Pietro's #1 Crush – Chapter 18
(See Chapter 1 for full disclaimer and legend)

Once their orgasms had subsided, their quaking bodies fell against each other, gripping at the solid reality of each other's flesh and they lay down on the bed, spent. "Lance?" Pietro asked after a moment. "What about Todd and Freddy? Wouldn't they have heard us?"

"Naw," the rock tumbler said, rolling to face his lover. "I sent them out for ice cream before coming up to see you in the shower. I made sure that they knew to take their time coming home, too," he smiled wickedly, leaning in to kiss Pietro. Their lips met, lazily parting as their tongues slid against each other before drawing back. "So, what do you want to do now?" Lance asked. "The night is young…"

"Lance?" Pietro asked, suddenly taking on a serious look. "Did you really REALLY mean what you said to me today?"

"What? About me not hating you? Naw, I don't hate you at all!" Lance grinned, holding Pietro tighter against his chest.

"That's not it, idiot," Pietro said, pushing himself away again. "I mean, what you said... about loving me. Did you mean it?"

"Depends, did you mean it when you told me that you love me?" Lance's eyes belied the lightness of the comment, their naked insecurity momentarily bared.

"You know I did, Lance." Pietro sighed, reaching up to stroke an errant strand of brown hair.

"Pietro, I love you too. I meant it when I said it and I'll never leave you," he planted a chaste kiss on Pietro's forehead. "Everything will work out okay," he sighed, laying back on the pillow.

Pietro smiled, resting his head against his lovers chest, his eyelids drooping as his body relaxed and began to drift off to sleep.

They napped there; naked and holding each other until Todd and Freddy came back from their ice cream. Things had changed for the brotherhood, yet for once, not in a bad way. Their ties had grown stronger and they were more of a family than any one member had known in their lifetime.

Pietro dreamed in his lovers arms, their warm bodies holding each other in the darkness. Never again alone.

FIN

After having posted this, I went to browse through the reviews as I waited for it to refresh on the server. I hadn't looked in the longest time, and was so surprised and happy to see that people still liked it and read it, even though I'd left it sitting for so long.

This has really been fun to write, and has gotten me back into an Xmen Evo mood. I've gained quite a bit of experience writing lemons since I left this, and felt confident enough to tackle the hurdle that had intimidated me so much before.

I'd just like to thank everyone who has reviewed this, if I may. If I somehow miss you, please know that I did not do it on purpose. I really appreciate any kind words or criticisms that anybody can send my way.

(Also, due to seeming reluctance to let me use the caret symbol or the underscore symbol to produce little smilies, I'm afraid that these thanks will seem rather devoid of emotion. I will use the old-school smilies that I grew up on. Hopefully I won't seem too out of it)

evilgoddess1990 - thank you for leaving so much feedback! It's really nice to know that you liked so many chapters that I've written. I hope you like the new ones I just posted too.

Sesshoumaru'sOneAndOnly - I hope you dug the lemons. I wrote 2.5 of them just to make up for lost time, even though I know that it's impossible, I hope it helps. :)

FluffysBijin05 - Sorry to kill you with the suspense. I'm glad you liked this, and hope you dig the slash as much as you like the yaoi. ;)

YukinoHonoo - Your words of encouragement were so nice to hear. I was wondering if I was getting their characters right, as I can sometimes stray from that. >.

Kickassangel - Thanks for the enthusiasm (and the multiple reviews)! Hope the number of updates (completing the fic) meets your request for more updates. :D

to the anonymous person who BAMFed in - Hope you didn't die TOO too much, and yes, smex IS good. ;)

Dahamu - Your comments that everyone was IC is a relief to me. Thank you. I've kept you waiting on this, so I hope you enjoy the remaining chapters!

DemonRogue - I'm glad you like it:D

darkdancer - I'm happy to hear you liked it. I'm sorry I just checked the fb list today to see you'd like to host it on your site. I'll try to get a hold of you after this (or you can catch me) and I'd be happy to let you host it. I hope the new chapters are okay for your site!

to the anonymous person called Mysterious - I had many ideas as to how Lance would cheer him up, but them morphed into something else when I sat down to write it again... I figured that cheering him up would be nice if drawn out. Hope you like it!

IwillmarryJustinTimberlake - I know I didn't update in ages, so I tried to make up for it with multiple lemons and one massive update, instead of trickling in the updates like I was before. As I said in my revised chapter 1; I will never leave anything this long again.

to the anonymous Pietro and Lance Yaoi Freak! - I'm sorry to kill you with the suspense. A good cliffhanger is supposed to do that, but not for quite so long. I hope you liked the new chapters!

to the anonymous KillerKitty - Thank you, I will keep writing. I'm glad you like it, too:)

Escagirl - Lol, thanks for the tips! Yeah, stating exact sizes can be distracting, so I stuck to the 'ol faithful descriptions. Lots of reasearch was, of course, done as well! XD Thank you for the wind for my wings! (I liked your little sig there, by the way)

to the anonymous Maverick - I continued it and it is done. Sorry to keep you waiting. Your kind words mean a lot to me:)

Michelle Micky - Thank you for the attention. I hope you found this again to see that it's done:D

to the anonymous child of darkness - XD yep, I get the point. Thanks for letting me know!

The Soulless Wonder - It's been a while since you reviewed, if you see this, thank you for your tips! I also see you were the anonymous child of darkness. Thank you for the multiple comments! This has been fun to write, if not a little long in the making.

Flaming psychopath - It's been a while, but if you find this again, I hope you like the characterization in the later chapters. (I'm working on it, but it sometimes escapes me - Aw, thank you for the cake offer! It's been a while since you reviewed, and in that you said it was a while since you read it, but if you find this agian, know that I appreciate your comment (and cake offer:D)

Alex Destine - You asked for more? Here it is! (Sorry for the long delay!)

to the anonymous Zeriara - Todd is my fav character too, but this turned into some LanceXPietro fun. Well, I put more of him in. Hope you dig it!

klucky - thanks!

Psychodelic Barfly - I seem to remember us spamming eachothers comments boxes with lots of feedback back in the day. Thank you for your kind offer to help with the smut. If you read this, and the offer still stands, feel free to contact me sometime. We could play around with some more XMen: Evo fun, if you're game!

This was a bit long, but I wanted to thank everyone who commented between now and the time I stopped updating. Thank you all very much for reading and taking the time to post feedback. It is really appreciated.