They could respond to a crisis in under fifteen minutes. They could have the crisis handled in under thirty. They could go to space and back in less than twenty-four hours. But the Dark Lords be damned if they had to pack for a vacation in the span of the hours between when classes got out and when it was time to settle in for the night. Illyana had been ready, of course. She didn't teach classes and had a whole bunch of nothing to do with her time so she'd spent her entire day packing her clothes and other necessary items for their trip to Russia the next morning. They'd opted for a normal vacation, one that didn't involve stepping discs or a next-gen aircraft. Nope, they were going the old-fashioned way: airport security, a commercial flight and almost twelve hours worth of air time and a bus out to the country after landing. The whole damn package.
Kitty had bought their tickets almost two weeks ago, the two of them having decided that after the Danger incident that they both needed a break away from it all. So what better to do than pay Illyana's parents a visit? They'd called ahead to let them know about everything, that Illyana was alive—without letting on too many details—and that they were going to come visit the first chance they got, and her mother and father were both relieved and excited. She, however, was a little anxious. She hadn't seen them in years, and the times she had had been brief and that had been after they'd rejected her when she had come to them as a fifteen year old girl instead of the six year old they remembered.
'This must be so confusing for them,' She thought, feeling a little guilty for what her parents had gone through over the years as a result of their son being an X-Man and their daughter having been kidnapped to Limbo and then spending the time until her supposed 'death' as a member of the New Mutants. But it didn't matter much now. She was back and they'd be reunited again soon enough.
"Katya, we aren't going to get any sleep at this rate," Illyana whined from her place on Kitty's bed where she'd clearly chosen to be useless, leaning her back against her packed suitcase that sat behind her. Her legs hung off the bed, kicking idly as her blue eyes watched the brunette dig something out of her closet. Lockheed laid in her lap, pretending to be asleep, giving her yet another reason to stay right where she was.
"I said you could go," Kitty reminded her. She stood in front of her mirror, a pair of pants held up to her waist. Her lips were pursed and pressed to one side and there was a slight furrow in her brow, "I'm really starting to regret leaving half my stuff behind in London."
"We could go get it," It was Illyana's turn to do the reminding, a little grin on her face that reflected in the mirror where Kitty could see.
"Don't tempt me," the other girl grinned back at her, meeting her eyes in their reflections, "Plus, that would involve stealing from charity. What do you think of these?"
"I think you look good in everything, Katya, do you really want to ask me?" Illyana questioned as her head tipped to the side. The quick once-over she gave the brunette was no where near subtle.
Catching that expression in the mirror, Kitty could not help the smirk that crawled onto her face, "Guess that means I have to try them on then."
Without any further warning, Shadowcat was throwing the pants she held over one shoulder so she could turn her attention onto the ones she was wearing. She unfastened them and stripped them off, letting them fall into a heap in the floor before she was bending over to pull the other ones on, Illyana's appreciative gaze on her the entire time. The blonde bit down on her bottom lip, eyes trailing up her smooth, toned legs until they were locked out of sight by the new pants. Lockheed snorted.
As soon as they were fit snugly around her hips, Kitty was twisting this way and that in the mirror. It didn't take her long to reach her decision, and then she was yanking them off all over again. The whole effort may have seemed like wasted time from the outside, but from where the brunette was standing, the certain tingly thrill she got out of undressing in front of her girlfriend was well worth it. In only her underwear and a light sweater, she waltzed back over to the bed to add the pants to the suitcase.
She had never been very good at packing, and it certainly didn't help that they weren't exactly sure how long they were going to be staying in Russia for. And then, of course, was the fact that she had far too many clothes. Even knowing that, Kitty still felt that she had nothing that she wanted to wear.
She examined what was in the suitcase already: a few long sleeve shirts and jumpers, some pants and thermal underwear—because last time she had been in Russia she had practically frozen her butt off. The suitcase was almost full as it was, and she still needed shoes, socks and underwear.
"Do you think that's enough pants?" she asked, only to add, "And shirts? And jackets?"
"Yeeeessss," Illyana laughed, tipping her head back so it laid against her suitcase and she cut her eyes towards Kitty, "You worry too much."
"I just want to be prepared!" Kitty protested. She scowled down into the bag for a few moments longer, unnecessarily rearranging what was inside it. She let out a exasperated sigh and moved back to her closet.
"Move, dragon," Illyana murmured, gently pushing Lockheed off her lap. He glared at her with an angry little grunting sound as he sat himself down on the bed beside her. The blonde stretched out on the bed then, her legs reaching towards the pillows with her head towards the end. She propped her head up with her hand against her cheek, elbow pressed into the mattress. It was taking everything in her to keep her eyes off Kitty's ass and the back of her thighs, but no matter how hard she tried they continually dragged themselves back there, "Katya, do you need help?"
"Now you ask," the other girl exclaimed, throwing a cheeky smile over her shoulder. She pointed to the top of her cupboard, where things were packed in so tightly and so haphazardly and so obviously out of Kitty's reach. "I think my ugg boots are up there somewhere."
"I'm coming, short-stuff," Illyana grinned, practically popping off the bed and onto her feet. She made a quick stride across the room to Kitty's side, tilting her chin up to examine what she was working with. She let out a quick, amused laugh, "Did you just throw all of that stuff up there?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Kitty laughed with her, moving back to the pants she had left on the floor. She pulled them on as Illyana started tossing things out of the wardrobe.
"So this is what happens when I'm not here to fix your messes," The blonde teased her, fishing around blindly for the soft, fuzzy shoes. For a second, Kitty just stared, sure her ears were deceiving her.
"You? Fix my messes?" she scoffed. Illyana turned her head to stare right back at her while her hands continued their search.
"Katya, your side of the room was hopeless," she recalled, grinning all the while.
"Well there was no point cleaning it when your side was just as bad!" the other girl argued. She stepped up beside Illyana to join in the search then, mounting an invisible set of stairs until the shelf was at eye-height. She phased her head right through the chaos in front to look around.
"You said you needed my help when you could have done this the entire time?" Illyana asked, giving her girlfriend a playful glare as she purposely dug through the mess a little more quickly, now determined to find the boots first.
Kitty ignored her, mostly because her mouth was currently phased through a box of Star Wars collectibles, but also because she had no real answer to that question. When she did remove her head, it was with an excited gasp. She stuck her arm back into the same place, feeling around until she managed to grab hold of the soft toy she had caught sight of. She dragged it into view. "Yana, look!"
Illyana pulled her gaze away from the cluttered mess to find what had gotten Kitty so riled up. In her hands was an old, scrawny brown teddy bear that she recognized very well from her childhood. It had been one of the many that had taken up residence on her bed whenever she wasn't sleeping in it—and sometimes when she was, too—but it was arguably her favorite. She couldn't believe Kitty still had it.
The Russian carefully took it from the other girl's hands, holding it delicately in her own instead. She was afraid of holding it any tighter, like it'd crumble to dust in her grasp if she did. She peered down at it, a smile tugging at her lips, "You kept it."
"It wasn't like I could throw it away," Kitty explained, smiling at the expression on her girlfriend's face. Magik pulled her into a tight embrace, holding the teddy bear against the back of the brunette's shoulder as she did.
"Oh Katya," She said quietly as she pulled away, bringing the plush toy back around to her own body to cradle it against her with one arm, "Thank you."
"Of course," Shadowcat told her, dipping her head as if it was no trouble at all. With her free arm, Illyana reached out and placed her hand on the back of Kitty's head, drawing her in for a deep, appreciative kiss. The other girl grinned against her mouth, genuinely surprised that she had received that much of a reaction over the bear. But she was not complaining. She drew the kiss out, her arms wrapped around Illyana's waist and the bear trapped between their bodies.
When she eventually withdrew, she was still grinning, "We aren't going to get any sleep at this rate."
"I already told you that," Illyana reminded her with a grin of her own, "and we still haven't found your shoes."
"I think I saw one in there," Kitty told her.
"Get it, I'm gonna go put this in my bag," Illyana said, already walking off before she'd finished talking. She crawled back on to the bed, sitting on her haunches and leaning forward to unzip the suitcase. There was just enough room inside for her to gently pack the teddy bear in, then she zipped it right back up and turned back around to watch Kitty dig.
After phasing her upper body back inside the mess, it didn't take the brunette too much longer to locate and yank out her ugg boots. She lowered herself back to the ground and moved back to her suitcase to pack them inside, thinking outloud, "Okay, so I can wear my sneakers to the airport and carry my big jacket on board with my laptop and my book... I just need toiletries and underwear now, right? Is that everything?"
Illyana rolled her eyes to the ceiling in thought, her lips moving but no words coming out while she went over Kitty's list as well as her own in her head. Coming to the conclusion that was indeed everything, she gave the brunette a quick assuring nod, "Yup!"
"Okay," she nodded, eyes narrowed just slightly as she did so. When she couldn't think of a single other thing she needed, she returned to her wardrobe. She didn't waste time searching through her underwear drawer, coming back with an armful of bras, socks and panties that she dumped into her bag on top of everything else.
"I can probably work out the toiletries tomorrow morning before we go," she reasoned, "So, that's it! Wait... scarves! And a beanie!" She hurried back over to the closest. Illyana just shook her head, planting her elbows against her thighs and holding her cheeks in her hands.
"Oooh, these are cute. I forgot I had these," Kitty was musing, mostly to herself.
Lockheed had seemed to reach his breaking point. Abruptly, he launched himself from the bed, snatching just two of the colorful items from the brunette's hands. He flew back over to her suitcase and dumped them inside, then flipped the lid closed.
"Lockheed!" Kitty cried after him, but he was sitting on the top and refused to budge and only growled at her when she tried to move him.
"Fine," she glared at him, "I'll just take the rest in my hand luggage."
"I'm already starting to regret this," Kitty sighed, her eyes on the safety manual that she had gotten out of her seat pocket, a dubious frown on her face. Beside her, cabin crew were moving up and down the aisles, helping people put their bags into the overhead compartments and instructing passengers again and again to please put their seats forward and stow their tray tables in their locked and upright positions.
"The guy in front of me smells funny," Illyana murmured, face towards Kitty, but obviously not quietly enough because the man made a disgruntled sound and the woman next to him, presumably his wife, shot a look back at them. The blonde blinked like she had nothing to do with the words that had been spoken, then bit down on her lip to stop herself from laughing when the woman turned back around. She whispered, "Oops."
"Yana!" Kitty hissed at her, trying to contain her smile and the giggles that wanted to escape from it. She elbowed her in the side just as a baby started crying somewhere behind them. She groaned and sunk down in her seat, "Really starting to regret this."
"Who brings babies on airplanes," Illyana wondered aloud, much quieter this time as she, too, sunk into her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, "That's like bringing a baby to a movie theater except worse."
"Oh my God do you smell it?" Kitty whispered, covering her mouth with her hand this time and screwing her eyes closed.
"Guh-ross," Magik cringed, pulling the collar of her black t-shirt up over her nose and holding it there. She cut her eyes towards the aisle, fully intending to glare the owner of the shrieking child down but was disappointed when she couldn't see them from her seat.
"I surrender," Kitty laughed, waving her hand in front of her face, "Can we call Scott yet? Or take a stepping disc and just say we didn't?"
"We can handle computers gone wild but not baby stink?" Illyana asked, voice muffled through the cloth. She teasingly added, "If we can't tough this out then maybe we need to go back to the Baby Brigade."
"Hey!" Kitty laughed harder, suddenly sitting up straighter, "Speak for yourself! I am totally cool with baby stink."
Illyana glared at her from over her shirt, "You sure turned that around fast."
"I phased my nose."
"Katya!" Illyana hollered, bursting into laughter before she'd gotten her name completely out. She dropped her shirt from her nose and instead grabbed for the men's health magazine tucked into the back of the seat in front of her. She ripped a page of it out, then tore two strips off of it that she twisted into makeshift "plugs" and stuffed them up her nostrils, "There."
Kitty raised one eyebrow, her expression incredulous. "You couldn't have just cast a spell?"
"I don't know the spell to clear the air of gross baby butt off the top of my head," Illyana retorted, crossing her eyes to look down at her own nose.
"What about the one where you don't embarrass your girlfriend by having bits of paper jammed up your nose?" the brunette asked, leaning over to her and pulling the items in question out of the blonde's nostrils. She dropped them into her lap instead. Illyana scrunched up her nose in playful disgust.
"The least you can do is distract me until it's gone," she hinted, a devious little grin forming on her lips.
"The least I can do, huh?" Kitty smirked at her. She lifted one hand, cupping it around Magik's cheek to close the distance between them. Their lips met in a soft, affectionate kiss.
A second later, someone cleaned their throat in the aisle behind Kitty. They didn't break apart straight away, barely registering the sound and not attributing it to something they needed to worry about anyway. That was, until it came again.
"Ehem."
Kitty broke their mouths apart and twisted around to see a balding, middle-aged man leering down at them. He pointed at the chair on the other side of Illyana. "That's my seat."
"Oh, I'm sorry!" the brunette said hastily, immediately unclipping her seatbelt to ease out into the corridor. Illyana, however, didn't bother at all to move, annoyed by the interruption the man brought with him. She sat up completely straight, tucking her legs beneath her seat as best as she could to let him move—with quite a bit of difficulty—passed her. With a great deal of annoyed grumbling, the man fell into his seat, and Kitty took hers.
When they eventually took off—with both the girls appalled at just how long and unnecessary the process had been— the first leg of their journey passed with the two of them vacillating between serious boredom and a ridiculous amount of laughing and whining about how long it was taking them to get anywhere. They had watched movies on the tiny screens on the back of the seats in front of them, holding hands on the armrest they shared, played games together on Kitty's laptop while sharing headphones and annoying everyone else around them. They had bickered playfully and loudly over trivial things, murmured quietly to each other about more important ones, snuck several kisses in, and dozed with their heads against each other's. Hours later, when they finally reached their layover in Amsterdam, both were eager to stretch their legs.
The first thing Illyana did once they'd filed into the airport was drag Kitty across the entire concourse until they found the closest restaurant serving burgers and milkshakes. She had a craving and she had it bad, which was precisely why she'd given her girlfriend no room to argue. She had had more than enough of peanuts and water in stupid tiny plastic cups—she wanted real food. After the completely flavorless piece of fish she had only picked at during their flight, Kitty certainly wasn't complaining. She ordered the biggest burger on the menu and waited impatiently for it to arrive, stealing sips from Illyana's milkshake as she did.
"The airport's a lot more fun than the actual airplane," Illyana mused, chewing on the end of her straw as her blue eyes roved over the dining area of the restaurant they'd chosen.
Kitty narrowed her eyes at her, "Are you only saying that because they have milkshakes?"
"No," Illyana lied, sucking so exaggeratedly hard on the straw that her cheeks caved inwards. Kitty rolled her eyes, her gaze drifting towards the doors of the restaurant and beyond. They had some time to kill before their next flight boarded, but it wasn't enough to really leave the airport and do anything, but despite Illyana's words, there wasn't that much to keep them occupied. Unless...
"You know... The drinking age in Amsterdam is only eighteen."
Illyana blew the straw out of her mouth, a smirk quickly growing on her lips, "You know what would make the next flight more tolerable?"
"For us, or for everyone else?" Kitty grinned at her.
"Screw everyone else," Illyana's smirk turned devilish, "You wanna?"
As if on cue, the buzzer on their table lit up and started vibrating loudly. Kitty snagged it up and rose to her feet. "As soon as I finish my burger. I'm going to need something to absorb all that alcohol we're going to need."
Illyana set an empty shot glass down on the bar counter, poking it away with her index finger, laughing all the while. She'd already had a few of them and there were more where that came from, not to mention the glass that was half-full of a light blue beverage she'd gotten tired of and pushed off on Kitty instead.
Kitty had her elbows on the counter and her face in her hands. Her chest was rising and falling quickly with each breath, despite her efforts to remain calm and collected enough so that there would be no doubt about their sanity when they tried to board the next flight. That was why she could no longer look at her girlfriend. Even hearing her moving beside her set off the trembling in her abdomen that made her want to laugh all over again.
"Shhhh," she cooed to herself, her shoulders shaking with her suppressed joy.
"Are we gonna get in trouble for charging this to Scott's card?" Illyana asked, much too late to be concerned about it now. But she couldn't have been all that worried, because she was laughing again as soon as the words were out of her mouth.
Kitty groaned into her hands, then let out a burst of hysterical laughter to accompany Illyana's own, "I bet he checks the purchases on every single account."
Illyana threw her head back, laughing even harder and almost choking on the liquid she dumped down her throat from the next shot. She swallowed it and let her head fall back forward, blinking almost violently, "How do people do that, that hurts my neck."
The other mutant just shook her head, finally dropping her hands away from her face. Against her better judgement, she reached for the blue drink Illyana had ordered. She didn't like it, but she wanted it anyway. As soon as it touched her tongue then burned a bitter trail down her throat, she regretted it. But still, she drunk more. She let her body slump forward, exhausted.
"I'm going to sleep right through the next flight," she announced.
"Maybe if I drink enough it'll numb everything and I won't be able to smell any more baby stink," Illyana pondered the idea, swirling another shot glass and not even caring when the liquid within splashed out onto her fingers.
"Or old people stink," Kitty added, "Or bad plane food stink. Or why-didn't-we-just-stepping-disc stink."
"'Normal' vacation, we said," Illyana tacked on to the jestful scorn of their own actions, "'It'll be fun', we said."
"'We should drink', we said," the brunette laughed.
"We're gonna regret this later," Illyana realized, but even still she threw back the shot she'd mostly already sloshed out onto the counter by playing with it.
"Like when we turn up on your parents' doorstep," Kitty reminded her, watching her girlfriend throw her head back. She almost gagged imagining the taste of the liquid in her mouth.
"Maybe we should stay in a hotel," Illyana managed through the twisted face she made as the alcohol finished its assault on her throat and then she added playfully, "They can't know you've turned me into a 'bad girl'."
The thoughts that sprung to Kitty's mind with those words were ones she would much prefer to blame on the alcohol. She took another drink from her own glass as if to assure herself of that, spluttering and laughing and blushing as she did so. "Maybe that would be a good idea," she agreed.
One exceedingly more tolerable plane ride and several hours later, Illyana found herself lying on her side in the center of the single bed in the hotel room they'd managed to get not far from the airport. She'd tied her hair, still wet from the shower she'd taken before she'd laid down, into a low ponytail that she'd pulled over her shoulder. Her eyes were half closed, her vision blurred as she teetered between the consciousness that she wanted to keep and the sleep that wanted to take her. She could barely make out the time on the clock, but she knew it was late — or early — so whatever the hour was was irrelevant at that point anyway. A cool breeze blew over her from the air conditioner by the window and the goosebumps that raised on her skin made her mentally curse herself for not turning it off before she'd laid down. She was way too tired to get back up, so she opted instead to snuggle deeper into the sheets while she waited for Kitty to join her.
It was strange knowing she was this close to her parents. As happy as she was to see them again, she was glad for the turn of events that saw them grabbing a hotel for the night instead of going straight out to their farm. She needed a little more time to breathe, a little more time to prepare herself. Would it really make a difference? Probably not, no, but the idea made her feel better and that was what mattered. It probably wouldn't be as bad as her anxieties were making it out to be, especially not with Kitty there with her, but Illyana's mind had a penchant for running wild sometimes and this was no exception.
Kitty was taking the time to dry her hair and just generally freshen up from their trip. They was something about the recycled air on an airplane that made her skin feel clammy and dirty, and she was having a hard time making that feeling go away, even after the burning hot shower she had taken. Hopefully a good night's sleep would fix that. She finished brushing her teeth, pulled her comb through her hair one last time, and finally exited the bathroom. The lights were out in the main room, the air conditioner whirring quietly just like it had been all day on the planes. Why that air conditioner was set on cold when it was already freezing outside, she did not know.
She crept across the room to the bed, thinking that Illyana might be asleep already, and slipped under the covers behind her, facing her back but not wanting to get too close in case she woke her up.
"Mm mm," Illyana hummed her disapproval, tiredly reaching behind her and feeling around until she found the front of Kitty's pajama shirt. She tugged on it and with an obvious drowsiness to her voice she muttered, "Come here."
"I didn't know you were awake still," Kitty told her, nevertheless wiggling across the mattress to her girlfriend. She draped one arm over her waist while the other curled up under her own head, her chest pressing against her back and revelling in the warmth that radiated from her.
"I was waiting for you," Illyana rested her arm over Kitty's, intertwining their fingers and giving her hand a gentle squeeze. Magik relaxed her body against her, turning her head slightly to look over her shoulder at her, "Feel better?"
"I do now," Kitty smiled at her. She pressed her face against the other girl's shoulder, kissing the back of it through the thin material of her shirt. "I'm sorry we didn't get to go straight to your parents'."
"Hey, don't apologize," Illyana squeezed her hand again, finally letting her aching eyes close completely. She almost sighed at the sudden rush of relief that one small action gave her, "I'm okay with this."
"It beats getting on a bus at six in the morning," the brunette pointed out, the tips of her fingers absentmindedly stroking over the back of her girlfriend's hand.
"No kidding," She agreed, falling quiet afterwards. She stayed that way for a long few moments before she turned her body in Kitty's arms as much as she could without breaking their embrace so that she could look the other mutant in the eyes, "Thank you for coming here with me, Katya."
Kitty leaned forward just far enough to catch her girlfriend's lips in a soft, tired kiss. When she pulled away, a smile still danced at her lips, "I wouldn't have missed it for the world."