Two girls were waiting on the steps when he got there, one in bright yellow and one all in black.
Kevin recognized one of them. He'd been delivering pizza in Westchester for a year already, and his willingness to go to the 'mutie place' had kept him in relatively decent job security despite the apparent recession.
Plus, the kids at the school tipped well, any apparent genetic anomalies aside.
"Hey, Jubes." Jubilee was his most frequent customer--calling at all odd hours of the night with some of the damndest requests for pizza he'd ever gotten.
The girl in yellow bounced to her feet, sunglasses falling slightly askew. "Kevin, babe, you are my knight in shining armor."
"I gotta admit, I didn't believe them when they handed me the order." Balancing the pizza easily on one hand, he pretended to squint at the label. "Cheese with mushrooms? How tame, Jubilee. How very tame."
"Phaw." Flopping a hand at him in the patented valley girl gesture he'd come to love so well, Jubilee reached down and wrapped her hand around the other girl's wrist, dragging her to her feet. "I blame it all on my new friend Rogue. She's from down south--you know how them confederates are. Wouldn't wanna scare her."
"Rogue, huh?" Kevin had gotten used to the strange names some of the kids around here went by, and he thought maybe a little of the reason they liked him so much was that he never, ever blinked. "Nice to meet you."
"Hi." Her voice was a low, sultry drawl--the kind of voice that'd start doing some pretty dangerous things to men in a year or two.
"Cut the chit chat, Kev." Jubilee punched him lightly in the arm, flashing her best grin. "I want my food."
"You got it, Jubilee." Depositing the box in Rogue's arms, Kevin flashed the shy girl a smile before handing the soda to Jubilee. "You know the total, darling."
As usual, Jubilee handed over thirty dollars with a kiss on the cheek. "Keep the change, Kev babe."
"Until next week." Ruffling Jubilee's hair, and ignoring the accompanying shriek, Kevin swung back around to his car.
"You just wait," Jubilee called after him. "I'm gonna order out tomorrow just so you have to get that lazy butt of your in action."
He laughed at her over the door. "I'm counting the minutes."
~*~
Time: 7.18.25 17:25
Phone Number: 343-5453
Address: Graymalkin Lane
Client: Marie Gordon
Order: Small Pepperoni
=======
"Hey, Kevin."
"Hiya, Rogue." Balancing the pizza on one hand, Kevin gave the label a long look. "Marie Gordon, huh?"
Rogue smiled, the smile Kevin loved to tease out of her because it was so rare. "Well I can't exactly be callin' out for delivery for Rogue. Sounds pretty silly."
Kevin smiled. "I think we're used to silly from you folks. Jubilation is not exactly the average run of the mill New York name, you know." Shifting the pizza a little, Kevin tilted his head towards the school. "How are you liking it here?"
"Oh, it's wonderful." She said it a little too fast, a little too forcefully--almost like she was trying to convince herself.
But he was a pizza delivery boy, not a social worker. All in all, it was none of his business. "Eleven dollars even, Rogue."
She handed him a twenty, and it was the first time he noticed the gloves. He'd learned not to stare when people did strange things around here--but it was July and far too warm for gloves, not to mention the long sleeved shirt and pants.
He glanced back up at her face, and was sad to see how cold it had gotten. She took the pizza from him and balanced it carefully so that it was hiding the gloves. "Thanks, Kevin." She was nervous now. Jumpy.
"Hey--Rogue." He probably should have kept his mouth shut--but she looked so damn young, and even his measly twenty-one years seemed ancient compared to her. "Don't worry 'bout it, okay? Jubilee nearly seared my ass with her little sparklies--"
Rogue snorted. "Jubilee has a unique sense of humor about these things."
But she was smiling, and that was enough. "See ya around, Rogue."
"G'bye, Kevin."
~*~
Time: 10.27.25 12:57
Phone Number: 343-5454
Address: Graymalkin Lane
Client: Jubilation Lee
Order: Two Large Combos, 4 liters coke
=======
"Kevin!"
Almost before he managed to get the car into park Jubilee was perched on his hood, giving him an accusing look through the windshield. "Took you damn well long enough."
"Jubilation Lee." Climbing out of the car, he neglected the pizza for the time being. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're drunk."
Rogue looked up from the curb where she was sitting with Kitty and Bobby. "Who says you know better?" the girl drawled. "Jubilee is--"
"Just perfectly sober." Jubilee cut in from her perch on the hood of his car. "And wants her pizza, thank you very much."
Leaning against the car, Kevin smiled. "And what is going on here tonight?"
Rogue pointed at Bobby, who was tilting slightly as he attempted to explain something to Kitty. "Twenty first birthday."
"Aaaah." Drunk mutants. If he had any sense at all, he'd be scared out of his mind. "I suppose then I should give you the food before Jubilee here tries to light my ass on fire again."
"Damn straight." Jubilee watched him suspiciously as he leaned into the car, dragging the two boxes across the seat. "Hey there--careful with the goods."
Kevin just laughed.
Whoever said mutants were evil hadn't met his Saturday night pizza crew.
~*~
Time: 1.15.26 10:01
Phone Number: 343-5457
Address: Graymalkin Lane
Client: Kitty Pryde
Order: One large vegetarian
=======
Kevin poked his head out of the car. "What, no Jubilee?"
Rogue laughed. "She said she couldn't come down because her hair was a mess." Pushing herself to her feet, Rogue walked towards the car with Kitty close behind her.
"Her hair?" Pulling the pizza from the car, Kevin gave the two girls a baffled look.
Kitty leaned over Rogue's shoulder and smiled. "I think someone's got a crush on the pizza boy."
Rogue smiled and nudged Kitty away with an elbow, and Kevin had to smile. Six months in the school had done wonders for Rogue--she smiled a lot more, she talked a lot more--and when she reached to give him the money--
She didn't look ashamed of the gloves.
"Well just between us," and he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I think the pizza boy's probably a little smitten too."
Kitty squealed, and Rogue gave him that slow blooming smile that she was so good at. "I'll keep that our little secret," she said, taking the pizza from his hands.
"You do that."
~*~
Time: 4.27.26 15:30
Phone Number: 343-5400
Address: Graymalkin Lane
Client: Charles Xavier
Order: 5 large cheese, 5 large combos, 1 large ham and pineapple, assorted drinks
=======
Six of them were sitting out on the curb when he got there, one of whom was definitely a new guy.
And the new guy was definitely all over Rogue.
"Kev, babe--light of my life." Jubilee was in fine form, practically dancing to the car. "How'd ya like our super sized order?"
Kevin smiled. "I only have one question--who ordered the ham and pineapple?"
Jubilee made a face. "That, my dear friend, is entirely the Professor's dirty little obsession." Without waiting for permission, she skipped around the side of his car and opened the passenger door. "Lemme give you a hand."
Kevin glanced towards the sidewalk again. "Who's the new guy, and what is he doing to Rogue?"
Jubilee glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. "That is Remy, and he's doing what he's been trying to do since he got here."
Pulling a couple of pizzas from the car and setting them on the roof, Kevin raised an eyebrow. "And that is--"
"Why get in her pants, of course." She slammed the car door with maybe a little more force than necessary, and Kevin winced.
"Remy heard that, Jubilation Lee."
Kevin met Jubilee's eyes over the car. "Is it just me, Jubes--or is he talking in the third person?"
Gathering an armful of pizza, Jubilee grinned. "Babe, I wish it were just you." Jubilee marched over to Bobby and deposited her load in his arms before swerving back around the car to pull a wad of cash from her pocket and shove it into Kevin's hand.
He glanced down, and nearly dropped it. "Jubes--I think you made a mistake here. This is a forty dollar tip."
Jubilee smiled. "Prof loves you almost as much as we do, Kev babe. Now get on along home so we can call you again in a few days."
~*~
Time: 7.14.26 01:30
Phone Number: 343-5453
Address: Graymalkin Lane
Client: Marie Gordon
Order: Small pepperoni
=======
He knew it was a bad night when he pulled up to find Rogue crying on the steps.
"Hey, Rogue." Pizza lying forgotten in the car, Kevin crouched down in front of the girl. "Rogue, what's up?"
She didn't look up. "I screwed up, Kevin. I screwed up good."
Nowhere in the pizza delivery boy job description did it include comforting sobbing mutants at 1:30 in the morning.
But hell, it was Rogue. He liked her, as much as he could like anyone he saw a few times a month for a few minutes at a time. And he couldn't just leave her here . . .
"Are you scared of me?" She was looking him in the eyes, suddenly--and he almost jerked back. Her eyes were so old--so full of pain and hate and things that nobody her age should begin to know about.
"Nah." He wasn't sure if it was the truth or not, but he didn't feel guilty about lying. "Nothing to be afraid of. You're Rogue, who likes pepperoni pizza."
She didn't laugh. She didn't even smile. She lifted a hand, gloved, and held it next to his face. "Do you have any idea what I could do to you if I touched you without this on?"
"Nope." And god, she looked so unstable that all he could do was hope she wasn't planning on showing him. "Don't much care either, Rogue."
She stared at him blankly. "I could kill you, and you don't care?"
Kevin cracked a smile. "Anyone could kill me, Rogue, if they put their mind to it. You want me to waste my time thinking everyone's going to try? That'd be a pretty sad way to live your life."
He wasn't sure what she was going to say--wasn't sure what he was going to say and was spared from thinking of something by looking up to see Jubilee jogging down the walkway. "Rogue!"
Rogue jerked back and hid her face in her hands. "Go away, Jubes. I don't wanna fucking talk about it anymore."
"Tough shit, babe." Jubilee flashed Kevin a grateful smile before wrapping a hand around Rogue's arm and dragging her to her feet. "We're your friends, sweetie. And we're not gonna let you cut us off."
He watched Rogue's shoulders sag as she turned obediently back towards the school. Jubilee looked at her for a second before turning back to Kevin. "Thanks, Kev. I'll give you the low down in a few days, okay?"
They were already long disappeared into the school before he remembered the small pepperoni pizza sitting in his car.
He paid for it himself and brought it home.
~*~
Time: 7.20.26 02:05
Phone Number: 343-5454
Address: Graymalkin Lane
Client: Jubilation Lee
Order: Medium ham with anchovies
=======
Kevin made sure she was the last order of the night.
They were perched on the back of his car, the remains of a six pack of beer and medium pizza between them, and Jubilee was being uncharacteristically serious.
"It's not all fun and games." Tilting her head, she looked at him. "Y'know? Like some of the times it seems like it's just this big sleepover, and we forget that there's a reason we're all here."
Kevin nodded, knowing the best thing he could do would be to listen.
"Then something happens like that--or something even more serious, and we remember that we're here because there are a lot of people who want us dead. And then you realize that this time you were lucky and you're alive--but next time you may not be."
"But you are." She was being so morbid he felt like he needed to point it out.
"Yeah." Jubilee picked up another piece of pizza and stared at it. "Rogue hurt Remy pretty bad, and she wasn't even trying to. It's got her head all messed up--and the only person she really trusts--this big hulk of a man who brought her here in the first place--he's god knows where. And he's another problem--this guy. Logan. She hurt him like this too . . . twice. They remember that, and they look at her now . . ." Jubilee's eyes were dark. "A lot of people are scared of her now."
"Are you?" Tact wasn't always his strongest point.
Jubilee tilted her head again, giving him a long look. "You're not." It was a statement.
Kevin smiled. "I'm just a human. If I was afraid of her, I'd have to be afraid of all of you."
"But you're not." This time it was more of a question.
He answered it. "Nah. I'm not."
She smiled at him, and suddenly being a pizza delivery boy was enough.
~*~
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