Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution or anything else in this story (except the story itself). Marvel and Kid's WB do (and they better renew for a fourth season, dammit).
Author's Notes: This story takes place sometime after Season 1 ends and before Season 2 begins. Oh, and you may read this story and ask Why? The simple answer is, I wanted to, the idea popped into my head and wouldn't go away, and it's something different. And I'm bored. Different doesn't necessarily mean 'bad' and hey, it's a little variety. That never hurt anyone, did it? So read it, enjoy it, review it.
Stuff in italics are thoughts.
A big thanks goes to Post, for without him, this chapter would have come along much slower. Post, you rock.
Thanks for all the reviews, people! They were all very nice and positive. Granted, I know this could never work out in the show, it's never a shame to try out something new.
Review this, if you want. Positive reviews, negative reviews, constructive criticism, all of it is openly accepted (flame me, love me, hate me, adore me).
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A Simple Crush
Chapter 2
"Scott, are you sure you like, won't get sick?" Kitty asked for the umpteenth time.
Scott let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes Kitty, I'm sure you won't get me sick," he said, a touch of annoyance in his voice. He had lost count, just how many times he'd said that.
"I'm sorry! It's just, I'd feel so totally bad if I went and gave you the flu."
Scott glanced at her sideways. "Is this your way of saying you want me to leave?" He started to stand up, but two small hands lanced forward, yanking him back into the chair.
"Don't go, please. I'm sorry. I just don't want to you get sick, too," Kitty said apologetically.
"Kitty, I've lived in cold weather my entire life," he said reassuringly. "It takes more than just talking to you to get me sick." He set a hand on her shoulder and bent his head down, and looked her in the eyes (even if she couldn't tell). "I'll be fine. Now don't ask me that question anymore. Ok?"
"Okay..." she replied meekly.
"Good," Scott said, reluctantly taking his hand away from her. He noticed that she still hadn't let go of his arm, from his half-hearted move to leave. He was content with them staying. Her hands were so smooth and cool...they made silk feel like sandpaper.
"Look on the bright side. Kurt could be here instead of me."
She made a face, similar to one a child makes, when forced to take some foul medicine.
Scott just laughed.
"It's not that I don't like Kurt, but...like, the last thing I need when I'm sick is him, acting all...well, acting all 'Kurtty.' " Kitty giggled at her own little joke.
Glancing down at the still-covered plate of food in Kitty's lap, Scott said, "So...are you going to eat any time soon?"
Kitty pulled her hands away from his arm (much to his disliking) and to the plate. "Oh right. Sorry," she said, before dipping the fork down into the food and bringing it back up to her mouth.
Scott sat dumbstruck, silently watching her eat. It was amazing, how much pleasure (not that kind, pervert) he was deriving from something as simple as watching the way her lips pressed down on the fork as it entered her mouth, the motions of her jaw as she chewed, the working of her throat as she swallowed.
"Hey Scott?"
The man in question snapped out of his blissful gazing, and gave a brief start. "Yeah?" He was proud of how quickly he recovered from that.
"Why don't you talk about something?"
"Talk about something?"
"Yeah. Tell me about...how things were here, before I came."
Scott furrowed his brows in confusion. She wanted him to talk? And about what Institute was like before she came? The first thing that came to his lovestruck mind was 'lacking,' but he couldn't say that out loud. At least not yet.
He rubbed his chin for a moment before finally saying something. "Um. How far back do you want me to go?"
"As far as you want to go," Kitty told him.
Humming softly, Scott continued to rub his chin. That sort of thing seemed to help people concentrate. It didn't do much for him, but being around Kitty made his basic motor skills shut down.
"Quiet," he said at last, hoping she wouldn't take it the wrong way. "For the longest time, it was just me, Jean, Professor Xavier, and Ororo. And with the Institute being so big, things were...quiet."
"Do you still like, wish it were quiet like before?"
"If you had asked me that before this batch of new students came in, I would have said no. But now..."
Kitty started to giggle, but it cut off sharply as she started to cough. Scott handed her the bottle of water he had brought up, and she took a long drink.
Wiping her mouth off on the back of her hand, she grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I guess it like, went down the wrong way."
"Are you ok?"
She nodded.
Scott smiled. "I guess I'll have to stop saying funny things from now on, huh?"
Surprisingly, that brought on a fresh new bout of laughter from the younger girl.
"Um. Did I miss something there?"
That only added to Kitty's delight.
Once the laughter had finally subsided, she explained it to Scott. "Like, no offense, but you hardly ever say anything funny. You're always so serious and mature and..." She trailed off and started to laugh again.
Scott, on the other hand, started to take offense to what she said. I'm not that bad, he reassured himself.
Then he steadily realized that she was just poking fun, and besides, he could never stay mad at anything that made Kitty laugh like that. It made her look all the more beautiful. He laughed too, so she'd know that knew it was all in good fun.
As Kitty's second bout of laughter died away, she couldn't help but agree with Scott. Until recently, there had been only eight people living in the mansion, nine if you counted Logan, but he was always going off on his own accord. But some new mutants arrived, and it was now double the previous occupancy. There was still plenty of room in the sprawling estate, but it certainly made things feel more crowded.
"Right...uh, quiet." Scott took it on his own initiative to resume talking. "It was always quiet around here, but especially back when Jean and I were the only students, and even before Jean came. But I'm sure you want to hear something other than how quiet it was. I probably sound like I regret having all of you here."
"Do you?" Kitty asked.
Scott shook his head and grinned. "Nah, except when I have to go to the bathroom."
Kitty laughed carefully at that. She didn't want a repeat of the incident only moments ago.
He continued talking afterwards, but he felt more like he was rambling, sometimes. He spoke a little of his brother, with whom he'd recently been reunited with, and how he was disappointed that he wouldn't come to the Institute. Scott touched a bit on his life before he came to the Institute; the wounds of losing his parents would fester inside of him forever. He told a little story of an incident that occured shortly after Jean arrived - she didn't have the control over her powers that she now held, and sneezed once while Scott was in the room, blowing off his shirt. He talked about Kurt, and how the two of them had followed Wolverine one day, and ended up in a skirmish with Sabertooth. That, of course, happened when the Professor and Jean had gone to recruit Kitty. And that led to Scott inadvertently saying something he didn't mean to say...
"I remember when the Professor picked up your mutant signature on Cerebro... Kurt, Jean, and I were with the Professor, and when Kurt saw your picture, he said, 'Oh man, she's cute.' " Scott tried to imitate the German boy's accent as well as he could muster, but he mangled it horribly. Kitty laughed softly around her chewing, a faint shade of pink showing in her cheeks. "And I remember thinking to myself, 'Wow, she is cute.' " Scott stopped, partly because it was the end of the sentence, and partly because he was just finally realizing just what he had said. A mixture of fear and embarrassment slid through every inch of his body.
Oh no... Tell me I just didn't say that out loud...
But he did. And Kitty heard it, too; loud and clear, in fact. As a flood of confused emotions surged through her body, she swallowed wrong and...
Scott jumped to his feet as Kitty began coughing and he started to panic. Not just because she was choking, but also because of what it was that made her start choking. Kitty pressed her hands to her throat, but her choking coughs continued on, growing harsher with each passing moment.
It suddenly dawned on Scott, just what was happening, and it was something a drink of water wouldn't fix up. Pulling Kitty out of the bed, he wrapped his arms around her, pressing her body to his. He brought his hands up to her stomach and was about to perform the Heimlich maneuver when he noticed that Kitty wasn't coughing anymore. She was still breathing...he could literally feel her taking ragged, deep breaths.
"K...Kitty?" He was surprised he could say anything. His throat felt dry as a bone.
She slowly turned her head around and looked up at Scott, and her face heated to the color of his glasses. It didn't take long after, when Scott's did the same.
The two simply stared at each other, neither daring to move or say a word. Just stare, blushing like furnaces, and unsure as to what exactly was happening.
Scott slowly began to realize the heat radiating from where he was pressing her body to his, and from his hands still on her stomach. He pushed himself away from her, very nearly knocking the girl over in the process. It didn't lessen the heat in either of their faces.
Scott licked his lips and swallowed hard. Speaking wasn't going to come very easily. "I, uh...I thought...you were...choking...and I was just trying to... I've gotta go now!" He spun around and darted out the door, leaving a stunned Kitty behind.
*****
Standing outside Kitty's room, Scott unleashed a full-on mental berating of himself.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid... echoed through his brain. How could I have been so stupid?
He fought the urge to whimper in anguish, but couldn't shake off the feeling that everything he had gained that day was for naught.
Why, oh why did I tell her that? WHY? She's got to hate me now. I almost made her choke to death, for Christ's sake!
As he slowly and painfully made his way to his own room, he sneezed, surprising himself. In a way, he was fortunate for that sneeze - it's sudden occurence took his mind off the mess he just made in Kitty's room, if only briefly.
Stepping into his room, he collapsed onto the bed, pausing only to replace his glasses with his visor. At that moment, all he wanted was to sleep, to be released from the mess he had surely gotten himself into.
Sleep. Sleep will do me good. It'll take my mind off that. Yes. Sleep.
*****
Back in her room, Kitty was still trying to gauge what just happened. No single emotion set itself apart from the tangled melee that was how she felt at that moment, and she was a complete loss for words.
Correction - she could think of one thing to say, but that one thing only.
That was like...mega weird.
She numbly made her way back into her bed, methodically cleaning up the food that was knocked over when Scott yanked her out of bed.
Setting the plate onto the chair that Scott had inhabited only minutes ago, Kitty flicked off the lamp by her bed, plunging the room into darkness. It was a good thing that she was already wearing the oversized pink shirt and shorts that she normally slept in - with her emotions so...raw, she would have probably lain in whatever she was wearing.
Settling into the soft mattress, she pulled the blanket up and around her body, hugging it close. It felt so warm and comforting...like Scott's arms felt as he wrapped them around her slim frame, ready to stop her from choking.
A small smile began to spread across Kitty's face as her thoughts began to grow clearer.
Scott thinks I'm cute...
Kitty never considered the possibility that Scott was attracted to her. Sure, she thought he was cute, but so did every girl that ever looked at him. But Scott Summers said that she was cute...
She wrapped the blanket even tighter around her body, wishing that it were Scott, with his arms around her instead.
Feeling better than she had in weeks, Kitty slept well that night, dreaming peaceful dreams of dark-haired young man with red sunglasses.
*****
Kitty Pryde opened her eyes groggily and stretched out underneath her blankets. She smiled lazily at the sunlight streaming into her room. It felt so warm and inviting and refreshing...
But then Kitty noticed how odd she felt.
Strange. Her nose wasn't stopped up, her throat was no longer sore, she wasn't shivering from chills. In fact, she felt...great.
She sprung out of bed and frolicked around the room, humming softly to herself, regaling in the fact that she wasn't sick anymore.
Phasing through her door, she ran down the stairs and bounded into the kitchen. "Good morning," she chirped happily to Jean and Rogue, who happened to have been the only people in the room at the moment.
"Feeling better?" Jean asked, as Kitty opened up the refrigerator, pouring herself a glass of orange juice.
"Much better," she replied, setting a now half-empty glass back onto the counter.
"Good. Now 'ah can have my room back," Rogue drawled in her lazy Southern accent. "Yah better not have touched my stuff while 'ah gone, or you're so dead."
"Aw geez, Rogue. Relax. Like I'd ever get that bored." She ignored Rogue's indignant look and changed the subject. "Say, have either of you seen Scott?" She really needed to talk to him, to clear up that whole awkward situation from the night before.
Rogue just smirked.
"Scott?" Jean hid a small smile behind her hand. "He's uh...in bed...sick."
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Er, I apologize for the 'Scott watching Kitty eat' scene felt like it was loaded with innuendo. I'm sorry if it did - I didn't quite plan for that.
Author's Notes: This story takes place sometime after Season 1 ends and before Season 2 begins. Oh, and you may read this story and ask Why? The simple answer is, I wanted to, the idea popped into my head and wouldn't go away, and it's something different. And I'm bored. Different doesn't necessarily mean 'bad' and hey, it's a little variety. That never hurt anyone, did it? So read it, enjoy it, review it.
Stuff in italics are thoughts.
A big thanks goes to Post, for without him, this chapter would have come along much slower. Post, you rock.
Thanks for all the reviews, people! They were all very nice and positive. Granted, I know this could never work out in the show, it's never a shame to try out something new.
Review this, if you want. Positive reviews, negative reviews, constructive criticism, all of it is openly accepted (flame me, love me, hate me, adore me).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Scott, are you sure you like, won't get sick?" Kitty asked for the umpteenth time.
Scott let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes Kitty, I'm sure you won't get me sick," he said, a touch of annoyance in his voice. He had lost count, just how many times he'd said that.
"I'm sorry! It's just, I'd feel so totally bad if I went and gave you the flu."
Scott glanced at her sideways. "Is this your way of saying you want me to leave?" He started to stand up, but two small hands lanced forward, yanking him back into the chair.
"Don't go, please. I'm sorry. I just don't want to you get sick, too," Kitty said apologetically.
"Kitty, I've lived in cold weather my entire life," he said reassuringly. "It takes more than just talking to you to get me sick." He set a hand on her shoulder and bent his head down, and looked her in the eyes (even if she couldn't tell). "I'll be fine. Now don't ask me that question anymore. Ok?"
"Okay..." she replied meekly.
"Good," Scott said, reluctantly taking his hand away from her. He noticed that she still hadn't let go of his arm, from his half-hearted move to leave. He was content with them staying. Her hands were so smooth and cool...they made silk feel like sandpaper.
"Look on the bright side. Kurt could be here instead of me."
She made a face, similar to one a child makes, when forced to take some foul medicine.
Scott just laughed.
"It's not that I don't like Kurt, but...like, the last thing I need when I'm sick is him, acting all...well, acting all 'Kurtty.' " Kitty giggled at her own little joke.
Glancing down at the still-covered plate of food in Kitty's lap, Scott said, "So...are you going to eat any time soon?"
Kitty pulled her hands away from his arm (much to his disliking) and to the plate. "Oh right. Sorry," she said, before dipping the fork down into the food and bringing it back up to her mouth.
Scott sat dumbstruck, silently watching her eat. It was amazing, how much pleasure (not that kind, pervert) he was deriving from something as simple as watching the way her lips pressed down on the fork as it entered her mouth, the motions of her jaw as she chewed, the working of her throat as she swallowed.
"Hey Scott?"
The man in question snapped out of his blissful gazing, and gave a brief start. "Yeah?" He was proud of how quickly he recovered from that.
"Why don't you talk about something?"
"Talk about something?"
"Yeah. Tell me about...how things were here, before I came."
Scott furrowed his brows in confusion. She wanted him to talk? And about what Institute was like before she came? The first thing that came to his lovestruck mind was 'lacking,' but he couldn't say that out loud. At least not yet.
He rubbed his chin for a moment before finally saying something. "Um. How far back do you want me to go?"
"As far as you want to go," Kitty told him.
Humming softly, Scott continued to rub his chin. That sort of thing seemed to help people concentrate. It didn't do much for him, but being around Kitty made his basic motor skills shut down.
"Quiet," he said at last, hoping she wouldn't take it the wrong way. "For the longest time, it was just me, Jean, Professor Xavier, and Ororo. And with the Institute being so big, things were...quiet."
"Do you still like, wish it were quiet like before?"
"If you had asked me that before this batch of new students came in, I would have said no. But now..."
Kitty started to giggle, but it cut off sharply as she started to cough. Scott handed her the bottle of water he had brought up, and she took a long drink.
Wiping her mouth off on the back of her hand, she grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I guess it like, went down the wrong way."
"Are you ok?"
She nodded.
Scott smiled. "I guess I'll have to stop saying funny things from now on, huh?"
Surprisingly, that brought on a fresh new bout of laughter from the younger girl.
"Um. Did I miss something there?"
That only added to Kitty's delight.
Once the laughter had finally subsided, she explained it to Scott. "Like, no offense, but you hardly ever say anything funny. You're always so serious and mature and..." She trailed off and started to laugh again.
Scott, on the other hand, started to take offense to what she said. I'm not that bad, he reassured himself.
Then he steadily realized that she was just poking fun, and besides, he could never stay mad at anything that made Kitty laugh like that. It made her look all the more beautiful. He laughed too, so she'd know that knew it was all in good fun.
As Kitty's second bout of laughter died away, she couldn't help but agree with Scott. Until recently, there had been only eight people living in the mansion, nine if you counted Logan, but he was always going off on his own accord. But some new mutants arrived, and it was now double the previous occupancy. There was still plenty of room in the sprawling estate, but it certainly made things feel more crowded.
"Right...uh, quiet." Scott took it on his own initiative to resume talking. "It was always quiet around here, but especially back when Jean and I were the only students, and even before Jean came. But I'm sure you want to hear something other than how quiet it was. I probably sound like I regret having all of you here."
"Do you?" Kitty asked.
Scott shook his head and grinned. "Nah, except when I have to go to the bathroom."
Kitty laughed carefully at that. She didn't want a repeat of the incident only moments ago.
He continued talking afterwards, but he felt more like he was rambling, sometimes. He spoke a little of his brother, with whom he'd recently been reunited with, and how he was disappointed that he wouldn't come to the Institute. Scott touched a bit on his life before he came to the Institute; the wounds of losing his parents would fester inside of him forever. He told a little story of an incident that occured shortly after Jean arrived - she didn't have the control over her powers that she now held, and sneezed once while Scott was in the room, blowing off his shirt. He talked about Kurt, and how the two of them had followed Wolverine one day, and ended up in a skirmish with Sabertooth. That, of course, happened when the Professor and Jean had gone to recruit Kitty. And that led to Scott inadvertently saying something he didn't mean to say...
"I remember when the Professor picked up your mutant signature on Cerebro... Kurt, Jean, and I were with the Professor, and when Kurt saw your picture, he said, 'Oh man, she's cute.' " Scott tried to imitate the German boy's accent as well as he could muster, but he mangled it horribly. Kitty laughed softly around her chewing, a faint shade of pink showing in her cheeks. "And I remember thinking to myself, 'Wow, she is cute.' " Scott stopped, partly because it was the end of the sentence, and partly because he was just finally realizing just what he had said. A mixture of fear and embarrassment slid through every inch of his body.
Oh no... Tell me I just didn't say that out loud...
But he did. And Kitty heard it, too; loud and clear, in fact. As a flood of confused emotions surged through her body, she swallowed wrong and...
Scott jumped to his feet as Kitty began coughing and he started to panic. Not just because she was choking, but also because of what it was that made her start choking. Kitty pressed her hands to her throat, but her choking coughs continued on, growing harsher with each passing moment.
It suddenly dawned on Scott, just what was happening, and it was something a drink of water wouldn't fix up. Pulling Kitty out of the bed, he wrapped his arms around her, pressing her body to his. He brought his hands up to her stomach and was about to perform the Heimlich maneuver when he noticed that Kitty wasn't coughing anymore. She was still breathing...he could literally feel her taking ragged, deep breaths.
"K...Kitty?" He was surprised he could say anything. His throat felt dry as a bone.
She slowly turned her head around and looked up at Scott, and her face heated to the color of his glasses. It didn't take long after, when Scott's did the same.
The two simply stared at each other, neither daring to move or say a word. Just stare, blushing like furnaces, and unsure as to what exactly was happening.
Scott slowly began to realize the heat radiating from where he was pressing her body to his, and from his hands still on her stomach. He pushed himself away from her, very nearly knocking the girl over in the process. It didn't lessen the heat in either of their faces.
Scott licked his lips and swallowed hard. Speaking wasn't going to come very easily. "I, uh...I thought...you were...choking...and I was just trying to... I've gotta go now!" He spun around and darted out the door, leaving a stunned Kitty behind.
*****
Standing outside Kitty's room, Scott unleashed a full-on mental berating of himself.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid... echoed through his brain. How could I have been so stupid?
He fought the urge to whimper in anguish, but couldn't shake off the feeling that everything he had gained that day was for naught.
Why, oh why did I tell her that? WHY? She's got to hate me now. I almost made her choke to death, for Christ's sake!
As he slowly and painfully made his way to his own room, he sneezed, surprising himself. In a way, he was fortunate for that sneeze - it's sudden occurence took his mind off the mess he just made in Kitty's room, if only briefly.
Stepping into his room, he collapsed onto the bed, pausing only to replace his glasses with his visor. At that moment, all he wanted was to sleep, to be released from the mess he had surely gotten himself into.
Sleep. Sleep will do me good. It'll take my mind off that. Yes. Sleep.
*****
Back in her room, Kitty was still trying to gauge what just happened. No single emotion set itself apart from the tangled melee that was how she felt at that moment, and she was a complete loss for words.
Correction - she could think of one thing to say, but that one thing only.
That was like...mega weird.
She numbly made her way back into her bed, methodically cleaning up the food that was knocked over when Scott yanked her out of bed.
Setting the plate onto the chair that Scott had inhabited only minutes ago, Kitty flicked off the lamp by her bed, plunging the room into darkness. It was a good thing that she was already wearing the oversized pink shirt and shorts that she normally slept in - with her emotions so...raw, she would have probably lain in whatever she was wearing.
Settling into the soft mattress, she pulled the blanket up and around her body, hugging it close. It felt so warm and comforting...like Scott's arms felt as he wrapped them around her slim frame, ready to stop her from choking.
A small smile began to spread across Kitty's face as her thoughts began to grow clearer.
Scott thinks I'm cute...
Kitty never considered the possibility that Scott was attracted to her. Sure, she thought he was cute, but so did every girl that ever looked at him. But Scott Summers said that she was cute...
She wrapped the blanket even tighter around her body, wishing that it were Scott, with his arms around her instead.
Feeling better than she had in weeks, Kitty slept well that night, dreaming peaceful dreams of dark-haired young man with red sunglasses.
*****
Kitty Pryde opened her eyes groggily and stretched out underneath her blankets. She smiled lazily at the sunlight streaming into her room. It felt so warm and inviting and refreshing...
But then Kitty noticed how odd she felt.
Strange. Her nose wasn't stopped up, her throat was no longer sore, she wasn't shivering from chills. In fact, she felt...great.
She sprung out of bed and frolicked around the room, humming softly to herself, regaling in the fact that she wasn't sick anymore.
Phasing through her door, she ran down the stairs and bounded into the kitchen. "Good morning," she chirped happily to Jean and Rogue, who happened to have been the only people in the room at the moment.
"Feeling better?" Jean asked, as Kitty opened up the refrigerator, pouring herself a glass of orange juice.
"Much better," she replied, setting a now half-empty glass back onto the counter.
"Good. Now 'ah can have my room back," Rogue drawled in her lazy Southern accent. "Yah better not have touched my stuff while 'ah gone, or you're so dead."
"Aw geez, Rogue. Relax. Like I'd ever get that bored." She ignored Rogue's indignant look and changed the subject. "Say, have either of you seen Scott?" She really needed to talk to him, to clear up that whole awkward situation from the night before.
Rogue just smirked.
"Scott?" Jean hid a small smile behind her hand. "He's uh...in bed...sick."
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Er, I apologize for the 'Scott watching Kitty eat' scene felt like it was loaded with innuendo. I'm sorry if it did - I didn't quite plan for that.