Hey there, all of my wonderful readers. I'm really sorry about the really long update time. I meant to have it up last month, but things got in the way. Specifically, a katrilion essays, visiting relatives many times, and my younger sister's numerous visits to the ER. I wasn't really focused on writing, since I kinda freaked out every time she got sent there again. Currently, she's on a heart monitor, has been passing out regularly, and has seen more doctors in the past two months than I have in the last 15 years. It kinda sucks and I haven't really been in a positive, fluff-friendly mood. So, once again, sorry about the wait.
AN: Kitty is 16, and Piotr is 19 in this chappie, despite what I may have said last chapter. They just look pretty close to those ages in Evo, in my opinion. Please review if there's anything you want to comment on; stuff that you like, that you want me to fix, that you think is OOC, is badly done, etc. Reviews are the best, no questions asked. Any flames will be given to Pyro, and I don't think anyone really wants that...
So, without furthur ado, here's February. Enjoy!
Piotr Rasputin crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it into the rubbish bin in the corner of his already messy room in the Xavier Institute.
"Dammit," he growled, as the failed attempt at a card joined a pile of wadded up pieces of paper, overflowing out of the bin and spilling out onto the surrounding floor. Piotr had spent the last day and a half trying to finish the card he was making, but he just couldn't find his inspiration. He knew it shouldn't have been this hard, but it had to be absolutely perfect. After all, Valentine's Day only came once a year.
Piotr pulled out another piece of paper from the stack lying near his feet and placed it on his wooden desk. He was determined to make the best Valentine Kitty had ever gotten. It was going to be perfect. He held his pencil poised over the paper to begin, but right as he was about to start drawing, a voice broke through his concentration.
"Hiya, Petey! Watcha doin'?" Piotr's girlfriend of 7 months, Kitty Pryde, enthused as she phased through his bedroom door and ran over to his desk, where he was about to restart his efforts to create her Valentine.
"Nothing that can't wait," Piotr grinned at her. "Why? Anything you want to do?"
"Well…" Kitty purred, as she sat down on his lap, "I can think of a few things I wouldn't mind doing…"
At that point, all conversation ended, as both Kitty and Piotr had found something more interesting to do with their mouths.
Piotr and Kitty had made their way to Piotr's bed and had been making out for a few minutes when Jamie burst in.
"Peter! Kitty!" he shouted. "You were supposed to be ready for the Danger Room session 5 minutes ago! Logan's gonna rip you to shreds, put you back together again, let Scott lecture you, then he'll dress you both up as Sabretooth and use you as punching bags!"
"Umm…exaggeration much?" asked Kitty rolling her eyes. "Just go tell Logan we're on our way."
Jamie cackled as he ran off down the hallway, imagining the look on Logan's face when he found out that Kitty and Peter were late to his DR session because they had been making out in Peter's room. Yes, Logan was going to be super pissed. Jamie grinned and hoped Bobby had remembered to bring the Logan Cam today, because Logan was going to throw a fit worthy of recording when Peter and Kitty finally managed to show up.
"Um, Katya? Don't you think we should be getting ready?" Piotr questioned. Kitty was curled up on his lap, and although Piotr didn't mind, he had a feeling that things were going to get very ugly if Logan didn't see the two of them very soon.
"Hmmm…" Kitty mused as she reached up and started playing with Piotr's short, black hair. "Logan's gonna shit a brick if we don't show soon, isn't he? But, I don't really want to get up, you know? I'm pretty comfy here."
Kitty pulled Piotr down for another kiss. Piotr happily obliged, thinking it would be one quick kiss, and then they'd go suit up. However, as Kitty deepened the kiss, he quickly forgot about the Danger Room session. Kitty draped her arms around his neck as Piotr placed his hands on Kitty's waist. As they broke apart for air, Piotr moved his mouth and started trailing light kisses down Kitty's jaw and onto her neck. Kitty pulled Piotr's face back to her own, and lightly ran her tongue against his lips. Piotr opened his mouth and Kitty started running her hands over Piotr's well muscled chest when they suddenly both stopped and froze.
'PETER! KITTY!' Jean telepathically screamed into their heads. 'You two better hurry up. Logan's getting pretty cranky. And make it fast. I really don't like the color his face is turning…'
'Sorry Jean! We're on our way,' Kitty assured her.
'You better be. If Logan makes this session extra hard, we all know who to blame.'
'Tell Logan that we will be there shortly,' Piotr replied, ending the conversation.
"Go get ready, Katya. I want to live to see tomorrow." Piotr kissed her nose and helped her up, before walking over to his closet to find his uniform.
"Wait for me?" Kitty called over her shoulder as she walked out of the room.
"Always, Katya."
True to his word, Piotr had waited for Kitty, and together they made their way down to the Danger Room, ready to face Logan's wrath.
When Kitty and Piotr phased through the Danger Room wall they were greeted by the sight of the entire student body of the Institute surrounding a very grouchy looking Logan, who seemed to need a beer. Or a few dozen beers.
"Russkie. Half-Pint," he grunted. "You're 10 minutes late. Explain. Now."
"Well…umm, you see, we….um….we," Kitty stuttered, suddenly finding her shoes extremely interesting.
"Care to top that, Tin Can?" Logan glared at Piotr.
"Umm…nyet…" Piotr trailed off, suddenly finding his shoes nearly as fascinating as Kitty found hers.
"Didn't think so. Both of you get an extra hour of training when the session's over," the short Canadian growled.
"Oooh, BUSTED!" cried out Bobby, thrilled that Logan was mad at someone other than him. "The Logan Cam is LOVING this!"
"Drake! Do us all a favor and shut the hell up!" Logan snarled.
"Right-o Captain Claws!" Bobby called out, raising one hand in a mock salute, the other hand now hiding the Logan Cam behind his back, hopefully shielding it from Logan's sight, so he wouldn't attempt to confiscate or destroy it.
"Drake…" the Wolverine trailed off menacingly, growling at Bobby. Bobby swallowed nervously and attempted to hide behind Roberto, who pushed him out of the way. Bobby, losing his balance, bumped into Jubilee, who then staggered into Amara, who squealed as she plowed into Kurt, who then knocked over Rahne, who landed on a very embarrassed Sam. Roberto then tripped Jamie for good measure, adding three new bodies to the cluster on the ground.
"Wow. It's extremely obvious why all the normal humans hate and fear us. We're clearly all hardened and dangerous criminals, with our amazing and terrifying skills, plus our killer sense of balance. If I were them, I would definitely fear us too." Ray commented sarcastically, rolling his eyes at his seven teammates who had landed rather ungracefully on the Danger Room floor.
"I give up!" Logan shouted as he walked to the control booth, muttering something about a 'dumb-ass students who should've learned how to stand up on their own,' among other, less child Professor X approved things, under his breath.
As the mutants picked themselves up off of the ground, Sam and Rahne were both blushing profusely, but seemed to be pleased about how everyone had fallen, seeing as Sam's arm was now around the Scottish girl's waist. Logan started up the sim, now mumbling about how he needed a beer, and all of the X-Men standing below braced themselves for the joys of an hour and a half of Logan-style training.
Two and a half hours later, Piotr and Kitty stumbled out of the Danger Room, exhausted and dripping with sweat. Turns out, Jamie hadn't been entirely spot-on with his prediction, but he'd been pretty damn close. Logan hadn't made Kitty and Piotr's extra hour of training at all pleasant or anywhere remotely close to easy.
"Well, that was fun," Logan commented with a smirk as he leaned against the closed Danger Room door. He watched as the two teenagers walked together down the hall.
"Hey, Half-Pint! Russkie!" Logan barked down the hall. "Jamie told me why the two of you were late. Try and keep it PG around the younger kids, alright? We're trying to run a school here!" The feral Canadian man turned around and opened the door behind him, then walked back into the Danger Room with a bark of a laugh.
As he glanced over his shoulder, Logan observed that the Tin Can had the decency to blush, while his Half-Pint just huffed and dragged her boyfriend down the hall, to the elevators.
An hour after the DR session and the dinner following the session, Piotr was back at his desk in his bedroom, still unable to make the perfect Valentine for his Katya.
"Hey, Pete!" Sam Guthrie called as he strode into the room the two of them shared and plopped down onto his bed. "Some of the guys were gonna go into town tonight. You wanna come?"
"I'm sorry, comrade, but I cannot," was Piotr's rather distracted answer, as he tried to focus on his latest attempt at a Valentine.
"What, you and Kitty didn't make out enough before the DR session?" Sam asked, chuckling. He started throwing the clothes surrounding the ground around his bed all over the room, trying to find his second black Converse.
"Nyet, that is not it. I have something I have to finish for tomorrow." Piotr turned around to see Sam tearing apart his side of the room, holding only one shoe. "And if you are looking for your other shoe, it is on the over side of the room, stuck in the lampshade. I doubt I want to know how it ended up there."
"Ohh, thanks. Huh. Pretty weird place for a shoe to be." Sam walked over to his bed, now armed with his both shoes. "It's Valentines Day tomorrow, ain't it? So, you've gotta make Kitty a Valentine, raght?"
"Da. It's not turning out very well though. What are you and Rahne doing for Valentine's Day?"
"Umm…Ah'm sorta still working on that…" Sam trailed off, blushing lightly in embarrassment.
"Good luck, comrade! Rahne is going to be very unhappy if you don't pull through with this."
"Ah know!" Sam moaned and fell onto his back on his bed, dropping his shoes and instead trying to plan something for Valentine's Day that would please Rahne, but was still possible so last minute.
Piotr laughed to himself and turned back to his desk, and on it his current miserable failure at a Valentine's Day card for his girlfriend.
"Piotr, can I drive? Pleeeeease?" Kitty begged as they walked hand in hand through the unusually empty garage to Piotr's waiting SUV the next night.
"Sorry, Katya. I wish to arrive at the restaurant in one piece."
"That's ridiculous. Besides, I'd get us there faster," Kitty grumbled, as she climbed into the car past the door her boyfriend had opened for her.
"That's part of the problem." Piotr grinned at her and walked to the driver's seat door. Kitty chose to ignore him and pretended to be offended.
After he slid into his own seat, Piotr leaned over the divider to give Kitty a kiss on the cheek. In reply, she stuck her tongue out at Piotr. He chuckled and started up the car. Piotr backed his green Pilot out of his parking spot in the Institute's huge garage and drove down the long driveway, pausing only for the huge metal gates to swing open.
Kitty looked out of the window and watched houses fly by the quickly moving car. She sighed, long and contentedly, and laid her head on Piotr's shoulder.
"So, where're we going, hun?"
Piotr shook his head. "Not a chance. It's a surpise."
"Please, Petey?" Kitty pouted. "C'mon! Tell me! Please?!?"
"Give up, Katya. I'm not going to tell you."
Kitty picked her head up off of Piotr's shoulder and settled back into her seat with a mumbled "Hmph." Piotr laughed good-naturedly at her. Kitty replied by turning on the radio to drown out his laughter.
Piotr reached over and turned the radio back off. Piotr grabbed her hand as she reached over to turn it back on. "Katya," he said, interrupting the protest forming on her lips, "I think that maybe, in the spirit of Valentine's Day, we should stop arguing for the remainder of the night."
"You know, you're probably right. So let's talk about something else, like, I don't know, maybe where we're going for dinner."
"Nyet. I'm changing the topic now," Piotr grinned at his scowling girlfriend and brought up one of her favorite topics of discussion: gossiping about other residents of 'Mutant Manor.'
As they made their way to the restaurant Piotr had selected, the two of them talked about everything from Bobby and Jubilee's latest prank to Piotr's art to Kitty's new favorite band to the new crop of students and teachers at the Institute. They didn't let go of each other's hand for the rest of the drive.
"No way! I can't believe it! You got us reservations at Le Petite Chaton! How'd you do it? This is the best restaurant in Bayville!"
"Advance planning helped. C'mon, you don't want us to miss our reservations, do you?" Piotr took Kitty by the hand, and together they walked into the French restaurant. They stepped up to the maitre d', and Piotr told him their reservations. While he confirmed them, Kitty fidgeted in place, unsure if the new dress she was wearing was fancy enough for the high-class restaurant.
"Relax, Katya," Piotr whispered in her ear. "You look beautiful tonight, just like always." Kitty blushed and squeezed his hand.
"You look very handsome too, hun. Just like always."
The maitre d' led the couple to a booth in the corner of the room and handed them each a menu. He walked away as the two sat on opposite sides of the table, still keeping a firm grip on each other's hand.
The table was set for two, and with a crisp white tablecloth, a vase of flowers on the side of the table nearest the wall, and candles serving as lights, it was obvious that Kitty and Piotr weren't the only ones who had ever chosen the elegant French restaurant as the sight of a Valentines Day dinner.
The two fell into easy conversation, as people as close as they were tended to do. It was probably the nicest thing about their relationship. They understood each other better than anyone else in the mansion did, and both of them knew it. Whenever Kitty got into fights with any of the mansion's residents, Piotr was always the first person she would turn to, before even Rogue or Kurt. Likewise, whenever Piotr got upset about anything, he knew he could always talk to Kitty about it, and she would listen. Neither Kitty nor Piotr ever got tired of talking to the other, and even though they bickered, it was all for fun. Neither of them could ever stay mad at the other for long. While the waiter came and left, bringing their food and drinks, the couple kept up a steady flow of conversation, simply happy to be together.
After they had finished up dinner and the waiter left with the check, over an hour later, Kitty and Piotr got their jackets and got ready to leave the restaurant. Kitty shivered as they crossed over the threshold and walked out into the softly falling snow. The night air was chilly and Kitty only had a light jacket for cover. Piotr put his arm around her shoulders and held her close as they walked towards a nearby park. Kitty sighed and leaned her head against her boyfriend's large, muscular arm.
"You're too tall, you know? I mean, I'm supposed to put my head on your shoulder, and it's supposed to be romantic and stuff, but no. You had to go and be over 6 flipping feet tall!" Kitty threw the arm not wrapped around Piotr into the air in exasperation and for more than a little dramatic effect as they turned onto the footpath.
"Maybe it's not all my fault, Katya. It probably doesn't help that you're only 5'3." Piotr smirked at her, knowing that while needling her about her height may not be particularly mature, it would get a reaction out of her. Piotr internally groaned when he realized his intent: he had been spending far too much time with Bobby.
"Uggh! Whatever. Happy Valentine's Day to you too, Rasputin!" Kitty growled, sounding entirely too similar to Wolverine for comfort.
"Relax, Katya. I'm only teasing. I think that you're perfect the way you are," Piotr placated his girlfriend. She sighed and leaned her head against his arm again, his teasing already forgotten. "And speaking of Valentine's Day, I have something for you."
The two of them sat down on a park bench and watched as they snow gently fell around them. Piotr reached into the large pocket of his jacket and pulled out a neatly folded canvas. He handed it to Kitty with slight trepidation, hoping that she would like it.
Kitty gasped as she unfolded the canvas to its full size. It was a portrait of the two of them, looking completely happy and completely in love. Kitty was shocked by the painting. It was absolutely beautiful. She had known that Piotr was an excellent artist, but this was remarkable, even for him.
"Oh, Piotr. It's beautiful! I love it!"
"I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure if it would be an appropriate gift." Piotr smiled back at his grinning girlfriend, more relieved than he let on.
"Of course I like it! It's amazing!" Kitty reached up and turned Piotr's face to face hers, and pulled him close so they were only inches apart. "You're amazing." With that said, she closed the slight gap between their lips. After they broke apart, Kitty just rested her forehead against Piotr's forehead, staring into his eyes.
Piotr leaned in and kissed her again. It was sweet and gentle, just like Piotr himself was. As he pulled away, he grinned at Kitty. "Я люблю тебя, Катя."
"What? English, please," Kitty lightly teased, pressing her lips to his in another kiss.
Piotr put his hand up to her face to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. He cupped her cheek in his hand as he whispered to her, "I love you, Katya," before kissing her again.
Kitty blushed, and grinning, she whispered back, "I love you too, Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin."
I'm kinda meh about the ending, but whatever. I'm overall kinda pleased with this one. Did you guys like the Sam cameo? He's gonna get one every chapter, since he's kinda the coolest New Mutant ever. Bobby would be too, except he isn't really a New Mutant, though Evo seems to think he is. Anyways, I'll try to have March up before too long, but I make no promises on when.
Dark-bat- Thanks for the review and the advice! I'm pretty sure I squealed when I got the review, as embarrasing as that is. And having read some of your stories, that review totally boosted my writing self-esteem. :D