A/N- Well, this chapter's gonna go quick and probably be short. Hope you like it.
Lance twirled his car keys in one hand. His thoughts were wild and all over the place, rocking his brain not unlike his earthquakes did to the ground. But, as per usual, he couldn't help it and found himself swimming in doubt about the reason he was sitting on the steps of the Boarding House. He thought about Pietro dying his infamous locks and Wanda's new boyfriend and Toad's obsession with make up and Fred's strange eating habits. He thought about the mud stains on his new jeans and the woman he was currently 'fucking' in the back seat of his car every other night. He thought about Kitty and the past and the 'mission' the newly refounded Brotherhood would be performing in less then a week. He thought about the future and what it would hold should they never change back and what it would be like should they do. He thought about his keys and the scratches on his knuckles and how hard he'd had to work to end up in a rundown shack with a bunch of tired, deserted teenagers who'd worked just as hard as he had. He thought of his proposal to Brit and her answer and what that meant in the grand scheme of things. He thought about the kiss she'd given him and the kiss Kitty had given him when he'd saved her life that night on the hijacked X-Jet.
Mostly, though, he thought about telling the truth.
For the past month, he'd been seeing Brit and fooling around with her all night long. Yet, he'd refrained from telling her he was actually a guy or that he was a mutant or that he'd been involved with a woman he'd intended to marry or that his first name was Lance. He'd been afraid. After all, Kitty had been a mutant herself and she'd had so many problems with his powers. His powers just weren't 'housebroken'. He was a dangerous mutant and he knew it. To reveal that to someone who might not even like mutants, well, that wasn't at all something he wanted to do. So, he'd avoided the reason he'd earned the nickname 'Avalanche'.
And the bit about his true gender, that was an even bigger problem. Brit was, without a doubt, lesbian. True, he was female now, but things could get tricky. Especially since the chance that he would eventually be changing back into a male was so high. He was almost positive she wouldn't be interested if he was a guy. That would be quite painful to deal with. He truly didn't even want to think about it.
Did that mean he wouldn't change back if given the chance? Did he love Brit that much? Did he love her at all? What were his real feelings?
In all honesty, Lance didn't know. All he knew right then and there as he tossed his keys up and down was that he'd gotten into a fight with Toad that morning in the bathroom. He'd pinned that tiny thing to the wall and demanded that he stop seeing Wally or risk being an accomplice to murder. Then he'd wanted to know how long everything had been going on and that redhead had shown up and Toad had panicked and run off with that creep like an animal on a choking leash that threatened to cut off his air supply should he not obey. Lance had been left slamming his fist into the wall until blood leaked down his arm, simply because he hadn't been man enough to punch that human. He'd stormed off to get Fred and found him talking on the phone to Jeff and the idea had struck him as a way to get out of the house. He'd told Fred they were heading over to Jeff's for a quick visit and the next thing either of them knew, they were at the house drinking root beer.
He hadn't expected Brit to be hanging around when he pulled up into the driveway. However, she'd been in the shower and she'd come out while he was in the middle of a rant about life. His jaw had dropped and everything got really hot and really wet the moment that steamy beauty walked out to ask where the hair dryer was. Without much thought, he'd thrown his soda down and rushed to embrace her.
That was that. The two had kissed and melted into one another as they stumbled past a shocked looking Janice. They collapsed in the bathroom and Lance had torn that towel off in a primal sense of lust. Her body had been a gift from God, with all those shapely curves and bouncing breasts. Like a creature from the wild, he'd attacked and pinned her to the floor. Brit offered no defense and moaned as he bit her neck and licked her chest as it heaved harder and harder. He'd rubbed his fingers up and down her naked body and relished the feel of that soft flesh as it rippled and squished under the pressure. She's quivered and he's run his tongue over her crotch. She screamed when he licked up inside her and tasted that cinnamon and vanilla entrance for the first time. It had been sweeter then candy and he'd kept going, her liquids dripping into his mouth and over his fingers as he squeezed her ass and moved them around the area he was molesting.
By the time he finished, she was laughing. Jokingly, Brit had exclaimed that now she understood the name 'Avalanche'. She informed him that he'd certainly rocked her world and then she touched down there and smiled as he panted and glanced side ways at her red face.
As calmly as humanly possible, he'd asked her to date him. Officially, exclusively. Just the two of them. She hadn't hesitated like Kitty had. She hadn't needed some time to think about it. She just nodded and gave him a tender, juicy kiss on the lips as a thank you for ravishing her gorgeous body.
To wash up, the two had taken a hot shower together. They giggled like girls and held hands as they washed the other's messy, short hair and massaged the other's busty breasts. They'd frenched and rubbed their bodies up against each other's as they let the hot water run down their curves and smiled to one another, lost in a world all their own. Neither could tear their eyes off the body in front of them and they both enjoyed that the other couldn't. Lance had never felt so desired in all his life and he shivered with pleasure as he saw her eyes dropping down to the swell of his hips once more.
Once the shower was over, they'd gotten dressed and headed out to where Fred and Jeff were engaged in a heated make out session that ended abruptly as soon as the new couple entered the room. Lance announced their union, then stated that he was going to drive Brit to her job so that the other couple could have some time to themselves. Fred had arched an eyebrow but said nothing as they left.
The drive to the mall was full of laughter and happy conversations on music and video games. Sadly, though, they'd parted after a lengthy good bye kiss and he soon found himself at the Boarding House. There, he quickly located the speedster exercising while eating candy and watching a tape in fast forward mode. He knew it was Pietro due to the fact that the person was a blur. The blue haired freak had paused long enough to inform him that Wanda had disappeared to a Gothic chic café with her boyfriend, Adam, and Toad had returned but had bolted to his room without so much as a 'yo'. Then the person he'd been speaking with became a blur and Lance had rolled his eyes as he headed up the stairs. He'd dumped his shoes and then knocked on the youngest member's door. Toad shouted he wanted to be alone, he had things to think about, and he wasn't coming down for dinner because he wasn't hungry. Tired of knocking, Lance soon left and went down to the front porch for some hard thinking of his own.
And there he sat an hour later, messing with his keys and tapping his bare feet on the steps in time to a song he wasn't sure existed outside his mind. He'd heard the TV click off and knew Pietro was either crashed on the couch or the chair, too exhausted to go upstairs. The boy had always had a nasty habit of eating himself sick while working out so that he just fell down, half way dead, on something even remotely soft and sleeping for a couple hours before either heat or hunger woke him and he went in search of a remedy for whatever it was that ailed him. He also knew the toad would be asleep upstairs too. Toad always drifted into slumber whenever he needed to think about things, if only because he had to do this on his bed. If there ever was an animal that couldn't keep it's eyes open when on a comfortable bed, it was Toad. So, with his two roommates catching a few winks in the house and the other two out in the company of good spouses, Lance was left on the porch as the sun started to set.
His mind wandered around the question he'd asked Brit. Yeah, he was confused about what was to come, but he'd never felt so wonderful then when he was with that flirty girl. She, in a corny way, completed him. And still, he held back. He couldn't tell her the truth. He didn't want her to know the real Lance Alvers. She knew him by his last name and his code name, though she didn't know it was a codename. He'd fed her a lie about why he was living with such weirdos. He'd lied about most of his past, all except him being a foster kid with a rough upbringing. If he felt so right with her, then why did he feel the need to hold back?
He knew he wasn't the only one holding it back. Fred had accepted Jeff's offer to date not too long ago and he hadn't mentioned the mutation or the male aspect. The two of them seemed to be doing well. They spent day in and day out talking about everything under the sun and then retalking about the same things. Fred had never appeared so content in his situation. The only problem seemed to be this Janice character, who was on the Brotherhood's 'To Maim' list simply because of the Blob's assertion that she was evil. Besides that twiggy girl, the couple was as happy as ever and enjoying their time together.
Wanda and Adam were doing surprisingly well too. The rock tumbler was pretty sure the Goth knew that both the Maximoff's were mutants, and had figured out that the entire Brotherhood were as well. However, he also knew that the Scarlet Witch had lied about her brother being her brother and religiously referred to him as 'Victoria' in front of her beau. Surely, she did so due to Pietro's desire to be seen as a perfect woman, but she was still hiding things from Adam. And yet, the set was so very much in love. More so then any of the others.
So, why did he feel so guilty about Brit? Couldn't he make it work, despite the lies and the side stories? The others had, except for Toad. In his heart, Lance knew the best thing would be to tell her everything and let fate sort the rest out. But fate had driven him to the edge and he was dead tired of being screwed over. He'd let fate lead him to Kitty and to the Brotherhood and down the way wrong path to teenage mutanthood with a group of misguided youths who had no hopes and no dreams. He'd allowed fate to eventually let him take the reigns as leader and thus to the lab that they'd been changed into females in. He'd let fate take it's course and he'd been beaten up, expelled, humiliated publically, and stripped of his manhood in the most literal of senses. He was tired of fate getting in the way of what he wanted. It'd destroyed his chances of getting a good job, getting Kitty, and getting out of the rut his parents had set him in. He wasn't going to let it ruin his chances with Brit. He was taking things into his own hands and running with it. He was going to keep his secrets and let them live in the bliss they'd found, at least for a little while longer.
Twirling his keys around one finger, Lance nodded to his decision even though he knew deep down it was the wrong one. Darkness was beginning the creep up the sidewalk and a light had just turned on in the living room. He could hear Pietro stumbling into the kitchen and sure enough, a light flicked on there too. He knew there was nothing to eat and there was no money to order in. So he knew the speedster would grab the only edible thing in the room, fruit bars, and march upstairs to eat the few he could stomach before curling up to go to bed with an empty stomach and a headache. Toad wouldn't wake up until sometime around midnight and he would fumble into the bathroom to splash water in his face. Then he too would go downstairs, rubbing his face and struggling to walk in the dead of darkness. He'd find nothing to eat and would go back upstairs and camp out in his room, looking for spiders. He probably wouldn't find any and would just go to bed hungry too. By morning, the two would be foaming at the mouth with hunger and would either dig through the trash for anything left or would hit the town to pick up a free meal.
Such was how the past few nights had been. Lance rubbed his forehead where an aching with crawling up. He felt terrible, but there was nothing that could be done. With all their records, they couldn't get jobs. Pietro had been arrested before under the charges of robbery, repeated theft, breaking and entering, and vandalism. They all had been charged with counts of destruction of property and all were registered mutants. Wanda was even an inmate from a mental institution. So, money had run short again. They only got one check from the government for money and it was actually the money Raven got for caring for Wanda. The checks had been transferred into Lance's name, as he was the only one over eighteen, and they cashed each check every month to pay for every expense they had. All the rest of their money came from theft, mostly by pawning whatever Toad managed to swipe on the streets. As it was nearing the end of the month again, on the other hand, money was tight and, as usual, the first thing to go was food.
So, Lance was actually happy that Fred and Wanda had found such happy relationships. At least then they could stay out and get treated to a decent meal. The other two, however, would starve in that wooden hell hole rather then go see the boys that bought them their lunches. Sure, Toad was better off, as he mostly ate bugs anyhow, but his body couldn't survive on just that. Pietro was in worse shape, due to his power, and often ate what little food they had before mooching off lovers. Lance, well, he normally sucked it up and ate nothing. Now that he was with Brit, he at least ate sometimes. That was a bonus.
Had fate, then, led them to that lab to become women because it was the path they were supposed to take to survive? At the moment, he was too exhausted and hungry and confused to give much of a damn. Night was approaching fast and he knew no one would be arriving to take him away from his prison. He'd sat out on that porch to think and in hopes Brit would be getting off work before nightfall, which had been a silly thought. Therefore, Lance caught his keys and pocketed them as he got to his feet. As he turned around, he saw Pietro's shadow in the kitchen window drifting past, probably heading up those stairs to a fitful slumber. He almost hurried inside to stop him but didn't. Instead, he took out his black cell phone and flicked it open. The tiny screen glowed in the semi darkness as he punched in a number he knew by heart.
Kitty's phone rang once, twice, three times, then cut to voice mail. On any other given moment, he would've just hung up and tried again. This time, he stood there, one hand gripping the knob leading into his suffering gender mixed up Hell and waited for her predictable message to subside to a beep. It beeped and he spoke from what he figured was the heart after such a thoughtful reflection on his feelings for Brit and the situation the X-Men had left the Brotherhood in by refusing to acknowledge the plight of the teens as this woman had ignored his plight for her affection.
" Hey, Kitty. This is Lance. I just wanted to let you know, from me, that I got a new girlfriend. Her name's Brit and she's awesome. Just thought I'd let you know you can stop calling me. See ya around then," with that, he coldly clicked the phone shut and stepped inside the mildly warm house he called home. Upstairs, two of his friends were sleeping with empty stomachs and elsewhere, the others were making up stories to stay away and get free meals. And he was leaving the door unlocked for no reason without feeling guilty.
He knew he shouldn't of called Kitty. That was something he should've told her in public. He should've been there when she either got pissed or cried or did whatever dramatic reaction she would do when she heard that message. It would've been the better thing to do. Yet, he hadn't. He'd called her up and left a message of her cell phone's answering machine and had no intention whatsoever of answering should she call back. His mind was made up. Whether it was fate or his own doing, he was going to stay in his web of lies with Brit rather then agonize over Kitty and her feelings. So, he'd decided to be cruel and leave her a voice mail instead of holding her as she broke down.
To be truthful, after all the shit she'd put him through, Lance really didn't feel she deserved any better. If he wasn't worth the effort, then neither was she. She just wasn't. And she'd just have to deal with that, like he had.
Maybe one day, she'd get over it too. That, he thought as he laughed and tossed his phone to the side, he highly doubted. She was much too big of a drama queen for it.
I lied. It was loooong. Turned out nothing like what I thought... oh well... I'm actually fond of it... one of my favorite chapters, I think...
That's all.