The Mutant and the Movie Star
"So that's the big shot movie star," Lance growled as Kitty met with Dylan. The two of them were surrounded by everyone else, some adoring fans, others adoring agents.
"Da," Peter growled. "He is not so much."
"No," Lance said. The two boys looked at each other. "Truce?"
"Yes," Peter gave a death glare at Dylan. Then he saw that they were leaving together. "Where are they going?"
"Let's find out," Lance said with a glint of mischief in his eye.
"Where are they going?" Logan asked Xavier about Kitty and Dylan.
"They said they wanted to rehearse a scene and get to know each other better," Xavier said. "I thought it would be nice if she gave him an unofficial tour of the Institute."
"Oh," Logan remarked and he began to walk away.
"Logan where are you going?" Xavier raised an eyebrow.
"Just gonna take a walk," Logan growled.
"Well you might want to join Lance and Peter," Xavier said wryly. "I saw the two of them take off after her. And I don't need to read their minds to know what they're thinking. Just make sure those two don't cause any trouble."
"No problem," Logan walked away and grinned to himself. "It would be such a shame if those two ruined Kitty's alone time."
Meanwhile Kitty was showing Dylan some of the downstairs rooms. "And this is where we have some of our classes," She said. "The upstairs rooms are mostly living quarters."
"Wow it looks just like one of my old prep school classrooms," Dylan looked around. "It's amazing. I can't believe I'm here talking to a real live X-Man. Well X-Girl, uh X-Woman…You know what I mean."
"X-Man is fine," Kitty remarked. "You're impressed with me? But you're a huge movie star and everything! You're Dylan Hunter!"
"Yeah but you guys saved the world!" Dylan said. "I saw it on TV! I can only pretend to do that stuff in films. You do this stuff in real life. It's amazing!"
"Well, thanks," Kitty blushed. "We don't exactly get a lot of complements for that."
"Well you should," Dylan said as he held her hand.
"Oh…" Kitty blushed even harder. She felt very warm.
She cooled off quickly when she and Dylan got pelted with snowballs. "Think fast Kitty!" Bobby laughed as he ran off.
"Very funny Bobby!" Kitty shouted after him. "I am so sorry!"
"No biggie. I used to do that all the time. Of course usually I had to wait until the winter to do it. Does this happen a lot?" Dylan asked.
"Well kinda," Kitty shrugged. "We do sort of play a lot of pranks on each other. Come on, I'll show you the greenhouse."
"You have a greenhouse?" Dylan asked as they went inside.
"Well it's kind of like a conservatory/classroom/greenhouse," Kitty explained as they entered. "Ororo likes a lot of plants. She really loves gardening and we were using this room as a classroom anyway. Plus it has these great glass walls where we can see outside."
The room was filled with plants and in the middle there were a freestanding blackboard and several tables. On one side of the room were several shelves filled with books. It looked like someone had put a classroom in the middle of a jungle. "Wow this is cool! I gotta admit this is all kind of weird for me," Dylan said. "I mean I had no clue about mutant life or how you guys cope and stuff."
"Hey we're pretty much like any other group of kids at school here," Kitty told him. "We just have a few more explosions."
"Do I really want to know?" Dylan asked.
"Not really," Kitty admitted.
Outside the walls they were unaware there were two others watching them through the glass. "I can't believe this!" Amara said. "Kitty always gets the hottest looking guys! This is so not fair!"
"Don't worry girlfriend," Tabitha said. "We'll get you your guy. No problem."
"I just wish I could hear what they're saying!" Amara groaned.
Dylan and Kitty were talking. "But not all mutants hate humans right? So what's the problem?" Dylan asked her.
"I guess cause we're all a little afraid of them," Kitty shrugged.
"You're afraid of us?" Dylan was surprised. "But you have the powers."
"Doesn't mean we don't get scared," Kitty said. "Sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it. No matter how hard we try, things just never seem to get better."
"Yeah but you're doing something with your life," Dylan told her. "All I've ever done is star if fifteen movies, win two Golden Globes, win five People's Choice awards, and got nominated for an Oscar. Okay I made a few million dollars too but…"
"Oh well aren't you modest."
"Well I have to try and impress the girl who saved the world somehow. Especially if we're going on a date tomorrow."
"Are you really sure you want to do this? I mean go out with me?" Kitty asked. "I mean once people see us together they're going to talk."
"Oh yeah and as a celebrity I have no experience with that," Dylan smirked. "Kitty for me it's nothing new. Just another day at the office as far as I'm concerned."
"Yeah well remember that pop star Dazzler?" Kitty sighed. "The day after people found out she was a mutant everybody turned against her! Now she's like totally dropped out of sight."
"And you're afraid that will happen to me?" Dylan said. "Maybe that's not so bad."
"You don't mean that," Kitty took his arm.
"Well sometimes I do," Dylan said. "It's really frustrating. It's like you never have any privacy anymore."
"Yeah everybody's watching you like a hawk," Kitty grumbled. "You can't just blend in anymore. It's like you're out there and you can't hide and every little thing you do no matter how innocent people will talk. And worst of all people always seem to think the worst of you and enjoy it!"
"Well I guess you do know something about what it's like to be a celebrity," Dylan said.
"More like an infamous outlaw," Kitty scoffed.
"Well you don't look that dangerous," Dylan grinned.
"Looks can be deceiving," Kitty snickered.
"What are they saying?" Amara asked Tabitha fuming as she watched them talk and laugh together.
"I don't know! I can't read lips!" Tabitha hissed back.
"You don't have to read lips in order to guess what they're talking about!" Peter grumbled as he and Lance appeared out of the bushes and watched as well.
"What are you two doing here?" Tabitha and Lance asked each other at the same time.
"Spying on them so I can get Dylan," Amara explained.
"Spying on them so we can get Dylan," Peter pounded his fist into his open palm. "That is get him as far away from Kitty as possible!"
"And I'm here to keep an eye on you," Logan said as he appeared next to them.
"Uh oh," Lance gulped. "Busted!"
"Actually I'm with you kids on this," Logan told them. "I'm just here to make sure you don't screw this up!"
"Well we've gotta do something!" Amara pointed as it looked like Dylan was about to kiss Kitty.
"You bet we will!" Lance growled.
"I hate contacts," Dylan grumbled. "Are you sure it's in there?"
"Yeah it looks like it's…" Kitty began. That was when the glass wall exploded. "WHAT THE…?"
Lance had caused the glass to break and was about to run through the hole when Peter accidentally knocked into him and they fell over. "Get off me!" Lance shouted.
"You get out of my way!" Peter snapped.
"I knew both of you would louse it up!" Logan groaned.
"What are you guys doing here?" Kitty yelled.
"What do you think Half Pint?" Logan grunted. "Gardening?"
"Hi there!" Amara walked up to Dylan. "I'm Amara Aquilla. I'm a princess from the land of Nova Roma."
"She is," Tabitha said. "She's not some crazy fan saying it."
"I can't believe you people!" Kitty shouted. "And you two…"
"Don't start in on us Kitty!" Lance snapped.
"Yes," Peter snapped. "Don't you care about our relationship?"
"Relationship?" Dylan blinked.
"Oh yeah she's been dating those two for some time now," Amara waved. "Now let's talk about us."
"Mr. Hunter we heard a crash," A young seventeen year old boy wearing jeans, flannel and a baseball cap ran in with a bunch of extras. "Are you all right?"
"Kitty! Kitty! Are you all right Darling?" Donald ran in. "Call 911! Call 911!"
"I'm fine Donald," Kitty groaned. "But you might call that ambulance anyway because I know a few people who are gonna need it!" She glared at the others.
"You know you really should try shooting a film at Nova Roma sometime," Amara batted her eyes at a confused Dylan. "Oh wait we don't have much technology there. Better yet, make it a romantic getaway!"
"Uh…" Dylan blinked.
"Are you all right?" The kid kept asking. "And actually she does have a good point about Nova Roma. That would be a nice location for a movie."
"Bernie I'm fine!" Dylan groaned.
"You know about Nova Roma?" Amara asked. "Most people have never heard of it."
"Well not surprising since it's so isolated," Bernie said. "But I have studied it in one of my Anthropology courses. It's quite fascinating."
"You two are so possessive!" Kitty shouted at Lance and Peter. "Maybe this is a good time to give each other some space for a while!"
"But Kitty…" Peter whined.
"We need some water here!" Donald shouted as more assistants ran in. "Preferably with a twist of lemon!"
"No what I need is some privacy!" Kitty shouted.
"Hey this is a great place for a scene," Gary walked in. "Let's write it in the script!"
"Watch where you are all walking!" Ororo shouted as she and the other X-Men entered. "You're knocking over my plants!"
"Kitty did you think we were just gonna leave you alone with him where he could do anything to you?" Lance shouted.
"Dylan and I weren't doing anything!" Kitty shouted at Lance and Peter.
"Not for lack of trying!" Tabitha shouted. "Right Amara? Amara?"
Amara was now talking to Bernie and was now ignoring Dylan. "I've always wanted to go there," Bernie said. "Sociologically Nova Roma is way more advanced than many countries."
"How does a gopher know so much about Nova Roma?" Amara asked.
"Actually I'm an assistant director," He blushed. "My uncle's Gary Grossman and…well you know."
"Actually I do know something about running a family businesses," Amara grinned. "I'm part of the royal family."
"Watch where you're walking!" Ororo shouted as someone knocked over one of her plants.
"Hey how come all you guys are in here?" Todd and the rest of the Misfits walked in. "The movie's out there!"
"Not anymore! Send in the lights!" Gary shouted as people with equipment walked in.
"How many more people are gonna be in here?" Logan was uncomfortable with crowds in normal circumstances.
"How do I end up in situations like this?" Xavier groaned as he saw the chaos.
Next: The situation gets even crazier! If that's possible!