ax_main | Illyana and Pyro | Backdated to 11/8

After Magneto's announcement, Illyana stops by the Brotherhood base to pick up Pyro, and ends up staying, instead.

Pyro stopped himself just short of running to the door. Instead, he stalked. Pretty quickly. All the way to the front door, which he opened immediately. "Hey."

"Hey." Illyana offered a tight, somewhat nervous smile and shifted the backpack she'd slung over her shoulder awkwardly. "Sorry to just show up. I probably should've texted from the bus, huh?"

She took the bus. That was a relief, and Pyro blurted out, "What are you doing here?" Not that he wasn't - always - happy to see her, but this was a bit unexpected. "Is something wrong?"

"Have you seen Twitter? There's a lot wrong." Illyana took a deep breath, then exhaled. "But no. I just needed to get out before everyone started freaking out. Can we maybe take off for the weekend a few days early?"

"I..." He glanced inside, then faced her again. "I'd need to check in." The team came first.

"Oh." Illyana's face fell. "I mean, if you can't," or didn't want to, which was also a possibility she hadn't considered, but seemed pretty likely given his reactions so far, "it's okay. I can go."

"Just. I need to talk to the boss, okay?" Pyro told her. He couldn't just take off for days without a word - or if he would be needed. "Give me a few minutes?"

"Okay," she replied, just a little sulkily. Because fine, he had to ask - that wasn't a problem. But it would've been nice if he'd seemed happy to see her, at least. Especially since it'd taken her over an hour to get there.

"I -" He glanced back inside. "I'd invite you in, but I'm not sure I can." And if he got grounded now, they could kiss any plans of getting away together goodbye. "You gonna be okay out here?" he asked, reaching to squeeze her arm through her coat. He felt like shit leaving her on their front step, ugh.

"I'm pretty sure I can handle standing in front of a building, yeah," she assured him, forcing a bit of a smile. "Just go, it's fine."

Pyro wasn't sure what was wrong exactly, but was pretty certain that something was. He hesitated, then nodded and disappeared back inside to go find Magneto. The conversation was mercifully short, and after some (for Pyro) effusive thanks, he rushed off to throw a few things into a backpack. And then he did run back to the front door, a smirk on his lips and a smile in his eyes.

He'd worry about that last thing Magneto had said in a bit. Right now, he was just happy.

"We're good," he told Magik, closing the door behind himself and grabbing her hand to pull her into a hug.

"So, you had to check to make sure it was okay to hug me, too?" Illyana's eyebrows climbed, and for once, she wasn't in a huge hurry to hug back. Instead, she took a moment to tuck her phone back into her pocket.

Pyro dropped his arm from the aborted hug, frowning at her - and, like always when he felt attacked, going on the defensive. Was that what the problem was? "Right. I'll show up unannounced at your school asking for things you don't know if you can give me, we'll see if your first instinct's to hug me." He wasn't even sure the comparison worked, given their very different relationships, hers with the school, his with the team, but whatever.

"Actually? Pretty sure it would be," Illyana replied, hurt and annoyance warring for precedence in her expression, though hurt was pretty plainly winning. "But sorry. I didn't mean to be a problem. Go back to whatever you were doing. I'll go deal with the fallout from it." She took a step back and started to call up a stepping disk.

"Mage, what the fuck!" Pyro didn't think, just grabbed her arm to pull her away from the appearing disk.

Illyana's eyes widened, meeting Pyro's with a panicked expression as the stepping disk energy began to rise. No. This wasn't happening. This was not happening. Options flashed by in her brain all at once, none of which she was sure would work, and she reached out and pulled the energy in in a way she couldn't even have begun to describe. So. Much. Power, leaving her trembling, head-rushed, even as her knees gave out and she sank to the ground. "That was...really, really stupid," she observed dazedly.

But at the same time, a small voice whispered in the back of her mind, it had felt really, really good, hadn't it?

Pyro tried to catch her and ended up on the ground with her. What the fuck had just happened? "No shit." He meant calling up the disc, obviously. "Are you okay?"

"Not sure yet." Illyana blinked a few times, then tried to look at him levelly, something made somewhat more difficult by the fact there seemed to be at least two of him there. "Are you?"

"If you stop trying to get to Limbo, sure," he answered, still frowning in concern.

"Not what I meant. Uggh, dizzy now. Help me up?" Illyana tried to get her feet under her, without a whole lot of success. Right. Not doing that again. Except for the part where obviously, she would.

"How about we stay on the ground a bit longer?" Pyro offered, since she was clearly still all wobbly. He drew her close, if she let him. "Ground's all right."

"Yeah. Nice ground." Illyana let herself be pulled in closer, and gratefully leaned against Pyro. Who, yes, was alive. Alive was good. Not bleeding was good, too. "Don't do that again, huh? I like you better not in multiple pieces."

Pyro's eyes widened slightly as he realized what she meant, and what might have happened. He didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, as he absorbed that, then answered, "Then don't head straight to Limbo just because I didn't hug you."

Illyana stared up at him for a couple of moments, trying to figure out if there was any way that could possibly make sense, then gave up and laughed. Which didn't help the dizziness and disorientation much, but...whatever. "Right. Definitely my fault you almost got splinched. Or, y'know, you could try looking at least kinda happy to see me, even if I don't text ahead? And then I won't teleport out because you're not."

"I wasn't not happy!" Pyro protested. "I was surprised, and worried you'd come all this way for nothing!" He was tensing ten ways to Sunday now, when he'd originally wanted to just cling to her. "Just because I don't give you the smile you want doesn't mean you should run into Belasco's waiting arms, for fuck's sake." He was a dramatic bitch, and he thought that had been overkill.

"Right, because that's exactly what I'd had in mind." Illyana met his eyes irritably, relieved that at least now, there was only one of him there. "Or, y'know, it could just be I didn't think of that, right then? Sorry, teleporting's kind of instinctive. Kinda like you flicking your lighter. Or grabbing me and nearly getting your arm cut off."

"Yeah, well I'd fucking do it again," Pyro glared at her. What did she think? He liked his arm, sure, but he didn't need it for fire. And she shouldn't be going to Limbo without decent back-up. He felt like an idiot for caring so much.

"I'd really rather you didn't, because my head's still spinning from absorbing the disk," Illyana fired back. "I can 'port in and out really fast if I can stand."

"Yeah?" Pyro asked, still not happy with anything right then. "If it's so safe, why'd you take the bus here?"

"Because I promised you I wouldn't take on Belasco if I could help it! Which means the only time I've teleported in the past couple of weeks was when Tamara shocked me in the bathroom!" Illyana paused, realized what she'd just said (which wasn't exactly accurate), and facepalmed. "Why are we fighting about this?"

"She did what?" Pyro asked, completely bypassing what Magik said next. It was one thing for that bitch to shock him for no reason, but Mage? No fucking way.

Well, at least it wasn't more fighting. Illyana sighed and dropped her hand from her face. "I tried to push past her," she explained. "I was fine. She's just a bitch and wouldn't let me back to my room from the bathroom."

"She's such a bitch, what the fuck," Pyro confirmed, with feeling. "You should drop her off in Limbo. Except she'd probably end up allying with fucking Belasco."

"Honestly, I think he'd kill her if the demons hadn't already, but don't think it hasn't come to mind. I threatened her with it once already." Illyana sighed again, and shifted a little to lean against Pyro more securely, only partially because her head still felt as if it were stuffed with cotton. "Anyway, whatever. She's not worth getting expelled over."

"I don't know, then she'd be gone and you could join us," Pyro replied, although his heart wasn't in it. Dragoness was a bitch with a ridiculous name, but it didn't mean he wanted her dead. He kissed Magik's hair. "Whatever. Just don't go into Limbo because I'm being a prick."

"Don't be a prick, then," Illyana replied, but she smiled and reached up to stroke her fingers down his cheek. "But fine. Where did you want to go, seeing as I'm guessing we're not teleporting anywhere cool?" Which put a serious dent in vacation plans, but right now, she really didn't care where they went, so long as they went somewhere. Her butt was getting cold.

"Wherever," Pyro answered, and leaned back to look at her. "You feeling better?" Could she stand up, was the attached question.

"Mostly." The unasked question was the tough one, obviously, and Illyana reluctantly pulled back and used the ground to push herself up - slowly, so that if her head decided to start spinning again, she'd hopefully have time to not fall on her face. "That was a serious rush." Yep, standing, and just a little wobbly. Not bad, all things considered. She was tempted to ask whether or not they could just go inside and crash there, but she figured if they could, he would've suggested it himself.

Pyro stayed on the ground as she pushed herself to her feet, keeping his hands on her legs in case she faltered. Once she was up on her feet, he tentatively joined her in standing up, and put his hands on her waist, glancing back towards the club. "Hey, look. I know this isn't your idea of somewhere safe, but I could probably talk the old man into letting you crash, if you don't -" feel up to going somewhere else, "want to go anywhere else just now." Since Magneto wanted to meet her, he probably wouldn't be opposed, right?

Illyana chewed at her lip. On the one hand, yeah. It was incredibly tempting, if only because her head was still spinning. But... "I don't want to get you in trouble," she said. "I mean, I should've thought of that earlier, and I didn't. And...if we stay, are they going to assume I'm going to stay?" She hadn't realized it at the time, but she'd gotten an inkling, since, of just what having been invited to dance with them meant. And the invitation meant too much to her to just blow it off.

"Not if I make it clear you aren't?" Pyro offered. "I mean, they're gonna hope..." He was gonna hope. "But if we just stay for a couple of hours, until you get back on your feet?"

Illyana smiled, and nodded. "Yeah. Sounds good. Do you need me to wait here while you check?" She grinned, just a little. "Because if you're going to let go, I should probably sit back down first."

"Or, y'know, I could just text him and hope for the best," Pyro amended, sneaking an arm around her waist and pulling his phone out with his other hand. He had no idea whether Magneto ever answered his texts; he didn't think he'd texted him before.

"Or that." Illyana leaned into him, closed her eyes, and waited. Hopefully someone would come soon.

The door opened, and Illyana's eyes popped back open to see Wanda's head sticking out. "Are you idiots coming inside? Or are you going to stand out there on the fucking sidewalk for the rest of the night?"

Pyro had just fired off the text when the door opened. "Don't call her an idiot," he scowled at Wanda, and helped Magik inside. Hey, now he could blame it on Wanda if Magneto disapproved. He let her get away with so much.

"Whatever," Wanda retorted, moving back out of the way with just a trace of a smirk. What do you know, Pyro could talk back when motivated. It was good to see. "'Bout time you came to visit," she told Illyana, ignoring Pyro's instructions. "You guys hungry? Pretty sure someone ordered pizza."

Illyana smiled shakily, glanced up at Pyro, and shrugged. "Hungry?"

"I can always eat," Pyro answered, which wasn't a yes, but it could turn into one if she wanted to. Otherwise, he'd be happy to crash in his room with her.

"Sure, why not?" Illyana replied. They could always go hide out in his room after, right?

"I'll go tell them to throw in an extra." Wanda grinned at Pyro, then turned and headed off into the kitchen.

* * *

Pyro loved his team, but he was glad when he finally closed the door of his room, and had Magik all to himself again. There was still a lot from earlier that sat unresolved, and he hadn't been sure how to behave the entire time. At least he'd sneaked away to his room while they were all eating to quickly tidy up, so she wasn't going to see anything she shouldn't right now.

"Hey, so. About earlier..." He stepped over to her as he said that, because he wasn't sure he could actually say much without some sort of contact.

And...here it came. Illyana stopped looking around his room (which really didn't seem to have much personality to it) to look up at him, just a little apprehensively. Eating had gone a long way towards clearing her head, so at least it wasn't spinning, and it had been nice to just kick back and listen to his teammates harass each other - and to take a little of her own from Pietro. But somehow, she had the feeling they weren't done talking about earlier, even then.

"Yeah?" she prompted. Might as well get it over with.

When she made no move to reach out to him, he felt stupid for stepping over, and frowned down at her shoes before looking up at her again, awkwardly sliding his hands into his jeans pockets. "I didn't mean to make you feel I wasn't happy to see you." There was more to say, but it was all stuck in his throat.

"Oh. It's okay." Illyana shrugged crookedly, and looked down for a moment before looking back up again. A little awkwardly, she reached out - then realized his hands were in his pockets and let hers fall again. "I'm just spoiled, I guess. And you kinda seemed like you really wanted me to not be here."

He pulled his hands out of his pockets when she reached for him, and forced himself to take hers when she dropped it. "I just - I didn't want to let you down. Or the team."

"You've never let me down," Illyana blurted before even thinking what was going to come out of her mouth. "I don't want to come between you and your team, though. I told you - if you want me to go, I will." After all, he'd pretty much stopped badmouthing her friends. She didn't really have anything negative to say about his, and she didn't want to make him feel like he was in the middle, torn. She felt like that often enough, herself.

"Please don't go," he said immediately, with a shake of his head. "I just didn't know if the old man could spare me. He doesn't exactly tell us his plans in advance." Probably for the best. "But he doesn't seem to mind you being here, and the others like you."

"I like them, too." And she did - well, most of them, at least. She was, she had to admit, still a bit on the fence about Mort, that was pretty much slime related rather than otherwise. And she still hadn't met his boss, but just now, she was okay with that. "I'm going to have to go back eventually, though. I told the Professor I'd just be gone a few days, until everyone stopped freaking out."

"And he was cool with that?" Pyro asked, clearly surprised.

"Yeah. I mean, he seemed okay with it? I kinda chickened out and texted him," Illyana admitted. "But he just told me he understood, and to make sure I didn't get behind in my classes." She grimaced. "He's been really cool since we got back from Limbo. It's weird."

"Maybe he's realized you're way too awesome for his usual shit?" Pyro suggested, and squeezed her hand with a small smile. "Whatever, let's just make the most of it."

"How are we going to do that?" Illyana asked, her lips twitching up in a mischievous smile and her eyebrows rising a little.

Pyro couldn't help but smirk at that look on her face, and he tugged her close. "Well, hey, there's me, there's you, there's this awesome bed right here..."

"I don't know...." Illyana pretended to eye the bed skeptically, then looked back at him, her lips twitching with amusement. "It looks kinda like someone snuck in and threw the bedspread up over his dirty laundry." Which, okay, it didn't. But she had a feeling there was normally more stuff lying around in the room, and she hadn't exactly given him a lot of warning before showing up. Or any.

"I'm totally offended," Pyro told her, and used his free hand to pull back the bedspread. "I totally shoved all of my dirty laundry in the hamper when I snuck away from the pizza, earlier."

Illyana laughed and tugged him back in towards her. "You didn't have to. You should see my room. There's a pile of laundry, and there are spell components on my bookshelf, and Kitty's always got techie stuff all over everything. Including the floor, sometimes." She leaned in and brushed her lips over his, then took a step back and let go of his hand. And, just a little nervously (damn it, there were butterflies moshing around in her stomach again) reached down to pull off her shirt.

Because yeah. There was a bed. And actual privacy. It'd be a shame to waste that, right?

Pyro watched her with very obvious admiration. "...I'm gonna clean my room more often." He pulled his couple of tops over his head in one move, then stepped in close to kiss her, all too happy to get on the 'forgetting about everything else' bandwagon with her.

Illyana felt her face warm at the expression on Pyro's face, then laughed as she pulled her sweater over her head, leaving her standing there in her leggings and bra. She barely had a chance to get a look at him in return before he was kissing her, but that was okay. Her hand curled around the back of his neck as she deepened the kiss and pressed closer against him, his skin hot against hers.

She was so beautiful, and this was the best way Pyro knew to show her. Well, okay, no, there were more ways than kissing her with all that she made him feel, but those other ways were just extensions of the kissing. He cradled her face with one hand as they kissed, his other one on her waist, fingers on warm skin. She felt so good; she even smelled nice.

He smelled like smoke, and fire, and some kind of scent-less body wash, all of which had come to add up to Pyro in her mind. Illyana's free hand stroked up and down his back, exploring, as if by doing so she could memorize the moment - how he felt, how he tasted - to bring it back later, when she was back at school and he was here. She wasn't going to think about that now, though. If there was one thing she'd learned in years in Limbo, it was to grab now when you had it. It never lasted long enough.

* * *

They had been making the most of it, and then some, Pyro thought with a satisfied smirk, curled up as he was around Magik, his head on her shoulder. He looked up to kiss her skin, that slight hollow right under the end of her collarbone, with the super soft skin, and then smirked up at her. "That was totally worth almost losing my arm earlier."

Illyana let out a snort of laughter and smacked in his direction lazily, not even trying to actually hit him. "You didn't need to almost lose your arm. I would've stayed over sooner if you'd ever asked." She shifted a little so she could see his face better, and smiled and reached across to stroke his shoulder. "Or done that. That was..." honestly, she wasn't sure she had words for it. She tilted her head down to kiss him, instead.

Pyro kissed her back, pouring all of his satisfaction and happiness - and fine, his feelings for her - into it. "It was? Like... did you come?" He thought maybe, but he wanted to make sure, and not be the kind of guy who thought he made his girlfriend come when he really, really didn't.

Face warming, Illyana grinned, just a little sheepishly. "I'm pretty sure whoever's in the next room knows I came. Not sure how you missed it." Okay, maybe she hadn't been quite that loud, but she'd felt like she had been. She looked a little awkward, and blushed more. "You...I did okay?" He'd definitely seemed okay with it, but...yeah. Reassurance would be nice.

"You did amazing," Pyro assured her, with feeling.

"Mmmm," she hummed, and tried to snuggle in closer, though it really wasn't possible to get any closer. And smiled. "So did you," she assured him, just because she hadn't actually said it. She stroked her fingers down his back and let her eyes slip half shut. She was sleepy, relaxed...and comfortable. "Can we just stay here tonight?" she asked hopefully. "Because I really don't wanta move."

"We're really not going anywhere," Pyro assured her easily, and shifted up enough to give her a soft kiss. "Except maybe to raid the kitchen at some point."

"Later." Illyana turned onto her side, watching him through half lidded eyes, and reached up to stroke his cheek. And wondered, for pretty much the first time, what his name had been before he'd changed it, and why he had. Except it really didn't seem like the right time to ask. She wasn't inclined to do anything that risked breaking the mood.

Pyro shifted to his stomach, resting his head sideways on flattened hands. "Just so you know, Magneto wants to meet you."

And that...definitely broke the mood. Illyana shifted just a little, away. "Why?" she asked apprehensively.

Pyro frowned a little when she moved away, and slid a hand out from under his head to reach for her waist. "Because he's curious?"

"About what?" Illyana forced herself to relax, just a little. "I mean, we've been together for months, and he hasn't shown any interest before this." Which hurt, she had to admit, and a little of that seeped into her voice. Kitty'd broken in and he'd tried to recruit her. As far as she'd been able to determine, he'd been trying to ignore her out of existence.

Pyro blinked, then peered at her curiously. "Did you want him to?"

Illyana shrugged. "He tried to recruit Kitty." Which, okay, she could understand that - her roommate was amazing. But at the same time - yeah. It still stung.

Pyro propped his head up on his hand, frowning. "I was just thankful he let us be before... you know. Making a move on you."

"Maybe that's why." Her tone suggested she didn't believe it, though, mostly because she didn't, at all. "But mostly, I think he just doesn't want me."

Pyro snorted. "Please. You're worth ten of Kitties." There was only so long he could hold that in, okay, and he'd managed longer than expected. "Why would he want a kickass sorceress who also teleports, and can send any flatscan to Limbo at the drop of a hat?"

Illyana chewed at her lip, debating whether or not she should actually tell Pyro her opinion on that one, considering it was pretty inevitable he wasn't going to like it. But she'd actually put a lot of thought into it, partially fueled by all the discussions floating around the school since the Professor's team announcement, and she was pretty sure she was right. Finally, she said quietly, "Because I'm a kick ass sorceress who doesn't follow orders well, and who doesn't owe him anything."

"We follow orders because we believe in what he's doing," Pyro retorted, feeling a little... He didn't know how to take what she was saying, and so he was going on the defensive a bit. "No point joining us if you don't."

"I didn't say I was joining. And I'm not sure what I believe," Illyana retorted. "But you asked me why he wouldn't want me. And that's the main reason I can think of. Don't ask if you're just going to get pissed when I answer."

"Why are you pissed he doesn't want you if you don't want to join?" Pyro was so out of his depth with this conversation, it wasn't even funny.

"Because it sucks to know you're not wanted, okay?" Frustrated (and more than a little annoyed at herself for having said anything about it at all) Illyana rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

Pyro sat up in bed, watching her with a frown. "I don't get that," he said honestly. Not if she didn't want in anyway.

"It doesn't matter." Except...it kind of did, didn't it?

"You're a really shitty liar," Pyro pointed out. She was in a sulk, or something. Even he could tell it mattered.

"I know." She sighed. "Except anything I say, you're just going to get mad. I shouldn't have said anything, period."

Well, now he was hurt for real. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

That got her attention, and she looked up at him, her expression more apologetic than confrontational. "I answered your question and you got mad. I don't think you'd like the rest of what I'd say any better."

"I was on the defensive, shit, I wasn't mad," Pyro retorted, frowning harder. He hadn't been! What the hell. "I wasn't sure you weren't calling us idiots for following orders. So unless that's part of what else you'd say, explaining shit out would probably work pretty damn well."

"I don't think you're idiots. If I thought you were an idiot, I wouldn't be here, would I?" She pushed her hair back from her face and sighed. "I don't know that I want to sign up, okay? I mean, it'd make things easier, I know that. And I know you won't leave your team - and I'm not asking you to." She met his eyes. "I haven't, ever, and I'm not going to, now. But I don't want to leave my friends, either. Whether you like them or not, they're still my friends. And I'm not willing to just take orders. I've been doing that for years. I'm done with it."

"That's not the bit I don't get," Pyro replied honestly. He understood all that, and he'd (sadly) made his peace with the fact that she wouldn't join them. There was nothing to be done against friends who protected you in Limbo for days. And he wouldn't really want to, anyway. "I don't get why you're pissy about Magneto not having talked to you sooner, if you don't want to join. I don't give a shit that nobody would want me at your school."

"I don't know if I can explain it," Illyana admitted. She wrinkled her nose. "There's a lot of talk lately about how the Professor "picked" the people he invited to the school, but I don't think he picked anyone, because if he had? He almost definitely wouldn't have picked me." She smiled faintly. "Let's face it - I've probably been more trouble than anyone except Tamara and Inu-Yasha. But..." She paused, mostly just to think over what she was trying to say. "You liked me. And Eileen did, or it seemed like it. And...honestly, most of what you guys say makes more sense to me. So I just kinda...waited, because I figured he'd ask. And then he didn't." She shrugged. "It would've been nice to have been wanted somewhere, that's all." She met his eyes. "And for the record? I would want you there. But I know you wouldn't come."

"Yeah, you don't count," Pyro told her, because, obviously she didn't. Though it wasn't like it mattered; what mattered was that she wanted him in a way no one else did, and he didn't even mean a dirty way. "But whatever. We'd all love to have you here. Isn't it obvious? You danced with us."

"Pietro waved me over," Illyana pointed out. "I'm not sure he meant anything by it. I mean, Billy and Tommy were out there, too." She paused. "Though Wanda invited them, after."

"Yeah, Pietro, not me," Pyro pointed out, since he was obviously biased. "And they're family to our wonder twins. So they matter. Like you matter."

Illyana smiled and turned on her side to snuggle in closer. But she had to wonder, a little, just what she, Tommy, and Billy had in common that Magneto suddenly wanted to recruit them. Somehow, she doubted he cared whether they'd all danced at the party, or not.