Hello again. I have been very busy with school and music. I find that writing a story is exactly the same as writing a song. It takes time, practice, and sometimes you come out with a hit, or a miss. I hope you like this story, it's been on my mind for a while, and now I hope my writer's block will keep diminishing until I can write more often. Enjoy the pilot!

Piotr Rasputin put a small piece of paper in between the pages of the large book he was reading. His eyes were tired of moving and staring at small print for hours. There was not much to do after summer started. The mansion was bare or minimally populated, since most students went to summer camp, their parents, or other places. A few students had even brought their parents or guardians here to visit, something Piotr wished he could do.

Life was not that complicated here. He was free to go wherever he wanted and was even taught how to drive a motorcycle so that when he got one of his own, he would be able to ride it. Although he had classes he needed to attend, the work was not hard, and so his free time seemed to pile up so much that he didn't know what to do with it. Sure there were many things to do around the mansion, but after a few times, shooting hoops gets boring, reading is even worse, Danger Room sessions left him tired, and swimming wasn't that much fun.

Swimming; Piotr shuttered at the thought. Despite the way he looked, he was still self-conscious. He would look at Bobby or John and envy them, but not for the reasons one would think… They were younger, they were energetic, and their bodies were athletic, but normal looking. Piotr was just as energetic, and had a body gifted with a natural ability to gain muscle. He was much bigger than anybody there and it set him apart from them. But along with this gift, came a curse; one that none of the other males at the institute had to deal with, aside from Logan that is.

Yes, Piotr had inherited the gene for a little hair on the front of his body. He knew it was just a natural thing, but sometimes something so minute can seem like the biggest obstacle. It didn't help that the guys would ignore him and the girls would only giggle and whisper in each other's ears when he would get in the pool. His age also contributed to his ways of solitude. Although he was only three or four years older than them, he felt much older, and he felt isolated because of the age difference.

He was stuck in the middle. He was too old to hang out and do the things the new recruits would do, but on the opposite side, he was too young to worry about the problems the senior X-men faced. He longed for somebody his own age, other than Scott and Jean, who seemed to take on the "Grown Up" role since the younger years.

"Look around. You are not alone. Just because your age and size is different from others, does not mean you are the only one facing the same challenges." Xavier's words kept ringing through his head, and he didn't fully understand. He was the only 22 year old at the mansion, as clumsy as he was when he hit puberty, and couldn't talk to a woman to save his life! Again he envied the young relationships that budded between the new recruits. Bobby had a girl named Kitty, John had a girl named Jubilee, even James and Leo Emery the two shape shifting brothers who were 20, had "mates".

James shape shifted into a grizzly bear and had a girlfriend named Brenda, and Leo, who appropriately shape shifts into a full grown alpha male lion, found love when he met a lioness, named Leona, at a zoo, who was naturally a lion. Leo's case was very strange, but was approved on the grounds that he had to keep the relationship quiet, and also only show limited affection while in human form. In lion form he was free to show any affection towards Leona he wanted, as long as it was age appropriate. The professor was able to release Leona from the zoo to come live on the grounds of the mansion unseen by the public.

Still. Even with the success of Leo and Leona, Piotr still felt unfit to be with somebody. In Russia, his mother would half-jokingly point out women and ask if he would marry her. This is why Piotr made it a habit to go to the store before his mom decided they needed something. He wanted a woman that would appreciate his art, be an artist, be a woman of beauty… he looked in his mini fridge and the sight of its emptiness made his stomach churn… a woman with some cooking skills would be really nice as well.

"Lettuce, tomato, red onions, eggs, fine bread crumbs, chicken, and some grated cheese." He read his grocery list out loud just in case he missed something. He was going to make a big salad with baked onion rings in stead of frying them. A healthy… snack… it wasn't going to last two minutes with his apatite. "Guess I have to go out."

"Oh, Piotr. Are you going to the store?" Ororo Munroe asked as he grabbed some grocery ads from the table. He nodded and asked if she needed anything. "I do. I need to make supper tonight. I was thinking Taco Salad. How do you feel about it?"

"Actually I will be eating alone."

"Piotr, although it's not required, it would really be nice if you joined us for dinner once in a while."

"I understand. I might make an appearance." The weather conjurer sighed and gave him a list of items and a credit card.

"Use this for your things as well." She went back to the kitchen before he could object. However before he could put the credit card in his wallet, Kitty Pryde walked around the corner and saw him.

"Hey. Are you going somewhere?" Piotr though it was a strange question, since the answer he though was quite obvious.

"Yes. I am."

"Do you mind if I come to? I need to get away from here for a while." Piotr's expression turned to confusion.

"You are leaving the mansion?" He gave a pat down to see if he had his keys, wallet, and watch.

"No! No… that's not what I meant. I just want to go somewhere instead of here; anywhere." When she came closer, it was clear that she had been crying.

"If that is what you wish. I'm just getting food."

"Sounds like fun…" She put on a pitiful smile and followed him to a truck that Piotr usually used when he went out. It was huge and seemed to fit Piotr well, thought Kitty as she struggled to get in. "Wow, this is the Texas Edition Dodge Ram. You don't see many of these anymore."

"Professor Xavier has been very kind to me." He saw her wipe a tear with her sleeve. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but didn't know if he should interfere.

"He is very kind to all of us." She held on to the seatbelt when he had to make a sharp left turn. "I don't see you around to much. You're always busy."

"I am. I don't see much of anybody but Miss Munroe. I see you from time to time, but you are always with Rogue or Bobby." Kitty looked down.

"Yeah I guess I was…" her eyes welled up with tears and a few escaped before she could stifle them.

"What is wrong?" Piotr shifted his gaze from the road to her, and then back to the road. Kitty turned red and continued to wipe the tears.

"Bobby…he uh…broke up with me. He felt like I was "suffocating" him, and he wants some space. I don't get it. He was fine until this morning."

"What happened this morning?" He stopped at a red light.

"Well, we were going to go to the park this morning and just hang out. But when he didn't answer the door I called him three times and all three were busy signals. I figured he was talking with his parents or something. So I decided to go to the park by myself. I found him there with a girl from the school down a few blocks from the institute. She works at the mall I go to; sells jewelry or whatever. And there they are, holding hands and walking. I just left and went back to the mansion. I asked him about it later and he told me he waited for me, but when I didn't show up the girl appeared and they decided to walk together. Then when I told him I saw her and him holding hands, he got defensive and said that I never leave him have his peace and quiet and feels claustrophobic around me." Kitty was now bawling and holding her sides. Piotr felt horrible. He shouldn't have said anything, but he just wanted to be friendly and create conversation.

"I'm very sorry," was all he knew how to respond.

"Oh, don't be… I… sorry I'm a mess." She said between muted sobs.

The next few minutes were complete silence. Piotr knew that if he asked her anything or said anything, it would either get her worked up again or make things more awkward than it already was. He put on a CD he had in the car and now it was Kitty's turn to look at him with a confused look.

"What is this?"

"It's a CD I got from my friend Remy. It's called Fireworks Child. He had the chance to meet the artist in person one day."

"The singer has a good voice." She picked up the CD case and looked at the insert. "She's very pretty. I've never heard of this 'Jessie Frye' girl. And this doesn't sound like the music that could come from a big guy's black truck." She smiled. Piotr couldn't help but chuckle.

"You can't judge a book by its cover."

"I guess not." They both smiled and continued listening until they reached a wal-mart. Piotr got out first and opened the passenger side door. Kitty still had a little trouble with the seat-belt for some reason, but Piotr brushed her hand aside so he could work on it.

"The passenger side is very tricky. It gets jammed quite often." He held out a hand for her as she stepped down from the truck.

"Thanks. Are you going to the pool party? Piotr froze.

"Uh… I wasn't planning on it. I am not too fond of them."

"Why?" she grabbed the list of items and looked it over.

"I uh… it's nothing."

"Oh…. Ok. What's this small list?" She held up Piotr's salad list.

"That's for me. I was going to make my grilled chicken salad."

"From the ingredients it looks pretty good." Piotr smiled.

"You can have some if you like. I am sure I will make some extra." She grabbed a cart and gave him an apologetic look.

"Thanks, Pete, but I'm a vegetarian." Piotr raised his eyebrow, but then nodded.

"Forgive me. I didn't know."

"Peter, it's okay. Don't burden yourself with it. You eat meat and that's perfectly ok." He sighed in relief and took another cart.

Kitty had never really paid attention to detail when around Bobby. There was not much to care for, except for the love she had for that boy. Even now detail slipped her mind, as she didn't even notice Piotr take certain items out of her basket and replace them with better quality ones. However when the time came to check-out, she noticed what he was wearing.

Anything Piotr wore was usually simple; jeans, a plain shirt, sometimes a jacket, and monstrous shoes, usually sneakers. But today was a little different. Sure the shoes and jeans were the same, but today he wore a black button down short sleeve shirt with all the buttons undone, revealing a wife-beater that was rather revealing itself, how it hugged his frame and defined the muscles of his stomach.

Kitty averted her eyes in hopes she didn't attract his attention, and feasted on the sight of the growing bill. She was feeling a bit guilty for knowing she was a part of the final bill at the end of the month. All of the clothes, accessories, and other miscellaneous items she obtained, were put on one of the many credit cards the professor and the senior X-men had. She promised that she wouldn't spend as much anymore on her stuff now that she got a glimpse of what else goes into providing for the hundreds of others at the institute.

"Are you alright Katya?" his words broke her concentrated gaze. She blushed and addressed his concerned face. His jet black hair styled in slightly curved spikes and the beginnings of a five o'clock shadow made it hard for her to focus.

"Perfectly fine." She answered, still distracted. Looking past the screen that showed the increasing bill, she noticed the cashier, a very attractive brunette who was blessed with a rather large… pair of blessings. Her eyes roamed all over the giant who stood in front of her, mostly towards his midsection. But Piotr was paying no attention to her at all. He just took the bags from the stand and but them back in the cart. He paid with the credit card Ororo gave him and she followed with the rest of the bags.

"Are you hungry?" he asked as he put the bags in the back seats.

"A little bit. I didn't eat much of a breakfast, and had some carrot sticks early afternoon. Are you?"

"I am very hungry. Would you like to go somewhere before we return to the mansion?" Food was on his mind, and Kitty didn't want to go back to see Bobby again.

"Sure. What kind of food do you like?"

"Anything is good. I will be making salad tonight and everybody else will be eating taco salad tonight, so nothing that is similar to salad." Piotr turned the key and the massive truck roared to life before it settled on an intimidating purr. The CD player started back up, but Piotr quickly changed the disk. "I heard you like dance music.""

The first song was a classic a good number of years ago. "Wow it's been forever since I've heard this song. It was a classic when my parents were teenagers! 'Love Comes Again' by Tiësto. I remember I would dance around in my room to this song when I was, like, four or five."

Piotr laughed. Although he mainly kept his eyes on the road, he would periodically look over to see her mouthing the words as if she was getting lost in the song. Her smile seemed to brighten up the dark cab. She even drummed her fingers on her cell phone, until it started to vibrate. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the expression on her face completely change.

"Sorry…"

"Why are you apologizing?" Piotr asked while he focused back on the road, and turned the volume of the song down.

"I'm just confused. I don't know if I should answer him or not." The phone stopped buzzing, but immediately started up again. Piotr held out his hand and motioned for the phone. Kitty hesitantly put it in his hand and sank into her seat as he answered for her.

"May I help you, Bobby? No you called the right number. She's with me. We went shopping. No I did not get ice-pops. Bobby, I will only say this once. I will not judge what happened between the two of you, since I have not heard your side of the story, but regardless, I do expect you to treat every woman with the utmost respect. She tells me you two are broken up, and for whatever reasons, it is not my place to know. Just take what I said into consideration. Goodbye." He closed the phone and handed it back to her.

"Thank you, Pete." Piotr nodded and slowly turned up the volume. "This song sounds like it would be better if it was played at night with the windows down. What is it?"

"It is 'Small Step on the Other Side' by Basic Perspective. It's one of my favorite electronic songs."

"I can see why." Piotr noticed something just slightly out of the ordinary. Kitty was known to be constantly entertained with her phone. There was always somebody to call, somebody to text, something to look up, or something to listen to… but not now. Her eyes were closed and her expression now peaceful.

"We are here." He announced as he found a parking place. It was a Mongolian grill that he wanted to try for a while. Kitty was curious about it. She had tried Mongolian grill before and she liked it, from what she could remember. The door was opened for her before she could unbuckle, again, and took Piotr's hand to help her down.

"Thanks."

"It is a pleasure." He replied.

After they were seated and given instructions on how to build a bowl of whatever meats, vegetables, and sauces you wanted, the two got in line. There were many eyes on the tall Russian, however he did not notice a bit. Kitty noticed, however, and periodically looked back to see him either looking at her, or at the selection of food, trying to decide what he wanted. She rather enjoyed his company, and thought it was comical how he wouldn't look another woman in the eyes.

"So how come you don't want to go to the pool party?" Piotr though the question died, however with Kitty's persistent curiosity, he knew he could not win without giving her an answer.

"Swimming does nothing for me. I do not mind the water; however I prefer a more quiet setting."

"Oh ok. I don't like going to pool parties a lot. I get nervous about what people will think. I see the girls like Jean, or Samantha, or even Rahne, and I…"

"Forgive me for interrupting, but who is Samantha?" Piotr took a sip of his drink.

"Oh you never met her? She is a new student that came in the middle of April. Samantha Gordon. She has this amazing ability. It's a collection of abilities but they all work simultaneously. You will have to see her, especially when she uses her power. Anyway so I was saying that her, Jean and Rahne all look good in their swimsuits and they all catch the attention of the guys. I… well… um…. What about you?"

"What about me?" Just then a waitress came by, placed the finished bowls in front of the two, and introduced herself.

"Hi, my name is Allison, and I will be your server today. Do you need anything different to drink?" She asked, while mainly looking at Piotr.

"Ladies first…" he made a presenting gesture in Kitty's direction. Allison hesitantly turned to Kitty and put on a fake smile.

"I'll take this tropical twist thing, with no alcohol, please."

"Alright, I have a virgin Tropical Twister. And for you, hun?" Kitty rolled her eyes at the flirtatious remark, but was curious to see how he would react.

"I will take the same thing, but with alcohol. Do you have Vodka?" Only after he completed his sentence did he look up at her, and even then it was a cold, dark, emotionless look. She nodded. "I will take that then."

"Sure thing… enjoy your meal." She turned and headed for the kitchen as if in defeat. Kitty eyed Piotr as he took a fork and started picking through his bowl.

"What about me?" He asked again, breaking her concentrated stare.

"Do you honestly not see it? You have half of the female population staring at you right now." Kitty scanned the visible area as stealthily as possible to see that her statistic was correct.

"I do not notice. They do not concern me."

"Ah," Kitty took a quick glance at a table that seated five young women, probably on a business lunch outing, who seemed to be very fascinated with the young man sitting across the table from her. "I see…"

Piotr seemed to be a bit awkward in public for many reasons. Most of the time it made for some interesting lunch outings. For example, his lack of knowledge of how to use chop-sticks, or why he had to use three different forks at specific times, or him trying to pronounce something that isn't English to begin with, would make for some good conversation starters. Today was no different, well, technically it was. Instead of using the many napkins that were supplied to him for their original use, he got out a pen and started to draw on them. Kitty started to giggle once she noticed some food missed its target and landed on his chin, unbeknown to him. She managed to grab a napkin before he started to draw on it, and cleaned up his mess. When they finished most of their food Piotr asked for to-go boxes and paid the bill. Allison came back and wished the two a half hearted 'safe trip home' farewell.

"So," she started when they got in the truck. "You are not afraid to be seen by tens of women in that restaurant with food on your face, but not at home, in the pool?"

"I have my reasons."

"Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"My, you are a persistent little girl." He laughed, yet Kitty glared.

"Ok, I'm not little, I'm perfectly average for my age." He chuckled some more, but his face became serious after a little bit.

"The reason for not wanting to go… is… rather embarrassing to me. Could you understand that I wouldn't want to talk about it right now?"

"It's ok, Pete. You don't have to tell me."

"Thank you, Katya. I enjoyed your company today." He pulled out another CD and put it in.

"I really enjoyed it too, Peter. We will have to do it again; very soon." The rest of the ride home was listening to the tunes of random rock bands. Even though it wasn't Kitty's genre of choice, she saw that it fit Piotr's character. It made her smile.

After the two arrived at the mansion, they unloaded all the groceries, with the help of some students, and headed upstairs to their respective rooms. Before he could settle in his room, there was a knock at his door. Kitty was holding a pink laptop

"Hey, do you want to hang out? I don't want the chance of running into Bobby for the rest of the day if I can help it."

"Avoiding him is not the best choice…"

"I know…" Piotr looked back at his door, and sighed.

"I guess I can use the company. I will be reading or drawing, but I do not mind you being here." Piotr opened the door and let her enter. He grabbed the book he was reading before, and took out the piece of paper that marked his place. He flopped on the bed and kicked his shoes off. Kitty sat next to him on his king-sized bed and checked her emails and played games.

As time progressed the two shifted in more comfortable positions while pursuing their individual activities. Kitty lay on her stomach, idly pressing buttons on the keyboard until she fell asleep. Piotr kept reading his book and found himself on his back holding the book up towards the ceiling. It wasn't long until sleep took him as well. Piotr shifted to get more comfortable and, without knowing, had snaked an arm around Kitty's petite stomach, and fell back asleep, embracing her.

THANK YOU for reading. I hope you enjoyed the Pilot. Tell me what you think. I would love to hear from you. Make my day, review away! – mcc1089