Chapter Eight: Thnks Fr Th Mmrs (Thanks For The Memories)

Pyro ran his hands through his hair as he stood under the stream of water, pushing the brown strands away from his face. He moved and laid his head against the wall before him, trying to ease the stress and pain that came from fighting in the danger room. Sure he might have enjoyed battling, getting stronger to overcome the limitations of his powers was one of the reasons he left the X-men in the first place, but that didn't mean he liked the ache in his muscles that came afterward and the chill that always covered his body after he was put against his former best friend.

He hadn't even meant to come back to the X-Men in the first place. After being knocked out by Iceman during the fight at Alcatraz, they had taken him back to the mansion and treated the wounds he had gained, not to mention the frostbite that had gotten to his body thanks to a certain someone freezing his arms. He didn't intend to stay after he had been healed either but Ororo had asked him if he really enjoyed being in the brotherhood, if he had anyone left to turn to if he left the mansion once more and he realized he had no one. The rest of the Brotherhood had been defeated and he had no idea where Mystique was hiding after she lost her powers and he had no family to turn to either, his family being back in Australia. He was really and truly alone.

"I…no, no I don't." He had said, glancing down at his bandaged arms. Ororo had just nodded and touched his shoulder, ignoring the way he flinched away from her touch.

"You can stay here once more, John. You will be placed under surveillance and we will be taking your flamethrowers away for the safety of the other children but you will have a place to stay and will be able to attend classes once again."

John was kind of wary about returning to the very school and the people he had betrayed but he knew he really had no choice, "I'll …can I have a few days to think about it?"

Ororo nodded and he was left alone. He spent most of his time in the Infirmary after that, not wanting to go out and see the other students glare at him. His only visitors were Ororo, Beast who was his doctor and surprisingly Bobby.

"Just come back John. What have you got to lose? What do you have out there to keep you from going back? At least here you can learn and get a few healthy meals, lord knows you need both." Bobby said, not glancing up from his comic book. He had been hiding out from Rogue and Kitty, the two girls having started fighting for his attention after Rogue got the cure and he was obviously annoyed at it. Hiding in John's hospital room seemed like a best bet since they all expected him to hate him and not want anything to do with the boy, he actually had wanted to see his old friend again. He mostly just sat and read while John watched television while he was in there until John had finally ended up breaking the silence to ask him about his comic book and the two ended up talking like friends again leading to the discussion on Professor Ororo's offer.

"What, do you actually want me here, Ice boy? Did you miss me?" John smirked only to have Bobby stand up and roll his eyes.

"Get over yourself. At least I cared enough about you to bring you back here; would your other little teammates have done that?"

John knew they wouldn't have. Sure Mystique acted somewhat like a friend to him but he knew she was in the Brotherhood for her own reasons and he was in it for his, as was everyone else. He had seen that when Magneto left the one person who had stood beside for so many years just because she had been given the cure even when it was to save him. He still stood beside Magneto, had even said that he would kill the Professor but part of him simply didn't want to be there anymore. So he agreed to come back to the X-Men and take the stipulations they placed on him, just so he could have somewhat of a home once more.

It wasn't much of a home though, the other kids were scared of him and the only person who talked to him was Bobby. At least until Tatyana walked into Beast's Biology class.

Pyro smiled as that day plays through his head, his hands scrubbing shampoo through his hair to keep from wandering down to someplace else when he thought of his friend.

He had thought she was hot even then, the way she walked into class semi shyly even though she was dressed in a tight t-shirt and a black skirt that showed of a pair of toned purple legs. He found himself staring at those legs as she walked, and to his surprise she took a seat next to him instead of one of the ones at the back of the class where the other kids sat. He studied her slowly, watching her take out her notebook and begin taking notes, noticing that while her skin was purple it had random silver markings on it and that her ears were slightly pointed. He thought she looked a lot like an elf from that lame game that that weird Doug Ramsey kid played with Kitty on the computer.

"Hey sweetie, I thought I should introduce myself. I'm Pyro and you are?" He had said tapping her lightly on the arm. She glanced at him then nodded.

"Tatyana…your name isn't really Pyro is it?"

"It's… John Allerdyce but why hide what I am? I'm a mutant and my mutant name is Pyro. So what's your power?"

"Um…I'm a shape shifter…"

Pyro smiles a little, "Cool."

"You don't think it's weird?" Tatyana gave him a look and he shook his head and laughed.

"I knew a shape shifter. She was…pretty talented. Plus I've learned that it's sort of lame to judge people by their abilities. Here use my book since you don't have one. I wasn't going to use it anyway."

Tatyana smiled then and it was then Pyro realized he wanted to get to know this girl. No it wasn't love at first sight or anything and in fact it was more like lust at first sight from the way his eyes seemed to like staring at her legs and backside when she walked but he wanted to at least become her friend somehow he guessed it was because he was a little lonely. Though he wouldn't admit that to her.

They became closer after she came to his room for her art project, hanging out together when Jubilee and Rahne didn't take up her time. And now he realized after seeing her so hurt by her old friend he didn't want to be just friends with her but he also knew that while he didn't want to see her hurt by him that he didn't want to be hurt either.

The water turns cold and he shuts if off, wrapping his towel around him and stepping out of the shower and heading back towards the locker room. He shakes his hair out of his eyes, slightly annoyed that somehow his female friend had gotten him to dye it back brown and even add a few red streaks to it, saying that he looked like "a total creeper with ugly hair", but he still liked it even though she also stole his hair gel and gave it to Logan. He had to admit that he was being noticed more by the other females at the school though it kind of freaked him out that Kitty was one of the ones who had started flirting with him.

"John did you die in here? Dang you take long to get dressed." Tatyana says walking into the locker room just as John was dropping his towel and pulling on his boxers. She blinks at the naked boy, her eyes trailing over his chest then going lower and not moving. A light purple blush appears on her face and she turns away quickly.

He smirks though a blush had formed on his own face, "Like what you see sweetie?"

"I'm going to pretend that this never happened. So...I'll...be...outside, yeah, outside." The girl runs out of the room and John laughs tugging on his boxers then the rest of his clothes.

He heads outside where Tatyana was waiting with Bobby, an ear bud stuck in one ear as she listened to him.

"So her name was Magma…"She trails off when Pyro slings an arm around her shoulder and kisses her forehead a little causing the girl to blush more.

Pyro glances at Bobby at the mention of Magma, "What are you talking about her for?"

"Oh…Kitty heard that Magma was coming back to the school. I thought you would want to know since she was your ex and all. I was just telling Tatyana about her."

"What do you mean she's coming back? I thought she left for Brazil again with her new boyfriend to visit her family or something."

Tatyana winces when her friend's fingers tighten on her shoulder and she looks up at him to see his brown eyes were hard and angry looking and that he was biting the corner of his lip.

'I wonder who this Magma girl is.'