Author's Note: This technically isn't the first X-Men: Evolution fic I've posted (just check out my Teen Titans/X-Men: Evolution crossover, "Shadow Switch"), but this is the first time I've written anything for the Kurt/Kitty pairing (which is my OTP for X-Men: Evolution), and I'm a little nervous. I hope I can do the ship justice.

I plan for this fic to be a Kurt/Kitty one-shot/drabble series. This first one-shot is supposed to take place some time after "The X-Impulse," but before "Rogue Recruit." I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution. If I did, the Lancitty and Kurmanda ships would have been sunk, and Kurt and Kitty would have gotten together.

Nicknames

Kitty wondered if phasing him halfway through a wall and leaving him there would do any good.

Okay, so it wasn't like she never had a nickname before. After all, she went by Kitty for practically all her life instead of Katherine, so there really was no real reason for her to be upset.

A short, frustrated sigh escaped from Kitty's mouth.

For the last couple of days, ever since Kitty started living at the Xavier Institute, Kurt Wagner (who was one of the other students at the mansion, and who was the most...well, strange, to put it mildly) had been taken to calling her Kätzchen. Not Kitty (or Keety, as he pronounced it), not her new codename Shadowcat, just Kätzchen. Whatever the heck that meant. And for some reason that she couldn't put her finger on, it was driving Kitty insane.

She hadn't said anything about it, and apparently, Kurt thought she was okay with it. So maybe if she told Kurt to stop, he would.

Speak of the devil. Inside, Kitty smiled wryly at her thought as Kurt--blue, furry, demon-looking Kurt--chose that moment to teleport into the hallway. She wrinkled her nose at the sulfuric smell. She wasn't about to scream and run away from him (as she had done when she first saw him in his true form a couple days ago), but that didn't mean she found the smell of the smoke that came with Kurt's teleportation powers agreeable. Nor did it mean Kitty liked the fact that Kurt kept using his power to pop up in front of her.

"Hey, Kätzchen!" Kurt greeted in his thick German accent.

Kitty crossed her arms, glaring slightly. "Like, would you stop calling me that?"

"Calling you vhat?" Kurt asked, looking confused.

"Kätzchen, or whatever."

Kurt paused for a second. "Vhy not?"

Kitty bit her lip as she thought of a response. "'Cause it's, like, totally annoying, y'know," she finally said. "I don't even know what it means!"

Kurt looked amused. "'Kätzchen' means 'kitten' in German," he explained. "I zought it vas fitting, your name being Keety."

"And like, why did you decide to call me Kätzchen?" Kitty wanted to know.

The blue mutant shrugged. "Again, vhy not?" Kurt grinned, showing his fangs.

Kitty sighed, rolling her eyes. This conversation was getting her nowhere.

"So why are you even here?" she asked.

Kurt continued to grin, his pupil-less yellow eyes sparking with something Kitty couldn't name. "Can't I just vant to talk to you, Kätzchen?"

Ugh, this guy is so annoying! Kitty thought furiously. What's he trying to do, anyway?

"Are you gonna, like, stop calling me that any time soon?"

Kurt shrugged nonchalantly. "Probably not," he said. "Later, Kätzchen!"

And with that, Kurt disappeared with a bamf and a puff of smoke, leaving Kitty waving her hand at the rotten-egg smell.

With a groan, Kitty phased into her bedroom. She had a shrewd feeling that no amount of persuasion was going to get Kurt to stop calling her by that nickname.

Unless...

Kitty felt a smile spread across her features as an idea came to her.

Kitty got her chance to put her idea into action the next morning, after she had woken up and gotten dressed for the day.

Kurt (who had his image inducer turned on, making him look human) teleported into her room as she finished up with her hair.

"Kätzchen! Breakfast!" he exclaimed.

"I'll, like, be down there soon, Fuzzy Elf," Kitty replied.

She wanted to giggle as she saw the puzzled look on Kurt's face through the mirror on her vanity table.

"Vhat did you just call me?" he asked.

A smug smile tugged at Kitty's lips as she turned around to face Kurt. "What, you mean Fuzzy Elf?"

"And since vhen did you decide to call me zat?" Kurt questioned.

Kitty idly fingered a stray strand of her brown hair. "Well," she answered, "since you, like, seem to want to call me Kätzchen instead of Kitty, I thought it would, y'know, be fair if I had a nickname for you, too."

"And I suppose you're going to keep calling me Fuzzy Elf as long as I keep calling you Kätzchen?" Kurt guessed.

"That's right!" Kitty said cheerfully.

There was a momentary pause as Kitty waited for Kurt to respond.

"Do you vant to valk to breakfast togezzer, Kä--Keety?" Kurt finally asked, correcting himself in time and nervously smiling.

A small but genuine smile appeared on Kitty's face as she looked at the holographically-hidden mutant. Okay, so maybe Kurt wasn't always so annoying. Sometimes he could be...tolerable.

"Like, whatever you say, Kurt."