Sarah was the first of Pietro's conquests that he had any respect for. She wasn't some puppet of Xavier's. She had opinions and stands to make. She wasn't afraid to admit to what she didn't like.

But, he told himself later, she was a twit. And annoying.

No wonder the freak didn't like her. Kitty wasn't big on her, weirdly enough. He thought they would've gotten on brilliantly.

So it was a weird feeling when she walked away.

They'd been sitting in the drama class, waiting for the rest of the club to show up, watching Lance and Kitty in the corner. "Ditz." Hissed Sarah.

Pietro raised his eyebrows at her, his lips quirking up in a trademark smirk.

"Kitty. How can she be so dense? I mean, Lance? Honestly, doesn't that girl think?" she whispered.

Pietro chuckled. "No. You're only just figuring this one out?"

"I mean, he's so obviously bad news. And such an idiot." She shook her head. "Who would like a Brotherhood boy anyway?"

Goink. He blinked, then turned to look at her. "Excuse me?"

"They're all backwater trash, you gotta admit it. You're a mutant, they must have propositioned you at some point."

"Uh… yeah. Actually, they did."

"And you knew better than to join them. Who'd want to be near them."

"Well, you." He said, leaning forward. "I am the Brotherhood boy."

"You what?"

"Quicksilver. How do you do?" He said, slapping her hand before she could think. "So… how cool are we now?"

She glared at him, disgusted. "You're Quicksilver? Oh my God!" she stood up, still looking at him, disgusted. "No wonder they didn't want me talking to you. Oh, ew. Yuck."

He laughed. "What?"

"Get away from me!" She pushed his hands away. "I can't believe you, you jerk!"

He stared, as did Lance and Kitty. To think. At lunch, he'd been feeling this girl up under the football stands. Now, barely two hours later, she was telling him to get lost.

And that was a new one on its own.

Her loss, he reasoned. She'll be back, and you can tag her along for a little while, then dump her.

He was the dumper. He was Quicksilver.

He was Magneto's son. No one dumped him.

The old theatre… it had been abandoned for years. The council didn't have the time, money or effort to do anything with it. So they'd boarded it up, no one in or out unless you used the Jetty entrance. And most people couldn't be bothered using the dried up old water tunnels.

But Pietro Maximoff enjoyed climbing down the rocks and slippery steps. It was a challenge. He couldn't use his speed over terrain like that, and most people said he couldn't live without his speed.

Usually, he couldn't.

But the theatre, to him, wasn't about being a mutant, so he didn't mind getting around like a human for that.

Of course, if anyone ever caught him, he'd say it was a dare.

He rested his hands on the pipe head and swung himself down. These old tunnels had been built so the actors could get out without running through fans. It had once been a really good idea, but not really applicable for Bayville. So no one was entirely sure why it was there.

He built up his speed, enjoying the feeling of stale air being churned up at his presence. It was quite the hike for most people, but at a slow speed, it only took Pietro about thirty seconds.

He turned into the once hidden doorway without a second thought and flashed up the stairs. The green room was a freaky place, he didn't like more than a glance of it.

He slowed when he reached the hall. The doors were all open, because the boys didn't like to have to open them. It was dangerous to move them, so after the first few times, Todd had just propped them all open with rocks. Pietro ducked the cobwebs and entered the actual theatre.

Still as dark and oppressing as always.

He walked slowly up the stairs to the back row, just under the lighting box, and flopped down in the very center seat. He'd once actually counted, to make sure.

He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Felt like home. Don't talk, Pietro. Not unless you need to. Pointless chatter leads to pointless minds. Pointless mind means pointless self. Pointless self is a human.

Father doesn't like humans.

Wanda talked too much.

Asked too many questions.

He lowered his eyes at a small sound. Is head jerked around at another and he stood up. He stared. Kitty Pryde was poking her head around the door, looking around.

"What're y'doin' here, Pryde?" he snapped.

She blanched. Apparently she hadn't seen him yet. "Quicksilver!"

"The one and only." He ran down to lean on the wall beside her. "You followin' me?"

She scoffed. "You wish. What are you like, doing here?"

"What are you, like, doing here?" He mimicked. He waved around him. "This is my place, Pryde. You've got no right to be here."

"Oh, yes I do. More than you do, anyway." She eyed him.

He glared at her. "This is Brotherhood territory. You ain't wanted or invited."

"I was here before you were."

"Like hell!" he flicked her away with a wayward hand and suddenly appeared, sitting on the stage.

"I was! I was downstairs when you ran past!"

"I didn't see ya there." He accused.

"Just, like, go away." She scoffed, then turned away.

Pietro watched her trace his steps up the stairs. He rolled his eyes. Kitty Pryde was the only X-man commonly welcome in the boarding house. She and Lance even had weekly video nights. It was sickening. Not that he was home much to be disgusted by it. He heard most of it from Todd.

So he was, unfortunately, on the verge of not disliking her.

He remembered the day he'd come home to find her in the kitchen, shivering. It had been after a big fight with someone from the institute. She'd almost joined the Brotherhood that day.

He scowled. He was the one who convinced her she was too good to be part of them. At the time, he'd thought he was just keeping an X-geek from his house.

Now, he knew. She was too good to be one of them.

"So, Pryde. What are you doing here?"

She shrugged, still only a quarter of the way up. "Lance brought me here last night. Just seeing if I left anything."

He scoffed. "From what I hear, you sure did."

"What?" she whipped around to stare at him.

"If it were me, I would've gone somewhere cleaner." He grinned.

She was breathing hard, glaring at him.

"Or at least spent the time with someone cleaner." He added, seriously.

"Shut up! You don't know what happened."

"Oh, but I do." He assured her, jumping to his feet. "It went something like this. 'Wow! I can't believe you come here, Lance! It's so perfect!' and he said 'I'm just full of surprises!' and you said 'yeah, I know that now.' So he said 'you've changed me so much, Pretty Kitty.' To which you giggled and turned away, leaving your neck exposed, like so, and he kissed you right… here. That, of course, feels nice, so you giggled again. He started moving up to here, then here, then here, until finally… he got here."

All through this he'd been miming and acting. She exhaled impatiently. He was right, too, down to the last movement.

"And then you responded, so he did, so you did, and he did again. Eventually the cardigan hits the floor, and then his vest, then your shirt, then his shirt…"

"Shut up!" she yelled.

He paused, listening to the echo apprehensively. Get too loud and the vibration could spell the end of a beam. He waited for her to start ranting. She didn't, but she was making a noise…

He blinked. Was she… was she crying?

Oh, damn. He hadn't meant to make her cry. He sighed and sat back down on the stage.

"He told you, didn't he?" she demanded.

He nodded. "We're guys. We talk about that stuff. Or, most guys do. I don't… seems kinda stupid."

She laughed. "Then I hate the entire male population."

"No you don't. So why are you crying? I know my performance was moving and all that…"

"Because it fully sucked!" she cried. "Because I thought he was so totally great, but he isn't!"

Pietro snorted.

She giggled. "I didn't mean it like that!" she wiped at her eyes, still smiling. "After… it didn't feel right." She sat down, hard.

He slipped off the stage and walked to kneel in the seat in front of her. "It can happen that way. But did you enjoy yourself while it was happening." He grinned. "That's the important thing."

She looked up at him seriously. "And if you didn't?"

"Well then you missed out."

She nodded. "I think I missed out."

He sighed. "Kitty, do you want to try again?"

She rolled her eyes. "Guys are so pathetic!"

"I wasn't talking about me!" he snapped. "I meant in general!"

She blinked. "What?"

"Lance has a habit of…" he let out his breath angrily. "Lance is good for one thing, and that's spoiling what could be amazing. Did he ruin it for you? Coz I know of at least one guy you see everyday who would be more than willing to help you out there."

"Kurt." She muttered.

"Yeah. The fuzzball. That's who I was talking about." He said forcefully.

"Pietro, Kurt's a great guy an' all, but… no." she shook her head. "He's like my brother."

"But-"

"Just… no." She grimaced, then smiled up at him. "We flirt because… well, it's fun. We don't like, mean anything."

He shrugged. "It was a suggestion."

She moved her head to the side, then looked around. "Would you mind… if I just… hung around here for a little while?"

Pietro stared at her for what he thought was a long time, but to Kitty it was a split second. "Go ahead." He said. "Just don't bug me."

She smiled as he stood up and ran back to his seat. She closed her eyes and sank down in thought.

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