Work Text:
Two days ago the double bed, single bathroom dormitory had felt pretty empty with Rogue no longer around, but now that she'd gotten half way through packing up her stuff, it felt flat out unfamiliar.. which was strange to think about, considering she’d been living there for the past four years and some change. She was minorly concerned that the nightmares she had when she first came to the mansion might resurface from the oddity, of going to bed and sleep-phasing (totally a thing, and totally not kosher) and waking up in someone else's. Luckily she'd never winded up in any beds that were already occupied. She was double-minorly-concerned that it might happen after she moved in with Peter, and he woke up alone by accident with her freaking out a floor adjacent.
Two nights and no phone call from Rogue after she left the mansion, which she was hoping was a good sign. Three was the record but even that time she'd called both nights because it was a ritual to talk across the room, not-quite-whispering until one of them fell asleep, and they were more cathartic than either of them would ever admit to. She was gonna miss the hell out of those talks.. but Rogue would be back. Just, y'know, hopefully with something resembling a boyfriend, and not a broken heart. But she knew Logan and how good he was at the latter, so she'd been making sure she had her cell phone with her everywhere expecting a phone call from an unknown number, since Rogue left hers behind. They both knew from past attempts of hers that someone with good intentions but an overprotective streak would end up tracing it if she took it. It'd be another four before a telepath could be convinced to say where she was, and with any luck, they'd be smart enough to know they should leave her be by that point. Not that any telepath was asking for her opinion on using their powers..
But as she phased right through her bedroom door rather than take the time to open and close it—yeah, she was that lazy—she realized how little she'd care about someone else telling her how to use her mutation and at pointing out her own hypocrisy she gave an undignified, "Whatever," to a pile of boxes with a huff and a tired shrug. "She's my roommate you know," She countered herself aloud without really thinking, but she realized it before she countered her rebuttal with another rebuttal because while Rogue totally understood what it was like to argue with yourself, Peter didn't, and she didn't want him to think she was crazy. "Because I'm not." Damni—
A knock on the door snapped her out of her solo-argument and had her whipping her head so fast to the side it hurt, checking the time. Peter wasn't due for another hour with the hot chocolate for their movie-date-night, so..
"Hey, Scott." She grinned just because she felt like it, but stopped as soon as she got a good look at Scott, who was clearly not feeling like it. His whole body looked tense and if he could frown any harder, she hadn't been there to see. "What's wrong..?"
"Do you have a minute, Kitty? I saw you come in here and wanted to talk but then I heard you—"
"—Oh, that, it was nothing. I mean, sure—"
"—If Peter's here I don't want to—"
"—No! It's cool, he isn't here, I was just.. I mean, I'm just packing up some stuff. So, it's fine. Come in!" She flustered out a smile while pushing her hair back and away from her face, moved out of the way for him to come into her room, and then peeked out to either side of the hallway to see if anyone else had been listening into her back-talk herself. Satisfied the coast was clear, she shut the door and turned back to Scott to find him pacing already. Usually it took a few minutes of beating around the bush to figure out what the problem wa—
"I proposed to Jean, Kitty."
Her eyes must have enlarged even more than she realized because his shoulders sagged further, dejected, "We've been dating for four years now, it shouldn't be—"
"—No! Oh god, no, I didn't mean it like that Scott, it's just.. I mean, that's supposed to be a happy occasion! But you're not celebrating, so.. I'm so sorry, Scott." She interrupted his back-and-forth across her own room in order to hug him. "Are you okay? What happened?"
He clung to her longer than she could ever remember him doing, which was saying something because he wasn't usually the touchy-feely type. "I'll be alright. It's something we've talked about before." He let her go then, in order to show her the ring he'd been clutching the entire time in his right hand. And almost smiled at the reaction.. “Well, I’m glad you approve, Kitty.”
“Oh, Scott, it’s beautiful.” It was obvious the amount of time he’d spent getting it designed—And that Forge likely had helped him get it made. The smooth-grounded dull grey of a meteorite was split apart to reveal a ruby leyline visible within, with a more traditional (and rather large) diamond held by claw-tipped prongs of the meteorite set atop the chasm.
He tucked the jewelry into the pocket of his jeans, downplaying the fact that he wanted to hear those words from someone else, too. "Thanks, Kitty. It just seems like every time we get close to being ready to take the leap.." His voice trailed off and he looked out the room's window to the front lawn. The reason left that way, a few days ago, but the damage of his pass through was still lingering. And part of it was trying to follow him home.
“I know it can get rough, but it’s probably just because you’re both still young, you know?” Well, they weren’t so young as to be students anymore, and they’d all survived—or come back from—several apocalyptic situations, but.. “You two have been dating since, like, you were in kindergarten." She grinned, and was pleased to see it as infectious as ever, even if only by way of a break in Scott's depression via a chuckle. "She just needs some time, I think. It's a big commitment. But she'll come around, Scott. You two are practically common-law married anyway.. just sucks for you that New York doesn't recognize 'em, otherwise you could skip the whole wedding ceremony thing." She hopped backward onto her bed, bouncing weightlessly. She was gonna miss the way she could bounce on her bed like she was still thirteen years old.
"You sure that isn't a thing here? I could get a new car instead.."
"Yup!" She gleefully exclaimed, because she never not liked the fact that she had all sorts of useless trivia at her disposal.
"Should I ask you why you know about New York's policy on common law marriages?"
".. Nope!" She blushed, looking over to the boxes piled up and not yet relocated to their new home. Definitely would not have waited so long otherwise..
"Uh-huh. Well, you're right, she just needs some time.. maybe in a few days." The last bit seemed more to himself than her, so she tried to segway, "Rogue's taken a little vacation, so it's just me in here for now, if you need'a find me.. though I'll be shacking up with Peter as soon as I finish moving my stuff, so.." There was a moment blushing embarrassment at the revelation—she hadn’t told anyone about the move except Rogue, and telling Scott was like telling everybody, because she knew he’d pass it along without even thinking about it—but it was quickly averted by the fact that Scott seemed to look over the room for the first time since he’d come in, and only then noticed who wasn’t there.
"Huh? Where'd she go to?" He snapped full out of his somber state as his natural predisposition toward protecting his teammates took over. She should'a just brought up Rogue from the start and appealed to his team-leader instincts. Then she would've been able to move her stuff.. ha. "Kitty?"
"Yeah?" She asked, somewhat lost in thought of how much she still had left to move.. which was to say, all of it.
"She didn't say she was taking any time off."
"Oh, uh.. I'm not sure where she went, really.." Scott gave her that eerie, determined stare and she shrunk inward guiltily without even thinking, and in that moment she wished she could just phase. Well, she could, but then he'd just go downstairs and he’d hound her until she told him the truth. "Honest! She didn't tell me where she was gonna go. Just that she'd be gone a few days prolly and that she'd call if she needed help. No calls so far."
He seemed satisfied by that, giving a nod and slipping his hands into his pockets. "Yeah? Alright. I'll ask the Professor if he knows anything." He headed for the door, but stopped just after opening it to look over his shoulder. "And Kitty? ..Thanks."
"Anytime, Scott. But like, don’t stress yourself out too much.. give her some time. You two are great." And she was pretty sure Jean would see that too once there was a few less distractions around the mansion.
She fell back on the bed and breathed a sigh of relief after the door shut, bonelessly staring up at the ceiling. Sorry Rogue, but it isn't like he's really gonna find you before you find Logan, so.. it was probably worth it, if it helped get him focused on something else. Right? Right.
She looked at the boxes and tried to force them to start moving themselves toward Peter's room through sheer force of will. When they actually did it, she confused breathing for swallowing and started to choke on air, thumping her chest with a hand because there's no way she's telekinetic and she wasn't drunk or that tired so like what the—
There was a feminine giggle and a soothing voice that that spoke into her mind, { I’m sorry Kitty, I just couldn’t help it. }"
"Ack!" She phased right through the bed and managed to perfectly find-and-fit into the space between it and the floor, thumping her head against the carpet just to stare at her bed frame. "Jean!" She wiggle-squirmed like an adrenaline-fueled worm out from underneath the bed and hopped to her feet in a quick panic of embarrassment. She started to try and straighten out the strands that had become unruly and make herself presentable.. until she got a good look at Jean, who had walked into her room while she was getting up, in a dress that matched her hair and showed off her curves, and just stopped bothering. Honestly, it just wasn't fair.
"How long were you eavesdropping?" She didn't even try to hide the annoyance that came with people intruding on her thoughts. She didn't even care that much about how dressed up and gorgeous Jean was looking, either. Honest.
"Not long. I wasn't trying to pry, I promise. I just saw Scott leaving your room and wanted to know.. I won't tell Scott about what Rogue's up to." She smiled in that way that Kitty was certain was responsible for having so many men pine after her, and even Kitty couldn't help but not be quite so bothered by what she'd just done. Danggit.
"Good, because if you did I'd have to kick your butt. And then Rogue would come back and I'd tell her and she'd kick your butt." Even more surprising to Kitty was the fact that Jean didn't seem at all bothered by it.. oh crap don't think about the why. later kitty, think about that later. But it makes no sense.. later!
Jean laughed with that mesmerizing lilt of hers and plucked at the fingertips of her full-length satin gloves. She could tell just by having seen Scott and Jean’s outfits separately that night that they’d been out in the city before coming back to talk to her, and wondered what restaurant Scott chose for the occasion. “We went to Daniel. It was rather lovely.”
“Hey!” She looked over her shoulder Jean with a glare that just couldn’t quite form from how she looked and stood there at the entrance to her room, moving away to sit back on the bed.. and making sure she wasn’t going to accidentally fall through it a second time by patting the spot next to her.
Jean took that as an invitation to join her and, well, Kitty couldn’t say no, so she just watched the impossibly-graceful woman sit down on her own bed with more apparent poise than she had after years of ballet training. Jean sighed as she flourished her dress to ensure she wouldn’t sit on or wrinkle any part of it. Kitty could see the black heels she was wearing because Jean was tall enough to sit on the bed and still have her feet touching the floor, while Kitty’s were dangling a few inches shy. How is it she fits in my room better than I do? Oh, yeah. My stuff’s in boxes. That’s it.
“I do love him, Kitty. He’s kind and caring and makes me laugh.. it’s just, he’s so sure about us it’s almost scary.” Jean picked at each fingertip of a glove, working it off in a nervous habit to reveal—oh my god her nails were the exact same shade of red as her gloves. What was even the point of that if she was just going to hide them after? .. Oh. Right. “But we’re barely even adults, and we’ve been together for so long.. I’ve never had any other serious relationships in my life. The last guy I dated before Scott was in middle school. How do I know he’s the one? And how can he be so sure that I am the one for him?”
"Uhm." Wow. Danggit, Jean. She fought off the urge to hug her, too, by rubbing her own arms with her hands to get rid of the goosebumps. "You two have been together for a while.. you still aren't sure? You seem really happy together.. and you guys like never fight. Everyone thinks of you like the X-men power couple." Though it wasn’t a popularity contest, despite what all the students say.
"But isn't that weird? We never fight. We don't argue. Sometimes I just want to shake him and say something to get him upset. I know things bother him, but he never lets it out. He just bottles it all up." She took off her second glove and swatted at the air in front of her with it. "Maybe a good slap across the face would do."
"Y'could get Logan to come around again, that'd probably do it." She said it without even thinking about it and didn't even realize how crass she sounded until Jean cast her a glare that made her think she was going to turn her into mush right then and there. Just. Pop. Gone. "I didn't mean it like that! It's just that I know how you look at him, and Scott knows how you look at him, and that's probably part of why Scott proposed to you like this you know? Like, Scott tries to be unshakable because he thinks that's what everyone else needs. On and off the field. And if you're wavering he's gonna be a rock, but if he wavers while you're wavering he doesn't know what to do so he's gonna just go all in because he doesn't know any other way."
She sighed quietly in relief while Jean did likewise in befuddlement. "You're right, of course.. and I know what I should do. But I still don't do it. Why is it so hard?" She ran immaculate nails through shimmering hair and Kitty just couldn't sit there and watch it anymore, so she stood up and tried to play it cool while more or less forcing herself right on into her bathroom to pick up a brush and start working out the knots and getting everything in line. And to stop feeling so suddenly inadequate. "I dunno.. I've never gotten the whole attraction to Logan thing. I mean I get he's cool and all, it was hella fun seeing Japan with him but thinking about him like that.. just.. no." She turned to look over at Jean and found her sitting on the bed of the woman that don't even think that.
"He's just so free. He comes and goes as he wants, he doesn't have to worry about.. responsibilities. expectations. He's all impulse and passion."
"Which is like the total opposite of Scott."
"Yes.. except the last bit."
Kitty looked at Jean, amused and amazed and not at all sure where that came from or if she even wanted to know about it but, y'know, there it was. And Jean was making Rogue's bed as she elucidated, "He can be plenty open when he wants to be. He just doesn't show that in front of the team.. he likes his infallible image. It's kind of exciting, in a way. It's fun to tease him and see just how difficult it is for him to not react."
"Umm?" She wasn't even sure which part of what was going on she was asking about. It was all confusing. None of this made sense. But she really wanted Jean to just stop talking about what Scott was like in private. She should probably say that before Jean said anything else.
"You don't mind if I sleep here with you tonight do you? I just.. need some time before I talk to him. And it's almost impossible to find some peace and quiet in this house.. everyone thinks so loud." And they were already moved in together, lucky them, because all of her stuff was still in her room and not Peter’s—
"Uh, sure." She didn't want to give away just how not sure she was because that was Rogue's bed and the sheer amount of times Rogue had complained—oh my god shut up. She grabbed her toothbrush and over layered it with toothpaste and started brushing.0
"Thanks, Kitty." Jean proceeded to undress like a butterfly emerging from its overly-decorated and form-hugging cocoon and there was just no way that wasn't practiced because she could phase and she didn't do it that good. But why even put on a show if it was just the two of them? She made a thing of brushing her teeth because she didn't even want to pay attention to what sort of underwear Jean had on while her own was uncomfortable and a little sweaty. The plan was a shower before Peter came over but people kept inviting themselves in and oh crap she had to cancel movie night on him if Jean was staying. Double danggit.
"How do you and Peter do it?"
"whauf?" She answered with a foaming mouth, but smartened up enough to wash out her mouth thereafter.
"I've seen the way he looks at you. He doesn't look at anyone else that way.. which is strange, because all guys look at women that way." Emphasis on the plural, as red hair cascaded across an ivory pillow case that contrasted perfectly.
But that didn't seem to matter much anymore. Kitty couldn't help but smile, looking at herself in the mirror, her task of brushing her hair only half-done, wearing an old shirt she was probably due to throw away once she had gotten a chance to unpack the things worth keeping. "I.. dunno." She messed with the knots she hadn't yet gotten out entirely, fumbling about with trying to untangle the strands while trying to think but not think about what it meant that Jean might be envious of her. "I just got lucky, I guess." She went to turn off the light to her room, unconsciously tip-toeing as she walked on a high note.
"I hope I can have that with someone, someday.." There was a wistful little noise, and Kitty was wide awake but going to lay down because Jean was, and she didn't wanna keep her up. And she kind of wanted to just keep rehearing in her head how Jean noticed that Peter never looked at her any kind of way. Hell, she'd been looking at Jean that kind of way, and she was not into that. Probably. Pretty sure. "You will,” She meekly replied, with several movements of her head to get her hair in a state where she wasn't trying to breathe through it.
"Mm.. Thanks, Kitty. Goodnight.."
“’Night, Jean,” She whispered to her new roommate-for-the-night, reaching for her phone.. both to set the alarm she’d almost forgotten to do amidst all the run-ins, and to text the man on her mind that there was a slight change of plans for their night. She didn’t want to make Jean feel like she was abandoning her when she wanted company while she sorted things out.
She changed the nicknames for herself and Peter almost monthly, but couldn’t help but smile at the ones that were there presently because—
[Pusheeninja] → Hey. I gotta cancel.. I’m so sorry. :( Scott and Jean needed help. She’s sleeping here with me tonight and already in Rogue's bed. Raincheck for tomorrow to be the big day? It isn’t too late to save the hot chocolate is it?
There was something crazy about how seeing three little dots showing him typing with his big ol’ thumbs made her heart race, and she wished she could see his face right then, staring so intensely at the screen as he tried to hit the right letters with such warm hands—
[Buns N’ Biceps] ← No need for sorry, Katya. Are you okay? Are they?
[Buns N’ Biceps] ← Too late for chocolate, but I will buy more.
[Pusheenina] → I’m okay. Just jitters about taking the next step. You might check up on Scott tomorrow, though. And maybe get some Kahlua?
And god did she wish those jitters would go away, as she looked from the backlit phone shining into her blanket to the boxes she hadn’t moved in days despite the chances she’d had since she wasn’t recounting the day’s details with Rogue. She was almost grateful to Jean for staying, because it’d been lonely without someone else in the room, but she wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to share the bed with someone almost three times her size. She knew the real estate was going to be tiny, even though he’d already gotten a bigger bed just because she’d brought up the concern once before.
[Buns N’ Biceps] ← Da.
[Buns N’ Biceps] ← We did not finish Blackbird maintenance for his date, I will do so then.
[Buns N’ Biceps] ← We can wait, Katya. There is no rush.
[Pusheenina] → Hush up, mister. You’re gonna be stuck with me in a few days, so you better enjoy the last bit of freedom you have. You're not getting out of this.
She momentarily felt bad for being so honest about her trepidation, but also thankful that he was understanding enough to not pressure her about it despite the initial plan being that she’d be out the same night Rogue left for no one and nothing to be in the room except some sheets and toilet paper. He hadn’t done anything more than offer to help her move and she’d stubbornly refused his help because it’s her stuff and she was being very much so full of her namesake in handling her own things. And she might have been way overdue to clean her closet of clothes she once found fashionable and half-destroyed actions figures that Lockheed had chewed on or melted over the years.
[Buns N’ Biceps] ← I do not want out. I would rather be there with you and movie than here, Katya.
With sleepy-slanted eyes she smiled and typed up a reply, curling herself comfortable underneath the covers as she watched those dots marching away, almost certain he was starting to have troubles with typos—
[Pusheenina] → Me too. It's cold. Don't worry about me, Peter. I want to do it. I’m just worried about Rogue and now Scott and Jean and even Logan kinda and.. I’m sorry I didn’t get stuff moved. Tomorrow will be the day. I love you, Peter.
And he was always so warm. She was pretty sure she saw the notification on her phone before she set it aside—she never left any electronics near her when she went to sleep because she’d ruined two phones too many phasing through them by accident and frying them—But when she woke up she saw his last message, and smiled despite its simplicity:
[Buns N’ Biceps] ← I love you. And will worry for you so you can worry for others. But do not overworry, tomorrow will be warmer.
He was absolutely wrong, of course. It was freezing when she woke up. But the sentiment was nice, even if Westchester winters weren’t.