Carne Vale

CARNE VALE CHAPTER FORTY FIVE (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, I'm now officially worried about Billy and Joaquin. They think the muzzle looks cool and want one of their own. Oy. InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are fantabulous for archiving. Readers/Reviewers: I swear, I am entirely made of pink mush because all of y'all decided to review at once. Big, lickity kisses for all of you, from me AND the ducks and the random platypus that wandered in. Hey, did you know male platypi have poison glands on their back legs? Just when you though the Universe didn't have a sense of humor...it makes a soft badger with a duck bill, lays eggs, no nipples, and poison legs...

Todd considered smoking to be a worse habit than eating the occasional bug, but it seemed that Rogue was of a different opinion. "Ew! That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen! Stop it!"
"Man's gotta eat!" he replied, snatching another lightening bug from the tall grass between the woods and the lake.
"I thought you said you were cutting back!" Rogue accused, striding ahead of her boyfriend so as not to witness the carnage.
"I figured I'd cut back on the cigs instead...after all, cancer is worse than bug breath." Just to be persnickety, he snatched a mosquito out of the air but winced as it got in a last bite before it went down his gullet.
"Do you have to eat the cute ones?" she groused, stopping to pull a marsh-dwelling flower from the soggy ground.
"Do my ears deceive me?" Todd cried, staggering back theatrically. "Rouge..._My _ Marie, said something was _cute! _"
"Don't make me touch you." She pulled another flower and sat down carefully, turning her back on Todd and spreading out her handful of blossoms and leaves. Setting her backpack down, she produced her heavy physics book and some paper towels.
"Idle threats," he said, plopping down in the mud next to her without nearly as much care for his clothing or the fact they were in a marshy area. He loved it, shucking off his shoes to wiggle his toes in the cold mud. Rogue smiled slightly, pretending that she minded by snorting but in reality, they both knew she did not mind a bit when he gave into the toad side of his nature. "What're you doing this for again?"
"Earth Science project. I have to press local flora and make a book thingy on it with labels and crap." She laid one of the flowers between two paper towels and laid it on the open pages of her textbook as she spoke.
"I always get flora and fauna confused..."
"Flora means plants. If I were pressing fauna, I'd need a bigger book to keep 'em from wigglin' around so much."
"Uh?"
"Fauna means animals."
"Ah. Ew." He scooted closer and said, "Speaking of pressing..." Todd leaned against Rogue, making her lean away a little as she tried to press her flowers. "Why aren't you doing this inside again?"
"Jubilee's turned the kitchen into a demilitarized zone for some Home Ec project, the rec room is some sort of math camp for midterms and I don't want to do this in my room because I'll _never _ finish..."
"What about the study?" Todd asked, trying to be suave and toying with her hair.
Rogue swatted his hand away distractedly before pressing the last flower between pages of her little-used textbook. "Kitty and Kurt've gone off half cocked so Logan's in there raising Cain about it with the Professor, Beast and Storm. And," she added as an afterthought, "that Doctor Reyes. Hey, you think she's gonna join us here?"
Todd blinked at the subject change. He had been trying his best to demonstrate his interest in things of a more carnal nature, but she seemed oblivious. "Uh...Dunno. I think she just wants to jump Beast's bones."
Rogue looked up and out over the lake. "Ew."
Todd followed her gaze. "Yeah, kinda grossed myself out with that one..." He slid a sideways glance at her and smirked. _But not enough not to do this... _ Moving quicker than she would have expected of him, Todd grabbed the edge of Rogue's thin scarf, an adornment rather than a functional accessory, and pressed it over her lips, rising to his knees to kiss her before she could think of shoving him away.
The fabric was thin and slightly rough to the touch, rubbing tantalizingly against her lips as he darted the tip of his tongue out to tempt her into reciprocating. _What the Hell, _ she thought, easing her posture to lean back slightly, parting her lips against the damp fabric. His surprise was tangible. Todd pulled away, half expecting her refusal for a moment before realizing that no, she was letting him kiss her and doing the same in return. He resumed the kiss, his hands carefully touching her where she was covered, ghosting over the exposed patches of skin her reasonably modest (for her) outfit revealed. Rogue made a murmuring sound in the back of her throat as his hands lighted on her tights-covered thighs, straddling her legs as he pushed her back onto the grass. "We're in the mud," she said, breaking for air and looking a little dazed.
"Just your legs and my knees," he responded. "Want to go back to the house?"
Thinking of all the obstacles they were bound to run into there, she shook her head. "Do you have anything with you?"
"Huh?"
"_Anything? _" she said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh! Of course! I am nothing if not prepared..." Todd sat back on his heels and dug in his back pocket for his wallet. Producing a condom from within it's depths, he waved it in the air like a prize. "See?"
"Do I even want to know how long that's been in there?"
"Uh, since an hour ago..." he said sheepishly.
"You have this planned?" she asked, not sounding upset but rather amused as she reached for him, pulling him down on top of her.
"Ahem. Not this, really...more something else." He ducked his head and dragged her scarf against her neck, pressing hot, damp kisses where the fabric lay. "I was hoping you would trust me enough to let me try something we haven't really done before..."
"If you mean skydiving, no."
"Ha ha ha. Funny." He felt her chuckle beneath him as he moved down her neck to her chest, skipping, albeit regretfully, the areas that were not covered. She jumped a little when he found her nipple through her top but sighed and arched to his ministrations as he drew gently on her, as if he could taste her through the cotton fabric and wanted to memorize it for future reference. Todd closed his eyes and blocked out the sounds of the falling night, intent on her responses to him as she ran her fingers up and down his back, digging her nails in when he hit particularly ticklish spots as he kissed his way down to the span of skin left exposed between her top and her skirt. He paused and grinned up at her. "Ever think of piercing your belly button, sweetheart?"
"A homemade tattoo is enough pain to last me a while...What? That not enough of a declaration for you and you want me to start wearing a little amphibian charm on my navel?" she asked, only half joking. _Hey...not a bad idea. At least I know what to do for his birthday now... _
"Gee, babycakes," he said, scooting down so he could kiss the part of her stomach covered by her skirt, "I thought you Goth types were all into piercing body parts and anarchy and all that..."
Rogue snickered, hearing his teasing tone. "Blabby mouth Yankee..."1
"Frankly Scarlett...2" he drawled horribly before pushing her skirt to her hips, making her stiffen in surprise. She actually, to her embarrassment, squeaked when he began nibbling up her inner thigh, darting his tongue out to leave lingering kisses as he neared her center.
"Todd," she said softly, closing her eyes against the sight of stars emerging in the dark blue sky, inhaling deeply the scent of the lake and newly blooming trees and plants and_ him _ and _her _ and everything just rushing together at once.
"Shhh," he breathed against her, making her jump a little as the sound tickled her core. Todd placed a small, soft kiss at the apex of her thighs through her tights, tasting her through the fabric. For the next short eternity, there was only a mutual awareness of feeling, hot and sharp and liquid all at once as he did things to her that she thought were damned near impossible because of her mutation. She vowed to herself never to use the inability to touch without a barrier as acusecuse with him again when he found her tiny bud with his tongue, driving her to nearly agonizing heights of lust with the heat of his mouth and the friction of her tights. Her keening cry of his name drove a flock of early ducks from the lake in a great wave of wings and flapping even as twin beams of light from the returning Jeep swung over them, illuminating her flushed countenance, lips parted and eyes clenched tightly shut, for Todd's eyes. He laved her as she shuddered her release, continuing even after he knew she was down from her peaks. When she pushed him away gently, not able to stand any more, he moved to lay next to her, his head against her chest and his arm slung almost negligently across her stomach. "So," he said, catching his breath, "see what I mean? As far as mutations go, the tongue ain't bad..."
Rogue laughed, still panting herself. "I just realized something."
"What's that?"
"I must really love you..."
"Do tell."
"All that and I didn't make you brush your teeth after eating bugs."

Kitty did not want to admit it to Kurt, but the whole thing was anticlimactic. Kurt had gone into the Boardinghouse first, remerging to tell her that it seemed safe, Pietro was no where to be seen or heard. Fred was upstairs, but snoring loudly at only half past seven in the evening. _What does he do that makes him so tired? You wouldn't think that someone who's mutation designed him to be that size would be able to handle the bulk well... _ Kitty pushed the thought aside as Kurt led her to the spot in the wall where Pietro had addressed Wanda earlier. "Well," she said to him after checking for some sort of release mechanism to a secret panel and ing ing none. "I have no idea how he got her in here...go check on the other side of the wall for a door or something..."
Kurt disappeared and the sound of knocking as he felt along the wall could be heard. He was only gone a few minutes, returning with a terse shake of his head. "Nothing. The wall is smooth as a baby's rear end."
"Kurt, what's on your shirt?" Kitty stepped closer and swiped a finger across the smear on his favorite t-shirt. "Paint?"
"Nein. It'd stink if it were paint..." He rubbed at the white streak and frowned. "Plaster dust."
"Pietro into home improvement?" she murmured. A thump from within the wall made her jerk her head around. "Wanda...damn it. Don't tell her I forgot about her," she said as she hurried back to the wall and phased her arm through, wincing in anticipation for a power outage of some sort should she pass through wiring. "Wow. There's all sorts of space here..." Before Kurt could stop her, she stepped into the wall entirely.
"I hate it when she does this," he sighed. The wall itself was very thick, enough for three people to stand front to back along the width where it butted into the foyer, but Kurt felt his apprehension grow the longer Kitty was gone. Knocking on the wood paneled wall, he called out, "Katzchen? Answer me...make a noise of something."
There was a long silence and then her voice, faint and muffled, called back, "I fell. There's a hole in the floor and I'm between the first floor and the basement."
"Was? How?"
"Time and place, babe, and this isn't it...Wanda's with me. I sort of ded hed her down with me."
A second voice, weaker but angry, snapped, "Some girl you got here, Wagner...cute but clumsy. Remind me to ask her to babysit for Tabby."
Kurt felt some relief. If Wanda was bitchy, she was fine. "Do you want me to come down?"
"No...just give us a minute..." Kitty sounded out of breath and a bit closer.
"Okay..." Kurt heard Fred moving upstairs and cursed softly under his breath. "Liebes, I'm going upstairs to see what I can find...get out and meet me in the car, okay?"
There was a response that sounded like agreement but Kurt could not be sure. Wanda was heard saying sharply, "Get your foot outta my neck, Pryde!"
_I'll take that for a yes... _ Kurt wasted no time in porting upstairs and into Mystique's room where he had seen the packages and restraints. He was only slightly surprised but mostly chagrined to find the bed neat as a pin, no restraints, no blood. The packages were gone but the drag marks where Pietro had hauled the bag in remained. _Okay. This sucks officially now. _ Dresser drawers that had been shut on his first visit to the room were open, revealing emptiness. The closet door was a dark maw that reminded Kurt uncomfortably of childhood fears of the bogey man, lurking within the confines of his closet and waiting for just the right moment to pounce. _I've got to stop scaring myself. I swear there's someone in there looking back at me... _
_*Go away, * _ a voice in his head boomed. _ * You see nothing. Go home and forget you came here... _ *
Kurt felt a strange tugging behind his eyes and knew that, whoever or whatever was speaking to him was trying to erase memories, erase where he had been. He was not ashamed to admit it scared him more than a little. Never one to disobey disembodied voices... He strained his night vision as he backed towards the door, seeing nothing in the closet but sensing someone within, someone waiting for him to come closer. He ported back to where he had left Kitty to find she and Wanda emerging from the wall, covered in dust and, he noticed, spider webs. "We have to go. Now."
"What?" Wanda, looking the worse for wear, shrieked. "I ain't leaving without someone's hide!"
"You don't understand," Kurt said, "We have to go _now!" _
Kitty knew that Wanda was binding their powers by the feeling of lassitude stealing throuer ver veins. "Kurt, don't try it," she said warningly. "You'll give yourself a migraine or worse..."
He nodded, feeling a similar lack and heaviness. "Wanda, someone is upstairs and it isn't Pietro."
"No shit, Sherlock!" she snapped. "I don't know the dude but I'm gonna kill him!" She broke free of Kitty's hold on her elbow and headed for the stairs, falling flat on her face before she reached them.
_*I told you to go! * _ A figure, wearing black and gray and apparently having watched _Scream _ one too many times, stood at the head of the stairs. Wanda levitated into the air for a moment before falling hard on her back.
"Don't fuck with me, man," she growled. Her wrists were raw and dripping with blood from opened scabs but she did not seem to notice.
"Now," Kurt mouthed to Kitty. She dove for Wanda and took her to the ground as Kurt leapt towards the stairs, his quadrepedal gait bringing him before the figure before they could move. Even with Wanda binding his mutation, Kurt could still fight like the devil if he had to. He threw himself at the man's chest and knocked him sideways into the wall. Fred stumbled from his room at the end of the hall and took in the scene as if it were an everyday occurrence.
"Watch the paint," he said thickly, stumbling back into his room and shutting the door as Kurt bit down on the mystery figure's shoulder.
"Stop biting me, Kitty!" Wanda screamed from downstairs.
_Great minds _, Kurt thought distractedly, hitting the ground with a thud as he was thrown free of the man. With a growl, he hooked his ankles around the larger man's legs and pulled forward, making him hit the floor as well. Kitty and Wanda were struggling downstairs, and, from the sound of things, it was a stalemate. Kurt made a grab for the man's arm but came away with a torn sweatshirt. He found himself lifted into the sud suddenly and flung down the stairs,tingting the wall near the front door first then the floor again. Kitty and Wanda stopped mid-tussle, Kitty pinned with Wanda's knees on her shoulders, the former's legs at an odd angle and clamped around the latter's neck. In some dim recess of his brain, Kurt admitted to himself that, not only was he more than a little impressed with his girlfriend's flexibility, he would most likely have some perverted dream about the two in that position later, before he shook the stars from his eyes and said, "Go, now."
Wanda, for once, listened. She shoved herself to her feet and actually pulled Kitty with her. "Let's blow this pop stand," she said, weaving slightly on her feet.
Kitty nodded, holding out her hand for Kurt as the sound of at least two pairs of feet above them headed towards the stairs. Kurt took her hand as she held fast to Wanda's and soon they were in the car, bloody, bruised, panting and only slightly worn around the edges. "Who," Kurt asked at last, staring out the windshield, "was that?"
"Like I said," Wanda sighed, "no idea."
"What're you holding?" Kitty asked, reaching for the fabric in Kurt's hands. "Bayville High Athletics," she read from the front of the shirt. "Someone's gym uniform."
Wanda thumped the back of the driver's seat with the heel of her fist. "Take me to Tabby. Now."
"For once," Kurt said with a frown as Kitty glared back at the girl, "you're going to get your way."

1 A recurring phrase in some Looney Toons episodes. Usually it was Yosemite Sam to Bugs Bunny
2 All together now... "Frankly Scarlet, I don't give a damn!" One of the most famous lines in movie history fGONEGONE WITH THE WIND. "Rhett, Rhett, what ever will I do? Wherever will I go?" being the preceding... Sorry. I like the movie. *shrug *