Playing with Fire

Don't own any of the characters, just the story. I only *wish* they were mine.

CONFRONTATIONS


Kurt slumped bonelessly into a seat between Evan and Rogue and dropped his over-loaded lunch tray on the table in front of him with a sigh. He automatically scanned the crowded room for any sign of Kitty as he started to dig into the day's mystery entree.

"Rough mornin' Fuzzball?" Rogue asked with a snort.

"Ja, you could say that," he answered with a weary smile before his expression darkened into a frown. "I broke up with Amanda this morning."

"YES! Finally! Kurt tried to ignore Evan as the younger boy crowed in triumph and pumped his fist enthusiastically in the air. Something that became more difficult as Evan slapped him on the back in congratulations. "Way to go 'Crawler!"

He caught Jean's sympathetic look, but also noticed her total lack of surprise at his announcement. It really didn't do his pride any good to know that almost everyone had realized he was committing romantic suicide long before he had reached the same conclusion. Well, almost everyone.

"Ouch. What happened Kurt? I thought you two were good." Scott looked genuinely puzzled, and it cheered Kurt somewhat to realize that _someone_ at least was more clueless than he was.

"Um, it just wasn't working out. I'd really rather not talk about it," he mumbled at his tray, simultaneously shifting his attention to the double order of criminally greasy fries thereon.

"Yeouch! What the heck was that for?" Evan yelped.

Judging from Jean's furious glare and Evan's surreptitious rubbing of his shin, she must have kicked him under the table.

"You could be a bit more supportive," she hissed at him, still glaring.

"What do you mean? I _am_ being supportive. Jeez! Weren't you listening? _He_ broke up with _her_," and he snorted disdainfully. "A celebration is in order. K-man was the dumper, not the dumpee." Kurt rolled his eyes at his friend's gleeful smirk as Evan elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "Not like it wasn't about time man. Now we've just got to find you a hot prospect. Ya gotta have a rebound."

Kurt nearly choked on his soda at that comment, and the speculative look Jean was giving him didn't help his recovery in the least.

"How about Tabby, man? You know she is still totally hot for you. She'll probably be all over you like ugly on an ape as soon as she finds out you're on the outs with Amanda."

"This from he who shall remain perpetually dateless," Rogue drawled sarcastically.

"Um, nein, that's okay Evan. I'm, uh, not really interested in 'looking' right now. And I'd appreciate if you didn't go advertising my _availability_ to Tabby - or anyone else for that matter." Jean was eyeing him more closely, and he just hoped he wasn't projecting too much. She might not snoop, but she wasn't above capitalizing on anything you happened to lob her way when she was 'listening'. Kurt routinely thanked God for the Professor's training combined with relatively strong natural shields. He wanted his private life to stay private, thankyouverymuch.

"C'mon Kurt. Back in the saddle and all that crap, y'know?" Evan was smirking like crazy and Kurt really just wanted to sink through the floor. He wondered miserably just how long it was going to be before the younger boy gave in to temptation and sicced Tabby on him.

"I'm missing something here, aren't I?" If anything, Scott looked even more confused then before. Kurt sighed, valiantly resisting the urge to drop his head onto the table. _Just shoot me now, bitte. Three...two...one...and..._

"What planet have you been living on man? Amanda's only interested in the 'Crawler 'cause she's got some majorly weird freak fetish going on...."

Evan cut off with another yelp just as Kurt surged up from the table, his face as expressionless as he could manage. "Excuse me, I've got to finish some...biology homework." He was headed for the door without waiting for a response, moving as quickly as he could to outdistance the conversation.

"Yeowch! What the hell was that for? Yeow - shit! Not you too Rogue. What the hell..."

Kurt almost smiled as Evan's complaints were finally lost in the background noise of the crowded cafeteria. Not quite, but almost...

There were only fifteen minutes left of lunch period when Kitty poked her head cautiously around the corner of the library's reference section. This was her last stop, she'd already tried the rest of Kurt's known brooding spots. _Yes, jackpot!_

"Evan's an ass," she offered quietly to the form huddled in the over-stuffed chair in the corner behind the Brittanicas.

"Ja, he is sometimes," Kurt agreed without looking up. "But it doesn't change that he's right." His voice was tight and raw, like he might have been crying, but Kitty didn't comment on the fact as she sank to the floor by his chair and leaned her head companionably agt hit his knee.

"It's not that bad Fuzzy." She was going to continue, she had a whole string of reassuring platitudes ready for service, but his snort cut her off.

"No, it's not that bad, finally figuring out that the girl I've been dating for months was really more interested in the 'freak factor' than in me." She could see his face from her position on the floor, and while the holo wouldn't show if he'd been crying, she could see the look of pain on his face as he screwed his eyes shut.

"I'm sorry Liebe," he almost whispered. "It was just so...so...I don't know. It just felt good to think that someone had seen past...this," he waved his hand vaguely at himself and continued in a choked voice. "To think she didn't care about what I looked like, just about me." He paused, collecting himself, and she waited patiently for him to continue. "Maybe it shouldn't, but it...it hurts to know that it was no different than...than before...." His voice trailed off and his eyes widened as he looked down at her. She knew that he had just let something slip that he hadn't meant to, but now was not the time to pursue it.

"I meant what I said Kurt. It's not that bad." So much for reassuring inanities. Time to pull out the big guns. "Maybe she was too interested in you as a visible mutant - but you've got to admit you're a damn cute one," she smiled impishly up at him, then sobered abruptly at his nonplussed look.

"You know she doesn't see you as a freak or an animal Kurt. She's not that kind of person." He nodded hesitantly, his eyes slipping shut. "She probably thinks you're unique and exciting and, I suppose, maybe a little dangerous. Some girls like that you know." She didn't feel inclined to point out that it was that element of danger that httrattracted her to Lance in the first place. Besides, he probably knew that already.

"Ja, I know you're right Kaetzchen, I know. She is _not_ a bad person, that's what made it so hard this morning. But, well," he looked up then and, even through the holographic image, she could see the pain in his eyes. "I'm tired of being 'unique' and 'exciting'. I just wanted to be normal. Just once...just for a while." He forced a weary smile and his tail snaked out to wrap loosely around her forearm.

"It really wasn't fair to her either Schatz. In my way, I was using her just as much as she was using me. It felt good to tell myself that I had a 'normal' girlfriend. I think I loved the idea of Amanda much more than I ever loved, or thought I loved, her. I never meant to hurt her," he murmurred, eyes slipping closed again. "I just wanted to be normal..." He slid limply to the floor next to her, his tail shifting to wrap around her waist as he settled his head on her shoulder.

"Oh Fuzzy, you _are_ normal," she whispered into his hair, her voice breaking. "You are normal, Kurt...." If she could just say it with enough conviction then maybe, someday, she might make him believe it.

The rest of the day passed in a blur for Kurt. Amanda was in most of his classes and he was just starting to realize how difficult it was going to be, for both of them, to be constantly thrown together. It was some consolation that they didn't actually sit near each other in any of them.

It was a welcome relief to get home and find three full trucks waiting for them in the circular drive. Apparently arranging for delivery had been hard enough. The Professor hadn't been able to find anyone actually willing to set foot in a house full of mutants. By the time they'd finished unloading three truckloads of furniture and positioning it in the appropriate bedrooms and living areas, everyone was sweaty and exhausted. By general consensus it was agreed that they would clean up, finish their homework, and reconvene in the newly furnished rec room to enjoy the fruits of their labors until curfew or they passed out from exhaustion, whichever came first.

"I wonder how long before it's really a Wreck room again," Scott commented as he entered, hair still damp from the shower. He looked around the room with satisfaction before joining Jean in the huge chair she had been saving for them. "Might as well enjoy it this way while it lasts."

"I'd give Bobby, Ray and Evan about six weeks, max," Kurt announced with a smile from his spot in the corner of the loveseat. Jean had, of course, been the first down, but Kurt had been a close second. He was grateful to her for keeping the conversation innocuous and impersonal while they waited for the others.

"_You'd_ give them six weeks?" Scott snorted, his voice incredulous. "Remind me exactly who ripped all the wall sconces out and totally destroyed the first chandelier."
Kurt plastered on his best "who, me?" look. "How was I to know they couldn't take my weight?" he asked, eyes wide. "It was an innocent mistake. Besides, I am a reformed man. I am much more mature and sedate now."

"Yeah, right!" Scott was grinning now. "So that must have been some other furry, blue guy I saw bouncing off the walls this afternoon with Amara and Ray in hot pur, hm, hmm? Because you, obviously, are much too mature and sedate for that sort of thing," and he arched an eyebrow derisively.

"Aah, hmm, ja, must've been Herr McCoy," Kurt answered, keeping his face straight with great difficulty.

"Oh yeah," Jean chimed in for the first time. "I can definitely picture Dr. McCoy locking Ray and Amara in the utility closet and stealing the doorknob. It's just his style."

"I'd blame the twinkies," Kurt replied, his voice solemn. "He must have ovosedosed, and you know what too much sugar and the chemicals in processed foods can do to a man's judgment. I'm sure he wasn't responsible for his actions."

His efforts to remain 'serious' were foiled when a cushion suddenly rose from the couch and hurtled straight at his head. He dodged it with ease, but the three which followed in close succession were a different story.

"You are _so_ full of it Kurt Wagner," Jean announced a l a laugh as she continued to cheerfully pelt him with every soft object in the room.

When the rest of the kids finally came down, they found Kurt barricaded in the corner of the loveseat behind every cushion he could cling to with hands, feet and tail, and the three of them reduced to breathless laughter as Jean continued to pummel him and his impromptu shield with everything available.
It was good to be out of his self-imposed isolation and be part of his family again, efleeflected as they all settled in, chattering and arguing, to enjoy the inaugural movie on the rec room's new flat-screen HDTV. Even better was when no one so much as batted an eye when Kitty snuggled up against him, her head on his shoulder, as Jean switched off the lights.

By halfway through the movie, though, he was almost wishing she hadn't. _Why did staying 'in the closet' seem like a good idea?_ he thought as his tail snaked around her waist of's o's own accord. He shifted restlessly and snagged a pillow from behind his head, inconspicuously he hoped, and laid it across his lap.

_It's going to be a loooong week,_ he thought with a sigh, closing his eyes as Kitty draped her arm oh so casually across the pillow. Maybe that wasn't *quite* as inconspicuous as he'd hoped.

The rest of the week, it turned out, was destined to be an indistinct blur of activity. Logan insisted on reinstituting morning workouts for the team, their homework showed no sign of magically disappearing, and every day during school hours saw the arrival of another truckload or two of furniture. Every afternoon, therefore, saw a crew of tired mutants heaving tables, chairs, bureaus and boxes to their appointed locations. The three truckloads from Monday had only been sufficient to furnish the bedrooms, dining room and rec room - the absolute essentials in the students' opinion. By Thursday afternoon they were all heartily sick of moving furniture.

_On the plus side,_ Kitty thought with a muffled groan as she maneuvered out of the freight elevator with a stack of boxes in her arms, _at least I get to escape to school during the day and avoid some of the grind._ The New Mutants didn't get that relief and were having their regular lessons with the Professor, Dr. McCoy, and Ms. Munroe supplemented by long hours unpag bog boxes of books and learning the principals of library organization as they stocked the shelves in the Professor's extensive personal collection, entering each volume in his computer catalog as they went. _I'd much rather sit through Calculus,_ she told herself as she approached the Professor's private study.

She nearly dropped the pile of boxes with a squeak of surprise as strong arms slipped around her from behind and warm breath tickled at her neck. "My room. After dinner," Kurt whispered in her ear, his voice low and heated, re pre pressing a kiss to the side of her neck. "We'll be doing our homework together if anyone asks, ja?"

She leaned into his lips with a low moan, enjoying the soft tickle of his fur as he nuzzled her. His hands were doing rather interesting things beneath her shirt as well, making it a bit of a challenge to balance her load. She didn't even particularly mind that they were both dusty and sweaty. She pressed her backside firmly into his groin and turned her head to catch his lips with her own before answering.

"You're incorrigible Kurt," she murmured huskily. "I think I like that." She grinned at him and nipped lightly at his jaw, enjoying the physical evidence that he wanted her. Then he was stepping abruptly away from her and she knew that his sharp ears had heard someone approaching.

"Um, why don't I take those for you," he offered sheepishly as he almost snatched the pile of boxes she'd been carrying, holding them low in front of his crotch. She resisted the urge to laugh at the self-conscious look on his face as Ms. Munroe came around the corner from the freight elevator, loaded down with boxes while Bobby trailed behind her pushing a dolly of office furniture.

This had to be at least the tenth time this week that they'd narrowly escaped being caught in a compromising or embarrassing position and she was starting to care less and less about being found out each time. God, she was looking forward to tonight.

"Hey Ms. Munroe, Bobby," she said as she turned to leave. "See you at dinner Fuzzy," she called over her shoulder as she headed back toward the service elevator. "Oh, and can you help me with my Spanish tonight?"

"Oh, um, ja. Spanish. After dinner. Ja. My room okay?" She had a hard time keeping the grin off her face at his...distraction.... He still seemed to be having a _hard_ time, and it was threatening to give her the giggles

"Yeah, sounds good Kurt. See ya!" and she turned and ran lightly down the hallway, followed all the way to the corner by burning golden eyes and a wolfish smile. Yep, it was going to be real hard to keep this in the closet much longer. Now, to track down Dr. McCoy.

Kitty waited nervously in Dr. McCoy's small office, just off the sub-basement corridor leading to the main med bay. It was still mostly empty down here, and it felt doubly cold and bare. Every noise, however small, seemed to generate a series of hollow, metallic echoes. She briefly considered just leaving, but Dr. McCoy had agreed to make time to see her before dinner and it would be rude to ditch him.

So, there she sat, arms and legs both crossed and chewing nervously on her bottom lip. She could actually hear him puttering around on the other side of the doors leading into his lab, doubtless arranging and connecting his precious equipment. Most of it had arrived in the last few days, but it would still be quite a while before the med bay was fully functioning. This was due in part to the fact that a number of the more advanced pieces of equipment required expert assistance to set up properly, and partly because the good doctor wouldn't let anyone else touch most of his 'toys' as Mr. Logan called them - claiming they were too sensitive and expensive to trust to non-professionals. This left him laboriously handling almost everything himself - except the computer-related issues that he called Kitty in to deal with.

She briefly considered sticking her head in and letting him know that she was waiting. Uncrossing her arms, she glanced at her watch. Nope, he wasn't actually late yet, and she really wasn't in all that big a rush to have this conversation anyway. She could wait. She crossed her arms again, almost hugging herself, and settled down to await his arrival.

Kurt shifted restlessly amidst the array of books and papers he'd spread out on the floor of his room. He'd gotten a bit behind this week and he was trying to figure out exactly what was due when for what class. He was having some trouble concentrating though, as he waited for Kitty to arrive.

She'd been late for dinner and had still been in the dusty, sweaty clothes she'd worked in all afternoon. That, in itself, was sufficiently unlike her to be some cause for concern. What had actually made him a bit nervous, however, was the fact that she'd come in just barely ahead of a very pensive Herr Dr. McCoy and then had been uncharacteristically subdued throughout the meal.

She'd joined in the conversation around her, but not with any particular enthusiasm and he'd noticed the doctor glancing her way much more often than was usual. He had tried to talk to her after dinner, but she'd put him off, rubbing at her left arm and looking a bit...uncomfortable.

"Later, Fuzzy. Just let me get out of these g clo clothes..."

"I could help with that," he'd interrupted in a low growl meant for her ears only.

"You wish, Kurt," and she'd smiled with some real enthusiasm. "Anyway, just let me have a shower and change into something more comfortable, then I'll bring my homework and meet you in your room. Okay?" She'd reached out to squeeze his arm lightly, and had let her hand linger just a few heartbeats longer than she would have only a week ago and he'd relaxed a bit. It was probably just the stress of such a busy week - not that they'd had any other kind since the Sentinel incident. Still, this one had been more hectic than most. Throw their 'secret' into the mix and it made for a bit of stress. He'd stood watching as she headed down the hall and almost missed the sharp look Herr McCoy gave him as he passed. Almost, but not quite. What was that about?


So now he lay there, gnawing absently on his pencil and waiting impatiently for her to arrive. This was the first night all week that there hadn't been some 'group' activity after dinner and homework. Logan had muttered something about the Danger Room at dinner, but the Professor had glanced his way and he'd dropped the subject with a vaguely mutinous look. Kurt was looking forward to the chance to actually spend some time alone with Kitty, something they hadn't done much - really any - of since last Saturday. They _did_ have to get their homework done, but that shouldn't take too long. After that, their time was their own, and he could think of some very...satisfying...ways to spend that time in her company.

He was lost in a rather lascivious train of thought when she finally poked her head, literally as usual, through his door. "Hey Fuzzy. Sorry I'm late." He looked up with a start as her body followed and she crossed his room to sink down on the floor next to him. Her hair was damp and she was wearing her pyjamas. Apparently she'd decided there was no point in getting dressed just to change into her pj's in a little while.

"What're you doing Kurt? It looks like a bomb went off in here." She glanced meaningfully at the seeming random piles surrounding him.

"Ach, I'm just trying to get organized - without much notable success I might add. I've gotten behind the last week or two and I'm not even sure where I am in a couple of classes." He glanced around in exasperation. "I'm thinking I'll give it up as a bad job at this point. Maybe I can figure it out on Sunday, but for now I just need to get my biology homework done."

"How about this deal? You do my Spanish and I'll do your biology. We'll be finished in no time and then the rest of thght ght is ours." She smiled hopefully at him and he felt his heart stutter a beat.

"Kaetzchen, I'm shocked at you." He was trying for a stern voice, but wasn't quite making it. "Suggesting that we _cheat_. It's not at all like you." He couldn't stop the smile from creeping into his voice.

"Yeah, well, there's a first time for everything, and if I have to look at another page of Spanish verbs I think I might go catatonic." Her smile turned from hopeful to suggestive and her voice shifted to a husky purr. "You wouldn't want that to happen, now would you?"

He blinked slowly as the heat from most of a week's worth of stolen kisses and clandestine gropings burned its way through his veins. "Ah, no, you're _much_ more fun conscious," he finally managed. She was leaning slightly towards him and his breath hitched as he caught a glimpse down her top to the gentle swell of her breasts. She wasn't wearing a bra, and rational thought pretty much kicked off at that point.

She didn't seem to mind at all, though, as he closed the distance between them and crushed her lips in an almost bruising kiss. No, she definitely didn't mind. Her arms slipped around his neck as she scooted closer to him, scattering papers and books in the process. _To hell with the homework, it's not like it's going anywhere. It'll still be there in an hour...or two..._

Bed...the bed would be a good place to be.... He lifted her easily, and she tightened her grip on his neck as he made his way over to it, setting her down in the center of the huge four-poster and then stretching out to lie next to her.

It didn't take long for things to deteriorate from there. Clothing was discarded rapidly and randomly until they were both down to bare flesh - or, in his case, fur. And oh, the sheer ecstasy of having all of that warm, bare, pink flesh pressed up against him. He was hardly aware of anything beyond the beating of his heart, the movement of her body against his, and her soft moans, gasps and murmurs of pleasure. It was all he wanted and all he needed.



"Oh shit! Um...ah...shit! What the hell...." Scott stood, stunned and blinking, just inside the door to Kurt's room. His brain couldn't quite process the image that, he was sure, was now permanently seared on his corneas. He was just beginning to think that standing there with the bedroom door wide open might not be the best idea in the world when Kurt disappeared from his field of view with his characteristic 'bamf'. His overwhelmed brain registered the sight of a stark naked Kitty Pryde scrambling to pull Kurt's comforter over herself and he had, perhaps, half a heartbeat to wonder if maybe the whole scene might not be quite so disturbing if he wasn't seeing it through a wash of red, before an equally naked Kurt reappeared right next to him in a haze of acrid smoke.

With a wordless snarl, the younger boy kicked the bedroom door shut and then Scott found himself seized roughly by the shirt front and shoved backwards into the wall.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?" he growled, fangs gleaming just inches from Scott's face. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" and Kurt shifted his grip to lift him slightly off the floor, with an apparent ease that would have surprised Scott if his brain was processing rational thought.

"Um, Kurt? Are you gonna, like, actually _do_ anything to him? 'Cause, if not, you might want to put him down now." Kitty's voice was actually amused - amused - and Scott had to stop himself from turning his head to look at her. That was _not_ something he needed another eyeful of, not if he was going to be able to keep working with her.

This was ridiculous, he could stand up to Magneto or Mystique without batting an eyelash. He could remain totally calm in the face of rabid, mutant-hating mobs. Hell, he'd taken on the entire U.S. military and walked away. So why did the sight of two of his friends - who were supposedly just friends themselves - hot, sweaty and naked reduce him to stunned incoherence? Whatever the reason, it was probably information he'd rather the Brotherhood _not_ have.

He raised his left hand slightly, bringing the calculator he was holding into Kurt's still burning field of vision. "Um...so... Kurt. Can I borrow your calculator? Mine died...."
Kurt stared at him blankly for a moment, the anger draining visibly from eerie yellow eyes. Suddenly his grip loosened and Scott slid the few inches to the floor with an audible thump.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking Scott?" he repeated in a wearily amused voice.

"Haven't you ever heard of locking your damn door?" he fired back. "Jesus Kurt!" He was starting to get angry now. He didn't like being caught flat-footed and the shock was fading rapidly as his brain kicked into gear and started to process the situation. "And will you put on some damn clothes? What the hell do you think you're doing anyway?" He closed his eyes briefly and sucked in a breath. "Wait. No. Don't answer that."

He'd been studiously ignoring Kitty where she sat watching their exchange, the quilt pulled up above her bare breasts. Now he turned his back to the bed and spoke to the wall. "Kitty," he'd fallen into Fearless Leader mode, and he knew his voice had the snap of an order he expected to be obeyed. "Get dressed and get back to your room. Now. Kurt and I," and he turned his attention to the younger boy, who stood glaring at him, "need to have a little talk."

Kurt peeled his lips back from his teeth in a snarl as he took a step closer, intentionally crowding Scott's personal space. "Wait just a minute Scott! Was in der Holle..."

"No. You wait a minute Kurt." He was on a roll now and he wasn't going to get derailed. "I don't give a damn about whatever screwed up emotional garbage has you in bed with your best friend. We've got a little issue here called 'age of consent' - and she hasn't reached it yet. Neither have you for that matter, but that's beside the point. Now. Get. Dressed."

He looked down into a pair of burning golden eyes and paused briefly to wonder if maybe pushing a confrontation right now wasn't the best idea he'd ever had. A low growl began to rumble audibly through Kurt's chest - something Scott always found slightly disconcerting - and he realized that he couldn't afford to back down even if he wanted to. Not and maintain any kind of authority over the younger boy in future.

"Stay the hell out of our personal life, Scott." His accent was thickening markedly and Scott could swear Kurt's fur was actually bristling. There was a definite threat in his bared fangs. They'd both completely forgotten about Kitty for the moment.

"You know, I'm sure that this testosterone fueled pissing match is really a ball for the two of you, but do you think that maybe you could get a grip and quit acting like a pair of strange dogs?" She'd slipped into Kurt's shirt sometime during their confrontation, and now stood almost between them. Neither he nor Kurt had even noticed her approach, they'd been so focused on each other. Now they both stared in confusion, surprised by her unexpected interruption al as as much as by her calm.

She held out a pair of boxers to Kurt, who was still standing there stark naked, and looking self-conscious about it for the first time. "Danke," he murmured, his tone subdued, as he slipped quickly into them.

"Better," she announced with satisfaction, and Scott silently seconded the thought. "It's hard to have a reasonable conversation in the buff," and she actually grinned at them.
"Kitty, I don't know what the hell," he'd hardly gotten sed bed before she cut him off.

"No, you're right Scott, you don't." Now it was apparently her turn to get angry. "You don't know a damn thing."

She stepped closer to Kurt and put a hand on his arm, while his tail snaked out to twine firmly around her bare leg. Scott looked at the two of them in surprise. He had no idea when or how this...whatever it was...had started between them, but this obviously wasn't their first time. They were way too familiar and comfortable with each other under the circumstances. _Shit! This is so not good._

He would try to be reasonable about this. He had no intention of involving any of the adults if he could avoid it, but this definitely had to end. Now. Before things got completely out of hand.

"Kitty," he started in his most persuasive voice. "What I do know is that you're sixteen years old. You're too young..."

"Too young to risk my life on missions on a regular basis?" she interrupted. "Too young to spend ten plus hours a week in the Danger Room with a blade wielding psycho, hopefully learning how to _not_ get skewered on those missions? Too young to wonder if today's going to be the day that some nut-case with a gun and some time on his hands decides that the world would be a better place with one less mutant in it?" Her voice had risen with each question until she was all but yelling in his face.

Scott glanced at Kurt and saw a look of shock that he was pretty sure must be a mirror of his own.

"I may be too young for a lot of the things I do Scott, but I am sure as _hell_ not too young to...to..." She gestured vaguely, for the first time at a loss for words. Finally she snorted in frustration, "oh hell! If I'm old enough to do it I'm old enough to say it. Don't you _dare_ tell me I'm not old enough to have sex with _someone I love_," and she glared defiantly up at him, tears of anger beginning to sting at the corner of her eyes and trail down her flushed cheeks. He just stood there, gaping in shock while Kurt, for his part, couldn't seem to decide whether to be shocked or smug.

"And, for the record, in case you're laboring under the misapprehension that Kurt's been 'taking advantage' of me - think again! _I_ started this, not Kurt. So get the hell out of my personal life Scott Summers!" She was crying in earnest now, and Kurt gathered her up in a fierce embrace, glaring at Scott over her bowed head while she wept quietly into his bare shoulder.

Scott couldn't quite decide anymore whether to be angry or embarrassed. They _were_ too young for this, dammit! But she had a valid point - they were too young for a whole hell of a lot of things. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. If only he had never opened that fucking door.

Kitty's tears had trailed off, but she still nestled within the circle of Kurt's arms, making no move to turn and face Scott again. Kurt was gently rubbing one hand along her back, smoothing absently at her tense shoulders, while the other trailed through her hair and, Scott noticed, his tail wrapped tightly around her waist.

Looking at the pair, he finally sighed in defeat. "Look, maybe you're right. Maybe this isn't any of my business. Right now, I don't know. My gut reaction is to tell you that you're wrong. That you _are_ too young for this kind of relationship, no matter what else is going on in your lives, but, well.... Just promise me that you'll think about it, okay? I mean, really give this some serious thought before...well...doing _this_ again. Please?"

This time it was Kurt who answered him. The anger was gone from his voice and his face was serious. "Scott, you have no idea how much thought we've given this, and I can tell you right now that agonizing over it further isn't going to change our decision. I _can_ promise you that we have been...careful...and that we always will be."

Scott didn't like the sound of that - just how the hell long _had_ this been going on?

Kurt closed his eyes briefly and dropped his head to rest on Kitty's shoulder before continuing in a muffled voice. "This is not...casual...or thoughtless. We're not just playing around for the fun of it and I'm...surprised...you think that either of us would." He looked up again, and some of the fire was back in his eyes. "I'm not going to ask for your... _approval_...or your permission because I know I won't get either and, honestly, I don't give a damn. It won't change anything."

He knew it was hopeless at this point, but he couldn't resist one last ditch effort to talk sense into his friends. "You do know you won't be able to keep this from the adults forever, don't you? And they're not going to be happy when they find out. What will you do then?"

Kitty raised her head and turned to look at him, a bit of a glint in her eye and he wondered just what she found humorous in the situation.

"Actually," she said with a teary smile. "Mr. Logan and Dr. McCoy already know."

"What?"

"Was?"

Scott's attention was somewhat diverfromfrom his own shock by Kurt's surprised outburst. It was kind of nice not to be the only one caught completely off-guard, but it didn't change the fact that he couldn't believe that the adults, at least some of them, knew about this...situation...and had done absolutely nothing to put a stop to it.

"And when the Professor and Ms. Munroe find out... Well, if they have a problem with it, I'll tell them exactly what I told you and Dr. McCoy. I'm not going to go rubbing their noses in it, but I'm not ashamed, and I'm not going to back down like a 'good little girl'. I'm not a little girl anymore, and I'm sick to death of being good."

Scott finally had to concede that he had completely lost any advantage or moral authority he might ever have had on the issue. They weren't going to listen to him and he wasn't going to rat them out to the Professor. Not that it would necessarily matter if he did, from the sounds of it.

He felt some lessening of the burden of responsibility, knowing that, if Kitty was telling the truth - and he had no reason to bve sve she wasn't - then at least some of the adults were aware of how things stood. It was still hard for him to let go, but he simply couldn't take personal responsibility for everything that happened around here - much as he sometimes tried to. The only option he really had left was how to try and salvage the situation. He didn't want to ruin two good friendships over this.

Kitty was still staring defiantly at him and Kurt was still staring questioningly at her.

"Fine, you win," he finally answered her. "Just...ah shit. Just...be careful, okay?" He met Kurt's irritated glare with one of his own. "I know what you said Kurt. I was listening. But it can't hurt to be reminded."

A lot of the tension had left him now that he'd abdicated any personal responsibility for the situation and he managed a weak smile. "Just remember, you hurt her, she's got a whole houseful of 'big brothers' to rip you a new asshole, okay Elf?"

Kurt grinned in response, eagerly seizing on Scott's awkward attempt to make peace. "What is it, threaten the blue furry guy week? First Logan and now you, I feel like I should watch my back." He looked questioningly at Kitty. "Did anyone ever threaten Lance when you were dating him?" he asked plaintively.

"Yeah, you did you fuzzy idiot. But you might want to keep in mind that I was never...ahem...intimate...with him." She shifted her attention to Scott with a grin. "And as for you," she told him. "Keep in mind that I can bloody well look after myself thankyouverymuch. So if anyone ever needs to rip Fuzzy here a new one on my account, I think I'll do the honors myself."

"Hey! Wait a minute. I resent that."

"That's the Kitty we all know and love," Scott interjected with a wry smile, ploughing right over Kurt's mock-outraged protest. "Bloodthirsty to the core," and he reached out to rumple her hair affectionately.

They seemed to have gotten back to a place where they could all live with each other, impossible as that might have seemed a few minutes ago. Scott decided that it was time to make his escape before anything else could jump up to bite him in the butt - besides, from the look on Kurt's face, he and Kitty probably had a few things to discuss.
"So...Kurt? How about that calculator?" he asked, almost sheepishly.

"Hm? Oh, ja," the younger boy tore his eyes away from Kitty and stepped over to his desk. He hadn't had it long enough to make a pig's breakfast out of the drawers yet, so it only took him a moment to find the item in question.

"Here," he said, tossing it lightly across the room. "Take the verdammt thing and get the hell out of my room. We've got...homework...to do still."

"Yeah, whatever," Scott replied, turning to the door and trying, not entirely successfully, to ignore the looks they were giving each other. "Just try to remember what locks are for in future, eh?"

The last thing he heard as the door swung shut behind him was Kurt's voice, lightly laced with sarcasm, "Well, if Kaetzchen ever actually _used_ the verdammt door, she just might remember to lock it behind her..." and then the faint 'snick' of the lock being thrown.

Scott wondered briefly as he walked away if it was really Kitty he should be worried about, but shrugged the thought away. He could handle this thing with Kitty, whatever it was. He didn't need his friends babysitting him, and wouldn't appreciate it even if he did. Kurt was a big boy, and far from the shell-shocked bundle of nerves that the Prof and Logan had dragged into the med-bay half dead in the fall. Wasn't he? He wanted the answer to that to be yes, and shied reflexively away from memories of Kurt skulking dead-eyed through the house just a week before. The truth was, he really wasn't sure.


As Kurt locked the door behind Scott, Kitty slumped against the wall. She looked thoroughly wrung out, and Kurt wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and hold her until she fell asleep. Instead, he took a deep breath and asked, somewhat wryly, "And exactly how did Dr. McCoy become privy to our...situation...Liebe? I suppose that it has something to do with the odd looks he was giving you all through dinner, and the dirty look I got as he left?"

"I didn't really want you to find out this way Kurt," she looked nervously at her hands where they were twisting in front of her. "I was going to tell you...later."

"Tell me what Liebe?"

"Well, I went to see Dr. McCoy this afternoon. Right before dinner, actually." She paused again, and Kurt found that her nervousness was beginning to make him antsy.

"What about Kaetzchen?"

She looked up at him from beneath lowered lashes, and he realized, from the look in her eyes, that she wasn't nervous about what had happened with Dr. McCoy, she was nervous about his reaction to it - so nervous, in fact, that he could smell it on her. "It's all right, Liebe, you can tell me."

"I went to ask about birth control," it came out in a rush and she looked back down at her hands, unwilling to meet his eyes.

He blinked in surprise a few times, trying to process the information. She apparently took his silence for censure and hurried on, explaining and justifying in a mild panic. "I didn't tell him about _us_ Kurt, just that...that I wanted birth control. I'm sorry if you don't approve...I know it's not a Catholic thing - I, I asked Rogue about it. But...well...it just seemed...safer and, well, easier, y'know. So, I figured I'd just go get it taken care of and if you weren't...weren't involved then it couldn't be, like, your fault or anything so it wouldn't, like, screw you up with the Church and stuff and..."

"Whoa Kaetzchen. Slow down. Take a breath." She was getting red in the face from trying to force everything out at once in a full on, stream-of-consciousness panic. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her gently to him, wrapping his tail around her waist as she settled tensely against his chest.

"Liebe, I'm...surprised...I suppose. But mostly because you didn't say anything to me about it. And I'm sorry that you, that you felt you had to face Dr. McCoy alone." She was relaxing against him and he stroked her hair and her back lightly as he continued, his voice soft. "I appreciate that you were concerned for the strictures of my faith, but the Church really doesn't look on condoms with any more approval, so really, I'm already in up to my hips, eh? A little more won't hurt. Besides, I'm no more ready to be a father than you are a mother and, well," he sighed heavily, "with all the other sins on my soul, I'm really not going to lose any sleep over that one." He kissed temple, inhaling the fresh smell of her as he did so, and toyed with a strand of her dark hair. He wasn't about to tell her what the Church said about fornication, and he hoped she wouldn't go to the trouble to find out on her own.

"And as for my approval Kaetzchen, whatever the Church might say about it, it is your body and your choice. I wouldn't presume to claim any authority over you in such matters, ja? Perhaps that mame nme not a very good Catholic, but I hope it makes me a better man."

He took her gently by the shoulders and moved her slightly away from him, just enough to be able to look her in the eye. "Now, why on earth do you think I would care if Dr. McCoy knew that I was the reason you were seeking his services?" Out of all she'd said and implied, this was what bothered him the most.

"Do you think I would rather you let him believe you were being intimate with Lance, or a om som stranger from school? I am not ashamed of you...of this, Liebe...or," and he paused, uncertain, "would _you_ rather he not know?" His voice trailed off at that possibility. It had just occurred to him that she might be ashamed for the doctor to know that she was sleeping with him - not that she didn't want him to know that she was having sex, but that she didn't want him to know he was having sex with the freak. _No, no, no, no, no...._

"No, silly elf. It's not that - never. And as for Dr. McCoy, well, he's probably figured out it's you by now."

His heart gradually resumed its normal rhythm and he managed to raise one eyebrow in inquiry as she grinned impishly up at him. "He started to give me the lecture about how condoms are still important in preventing the spread of STDs, and I kind of let slip how that wasn't really a problem, because he'd, like, tested all of us for everything under the sun anyway. He just gave me a _look_, you know? And I could see the wheels start turning as he tried to figure out who it could be. I got the whole 'age of consent' lecture from him too, so at least I was ready for Scott when he pulled it out." She laughed then, in a way that eased his heart. "Dr. McCoy was actually a bit easier to convince, though, seeing as how he was the one who told all of us we could come to him for any help we needed any time. You remember? His whole 'I won't ask and I won't tell, I just want you to be safe' lecture.

Kurt grinned at the memory of the large blue man trying to make himself understandable, and approachable, to a room full of teens in the merciless grip of uncontrollable hormonal urges. Or at least that was how he'd appeared to view them. "Ja, but I think Logan's version of 'the talk' is actually much more effective. I am fairly certain that Jamie will not even _think_ of touching a girl until he is at least thirty - and even then he will probably require her to submit to a full physical and request a copy of her test results first."

He had to support her as she almost collapsed against him laughing. "You're horrible Kurt," she finally sputtered. "And poor Jamie, did Logan really scare him that bad?"

"Oh Liebe, he put the fear of God like you wouldn't believe into the poor boy - and half the male population of this place." His grin was almost splitting his face by this point. "Herr McCoy may have used pictures, but his powers of description pale in comparison to Logan's - plus, Logan used threats, and you know how convincing he can make those."

"And as for not telling you first. Well, I just, like, didn't know how you'd feel about it...about everything. And it was...important...to me, because, like, I have _no_ intention of giving you up Fuzzy," and he couldn't help but smile at the combination of shyness and ferocity she managed to put into that one statement. "It just seems safer than trusting to condoms or...well, to our self control." She looked down, blushing crimson, as she spoke. "I know I don't seem to have a lot of it where you're concerned. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have used protection at all last weekend, because I sure wasn't thinking about it when it mattered. I was so...overwhelmed, I guess...that it never even occurred to me. I just don't wantriskrisk that...that you might ever forget because I'm just not ready for the whole mommy thing, no, not by a long shot."

Kurt placed one large finger under her chin and tilted her head up gently until their eyes met. "I'll take that as a compliment, Liebe," he said with a slow smile, his voice sounding low and rough in his ears as her words sent a wave of heat through him. "You are right to be careful, but I still don't like that Dr. McCoy might think you are...promiscuous...or that, well, that I wouldn't care for your well-being enough to support your decision."

He grinned as a thought occurred tohim, "would you like me to see him tomorrow? If nothing else, he could give me the other half of your lecture, and that's probably better than making him hunt me down to it, ne? Because you know he will if he has, as you think, 'figured it out'"

"Well, there is that," she conceded with a smile. But really, you don't have to do that Fuzzy. I've...taken care of everything...so there's no reason for you to have to deal with it. He, uh, wanted me to wait. You know, think things over and come back to him with a decision later. But I've been thinking about it all week, and I finally managed to, like, wear him down." She rubbed lightly at her arm again, her face thoughtful.

"What...method...did you choose, Liebe? If you don't mind my asking."

"Hm? Oh, no, I don't care. I went for the depo-provera shots," and she grimaced faintly at him. She didn't, he recalled, think much more highly of needles than he did. "The side effects aren't much different than the pill and I don't have to remember to take something every day. The way our lives go, I'd probably forget to take one and then we'd be up shit creek without a paddle," she grinned up at him. "This way I just have to go back for another shot every three months and, otherwise, I never have to worry about it."

Her smile widened, and she lowered her lashes to look up at him from beneath their dark sweep. "And do you want to know the best part?" She paused for effect. "It only takes twenty-four hours to become effective. That means, for your information, 5:45 tomorrow."

He returned her smile and kissed the tip of her nose playfully, trying unsuccessfully to suppress the low, rumbling purr that wanted to escape at the thought of being able to be with her without any thought or need for protection. His stomach, and other things, tenetened very pleasantly at the thought.

"That," he growled quietly into her ear, "is a date."

It was the last coherent phrase either of them uttered for a while, and things were, in Kurt's opinion, just starting to get interesting again when they were interrupted by a sharp knock on the door.

"Ignore it," he growled harshly against her throat, "it's locked this time." He nipped almost roughly at her jaw as he pulled her more tightly to him, his hands sliding across her deliciously bare flesh. Her hand was already down the back of his shorts, running across the soft fur of his ass, and at the nip she gasped, then slid it smoothly around to the front, wrapping her fingers firmly around his straining length.

"Ach, Gott!" His knees wanted to buckle, but that was okay, because he was pretty sure he could get them to the bed first. He'd just started to move them in that direction when the knock was repeated, this time accompanied by a rather insistent voice. He was about to shout a suitable obscenity in response when the voice registered on his addled brain and he stopped in his tracks.

"Mr Wagner! I am perfectly cognizant of the fact that you are currently occupying your domicile. I would appreciate the pleasure of your company down in my office at your earliest possible convenience. Oh, and I recommend that you make sure that it's convenient in no more than ten minutes. I'll be waiting."

"I could be wrong Schatz, but I'm fairly certain that _wasn't_ a request," he finally managed to gasp out.

"Ya think Fuzzy?"

"And I'm guessing, based on the number of three dollar words he threw in, that I won't be getting the short version of the lecture either." He pressed an almost desperate kiss at the base of her throat and suppressed another growl as she gave his still hard erection a firm, deliberate stroke.

"Since you're screwed anyway, want to make the best of it?" she asked impishly. "We've got ten minutes after all."

"Oh Gott, Kaetzchen! Stop. It. Are you trying to kill me Liebe?" He knew his fangs were bared as he panted, open-mouthed, and he closed his eyes tightly against the sensation that they were rolling back in his head. "Appealing as that thought is Schatz," he managed to gasp through now tightly clenched teeth. "I think my chances of surviving this interview are probably better if I show up sooner rather than later, and preferably not smelling of sex."

"Spoilsport," she murmured into his neck, and he could feel her mouth tip into a smile against his skin.

"It might be a record Schatz - the speed at which you've gone from sweet, pure and innocent to a thoroughly corrupt sex goddess." He chuckled throatily as he finally managed to extricate himself, howeveluctluctantly, from her grip.

"Whatever gave you the idea that I was all that pure before Fuzzy? There's plenty of things you can do that don't include going 'all the way.'" He blinked at her in mild shock as she smirked at him. "You don't get sole credit for corrupting my innocence you know," and she graced him with a particularly heart-stopping smile as she crossed the room and began retrieving her clothes.

"That," he told her, still blinking in surprise, "was information I really didn't need. I would much have preferred to maintain the delusion that you were, until recently at least, as pure as the driven snow. That is the expression, ja?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her, mostly recovered from the 'shock' now. "It makes you that much more entertaining to corrupt."

She burst into a fit of giggles at that, while he joined her in sorting through discarded clothes. "You know," she told him as she finally regained her composure, "at this rate, you're not going to get much of a chance to contribute to my delinquency."

"Hmmmmm," he rumbled at her.I imI imagine that if Scott has his way, and probably Herr McCoy as well, I will not get _any_ chance to do so. But," and he grinned wickedly at her, fangs bared, "I know one place where no one is likely to...interrupt...us." He slipped behind her, running his hands down her sides to rest on the gentle swell of her hips as he bent his face to her neck, inhaling the sweet, intoxicating fragrance of her skin. "Meet me tomorrow after your Danger Room session. In the South Woods, by the big oak tree where Logan gathers us for drills." He planted a soft kiss in the hollow just below her left ear. "No one ever comes into the woods, Liebe. We can talk and do...whatever else...we might want without any interruption out there."

She pressed her hips back into him, rubbing temptingly against the lingering hardness she found there, before answering him in a husky voice. "See you at five o'clock then Fuzzy. Don't be late," and she pulled away with a laugh at his groan of frustration.

"Nothing could possibly delay me Kaetzchen," he answered. "That is assuming I survive this encounter with Herr McCoy anyway. Wish me luck?"

"Just nod and smile a lot when he breaks out the big words and you'll be fine Fuzzy - so long as there's not a written test anyway. Now go on, before I decide to heck with him and jump you anyway." She kissed him almost chastely on the cheek and, laughing, placed a hand on his shoulder, phased him, and sent him stumbling into the hall.

_Ach, scheisse. Just what I need, blue balls both literally and figuratively. This meeting is going to be uncomfortable in _so_ many ways._ He headed down the corridor to the elevator, trying to think about anything but what he'd just left behind in his room or how incredibly uncomfortable he was at the moment. _Asking Beast if he knows any cure for blue balls might not be the best conversational opener under the circumstances,_ he thought with a grimace as he turned the corner and headed for the elevator. He *definitely* wasn't taking the stairs tonight.


"Oh my stars and garters," for the second time that day Henry McCoy heaved an enormous sigh and lowered his head to rest in his massive paws. What on earth had ever possessed him to take responsibility for the health and well-being of a houseful of teenage mutants? There were days when he seriously thought that Edna McCoy's favorite son really wasn't cut out for this life - and today was one of them. He rubbed gingerly at his temples, trying to alleviate the pain of his incipient migraine.

He'd known this day would come. Really, once he'd delivered "the talk", he'd known that it was just a matter of time before someone took him up on the offer. He'd even told Charles as much. If anything, it was rather surprising that it had taken this long, considering the sheer volume of hormones rampaging through the halls. So why did he feel like he'd been blind-sided this afternoon?

Perhaps, he thought, his unease was more the result of _who_ had come to him than the actual subject. If he'd been asked who among the mansion's residents he expected to be having this afternoon's conversation with, Kitty Pryde would not have made it anywhere near his short list - and he did indeed _have_ a short-list. The fact that young Mr. Wagner was the other party to the situation made it seem almost surreal. _No, definitely not on the short list..._

Well, he'd delivered the obligatory warnings and extracted the appropriate promises - for both caution and discretion - from both of them. Indeed, the latter had been his primary reason for calling Kurt to his office in the first place. He tho thought it prudent to remind the younger man that, while his personal relationships were his own business, it behooved him to remember that he and Kitty were, by nature of their seniority and experience, examples to the younger students.

It had easily been one of the most awkward conversations he'd ever had the misfortune to be a party to. Ironically, Kurt's perfect attentiveness and total lack of self-consciousness or defensiveness had only made it more so. He'd had to keep reminding himself that the boy was, in fact, just that - a boy of only sixteen. Sometime in the not too distant future, Charles was going to be in for a rather rude awakening concerning those two, and Henry wondered exactly how the world's most powerful telepath would deal with it when the time came.

He sighed again and ran thick fingers roughly through his hair before finally stirring from his seat. The springs protested noisily as he eased his bulk up and knuckled over to the cabinet where he had already secreted an 'emergency' supply of twinkies. It was definitely a twinkie kind of night.

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I'm not sure where, exactly, I came across the name Edna for Beast's mom. I _think_ it might have been from Tarchannon's Beast in Left Turn at Westchester, but it might have been elsewhere. Heck, it might even be canon, I'm certainly no expert on Beast. Suffice it to say that I certainly didn't come up with it, but I liked the sound of it, so I used it.

Other than that, sorry if this chapter's a bit choppy and disjointed. My muse appears to be on strike - not sure if it's for higher wages or better working hours. Probably the latter since I tend to do most of my writing between 11pm and 2am. I'm _trying_ to use more dialogue and less internal monologue, I hope it's working. It certainly doesn't come naturally to me. The next chapter should _start_ getting into more action finally. Note, however, that I say _should_ - I do have a tendency to get hijacked and dragged off track, so we'll see.

As always, please REVIEW. Gives me the warm fuzzies. Inspires me to bother continuing. Remember, constructive criticism is gladly accepted.