Disclaimer: I own none of the X-Men Marvel does. Rick Carter belongs to animeluvr1...kind of.
A.p.R. - The character, Rick, is the star of "Bittersweet" by animeluvr1. Check it out sometime.
---------------------------------------------Aw, Cheez-it!-------------------------------------------
Cotton candy, rides, and games. Yes folks, it's carnival time and Bayville is in the spirit. You see, once a year this carnival comes into town and, for the most part, raises the happiness level of this town that was on the verge of mutant and human segregation. This carnival was something for everyone to enjoy.
"Want me to win you a prize?" Bobby asked with a smile.
Jubes smiled and nodded. "That would be so sweet of you to do that." she said and gave him a kiss for good luck.
Bobby threw the dart directly at the balloon and it bounced off. "Hey!" snapped Bobby at the booth manager.
Kitty and Marc came over after seeing this. Kitty herself was enjoying eating a tasty caramel apple and Marc was walking beside her with his hands in his leather jacket. That was one thing Marc loved about his powers, he never got warm no matter what he was wearing.
Marc leaned up against the side of the booth and looked at the Carney. "Dude, is this thing rigged?" he asked, raising a brow.
The Carney snickered. "How dare you insult this carnival's reputation by accusing us of-"
"HEADS UP…" A familiar Cajun's voice said from a distance and a rock came flying just passed the man's face and collided with a balloon. The balloon simply bounced the jagged stone off.
Remy smirked at and walked over to the man. "Well, kids, it look to me like we got us a scam artist on our hands." he said, leaning over to taunt the man. "Remy t'ink ya betta reward us fo' findin' you out."
"Now, why the hell would I do that?" The Carney protested.
"You know what blackmail is?" Marc said, catching on to this game.
"I…" he man sighed in defeat. "Fine, hurry up…"
Jubes quickly grabbed a large white tiger stuffed animal and Marc grabbed Kitty a purple dragon that looked like the one that Rogue had drawn all over. Remy grabbed a heart-shaped pillow for a certain southern goth we all know and love.
"T'anks, monsieur…you've been very kind." he said with a wink and then walked off to find Rogue.
Jubilee hugged her tiger then gave Bobby a big hug. "I'll let you pretend that you won this for me."
Bobby smiled. "You're so cool."
"I know. So what should we name it?"
"Name what…?" he asked.
"The tiger…let's name him Stephan."
Bobby nodded. "Cool, but it could be better…"
"What do you suggest?"
"How about Stephan Roberto L.A.?" he offered.
"Sounds fine to me." she said, smiling, as they strolled off in search of further fun.
Marc presented the dragon to Kitty and she smiled then pressed her lips to his. There was only one problem though. Kitty's lips had caramel residue on them and they stuck to his lips. "Ow, ow, ow, ow…" They whined in unison as they tried to break this sticky kiss.
"Well maybe just a hug would due for now…" Marc said, his lips burning.
She nodded and hugged around his chest, snuggling against him.
"Kitty?" he said, quietly.
"Yeah…" she said, in a dazed tone.
"I think your apple's stuck in my hair…"
Tabitha Smith was bored, never a good thing, but this time was different. She was stuck in a dull boredom; Ray was at home, sick with a cold and Amara was off with her boyfriend, Roberto. What was a girl to do?
She was walking and was lost in a group of people and somehow wound up in the line for the 'Tunnel of Love' so she went with it.
"Hmm…" An intrigued, Latino's, voice said looking at her from afar. He was picking up his change that he dropped and upon standing up he saw the blonde bombshell. He separated his ear length shaggy hair from in front of his eyes. "Wow…" he said, now astonished by Tabitha.
"C'mon Rick, you don't have that much change…" Doug said, looking back at the entranced teen.
"I'll um…I'll meet up with you guys in a bit." he said, not really paying much attention to the conversation. Doug shrugged it off and left with the others.
Maybe it was her smile or how she moved but Rick was completely and utterly crushing on this girl he had never even met.
He had to talk to her so he quickly got in the men's line; she was so far ahead though, she would probably be going with someone else. He had to act fast.
He hit the ground and started crawling underneath the people who were ahead of him on his elbows. His breathing began to labor after a few moments, his claustrophobia was obstructing his pursuit.
He had no choice but to pop up where he was and, wouldn't you know it, he was only one spot away from the desired point. The guy ahead of him made his approach to the swan-shaped boat, Tabitha was already in it, waiting to get this over with. Rick dashed over, dodged the guy and leapt onto the swan into the seat next to her.
She smiled inwardly, trying not to laugh at this display. She looked him over as he tried regaining his poise.
"Hmm…" she mused aloud, almost inaudibly. He flipped his hair out of his face and she got a glimpse of those deep, deep, brown eyes of his. "Wow…"
Rick looked over at her, unknowingly. "Huh?"
"Nothing." she answered, almost immediately. There was a terse pause before their swan started moving into the tunnel. "So…why so anxious to hop aboard, sailor?"
He smiled nervously. "Well, I was, um, watching you and you-"
"You were watching me?" she asked with a raised brow.
"No, I--I just, I was, uh…I was looking towards there…" he said and pointed to the location where he first saw her. "…and you walked through there…and I…um…"
She laughed hard for a few moments; he put his head down and let out a heartbreaking sigh. "Let me guess, you were drawn to my stunning beauty and my graceful manner?" Tabby said using her sophisticated voice that was usually meant to mock Jean's.
He blushed a bit. "Um…" he started but couldn't find the words to say.
"I was just kidding, geesh…are you always this stammery around hot babes?" she teased.
"No." he replied, immediately. "I mean…naw."
"So what's your name?"
He smiled and held out his hand. "I'm Rick Carter, nice to meet you…"
She shook his hand and beamed. "Tabitha Smith and likewise...pleasure to share a swan with you."
They entered a pitch black part of the tunnel where it became impossible to see before floating into a lightly pink and red tinted section of the tunnel. The room had cute little heart lights all over the walls and cherubs with their tiny bows and arrows on the ceiling.
Rick smiled a bit. "Sure it's cheesy…but it's still kinda cute." he commented, basking in the cuteness of it all. Tabby gave him an odd look. He quickly cleared his throat. "In a masculine way, of course." he said in a deeper voice.
Tabitha smiled and raised a brow. "Aww, do you need a hug?"
Rogue sighed in disappointment and set her black and studded purse down on the game booth. "Well, that was a waste of mah time…" she grumbled and stalked away.
Rogue was having a pretty good time, she didn't have to worry about her untouchable-ness much since she was wearing a jacket. She just lost about ten dollars on a ring toss game, but things were still looking up.
"Excuse me, chere, I t'ink ya forgot somet'in'." Remy said from behind her; she smiled, turning around and seeing him holding her purse out to her.
"Mah, mah, Remy…you just made mah day." she said and gave him a big hug, carefully as not to touch skin. She then took her bag from him.
"Dat's not all Remy brought fo' ya?" he said, grinning sexily, and pulled out the heart-shaped pillow he had earlier gotten for her.
She gave him a sunshine smile. "Ah'd kiss ya right now if it wouldn't…you know, kill ya." she said, a little deflated but still happily.
"Go 'head, do it anyways..." he said with a smirk.
She smirked back. "Well...maybe just a little peck…" she said and wrapped her sleeved arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. After a few seconds pieces of Remy's hair stuck up and Rogue pulled away. "You okay?"
He coughed and grinned at her. "It hurt…but it felt really good." He patted his hair down.
"Hey, when Ah absorbed ya…I got some of yo' thoughts stuck in mah head…" she chuckled. "I knew what you were thinking." she taunted with a smirk as they started to walk off together.
"Uh-oh."
"Take a cold shower, Gumbo."
"Oh come on, Logan."
"No way, Ororo, I ain't doin' it."
"Logan."
"I'm. Not. Doing. It."
"Yes you are." Ororo pushed him onto the scale of the 'Guess Your Weight and Win' game.
"How much do you think you way, sir?" The woman asked awaiting his response.
Logan grumbled.
"He said he's 280 lbs." Ororo answered with a smile.
"280?" Logan snapped, quietly. "Hey, I'm not that-"
The woman weighed him and read the results. "320 is your weight…sorry you lose." she said. "Next!"
"What?!" Logan raised a brow and Ororo dragged him away. "O, you know I don't weigh that much, right?" he asked.
She laughed. "Yeah, Logan…I know." She patted him on the back as they walk through the carnival. "Let it go…it was just a game."
"Fine…" he said and mumbled to himself.
Roberto and Amara were having a swell time going around and checking out the rides. Roberto had been a gentleman most of the night and even bought her cotton candy. And she loved cotton candy.
"Wow, Robby, this has been great…thanks so much for coming." she said with a smile.
He had an amused smile on his face. "If my girls here than so am I." he said and went to give her a kiss but she backed away a bit. "What's wrong?"
"I'm just not ready yet…" she said, undecidedly.
He clicked his tongue. "Why not? We've been together for a month and we haven't even kissed once?"
"I know, it's just that-"
"Oh…I understand now, you've never been kissed before, true?"
Amara grew nervous. Her fist kiss was with Marc and that was it; she had never kissed another but she couldn't tell about the kiss. "Um…yeah, how'd you know?"
"I can just tell these kind of things…it's like a seventh sense I guess." he replied, proudly.
"Don't you mean sixth sense?"
"Huh?" he said, not really paying attention.
"Sixth sense."
"Oh, I didn't like that movie."
"Lurking in the shadows, is a force unlike any that have ever been seen…" Jubilation narrated from the space between two booths in the shadows.
Bobby joined in. "You'll never expect him; his presence will shake you…"
"He is the defender of animals…"
"…the defender of fluffiness…" he continued on.
She smirked. "…he is…"
"Stephan."
"Roberto."
"L.A."
Jubes suddenly jumped out in front of an unknowing couple holding the stuffed tiger at the people. The man almost screamed and had to have jumped about six feet in the air. Bobby and Jubes scoffed and scampered off.
Once out of sight, they leaned up against a chain-linked fence. "That was perfect…" Bobby said, grinning.
"No," she said with a big grin, "this is perfect." She planted a kiss on his lips.
After she broke the kiss, Bobby wobbled around in a cartoonish fashion. "Whoa…"
"Thanks, sir." Sam said and the man nodded in reply. The southern boy walked away from a food cart with two ice cream cones and sat down on a wooden table then handed one to Rahne. "Is this what ya wanted?"
"Aye, thanks." she said and began lapping up the frozen frosty sweetness.
"No problem." He smiled, brightly.
Sam smiled and tasted his cone, getting some of the ice cream on his nose. Rahne noticing it, pointed at her nose. Sam crossed his eyes, trying to look at his nose. This made her giggle and she handed him a napkin.
"Thanks, I…" he started but noticed Jean and Scott running over hand-in-hand towards them. "Hey guys."
"Hi," smiled Jean. "Do you two want to go on the Ferris Wheel with us?"
Rahne shook her head abruptly. She hated heights; they were too high up for her. She liked the ground fine. "No, I appreciate ya askin' though."
Sam nodded, Scott and Jean jogged off. Jamie ran over to Rahne and poked her.
"Hey Rahne, you seen Scott or Jean….they ditched me in the house of mirrors?" he inquired, looking around anxiously. "By the time I got out they were gone without a trace."
Sam took a good look at Jamie and found him to be vibrating. Literally. "How many cotton candies have you had?" the farm boy asked.
Jamie scrunched his face in thought. "Um, let's see eleven plus five…" he said, counting on his fingers. "Plus ten…quick Sam, Rahne, let me use your fingers."
Sam sighed and shook his head.
Rick held his hand out to help Tabby out of the swan. She nodded and grabbed his hand but as she stepped out of the boat she slipped on the side and fell into his arms. Even she blushed at this until she looked into his eyes.
"Move it along!" The ride operator shouted; Tabitha and Rick pulled away and laughed nervously as they started walking.
Tabby smiled. "Well that ride was…"
"Fun? Yeah…except for the corny music." Rick said with a chuckle.
"It was kinda like this weird, freaky, Valentine's Day music."
"I liked it…maybe I'll play it later." he said, in jest.
She giggled. "You play? What, you got a band or something?"
"Yeah. We're going to be playing at the convention tent on the far side of the giant inflatable clown, near the freak show-- and I never expected those words to come from my mouth." he said with a raised brow. "Anyways, will you come?"
"I may, consider, possibly, deciding to, think about dropping by…" Tabby said with a smirk as she began walking off.
"Wow. How…vague of you." he said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he headed to get ready for the gig.
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