Back to You
An X-Men Evolution fanfic
Kitty glared down at her grocery list. It was definitely supposed to be longer. She had only just moved into her apartment a week ago, and she was constantly remembering things she needed. She flipped over the paper. No help there.
Okay, this was fine. She would remember everything else. It was fine. Sure she might have to come right back out tomorrow, but at least that would give her time to make an actual list. Well, so long as she wasn’t interrupted by another call from Jubilee . . . .
Peanut butter! She had wanted a sandwich for lunch and hadn’t been able to make one. She turned her cart around and looked up at the signs marking each aisle. Unfortunately, that meant she didn’t see the person coming around the corner.
Crash
“Oh, man,” Kitty said. “I’m soo sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going, and–” Her eyes locked on the man’s startled face. “Lance?”
“Kitty?”
“What are you doing here?”
“I . . . live here?” he asked, as though he wasn’t sure. “Why are you here?”
She gaped at him. He lived here? When he moved, she had thought he wanted to get away from everything and everyone. She thought he wanted to go far away, not, like, an hour. She could have just driven to see him any time–
“Kitty?”
She blinked, pulling herself back to the present. “I—oh, I just transferred to school here.”
“Oh.”
Silence settled heavy over them, and Kitty shrank under it. She hated this. Not knowing what to say to him. In high school, they had never been at a loss for words. Sure those words might be good or bad, but at least it wasn’t this horrible silence.
“Were you looking for something?” Lance asked.
“Oh, um, yes! I was looking for peanut butter. I’m still not used to this store, and I can’t find anything!”
He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and shrugged his shoulders, but she could see the tension in his frame that said he wasn’t quite as unconcerned as he wanted to seem. “I could help you. I mean, if you want.”
“Sure! That would be great! But . . . I don’t want to keep you.”
“It’s no problem. I’m only here cause my roommate stole all my chips, and I wanted to get some more.”
Kitty couldn’t help but grin. “Alright. If you’re sure. Lead the way!”
He laughed and led her to the peanut butter. Then the fruit, then the rice. It was very helpful having her own supermarket guide to keep her from getting lost, but anxiety knotted in her stomach the longer he stayed with her. Sooner or later, she would have to say something besides reading off her grocery list, and then she’d have to say what she had been avoiding for the past two years.
“Listen, Lance,” she began, right as he said, “so, Kitty–” They both stopped and chuckled.
“You go first,” she said.
He looked like he wanted to protest, then sighed. “I’m—I’m really sorry. About the train, about the fight at school, about . . . about all of it, I guess. Looking back now, it was all so stupid, and I just . . . I’m sorry.”
Kitty stared down at her hands, watching her knuckles turn white as she squeezed the cart handle. Somehow his apology just made the guilt worse. “I—I’m sorry too. The things I said before you left . . . I didn’t mean them. I was just angry and—and–”
“It’s okay.”
“No it’s not! I shouldn’t have said those things. It was mean and I regretted it as soon as I said it, but I was too embarrassed to apologize, and . . . and can you ever forgive me?”
Surprise colored his face, then it softened into a smile. “I already did.” It felt far too easy penance.
Then again, if that was all it took, perhaps the time apart had been the real punishment.
“Hey, Kitty?” She looked up to see him playing with his gloves. “Do you . . . do you think we could try again? Do you think we could really be friends this time?”
She smiled. “I’d like that.”
Lance stumbled into his apartment, still feeling dazed from running into Kitty. It was like a dream. But not the normal kind of dream. No, this was more like a fever dream—disorienting and leaving you with the sense that something was wrong. The kind that you know is a dream, just leaving you to wait in suspense, unable to wake up on your own.
He crashed onto the sofa and sighed. He picked up his guitar. “Not the guitar,” his roommate complained. He ignored him. Years of living with Pietro and Tabitha had left him immune to comments about his musical skills.
“Hey, Gray, what would you do if there was a girl you’ve liked for years, but your families hate each other, and you can never get along for more than a month or two at a time, and then you break up for several years, and then she suddenly shows up out of nowhere and wants to be friends. Do you think you can be friends after that?” He regretted the words as soon as he finished. He really didn’t want Gray to tell him no.
“Is this a Shakespeare play?” Gray asked, “Cause it sounds like a Shakespeare play.”
Lance tilted his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “Forget it.”
Could they be friends, or did they have too much history behind them? They had both said and done things that hurt the other, but they had always moved past it. Still, it seemed every time things started to work out between them, something happened and it all fell apart again.
After their last fight, he had been angry for a while, and hurt for longer, but after some time that had faded, and he had hoped they would figure things out again. When months passed without a word from her, though, he started to think that was just a sign they weren’t meant to be.
But now she was back in his life.
They weren’t in high school anymore. They had somewhat moved on from their rival teams (the Brotherhood was still his family, and he imagined the X-Men were still hers, but they wouldn’t get dragged into fights every other week anymore). And, probably most importantly, both of them had matured. At least, he hoped he was more mature now than he had been at eighteen.
Maybe, maybe, there was hope for them yet.
You never change, do you?
The words kept rattling around in Kitty’s head all day. The foolish, angry words that had finally chased Lance away. She had regretted them every day since, but now it seemed the world was conspiring to throw her words back in her face every time she spoke to him, never letting her forget them.
Not that she wanted to forget. Her memory so often failed her, but even two years later, she could recall perfectly the instant his expression had crumpled at her words. She never wanted to hurt him like that again.
Frankly, it was amazing that he still wanted to spend time with her, and yet he always had, after every single fight.
The evening after they reconnected, he had called her to ask her about . . . something, which led to them talking for an hour. Ever since, they hadn’t gone a day without talking, even if it was only for a few minutes. It reminded her of how much she had enjoyed talking to him in school, and how much she had missed him after he left. She had just never called him out of, well, stubbornness, she supposed. Kurt always told her she was too stubborn. She couldn’t argue about that now.
“Uhg, I’m not looking forward to Dr. Johnson’s test next week,” Desiree complained. Kitty wasn’t very good at making new friends, but luckily she and Desiree had hit it off in their very first class.
Kitty threw her head back and groaned. “Tell me about it! Why did he wait so long to have a test? I mean, not that I, like, wanted one earlier, but now it’s going to cover so much stuff!”
“I know! Three chapters is a little much.”
Kitty nodded and was about to answer, when her phone rang. She dug it out of her bag. “Hang on, let me make sure this isn’t important.” She hit the answer button. “Hello?”
“Hey, Kitty, it’s Lance. Are you busy tonight?” Desiree’s eyebrows shot up, and she leaned closer to hear the conversation better. Kitty stifled a laugh and shoved her away.
“Nope, not at all! Did you have something in mind?”
“Well, I mean, we could catch a movie or something.” She bit her lip, trying not to laugh at his casual act. As though calling at 7:45 in the morning was normal for him.
“Oh, really? What kind of movie?”
“Well, that new Star Wars movie is still in the theaters. You like those, right? Or there’s Zorro, or, uh, Corpse Bride? Or–” Kitty grinned as he continued to list off movies. It sounded like he was reading off a list.
“Star Wars sounds good.” She had heard some classmates complain about it, but she hadn’t seen it yet, and she wanted to see all of them at least once.
“Cool! I can pick you up after I get off work–”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she said. “You said you live right down the street from the university, right? I’ll just walk over, and then you can drive us.”
He was quiet for a second, and she worried she shouldn’t have suggested that. “Yeah, sure. Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”
“Yeah, see you then. Bye, Lance!”
“Bye.”
She hung up and turned back to Desiree, who grinned from ear to ear. “What?”
“Looks like someone’s got a date tonight,” Desiree sang.
“What? No I don’t! It’s not a date, we’re just . . .” hanging out, wouldn’t leave her mouth. But it was true! It wasn’t a date. They hadn’t even really dated in high school, unless you counted the dance, which hadn’t turned out to be the romantic, fun evening anyone had expected. No, this wasn’t a date, even if it was just the two of them, at a theater, in the evening, with no Mr. Logan to enforce an early curfew . . . .
“Oh. Maybe it is a date.”
Desiree gave a satisfied smirk. “Thank you.”
“But . . . but it can’t be a date!”
“What? Why?” Desiree asked. “Don’t you like him? You definitely sounded like it.”
Well . . . yes. She very much liked him. That certainly hadn’t gone away in the past two years, no matter how much she had tried, and no matter how many other guys she had tried going on a date with. “But I’m not dressed for a date!”
“Oh, that.” Desiree rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. You look fine.”
“I know I look fine!” She wouldn’t have left home otherwise. “But I don’t look ready for a date!” Her blue blouse was perfectly fine for school, but she wouldn’t have even glanced at it if she knew she would be going out with Lance afterwards. And she was just wearing normal jeans! Not even a skirt! She buried her head in her hands and groaned.
Then she remembered his silence after she had offered to walk over to his place. “He even offered to pick me up, but I said no! Do you think he’s upset?” It would be just like him to offer to drive two minutes to try to be romantic, and she had just ruined that.
Desiree put her hands on Kitty’s shoulders and pushed her towards the math building for their class. “I think you’re worrying too much about this. You’re going to go on your date tonight, you’re both going to have a great time, and we are not going to be late for class, alright?”
Do you really think it’s a date?”
Desiree groaned.
They were not late to class, and math went smoothly. As she and Desiree parted ways, Kitty lamented for the third time this week that the only time she could fit her programming class in was 4:30. Lance would certainly be home by the time she got out, but it was torture to sit and try to focus on homework when all she could think about was her possible date later that evening.
4:30 finally rolled around. She made it to class, but heard pretty much nothing the professor said. Her notes were dismal, and her homework would not go smoothly tomorrow. By the time the clock hit 5:45, all her things were packed up and she practically sprinted for the door. She checked the address Lance had texted her, then started down the street.
The apartment complex was cute. Six brick buildings set in a semi-circle around the smaller administrative building and tiny trees planted between them. She checked the numbers on each building and found the right one. When she knocked, however, a short young man with shaggy brown hair and thick, plastic-framed glasses answered it.
“Um, hi! I’m Kitty. I’m a friend of Lance’s. Is he, uh, here?”
The guy rolled his eyes. “He’s in his workshop, where he always is.”
“His workshop?” Kitty peeked past him into the apartment. She didn’t see how you could fit a workshop inside it, and there certainly wasn’t anything like that near the complex. Unless he meant Lance’s room?
The man pointed down the street. “Two blocks that way. House with a green roof. There’s a shed in the backyard. You’ll find him there.”
He was in someone else’s shed? And he did this often? “Okay, thanks!”
“Yeah.” He shut the door.
She found the house easily enough. That roof certainly was . . . green. And the rather familiar music blaring from the backyard definitely helped. She felt a little weird sneaking into someone else’s backyard, but there was no way Lance would hear her from there. She doubted he’d hear his phone ring either. She glanced nervously at the house, then crossed the lawn to the shed, weaving her way through rows and rows of flowers.
She knocked. “Lance!” All she could hear was music. “Lance!” He didn’t answer. She tugged the door open and slipped inside. “Lance!”
He was standing on the other side of the small room, facing away from her. He jumped at her shout and reached for the cd player, hitting it a few times. The music cut off abruptly. He spun around to face her. “Geez, Kitty, don’t scare me like that.”
She folded her arms. “I knocked, but you didn’t hear me. Seriously, you’re as bad as Ray with that music.”
He grinned sheepishly, then froze. “Wait, what time is it?”
“Almost six.”
“Shoot!” He dropped whatever he was holding on the table behind him. The sound it made didn’t sound good, but he didn’t react. “I’m so sorry! I was trying to finish something, and I guess I lost track of time. Give me just a second to clean up.” He grabbed some tools on the table and ran around the room hanging them up on the walls, in a pattern that only made sense to him.
Now that she was looking, Kitty could see that there were lots of tools hanging all over the walls, some of which she had never heard of. Several wooden stools were lined up against one wall, and a small table in the middle of the room held a bunch of small wooden objects. She moved closer and found a bunch of wooden spoons, meticulously carved with animals and flowers in the handles.
“Did you . . . make all these?”
“Yeah. The stools are simpler to make and sell for more, but the spoons are more fun.”
“These are, like, totally gorgeous!”
Something crashed, and Kitty looked up. Lance picked up a couple of tools on the ground without meeting her eyes. “Thanks. It’s just . . . something to do when I’m not busy.”
“So you’re just running a business out here? In someone else’s shed?’
“Not really. I mean, I just sell whatever I’ve got on hand, and mostly just to people in the area. And, yeah, technically it’s someone else’s shed, but Mr. Conners lets me rent it. He’s getting too old to take care of all those flowers, so I help with the gardening ever so often, and he lets me work here.”
She ran her fingers down one of the carved spoons. She guessed that was where his inspiration came from. “You garden now?”
“Out of necessity.” He sighed. “I know so much more about flowers than I ever thought I would. I think he thinks I’m going to kill his flowers as soon as his back is turned, cause he stands out there and watches me the whole time.”
Kitty giggled. “Sounds fun.”
“No kidding. And I thought Pietro was bossy. But he lets me have this space, and he doesn’t mind my music, so it’s worth it.”
Having finished her inspection of the spoons, she grew curious about what else he might have made. “What were you finishing when I got here?”
Lance stiffened, then shrugged one shoulder. “Nothing much.” His tone said it was definitely something much.
“Oh, really? Maybe I should just go look then.”
“No, wait, don’t we have somewhere to be?”
“We have plenty of time.”
He stepped between her and the table. “It’s really nothing important.” He grabbed her shoulders, spun her around, and directed her to the door. “Come on, I need to head back and get my stuff before we leave.”
Lance had never minded the walk to and from his workshop, but walking back with Kitty was definitely the best it had ever been. When they got back to his apartment, he was a little embarrassed to let her see inside it . . . at least until he remembered just how many times she had seen the Brotherhood boarding house, and, for once in his life, his roommate wasn’t a complete slob.
“Hey, Gray, I’m going out,” he shouted when they came inside. “Don’t wait up!”
Gray’s voice drifted from the kitchen. “I never do. You going with that girl?”
Lance rolled his eyes. “‘That girl’ has a name, and yes.”
Gray came out of the kitchen with a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich that was probably his dinner. Lance tried not to cringe. “Kitty, this is my roommate, Graydon. Gray, this is Kitty.”
“We, uh, met,” Kitty said. Gray, with his mouth full, nodded. Well. That sounded concerning.
Gray swallowed. “Is she the girl whose family hates you?”
“Oh, wow, look at the time!” Lance said, looking down at his watch. It took a second to realized he wasn’t actually wearing his watch cause he left it in his room when he went to his workshop, which would explain why he lost track of time. “Well, we better go so we aren’t late.”
“But, Lance–”
He grabbed his jacket. “Let’s go! Bye, Gray!”
“Lance!” Kitty laughed. “Slow down.” She followed him around to the back of the building, then stopped when she saw his old jeep sitting in the parking lot. “Oh, wow. She still looks great.”
“Yeah, no thanks to Tabby.”
He was about to walk over to the driver’s side, when he remembered all those old romance movies one of his foster moms used to watch. She was the one with all those weird pictures of dogs in costumes all over the walls, even though she didn’t actually have any dogs.
He walked to the other side of the car and opened the door for Kitty. “Hop in.”
Her eyebrows raised, but she grinned and climbed in. They talked on the way about music, her classes, his work, the latest news from their friends. It was surprisingly easy to fall back into conversation with her, as though two years had been two days.
Finally, the question that had been hanging between them since the day they reconnected became too much to ignore. “So,” Lance began, almost afraid of the answer, “how did you end up here?”
“Oh, yeah.” She twisted the end of her ponytail around her finger. “After I graduated, I knew I wanted to go to college, but I wasn’t ready to leave the X-Men yet, so I stuck around and went to a community college nearby. And I started teaching some basic math and programming classes at the mansion.”
Lance nearly wrecked the car. “You what?”
“It didn’t last long,” she assured him. “It was, like, super hard. I love those kids, but I am not cut out to be a teacher. Seriously, can you imagine me teaching high schoolers?”
He really couldn’t. “So what happened?”
She swept her hair over her shoulder. She really needed to stop playing with her hair while he was driving. It was distracting. “I gave it two years. I made a lot of mistakes my first year, and it was, like, really bad. I hoped it would get better the next year, and it did, but not by much. By then I had gotten most of my general classes out of the way at the community college, so I decided to transfer somewhere a little further away to finish my degree. It’s been . . . really nice, actually, to be by myself for a while. I miss the others, but . . .”
“Yeah, I get it. It’s nice to live with just one other person, instead of four. And not to have to bully him into cleaning.” Kitty laughed. “The only tricky part is avoiding using my powers, but I’ve gotten better at controlling them now.”
“So Gray doesn’t know you’re a mutant?”
“Definitely not. The whole reason I moved away from Bayville was to get away from all the mutants against humans stuff. I don’t want to ruin that by letting everyone know what I can do.” He kept his eyes on the road so he wouldn’t have to look at the sad expression on her face. “It’s not a problem, though. He mostly keeps to himself and so do I. He doesn’t ask why I can–” he glanced over at her, realizing she didn’t actually need to know the rest of that sentence, “do things I probably shouldn’t, and I don’t ask why he goes out at three in the morning every night.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, probably at his not-so-subtle evasion, then her face softened into a smile. “That sounds kinda nice actually. When Rogue and I shared a room, she was always in my business about everything, especially if I was staying up late.”
He frowned. Staying up late? But Kitty never stayed up late. At least, not back in high school. He remembered her exhausted complaints at school when he had accidentally kept her up talking on the phone till one in the morning—oh, wait.
“So how did you start making all that stuff?” she asked, oblivious to his realization. “You weren’t doing stuff like that in school, were you?”
He blinked a few times at the lines on the road, trying to make his sluggish brain connect to what she was saying. Oh, his workshop. “No, that’s new. Kind of.” Was two years “new”? Probably not.
“One of my coworkers, it didn’t take him long to figure out that I, uh, didn’t bring much with me when I moved. He asked me to come over one day to help with some stuff, and while I was there, he showed me how to make a table. He told me to take it home and wouldn’t let me pay for it since I did most of the work. After that, he showed me how to make a bunch of other stuff, and gave me some of his old tools he doesn’t use anymore. And I just, built up the collection, I guess. I’ve figured out a lot of stuff on my own too, and he helps me when I get stuck.”
“That sounds really nice,” Kitty said quietly.
It was really nice. Once Todd and Pietro finally graduated and Lance felt like he could leave without abandoning his friends, he knew he needed to get out of Bayville and try to make a home for himself somewhere else. He just needed some space, a place where no one knew him, where no one knew what he was. And making some new friends had certainly helped. He loved everyone in the Brotherhood, but it was nice to have friends who took care of him for once, instead of the other way around.
For a jaded kid who had been kicked out of too many schools and homes to bother with, the new city had felt like just another battlefield. It had taken some time to understand that Randy really didn’t expect favors in return for his help. It had taken even longer to realize that most of the chores he asked Lance to help out with on his visits were made up to keep him from arguing about accepting the furniture, old tools, and lessons.
“So what was that thing you were working on?”
“Kitty!” he groaned. “Please, just leave it.” She giggled, and he realized she was just messing with him.
They arrived at the theater soon after. He had planned to open the car door for her again, but she hopped out before he could, and practically bounced up to the theater. The action was far more endearing than it should have been.
She skipped up to the ticket counter and leaned her elbows on it, smiling up at the woman selling tickets. “Two tickets to Star Wars, please!”
The woman stared at her. “Star Wars?”
“Yep!”
“You know the movie doesn’t start until 7:30, right?’
Lance crossed his arms over his chest, wishing he had grabbed his watch before they left. What time was it? “Yes.”
The woman stared at them for another long second, then shrugged. “Alright.”
They paid for the tickets and found the right room. “So, what time is it, anyway?” Lance asked, staring at the closed doors.
“Six thirty.” Kitty shot him a sly smile. “Good thing we left when we did, or we might have, like, only gotten here half an hour early.” Lance groaned, and she shoved his shoulder. “It’s fine. Give me just a second.”
She slipped into the room and came back a second later. “There’s no one in there. Come on, we can wait in there and talk.”
She grabbed his arm and dragged him in, and he tried very hard not to think about anything else they could do alone in a dark theater.
It wasn’t until the next day that he actually finished his project. As soon as he did, he pulled out his phone and texted Kitty. U busy 2nite? I have a surprise 4 U
He cleaned up his stuff, then brought his project back to his apartment. He found some paper and the ribbon he wanted, then realized he had forgotten one important detail.
He ran downstairs. “Hey, Gray, can I use some tape?”
Gray didn’t look up from his video game. “Second drawer in my desk.”
“Thanks.” He raced back up, found the tape, and did his best to wrap the gift. It was much harder than he expected, but eventually it was finished, and looked halfway decent. He set it on his desk to wait for Kitty, then went back into Gray’s room to put the tape back.
Did he say the top drawer, or the middle? He couldn’t remember. Oh well, it probably didn’t matter. He opened the top drawer, then froze when he saw a yellow armband with a familiar symbol drawn on.
Blood pounded in his ears, and everything felt cold and hot at the same time. He couldn’t . . . this couldn’t be real, right? He must be dreaming. He must.
He picked up the armband. There was no mistaking it. He had seen that blue and red eagle appear at several businesses. He had seen customers at the mechanics shop he worked at wearing them. Most people hadn’t figured out what “Friends of Humanity” meant, but for a mutant with a history like his, it wasn’t hard to find a connection between that symbol and the anti-mutant sentiments he heard every day.
He just never thought he’d find it so close to home.
He heard a noise behind him and spun around to find Gray coming down the hall. He was caught, but he didn’t particularly care.
“What is this?” he asked when Gray reached the doorway. He hoped his anger wasn’t as obvious as it sounded to him. Maybe Gray had just found the armband somewhere. Maybe he didn’t actually know what it meant. Maybe–
Gray rolled his eyes. “I told you the tape goes in the middle drawer.” He plucked the tape from Lance’s hand and dropped it into its place.”
“This armband–” Lance began, then cut off.
“Yeah, you’ve probably seen that symbol around lately. I bet you didn’t know I founded it. I’ve actually been meaning to bring it up to you. Our numbers have been growing, but not as fast as I’d like.”
I founded it. I founded it. I founded it.
Gray slid his glasses up his nose. The movement reminded Lance of Principal Kelly, and suddenly Lance wasn’t in Gray’s room anymore.
He was back in Bayville, at the high school, watching the graduation ceremony. It had taken so much work and fighting just to get Pietro and Todd back into that school but he had managed, and it was worth it to watch them graduate. Lance gritted his teeth through the principal’s speech about “privilege”, but stayed for the younger boys’ sake. Then Duncan’s crew showed up to ruin everything, and the principal just watched.
Lance felt stuck in a cycle of old memories. The letters that used to come for Tabby that everyone knew went straight in the garbage. Pietro, frantic, calling him because Wanda wouldn’t leave her room. Todd’s quiet voice, explanations from a night they both stayed up far too late about why he had left home. Freddy changing the channel any time a sitcom came on. Pietro crossing the street every time they passed a police station, and wincing every time he heard the word “crazy”. The night Lance’s powers had surfaced and he was kicked out, his foster dad screaming about witchcraft, and he couldn’t stop crying because his head hurt too much to think straight.
It took a moment to realize it wasn’t just him shaking.
The books on the dresser rattled, and Gray’s eyes widened. His face twisted in disgust. “You—you’re one of them,” he spat.
Lance knew he needed to calm down. He knew this couldn’t end well, but instead he grabbed the front of Gray’s shirt and dragged him closer. “What did we ever do to you, huh? What did we ever do to you?”
“You were born! You’re just a mistake, all of you, and that mistake needs to be fixed for the rest of us to live the way we’re supposed to.”
Lance needed to leave. He hadn’t lost control of his powers this bad in a long time, and if he didn’t get out now, someone was going to end up hurt. He shoved Gray to the floor and pushed past him. He had to get to the door. He had to get out. He would figure out what came next later. He just needed–
Pain exploded in his head and everything went black.
Kitty skipped up to Lance’s apartment and knocked. She was actually dressed for a date this time, in a sundress Jean had helped her pick out before she moved, and she couldn’t keep the smile from her face. She and Lance had gone on their maybe-date just yesterday, and she hadn’t expected to seem him again so soon.
Gray answered the door when she knocked, but even his gloomy expression couldn’t dampen her excitement. “Hi, Gray! I’m here to see Lance.” She wondered if he was in his workshop. Maybe she should have gone there first.
Gray’s mouth pulled into a frown. “Sorry, he’s gone.”
The words didn’t fit right, and she wondered if she misheard him. “Gone?”
“Yeah. He said a family member was sick and had to rush back home. Just left a little while ago.”
“Oh.” Why hadn’t he called her? Had he thought she wouldn’t care if his friends were sick? Her chest ached at the thought. “Did he say who?”
“Nope. Sorry.”
“Okay, well, thanks!” Her thoughts raced as she walked away. Who was sick? Should she go back too and see if she could help? And why hadn’t Lance called her?
She pulled out her phone and dialed Lance’s number. It rang for a long time, then went to voicemail. Well, maybe he was driving. She called Wanda.
“Hello?”
“Wanda! It’s Kitty. Is everything okay? I heard someone’s sick!”
“Sick? No, we’re fine. Why did you think we’re sick?”
Well, that ruled out Wanda and Pietro. “I heard Lance had to head back to Bayville because someone got sick. Do you know who it is?” The line was quiet for a moment, and Kitty wondered if the call had broken up.
“No one’s sick, Kitty. Do you know who talked to him?”
Cold prickled on the back of her neck. “Well, no, but are you sure? I mean, maybe Todd—or Freddy–”
“No one’s sick,” Wanda repeated firmly. “Pietro’s out, but I saw him just this morning. I talked to Tabby yesterday, and she was out with Freddy all day. And Todd called Pietro this morning. Who told you someone was sick?”
Kitty swallowed, trying to keep her panic back. “Lance’s roommate.”
“You might need to ask him more questions.”
“Right.” She couldn’t help but remember when Scott had gone to Mexico to help his brother, only for it to turn out to be a trap orchestrated by Mystique. But they hadn’t seen Mystique in years, so it couldn’t be her, could it?
“I’m going to try calling him again.”
“Good idea,” Wanda said. “I’ll call the others and see if they’ve heard from him.”
Kitty nodded, though she knew Wanda couldn’t see her. She didn’t think she could answer. She hung up and tried Lance’s number again. As it rang, she sifted through everything she knew. Something felt off. Before she knew it, her feet were taking her to the back of the apartment building.
Her eyes caught on his jeep, and she nearly dropped her phone as it went to voicemail again.
She took a deep breath to steady herself, then put her phone away. She went back around to the front of the building again and knocked.
“Oh, you’re back,” Gray said when he opened the door.
One thing Logan had always drilled into their heads was to trust their instincts. Her instincts now told her not to tell Gray why she was back. She forced a smile. “Yeah, sorry. I, like, totally forgot I wanted to pick up my jacket while I was here.” She smacked her head with the heel of her hand. “Silly me. I left it in Lance’s car last night, and he found it for me. Do you mind if I go look for it?”
He stepped out of the door. “Go ahead.”
“Thanks!”
Lance’s room was a mess, but it looked like the usual kind of mess. No frantic packing for an impromptu trip, no searching through his stuff by an intruder. There was nothing suspicious at all, and she worried this was a waste of time.
Something pink caught her eye, and she glanced over at his desk. A small box wrapped in plain white paper tied with a bright pink bow sat on top of it. He had said he had a surprise for her. Her heart clenched in her chest, and she turned back to the room.
Besides a couple drawers that she assumed held clothes, there was almost nothing that wasn’t already out on display. She stared at the bed. Almost.
She knelt down and peeked under it. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the full duffle bag.
Had he been planning to leave? Did he go back to Bayville? But why hadn’t he brought the bag with him? She reached for it hesitantly, scared of the answers it might give. When she touched it, she realized it was covered with a layer of dust.
How long had it been under there? Why was it so full? Was he not actually going anywhere?
Lance’s voice echoed in her head, Always make sure you have an exit plan. He had told her that years ago after crumbling a wall to get out of a locked building. It had taken a long time before she understood he hadn’t just meant from people like Apocalypse or Magneto.
She pushed the bag back under the bed and fought back tears. She needed to focus.
She glanced up at the wall that connected the two bedrooms. She could hear Gray playing video games in the living room. She chewed her lip. This was a terrible idea, but if it brought Lance back home safe . . .
She stood up and walked over to the wall, then phased through it.
Somehow, Gray’s room was actually messier than Lance’s. There was just so much clutter everywhere. There was no way she would actually find anything without him realizing she had been there, and she didn’t even know what she was looking for. She wanted to kick something.
Something bright yellow near her feet caught her gaze, and she knelt down to pick it up. It was a yellow armband. Seemed kind of random, but harmless—then she flipped it over.
FOH
She dropped it like it had burned, then phased back into Lance’s room. She wrapped her arms around herself and took a few deep breaths to steady herself. Then, slowly, as casually as she could, she left the room and walked back to the door.
“Didn’t find it?" Gray asked from the couch.
She shoved her hands into her pockets to keep them from shaking. “Nope. His room is such a mess, I don’t know how he finds anything! I guess I’ll have to get it from him when he gets back.” Gray didn’t say anything else, and she slipped out before she could give herself away.
She dialed Rogue’s number as soon as she got outside, but her hands were shaking so much it took a couple tries.
The ringing stopped. “Rogue, I need your help,” she said before the other girl could speak.
“Um, okay?”
“I’ve been seeing Lance again,” she began, but Rogue cut her off.
“Oh, no. If this is boy trouble, you’re going to have to talk to someone else.”
“No! It’s not like that. He’s disappeared, and I called Wanda, but she hasn’t heard from him, and no one is sick, and his car is still here, and I think he’s been kidnapped–”
“Woah, slow down! Why do yah think he was kidnapped?”
“He’s not answering his phone, his roommate lied about where he went, his car is still here, and I . . . I found–” she lowered her voice just to be safe. “I found a Friends of Humanity armband in his roommate’s room.”
Rogue cursed. “Okay, where are yah now?” Kitty gave her the address. “We’ll be there soon. Don’t leave, and don’t do anythin’ stupid till we get there. Remember, Lance is a very powerful mutant, and he can take care of himself. You’ve watched him bring down the roof of people plenty of times.”
“But he can’t if he’s in the building too,” she wailed. His best defense could easily kill him too if his captors were too close by.
Rogue sighed, but didn’t contradict her. “We’ll be there soon.”
Kitty sniffed and hung up. She wondered dully who “we” was. She hoped not Scott. He might make things more difficult, and he definitely wouldn’t appreciate that she hadn’t mentioned running into Lance again.
She sat on the sidewalk, out of sight of the windows of Lance’s apartment and waited, going over everything she knew over and over.
A car pulled up much sooner than she expected, and Rogue hopped out. Clearly she hadn’t been in Bayville. “Kitty, you okay?”
She stood up and hugged her friend. “I’m fine. I’m just worried about him. Who did you bring with you?”
“‘Ello, petite,” a voice said. “Heard you have a problem with a missing boyfriend.” Remy leaned casually against the side of the car, heartbreaker smirk on full display.
Kitty was not impressed. “He’s not my–” she cut off, deciding it was useless to argue, especially with Gambit. “Yes, he’s missing, and I think his roommate is the one who kidnapped him.”
Rogue frowned. “Are yah sure about that? Maybe they broke in.”
Kitty shook her head. “He was lying to me about where Lance went, and I found that armband in his room. And then I remembered that Lance said he’s always going out late at night for some secret reason!”
Remy and Rogue exchanged a look. “How late is late?” Rogue asked.
“Um, three in the morning.”
“Well,” Remy said, “I guess now we get to wait.” He and Rogue got back in the car, and Kitty reluctantly followed. She didn’t want to do more waiting. She wanted to find Lance and actually help him, but instead she got to sit in the backseat and listen to Remy and Rogue bicker over music. She glared out the window at the door to Lance’s apartment, as though, through sheer willpower, she could make Gray come out and go to his secret hiding place early.
“Your boyfriend, he’s the earthquake one, non?”
Kitty dragged her eyes away from the window as she realized Remy was talking to her. “Avalanche,” she corrected. “That’s the name he goes by.” She braced herself for the usual questions of why him, or why they were trying this again, but none came. She went back to staring out the window and listening to the other two argue.
Eventually, the noise fell into a steady drone, and her eyelids grew heavy. She wasn’t used to staying up this late.
“Kitty? Kitty!” Rogue was shaking her.
“Hmm?” Kitty sat up. Everything felt heavy, and she realized she must have fallen asleep.
“That guy just came outside. Is it him?” Rogue asked.
Kitty looked out the window and saw Gray walking around to the parking lot. “Yes! Yes, that’s him.”
“Go talk to him,” Remy told Rogue, and they both slipped out of the car. Kitty slid down in her seat, hoping he wouldn’t spot her. The other two came back a minute later.
“What were you doing?” she asked.
“Putting a tracker on his car,” Remy said smoothly, as though this were a perfectly ordinary activity.
“You—what? Do you just carry those around with you?”
He turned around to grin at her. “Of course, petite.” Kitty looked at Rogue, who didn’t seem surprised by this development at all.
Kitty knew that the two of them had been dating for some time, though Rogue kept it a secret from the rest of the team. (She herself only found out by accident, and had sworn herself to secrecy.) She had assumed it was for the same reason she hadn’t mentioned spending time with Lance again, but now she wondered if there was another reason as well.
Remy pulled a large rectangular device from one of the many pockets in his trench coat and tossed it to Rogue, who began fiddling with it expertly. Kitty made a mental note never to ask about their dates. Plausible deniability was generally a good thing to have when it came to her friends.
“Okay, he’s driving,” Rogue said, staring down at the device. “Give him a few more minutes’ head start.”
They waited a little longer, then Remy started the car and followed at a distance, using Rogue’s directions when Gray’s car disappeared from sight. Eventually they came to a warehouse at the edge of the city. Two men stood outside the door. Most people might not notice anything strange about them, but Logan had taught Kitty and Rogue to see how they kept too close an eye on the street and their hands too close to their bulging pockets.
“There,” Rogue said. “That’s it.”
Remy parked outside it and smiled at Rogue. “Remember dat lab in Mississippi?”
Rogue grinned in a way that said she definitely remembered. “Let’s go.” She peeled off her gloves, opened her door, then stopped and glanced back at Kitty as though she had forgotten she was there. “Stay here.”
Despite herself, Kitty was curious about the lab in Mississippi, so she cracked her door open slightly and listened.
“Yah are so stubborn!” Rogue shouted as she got out, throwing her hands in the air.
“I’m stubborn?” Remy asked, just as loud. “Who’s been telling me I’m going de wrong way since we left home?”
“Ah told yah we should have brought a map, but no! Yer so smart yah always know where we are. Well guess where we are now? Lost!” One of the guards snickered.
“If I needed de map, I would have brought de map!” Remy insisted. “And we’re not lost. I just got turned around.”
Rogue snorted. “Right. Well, yah go figure out where yah made a wrong turn, and ah’ll ask these guys for directions.” She whirled around and stomped towards the two guards. “Sorry ‘bout that, boys. My husband just refuses to admit when he’s wrong. Would yah mind givin’ us some directions?”
Neither guard got the chance to answer, because by this point Rogue had gotten close enough to touch both their faces and knock them out.
“Husband?” Remy asked with a sly smirk.
Rogue rolled her eyes. “Don’t read into it, Swamp Rat.”
Remy’s smile didn’t falter, even as he turned back to Kitty and nodded at the warehouse. “Come on, petite.”
Kitty climbed out of the car and ran to join them. Remy looked the warehouse up and down. “Mighty welcoming, don’t you think? Just needs a doormat, and I’ll feel right at home.”
“Just without the traps,” Rogue said thoughtfully.
“Shame. Dat’s most of the fun.”
“Can we just go?” Kitty asked.
“Sorry, petite.” Remy tried the door, then grinned, pulled out a card, tucked it into the knob and pulled Kitty and Rogue a few feet away.
Bang. The knob popped off, and they all ran for the door–
Then froze at the scene that greeted them.
A large crowd filled the room, larger than Kitty had expected. She knew the Friends of Humanity were growing exponentially from the professor’s latest news, but to actually see it made her stomach churn.
She could hear Gray’s voice from somewhere against the far wall. “The mutants will pay for their crimes!” The crowd cheered. She stretched on her toes, looking for Lance, but she couldn’t see past the crowd.
“We’ll put them in their place!” More cheers. She pushed her way through the crowd, careful not to phase through them. This was not the time to reveal herself.
“And those who fight back, we’ll make an example out of them!” She could hear Remy and Rogue behind her, but she didn’t bother to make sure they were following.
“Starting with this one!” She broke free from the crowd and almost toppled onto the makeshift stage. She looked up and saw Gray standing on a large crate and—there! Lance sat next to him, tied to a chair and gagged.
“Stop!” she shouted, before she could stop to think maybe that wasn’t the best way to handle the situation.
The room grew quiet, and everyone turned to her. Lance’s eyes grew wide, and he started pulling against his ropes. He tried to say something through his gag, but she couldn’t make it out. Maybe it was for the best. She would probably ignore it anyway.
“Kitty,” Gray said. “How did you get here?”
“Let him go!”
Gray shook his head. He almost actually looked sad. It made her sick. “I’m sorry you had to find out like this, but Lance has been lying to you.” He paused, reminding her of Mr. McCoy’s lessons on speeches and dramatic effect. “He’s actually a mutant.”
“Oh.” Her mind raced. She needed to get to him. Thankfully Graydon didn’t think she was a threat yet. “Well, that’s good. I mean, it would be, like, totally embarrassing if he wasn’t and I just assumed all these years.”
Before Gray could process what she had said, she lunged through the stage and touched Lance’s leg. He fell straight through his chair and bindings. “Ow.”
Rogue ran up, hopped the stage, then put both bare hands on Gray’s face. He collapsed. Kitty dragged Lance away from the chair and off the stage.
“Cool trick,” he said.
“Thanks. I’ve been practicing.”
Rogue screamed, and they both turned toward her. She clutched her head and groaned, then shouted, “Oh, hell no! There’s no way I’m related to you!”
Kitty and Lance looked at each other. “Please tell me she’s not serious,” Lance said. Kitty shrugged. Rogue could be confused by the new psyche, or she could actually be related to Gray somehow. That wasn’t a pleasant thought.
Kitty glanced back at Remy and the crowd. He had kept them pushed back with his cards, but she didn’t know how many he had left. There was no way they were going back out that door.
She climbed up onto the stage and grabbed Rogue, careful only to touch her sleeve. Rogue still had her head clutched in her hands. “Help me!” Kitty called as she led Rogue to the edge of the stage.
Lance picked Rogue up and set her on the ground. Kitty jumped off and turned back toward Remy. “Gambit!”
“Go!” he said without turning around. “I’ll be right behind you!”
She nodded and grabbed Lance’s and Rogue’s arms. She pulled them through the warehouse’s back wall. Rogue slumped back against the wall as soon as she let go of her, and slid to the ground. “Watch her,” Kitty told Lance. “I’m going back for Gambit.”
He nodded and she phased back through the wall. As soon as Remy saw her, he tossed a handful of cards into the crowd and ran for her. She grabbed his hand as he passed, and they ran through the wall.
“Some of dem left after you,” Remy said. “Dey’ll be around in a minute. We need to move.”
“Rogue can’t!”
“I got her, but we need to split up. We’ll have to leave de car. Remember de bridge we passed? Circle around and meet back dere.” Kitty nodded. Remy knelt down and scooped Rogue into his arms. She groaned, and he murmured something too quiet for Kitty to hear.
“It hurts,” Rogue whined. “It’s worse than usual.”
“I know, chère.” Remy nodded at Kitty and Lance. “Go!” Kitty grabbed Lance’s hand, and they started running.
“Wait!” Lance planted his feet once they got in view of the front of the warehouse, and Kitty jerked to a stop. “I can’t stop them, but I can slow them down.” He held up his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist. The ground under their feet shook, and the metal screamed as the front of the building collapsed on itself.
“Oh, wow,” Kitty said, and he turned back to grin at her.
“What, you didn’t think you were the only one who picked up some new tricks, did you?” She grinned back, then tugged on his hand and they kept running—straight through several buildings.
Lance wasn’t sure if it was because of his mutation or not, but he had always hated phasing. He liked to have solid ground under his feet, solid walls around him. It made him feel safe. To have that ground ripped out from under him, the walls reduced to nothing, it freaked him out. He wished he could close his eyes as they ran, but he didn’t want to trip. If he lost his grip on Kitty’s hand . . . being trapped inside a wall would definitely be worse than just going through it.
They ran inside another warehouse. This one was full of probably expensive equipment, and probably locked from the outside. They stopped to catch their breath, and Kitty dropped his hand. Lance leaned against the wall and tried to relax a bit now that they were out of immediate danger.
“Don’t ever do that again,” Kitty said, stepping towards him and trapping him against the wall. “You scared me!”
Well, it was nice to know she had been worried. Not that he would tell her that. He raised his hands defensively. “Okay, that was not my fault. I mean, maybe I should have been more careful about finding a roommate, but what was I supposed to do? Ask, ‘hey, do you happen to be—Mmph!”
She kissed him, which, in terms of ways to make someone shut up, turned out to be rather pleasant. He dropped his hands to her waist to pull her closer, and decided that if this was the outcome of getting kidnapped, it was definitely worth it.
She started to pull away, and yes, there were being chased by a bunch of maniacs who wanted to kill them, but he wasn’t ready to let go of her just yet. He tightened his grip around her waist and chased her mouth with his.
“Careful, Lance,” she giggled. “People might think you’ve been waiting for that.”
There wasn’t really a good answer to that, especially since he had, in fact, been waiting for that, for several years. So instead he kissed her again. She let him draw her back for a moment, then pulled away again, firmer this time.
“Come on, we should go.” Unfortunately, she was right.
She peeked out through the wall, then phased them both through once she was sure no one would see them. They walked quietly, casually through the streets. It felt wrong to go so slowly, but this way, hopefully no one would see them.
They made it to the bridge, and a car pulled up to them. Lance stiffened and held out his hands, ready to break up the road if he needed to, but the window rolled down and Gambit gestured to them both. “Get in.”
Kitty’s lips pursed into a thin line, but she did as he said, and Lance climbed in after her. “Who’s car is this?”
“Well, I’m driving, so I’d say it’s mine,” Gambit said. Kitty’s frown grew deeper, then her gaze shifted over to the passenger seat.
“Rogue? How are you feeling?”
“Better now. Ah’ve never had someone who hates mutants so much in my head. He definitely wasn’t making it fun.”
“Did you say . . . you’re related to him?”
Rogue grimaced. “Turns out his mom’s Mystique.”
“You’re kidding,” Lance said.
“Nope. She abandoned him when she figured out he wasn’t a mutant, and that’s why he hates us, ah guess.”
“Real mother of de year,” Gambit muttered, and Rogue laughed.
“I thought suddenly having one brother was bad enough, but at least I actually like Kurt.”
“So, where to, petits?” Gambit asked.
Lance grimaced. “Home, I guess. I’ll have to move.” Again. “I have some stuff I don’t want to leave behind.” He wondered how much stuff he’d have time to collect before someone came looking for him. He felt something on his arm and looked down. Kitty had laid her hand on his arm and gave him a sad smile.
When they arrived at his apartment, Lance spotted a car sitting out front waiting for them. A very familiar car.
“It’s okay, yo! He’s here!” Todd’s voice drifted through the windows as Lance climbed out of Gambit’s new car.
The car’s doors opened, and the entire Brotherhood spilled out. “Seriously?” Wanda asked, marching over to Kitty and jabbing her finger at her chest. “Where were you? I called you a dozen times! You can’t just disappear like that!”
Kitty’s eyes grew wide. “Oops? I guess I left my phone in Remy’s car.” Yeah, she probably wasn’t getting that back.
“What are you all doing here?” Lance asked. They hadn’t been planning to come over, had they? He couldn’t remember planning anything.
“Rescuing you, of course,” Freddy said. “Kitty said you were missing.”
Rogue crossed her arms. “Looks like y’all are a little late to the party.”
“We wouldn’t have been if they’d let me drive,” Pietro said, glaring at Wanda and Todd.
“You don’t have a driver’s license,” Lance reminded him.
“You don’t need one if the cops can’t catch you.”
Tabby came around the car, hugged Lance, then punched his arm. “I’m officially revoking my permission for you to get kidnapped.”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh good. Next time someone tries to kidnap me, I’ll just tell them, ‘sorry, Tabby said no.’”
“You better.”
“What’s he doing here?” Freddy asked. Lance turned to look, and realized he was glaring at Gambit.
“Me?” Gambit grinned. “Oh, I just go where I’m told. I’m helpful like dat.” Rogue scoffed.
“So what happened, yo?” Todd asked. Lance opened his mouth to explain, then stopped as he realized he had no idea how to begin.
“We’ll explain all that later,” Kitty said quickly. “Lance needs to move, like, right now, so we need help getting all his stuff.
Right. That. He was glad someone was keeping track of the important stuff. “Here’s my key–”
“Got it!” Pietro stole the key and rushed into the apartment. He had already dragged out a table and a pile of blankets before everyone else started moving. They all piled into the cramped apartment and started carrying stuff out. He hoped no one grabbed Gray’s stuff by accident. Then again, he probably deserved it.
Kitty grabbed his hand and dragged him away. “Come on, let’s drive your car over and get the stuff from your workshop.”
Oh, his workshop. He’d really miss that. “In a second. I’ll be right back.”
He ran inside and found his gift, thankfully still neatly wrapped, on his desk. He tucked it into his pocket and came back outside to find Kitty waiting by his jeep.
Packing all his stuff went surprisingly quickly with so many people. The harder part was calling Randy to let him know he wouldn’t be able to come back to work. Somehow, though, the older man got it out of him that he needed a place to stay. He didn’t ask why Lance couldn’t go back to his place, and Lance couldn’t help but wonder if Randy had already guessed he was a mutant. To his surprise, Randy offered to let him stay over at his place for the night.
“But what about after that?” Todd asked. “Do you think you’ll come back to Bayville?” Lance didn’t really want to go back, but if he didn’t have another option . . . “I don’t know.”
“Well, just think about it?”
Lance couldn’t help but smile at the younger boy. “I will.”
After his jeep was all packed up, Rogue and Gambit left, and the other Brotherhood members said their goodbyes. They also bullied Lance into promising to let them talk to any future roommate candidates. He promised (several times), and they eventually left as well.
Finally, it was just him and Kitty. He nodded at the jeep. “Hop in. I’ll take you home.”
She nodded and climbed in. They drove in silence for a few minutes, then she said quietly, “I’m glad you’re okay. I was really worried.”
He smiled. “I don’t know why you were worried. I mean, if nothing else, I know Shadowcat will always save me.” She shoved his shoulder, and he had to jerk the steering wheel to keep from going into the other lane. “Not while I’m driving!”
“Eep! Sorry!”
“I never did get to give you your surprise, though.” He pulled the little box out of his pocket and handed it to her.
She smiled and took it. He tried to keep his eyes on the road, but he couldn’t help glancing back over every once in a while. She untied the ribbon, then retied it into a loop, which she slid on her wrist. Then she unwrapped the paper. “Oh, it’s beautiful!”
“You like it?” He had spent hours carving the necklace’s pendant into flowers surrounding the K in the middle.
“I love it!” This, like, is the prettiest necklace I’ve ever seen.” He doubted that, but he couldn’t help but smile at her words.
They reached her apartment soon after, and he got out to walk her to the door. She grabbed his wrist before he could go back to the car. “Be careful, okay?”
“You too.”
She nodded solemnly, then stretched up on her toes to kiss him. “You have my home phone number, right?” He nodded. “Call me when you get to your friend’s house.”
“I will. Promise.”
She smiled and hugged him. “I’ll see you later.”
And somehow, no matter what they did, that always seemed to be the case. “Yeah, see you later.”