Title: Time Only Goes One Way
Rating: PG
Author: Personification of Fluff
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men. I can proudly say I own 20 comics, but really that doesn't mean anything. I'm not making any money off of this, which is sad, because I'm broke.
AN: Based upon... um… I believe it's Uncanny 100. I know the number is one hundred. I'm a two and a half hour drive from my comics! I can't go check, okay? Anyway, it's a 'what if' scenario. I hope you all enjoy! It's filled with Kitty/Peter fluffy goodness! ^_^
'How could I have kissed her?' Peter asked himself as he shuffled down the hallway. He never should have done that. It had been stupid. What did he see in Rogue anyway? What would have made him want to kiss her like that?
Because he had been able to. Because no one was supposed to be able to touch Rogue, but he could, in his metal form. It shouldn't have meant anything to him, although he knew it would mean something to her. She'd been without human contact for so long, and thenn to discover that she could touch a friend! Someone whom she could hug, shake hands with. And then he had gone and kissed her.
'It's true what Kitty always says, then. Men always want what... who they can't have. And no one is supposed to be able to "have" Rogue. Although the whole world knows Gambit wished he could. And that she feels the same way.'
And there was really the crux of the whole situation. Had it been someone else, two other people, then perhaps it would have been okay. Even had they been closer friends, the contact might have been more natural. But Colossus had never fully trusted the woman who had once been a member of the Brotherhood. And she, he knew, had some problems with him as well.
Yet it was not their feelings of each other that had prevented some type of connection from forming, but it was their feelings for other people. All the X-Men knew that Rogue and Gambit wanted each other! It was obvious, even to the slower people or the blind. Each day they were together, it was like watching a soap opera. They would never be able to show their true feelings until it was too late. Like the time in.... or that time... and then there was that time....
There were too many times Rogue and Gambit could have said something. Just as there were many times Peter could have said something to Katherine Pryde.
'Katherine. . . .' He felt a pang of guilt go through his heart at the thought of his beautiful Katya. That was where he was heading now: to go and apologize to her. She had not been there, she hadn't seen what had passed between Rogue and himself, but Peter felt compelled to tell her.
In some way, it was her business too. He was still deeply in love with Kitty.
He just couldn't tell her, the same way Gambit had trouble telling Rogue.
And the really sad thing was that everybody could see it just as they could his fellow partner's, except for Kitty herself. He and Kitty were intertwined on many levels, and sometimes he had trouble telling where she ended and he started.
He knocked on the door.
Startled, Katherine slipped and stabbed her ear with her jewellery. Putting earrings on in outer space was more difficult than she would have imagined. She grabbed it before it could float too far. Normally, she would merely phased through the door to answer it, but not tonight. The other pilots didn't know she and her friends were mutants, and it would have to stay that way.
Running a manicured hand through her short hair, she ruffled it up. 'This is the way hair should be,' she thought. 'No brushing required, no friggin' knots to work out of my system. Those're a pain in the butt. Yeah, my hair cut short makes me feel like a load as been lifted off my shoulders. One of hundreds, mind you. Geeze, the last time I had it cut this short was when I was. . . .'
Her eyes darkened when she thought of the first time she had cut her hair so it was inches short. It had been when she was still Ariel. Back to before she was Shadowcat, back to one of the darkest times of her life. Colossus had just told her he loved someone else, and it had seemed like only the day before that she had finally told him how she felt.
Then there had been the issue with Shogun. The time when she had thought she'd killed Wolverine, one of her closest friends. The time when she had struggled to hold a sword.
'But it's one of the happiest times too,' she told herself, glancing out the window to the expanse of stars. 'It's when I became Shadowcat. It's when I realized I was a creature of the darkness, someone who always has to hide. Just like I am now. I'm hiding from so many people. . . .'
The person at the door knocked again, impatient.
Irritated, she opened the door. She knew her temper was growing shorter day by day, but didn't give a damn about it. Maybe she and Wolverine were more alike in more than just one way. . . .
She opened the door to find Peter standing in the hallway. Her hazel eyes meeting his bright blue ones, she again was reminded how good looking he was. There was a time when she wanted nothing more than to run her fingers through his jet black hair, but those days were gone. And he was the one who had made it that way, if she had anything to say about it.
"What's up?" she asked, sliding her hands to her hips.
"There is a party, you are missed. It is mostly in your honour." Peter Rasputin stared at the girl who had once had a crush on him. But she was a girl no longer. He forgot the rest of what he was going to say when he saw her.
Her lips were burgundy red, a bold colour, but one that looked good on her. She'd given herself a manicure, and the polished nails were now squeezing her ear, trying to stop it from bleeding. He tried to point out the obvious ("You've injured yourself!") but was still tongued-tied.
She wore a skin-tight outfit of black, shiny material Colossus could not identify. But it was definitely black, shiny, and skin tight. She wore no bra, that was obvious by her low cut shirt, and the spaghetti straps displayed her smooth muscle she had developed from being an X-Woman. The pants were low cut enough to reveal a slight amount of skin around her hips, just enough to tease a man and make him wonder exactly what she was wearing down there.
She looked absolutely amazing!
Peter wanted to grab her then and there and hide her from the rest of the world. "I came to ask you to join us, but it looks like you were already going to." He blinked, and reminded himself not to start staring. Again. "You're not actually going to wear that, are you?"
"What's the matter, Peter?" Kitty demanded. "Are you trying to play Mother again?"
"Well, there are men aboard, Katya! You'll... you'll give them ideas!" He rubbed the back of his head. 'You're definitely giving me some!'
Katherine didn't understand him. Obviously there were men onboard, and obviously she was going to give them ideas. That was why she had bought the outfit in the first place! Her frustration made her irritable. "Then that's too bad for them. I'm not tying to give them ideas."
He arched an eyebrow, suspiciously. Peter wished she would say that she was trying to give him ideas, but he doubted that would happen. "Then what are you trying to do, Katya?"
"I'm trying to prove a point!" Her hazel eyes flashed dangerously. She poked Colossus in the chest, and he backed up against the wall. "I'm trying to prove a point to you, Piotr Rasputin!"
"Oh?" Why did he sound so nervous? "And what point would that be, Katya?"
"Every single one of you, of my fellow X-Men, of my friends, are trying to keep me be that fourteen year old girl I was back when I started the X-Men! Well, reboot your system, baby, 'cause time only goes one way."
He nervously opened his mouth to speak. "Actually, Katya, given. . . ."
She smiled despite herself. "I worked a long time on that one line. Don't ruin it for me, please." She sighed, and suddenly felt like crying, thanks to her stupid teenage hormones. "What do you want from me, Peter? You all have this vision of Kitty that you want to keep frozen in amber. I'm a human being! I can't stay frozen like that! Not for them, not for you, not even for myself. It's not fair that everything around me gets to change, and I have to stay the same."
Peter finally understood about the outfit, and the hair. He told himself to be brave. Magneto was much more frightening than Kitty. Most of the time. He reached out and stroked her hair, finding it still long enough to run his fingers through. "Katya, you don't hear me complaining about you growing up, do you?"
Kitty gave him an exasperated expression.
He laughed. "That? Oh, that was nothing. It was... well, it was the words of a jealous man, Katya. I don't want other people thinking about you in that way."
Looking at him, she finally became aware of something everyone else could see. She blinked slowly, her smile returning. She remained silent, if only for the moment. She didn't need to say anything at all. Nor did he. Their eyes said enough.
And then she saw the guilt hidden behind a well of love that made her heart feel like floating. "Why are you so ashamed? What'd you do, Peter?"
He lowered his eyes. Damn. So she had seen it. He was hoping he had hidden all his guilt from her, because after seeing how hot she looked, and almost managing to say something about their emotions, he really didn't want to talk about what had happened outside the party room.
"I kissed Rogue."
"You did what?!!"
He spread his hands helplessly, the look of shock on her face cutting him. All Peter's feelings came tumbling out uncontrollably. "I'm sorry, Katya! It just happened! I don't even know how! It's just... kissed... and I felt you had a right to know because I still care about you and I wasn't sure how you felt about me in return! Please, don't be mad at. . . ."
"Mad?" Katherine laughed. It was the first time he had heard her laugh in a long time. Her hand touched his arm, and the laughter suddenly stopped. She pressed herself against his chest, staring up at him. Her fingers gently trailed down his cheek, and he looked down at her without thinking, as if caught in some odd type of magic only she could cast. "Do I look mad at you? No, Peter, I'm worried. Nobody can touch Rogue! Are you sure you're okay? You're not going to start fainting or anything on me, are you?"
'If I do, it won't be because I touched Rogue.' He stood perfectly still, afraid of messing up. Again. "I'm perfectly fine. Apparently, when I am in my metal form, Rogue can touch me. We don't know how long, and really, it doesn't make any sense, because. . . ."
Her voice was quiet, but it was enough to stop him. "You just said you care for me, didn't you?"
Peter sighed. He had let his secret slip, and now he was caught. "Yes, Katya, I... I lied. I don't just care for you. I love you. I've loved you since I first met you, and everyday after that. Even the times when we have had misunderstandings, or have fought, or found the arms of someone else, I've always loved you."
She felt like crying. "Even now?" she whispered. "Even now that I don't have long hair you can brush, and now that I'm older and. . . ."
"You're still you. It's your body, Katya. You can do whatever you want to it: cut your hair, dye it, pierce your ears, pierce your nose. No, really, I think it would be quite a good look for you."
He slowly hugged her back, and leaned down to kiss her forehead gently. Katherine's hazel eyes stared as if she were seeing someone knew. She forgot all her old anger, and wanted to jump into his arms. Would this mean she would finally have her Peter back? "But you... you. . . ."
"I just complained about having other people seeing you this way." He winked at her. "I wouldn't want them getting ideas about my little Katya, would I? No matter how old we get, Katya, you'll still always be my brave little Katya, who once begged the Professor to keep a pet dragon on school grounds. And I trust I'll always be the handsome young Russian who asked to paint your portrait and got a kiss under the mistletoe."
Kitty laughed, and felt a tear of happiness roll down her cheek. "Sure! Why not?"
"And... and you're alright that I just kissed Rogue?"
"Hey, I'll have you know that after we broke up I wasn't sitting around waiting for you to come back. I went out on my share of dates since then!" She tilted her face up to his. "Can we just stop talking and kiss already?"
Peter was only too happy to oblige.
Finally, things were starting to get back to normal: they were kissing passionately, clinging to each other like their lives depended on it, while floating in weightlessness in a space station, and outside their tiny hallway the world looked like a planet filled with a million possibilities.
And Kitty had worried a fellow X-Man would be able to accept change?. . . .
But to Peter, the only thing that had changed was that he had his Kitty back. He finally felt like himself again, because she completed him.