Constant Craving

CONSTANT CRAVING CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather is superwonderful for beta-ing. Ted says he is making her a gingerbread house for Yule just because she's special. :) InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink get Krispy Kremes for archiving (guess who's hungry? Lol) Vampyre: I think 2-D and Rocky are wrestling again... Readers/Reviewers:
The ducks want you to know that they are the very model of a modern major general...huh. They're getting the musicals confused...


"Stop it!" Kitty cried, lunging for Kurt, desperate to pull the fighting youths apart. Kurt saw her coming out of the corner of his eye and they were gone in a blink, 'porting off to God only knew where, leaving Kitty on the verge of panic. "Kurt!" she yelled, running from the room without bothering to open the door. She ran full-tilt down the hall, her voice edged with sharp worry. "Kurt! Where did you go? Please!" She skidded around the corner and flung herself into the elevator to the main floor. "Come on, come on..." she muttered, punching the "L" button several times. The elevator sighed and hissed and opened into the first floor hallway. Kitty launched herself out of the device before the doors opened all the way. "Kurt!"
"Kitty! What's wrong?" Jean grabbed her as she passed by, partially expecting her friend to phase from her grasp.
Instead, Kitty panted, "Kurt...Lance...fight! Port....help!"
Jean wrinkled her brow. "What're they fighting over?"
"Not important right now...Kurt's gonna hurt Lance, I think..." Kitty knew that Lance could very well hurt Kurt, but she would have bet on her boyfriend in a fight any day of the week. He was smaller, quicker, and more athletic than Lance. Not only that, she realized, _he's got fangs...and that tail...fuck. I hope he doesn't kill him... _
Jean nodded brusquely. "Okay. Give me a second." Still holding tight to Kitty's arm to prevent her from running off, Jean closed her eyes and sent her mind roaming, searching for signs of either Kurt or Lance. "Ah!" she said softly after a few seconds. "Lance has a mouth on him...come on! They're in the yard around back....I just got a flash of that old oak tree with the tire swing."
Kitty did phase then, running so fast Pietro would have been surprised. Jean was close on her heels, her long legs closing the distance in a few seconds. She only slowe ope open the doors that Kitty phased through, catching up with her friend again as she sprinted through the back door and into the backyard. "Kurt!" Kitty could hear the sounds of a fight just past her, to the right near a small copse of trees that had been there since before the Professor had even been born. True to Jean's vision, they were near an ancient oak with a tire swing suspended from a low branch. Lance was on top of Kurt, one knee in his chest, but Kurt's tail was wrapped around Lance's thigh, pulling him to one side. "Kurt, stop!"
Her voice was enough of a distraction to make his grip on Lance's leg relax. "Katzchen!" Kitty could not tell if he was surprised, angry, or confused-Kurt was prevented from saying anything by the application of Lance's fist to his mouth.
"Lance!" Kitty's vocabulary was reduced to two words, and the volume of a scream. Jean acted quickly, throwing Lance off of Kurt with a twist of mental energy, holding him in mid-air. Kurt was spitting gouts of blood as he rolled to his knees, pushing himself to his feet with no other sign of injury. Kitty bit back an involuntary sob at the sight of Kurt so bloody and instead flung herself at him.
Kurt did not know what to expect from her-tears, mostly, he reason. What he did not expect was a full-frontal assault. She pounded his chest with clenched fists, face red from withheld tears and teeth gritted to prevent the spill of invectives from coming forth. "Liebes, stop!" he cried, sounding slightly gurgling. Kurt grabbed her wrists and stilled her pounding, holding her slightly away from him.
"Stop? Me? Kurt, what the Hell were you thinking?"
Lance spoke from his odd position, still held in the air by Jean, who elf elf remained a silent bystander, the expression on her fakinakin to disgusted amusement. "He thinks we're fucking each other."
"What?" the two girls cried as one. Jean's concentration slipped and Lance hit the ground with a vague crunch and noise of surprise.
"What the Hell was I supposed to think? You're avoiding...things...with me, I come home from Mass to spend time with you and find you all...huggy...with _him _ in the gym!" Kurt gestured wildly as he spoke, lending to his image as a crazed mutant, blood still trickling from his mouth and fur matted with sweat.
Kitty felt a sudden, calm anger wash over her. In a low, dangerous voice, she spoke, punctuating her words witarp arp jabs of her finger in his chest. "How dare you? How dare you tell me you love me when you don't trust me? How dare you think I would ever cheat on you? How dare you?" She was too upset to cry, too upset to do anything but shake. "I'm going to be sick," she muttered, whirling away.
"Katzchen! Wait..." Kurt cried, suddenly ashamed. "I'm sorry..." But Kitty was already gone, running back towards the house, the sound of sobs drifting back to the three mutants remaining.
"Nice going, numbnuts," Lance muttered.
"Watch it," Jean said sharply. Turning to Kurt, she said softly, "Kurt, you hurt her."
"You think I don't know that?" Kurt sank to the ground, hands fisting in his hair. "I don't know what came over me!"
"I do," the girl said. "You're jealous. You still can't stand the thought of Kitty with anyone but yourself...and the fact that it's Lance is adding grease to the fire."
"Thanks, I think," Lance grumbled. "Look, Kurt, I don't want her. I've got Amara."
Jean glared then. "You make it sound like they're property. Like you can trade one for the other..."
"That's not what I meant and you know it, Red," Lance snapped.
"Can we argue feminism later?" Kurt moaned, falling back onto the grass. "What if I've lost her? I can't live if I've hurt her that badly..."
"Kurt," Jean soothed, "Go to her. Talk to her. She's going to be mad for a while. And honestly, you won't get much sympathy from anyone for what happened. This is so unlike you."
Kurt sniffed softly, willing his tears to stay put. "I know...I just feel so frustrated lately and it makes me so angry..."
Lance snorted. "You fucked up big time."
"Like you had no part in this!" Kurt growled.
"I didn't, genius!" Lance stood, shaking off Jean's restraining grasp. "Like it or not, Kitty and I are friends. Yeah, I fucked up big time too, but she forgave me. We've known each other too long to just forget our past together! And like it or not, we _do _ have a past together!"
Kurt rose as well, facing Lance down. "I don't want you messing with Kitty!"
"I'm not messing with her, as you say." Lance's voice was rising, drawing attention from Storm in the side yard and Amara, coming out of the boathouse where Lance had left her sleeping. Scowling down at Kurt, ignoring the approaching women and Jean's attempts at silencing him, Lance continued, "I am with Amara, believe itnot.not. I'm not just fucking her. I love her. _I love Amara. _ I'm not going to go fucking Kitty just because she's hot."
"What did I just say," Kurt said dangerously, "about talking about Kitty like that?"
"What's going on here?" Amara's voice broke in, smooth tones tinged with jealousy. "Lance?"
"He thinks I'm fucking with Kitty." Lance jerked his thumb in Kurt's direction, turning to face his girlfriend.
"He was draped all over her in the gym earlier!"
"Oh?" Amara said, raising an eyebrow, gaze never leaving Lance's face. "Fascinating." Her expression did not change but Jean felt the sharp shaft of jealous panic radiate from the Nova Roman. "How do you mean 'draped'?"
"Kurt..." Lance said warningly.
With grim determination, Kurt said, "I came in to see Kitty, to spend time with her after Mass, and I see them close, hugging!"
"Hugging?" Amara repeated dully.
Jean broke in. "Amara, it's a misunderstanding. The boys are just too tense and lashing out..."
Amara held up a hand. "Hugging?" she repeated. "How do you mean?"
Kurt shrugged. "Hugging."
Lance sighed. "Princess, Kitty and I are _friends. _ She is nothing more to me. I was hugging her like you do a friend."
"I don't hug my friends." Amara's eyes narrowed and she stepped forward, so close to Lance that he felt her breath on his chest, even through his shirt. "You smell like perfume."
"What?" the tall teenager cried. "Amara..."
"Children," Storm said, breaking her silent observation, "I think you've done enough arguing for this morning. Calm down and talk when you've centered your anger."
"Storm," Kurt said "you don't understand!"
"I understand more than you realize..."
"Kurt, let it go," Jean advised. "C'mon, Amara. Let's go find Kitty since Kurt won't!"
"That's not fair! Kurt cried. He 'ported away before the telepath could respond, no doubt in search of Kitty.
Storm eyed the remaining mutants. "I know what is going on here. And I think you can behave so much better than this. However, as it has been pointed out to me, you are almost adults. I am not going to coddle you through this situation. Just keep in mind that you should respect this household's rules and the feelings of others around you." She did not so much glare at them as look piteously. "I hope that this will all be over soon. I do not like the feeling of disappointment these events inspire." With a cool nod to the teenagers, she turned and left, a faint rumble of thunder the only true sign of her displeasure.
Amara turned to Lance, her voice low and almost humble. "Lance, I don't know what's going on, but I know that I can't be with you if you're still mooning over Kitty."
Lance felt his heart speed up, panic setting into his bones. "I'm not mooning over Kitty!"
"Amara, it's a _misunderstanding!" _ Jean put in. "I know! I can tell..." Sad nad not actually scanned Kurt, Kitty or Lance but she was trusting her intuition and her knowledge of her friends. "Kitty would never hurt Kurt by cheating on him with anyone, much less Lance..."
"Jean," Amara said sharply, "do go away. This is really none of your business."
Jean jerked in surprise. "Well!" Crossing her arms over her chest, she said hotly. "I was just trying to help!"
Lance made a dismissive gesture. "We can help ourselves."
"Correction, Lover," Amara said, "_you _ can help _yourself." _ With a nod of cool dismissal, she turned and followed Jean back to the mansion, leaving Lance alone under the trees, confusion and fear warring in his breast.

"Kitty! Open the door!" Kurt rattled the door knob again and received only and angry sniff followed by the muffled thump of a pillow hitting the door in response. "Katzchen! Please!"
Kitty's head appeared through the door, a sight slightly disconcerting to Kurt. "I think you're made it clear what your _real _ feelings are!"
"Kitty, I was an ass. I'm sorry." Kurt spoke in a bare whisper, his voice only loud enough for her to hear. "May I please come in?"
Kitty stared hard at him for a moment, then nodded. She opened the door with no ceremony, walking over to her bed and flopping down on her stomach, making a show of her nonchalance. "If you have something new to say, say it. If all you're going to do is accuse me of...doing things...with Lance, leave."
Kurt sighed and sank to the floor, his knees drawn beneath his chin as he stared at his feet, unwilling to meet Kitty's angry gaze. "Liebes, there's no excuse for what I did. None at all. I can't blame Lance for wanting your friendship and I can't blame you for caring about him. All I can do is apologize for being such a jerk, for hurting you..."
"You did hurt me. I feel like you tore my heart out, Kurt." Her voice took on a watery quality, her words tumbling over each other in a rush. "I love you so much, so much it fills me and spills out like fire and I can't stand the thought of even looking at someone else much less touching them like I touch you. What hurts me the most is that you seemed to accept the idea of me cheating on you so...so...cavalierly! Like you expected it!"
Kurt rolled onto his knees and crawled forward, keeping her gaze. "Schatz, I'm so sorry...I never wanted to think like that. It's like I was possessed or something...my heart breaks when I think of what I accused you of, what I said..." He found her hand and pressed it fervently to his lips, still bloody from Lance's punch, teeth aching but thankfully not loose. "I don't know what's wrong with me!"
Kitty sighed and pulled him closer, tugging him so that he moved onto the bed with her. "I can't say I'm not mad at you."
"Can you forgive me?"
"Can you apologize to Lance?"
"For you, Katzchen, I can try." Kurt was swinging wildly between panic, elation, gratefulness, and confusion. _Why did I do that to Lance? To Kitty? I don't deserve her-I accused her of doing things Tabby would do...I accused her of being unfaithful! How could I do that? How could I doubt her? _
Kitty sighed sadly and let her weight rest against his chest, her face turned towards the wall before her. "I want you to know that I love you so much that it hurts sometimes. I want you to know that I'm sorry myself for making you so frustrated this week. But I also want you to know that, no matter how much I love you, you've hurt me. I want you by my side, Kurt, but I need to heal before I can have you in my bed again."
Kurt took a shuddering breath. "Katzchen, I have to ask this, please forgive me: is this also because of the Brotherhood fight?"
"I suppose you had to ask...no. Some of it is, but now it's because of my pain. I can't stress enough how much I love you...I need you to believe that."
Kurt kissed the back of her neck tenderly, breathing in her scent. "I know this is going to sound pathetic, but I'll wait forever for you. Just promise me we're not breaking up."
"Never!" she cried, horrified. "I just need...need to breathe. What I saw today...you scared me."
"I scared myself."
"Just a few days...maybe not even that long...please?"
"Anything, Liebes, anything..."