Title: Love-- The Kind You Clean Up With a Mop and Bucket

Notes: Thank you to everyone who made it this far. Here is a little extra lagniappe for your dedication.

Feedback: I put time and effort into making this something *I* like, so what makes this a hit or miss for other people is something I'm very much interested in. I'll accept anything, even if you hate it. ::grin:: But I'm hoping you don't hate it.

~Love-- The Kind You Clean Up With a Mop and Bucket~ ~Chapter 6: An Epilogue~

Pietro smirked as he scooped Evan up into his arms. Pietro helpfully-- if one expanded the definition of helpful to include the exploitation of advantageous situations-- squeezed Evan's butt while Evan got his and Pietro's backpacks situated on his abdomen.

"Ready?" Pietro asked.

Evan reached up to plant a kiss on Pietro's jawline. "Yep. Thanks."

Pietro could feel his skin flushing and took off before Evan could notice. By the time they reached the school, any remaining redness could easily be blamed on the wind. Pietro put Evan down while they were still far enough away to avoid being seen by the hordes of teenagers streaming out the front doors of Bayville High. They walked in together, Evan keeping a slightly faster pace than normal-- one more suited to Pietro's long strides.

Hm. That was considerate of Evan. Scott had always taken his sweet time any time he was accompanying Pietro somewhere.

Inside the help room, things proceeded much the same way as they had on Friday. Evan ran around ignoring Pietro and preparing; Pietro grabbed a chair and sat. He positioned it so he'd be in Evan's direct line of sight when the blond finally settled. Pietro smirked. Time to make Evan pay.

"Sorry about having to ignore you, man. But this is the only thing keeping me from an F, and I don't want the teacher to have any reason not to give me credit," Evan said as he took his seat.

"No problem." Pietro held Evan's gaze with a steady glare. "Just don't do it when you get done here."

"But if we go to your house after, Scott'll probably be there. And he is awfully cute, you know. Maybe by the time we get out of here, I'll want to leave for him." Evan grinned rakishly, signaling to Pietro that he was teasing.

"I don't have to worry about that."

Evan snickered. "And why's that? Because Lance'll kill me?"

"Pssht, no. Because once you've had me--" Pietro struck a pose to emphasize his beauty, not that he was ever anything less than drop-dead gorgeous. "--everything else is substandard."

Evan laughed heartily. Pietro didn't know whether to be pleased that he'd made his boyfriend laugh or annoyed that Evan was laughing at him. In the end, he decided to drop that line of thought and go on to other things.

Pietro tugged at his shirt collar, pulling it down enough to see his collarbone. Yep, he was right. Evan had left marks. He began poking at one of the bruises. It didn't really hurt, especially when one took into consideration the beatings that the Brotherhood always got from battles with the X-Men. Pietro looked up when he heard Evan gulp.

By the look on Evan's face, Pietro could guess what the blond was thinking. Something along the lines of how *he* had left those marks on Pietro, claiming the pale teen as his in some sort of way. And he'd be thinking about how, exactly, he'd gone about claiming Pietro, getting excited at the remembrances. Hell, Pietro himself was more than a little excited right then.

"You know," Evan said, "very, very few people actually come in here. So we could probably do some... stuff without having to worry about being caught."

Pietro liked the way Evan thought. He stood up and sat back down on the desktop, swiveling to face Evan and spreading his legs to give Evan a good view.

"And, um." Evan squirmed, hands reaching out to settle on Pietro's thighs. Evan didn't even seem to notice his actions; all his attention was focused in-between the previously mentioned thighs.

Evan squeezed his eyes shut and jerked his head up. Only then did he open his eyes; he was now looking into Pietro's face.

"We can't remove any clothes just in case someone does come in."

Pietro slid off the desk and half-sat, half-straddled Evan's lap. He leaned in close so that his mouth was right next to Evan's ear.

"You do know how I love a challenge," he purred.

~The End~

Additional Notes: If you made it this far, thank you first of all. Second of all, I'm going to assume that you liked this story because you kept reading rather than going on to something else. Third of all, I'd like to point out that if you liked one of my stories, there's a chance you might like a different story of mine as well. (I'm just pointing this out; what you do is completely your choice, and I will not fault you for it. Because I'm really not as creepy and desperate as this paragraph sounds.)