AN: Okay, you probably have guessed by now that I like my writing a little dark and twisted, so writing an actual, functional couple who a)like each other, and b)are the same age, is a little bit of a change. Ha! So, as you might guess from that, we have Lance and Kitty doing exactly what they should be doing after school; making out! Enjoy, and thanks as always for reading!

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Chapter 10

"Are you sure this is okay?"

Kitty looked up at Lance and tried very hard not to roll her eyes at him. At first she thought it was cute, how anxious he was to make sure she was fine with going back to the Brotherhood house. It was a sign of that vulnerability she was certain he didn't show to very many people.

By the sixth time he'd asked, though, his uncertainty had gone from cute to exasperating. "Are you?" she asked, suddenly worried. Oh, God, why was this so confusing…!

"Well…yeah," Lance said, as if the answer was obvious, but she saw the brief flash of color on his cheeks and felt herself grin.

"I'm sure, but like, if you ask me that again?" She let her look finish that sentence.

Lance gave her that irrepressible smile of his that made her want to kiss him. "Got it, babe." He piloted the Jeep towards his house, and Kitty settled back in the seat and enjoyed the way the warm autumn air swirled around her. She liked his car—maybe someday he'd let her drive it, if she asked nicely.

As long as he didn't talk to Wolverine about her driving skills, that was. Or Cyclops. Or anyone, really, except Rogue—and that was only because her roommate was a worse driver than she was.

"So was this really an orphanage?" Kitty asked curiously, reading the sign that flanked the driveway as they turned into the driveway. When he'd parked the car next to the garage, she exited and stood on the concrete, looking up at the house with a critical eye. The windows were in dire need of a thorough washing and the paint was chipped and peeling, but with some renovations it could be really nice.

Okay, with a lot of renovations. Then again, maybe she was just spoiled since she lived in a mansion.

"Don't know," Lance said with a shrug, appearing unconcerned. He stood next to her, following her gaze up towards the house. "I tried to clean up since you were coming over," he said defensively, as if he were seeing the myriad of problems with his home for the first time.

Touched, Kitty took his arm and squeezed lightly. "That was nice of you. I'd have to clean up my room if you came over, too."

"Yeah, cause Rogue's a slob," Lance said immediately, heading towards the door. Kitty's brow furrowed in confusion for a moment, until she remembered that Rogue had once lived there. It seemed strange to think about that, Rogue in the Brotherhood.

The inside was dark and the floors were rather dusty, but it wasn't as bad as she supposed it could have been. Kitty opened her mouth to say something nice to Lance when she felt the muscles of his arm tense beneath her hand almost imperceptibly.

"Oh, look. Lance brought home a stray kitty cat." Pietro was leaning against the door that led into the kitchen, smirking. "Guess you're going want to keep it, aren't you?"

"Hi Pietro," she said cautiously, reminding herself firmly that the Brotherhood weren't the bad guys any longer, and that Pietro was her boyfriend's roommate so it would be best if she could at least be civil to him.

That doesn't mean you have to like him, though.

He ignored her greeting entirely. "So what brings you to our humble abode? Is it Lance?" His rather incredulous tone piqued her temper.

"Yeah, actually," she responded with a hint of temper. "Or the Jeep, if you want to be technical about it, though it sounds like you're just being difficult."

"Ooh, kitty cat has a temper!" Pietro's sneer became more pronounced. "If you two get in a fight, could you try not to make the house fall down, Avalanche?"

"Is there a reason you're being such an asshole?" Lance asked, his voice tight. "I mean, any more than normal?" He took a threatening step forward.

Boys. "Um, don't worry about it, Lance. I'm sure this is just Pietro being…friendly." Kitty said nervously, not wanting them to fight.

"My brother's never friendly." Wanda walked into the room, shooting her brother a glare. "God, can't you be nice to anyone, ever?"

"And ruin my reputation?" Pietro laughed. "Unlikely. Hey, pretty kitty, you want a real man for once, you know where to find me. My room's down the hall from Lance's."

Lance made a sound that sounded like a growl and went to shrug her hand off his arm, but Pietro rushed out of the hallway and up the stairs with his powers before any of them could move.

Lance turned his ire on Wanda instead. "Your brother is such a—"

"Don't bother," Wanda interrupted him, holding up her hand. "I know." Her eyes settled on Kitty. "Hi." She sounded as cautious with her greeting as Kitty had been with hers to Pietro.

"Hi, Wanda. Hey, you should call Rogue. She's been all weirded out about something ever since the weekend and like, I have no idea what it is, but she might like to get out of the house."

"Yeah? What's wrong with her?"

"She keeps brooding and shooting death glares at your father." Kitty winced, hoping the other girl didn't take offense to that.

Wanda just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay. I'll call her. Maybe she wants to go the mall. Can I borrow your Jeep?" she asked, looking towards Lance. "I'll just go to Xavier's and pick her up."

Lance reached in his pocket and tossed the keys over, which Wanda caught deftly. "Let Toad or your punk ass brother drive and I'll make the ceiling fall on you when you're sleeping," he warned.

Wanda glared at him. "Like they're invited. And if you do that with the ceiling, at least I'll be asleep so I don't have to see that stupid face you make when you use your—"

"Hello, you want to use my car or not?" Lance interrupted in an affronted tone. "If you do, you shouldn't insult me."

Wanda smiled sweetly at him. "You already gave me the keys, so why can't I insult you?" She pocketed his keys in her long coat. "I'll be back. Thanks. Have a nice…whatever it is you're doing."

Kitty felt her face flush at that, and Wanda laughed. It was a nice laugh, though, and Kitty was glad that maybe at least one other person here besides Lance didn't hate her. "Bye, Wanda. Thanks in advance for cheering Rogue up, since I have to live with her."

"Yeah, well, Rogue's not really cheerful, ever, but I'll do my best." Wanda sauntered out of the house, and a few moments later they heard the Jeep pull out of the driveway.

"Like she's one to talk about being cheerful." Lance turned to look at her. He looked sort of uncertain. "So." He scuffed his foot on the floor, hands in his pockets, his hair hanging down and covering his dark eyes.

Kitty smiled and reached out, brushing his hair back. She felt a small thrill of feminine satisfaction as he sucked in a breath at her touch. "So?"

"You, um, wanna go—" he shook his head slightly, then grabbed her hand and pulled her along after him up the stairs. There was something a little exciting about not being treated like she was going to break at any second.

Lance's room was cleaned—recently, if the overpowering smell of lemon-scented furniture cleaner was any indication—and it actually looked nice. She sat on his nicely made bed, watching as he messed with the stereo on his desk. "You're not, like, going to turn on Barry White or something are you?"

He looked up at her, his brow furrowed. "Who?"

"Lance," she said, giggling, "You know. Barry White. The guy with the deep voice that men play to get women to make out with them."

"Oh!" He grinned. "No, ugh. That stuff sucks." He put a CD in the machine and put the empty case back on his desk. "Though I don't have any Shania Twain, so you're out of luck. You'll just have to make out with me for other reasons."

"Oh, will I?" she teased, smiling. This felt so normal, being here with him. She supposed that was a good sign, since their relationship had always been plagued with uncertainty and chaos.

When the music started, Kitty was glad to hear it wasn't loud and obnoxious. It was dark and definitely a rock band, but otherwise it was pretty mellow. Finished with the music selection, Lance crossed the room and joined her on the bed. He sat next to her but made no move to touch her at all.

Well, maybe all the uncertainty wasn't gone, after all. Though Kitty figured this was probably normal for most couples—even the ones without the former enemy-status or world-saving issues—she still really wanted to kiss him. Deciding she may as well take matters into her own hands, she leaned forward to press her lips against his, amused at the surprised sound he made as she did so.

He recovered quickly enough, though, putting his arms around her and kissing her back eagerly. Kitty put her hands on his shoulders and leaned against him, shyly parting her lips. He made a small sound at that and pulled her closer with a quick hard tug, which made her breath catch in her throat as they continued kissing and she ended up practically in his lap.

It wasn't long before he shifted her on her back on the bed, lying partly on top of her. "Is—is this okay?" he asked, his voice husky. Touched by his concern, Kitty nodded and put her arms around his neck.

"Yeah," she said, tugging him back down. Their kisses grew more heated, and soon she felt his hand slide up her stomach very slowly, as if he were waiting for her to tell him to stop. She didn't though, because that was pretty much the last thing she wanted.

When his hand covered her breast, she moaned out loud and pushed herself up a little, feeling very warm and dizzy as she lay beneath him. She liked the way his breath was coming very hard and fast, liked the way she could feel his hand trembling a little as it caressed her through her sweater.

His mouth moved to her neck, and she squirmed beneath him as shivers of delight raced up and down her spine. She wasn't sure what to do with her hands, so she rubbed his back and then, as he continued to kiss her neck, she slid one up into his hair and tugged playfully. He seemed to like that; he groaned and kissed her mouth again, and his hand squeezed her breast a little roughly. Kitty made a whimpering sound and arched up into his touch, urging him to continue.

When she felt his hand slide up under her sweater, his fingers warm on the bare skin of her stomach, she tensed a little at the unfamiliar sensation but didn't stop him. He didn't do anything more than draw his fingers back and forth as he kissed her, though she really wished he'd just move his hand higher…please, yes, it's all right, just--

When he finally did, she found she was digging her nails into his shoulders and breathing very fast as he rubbed her nipple through the fabric of her bra. Sharp bursts of pleasure ran down her body to curl low in her stomach, spreading out in a warm wave. He shifted over her, groaning something, but she was too far gone to hear what it was he was saying. She noticed that part of her left arm had phased through his bed, and she pulled it back with a gasp. That wasn't good, but she couldn't help it—this was all so new and wonderful and—

Suddenly, his warmth was gone and Kitty blinked in confusion as he pulled away, removing his hand from underneath her sweater, which was pushed up above her pretty blue bra. "We, uh…maybe we should stop," he said, staring at her satin-covered breasts, and she might have appreciated the husky tone of his voice and the glazed look in his eyes if she wasn't in such a daze.

She sat up and pulled her sweater down, though a bit reluctantly. "Is—is something wrong?" Lance was a boy, was he supposed to want to stop when she had her shirt pulled up like that?

Oh, God, was something the matter with her? Did he think she was horrible and ugly, was he repulsed by her body—

He shook his head rather violently at that. "N-no. I just—" he looked at her, his eyes heavy-lidded, cheekbones stained with color, seemingly unable to finish a thought.

She shook her head, at sea. "Am I—did I do something wrong?" She bit her lip nervously. She didn't really have any practice at this making out stuff, maybe he'd been bored and that's why he'd stopped. After all, she'd not really done anything…

Lance stared at her as if she were crazy. "God, no. Kitty…" he reached out and touched her face, shaking his head. "No." His fingers gently caressed her cheek before pulling away. She wondered what he was thinking, but was a little too shy to ask.

Cautiously, she moved closer to him and put her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her and drew her close. He smelled nice, she realized, like soap and something indefinable that was just him. It was an outdoorsy scent; it reminded her of mountains.

They sat that way for a while, both of them quiet, Lance playing idly with her hair. Eventually, they moved away from each other. Kitty sat on his bed with her knees drawn up to her chest, and Lance paced around the room as if he had too much energy and no way to expend it.

They ended up talking about their respective roommates. His stories made her giggle and occasionally shake her head in disbelief, though part of her wished he still lived at the Institute so she could see him more. Then she thought about the telepaths, and realized maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all.

"I—I need to get home soon," she said regretfully. She'd wondered if maybe they could make out again before Wanda got back with the Jeep. She sort of hoped Wanda would stay at the mall until it closed.

"Guess you have to do homework and stuff." He returned to sit next to her, nudging her playfully with his elbow. "Being a goody-goody and all."

"Shut up," Kitty teased him, leaning forward until her nose was lightly touching his. "Don't be mean to me or I'll beat you up."

"Yeah?" He narrowed his eyes. "You wanna fight, Pryde, is that it?" He tackled her backwards, and she giggled as she looked up at him, looming above her, his dark hair hanging in his face again.

"Maybe, maybe not," she said cheerfully, smiling up at him. He leaned down and kissed her—exactly what she'd hoped he'd do, of course—and that put an end to their conversation for a while. Right when he'd grown a bit bolder and pushed her shirt up again, his fingers fumbling inexpertly at the clasp of her bra, there was a most unwelcome intrusion in the form of a knock at the door.

"Yo, Lance, you done gettin' it on in there?" Pietro's voice, sharp and very annoying, made Kitty want to phase through the wall and punch him in the face for interrupting them.

"What do you want?" Lance called back, rolling his eyes. "He's just jealous," he murmured to Kitty, winking at her as he got to his feet.

"Wanda's back and she's fixing dinner. She wants to know if your girlfriend is going to eat with us." Pietro sounded like that was absolutely the worst idea he'd ever heard.

"You want some dinner?" Lance asked, looking down at her. "Wanda's an okay cook," he assured her quickly, remembering the stories he'd told her about Todd's culinary attempts and how sometimes it had ended with Wanda and Pietro sneaking into his room to eat pizza on the roof.

Kitty sat up and smoothed her hair and her clothes, thinking about it. Part of her felt that she should stay, if only because it would annoy Pietro, but it really was late. "I should really get home," she said, looking around for her shoes.

"Make sure Fred doesn't eat my dinner while I'm taking Kitty home," Lance called, and they could hear Pietro's sigh through the door.

"I make no promises, yo. Hurry up and you won't have to worry about it."

"He's such an ass sometimes," Lance muttered, yanking the door open. The hallway was vacant.

"Sometimes?" Kitty said uncharitably, then clapped her hand over her mouth. "That was mean, sorry."

He grinned at her. "S'okay. He's not a bad guy, not really. He's just under a lot of stress."

Kitty wasn't so sure about that, but she didn't know Pietro as well as Lance did. "That's nice of you to defend him," she said, standing next to him. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "You're sweet."

Lance snorted. "No, I'm really not, but if you think so I guess that's okay." He grinned down at her. "As long as you're the only one who says that, babe."

When they got downstairs, Kitty poked her head into the kitchen. She tried not to giggle at the sight of Wanda cooking, which involved the other girl muttering a lot and stepping around Todd, who was following her around the kitchen.

"Hey, sorry I'm not staying for dinner."

Wanda looked up from the stove. "Oh, it's okay, believe me. I don't blame you," she said with a sigh, nearly tripping over Todd as she turned to fill up a pan with water. "Would you get out of my way?"

Kitty jumped as several things fell from the shelves, a glass sliding from the counter to break into several pieces on the floor. Wanda put her fingers on her temples and rubbed them as if she had a headache, eyes closed. Todd began cleaning up the glass without a word.

"And that's why this place is always a mess," Lance muttered from behind her, his hand resting possessively on her waist. "C'mon."

"You'll have to come for dinner at the Institute sometime," Kitty offered, then realized she could hardly invite Wanda without inviting the rest of them. "All of you," she said, though it was somewhat hesitant even to her own ears.

Wanda exchanged a look with her brother, who was seated at the table. Kitty was almost surprised to see him doing his homework, but then she felt bad about that. Just because Pietro was jerk sometimes didn't mean he wasn't smart or didn't care about school. After all, she really didn't know him very well.

"My keys, Scarlet?" Lance's fingers tightened a little on Kitty's waist as he pulled her closer, addressing Wanda as she dumped a package of noodles in the water boiling on the stove.

"Oh, right." Wanda looked around, a little dazed. "Keys…" she raised her hand and they flew from the pile of groceries on the table into her hand. She tossed them to Lance. "Hey, look. Sometimes that stupid probability thing works in my favor."

"What are the odds?" Pietro quipped without looking up from the table, and Kitty actually giggled. He raised his head at that and gave her an unfriendly stare, which effectively killed her amusement. He's trying really hard for me not to like him.

And succeeding.

"See you later, Kitty," Wanda said, her voice distracted but friendly. "By the way, Rogue's not in a much better mood—she wouldn't tell me what had happened, either, only that she 'did something really stupid '."

Kitty shrugged. "She'll tell me if she wants to, I guess. Thanks for trying, though." She exchanged a final smile with Wanda and said goodbye to Todd, who was too busy staring at Wanda to notice.

They passed Fred on their way out of the house—rather, Kitty had to flatten herself to a wall as he passed—but he only mumbled something and continued towards the kitchen. Several seconds later, she heard Wanda yelling something about the dangers of eating undercooked meat.

"That's cute you called Wanda Scarlet," Kitty said to Lance as she climbed into the Jeep, buckling her seatbelt.

"Yeah, well, she'd kill me if I called her Witch. If she didn't, Pietro would." He started the car and looked over his shoulder as he began backing out of the driveway. "Or he'd try, anyway."

"I thought she hated him?" Kitty said, confused. Was it just her imagination or did Lance tense at that?

"Yeah, well, that thing with Apocalypse…it changed a lot of things, didn't it? Like you and me."

"I guess so," she said, shrugging. "Though it just seems strange he'd be that mad at you for insulting her."

"Oh, he'd never admit it," Lance said. "But it'd make him mad."

"That's sort of cute," she said, looking up at the stars as they headed back towards the Institute.

"No, it's sort of demented," Lance responded, resting his hand on her knee. He squeezed gently.

Kitty grinned up at him. "That, too," she said agreeably, and settled back in comfortable silence as he drove her home.

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Scarlett: Ah, well, let's see if I can answer your questions! No, Rogue isn't pregnant--they didn't actually have sex, yeah? Just some over-the-clothes action is all. And as for what is in store for them...mwahaha! All shall be revealed later. Thank you for reading and reviewing, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Nercia Genesis: Glad you liked it! I shall now giggle thinking about that song, which admittedly is not one of my personal favorites, in connection with this scene. Hee! Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!

BrennaM: Yay, shivery is good! Thank you!

Swamp Rat's Chere: Ah! You are a chere, not a cherie. Got it :) Glad you liked the chapter!

Vaguilera.1: Thank you so much!

Archmagus: Thanks! And as to whether or not Xavier or Jean know...lalala. Ain't telling. Hee! But you can come to your own conclusion if they do or not, and things might be a little clearer later on. Thanks again for reading!