Title: Surgeon General's Warning
Fandom: X-men
Pairing: Pryde/Wisdom
Rating: PG
Prompt: 036 Smell
At first, she figures that she started because she missed the smell. The idea would have seemed ridiculous to her before Pete. She'd always hated the smell of cigarettes, and it was slightly disconcerting how quickly she came, not only to tolerate the smell, but to enjoy it. She reveled in it. It represented Pete, in her mind, and she learned to miss the smell when his missions took him away from home for extended periods of time.
After they broke up, the absence of the smell caused an almost physical ache. She'd find herself looking for it anywhere she could. She spent more time around Logan than usual, and once she'd moved to Chicago, she spent more time around the smokers outside of classroom buildings, huddled together against the bitter mid-western wind.
It was about six weeks after she started working at the bar that she actively contemplated smoking one herself. In fact, it was the six month anniversary of the day she'd learned Pete Wisdom was dead, and she couldn't really think of a more fitting tribute. Dylan had parted with one of his easily enough, and only seemed mildly surprised by her request.
Contrary to what every after shool special had shown her, Kitty didn't even choke on the first one. She was surprised by how easy it was to adjust to the feeling of inhaling and exhaling the smoke, letting it pass through her like she passed through walls. All of a sudden, it was almost like having him back again. She liked it. She really liked it.
Two days later, while standing in line waiting to pay for a soda and some sunflower seeds at the local market, the cigarettes in the case behind the clerk seemed to be taunting her. They were calling to her, she decided. She bought her first pack right there, and had one lit before she even made it the whole way out the door.
About a month later, she had decided that her relationship with ciagarettes was pretty similar to her relationship with Wisdom. They were addictive and toxic simultaneously.
She occasionally wondered what he'd think of her smoking, and the idea always made her laugh. She figured his face would be hilarious. She wondered if he'd offer to rip her head off and spit down her neck.
She'd have done anything, given anything, to find out. To hear him spreading snark and sarcasm everywhere like some sort of poisonous Johnny Appleseed. She wished she could see him one more time, although she wasn't sure, sometimes, if it was to kiss him or kill him.
She figured she'd know if she saw him, though.
She was wrong.