Chapter five: Love and Hate
John's POV"Come on! Pump those legs, people! That track isn't going to run itself! Let's go!" yelled Magneto over our exhausted pants from running approximately a mile and a half on the track (courtyard edge).
It was never really hard for me to run, I could sure as hell do that well enough. When you grow up stealing out of trash bins and stores' back lots to live you learn really quickly the right way to run and how to become as aerodynamic as possible for speed. But this specific run was a little on the hectic side because Fred was right next to me and with every other step he took my balance was challenged.
Wanda was on the other side of him and was doing fairly well...in other words she wasn't struggling to stay up and running with every other one of Fred's footfalls.
She looked over at me as I flailed my arms around, trying to stay up as Fred's left foot hit the ground, and smirked slightly at the sight but turned away when she saw that I was looking at her.
I smiled and pushed harder to run faster and get ahead of Fred. I did and soon I was finished with the two miles Mags wanted us to run. Wanda finished directly after me and walked with me towards the benches on the side to catch our breath. Pietro was already there. He had used his mutation...lucky son of a bitch. I smirked and sat down next to Wanda.
"How could you keep such well balance running next to Fred?" I asked her, still panting and grabbing the bottle of water at my feet.
"We used to live in Romania before we came here and we lived in a rocky place, so I'm used to bumps in the road," she answered as I drank deeply from the bottle and then sprayed myself with it. She had a slight accent, which I assumed was Romanian, and it suited her well. It went along with her features if that doesn't sound too stupid.
I smiled at the thought and she smiled back before turning to her brother and saying something in Romanian that caused him to look at her, wild eyed, and repeat what she said in a mocking tone, which received a slap in the arm and a "Shut up!" from Wanda.
Pietro smirked and responded to her in Romanian, which also received a slap from Wanda, and sped off.
Wanda turned to me, blushing slightly and laughing lightly. "My brother is so stupid sometimes."
I tilted my head to the right and asked, "What did he say?"
"I told him that I needed to talk to you and asked him if he could give us some privacy and he took it the wrong way and said that I was going to ask you out. Then he said that he didn't mind as long as I didn't end up pregnant like a street whore."
I laughed along with her and when the laughter died down an uncomfortable silence was left in the air.
Did she think of me like that? I sure as hell thought of her like that...even though I didn't want to. Not because she was Magneto's daughter, I could probably convince him to let me date his daughter in a minute with my charm, but it was that little phobia I had of love now...ever since the day Mystique died.... I was still kind of healing from that. She loved him and then he killed her. Why? I still didn't know, but that wasn't going to stop me from fulfilling what I promised.... I really shouldn't let what happened to Mystique cripple my love life.... Besides, Wanda wasn't Wolverine and I sure as hell wasn't him so I doubt we'd kill each other....
"Do you...want to go out?" I asked her as she stared at me.
She bit her bottom lip and said, "Father-."
I cut her off and said, "Don't worry about him. I'll take care of that."
She smiled and said, "Then yes, I would love to go out with you."
I smiled back and said, "So, how does Friday at around nine sound?"
She nodded and said, "Perfect. I'll see you then," and then got up and walked over to where Pietro had run.
They exchanged a few words and I guess Pietro said something stupid again because she slapped him upside his head this time.
I laughed and got up to go inside.
Smirking all the way, I made my way to my room and into the shower.
Friday night came and went in a flash. We'd gone to see a movie and then went to this little pizzeria down the block to eat and talk about the movie.
"I thought it was a good movie. It was so romantic and cute."
I made a face and said, "Ach, too cute! The guy went to find her in a flower shop and brought her flowers! What the hell is that?"
"Oh, so you don't like romantic and cute gestures?"
"No, I'm fine with romantic gestures, and cute gestures don't really appeal to me but I'll do one every now and then, but that guy was way too mushy."
She smirked and said, "Really? You like doing romantic things?"
I knew where she was headed with this so I went on. "Yeah, I like keeping my girls happy."
Her eyes were half lidded now and draped with lust. "What's the most romantic thing you've done for a woman or experienced with a woman?"
I closed my eyes, reminiscing about that one night I spent with the science teacher at the institute: Ms. Munroe a.k.a. Storm.
It had been a very bad month for both of us. I was still failing every class, and starting fights for no reason and if I didn't straighten up and fly right, the Professor said he'd make me go to a child psychiatrist. So I decided to get extra credit work from each of the teachers and when I asked Storm if she could give me any, she just looked at me sadly, nodded and offered to tutor me in her subject as well.... I accepted.
She'd been in a funk for the last three weeks and was getting more depressed by the second. Her last boyfriend had dumped her for this twenty-year-old model he'd met in the city and, as if that wasn't enough to break her heart, he told her that he never even wanted her, he just wanted sex and that wasn't even good. This tore her down completely and she spent the weeks crying her self to sleep and coming to class late and tired looking. Everyday that I saw her, my heart wrenched in pain and I couldn't even stand to look at her. She'd always been the nicest of the teachers to me.
Well, one night, while I was finishing off the report she wanted me to do on mitosis, she walked into the living room and asked, "Almost done?"
"Yeah. Just the conclusion left...." I wrote down my conclusion and then put the papers and pen down on the coffee table.
I looked at her sad face as she smiled weakly and said, "Good."
I could no longer stand to see her so sad, so after classes had finished, I went to the courtyard and asked the gardener to trim some roses off for me to give to Storm. Thinking that I was just another student who had a crush on the beauty queen, he asked no questions and sliced off a bouquet of red, white, and pink roses and wrapped them up and handed them to me.
I smiled back at her and, from behind my back, pulled out the bouquet and handed them to her.
Her face lit up as she asked, "For me?"
I nodded and she took them gently from me and brought them to her nose.
"Mmmm.... I love them, Johnny. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"What're they for?"
"I just wanted to see you happy again and I thought that maybe these would cheer you up a little."
She smiled and leaned in to kiss my cheek, but stopped for a second to look me in the eyes and then moved for my lips.
I felt a slight electric shock on my lips and throughout my body when she did so and I couldn't help but deepen the kiss. Her soft, full lips parted and my tongue began to explore her mouth...sliding along her tongue and intertwining with it.
She moved only to put the bouquet aside and lay me against the arm of the couch we were on. Not once did she let go of my lips and soon I had her on her back and began nuzzling her neck, sliding my tongue on her smooth, caramel colored skin. She tasted good and I continued licking her neck, causing moans to escape her lips.
She pulled me up slightly to kiss me again and start unbuttoning my over shirt. When she finished, I pulled it off and bent down to unbutton her blouse and pull it off. She lay there, breathing heavily and pulling at my belt buckle, her white hair surrounding her head like a halo.
I kissed her and then trailed kisses from her lips to her collarbone and to her cleavage.
She'd gotten my belt off and was now pulling of my undershirt. Her fingers ran lightly across my chest and up to my shoulders, gripping them and pulling me down to her mouth.
Soon all our clothes lay in a pile on the floor and our bodies were a mesh on the sofa, panting and moaning lightly as to not wake anyone up.
When I awoke early the next morning, she was already dressed and sitting next to me on the sofa.
She smiled and said, "Thank you."
I smiled back and said, "No problem." As I sat up, I flinched slightly at the stinging sensation on my back and shoulders, and pulled on my clothes.
"Sorry about that. Couldn't help it."
"Don't worry about it. Actually, it's a very good sign," I said, buckling my belt and pulling on my sneakers.
She giggled girlishly and then stopped and said, "John."
I knew what was coming next. No one could know about this...even though I would bet my lighter that the Professor already knew. I had no problem with that. Last night wasn't supposed to happen like that, but I didn't regret it at all, so I had no problem keeping it a guilt free secret between the two of us.
"I know...." I sat down next to her, kissed her gently again and said, "I know."
She smiled and said, "Thanks."
I smiled back and nodded.
She helped me gather my things off the coffee table and then organize it.
From then on, things went as usual but we always knew that the other probably would've never made it passed that month had it not been for that night.
"I don't think you wanna know," I said, opening my eyes and smirking slightly at Wanda.
She smiled and said, "Okay, whatever you say. But, be warned, I'll get you to tell me one way or another."
I laughed and we continued talking about the movie and eating our pizza.
When we got home, Mags was waiting up for us and gave me a scowl so horrible that I was near scared of him but smirked to play it off.
"It's only-whoa! I see what you mean," I said, looking at my watch and noticing that it was three in the morning. "I'll get her to bed, sir. G'night."
We walked to her room and said 'goodnight' at the door, and before I left, I kissed her and asked her to go steady with me.
She said 'yes' and that made my night.
That night, I went to sleep with a smile on my face.
A month had passed since Wanda and I got together and everything was going great. Magneto had yelled a lot when he found out but then he had some time to think about it, he didn't mind so much. He actually took me into his lab one day, about a week or two into my relationship with Wanda, and had me tested for HIV.... It came back negative. Then he smiled and sent me off.
One day I was in the game room with Wanda, playing air hockey, and Magneto came in with Pietro at his side and looking very angry.
"Your friends are here."
"Huh?"
"The X-men are here!"
"Shit!" Wanda and I said in unison and abandoned our game to follow Magneto out of the room and into the corridor where Avalanche and Blob awaited us so that we could get to where the X-men were. Toad and Sabertooth had gone off somewhere without telling Magneto and I bet they'd be paying for it later.
"Why are they here?" I asked, running alongside Magneto towards the back door.
"They're here for you.... They want you to go back to them."
"Oh," was all I said as we made our way through the back door and into the back lot.
The X-men were there, standing in a horizontal line and looking at each of us with sympathy.
Oh, don't give me that bullshit!
I spotted Bobby and Rogue next to each other at the right end of the line and stared at them for a while.
"What do you want?" I asked, scowling at them.
"John," Rogue started, "We miss you.... Come back home."
I sneered at her and spat, "This is my home. The institute was just a sort of checkpoint for me...no real big deal. No one there cared about me and visa versa."
There was a sudden crack of lightning and I looked at Storm, who was giving me a nasty look.
I shrugged.
"That's not true, John. We all cared about you; you were just too stubborn to notice it. Why do you think we never wanted you to use your gift in public? It would've gotten you caught and turned in."
"Liar! You just didn't want to let he world know about our little secret and get deported or something!"
"No, John. That's not true.... We want you to come back," said Bobby.
"After nearly two months?! What hell kind of bullshit is that? If you really gave a shit about me, you'd have come sooner...not that I would go with you...."
"So, you're not coming?"
"Hell no! Especially not after what he did!" I yelled, pointing at Wolverine, who growled at me.
I sneered back and continued. "Do you know what he did, Professor? Yeah, I bet you do. I bet you sent him to do it! Neither of you liked Mystique so you just decided 'Hmm, I think I'll just get Wolverine, the man she loves, to kill her.... Yeah, and then John will come back!' Well, guess again, fuckers! I ain't coming back and you can't make me," I said and turned back towards the door.
I took one step and suddenly my legs became stiff and cold. I looked down and saw that my legs had been frozen by none other than-.
"Drake! What the hell is up with you?" I yelled pulling out my lighter and pulling a flame to melt the ice. I turned back, another fireball ready for him, and said, "So, you wanna play like that now, huh? Okay, that's fine by me!" I expanded the fireball and launched it at him but he froze it midair and it crashed to the ground.
Already, there was another fireball in my hand I was working on more.
This had turned into an all out mutant against mutant battle: Me versus Iceman, Wanda versus Rogue, Pietro versus Kitty, Avalanche versus Jubilee, Blob versus Cyclops, and Magneto versus Wolverine. Storm and the Professor stood to one side and watched the battle.
I looked at Storm for a split second and she had hurt look on her face but soon replaced it with a smirk and then showed me her left hand, which had a wedding ring on it. I nodded and smiled slightly at her, mouthing 'Good for you'. I turned back to Bobby and dodged his iced fist as I pulled more fire from my lighter and, in a sputtering form, engulfed him in it. But I was too slow. He'd already summoned a thick sheet of ice and was using it as a shield.
I melted the shield and received a frozen fist in the face. I recovered quickly and used what was left of the fire I held in my hand to expand it to twice Bobby's height and, before he even knew what was happening, covered him in it.
His screams filled the air and everyone stopped either in mid punch, mid half Nelson, mid kick, or mid strangles to look at his struggling form on the ground. He was rolling side to side, trying to put out the flame, but I kept it alive and burning hotter than normal to make him suffer.
When I felt he'd had enough, I let the flames die down and bent over his charred form and whispered, "Don't fuck with me, Drake, you'll get burned," and chuckled lightly.
He groaned and whispered, "I thought I was your best friend."
"So did I," I said, standing up straight and walking away. "I guess not!" I yelled back at him.
I was halfway to the back door when there was a loud roar that filled the air and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I turned and saw the flying form of Wolverine above me, ready to land and sink his claws into me.
So he wanted to kill me too? All right, fine! But I wasn't going down without a fight. He was going to pay for what he did to Mystique and the Brotherhood.
I clicked my lighter open and alight and summoned the flame to my hand. My anger fuel every move I made, so the flame grew to three times the size of my entire body and was about to engulf Wolverine as he fell but he suddenly stopped in midair.
"What the hell?" we both said.
"Not today, John.... Not today," said Magneto from my left as he lowered Wolverine to the ground. "The day will come when you'll get even and do Mystique justice by fulfilling the promise you made to her, but today is not that day. So just go inside and relax.... I'll take care of them...."
"But-!"
"Go. Go and enjoy what you did to the person who once proclaimed you his best friend," he said, smirking evilly and still holding a struggling Wolverine to the spot.
I stared at him for a second. He was serious. So I turned to Wolverine and said, "You were lucky today, Logan. But don't worry, I'll get you one day...and when that day comes...I promise to cherish it forever: The day that the big and strong Wolverine was taken down by an insignificant firebug! "I turned away and began walking to the back door and into the house, muttering all the way about the things I'd do to him. I stopped only once to say to Rogue, "Tell him that he was never my best friend, never my friend, and that if he even considered me that, he'd never have come here...he'd have left me alone in peace," then I continued on and went to my room where I collapsed onto the bed and didn't move until Wanda came to my room to pull and all-nighter....
By the end of the night, I didn't even have the energy to pull my clothes back on or even move so I just stayed where I was and fell asleep.
Getting up the next morning was a task that I never want to do again.
End chapter five: Sorry it took so long. Damn you, writers' block! I hate you! Well, please leave a review as you leave and wait anxiously in your chair for the next chapter.... :-)
1, NY GE Pyromaniac
