Constant Craving

CONSTANT CRAVING CHAPTER FOUR (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather is perfectly lovely for beta-ing and not coming across to whack me upside the head, or sending Ted to do it. Joaquin and Billy would have to defend my honor and I wouldn't want that.... Make me drink.... ;) Mucho gracias to archivists---you know who you are because the good faeries have visited you already with shots of Gingerbread Man (if you haven't had one....yum! Another example of taking an innocent name and making it an alcoholic substance). Readers/Reviewers: kissies and hugs and abject worship to follow...

Scott was not amused. In fact, he was so far from amused, he could no longer see amused in his rearview mirror. Lance was sprawled at his feet, rubbing his jaw and glaring fit to cause spontaneous combustion. "You fucker," Scott hissed, "you sorry mother fucker!"
"I don't know what crawled up your ass and died, but I am gonna knock your teeth from here to Hoboken!" Lance rose quickly and let fly a punch, making contact with Scott's jaw before the older teenager could dodge. Fists flew then, meaty thuds of contact and grunts of pain subsuming any cursing and invectives that may have remained. Lance kicked him hard in the knees and Scott went down, falling forward to take Lance to the ground. They grappled in raging anger, choking and hitting until Todd sprang into the fray.
"Yo! What the fuck... Oof!" A stray fist hit him in the stomacd Tod Todd staggered back. "That's it!" he cried. With a wet snap, Todd wrapped his tongue around Scott's wrist and sent him flying. "Who hit me?" he asked, although with his tongue engaged it sounded more like "Oo thit meth?"
"He did!" Lance and Scott cried accusingly. Scott was twisting to and fro, wrenching Todd's head. The shorter boy realized the flaw in his attack rather quickly-if he let Scott go, the red-lensed youth would wallop him no end. Lance saw the panic cross his friend's face and, with a growl, lunged at Scott. "Let go, Todd!" he shouted as he made contact with Scott's torso. Todd snapped his tongue back as the pair tumbled back to the ground, making him leap out of the way as they rolled towards him.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Todd asked again, this time seeing his chance clearly as Lance reared back. With a mighty intake of breath, Todd spat at Scott, pinning his arms to the ground with quickly-hardening slime. "Lance?"
Panting, Lance answered, "He fucking hit me! He said I'd played some prank last night...Todd?"
"Wasn't me, man!"
"It was one of you! Let me go, you slimy bastard!" Scott kicked his legs and tried to break the hold of the slime-based bindings but found he was held fast. "Don't make me blast you!"
"If you do that," Jean intoned, "you'll have to pay for the damages..." The boys erupted into a fountain of accusations, their mental energy combining with the force of their voices to Jea Jean wince. "Stop!" she shouted, holding out her hands. Todd and Lance found themselves bound in place by invisible chains, too startled to continue. Scott looked smugly at the Brotherhood members and opened his mouth to say something when Jean silenced him with her glare. "I don't know how this started, but you are being infantile. Todd, if I let you go, can you unbind Scott?"
"Sure, yo...It's just slime. Anyone can do it!" he offered nervously. It was visible when Jean released him, his arms and legs flexing automatically. "Promise you won't hit me or kick me or anything?" Todd was poised just above Scott, ignoring Lance's scowl and Jean's raised eyebrows.
"I can't make promises I won't keep," Scott growled.
Todd raised his hands as if in surrender. "I ain't touchin' you then...you're on your own!" He got as far as backing away several steps before Jean exercised her powers once again. "Fine! Fine! Just put me down!" Jean released him, none too gently, letting him fall the foot and a half to the ground. "You hit me," he said with an uncustomary low voice, "I'll slime your mouth shut!"
"Do it anyway-no one will suffer for it!" Lance snapped. "Hey!" Jean lifted him several feet into the air and turned him upside down. "Shit!"
"It would be in your best interest to keep your damned fool mouth shut," Rogue said from her position behind Jean. She had come up as Jean levitated Lance and now saw Todd working hastily at freeing Scott. "Anyone mind telling me...aww....nevermind. Let me guess. Someone shot off their mouth, someone else got pissy, first someone gets hit, third someone is somehow sucked in...Am I right?"
The males exchanged sheepish glances. "Um, yeah..." Lance answered.
Jean sighed and let Lance drop, the thud of his head hitting the floor making them all wince in sympathy. Todd, sidling away from Scott, said, "I just got whacked, man...woman...women..." He chuckled nervously and, eyes darting to meet Rogue's narrowed ones, soldiered on. "I come in and the ale already at it."
"All I want to know," Scott said, slowly rising to his feet, "is which one of your did it?"
"Did what?" Lance rose as well, albeit shakily, rubbing the crown of his head. "_We're _ the ones getting fucked with! Tell 'em about the boathouse, Toad!"
"What about it?" Amara squeezed in between Rogue and Jean, mindful of Rogue's exposed midriff. "Lance, what's wrong with you?"
"Jean..." he muttered darkly. "She dropped me on my head."
"Probably deserved it," his girlfriend murmured, earning a snort from her female companions. "Boathouse?"
"We got pranked, man!" Todd felt Scott's gaze rather than saw it and the sensation forced him to step out of the other boy's line of vision. "Someone fucked up our shit!"
"Don't go all street on us, Todd," Rogue grumbled. _He's been so good about not talking like that lately _ ... "Just say what happened." Voices layering, Todd and Lance told the tale of the cling filmed toilet bowl, the Vaseline-coated doorknobs, and the short sheeted beds (discovered long after they had cleaned up the other incidents). When they wound down, Rogue looked directly at Scott and said in bitter tones, "How could you?"
"What? Me? What the fuck..." He sputtered in confusion. "Jean! Talk to her! Tell her it wasn't me!"
Jean stared hard at her boyfriend for a moment then nodded. "It wasn't him....but he agrees with whoever did it and would have loved to do it himself."
"Thanks for throwing me in the grease, there, baby..."
Amara snorted. "So you're fighting because someone pranked you and you think it's Scott?"
"Nope-it was the X Men as a group against the Brotherhood..." Lance glared at the assembled teenagers. "We didn't fuck with you guys...why you starting shit with us?"
"I beg to differ!" Scott drew himself up straight and, blushing furiously, admitted, "Someone fucked with me last night! Warm water in a bowl..." he trailed off.
Looks of realization spread across the faces of those in the hallway and snickering broke out. Exercising self control befitting her royal birth, Amara said clearly, "Kitty tells me that someone rigged Kurt's room last night. Eggs and mouse traps..." She coolly assessed Todd and Lance. "I admire ambition. Really, I do. Huge turn-on. However," she stepped close to her lover and his friend, pressing the tip of one finger painfully to the hollow of Lance's throat, "you don't mess with the X Men. You mess with one of us, you get all of us." With a sneer of aggression, she spun on her heel and strode from the room.
"Really, Scott," Jean admonished as if talking to a child. "Grow up. Let it go...just because they're former Brotherhood doesn't mean you have to get on your high horse and make their lives miserable!"
"What?" he squeaked.
"You know what I'm talking about," she snapped. "If you even attempt to do what you're thinking of doing, I'm going to have a permanent headache." With a toss of her red hair, Jean followed Amara from the room.
Once again, Rogue was the last to leave. "I don't believe Tod Todd..."
"What did I do?" he demanded, arms crossed across his chest and glaring up at his taller girlfriend. "I just got caught in the fight!"
"Well, I know you. If you haven't rigged a prank somewhere already, you're going to. How could you?" she said again, sniffing angrily. "I feel a headache coming on." With that, she left in a flurry of muttered curses and a weak protest from Todd.
The three males stared at the empty doorway for a long, silent moment before Scott said, "Women!"
"Yeah, " Lance muttered, "Women!"
"Can't live with em...." Todd shrugged. "That's about it."
The three males nodded in mutual agreement before it occurred to them that they hated each other at that moment. With new glares fixed firmly on their faces, Scott, Lance and Todd hurriedly went their separate ways.

"Baby, what're you doing?"
"Nothin' chere..." Remy said distractedly. He was balancing a card on the edge of the doorframe over Scott's room. "Not one petit chose...1"
"Mmmm..." Jubilee knew he was up to no good as surely as she knew her own name. Blowing a hugbblebble with her watermelon-flavored gum, she let it pop near Remy's ear and was vaguely disappointed when he did not jump. "Really. What're you doing?"
"Lance an' Toad be tinkin' yo little prank on em las night be from all de X Men and dey go all bonkers on us."
"Really?" Jubilee felt guilty. She had been bored out of her mind the night before and gone on a pranking spree with St John and Bobby, the boys taking Kurt's room due to the complexity of the prank and she taking the boathouse and Scott's . ". "Damn. I need to tell them..." she had walked only a few steps when Remy's strong hand pulled her back to his side.
"Non, petite. Dey showin' dere true colors now, eh? Dey not like de X Men ou all dey stand for. An' Scott and Kurt...dey be tinkin' once Brudderhood, always Brudderhood..." Remy sighed in satisfaction, stepping back from his handywork. "Dere. Now dey rooms be rigged to give 'em a start, eh?"
Jubilee narrowed her gaze at her lover. "Why are you doing this?" She pointed at the charged Ace of Hearts over Scott's room, an expression on her face that brooked no argument.
Remy glared back, but held no anger. He just hated being made to feel like a child, especially by someone he loved. ""Like I say, everyone be showin' dere true colors, eh? I jus' wanna remind de X Men boys dat not all Brudderhood be pests and not all X Men be..." he shrugged, casting about for a word.
"Holier than thou?" Jubilee offered, her brows creeping up her forehead.
"Oui! 'Zactly, chere!" He smiled happily and folded her into an embrace, pushing her short bangs back from her eyes. "You do comprend, eh?"
"Yeah, I savvy. I get that you're being a big dork and acting like a brat because you're feelings are hurt by something someone said to someone fucking else!" Jubilee pulled away with no small amount of difficulty, Remy's peppery-warm scent doing as much to hold her in place as his strong arms. "I can't look at you right now!"
"Chere!" he said as she stormed off. "Now who bein' a brat, eh?"

Kitty held court in her room, seated as she was at the head of the bed with her fluffiest pillow in her lap like a desk. "Now, we're all agreed. They're being pricks."
"Got it in one..." Jean said with no small amount of annoyance.
Kitty nodded sagely. "Kurt's been muttering all day about how to get back whoever rigged his room. He's sure Lance and Todd did it and wants to do something drastic to the Brotherhood."
"Hey, now!" Rogue straightened her shoulders haughtily. "I'm Brotherhood!"
"Former," Kitty pointed out. "Kurt is sure that Lance and Todd are still in league with Magneto some how."
"I can tell him that they're not!" Jean said. "In fact, I've tried to several times today alone! Scott, too!"
"Remy's being a huge, oozing, syphilitic prick, too! He rigged Scott's and Kurt's door with charged cardrlierlier..." Jubilee trailed off and looked mildly embarrassed. "He think they're gonna turn on him and Rogue as well as the Lance and Todd."
Kitty chuckled weakly. "You know, it was kinda funny, seeing the look on Kurt's face when that blast went off...remind me to thank Remy for the ringing in my ears next time I see him." Kitty had been next to Kurt when he opened his door. _Thank God Remy didn't charge it too much or we'd be deaf! _ "I kind of suspected it was him...Who else other than Boom Boom can charge stuff?"
Amara growled at the mention of Tabby. "She doesn't charge things. She just blows shit up." With an expression of deep anger, she continued, "Lance and Todd aren't going to turn on us."
"You don't have to tell me that," Jean said. "I already know."
"Me, too..." Rogue shrugged. "I guess I should tell y'all something." She had been turning the decision over in her mind for several weeks now and, despite Todd's wishes to the contrary, she wanted to tell her friends about her new happiness and she prayed they would understand. "Me and Todd..."
"I know," Amara and Jean chorused.
"What?" Kitty and Jubilee took up.
"Me and Todd are...seeing each other. A lot." Rogue picked at the pattern on Kitty's blanket. "So...yeah."
There was a pregnant pause and Kitty finally asked "Why?"
"I like him. Love him. And he didn't want me to tell y'all cause he thinks you're gonna make my life hell so just please keep it between us?" Rogue knew she was rushing her words but she felt a nervousness that was new to her.
Jubilee popped her gum several times, the only sound in the room. Finally, she said in a cavalier tone, "Hey, worked for Beauty and the Beast...why not?"
"He's cute!" Rogue defended hotly, earning several raised eyebrows and a few snorts of derision from the other females.
Kitty seemed to consider this seriously. "I can see that..." She smiled at her friend, herself no stranger to unconventional appearances in loved ones. "Whatever makes you happy. We'll just have to get used to it."
"Don't tell him I told you?" Rogue all but begged.
"No problem," Amara said with a tone of disgust. The rest agreed without complaint, though a few of the girls looked at Rogue strangely throughout the course of the evening.
"So," Kitty said, "back to the topic at hand. "The boys are being pricks."
Jean nodded firmly. "And we need to get them to cut it out. I mean, Lance and Todd are here of their own free will and they haven't done anything to make us doubt them yet, so why should we think they are going to give us Brotherhood-related trouble? I mean, personal politics are your own deal and they have to at least agree somewhat with X Men ideals in order to stay here, right?"
"You'd think," Amara said.
"Well, speaking as former Brotherhood, I can say that it's much easier to be here than there...no feelings of abject guilt, for one," Rogue said softly.
Jubilee nodded. "He'd kill me for saying this, but Remy feels the same way."
"So the way I see it," Kitty intoned, "we can do one of two things. We can let the boys fight out this stupid civil war on their own and just stay out of it, or we can make them call it to a halt."
"How do we do that?" Jubilee asked with great interest.
Kitty smirked. "With our greatest weapon....sex."
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