Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.
The morning before classes resume, students file back in, rosy-cheeked, lugging suitcases. The occasional parent or two drifts into the mansion. It's an odd sight. Kitty avoids phasing in front of them, an old habit coming back to light.
Slowly, the snow begins to melt, and spring filters in through its remains. The snow boots and winter coats that decorated the hallways begin to disappear. Kitty watches the gradual changes through the big window in the library, fingers rifling mechanically through the pages of her textbooks.
She's taking physics this semester, and Scott's already taught her how her own mutation works.
He explained to the entire class about how her atoms shift to pass between the atoms of other objects, the denser the object, the more difficult. Kitty is happy to understand on a scientific level how her power works. She has always loved how science compartmentalizes the world's mysteries, explaining them away clearly and logically. Now that she can apply science to her mutation, it seems…less mysterious, less strange. More acceptable.
Scott was thorough as always, drawing diagrams, pointing out textbook passages, even asking for a demonstration. "Think you could teach my atoms how to do that?" he'd joked. Despite what some of the students (and Logan) think, Scott does have a sense of humor. It's just restrained, measured out carefully.
When one of the students raised his hand and asked if it was possible for mutations like Kitty's to be taught to others, Scott took it upon himself to demonstrate the answer, eager as usual to capture the class's attention. He had Kitty give him an impromptu lesson in phasing. To the class's delight, his attempt ended with his fist slamming straight into the desk. "All right, show's over," he'd yelled amidst riotous laughter.
The relative hilarity of the lesson didn't take away from the understanding Kitty had gained."You're lucky", Piotr says when she tells him later. "Not all of our mutations are that easy to explain."
Kitty mulls it over. "Maybe that just means you're more advanced than I am," she says slowly.
When he looks at her for clarification, she adds, "If it can't be explained, that just means we don't understand it yet."
They round the corner. After a moment, Pete smiles down at her thoughtfully. "That's a nice way of looking at it."
No new students come for a while. If it weren't for the seasons changing, the mansion would feel stagnant, stuck in time, paused like a movie in the moment just before the action begins. Kitty feels something brewing every time she watches the news. Everyone feels it—it's hanging in the air, the promise of something major to come.
Kitty hesitates to mention it when she talks to the Professor. She's afraid and she doesn't want him to know it, doesn't want him to think any less of her, as ridiculous as she knows that sounds.
But he stops her as she leaves his office once, says "we're all feeling the same way," and Kitty gives in. Sooner or later, she's going to have to grow up.
Life at the mansion inches along for the most part, although the trouble cresting the horizon lingers in the back of everyone's minds. Bobby and Rogue play video games, Piotr helps the kids get slam dunks on the basketball court, Jubilee offers to paint the nails of everyone within a fifty foot radius. In Mutant Ethics, Professor Xavier brings up Cerebro: is it ethical for him to be able to track mutants? Something about his face suggests that even he doesn't know the answer, that he's looking to them for some kind of justification. Kitty's mind wanders back to subject for days afterward: not so much to the question of ethics, but the concept of Cerebro itself. She thinks in particular of something the Professor had said about the sheer amount of mutants that can be tracked using the device. It's hard to imagine that there are so many mutants in the world.
And it's even harder to imagine how few students are at Xavier's School as compared to the number of mutants that exist in the world, in the United States, even just in New York. Kitty wonders if there are other places like the mansion out there. She wonders if she'll ever find any of them.
The weather warms even more, becomes breezy and consistent. Kitty relives one of her favorite childhood activities and starts climbing trees again; she hasn't done it since she was seven and broke her arm falling from an unstable branch. It seems a little ridiculous, but it's great for people watching, especially since she's almost entirely hidden in the newly growing foliage.
Mostly she watches the kids out on the basketball court. Generally they have a no powers rule, since some of the kids have mutations that are significantly less useful than others, but occasionally it dissolves into a full-on-game of Mutant Ball. Kitty has discovered that Mutant Ball is insanely fun to observe. Usually it starts when one of the kids decides to shake things up, but a few times it's started completely by accident. One time Jason trips and suddenly turns the exact color of the court, complete with white lines. Another time Theresa, who's sick, sneezes, unleashing a sonic scream that almost knocks Kitty out of her tree. Games of Mutant Ball attract even the older kids; once even John joined in. Kitty's almost tempted to join in herself until she remembers how much she sucks at sports of any kind.
Sometimes, the top of the tree becomes a space akin to the Professor's private study. Kitty asked to use it once, but his presence in the room is so strong that it almost feels as if he's in there with her. There's something so much more open about huddling at the top of the tree, closed in but not at the same time.
Still, Kitty can't stop thinking about the secret room. The Professor had said something about her discovering all of his secret passages. Are there more?
She figures she'll probably stumble across another one sooner or later, especially if she gets cold.
Kitty quite literally runs into Bobby in the hallway after class one day. He recovers first, grabbing her arm and swinging her around to face the same direction as him. "Come get a snack with me," he suggests, and pulls her along before she can protest.
He spends a lot of time with Rogue these days, which Kitty tries not to mind, but she misses being his best friend.
"You and your appetite," she teases as he leads her to the kitchen. As soon as they arrive, Bobby starts rifling through the fridge and emerges with enough ingredients to make an absurdly large sandwich; Kitty, leaning against the counter, watches with amusement. The silence is comfortable. It always is with Bobby.
Sure enough, he ends up with a sandwich of epic proportions. "This is better than TV," Kitty jokes as he tries to fit it into his mouth. He frowns at her and mumbles something unintelligible around the sandwich, both hands poised to make sure nothing falls out. Her ribs are starting to hurt from laughing.
Once Bobby finishes eating, he immediately starts searching the cabinets for another snack. Kitty watches with raised eyebrows. "You're seriously still hungry after that?"
"How are you not hungry?" he counters, digging through a drawer. He emerges with a box of granola bars. "Score!"
The noise in the halls starts calming down as students disband, heading to their rooms or the library before dinner. Kitty's mind is wandering upstairs to the showers, but for some reason her body refuses to move. Instead she observes Bobby wolfing down a granola bar. Finally his appetite abates and he pushes the box away.
"When's dinner? An hour?" he asks.
"Yeah…you're still going?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Bobby grins. "I'm going to need my energy."
Kitty laughs, skeptical. "For what, doing your homework?" He's trying to restrain his smile and failing miserably, and she narrows her eyes at him. "Wait…really. For what?"
"I start training with the X-Men tonight," he says all in a rush.
"Bobby!" Without thinking, Kitty reaches across the table to give him an awkward hug. "Congratulations! That's amazing."
"I'm kind of nervous," he admits, "but this is what I want. To help them fight for mutant rights. I just want to make a difference."
Kitty's rarely seen him so serious.
"You'll be great. You're perfect for the team."
"Thanks. Seriously, thanks."
They stay there for a while longer, joking lightheartedly with each other, passing the time. Kitty's about to make her excuses and go when Bobby catches her eye. "Kitty," he hesitates. It's obvious that what he's about to say is something that takes up a large portion of his thoughts—once again he's the serious Bobby she doesn't see so much anymore. "Do you ever think about what things would be like if you…if you weren't a mutant?"
The question takes her by surprise. Bobby, who's been here for years, who's almost mastered his powers, who's never shown a single sign that he's dissatisfied with his mutation—it's hard to reconcile that Bobby with the one here and now, asking her this question. Kitty knows the discrimination they face doesn't make it easy, but still, Bobby? He's easily one of the more well-adjusted mutants living at the school. Is it his family? Then it dawns on her—
"Is this about Rogue?"
He slumps, defeated. "Scott asked her to start training with the X-Men too. And she said no at first. I just—I don't know, Kitty. I know it's hard having the mutation she has, and I know I'll never really understand exactly what it's like, never being able to touch anyone. But I can't stop thinking that it doesn't have to be that way. Rogue—she could change it, maybe, she could train herself to turn it off or lessen it somehow—she could work with it, you know? But she just doesn't want it at all. I've tried, but I guess I just don't understand." He takes a deep breath. "Sorry to unload all this on you. I just—had to talk to someone, I guess."
"Don't apologize. You can always talk to me," Kitty reassures him.
Bobby gives her a grateful look. "I was just wondering if you could help me understand."
Kitty doesn't know how to explain that she barely thinks about it anymore—what her life would be like if she was just a regular girl. It's a thought that doesn't weigh on her mind like it used to, and she doesn't really care for impossible theoretical situations anyways. She thinks her mutation is a much deeper part of her than she even realizes. She's the person she is because of it; her mutation showed itself in her personality long before she even knew it existed. She doesn't know if the same is true for all mutants, or if it's true in the same way—Bobby's not a cold person, for example—but for her, she's long since accepted that she's lived her entire life as a mutant. Kitty struggles to put all of this into words.
"I don't know if I can help you," she says finally. "Rogue and I, we're different. But Bobby, maybe she's just scared. Just…listen to her. Maybe—tell her what you told me."
He nods. Kitty catches a faint trace of disappointment on his face, and her heart sinks at it. At just that moment, John walks in. "Guys," he says, looking mostly at Bobby. "I've been thinking. This kitchen's always stocked, the whole mansion's furnished, the garage is huge, and we never run out of anything. How does Professor X fund this place?"
Kitty and Bobby stare at him blankly. After their previous conversation, this seems like some kind of bizarre joke.
"Seriously," John continues, frowning at their lack of reaction. "Where do you think Xavier gets all his money?"
"Tuition?" Kitty speculates.
"Okay, but only about half the kids here have parents who are actually paying for them. How much can he make those parents pay? They can't all be millionaires. So where's the rest of the money coming from?"
Bobby furrows his brow. "I don't know, a massive trust fund?"
"A widespread donation campaign?" Kitty chimes in.
"An affiliation with a group of powerful drug lords?" Bobby half-jokes. He seems back to his usual self.
"Bingo," John says to the last guess. "Something shady is going on here."
"The Professor, shady? You can't be serious."
John scowls at her. He turns to Bobby, who shrugs. "I wouldn't rule out the possibility."
"Well," John smirks. "I know who my real friends are." He turns and leaves, presumably to present his theory to more students. Kitty frowns at his back. Sometimes she honestly can't tell how serious he's being.
"I'd better go get ready," Bobby mutters, standing. "Thanks, Kit."
"Anytime. Hey, good luck tonight."
Kitty doesn't miss the glance he gives her as he leaves. It's genuine and warm, just like the Bobby she knows, and it immediately lessens the tension clouding her lungs.
Kitty's lived at the mansion for close to a year now and she's starting to feel enclosed, trapped almost. She and the other students who don't have families to go back to hardly ever venture into the outside world. There's the occasional field trip, or a run to the mall or drugstore for supplies, or a random outing, but they're few and far between. It's like her entire life is here, inside this one building.
"Yeah, you'll get used to it," John says.
For some reason, that night Kitty's mind is fixated on the photo album she left behind at her old house, the album that contains the memories and the proof of a life outside of this place. She'd stupidly left it behind, thinking she wouldn't want the reminder. She was wrong. She wants it more than anything.
Eventually, she does get used to it.
The attack on the president is what all the students have been half-waiting for. The professors keep it hushed, but it's all over the news and when the X-Men all get ready for separate missions, it just confirms everyone's suspicions. The strange combination of anxiety and relief floating around the mansion makes Kitty's head swim.
Logan returns with surprisingly good timing, arriving just as the other professors are leaving. Most of the mansion's occupants treat him with practiced nonchalance, but Rogue brightens and tries to hide it the same way she hides her skin. Bobby grows quiet. Kitty stays out of the way, but she still notices.
They're all on edge, even the younger students, just waiting for something to happen. With the professors gone on their secret missions, it feels closer than ever. Soon something will change, but for now, they're just waiting. Kitty wonders when it will end.