We Can Work It Out

by 23 Enigma

Sometimes, life can get you down. So Kitty decides to throw a Halloween party as a solution to her problems. Will the night be a success or bring only more troubles for the X-Men?

WE CAN WORK IT OUT

---

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution, the Beatles, or anything else in this story either outright mentioned or parodied. I only say I wrote the story; that's it.

Story: takes place after "Ascension (Part 2)"

Summary: Sometimes, life can get you down. So Kitty decides to throw a Halloween party as a solution to her problems. Will the night be a success or bring only more troubles for the X-Men?

Pairings: Kurt + Kitty, slight Scott + Jean, slight Bobby + Jubilee, slight Remy + Rogue

Rating: PG-13 / T to be safe

---

"Hey, Kitty! Earth to Kitty! Hey, are you in there? It's your move!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Rogue. Thinking about Lance makes it difficult to concentrate on the game."

"I know what you mean," Bobby said as he walked into the room, calmly eating an apple. "Thinking about Lance makes me pretty crazy too. I'm thinking about telling him," Bobby joked.

"Like, get out of here, you dork!" Kitty said as she threw a pillow at his head. Bobby quickly ducked and left the living room laughing at her.

Rogue crossed her arms. "Kitty, why are we even playing Monopoly if you're just gonna space out the whole time?"

"It's not like I mean to," Kitty said. "I thought it'd be a good way to take my mind off of Lance."

"Well, it would be if you stopped thinking about him for two seconds and actually rolled your dice and moved your stupid thimble," she grunted.

Kitty sighed. "I don't get it. There's only the two of us playing, and I still end up as the thimble…" She threw down her dice and moved her playing piece forward seven spaces.

Rogue looked at her. "This isn't like you. You don't normally fantasize about Lance all day long."

"I'm not fantasizing," Kitty corrected her.

"You're not?"

"No," she answered slowly. "I'm… I'm worrying."

"Worrying? Why?" Rogue asked.

"Because… things aren't so great right now… We kind of hit a rough spot…"

Rogue rolled the dice. "Again?"

Kitty groaned. "Yes, 'again', Rogue. I swear, it's like everyone in the Institute is trying to get us to break up."

"No real need for us to do that, sugar," Rogue added. "You two kind of do that all by yourselves."

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny, Rogue. You don't see me making fun of you when you not so secretly crush on that card-carrying Acolyte."

Rogue waved her hand, but she was blushing. "Fine, fine. I'll be supportive, okay? What happened between the two of you this time?"

Kitty slowly picked up the dice and lamely dropped them. "I don't know… I just feel like we're drifting apart… It's not like he's been mean to me or he's done something wrong… But there are a lot of stupid arguments… And they're happening more and more lately… And I feel like sometimes we both prefer to hang out with other people… Like our time together just isn't as special as it was before…"

"I see," Rogue said slowly.

Kitty pulled her legs up to her chest. "I work really hard on this relationship, and there are still so many problems. I'm just so tired and frustrated. I don't know. What do you think, Rogue?"

"I think…" she said carefully, "that you shouldn't give up hope yet."

"That's awfully positive for you," Kitty said.

"I give it a try every now and then," Rogue responded.

Kitty nodded. "Okay… I'll try to take your advice…"

"Handing out advice, Rogue?" Kurt said as he teleported into the room and sat down in between Kitty and Rogue. "I was wondering what you two were up to. A board game, I see. But this certainly is the oddest version of Settlers of Catan I've ever seen… You replaced all of the sheep and wheat with colorful fake money. Terrible…"

"Very funny, elf," Kitty muttered. "She's giving me advice. For my boy troubles."

"Ah… I see… Lance…" he said.

"Yes… 'Lance'…" Kitty replied. "You don't have to say his name with such contempt, Kurt."

"I didn't say it like that," Kurt said. "I know that he's a good guy, and he did help us fight Apocalypse. I don't hate the guy. Okay?"

"Yeah, whatever," Kitty mumbled.

"I'm just not particularly happy with how many times he's made me lose Jenga…"

Rogue laughed at what Kurt said and even Kitty chuckled slightly.

Kurt crossed his arms and nodded. "Anyway, I know how you feel, Kitty. Relationship woes are never fun."

"You sound awfully down yourself, blue boy" Rogue stated. "What? Do you need to get cheered up, too?"

Kurt shrugged his shoulders. "Haven't been sleeping well, is all."

"That's not it," Rogue countered. "Sounds to me like there's problems between you and Amanda."

"Really? What happened?" Kitty interjected. "There are problems? I thought you two were just Skyping, like, three days ago."

"We were," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Come on, elf!" Kitty pressed further. "Spill it! What's wrong?"

Kurt waved his hand. "Anfangen ist leicht, beharren eine Kunst."

"What?" both Rogue and Kitty asked, having no idea as to what he had just said.

Kurt smiled and got up. "It means you really should have learned some German by now. I'll see you two later." He pretended to tip an invisible hat. "Fräulein. Meine Schwester. Bis Später." And with that, he teleported away.

Rogue coughed as she tried to fan the smoke away. "I don't know what's worse: Kurt deliberately speaking German to avoid telling us stuff or that terrible teleport stench that smells like feet wrapped in leathery burnt bacon…"

"Rogue, so what should I do next? What can I do to fix my problems with Lance?"

Rogue sighed. "This isn't really my area of expertise, Kitty. But how about you invite Lance to some happy person thing or whatever?"

Kitty looked confused. "'Happy person thing'? That's real descriptive…"

"Yeah, whatever you cheery people do in your free time. You know? Basically anything I don't do."

"Yeah, I guess I understand what you're trying to say… A party or something like that might not be such a bad idea…" Kitty muttered.

"And if things go well, then things should be back on track for you two. And if not… well, then I guess you got your answer about where your relationship is going."

Kitty shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, but it's not like I really know that much about parties nowadays. I don't get invited to parties anymore now that everyone knows we're all mutants. And it's not like we'd be welcome crashing a party."

Rogue yawned and fiddled with her small metal shoe that she was using as a playing piece. "I don't know. Go throw your own party then."

Kitty's eyes lit up. "Rogue! That's it!"

"It is?" Rogue asked, not really knowing what had just happened.

"Yes! We'll throw a party here at the Mansion! And I'll invite Lance and the rest of the Brotherhood! And if things are amazing at the party, then I'll know everything's great between us!"

"Uh…" Rogue began. "You want to throw a party? Here in the Mansion? And invite the Brotherhood too? Sure… why not…"

"Rogue! You're a genius!" Kitty said as she gave Rogue a hug.

Rogue awkwardly patted Kitty's back. "Yes, just what I was trying for…"

"Oh, and you know what's happening on Saturday?" Kitty asked with a big smile on her face.

"Uh…" Rogue mumbled. "Rerun of The Nightmare Before Christmas?"

"Halloween!"

"And where are you going with this, sugar?" Rogue said slowly. "Wait a sec… A Halloween party? That's what you mean? Are you serious?"

"I sure am!" Kitty said. "Kurt's a bit down, I've noticed Scott and Jean have been acting weird lately, and I'm sure everyone's a bit depressed with how they're being treated at school. This party should help to fix everyone's problems! It'll cheer everybody up!"

Rogue nodded, though still didn't look convinced. "Okay…"

"This is gonna be great!" she got up and ran out of the room.

"Oh yeah, 'great'. I'm sure Mr. Slice-and-Dice will love the idea," Rogue mumbled. "He's always such a bundle of sunshine…"

---

"You want me to what? That is the single dumbest thing I've ever heard, and I've heard you kids say some stupid things in the past," Logan said.

"Please, Mr. Logan!" Kitty said, trying to look as cute as possible. "It would be so awesome! And you wouldn't even have to, like, dress up! You just need to okay it!"

"I think it sounds like a wonderful idea, Kitty," Ororo said. "I'm sure everyone in the Institute would love a Halloween party."

"Do I not count as 'everyone'?" Logan mumbled.

"I'll talk to the Professor," Ororo said, ignoring Logan. "But I'm sure he'll agree as well."

"Yes! Thanks, Ms. Monroe! You're the best," Kitty said as she hugged her. "I'm gonna go tell everyone else and see if anyone'll want to help decorate or buy stuff." She punched the air in triumph and ran off.

Logan groaned. "Really, Ororo? You're okay with the half-pint not only having a party for a bunch of mutant teenagers who have routinely destroyed sizeable portions of the Mansion, but also inviting the Brotherhood kids who have had such a nice colorful history with us?"

"Honestly, Logan… Kids will be kids. If they want to have a party, then we should encourage it. So much of their lives have already been ruined by the prejudice of being mutants. It's good for them to have some fun every now and then."

"They already have enough fun."

"Where? In your Danger Room sessions?"

"Exactly. Perfect place for a kid to have fun," Logan said.

She ignored his last comment. "And while the Brotherhood has been our enemy in the past, they have now become rather responsible individuals."

"Maybe they're just biding their time until they commit another crime. Like robbing a store. Or jaywalking. And what next? Are we going to invite Sabretooth to afternoon tea? I think you're losing your mind, Ororo," he said.

"Better that than being a grumpy old man," she said as she started to leave the room. "Kitty's throwing this Halloween party whether you like it or not, Logan."

As she left the kitchen, Hank entered the room. "I see Ororo's in a good mood. What did you say to her this time?"

Logan pulled out a cigar and lit it. "Just that I think this party's a big old waste of time."

"Party?" Hank asked as Logan let out a puff of smoke.

"Half-pint wants to throw a Halloween party here in the Mansion. Some kind of mutant shindig and the Brotherhood's invited."

Hank nodded. "It doesn't sound that bad, Logan. I'm sure if we're chaperoning the party, nothing will get out of hand. It'll be good to let the kids live a little."

Logan grunted. "I can't believe you guys are actually okay with this."

"Logan, it's just a Halloween party," Hank said as he began to read the newspaper. "I really don't understand what you're expecting."

"Trouble," he answered.

Hank peered at him over the newspaper. "Really? Unless this 'trouble' you're referring to is Magneto showing up to the party dressed as Gandalf, you're overreacting."

Logan sighed and let out another puff of smoke. "Fine, then just trouble for me."

"Everything will be fine, Logan," Hank said. "Go apologize to Ororo and agree to chaperone the party. Then everything will be back to normal."

"Fine," Logan said as he started to leave the kitchen. "But I am not coming in costume."

The door to the kitchen closed, and Hank sighed as he flipped through the pages of the newspaper. "And I was looking forward to seeing him dressed as Jean Valjean too…"

---

"Bowling?" Scott asked.

"We've been. I suck, remember?" Jean replied.

"But you got a higher score than I did."

Jean laughed. "Yeah, I totally used my powers for that. Picking up those four lucky spares."

"You are such a cheater," he said with a smile on his face. "Okay, then, how about a movie?"

"There's nothing good out and we just went last week," she said. "I know. We could go minigolfing."

"Are you serious?" he asked her. "How is Gary's Great Golf Gazebo a romantic place for a date?"

Jean playfully hit his shoulder. "It was just a suggestion. Fine, you come up with something better."

Scott pulled her into a tight embrace. "How about the beach?"

"Isn't it kind of cold? It's almost November," she said, smiling.

"We'll bring blankets," he said. "And I'll make sure I keep you warm." Scott leaned over and kissed Jean just as Kitty walked into the room.

"That's, like, super gross. It's like walking in on your mom and dad," she said as she sat down on the couch.

"You're telling me." Kitty looked at the back of the room and saw Kurt sitting in a leather chair, somewhat obscured by the dark. "At least you didn't have to hear them talk like that for half an hour."

"Kurt! We didn't see you! How long have you been there?" Jean asked, her cheeks red.

Kurt sighed as he leafed through a book. "Fräulein, I've been here the whole time."

Scott awkwardly coughed. "Why didn't you let us know you were here earlier?"

"I did," Kurt said.

"You did?" Jean asked.

"Yes, I did. You simply forgot that I was here."

"Oh…" Scott said, his face very red, too.

Kurt smirked. "It's okay. I blend into the shadows. Literally." Kitty eyed his dark fur and agreed with that statement.

Kurt got up and walked over to the three of them.

"Sorry, Kurt. We thought we had the room to ourselves," Scott said. "How come you're here in the first place?"

Kurt held out a book, Jenseits von Gut und Böse. "Reading Nietzsche," he answered. "After all, this is the library. It's a good place to read."

"Since when do you read Nietzsche?" Kitty asked.

"I wanted to read all the German books the Professor has. You know, don't want to drop my language skills. And the Professor has quite an extensive collection," he answered. Kurt pointed to his left and Kitty saw a stack of books. "Got through Arendt, Freud, Engels, Hegel, and Marx in the past two months. Nietzsche was next on the list."

"And you actually understand it all?" she asked, somewhat in disbelief.

Kurt chuckled. "No, not really. They're all really confusing." He scratched his head. "I can read it, sure, but what message they're trying to convey goes way over my head. I'm not really a philosophy major guy."

"Then why are you reading them if you don't get them?"

Kurt shrugged. "Way to pass the time. Take my mind off of things."

Kitty was about to ask him more before Jean interrupted her train of thought. "Kitty, you came in here for a reason, yes? I doubt you're here to read the Professor's German texts, too."

"Oh right!" Kitty pulled out three colorful pieces of paper and handed one each to them. "I'm throwing a Halloween party! I came in here thinking I might run into someone to hand these out to. Lucky me, I find you two making out and him hiding out in the back."

Kurt read it over. "Sounds like fun."

"Are you inviting the Brotherhood?" Scott asked. Somehow, he always seemed to know what Kitty was up to.

"Yeah," she said, avoiding looking anyone in the eye, knowing full well that the other three were staring at her. "I thought it'd be more fun if we invited them."

"No more problems with Lance?" Kurt asked her.

"Well…" Kitty said, turning away from him. "I'm hoping the party helps with those problems."

"So you're throwing a party basically only so you can fix things with Lance?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Hmmm…" Kurt shrugged. "Not a bad idea, Frӓulein. Crazy, yes, but not a bad idea."

Kitty sighed in relief. "I was afraid you were going to kill me for wanting to invite the Brotherhood."

She looked at Kurt, who shook his head in response. She then turned to Scott, whose dark sunglasses made it difficult for Kitty to gauge his reaction.

Scott grunted but then nodded. "I guess we should try being nice to them."

"Really?" she asked. "You're not mad that Lance and the other guys will be here?"

Scott shook his head. Jean put her arm around Scott. "That's awfully mature of you."

"Well, they're not my favorite people, but I don't have anything against them… anymore," Scott stated.

Kitty smiled. "Cool. So I'm going to head over to the Brotherhood and invite them."

"Make sure to have awesome costumes!" Kitty said as she left the library.

Jean then leaned her head on Scott's shoulder. "Well, I guess we know what we're not doing Saturday." She sounded just a little disappointed.

Scott sighed, but he was smiling. "Just the two of us getting to spend some time together would have been nice, but we'll manage."

"You know…" she said. "We haven't had a proper date in a while now."

"Yeah, last week at the movies certainly didn't go as planned. Though I guess it was entertaining watching the ushers kick out a dozen Jamies."

Jean laughed. "I don't understand how that many Jamies managed to sneak into an R-rated movie, let alone how they convinced security that they were all identical brothers."

"And the week before was just as bad, remember?"

"Oh yes," Jean said. "A romantic picnic cut short by the need to go save children from that burning orphanage."

"A hero's responsibilities never end," Scott added.

"Saturday won't be too bad. I'm sure we'll enjoy the party."

"I'll make sure we do," he said as he kissed her. "Maybe I'll get to see you in a sexy costume."

"And maybe I'll get to see you in a sexy costume, too," she replied.

"I guess we'll just both have to be sexy then," Scott said as he leaned in for another kiss.

Kurt sighed. "You do realize I'm still here, right?"

The two instantly pulled apart, both very red. "Kurt!"

He groaned and stood up. "I'll take that as my cue to go." He closed his book and headed for the door. "I think I might go ask the Professor to telepathically bleach my brain."

He closed the door behind him "If they don't go on a date soon, I'm afraid of what I might accidentally walk in on next…" He shuddered at the thought.

---

Kitty knocked on the door. She took a step back and let out a sigh. She really hoped it would be Lance who answered the door.

"Well, hello there, X-Chick," Toad said as he opened the door.

"You're not Lance," Kitty said, mostly to herself.

Toad licked his hand and then ran it through his hair. "I am way cooler than that rock-head." He smiled. "So what brings you here? You want to talk to him?"

Kitty nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to let him know that there's going to be a Halloween party at the X-Mansion, and the Brotherhood is invited."

Toad's eyes lit up. "Yo, you serious? That's awesome!"

Kitty smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, I was, like, hoping all of you guys would be able to come."

"Oh, I'm definitely gonna go. Though I guess the question is if I can convince Wanda to go, too…"

Kitty swallowed nervously. "Wanda's… different… I'd love her to come as well, but I'd understand if it's not her thing."

Toad shook his head. "No worries, yo. I will do whatever it takes to make sure she comes, too. You have my word on that."

"Thanks," Kitty replied, though not really sure what he would say to convince her.

"Oh yeah," Toad said. "You wanted to invite Lance in person. Almost forgot. My bad." He turned around and leapt up the stairs. "Lancie-poo!" he shouted. "Get your butt down to the door, yo! Pretty Kitty's here!"

"Shut up," Lance said as he pushed Toad out of the way. He ran down the stairs and met Kitty at the entrance. "Hey," he said simply.

"Hey," she responded somewhat awkwardly.

"So… you wanted to see me?" he asked. He looked at her, not really sure yet if they were on good talking terms today or not.

Kitty handed Lance an invitation. "Please come. I promise it'll be fun."

He looked it over and smirked. "Halloween party, eh?"

Kitty nodded. "Yup. I really want you to go."

Lance smiled. "Yeah, I'd love to."

"Great!" Kitty replied with a smile. "Toad's probably telling the rest of the Brotherhood that they're invited too."

"Oh, you invited all of us?" Lance asked.

"Yeah… Well, I thought that it'd be better if I did. I mean, I thought it'd be kind of rude if, like, I only invited you. It's a party, after all."

Lance shrugged. "Yeah, you're right."

Kitty coughed awkwardly. "So… You'll come?"

"Yeah," Lance answered. "You can count me in. It sounds like it'll be fun. I'll get to be your Halloween date."

Kitty blushed a bit, but she was smiling. "So… Saturday will be fun then?"

"I promise." He looked her in the eyes. "No arguing. No drama. No problems."

She gave him a hug. "That's awesome."

Lance nodded. "Yeah. We'll be able to spend some time together."

"I really hope so," Kitty began. "Party duties really can't take that much of my time, can they?"

Just then, Kitty heard the window above her smash. She pulled away and looked up above. She then saw Toad getting flung out the window and landing painfully on the front lawn.

"You're disgusting!" she heard Wanda yell.

Toad groaned as he rolled over. "Okay, sweetums," he muttered. "We'll talk about it later. Maybe when you calm down a bit…"

Kitty heard Wanda yell in frustration and angrily slam a door.

Lance sighed as he placed his hand on his forehead, very displeased at the chaos happening right in front of him. "Toad, what the hell did you do this time?"

Toad coughed and spit some grass out of his mouth. "All I did was tell her that I'd like her to go to that Halloween party." He then pulled out a chunk of dirt that was lodged in his ear. "Then she flipped out and tossed me out the window."

"Really?" Lance asked, clearly not believing him. "That's all you said? Because it looks a lot like you said something stupid and pissed her off. Again…"

Toad grinned. "Maybe I also gave Wanda some suggestions as to what she should come dressed as for the Halloween party."

Lance groaned. "I'm going to regret asking this, but what did you say?"

"Sexy nurse. Sexy cop. Sexy pirate. Sexy princess. Sexy nun. Sexy cat. Sexy librarian. Sexy teacher." He smiled again. "I personally think she'll look mighty fine as a sexy witch."

Kitty shuddered. "This is just sad on so many levels…"

Lance angrily leaned against the doorframe and the whole house shook as he let loose a few tremors to calm himself down. "Toad, you're an idiot. You know that?"

"That may be true, yo," he replied. "But that doesn't mean it's okay to throw me out of windows. I could have really hurt myself."

"You're lucky that's all Wanda did," Lance muttered.

Kitty turned to Lance. "Well, I've still got to buy decorations, arrange stuff for entertainment, and figure out what I'm gonna wear, so I'm gonna go before Wanda decides to lock Toad in the fridge or something."

"Don't give her any ideas…" Lance then smiled. "Well, I'll see you on Saturday."

"8:00!" she said as she walked away. "Make sure to come in costume!"

She walked over Toad as she left, almost deciding it was worth it to step on his face. This Halloween party was certainly getting interesting, she thought to herself.

---

"So?" Kitty asked.

Jubilee smiled as she pulled the cloth off. "Ladies and gentlemen… I present… MODOK!"

"And what does that stand for?" Kitty asked.

Jubilee read the box. "'Mashin Obu Danshingu Oubaaroudo Karaoke'!"

"That's quite a mouthful," Amara said.

"And what does that even mean?" Rahne asked.

"Uh… Not really sure… But the point is that it's a karaoke machine," Jubilee answered. "It's the best I could find for a discount price."

"Ladies, this thing is gonna rock the house!" Tabitha said. "This Halloween party is going to be awesome! Kitty, this was an awesome idea!"

Kitty smiled. "Thanks, everybody! But less talking and more decorating."

The girls went back to what they were doing before Jubilee returned with the karaoke machine. Kitty returned to her own decorating. She was unraveling a bundle of fake spider web along the railing of the stairs when she heard Kurt teleport next to her.

"Hey, Kitty. How did things with Lance go?" he asked.

She smiled. "Real well. He and the Brotherhood said that they'll be here."

Kurt nodded. "You must be happy."

"I am," she replied. "But now I'm super busy with planning and decorating. It's driving me crazy. I hope I at least get to relax a bit at the party."

"Hopefully, yeah," Kurt said. "Anyway, I came here for a reason. Would you mind if I borrowed some of the spider web?" he asked her. "Oh, and maybe I'll grab some other things like those glow-in-the-dark pumpkin stickers. I think I can get the rest of what I need from the supply room."

"Yeah, sure, I've got more than enough. But what do you need it for?" she asked as she handed him part of the bundle she was holding.

"I've got something I'm working on."

Kitty looked at him. "What exactly?"

He smiled. "That, Frӓulein, is a secret, but I will gladly show you when I'm done."

She crossed her arms. "You're not even going to give me a clue?" she asked. "For all I know, you're building a killer robot."

"A killer robot that needs fake spider web and pumpkin stickers?" he said with a smile. "Don't worry. I'll show you when I'm done. Until then, es kommt wie es kommt."

Kitty blinked in confusion. "What?" she asked.

He smiled. "How's this: I get to keep it a secret until the party and, in return, I'll hang the spider webs up on the ceiling for you. Sound good?"

She thought about it. "Well, walking on the ceiling is kinda your thing… Okay, deal. But you definitely have to show me at the party then."

He gave her a salute and teleported away. Kitty sighed and shook her head. Kurt could be so odd sometimes, she thought. Nice, sure, but definitely odd.

"Hey, Kitty!" she heard Bobby shout to her from another room. "I'm finished! Let me know what you want!"

Kitty groaned. "In a sec, Bobby!" she yelled back at him. She turned to Rahne. "Hey, can you finish up the spider web? I've got to check on something."

Rahne nodded and Kitty ran to the next room. She saw Bobby standing in front of a large table, with seven different six-inch figures made of ice.

Bobby pointed to the figures. "So, we have the cheerful jack-o'-lantern, the spooky ghost, the wicked witch, the dancing devil, the savage werewolf, the decaying zombie, and the blood-thirsty vampire."

Kitty looked at them. "Wow. I'm impressed, Bobby."

Bobby puffed his chest. "Of course. I am, after all, totally amazing."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "I like the jack-o'-lantern, the werewolf, and the vampire."

Bobby nodded. "Gotcha. So then, I'll make big statues of those for the party."

"Great. I think we can have the jack-o'-lantern right in the center, and then the werewolf near the left side and the vampire at the right. Sound good?"

"Can do, boss lady," he said. He looked at his watch. "Oh, I better go. There's still some stuff I need to buy for my costume."

Kitty waved to him as he dashed off. Luckily, she had already bought everything for her costume before they had begun decorating. But getting everything else done in time for the party was still so time-consuming. She sighed. Back to work, she thought to herself.

"Hey, Piotr, can you move those boxes for me?" she asked as she headed towards the dining room. "Just out to the halls would be great."

"What's in these?" he asked her as he picked them up.

"Um…" Kitty mumbled. "I have no idea, actually."

"Looks like Halloween-themed Beanie Babies," he answered.

"Oh," she said, surprised to hear that. "Well… all the more reason to move the box out of the dining room. I'll deal with them later."

He shrugged and carried the boxes out. As he opened the door, Rogue entered the room.

"Sorry, guys," she said. "Don't mean to get in your way."

"No problem, Rogue," Kitty replied. "Everything's going well."

"Glad to hear it," Rogue said. "It looks like you've actually done a pretty good job, sugar. Kudos."

"Thanks. But there's still a bunch of stuff that needs to get done. Like baking the cupcakes, setting up the fog machine, and finding someone to be a greeter."

"Good luck with that," Rogue said as she picked up a can of soda. "You can't cook, Jamie destroys any tech he touches, and I'm about as personable as a cactus."

"You're right…" Kitty said glumly. She sat down and placed her head on the table. "You're right…"

Rogue started to drink her soda when Kitty suddenly had a crazy idea.

"Rogue! You're right!" she said happily.

Though she glanced at Kitty, Rogue didn't say anything and only continued to drink.

"Rogue! You can be the greeter for the party!"

Rogue immediately spit out her soda, assuming she had gone temporarily insane and didn't hear what she had just heard. "Come again."

"I need someone to be a greeter for the party. And you'd be perfect!"

"Why?" Rogue asked. "Why would you think I would be a good greeter? Was it my warm and happy aura that clued you in?"

Kitty chuckled. "No… But I do need someone to be the greeter and you're not doing anything else to help out for the party…"

"That's because I wasn't planning on going to the party…"

"But now you are!"

"I never agreed to anything!"

Kitty pleaded with Rogue. "You've got to! This is an awesome idea! I know it!"

Rogue sighed. "You're speaking crazy talk, sugar."

"Think about it, Rogue. We're always telling you to be more of a people person, I really need all the help I can get, and you won't even have to interact with anyone if you don't want to after you greet them. This is perfect for you. You can be as antisocial as you want while trying to be more social."

Rogue groaned. "So even though I didn't say I'll do this, I'm now forced into being your greeter?"

"Yup!" Kitty answered happily.

"And there's no way I can get out of this now, is there?"

"Nope. None whatsoever."

"And I'm going to have to wear a costume now too, right?"

"Of course! It's a Halloween party."

Rogue banged her head against the wall. "You have got to be kidding me…"

Kitty patted her on the back. "See you at the party," she said as she left.

Rogue shook her head. "She may have suckered me into this stupid party," Rogue started to mutter to herself, "but that does not mean I have to put any effort into my costume at all."

---

"Rogue! You didn't put any effort into your costume at all!" Kitty complained. "It looks like you spent ten dollars on your costume!"

"Eight," Rogue corrected her. "Besides, I'm a vampire. Isn't that Halloween enough for ya?"

"All you did was put on a cape and some fake teeth!"

"Hey, I at least had the courtesy to dress up in black," Rogue said. "I look more like a vampire than those Twilight ones!"

"I like Twilight…" Kitty mumbled.

"Or those True Blood vampires…" Rogue added.

"Hey, lots of people like True Blood," Kitty said, now getting a bit ticked off. "I thought you liked True Blood, Rogue!"

Rogue shrugged. "And what exactly are you supposed to be, sugar?" Rogue asked as she looked at Kitty's black skirt, red sweater, and yellow scarf. "Little Red Riding Hood?"

"What? No!" Kitty answered. "I'm not even wearing a hood!"

Rogue turned to Kurt as he was walking down the stairs. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Do you have any idea who she is?"

Kurt looked at Kitty and then shook his head. "Are you that annoying main character from that show about those singing teenagers? You know, the girl who has poor breath control, is extremely bossy, and loses all of her character development every episode?"

"Hey!" Kitty shouted, her cheeks quite red now. "I like Glee! And no, I'm not Rachel Berry!"

Kurt sighed. "Then… I don't know. Sorry."

Kitty quickly spun around and then threw her arms into the air. "I'm Ariadne."

"Gesundheit," Kurt answered.

"What? No, stupid. I didn't sneeze. I'm Ariadne. From Inception. She was the architect who designed all of the dreams."

"Oh!" both Kurt and Rogue slowly said in unison.

"Why'd you pick her?" Rogue asked.

Kitty shrugged. "I liked the movie, I liked her character. It's a win-win."

Kurt gave her a thumbs-up. "Very cool. I really like your decision to go as Ariadne. I think it's awesome. It's a costume within a costume!"

"Thank you," Kitty said. "I was also considering going as Juno. You know, I'd wear a beach ball under my shirt the whole time. But I thought that might be a bit… weird…"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, wise choice on deciding against going as a pregnant teenager."

"Inception was way better than Juno anyway," Rogue added. "I'm surprised you didn't dress as a Disney princess. You love those anti-feminist kids movies."

Kitty crossed her arms and ignored her. "So, what are you, Kurt?"

He grinned. "I'm Jake Sully from Avatar."

"Avatar: the Last Airbender?" Kitty joked.

"Ha ha, very funny," he replied as he rolled his eyes.

"Not bad," Rogue responded. "The ears, tail, and skin is all you, I see."

"Yup, got the cool jacket and the awesome rifle strapped to my back. I'm even wearing a headband with a fake ponytail glued to it."

"Yeah, but what did you do to your face?" Kitty asked.

"Alien tribal tattoos," Kurt answered. He pulled up his sleeves and revealed more colored markings on his skin. "Don't worry, it'll wash off. I would never permanently draw on my skin like that."

"And the bags under your eyes?" Rogue asked out of concern.

"Oh… Nothing weird. I've just been sleeping poorly," Kurt responded.

"Hey, aren't you going to show me that secret project you've been working on now?" Kitty asked him.

Kurt shook his head. "Not yet. I said I'd show you at the party. So as long as I show you before it's over, I've kept my promise. So you'll just have to be patient until then, Frӓulein."

Kitty was about to retort, but was interrupted. "Out of the way, muggles!" Jubilee said as she and Bobby headed down the stairs. "Don't make me Expecto Patronum you!"

Kurt stared at her and then snapped his fingers. "I got it. You're Cho Chang."

Jubilee crossed her arms. "Why does everybody guess that? Is it because I'm Asian? What, I can't go dressed as Hermione Granger? I'm Asian so I have to be Cho Chang? Asian people can only be Asian people for Halloween? That's racist!"

Kurt pointed at her outfit. "But you're wearing a blue tie. I thought Cho wore a blue tie and Hermione wore a red one."

Jubilee smiled. "Hey, I never said I wasn't Cho Chang. I only said that it's racist to assume that's the only character I could be."

"But I wasn't assuming! You have a blue tie!" Kurt said heatedly, not entirely sure why Jubilee was now laughing at Kurt's frustration.

"Don't take her so seriously, Kurt. I know I don't," Bobby said.

"Shut up…" Jubilee said as she punched him on the shoulder.

"Bobby, who are you supposed to be?" Rogue asked.

"Tony Hawk!" he said as he slid down the banister. "Only the coolest skateboarder ever."

"Ah," Kurt responded.

Bobby nodded. "Check it out! Not only am I wearing the proper skating gear like kneepads and a helmet, but I also just bought… a skateboard! How awesome is that?"

"But you can't skateboard…" Kitty said.

"Oh yeah? Watch this!" Bobby dropped the skateboard he was holding and jumped on it. He started to skate around the room very slowly, only narrowly avoiding crashing into the tables or the giant ice sculptures he had made earlier that day.

"Bravo," Rogue said unenthusiastically. "You've certainly replaced Evan…"

Kitty chuckled. "Yeah, I'm surprised you can even stand on that thing without falling off."

"Seeing the great 'Iceman' slide around on a skateboard just cracks me up. He's like the Silver Surfer. Only lamer," Jubilee added.

"Laugh all you want. You know I'm cool," he said as he stopped skateboarding and walked back to the group.

---

Kitty then heard someone knocking on the door. "They're here already? That's early." She rushed over to the food tables and started to check if everything was ready. Kitty turned to Rogue. "Come on, Rogue. Go greet our guests!"

Rogue groaned but walked over to the entrance and opened the door. "Welcome," she said halfheartedly. "We're so happy you could make it."

"Wow, Rogue," Pietro said as he entered. "You're really giving this your all. It's so great to see you being personable for a change," he joked.

"Bite me," she muttered. "Where's the rest of your crew?"

"Still getting ready," he answered. "They only slow me down, so I thought I'd swing by early."

"It's so wonderful that you did," Rogue said sarcastically. "And what are you supposed to be?"

Pietro struck a pose. "Come on! Red Japanese clothes, wig of flowing white hair, fake katana, doggy ears. Take a guess."

Rogue rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I don't know. A Pokémon?"

"What?" he blurted out. "You didn't even try with that guess!"

"Nope," she responded quickly.

He grunted. "I'm InuYasha!"

"From?" Rogue asked halfheartedly.

"InuYasha," he answered coldly.

"No idea what that is. Still sounds like a name for a Pokémon," she said as she left to go talk to some other people.

"Oh, you are just the worst type of person…" he mumbled as he walked away to grab a drink.

In the few minutes after Pietro arrived, Rahne, Roberto, and Ray joined the party. Rahne came dressed as a cheerleader, complete with a set of pompoms and a megaphone. Roberto was Mario, with the overalls, hat, and fake moustache. And Ray was dressed as a zombie, wearing a torn shirt, ripped pants, and a lot of fake blood splattered across his body.

The party was just about to start when Logan and Hank showed up.

"Happy to be chaperoning?" Hank asked.

Logan just grunted and leaned against the railing.

"Nice costume, Mr. McCoy," Kurt said as he jumped onto the banister. "The Star Trek fan in me rejoices." He gave a Vulcan salute, which was actually quite easy considering Kurt only had three fingers on his hand.

Hank nodded. "Good thing I just happened to have the uniform lying around. Stored away just for this kind of occasion."

Kurt crossed his arms. "But why Spock?"

"Why not, Kurt?" Hank asked.

Kurt smiled. "You should have come as the Chief Medical Officer! So you could be… Dr. McCoy!"

Hank laughed and pulled off the fake ears. "There. Better?"

"Much," Kurt said as he hopped off the banister. "Where's Professor Xavier?"

"Chuck's off checking on his good old brother," Logan answered.

"Ah… Juggernaut…" Kurt said.

"Indeed. So it will just be me, Logan, and Ororo watching over you kids tonight," Hank said.

"Bummer. I was kind of hoping I'd get to see the Professor in a Halloween costume."

Hank chuckled. "Don't worry. I can always lend him my Star Trek uniform. Maybe he can go as Captain Picard."

"That would be awesome," Kurt said, ignoring Logan rolling his eyes at the comment. "Anyway, I'll see you later. I'm gonna go look for Scott and Jean."

Logan grunted as Kurt left. "I can't believe you, Hank. A man your age, dressed up in a costume."

"It's fun, Logan. Or have you forgotten what that means?" Ororo said as she walked up next to them.

"Never learned what it meant, actually," he joked. He glanced at Ororo, and had to stop himself from yelling in surprise at her costume.

Ororo shook her head and then looked out at the party. She grimaced when she saw Jamie, dressed as a doctor, playing around with the karaoke machine's wiring.

"I better go stop that boy before he electrocutes himself," she said as she walked off. "Nice talking with you. Pleasant as always."

Logan just scowled in response. "And what's she supposed to be, anyways? She looks like a 1980s punk rocker! Look at her mohawk!"

"Careful, Logan. She can still hear you," Hank said. Sure enough, Ororo turned to Logan and frowned before walking over to Jamie. "See? You jinxed it."

Logan crossed his arms in anger. "I hate this party." He glanced down at the tables. "I'm going to go grab something to eat," Logan muttered as he walked down the stairs.

"Bobbing for apples?" Hank joked.

Logan bumped into Pietro as he came down the stairs. "Having fun?" Pietro asked him as Logan walked over to the food table.

"No," he answered.

"You know, you'd probably be happier if you smiled."

"Don't make me cut that grin off your face," he muttered as he walked away.

Pietro shook his head as he went to go check out the karaoke machine. "Some people just can't enjoy life…"

---

On the other side of the room, Piotr, whose strong muscles and big frame made his Rocky Balboa costume quite convincing, walked over to talk to Bobby and Jubilee.

"Nice costume, big guy," Bobby said.

"Thanks. You two having fun?" Piotr asked.

"Oh, I'm great. Know why?" Bobby said with a smile. He pointed at Tabitha.

Piotr did a double-take when he glanced at Tabitha. "Holy…"

"Mmhmm… Exactly…" Bobby said. He had a very wide grin on his face. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"You boys are disgusting," Jubilee muttered.

"Don't blame the player, blame the game," Bobby responded.

"It's just typical that every guy here would be drooling over her because of her costume," Jubilee said as she pointed at Roberto and Ray. "If I had my boobs popping out of my dress like that, I'm sure I'd be the center of attention too," she said indignantly.

"Hey, if you're motivated to try that, I'm not gonna stop you," Bobby responded.

She groaned and crossed her arms in anger.

Kurt then walked over to them. "Nice costume, Piotr."

"Thank you, Kurt," he responded.

"I must break you," Kurt said in a low voice, trying his best to imitate a Russian accent.

Piotr laughed. "Actually, I'm Rocky. I didn't think anyone would recognize me at all if I went as Ivan Drago."

"I like it," Kurt said. "Sure beats the heck out of Logan's lack of a costume."

"Maybe I should let him borrow mine," Piotr said. "I could see Logan as a boxer."

"Better yet," Bobby added, "with some silver body paint, he can go as a boxing robot."

The other three stared at Bobby in confusion. "Bobby, a boxing robot doesn't make a lick of sense," Jubilee retorted. "That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard."

Bobby shrugged his shoulders. "I'd still watch a movie about it…"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Anyway, have you guys seen Kitty?"

"I think she's running around taking care of party stuff," Piotr answered.

"Ah. What about Scott or Jean?"

"No, but the party only just started, Kurt," Piotr said. "They'll probably be here soon."

"On a much more pressing note," Bobby interrupted. "Have you seen Tabitha?"

"No. Why?"

"She's over there, Kurt," Bobby told him. "Enjoy the view, my friend!"

Kurt looked around and finally saw Tabitha dancing in the middle of the room. "Holy…"

Piotr awkwardly chuckled. "That's exactly what I said."

"Did I ever say that Playboy Bunnies are some of the most beautiful things on this planet?" Bobby said as Jubilee scoffed.

"I can't believe Ms. Monroe let her wear that," Kurt said.

"Please, Tabitha's barely wearing anything," Jubilee muttered quietly.

"Actually, Ororo doesn't look all that happy about it," Piotr responded. "Although, it could just be Ororo's mohawk that makes me think she looks angry…"

"At least she doesn't look like she's gonna kill someone, unlike Logan," Kurt said as he eyed the grumpy man over by the wall.

"Yeah, but he always looks like he wants to kill someone. That guy needs to lighten up," Bobby added.

"Look, Ororo just tossed her a jacket," Piotr said.

"Finally…" Jubilee mumbled.

"Aww…" Bobby groaned. "Say goodbye to the sexy portion of tonight's party."

Jubilee smirked. "It's about time! That's what she get's for coming dressed like a Playboy Bunny."

"Maybe it's just me who doesn't really get this, but why do girls want to go to parties dressed like that?" Kurt asked.

"No idea," Piotr said. "I thought it'd be embarrassing."

"My fellow dudes, it's because Halloween's the one time of the year girls can get away with dressing like that and not be called dirty names. Instead of insults, they get to hear how awesome their bodies are." Bobby nodded. "It may set feminism back, but Halloween really is a wonderful time, gentlemen."

Jubilee elbowed him in the side. "Shut up," she said.

Piotr shrugged his shoulders. "I don't get it either, Kurt. It must be an American thing," Piotr answered.

"I guess so," Kurt responded. "But even if we're not calling them dirty names out loud, aren't we still just thinking those things in our head?"

"Not me," Bobby replied. "I'm just enjoying the show. And wishing that all girls had the courage to dress like that for Halloween."

"You're a pig," Jubilee responded.

Bobby grinned. "You know, Jubilee, you could have come as a sexy Cho Chang. Now that'd be nice."

Jubilee then quickly charged a firework in her hand and shot it at Bobby's feet.

"Hey!" he said as he jumped back. "What are you doing? Are you mad, woman?"

Jubilee grunted and crossed her arms again. "Next time you say something stupid like that, I'll make sure I won't miss."

Bobby nervously swallowed. "Hey, come on," he responded slowly. "No need to get angry… It's not like I'm comparing your costume to Tabitha's… Besides, we'd all know who'd win anyway…"

"Oh, really?" she asked. "Mind telling me who?"

"Uh…" Bobby said, carefully thinking about how he should answer. "Let me backtrack a bit…"

Jubilee continued to looks very angry. Kurt and Piotr awkwardly glanced at each other and started to inch away slowly.

Bobby nervously looked around. "Come on, Jubilee… I think your costume is awesome… Even though you didn't come dressed as a Playboy Bunny… I mean… Especially because you didn't come dressed as a Playboy Bunny... And I think Tabitha should follow your example by dressing less sexy…"

They saw her charge a firework in her hand. "Oh, sorry I didn't dress sexy enough! I didn't know my value as a woman always depends on being judged by men as a sexual object!"

Bobby started to stutter again. "Uh… Actually, what I really meant was… Your costume looks just as sexy as Tabitha's… No, way sexier… That's what you wanted to hear? You want to be a sexy object, right?"

"Please, keep talking, Bobby," Jubilee said, smiling but looking quite angry.

"Let me start over… I love respecting women… And I greatly respect you as a woman… And as… Thomas Jefferson once said… beauty is in the eye of the beholder… So… it's not what you wear, but what matters is what's on the inside…" He turned to Kurt and Piotr. "Uh… Help me out, guys…"

"No thanks, we're gonna go…" Kurt said as he and Piotr backed away.

Piotr nodded. "Yeah, other people to talk to…"

"What?" Jubilee said, a dark smile on her face. "You don't want to hear Bobby's last words?"

Piotr and Kurt backed away. "No, that's okay…" the said in unison as two of them promptly headed off towards another group of people.

"Don't leave me!" Bobby shouted as Jubilee held onto his shoulder, determined not to let him escape.

As Kurt and Piotr left, they heard a round of small explosions behind him and they could smell the faint odor of something burning.

"I'm afraid to ask," Piotr began, "but what was that noise?"

Kurt shuddered. "The sound of progress…"

Piotr shook his head. "Americans…"

Kurt nodded. "I know… They're crazy…"

---

Meanwhile, Kitty was busy making sure everything for the party was perfect. She ran around trying to be a nice host and talking to everyone, but also checked on things like the karaoke machine and fog machine. And currently, she was freaking out about the food.

"Amara, did you manage to find the bowl of carrots?" she asked.

"Yeah, it was right where it was supposed to be. The fridge," Amara replied. Amara was dressed as an alien. "You're worrying too much, Kitty."

"I'm worrying the right amount, Amara! I still need to find the dip!" she said, frantically looking for it.

"It's right here," Sam said as he held up the container. Sam was wearing a pirate costume with a parrot plush toy sewn on his right shoulder. "It was on the table the whole time. How'd you miss it? I have an eyepatch on and I still saw it!"

Kitty sighed. "I'm sorry! I'm just trying to get everything finished, and it's kinda driving me crazy!"

"Kitty, calm down," Amara said. "Go have a Vanilla Coke mixed with some grenadine; I know you love that!"

"Oh no… I forgot to buy grenadine…" Kitty muttered to herself.

"This isn't looking good," Sam whispered to Amara.

Kitty took a deep breath. "I just want everything to be perfect for the party."

"There's no need to freak out so much, Kitty," Sam said. "It's just a Halloween party."

"Yeah, but I'm the host," she replied. "So how the party turns out is my responsibility."

"Still, you need to chill out. Is this all because Lance is coming to the party?" Sam asked.

She nodded. "Yes. The party has to be great."

"Kitty, it's fine," Amara said.

"No exceptions," Kitty responded. "Not 'fine'. Not 'okay'. Not 'good'. 'Great'. It can only be 'great'."

Amara and Sam glanced at each other and then rolled their eyes.

"Okay, I'll go set up the bowl of carrots and the dip," Kitty stated.

"Need us to help?" Amara asked.

"No, I've got it," Kitty replied.

Sam shrugged and led Amara back to the party. Kitty then heard someone knock on the door again, but she was currently preoccupied carrying all the food. "Rogue!" she shouted. "That's Lance! You need to get that!"

Rogue groaned and begrudgingly opened the door. "Come on in," she said indifferently. "Because it's so wonderful to have you here."

"Darth Maul is here to party!" Toad said happily. "Ain't this costume off the hook, yo?"

Rogue struggled to keep from laughing at how ridiculous he looked. Though he was wearing a black outfit, had the red makeup with the black markings on his skin, and even brought a decent toy double-bladed lightsaber, he was far too short and oddly proportioned to look respectable. In fact, Rogue thought Toad looked more like a rejected Muppet design than the Star Wars villain. "Yeah, you look great…" She wasn't exactly sure she had managed to say that very convincingly.

Wanda groaned as she walked in the room. "I can't believe you talked me into this, Toad… You better uphold your end of the bargain."

"Of course, beautiful! A shower every four days for the next month, and I'll brush my teeth once a week!"

Wanda and Rogue shuddered as they heard him say that. Rogue turned to Wanda, surprised that she not only came to the party, but that she also dressed up. She came dressed as a witch, though, like Rogue, her costume didn't show a great amount of effort. Still, it was more than Rogue had expected Wanda to do.

"Nice witch outfit," Rogue said. "Very Wizard of Oz."

Wanda sighed. "It was the first thing I grabbed at the store."

"I love it!" Toad said. "Come on, gorgeous. Let me show you my killer dance moves," he said as he pulled Wanda to the dance floor. Rogue felt bad as she caught a glimpse of Wanda's pleading face, but she wasn't about to get involved in that.

"Nice vampire costume, Rogue," Fred snickered as he walked in.

"At least I didn't come as Peter Pan," she retorted.

"I'm not Peter Pan," he replied. "I'm Little John."

"From Robin Hood?" she asked.

"Yup."

"I didn't think you knew who that was," Rogue said.

"Of course I know who he is. We've all seen the movie, Rogue," he answered, trying to sound impressive.

"Which one?" she asked.

"That awesome one with the foxes and the songs!"

"You mean the Disney one?" she asked.

"Ha ha! Duh! That's the only Robin Hood movie there is!" he said with a big grin on his face. "Only I'm not the fox Robin Hood, so you'll have to use your imagination to see Robin Hood characters as human!"

She sighed in frustration and shook her head. "Yeah, I'll try real hard to do that…" Fred's intellect was an endless source of entertainment.

Then Rogue spotted Lance as he walked past the door. "Oh boy."

Fred laughed. "I know, right? Toga! Toga! Toga!"

Lance scowled. "Shut it! It's not a toga! It's Spartan battle armor!"

Rogue closed the door. "Are you supposed to be a specific Spartan? From 300, maybe?"

"I'm Spartacus," Lance responded.

"Is this where I'm supposed to say 'I'm Spartacus', too?" Rogue asked.

Fred scratched his head in confusion. "But you're not Spartacus, you're a True Blood."

"Observant as ever, Fred," Rogue responded.

Fred looked at Lance and shrugged, though Lance just rolled his eyes.

"Where's Kitty?" Lance asked.

"Iunno. Doing party stuff," Rogue responded.

"I thought I'd get to see her right away," Lance said.

"And I thought I wouldn't have to go to this stupid party. Life sucks like that, sugar."

Lance groaned while Fred chuckled.

"Well, I'm done with greeting duties," Rogue said as she walked away. "That's my good deed for the week."

Kurt walked by and spotted Lance. "Hey," he said. He and Lance weren't exactly on the best of terms, but they at least were decent towards each other. "I'm guessing you're waiting to see Kitty. She's busy getting stuff set up at the food table. Want me to get her?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," Lance answered. "I haven't even gotten to talk to her yet."

Kurt quickly turned around and walked over to the food table to fetch Kitty. "Your boyfriend's here. You should go hang out with him."

"Yeah, I know. But I've got to finish getting the chips ready. And the cupcakes still need to be served…"

"Don't worry about it, Fräulein. I've got you covered," Kurt said as he pushed her towards Lance and took her place behind the table. "I'll finish setting up. You can go mingle for a while."

"Thanks, Kurt. You're a lifesaver," she said as she ran over to say hi to Lance. "Lance! I'm so glad you could make it! I'm sorry I'm so busy!"

"Yeah," Lance responded, much happier that he was finally talking to Kitty. "I'm happy we came. The party looks great. Your work really shows."

Fred interrupted him. "Here, Kitty. We brought this for you." Lance shook his head in embarrassment as Fred handed her the gift, a bottle of Manischewitz wine.

"Uh… Thanks, but why?" she asked him.

"I thought guests were supposed to bring food or drinks when they came over to parties," Fred said.

"Okay… That is true…" she answered slowly.

"I got this for you since you're Jewish."

"Uh…" Kitty wasn't really sure how to respond.

Fred nodded. "I've heard that it's good."

"Maybe for a Bat Mitzva…" she said muttered. "How did you get this? You're not 21."

"I nicked it from Mystique's alcohol cabinet," Fred said as he winked. "But don't worry. It shouldn't even have been there 'cause it's nonalcoholic."

"Really?" she asked. "You're sure?"

"Yup! I checked!" Fred said. "Nonalcoholic!"

"Okay, Fred," she said, trying her best to smile and pretend like she wasn't completed weirded out by the gift. "Thank you so much."

He grinned and walked away to the food table. "Now it's time to eat!"

Lance shook his head as he turned to Kitty. "Sorry about him. The bringing drinks thing was his idea. I played no role in getting you Jewish wine."

Kitty laughed. "Well, I appreciate the gesture."

Lance was about to respond when Tabitha ran over and grabbed Kitty. "Come on, girlfriend!" she said as she pulled Kitty away. "The karaoke machine is calling you! MODOK beckons!"

"Tabitha, I was talking to Lance!"

"It's just one song!" Tabitha said, dragging Kitty across the room. "It'll be fast! I promise!"

Kitty half-shrugged to Lance as she was led away. "I'll be back soon!"

Lance waved a bit before looking slowly around the room to see who else was there.

"Hey, Lance," Pietro said as he ran up to him. "Having fun not seeing Pretty Kitty?"

"Shut up, Pietro."

"Now now, Lance. I thought this might cheer you up. Check out who's coming down the stairs now."

Lance nervously swallowed. "Oh boy… Scott and Jean…"

---

"After you, milady," Scott said as he let Jean walk down the stairs first.

"Such a gentleman," she said.

"I better be," he said with a smile. "After all, I'm Prince Charming. And you're the fairest maid I've ever met."

"Thank you. And I say that you play a prince quite well," Jean replied. "I especially like the puffy pants."

Scott chuckled. "Got to look the part as much as possible, sunglasses not included."

As the two got off the last step, Jean spotted the Brotherhood members. "Looks like they managed to show up after all."

"Kitty must be happy," Scott said. He sighed a bit. "I guess we should go say hi to them."

Jean nodded and the two of them walked over to Lance and Pietro. "Hi, guys. Enjoying the party?"

"Very much so, Xena," Pietro responded.

"Good, I was hoping someone would recognize my costume," Jean responded.

"Yup, out of all the things she could have gone as, she decided to go as Xena, on the top of her list too," Scott said. "She's such a secret fan."

"I think it was an underappreciated show," Jean said with a smile on her face.

"Yes, I'm sure it is," Pietro added.

"And you are…" Jean began.

Pietro groaned. "Really? Does nobody except me and Wanda watch InuYasha?"

"I watch it," Scott replied. "It's a good show."

"Finally!" Pietro exclaimed. "Thank you!"

Scott nodded. "Though I don't really think Logan's a fan of it…"

Jean ignored him. "And what are you, Lance?"

"He's Spartacus," Pietro stated.

"You're Spartacus?" Scott asked, eying Lance's costume.

"I'm Spartacus," Lance said as he crossed his arms. "I think it's a great costume."

Scott shrugged. "Okay…"

Jean decided to break the tension. "So… Did you get a chance to talk to Kitty yet? She was really looking forward to hanging out with you tonight."

Lance shook his head. "Not too much. She's either been really busy or getting dragged away by other people. She's singing karaoke now."

Jean looked across the room and saw Kitty singing Lady Gaga's "Telephone". Jean laughed. "At least she's having fun."

Scott shook his head. "I'm not really a fan of 'Telephone'. First of all, this song is not as good as 'Bad Romance', and it's not even close to 'Poker Face' or 'Just Dance'."

Pietro rolled his eyes. "That's so interesting. Well, this has been fun, but I'm going to go dance." He waved and left the other three.

Scott turned to Jean. "Are you thirsty? I can go grab some drinks."

"Thanks. That'd be great," she replied.

"You want something too, Lance?" Scott asked, trying to be nice.

"Uh… no thanks…" Lance replied.

Scott quickly nodded and headed over to the food table. "Barkeep, I'll take two."

"Ha ha, very funny, Scott," Kurt said as he handed Scott two drinks. "I was hoping I'd get to see you and Jean before the party was over."

"What are you doing manning the food table? I half expected you to be breakdancing on the other side of the room."

"I volunteered to take over some of the party responsibilities so that Kitty could take a break."

"That was nice of you," Scott said. "But I don't think anyone needs to worry about the food anymore. All the food's set up already, and people can just pour their own drinks."

Kurt looked around and nodded. "Agreed." He leapt over the table and landed next to Scott, "I think I'll hang out with you and Jean for a bit."

"Sure," he said as the two of them walked over to Jean and Lance.

"Here ya go, Jean," Scott said as he handed Jean her drink.

"Thank you," she responded.

"So, we all having fun?" Kurt asked them.

Lance half-shrugged. "Yeah… It's okay…"

"Something bugging you?" Kurt asked him.

"I just expected to be with Kitty a bit more, is all," he stated.

"Try not to be too disappointed," Kurt replied. "Seeing as this is her party, she's bound to be busy. I'm sure she'll make time for you."

"I hope so," he responded.

"Why don't you go dance? Or sing some karaoke?" Jean asked him.

"Yeah, I might go do that," Lance replied.

"You strike me as a Justin Bieber fan," Kurt joked.

"Don't make me bury you in an avalanche, elf," Lance said with a smirk.

Kurt chuckled. Then someone tapped him on the shoulder and he looked around. It was Kitty. "Done singing, I see."

"Yup," she said. "Thanks for covering for me. You're the best."

"No problem," Kurt said.

She nodded and walked over to Lance. "Hi! Having a good time?"

"I am now that you're here," he happily responded.

She hugged him. "Aww… I'm so happy you're here!"

"Me too," he said happily.

Kitty smiled. "You know I really like you, right? That's no secret."

She then suddenly pulled away and snapped her fingers. "Wait a sec! 'Secret'! Kurt! You still have to tell me what that secret was!"

"Uh… 'secret'?" Scott asked.

"He's been working on some secret project for a little while now," Kitty answered. "And it's time that he shows me what he's been up to."

Kurt shook his head. "Not now, Kitty. I thought I'd wait until the party was over."

Kitty crossed her arms. "Kurt, you promised."

"But then I'd be taking you away from Lance. Don't worry, later."

Lance sighed, but shook his head. "No, go ahead."

"Really?" Kurt asked. He thought it would be rude if he borrowed Kitty now and she didn't get to spend too much time with Lance. After all, that was the whole reason she had planned this party.

But then Lance spoke up. "If Kitty wants to go see this secret you're talking about, then she should. Believe me, I know how pushy she can get when she doesn't get what she wants."

"I don't know if I should thank you for letting me go or slap you for that insult," Kitty said.

"Well, if Lance is okay with it…" He looked at Lance who slowly nodded in response. "Okay then, Frӓulein, it's time to grab Scott and Jean."

"Wait, what? What do you need us for?" Scott asked.

"Ooh… Now I'm really interested…" Kitty said to herself.

"Scott, do you have any idea what's going on?" Jean asked.

"Nope, not a clue," he answered.

Kurt stretched his legs and then held out his hand. "Scott, Jean, Kitty, grab on."

Scott shook his head but grabbed Kurt's hand. "I am so confused…"

Jean followed his lead. "Well, at least we're both equally confused."

He cracked his head. "Four people," he muttered to himself. "Haven't had to do this in a while…"

Kitty grabbed hold of Kurt's hand. "Less talking, more teleporting." She turned to Lance. "Won't be gone long. But I gotta know what Kurt's been working on."

Lance gave her a thumbs-up. "I'll be here when you get back. Then we can talk."

She smiled and nodded. "Let's go, Kurt!"

He bowed his head slightly. "Alright, guys. Surprise time." Scott, Jean, and Kitty all tightly closed their eyes. Kurt nodded and they all teleported away in an instant.

Lance stared at the space where the four of them had just vanished. He sighed, "I guess that's how it is then…" Lance then walked over to join Toad and Wanda on the dance floor. The party wouldn't be a complete bummer if he at least got to see Wanda break a chair over Toad's head when he would inevitably step on her foot.

---

"Are we outside?" Kitty asked, her eyes still closed.

"I do think I feel a breeze," Jean added.

"Yeah, the party music sounds muffled…" Scott muttered.

Kurt smiled and shook his head. "Stop chatting and just open your eyes."

The three of them looked around. Scott was the first to speak up.

"Kurt… we're on the roof…" he said.

"Yes," Kurt said matter-of-factly. "Well spotted."

Jean squinted her eyes. "What's that? It's so dark up here…"

"Ah, yes, this is where things get interesting," he said as his tail grabbed a nearby cord. He grabbed the switch and turned the lights on.

The lights revealed a picnic table decorated with glow-in-the-dark pumpkin stickers, two chairs around the table with fake spider web wrapped around the legs, and various other Halloween decorations either as a centerpiece or surrounding them.

"Wow…" Kitty said. "You've really been working your tail off, elf…"

"Kurt, what is all this?" Jean asked him.

He led Scott and Jean to the chairs and let them sit down. "I thought I'd make it my responsibility that you two get a nice night to yourselves. So… I prepared this."

"Wow… Thank you, Kurt…" Scott began. "This is so nice of you. You didn't have to do all this."

"Please, I wanted to," Kurt answered. "I felt bad after hearing all of those disastrous date attempts."

"Still…" Jean said. "This goes above and beyond."

He shook his head. "Honestly, this is as much for you as it is for me."

"I don't follow," Scott replied.

Kurt sighed. "Apparently, when you guys haven't gone out on a date in a long time, you completely forget when I'm still in the room with you. And since I don't want to have to get the Professor to wipe my memories, I thought I would do this for you guys and, in return, no more making out in front of me."

Jean blushed a bit, but she smiled. "Thanks, but I didn't think it was all that bad…"

Kurt just shuddered as a response. "I was almost afraid to keep going to the library…"

Scott shook his head, his cheeks red. "Don't worry. We'll try to be less public from now on."

Kurt gave them a thumbs-up. "Much appreciated. So…" He teleported and then reappeared, holding two plates. "I thought you'd like a quiet dinner, away from the hustle and bustle of the party."

"Wow…" Scott said as Kurt placed the plates down in front of them. "I didn't know you could cook."

Kurt chuckled. "I can't. But I can at least cook better than Kitty."

"Hey!" he heard her shout.

He smiled but ignored her outburst. "So… enjoy my decent grilled cheese and a very tasty-looking pumpkin pie I bought."

"Kurt, we don't know how to thank you," Jean said.

He looked very serious. "Stop making out in the library."

Both Scott and Jean laughed. "Deal," they said.

"Then, guten Appetit," Kurt told them as he backed off and let Scott and Jean eat in silence. He turned to Kitty. "So? Surprised? Or are you disappointed that I didn't build that killer robot? Expecting a mechanical hobgoblin or something?"

"Kurt, I can't believe you did all that. This was, like, the nicest thing ever. Seriously, it was super nice of you," she said.

He nodded. "Danke."

Kitty crossed her arms but smirked. "Why didn't you tell me about this? I could have helped."

"But you're a terrible cook," he joked.

"I meant about setting up and decorating, you jerk," she said as she playfully punched him on the shoulder. "Also, I'm totally working on improving my cooking skills…"

He shrugged. "You've had your hands full with the party. Didn't want to bug you with my own pet project."

"Still…" she said. "This was really nice of you, Kurt. I can't believe you did all that for Scott and Jean."

He grinned. "What are friends for? Besides, you know I'd do the same for you."

"You're going to set me and Lance up on a private date?" she joked.

"What I mean…" he began to say, though he was smirking, "is that I will be there for you if you need me."

She smiled. "Thanks, Kurt. You're the best."

He returned the smile. Then he looked at his watch. "I don't want to take too much of your time away from Lance. We better get back to the party before it's over."

Kitty groaned. "You're right… The party's basically finished and I've barely even got to talk to Lance…"

"Hey, no worries. I'll bring you back right away!" Kurt grabbed Kitty's hand and teleported the two of them back to the party.

She let go of Kurt's hand. "Thanks for showing me what you were working on Kurt."

He nodded. "Of course." He looked at the karaoke machine. "Nice! It's free! Time to sing some German Beatles!" he said happily and then ran off.

---

Kitty smiled as she shook her head. She turned to her left and saw Jamie carrying her bottle of Manischewitz wine.

"Jamie! What are you doing with that?" she asked him.

"I thought it was a party drink," he told her.

"That's a gift for me," she responded. "A very odd gift, but a gift nonetheless."

"Sorry, I didn't know," he said as he handed her the bottle. "Woah! It's alcohol! Gonna go get drunk?" he asked with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes. "No! Besides, it's nonalcoholic." Jamie laughed at her and ran off to go hang out with Tabitha.

Then Kitty looked for Lance and saw him sitting in the corner, drinking some punch. She held onto her bottle of Manischewitz wine and walked over to him. "Hey! Sorry it's been such a crazy night. How're you doing?"

He kind of nodded. "Spent a lot of time watching Wanda smash chairs over Toad's head. That was enjoyable."

She groaned. "What did he do?" she asked.

"Stepped on her foot. Then knocked her over. Then managed to spill the tray of sandwiches on her. It was all quite impressive."

She shook her head in despair. "That's just sad…"

Lance put his drink down and looked at her. "Hey, Kitty, can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" she asked.

"Uh… Let's talk somewhere quieter…" he said as he led her down the hall.

She looked at him. "Lance, you're freaking me out a bit. What's wrong?"

He sighed. "Kitty… I want to talk about us…"

"Oh, so it's going to be one of those conversations…"

"Yeah…" he responded.

"Okay…" she said slowly.

He looked down at his feet. "What do you think about you and me?"

"Well," she began, "I don't think our relationship is perfect, but that just means we have to work on it harder."

"Haven't we already worked really hard on it?"

"Yes, but sometimes you just need to put even more effort into it."

"I don't know…" he muttered.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'?"

"The thing is, it shouldn't have to be this difficult."

"Is this about the fight last week?" she asked.

"Kitty, it's more than just last week. You know that, too. I mean, we broke up two years ago because I was too much of a hood for you."

"But you've changed! And I don't think that anymore!"

"I know… but even though we've gotten back together, we've still been having issues. We argue a lot, and I feel like we both spend a lot of time hanging out with other people," Lance stated.

"Is this because I've been busy with the party? I had to, I'm the host. Besides, I arranged this whole party just so I could be with you."

"But you couldn't find time to hang out with me. But you did find time to hang out with other people. Like Kurt."

She scoffed. "Oh my god! That's what this is about? Are you jealous of Kurt?"

"Kitty, it's not that…" he said calmly.

"Then what? Do you think I'm cheating on you with him?"

"No, I wasn't saying that. I know you wouldn't, and I know that Kurt's a nice guy."

"Then what is it?"

"The fact is, even though tonight was supposed to be about you and me, we barely even talked to each other. And you didn't make time to spend with me, but you did manage to find time to hang out with someone else. I'm sorry, but that's not how it's supposed to be."

"So? What then? What are you trying to tell me?" she asked him.

"I feel like… things just don't work well with us… And I think you feel like that, too…"

She crossed her arms. "Lance…"

He looked her into her eyes. "I think… we shouldn't be together anymore…"

She was shocked. "How can you say that? Tonight was just a bad night!"

"Really? I don't think so," Lance said. "I think that things would always have ended up like this. I don't think we're working. Tonight just made it clearer."

"So… you want to break up?" She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"I don't want to… but… I think it'd be best for both of us…"

"No! That can't be what's best for us! How can that be what's best for us?"

"Kitty…" he said.

She looked away from him. "But… I really like you…"

"I know," he said with a heavy heart. "And I really like you, too…"

"Then why are you breaking up with me? Why can't we just be together?"

He sadly sighed. "Because just liking someone isn't enough."

"Lance…" she mumbled.

"You know, it was a really great party. Even if it did end on a bad note." He sadly smiled and hugged her. "I'm really happy I got to come."

She started to cry and Lance patted her shoulder. "You're too good for me. I never deserved you."

"Don't say that…" she stammered.

"I don't regret any of the time I've spent with you. Not ever." Lance slowly stood up. "I'm gonna go."

She wanted to say something to him that would make him stay, but she just couldn't speak any more.

"Kitty," he said, his back still to her. "Make sure the guy who you finally end up with deserves you. Make sure he's a way better boyfriend than I was."

Right before he left, he turned to Kitty. "Because if you end up with someone who doesn't deserve you, someone even worse than me, I'll bury him in an avalanche."

She sadly laughed to herself. Kitty looked down at her feet and placed the bottle of Manischewitz wine down. She didn't want to cry anymore. She just wanted to feel normal again. It was then that she realized how alone she felt.

---

"Danke! Danke! And now for an encore performance of 'Sie Liebt Dich'!" Kurt shouted.

"Can it, elf," Logan muttered. "Those twelve other terrible German covers were bad enough. Hearing you repeat a song would be unbearable."

"Such a temper," Kurt muttered to himself. "Then how about 'Neunundneunzig Luftballons'? Everyone okay with that?"

"Nice try, blue," Tabitha said him. She then pointed to Amara and Rahne. "Quit hogging the spotlight. We want to sing 'Single Ladies' before we have to put the karaoke machine away."

"Of course. Go ahead," he said as he stepped down. "Don't you want to sing too, Logan?"

He groaned as a response.

Kurt smirked. "I can get you your cowboy hat and listen to you sing 'Oh What a Beautiful Mornin''. Sounds fun, yes?"

Logan pulled out a cigar and started to smoke it. "Don't make me cut you, elf."

Kurt chuckled to himself and walked off. He saw Fred walking to the door.

"You guys leaving?" Kurt asked him.

"Yeah," Fred replied. "Lance said that it was time to go."

"Okay, then I guess we'll see you guys," Kurt said. "Oh, Piotr told me that it was you who brought the Manischewitz wine for Kitty. That true?"

Fred laughed. "Yup!"

"Uh… Why?" Kurt asked him.

"Because she's Jewish. And it's Jewish wine," he said matter-of-factly.

"Alright…" Kurt said, still not really seeing Fred's logic.

"I thought Jews could only eat and drink kosher things. So that's why I went out of my way to find nonalcoholic wine for her!"

"Fred, just because you're Jewish, doesn't mean you keep kosher. Kitty's not really all that religious," Kurt stated.

"Oh," Fred said.

"Does that make sense?"

"Uh…"

"And what does being kosher have to do with nonalcoholic wine?" Kurt asked him.

"Doesn't the kosher 'K' stand for 'nonalcoholic'?"

Kurt's jaw dropped. "You're kidding, right?"

"Kidding about what?" Fred asked him.

"How the hell can 'kosher' stand for 'nonalcoholic'? 'Kosher' starts with a 'k'!" Kurt shouted at him.

"Oh yeah… Didn't think about that…" Fred said slowly. "But doesn't 'kosher' mean 'nonalcoholic' in Jewish?"

"First of all, I think you mean 'Hebrew'," Kurt said him.

"Yeah, that."

"And second of all, no, Fred," Kurt said, still very much in shock. "No, it does not."

"Oh…" Fred chuckled. "My bad."

Kurt shook his head in disbelief. "Wow. Okay then. See ya, Fred." Kurt walked away before he could hear Fred say anything else that would destroy the very foundations of logic that Kurt understood.

He looked around and saw that the party had mostly died down by this point. He decided it would be a good time to clean a bit, so he grabbed paper plates and empty soda cans and threw them in the trash. He teleported to the kitchen, grabbed a roll of paper towels, and teleported back to the main lounge where the party was. He started wiping down the tables when he saw Bobby walk by.

"Yo," Bobby said.

"Hey," Kurt responded. "Looks like Jubilee's fireworks missed… Or at least most of them did…"

Bobby shuddered. "I'm lucky. Man, that girl can have a temper. I had to apologize to her, like, a million times just to calm her down. And I wasn't even sure what I was apologizing for. I mean, what did I even do to set her off in the first place?"

Kurt was about to say something to him, but decided against it and only shrugged. It was funnier watching Bobby try to figure it all out on his own.

Bobby sighed. "She's mental, I'm telling you. Don't tell her I said that though, or else it's more fireworks to the face for me."

"Yes, I'm sure," Kurt said. "Don't worry. My lips are shut."

Bobby nodded. "What about you? How're you doing? Enjoy the party?"

"I'm good," Kurt replied. "I got to sing German Beatles. I'm definitely good."

"Dude," Bobby began, "the Beatles are way outdated."

"I disagree. I believe they are timeless."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Kurt. Your music tastes, not mine. Today's pop music is where it's at."

Kurt scoffed. "Like Rebecca Black? 'Cause she's so much more talented that the Beatles."

"Shut up," Bobby responded. "Fine, I take back what I said about the Beatles. In return, you never mention her name in my presence again."

"Deal," Kurt said.

Bobby looked around. "So have you seen Kitty? I wanted to thank her for throwing such an awesome party."

"She's hanging out with Lance, I believe," Kurt answered.

"She's not with Lance," Jubilee said as she walked up to them. Bobby flinched slightly when he saw her, but then quickly tried to regain his composure. Jubilee smirked, but then turned to Kurt. "She's down the hall, but I don't know what she's up to. Looked like she was talking to herself. It's really weird."

"Really?" Kurt muttered. "Maybe someone should go check on her."

"Way ahead of you," Bobby said as he started to walk away, but Jubilee grabbed the back of his collar.

"No!" Jubilee said. "You're going to help clean up."

"What? Why?" Bobby asked.

"Because it's the right thing to do," Jubilee stated. "The two of us will clean. Kurt, you've already done some; you go check on Kitty."

"Are you sure? I don't mind cleaning more," Kurt said.

"Don't worry about it. We got it. It's just cleaning," Jubilee said.

Kurt nodded and headed down the hall. He rounded the corner and saw Kitty sitting on a chair, looking at the ceiling and rambling to herself.

"Get out! Can you, like, move things about and walk from one room to another?" she non-coherently mumbled. "Tell it to the cleaning lady on Monday."

"Uh… Kitty…" Kurt said quietly.

She must not have heard him, because she continued to talk to herself. "Hey wait, I thought you said 'pacing' not 'passing'."

"Kitty," he said again. "Are you okay?"

She looked down from the ceiling suddenly, as if she had just noticed him standing there. "Kurt! Kurt, Kurt, Kurt! Why aren't you singing German Beatles songs?"

"Uh… I already did…" he said slowly. He looked at her and he saw that her cheeks were quite red and her whole body seemed to be swaying slightly. "Are you okay? You're freaking me out a bit."

"You know what's freaking me out? How good this is," she said as she held up her almost empty bottle of Manischewitz wine. "Have you had any yet?"

His eyes opened in shock. "Meine Gott," he said to himself. "You drank the whole bottle."

"It's okay," she said happily and winked at him. "It's nonalcoholic." Then she started laughing for no discernable reason.

"No, that was just Fred being stupid. It's normal Manischewitz wine, so, yeah, it's alcoholic, actually."

"Oh…" She looked around the hall and then turned to Kurt. "Then I better hide the bottle!" She bent down and rolled the bottle under her chair. "There! Now it's gone!"

"Yes…" Kurt said. "Um… Are you okay? You seem a bit… off…"

"Oh, I'm fine! Lance just broke up with me, but I'm totally over it now!"

"Oh… I'm sorry… I didn't know…"

"I didn't know either about half an hour ago!" she said as she started to laugh again. "Life sucks…"

"And then you got drunk on Jewish wine…" he muttered. "Wunderbar…"

"I'm not drunk!" she protested. "I'm just… um… sleepy…"

"Well, then you look really, really 'sleepy'," Kurt replied. "So how about I help you up to your room? Normally, I'd just teleport us. But I don't want you to puke from the motion sickness. So I'll have to help get you back."

"Okay… But I really don't need you to help me up," she said as she struggled to stand up. "I'm good…" Kitty muttered as she wobbled, looking like she was going to topple over at any second.

Kurt quickly reached over. "Come on. Hold on to me." She shook her head at first, but then she wrapped her arm around Kurt's shoulders. "There we go," he said as he helped her walk.

"Kurt, did you know that you look a lot like those aliens from Avatar?"

"I'm sure I do," he answered.

"And they look just like the Blue Man Group! Did you ever see that Blue Man Group? Total rip-off of the Smurfs. And the Smurfs… they suck!"

"Yes…" he said to her as they walked up the stairs. "The charm of your alcohol-addled candor knows no bounds."

"What did you just say?" she asked him. "Was that German?"

"Uh… Sure… Why not, Fräulein…" he responded with a grin on his face.

"I never understand your German, Kurt," she said as he opened the door to her dark room. "Always calling me 'feline'…"

He laughed as he led her to into her room and closed the door behind them with his tail. "It's not 'feline', Kitty. It's 'Fräulein'. It means 'miss' or 'young lady'."

"Really?" she asked. "That's all?"

"Yup."

"So let me get this straight…" she muttered. "You've known me for, like, over three years now, and the best nickname you've ever come up for me is 'young lady'?"

"Uh… When you put it like that…" he said as he let her sit down on her bed.

"The least you could do is give me a proper nickname, elf," she said as she tapped him on the nose.

"You're right. You're drunk, but you're right," he stated. "Very well. Um… how about 'Kätzchen'?"

"What does that mean?"

He smiled. "It means 'kitty'. Quite fitting, yes?"

"Okay, I like that… even though you only seem to give me cat-related nicknames," she mumbled as she looked around. "Woah! When did we get to my room?"

Kurt sighed. "We have to make sure you never drink again…" He turned to her. "Come on, Kitty. Time for bed."

"Is it really?" she mumbled. "The clock looks so blurry… And it's moving a lot…"

"Yes, it's late. Go change out of your costume and go to bed."

Kitty nodded her head. She stood up and turned away from Kurt so that he was staring at her back. She then promptly phased out of her clothes, so that she was left only in her panties. Kurt quickly covered his eyes and felt his cheeks flush red. "It's dark and I didn't look… It's dark and I didn't look… It's dark and I didn't look…" he quickly said to himself over and over again.

Kitty changed into her pajamas and climbed back into her bed. She pulled the covers over her body so that only her face was exposed. "There. All changed…"

Kurt groaned. "Why me? How come I got stuck doing this? Why not Rogue? At least she's your roommate! And a girl!"

Kitty loudly sighed. "Kurt, you're not happy."

"Well, yes, I'm a bit flustered at the moment. I think that's expected."

"That's not what I meant… You weren't happy earlier…" she said in a serious tone.

Kurt pulled his hand away from his eyes and turned to her. "'Earlier'?"

"A few days ago when I first started planning this Halloween party. You were kind of down then. Did something happen between you and Amanda?"

Kurt sighed. "You're suddenly quite lucid…" It was funny but he felt even more uncomfortable now than before. "Now is not the time to discuss these things…"

"Kurt," Kitty said into the pillow. "Lance just broke up with me and everything in this room is spinning. You're telling me what happened or I'm gonna throw up on you."

He nodded. "Okay. We broke up…" he began slowly. "About two months ago, actually. We both knew that it would happen. Eventually, anyway. I'm staying here in the Institute and she's in college on the west coast. We thought about it, but it's a long-distance relationship. And I'm a mutant. And I'm a superhero. It got too stressful by that point. For both of us."

"And?" she asked.

"That was it, really. I don't know who admitted it first, but we decided to break up right before she headed off to college. So… yeah… That's why I'm not always happy."

"You don't talk to her anymore?"

"We still chat. About once or twice a week. There's no hard feelings, really. We're still friends. But it's nothing serious anymore. I think our last Skype conversation was about Die Hard."

"So we both got dumped? That means we can suffer broken hearts together, like Chandler and Monica," Kitty muttered.

"Yeah… Okay…" he replied, not entirely sure about what she was talking about. "Who are they?"

"From Friends…" she added.

"I never watched Friends, so…" Kurt said.

"I feel terrible…"

"That's probably the alcohol."

"Not that. Nobody likes me anymore…" she groaned.

"Don't say that. You know that's not true."

"Kurt?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you like me?"

He felt himself blush slightly at her comment, but kept his composure. "I like you when you're sober."

She nodded and then groaned. "Life sucks…" she repeated.

He shrugged. "Sometimes… But not always… It's better not to dwell on the negatives… I've still got good friends like you so I'm at least thankful for that. And as long as we have something to be happy about, life isn't all that bad."

"Kurt…" she quietly mumbled into her pillow. "Can you stay with me until Rogue gets back? I don't want to be alone…"

He nodded as he pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Thanks for being there for me…"

"Always," he responded.

"Even though you look like a lame Smurf from the Blue Man Group …"

He grinned. "I'm from Avatar, remember?"

"And I'm from Inception…" she muttered as she yawned.

"You are indeed…"

"Kurt?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, Kätzchen?"

"Sing me a German Beatles song."

He smirked as he saw that she was only moments from falling asleep. He took a deep breath and started quietly singing "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand".

An hour later, after she had finished stacking all of the chairs and taking down the pumpkin stickers, Rogue returned to her room. She was shocked to find Kitty already sleeping, but was more so surprised that Kurt was sleeping in the chair next to her. Not sure of why they were like that, and much too tired to care, Rogue simply pulled off her cape, tossed her fake teeth into the garbage can, and collapsed onto her own bed. I'll ask them in the morning, she thought to herself just before she fell asleep.

---

Kitty heard some birds chirping and she slowly opened her eyes. "Why does it feel like someone's been jackhammering on my head?"

She turned and saw Kurt asleep on a chair next to her bed. "Kurt?"

Kurt groaned as he started to wake up. "Wunderbar… Another bad dream…" he mumbled to himself as he rubbed his eyes. "That… and apparently I fell asleep on my fake gun…"

Kitty slowly pointed at Kurt, still not fully understanding what had happened. "What are you doing in my room?"

"I was wondering that too…" Rogue mumbled, her head still on her pillow.

He yawned and stretched his legs. "I helped you back to your room after you got thoroughly wasted. Then you asked me to stay with you until Rogue got back, but I must've fallen asleep, too."

Kitty groaned as she pulled her knees to her chest. "That explains why I don't feel so good… but how could I have gotten wasted? I didn't drink any alcohol."

"The Manischewitz wine," Kurt answered.

"But Fred said it was nonalcoholic…" she mumbled as placed her hands on her head.

Kurt chuckled. "He was very wrong. And you got very drunk."

Kitty pulled the pillow to her face. "Life sucks…"

Kurt shrugged. "You said that last night, too."

"I did?" she asked. "I don't recall that. Last night is all so blurry…"

"You can't remember what you did while you were drunk? Oh, that is just hilarious," Rogue added as she yawned.

"Did I say or do anything embarrassing last night while I was drunk?" Kitty asked, regretting what she was about to hear.

Kurt looked away from her and shrugged. "You were pretty out of it, yeah."

"Please define 'pretty out of it'."

He sighed. "Like babbling to yourself and barely being able to walk. And half the stuff you said to me made absolutely no sense at all."

Kitty groaned. "Why me?"

"It wasn't that bad, actually. I got you to your room pretty early."

She sighed. "Great. I made a fool of myself and Lance breaks up with me. Sounds like it was a wonderful night."

"Lance broke up with you?" Rogue asked. Kitty nodded her head glumly. Rogue turned to Kurt. "Did you know?"

"She told me last night. It was one of the few things she said that made sense."

Rogue looked at Kitty. "How'd that happen? Was it out of the blue?"

Kitty sighed. "Yes and no. I didn't think that we would break up at the party, but… yeah, now that I really think about it, I felt like there was a chance that it might happen eventually. I always had that fear that it was about to end."

"But I thought you two really liked each other," Rogue said.

"We do," Kitty replied. "But I guess that wasn't enough to make the relationship work. Like with Kurt and Amanda."

"Really?" Rogue said as she looked at Kurt. "So that's why you've been kinda down?"

He nodded. Then Kurt turned to Kitty. "You remember me telling you that?"

"I guess so…" Kitty said slowly. "Maybe if I try real hard, I can remember some of what happened since I got drunk…"

"Changing into your pajamas doesn't ring a bell?" Kurt inquired, his tail nervously twitching a bit.

"No… Should it?" Kitty asked.

Kurt quickly shook his head, his cheeks slightly flushed. "Nope!"

"Are you sure?" Kitty cautiously asked him.

"Positive," Kurt answered promptly as he let out a deep breath.

Kitty let the issue drop, but was curious as to what he was hiding. Must remember to ask Kurt about that later, she thought to herself.

Rogue sighed. "Well, I'm really sorry about Lance, Kitty. Getting your heart broken really sucks. If you need to talk, I'm here."

"Thanks," Kitty responded.

Kurt nodded. "You can count on me, too. Both me and Rogue will cheer you up if you're down. That's what friends are for."

"Thanks," Kitty said. "But you do know cheering me up involves many trips to the mall, right? Rogue at least likes shoe shopping. The mall is basically just torture for you, Kurt."

Kurt shuddered. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there." He got out of the chair and started stretching his limbs. "My back is killing me. I can't believe I fell asleep on my fake gun…"

"Would laughing at you be inappropriate?" Rogue asked with a smile. "Because it seems awful funny, sugar."

He grunted in response, shaking his head. "Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude," he said sarcastically.

"No one understands you when you speak in German, Kurt," Kitty said.

"I am aware of that." He pointed at them. "And that is very much a shame. I've never even see you two attempting to learn any German at all. I learned English! That wasn't exactly easy! The least you could do is try to learn up a few German phrases!"

The two girls rolled their eyes.

"Your lack of interest in my native language saddens me." Kurt glanced at his watch. "I'm hungry and I really need some breakfast." He nodded slightly. "Kätzchen. Meine Schwester. Bis Später."

"What?" they both said in unison. "Speak in English!" they yelled at him.

"Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache." He smirked and then teleported away.

Rogue groaned and pulled the pillow over her head. "German's stupid."

"I, like, whole-heartedly agree," Kitty muttered.

"And since when did you get a fancy new nickname, 'Kätzchen'?"

"I know, right? I'm no longer 'feline'." Kitty shrugged. Kitty got up from her bed and walked over to her window. She looked outside and, despite all the troubles that happened to her yesterday night, she smiled. "But I must say, it does sound a whole lot better. It's kinda cute, even. 'Kätzchen'. Yeah, I definitely like that. Maybe life really doesn't suck that much…"