Disclaimer: Own them? What do you mean, do I own them? Of course I do! What makes you ask that? They don't belong to Marvel or WB or anybody else but me.

Right. I'm sure you bought that. Nope, still don't own them. The day I do though…you'll know.

A/N: I'm a horrible person who should be shot or something. Yes, I know. I'm so sorry for not having updated in almost a year I'm sure. I only hope that people are still interested in the story and will still read and review. On the bright side, I've made a vow to start updating more regularly because I'm starting to make time to write, instead of just writing whenever. It helps that my schedule is made up of all morning classes. Anyway, here's hoping you guys enjoy the chapter because I've already started on the next one. Read, enjoy, and please review!

Snoozeville. That's what Pietro was thinking as he listened to his math teacher try and teach them all about exponents and integers. He really didn't care about all that. After all, he'd looked through the entire textbook quite a few times already. He knew the answers, knew how to get the answers, so why should he pay attention? There was no point.

He let out a sigh and gave the teacher an innocent look when he turned and looked in Pietro's direction. He smirked a bit as the teacher returned to his oh so boring lecture on numbers and rolled his eyes. Really, what was the teacher thinking? Imagine, expecting him to pay attention when he'd already learned all this.

"Boring, boring, boring…" he muttered. He held in another sigh. His only consolation was that class would be over soon.

But not soon enough. To him, the few minutes until the bell rang seemed to take forever. The minute that the bell rang, Pietro jumped out of his seat and made a break for the door.

Lance raised an eyebrow, as Pietro literally breezed past him in the hallway as he dashed for the doors that would lead outside. Some things just never changed. Pietro would probably always do that. And the day he didn't, something was seriously wrong.

Suddenly he heard a shout and he turned to see Pietro trying to look innocent while Evan glared at him. Lance smirked and shook his head. There was nothing new about that either. He stifled a laugh as he turned, only to find Todd and Fred standing there.

"Hey man, what are you laughing at, yo?" Todd asked. Lance paused, debating on whether or not to tell them. Finally, he decided, why not?

"Pietro getting Evan again." He said, a bit casually. Fred's eyebrows drew together.

"Why would you do that?" he asked, truly wondering. Lance let out a sigh as he looked at them. Okay, so maybe just keeping it simple was the way to go.

"Because it was funny."

"Still, man, I thought we were mad at him." Todd said. His gaze went passed Lance and over to where Pietro was laughing while Evan picked up his books and began putting them back in his locker. The look in Pietro's eyes said he definitely had something else up his sleeve. He could just picture what had probably happened and he thought that it was pretty funny too but that didn't mean he was going to show it.

But just now, he could admit, to himself at least, that he missed Pietro's antics. And Wanda's daily threats. Of course, he didn't really miss flying into walls when the threats turned into reality but still…

Lance sighed a bit. He should've known that it wouldn't be that easy.

"Look guys, it doesn't matter if we're mad at him or not. Heck, it's not about whether or not we're mad at him. Because I can't force you guys to be mad at him or not. It's up to you how you feel about it. Me, personally? I kind of miss the annoying brat. And even if I was still mad at him that wouldn't change the fact that that was just funny." He gestured in Pietro's general direction before looking at Fred and then at Todd. "I'm not going to force you to do anything, but think about it, okay?" With that, he turned and began to head towards the jeep. They looked at each other before joining him.

On the way back to the boarding house, Todd began to think about what Lance had said. Lance had admitted to missing Pietro. And Todd knew he missed Pietro. He didn't think Fred would get mad if he said it. Hell, he was pretty sure that Fred missed Pietro too.

So maybe it was okay to admit it. Maybe it would be okay to even say hi or something to him now and then.

Todd's thoughts were interrupted as Lance pulled up to the house and he hopped out of the jeep. The group was silent as they made their way inside.

Todd waited until Lance had headed upstairs before he turned to Fred.

"Yo, Blob?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you…miss Pietro?" he asked. Fred was silent for a bit before he nodded.

"Yeah. I miss him."

Todd nodded, glad that he wasn't the only one. He dropped his bag onto the floor and then flopped back onto the couch.

"Me too."

"Want a lift?"

Rogue glanced over at Pietro who had appeared at her side with an entirely too smug look on his face.

"What did you do?" she asked, suspicion clear in her voice. Pietro widened his eyes a bit and gave her a look of complete innocence.

"Me? Nothing. Not one thing." He shook his head for emphasis. Rogue narrowed her eyes.

"Now I know you did something."

Pietro sighed and shook his head. Then he grinned and shrugged.

"Yeah. Let's just say Daniels is going to be running a little late today due to unexpected circumstances." There was laughter in his voice as he said it and Rogue couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face in response. She didn't even want to know. Pietro glanced over at her. "So?"

"So what?" she said. Pietro rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"So, do you want a lift?" he asked again. He was tempted to shake his head again. At this rate, he wouldn't have to give her a lift because they'd be at the Institute before Rogue answered.

Rogue paused. The last time he had given her a lift had ended with an almost kiss and weeks of avoidance followed by two actual kisses.

Could she risk it?

She glanced over at Pietro out of the corner of her eye and studied him and the way he looked over at her as he waited for her answer.

Why the hell not? she thought before she nodded.

"Sure."

Pietro grinned. "Then hang on." Before she could utter another word, he had scooped her up in his arms and was headed towards the Institute at a dead run. As they flew through the town, Rogue questioned her sanity, cursed Pietro, and came to a realization.

She was going to die.

Pietro let out a small laugh as he felt the way Rogue tensed in his arms. It wasn't anything new. She'd done this the last time too. And wasn't that funny because he was planning on doing something that he'd done last time too.

He came to a screeching halt at the bottom of the front steps and laughed outright when Rogue practically climbed out of his arms. She glared at him as she spun around to face him.

"Damn you, Pietro! You went faster than usual on purpose." She accused, crossing her arms over her chest. Pietro shrugged. It was true. "You could've gotten us killed, you know that? One wrong step and splat, there we'd be all over the sidewalk or the wall that you'd collide with."

Now Pietro looked a bit insulted, but that didn't stop her as she looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" she demanded. He said nothing, just raised an eyebrow at her. She let out a sound of frustration and threw up her hands before turning to head up the steps. Pietro grinned. He just loved getting Rogue all worked up.

"Rogue?"

"What?"

"Turn around."

"Why am I—" Rogue was cut off as Pietro touched his lips to hers, holding the kiss for a bit longer than the last time. He pulled back, dizzier than usual, but not by much. But he was pleased that he'd managed to kiss her again without passing out. As Rogue silently stared at him, a bit of shock on her face, he grinned cockily.

"Damn, I'm good."