I Want You Back
Disclaimer: You know it, I know it, let's pretend now not to know it. It's annoying cuz I'll never be able to own it.
Chapter 5: More Bittersweet Memories
Lance dropped down onto his bed, dropping the paper bag by his dresser. In the edges he had stuck pictures of him and Kitty, as well as the Brotherhood's picture. One particular picture caught his eye.
It was back when they had just gotten back together after defeating Apocalypse. She had gone back to Northbrook for the summer and halfway through she came back. They were on their date at an Italian restaurant. Pietro and Todd had snuck into it and had taken a picture of the two of them having a blast. In the picture, his forehead had a straight red mark above his left eyebrow. He remembered how he had gotten it.
"Aw, geez, Lance," Bobby said as he hurriedly closed the passenger door of the X-Van. He and the rest of the guys had just returned from grocery shopping and Lance had the misfortune of being directly in the opening door's way. "I'm sorry, man."
"Nah, it's alright," Lance said as he winced. He placed a finger on the forming bruise and winced even more as his finger made contact. "You couldn't spare me an ice cube or two, could you?"
"Let's go inside and I'll give you an ice pack," Bobby said, carrying two bags from the back. "They don't call me Iceman for nothing."
A few minutes later, with the rest of the younger X-Men in the background, Bobby was using his powers to produce ice cubes, depositing them in a Ziplock bag. "Here," he said.
"Thanks," Lance said and gingerly put it to his forehead. "Could someone get Kitty for me?"
"I'll do it!" Jamie said eagerly as he left the kitchen. Lance chuckled at his enthusiasm. He remembered that Kitty had told him that Jamie had a tiny crush on her. He came back with three copies following him back. "She'll be down in a minute."
"Thanks," he said.
Since he was looking down at the table, he completely missed her and only noticed her when she shrieked as he put his ice pack down.
"Lance! Like, what happened to your forehead?" she asked, hurrying over to sit next to him.
"Just bumped into a door, that's all. I'm fine," he said, giving her a thumbs-up with a lopsided grin. But as Kitty continued to fuss over him, he kissed her in mid-rant. "Really, I'm fine. It's just a little bump. Come on, I got reservations."
He sat up and buried his head into his hands, tugging at his hair. He desperately wanted to be rid of the memories. But having her pictures caused an opposite effect.
He looked up and laid his chin on his intertwined fingers, staring at a wrist-watch that lay forgotten on his table across the room.
"Happy birthday!" Kitty gushed, handing him box.
"Oh, thanks, Kit!" Lance said. It was the end of Lance's nineteenth birthday party and he was in the middle of opening gifts. Not many people were there, considering he had little friends to begin with. But he was surprised when Rogue and Tabitha showed up with Kitty earlier that night.
He opened the box and stared at the diamond-studded watch. The light reflected off each diamond, giving it a nice glow against the silver of the band. "Kit, this is way too expensive," he said.
"Please take it, Lance," she said, taking the watch from the box and grasping his wrist. "I bought it for you and it's yours. Nothing you do or say is gonna make me return this." She fastened the watch around it. "Well, be honest, what do you think?" she asked the others.
Against his clothes, it looked almost foreign.
"It's nahce," Rogue said, nodding in approval.
"But the clothes totally clashes with the watch, Lance," Tabitha said. "We're gonna have to take you shopping!"
Lance looked almostterrified at the idea.
He strode over to it, wrenched open the drawer and stuffed the watch in, grumbling to himself.
His mind drifted back to the scene back at the mall. Kitty holding onto Piotr's arm. Piotr putting arm around Kitty. That used to be his job. Not the big tin man who used to be Magneto's lackey.
He sighed. It was useless. His eyes spied a half finished pack of cigarettes and a lighter next to it. It had been a miracle that Pyro had not discovered it. He'd given up smoking after Kitty had stared at him in disapproval.
"Lance, quit that," Kitty said as they sat on one of the many benches in the park. It was mid-afternoon on a Sunday and they had opted to go to the park. As usual.
"Quit what?" he asked, blowing out smoke from his mouth.
"That," she said, taking the stick from him and throwing it to the ground and crushing on it with the heel of her sandal. "You know that stuff can, like, kill you right?"
Lance just shrugged as he put an arm around Kitty.
"Lance?"
"Yeah, Pretty Kitty?"
"Can you do me a favour?"
"Sure. Anything you want," he said.
"Quit smoking, okay? I don't want to see you puff your life away," she said, putting an arm his waist as she leaned against his shoulder, ignoring the smell for just a moment.
Lance sighed and considered saying he couldn't do it. But when he looked at her, all the hesitation melted away as he gave his answer, "Sure, Kitty. Anything for you."
He stared at the cigarette pack for a few moments, ignoring the crashes outside his bedroom door. He seemed to be thinking deeply and quite suddenly, he darted towards the cigarette pack, pulling out one, and shoved the rest into his pocket, and grabbed the lighter before proceeding to walk down the stairs and out the door.
"Lance?" Wanda asked with her head poking out the kitchen entryway, her hands raised and covered in blue energy as she halted her hexing for a while.
Lance simply ignored her and went out with a slam of the front door.
He got the cigarette stick lit in no time. He took a long drag and breathed out, a playful grin at the corner of his lips as a drowsy feeling surged through him.
It was night-time by the time he went through the whole pack. 'Hm, have to buy more tomorrow,' he mused as he leaned against the wall. He breathed deeply and vaguely wondered for a moment if he was doing the right thing. Breaking his word. But then he reminded himself. They weren't together anymore. What did it matter?
"There you are," said Wanda. Lance glanced up and the Scarlet Witch walked over to him to stand next to him. "Ugh, you reek. I thought you quit?" She looked pointedly at the cigarette buds on the floor around his shoes.
"I started again," he said, shrugging. "It's not a big deal."
"It is a big deal. You could get cancer and die," she said.
"Aww, didn't know you cared, Wanda," he said sarcastically.
"Lance," she said, in an attempt to be patient.
"Do you want to know why I quit?" he asked suddenly. He didn't give her a chance to answer and continued. "I quit because Kitty told me to. Because she didn't want me to puff my life away, as she put it. For the whole two years that we were together, I didn't smoke, not even once, not even a measly drag. I kept my word. But we're not together anymore. It doesn't matter." No, it does still matter, he thought silently.
"You know, just because you guys broke up doesn't mean she doesn't still care about you. For all you know, there's a possibility that she still cares about you," Wanda said soothingly.
"Yeah, sure. Fat chance." And suddenly, just like that, he was back to being his moody self. "I just can't believe it's really over, Wanda. And the fact that she's with Colossus… it just shows that she got over me. Real quick. I just, I don't know what to do anymore." His eyes filled with tears. "It just hurts too much." He broke into sobs as the tears ran down his face.
Wanda looked surprised for a moment but hugged him, in an attempt to calm him down. With desperation, Lance only clung to Wanda as he cried, not caring that the rest of the Brotherhood were watching him with something akin to pity.
A/N: I tend to repeat my words sometimes. Again, the memory thing. I think it was mentioned in the last chapter.