Oh. My. GOD! Oh my God! I am so freaking amazed (and happy) at this moment, I could almost cry! (But I won't, because it would muss my makeup. O.o) Do you have any idea how many people actually read fics, compared to the amount of good, nice, wonderful people who review? Lemme tell ya, the ratio is crazy! Why do so many people not review? I didn't know there were so many deadbeats on ff.net! I swear to God, that "enhanced statistics" thing is sooo worth it! Now I know that people actually do read my crap, even if they don't review... O.o Unless it's just the people who did review coming back repeatedly to bask in the slashy glory that is Pietrance! (There was a significant spike in hits on the smut chappies... lil' pervs!) Eh. The world may never know. XD

And response to... (don't bother reading unless you've reviewed/read the reviews recently)
*michigandarlin: Kitty is eeeevil! Not really. She just is here cuz she's a homewrecker! (Even though she doesn't know it... O.o) I believe you may be right about the sporks, but we're gonna pretend like they DO still have `em, cuz they come into play in a future chapter. ^_~ Don't feel bad about not reading so-called "good literature" -- I try to avoid it myself. It's damn confusing, unless there's Starbucks involved... :D
*DarkFire: I checked my TV Guide, but I didn't see any old X-Men eps listed! Waaaah! Maybe it's on cable somewhere... I should stop protesting the fees and just get it. I have been deprived far too long! Want cable! And I would so watch it, too, since I'm up that early for work anyway... ick. Work sucks. :D
*R: I am curious... you always remain anonymous, but your writing style in your reviews seems so familiar to me -- do you actually have a ff.net account and pen name? I swear, this one author sounds so much like you, it's scary! Ya don't have to say, of course, but I was just curious... Anywho! O.o No, those boys would definitely not fit into the "proper tea drinking" club! Well, maybe Pietro, with his flowery teacup and all... but Lance is faaar too manly for tea! ^_~ Eh, no traction for our boys... they wouldn't be able to "play" for months with full-body casts! >:D
*SailorWade: Sailor Moon rules! But, since I am a deprived child with no cable, I have only seen seasons 1 & 2, and a brief selection from season 3. So... I became un-addicted. Which my bank account truly appreciates, I must say. Queen Beryl rocks! I love almost all her lines -- she don't talk much, but when she does, ya remember it! Hmmm... I should go hunt down some slashy SM fanfics... Pietro's "shiny, pretty," etc. description of Lance was showing a bit of his shallowness -- he thinks of many things in a "material" sense, I'd think. Spoiled brat! :D But he truly does like Lance for Lance -- not just as an object. And Damn -- I hate it when they have two good shows on at the same time! At some point, though, you just hafta choose. :P Did you enjoy the site with the Evo movies I sent you?
*batE: I so have to do a Halloween chappy with Don Pietro and his little bitch, Lancey-Poo! And Lance must wear a low-cut, hi-thigh slit-up-the-sides dress, in... red. Definitely red. :D Pie was absolutely the pimp-masta in Shadow Dance -- four women? Totally! Pietro is an uber-Italian name, even though Maximoff sounds, I dunno, Russian or something? I know it's really Eastern European, but hey. I'm no expert. And sorry I had to make Evan sound so loser-ish, but he's not a potential Pietro-honey in this fic, so he don't like the Spyke. Tee hee! I rhymed! ^o^ Kitty is cool, under normal circumstances, but here, she's bad cuz she's trying to snag Pietro's man! And that is simply not acceptable!
*Medusa171: Now, why is it that I always find something questionable in your reviews, little missy? ^_^ What exactly did you mean about the "references" with Taco Bell and sporks? Nothing negative, I hope... although simply from the wording, I sense it may very well be... eh. Whaddevah! :P And that's not really how I see Kitty, but it clicked at the moment, so in it went. Demon spawn. That's what my grandmother used to call me when she'd baby-sit. She was in the early stages of Alzheimer's, though, so it's forgivable, I suppose... unless she knew exactly what she was saying! Then that's just... true! >:D
*Cherry Drop: I am in constant wanna-go-home-and-play-with-Pietro-and-Lance-mode and the result is this fic. I think about it all day at work, and I even have to email myself my ideas from work every once in a while so I don't forget things! And no fishbowl head disappearing acts, cuz I was talking about the tightness factor on the uniforms... but the bowl should go! If that thing ever broke, Lance's pretty little face would be all cut up and scarred! And we cannot have that! And just to let you know... Lance will be Pietro's bitch, in one way or another. Be prepared. >:D
*Tears Like Blood: This is the only way I can think of to describe a spork: it looks like Togepi from Pokemon. Basically a spoon, but with little serrated edges at the end so you can poke things, like a mini-fork... yeah. That sucks that you had an accident! I've had nothing but problems lately myself... some reject bank customer slid into my rear bumper while trying to park his ridiculously large SUV next to my car too fast for the conditions. Damned icy parking lot! At least the punk had the decency to come in and tell me. And Psycho B got to use the insurance money to get her air conditioner fixed! Super coolies! Literally! And we won't mention my little speeding ticket... sixty-two in a forty-five... naughty me! And OH! The cop that pulled me over stole four dollars out of my wallet when I gave it to him cuz my dumb license wouldn't come out... bet he had himself a nice donut for that price. Prolly scooted his dumb, fat ass right over to Krispy Kreme! And they wonder why no one likes cops? :P Whoa -- waaay off topic! O.o; As for Toddles and Freddy, we shall see them again in chapter, uh... I don't remember. But soon!

Disclaimer: As if! No, really, if you actually believe I own any of this (makes grand sweeping gesture) then I have some prime swamp land down in Florida you may be interested in... No, seriously. I don't own anything. (Duh?)

::Blah:: = Telepathic speech/thoughts/whatever

The crash hadn't been enough to set off the dual front airbags, or even dent the bumper (much), but apparently, it was enough to knock everyone's favorite speedster unconscious. Lance looked around, dazed for a few brief seconds, before the horrific clarity of what had just occurred took effect.

"Pietro! Oh, God, Pietro..." Lance breathed when he saw his best friend slumped over the steering wheel, his arm dangling limply at his side. What would he do if Pietro wasn't all right? What could he do? Lance reached a tentative hand towards the slack frame of his partner and shook him gently. Nothing happened. Lance was starting to get seriously freaked.

He can't be dead -- he's breathing, Lance discovered with relief. How could Pietro do something so stupid? Taking his car when he didn't even know how to drive! Lance's anger was quickly squashed when he saw the pathetic sight before him: Pietro, now awakening, trying to lift his head up and away from the steering wheel. He must have hit it just right, Lance mused. His fear was reanimated when he saw the thin trickle of blood coming from Pietro's right temple.

Moving at a speed Quicksilver himself would have been proud of, Lance jumped out of the car and raced around to Pietro's side.

"Pietro? Oh, thank God..." he muttered as he gently scooted Pietro over to the passenger side, flooding his rapidly bruising face with kisses and hushed whispers of prayer and hopped in after, backing away from the injured utility pole and turning to head back towards Bayville. He was shocked at how far Pietro had actually gotten before his little incident. Who actually crashes into a friggin' utility pole? Oh, right -- Pietro, apparently.

Lance wasn't quite sure of what to do. He couldn't exactly take Pietro to the emergency room, firstly, because they generally expected some form of payment for services rendered, and two, they had no legal guardian. Why not just announce that they were four underaged boys living alone, unsupervised, in a run-down old house with no heat? Lance knew he could always go to the X-Geeks, but he wanted to leave that as a last resort. He had no desire to beg for the charity of those holier-than-thou punks. But another look at Pietro quickly changed his mind. He needed help. Pronto.

Pietro was barely conscious as Lance avalanched the front gates of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters off it's wrought-iron hinges. Lance could tell just by looking that Pietro's pupils were uneven -- a sure sign of a concussion. Possibly more.

Naturally, his forced entry was met by Wolverine, who posed threateningly at the front door, metal claws unsheathed, looking for trouble. Lance was too busy to deal with that animal. "Get your professor! Quick!"

Thankfully, the Wolverine could sense they meant no harm -- they truly needed help. ::Charles,:: Logan called mentally, ::We have a situation out here that requires your presence.::

::I'm on my way,:: Xavier promised, and appeared in the doorway a short time later. Lance was carrying the prone form of his teammate into the building. Mr. McCoy (in his new super-deluxe furry form) came out as well, followed closely by Evan's aunt, whatever her name was... The young X-Kiddies were still in school, and (considering the hour) would be for a while longer. Lance was grateful for small miracles.

"Put him on the table, Mr. Alvers. We will need to run a few tests. Now tell us, what exactly happened here?" the professor inquired. Lance looked away, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, no words coming out. It was still a jumble in his mind. Lance gaped at the superior medical facilities housed in the bowels of the X-Mansion. These freaks must be rolling in dough! Lance marveled. The room they were in had more technical-looking equipment than most hospitals. Lance looked back in Pietro's direction. His old chemistry teacher was shining a light in each or Pietro's eyes, while said boy moaned slightly, moving his head from side to side, trying to break away from the intrusive light. Lance almost sobbed at the sorry sight. Beautiful idiot...

"Mr. Alvers?" Xavier asked gently, placing a hand on Lance's shoulder. Lance realized glumly that if he weren't sitting, that man wouldn't be able to reach his shoulder. It must really suck to be in a wheelchair. Oh God -- I hope Pietro's legs are okay! He would rather die than spend his life confined to a wheelchair! He'd rather die!

The professor caught the tail end of Lance's thoughts. "Don't be alarmed, Mr. Alvers. Pietro doesn't appear to have any permanent damage done to his legs. The problem now is determining whether or not any damage done to his head will affect him in a negative way." He steepled his hands beneath his chin, elbows propped on the arm rests of his chair.

That thought didn't comfort Lance one bit. Lance stood up quickly to face down the wheelchaired menace when he felt the room start to spin. The last thing he remembered was Pietro's weak, plaintive plea: "Lance...?"

Damn angstyness! Argh! I wanna get back to the happy fun slashy scenes, but the stupid car accident thing has been dragging me down into super-angst mode. Rats! I never even wanted to have them go to the X-Men, but they couldn't very well go to a real hospital, under the circumstances... Damn! I never even anticipated having an angsty car accident scene in this fic! But I had Pie-Pie steal the car, and it just sorta happened. Inevitable, really. Don't hit me! ::cowers in corner, waving a small white flag::

And DUMMY Psycho B forgot to make an updated summary for the last chapter... and that's bad, cuz the last chappy was a big one! Bad me! So here's the one for this chappy, which will have the last chapter's stuff in it too. :D

Summary continuation/update: Pietro wants Lance, Pietro makes plan, Pietro accomplishes plan (sort-of) Pietro changes/revises plan midway through, Lance acts on his own unknown-to Pietro-and-himself feelings, Lance blurts out mega serious but true three-words and kisses Pietro due to lack of caffeine, Lance feels guilty but relieved, Pietro freaks out, Todd blabs to Rogue (implied), Pietro confides in Rogue, Rogue comforts Pietro, Pietro goes home to sort things out with Lance, who is taking Mystique's door off it's hinges to gain access to the possible money/jewels/valuables inside so they can fix up the house, Pietro takes over and gets the door off in five seconds, Lance is impressed and says so, Pietro brushes it off and apologizes for being a retard earlier, Lance says it's okay, Pietro jumps Lance and, well, you know... and now they've made it to the bedroom! :D But then! As Lance and Pietro are doing their business, they discover that -- dun dun DUN! -- Todd and Freddy are standing in the doorway watching them! Terrible voyeurs that they are! But Freddy kinda but not really saves the day, and takes the vile Toad away to simmer down! But then, Lance and Pietro share a kinda awkward moment, followed immediately by sex! So all is right with the world. Planets align, cosmic karma waves do whatever cosmic karma waves do, yadda yadda yadda, and everything's peachy keen. Until... the morning after! (Bum bum bummmm!) Where Lance awakens to realize that -- OMG -- there is still no coffee! So Lance and Pietro head over to Starbucks before school, where more wackiness ensues... then they go to school! Yay! And Pietro has a mini-tiff with Evan! And Lance saves him! And then Lance has a problem with Kitty, and Pietro saves him! Annnd then they leave to go off campus for lunch, where naughty Pietro decides this would be a good time for him to learn to drive... without Lance's permission, of course. And naturally, they have an accident that prompts Lance to go to the X-Men for help, cuz Pietro hurt himself! ::sob:: And they're still there... ^o^

The answer from the last chapter's interactive trivia/cool quote(s)/crazy X-Men and/or Brotherhood related thing I do (so ya'll can laugh at me)/random category thing! (TM)

Hank McCoy/Beast and Evan were reciting what poetry piece in "The Beast of Bayville"?

Apparently, everyone thinks it's from Shakespeare's Macbeth or Hamlet, and ALL of you were right! (To a certain extent...) Psycho B did some MAJOR researching (you should ALL be so proud of me) and if I wasn't such a retard, I would have remembered that McCoy actually said to Evan that it was a "little Shakespeare passage" in the ep... like, duh! Anywho, here's the scoop:

When McCoy's in the little boys' room freaking out towards the beginning of the ep, he's reciting a section of Hamlet's "To be, or not to be: that is the question" soliloquy. I thought that sounded damn familiar from freshman year! :D Here's that one: (out of context = there's more to it than what we hear him say on TV)

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; blah blah blah (throws sink at mirror -- cut to opening credits/commercial.)

McCoy at the amphitheater -- the first time: Macbeth: Scene 4

Show his eyes, and grieve his heart: Come like shadows, so depart!...

Blah blah... yeah. This 2 line thing is all I found in there, and I'm not about to go and read the entire play, just to figure this out, so boo-yah! Eh. It's in there, somewhere -- gotta be. Unless Shakey-baby plagiarized himself and wrote the same stuff in more than one play! Heh heh -- "plagiarized himself" -- sounds kinda dirty, no? :D And the first and second times in the amphitheater both start out the same (above lines) but finish differently. Beastly does numero uno, and Evan does the last one, where they're trying to make Beast stop being all wacky and trying to kill people and stuff!

If ya wanna read more on that one, go to www.shakespeare-online.com like Psycho B did. Real original site name, I know. And scanning through some of those things Shakespeare wrote, I must say, that man was whacked! Loony as a loon! I don't know how he got to be so damned famous, writing all that fluffy, sweet lovey crap, then the other dark, depressing, angsty crap... I guess he aimed to please both crowds! :P

The new trivia/cool quote(s)/crazy X-Men and/or Brotherhood related thing I do (so ya'll can laugh at me)/random category interactive thing! (TM)

Which cast member would you most like to see working at Chippendale's or Hooters... ::coughs:: JUST KIDDING! I really know how to get your attention, don't I? ^_~ Okay, now the real one:

Just how old, exactly, does everyone think Mr. McCoy/Beast is in Evo? I've recently come into an argument with another author, and it's ticking me off! Soooo? Gimme an answer! And absolutely NO peeking at what other people put down first! That is so totally cheating! Feel free, however, to use your psychic abilities to read my mind and guess the same thing I did, so I'll be right and win the war! (Sorry about all the Beast-related questions -- I actually don't much care for `em, he looks... funny. Bad animation. I bet I could do better! Anywho! O.o) REVIEW! >:D