X-Men: Silk & Velvet

Nyx looked at him in disbelief, and started to protest, but the words died in her throat. Sighing, she shrugged, and stooped down to the scoop up their survival pack. "If you say so."

Nightcrawler forced a wavering smile and nodded, but as soon as Nyx turned her back, he swayed on his feet, waving his arms wildly to keep balance.

He muttered a curse. He must have hit his head harder than theyboththought.

He staggered on a few paces behind Nyx, catching up with her just enough so he could catch her shoulder, trying to look as though he didn't want her to wander away from him when secretly, Nightcrawler feared he'd fall flat on his face without support.

Finally, as they drew closer to a wide brook, Nightcrawler spotted a deep gouge up in the rock face. He pointed it out, and Nyx was momentarily elated to see the cave.

But then, her face fell. "It's so high up ..."

Nightcrawler shrugged. "That's good; we'll be away from beasties on the ground ..."

Nyx frowned and arched a questioning brow ridge at him. "I know that. But are you really okay? Can you bamf up there?"

Nightcrawler blinked, taken aback by the question. "Of course I can. Here--" He held a three fingered hand out for their survival pack. "I'll even take that up there too."

"But--"

"Watch." Grinning at her once, Nightcrawler instantly teleported away from the forest floor, rushing through the Otherspace and re-emerging at the lip of the cave.

His brain was rattling inside his skull as he turned to wave down to Nyx. He smiled weakly. "I think I'm going to throw up."

Pitching the bag aside, Nightcrawler dropped to his knees and slowly lowered his body, happy to find that the ground was nice and cold for his sweating head.

It felt like several dozen minutes had passed before Nightcrawler finally heard Nyx's claws tearing into the rough stone. He wearily glanced up as Nyx hauled herself over the last boulder, her eyes flying open in terror when she saw him lying there, like a dead man. "Oh no!"

"I'm all right, Nyx!" Nightcrawler said hurriedly, struggling to sit up. Suddenly, his body felt frighteningly heavy. "It ... it just tired me."

"Oh God ..." Scrambling into the cave, Nyx fairly dove for him, catching the bag he dropped and sliding it under his head. "Okay, here. Rest a bit."

"I believe I will." Growing dizzy and foggy again, Nightcrawler reached out and grabbed Nyx's long, slender ankle as she stood. "You will too. You need a break to reenergize." He grimaced. "Hank threatened to beat me if I didn't make you take your naps."

Nyx started for a second at his hand on her ankle, but then she surprised Nightcrawler by smiling. "Well ... well, I guess I'll spareyouthe pain and Dr. McCoy the effort."

Nightcrawler grinned, finally without effort. He shifted aside a bit, giving Nyx just enough room to rest her head on the bag. He felt his fur stand ramrod straight on his body as Nyx settled beside him, her uniformed leg sliding against his.

Nyx blinked, as though confused or embarrassed by what she had just done. She shrugged, then smirked at Nightcrawler, who amazed himself by not reacting in any humiliating way to her touch.

"Night, 'Crawler."

"Very funny,Fraulien." Nightcrawler hesitated, then slowly, shakily, lifted a hand to brush away her hair that had swept across his cheek. He slowly drew in a steadying breath, fascinated by how silky it felt between his fingers, against his cheek. His heart gave an aching, longing lurch, and Nightcrawler was tempted to roll on top of the girl, trapping her lips with his as he peeled her skintight jumpsuit away.

Suddenly, Nightcrawler remembered Nyx's abilities as an empath, and his head whipped around, staring fearfully at her.

His breath rushed out of his lungs as he realized that she was already sound asleep, a quirk her mutation brought on and which made him infinitely grateful.

Still, Nightcrawler stared at her, at her vulnerability.

Disgusted with himself, Nightcrawler shifted his body several more feet away from her, then reluctantly fell into an uneasy sleep.

**************************************************************************************

Wiping the remainder of the pine sap off of her two-way communicator with the palm of her hand, Nyx glanced back at Nightcrawler to be sure he was still asleep before walking to the mouth of the cave.

Blinking rapidly in the sudden wash of sunlight, Nyx crouched down and thumbed the communicator on.

"Nyx to Cyclops, come in," she said, promptly releasing the pressure on the switch. A soft, staticy wail moaned through the comm. Nyx frowned, then switched channels.

"Nyx to Wolverine. Do you read me, Wolverine? Over."

Only the static replied, its growl more ferocious than before. Nyx's shoulders slumped, but she tried the third channel, maybe just for the hell of it.

"Nyx to all teammates. Does anyone hear me? Over!"

Something spazzed at her and Nyx sighed heavily, her head drooping. She really didn't want to use any of the public channels; she couldn't really announce to the world that there were two mutants lostsomewhere west of ... of ...

Where??

But did she have a choice? Nyx glanced back at Nightcrawler, dirty and bruised, his uniform ripped and burned. Nightcrawler had only grabbed one of the survival packs, and that was just enough for one person. Nyx hadn't counted on crashing and burning in the middle of goddamnednowhere, so she had left most of her medicines, the tranqs and Hank McCoy's All Natural, SPF +7000 Sun Block back in her hotel room.

If nothing else, she needed that sun block, and Nightcrawler needed to be checked up; Nyx was pretty sure he had a concussion, but she was afraid that he might've wrecked his ribs.

Maybe his image inducer was still working. Nyx hadn't thought to check. Did Nightcrawler even bring it? Missions like this didn't necessarily require image inducers. He might have left his it back at the hotel.

Nyx sighed again, and gazed down to the sticky radio in her hand. She hesitated, then reached up and switched for the public channels. There were a lot of loggers up this way. Truckers too.Somebody with a radio had to be out there.

She drew in a deep breath, rehearsed her message in her head, then cut into the static. Here it goes.

"Mayday, mayday! Does anyone read?"

Nyx released the button. Wind seemed to howl through the radio.

Frustrated, Nyx raised the unit again. "Mayday, mayday; private plane down, passengers hurt and need assistance. Does anyone read? Over."

For a full minute, Nyx crouched there, holding the com by her elf-like ear, waiting anxiously for even a squeak.

No one replied.

Nyx shook her head hard, her light hair whirling out around her. This wasn't happening.

"Mayday! Two people lost! Does anyone read? OVER!!"

The com remained silent.

Disgusted, Nyx flung the com aside, forgetting that it was connected to her suit. She snorted irritably as the radio swung back and bounced off her breast.

"Hell." Nyx scooted backwards, back into the cave's shadow. At a loss, she dropped her head in her hands; she wasn't afraid that the X-Men wouldn't find them.

She was afraid they'd taketoo long.

This wasso bad. There were all sorts of creepy things running around the woods down there, there was only one jug of clean water for them to use, only one thin blanket but no pillow, four granola-bar thingies that would feed them for maybe a day ... but wouldn't sate herother hunger.

That ... and she was stuck with Nightcrawler. It was awful; she was trapped with a man whom she loved but knew didn't love her back. At least, not inthat way. And when her leg had bumped against his? Nyx had shivered, and did so again now, though she was warm and the trembling felt nice.

Propping her head on her fist, Nyx gazed towards Kurt, feeling guilty that she was watching him sleep.Again. It felt like, like he was doing something private, and Nyx had no business being there.

But ...

Self-conscious, Nyx drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them; she couldn't stand it anymore. As Beast and Professor X had so delicately reminded her, her sexual drive had been doubled since her original mutations, which didn't help the fact that she was eighteen, caught in a spot where her cravings were at their strongest.

It was bad. It was depressing. It was embarrassing. Nyx had paced her room at night, when everybody else was asleep. She ... err ...desired Kurt, but was understandably put off by the fact that he was--had been--in the priesthood.This hadn't smothered the fire atall, and Nyx had been ready to pounce Gambit, or Archangel, even Cyclops, or Wolverine ... although with Tigress around, that'd be suicidal.

But now,now Kurt had given up the cloth. Forbidden fruit no more!

And that just made itworse.

Invisible flames danced along the insides of her legs, and Nyx was horribly aware that she was growing wet. Soaked, actually. She really hoped no one would be able to tell while she was wearing her suit.

Nyx rocked back on her tail, her eyes still fixed on Nightcrawler. She wanted to go, shake him awake, slide her body on top of his, beg him to take her, feel him bury himself into her.

Nyx grimaced, her fangs baring briefly. She needed release, but, damn it all, knew that she could never find it with her own hand. She had tried before, several times, but had never found satisfaction. Lying under the bathtub faucet usually worked, but, whaddya know, there were no bathtubs in sight.

Gazing at Nightcrawler once more, Nyx gave a soft sigh-growl and stood up. Reaching the mouth of the cave, she opened her wings and leapt out, catching a small gust and allowing it to carry her away from the rocky hill, dropping her by the stream.

Caping her wings about her, Nyx followed the stream into the woods, glancing once or twice back at the cave to be sure that Nightcrawler wasn't up, looking for her.

She hadn't gone far before she reached a clump of bushes--blueberries, she realized, relieved. Suddenly hungry, she pulled a handful off of a few branches before ducking behind the patch entirely.

Rinsing the berries off in the brook, Nyx popped a few into her mouth, happy to find that they weren't too sour. She finished the handful off, then stood, unbuckling and unzipping her suit.

The suit stuck painfully to her sweat-slicked arms, and Nyx shuddered for a moment at the breeze as it danced along her skin.

Reminding herself that Nightcrawler was liable to wake up and come looking for her, Nyx quickly kicked her suit aside and stepped into the stream. She nearly yelped at the frigidness, her feet quickly freezing in the cold water and mud.

"No, this is a good thing!" she hissed, slipping out of her damp panties. Hesitating twice, Nyx knelt down in the freezing water. Her lower mouth throbbed painfully beneath the surface, but Nyx decided that she'd rather freeze than face Nightcrawler all hot and bothered.

She washed off her panties, wringing them out and tossing them on her crumpled suit. Growling, she went to wipe away the dew that had gathered between her legs. The tip of her claw gently scraped along the delicate skin there, and Nyx froze, feeling something like a growl and a moan rumble deep in her throat.

It feltso good.

This wasreally bad.

**************************************************************************************

Nightcrawler was awake and not so nauseous by the time Nyx returned with an armful of blueberries. He gratefully helped Nyx retrieve more, and together, they sat at the edge of the cave's mouth, watching the sky darken and feasting on berries and energy bars.

"They must know we're missing by now," Nightcrawler said, passing the water bottle to Nyx. "I bet they'll be out here by tomorrow afternoon."

"Mmm." Swallowing a draught, Nyx handed the bottle back to Nightcrawler. "I hope they're smart enough to bring my stuff."

Nightcrawler chuckled. "Cyclops leaves nothing forgotten."

"That's true."

Nyx dusted the crumbs off of her hands. "You're sure you're all right? You're not seeing spots, or hearing voices or anything?"

Nightcrawler laughed. "I'm fine, Nyx. Really, you took good care of me."

Nyx's cheeks turned the slightest of pink in the setting sun. She smiled shyly at him, but said nothing.

Seeing her there, Nightcrawler suddenly realized, maybe for the hundredth time that day, how much he loved her. He hid a smile, and silently sighed; he loved Dara, and there was really no reason that he couldn't express that.

It was just a question of whether heshould.

Wolverine had been goading him on, urging Nightcrawler to take the initiative, just go andbe with her.

And,Gott in Himmel, Nightcrawler wanted to.

He was jerked out of his dreaming by Nyx's yawn. Sighing, she glanced at him and smiled. "I guess I wore myself out this afternoon ... I'm getting tired again."

"Oh?" Irrationally concerned, Nightcrawler stood up and held out a hand for her. "Then we should get to bed ... uhhhh, I mean--"

Nyx was yawning again, shaking her head slowly. She didn't hear him? "Somebody should stay up, don't you think?"

"Knowing you, you'll be running around in a few hours. I think we'll both be okay if we call it a night." Nightcrawler stretched his hand a bit further. "Come on!"

Looking too tired to argue, Nyx reached out and grasped his hand, letting him pull her to her feet and lead her to the blanket they had spread out earlier.

Nyx didn't put up a fight as Nightcrawler gently pushed her to the blanket. Exhausted, she rolled onto her side and tucked an arm under her head, nodding weakly in reply to Nightcrawler's "good night".

He paused for a moment, studying her, committing every shadow, every curve and soft breath to memory. He sighed silently; did this make him a sociopath?

Deciding to agonize over it tomorrow, Nightcrawler quietly laid down beside her, turned to face her back. A heat and a sorrow grew in him, and he sighed heavily, quietly, his breath dancing across Nyx's hair.

"Mmph?" Groggily, she lifted her head. "Kurt?"

Nightcrawler's eyes flew open in terror. "D-did I wake you up?"

Not answering, Nyx carefully slid her body back, against his. Nightcrawler froze, watching in horror and disbelief as she fitted her small form against his, her legs tangled with his, her back pressed against his chest, her bottom crushing his manhood.

Groping with one hand, she found his arm and pulled it over her, like he was a blanket. A tantalizing thought crept into Nightcrawler's mind;he wouldn't mind covering her up ...

Nyx sighed again. "'Night Kurt," she whispered, falling asleep.

She was so close, Kurt could smell her, actually smell her faint musk. She was hot, her warmth radiating through his suit.

A sad smile played at Kurt's lips. He bent forward, gently kissing the back of her neck, nestling his head against hers as he tightened his grip around her body. His tail snaked up and wrapped itself possessively around her calf, holding Nyx against him.

"Guten Nacht, mein leibling," Kurt whispered, closing his eyes and dreaming. "Mein Dea."

********

True to Nightcrawler's predictions, Nyx did wake up again that night, the mix of gargoyle and vampire blood dying to get out and fly and stalk. Nyx had prowled around the cave, keeping vigil until the sun rose, and she was driven back to the cave.

Against her better judgment, Nyx had settled back down beside Nightcrawler, curling against his warm body, lying close enough that she could hear his steady heart beats. She had sighed, then drew in a deep breath, smelling his cologne and sweat and musk.

Nyx had fallen asleep again, dreaming that Kurt had her supported against the cave wall, holding on to her bare legs gently but firmly as he delicately drew the tip of his red tongue over her womanhood. He had breathed heavily on her hot clit, kissing it softly, making her back arch and her fingers bury themselves into his hair.

When she woke, hot and wet, Nyx was happy to find that Kurt was gone, down at the stream to wash up. Had he still been up there, Nyx would have tackled him, smothered him.

And she didn't feel the least bit ashamed.

Grimacing at the heat outside the cave, Nyx stood up and bounded out, a bit relieved and troubled to see Nightcrawler at the base of the hill, bent by the brook. She readied herself; she didn't have anything to worry about. Nightcrawler didn't have a clue.

Her shoulders fell.

Damn.

Swooping down to the forest floor, Nyx took a double take at Nightcrawler and nearly shrieked.

It wasn't anything bad ... Kurt, well ... he was just naked to the waist, washing up, his muscles flexing and tightening with every movement, his nipples hard and erect from the cold water ....

Aw,hell!

"Guten Morgan, Dara," Kurt said, shaking excess water off of his arms and standing quickly. His half-shed uniform slipped a bit further down on his body, revealing flesh.

Dara stood there, frozen, vaguely aware that her eyes were about as big as 180-watt light bulbs.

'Throw him to the ground,' an evil voice in her skull crooned.'Fuck him raw. Make him scream.'

Kurt didn't seem to notice her stare. He swallowed hard, quickly shrugging his uniform back on. "Uh, it shouldn't be long before they find us ..."

"Y-yeah," Dara stammered, taking a few hasty steps back. "I'll uh, just go and ..."

"Yes, y-you should--"

"I won't be long--"

"Take your time--"

"I'll be back in a minute!!!" Spinning around wildly, Dara tore almost blindly into the woods, smashing over saplings as she raced towards the blueberry bushes.'Gotta get away, gotta get away ...'

Dara didn't even bother to take her uniform off as she plunged into the stream. The icy water went unnoticed as her trembling hands scrabbled for the uniform's zipper.

The tip of one of her pointed ears twitched as the low growl resounded through the woods behind her. Sensing an animalistic rage, Dara gasped and spun around, her eyes flying open again. Only this time, it was in terror.

Seeing the creature lumber out of the thick line of trees, Dara stiffened and her stomach shot down to her feet.

"Uh-oh."

*********

In the cave, Kurt paced, semi-anxiously. He massaged one fist and snarled through gritted fangs, hating himself for not catching Dara before she fled. He must have scared her ... what was he thinking, anyways? Standing there with hardly any clothing on, argh!

But now, Kurt was tired. He was tired of hiding his emotions and fighting his urges and tired of being afraid to speak to Dara. He wanted to tell her how he felt. Age be damned, he loved her!

Kurt frowned again; if he was going to tell her, he should probably do so before the X-Men finally found them. They were alone, and there wouldn't be any teammates "wandering by" when he finally told her.

Kurt hesitated in mid pace; if Cyclops ever found out, he might flip. Most likely. Not that he disapproved of teammates seeking out relationships with others, but Nyx was new, andso young. She was much younger than Kurt, and Cyke might feel that she would be getting into trouble, or Kurt was using her or whatever.

Cyclops could be irrational sometimes.

The professormust know about all this already. Him and Jean. Wolverine had figured it out on his own, and Archangel had been watching Kurt almost suspiciously, like he had an inkling of what Kurt was feeling, but wasn't sure.

Kurt made another revolution across the cave; he can tell her, he can, his feelings were true, and the worse that she could do ...