Important Notice: I am currently re-writing all of the chapters in this story, because, looking back, I have a lot of plot holes and my writing is pretty weak at some parts. Please bear with me I would still appreciate feedback on if you like the new version of the chapters and if it makes more sense. It would suck to rewrite everything and then have it be worse than before. Thanks! You guys are awesome

I also want to apologize for the lack of updates. I have no excuse. I'm just an awful person I hope I haven't lost too many of you. For those of you still reading, you are the BEST and I love you to pieces!

A/U: Lance Alvers was orphaned when he was 7 and sent to an orphanage. There he met Katherine Pryde, a fellow orphan at only 5 years old. Ten years later, they meet again, but this time on opposing teams.

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men, and I am not making any money off of this.

A/N: I think I may have fixed my timeline by having Lance arriving in Bayville a week earlier than Kitty. Let us hope everything works out…

Modern Romance

The next morning at the mansion was a quieter one. Mind you, I said quieter. Kurt and Evan were fighting over the last glass of milk, which they eventually knocked over and spilled on Rouge's skirt ("Ah'm gonna KILL you guys!"), Jean was complaining about how the toaster didn't work, and Kitty was attempting to cook herself some eggs.

However, when Scott walked in, Kitty stiffened, and even Rogue, who had been promising Kurt and Evan brutal and untimely deaths, ("Oh, don't worry! Ah'll wait 'till after your Geometry test, and then, when I get my hands on you...") closed her mouth to stare at the two.

Everyone knew that Kitty was still pissed off at Scott, and had all heard about their two team mates' fallout through some way or another—be it through Scott's indignation ("Seriously, Jean! Don't you think she's just a little bit out of line!"), or through Kurt's excellent gossiping abilities. Either way, everyone knew about their argument, and they were all waiting to see what would happen.

"Morning..." Scott said, feeling a bit uncomfortable at the hush that had swept through the kitchen.

Everyone stole a quick glance at Kitty, who suddenly seemed very interested in her goopy eggs, and then answered a quick "Morning."

Scott sighed and headed over to Kitty. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday, but I honestly don't trust Lance and I don't think it's a good idea for you to be hanging out with him."

No response from Kitty. Apparently, Scott would need to switch tactics. Trying to keep his dignity would get him no where.

The rest on the team quietly shuffled out while Scott tried to reconcile himself with Kitty with the only option left—begging for forgiveness. Screw pride—here goes nothing...

"Okay, fine..." Scott sighed defeated. "I'll lay off, but please, promise me that you'll at least be a bit careful when he's around. Deal?"

He waited earnestly for a moment and then Kitty looked up from her eggs and all but tackled Scott in a bear hug.

"Thanks SO much Scott! You really have no idea how much this means to me!" she gushed.

"Right..." Scott replied, awkwardly returning her hug, patting her back, which was quite a feat, considering she was squeezing him so hard he could hardly breathe. He was about to say something when he smelled smoke. He slowly shifted his head towards the stove.

"Uh...Kitty...Your eggs are on fire..."

"WHAT!"

The rest of the team rushed into the kitchen when they heard the scream.

Oh god...has she murdered Scott?

"What's goin' on?" Rogue said as she stepped in. She was greeted with a very comical sight.

The frying pan Kitty had been using was up in flames and Scott was trying to put them out using a kitchen towel, but to no avail. Then, Kitty rushed in from the pantry with a fire extinguisher (Yes, a fire extinguisher—with a house full of teenage mutants you never know when one would come in handy) and started spraying the frying pan like a mad woman. Unfortunately, Scott was still using the towel and Kitty's aim wasn't quite perfect...

"Kitty! What the hell was that? Do I look like a frying pan to you!" Scott managed to cough out as the first wave of flame retardant hit him in the face.

"Sorry! Oh my God! I'm so sorry!"

"Kitty! Zhe fire!" Kurt reminded her, through his laughter.

"Right!" she said, reddening and turning her attention back to the stove. She sprayed out the flames and breathed a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Scott was trying to get the flame retardant off his face and shirt, but wasn't having any luck. Rogue, Evan, and Jean, broke out of their stupor and joined Kurt, who was on the floor holding his stomach from laughing so hard.

Scott mumbled something angrily under his breath and left to change.

"Why didn't you just use water to put it out?" Jean panted out between laughs.

"...oh...heh..." Kitty's face quickly changed to match the color of Jean's hair. "Whoops..."

Once Scott and Rogue had changed into unsoiled/ 'un-extinguished' clothes, the students at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters left for school, and the rest of the morning went on without a hitch.

When they arrived at Bayville High School, Jean was immediately abducted by Duncan Matthews, the quarterback on the Varsity football team, and her fellow cheerleader, Taryn Fujioka.

"Bye guys, see you later!" she called as she was led towards the massive crowd consisting of the rest of the jocks and cheerleaders.

Scott glared at Duncan's retreating back. He almost hated him as much as Alvers. Almost... Funny though that Alvers had only been here about two weeks and was already competing with Duncan for the "Most Hated Person" on Scott's Shit List... Scott just didn't trust him...

Kitty and Rogue walked to the courtyard, talking, while Evan left them to see his skater friends, leaving Kurt and Scott at the car.

"Ah, another vonderful day at Bayville High," Kurt said, the humor audible in his voice.

Scott just hmphed in response.

"So did you an' Scott make nice?" Rogue asked casually as they made their way past a group of freshman girls who giggled at seeing the new girl with the resident 'Goth.'

"...yeah..." Kitty looked at her friend oddly.

"...What!"

"Make nice?" Kitty raised an eyebrow.

Rogue, however, saw this as no laughing matter. "Don't make fun a' the way Ah talk!" she seethed.

Kitty just laughed harder while Rogue glared. "Do you realize," she said between fits, "that you're accent just gets thicker when you're mad?"

Rogue opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it, red faced. "Anyways, back to what we were talkin' 'bout before your lovely little 'observations.' Did you an' Scott," she paused to think of an 'acceptable' phrase. "Did you and Scott kiss and make up?" she teased.

"Hey!" Now it was Kitty's turn to be mad (all in the spirit of fun, of course). "You know I don't like him like that! Besides, I've got my eye on someone completely different; but of course, you're lucky that I don't like Scott, because otherwise you'd have some pretty tough competition," she quipped.

"Competition? For what? What are ya talkin' about?" a bewildered Rogue cried.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! I may have only been around a little over a week, but I know that you've got a thing for him," she smirked, pleased with herself for this opportunity to test her theory.

"What? Ah don't know what you're tryin' ta say, but Ah DO NOT have the hots for Scott!" she denied quickly (maybe a little too quickly). But even she, the Rogue; Master of Sarcasm; the Ice Queen, could not hide the blush from crawling onto her pale cheeks.

"I KNEW it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" Kitty cried gleefully.

"You tricked me! Why you little..." Rogue growled at her companion, but her expression suddenly transformed into a Grinch-worthy grin. "Who would this 'completely different' someone happen ta be, huh?"

Kitty's smirk faded a tad, remembering that she had thoughtlessly mentioned this certain someone. Crap... "Oh... um... Nobody really..." Kitty said, trying to avoid the question. "It's nothing anyway...Just a crush..."

"Really? Then why are ya blushin' so hard?" Rogue questioned.

"You're ruthless..." Kitty said, shrinking away from her friend.

"Come on now. Ya know Ah'm not gonna let it drop 'till you tell me," she smirked.

"Ugh...fine..."

Rogue gave a satisfied smile. "Well?"

"Look, you can't tell ANYONE, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm sworn to secrecy and all the jazz. Now tell me!"

Kitty gave a quick look over her shoulder before whispering to Rogue. "Well, you know Lance?"

Rogue's look of triumph quickly faded and was replaced by utter confusion and shock. "Lance? Lance Alvers? Are ya jokin'!" She had been playing guess and check with all the candidates she thought likely, sorting them into Probably, Maybe, and Definitely Not, but Lance's name hadn't even come up on the list!

Kitty promptly turned red and looked away, embarrassed, feeling ridiculous. I knew that Rogue wouldn't understand. She had reasoned with herself that just maybe Rogue wouldn't make fun of her, but apparently she was wrong. She turned to go.

Rogue saw this and immediately felt guilty about what she had said, or at least how she had said it. "Whoa, Kitty! Where ya going? Ah didn' mean what Ah said! Well...Ah did mean it—but NOT in the way you think Ah did... What Ah'm tryin' ta say is...um... Ah wasn' tryin' ta make fun of ya! Honest! Ah was just a little...surprised...that you like Lance... It was just unexpected..." Rogue managed a wry grin, stumbling over her words.

This perked Kitty right up, and she was soon blushing. "So... What do you think?"

"Well, Ah guess Ah can see why you like the guy... Ah mean, Ah'll admit, he's, uh...cute...but do you really think you an' him'll work out? He just doesn't strike me as the commitment type, ya know?"

"I don't know... I guess since I met him when I was littler, I just have this—I guess 'connection' would be the best way to put it... I know it sounds so incredibly corny and all, but I seriously feel as if we'd never been separated..."

Rogue was a little startled by how serious Kitty's tone of voice was. She'd only met, or 're-met,' the guy a day ago. Kitty was still going on about Lance (which, in truth, scared the hell out of Rogue) when Rogue cleared her throat loudly, as aforementioned boy approached Kitty from behind.

Kitty got an odd look and arched an eyebrow. "What?"

Rogue thrust her chin forward, gesturing to the space behind Kitty. She turned around, and sure enough, there was Lance.

"Oh! Hey, Lance! You startled me," she smiled, trying not to show her furious blushing at the thought that if it had not been for Rogue, Lance would have heard everything she had been saying. And then, all Hell would have broken loose.

"Hey Kitty; Rogue," he nodded towards the Goth. Rogue smiled—well, half- smiled in any case. Lance had probably been the most bearable of the 'Brotherhood Boys,' as she had dubbed them.

Lance was about to say something else, when and white blur rushed up behind him, and low and behold, Pietro stood over Lance's shoulder, in all his glory. "Why are you hanging out with these X-Geeks?" He said the last word with loathing, glaring at Rogue. He was still bitter about the fact that she had left their team to join Xavier and his pets.

Rogue rolled her eyes, while Lance replied. "Talking."

Pietro turned his glare on Lance. "Whatever. I've got places to be. Catch you losers later," he said to them, speeding off.

"So..." Lance said, trying to blow Pietro's interruption off. "What happened last night after I left?"

"Oh, nothing," Kitty said dismissively. "Don't mind Scott, he was just doing the whole 'over-protective older brother thing,' and I already talked to him about that."

Lance snickered. "More like the 'stick shoved up ass routine...'"

Rogue burst out laughing, while Kitty chastised him. "Lance!"

"What? You know it's true."

Kitty slowly let the grin slip onto her face. "I suppose."

"Well, guys, Ah'd hate to be a third wheel, so Ah'm just gonna—" Rogue was interrupted by Pietro rushing up behind them, yet again. She sighed. "What do ya want now Pietro?"

Pietro promptly ignored her, being the oh-so-mature teenager he is, and turned to Lance. "I just remembered, Mystique said to be at the Boarding House today by 6:00. Said something about a new member or something. See ya later, slow pokes." And he was gone.

"...Riight... Well, Ah'll be leaving now. Gotta go make up some test Ah missed in English. Bye." Rogue nudged Kitty and winked before she left, causing Kitty to turn bright pink.

And then there were two.

An uncomfortable silence settled between both of them. "So...uh...Why don't we go do something other than just standing here?"

"Sure!"

And so they were off to the football field.

After school, Lance drove Kitty and Rogue home. Rogue hadn't finished her English test that morning and Lance had to serve another detention for falling asleep during his Chemistry class. Kitty told Scott that she would wait for Rogue to finish her test and would get a ride home. She was really just looking for an excuse to be with Lance and she knew it, although she was pretty sure Scott bought it.

He's so clueless sometimes. But really, I'm so pathetic for doing this in the first place...

The three of them were sitting in silence, when Rogue brought up what Pietro had said that morning. "I wonder who this new person Mystique's brining is..."

"Yeah, me too. She normally doesn't care for formalities like having us all there or anything... I wonder what this kid can do..."

"Right..." Kitty said, feeling left out. She had never met Mystique, at least, not in her true form, and she never been part of the Brotherhood.

"Whatever... It doesn't matter. Hey, Kitty, do we have any homework in Chem.?" Lance asked, changing the subject so Kitty would be included.

Kitty laughed. "If you hadn't been sleeping then you would know, wouldn't you?" she replied coyly.

"Ouch." Rogue provided commentary from the back.

"Come on...The only reason to stay awake in that class was because I was sitting next to you. Since she moved me, I might as well catch up on my sleep," Lance said smirking.

She'll have to give in now—that was a good line...

Kitty giggled and blushed.

Works like a charm.

"Awwww... How cuuute!" Rogue mocked them.

They both turned around in unison (they were at a red light). "Shut up."

Rogue just laughed at them as they turned around again.

"All we have to do is read the chapter and answer the section review questions." Kitty continued as if Rogue hadn't been cooing at them a second ago.

"Great. Now which chapter is that?"

Rogue slapped her forehead. "You, Lance, are hopeless."

"Chapter 12 you idiot! I swear, you are so thick! We've been o it the past week!" Kitty exclaimed, eyes twinkling.

"Well...I've been...distracted..." he winked at her.

Again, Kitty felt her face grow hot.

"No! No, no, no! You two stop it right there!" Rogue pointed an accusing finger at the two. "Ah refuse ta be subjected ta this sweet, fluffy torture! You two just wait 'till Ah get out of the vehicle, okay?" Rogue then proceeded to smile sweetly at them.

Kitty and Lance quieted down, feeling a bit awkward. When the arrived at the mansion Rogue said, "Thanks for the ride," and practically flew out of the jeep. Kitty went to follow, but Lance gently grabbed her wrist to hold her in place.

"Hey, Kitty?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering if you, uh...wanted to go out with me sometime. Saturday to be exact. We could go to dinner, a movie; uh—the mall—anything you want! How 'bout it?" Lance looked at her hopefully.

"Sure! I would love to!" Kitty replied quickly.

Lance grinned wider than the Cheshire Cat. "Okay! I'll, uh, pick you up at 7. On Saturday. Uh, dinner and a movie sound good? Or would you prefer the mall? Either one."

Kitty smiled. "You are so funny, Lance. The mall works. So tomorrow at 7? Sounds good. It's a date." Kitty felt like she was in a dream. I can't believe I'm actually going out on a date with Lance! Just as she turned to leave, Lance pulled her back again.

"One more thing—" He lifted one hand from the wheel and placed it tenderly on her chin, moving it forward a little. He readjusted himself in the driver's seat so he could lean towards her and gave her a short, tender kiss.

Kitty sat there, shocked for a moment, but when Lance moved to pull away Kitty placed her hands on the back of his head pulling him closer, deepening the kiss, though still soft. Finally, they parted for air.

"Wow," Kitty breathed.

"Yeah," Lance smiled. "Have a goodnight," he told her, their faces still close.

"You, too."

Kitty giggled when Lance kissed the tip of her nose. "Well, you'd better get on you way before Summers gets it in his head come protect you from me. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye Lance! Thanks for the ride." And with that she got out of the car and phased through the gate.

Lance sighed happily and drove off with a goofy grin on his face. He hit the accelerator—after all…he didn't want to be late when Mystique specifically told him to be at the Boarding House at 6:00. If he was, she would probably kill or dismember him, and he wanted to be completely whole and healthy for his date with Kitty on Saturday.

Lance walked into the Brotherhood Boarding House at 6:03 where he was immediately assaulted by Pietro.

"Why weren't you here on time?"

"Are they here yet?"

"No."

"Then I'm not late."

"But you could have been, and you know how Mystique gets about these things. You'd think she was PMSing all the time..."

"True, but the point is, I got here before them, so she'll never know I was a whole three minutes late."

"Yeah—well it was close. You made it by a few seconds."

"What do you mean, yo?" Todd asked, coming in to see what the commotion was.

"I mean Lance was only on time by a few seconds. Look for yourself." Pietro pointed out the window, where, yet again, a slick black car pulled up in front of the Boarding House. The first person to get out of the car was Mystique disguised as Principal Darkholme. Following her was an old woman they had never seen before with grey hair who seemed to have a stern, regal air about her.

She couldn't be the new recruit, could she? She was waay too old... Maybe she was the guy's mother...

Mystique and the old woman leaned into the car, as if to help the passenger inside get to his feet.

"I wonder what he can do," Pietro thought aloud.

"I dunno," Fred (who had joined the three to see what was going on) answered for no apparent reason.

Finally the two women managed to help up an unkempt, crazed looking—girl? A girl? A girl was going to live with them? What on Earth?

She had a mad glint in her eyes, her chin-length disheveled raven black hair was going every which way, and she was wearing a threadbare light brown trench coat, which she had wrapped around her tightly, her arms crossed and her head bowed. Mystique and the old woman were helping the girl make her way to the Boarding House.

"Yo, I think I'm in love..." sighed Todd.

"Riight..." said Lance.

Pietro, who was usually very outspoken, said nothing. He was looking at the girl with a detached look on his face—as if on the verge of remembering something.

When the girl stumbled and her head jerked up, moving her hair out of her eyes, something in Pietro's mind clicked. He turned paper white and gulped loudly.

"What Pietro: She an ex-girlfriend or something?" Lance laughed.

"No—" he said, never taking his eyes off the girl. "More like ex-sister..."

The threesome reached the door.

"Meaning?" Lance asked, puzzled.

"I mean, my father shipped her off to an—"

But Lance never found out where Pietro's father shipped this girl off to, because before Pietro could finish his sentence, Mystique, the mystery woman, and Pietro's 'ex-sister' entered the Boarding House. Pietro squeaked and moved behind Lance, who was slightly taller than he was.

The girl, still being held up at the arms by Mystique and the old lady, raised her head and looked around, her face a mask of boredom and displeasure. Her eyes fell on Fred, moved to Todd, and then Lance. Not a single emotion crossed her face as she did this. She moved her eyes to inspect the room, but—Wait a minute! Did she just see a shock of white hair behind the boy with the mullet? She cocked her head to the side, trying to see behind him.

While the new girl was looking around, Mystique began introductions. "Boys, meet your new secret weapon," she gestured to the girl, but paused, seeing what was going on. "Well, Pietro, why are you hiding behind Lance?"

The other boys snickered as Pietro got a mortified look on his face and quickly stepped out from behind Lance.

"Pietro!" the girl hissed, her voice rough and hoarse from disuse. Her mask quickly fell off—an enraged expression etched itself onto her features.

"Oh! Hey, Wanda! How've you been?" Pietro sputtered nervously.

Wanda did not answer. There was a fire burning in her eyes; she was longing for revenge. Things in the room began to slowly rise off of the floor in accordance to her hands, which she had unwrapped from around herself. Her worn trench coat opened a little at the neck, the buttons being old and loose.

"Now come on Wanda! Can't we talk about this? Be rational? Please! I had no choice! I couldn't stop him!" Pietro pleaded, looking terrified, trying to discreetly back up into the kitchen.

For all his words, trying to calm her down, he had done just the opposite. She was now more infuriated than before. All Lance, Todd, Fred, Mystique, and the old woman could do was watch in horrid fascination.

Besides, thought Mystique, she might as well get it all out of her system. Otherwise we could have some problems...

The levitated objects began to glow an eerie electric blue and revolved violently around the girl. The lights flickered uncontrollably and the ceiling groaned, as if threatening to cave in.

"Run!" Pietro cried.

He, Lance, and Fred took cover behind the decrepit couch which hadn't been drawn up into the whirlwind yet, while Todd hopped behind the overstuffed armchair, hoping not to get hit by the flying objects. Unfortunately for him, just as the coffee table came whizzing by his head, the armchair he was clinging to began to rise off the ground.

"Oh, crap," he whispered hysterically while holding onto the chair for dear life as he hurtled through the air and around the room.

"Pietro!" Wanda cried murderously, lifting her arms over her head, focusing on the lamp. It glowed blue and began shaking. Finally she succeeded in breaking off the lamp, along with parts of the ceiling. Once the lamp was floating, she hurled her arms in Pietro's direction, and the lamp followed, plunging through the air, towards him.

"You just wait until I get my hands out you! You will pay for what he did to me! For what you—"

By now, the old woman had decided not to let Wanda's fit go on any longer. A little letting loose was not a problem: the girl needed to release her emotions and pent up anger, but now it was getting violent, and she was very near to impaling Pietro with the lamp. Her aim's getting better though...

"Wanda! Wanda—" the woman whispered into her ear in a relaxing voice. "Calm down, child! Control yourself; do not let your rage control you!" She placed her hands on Wanda's shoulders, calming her. Wanda took a deep breath.

The flying objects crashed to the floor, along with the arm chair Todd had been clinging to (he viewed the whole experience as a great start to any relationship).

"I will have my revenge, and believe me; you will regret ever letting him send me there!" Having said this, Wanda left the demolished living room with the woman's hands still on her shoulders, steering her upstairs to a room that had been set aside for her.

Mystique stayed downstairs with the shell shocked boys. "That is Wanda Maximoff, Pietro's twin," Mystique shot an amused glance at Pietro, who squirmed at his sibling's name. "She will be living here from now on as a recruit along with Agatha Harkness, who helps her with controlling her powers. Once she establishes control she will be an exceptional asset to this 'team.' I would warn you not to aggravate or anger her. Wanda...has a very short temper, and you've seen the results." Mystique gestured to the leveled room. "By the way, I would like this entire room cleaned up by tomorrow morning."

The boys' mouths hung open. "What?"

"You heard," Mystique said evenly. "Now get to work"

"Just a second," Lance said. "What exactly can she do? I mean what did she do to this place?"

"Wanda can alter probability. She's going to be a great improvement for us," Mystique smirked. "On Saturday we're going to have a little fun at the mall. When the X-Men show up, we will finally be ready to take them on."

Lance's thoughts snapped to Kitty. I have to warn her! I don't want her to get hurt! But I can't tell her tomorrow—she'll get mad at me—she might cancel our date... Maybe I'm overestimating her reaction...No... I don't know! I'll call her on Saturday...

"Lance? Yo, Lance!"

Lance's head shot up. "What?"

"A little help?"

"Where's Pietro?"

"He ran off the second Mystique went upstairs, and you've been out of it since she mentioned trashing the mall on Saturday."

Silence.

"It'll be awesome, yo—and with Wanda on our side, we actually have a chance at kicking some X-Geek ass!"

"Mmm..."

"Yo? You listening?"

"Hellooo? Earth to Lance?"

"Lance!"

A/N: So there it is! I finally made something happen! Yay! Please review, I love hearing from you guys!