Notes: And we have some more of Laura's history, yay! Prompts this time were to include nostalgia and the quote "I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like 'em myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over 'em on long winter evenings." Thanks for the reviews, guys!
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Kitty Pryde was woken from her delightfully refreshing nap that afternoon by series of loud knocks on her door. She rose to her feet slowly, still wincing at some residual pain in her muscles even though she felt largely better. She looked down at her hands to see that the welts had faded quite a bit and she hoped to be feeling one hundred percent by the following day.
"Who is it?" she called out, tugging her t-shirt down and trying to smooth her hair out a bit.
"It's Peter."
She opened the door after a moment's hesitation - she really just wanted to crawl back into bed - and pasted a smile on her face for the sake of propriety. It quickly turned to a real smile when she realized that in his hands was a very familiar pale pink bakery box.
"You didn't!" she breathed.
"Your very own piece of Heavenly Six Layer Chocolate Cake," he replied, giving her a grin. "And if you want I'll stay while you eat it to make sure it doesn't wander off."
She scowled. "John ate it."
"What?"
"My piece from last night. It didn't wander off - John Allerdyce saw fit to steal and eat it."
"How do you know?" he asked reasonably.
She reached over and snatched the scrap of paper from her night stand before shoving it at him.
"I see," he replied stoically, returning the paper to the night stand.
"Well, here you go," he said, handing her the box. He reached into the hall and came up with a napkin, a fork, and a cup of coffee. "I also got you another mocha. I do hope you enjoy it."
"Please, would you stay?"
He smiled softly, "I'd love to."
She turned a brighter light on and ushered him in, shutting the door behind him. "Um…excuse the mess…" she muttered weakly, trying to shove some stray things under her bed and smooth the rumpled covers on top of which she had been sleeping.
"It's fine," he shrugged. "My room's been worse, trust me."
She gave him a look that was indecipherable, intimate and too heavy for the light conversation they had been having only a moment before.
"I do trust you," she whispered.
After a moment of uncomfortable silence Kitty perched on the bed and gestured for him to sit down on it as well.
"Why'd you go all stoic after seeing the note?" she asked, sitting the coffee carefully on the nightstand before placing the bakery box on the bed between them and opening it up.
"I realized the reason you dislike the nickname Kitten."
"Oh."
Kitty delicately took up a bite on her fork and popped it into her mouth, savoring it appreciatively. Peter ripped off a chunk and gobbled it up rather noisily.
"Urgh!" she exclaimed without really thinking about it.
"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like 'em myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over 'em on long winter evenings."
"The Big Sleep!" she crowed, pointing at him with her fork.
"You like Humphrey Bogart movies?" he asked.
"Yes!"
Their conversation was interrupted when Laura burst through the door, looking mutinous, claws on both hands and both feet fully extended, to the woe of her shoes.
"Laura?" Kitty asked in a soothing voice. Peter sat very, very still.
"The Wolverine will not let me teach John a lesson. He said that Storm would frown upon my methods. He also walked John back to his room and told me I am not to break into it. He spoke of guards and expulsion."
Kitty handed the cake to Peter and got off the bed, approaching Laura and placing a hand on each of her upper arms.
"Laura, calm down."
The girl stared at her mutinously.
"Why do you want to teach John a lesson?"
"He stole your cake. Theft is not tolerated."
"Put away the claws and come have some cake," she continued, voice soft and even and of the type reserved for homicidal maniacs or people on the verge of jumping off of bridges. "You don't need to teach Allerdyce a lesson. Peter brought some more cake, so it's okay."
"But he hurts you," she replied, clearly perplexed.
"People hurt people. It's okay."
"When I hurt people it is not okay."
"When you hurt people they tend to bleed a lot and come close to dying," she said kindly. "Emotional hurt…that's much more common and more widely accepted. It's not nice, but it happens. Mostly it's an accident."
"He does not hurt you accidentally. He must pay."
"Hush now. You need to focus on not breaking the rules and getting kicked out. Then who would be my roommate, huh?"
"I do not know," she replied and the claws on her feet retracted.
"Hands too, Laura."
The girl obeyed and the claws on her hands slithered back up into her skin.
"Would you like to have some cake with Peter and me?" Kitty asked politely.
Laura shook her head. "I am not n the mood for chocolate. I had rather impale John Allerdyce on my claws. May I do that instead?"
"No, Laura, you may not. Now, come on over here and let's have some cake and forget all about annoying John Allerdyce, all right?"
Kitty nodded and let her pull her to the bed where Kitty plied her with cake.
"Well, this was fun ladies," Peter supplied, "but I have some things that need my attention so I need to go for a while," he replied. "Have a good afternoon and I'll see you both at diner."
With a bow he left the room, leaving Kitty and Laura to mull over the rest of the cake.
"He likes you?" Laura asked, looking a bit perplexed.
"Yes, I think he does," Kitty allowed.
"You are still going to the dance together?"
"Yes!"
"Dances are fun, you can dress up and enjoy yourself."
"Mhm," Kitty replied, lying back on her bed and daydreaming about the upcoming event that had everyone so worked up over it.
Laura sighed and began to flex her claws in and out.
"Laura?"
"Yes?"
"Is your whole body adamantium like Professor Logan's?"
"No, just my claws."
"How…how did they get that way?"
"When I was seven Dr. Rice triggered my mutation via radiation poisoning."
"When you were seven?" Kitty whispered in horror.
"Yes. He then extracted my claws and…"
"Extracted?" Kitty squeaked.
"Yes, he manually extracted them, infused them with adamantium and re-inserted them." She shuddered. "It was very painful."
"…they didn't give you any medicine?"
"No, it was not allowed."
"Oh my…Laura I am so sorry."
"It was a long time ago. I do not dwell on it, I only brought it up because you asked. I think I will go for a run now," Laura finished, looking rather more stony than usual.
She stalked from the room before Kitty could apologize for upsetting her. Kitty finished the cake and threw the box away before leaning back on her bed and contemplating finishing her nap. Of course, it was just then that Rogue saw fit to march in unannounced and flop on Laura's bed, sighing wistfully.
"What's up, Rogue?" Kitty asked as she looked over at her former roommate with concern etched along her features.
"I…I wish I had never taken the cure," Rogue whispered hesitantly, not looking Kitty in the eye.
"What? But…the cure was a lifesaver for you! Or rather for everyone around you. I mean, you don't have to cover up now. You can touch people. They can touch you. You no longer have to worry about going out in crowds or bumping people in the Danger Room. Or even going in the Danger Room! There are no cafeteria disasters or lunch room accidents."
"I'm an outcast now, a freak! A human here in the midst of all you mutants. And my mutation was sometimes good. I was just learning how to use it and then…impulsively I decided to throw it all away. I mean, I did it for me but…I guess I didn't understand what I was giving up. I mean I hated the voices in my head but….some of the powers were cool," she said, grinning. "I did well when I took John's power and used it to stop him attacking those policemen when the mansion was attacked a couple years ago. And if it weren't for the voices in my head I would never have been able to fly the X-Jet and pick the others up at Alkali Lake. I wasn't always a liability. But now I am."
"We're all a liability sometimes, Rogue. And what are you wearing to the dance?"
"The dance? Well, my dress is strapless and real low cut in the back. It's green with gold accents and is so pretty!"
"And what would it be if you weren't Cured?"
"Well…I wouldn't even be going. But if I did somehow manage to it'd have to be something that covered me head to toe."
"See, that's one good thing it did for you."
Rogue curled in a ball and Kitty could tell there was more to this that she was letting on.
"Bobby's sleeping with Lorna Dane," she burst out suddenly.
"What?" Kitty shrieked, propping herself up on one elbow.
"Bobby's sleeping with Lorna Dane. Because I told him no. And I…I feel guilty about it…If I hadn't taken the Cure I wouldn't need to feel guilty because there would've been a really good reason for me to tell him no. But I didn't have a really good reason. It just didn't feel right. I just didn't want to," she finished miserably, burying her head under Laura's pillow.
There was a shocked silence between them.
"You don't have to have a reason for that, Rogue. And he's scum for making you feel bad for saying no."
"It was nice, sometimes, not being able to be touched," Rogue murmured, voice muffled. "It wasn't so bad, all the time. And here…I really fit in here before the Cure. People talked with me and they didn't ask questions about my gloves or concealing clothes. Now I look like everyone else, but I'm not. Before we all had problems. Our mutations caused us all difficulties. We were united because of that and now you all are but I'm not and even though it was a curse sometimes I would give anything to go back in time and make a different decision."
"I think we all have times like that."
"I have them a lot, Kitty. A whole heaping ton of a lot. Wolverine stopped me as I left. He made sure that I was doing it for me and I was but…"
"But that wasn't good enough?" Kitty asked.
"Right! It wasn't good enough," Rogue replied, seeming happy that Kitty had hit the head on the nail.
"Well…once again you're just going to have to live with it," Kitty voiced
"I know. And…as much as I wish I'd never been cured…"
Rogue hesitated.
"Yes?" Kitty prompted.
"I would be beyond upset if the Cure somehow failed and my powers came back. I don't know what I'd do if that happened."
"Even though you wished you still had them?"
"Even though."
"Well, I'm sure the Cure won't wear off. It's been studied intensively."
"I know, I was just exploring all the possibilities, you know?"
"Yeah."
"My mutation came out the first time I kissed a boy."
"What happened to him?"
"It put him in a coma."
"Did he come out of it okay?"
"He didn't come out of it at all. He's in a long term care facility down in Mississippi. My parents were horrified. I packed my bags and hitchhiked all the way to Canada. That's where Logan found me. And now I'm here, for better or worse."
"Now, about Bobby…we could sic Laura on him if you wanted."
Rogue laughed. "I'll think about it."