Pietro's #1 Crush – Chapter 07
(See Chapter 1 for full disclaimer and legend)

Ever since her lunchtime chat with Lance, Rogue's spirits had been considerably lowered. 'He doesn't feel tha same way.' The phrase kept repeating over and over in her head during the car ride home. Nobody else in the car seemed to notice her as they merrily chatted away, joking about things that had happened at school.

"…So then Cheryl, like, ran out of the bathroom screaming that the toilets were smoking!" Kitty giggled as she re-counted the results of the days' pranks to the two boys in the back seat.

"Really? I vould have given anything to see ze look on her face! But Evan and I vere putting more dry ice in ze boys bathrooms upstairs."

"What are you talking about, Kurt?" Evan elbowed his friend playfully. "You got to see Duncan stumbling out of the bathroom with ketchup all over the butt of his pants! That was a classic!"

"What's this?" Scott asked a smirk forming on his lips. He looked up into the rear-view mirror, looking at them expectantly with a raised eyebrow.

"Vell, it vas really Evans idea," Kurt began. "Ve just took some ketchup packets from zee lunchroom."

"Duncan always goes to the bathroom, at the same time every day," Evan interrupted. "Same bathroom, same stall. So I put the ketchup packets in-between the toilet seat and the bowl, underneath the little feet on the seat. You know what I'm talking about? Well, that would make it so that if someone were to sit on the seat…"

"SPLAT!" both Kurt and Evan chorused together before they broke into peals of laughter.

Scott chuckled at this before turning back to the road. "You guys be careful not to get beat up over these jokes. If Duncan found out it was you…"

"Aw, lighten up, dude!" Kurt characteristically put his surfer lingo to good use. "Zis veekend ve are planning on how to get ze Brotherhood."

Evan laughed, "Maximoff won't know what hit him!"

"Hey! Don't go after Lance!" Kitty began whining, trying to protect her interests.

"Yeah, you guys don't want them to get mad and then start any trouble. You know what they're like," Scott started to lecture them. "Besides, I hate fighting Lance all the time. It's totally annoying to listen to 20 rock puns in a row."

Kurt laughed and began to recall all the different rock puns that Lance had used during their battles. Rogue was mildly paying attention to the conversation. She had taken it upon herself to inform Lance that she was certain that Scott had feelings for him. Although Lance had said that he didn't share the feelings, he had promised not to breathe a word of it to anyone. Rogue was thankful for that. But as she thought more and more about it, she began to wonder if she had made a mistake. Should she have even opened her mouth at all?

x-+-x

Rogue sat on the couch in front of the television. The harsh light from the screen illuminated her solitary form in the dark room. An old re-run of Who'se the Boss was playing while Rogue scowled at the screen. 'God, this is so cheesy! Ah can't believe that people actually watched this crap… an Ah can't believe that there's nothing else on!'

She sat there for a moment longer before turning off the television and deciding to go for a walk in the garden. Her mind kept repeating the scene from earlier with Lance. Was it a mistake to tell him? She really shouldn't have taken it upon herself to tell Lance but she had anyways. Rogue paused in her thoughts and breathed in a lungful of cool night air as she stepped out of the mansion and out into the garden. It was a full moon and she found the soft illumination on the various plants and statues to be calming. She walked silently along the garden path, mind wandering over what she did. A knot began for form in her stomach the more she thought; the kind of knot one gets when they realize that they have done something irreparably stupid. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to rid her conscious of the thought.

"Hey, Rogue," a familiar voice greeted her.

She stopped, along with her heart. Opening her eyes once more, she saw him. He was sitting on a garden bench, looking at her through those ruby-quartz sunglasses, smiling warmly at her before turning back to gaze to the moon.

Rogue couldn't think. She definitely couldn't speak. There he was, she had told his crush that he loved him, and he had no idea. "Hi, Scott," her brain kicked into gear and she continued walking towards him.

"Moon gazing, huh? Me too. I just love seeing it, especially when it's full," his voice was happy, completely free of the anger he would have towards her if he knew.

Rogue smiled weakly at him, before seeming to come to a decision and joining him on the bench. "Scott?"

"Yeah?" his voice drifted over to her.

"Ah have a confession ta make…" there was a slight trepidation to her voice. 'It's now or never!' the voice in her head screamed to her and she continued. "Well, y'know how sometimes when Ah absorb people? How Ah get their thaughts and feelings too? Well, Ah absorbed some of yours…"

"Oh? What kinds of thoughts?" He turned to face her, his curiosity piqued.

"Well, Ah've been having these dreams. I'm sure they were your dreams, and well… I know how you feel about Lance."

"What are you talking about, Rogue? Everyone knows that I don't like Lance," Scott was confused now.

"Not that," Rogue was having difficulty looking at him. "I know that you… that you like him… love him even. Ah know you hid it well, but today Ah saw how you were with him, and Ah knew it was true… Ah just wanted to help… Ah thought that if Ah told him, then one of us could be happy…"

"You WHAT?" Scott's voice broke the silent peace that was once in the garden. "Rogue! HOW could you do that? You didn't even ASK me if it was true!"

"Ahm sorry! Ah thought…. Look, Scott. Ah just wanted you t'be happy. Because Ah… because…" Rogue's beautiful face contorted into that of pain as tears began streaming down her cheeks. She quickly turned away from Scott, ashamed at her own weakness and mistake in opening her mouth to Lance. She wiped at her eyes, trying to bring herself under control, before she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath. "Ah can never be with anybody, Scott. Ah know what it's like to be alone. Ah thought… Ah knew you'd never tell Lance you loved him. Ah didn't want anybody t'be alone. Not like me… So Ah told him. Scott, Ahm sorry…"

"Rogue, it's okay. I'm not mad at you," he pulled her into a brotherly embrace, patting the top of her head affectionately. "But, I don't like Lance."

She looked up at him suddenly, confusion written on her features. "You don't? But Ah was sure it was you!"

"Nah. I can understand how some people might think he's great, but I don't. I'm straight."

"Ah," Rogue nodded absently. "He said he wasn't interested anyways…"

"I just hope he doesn't blab this to anyone…" Scott thought aloud before chuckling to himself. "Not that they'd believe him."

"Nah, he said he wouldn't say anything," Rogue reassured him.

Scott nodded at her, a smile warming his features. Nothing more was said as the two held each other and watched the vast expanse of heaven that stretched out above their heads. Neither noticing the two figures, who had been hiding the whole time, silently creep away and back to the mansion.

x-+-x

Pietro Maximoff sighed. His weekend had sped by him without incident, much like his life did. He'd successfully avoided Lance for most of the weekend and now he sat in the brotherhood's jeep, staring at the back of Lance's head as he was being driven to school. The older mutant had tried talking to him briefly, but he had spent most of his time by himself, supposedly in deep thought. 'Probably thinking about Kitty,' Pietro thought bitterly. He was wedged in the back seat next to Freddy, having lost his bid for shotgun to Todd and he hadn't put up much of a fight to challenge Todd's victory. He supposed it was because he was daydreaming about Lance that he hadn't thought to get the front seat. It didn't matter anyways, they would soon be at school and he wouldn't be uncomfortable anymore. There he could daydream all throughout class and not worry about missing anything, well, nothing important anyway.

x-+-x

Grumbling all the way down the hallway, Pietro stomped up to his locker. Who knew that he couldn't just not listen to what was going on in class? He certainly wasn't expecting the teacher to single him out and embarrass him in front of the class.

His art history teacher had in no way appreciated his complete and utter ignorance of the topic she had just instructed and had made him sit in the corner for the rest of her class all while his classmates had a good laugh at his expense. This was not turning out to be a wonderful day.

"Hey, Pietro?" Evan asked, approaching Pietro between classes.

The silver haired boy tried to bury his head into his locker, not in the mood to deal with anyone. "Not now Evans. I'm not in the mood."

"Hey man, I'm not here to bug ya. I just thought you might like to know…"

Pietro pulled his head out of his locker and looked into the chocolate brown eyes of someone who once was a friend; eyes that now shone with sympathy. "What is it?" he asked.

"Kurt and I were playing practical jokes on people all weekend and we were hiding out, trying to pull one on Scott. Well, we overheard a conversation he had with Rogue and it might affect you."

"Okay…you have my attention." Pietro said trying to sound bored.

"Well, there was something about Scott having the hots for Lance. I think Rogue went and told Lance and well… he wasn't into it. At all."

"How does that affect me, Evans?"

"Well, you an me used to be friends, Pietro, and I know you, man. I just thought you might like to know that you might be living with a phobe. Y'don't know how he'd react if he found out. … besides, even if we aren't friends anymore, I don't wanna see you get hurt…"

"Aw, geez, Evan! I didn't know you cared!" Pietro exclaimed in mock astonishment.

"Fine then!" Evan said coolly. "I thought I'd be nice to you! Do what you want, see if I care, Maximoff," the blonde turned to leave when a pale hand caught his arm. He turned to look back into icy blue eyes.

"Thanks, Evan." Pietro said, almost a whisper. Evan nodded his understanding and then continued on his way to his next class all while Pietro's blue eyes followed the movements of his former friend as he disappeared from sight. 'Things cannot get any worse,' he thought as he processed this new information. When he was sure that Evan had gone, Pietro grabbed his stuff out of his locker and sped off to his next class.

End Chapter 7