A/N: This is an excerpt from a very long, very unlikely story that I will probably never write. It follows no real continuity, blending my interpreted versions of the comics, X-Men: Evolution, and the movies. All relationships are considered ambiguous (as in, nobody is definitely together or "just friends" or whatever) and I don't own anything! Hope you enjoy it!
click! A slim, brown leather case opens. The hand, large yet gentle, is one of an artist's yet also of one that has done great labor.
He gathers his brushes. The inside of the case is shown in the dim light- rows of potted paints, arranged according to color. Kitty had graciously offered to help him- it made things easier when he knew what color he was painting with. The sound of paper rustling was heard.
Piotr Rasputin, aka Colossus of the X-Men, walked with a calm determination down a street into semi-darkness; it was the start of November, and after daylight savings time ended, the early morning sky was daunted by the greens and blues of the coming sun. As he chose a spot with a good view between the houses of the still sleeping neighborhood, he glanced at his paints and wondered vaguely if Kitty would be joining him again.
The tree barely rustled as she slowly moved upwards through the branches. She had to phase through only parts of the oak and not the whole tree itself; otherwise, she would fall out. Wouldn't that be embarrassing, she thought grimly. At least I can melt through the ground and reappear somewhere else. That's a plus if I get caught, too.
Kitty Pryde peered cautiously through the leaves; she had to maintain a conscious effort to keep the first half of her body intangible. She wondered if Piotr would ever figure out one of her deepest secrets; although, she thought dryly, I'd like to know if someone was watching me, too.
It wasn't necessarily stalking, she'd concluded. It's not as if she followed him around every second of the day and posted his every move on Twitter or something. No, she just liked to see him when he showed his other side; the calm, sensitive, deeply respectful side of himself, the one only nature got to see- besides herself, of course.
It was kind of like an unspoken agreement between them, he mused slightly as he captured the royal blue of the sky on the canvas, before switching to a blacker hue to account for the surrounding darkness. Although she probably doesn't know I know. Personally, he chose to feel very honored that someone would appreciate his handiwork. Bobby and Jubilee would probably blow it off as too smart, or uncool, while Remy and Rogue just wouldn't understand.
He'd always wanted to be in tune with nature; he'd envied Logan and Storm slightly for their obvious attachments to the wilderness. But Logan needed someone to balance him out- Piotr himself just needed a complement.
Kitty watched with endless fascination as Piotr captured a perfect scale model of the sun's magnificent ascent. He had so much talent and potential, Kitty always thought. She'd always tried to get in a good word edgewise on behalf of Piotr's art. Maybe I should finally go talk to him, she thought. She'd always shied away from the idea, but not today. Today he had this calm sense of power emanating from him; she could feel it in waves, giving her the strength to approach him.
As he uncapped the last paint he'd use (a little pale, golden yellow to indicate the rising sun), he wondered if he should actually talk to her this time. He didn't go out like this to paint much, but each time he did he'd always felt a gentle calmness that he'd come to associate with Kitty. It seemed to just flow off her chakra, affecting everyone in the room. He knew for a fact that Remy always relaxed when she would come in like that, making a profound entrance just by stopping at the doorway with a smooth, fluid grace just to say hi. He'd even seen Logan start to calm down at her innocent smiles and bright, questioning eyes; she always looked like an angel, with sweet half smiles that made her look like she was keeping a secret close to her heart.
And in a way, he thought, she was, as he carefully put his paints away. He cleaned off his brush with water from another little jar, and as he put that away, he stood back to admire his handiwork.
Kitty moved slowly down the tree to the ground with the air of a real cat: calm and sultry, and sneaky when she wanted to be, with the ability to just appear from the shadows and move around without being detected, just like her namesake. Of course, her simple mutant power of phasing helped too, but she just liked to think that was an added bonus.
As she slithered away from the tree, she saw Piotr turned to face her slightly.
"Wait!" she called out a little loudly. It was so easy to forget where she was, away from Bobby and Jubilee and the craziness of the mansion, and the duties of the X-Men that came with it.
Piotr came to face her fully now, and she smiled slightly out of habit. Oh dear, she thought. What do you say to someone you've been watching? Better yet, what do you say to someone who's been watching you?
Piotr…was not having the same issue. In fact, he was having trouble speaking coherently. This must be God's way of rewarding me for my appreciation, he thought. Well, I guess I must take the punishment along with the reward.
There before him stood an angel, with a sweet smile and a kind-hearted expression glowing on her pretty face in the pale early morning light. Her cheeks were slightly pink with effort and her eyes sparkled with unknown mischief and another emotion he couldn't quite place. Before he knew it, the words came spilling out of his mouth before he could stop them.
"Can I paint your portrait?"
Her expression turned to slight shock as the words he'd always wanted to say tumbled out of his mouth with no remorse for the consequences. Her countenance changed slightly as she smiled again with her reply.
"Sure!" she said quietly, happily. Ok, she thought sort of embarrassedly; not quite the reaction I was expecting from someone who'd just met their own personal stalker…
He laughed suddenly. "It's alright," he said, eyes glowing with…adoration? Love? She was confused. "It's the first thought I think when I see you. And I don't think you're a stalker," he said the last part quietly. "I've always wished someone would appreciate my work as much as I do."
Her eyes widened as she figured out that she'd somehow managed to say that out loud. Oh Holy Lord…
She couldn't help it- she blushed. This just keeps getting better… She focused slightly on remaining tangible; her first instinct was to sink into the ground with embarrassment. She ran through what he'd just said in her mind quickly, his accented English bouncing around in her head while she tried to formulate a response.
"I do appreciate your art, Piotr," her quiet voice accentuated the darkness, the pure honesty in her tone showing through. "I've always thought it was beautiful."
He stopped slightly where he was setting up his canvas. It was getting lighter out, and he could see her better. Still beautiful, he thought longingly. She blushed very deeply then. It occurred to him that he'd probably said it out loud. " 'They say Jove laughs at lovers' perjuries'," he quoted softly. "And I would not wish to lie to you, Katya."
She thought deeply at his words as she stood dutifully still, watching Piotr work wonders on her profile. He must have learned the quotes from Storm's literature class. She loves classic plays and novels. Kitty herself had never been too interested in books; although she loved to read, computers were more of her thing. She smiled slightly at the thought. She loved computers; she just couldn't use her powers on them.
He hastened slightly to capture the innocent smirk that had just appeared on her countenance on the canvas as she gazed slightly to the left of his head. He was glad she did, in a way; if she had made eye contact with him, he knew it would be more than slightly overwhelming.
She kept staring to the right of Piotr's head, trying to keep a reign over her thoughts and feelings. She really wanted to look into his eyes, but in truth, she was scared. It was like he could see right through her; she was afraid of what she might find. Were her own faults and misconceptions mirrored in those crystal clear pools of blue? She didn't think she could take much more of this, this game, whatever it was. He seemed perfectly at ease, painting her portrait on some person's lawn, sneaking out of the mansion and breaking all their rules. And they were mutants, on top of that. She didn't even want to think about the trouble they would cause if they were caught. And besides, her heart was already being held prisoner by a certain blue-eyed Russian, and she was thinking that he was slowly taking over her mind as well.
She couldn't stop thinking about him. She got distracted from her every day tasks and she didn't need Scott to get on her figurative tail about shirking her duties as an X-Man. She almost blew her computer's hard drive when she accidentally phased through part of it- again! It was getting so bad; she didn't know what to do. She probably would have started trembling nervously if she wasn't so calm right now. There was just something about being alone with him in an atmosphere like this- she could see why he chose so suddenly to paint her picture, as she slid her eyes over her surroundings.
The surrounding scene and the rising sun created the perfect sense of calm and relaxation that was utterly impossible to reach at the mansion- well, maybe Storm and Logan had found some sort of tranquility on the grounds.
Her mouth suddenly opened. "You should paint Logan and Storm's picture," she blurted. What is this? I can't even control my own thoughts!
The peaceful silence was interrupted by his angel speaking. Logan and Storm? As long as they would not be offended…
"I think I would sketch them rather than paint. It seems to fit them better," he replied subconsciously. He thought he could capture Storm's brilliant smiles and Logan's softened expressions much better on his sketch pad rather than on canvas. Speaking of which, he was almost done with his beloved's portrait.
He assumed they'd been outside for over an hour, but time seemed to go by slowly in his Katya's presence. As he entered the home stretch (backgrounds, bringing out Kitty's eyes) he decided to ask her a question he'd always wondered about…
"Logan and Storm are like your parents, yes? They seem to act that way."
"According to Jubilee, yes," she answered somewhat exasperatedly. "Jubilee needs parenting. Rogue needs guidance. And Logan was already close to them. And if Storm got together with Logan…well…"
"That makes her your 'mother'," he finished with an amused expression. He tsked once. "Someone has been matchmaking…"
She giggled slightly and looked down guiltily. "I can't help it! It's a bad childhood habit. I just used to pair people up, see who looked good together. I've found that it's easier when I know the people," she finished conspiratorially. Piotr caught onto her train of thought and grinned.
He started taking down his canvas. Kitty immediately came up to help, and he asked, "Who else have you been pairing up, Katya?"
She looked up from where she was putting his paints away, eyes twinkling with secrets.
"Well…" she drawled slightly, letting it hang there mysteriously. He blinked. She smiled as she let him in on all her matchmaking secrets.
The hesitancy was a trick she'd learned by watching Remy and Rogue, he later discovered. Rogue had the tendency to add a little more Mississippi twang when she was holding out a secret from Remy, before immediately letting him in on it. It annoyed Remy sometimes, Kitty was saying, and that's when he'd pounce and tickle her if she took too long.
"They flirt too much for their own good. But I don't think they notice it. Just the other's presence is all that really matters to them…" Kitty trailed off softly. Of course she wasn't thinking about how that applied to them…
They moved on to Jean and Scott, Betsy and Warren, and we discussing her biggest project, Bobby and Jubilee, as they walked up the hill, past the gates, up to the mansion.
"I don't know. She's just got this hidden beauty about her," Kitty was saying when she suddenly stopped short. Piotr tore his gaze away from her for the first time since they had started walking home.
Logan and Storm stood before them, with the sun rising slowly behind Kitty and Piotr. They looked to have been holding hands; or at least, that's what it seemed like to Piotr. He could picture it in his mind, before clearing his head to focus on the matter at hand.
It would seem very suspicious, Kitty thought, but since they were the quietist little 'couple', and they were holding Piotr's art supplies (she the paints, and he the canvas), it was pretty obvious. Storm smiled and motioned for Kitty to come inside with her, while Logan eyed Piotr warily, as if daring him to make a move. He waited until the girls were safely inside, before he glanced back to Storm, who gave him a meaningful glance and disappeared back inside, questioning Kitty about what she'd like for breakfast.
Logan's gaze remained on the point where her head had vanished from his line of vision for a while before he turned back to Piotr.
"That hidden beauty you were talkin' bout," Logan started. "It's probably the most obvious thing of all." He gave Piotr an indecipherable look before turning and walking inside. Piotr followed slowly, thinking hard about Logan's wise words, (and how Logan and Storm did indeed seem to belong together) before smiling simply and setting his canvas down by the stairs. It was a hopeless endeavor, it seemed; all he could think of was Kitty's face.
A/N: The title is based on what my boyfriend calls a "clever" pun- as in, Piotr needs a complement, homophone of compliment, which is nice words you say to someone. :P Feel free to call me out on all grammatical mistakes, and as for canon, just picture a nice happy world with Kiotr in it. :)