DISCLAIMER: The characters in this fiction, as in all others, are the property of Marvel Comics. While the particular events I write about are original, I in no way claim ownership of anything related to the X-Men franchise other than these fictions they inspire. Please don't sue me and enjoy the story.
Author's Notes: This story is set after "Grim Reminder" and inspired by the scene in that episode where Kitty sees Logan slash through his bedroom wall and lunge into the hallway. When she asks if he was all right, he replied (this isn't a totally accurate quote I know) that he'd just been redecorating. Like some of my other work, the idea for this piece was spawned from a brainstorming session between myself and mah muse, Teinetufu. Thank ya, Nesa!
WARNING: I apologize wholeheartedly for the 'casting' errors I made in this fiction. You are sure to realize that I've used Hank and mentioned many 'junior' X-Men who've not yet appeared in the cartoon at the time of Grim Reminder. I totally can't think of a way to rewrite the piece, so please try to overlook that kinda glaring mistake and enjoy the basic idea of the story. :-) Thank ya to Meryln2 & Window Girl for pointing the mistake out to me.
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Kitty Redecorates
Like no wonder Mr. Logan wanted to redecorate. This room is so colorless and cold, Kitty thought as she stood inside Logan's bedroom surveying the project before her.
Hank had already replaced the door Wolverine had wrecked yesterday when that chip in his head went bonkers. The other damage to the room from those adamantium claws of Logan's had also been repaired, leaving Kitty to finish the rest of the job.
With Mr. Logan's healing abilities she had a day tops to make this room into a nice homey little place for him before he left the infirmary.
After getting permission from the Professor, she'd rounded up Jamie, Jean, Kurt, Ray and Scott to help her get it done.
Jamie had so not been a first choice of hers, but the boy could so easily become like five different workers and that would help a lot to get this done in record time.
"Do we really wanna be messing with the Wolverine's room," Ray asked as he entered carrying the paint she'd chosen.
"Definitely. Just look at this place! It's no wonder the guy has nightmares," Kitty waved at the bare gray walls and barely furnished room.
"It may be a little basic to us, but I'm pretty sure Logan likes it that way," Scott said, again showing his reluctance to participate in this chore.
"I have to agree with Scott, Kitty. Your tastes and Logan's aren't exactly identical. He may not be as happy about this as you think," Jean added.
"Look, the Professor has totally approved of what I want to do," Kitty took a moment to remember how happy the Professor had been about her idea, "If he thinks this is a good idea, and he like knows Logan better than anyone, why are you guys acting so scared?"
Her 'volunteers' all looked at her challenging, defiant stance and sighed.
Kurt leapt forward to grab two rolling paintbrushes and say, "Enough chatter. Let's get zhis party started!"
Scott gulped as he saw they way Kurt was holding one roller in his hand and the other with his tail.
Exchanging a look with Jean, he took comfort in the fact that if Logan didn't like what they did today, it was alllllll Kitty's idea.
~*~
"Ve vrock," Kurt exclaimed hours later as they all stood back to admire their work.
With help from Storm the paint had dried quickly and the guys had moved in the new furniture.
It wasn't as much as Kitty would have liked, but Mr. Logan had like no variety in his clothes and hardly needed his closet let alone a dresser or more. He also wasn't a big reader, so a bookcase would have been a waste. Even though she didn't know of him to do much like writing stuff, she had stuck to her guns and moved in a desk and chair for him. If nothing else he could set a computer up on it and get used to technology.
While Kitty was thinking how good it all looked, Jamie, Ray and Kurt were simply admiring how fast they'd been able to finish this chore. Jean and Scott remained apprehensive about Logan's reaction.
Especially after they saw that Kitty had been wrong in her assurances that the color paint she'd chosen would look much softer once it was applied and dried.
~*~
The second Logan had begun stating his intentions to get out of the infirmary, the Professor sent Kitty in to 'help' him to his room.
From the second she'd entered to practically drag him from the infirmary to his bedroom, the half-pint had been yakking on and on non-stop.
His disbelieving ears had ceased taking in anything she was actually saying after he heard her utter the words, "You're gonna like love what I've done to your room!"
Nightmarish visions of pink everywhere filled his brain as he thought of what Pryde could have done to his room.
Fresh paint fumes began overwhelming his heightened senses as they got closer and closer to their destination.
Please don't let it be pink. Anything but pink, he prayed, knowing those fumes indicated Kitty had painted his room and again having nightmarish visions of a girlie pink room.
When they finally entered his bedroom he was so focused on opening the window to air the place out that he didn't notice anything else right away.
Except that the window wouldn't open.
"Oh..um…that kinda got painted shut," Kitty confessed from behind him as he struggled to open the darn thing.
His response to that bit of news was to pop out his claws, wedge them between the window frame and the bottom of the window and forcibly pry it open.
"Mr. Logan, we just spent hours fixing this place up, couldn't you have waited a little longer to start wrecking it again," Kitty whined as she pouted over the gouges his claws had made into the paint and wood around the window.
He closed his eyes and drew in a deep calming breath at her reminder that he had yet to see the extent of their 'fixing the place up.'
Exhaling, he opened his eyes again and looked closely at the window he'd just opened.
It was trimmed in clean, bright white paint and had nice white curtains hanging over it.
Nothing wrong with white, he thought with a nod of acceptance at that particular change.
Then he shifted his focus to the walls around the window and nearly choked.
He roughly cleared his thought, closed his eyes, shook his head slightly then opened them again to refocus on the walls.
And simply stared.
Yellow.
Not a nice pale yellow that a person could live with, but a horrible shade very much like what states used to divide roads into individual lanes of traffic.
The kind of yellow you could see in the dark.
"It's called like "moon yellow" or something. Jubilee said that yellow was the most calming color on earth so I thought it was a good choice. I mean, like Scott said, at least it isn't pink," Kitty was saying nervously as he continued to stare at the walls in shock.
Remembering his prayer for anything but pink before entering the room, Logan accepted this as yet another lesson in why to be careful what he wished for.
"Don't you like it?" the girl with him asked disappointed at his reaction.
He grunted softly and gave her a brief nod to lie and indicate it was fine. She was just looking at him so hopeful and expectant, so eager to please him with her gesture yet so afraid now that she'd done the very opposite, that he couldn't tell her the truth.
Taking a quick glance at the rest of the room, he was glad to see that the paint job was the worst of it.
The little table in the center of his room topped with a flower filled vase would have to go.
Logan didn't do flowers.
The new yellow and white bed linens were out too, even if they matched the glaring color scheme.
Thankfully it would be easy to think of ways to get rid of both those items without hurting Kitty's feelings.
He had a reputation for slashing up his blankets during nightmares and knocking vases off of tables.
What to do about the paint though?
Taking a second, slower look over the entire room he tried to think of an answer to that question.
His thoughts stopped dead in their tracks as his eyes locked on one special little change the half-pint had made that he liked.
A lot.
It was such a nice, thoughtful touch that he forgot the horrible paint and was able to sincerely tell the anxious girl that he liked what she'd done.
She smiled all big and bright at that before giving him one of those huge hugs she'd been distributing to him a lot these last few days.
More touched by all she'd done for him that he'd ever admit he hugged her back with a half smile curling his lips.
Thrilled that he liked her work, Kitty finally tucked him into his bed as if he were some weak child then left him to get some sleep and finish his recovery.
Feeling a little tired, Logan wanted to go to sleep but was finding it almost impossible with the way the moonlight was glaring off his walls.
He rose from the bed, shut the curtains to block out as much light as possible then climbed into bed again to lay on his side with his back to the window.
Lying in that position he had a clear view of the bedside table Kitty had covered with framed photographs.
She'd managed to find a picture of everyone at the institute to place there, including himself which was a surprise.
There were pictures of the kids in pairs or groups, all laughing or playing.
Hank, Ororo and the Prof seemed to have posed for their photos.
Then there were the pictures of him training the kids or watching over them as they played.
It was like a photo album.
An album of his family here.
For giving him that, Logan forgave the half-pint for the yellow paint and consoled himself with the fact that he'd have at least one night a month there'd be no moon in the sky to shine in his window and keep him from sleeping.
~*~
Months Later…. (after "Stuff of Heroes")
There was good and bad news for Logan to deal with right now.
Good news – The humans had eased up on their hunt of us after Scott's leadership of the team against Juggernaut, allowing everyone to return home to the institute.
Bad news – Thanks to Mystique, there wasn't much institute left to call home.
Good news – Logan's room had been demolished with the rest of the mansion.
Bad news – Kitty was more than willing to redecorate it again after the place had been rebuilt.
Best news – Logan was able to convince her to let him do it and get her to focus on taking more pictures of the team to replace those lost so her feelings weren't hurt and he had those keepsakes back.
