ax_main | Pyro and Illyana

Pent up tensions lead to a huge blow-up and an unexpected declaration.

Once Pyro'd got his breath back, he immediately curled up around Mage's side. He'd always been into touch, but it seemed even truer these days, and he didn't seem to really relax unless as much of their bare skin was in contact as possible. He kissed her shoulder, then made a contented sound.

"You staying tonight?" he asked hopefully. He slept better when she was around.

"Mmmm. Want me to?" Illyana teased, though she already knew the answer. He'd want her to - he always did. Not that she had a problem with that, because knowing he wanted her there felt really good, and she liked having someone to sleep with just as much as he did. Just...

Well, it was pretty obvious (to her, at least) that it wasn't a coincidence that the frequency with which he asked her to spend the night had gone up a whole lot since his misadventure in Limbo. Sometimes she half wondered if he'd be just as happy with a teddy bear.

"Always," he confirmed without missing a beat, comfortable enough around her by now to readily admit that much. He kissed her shoulder again, then shifted to kiss her neck, tongue darting out to taste the sweat she had worked up. And what a way to work it up.

Oh. Well okay, maybe not a teddy bear. Illyana hummed softly and arched her neck, a smile playing over her lips. "I could be talked into it," she assured him, then rolled onto her side and wrapped her arm around him, fingers skimming over the still damp skin of his back.

"Talked?" Pyro echoed with a chuckle, and nuzzled at her neck. Talking wasn't exactly his forte, and there were way funner ways to convince her to stay.

"Well, some talking would help?" she suggested, though really, if he kept doing that, she was willing to forego it. Shifting closer, she wrapped her leg over his and stroked her fingers slowly down his back.

"I suck at talking," Pyro reminded her, stroking a hand up her thigh and pressing a soft kiss to her pulse point. "'m way better at this." He grazed his teeth over the soft skin in illustration. So what if they'd just gone a round? He'd happily go another, right now.

A soft gasp, and Illyana pressed in closer against him, her hips rocking in against his. Yeah, okay. Talking was definitely overrated, though one thing had to be corrected. "You don't suck at it," she pointed out as she tilted her head to kiss along his jawline. "You just don't like to."

"I don't like to talk 'cause I suck at it," Pyro replied, his hand now firmly lodged on her ass as she rocked against him. He looked up from her neck, but only to catch her mouth in a deep kiss. See? Much better things to do with our mouths than talking.

She rolled her eyes, but reached up to cup the back of his head and kissed him back with enthusiasm. And then, for a long time, said nothing at all.

***

When they collapsed back on the bed this time, Pyro was pretty sure he couldn't go for a round three for a while yet. He wrapped an arm around Mage as he caught his breath, then asked, with a smirk, "So, are you staying?"

"Like there was ever any chance I wasn't," she retorted with a breathless laugh, reaching up to tease his hair back from his forehead where it had fallen forward. "Besides, I'm not altogether sure I can move." Which she couldn't, obviously, with him on top of her, but that wasn't what she meant. Moving would require way too much effort.

"Let's never move," Pyro agreed lazily, laying his head over her chest.

"Mmmm. I'd be good with that." Illyana let her eyes drift shut but continued teasing her fingers through his hair, content to let her mind drift hazily from one thought to the next. This felt nice. Relaxed. She liked having Pyro on top of her, obviously content and feeling sort of boneless. Sort of like Tommy's cat, but way better. Had he come up with a name for it yet? He couldn't possibly be serious about calling it "Cat"...

Huh. That reminded her. Illyana's forehead furrowed just a little. "Can I ask you a question? If there's no moving required?"

"Sure," Pyro agreed in a lazy murmur. He'd been sort of drowsing off, with her hand stroking his hair like that, but he blinked himself a little more awake again.

"What's your name?" She smiled crookedly. "Or, I mean, what was it? It feels weird I don't know, and I keep forgetting to ask."

Well, that sure got him the rest of the way awake, and he looked at her with a frown. "What does it matter?"

"It doesn't, I guess. Except that I'd like to know." Illyana shrugged.

"Yeah, but why would you, then?" he asked, still frowning. That name wasn't him, it had never really been him. It was tied to everything that had been fucked up in his life, before, and he hated it, hated that clueless boy he used to be.

Illyana sighed. So much for the relaxed drifty feeling. "Because we've been together for months, and I don't know hardly anything about you. Okay? If you don't want to tell me, don't."

"That name isn't me," Pyro retorted, rolling onto his side beside her. "You know pretty much everything there is to know about me."

She did, she reflected. She knew everything important about him, anyway - that he cared about her, and his teammates. That he was willing to fight for them. That he was willing to fight for her friends, whether he liked them or not. That he'd be there, at her side, when she needed him. All the things her upbringing had told her were important, she knew.

"I know." Disappointed that he'd moved, and rolled onto her side and wrapped her arm over him. "Just forget it. It doesn't matter." Except that, for reasons she couldn't explain, it kind of did.

Pyro was quiet for a moment, and then he told her, quietly, "It's John." And then, more loudly, "But don't you ever use it."

"I wouldn't." Touched that he'd told her, she leaned in and kissed him slowly, reaching up again to toy with his hair. "It doesn't suit you," she added, smiling a little as she studied his face.

"I told you," Pyro confirmed, still a little sullen about having told her at all, even if it had been his decision. The kiss had gone a long way, though. But yeah, it didn't suit him; he'd told her. He'd told her it wasn't him.

"Yeah, you did. I didn't argue that, did I?" She rolled her eyes, but stroked her fingers lightly down his cheek. "I just wanted to know who you were, okay? You know who I was."

"Who you were is kinda relevant, queen of Limbo," he pointed out with raised eyebrows. Him, he'd just as soon never have anything to do with his old life.

"That doesn't mean there aren't parts of it I wish I didn't have to remember," she countered. Huge parts, actually, but unlike him, she couldn't just lock them away and forget them. "Besides, who you were is relevent, too. You wouldn't be who you are if you hadn't been who you were."

"You really can't take 'I don't wanna talk about it' for an answer, can you?" Pyro asked with a scowl, pulling away from her.

Startled, Illyana stared for a moment, then sat up. "Sorry. I'll add talking about what matters to the list of things that piss you off when I try to discuss them. Y'know, right along with my friends, Disneyworld, what happened in Limbo - maybe I should just stop talking, period?"

It was Pyro's turn to stare. "Are you for real?" He sat up as well. "What I used to be doesn't fucking matter, I haven't had a problem with your friends since they've stopped having a problem with me, I'm really sorry that I don't want to share what it was like to be fucking possessed, and what the fuck is Disneyworld even doing on that list?"

"It's on the list because I brought it up, and basically got told it was stupid, go with someone else. Because it doesn't matter if I need to get away from everything for the day; you think it's stupid, so forget it." She got to her feet and turned to glare at him, arms crossing over her chest. "And maybe - just maybe - it would've been nice to have been able to talk about what happened in Limbo, okay? With someone other than Kittty. Because yeah, being possessed probably sucked. But y'know what? Stabbing your boyfriend and your friends isn't exactly a blast, either."

Don't get distracted by the nakedness, Pyro had to tell himself when she stood up, like any teenage boy when presented with his naked girlfriend, even in the middle of an argument. Just don't. Thankfully, the actual argument snapped him out of it, and his eyes made it back to her face as he frowned again. "Well then why didn't you tell me about it?" he protested. "Me not wanting to talk about my shit doesn't mean we can't talk about yours!"

And seriously, fuck Disneyworld.

"Because you said you didn't want to talk about it!" Illyana hmmphed and threw up her hands in frustration. "And maybe I would've liked to have heard about your shit, okay? Maybe it would've been nice to know that you trusted me enough to talk to me, even if it all was my fault!"

"Well, I'm really fucking sorry that my trauma didn't work out nicely for you, but I'm glad you managed to make it all about you," Pyro snapped, and flopped back down in bed, wiping frustrated hands over his face.

"It was all about me! Everyone's fucked up, and it was all because of me, and there's nothing I can do for anyone except be a damn teddy bear!" Frustrated, she pushed her hand back through her hair.

"It was because of that fucking asshole you killed, not because of you," Pyro replied heatedly, and dropped his hands from his face. "But if you think what you are to me's a fucking teddy bear, I can see why you'd also think that I'd agree to go to fucking Disneyworld." What. The fuck.

"I don't think that's all I am to you, but it's all I can do! And - uggh!" She looked back at him, frustrated. "I don't understand what the problem with Disneyworld was, okay? We could've had fun. It would've been like a double date or something. What's wrong with that?"

"Being stuck in crowds full of ignorant flatscan families in make-believe fairyland is about my idea of hell, okay?" Pyro retorted, glaring at the ceiling, because it was easier than glaring at her when she was naked. "You would've had fun and I would've wanted to set fire to everything, including myself." And then they'd have fought about it. Fighting about it now was a step-up; at least the setting was better.

"If you'd set fire to the creepy singing dolls, some of the ignorant flatscan kids might've named you their hero. I'm still debating sending the whole ride to Limbo and making the demons watch it as punishment." Illyana sighed and shook her head. "I just though it'd be fun. You're the one who complains you've never been anywhere."

"So clearly I have to jump for joy at anything you suggest, even if it's some place I'd hate?" Pyro asked, even as he wondered if he really did complain about that. Sure, he'd like to see more places than just NYC at some point, but... whatever.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do." It wasn't as if he ever did. "Tell you what, I won't suggest anything anymore, alright?"

"That's probably for the best, if you're gonna end up yelling at me every time it's something I don't like," Pyro told the ceiling with raised eyebrows.

"Seems to me you're the one who starts most of the yelling, but fine." Illyana started picking her clothes up off the floor. "You do what you want. You always do, anyway."

"Whatever," Pyro muttered, and rolled over to reach for his lighter, ignoring her, and the prickle at the back of his eyes.

"Whatever," Illyana mocked. She started pulling on her leggings, realized she was putting them on inside out, and tugged them back off again irritably.

Pyro flicked the lighter open, and on, winding the lick of flame around his fingers and focusing on the echoing warmth of it in his chest. At least he could count on fire. Fire would always be there, without demanding he go to Disneyfuckingworld.

Illyana glanced over at him, let out a huff, and went back to putting her clothes on, pausing only once to swipe her hand over her eyes. It was tempting - really, really tempting - to send his stupid Zippo to Limbo, but she couldn't while he was holding it, and ultimately, what would be the point?

Like fuck he was going to fucking cry in front of her. Instead, Pyro fed more oxygen into the fire, giving himself something to do. He dropped his lighter on the bed so he could work on the fire with his hands, shaping and weaving it into abstract forms just to give himself something to do, something else to think about than this stupid fight and the fact that she was leaving. Usually, he would have looked intense about working on the fire, intense but into it, but right then his expression was clearly sulking, his lower lip that close to jutting out into a pout, a scowl attempting to make its permanent residence on his brow.

Having finally sorted out her clothing (and it occurred to her, belatedly, that she could have done that in Limbo, except...okay, she'd been half waiting for him to say something, Illyana got to her feet. And turned to look at Pyro, her expression mingling annoyance and hurt. "So, is this it? You're so pissed that I asked you to go to Disneyworld with me that you're fine with me just leaving?"

"You're so pissed I won't go that you're fine just leaving," Pyro replied sulkily, without looking away from the fire. He wasn't at all fine that she was leaving, and he didn't care that she'd asked him to go.

"No, I'm pissed that you turned a simple question into a huge thing," Illyana countered. "I'm pissed that I tried to set up a double date you'd be cool with, with someone from your team so it wasn't just my friends, and you told me to forget it. Didn't even suggest going somewhere else, just said go. I'm pissed that you hate school so much that you won't take one lousy class so you can see me, so I'm timing it every day so I can spend time with you, time with what friends I have left, and get all my homework done. But hey, it's all about me."

The fire flared with his temper, and Pyro killed it before it might get out of hand and he accidentally set his bed on fire. "If I'm that fucking horrible, why are you making any efforts at all? Just fucking go already." It would save them both a lot of trouble - well, mostly her, apparently, if he was such a fucking burden to her - and it was the way things were supposed to go, anyway. It was surprising she'd stuck it out for this long, really.

"Because I love you, you idiot!" Illyana let out a huff of frustration and grabbed up her jacket, ignoring the tears streaming down her cheeks. "But if you want me gone, fine." She started to call up a stepping disk.

Pyro just stared, at a loss for words, or much of anything, as a disk of glowing light appeared beneath her feet. In a flash, she was gone from the room.

What the fuck said that and just left?