AN: I was having some trouble with the next chapter of Let Me Go, so I decided to take some oneshot prompts over on my Tumblr. You can find me there under the same username. I'm still writing Let Me Go, don't worry. I just needed a break. Feel free to find me on Tumblr and send me prompts
To say Kitty Pryde was frustrated would be an understatement. She and Bobby had just moved into their house outside Xavier's school, and she had been planning on it being a special night for them both. Moving out of the school had taken what seemed like an eternity to begin with. First there had been the trouble of finding a house close enough to the school so they could keep teaching, but still far enough that they had their own space. Then had come the actual task of moving out; they each had their own possessions, but not much actual furniture. Shopping for the furniture had been one hell of a task for both of them, who had lived at the school for upwards of ten years. But at the end of it all, they'd found their perfect house, with a fireplace and a balcony off their bedroom for Kitty, who loved to look at the stars, and a large backyard for Bobby, who desperately wanted a dog.
However, the kitchen was still somewhat of a foreign place to Kitty. She wanted so badly to make a nice dinner for them both, but it was proving to be a nightmare. Ten years of living at the school had definitely not prepared her to go out into the real world and cook. She had thought that she was being really careful too. She had been trying to prepare simple recipes for pasta and chicken, but they were proving to be more difficult than simple.
"Come on," Kitty groaned as she got the water for the pasta boiling. She put the pasta into the pot and sighed, sweeping her hair up into a ponytail. "I am not going to be that girlfriend who really can't cook."
She turned her attention back to the clock. She was keeping an eye on the time, trying to make sure that the chicken didn't get too well done, "Wait a second. Did I put the chicken in at five-fifteen or five-thirty?" Kitty groaned and glanced at the clock. Bobby was still at the school doing some extra work with a student who needed help and wouldn't be back for at least half an hour. There was still time to not screw everything up. "Maybe this was just one giant mistake. But I want this to work out so badly."
Kitty pulled another pot out of the cabinet to get started on a simple sauce for the pasta. She was gathering some ingredients from the pantry when a sizzling sound reached her ears. With a small yelp, she ran back to the stove as her pasta boiled and bubbled over, "Oh, for fuck's sake," She rolled her eyes at herself as she lowered the flame and the bubbles receded. "Perhaps rocket science might be a little easier."
She went back to the sauce that she was attempting to concoct. Some tomato paste and water, some crushed garlic and some spices… How could she possibly mess up something so simple? She wrinkled her nose at herself as she stirred the sauce. It really didn't smell too appetizing. With a slow inhale, she steeled herself and decided to taste it. She took a taste from her spoon and immediately hissed and tossed the spoon into the sink.
"Is nothing going to go right for me tonight?" Kitty dumped the sauce into the sink, praying that there might be some marinara sauce in the pantry. She looked up as she heard her phone vibrating across the counter on the other side of the kitchen.
A quick glance at the screen showed her a text from Bobby. He was on his way home. He was on his way home, and Kitty was nowhere near ready for him to be home. This dinner was turning out to be a complete and utter disaster. She was going to screw it all up, she knew it. How could it possibly so difficult to cook such simple things? Was she really just that inept as such a simple task? And why the hell did her kitchen suddenly smell like smoke?
The shriek of the smoke detector broke Kitty out of her thoughts. Kitty whirled around to see a steady stream of smoke creeping out of the oven. She dashed over to it and turned it off as she opened the door, the kitchen suddenly filling with a cloud of black smoke. Coughing, Kitty opened the windows and turned on the ceiling fan. That's it. That was the last straw.
Bobby walked into the house cursing under his breath. He cursed the frigid upstate New York weather, the traffic that clogged the streets between the school and the house, and the entire goddamn state of New York in general. It had been a long, tiring day, and all he wanted was to find Kitty and something to eat. He paused as he inhaled slowly. The house smelled weird, now that he thought about it. It smelled both good and bad, like someone had burnt something and then tried to cover it up.
"Oh no," Bobby sighed to himself as he kicked his shoes off. He hung his jacket up, thankful that the house was warm and comfortable. "She tried to cook something, didn't she?"
Bobby knew that Kitty wasn't normally one to spend more than a maximum of five minutes in the kitchen cooking something, and he was completely fine with that. He didn't mind cooking for them both, in fact, he enjoyed it. But on a long day like the one he'd just had, he had assumed that she would have just ordered take out for dinner. He braced himself for the worst as he walked into the kitchen, only to find that Kitty wasn't there.
"Where is she?" Bobby asked the air. He hadn't expected an answer. The table, however, was set for two people, and Kitty had even gone as far as to put candles out. Bobby couldn't help but smile at the effort that Kitty was putting into the night. However, there was definitely some strange smell lingering in the kitchen, and Bobby could only wonder what had transpired.
"Kitty?" Bobby called out at last, wondering exactly where the woman who held his heart could possibly be.
"I'll be right there!" Kitty's voice called back from somewhere above him. She was in their bedroom, most likely, judging from how far away her voice sounded. It took a few minutes, but sure enough, Kitty was there, looking like she had dressed in a hurry after what was likely a quick shower, "Sorry, Bobby," She said, standing on her toes and kissing him softly. She smiled when Bobby's hands went to her hips and held her there for a moment longer to give her a proper kiss, "I just needed a quick shower. I felt really gross."
"Oh, and you didn't wait for me?" Bobby pouted playfully, his blue eyes glimmering slightly. Kitty laughed and reached up, cupping his cheek.
"Tell you what, let's have dinner, and if you want, I'll take a bath with you after we're done," Kitty reasoned as Bobby turned his head to kiss her palm. "Come on, I have dinner ready. I figured you'd be hungry after such a long day."
"I am," Bobby said with a nod. He walked over to the table, though he kept his eyes on Kitty, "Speaking of, did you cook dinner?"
"I did," Kitty responded, though something in her tone made Bobby suspicious. She grinned over her shoulder at him before she walked over to the table with a box of matches in her hand, "And it came out really, really good too." She lit the candles and turned down the lights, "Sit," She said to Bobby, motioning to the table. "I'm sure you're tired. You're such a sweetheart, staying late for the students who need your help."
"Well, math is hardly everyone's favorite subject," Bobby said with a shake of his head. He loved teaching, really he did, but he also knew that the majority of teenagers couldn't give a flying fuck about the subject. He shook his head once again, getting back to the subject at hand, "So, what did you make for dinner?" He asked, watching Kitty get some things together.
"Some chicken and pasta with marinara sauce," Kitty responded as she walked back over to the table, expertly balancing several plates filled with food. She set the plates down on the table and Bobby eyed the food cautiously. It didn't look too bad, nor did it smell bad, but then what the hell was he smelling? He knew he had definitely smelled something burning when he walked in the house.
"Wow, it smells great, Kitty," Bobby said at last with a smile. He stood up and kissed her cheek before allowing her to walk to her own seat, "Thank you."
"Anything for you," Kitty said as she sat opposite him and nudged his foot underneath the table with her own. She poured herself a cup of iced tea and took a piece of chicken for herself, digging into it. Bobby watched her for a moment, knowing that Kitty would never eat something that didn't taste good, even if she were trying to show off for him. As she seemed to be enjoying her food, he joined her, helping himself to some chicken and pasta.
"Wow, this is great, Kitty," Bobby said with a nod. He sighed internally, very much thankful that the burning that he had been smelling was not, in fact, what Kitty was trying to serve him. They ate in silence for a few minutes, both of them being equally hungry. There was still a slight nagging of curiosity in the back of Bobby's mind. He knew Kitty very, very well. And if there was one thing that he knew, it was that she could not cook. And he wanted to know just what the hell had been burning.
"How long did it take you to cook all this?" Bobby asked at last, his tone neutral. He was poking around, trying to figure out exactly what had transpired with the meal. "You must be exhausted yourself. A full day of teaching and then coming home to cook…."
Kitty choked on her iced tea as Bobby spoke, the cup dropping from her hand and hitting the table. Bobby was on his feet instantly. He hadn't meant to get that type of reaction from Kitty. He grabbed some napkins as he rubbed Kitty's back, wiping up the spill that had occurred on the table, "Kitty, breathe," He said soothingly, rubbing her back gently as he heard Kitty inhale slowly. He looked at her, arching an eyebrow at her, "Are you okay?"
Kitty nodded, "I'm fine," She rasped before coughing and clearing her throat. "My tea just went down the wrong way." She licked her lips and shook her head, her eyes narrowed, "And so what if I had a long day? Yours was longer. I just wanted to make sure that you had some food waiting for you when you got home." She shrugged at him, "Really, it's not a big deal."
"I'm sorry," Bobby said sincerely, stepping back a bit as Kitty snapped at him. "Next time I won't say anything."
Kitty sighed, moving her fingers through her hair, "No, I'm sorry for snapping at you, Bobby. I just wanted the two of us to have a nice dinner together after not really seeing each other the whole day."
"And I thank you for that," Bobby said, kissing the top of Kitty's head, telling her in his own way that they were okay. "Let me toss these napkins out, and I promise, no more comments like that one."
Bobby got the wet napkins from the table and Kitty watched him for a moment before she remembered something, "Bobby, wait," She said, getting to her feet as though there was a spring underneath her. "I can clean it up. I made the mess. Just leave it to me."
Bobby tilted his head as he looked at her, "Kitty, it's not a big deal. I'm just throwing these napkins out." He opened the lid to the trash bin, only to be hit with the smell of burnt food once again. He wrinkled his nose and glanced into the garbage. He saw at last the source of the smell. What looked like a burnt chicken was in the garbage along with a lump of what looked like pasta that had stuck together. He turned and looked questioningly at Kitty, who was leaning against the counter, a guilty look on her face.
"Okay, okay, I tried to make dinner," Kitty sighed with a shake of her head. There really was no point in not telling Bobby the truth now that he'd seen the mess in the trash. However, she was cursing herself for not throwing the bag outside. "But I think we can both agree that the cook in this relationship isn't me. I nearly burnt down the kitchen trying make us dinner. But I didn't want to just order Chinese or something, so I went down to the market and picked up a cooked chicken and the pasta…. I'm sorry, Bobby."
"Sorry?" Bobby blinked. He walked back to Kitty and shook his head, reaching out and caressing her cheek. "What are you sorry for; for trying to be an awesome girlfriend? So you burnt some food and tried to pass off the market's food as your own," He shrugged, "Big deal. The point is that you tried to cook something for me since you didn't want me to come home and have nothing to eat. I think that was very sweet of you to do." He pulled Kitty towards him and kissed her before rubbing her back. "Really, thank you for trying, even if it did turn out to be less than edible. And thank you for not serving me something that probably would have poisoned me."
"Hey!"
Bobby chuckled, "I'm kidding, Kitty. I swear. I know your cooking wouldn't have killed me." He nuzzled her cheek, "Now, I think you mentioned something about a bath?"
Kitty nodded once, her eyes glimmering slightly in the darkness, "Why don't you go get that bath started and I'll clean up down here?" Bobby suggested, his hands sliding beneath the hem of Kitty's shirt.
"Only if you swear to never mention what you saw in the garbage can ever again."
"You've got a deal, Kitty."