Author's Notes: I know I have not posted anything for a while; I have been very busy in the past few months with my PhD and working three jobs. That does not mean that I have stopped writing fanfiction – far from it. I have several stories planned, some short pieces like this, others multi-chapter novel and novella length stories. As always, I appreciate any and all feedback. Now, a short little one-shot concerning what might have happened on the first day that Kitty met Kurt. If anyone is interested, the book that Kurt is reading is The Graveyard Book, by the talented Mr Neil Gaiman.
Kitty bit her lip nervously as she knocked guiltily on Kurt's door. "Kurt, are you in there?" she asked quietly.
Kitty waited for about a minute, and then knocked on the door again, a little louder this time. "I just wanted to apologise, that's all," she said guiltily, "I did not mean to make you feel bad."
She waited for another minute or two, but there was still no response. "Kurt, can I come in?" she asked.
Another minute passed in awkward silence. Very carefully, Kitty pressed down on the handle of Kurt's door. She quickly looked inside the room, not wishing to disturb Kurt if he had decided to go to bed in order to sleep. Cautiously, feeling like an intruder, she entered his bedroom. Kurt was not asleep in his bed, indeed, she could not see him anywhere, as she looked around the room uncertainly. Her guilt was rapidly becoming almost unbearable, and the thought that Kurt had decided to go and hide somewhere because she had made him feel bad made Kitty suddenly feel terrible. Kitty looked around the room once more, but Kurt did not appear to be anywhere in sight. It was possible that he was hiding somewhere within the room; Jean had said that he did that, sometimes, when he felt self-conscious. Kitty looked down at her shoes and shuffled her feet uncertainly. It was possible that Kurt could hear her, even if she could not see him; in any case, she desperately needed to apologise to him, and to explain – though not excuse – her actions.
"This is all new to me," she began nervously, "one day I'm like, this really ordinary kid, attending an ordinary school, and doing ordinary stuff. Then everything changed when I fell through the floor of my house, and the next thing I know, people are telling me that I'm a mutant, and then I'm taken here, and Scott and Jean are telling me about all the scary stuff that the X-Men have faced, and I'm really nervous and not sure about what I'm supposed to do and…" Her voice trailed off as she looked around the room uncertainly. Was Kurt even in this room? Was she opening her heart to a completely empty area, and would she have to do exactly the same again, only this time looking into Kurt's accusing eyes? She felt suddenly very uncertain, very nervous. Still, she had hurt the boy's feelings; she had to at least attempt to make up for what she had done. "Well, as I was saying, Scott and Jean were telling me all about the scary stuff the X-Men had faced," she continued uncertainly, "and I was worried that something bad would happen, someone would attack us. Then I saw what I thought was something scary crawling up the wall behind them," she sighed, "I didn't know that it was you, I just thought that there was something dangerous sneaking up behind them, so I screamed, and I pointed, and I got scared, and that's like, when you vanished. Then Jean and Scott explained that you were a student, and not some scary thing, and like, I felt really bad for hurting your feelings, and so I'm here, and I just wanted to apologise," she bit her lip once more, looked around the room again, and sighed. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, that's all," she said, as she opened the door in order to leave.
"You don't have to apologise, don't have to explain."
Kitty jumped when she heard the voice. It came from above her, and had a soft, German accent. She looked up and startled slightly when she saw the strange blue boy dangling from the ceiling, a book in his hands. Kurt leapt down, and smiled at Kitty nervously. "It's my fault for scaring you," he said.
Kitty examined Kurt closely for the first time. He was blue from the tip of his pointed ears to the tip of his pointed tail. His eyes were yellow, and glowed like those of a cat, and his hands and feet were strangely shaped. Despite his unusual appearance, there was nevertheless something surprisingly normal about his expression, and Kitty realised suddenly that Kurt was also a nervous teenager, uncertain of his powers or his abilities, and scared of making mistakes.
Kitty smiled at him uncertainly. "No, it wasn't," she said, "I panicked when I saw you, and I'm sorry."
Kurt shook his head. "No, you had a reason. I was, as you say, sneaking up behind you, and you had a right to feel worried about someone doing that. I just did not want you to see me like this."
Kitty examined his unusual appearance once more, and then looked down guiltily. She could understand why Kurt felt so insecure. She had always been very slight and petit, whereas all of the other girls in her school had been more developed and buxom. She had some mild body issues concerning her tiny figure, and could only imagine how much worse Kurt's body issues must be, considering his unique appearance.
"I wanted to wait until my image inducer watch had finished charging before coming to see you, before coming to say hello," Kurt said, "but I got curious about you, and could not wait. So I wanted to see you without you seeing me. That's why I was sneaking up on you, to have a look at you. That's when you screamed," he explained.
"Image inducer watch?" Kitty asked curiously.
Kurt grinned, and walked towards a small, wooden table beside his bed. He pointed at where what appeared to be some sort of sports watch seemed to be recharging its batteries. Kurt put down his book on the table, picked up the watch from the recharger, and placed it upon his wrist. Kitty gasped as, a moment later, what appeared to be a much more normal boy stood before her. Despite his blue eyes and distinct lack of blue fur or a tail, she could tell instantaneously that this boy was indeed Kurt, because his expression had not changed at all. "I wanted you to see me like this," he explained. His voice, also, had not changed.
Kitty examined the watch carefully, and then looked up into Kurt's eyes, "You did not have to hide who you were," she said softly, "but I can understand why you did."
"I just wanted you to like me, before you saw me in my blue fuzzy glory," although Kurt's tone was light and playful, there was a certain amount of sadness within it.
Kitty nodded, understandingly. "Why didn't you come down and say hello to me while you were wearing this thing, then?" she asked.
The watch began to fizzle and beep, and a moment later, made a sad dying sound. Kurt the blue furry mutant once more stood before Kitty. He sighed. "That's why. Because it needed to be recharged, and would have done that, revealing the true me. And I was afraid that I would scare you, if that happened," he explained.
Kitty nodded again. That did make sense, and she probably would have been scared to see what she had thought to be a perfectly normal teenager suddenly transform into a blue and furry mutant before her eyes.
Kurt put the watch back in the recharger. "This is my spare," he said. "The Professor's fixing the other one. There was an incident at school involving the swimming pool, a leaky pen and some battery acid from the science lab. Even the Professor's not sure if it will ever work properly again," he admitted.
"Sounds interesting," said Kitty. Then she noticed the book that Kurt had put down beside the recharger, and looked at it curiously.
"The Professor wants me to read more English books to help me improve my English," Kurt explained, "so I got this out of the library. It's good. It's about ghosts and werewolves and vampires and things, and they all look scary and strange and everything, but they're actually really nice and friendly…" His voice trailed off as he handed her the book.
Kitty smiled at him as she took it from his furry fingers. "I can see why you like it," she said seriously, "and your English seems fine to me."
Kurt gave her a small smile. "Thank you," he said, "but I still make mistakes, sometimes, and the Professor said that this could help me to improve."
"I'll let you get back to your literature, then," said Kitty, handing the book back to him, "I don't want the Professor to get mad at me from keeping you from your studies on the very first day that I arrive here," she added.
As Kitty made her way back towards the door, Kurt gave her a reassuring smile, "You really have nothing to apologise for, don't feel bad," he said.
Kitty nodded, "Thank you, it means a lot to me that you think that," she said.
Kurt smiled at her again, shyly and uncertainly. "It was nice talking to you. Jean and Scott are nice, but they're older, and it can be difficult to talk to them sometimes, Scott especially can be far too serious. I'd like us to talk again, when you've unpacked and settled in and everything, I mean," he added. He looked down at his feet, and seemed to blush an interesting shade of violet, "I would like it if we could be, I don't know, maybe friends?" he said uncertainly.
Kitty smiled at him reassuringly, "I'd like that too," she said sincerely, "I'd like that very much indeed."