Constant Craving

CONSTANT CRAVING CHAPTER FIFTEEN (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather gets lots of extra chocolate for letting me borrow her man for a few minutes...lol. ;) (You know, to people who don't know what I'm talking about, that sounds kinky!) And she gets chocolate sauce and whipped cream for Ted because she is a superwonderful person for beta-ing. InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are hentai-tastic for archiving (I have got to cut back on the caffeine this late at night...it makes me say alllllll sorts of weird things). Vampyre: close, sweaty men...*droooooooooool* Readers/Reviewers: What's that I hear in the distance? The ducks...my goddess! They're organized! They've organized a traveling production of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE and I think the goose is the Major General...



"I see..." Hank McCoy stared at Rogue as if she were a rather fascinating specimen of mold spore he had found under his microscope lens.
"Is this permanent? I mean, my mutation..." Rogue was torn. On one hand, she wanted to be able to touch more than anything. On the other, she defined herself as Rogue, the Untouchable. Rogue, the Bad Ass Goth. _I can't be untouchable without a mutation...will they make me leave? God, don't make me leave... _
"How often has this happened?"
Todd spoke up. "Just the once. When she fainted, she let go of my hand and we haven't touched since..." He shrugged sheepishly. "She woke up and wanted to come straight here."
"If anyone knows what's going on, it's you!" Rogue said almost desperately.
The man best known as Beast pushed his glass back up to thedge dge of his nose, a nervous gesture he had had since middle school, and sighed roughly. "I am flattered by your confidence in me, Rogue, but unless I run some tests, I have no idea what's going on." Carefully ignoring the dismayed looks on the couple's faces, Beast picked up a handful of papers and shoved them into a clipboard. "Now, are you absolutely sure that you had no barrier between your skin? No cloth, plastic, .sli.slime....?" He raised his eyebrow at Todd. "I know you can use it to block contact..."
"Nothing. Nothing at all..." Rogue sighed.
"No silicone-based creams on your hands?" Beast seemed to be going down a list, his pen poised above the paper, awaiting their answers.
"No hand cream for me, yo... That's girly." Todd sniffed and tried to look manly while he was quaking on the inside. _What does this mean? Can we touch? How? Why? Why me and her? Can she touch anyone else? Gah! Answers! Need answers now! _
"Todd," Beast said gently, "I hate to ask this, but could you...touch Rogue's hand?"
"Sure!" He grabbed for her bare fingers only to have Rogue pull away.
"No!" she cried involuntarily. "I don't want to hurt you!"
"Rogue," Todd said desperately, "it's okay...I mean, you didn't hurt me before..."
"And I don't want to do it now." She stubbornly tucked her hands under her arms and looked away from Todd, seemingly finding the wall opposite her fascinating.
Beast sighed. "Rogue, the only way we are going to find out what's causing this, if it's permanent or not, if this is some new facet to your mutation, is going to be through experimentation and study."
"That's fine...I just don't want to drain anyone."
"I need to see how living cells react to your touch."
"Tough."
Todd made a noise of frustration and seemed ready to shake Rogue as Beast passed a massive hand over his own eyes in tired acquiescence. "Fine, Rogue..." the doctor said softly. "It's late. You both need rest. We'll set up some tests in the morning and run the gamut as long as you are on Thanksgiving break."
Rogue stood uncertainly, looking as if she wanted to say something but all she could do was stare at Todd and the hurt expression on his face. Finally, she nodded tur turned on her heel to stride from the room. Todd said softly "I don't think she wants to find out..."
Beast sighed. "I'm sure she does. Rogue is just very nervous. She's been subject to the necessities of her mutation for so long that I don't think she would know how to act without it."
"Do you think...do you think she might be unmutating?" Todd unconsciously mirrored Rogue's own concern. "I mean, what would that make her?"
Beast chuckled involuntarily. "Todd, there is very, very little chance she is, as you put it, unmutating. That would be like saying you were turning into a girl, for example. This is most likely a fluke or, in the best case, a new, ah, twist to her mutation."
Todd nodded a little uncertainly. "Okay..." He took several limping steps towards the door before turning to smile crookedly at the doctor. "Thanks..."
The large blue mutant nodded reassuringly at Todd as he left. As soon as he was alone, Beast deredered involuntarily. "Rogue and Todd? This mansion is getting more unusual by the day..."

"I'm comi Lan Lance shouted, fumbling blindly for his pants. "Fuck it!" he said more to himself than anyone else and hurried towards the door, stumbling over the low table in the den and sprawling onto the floor, whacking his chin in the process. "Shit!"
"What's going on in there?" Amara's voice drifted through the door, sounding more amused than concerned.
_Fanfuckingtastic. Amara. What's she still doing up? _ Lance struggled to his feet, throwing the now-broken table to one side in a fit of pique. With as much dignity as he could muster, he walked the last several yards to the door and opened it in grave solemnity. "Yeah?"
Amara raised on eyebrow at the sight her boyfriend presented. Clad only in his boxer shorts, his chin rapidly bruising, his face still bearing traces of his fight with Kurt and his hair sleep-mussed, Lance reminded her of a little boy caught out in something naughty. "Can't a girl visit her boyfriend?"
"Not at two a.m." he grumbled, standing aside so that she could enter. "You seen Toad?" It had just occurred to him that he did not hear the usual snoring that signaled Todd's nocturnal presence.
"No...should I have?" With ill-disguised disdain, Amara side-stepped a pile of wet raingear near the door and made her way to the couch, sitting gingerly on the edge. She was fully dressed, still wearing the clothes she had on earlier in the evening, and she carried a small bag.
ce sce shook his head impatiently. "Guess not...so what do you want?" he asked. He was surprisingly self conscious in his state of undress. _Gah! This is Amara, damn it! She's tied you to a bed before and you get all skeevy about her seeing you in boxers? _ "Come to make up for avoiding me?" he asked smoothly, sitting across from her in a battered recliner.
Amara was tempted to shout "Yes!" and fling herself at him then and there, but instead she took a deep, slow breath and said softly, in her best regal tones, "Actually, I came so you could do somethinr mer me."
"Oh?" Lance snorted, sliding down in the chair in an attitude of boredom, spl splayed wide and hands clasped over his stomach.
Amara found her eyes drawn southward to what Lance was unconsciously exposing. "I know males tend to be inordinately proud of their external genitalia, but would you mind putting on pants or closing your lfor for the duration of this visit?"
Lance felt his face begin a slow burn to bright red. "Fucking hell," he swore under his breath. Amara had the good grace to look away as Lance hurried to his room and finally pulled his pants on, the denim legs that had tangled and turned inside out before now behaving nicely since he had embarrassed himself. "Better?" he asked coolly, returning to his previous position across from her.
"Much." She assessed him silently for a moment, then said "I want you to stop fighting with Kurt and Scott."
"No."
"Pardon me?"
"No. Not until I get an apology from both of 'em and...and me an' Todd are accepted here."
"You're accepted," she said with a moue of confusion.
Lance shook his head in the negative. "No...you accept me because...well, because you love me. And we all know now that Todd's here for Rogue...But we're not going to blast y'all off the face of the earth or give you over to Magneto, you know...."
"I know that," Amara snapped. "We all know that! This fighting is just petty and childish. It's a pissing contest...."
"Princess, you don't understand!' Lance said, throwing up his hands in exasperation. He leaned forward to peer in her eyes, studying her face as if it held all his answers and, he reflected, on some level she was his answer to everything. "Toad and me...we're not like you. You can bluster and yell and bitch and still be accepted here. You're part of the X Men. You're never gonna be looked at like we are. It's like we're a suspicious mole or something. Scott and Kurt always act like they're just waiting for us to turn cancerous..."
"I wouldn't say that..."
"Then explain why Scott keeps jumping me. Explain why they give us the cold shoulder. Explain why Remy feels the need to side with us now..."
"Remy used to be one of you." Amara said softly.
"One of us!" Lance snapped, shoving himself to his feet. "We're not an 'us' anymore! As far as I know, Pietro, Tabby and Blob are down at the Boardinghouse burning us in effigy." He sighed and dropped to his knees in front of her, resting his hands on her thighs and looking up at her in earnest. "Princess, I'm not going to go all soft like Freak Boy...er, Kurt....or be all goody two shoes like Scott, but I'm not Brotherhood anymore. Not really."
Amara laid a hand atop Lance's head and tangled her fingers in his sleep-tangled hair. "I know," she said just loud enough for him to hear.
"Then why are you so gung ho about me getting along with them?" He laid his head on her thigh and slid his hands to grasp her hips, doing nothing further to suggest sexual contact.
"Because, believe it or not, it's important to me. It's important to all of us that we get along." She reached down and tipped his chin so that he was again looking her in the eyes. "There's going to come a day, Lance, when we'll all have to work together. Some of us will have to swallow our pride and take orders from people we feel are...inferior. We'll have to get along well enough to keep ourselves from being killed. We can't be fighting over who is better than who or who should be in charge if we're fighting off an enemy, can we?"
Lance sighed. "You make it sound like child's play."
"So long as it really isn't happening, that's what iems ems like..." Amara leaned back as Lance stood, moving to sit next to her on the small sofa. He was so close to her that she could feel his warmth through her long sleeves and jeans. Her mind was bubbling with dark thoughts, desire twisting with domination, but she forced them down, forced them to abide her will. With a voice that belied nothing of her burgeoning desire, Amara said "Do something for me."
"Now what?" Lance sighed. "Kiss Scott's ass and roll over so he can scratch my belly? Follow Kurt around like a puppy until he gets over the whole Kitty thing?"
Amara raised one imperious brow and Lance felt instantly small, like he was put in his place beneath a queen. "No..." With a deft movement, sheped ped the contents of her small bag onto his lap. "Brush my hair."
"Huh? Oh..." Lance fought a grin and failed. Brushing Amara's hair was akin to foreplay for him and he nodded enthusiastically. Amara deigned to sit on the floor, her silver ankle bracelet he had given her so long ago flashing beneath the hem of her pants as she did so. Lance felt a strange pang, seeing the silver around her limb, like he was seeing an omen. _Bound to me...she is bound to me... _ With slow movements, Lance began brushing her long, dark hair, sliding the brush through the strands and following it's path with his free hand, smoothing her hair to her head. She made a low noise of satisfaction and leaned back against his knees, making him sigh. He found the activity to be a strange mix of hypnotic and sensual, the scent of her hair and skin teasing his nostrils even as the rhythm of the brushing and the feel of her soft hair made him feel relaxed and somehow disconnected from his body. Instead of feeling the familiar, painful rush of excitement Amara usually produced in him, Lance was disconcerted to feel a wash of affection and protectiveness come over him as she sighed, her full weight coming against his legs. He put the brush aside and leaned over her, whispering tenderly "Princess?" She did not answer and he frowned. "Amara?" After a brief moment, she snorted softly and her head fell back, her lips parted and eyes closed. "Asleep..." Lance smiled then, absurdly pleased that she was sleeping in his lap, so close to him that he could feel her pulse. "My sleeping beauty..." Carefully, Lance slid down so that she rested against his chest and his back was against the couch. "Night, baby.' He held her tightly to his chest as she snuggled against him, the thought occurring to him that this might not be such a bad life after all.

Storm slammed her needlework down violently. "I just don't understand, and you know how I hate to feel that way!"
Logan chuffed softly in amusement. "What's not to understand? There's too many males in this household and they're all trying to be the dominant one..."
"They're children, not apes, Logan."
"Same thing, once you get down to it..." Logan shrugged and stood, moving behind Storm's chair. "It'll play itself out."
"When? After someone gets seriously hurt? Logan, that Danger Room incident could have been serious...":
He sighed and began rubbing her shoulders, feeling her tense briefly before succumbing, letting his hands work the knots from her neck and shoulders. "But it wasn't...it was just stupid. Look, 'Ro, these kids need to find their own center. We can't always tell them what to do...I mean, we can, but we have to let this fall how it falls."
"Logan," she said softly, turning from under his hands to stand and face him, "We're their guardians. You may not want to see this but they see you as a father figure. Kitty especially, but Jamie has a strong bond to you as do many of the others. You can't just let them kill each other over this stupid rivalry."
"Anyone ever tell you that you worry too much?" he asked in an amused tone. "It's like this, they'll each find their own level of comfort. Leadership will make itself evident and, in the end of things, no one will take on more than they can handle."
"You're being awfully Zen about this."
Logan shrugged wryly. "I meditate."
"Do you?" Storm could not help the tilt of her lips at this statement. "That explains how you can stand driving with Kitty."1
"Ha ha. Very droll, Storm." Logan sank into the chair she had vacated and raised a brow at her. "Why are you so stresoverover this?"
She shook her head briefly, closing her eyes in frustration. "I cannot stand to see them fight amongst themselves like this. It pains me. They need to work together to be successful. I don't ask that they all be the best of friends, but they need to see they all have a bond, they are connected..."
Logan reached out and took her hand between his larger ones, forcing her focus to come to his eyes. "They will, 'Ro. This fighting, this is them working it out, seeing where they all stand. It just seems that the girls had it figured out sooner..."
Storm chuckled. "You're more insightful than you let on..." She bent swiftly and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "That's for calming me down."
With a deft pull and twist, Logan had her laying across his lap. "And this is for riling me up," he growled, claiming her mouth with his, tasting her lips before she parted for his entrance, his tongue mimicking what he was thinking of doing to her. Storm responded by snaking her arms around his neck, kissing him with equal fervor, neither of them clutching and desperate like their charges but both moving together, seeking and finding the desire they knew lay in each other. Logan stood, still kissing her, cradling her like a child and began to move towards the door of the study when it swung open.
"Oh, geez." Evan's eyes went wide.
"Evan!" Storm yelped like a teenager caught playing grab-ass with her boyfriend.
"Evan," Logan said evenly, lowering Storm to the ground so she could stand.
"Auntie 'Ro...Logan..." Evan nodded, a smirk coming across his features. "This is new..."
1 Oh, come on...I know I'm not the only one who saw that episode...