Kitty Pryde tried to rationalise the situation. She was twenty-two years old now, mature enough to make her own decisions. Rogue had taken the plunge in question just recently. At the time, Kitty had sworn she wouldn't ever do anything of the like. "It's just way too big of a change," she'd sniffed. Piotr and Kitty had been on duty cleaning up debris in the Danger Room, and some of the team had been sitting around watching because they had nothing better to do.
Rogue smirked. "Nah, you just don't have the guts to change a thing about yourself. Ah'm just surprised mah power didn't knock out the guy who did the deed. But Ah like it."
"It's just fashion. You're gonna look back on photos of this someday and cringe, Rogue," said Scott in a slightly amused tone of voice.
"Same to you, Scott. Ah've seen your junior high class pictures." Rogue folded her arms. "What a bunch of wusses. Not even ONE person here thinks it's an improvement?"
Remy shook his head and put an arm around Rogue's waist. "On de contrary, chere, I think it looks hot."
Sweetly, Rogue said, "Thanks, Gambit. It's nice to know someone appreciates me. Now, remove the arm or you'll be drawin' back a bloody stump." There were titters from the present X-Men. They dispersed slowly- Kitty and Piotr were the only ones left.
"Do- do you think I'd look good like that?" asked Kitty, pushing her long brown hair behind her ears and frowning.
Piotr seemed to think long and hard about this. "You look good anyway," he said finally, shouldering a busted laser attachment and leaving.
"Oh." It had echoed around the Danger Room unpleasantly as Kitty wondered...
Rain poured down outside the mansion as Kitty returned from her trip out. She phased through the front doors and out of her shoes and looking in the hall mirror, she winced. Maybe it didn't look as good on her as it did on the model in the catalogue... or on Rogue. Granted, hers was a lot different from Rogue's but she wasn't at all sure about the change.
How could she have been so stupid? She should have bought Scott with her, he would have talked her out of it. Or Piotr. Piotr, with his "You look good anyway." If she was totally honest with herself, the biggest reason she'd gotten this done was because she wanted to see if she could get a reaction out of him.
The mansion was very quiet and most of the lights were off despite the fact that it was just past noon on a weekday. She supposed most of the team were out at their respective jobs. Kitty was unemployed at the moment: Jamie had tried to fix her up with a waitressing position at the cafe he worked at. Kitty had been fired within a week for mixing up orders. But who could concentrate on orders with so many cute guys flitting in and out? She'd been sorry to lose that job.
If she could just get up to her room, she could try and salvage the situation. Maybe if she wore a hockey mask or a t-shirt that said SAM AND I ARE SECRET LOVERS to dinner, nobody would notice.
Pfft. Yeah, right. Who wouldn't notice the change? It was hopeless. This was the worst thing that had ever come out of a shopping trip, including the time Kurt, Amara and Kitty herself had gone out to get milk and eggs and ended up being captured by Sentinel robots.
Kitty made for the kitchen- it was too risky to use main hallways. She could just climb up the shelves and phase through the ceiling. She'd find herself in Remy's bedroom, then it was only a quick sprint through a few more walls to her own bedroom.
Hey. Maybe she could hide out in her bedroom for a few weeks and only come out at night? It was a definite idea. And for training sessions- well, the addition of a mask to her X-Men uniform would suffice.
Finding herself in the kitchen, she ran her hands over her face and up into her air. Oh, LORD. It was terrible. With a groan, she started to climb the shelves.
It was easy enough. Kitty wasn't at all heavy. It was the next stage of her plan that went less than smoothly.
She surfaced underneath Gambit's bed. Grabbing hold of the bottom of his mattress, she pulled her legs up through the floor and lay there getting her breath back.
Kitty Pryde froze in horror when she realised there was already someone in the room.
A laugh. "... but like Ah said, Remy, Ah can't keep playin' hooky from work just to hang out with ya. They'll have me workin' weekends for months just to prove Ah can be trusted."
"Still, you can't pretend you ain't enjoyin' my company, Rogue."
Oh, for Pete's sakes. Kitty looked to the side and felt her heart sink as she spotted a pair of black jean-ed ankles with sneaker-ed feet (Rogue's) next to blue jean-ed ankles with Doc Marten-clad feet (Remy's). Terrific- she should have remembered that Rogue and Remy had been home from their respective places of work the past few days with 'colds'. Rogue was such a hypochondriac sometimes.
The question was, should she try to phase into the next room or stay put and see if they left Remy's bedroom?
"When are ya gonna quit being a cocky son of a bitch, Remy?"
"When y'admit ya can't live without me, chere. S'only fair I should have some... incentive, after all."
Around other people, Rogue would have told him to shove it and left in a huff. Or maybe she did it when they were alone. However, around other people Rogue didn't call Remy by his first name. 'The closest she gets to that is "LeBeau",' thought Kittty, smirking.
Rogue seemed to have no wisecrack for this remark. Rogue's left ankle twitched and involuntarily moved so her leg was touching his slightly. Kitty heard her shift on the bed above and wished she could be anywhere but there.
"Remy, Ah..." Rogue said softly.
Another small shifting noise. Rogue was leaning against him now- aw, how sickeningly sweet. For the first time Kitty thanked Heaven that Rogue couldn't touch him. At least then they wouldn't get REALLY physical, God forbid.
"Whoa, Rogue, slow down." Gambit sounded embarrassed. "I- maybe you've had too much to drink, chere. Don't do anyt'in you'll regret, neh?"
Oh, great. They'd been drinking. If Rogue started an alcohol-induced, angst-ridden crying jag they could be here for hours. And- slow down? Crap, what was HAPPENING up there?
"Ah ain't drank that much at all."
"Well-"
"OK, fine. Whatever." Rogue spoke in a quiet, defeated voice. Kitty watched as Rogue's leg moved away from Remy's. Rogue got up and stretched, presumably. "Boy, Ah'm tired. Ah'd better go get some sleep, Ah'll be goin' into work tomorrow."
She left the room. Kitty cheered silently. One down, one to go.
"Merde," muttered Remy vehemently. In a louder voice, he said, "Wait, Rogue, y'don't have to leave..." He got up and followed her.
Oh, dear. This couldn't be good. Kitty's mind was taken off her predicament as she listened.
"... I been leadin' y'on, Rogue. It's cowardly, maybe I just- I'm better den dat, I swear-"
"Forget it, Gambit," said Rogue quite coldly.
"So we're back to Gambit, oui?"
"Why, what else do Ah call ya?"
"You called me some quite interestin' t'ings while we been playin' hooky, chere."
"Well, while we're on names, DON'T call me that, swamp rat. Ah took French in high school, Ah know what it means!"
"C'mon, y'know you like me. And I like you, Rogue, I just- de past few days have been like a dream. I panicked is all-"
"Now, now, Gambit. Don't say anythin' you'll regret." Kitty heard Rogue turn away.
"Fantastic. How long it gon' take for you to forgive me on dis one, Rogue?"
What was she doing? Remy would re-enter the room at any second, she had to make her escape. Kitty looked wildly around.
"Call me in about five years, but maybe the answer'll still be a definite-"
"Hey. What was dat?"
Out in the hall, Rogue and Gambit paused. A small thump and a cry of "Ouch!" had just come out of Remy's room.
Shrugging it off, Rogue revved herself up for some more arguing. "Oh, don't think for a second ya'll can-"
Remy shook his head. He mouthed audibly: QUIET AND MAYBE YOU'LL LEARN SOMETHIN'. COME ON, ROGUE. He beckoned her to come back into the room with him. Reluctantly, Rogue followed.
Kneeling down next to the bed, he beckoned Rogue to look underneath. Rogue had trouble stifling her laughter as they watched a pair of petite legs disappearing into the skirting board.
He counted to three and with a wink, roughly grabbed the feet and hauled Kitty back into the room. She squealed as she bumped her head.
"Well, well, well. Out ya come!" Rogue cried callously, and with a great deal of protesting from Kitty the Cajun and the Rogue managed to drag her out.
"Totally unfair!" blustered Kitty as Remy and Rogue smirked. She got to her feet and dusted herself off.
"Looks like we got a 'lil spy in our midst, Rogue. Who sent y', Scott?" Remy tried his usual tactic of putting his arm around Rogue- this time around her shoulders. To everyone's surprise she reached up and gave his hand a squeeze before allowing it to remain on her left shoulder.
"No!" said Kitty fervently. "I just- I mean, like, I just-"
"Ya just what? Pick your words carefully." Rogue cocked her head to the side.
"I didn't want to use the main stairs in case I ran into someone because- well, because..." Kitty gestured miserably at her head.
Silence. Then-
Rogue gasped. "Ah cannot believe ya had the nerve! ... Especially seein' as ya made such a big deal out of me gettin' it done!"
"It looks hideous, doesn't it?" wailed Kitty.
"N-No. It looks cute. No, it makes you look older. It changes the whole shape of your face- for the better, Ah swear! It looks great!"
"Really?" asked Kitty hopefully.
"Oui, chere. Looks great." Gambit's arm on Rogue's shoulder relaxed slightly.
Rogue glared at him. "Well. Maybe not that great." She slung an arm around him too, but only to give him a hard pinch on the arm. Remy winced. However, she left her arm there as a kind of consolation.
Kitty's face fell. "I'm going into my room and I'm never leaving!" she shouted in frustration. "At least not until this total MONSTROSITY- well, I dunno! Heals, I guess!"
Remy sneered. "Might take awhile, that."
Rogue gave him a reproving look and said in as kind a tone she could manage, "Listen, Kitty, it really does a lot for you. You should show everyone, show 'em you're not just a little mouse any more."
Kitty's lower lip trembled. This was just great. First she came home with a hideous new accumulation to her formerly wholesome-as-yoghurt countenance, then Rogue called her a little mouse. She wasn't a little mouse! Today she felt very stupid, but she was not a little mouse!
"Little mouse?" she whispered plaintively.
A whole six seconds snailed by before Kitty clutched vainly at the area in question and moaned, "Oh, what did I DO to myself!?" She left right that second by phasing through the nearest wall.
Although Rogue could not be said to be the most sisterly of the X-Men's females, as a woman she could sense when another woman was in peril. Which was why as soon as the others were home she called a meeting of all the women in Jean's room.
"My room? Why mine?" Jean asked, bewildered.
"'Cause your room is about twice as big as any of ours. Now suck it up and quit whinin'."
So at four thirty-six PM Jean, Rogue, Jubes, Amara, Tabby, Rahne and even X23 assembled in Jean's bedroom. They would have asked Ororo along, but she and Evan were away visiting his parents. "OK. To begin this meetin' of the X-Women, Ah'm gonna need for X23 to go fetch Kitty from her room."
X23 looked up. "Me? Why me?"
"'Cause you're the scariest out of all of us."
"Oh, THAT'S nice," scoffed Amara.
X23 got up grudgingly. "All right." A woman of few words, she could sense when something was important. She left to retrieve Kitty.
Rogue began, "OK. Today Gambit and Ah were sittin' in his room when we happened across Kitty-"
"Oooh, Rogue," sneered Rahne. "What were you doing in his room, I wonder?"
"Shut-up," said Rogue smartly, giving Rahne the kind of glare that told the lycanthrope instantly to drop it. Only Rogue could turn such phrases as 'Shove it', 'Piss off' or 'Get bent' into one-syllable words.
"For some inexplicable reason," Rogue continued, "Kitty went out and did somethin'- well, not average today. It's a big change, but it suits her and Ah think ya'll will like it. All Ah'm sayin' is, we gotta find some way to boost her confidence about the whole thing."
Silence. "Rogue. Do you realise you're actually being compassionate here? This is very mature of you," said Jean, pleasantly surprised.
Jubes frowned and then grinned. "Unless, of course, you have an ulterior motive. Which you almost certainly do."
"Mah room is next to Kitty's. We have thin walls. And when Kitty sulks, she sulks LOUDLY."
There was an earsplitting shriek from just outside the room as X23 strode through the door, dragging a furiously protesting Kitty Pryde. Kitty had a pillowcase with holes cut into it over her head- all the women except X23 and Kitty promptly cracked up laughing.
"Show 'em what ya had done, Kit," said Rogue in as soothing a voice as she could muster.
"No."
"Come on, Kitty, you can't look THAT terrible." Jean stood up. "Can I have a drumroll, please?"
Tabitha drummed her palms against her thighs as Jean telepathically lifted the pillowcase from Kitty's head with a flourish. "Ta-d-" cried Jean, stopping in mid-cliche.
Awed silence filled Jean's room. "Oh... Kitty..." breathed Jean in shock.
Kitty nearly burst into tears. "It looks totally crappy and so do I!" she wailed, covering her face with her hands. Rogue twitched audibly- in Rogue's world, the only person allowed to exude truly human emotion was Rogue herself, and then only when she was alone.
"No! No, that's the thing. It doesn't. You look-" Jean looked to the X-Women for help, which they were only too happy to give.
"Cute!"
"Adult!"
"Sophisticated!"
"Intelligent!"
"Sweet!"
Kitty parted two fingers, revealing one massive blue eye. "... Really?"
"Puhlease, Slim ShadyCat!" said Tabitha, using one of her endearing little nicknames. "You look mahvellous, dahling."
Rogue and Jean exchanged a look. Rogue nodded and Jean stepped forward to Kitty. "As the oldest and therefore most qualified person in this room, I hereby endow Katherine Ann Pryde with a new mutant power, which will manifest the second she truly likes the big change in her appearance. She will gain the superhuman ability to ask out the single X-Man of her choice- so girls, you know what that means."
X23 and Rogue looked mystified. Kitty sniffled. Everyone else, however, simultaneously shrieked, "MAKEOVERRRRR!" and rushed Kitty from the room before you could say 'Why do they think the solution to every problem is a makeover?'
"Why do they think the solution to every problem is a makeover?" asked X23, frowning.
Rogue shrugged. "Search me. Wanna go watch?"
"Not really."
"Me neither. C'mon, let's go."
"You look fine."
"No, I don't."
"No, you do," said Jean, wishing it had been any of the others in this predicament. Kitty was surprisingly stubborn.
"I do not."
"You do too," snapped Jean, Tabitha, Rogue and Jubes.
"I so don't!"
"You so DO!" shrieked Rahne, Amara and X23.
"I absolutely and complete do not look at all OK!" Kitty answered.
"You DO, ALL RIGHT?" yelled Jean in defeat before burying her head in her hands. They'd finished making her up an hour ago and she still wouldn't face the men downstairs. Jean was tired, hungry, thirsty and to be totally frank, she really had to pee. Amara patted her on the back. "Oh, God, we'll never get through to her."
"Who says we have to get through, exactly?" muttered Amara. Jean looked at her and Amara smirked. She stood up. "Kitty, I really hoped it wouldn't come to this."
"Come to what?" asked Kitty. She was sitting glumly on a bed, dressed to kill in mostly Amara's clothes, Jean's jewellery, Tabitha's makeup, Rahne's extremely strong scent and a hairclip of X23's.
"This," said Amara decisively. Standing up, she shifted into her lava form and advanced on Kitty, who squealed and jumped up.
"Hey, be careful! You'll set me alight!"
"Your point being?"
"These are your clothes!" cried Kitty desperately, cornered at the very edge of the bed.
"Hmm. Good point." Lava-Amara seemed to ponder this- and sneered. "Oh, well." She lunged.
Kitty screamed and almost toppled backward, arms wheeling in the air.
Rogue smiled. This was definitely more her idea of fun. "Grab on!" she yelled, and just as Kitty fell backward off the bed she had just about all the other X-Women snatch hold of some part of her.
They all phased through the floor and landed in a heap in the hallway that led to the kitchen downstairs. "Owwww... my organs," moaned Rahne, poking at her sides to check they'd come through the fall intact. "Don't ever ask me to do that again."
"Huh? Hey, guys, I finally found the girls," said a familiar German accent. Kurt Wagner peered out of the kitchen at the tangled mass of limbs that was the females on the team. "Where've you been?"
"Makin' Kitty up," said Rogue, nursing her head. "Ah think Ah need an Asprin..." Kurt helped her into the kitchen. Finally only X23 (with her advanced healing factor) and Kitty remained.
"Well, if you don't mind, X23, I'll just be going upstairs now..." mumbled Kitty.
X23 sighed. It seemed to be up to her. "Oh no you don't," she muttered, and unsheathed her left-hand claws, pointing them at Kitty.
Kitty's eyes widened. "Uh, what's your deal?"
"Come on," said X23, seizing Kitty and directing her at adamantium clawpoint through to the kitchen, which was filled with various X-Men. "Preeeeesenting," yelled X23 in a very un-Weapon X-ish way, "Kitty Pryde, alias Shadowcat, X-Women supreme- and her new look!"
Everyone stared. Remy and Rogue exchanged a smirk.
"Kitty," said Kurt with a grin, "let me be the first to say your new look merits two thumbs up!"
"Um. Thank you."
Everyone jumped up from their respective seats to crowd around Kitty.
"Kitty, you look so totally awesome!" cried Scott's younger brother Alex, who still used surfer slang despite being in his twenties.
Kitty, for the first time in almost a whole day, giggled. "Gee, if I get one more nice comment I might consider leaving the house again someday," she said coyly. But she forgot to be coy when, as if on cue, loud footsteps approached.
There, taking up the whole of the doorway, was the truly collossal form of Piotr Rasputin. "What is the trouble?" he asked. "I heard a lot of noise."
It took a second that contained an eternity for everyone to part and reveal Kitty cowering in their midst. Another eternal second passed, in which Tabitha took it upon herself to inform the whole mansion (and possibly the whole world, by how loudly she said it) of the bloody obvious.
"Kitty got a new haircut, Petey. Doesn't she look special?"
While Piotr considered this, Kitty gave him a weak smile. Everyone waited on bated breath for the verdict which would decide whether Kitty took her new look out for a night on the town or whether she never saw the town again.
...
Piotr smiled. "She always looks special. But I do like her new haircut."
Kitty absolutely beamed. "Thanks! It's like, nice to know that you, y'know, think that. I was just gonna go out for a drive, do you want to come?"
Rogue rolled her eyes. Jamie piped up, "I wanna come!" Well, that's what he would have said if he hadn't stopped short. The five people who simultaneously kicked him may have had something to do with it.
"Yes, all right," said Piotr, nodding. "I'd like that."
"Great! I'll drive, you lead on!" said Kitty joyfully. She skimmed over and took hold of his arm.
"They're cute together," whispered Rahne to Jubes, who giggled. Although they did make a very odd pair- the tallest member of the X-Men next to the shortest- Kitty and Piotr did look kind of sweet.
Kitty turned just before she and Piotr left the room. "Yyyyyesssss!" she stage-whispered, giving everyone a wink. Collossus either didn't hear this or chose not to. Jean, Jubes, X23, Rahne, Tabitha, Amara and yes, even Rogue all gave the thumbs-up.
And so it came to be that Piotr Rasputin, Kitty Pryde and Kitty Pryde's spiffy new hairdo went out for a drive- proving, Kitty thought smugly, beyond any doubt that the cute, adult, sophisticated, intelligent, sweet, all-new Kitty Pryde was no longer a little mouse.
DISCLAIMER: 'X-Men: Evolution' belongs to the WB, Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, whoever you like. Just, y'know, not me.
NOTES: What? What did you THINK Kitty had done to herself, gotten her head shaved or had her nose pierced? This all stemmed from the first time I saw character designs for the adult versions of the 'X-Men: Evolution' characters and noticed that all the women had gotten haircuts. Pointless sort of fic, I know, but I wrote it late at night when I was high on caffeine and I thought it was funny then. Sorry.
It is so great to be back on the Internet at last! I will be uploading some more XME fics soon. I have a 'Dark Angel' one nearly ready for posting, too.
My friend Emily O (yeah, yeah, we have the same name. I had noticed that, you know) had a look at this for me, as did my lovely beta reader Helen. It was very kind of Emily to look at it for me, because she's not even an X-Men fan. Emily asked me what it was that Rogue and Gambit were doing if Rogue can't touch. My answer?
"Why, having chemistry, of course. It's all they ever do." Heh, heh. Laters!
Rogue smirked. "Nah, you just don't have the guts to change a thing about yourself. Ah'm just surprised mah power didn't knock out the guy who did the deed. But Ah like it."
"It's just fashion. You're gonna look back on photos of this someday and cringe, Rogue," said Scott in a slightly amused tone of voice.
"Same to you, Scott. Ah've seen your junior high class pictures." Rogue folded her arms. "What a bunch of wusses. Not even ONE person here thinks it's an improvement?"
Remy shook his head and put an arm around Rogue's waist. "On de contrary, chere, I think it looks hot."
Sweetly, Rogue said, "Thanks, Gambit. It's nice to know someone appreciates me. Now, remove the arm or you'll be drawin' back a bloody stump." There were titters from the present X-Men. They dispersed slowly- Kitty and Piotr were the only ones left.
"Do- do you think I'd look good like that?" asked Kitty, pushing her long brown hair behind her ears and frowning.
Piotr seemed to think long and hard about this. "You look good anyway," he said finally, shouldering a busted laser attachment and leaving.
"Oh." It had echoed around the Danger Room unpleasantly as Kitty wondered...
Rain poured down outside the mansion as Kitty returned from her trip out. She phased through the front doors and out of her shoes and looking in the hall mirror, she winced. Maybe it didn't look as good on her as it did on the model in the catalogue... or on Rogue. Granted, hers was a lot different from Rogue's but she wasn't at all sure about the change.
How could she have been so stupid? She should have bought Scott with her, he would have talked her out of it. Or Piotr. Piotr, with his "You look good anyway." If she was totally honest with herself, the biggest reason she'd gotten this done was because she wanted to see if she could get a reaction out of him.
The mansion was very quiet and most of the lights were off despite the fact that it was just past noon on a weekday. She supposed most of the team were out at their respective jobs. Kitty was unemployed at the moment: Jamie had tried to fix her up with a waitressing position at the cafe he worked at. Kitty had been fired within a week for mixing up orders. But who could concentrate on orders with so many cute guys flitting in and out? She'd been sorry to lose that job.
If she could just get up to her room, she could try and salvage the situation. Maybe if she wore a hockey mask or a t-shirt that said SAM AND I ARE SECRET LOVERS to dinner, nobody would notice.
Pfft. Yeah, right. Who wouldn't notice the change? It was hopeless. This was the worst thing that had ever come out of a shopping trip, including the time Kurt, Amara and Kitty herself had gone out to get milk and eggs and ended up being captured by Sentinel robots.
Kitty made for the kitchen- it was too risky to use main hallways. She could just climb up the shelves and phase through the ceiling. She'd find herself in Remy's bedroom, then it was only a quick sprint through a few more walls to her own bedroom.
Hey. Maybe she could hide out in her bedroom for a few weeks and only come out at night? It was a definite idea. And for training sessions- well, the addition of a mask to her X-Men uniform would suffice.
Finding herself in the kitchen, she ran her hands over her face and up into her air. Oh, LORD. It was terrible. With a groan, she started to climb the shelves.
It was easy enough. Kitty wasn't at all heavy. It was the next stage of her plan that went less than smoothly.
She surfaced underneath Gambit's bed. Grabbing hold of the bottom of his mattress, she pulled her legs up through the floor and lay there getting her breath back.
Kitty Pryde froze in horror when she realised there was already someone in the room.
A laugh. "... but like Ah said, Remy, Ah can't keep playin' hooky from work just to hang out with ya. They'll have me workin' weekends for months just to prove Ah can be trusted."
"Still, you can't pretend you ain't enjoyin' my company, Rogue."
Oh, for Pete's sakes. Kitty looked to the side and felt her heart sink as she spotted a pair of black jean-ed ankles with sneaker-ed feet (Rogue's) next to blue jean-ed ankles with Doc Marten-clad feet (Remy's). Terrific- she should have remembered that Rogue and Remy had been home from their respective places of work the past few days with 'colds'. Rogue was such a hypochondriac sometimes.
The question was, should she try to phase into the next room or stay put and see if they left Remy's bedroom?
"When are ya gonna quit being a cocky son of a bitch, Remy?"
"When y'admit ya can't live without me, chere. S'only fair I should have some... incentive, after all."
Around other people, Rogue would have told him to shove it and left in a huff. Or maybe she did it when they were alone. However, around other people Rogue didn't call Remy by his first name. 'The closest she gets to that is "LeBeau",' thought Kittty, smirking.
Rogue seemed to have no wisecrack for this remark. Rogue's left ankle twitched and involuntarily moved so her leg was touching his slightly. Kitty heard her shift on the bed above and wished she could be anywhere but there.
"Remy, Ah..." Rogue said softly.
Another small shifting noise. Rogue was leaning against him now- aw, how sickeningly sweet. For the first time Kitty thanked Heaven that Rogue couldn't touch him. At least then they wouldn't get REALLY physical, God forbid.
"Whoa, Rogue, slow down." Gambit sounded embarrassed. "I- maybe you've had too much to drink, chere. Don't do anyt'in you'll regret, neh?"
Oh, great. They'd been drinking. If Rogue started an alcohol-induced, angst-ridden crying jag they could be here for hours. And- slow down? Crap, what was HAPPENING up there?
"Ah ain't drank that much at all."
"Well-"
"OK, fine. Whatever." Rogue spoke in a quiet, defeated voice. Kitty watched as Rogue's leg moved away from Remy's. Rogue got up and stretched, presumably. "Boy, Ah'm tired. Ah'd better go get some sleep, Ah'll be goin' into work tomorrow."
She left the room. Kitty cheered silently. One down, one to go.
"Merde," muttered Remy vehemently. In a louder voice, he said, "Wait, Rogue, y'don't have to leave..." He got up and followed her.
Oh, dear. This couldn't be good. Kitty's mind was taken off her predicament as she listened.
"... I been leadin' y'on, Rogue. It's cowardly, maybe I just- I'm better den dat, I swear-"
"Forget it, Gambit," said Rogue quite coldly.
"So we're back to Gambit, oui?"
"Why, what else do Ah call ya?"
"You called me some quite interestin' t'ings while we been playin' hooky, chere."
"Well, while we're on names, DON'T call me that, swamp rat. Ah took French in high school, Ah know what it means!"
"C'mon, y'know you like me. And I like you, Rogue, I just- de past few days have been like a dream. I panicked is all-"
"Now, now, Gambit. Don't say anythin' you'll regret." Kitty heard Rogue turn away.
"Fantastic. How long it gon' take for you to forgive me on dis one, Rogue?"
What was she doing? Remy would re-enter the room at any second, she had to make her escape. Kitty looked wildly around.
"Call me in about five years, but maybe the answer'll still be a definite-"
"Hey. What was dat?"
Out in the hall, Rogue and Gambit paused. A small thump and a cry of "Ouch!" had just come out of Remy's room.
Shrugging it off, Rogue revved herself up for some more arguing. "Oh, don't think for a second ya'll can-"
Remy shook his head. He mouthed audibly: QUIET AND MAYBE YOU'LL LEARN SOMETHIN'. COME ON, ROGUE. He beckoned her to come back into the room with him. Reluctantly, Rogue followed.
Kneeling down next to the bed, he beckoned Rogue to look underneath. Rogue had trouble stifling her laughter as they watched a pair of petite legs disappearing into the skirting board.
He counted to three and with a wink, roughly grabbed the feet and hauled Kitty back into the room. She squealed as she bumped her head.
"Well, well, well. Out ya come!" Rogue cried callously, and with a great deal of protesting from Kitty the Cajun and the Rogue managed to drag her out.
"Totally unfair!" blustered Kitty as Remy and Rogue smirked. She got to her feet and dusted herself off.
"Looks like we got a 'lil spy in our midst, Rogue. Who sent y', Scott?" Remy tried his usual tactic of putting his arm around Rogue- this time around her shoulders. To everyone's surprise she reached up and gave his hand a squeeze before allowing it to remain on her left shoulder.
"No!" said Kitty fervently. "I just- I mean, like, I just-"
"Ya just what? Pick your words carefully." Rogue cocked her head to the side.
"I didn't want to use the main stairs in case I ran into someone because- well, because..." Kitty gestured miserably at her head.
Silence. Then-
Rogue gasped. "Ah cannot believe ya had the nerve! ... Especially seein' as ya made such a big deal out of me gettin' it done!"
"It looks hideous, doesn't it?" wailed Kitty.
"N-No. It looks cute. No, it makes you look older. It changes the whole shape of your face- for the better, Ah swear! It looks great!"
"Really?" asked Kitty hopefully.
"Oui, chere. Looks great." Gambit's arm on Rogue's shoulder relaxed slightly.
Rogue glared at him. "Well. Maybe not that great." She slung an arm around him too, but only to give him a hard pinch on the arm. Remy winced. However, she left her arm there as a kind of consolation.
Kitty's face fell. "I'm going into my room and I'm never leaving!" she shouted in frustration. "At least not until this total MONSTROSITY- well, I dunno! Heals, I guess!"
Remy sneered. "Might take awhile, that."
Rogue gave him a reproving look and said in as kind a tone she could manage, "Listen, Kitty, it really does a lot for you. You should show everyone, show 'em you're not just a little mouse any more."
Kitty's lower lip trembled. This was just great. First she came home with a hideous new accumulation to her formerly wholesome-as-yoghurt countenance, then Rogue called her a little mouse. She wasn't a little mouse! Today she felt very stupid, but she was not a little mouse!
"Little mouse?" she whispered plaintively.
A whole six seconds snailed by before Kitty clutched vainly at the area in question and moaned, "Oh, what did I DO to myself!?" She left right that second by phasing through the nearest wall.
Although Rogue could not be said to be the most sisterly of the X-Men's females, as a woman she could sense when another woman was in peril. Which was why as soon as the others were home she called a meeting of all the women in Jean's room.
"My room? Why mine?" Jean asked, bewildered.
"'Cause your room is about twice as big as any of ours. Now suck it up and quit whinin'."
So at four thirty-six PM Jean, Rogue, Jubes, Amara, Tabby, Rahne and even X23 assembled in Jean's bedroom. They would have asked Ororo along, but she and Evan were away visiting his parents. "OK. To begin this meetin' of the X-Women, Ah'm gonna need for X23 to go fetch Kitty from her room."
X23 looked up. "Me? Why me?"
"'Cause you're the scariest out of all of us."
"Oh, THAT'S nice," scoffed Amara.
X23 got up grudgingly. "All right." A woman of few words, she could sense when something was important. She left to retrieve Kitty.
Rogue began, "OK. Today Gambit and Ah were sittin' in his room when we happened across Kitty-"
"Oooh, Rogue," sneered Rahne. "What were you doing in his room, I wonder?"
"Shut-up," said Rogue smartly, giving Rahne the kind of glare that told the lycanthrope instantly to drop it. Only Rogue could turn such phrases as 'Shove it', 'Piss off' or 'Get bent' into one-syllable words.
"For some inexplicable reason," Rogue continued, "Kitty went out and did somethin'- well, not average today. It's a big change, but it suits her and Ah think ya'll will like it. All Ah'm sayin' is, we gotta find some way to boost her confidence about the whole thing."
Silence. "Rogue. Do you realise you're actually being compassionate here? This is very mature of you," said Jean, pleasantly surprised.
Jubes frowned and then grinned. "Unless, of course, you have an ulterior motive. Which you almost certainly do."
"Mah room is next to Kitty's. We have thin walls. And when Kitty sulks, she sulks LOUDLY."
There was an earsplitting shriek from just outside the room as X23 strode through the door, dragging a furiously protesting Kitty Pryde. Kitty had a pillowcase with holes cut into it over her head- all the women except X23 and Kitty promptly cracked up laughing.
"Show 'em what ya had done, Kit," said Rogue in as soothing a voice as she could muster.
"No."
"Come on, Kitty, you can't look THAT terrible." Jean stood up. "Can I have a drumroll, please?"
Tabitha drummed her palms against her thighs as Jean telepathically lifted the pillowcase from Kitty's head with a flourish. "Ta-d-" cried Jean, stopping in mid-cliche.
Awed silence filled Jean's room. "Oh... Kitty..." breathed Jean in shock.
Kitty nearly burst into tears. "It looks totally crappy and so do I!" she wailed, covering her face with her hands. Rogue twitched audibly- in Rogue's world, the only person allowed to exude truly human emotion was Rogue herself, and then only when she was alone.
"No! No, that's the thing. It doesn't. You look-" Jean looked to the X-Women for help, which they were only too happy to give.
"Cute!"
"Adult!"
"Sophisticated!"
"Intelligent!"
"Sweet!"
Kitty parted two fingers, revealing one massive blue eye. "... Really?"
"Puhlease, Slim ShadyCat!" said Tabitha, using one of her endearing little nicknames. "You look mahvellous, dahling."
Rogue and Jean exchanged a look. Rogue nodded and Jean stepped forward to Kitty. "As the oldest and therefore most qualified person in this room, I hereby endow Katherine Ann Pryde with a new mutant power, which will manifest the second she truly likes the big change in her appearance. She will gain the superhuman ability to ask out the single X-Man of her choice- so girls, you know what that means."
X23 and Rogue looked mystified. Kitty sniffled. Everyone else, however, simultaneously shrieked, "MAKEOVERRRRR!" and rushed Kitty from the room before you could say 'Why do they think the solution to every problem is a makeover?'
"Why do they think the solution to every problem is a makeover?" asked X23, frowning.
Rogue shrugged. "Search me. Wanna go watch?"
"Not really."
"Me neither. C'mon, let's go."
"You look fine."
"No, I don't."
"No, you do," said Jean, wishing it had been any of the others in this predicament. Kitty was surprisingly stubborn.
"I do not."
"You do too," snapped Jean, Tabitha, Rogue and Jubes.
"I so don't!"
"You so DO!" shrieked Rahne, Amara and X23.
"I absolutely and complete do not look at all OK!" Kitty answered.
"You DO, ALL RIGHT?" yelled Jean in defeat before burying her head in her hands. They'd finished making her up an hour ago and she still wouldn't face the men downstairs. Jean was tired, hungry, thirsty and to be totally frank, she really had to pee. Amara patted her on the back. "Oh, God, we'll never get through to her."
"Who says we have to get through, exactly?" muttered Amara. Jean looked at her and Amara smirked. She stood up. "Kitty, I really hoped it wouldn't come to this."
"Come to what?" asked Kitty. She was sitting glumly on a bed, dressed to kill in mostly Amara's clothes, Jean's jewellery, Tabitha's makeup, Rahne's extremely strong scent and a hairclip of X23's.
"This," said Amara decisively. Standing up, she shifted into her lava form and advanced on Kitty, who squealed and jumped up.
"Hey, be careful! You'll set me alight!"
"Your point being?"
"These are your clothes!" cried Kitty desperately, cornered at the very edge of the bed.
"Hmm. Good point." Lava-Amara seemed to ponder this- and sneered. "Oh, well." She lunged.
Kitty screamed and almost toppled backward, arms wheeling in the air.
Rogue smiled. This was definitely more her idea of fun. "Grab on!" she yelled, and just as Kitty fell backward off the bed she had just about all the other X-Women snatch hold of some part of her.
They all phased through the floor and landed in a heap in the hallway that led to the kitchen downstairs. "Owwww... my organs," moaned Rahne, poking at her sides to check they'd come through the fall intact. "Don't ever ask me to do that again."
"Huh? Hey, guys, I finally found the girls," said a familiar German accent. Kurt Wagner peered out of the kitchen at the tangled mass of limbs that was the females on the team. "Where've you been?"
"Makin' Kitty up," said Rogue, nursing her head. "Ah think Ah need an Asprin..." Kurt helped her into the kitchen. Finally only X23 (with her advanced healing factor) and Kitty remained.
"Well, if you don't mind, X23, I'll just be going upstairs now..." mumbled Kitty.
X23 sighed. It seemed to be up to her. "Oh no you don't," she muttered, and unsheathed her left-hand claws, pointing them at Kitty.
Kitty's eyes widened. "Uh, what's your deal?"
"Come on," said X23, seizing Kitty and directing her at adamantium clawpoint through to the kitchen, which was filled with various X-Men. "Preeeeesenting," yelled X23 in a very un-Weapon X-ish way, "Kitty Pryde, alias Shadowcat, X-Women supreme- and her new look!"
Everyone stared. Remy and Rogue exchanged a smirk.
"Kitty," said Kurt with a grin, "let me be the first to say your new look merits two thumbs up!"
"Um. Thank you."
Everyone jumped up from their respective seats to crowd around Kitty.
"Kitty, you look so totally awesome!" cried Scott's younger brother Alex, who still used surfer slang despite being in his twenties.
Kitty, for the first time in almost a whole day, giggled. "Gee, if I get one more nice comment I might consider leaving the house again someday," she said coyly. But she forgot to be coy when, as if on cue, loud footsteps approached.
There, taking up the whole of the doorway, was the truly collossal form of Piotr Rasputin. "What is the trouble?" he asked. "I heard a lot of noise."
It took a second that contained an eternity for everyone to part and reveal Kitty cowering in their midst. Another eternal second passed, in which Tabitha took it upon herself to inform the whole mansion (and possibly the whole world, by how loudly she said it) of the bloody obvious.
"Kitty got a new haircut, Petey. Doesn't she look special?"
While Piotr considered this, Kitty gave him a weak smile. Everyone waited on bated breath for the verdict which would decide whether Kitty took her new look out for a night on the town or whether she never saw the town again.
...
Piotr smiled. "She always looks special. But I do like her new haircut."
Kitty absolutely beamed. "Thanks! It's like, nice to know that you, y'know, think that. I was just gonna go out for a drive, do you want to come?"
Rogue rolled her eyes. Jamie piped up, "I wanna come!" Well, that's what he would have said if he hadn't stopped short. The five people who simultaneously kicked him may have had something to do with it.
"Yes, all right," said Piotr, nodding. "I'd like that."
"Great! I'll drive, you lead on!" said Kitty joyfully. She skimmed over and took hold of his arm.
"They're cute together," whispered Rahne to Jubes, who giggled. Although they did make a very odd pair- the tallest member of the X-Men next to the shortest- Kitty and Piotr did look kind of sweet.
Kitty turned just before she and Piotr left the room. "Yyyyyesssss!" she stage-whispered, giving everyone a wink. Collossus either didn't hear this or chose not to. Jean, Jubes, X23, Rahne, Tabitha, Amara and yes, even Rogue all gave the thumbs-up.
And so it came to be that Piotr Rasputin, Kitty Pryde and Kitty Pryde's spiffy new hairdo went out for a drive- proving, Kitty thought smugly, beyond any doubt that the cute, adult, sophisticated, intelligent, sweet, all-new Kitty Pryde was no longer a little mouse.
DISCLAIMER: 'X-Men: Evolution' belongs to the WB, Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, whoever you like. Just, y'know, not me.
NOTES: What? What did you THINK Kitty had done to herself, gotten her head shaved or had her nose pierced? This all stemmed from the first time I saw character designs for the adult versions of the 'X-Men: Evolution' characters and noticed that all the women had gotten haircuts. Pointless sort of fic, I know, but I wrote it late at night when I was high on caffeine and I thought it was funny then. Sorry.
It is so great to be back on the Internet at last! I will be uploading some more XME fics soon. I have a 'Dark Angel' one nearly ready for posting, too.
My friend Emily O (yeah, yeah, we have the same name. I had noticed that, you know) had a look at this for me, as did my lovely beta reader Helen. It was very kind of Emily to look at it for me, because she's not even an X-Men fan. Emily asked me what it was that Rogue and Gambit were doing if Rogue can't touch. My answer?
"Why, having chemistry, of course. It's all they ever do." Heh, heh. Laters!