Title: Admit It (one-shot fic)
Author: sleepall_day
Rating: PG
Timeline: After X3
Summary: So what's in store for Pyro and Kitty in X4?
WARNINGS: This is not just a plain ol' Kyro fic. It's different, and because of that (not gonna tell you why, though!) I'm not sure if this is even allowed in Kyro communities. Let me know if it's too over-the-top, cause I'm all for deleting this sucker. Good God. *sigh* And after I said I would only be writing one fic, too! I can't believe I wrote this.

Also, even though this fic may not technically count as a Kyro fic because of the way it was written, I wrote it as a challenge response for phase_fire

Challenge: #01
Challenger: tumbledstars

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men or any Marvel characters. This is just for fun. No one's feelings were knowingly hurt in the process of writing this fic.


Admit It

Pyro ran as hard as he could to dodge some debris, which exploded into rubble behind him. He spun around, directing more of his flames in a steady stream behind him at the approaching Sentinels. There was fire everywhere, not even half of it caused by Pyro himself, which created a smoky haze for the battle.

“Unidentified mutant,” the machine said in a flat, soulless voice. “Expendable.”

This enraged Pyro further and he began using both his hands to feed his flames. “Take that with you to hell,” he said through clenched teeth.

Pyro was falling back into his old habit of letting his anger get the best of him, and wouldn’t even have noticed the pieces of another Sentinel landing on him if it weren’t for the quick feet of Shadowcat. Kitty Pryde, as she usually preferred to be called, had dashed over and pulled Pyro away from the falling wreckage.

Pyro let out a breath, and gave Kitty a look of acknowledgment, not used to having to thank people. Especially people he had once left behind. He decided to leave his gratitude unspoken.

Kitty ran off once more, as fast as she had arrived, to help her teammates. Her teammates consisted of a ragtag bunch. Some of them had been friends for years, some of them were people she hardly knew at all, some had been complete enemies before they were all forced to fight together, but only one was a person who had once been a traitor.

The friends, of course, were Kitty’s fellow X-Men, the adults that led them and the students who, like her, had grown up to earn an honored spot on the team. The people she hardly knew were other mutants that wanted to do their part in this fight against the Sentinels and those who had created them. The enemies were, quite unimaginably, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. And within that group was the single traitor – Pyro, the only mutant that Kitty knew to have left Xavier’s School to join Charles Xavier’s opposition Magneto.

Politically, the world was in shambles over the issue of mutant registration. After several years of dormancy, the Mutant Registration Act had grown so many supporters and attackers alike that some had resorted to drastic measures. Bolivar Trask’s robotic Sentinels were only one, if not one of the biggest, of the X-Men’s problems, and they along with a number of other mutants were attempting to put a stop to their production.

This unlikely group was raiding a Sentinel assembly line and the individuals thought they were either in over their heads or were completely determined to put a stop to the monstrous robots. The X-Men, headed by both Storm and Wolverine, were directed to the main control center, nicknamed “Mastermold.” It was a huge Sentinel instead, well over ten times the size of a normal Sentinel, and finished robots were produced from a cavity in Mastermold’s chest. Magneto led his mutants towards Mastermold as well, once they had put their Sentinels out of commission.

“Madrox! Pyro! You two towards the left,” Magneto told two of his mutants, and then proceeded to shepherd his others into different directions.

At once, Jamie Madrox sent several carbon copies of him in a protective radius around him, and Pyro ran like hell. Magneto had sent them to an area some of the X-Men were concentrating on. Pyro heard a shrill scream, which caused him to jerk his head around. Kitty had been picked up by one of the Sentinels, and she phased herself through the hand and into the ground below.

There were few mutants that could be harmed by falling from such a great height. Even so, Pyro found himself running towards her, and approached Kitty just as she was rising from the ground safely. “You okay?” he said.

Kitty looked at him, most likely wondering if he was being sincere or not, and gave him a hesitant smile. “We have to keep going,” she said, stiffening her resolve.

The pair gave each other one last look, and dove right back into the fight.

The central unit had almost been destroyed. The fight was slowly tipping towards the side of the mutants. Because of the advantage, Bobby Drake, the Iceman, was coasting around on his handmade ice slides, looking more like he was having the time of his life than fighting for it, which severely pissed Pyro off. Not under any immediate threat, Pyro opened his wrist lighters and melted the ice right in front of Bobby as he was watching.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?!” Bobby yelled so quickly that he strung his sentence all into one word.

Bobby had sprawled onto the floor in front of Pyro, not having enough time to fix the ice. They were on a platform well above the ground, and Pyro responded with a hearty laugh, “I could’ve made you fall over there, dumbass. You should be grateful.”

Bobby’s jaw just dropped, and was about to deliver a punch to Pyro’s face, when Kitty’s hand shot out, grabbing Bobby’s fist. “Hey, hey, come on – worry about that later, will you?!” she scolded. “We’re still not done here.”

Bobby shook his head and rolled his eyes, saying, “No wonder they want to promote Miss Goody-Two-Shoes.”

Pyro fought back an urge to defend Kitty, as she had just sided with him, but didn’t. “Whatever –” he began to say, when all three of them were startled by a sudden explosion.

“Everyone move!” bellowed Wolverine.

Back in the X Mansion, the crew of mutants stood assembled before Storm and Wolverine, where Storm was just finishing up her post-battle “Job well done, but next time be more careful,” speech. However, this time it had a twist to it. Before she dismissed everyone, she attached to the end of her talk, “I’m proud of everyone.”

Pyro shrugged. He was only there because he had to return the borrowed X-suit that he along with Madrox and a few other non-X-Men wore for the battle for added protection. After the fight on Alcatraz even Pyro had to admit that it would be a benefit. He eyed everyone else in the room, noting the stark contrast between his own and Angel’s blue trim uniform next to him. With the red trim and near-perfect fit, Pyro was almost convinced that the suit was actually made for him instead of just a spare. It was the new shoes that made him think otherwise. They were too big for him and his footsteps echoed as he made his way down the hallway to change.

“Hey… John,” called a voice from behind him.

“What?” he said. It wasn’t the first time that he and Kitty talked, since the group that had just destroyed Mastermold had worked together in the past.

“You have somewhere to be?” she asked casually.

“Of course. Things to do, people to terrorize, you know,” Pyro replied just as nonchalantly.

“I’m sure that can wait. Nobody’s in a hurry to get killed, you know,” Kitty said, all of a sudden sighing. Her shoulders sagged, exhausted from the battle.

Pyro just gave her an expression of “So what?” and said, “And?”

“Just... Why don’t you stay awhile this time? Just because you left once doesn’t mean you have to be gone for good.”

Pyro laughed this time and said, “Kitty, I’m not one of you, so don’t pretend like I am. This truce is a one-time deal. Me being here isn’t some kind of friendly get-together – it’s a very temporary cease fire.”

“Funny choice of words,” Kitty said.

Pyro had nothing more to say. He simply scoffed and turned to walk away.

For the second time that day Kitty reached out to touch his arm. “I was sorry to see you go the first time. This is no different.”

Pyro had an angry look on his face even as he drew nearer to hers. “That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard. It shouldn’t have mattered to you,” he said bitterly.

“You’re getting altogether too good at leaving, John,” Kitty said softly.

Pyro matched the soft tone of Kitty’s voice, but kept the bitterness of his own. “You people have absolutely no idea why I do what I do. If I’m so good at leaving – it’s because you people held open the door.”

With that, he shook Kitty’s hand off his arm and did what he did best – left someone who cared about him behind.

“That looks good. Cut,” a disembodied voice called out. It was the director. “Take a rest, people, that’s it for today.”

Aaron took off the gloves he’d been wearing as part of the X-suit costume. He turned to Ellen and raising his eyebrows at her, said teasingly, “Ready for the big day tomorrow? I know you can’t wait.”

“Oh, you keep quiet about that,” Ellen replied, giving him a shove. Aaron had been referring to a scene involving a kiss between Pyro and Kitty that took place much later in the film, but was scheduled to be filmed the next day. “This still feels kind of random. I bet the audience is going to think Kitty’s so boy-crazy – first Bobby, now Pyro…”

“Whatever, they’re all still kids,” Aaron responded. “Happens all the time in high school,” he said with a grin.

“You don’t think it’s random?” Ellen said, stopping to take her gloves off as well.

Aaron gave a quick, thoughtful look and said, “They’re kind of cute. Admit it.”

Ellen just rolled her eyes again and said, “And by they you mean we.”

“Hey, why not,” Aaron said, and grabbed her by the shoulder in a friendly gesture. With his arm around her, they walked towards a workroom, saying, “Let’s go check out that footage Mark wants us to see.”

Mark, a head film editor, didn’t say much but just directed the two of them to another man sitting at a computer. “Check this out,” he said.

Aaron and Ellen peered at the screen, which showed the two of them in costume. Pyro was rushing in front of Kitty, protecting her from an unexpected attacker. Pyro was shooting his flames at someone he had once sided with in order to shield Kitty from a blow she wasn’t ready for, and what the editors had wanted Aaron and Ellen a preview of was the addition of the flames.

“Oooh,” breathed Ellen.

“Not bad, not bad,” Aaron said approvingly, watching as the fire fizzled out in Pyro’s hand when Pyro turned to look at Kitty. He cocked his head at the screen and added to Ellen, “See, they are cute.”

Onscreen, Kitty wore a dazed expression, clinging to Pyro for support.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Ellen finally conceded.



***
omg whatever. it's over!