I'm probably a little late on the update, and for that, I apologize.
Disclaimer: I do not own.
Evan wasn't really accustomed to patience. He liked to get what he wanted and what he wanted was to kiss Pietro – now. Their eyes were blatantly locked onto each other, not even bothering to hide the fact that they were staring, but their bodies weren't nearly as close as he wanted them to be. Evan stared at Pietro from across the lunchroom carefully, his eyes lingering at his slightly parted lips. When a pink tongue darted out to swipe quickly across full lips, Evan shifted in his chair uncomfortably.
Pietro noticed, smirked and leaned forward on the table by his elbows, hands resting under his chin, and gave him a quick wink. His smirk broadened when Evan narrowed his eyes into a half-hearted glare. He shifted again in his chair, willing his eyes away from the blue-eyed distraction, and muttered a quiet, "Be right back," before getting out of his seat and leaving the cluttered cafeteria. There were only a few minutes left to lunch, so he figured now would be a good chance to get to his locker before the halls were flooded with masses of busy bodies.
He wasn't even half surprised when pale arms wound their way around his waist by the time he got his locker open. He didn't even bother to hide the grin that spread easily across his face or the shiver that ran down his spine when he felt Pietro's warm breath on his neck. He leaned against his broad chest and hummed quietly in appreciation when Pietro's soft lips pressed firm kisses against the exposed skin there. "You should probably stop. Someone could see us any second now, Pietro." He obliged and leaned lazily against the locker next to his.
Evan eyed him carefully as he slowly gathered the books he needed from his locker. Pietro moved closer and placed his hand at the base of Evan's neck pulling him in for a kiss and smiled at the small noise of approval. "You're being way too careless today." Evan's eyes darted around the hall quickly before leaning on his toes to push their mouths together in another quick kiss. "Someone's going to see us."
"I don't care." And he really didn't. He wanted to be with Evan and not have to sneak around to do it. He didn't care about what others thought. He could care even less if they went around and made fun of him for being, 'gay.' The only real significant problem was that they were supposed to be enemies. Even more than that would be his father's reaction to all of this. Despite his growing rage at his father's lack of love and attention, he was still his father and there was always going to be the growing need for his approval.
Pietro pushed the currently useless thoughts away and focused in on the boy in front of him. He maneuvered their bodies so that Evan's back was pressed up against the wall of lockers. He knew he should probably stop, or at the very least bring them somewhere more private, but he leaned his face down closer to Evan's regardless. He leaned his hand against the cold metal of the locker for support and placed his mouth over Evan's in a lingering kiss.
"Oh my god…" They both tensed as the familiar voice reached their ears. Pietro cursed under his breath and turned his head to face Kitty Pryde, his body still impossibly close to Evan's. He figured there was no point in backing off completely as they were already seen kissing. "You guys… Evan, what are you doing!" Pietro felt Evan flinch and he frowned, glaring at Kitty.
"As if you have any right to judge us."
"What are you talking about, Pietro?"
"I've seen you with Lance, so don't even try to deny it." Pietro felt Evan relax at this and smirked as Kitty faltered. She seemed unsure as to whether she should let them go or tell the other X-Men about what she saw. Evan was staring at her almost desperately, not even realizing that he had grabbed a fistful of Pietro's shirt and was gripping it until his knuckles had turned white. Kitty sighed and straightened out her shirt in a way to distract herself, Evan was her friend and she was stuck in a similar situation so she couldn't really blame him or tell on him.
"Okay, fine. I understand, I'm not going to say anything, so don't worry. But Evan…" Their eyes locked, and Kitty's stare was intense and almost stern. "I don't trust him, okay? So be careful." Pietro frowned.
"I'm right here, you know."
"I know." Her voice was harsh and scolding. "Oh, and next time? Try and find somewhere more private so that you two don't get caught by someone other than me, because I highly doubt that it will go over just as smoothly with them as it did me. You should probably do that now before someone else shows up." And without another word she walked past them and to, what Evan supposed, was her next class. As soon as she was out of sight, Evan let out an audible breath and Pietro backed away from him, leaving a considerable amount of space between them. Evan was a little shocked to see Kitty act this way, having been so used to her aloof cheerleader attitude, but he supposed even people like her could get serious when the time called for it.
He sighed again and locked eyes with Pietro. "We should really start being more careful." Pietro nodded his head almost solemnly in agreement, but reached his hand out to caress his cheek anyway. Evan immediately made a grab for his wrist and pulled them to a more secluded area where students rarely went. "That's not exactly being careful." But he couldn't help the upward twitch of his lips.
Pietro nearly grinned mischievously in response and pulled Evan flush against him. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Daniels." Pietro's mouth was on his in a matter of seconds, his hands gripping his hips as he was pushing him back up against the nearest wall. Evan pulled back, chuckling.
"Evan, not Daniels – remember?" Pietro hummed in response and trailed kisses along his jaw line and down the length of his neck. He licked his way back up tantalizingly slow and Evan's breath hitched in his throat. His mouth was on Evan's again and he slipped his tongue past slightly parted lips, entangling it with his. Evan pulled back first, his head connecting gently with the wall he was pushed up against, and let out a few short breaths. He had his hand placed at the base of Pietro's neck, the other resting lightly on his shoulder and his cheeks were burning an incredible shade of red. "We probably shouldn't do this right now."
Pietro licked his lips and leaned his fore-head against Evan's. He opened his mouth to say some witty protest but the bell signaling the end of the lunch period rang and he sighed instead. "Fine… Are you busy afterschool?"
"I shouldn't be… Logan said no training today."
"Do you want to go somewhere?"
"Where could we even go without being seen…?"
Pietro frowned at this, "I don't care if we're seen together." He meant it too, because he really, honestly, did not care if they were. He was risking a lot, he understood that perfectly well, by wanting to be with Evan. He should keep it secret, away from prying eyes and ears. In fact, it would be better if he just stopped their relationship all together. It would've been the smart thing to do when Evan had wanted to end it the first time around. He realized that nothing good could really come out of this relationship besides his genuine happiness. But that was something that Pietro wasn't willing to lose. Evan was someone that Pietro genuinely wanted in his life; he would be willing to risk the faulty relationship he had with his father, the brotherhood, Mystique – all of them – to be with him. He watched with bated breath as Evan hesitated before answering him.
"I… yeah, okay. That sounds nice."
He just wasn't sure Evan was willing to risk just as much as he was in order for them to be together. Pietro let out a quiet breath and gave him a tender kiss, smiling when Evan leaned in closer as he pulled away from him. "I'll see you after school, then." Evan nodded his head absentmindedly, thoughts still wrapped around Pietro's kiss. Pietro smirked at this and tilted his chin up so their eyes met. "Stop daydreaming, lover boy, you're going to make yourself late." Evan scowled at this and moved to pull away but Pietro held him firm in place.
"Pietro-"
A quick kiss to the tip of his nose and Pietro turned to leave without saying a word, grinning almost childishly as he did so. Evan stared after him dumfounded before his cheeks turned a little bit pink, not even bothering to hide the goofy grin that spread across his own face. Some random students were walking by and shot him odd glances but he just ignored them, making his way to his classroom, feeling rather excited about spending the day with Pietro. He figured that he should have probably been hiding his excitement better, especially when he ran into Jean. He should have known that she would be the first to notice that something was up.
"Evan!" He stopped mid-step and nearly cringed when he spotted her tuft of long red hair out of the crown of students rushing to their classrooms. She jogged up to him and was already giving him a suspicious stare making him highly uncomfortable, his eyes searching for an easy escape route. Finding none, he sighed resignedly and focused his attention on her. "Something's been up with you lately, Evan. What's going on? Even now… you're unusually excited about something."
"It's nothing." He flinched when the words slipped out faster and more defensively than he meant them to. "Really, Jean, there's nothing going on. I'm just excited because it's a really nice day, school's almost over, and we don't have training to head to right after school is all. Can't a guy be in a good mood without you questioning their every motive?" He let his eyes narrow at his accusation, annoyed. Honestly, what was up with Jean badgering him lately? Sure he was fraternizing with the enemy, but there was no way that she could know that unless she saw something or read his mind.
Evan frowned at the last thought and made sure to keep his thoughts from straying to Pietro in any way, trying his hardest to block his thoughts from Jean completely. Jean frowned in response, clearly confused by his inner turmoil. "What are you hiding from me, Evan?" Okay, now Evan was really starting to dislike her. Couldn't she just mind her own business? "Are you still training with Pietro? Don't tell me that you're friends with him, Evan. He's the enemy, you know that." Evan rubbed a hand across his face to try and calm himself down so that he wouldn't snap at her so that things didn't get worse than they already were.
"This has nothing to do with Pietro. I don't understand how you even came to that conclusion. We trained together that one time and I already told you that things got pretty brutal so we decided not to do it anymore. I haven't been with him since." Evan wasn't even surprised at how easily the lies spewed from his mouth, given his current annoyance, and God he really just wanted to get away from Jean's scrutinizing gaze.
"Evan…" Jean's voice held a warning and she reached her hand out, possibly to connect with Evan's forehead – easier access to his thoughts – but they never quite reached him because Evan took a quick step back.
"Don't even think about it. Stay out of my head, Jean." He figured that was a good enough way to end the conversation and turned to go to his class. He was already really late because of her and he really didn't want to stick around any longer, especially not if she was going to constantly barrage him with questions and try to get inside his head. Thankfully, she didn't push the matter when he started to walk away. However, he knew that she was most likely going to press him for more information the next time that he bumped into her. He made sure to put, 'avoid Jean at all costs' at the top of his list and attempted to concentrate on his calculus class.
'Attempted' turned out to be a loose term as he wasn't even trying to concentrate on the lecture being taught. His thoughts kept running to Pietro and then to Jean and her suspicious glares and how she so obviously knew that something was going on. He was just glad that she had no idea what that something truly was. Does it really matter though? The thought struck him a little hard and he sat up a little straighter in his desk, tapping his pencil nervously against the table top.
Suppose that Jean – and everyone else – did find out about him and Pietro. Would that really be that bad? He sighed, shaking his head, and the kid sitting next to him stared at him questioningly before Evan shrugged him off. They couldn't find out, he knew that. Pietro knew that too, he was pretty sure; the only difference was that Pietro didn't care if they got caught. Did he? No… Yes… Maybe. His forehead connected with the cold hardtop of his desk and he groaned quietly to himself, "I don't know."
"Is there a problem, Mr. Daniels?" Evan jumped up from his slouched position at the sound of his teacher's voice and quickly shook his head, sighing in relief when she continued her lecture. Okay, so maybe he did care a little bit. What his friends thought about him mattered (they were his friends, how could it not matter?) It wasn't necessarily the fact that Pietro was a guy, that wasn't a big deal with him; it was the fact that Pietro was supposed to be someone that he hated to the core, someone that he wasn't supposed to get along with, let alone have an intimate relationship with – if he could even call it that.
Things were getting too complicated and his head hurt; he let it connect with the desk once more before the bell rang for the end of the school day.
When his eyes locked with Pietro's in the hallway he was torn between going straight up to him and waiting until they could be alone. He bit his lip and took a daring step towards him anyway. He stopped when he spotted Jean looking around the mass of students and had half a mind to march up to Pietro and leave with him anyway. But there was fear still nagging at the corner of his mind which kept him rooted at his spot, getting in the way of all the students trying to bypass him. He ignored their angry remarks and let his eyes dart between Pietro and Jean.
This didn't go unnoticed by Pietro and he frowned when his eyes locked onto Jean's determined expression, trying to make her way toward Evan. He was quicker, however, and got there before her. "Hey Daniels, what'cha up to?" He poked and prodded at him in an annoying manner, trying to keep up his arch-enemy front so Jean wouldn't suspect anything. Evan eyed him cautiously and frowned at the overwhelming urge to kiss him. What was stopping him? Jean? He bit his bottom lip and closed his eyes, running his hand across his forehead.
Pietro shot him a worried glance and tried to ignore every nerve in his body that was telling him to reach out and stroke a comforting hand across Evan's cheek. He made sure his voice was hushed so that only people close enough could hear, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just…" Evan trailed off and locked eyes with Pietro's deep-blue, concerned ones. He looked away for a brief second to see that Jean was a lot closer now, her eyebrows drawn up in worry, before looking back to Pietro and licking his lips. "Fuck it." Pietro's eyes widened a fraction when Evan leaned up on the tip of his toes and placed a chaste kiss on his lips, his hands instinctively gripping the base of Evan's neck to pull him closer when he began to pull away. He kept their faces mere millimeters away from each other, their lips brushing as he spoke.
"I wasn't expecting that." Evan licked his lips in response, the tip of his tongue running along Pietro's bottom lip in the briefest of touches, and took steady breaths to calm his erratic heartbeat. He chanced a glance at Jean, her expression distraught and confused before anger took over and Evan immediately locked his gaze with blue eyes. Despite the current situation, his lips twitched upward into a challenging smirk.
"No? Does it bother you?" He felt the deep rumble of Pietro's laughter in his chest where he had placed his hand earlier and his fingers curled around the material of Pietro's shirt.
"Not at all, I just didn't think that you'd-"
"Evan!" Pietro finally loosened his grip, allowing Evan to put some distance between them before Jean stepped in between the two of them, glaring over her shoulder at Pietro before settling that glare on Evan. "What do you think… What could possibly be going through you head if you think that… I don't understand, Evan. He's the enemy!" Evan was expecting that sort of response because he wasn't any closer to understanding it than she was. There wasn't really a logical explanation to it except maybe that he liked Pietro, and well, there wasn't even anything logical about that either. "Alright, that's it. Come with me, we're going to see the Professor about this."
Evan wasn't okay with that idea, not even a little bit, so he took a step back when she reached her hand toward his wrist. "I'm not going to see him – I… I have plans with Pietro. If he wants to talk to me… it'll just have to wait until later." Jean stared at him in disbelief, attempting another grab at his wrist and when that didn't work she made a move to use her mutant abilities. Evan scowled, "I wouldn't even think about using your powers in public Jean. I'm not too sure the professor would be happy about that."
"I'm not letting you spend any more time with Pietro, Evan. Just… come with me, okay?"
"No." Evan maneuvered around her and moved closer to Pietro, grabbing his wrist so he could tug him along to the exit. He heard a exasperated groan from Jean but refused to turn and give her his attention. That is, until he stopped at her next words,
"He's just using you, Evan! You know that! He doesn't really like you, has he ever even once said so? He's using you so he can get information off of you and then use it against us. Don't be stupid, Evan. Don't fall for his tricks!" Pietro scowled, ready to retort back with something smart-mouthed and harsh but stopped when Evan turned his gaze to him, his eyes doubtful. It was only for a brief second, before the look was replaced with a frown and he was back to tugging him away from Jean, but he still managed to catch it – the words he meant to say to Jean dying on his tongue.
Something clenched at Pietro's heart, an uneasiness that he could only explain as fear of the possibility that he might lose Evan. And then that fear was replaced by anger because how could Evan even think to be doubtful of how Pietro felt? After that was the realization that he never even once told Evan how he felt, that neither of them had said anything of the sort and this… this relationship that they had wasn't anything that could be labeled as stable at all. So, when they were finally alone, the halls void of any student, Pietro immediately dragged Evan into the nearest empty classroom.
He made sure the lights were off and the door was locked so if anyone walked by they wouldn't suspect anything. And in the second that it took Evan to register what Pietro had done, a mouth was already over his in a sort of desperate kiss and his back was pushed up against the wall closest to the door. Evan tried desperately to pull away from the kiss, barely getting out the first syllable of Pietro's name before his mouth was back on his. He struggled for a bit so that he could talk to Pietro, knock some sense into his brain, but his words caught uselessly in his throat when blue eyes stared intently into his. Pietro sighed, leaning down slowly this time, and placed a much more gentle kiss on swollen lips.
Evan allowed himself to relax a little and let Pietro kiss him. Okay, so fine, he decided that maybe he could talk to Pietro later because he was still upset with what Jean had said and he wasn't sure of things between them. And he really just needed this, needed to know that Pietro's kisses – whether they were tender, gentle, fervent, lust-fill, and downright dirty – were real, that he meant each and every one of them. His eyes screwed shut in pleasure when Pietro nipped at his bottom lip, smoothing his tongue along it afterward in a manner that caused a shiver to run down his spine. He even let a small, satisfied sigh slip past slightly parted lips when Pietro's tongue slipped in, running along his own tongue.
He could feel Pietro's slender fingers glide down the length of his torso and he already knew that things were about to get out of control. Evan was aware of the voice of reason telling him that he should stop this now before things progressed, to talk to Pietro, but he was already arching his body up against his feather light touches, wrapping his arms around his neck so that he could bring him closer. Pietro's kisses were growing more urgent as time passed, almost needy, and he was rubbing his thumb across the exposed skin of Evan's hip.
He hadn't meant to, but he let out a small whimper when Pietro's kisses trailed down his neck. He was already starting to feel the beginnings of arousal and if Pietro didn't stop soon he was positive that he'd be hard. He meant to pull away, really, so that he could stop and they could talk about this, but pleasure overtook reason and he found that his hold around Pietro tightened instead. Pietro's mouth found his again and the grip he had on Evan's hips tightened as he pulled his body flush against his. Evan whimpered again because Pietro was already half-hard and it just felt so good to have his body pressed against his that he rolled his hips almost lazily, enjoying the almost silent gasp of appreciation that slipped past Pietro's parted lips.
Evan was already slowly spiraling out of control because Pietro knew just how to make him feel good and his cock was already throbbing painfully tight in the confines of his jeans. Pietro rolled his hips against Evan's and he couldn't tell if he was glad for the distraction or not as an almost too quiet to hear whimper rumbled in the back of his throat. But that voice in the back of Evan's head was more prominent than ever and he just knew that if he didn't stop this now and voice his concerns then things would continue on as they were and he'd begin to regret it later. He was almost positive that there wouldn't be someone to interrupt them this time.
He moved to grip harshly at Pietro's shoulders and sighed in relief when he managed to put some distance between them. "You need to just… stop for a second so that I can talk to you." Pietro frowned because he really didn't want to talk about this, and maybe he wasn't being fair but he really just wanted Evan to be able to understand how he felt without him having to say it. He was never in his life good with words and he always had a knack for screwing things up and he really didn't want to do that this time, not with Evan. "About what Jean said-"
Anger was quick to boil up in the pit of Pietro's stomach so slammed the palm of his hand harshly against the wall next to Evan's head. "Screw what Jean said! Every word that she said to you is bullshit, Evan." He noticed how Evan almost recoiled back into the wall and his anger was quickly replaced by guilt; he mumbled a quiet apology, turning to look away but not stepping back from him. Evan reached tentative hands up to his face, turning so that their eyes locked; the breath he sucked in was shaky.
"Maybe so… but, Pietro, we haven't – I mean, I haven't…" Evan trailed off frowning because he really pictured this going a lot more smoothly in his head and he couldn't fathom why it was so impossibly hard to tell Pietro how he felt. He opened his mouth to try again but found the words wouldn't come so easily and Pietro's stare was so startling intense, his eyes an impossibly bright shade of blue, that he let his hands drop uselessly to his sides and turned his gaze toward his shuffling feet. "Pietro, I… Look, I'm not a confident person, and this," Evan made a gesture between them, made sure to keep his eyes fixed elsewhere, "Whatever it is – it's not stable. There's nothing steady about it, I realize that, and I really just need you to tell me how you-"
"I want you."
"Feel… Yeah, no, Pietro I know that – you've told me that. That's not what I…" He trailed off for a second, feeling exasperated, and ran a hand over his forehead. "That's not what I meant." Despite his exasperation he felt the heat slowly rising to his cheeks anyway and he chewed uselessly on his bottom lip to try and stay focused on the matter at hand. Pietro licked his lip, contemplating for a second, before swallowing hard and trying again,
"I love you." He startled himself for a second there, as well as Evan, and he had to take a step back to try and compose himself. He had really only meant to tell Evan that he liked him, why that had slipped out instead, he wasn't sure. He heard Evan's shaky intake of air and forced a playful smirk on his face.
"Right…" Evan's heart was thudding loudly in his ears, a constant thump thump thump, and he found that his mouth was suddenly dryer than before. "That-that's good. That's what I…" His gaze found Pietro's easily, and despite the smirk on his plump lips, Evan could easily see the worry etched into his eyes. Even though his knees were quaking – he was sure they might give out on him at any given second – he closed the distance between them and placed a gentle kiss on Pietro's lips. Pietro's hands found his hips almost immediately and was silently glad for, one hundred percent sure that he was the only thing holding him up right now. When he pulled back the chuckle he released was breathless and shaky, the only cause of it being his nervousness.
"I love you, too." The words were easier now, he realized, but the beating of his heart was still impossibly loud in his ears and he was completely certain that Pietro would be able to hear it had he been listening closely enough. His stomach tingled with a fleeting sort of pleasure when a wave of relief so obviously washed over Pietro's facial features, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, and his body immediately relaxed in his arms. Pietro pulled their bodies flush against each other so that he could wrap his arms around Evan in an almost bone-crushing embrace.
"Evan…"
"Hmm?"
"Your heart is beating really fast." Evan ignored the immediate rush of heat to his cheeks, burying his face in the crook of Pietro's neck, and smiled against the skin there. On any other occasion he might have pulled back with a snide remark to hide his embarrassment but found that he was seriously lacking the willpower to do so this time around.
Especially when he found that Pietro's heart was beating just as rapidly against his own chest.
Hi, there guys. Did you miss me? Anyway, another chapter for you guys. And I made it a little longer, but probably really not by much. I wanna say that I like this chapter, 'cause I kind of do... but I think that I really only like the ending, not so much the beginning.
There were a lot of things that I fussed over, and I don't really think that I'm completely satisfied with this one, but tell me what you think, okay?
~Unbalanced Kiss