Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men. Duh. Marvel does. And I hate them for it at the moment.

Take the Chance

It was surprisingly quiet in the mansion despite the fact there was still well over a hundred students in the building. Most of the kids had gone home for the Christmas break, leaving what seemed like barely a handful of kids left in the huge house. Kevin wasn't complaining. He liked the quiet and stillness that had suddenly fallen over the mansion. He didn't have to listen to anyone yelling from across the hallway to someone else. He didn't have to worry about bumping into anyone. And best of all, he didn't have to worry about Joshua Foley, the Golden Boy had gone home with Dani for the holidays.

Letting a small sigh escape his lips, Kevin turned his attention away from the television to look outside. It was snowing again. It had been snowing on and off for the last few days, leaving the city covered in a beautiful blanket of white. Today the flakes that fell from the sky were big and fluffy. Kevin cocked a slightly amused eyebrow as he thought the snowfall was pretty. He rarely thought such things.

He turned his attention back to the television only to be greeted by a commercial about Australia. He cocked another eyebrow. 'Kangaroos can't fly... That's a horrible sales' pitch,' he thought to himself with a small chuckle before picking up the remote. While channel surfing, Kevin found his gaze drifting away from the television, leaving it on some random channel. He glanced outside again, suddenly finding the snow much more entertaining than T.V.

A silver shine drew his eyes away from the snow and to a reflection on the window. Quickly he turned around on the couch to look at the mercury skinned mutant. "Cessily?"

Cessily took a step back. "Oh, sorry, Kevin. I didn't think anyone else would be in here," she rubbed her arm sheepishly. "I'll just leave you to your..." she looked at the television for a moment and smirked, "to your French cooking shows."

"Huh?" Kevin turned around again and looked at the T.V. Careless channel surfing, he promised himself he would never do it again. "I wasn't watching that," he mumbled and quickly turned it off.

"If you say so," she kept the smirk on her face for a moment before simply smiling at him. There was an awkward silence between them that lasted a moment longer than she would have liked. Tucking some of her loose red hair behind her ear, Cessily slowly walked over to Kevin and leaned against the back of the couch. "Do you...um, want some company?" Had she been a little girl again she would have been squirming in place and holding crossed fingers behind her back.

Kevin looked at his reflection on her cheek for a moment before looking up at her irisless eyes. "Company..." he started before pulling away from her on instinct, "doesn't sound like such a bad idea." Even he thought that was out of character, but he had never minded Cessily's company. And with no one else around, who was he to turn down her offer?

Cessily had to resist the urge to do a little dance. "You really don't mind?" She asked as she walked around the couch.

Kevin shook his head, "nope. Not at all."

Cessily smiled and sat down beside Kevin. "So what were you doing in here alone?" She asked. "Besides watching your French cooking shows."

"I wasn't watching that," he quickly defended himself. "I was just... being alone." He shrugged as though the answer should have been obvious.

Cessily leaned back on the couch, tilting her head up to look at the ceiling. "I guess I can't blame you. I mean, with almost everyone gone and the mansion practically empty, it does feel nice to get some time to yourself, doesn't it?" She glanced his way, though he would never know because of her pure silver eyes.

Kevin nodded. It was nice to have someone understand sometimes. "Yeah, it does." He was quiet for a moment before he looked at her and asked, "Cess, why didn't you go home for Christmas?"

She sighed slightly, just enough to make her chest heave. Cessily sat herself up straight and looked at the floor. "I didn't want to," she said quietly.

"Why not?" Kevin asked, watching her.

"Do you remember when we all went to Julian's last summer? You know I had to wish for my parents to finally accept me." She glanced at him before looking at the floor again.

Kevin continued to watch her, paying close attention to the tone of her voice. She didn't sound happy at all. "I take it after the King Maker's deal was broken your folks didn't take having you home too well?"

She shook her head, "they told me not to come home next summer. So I figured I'd give them a load off by not going home for Christmas, either." She smiled sadly, finally looking directly at Kevin.

"Oh," he spoke after a moment of silence. "I... I didn't know that. Sorry, Cess."

Cessily smiled a real smile now. "Don't worry about it." She waved him off, then tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear again. Silver eyes flickered over to the window, then back to Kevin. "You know what?"

"Hmm?" He murmured curiously, eyebrow raising slowly.

The metallic mutant suddenly stood and took hold of the Goth's hand, tugging. "Sitting in here is boring and depressing. We should go outside and so something fun."

Kevin let his hand be tugged on for a few seconds before standing. "Something fun?" He questioned as though she were speaking another language.

Cessily nodded. "Yeah. Come on." Her grip on his gloved hand tightened. "Please, Kevin?"

He slowly brought his gaze to the window. It was still snowing those big fluffy flakes. It was a usual cloudy, winter day, but it was bright outside. And all in all, the thought of doing something other than watching T.V sounded tempting. He let a small, stray smile claim his lips while he turned to look back at Cessily. "Alright."

- - -

"This isn't fair," Kevin mumbled as he walked by Cessily's side, hands stuffed into the pockets of his heavy black coat.

"What isn't fair?" Cessily questioned, adjusting one of her white gloves before putting her hands into her coat's pocket as well. Her coat was a pale blue, a color that quite contrasted with Kevin's dark ensemble.

Kevin let a ghost of a smile claim his lips. "It's winter. There's snow. Snow is nothing more than frozen water. Water can't decay." He looked at her, she had an eyebrow raised. He continued, "it's the one time of the year I can touch something outside, and I still have to wear gloves."

She chuckled and gently nudged him. "Well you don't have to wear gloves. But it's usually a good idea. Unless you want your hands to freeze." She smiled cheekily at him. He rolled his eyes.

"You should stop hanging around Julian and Brian. You're starting to sound like them." He said, shaking his head in mock shame.

"Pssh," Cessily waved him off, chuckling. "You should stop spending so much time with Miss Frost. You're starting to lecture like her."

He chuckled and shook his head again. "I am not."

"You so are. And before this goes any further, don't bother arguing with me, you won't win. Besides, I'd really hate to make you look like an immature school boy trying to get his way in front of the younger kids." She grinned and pointed to a small group of the younger mutants walking past them. Kevin opened his mouth, then quickly closed it.

"You should definitely stop hanging around Julian." He mumbled, grinning at her. She grinned back proudly.

A few of the younger kids giggled for no apparent reason, causing Kevin to look back at them as they continued to walk. One of the kids, a little boy with blond hair and glowing hands smiled innocently at the goth. Snow flakes were being drawn into the child's hands; he was obviously a telekinetic of some sort. Kevin grabbed onto Cessily's arm, making her turn to watch.

"Oh, what are you doing?" She asked with a smile on her face. The little boy only smiled wider as more and more snow collected in his hands. When the child was satisfied with the amount, the blob of snow started to form into a very tightly compacted ball. The glowing around his hands stopped and the smile turned into a smirk. With a sudden lightning fast speed the ball of snow was thrown into Cessily and Kevin's general direction.

There were more giggles before the group quickly hurried off, following the lead of the blond. Cessily cocked an eyebrow, not seeing what had been so funny. She looked to Kevin only to hold a hand to her mouth, trying to hide the smile and suppress the laughter.

"Don't say a word. I know." He mumbled as he brushed off the side of his face. "Damn kids," he mumbled still, sifting a hand through his hair to get the snow out.

Cessily snickered, though forced herself not to laugh. "Here, let me help," she offered and quickly reached out to brush the snow from his cheek. She hadn't been thinking and quickly the fingertips of her glove decayed. "Oh, silly me," she mumbled and took the glove off without hesitance. Kevin had made a move to back up out of impulse, but she quickly grabbed his arm. Smiling, she ran a cold, metallic hand against his cheek to brush off the snow. Kevin hadn't done a very good job himself, missing most of it.

When the snow was gone, she pulled her hand away and put her glove back on. "There. Now you don't look like you had a fight with a snowman and lost." She grinned at him, he smirked.

"Thanks," he said quietly before starting to walk again. "Well now that that fun is over, what do we do now?" He inquired. Though at the moment, he wouldn't mind just wandering around the grounds with her. He was truly enjoying her company.

She lingered for a moment before walking slowly just behind him. "I don't know... Hey, Kevin, look at me for a sec?"

He slowly turned around, eyebrow cocked. "Why?" He received his answer in the form of a snowball hitting against his shoulder. Ever so slowly he looked at the shoulder that had been hit and watched the caked snow fall from his black coat. Did she really expect him to... have a snowball fight with her? He glanced at her and noticed the mischief in her pure silver orbs. Oh god, she did expect him to have a snowball fight with her.

"You're joking, right?" He asked cautiously, taking a step back.

Cessily pull off one of her gloves and let her hand mold itself into a type of scoop. She easily scooped up a bunch of snow and let it flop onto her other hand, perfectly compact and round. "Nope. If you don't want your butt kicked by a girl in something as immature as this, you'll fight back." She grinned before tossing the snowball at him, hitting his chest this time.

Kevin, again, watched the caked snow fall from his coat. He sighed and smiled at the same time as he bent down and picked up a fair amount of snow. "The things I do for you, Cessily Kincaid." He muttered as he played the snow around in his hands, making a ball. "Never again after this, got it?" He asked then casually threw the snowball at her, returning the favor to her shoulder.

She smiled genuinely as she took another scoop of snow from the ground. "One day of this is more than enough, Kevin." She said quietly before launching the ball at him, hitting his other shoulder this time. Before Kevin could comment on what she said, or throw his ready snowball at her she'd taken off into a run, laughing softly.

"Well whattya know..." Julian muttered with a grin on his face as he watched the other two Hellions run about the grounds, tossing snow at each other and genuinely having fun. "If I hadn't seen it, I would have never believed it."

"Same here," Brian said with amusement, agreeing with his squad leader. He arched both eyebrows as Kevin grabbed Cessily's arm and effectively tackled her to the ground. "Wow. I never thought he had it in him."

"Death Boy's full of surprises," Santo grinned widely from behind Julian and Brian, huge rocky hands fisted on his hips. "Whoa," he quickly added when he noticed Cessily flip Kevin over, pinning him for a moment. "I bet that won't sit well with the Wallflower." He snickered.

"Ha," Julian chuckled wickedly. "That freak deserves it anyway. And Kevin deserves better than that prissy little brat." The Hellion smiled as he watched Cessily run from Kevin, and Kevin quickly give into the chase.

Brian nudged his best friend, "you think she stands a chance?" The Puerto Rican's eyes almost popped out of his head when he noticed Kevin pull her down for a second time. "Whoa--Boss... is-- is he laughing?" He quickly added, tugging on Julian's arm as though his squad leader's answer was his lifeline.

Julian was silent for a few moments, watching carefully as Cessily once again flipped Kevin over, this time dumping snow on him. They were both laughing, the whole school could probably hear them. When they broke into a run again, Julian noted Kevin's smile, probably the first real smile Wither had ever shown since coming to the school. "Hmm..." He murmured in thought, watching Cessily and Kevin round a corner of the school and out of his sight.

"Yeah. Sure, he likes that little freak, Laurie," Julian said, shrugging as he started to walk off in no particular direction. Santo and Brian followed without hesitation, waiting for him to continue speaking. "But Laurie's never made him smile like that. She's never fooled around on the school grounds with him like that. Hell, I don't think Laurie's even spent any time with Kevin outside of the classroom." He glanced over his shoulder at Tag and Rockslide, a ghost of a smile on his face. "So, yeah. I'd say our Cessily stands a damn good chance--if he lets her."

-End