Paint by Numbers

Chapter 3

Author's Note: Thank you so much to all the people who reviewed! I really had a hard time with this chapter, so the reviews were pretty much the only thing that made me stick with it. And thanks to Dark Bat for putting this on your favorite stories list!

Disclaimer: Marvel owns all of this yadda, yadda, yadda

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"Is it a squirrel?" Peter asked, trying to make some sense of the scribbles in front of him.

"No." Kitty giggled, thinking he was teasing her.

"Is it a ....hat?" he guessed randomly.

"What?" she said, scrunching up her face at him.

"Ok, not a hat. Then it must be a... a snake eating an elephant."

"Ha ha, very funny. Come on, you know what this is."

"I'm sorry Katya, but, in all honesty, I have absolutely no idea what you drew." he told her as he handed her back her drawing.

"Duh, Peter. Isn't it obvious? It's a picture of you!" she told him, a little hurt that he didn't like the sketch she had hoped would impress him.

"Oh, now I see it," he lied, turning it upside down. "I simply had it the wrong way."

Kitty frowned. "No, you had it the right way. Now you have it the wrong way. But before, when you were trying to figure out what it was? Yeah, like that was the right way." She took the picture from him and examined it critically. "You know, your right" she sighed. "It does look like a squirrel. Huh. Like, how'd that happen?"

"It's a very good squirrel," he told her, hoping to cheer her up.

Kitty smiled contemplatively. "It is, isn't it?"

"Da, very impressive."

Her smile widened. "I'm a pretty impressive person. But from now on, I'm like, leaving all the drawing up to you. I'll just stick to the easy stuff, like computer science. And baking. Have you ever tried my muffins?"

"I don't believe so."

"Then I'll have to bake them for you sometime."

Colossus grinned at her. "I look forward to it."

Kitty blushed and looked down, wishing that she and Peter were having this conversation somewhere quiet where they could be alone. Instead, they were surrounded by almost three dozen people celebrating, on account of today being the first anniversary of the mutants united victory against Apocalypse. Everyone from the X-men and the Brotherhood had come, setting aside their differences for one day and free food. The Professor, Magneto, Beast, and Storm were having what looked like a serious philosophical debate on the fate of the world, as usual. Logan was cautiously watching Pyro, who in turn was watching the fire from the barbecue just a little too enthusiastically. Jean and Scott were gazing adoringly at each other, oblivious to the fact that the New Mutants were standing behind them, mocking their every move. Rogue and Gambit were both trying to ignore each other while simultaneously sneaking glances at one another. Kurt was swimming, no doubt getting fur in the pool. Even Spike had crawled out of whatever tunnel he had been brooding in so that he could stand alone in the corner and look angry.

Over by the grill, Lance and the Brotherhood were keeping to themselves.

"So Lance, how come you abandoned the pretty kitty to hang out with us? Did the two of you have another fight?" Pietro asked rapidly in his usual arrogant tone.

"Yeah" Toad added. "I would never leave my sweetums alone at a party. Or anywhere else" he said, hopping over to Wanda.

"I know," Wanda said irritably. "That's why I have to keep throwing hex bolts at you." She glared at him menacingly for a few seconds until he backed away nervously. Satisfied, Wanda turned her attention over to Kitty and Peter. They were sitting by the pool on the side of some lounge chairs, facing each other with their heads close together, laughing. "I wouldn't worry about your girlfriend, Lance. She doesn't look too lonely."

Lance glanced over at Kitty and felt a pang of anxiety. He definitely didn't like the way Peter was looking at his girlfriend, but he was more concerned about the lovesick way she was looking at him. He realized he shouldn't have left her to hang out with the Brotherhood, but lately she was so moody that it was almost impossible for them to be together for more then a few minutes without getting into a fight. But he cared about her and wanted to make their relationship work, figuring that she was probably the only good thing he had in his life. He grabbed some food to bring to her as a peace offering, confident that as soon as she saw how sorry she was, she'd forget all about the overgrown tin can she was laughing with.

"Hey, Kitty" he said as he sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder, "Why are you over here with the king of communism when you can be spending time with the king of the cookout? I brought you a hotdog" he told her proudly, obviously very impressed with himself.

"Well, your majesty" she said, rolling her eyes, "need I remind you that I'm Jewish. I, like, highly doubt that hot dog is Kosher. And for the five hundredth time, I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat meat."

"And I'm not a communist," Colossus interjected, "at least not according to the western's worlds definition of-"

"Yeah, you know what Ruskie? I don't really care." Lance informed him abruptly.

"Lance, do you, like, even know what communism is?" Kitty asked in a tired voice.

"Yes. Yes I do," he declared with certainty. But before either of them could ask him to elaborate with a definition, he conveniently decided to change the subject. "So, what have the two of you been up to? Drawing pictures. Very mature, Peter. No offense, metal head, but this has to be the worst sketch I've ever seen. A first grader could do better. What is this, anyway? Some kind of...alien or...something? All I have to say is, don't quit your day job."

Peter forced a smile. "Actually, Lance, I didn't draw the picture. Kitty did."

"She did?" Avalanche asked nervously.

"Da."

"Oh...you know, now that I look at it, it's not so bad," he backtracked. "Really imaginative. And it really does look like an alien."

"Really?" Shadowcat asked sweetly.

Yeah, of course" he sputtered.

"That's funny, because it's a squirrel...sort of. But don't worry Lance, I drew another picture while you were so kindly critiquing my other one. Look, here's you and Peter in a fight." She held up a picture of two stick figures battling each other. The taller one's fist was hitting the shorter one in the mouth, with little squares falling to the ground that represented his teeth. "Hey Lance, guess whose winning?"

"Alright, alright, I get it, I'm sorry, ok? Now let me make it up to you by helping you fix your lunch. You can have, I don't know, a ketchup sandwich.

"Like, as tempting as that sounds, I think I'll go inside and get a soy patty out of the freezer. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Both boys smiled as they watched Kitty's retreating form. When she was hidden from view inside the mansion, they both turned and glared at each other. "You don't have a chance with her. Stay away," Lance warned Peter, then went to rejoin his friends before he could respond. Peter frowned and laid back in his chair, wondering if Lance was right. He picked up Kitty's drawing and gazed at broodingly until he noticed Nightcrawler walk by.

"Hey, Kurt," he said, shoving the picture in front of his face, "Does this look like me?"

His roommate gave him a funny look. "No, that doesn't look like you. That doesn't really look like anything. Why?"

"No reason, tovarisch."

Back inside the mansion, Kitty didn't feel very hungry. Instead, she wandered across the hall into the rec room and watched the party through the window. She knew if she went back outside, she and Lance would get into another fight. "You know whose fault this is?" Kitty thought to herself. "Peter's. He's so damn annoying. No, not annoying, sweet. A big softie. He doesn't talk much, but whenever he does he finds a way to make me smile. That's what's most annoying about him. When I'm with Lance, I think about Peter, but when I'm with Peter, I forget about Lance. I don't want to care about Peter as much as I do. He's three years older then me, a former acolyte, and I already have a boyfriend. I don't need him complicating things, especially after Lance and I have gone through so much to be together. Except maybe all we've gone through isn't enough to keep us together. To keep us happy..."

"Katya? I wondered where you had gone off to."

She turned around, startled, and saw Colossus standing at the doorway. "Why Peter? Were you looking for me?" Kitty asked, blushing slightly at the special nickname her Russian teammate loved to call her by.

"Nyet!" Piotr responded, a little too quickly. "I mean I was just....lost. I was looking for the... the restroom."

"Down the hall, third door on the right. Same place it's been, like, the whole time you've lived here."

"I apologize for forgetting, I was distracted. By the party, I mean. Speaking of the party, aren't you going to join back in?"

"Maybe later. Right now I'm like kinda in a funny mood. I feel like I need some alone time to think."

"Would you like to talk about it?" he offered, moving closer to her.

Kitty gave him a grateful look. "Yeah, I would, but this is something I have to work out on my own, y'know?"

Piotr nodded gravely. "I understand. But if you change your mind, the offer still stands."

"Thanks, Peter. That's, like, real sweet of you."

"Actually, it's selfish. I get something out of helping you."

"Yeah? And what's that?" she asked, a little suspiciously.

Peter reached up and gently pushed a lose piece of hair over her ear so he could see her face and grinned at the sight. "I get to see you smile," he told her softly.

Kitty blushed even deeper as he walked away, thankful that he had respected her wishes for privacy. He always seemed to understand her, although at times he was still a mystery to her. She briefly wondered if she had hurt his feelings by sending him away. "With Peter, it's always so hard to tell with his accent and the way he's always so serious and stoned-faced. Or in his case, steel-faced," Kitty thought with a giggle.

"Look at that, a smile. You must be thinking about me" Lance said as he walked up behind her.

Kitty jumped, surprised to hear her boyfriend's voice. "Oh, yeah. Of course" she said weakly, mentally scolding herself for lying to him.

"What are you doing up here? Come back to the party with me. I'm bored."

"Great, first he interrupts me, then he starts giving me orders" Kitty thought, annoyed. Still, she smiled at him and in her sweetest voice asked "Lance, do you think for the rest of the day you could, like, just give me some time alone to think?"

"Come on, what do you need time to think about? What color to paint your nails? How about pink. There, now that you got your answer, you can join me in the pool...or better yet, the hot tub," Lance said suggestively.

"Lance, I'm serious, I want to be left alone!"

"But what about hot tub time!?"

"It's not hot tub time, it's Kitty alone time."

"Is this about that stupid drawing? I already said I was sorry. What more do you want?

"Sometimes Lance, you like totally don't get it!" Kitty yelled as she phased through the mansion's walls to the room she shared with Rogue. "Why can't he just understand? Why can't he be more like Peter? I know Lance cares about me, after all, he did risk his life for me twice. But every time we try to try to do anything normal, we fight. It's not just the big events that should define a relationship, it's the little stuff, stupid, trivial moments that don't seem special to anyone but the two of you."

She continued to rant to herself, not noticing how much time had gone by until Rogue walked in the room with a dopey, lovesick smile on her face that vanished the moment she realized she wasn't alone.

"What are you doin' here?" she demanded. "Weren't you downstairs?"

"Nope, been inside almost the whole time. But I like, wouldn't expect you to notice when Gambit's around." Kitty said smugly.

"Ah do not like the Swamp Rat!"

"Like, duh, no one said you did." Kitty said innocently, enjoying watching her roommate squirm.

"Fine, think what ya want. Not like I care. And, not that you deserve this or anything, but Peter asked me to give you this," she said in her usual sullen manner as she tossed Kitty an envelope.

Kitty unsealed it carefully and pulled out a sketch Peter had drawn of her standing next to a squirrel. On the back he had written her a note:

Katya,

A picture of you and I. Hope it makes you smile.

-Piotr Nikolievitch

"So what is it?" Rogue asked, hoping that it was something she could tease Kitty about. After all, she was always putting up with Shadowcat's comments about her and Remy. Kitty, giggling too hard to answer her, handed her Peter's artwork. "It's just a picture?" Rogue asked, confused why her roommate thought it was so funny. "He draws ahlmost ten of those a day. With all the fuss he made over it, Ah thought it was gonna be somethin' special."

Kitty smiled. "It is."