Yay! Christmas is on its way. Time for annoying, over the top Christmas spirit in the form of: KYRO!! Yup. This is chapter one in what is potentially a three-parter, if, you know, I get around to writing the other two parts. I meant to post this on December 1 but was busy/forgot. I'm pretty sure it's still December 1 in most of the world. Anyway, enjoy!

----

The lawn outside the Institute had a dizzying, almost carnival-like feel to it. That afternoon Logan, Jean, Kurt and Xavier had finished stringing up the Christmas lights, and now the whole school was assembled in the cold, biting air, snow soaking through their boots, to watch as they were turned on.

Unfortunately, something had gone wrong. At any rate, they'd been there for fifteen minutes and it was still pitch black, apart from the torches and lighters held by the students.

Kitty Pryde, who'd lost Jubilee when she'd been chased away by Bobby after stuffing snow down his pants, stumbled through the crowd looking for company.

"OOF!"

She walked straight into a low figure, huddled on the ground.

"Watch where you're going." The snappy order, combined with the steady flicking on and off and on and off of a small flame left no doubt in Kitty's mind who she'd walked into.

"What are you doing on the ground?" she grinned in amusement, safe in the dark where he couldn't see her face. He could hear the smile in her voice though, she realized, but didn't much care. She was having a good night, and having John annoyed at her one more day wasn't going to change that.

"Sitting," he replied tightly.

"All by yourself?"

"What does it look like?"

"A big patch of darkness." Kitty squinted into the dark but couldn't see any other vague shapes. "Have you seen Jubilee?"

"No."

"No, really?"

"No." His voice carried a hint of irritation, a tone not uncommon when dealing with him. "Why would I have?"

"I dunno. She's kind of hard to miss."

"Yeah, well, not if you aren't looking."

"You aren't looking?"

"What?" Add resignation to his irritation. His voice was becoming quite crowded.

"Well, it's just… you know… you spend a lot of time looking at Jubes, and pushing her and throwing things at her and shouting to her…"

Kitty would never have had the courage to voice these observations if it weren't for that all-encompassing blackness. Not seeing the expression on John's face as he replied, "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" could only be a good thing.

Kitty, realising she wasn't going to be finding Jubilee anytime soon, flopped into the cold, wet snow beside him. "I dunno. You tell me."

"Alright. That's supposed to mean that I have some sort of crush on Jubilee."

"Yes. It is," Kitty agreed. She'd been at school with John for about two years now, and he pretty much ignored her when she was alone, but when she was with Jubilee he was always nearby, with cutting comments or annoying pranks. Jubilee had that way with most of the boys in the school.

"Fuck off," he replied companionably. She heard him settling back.

"Getting defensive?"

"No. Getting disgusted. I'm not interested in Jubilee."

"Fine, whatever you say." Kitty shoved her hands into the snow, and began moulding a snowball. "I love snow," she sighed romantically.

"I fucking hate it." John sounded as grumpy as he always did.

"No way. There is nothing remotely hateable about snow."

"The painful cold of it, the loss of anything green or cheerful, the constant needing to wear sixteen layers to go out, everything all wet, having to be inside with them all the time, all the birds leaving, everything always… what?"

"The birds leaving? John 'fuck off' Allerdyce is upset about the birds leaving?" Kitty shrieked with laughter, falling back into the snow beside him, wheezing and gasping and brushing at tears in her eyes. She couldn't see his face, but assumed he would be pretty unamused.

She was surprised when his answer held a hint of a smile in it. "What's wrong with birds?"

Kitty rolled onto her side, propping her head up with an elbow, to look at his vague shape, still chuckling. "What's right with them?"

"I dunno. It's just… the birds never left in Australia. And the trees were green all year round. And it was hot almost all year where I lived."

"And you liked it better there?"

"I was used to the heat. It didn't bother me as much as the cold does here."

Kitty was silent a moment. "That's not what I meant." She scooped up some more snow, moulded another ball.

John was silent too. When he finally spoke it was to say, "When are these lights going to be fixed?"

Disappointed with his response, but also slightly relieved, Kitty shrugged. "I dunno."

"I wish they'd hurry up about it. I don't wanna be stuck out here all night."

"Yeah. It's Christmas eve."

"Thanks. Hadn't noticed."

Kitty ignored him. "Are you coming to the party?"

"Fuck no."

"Why? It'll be fun."

"It'll be a lot more fun without me there, and you know it."

Kitty didn't reply. Maybe it would, without Jubilee and John constantly arguing, Piotr looking at him with as much distrust as the gentle boy could work up and John complaining about the music, the decorations and anything else. But still, it was Christmas, and she was sure she wasn't the only one feeling charitable.

"No one will mind. Not tonight. Everyone's in too good a mood."

"Yeah, well I'm not. And I would. Believe it or not, you and the rest of your troop aren't the sort of people I want to hang out with 24/7."

"Who is?" Kitty asked softly.

"John Allerdyce."

"So what have you and John Allerdyce got planned for tonight?"

"Nothing much. Alcohol. Reading. Sleep."

"Don't have too much fun."

"That is fun to me. You of all people should understand."

"Oh, I do. But on Christmas eve?"

"What is it with you and fucking Christmas? It's just another night, one that just happens to fall before the day of commercial fun, of the shops taking your money so you can get presents off people! Anyway, aren't you Jewish?"

"Oh, Christmas isn't about religion. It isn't," she insisted when John snorted, "Not anymore. But it's not about commercialism either. Not to me. It's about love and getting along and everyone having fun with those that they like best in the world."

"If that's the case," John said slowly, "then why are you sitting in the snow with me?"

Kitty thought about it. Why was she in the snow with grumpy John when she could be with people who shared her enthusiasm for the season? She could hear Jubilee shrieking now; she wouldn't be too hard to find. But she remained with John. Despite the freezing snow creeping through her clothes, she was kind of comfortable, in more ways than one.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. There was a click, and a small flame jumped out of the dark. It grew a little larger. Kitty had the suspicion that he wanted to look at her face. At any rate, the light didn't reach his own, so she had no idea of his expression. It was cheating. She dropped her head to look at the snowball she held, which was beginning to make her fingers ache. She dropped it, and wiped her hands vigorously on her jacket, thrusting them deep into her pockets. Then she paused, and reached out for the flame. He obligingly held it by her skin.

Then they sat in silence. When her fingers were no longer cold, but the skin felt tight, she took them away from the flame and he extinguished it.

At last, a roar went up as the entire, huge mansion suddenly lit up, flashing red, green, blue, yellow… all the colours and shapes that were available. Kitty grinned. It was kind of beautiful, and fitted the season and her mood so well. She glanced at John, his face now visible. He wasn't smiling, but looked thoughtful.

"It's lovely," she whispered. John didn't argue.

"KITTY!" Jubilee suddenly bellowed from somewhere, "Kitty, come here! The party was meant to start ages ago!"

Kitty stood, brushing snow from her clothes. "Come to the party," she tried one last time.

"Stay here with me."

Kitty was taken aback by his offer.

"In the snow?" she smiled.

"In the snow." He was deadly serious.

"KITTY! WHERE ARE YOU? HURRY THE HELL UP!"

She looked down at John, his eyes almost pleading. Then she glanced over at Jubilee, standing in the doorway and looking annoyed. Back to John.

"See you tomorrow," she mumbled, and ran through the heavy snow to her friend, leaving John alone as a tiny speck of dark in the fields of white that he despised so much.