BRC: I don't own X-men or any of their characters. I do however own Tatyana, Kayvan and Cole.

Chapter Three: Bring Me to Life

"I think you're scared. Other than your family and me, you don't know of many other people like you and you're scared of being around them. Why is that?"

Kayvan thought back on the words he had said to Tatyana the night of the attack and wondered if he had really meant to say those words to himself. Here at Xavier's surrounded by people who had abilities like his own just kept reminding him of how he kept his hidden for so long, how he had kept his true self hidden. But he was happy because he could now see that Tatyana was safe and happy here and had even made a friend.

Sure the girl called Jubilee was loud and hyper but Tatyana enjoyed being around her and let the girl drag her around the school, her voice carrying through the hallways and her ever present pink bubblegum popping loudly while one arm stayed linked with "Ty Ty's". Tatyana obviously liked the girl because she was the only person who had gotten away with calling her Ty Ty without being glared at and then being kicked in the shin.

And yet Kayvan stayed in the shadows, hiding his feelings for his old friend and hiding the fact that he wanted to be the person who made her laugh and hating that Tatyana was the only female who had ever made him feel this way.

"Don't you ever get tired of studying?" A voice said to his right, reminding Kayvan that he was once more sitting in his favorite study spot under an oak tree. He knew that he had been out there for hours again and that Tatyana had probably been looking for him if Jubilee hadn't dragged her to the entertainment room to watch some random anime.

Kayvan looks up to see a tall and thin male, his silver hair cut short and falling into impossibly blue eyes. Kayvan couldn't help but notice how the teen's black shirt fit tightly across his chest.

"Stop thinking that way…"Kayvan thinks shaking his head before smiling back at the male and standing up, holding out his hand, "Sorry, I was a little preoccupied. I'm Kayvan Yin and you are?"

The boy tenses slightly, looking at the other males hand and back at his face before smiling slowly and extending his hand almost as if he was afraid to shake it, "I'm…Pietro. Pietro Maximoff…"

Kayvan shakes the boy's hand still smiling, wondering why he seemed scared to introduce himself, "It's really nice to meet you, Pietro."

Pietro blinks then grins back at him, "Ditto. I've seen you around here. You're in most of my classes in fact."

"Really? Hmm…I don't really notice much anymore. I've been preoccupied as of late."

"You seem to notice the shape shifter girl a lot though. She your girlfriend?" Pietro raises an eyebrow smirking slightly.

"Ah no, She's just a childhood friend…"Kayvan trails off scratching the back of his head.

"Hmm…anyway how about you stop studying that boring literature and come have some fun?" The silver haired boy smirks even more and Kayvan tries to fight down his blush.

"Exactly what type of fun?"

"Have you introduced yourself to Warren yet?" Idelle's voice says muffled voice says into her ear as she tries to sketch a male torso for her art class in the morning.

Tatyana sighs softly at her mother. She really should have known that she wasn't getting out of meeting the son of one of her parent's friends especially when her mother was bent on finding her the perfect husband.

"No, mother. I haven't really had the time… You know with schoolwork and all," She trails off when she hears her mother snort.

"And going out shopping with Jubilee? Yes Kayvan has his father about your new friend and he has told me. Plus I saw that you had spent money at Barnes and Nobles on your 'yo wee' manga again."

"It's called Yaoi mother, I need my boy's love manga! Plus Jubes invited me out and you know I have never actually had a close female friend. She's the only friend I have made here."

"I know honey but we are trying to make sure your future is happy as well. Promise me that you will at least try to introduce yourself to Warren okay?"

"Fine, I will mother. I have to finish this art project so I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Okay Ty. Remember your father and I love you very much and we only want the best for you honey. You'll see that when you're older."

"I know. Bye mom, Love you." Tatyana closes her cell phone and sighs, wondering how exactly she was supposed to find who Warren Worthington was. She supposed she could ask Jubilee or one of her friends but she didn't want to hear the younger girl's gossip at the moment and she wasn't that close to the girl's other friends.

She looks back at her paper, frowning when she see's that she hadn't accomplished anything on her drawing and knowing that she probably wouldn't if she didn't have a live model in front of her. But she knew that while Kayvan would have gladly taken off his shirt for her (and would have been grinning the whole time as she blushed) he was busy at the moment as he wasn't answering his cell. She also knew that she could have changed herself into a male and stood in front of the mirror and drawn herself but she had never changed sexes before and doing that seemed super creepy for some strange reason. That really left only one potentially regrettable option for her.

Tatyana stares at the piece of paper she had randomly dropped on her night stand and bites at her lip before grabbing it and dialing the number. It rang a few times and Tatyana was about to hang up when someone spoke.

"This is Pyro, what do you want?"

Tatyana gulps before speaking, "Hey…it's Tatyana. Can I ask you for a favor?"

He chuckles softly, "Sure sweetie. You know, I've been waiting for you to call."

***************

Kayvan lay on the ground panting, glaring up at the silver haired boy who was smirking down at him, his arms folded across his chest.

"You tired already Sexy? I thought you said you were going to beat me?" Pietro grinned pulling the boy up to his feet.

"That was before I knew that you had super speed. Trust me if I had known that I would have never agreed to race you." Kayvan tried to continue glaring at him but the boy's grin seemed contagious and he found himself grinning back.

"It was fun though. You did give me a run for my money when your wings appeared. You're a very fast flyer."

"When my dad saw that I could grow wings like my mother he made me train to learn how to fly fast to help me while I'm a bodyguard."

"Wow your mother can grow wings too that's amazing. I didn't know that some kids kept the same powers as their parents."

Kayvan nods, "Mmm…my father said every mutant in my mother's family had the ability to grow wings. They called it the gift of angels."

"Wow that's really cool Kay. We should hang out some more and maybe you can introduce me to that girlfriend of yours." Pietro nudges him in his side, winking.

Kayvan blushes, "She's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever you say, Sexy. Wait a minute," In a flash Pietro runs off then reappears with a pen faster than Kayvan could blink, "Here's my number. Call me anytime."

Kayvan blushes as the boy writes his name and number on the palm of his hand, laughing softly as the tip of the pin tickles his hand.

Pietro caps the pin and grins, "You know you have a sexy laugh."

"Ah…thank you."

Pietro laughs and hands him his books, "You're welcome. Hey sit beside me in literature tomorrow and then we'll grab a bite to eat okay?"

Kayvan finds himself nodding and the boy runs off leaving Kayvan to stare at his hand and grin.

Tatyana found herself blushing as she summoned the courage to knock on the door to John's room, her sketchpad and other art supplies crushed to her chest. She had shifted into her normal looking form (though her hair had once again turned purple, which reminded her that she had training with Professor Ororo about that.) and she had even changed out of her baggy black basketball shorts and into a pair of normal purple shorts and the black tank top she had been wearing most of the day with a pair of purple flip flops.

"Geeze it's just dorky Pyro. It's not like its Kayvan or anything. You don't even like him that much." She reasoned with herself, taking a deep breath and knocking on the door.

She only had a few minutes to wait because soon the boy had answered the door, his blond hair not slicked back for once and he wore a pair of baggy red shorts and a tight black t shirt that clung to his muscles. Tatyana blushed and tried to keep her eyes off of his chest, though she knew she was going to be looking at it soon anyway and without a shirt at that.

"Come on in sweetie." Pyro grins and moves aside to let her walk inside, closing and locking the door behind her.

"Uh…the door doesn't have to be closed…or locked for that matter." Tatyana squeaks, glancing back at him. The boy just shrugs and places a hand on the small of her back, pushing her forward to the bed.

"I know. So how do you want me?" Pyro lounges on the bed and Tatyana sits on the far edge of it.

"I just need a model for my art class because we're working on the male figure so…"

Pyro chuckles softly, "Yes you said that when you called me, but you aren't answering my question," He leans forward, reaching out to touch her face so she is looking into his eyes, "How. Do. You. Want. Me?"

"Um…"Tatyana finds that she lost the ability of coherent speech and John laughs at her moving away to slide off his shirt and lay back against the pillow.

"Well violet, get to drawing." He folds his hands behind his head and watches her with half lidded eyes and Tatyana grabs her sketch book and pencil.

Tatyana begins sketching silently, her eyes glancing over the top of her book to run over John's lean form. The boy was super skinny yet fit, she noticed, and she vaguely wondered if he had been fed well while living with Magneto. He obviously had trained a lot and not just with his powers because the boy had a noticeable six pack and strangely enough tattoos of flames going around his wrists, halfway up his lower arms while on his side extending to the lower part of his stomach, just under his bellybutton he had a stylized tattoo of a bird in red, orange and black.

Tatyana glances up at him to see his eyes fully closed though a smirk still graced his face and she slowly reaches out and traces the part of the tattoo on his stomach.

Pyro's eyes snap open when he feels her fingers touch his belly, shivering slightly when he notices how cool her fingers were compared to his warm skin and how slowly the tip of her nail grazed him. He inhales sharply when her fingers trace the top of the tail of the phoenix that continued on into his jeans and frowns when she jerks her hand away just as it brushes the hem of his pants.

He waits for her to speak but hears nothing but the sound of her starting to draw and he frowns slightly, "Hey…"

"Sorry about that. It's a phoenix right? Why would you get that after…"She interrupts and continues drawing not knowing how to continue.

"I suppose that Jubilee and her friends told you about how I joined up with Magneto and about the Phoenix." Pyro says sighing softly.

"Mmmhm…a little. Though it was mostly Jubilee, I'm not really friends with Kitty and Rogue and Bobby are too into each other for me to want to be around them. I'm not into the whole lovey dovey couple thing." She rolls her eyes still not looking up from her sketching.

Pyro laughs a little at her description of his former friends then sighs, shutting his eyes and shifting so he was lying on his side earning a glare from the girl, "I got this long before she returned. Phoenixes mean rebirth and immortality and I want to be remembered forever for my strength and power. I guess I identify with it."

Tatyana nods and nudges him so he was once again on his back, "Hmm…Phoenixes also mean goodness, kindness and reliability. At least that's what I heard."

Pyro's eyes snap open and he looks at the girl to see her smirking at him, "What do you…"

"Maybe you aren't as bad of a person as you think you are," She says quietly beginning to sketch once more, "I mean if you have such a good mystical creature on your body and seem to identify with it…maybe you can be reborn as well."

"Do you think so?"

Tatyana smirks then frowns, "Shut up so I can finish drawing you Firefly."

Pyro smiles a little and throws a pillow at her causing her to glare at him, "Hey my name is John. Call me that; okay, sweetie?"

"Stop calling me sweetie, Firefly." Tatyana hits him with the pillow and he jumps off of the bed to get away from her only to have her chase him around the room with it, laughing.

"Whatever you say, sweetie. Whatever you say. Hey watch the hair!" John is hit in the back of the head and tackles Tatyana on to the bed, tickling her on the side.

She wiggles away from him after a while and the two lay back against the pillows, panting.

Tatyana holds out her hand to John and smiles, "So firefly, friends?"

John looks at her hand then takes it, "Yeah Violet, friends."