speed and was at Rogues side less than twenty seconds after she had attracted his attention.
Rogue raised an eyebrow. "You took you're time, Speedy!"
"AreyouOK?" he asked anxiously. "Areyouhurt? Youwere!" He noticed the black eye that Rogue had. "I'm gonna strangle Wanda!"
"Pietro, relax!" Ah'm fine!"
"Are you sure? McCoy's memories aren't screwing with you're mind?"
"Ah'm fine." Rogue tried not to smile. A worried and hyper Pietro was, in her opinion, extremely cute. "And – ah'm glad ah've got those memories."
Pietro took a deep breath. "You mean…?"
Rogue nodded, unable to keep her smile in any more. "It worked! Ah got the memories of the serum! Ah can make it!"
"WHOOO – HOOO!" Pietro yelled triumphantly, grabbing Rogue around the waist and spinning her around as she laughed ecstatically. He was so excited, he forgot all caution and without thinking, kissed Rogues lips. She was too startled to pull away, which was a problem for all of three seconds as Pietro keeled over at her feet.
"Shit Speedy, you're so dumb!" Rogue told his unconscious form, touching her lips with her fingers. Memories – Pietros memories – flooded her mind. Seeing herself through his eyes. She was stunned – a part of her had suspected that Pietros attraction to her had been at best a distraction and at worst a mean trick on behalf of Mystique and the Brotherhood. It wasn't. Pietro was –
"- Crazy about me," she said to herself smugly, before using the Beasts residual power to pick up Pietro and Pietros own abilities to run into the Brotherhood house and up the stairs into Pietros room without being discovered. Slamming the door, she laid him on the narrow bed and smiled. Once, she would never have believed that a Casanova like Pietro would stick to one girl, certainly not her – but now she had the proof. He was only interested in her.
Opening his eyes, Pietro groaned, "Was I out for long?"
"Coupla minutes. Wow Speedy, ah knew you were dumb, but honestly!"
"It was worth it!" said Pietro, sitting up and grinning at her. Then his face fell. "I'm sorry. I know you didn't want to absorb anyone else and thanks to me, two people in 24 hours!"
The fear of being possessed had never even occurred to her. "It's cool Pietro," she said honestly. "But what say we make this serum, so next time you don't pass out?"
"Next time?" Pietro punched the air. "All RIGHT!" He was at her side in a fraction of a second. "What do we need?"
Rogue gave Pietro a list and he wrote it down, frowning. "This might give me a while. Give me ten minutes." With that, Pietro was gone.
While she waited, she sat on Pietros bed and went through McCoy's memories again. Through experience she had learned tat after a while, memories could become cloudy and vague, something she couldn't afford to happen. Just in case she forgot anything, she'd written down everything she knew about the serum and its possible ramifications and modifications, no matter how minor they seemed to her. Pietro would have to keep them – the last thing she needed was Kitty finding the formula if she decided to borrow a hairbrush.
Although she was trying to keep her mind off the subject, Rogue was also worried about what would happen if the serum didn't affect her powers. McCoy's work was based on samples of his own DNA and in spite of her modifications with McCoy's knowledge; there was always a chance that her serum wouldn't work. If the serum didn't work, she lost nothing except hope. Maybe not even that. There was always work that could be done on the serum, by her or McCoy … and to lead a normal life, she'd use her powers on Beast in a heartbeat.
"Hey Pietro, you in there?"
Blob!
Rogue froze for a second as she heard he knocks at the door. Then she slid off the bed and hid beneath it, the overhanging quilt giving her some protection. She was fast, faster than she would usually have done thanks to the residual traces of Pietros mutation, but not fast enough to believe that she could escape without the Brotherhood noticing her.
"Told her he wasn't here, yo," she heard Todd say. "Heard him go out a few minutes ago."
Piss off! Rogue grimaced as she realised that, in spite of Pietros mutant powers and all the bizarre experiences he'd been through, he was still a teenage boy with no one to pick up after him. She was sharing her cramped space with discarded food wrappers, torn magazines, an inside-out pair of jeans, what looked like a half-finished glass of cola with plant life flourishing from the rim, and a lot of dust. Her eyes and nose itched madly and she hoped that she wouldn't sneeze.
"Well, hurry up then! Who knows when he'll be back!" she heard Lance say, followed by the creak of hinges s the door opened.
No! Don't come in!
Rogue tried to breathe as quietly as she could, no easy task through the dust. From her hiding place, she could see three sets of feet entering the room and cursed to herself. Where are you, Pietro?
"So, uh, what're we looking for?" Blobs voice.
"If I knew that, I'd know where to look!" Lance went to look in the drawers away from the bed, to Rogues relief. "See if there's any clue to why he's actin so weird lately."
"Do y'think it's something to do with Magneto?" Blob hadn't moved, but Rogue wasn't comforted. He was strong enough to lift the bed with one hand and if he did, she was finished.
"I don't know Fred." Lance sounded irritated and Rogue heard him slam a drawer closed. "I don't know why he wouldn't tell us if it was. We all work for Magneto now, not Mystique."
Shit! Rogues eyes widened in horror. If the Brotherhood found her, they'd be bound to tell Magneto or one of the Acolytes. The Professor might be disapproving and Logan might shout, but if Magneto knew, he could do anything.
Adding to Rogues alarm, she saw Toads feet pass by the bed maybe two inches from her shoulder and out of her line of sight. She moved her head as far around as she could without changing position and saw the closet door open. She realised that if there was anything dumped in the bottom that Toad felt the urge to root through, he'd see her if his attention went to the bed. Between him and Blob, she figured she had about two minutes until her discovery, if she was lucky.
"What a clothes hog!" commented Toad, sounded affronted. "Well, I'm borrowing this."
Rogue held her breath as she saw Todd's hand reach into view to pick something up from the base of the closet.
"What the Hell do you think you're doing in my room?"
"Pietro!" yelped Toad and Rogue began breathing again as the hand near her ankle quickly withdrew. "We, uh …I, uh …it was all Lances idea!"
"Care to explain, Lance?"
"We wanna know what's goin on with you!" Lance sounded defensive and Rogue rolled her eyes. She'd been with the Brotherhood only a short while before joining the X-Men, but she'd heard Pietro and Lance arguing often enough to recognise the beginnings of one.
"Yeah," said Fred. "Have you heard from Magneto or something?"
"And what's all that stuff, yo?" asked Toad.
"That 'stuff' is none of your business!" snapped Pietro. Rogue felt the draft as he ran past the bed and she hoped the blanket didn't fall. Fortunately for her, it didn't. She heard a yell from Toad as he was shoved away from the closet, then the sound of something being dumped inside and the door slammed closed. She saw Toads feet tangle as he stumbled towards the door and then he landed on his ass.
Shit Pietro, be more careful!
Lance spoke again, sounding menacing. "I want some answers Pietro." On cue, the room started to shake and Rogue shot a nervous glance at the blanket that was keeping her from view.
"You wanna mess with me, Avalanche? Remember, Magneto left me in charge!"
"Yeah, I remember you had such fearless leadership you had to hide in the closet from your sister!"
"Hey you guys, calm down!" Blob sounded nervous. No one who hadn't lived with the Brotherhood would ever have believed it, but Rogue remembered that Fred had always been the peacemaker of the house. When he lost his temper, he was frightening and against the X-Men he was right in the middle if the fight, but with his psuedo-family, he hated to see an argument.
There were a few moments of silence and Rogue knew that Pietro and Lance were staring each other down. In the past, it was usually Lance who stormed out first – not because he was intimidated by Quicksilver, but because he realised that a physical fight could only harm the already fragile peace in the house and that Pietros ego would never let him back down. A few hours later, the pair would be good-naturedly bickering about what to watch on the TV. It had always been that way and she was as surprised as anyone when Pietro sighed wearily.
"The stuff's from the school. I ripped of the chemistry lab. I haven't spoken to Magneto in weeks and the last time I did, I told you. What's going on with me is nothing to do with Magneto, or the Acolytes, or the Brotherhood either. Now get the fuck outta my room."
Rogue couldn't have been more surprised if Pietro had announced he was joining the X-Men. She risked poking her head further out from under the bed. Lance, Todd and Fred were looking at Pietro like he'd just grown an extra head.
Lance was the first to regain his speech. "And we're supposed to just trust you? Not so long ago you let all of us – including your sister – walk into a trap!"
"I don't care if you believe me or not." Pietro sounded angry again. "But would any of you have told him to screw off if he'd put you in that position?"
A long, uncomfortable silence.
"Didn't think so." Pietro began to usher the other boys towards the door and Rogue pulled her head back under the bed quickly. "Would you guys get the hell outta here?"
Rogue gave silent thanks as she heard them leave the room. With her ear against the floor, she heard Fred's heavy footsteps heading straight for the kitchen, Lance playing some power chords on his guitar, Todd's voice shouting "cuddle bumps!" a small explosion, a muffled scream. Everything was back to normal.
Pietro leapt onto the bed and Rogue saw his face appear, upside-down. "Gonna stay there all day?"
Crawling out from under the bed, Rogue examined her clothes ruefully. "Ah think ah caught typhoid under there."
"Scared of being caught by the others?" teased Pietro.
"Ah don't know if ah was more worried about bein busted by the Brotherhood or bein eaten by the triffid under the bed!"
"Hey, you didn't get caught, my pet mould didn't eat you and I got everything on the list. Sounds like a good day to me!"
"Ya got everythin? Did you really rip off the school?"
"Yeah." He noticed her disapproving expression. "Look, if it bothers your X-Man morals so much, I can put it back when you're done."
"Don't bother, ah'll need it again," replied Rogue quickly. "Besides, most of this stuff isn't the type of thing you'd usually find lyin round a high school lab. Mr McCoy probably used the facilities and left this stuff there himself."
Pietro laughed. "It's not like stealing if it wasn't the schools in the first place. I like your reasoning!"
"Are you gonna help me or laugh at me?"
"Sorry." Pietro opened the closet and extracted the bag with all the things they needed inside. "Let's see if we can make this stuff!"
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"What's gotten into him?" Lance scowled at the TV as if it was responsible for his confusion.
"Yeah," grumbled Fred through a mouthful of pizza. "He hardly even argued!"
"If y'ask me, ole Quicksilver ran headfirst into a wall yo." Todd tapped the side of his own head to emphasise the point.
Wanda had been watching the three of them with ill concealed amusement since they'd been thrown out of Pietros room. Turning the page of her book, she commented, "I can't believe you guys haven't worked it out yet."
"I knew you'd know Sweetums!" Toad glanced at her adoringly and received an icy glare in return.
"So spill it Wanda," said Lance. "If you've got it all figured out, let us in on the secret."
"Nope." Wanda didn't look up from her book. "Like he said, it's none of your business."
Todd hopped over to her chair. "Tell me Snookums, tell me!"
Wanda cast a hex and Toad flew into a wall.
Lance watched this exchange with mild interest. He, Fred and Pietro had placed bets on how long the one-sided relationship would last, but Toad was nothing if not persistent and could probably keep it up forever. Ever since he'd swiped Nightcrawlers image inducer and stolen a kiss when Wanda thought he was some one else, Toad had become even more determined to win her over.
I'm here to join the X-Men.
The memory made Lance wince. He'd tried to be some one else for a girl too, and he hadn't done much better than Todd. He'd left the Brotherhood house to move into the mansion. The rest of the Brotherhood thought he'd lost his mind –
We heard the craziest rumour –
To think I used to look up to you!
We wanna know what's going on with you Pietro…
"OH SHIT!" Lance exclaimed, sitting up straight and smacking his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Is it THAT simple?"
"Whatcha talking about?" asked Fred, confused.
Lance turned his attention to Wanda. "All this time we thought Pietros weird behaviour was to do with Magneto or the X-Men or something. But it's not. It's a girl, isn't it?"
The smile that Wanda was unsuccessfully trying to suppress was answer enough and Lance felt instantly relieved. No secret plots or traps or attacks to worry about after all, he thought. Now I can get on with being really miserable about getting ditched.
Maybe a secret conspiracy would have been preferable.
"Nah, can't be a girl," announced Toad. "He woulda had to show off about it yo. And since when does any girl last this long with Pietro?"
"Yeah, he'd be round here showing off," said Fred. "So why isn't he?"
Lance shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe he's ashamed of her."
"Maybe he's ashamed of US," said Wanda sharply. "You three anyway."
"Maybe she's a skank," said Todd hopefully.
"Maybe she's an X-Man," laughed Fred.
Wanda was smirking in a way that made her look very like Pietro, noticed Lance. "You know who it is, doncha Wanda?"
"It's none of my business," replied Wanda. "Or yours."
"After what he put me through with Kitty?" Lance snorted. "I don't –"
Those X-freaks wouldn't want one of us dating one of them –
Interested? Who said I'm interested? I'm not interested!
"This is too good to be true," said Lance in happy disbelief. "Please tell me I'm not dreaming!"
"What're you talking about yo?" asked Todd.
Unable to keep the grin off his face, Lance exclaimed, "Pietro's got to be dating an X-Man!"
"Oh wow!" Toad started hopping in excitement. "For real? Yo, wait 'til Magneto finds out!"
"Are you crazy?" hissed Lance. "We don't want Magneto to find out! He'll kill him!"
"Oh no, our father won't mind," said Wanda. "He lets Pietro make his own decisions."
"Oh, uh…"
"…sure…"
"…course he does…"
"…uh, yeah, right…"
"No, we shouldn't tell Magneto," continued Lance after an awkward silence. "But it'd be payback for us to torment him over it."
"I dunno Lance," said Fred uncertainly. "Isn't that kinda mean?"
"Two words Blob; JEAN GREY."
Fred nodded, grinned, rubbed his hands. "Oh yeah. I'm gonna enjoy this!"
"I bet they're talking on the phone right now!" Todd looked up at the ceiling. "Oh man, I wish I were telepathic!"
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The completed serum was blue.
Pietro picked up the glass beaker and frowned. "That's it?"
"That's it." Rogue sounded a little doubtful herself.
"And you're sure it's not dangerous?"
"Sure ah'm sure."
"We ought to test it."
"We're gonna." Rogue took the serum from him. "On me."
"I think I'm changing my mind," said Pietro nervously. "What if it goes wrong?"
"It won't. All it can do is not work. Ah know pretty much where Mr McCoy went wrong."
"Pretty much? That's not reassuring Rogue!"
"Got any better ideas Speedy?"
"Yeah," replied Pietro. "I'll take it myself first!"
"On yourself!" Rogue yelled. "That's crazy! What if –"
"What if something goes wrong?" Pietro raised his eyebrows. "I thought you knew where McCoy screwed up?"
"Ah'm not totally sure…"
"So the serum could still be dangerous?"
"Look. We could argue about it all day, but ah gotta be back at the Institute at eight for Amaras birthday party, so can we stop arguing and test the damn serum?"
"Sure we can. Me first."
"No way."
They glared at each other for a few seconds until they were disturbed by a loud noise at the front door.
"What the…" Pietro sped to the window to see what it was, Rogue joined him a few seconds later and they both saw the man in a suit run down the path, followed by his briefcase and a cloud of leaflets.
"Just a salesman or something," said Pietro with relief. "And I don't suppose the Acolytes'd knock, although Pyro might burn the door down…" He trailed off as he noticed the empty beaker. "You drank it, didn't you?"
Rogue nodded, not looking happy.
"AreyouOK diditwork whydidn't youletme makesure itwassafe?"
"Pietro, ah…ah don't think it worked." Rogue kept her gaze on the floor. "Ah don't feel any different."
"Maybe it just takes some time to work – wait." Pietro lifted his hand to her face and tentatively stroked her cheek with his fingertips. He'd expected to feel the same draining sensation he'd had earlier that day when he'd kissed her and he was ready to pull away – but all he felt was soft skin beneath his touch.
Rogue looked into his face with amazement. "Oh mah God Pietro – did we do it?" She pulled her gloves off and put her hands on the back of his neck. "Oh wow, it worked – we can touch!"
Pietro wrapped his arms around her waist, letting on hand stray up to rest on the bare skin of her back. "So less talking, more touchin!" Then he moved in for a kiss and they forgot about everything but each other.
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AUTHOR NOTE: Can anyone help me? I need to know Pietros fave song for the next chapter and I really can't think of one … if you can, please put it on the review board!