A Lovers Feud

A Lovers Feud

By: Alex Destine

Chapter 10

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Pietro had been expecting Lance to be on his case over the whole 'Pietro-loves-Kitty' thing… but it turns out his weekend had been a very peaceful one so far. Too peaceful. Todd had tried to talk to him about it… Pietro had just smiled and nodded to everything the young freshman said. He couldn't believe Todd was so scared of him leaving the Brotherhood.

"I do like Kitty, but I'm not leaving you guys. Who else do you think would endure me so long?!" Pietro had joked about it with Todd. It did seem to relax the young mutant a bit.

Now however Pietro, Freddy and Todd were simply sitting down on the breakfast table looking almost dead. Lance was outside working on his car again so at least one of them had something half interesting to do.

Pietro looked over at Todd. The young mutant was turning the pages of some old magazine. He wasn't really reading anything, in fact Pietro wasn't sure if he was even looking at the pictures.

He then looked at Freddy. Now that was scary. The huge mutant looked like he was suffering a fate worse then death… Pietro understood his feelings all too well… all three of them were… BORED!

Pietro had to find something to do… ANYTHING! He suddenly remembered this cute little monologue he had heard a long time ago and decided to recite it…

"Worms…. I hate worms…. Worms drive me crazy!….. Craaaaaazy…. I was crazy once, and then they locked me up! And then I DIED! And then the worms came in……. Worms…. I hate worms….. Worms drive me crazy!…… Craaaaazy…… I was crazy once, and then they locked me up! And then I DIED! And then the worms came in……. Worms…. I hate worms…. Worms drive me crazy!….. Craaaaazy…. I was crazy once, and then they locked me up! And then I DIED! And then the worms came in……. Worms…. I hate…"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP!?!??!" Todd couldn't take it anymore… the young mutant looked ready to beat the white haired boy to death with his old magazine. Fred didn't really look annoyed… he was just starring at Pietro. Probably thinking about how craaaaazy Pietro really was…

"Well… find something for me to do and I wont continue saying that…" Pietro crossed his arms over his chest waiting to hear what Todd would come up with.

"We could watch TV?" Todd really didn't feel like doing that though.

"Nothing good on… try again."

"We could help Lance with his car?"

"And risk death at his hands?… you know nobody can touch that car but him." Not that Pietro hadn't tried… in fact, the young speed demon loved to try to steal Lance's car away… somehow though Lance always stopped him by saying he'd make a mess of Pietro's room if he did.

"Well… we could…. we could… do our homework?"

Freddy and Pietro just stared at their small friend for a while before bursting with laughter.

"That's a good one Todd!" Freddy was laughing very loud right now.

Lance decided to come back into the house at that moment. It had been a while since he'd seen those three laughing so hard. Well…. Pietro and Freddy were the only ones laughing… probably at Todd.

~~ Some things never change… ~~ Lance thought as he walked into the kitchen.

~~ Time to be a big brother again… ~~

"And why are you all laughing so much?" Lance asked as he looked inside the fridge.

"Todd wants us to do our homework…." Pietro was petting Todd's head as if he were a child. Lance could see Todd was about to scream.

"Well, you all look bored enough… why don't ya?"

"Because Lance boy…. I already did all my homework…" answered Pietro crossing his arms over his chest again.

"You did?!" asked both Todd and Fred.

"Duh!"

"Then why were you laughing about doing homework on a Saturday when you already had yours done?!" Todd was about to explode.

Pietro just snickered. "Cause you sounded so cuuuuuute saying that." Pietro was petting him like a child again.

Lance decided to change the subject.

"Ok… then later Pietro can help Freddy do his homework. Happy Pietro?"

"Not really…"

"What about me?" asked Todd as he went to look inside the fridge next to Lance.

"I'll help you Todd… but right now we need to find out what we're having for lunch." Lance noticed they had already ran out of all the microwave meals so their only option was to cook.

"Whose turn is it on the kitchen?" Lance asked looking over the three younger mutants.

Both Fred and Todd pointed to Pietro who for his part seemed oblivious to everything as he simply sat there with his arms crossed.

"I'm on strike!" said Pietro who was well aware he was being pointed at.

"Why?" Freddy was starting to get hungry and he wanted someone to cook something now.

"For the simple reason Freddy that I can. Besides, I don't want to cook! Lance, go buy us something!"

This last comment got Fred and Todd's attention. It had been a while since they had eaten out considering cafeteria food didn't count.

"Oh Lance, can we?!" Todd was already pulling Lance's arm off.

~~ Oh crap, there goes my paycheck… ~~ thought Lance as he grabbed his wallet.

"Fine! What do you guys want? …" He figured they could afford this, after all what was one eating out going to do?

"Burgers! I want burgers!" answered Todd after thinking about it for a while.

"Pizza! Buy pizza!" that was Freddy.

"We had pizza last time!" Todd was not eating that again.

"But that's what I want to eat!" Freddy was a fan.

"Sushi! Go buy us some sushi!"

Lance just stared at Pietro for a while.

~~ No… heaven forbid he wants a pizza or burgers… he wants sushi… ~~ thought Lance as he began to get tired of hearing Todd and Fred bickering.

"Alright! So we all agree!… We're eating friend chicken!" and with that Lance grabbed his car keys and Pietro and headed out the door.

Todd and Fred just sighed in defeat as they watched the two boys walk away.

"At least it's not pizza…" muttered Todd under his breath.

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"Are we there yet?"

"No…"

"Is it far?"

"No…"

"Why are we eating fried chicken?"

"No… oh, I'm sorry… what?" Lance smiled sheepishly at Pietro since the white haired boy didn't look too amused.

"Why fried chicken?" Pietro asked again as he played around with the radio.

"I'm getting some for me, then we make a quick stop for some pizza and burgers and we go home."

"Oh my! You're so benevolent Lance! That's why we love you!"

"Sip it! It's not happening again! … Next time we're ALL eating fried chicken!"

"What about my sushi?"

"You're eating pizza." Buying the sushi was just a little too off their route.

"Nah, I'm sick of pizza… I'll get some chicken."

"Ok…" Lance was quiet for a while, but he just couldn't help himself. "Pietro? … do you really like Pryde?"

"I KNEW IT!!!" Pietro was glaring daggers at Lance right now. "I knew this was the reason you brought me with you! You've been keeping yourself pretty quiet, haven't ya? But you just had to ask! Well… I'm not telling you anything!"

"Freddy says you really like her…"

"I don't know what you're talking about. And besides, Freddy is a compulsive liar!"

"Todd seems to think so too…"

"… Damn them! Traitors!… Fine! FINE! So what if I do?! What are you going to do about it?!" Pietro was all defensive. He was stuck inside a car all alone with Lance. The thought that the older boy might beat him to death was starting to scare him.

"Nothing… it's just that… well, I hope you realize things will get complicated…" Lance was trying to talk some sense into Pietro… unfortunately the young sophomore had never taken lightly to reason.

"Lance… all this time with me and you still haven't figured it out?… I love it when things are complicated." Pietro smiled at his older friend who simply kept driving.

"Mystique will kick your ass…"

"Not if she doesn't find out…"

"As if it's going to be a secret for long… Come on Pietro, we know, those X-geeks know… soon the whole school will too and Mystique will be out looking for your blood."

Pietro simply looked out the window… it wasn't as if he hadn't thought about Mystique finding out. In fact, he didn't want to imagine what she would do to him… which was the reason why he didn't even think about it.

"Let's just worry about that when it happens…. Hey… wasn't that the restaurant?…"

"Oh damn…."

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Todd was on the couch gazing at the television set while Freddy was looking over some more old magazines. There really wasn't anything good on at the moment, they were just completely bored while they waited for Lance and Pietro to arrive with their food. Suddenly Todd thought of something and he quickly turned over to discuss it with Fred.

"Hey Freddy… why did Lance take Pietro to buy the food?"

"Maybe he didn't feel like carrying all the food by himself?" Fred kept looking over the magazines.

"Yeah but… he could've taken you… oh my god Freddy, you don't suppose Lance is gonna kill Pietro now?" Todd still hadn't seen the two boys argue over the whole 'Pryde' incident… he was still waiting for the war to start.

"Not likely…" Fred wasn't so sure though. "Maybe he just wanted to talk to him."

"Yeah, guess you're right…. Oh great! We have a mouse in here. Quick Freddy, give me your shoe!"

"Why my shoe?" Fred asked a bit annoyed.

"Cause it's big enough… Quick Freddy before it gets away! Man, it's almost like it knew I'm gonna catch it!…."

Todd quickly grabbed Fred's shoe and jumped behind the unsuspecting mouse but just as he was about to kill it a voice was heard loud and clear across the house.

"Do that and you're DEAD Mr. Tolensky!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" cried both Todd and Fred as both boys jumped onto the couch.

The small mouse slowly started to get bigger until the boys realized it had been Mystique all along.

"GOD! YOU JUST DON'T DO THAT TO A PERSON YO!" Todd was near hysterics.

Fred for his part was in a coma.

"Fred?… Freddy?!….oh great, you killed Freddy."

"Snap out of it Mr. Dukes!" Mystique screamed at the huge mutant but he didn't move.

"He'll recover soon…" she paid no more attention to the shocked Freddy on the couch "Now, I came here to check on you boys and what do I find?… You boys have been keeping things from me… what's this about Alvers killing Maximoff?"

Todd looked nervous for a while… he wasn't going to rat on his friend, but it was hard to keep things from Mystique.

"Oh you know… Pietro is always doing something that makes us all want to kill him from time to time." Todd smiled innocently at his latest guardian and hoped she would not ask any other questions.

"And just where are Mr. Alvers and Mr. Maximoff now?"

"They went out to buy something to eat… but chances are they wont be back for a while…"

"And why is that Mr. Tolensky?"

"Cause Pietro can never decided on what to order…" Todd realized at that moment that they were going to starve to death.

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"I want…. No, not that….. I want….. eew! How dare they serve that?…. I want….."

"PIETRO! Choose something already!" Lance was getting a headache. It took all of his self control not to start shaking the restaurant down, that would only further his aching head.

"But I wanted sushi!…. If you had bought me sushi I wouldn't have to be making decisions now." Pietro was enjoying making Lance angry. He had come to the conclusion that it was indeed his sole mission on Earth to annoy Lance.

"Pietro… we still have to buy the burgers and pizza so can you please make up your mind already… Honestly, no wonder you and Pryde get along so well, you're both so hopeless…"

Pietro didn't like that last comment. He was not hopeless, and Kitty definitely wasn't either…

~~ Stupid Lance… oh, I'll show him! ~~

"Lance!" Pietro fakes surprise "Can it be that you don't want me to be with Kitty because somehow you…. You have feelings for her?!"

"What?!"

"You can tell me Lance boy… I won't make fun of you. I mean, I made fun of your apron at 'Little Washu's Candy Factory' but that was just too much."

"I do NOT have feelings for Pryde! That girl is just annoying and… and… and she's annoying and…."

Pietro turned back to the (by now) out of patience restaurant employee who was waiting to take their order.

"Yes, I'll have combo #1…. Oh, combo #2 looks good too…. Give me one of those…. And combos from 3 till 6. I also want 10 apple pies, 10 milkshakes, 10 extra large cokes and…" Pietro kept ordering as Lance kept talking to himself.

"…. And that is why Pietro I just do NOT have feelings for that annoying Kitty! You got that?!… Pietro?"

"Umm?"

"Were you listening to me?"

"Sure I was… and you were right. Anyway, I'm done here you can order whatever you want so we can go."

Lance took a moment to register the fact that Pietro had so easily admitted he was right. His headache was almost gone by now, all he had to do was order what he wanted so they could go home as soon as possible and then he could find some Tylenol.

Lance then turned to the employee and gave his order.

"I'll have a combo #2, that will all be to go." He took out his wallet getting ready to pay.

"Alright sir, that would be $83.56."

Lance didn't move…. He just stared at the employee as if he had grown two heads.

"What did you say?"

"That would be $83.56 sir…"

Lance looked around for Pietro, but the white haired demon was already out of the restaurant and safely locked inside the car making stupid faces and sticking out his tongue at Lance through the window.

Lance felt his headache getting just a bit more like a migraine.

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Todd was busy placing a wet cloth on top of Fred's forehead. The huge mutant had yet to wake up from the scare Mystique had put them through.

"Freddy… if you can hear me, blink!" that wasn't working.

"Ok… if you can hear me… move your hand." That wasn't working either.

"Fine… if you can hear me, breath." That one worked, not like it mattered much though.

Mystique hadn't left yet. She wanted to make sure 'Mr. Maximoff' was alright since she had noticed he had been acting rather strange lately.

~~ That was an understatement… ~~ thought Todd as he looked over Fred again.

"Mr. Tolensky… this place is a mess." Todd winced a little at this, he knew Mystique would make Lance responsible for the house and he just didn't want to get his friend into any trouble.

"Umm…. We were going to clean it up after we ate."

Mystique looked at her watch for the millionth time. Those two were sure late… Todd was beginning to imagine that Lance and Pietro really had started fighting and that something terrible had happened… somehow though, he knew that couldn't be. Lance was acting very tolerable about this whole "Pietro-loves-Kitty" situation.

Of course, Todd knew the only reason Lance seemed 'ok' with it was because he was sure Summers was doing his dirty work for him. Scott wouldn't let Kitty be with Pietro and Kitty would most likely agree with anything Scott said so in the end Kitty would be the one to break things up. Lance didn't have to lift a finger.

"When are they going to get here?" Mystique was loosing patience.

"Well… I'm not sure yo…. Soon I guess…" Todd crossed his fingers and prayed his friends got home soon. He couldn't be alone with Mystique for so long.

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"Don't you ever, EVER do that to me again!" Lance got into the car and angrily closed the door.

"So… what did you get me?!" Pietro was oblivious to his friend's anger and simply started to move things inside the bags.

"I should let you starve for the prank you just pulled!"

"What?! No milkshake?…" Pietro was looking over the bags as Lance was driving out of the parking lot.

"There was a huge line behind us and they were all ready to kill me!"

"Where are the apple pies?"

"I don't know why I bother taking you places with me!"

"You didn't buy the apple pies, did you?…"

"OF COURSE I DIDN'T BUY THE APPLE PIES!" Lance stopped over a red light. "I got you same as me, a combo #2 with a Sprite. Now be happy!"

"Oh thank you Lance that's just what I wanted!" Pietro smiled and gave Lance a quick hug.

"Shut up!"

After that they went to buy the burgers. That was an easy stop since they basically knew what Todd wanted and they didn't have to wait very long. However, the pizza was another story.

"How many boxes of pizza should we buy Freddy?" Pietro looked over the prices and the ingredients as Lance was counting how much money they had left.

"We're getting three large pizzas, no added ingredients."

Pietro just gave him the 'look'…. He wanted to see if it was only Kitty who had an effect with him and that 'look'.

"What!?… that's all we can afford!…. Stop looking at me like that!"

~~ Wow! Powerful weapon… ~~ thought Pietro as he sat down.

The pizzas were going to take a while, or so they were informed. Why they waited for the last possible moment to start making those pizzas was beyond him. It's not like people would be coming here looking for anything else.

Everything was going fine… a little boring, but fine… until two persons walked through the door. Lance and Pietro noticed those two persons… and they in turn noticed them.

"Daniels!…." Pietro was seeing red.

"No Rogue!… not now…" Lance was just asking for patience.

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Evan and Rogue had decided to get some pizza for lunch, that way they had an escape from the evil 'most-go-to-Danger-Room' Summers. Unfortunately they hadn't anticipated meeting half the Brotherhood there, specially the one member who had caused such a mess of their weekend.

"Why most I see him everywhere I go?!" Evan was not having a good day.

"Just ignore them Evan… they came to eat, so did we… so let's just do that." Rogue didn't want to start fighting those two now. She was hungry.

The two X-men sat down on one of the booths that had a window on its side. Evan kept glaring at Pietro and Pietro kept starring at Evan. Neither of them did much other then send mental death threats to each other for a while. Thankfully Evan broke eye contact when their waitress came to get their order.

"I have to kill him…. I have to Lance… I'll just go crazy if I don't kill Evan!" Pietro was looking around for some huge object to throw at the annoying X-men.

"Pietro…" Lance started to rub his head. "There is nothing I'd like more then killing an X-geek… but I'm just too tired and hungry to fight. Now, just ignore him since he hasn't done anything to you and lets go home."

"But he's looking at me Lance!… He's LOOKING at me!!!"

"Pietro, right now everyone is looking at you…."

Pietro grabbed a straw and started to chew on it to make his excitement go away.

~~ Good, he's busy chewing the straw. Now if only our order came out already we could leave and nothing would happen. ~~ Lance kept an eye out for the pizzas, but neglected to watch as Pietro was making a spitball.

"But he's looking at me Rogue!… He's LOOKING at me!!!"

"Evan, relax!… he can look at you, it's not a crime you know… just ignore him." Rogue just wanted to eat, she didn't want to fight, she was sick of that. All thanks to Scott and his addiction to the Danger Room.

"Fine… but if he looks at me funny again I'm gonna.. OUCH! Something bit me!!" Evan looked back to where Pietro was trying to hold back from snickering.

"It was HIM!" Evan thought he'd go mad.

"Evan, maybe it was a mosquito or something… how could he be responsible that something bit you?" Rogue just wanted a relaxing afternoon off, not to be babysitting Daniels.

"He's laughing… he caused this! He's fast enough to have done it!"

Rogue just sighed and wished their pizza would get here.

Pietro was having fun. He lock and loaded another spitball that also landed right where he wanted, therefore he got the desired effect of an 'ouch!' from Evan.

"Ha ha ha… sucker!" Pietro suddenly felt his straw being taken away from him. "HEY! Not fair! I was using that!"

"Stop it! I told you not to pick a fight today… I have a headache…" Lance threw the straw in the trashcan as Pietro continued to pout.

~~ Well,… if I can't have my fun long distance, guess I'm gonna have to go up close and personal… ~~ Pietro smiled to himself as he ran at his super speed and suddenly appeared sitting right next to Evan.

"What are you doing here?!" small spikes were beginning to emerge from Evan's shoulder.

"I thought you guys were lonely and needed me to keep you company." Said Pietro as he took a long drink from Evan's coke.

"We are fine Pietro, now go back to Lance before anything happens…" Rogue wanted him gone.

"Such as…?" was that the sound of a challenge coming on? Pietro would have found out if Lance hadn't butted in.

"Ok!… Pietro our pizzas are done, we're going home." Lance took one long look at Evan who seemed like he wanted to say something but Lance wouldn't have it. "Not one peep out of you Daniels!…Come on Pietro, we're leaving."

"But we were just getting to the good part!" Pietro winked at Rogue as she made a disgusted face.

"Yeah, the part where you're leaving…" Rogue couldn't wait for them to leave.

"Man… how could Kitty have fallen for someone like you is beyond me!… You did something to her, didn't you!" Evan was about ready to land some spikes through Pietro's head.

"What do you mean I did something to her?!… I did nothing wrong! You hear me Daniels!" Pietro was again seeing red.

"You have to be using her or blackmailing her or something… why else would she go out with you?"

Pietro was left in such a state of shock that for once in his life he didn't have a snappy comeback. He would never do anything to hurt Kitty, and here Daniels was implying he was practically forcing her to be his girlfriend… He wanted to do so many things to Evan he didn't know where to begin.

Lance however wasn't going to let this become a huge fight.

"I thought I told you not to make a peep Daniels! Pietro come on! We're going home." Lance was starting to drag the white haired boy away.

Rogue was watching Pietro closely. He looked… hurt.

~~ Maybe he's not playing with Kitty after all…. Maybe… maybe Scott is wrong about them being together… ~~ Since the moment they found out about those two Scott and Evan had been walking around the mansion all tensed up. At first Rogue thought they were right, for crying out load… it was Pietro Maximoff they were talking about here.

But now… now she wasn't sure.

A few things happened rather too quickly after that. Thinking back on it Rogue supposed she shouldn't have been amazed… after all, speed was Pietro's strong suit.

The white haired mutant cut himself loose of Lance's grasp and landed a punch right on Evan's face. Evan for his part wasn't expecting Pietro to attack like that so he fell back and landed on the table making it fall on the floor and making a huge mess of coke all over the place.

Lance was now holding Pietro back but Evan had gotten to his feet and would have been able to punch the sophomore without a problem if Rogue hadn't stepped in. Taking off one of her gloves she reached out to Evan and grabbed him by his arm. Immediately her mutation kicked in as Evan fell unconscious to the floor and Rogue's shirt suddenly had a few extra holes from where some small spikes where making their way.

The manager of the restaurant went over to where the small fight had started and the young mutants were kicked out rather ungracefully. Pietro had calmed down by now so Lance let him go and went over to carry the unconscious Evan out of the restaurant. Once outside the three mutants looked at each other.

"Why you do that?" Lance asked Rogue who simply shrugged in response.

Lance sighed, they had to get going back home. Chances were Freddy had become so hungry he could've eaten Todd.

"Do you have your car around here?" he asked looking around the parking lot.

"I can't drive yet Lance… Evan and I took the bus over here."

"Well… you can't very well take Daniels like this…" Lance sighed once more as he made his way to his car. "Well Come on… I'm taking you guys home."

"What?!" asked both Rogue and Pietro at the same time.

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Lance was driving toward the Institute with Rogue right beside him. Meanwhile Pietro was in the back with Evan's head on his lap. The stupid kid was still knocked out. Occasionally Pietro would start to slap Evan on the head but after a few times Rogue caught him.

"I told you to stop doing that Pietro! He's unconscious, not dead!"

"Of course he's not dead… I'm not that lucky!… Besides, he's not loosing any brain cells, he didn't have any to begin with!" Pietro stared out the window hoping they could go back home soon.

"Just stop hitting him, alright?" Rogue went back to look out the road when suddenly the sound of a few 'slaps' were heard.

"Now what did I just say?!" Rogue turned around and took off her glove showing Pietro her bare hand. He knew what she'd do if he got her angry.

"Oh! You meant now?… my bad…."

Lance just laughed a bit… but controlled himself when he caught Rogue starring at him.

"I can't believe you let him do that…" Rogue said in mock disbelief.

"He's not hurting Daniels you know… and the guy deserves it anyway…." That only got Lance some more starring from Rogue. "Ok, ok…. Pietro, stop doing that please…."

"Thank you." Was all Rogue said as she continued to look at the road.

"Man, tight leash they have you on, huh Lance boy?" Pietro snickered for a while but stopped when both Lance and Rogue turned around and shouted at him to shut up!

"Lance the road! The road!… WATCH THE ROAD!!"

Things were quiet for a while after that… but soon Pietro started to smack Evan again which in turn made Rogue start screaming at Pietro again and Lance just couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing hysterically.

Five minutes after that they had reached the Institute.

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Kitty was tired, in fact they all were. Scott had insisted on everyone practicing in the Danger Room today and since they all sensed he was still upset over the whole 'Pietro situation' they decided to humor him.

~~ Like, that was a bad idea. ~~ Kitty ached all over. Jean had gone up to her room to relax a bit, she didn't know where Kurt was at the moment and as for Rogue and Evan… those two had been lucky enough to escape the 'evil' Scott and go downtown to buy some pizza.

~~ Wish I were there with them now… ~~ She could definitely go for some pizza, however she decided she didn't want Evan's company at the moment. The young boy wasn't being mean or anything, he just still couldn't believe she was seeing Pietro.

~~ Like, how many times had he asked if I was serious?!… ~~

Kitty was now up in her room, she was thankful she had it all to herself now that Rogue was out. Explaining the whole 'Pietro situation' hadn't been as hard as she thought. The Professor said it was her choice and the rest of the gang was pretty understanding except for Evan and Scott.

While Evan kept himself in disbelief, Scott simply kept himself at a distance. He hardly talked to Kitty in fear probably that he would get angry with her.

Kurt was very understanding… but she expected that. It had been Rogue's quick acceptance that had surprised her. Her usual dark and lonely attitude had somehow been broken by that news and Kitty found herself talking to Rogue more and more.

Jean however, hadn't expressed herself yet. All she said was to be careful, because 'one never knew if Quicksilver was just playing with her', but even Kurt and Rogue had advised her the same way. Kitty could only guess Jean was more on Scott and Evan's side of the whole argument.

Now in her room she was looking over a few CDs that would relax her… no such thing in her room since Rogue had all her rock music everywhere. Perhaps a soothing walk on the garden was what she needed, after all she had been cooped up inside for too long.

The idea of a nice relaxing walk was soon shattered as she looked out the window and spotted an old car driving through the Institute's gates. Kitty knew that car… it didn't belong to the Professor that was for sure… but where had she seen it before? Suddenly the person driving came into view…

~~ Like… no way! ~~

Lance was coming out of the car followed by Rogue.

~~ Why is she with him? ~~

Soon Kitty saw Lance carrying a limp figure toward the door. She didn't like this at all. It was Evan… and for some reason he was unconscious. Kitty was starting to get a headache. The next thing she saw was the mischievous white haired boy running up next to Lance and slapping Evan on the head a few times. This made Rogue scream at him some more… heck, even Lance screamed at him to stay inside the car.

"Hey Kitty, what are you doing?"

The young freshman turned around quickly to come face to face with Scott.

"Like nothing. Just wanted to go walk in the garden. You want to come with me?"

~~ Like, tell me he hasn't seen this! Tell me hasn't seen this!!!! ~~

"Well, actually I did want to talk to you about something Kitty…. Who is that?" Scott was looking over her shoulder.

"No one!"

"Is that Rogue… but who dropped her off?"

"Like, you wanted to talk to me, right? Well… let's talk, ok?"

"… Alvers…." And with that Scott took off toward the entrance.

~~ Like… oh God! ~~ Kitty needed some Advil.

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"Stay in the car and don't touch anything!" Lance knew they weren't welcomed at the Institute, but he couldn't just leave Rogue with an unconscious Evan in the middle of nowhere.

Pietro sulked for a while. He wanted to go home and eat already, Freddy and Todd were probably going crazy by now. Why were they being so nice to these X-geeks anyway? Pietro then realized he had to start behaving toward them if he wanted to be with Kitty. Yet another of the many complications Lance had warned him about.

Rogue poked her head inside the car and looked at Pietro for a moment.

"Hey… you want to talk to Kitty for a while?" she asked a little uncertain.

"You know I do, but that just isn't very smart coming here with that unconscious idiot right now." Pietro pointed at Evan while he looked over Rogue. He leaned in a bit closer and whispered his next words.

"Hey… how did you guys take it anyway? … Kitty is not in trouble, is she?"

Rogue thought about it for a while. Pietro really did look concern… she thought that was rather cute.

"Nah… nothing that Scott won't get over after a few more battles in the Danger Room." Rogue smiled at the young sophomore and she saw his confused face as he softly whispered to himself the phrase 'Danger Room'.

Without anyone noticing Rogue took off her gloves and landed a soft touch on Pietro's hand. It wasn't enough to make him unconscious, just to send a small shiver through them both.

"Why did you do that?!" asked the white haired boy as he willed his body to stop shaking.

"Just had to find out something sugah… later" and then Rogue was gone.

"Hey you know… this kid is heavier then he looks." Lance had been momentarily forgotten while Rogue and Pietro had been busy talking.

~~ We have to get out of here, we have to get out of here… ~~ Lance knew it was just a matter of moments before one of those X-geeks found him holding an unconscious Evan in his arms. He knew it looked bad and that guy… Wolverine, was it? Would be coming over to slice him to little pieces. A fight with Scott Summers he could handle… an angry man with pointy knifes coming out of his knuckles… he could not.

"You know… chances are Todd has already killed Freddy in self defense…"

"I know, I know… you all have to go…" Rogue didn't know what to do. She couldn't let Lance inside the Institute but she didn't want to call on anyone to pick Evan up.

"Just… leave him over there and after you go I'll call for Logan to come pick him up."

Lance looked over at Pietro who just kept giving him signals for them to go, of course hearing that Wolverine would be coming shortly was also a good reason to just dump the kid and run for it.

"Ok, have it your way…" Lance placed Evan in front of the Institute's door and then turned to look at Rogue. "You know… it's funny… I was expecting to find Scott trying to kill me by now…"

"Now why would you think that?" Rogue felt like she had to defend her friend. "You know, Scott isn't out to fight with you all the time… he's pretty mature and knows when he should calmly ask 'what's going on?' before exploding at someone."

"ALVERS! WHAT DID YOU DO TO EVAN?!" Scott stood next to the unconscious boy as he yelled over to Lance.

Rogue was mentally kicking herself, Lance was simply not surprised to finally hear someone was out to kill him, Pietro kept muttering something about a half-crazed lunatic and looking out the window was Kitty Pryde swallowing three Advil's.

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"Day 24…. Our search for food proves fruitless… (no pun intended). Freddy has passed out from lack of proteins almost an hour ago… Lance and Pietro probably took off with the food and are now reaching the border over to Canada…. Nothing can stop them now!"

"TOLENSKY!… What are you doing?" Mystique had been asking the boy if he had been listening to her, the answer of course came when she had to ask him that over four times.

"Nothing!" answered the young mutant as he quickly closed the small notebook he had been writing his fake diary in. He figured if someday someone found them dead from starvation at least this way they'd know who to blame.

Todd was amazingly relieved when he saw a familiar car pull in on their driveway.

~~ FINALLY!… It took them long enough! ~~ Todd jumped away from Mystique for a while and reached his friends as quick as his hunger would allow.

"Hey yo! Mystique is in there… what took you guys so long anyway?! I'm starving! Oh, and Freddy passed out and he doesn't want to wake up."

Lance's eyes got wide as he looked at Todd for a while.

"He's alright yo! I checked…. I wouldn't be here talking about food if he was hurt alright… but really, what took you guys?" Todd was frantically looking for is burgers.

"Lance boy here had to play Good Samaritan to the X-geeks." Pietro was holding Todd's bag… and wouldn't let go.

"That's mine Pietro!… the X-geeks? Why were you guys with the X-geeks?… Hand it over already!"

"I don't want to talk about it… now, why is Mystique here?" Lance really needed those Tylenols.

"Give it back Pietro!… I don't know, she was concerned over her precious Mr. Maximoff… Give it yo! I'm hungry!" Todd kept jumping for the bag but Pietro kept running past him.

"Aw! Little Todd wants to eat now…. He has to catch his meal though. You can't catch me! You can't catch me! You can't …oooff!"

Lance managed to stop Pietro and dragged him toward the car again.

"Give Todd his food and get our bags, I'll carry the pizzas and not a word to Mystique about what just happened! Got that?!" Lance was taking all the food out of the car now and handing some of it to the other two boys.

"Oh Lance! You're no fun… fine, whatever… as if I'd tell her anything…"

As they walked inside the house Lance noticed how quiet it was. Of course, whenever Mystique visited it was always quiet, she couldn't stand the noise they made and she probably wanted to pretend they were usually this quiet even when she wasn't around.

Then he spotted the main reason the house was so dead… Freddy wasn't watching TV. Freddy always watched TV, that's what filled the house with the extra noise they needed whenever Pietro wasn't up to something.

"Where were you?" Mystique wasted no time in getting her answers.

"Out buying food." Lance went over to the kitchen and placed the pizza boxes on the table.

"And what took you so long?" Mystique knew Lance was hiding something from her, somehow parents and legal guardians always knew.

"Umm…" ~~ Well, we met up with two of the X-men and one of them ended up unconscious (not by us, by the way) and I felt responsible for them and I drove them to their home only to be attacked and seriously ticked off!…. No, I can't say that… ~~

"Well you see… Pietro couldn't decide on what to eat!" Lance was glad to get the attention away from him for a while. He walked over Freddy holding a slice of pizza.

"Freddy…. Oh Freddy…. Look what I've got…. Piiiiiiiiizza."

Mystique turned toward Pietro now.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, yeah… Lance was stingy and didn't want to buy me sushi."

~~ Stupid Lance!~~ thought Pietro as he glared at the older mutant trying to feed Freddy.

~~ Stupid Pietro! See if I ever buy you junk food! ~~ Lance managed to move his hand out in time as Freddy's mouth devoured the pizza he had been holding.

"MAN! You were hungry!"

Freddy just sat up and continued to eat his pizza as if he hadn't been unconscious at all. Food was always a type of cure-all for the big mutant.

"So, allow me to get this straight… You were gone this long because Pietro couldn't decide what to order?" Did these children think she had been born yesterday?!

"Yes. That's right!" answered a smiling, innocent looking Pietro.

Todd was happily eating his burgers away while rejoicing on the fact that he didn't have to pay attention to Mystique… well, not much anyway. Lance however kept looking around for something, anything that could make their legal guardian leave.

Todd turned around and watched as Pietro kept saying 'no' to all the questions Mystique gave him. 'Was he having some problems?' 'Did he sleep enough?' 'Was he on drugs or something?' Todd made a face at that question…

~~ The guy can be annoying during a sugar high but, really! ~~ Todd simply kept eating.

Suddenly Pietro did something that would forever give them all nightmares… Pietro hugged Mystique.

"What the hell?" Lance said as he watched stupefied from the couch.

Todd stopped eating while Freddy kept destroying the pizza… the huge mutant never really paid much attention anyway.

"Ok… I'm only going to say this once. Get off me." Mystique needed patience…

"But I love you!" Pietro had on one of his maniacal smiles, the type that make you wish you were anywhere else except right there.

"I… I have to go now!… I have some important papers to take care of. Let go of me Maximoff!"

"Ok!" Pietro let go of his dear Principal and all the Brotherhood watched as Mystique made her way to her car while muttering something about crazy kids on a sugar high.

"That was scary" Todd didn't know if he should laugh at the face Mystique made or cringe at the face Lance made.

"That was beyond scary… Pietro, what's wrong with you?!" Lance was slowly coming out of his stupefied state.

"What?! I thought you wanted her gone… this was the only way, I swear!" Pietro made a run for his chicken. Somehow a combo #2 just wasn't going to cut it.

"Hey Lance, are you going to eat that?" Pietro pointed at Lance's (until now) forgotten food.

"Hands off Pietro, that's mine!" Lance jumped to protect his food.

Todd went back to eating again. He had learned a long time ago not to be too distracted with anything that happened inside the Brotherhood's home, especially if food was involved.

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End chapter 10