A/N: Ah, school. Nothing like a day full of school to make you miss your family.

Nothing like five minutes with your family to make you miss school.

No, just kidding. School's so hard, though! Oy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men. If I did, I would borrow the mansion to have a sleepover with my friends.

Chapter Six: Smells like Teen Spirit

New York, Present Day

"...Maureen Johnson, back from her spectacular one-night engagement at the eleventh street lot, will sing native american tribal chants backwards through her vocoder, while accompanying herself on the electric cello which she has never studied! Your new boyfriend doesn't know about us? There's nothing to know. Don't you think that we should discuss- It was three months ago! He doesn't act like he's with you. We're taking it slow 1," Gwen sang loudly, grinning into the fridge she was standing next to. She strummed her fingers along the cold top shelf, searching for a Diet Coke. She was alone, which was how she preferred to be when she felt like singing. She knew that she wasn't shy, but she had no idea whether or not she was a good performer, and didn't feel like finding out the hard way.

It was getting late, around ten-ish, and her friends were in TV room where everyone had been watching the movie that night. Everyone had left after the end of it, except for Jubilee, Kitty, and Tracy. Gwen and Rogue had joined up with them after showering and getting Caroline into Dr. Hank's office. She was still out cold, but she would be okay. Now, they would all watch either Se7en or Down with Love together, depending on who had picked the film out. Gwen was praying for Love Actually, if she had to sit through one more of Jubilee's gory thriller movies she would puke. She figured Rogue didn't need to be upset anymore, that encounter with the police had really freaked her out.

No Diet Coke. Gwen sighed. There was only two bottles of soda left, both Fresca, which she hated. She stood up and shut the refrigerator door. Just as well, some green tea would be better for her anyways.

A few minutes later, she held a scalding hot mug of tea in her hands, breathing in sharply as the cup burned her hands. The ice cream container under her arm was also extremely uncomfortable. She jogged back to the room as quickly as she could without spilling the tea.

"What are we watching?" she asked Jubilee, setting her mug down on the coffee table.

"Down with Love," Jubilee said, glaring at the screen. Gwen let out a sigh of relief.

"Good. I wasn't going to watch Se7en again," she said, settling down between Kitty and Rogue on the floor. Siryn lay on the couch, sleeping with her mouth slightly open. "You okay?" she muttered under her breath to Marie. She nodded.

"What'd Hank say about that woman?"

"She'll be fine. She looks familiar, though, don't you think?"

"Not really."

"I think Kurt knew someone named Caroline in Germany when he was a kid. Not that I'm supposed to know about it."

She opened her ice cream container and dug her spoon in, looking thoughtful.

"Think she looks like Jodie Foster?" Gwen asked Rogue, suddenly. "Same nose. That's what I was thinking of."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "You are, like, so shallow sometimes, Gwen."

"So?" Gwen knew her friend was teasing her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. This was Kitty's favorite movie. Jubilee, however, was bored out of her mind. Radar could sense it, and decided to make coversation.

"D'you think Kurt likes Storm?" she blurted out, then mentally slapped her forehead. What a dumb topic, Kurt would kill her if Kitty knew. She loved gossip, and loved spreading it even more.

As predicted, all of her friends leaned in expectedly, forgetting the movie completely.

"Why?" Jubilee asked, her black ponytail swinging excitedly.

"Well," Gwen said, trying to think of a way to occupy everyone while still getting off scot-free with Kurt. "I actually read his mind a few months ago, and he was, like, um, totally obsessing. So I've been keeping my mouth shut about it in front of Storm for a while. Plus, we were all in the other TV room and I did it again. Same thing."

Kitty clapped her hands happily. "I knew it wasn't just me! I knew someone else had to notice it!"

Gwen nodded, spooning some slightly melted Phish Food into her mouth. "You shink Chorm feelsh sa shame?" she asked, wincing as the ice cream froze the roof of her mouth.

"What?"

Gwen swallowed, then gasped. "Do you think Storm feels the same way?"

Rogue grinned. "They're best friends. Like"- she crossed her two fingers for all to see- "that close."

Gwen thought that over for a moment. "It'd be good for Kurt to get a girlfriend. That Amanda really screwed him up."

"Who?" Jubilee asked. Gwen waved her hand impatietnly.

"Long story. Weird turn of events." She grinned nastily. "Bit of a beyotch, in my opinion 3."

She punched her spoon into her ice cream at that last statement.

Kitty giggled, she lived for this. "Amanda. Huh. Anyone else?"

Gwen shook her head. "No...not really."

"What do you mean, not really?" Rogue asked.

Radar shifted guiltily. "Umm...actually, Kurt doesn't know that I've read his memories. So I'm not even supposed to know about it."

"'bout what?" Jubilee asked slyly. Gwen grinned.

"I'm not that big a loudmouth, Jubes."

"Whatever you say, Lois," she replied. Gwen smacked her with a pillow playfully, then turned serious.

"It wasn't a girfriend, trust me. Far from it. It actually had something to do with the Caroline I was talking about earlier. It wasn't good."

"How bad was it?" Kitty asked, looking a little perturbed.

"So bad, if I were him, I'd have either gone on a killing spree or spend my life whimpering in a corner." Gwen kneeled on the floor with her arms over her head, demonstrating, then sat up and glared at her friends. "But that is all I'm telling you. Never mention it to anyone. Especially Kurt."

"Why not?"

"Because he'd kill me."

"He won't kill you."

Gwen snorted. "Yeah, but he might fail me in German. It is so unfair I have to take that, anyways, I spoke it all the time with my dad. I could fully have a study hall then, or whatever." She swished a boiling mouthful of tea in her cheeks, and swallowed noisily. "Leute sind dumm 2." She smacked her tongue against the roof of her slightly burnt mouth.

"Killing spree?" Jubilee asked.

"Exaggeration on my part," Gwen said. "Look, just don't bring it up ever again, all righty?"

They nodded, with puzzled expressions on their faces. Gwen laughed.

"Now, what were we talking about?"

Storm grinned as she watched Kurt twitch in his sleep on the couch. He always shut his eyelids so tightly, and it made her wonder what he was dreaming about.

She had gone back to the room he had been in last after showering and changing into her pajamas, some blue cotton pants and a matching shirt Kurt had given her for her twenty fifth birthday. After they went on one of these missions, they always spent a while talking together, whether or not it was about the mission itself. It was an unspoken rule they had in their close friendship. Storm loved being with him, he always told the funniest stories, and was an incredibly good faux-psychiatrist.

She could use a good story now.

"Wake up," she whispered in his ear. He frowned in his sleep, and Storm moved quickly as he gently batted the place where her lips had tickled his skin. She giggled, and blew on his neck, provoking the same response from him as before.

"Earth to Kurt," she said, hitting him with a couch cushion. He didn't move.

"Kurrrrt," she muttered playfully against the spot where his ear met his cheek. Storm noticed his mouth twitching up in an unmistakable smile, with his eyes still closed. Then, in one swift movement, he sat up, grabbed the pillow from her arms, and smacked her over the head with it.

"Gotcha," he exclaimed, and hit her side with the cushion playfully. She pulled it away gently, and he sat up sleepily, shoulders hunched over. "How'd the mission go?"

"Pretty good. The police got involved, but we got away and the woman's going to be fine."

"That's good. Will she be staying here?"

"We don't know yet. She's unconcious. Hank's taking care of her right now, and we'll talk to her when she wakes up."

"Should-" Kurt paused, looking a bit nervous, then tried again. "Should I stay in my room then?"

Storm winced. She hated talking about Kurt's looks, knowing he was sensitive about it. "We'll see."

She decided to change the subject as soon as possible.

"I haven't seen you all day," she told him. He sighed.

"It was Saturday," he moaned. "Gwen was home, it was raining too much for her to bike into town with her friends. I spent the entire day arguing with her."

Storm snorted, settling comfortably next to him. "About what?"

"Everything. She kept asking me to say that Taye Diggs could beat up Errol Flynn for three hours, just to hear me say it, first of all."

"Did you?"

"No! Of course not! Then she said she could win if we had a fencing match, which I'm regretting teaching her to do at all, so we spent an hour trying to find some sticks we could use to fence with - just to prove she wouldn't win. When I did find them, she'd been copying that picture they drew of me and ran in the newspapers when I attacked the President with the Xerox machine and pasting multiple copies all over the school with Kitty. They then ran into the Girls' dorm screaming, and wouldn't come out for fifteen minutes because they were laughing too hard. Then they got mad because I had taken down all the pictures, Gwen threw a book at me and called me a necrophiliac 3, then admitted she had no idea what that word actually means after I had caught her. She and Bobby got into a huge argument later, and asked me if they could do a Danger Room simulation to settle it. Which-" he groaned- "I'm not entirely sure if they actually did do."

"Whoa."

"That's what I said. I am never watching the teens by myself on a rainy day again."

"We won't make you."

"Thanks." Kurt cradled his head in his hands.

"Kurt?"

"Yes, Ororo?"

"You realize that you were being just as immature as Gwen today with the arguing, right?"

Kurt thought this over, then grabbed the pillow and hit Storm over the head again. "You're the immature one," he teased. She laughed, pushing herself away from his swinging arms. It was moments like these that she so enjoyed.

It was ruined, however, by a loud, terrified scream in the hallway.

A/N: Dun dun dun! Okay, love it, hate it? Review and let me know!

Sorry this chapter took so gotdang long. I was on a school trip for a few days.

1: From the musical Rent, the particular song is La Vie Boheme.

2: German for "People are dumb." Yeah, I made Gwen a little random.

3: This is the only self insertion in this story. On the trip, I was with this friend who's like madly in love with Chopin, and she never shuts up about him. So some of my guy friends made up this song, "Who's a necrophiliac? Clap, clap, clap clap clap. Jen's a necrophiliac!" Hahaha. I nearly died laughing.