The ballet both began and finished precisely on time and went off without a hitch, much like a well oiled machine. A slightly boring well oiled machine. Kitty hadn't seen very many ballets in her time, but there was no question that A Midsummer Nights Dream was not one of her favorites. Judging from the comments she could overhear from the patrons in their black tie attire as they made their way out of the theater, her opinion was an unpopular one.

This served as only more validation that she would never had made it as a ballerina.

The post show gala began promptly at 9:30 pm in the immense theater foyer, where well dressed waiters began serving the first class guests expensive champagne and hors d'oeuvres.

"I feel like I'm on the Titanic." Kitty whispered to Remy, all decked out to the nines in his three piece suit, which had likely been acquired by less than honest means, "All that's missing is the string quartet and Leo."

"And an ocean. And an iceberg. And a boat..." Remy muttered.

"Did she say the Titanic thing again?" Rogue rolled her eyes as she scooped a champagne flute off the tray of a passing waiter, "I don't understand how her brain works."

Kitty ignored Rogue's comment, frowning as her eyes scanned the foyer from the lavish balcony which overlooked the lower half of the after-party, "Am I under dressed?"

Rogue glanced at her absently and shrugged, taking a sip of champagne.

"Everyone here is wearing like, gowns. Look at that one chick over there." Kitty pointed discreetly to a woman in a floor length, form fitting, red dress. "I should have gone with full length..."

"Kitty, you look fine." Rogue eyed her friends knee length, watermelon pink chiffon dress, "You look cute."

"I'm not supposed to look cute. It's black tie. Not... ducky tie."

Rogue rolled her eyes and gestured to her deep purple dress, "I'm not wearing full length either."

"Yeah but yours has more of an evening quality. It's form fitting."

Remy's eyes raked across Rogue's body and he grinned, "Is it ever..."

"You look fine." Rogue repeated, turning away from Kitty as she grew bored with their argument, "Shut up already."

"I just feel nervous, you know? I don't want everyone knowing we're here with Pete if we look like idiots." Kitty explained.

Rogue snorted into her champagne flute and swallowed her mouthful quickly, "Yeah well, you should have thought about that before you let Pyro dress up like a homosexual clown."

"Hey!" Pyro's said with an offended scoff, "I look good."

Remy pursed his lips and gave Pyro a disappointed head shake.

"I saw Usher wearin' this exact same outfit. Turquoise dress suit, pink shirt, navy tie."

"Yeah but you're not Usher." Rogue informed him with a squint, "You know that, right?"

"Alright," Kitty held up a hand to keep Pyro from making his rebuttal, "Let's just try to act mature, and proper, like we actually belong here."

Pyro blinked at Kitty for a beat before turning to Remy with a smug grin, "I betcha ten bucks I could pick up more ballerinas in my peacock suit than you could in your... boring ol' grey suit."

Remy barked out laugh, "You really think that, Ru Paul?"

"I don't know who that is, but you're damn right I do."

Remy narrowed his eyes, "Hundred bucks."

Pyro narrowed his eyes in return, "Two."

"Deal." Remy extended his hand which Pyro took and gave a firm shake.

"So much for acting mature." Kitty sighed as she watched the two go off in opposite directions.

"Yeah," Rogue said absently, watching Remy walk off into the crowd with a mischievous little glint in her eye, "All... mature... and stuff."

"So how are things with Holden?" Kitty asked, drawing Rogue's attention away from whatever evil idea she'd clearly been thinking of.

"Good." She nodded, "He's a pretty great guy." She added thoughtfully, "I'm... I'm thinking about, you know..."

Kitty's eyebrows raised and she eyed Rogue carefully, "Like... The sex?" She whispered.

"Telling him about my powers, Kitty." Rogue rolled her eyes and dropped her empty glass on the tray of a passing waiter.

"Oh."

"I mean, that's kind of a big deal. For me. You know?" Rogue explained with a little uncomfortable fidget, "I just... I think it's best just to get it out there."

"You're making it into a huge deal, Rogue. It's really not. You have control now." Kitty frowned, "I'm telling you, nobody would care if you didn't make such a big deal about the whole thing."

Rogue let out a sigh and snatched a new glass off of a passing tray, "Easy for you to say." She took a big mouthful of champagne and gave Kitty a wink, "I gotta go take a whiz."

"Classy." Kitty called out after her with a dejected sigh. Her friends weren't exactly making it easy for her, but she was determined to remain mature. She thought she might even try to mingle a bit. This was a very high class crowd, and there were sure to be a few rich, Jewish doctors in the mix. Her mother would most certainly roll over in her grave if she knew Kitty had passed up the opportunity to husband hunt.

The thought brought a tiny nostalgic smile to her lips and she instinctively fluffed up her long wavy locks in preparation before diving in. Her first attempt had been snuffed out almost immediately when the young gentleman had shown a strange affinity towards taxidermy. She wasn't even entirely sure how the subject of stuffed animals had come up, but when it had, Kitty had politely found an excuse to terminate the conversation and make her exit.

It was pretty creepy.

Attempts two through four were somewhat successful. She'd managed to use the skillset passed down by the women in her family for generations, which taught her to pick out potential doctors. Her mother would have been so proud. These attempts would have been more successful of course, had the surgical intern, orthopedic surgeon and podiatrist she'd met, not turned out to be gay.

She wasn't sure if they were being honest, or just lying to avoid putting up with the cute girl in the pink dress. It seemed like a pretty odd coincidence, and she had no intentions of further pressing her luck, eventually finding her way back to Rogue who had a fresh glass of champagne in her hand.

"You look happy." Kitty commented as she observed Rogue grinning at something in the distance.

Rogue glanced over to Kitty with her grin still in place, offering her a small shrug, "I'm watching Pyro win two hundred bucks."

Kitty furrowed her brow and followed Rogue's line of sight to see Remy attempting to pick up a petite looking woman with straight blonde hair. "I'm confused. How is Pyro winning?!" she knit her brow as the petite blonde offered Remy a sympathetic smile as she clearly let him down gently, "I don't get it. I mean, sure he's a jerk. But he cleans up damn nice."

Rogue crossed her arms and took a small sip of her champagne, "Someone may or may not have told some of the dancers that he has an incurable disease..." Kitty's eyes cut to Rogue and she choked on a laugh, "It's not my fault they don't know ADD isn't sexually transmitted. Besides, someone had to take him down a couple of pegs. Pyro deserves a win now and then."

Kitty squinted at Rogue for a moment before giving her head a shake, "I think you need to stop drinking. You're starting to sound like a crazy person."

"I like champagne." Rogue giggled into her glass before frowning at Kitty, "Why are you so uptight tonight? What is your deal?"

"It's... nothing. It's just... Pete was super stressed out about this whole night going well and he was acting really weird..." Kitty trailed off and furrowed her brow as she recalled his behaviour earlier that evening. There was something in the way his bright blue eyes had suddenly become dark and intense that had really jarred her. She was sure it had just been stress on his part, but she'd never really realized before just how well Piotr wore stress.

Thankfully, her brain cleared enough for her to realize that she'd been staring at him before she'd done something horribly embarrassing.

"Well, he looks fine now." Rogue stated, pulling Kitty from her train of thought before taking another swig of champagne. Kitty's eyes found Piotr who was headed their way with a happy grin.

"Hey Petey! How's your art... stuff... going?" Rogue asked loudly as Piotr got closer.

"Very well, actually. Everyone seemed to really like my work, and they were actually quite intrigued with my rustic upbringing. I even had an agent express interest in representing me." Piotr shrugged, looking down at Kitty with a wry grin, "I guess it paid off to just be myself after all."

"See?!" Kitty beamed back at him, "I totally know what I'm talking about!"

"Please, hipsters eat that shit up." Rogue commented as she tried to suppress a hiccup, "I don't know why you're so shocked."

"Yes, well, I am just glad it is over." Piotr pressed his lips together and gave their surroundings a quick scan, "I should find Anya and let her know, I have not seen her in a while."

"Yeah let's all go find Anya..." Rogue muttered into her glass. Her eyes grew wide with glee as she spied Remy passing by, attempting to seem as if he hadn't noticed them there, "Hey! Cajun! Over here!"

Kitty let out an even sigh at Rogue's lack of tact and watched Remy reluctantly head over to their small group, "Hey Pete," He greeted with a nod, "How'd the networking go? Sell any paintings?"

Piotr opened his mouth to fill Remy in when Rogue waved him quiet, "It went great, everyone loved him, agent, rustic, blah blah blah-"

Kitty shrugged at Piotr sarcastically, "Well that about sums it up."

"-what everyone really wants to know, is how you're doing on your little bet with Pyro."

"Bet?" Piotr asked, looking both interested and slightly amused.

Remy irritably worked the muscles in his jaw with his eyebrows puckered before shooting out a breath, "Damn dancers, they're all gay. It's not my fault."

"Yeah, I got that excuse too." Kitty muttered.

"You just look so cute when you're all pissed off..." Rogue drawled, dragging a bare finger along Remy's jawline.

Remy narrowed his eyes at her as he leaned away from her ministrations, "How much have you had to drink, chere?"

Rogue shrugged, "Un petite peu." She said before taking another mouthful, "I like champagne..."

Remy let out a laugh, "You are hammered."

"Guys, come on..." Kitty rolled her eyes, "We're here to support Pete."

"You're cute when you're pissed off too." Rogue commented, twirling a piece of Kitty's hair around one of her fingers. "Little cheerleader Kitty."

Kitty pushed Rogues hand away and frowned, "You two have done nothing but act like immature little dweebs, tossing back the champagne, hitting on the dancers... How is anyone going to think of us as mature adults if- Holy crap, that's Colonel Mustard."

"Huh?" Remy frowned at Kitty who was now staring off into the distance. He followed her excited stare and discreetly pointing finger towards a gentleman bearing an uncanny resemblance to a real life Colonel Mustard.

Rogue's mouth formed an O and she promptly begun digging through her little black clutch while still gripping onto her champagne glass, "I need my picture taken with Colonel Mustard. I need it."

Kitty blinked at her friend, clearly conflicted between wanting her picture taken with Colonel Mustard, and attempting to remain mature.

"We can't... just walk up to Colonel Mustard and ask for a picture with him." Kitty shook her head with a frown. "We're adults. We're..." Her eyes wandered back to the man as she struggled to hold onto her resolve. "... Adults..."

"She is right." Piotr frowned and shook his head, "But you could take a group picture which happens to feature Colonel Mustard in the background..." He smiled.

Kitty gasped, "A reverse photobomb."

"Yes... A reverse photobomb." He confirmed with a shrug, not entirely familiar with Kitty's slang.

Rogue choked on a little snort which evolved into a giggle, "You are so cute Piotr... photobomb." She said, mimicking his accent to the best of her drunken ability. "Photobomb. Seriously adorable."

Piotr was about to volunteer to take this Colonel Mustard picture, when he felt a hand on his arm, "There you are!" Anya grinned, shooting a quick glance towards the others, "I thought you would be busy speaking with... Other people."

"The hard part is over." Piotr grinned, "We are just going to take a picture."

"I need a picture with Colonel Mustard." Rogue explained, "Nobody will believe that Colonel Mustard was here."

"I see." Anya eyed Rogue as she rifled through her small bag for her phone, which would have been easy to find, had she not been so inebriated. "Could I speak with you for a moment?"

"Of course." Piotr nodded, following Anya after promising that he'd be right back.

"Someone's in trouble..." Remy muttered as he watched them stop a short distance away.

Kitty knit her brow and dragged her eyes away from Piotr and Anya, "Holy crap Rogue, your clutch is basically empty. How hard is it to find your phone?!"

Rogue looked up at Kitty and blinked, sliding her eyes towards Remy with a snort, "I thought I was looking for gum."

"Okay..." Remy chuckled lightly, sliding the champagne glass out of Rogue's hand, "I think you've had enough."

"But it's so good-" Rogue protested.

"I know." Remy nodded.

"I like champagne!" Rogue continued, "I like it!"

Remy cut his eyes to Kitty who was trying incredibly hard not to laugh at her friend, "We'll see how much you like champagne tomorrow."

X-X-X-X

Piotr followed Anya away from his friends, stopping close enough for him to still see them discussing their proposed photo shoot.

"Just because you have met these contacts Piotr, does not mean that the hard part is over." Anya informed him with her mouth pressed into a thin line, "You are still here. They are still able to observe you."

Piotr knit his brow curiously, "I know..."

"You should be careful who you are publicly associating yourself with." She stated as she reached up to adjust his tie, "Not everyone is comfortable with... mutants. Being seen with one may have negative consequences."

"I am a mutant." Piotr frowned, "And if these people have a problem with mutants than I do not want to be associating with them."

"But... your career-"

"I cannot change what I am, Anya."

She nodded silently and swallowed her argument. He glanced back towards the others, watching as they laughed at the phone in Rogue's palm, obviously reviewing an attempt at capturing Colonel Mustard in a picture, and a smile played on his lips.

"What are they doing anyways?" Anya asked with an air of condescension in her tone, "What is that Colonel Mustard? Is he one of the Art Consultants you met?"

Piotr looked back at Anya and shook his head with a smirk, "No, he is a character from a game. You have never heard of Clue?"

Anya knit her brow silently and Piotr took that to mean that she had not.

"It is probably wise to distance yourself from them a bit. You are trying to be taken seriously, and they are just so..." She shot out a breath and shook her head, "Childish."

Piotr let out a deep sigh and took Anya's hands in his to stop her from fiddling with his tie, "Anya..." He let out another sigh and shook his head, "I... think I... I do not think it is wise to move in together."

Anya blinked at him blankly for a moment, "Not wise?"

"We have only just begun to see one another. It has been four months, and we-"

"You would rather stay with them? Cooped up in a tiny apartment with no privacy, or silence?!" Anya asked incredulously, her voice creeping higher, "I cannot believe that you-"

"Anya please." Piotr said quietly, "Do not make a scene."

She pursed her lips and let out a quick breath, lowering her voice back to a normal level, "I know what this is about. This is about her, isn't it. You do not want to move away from that... Katya."

Piotr rolled his eyes, "Anya-"

"You laugh at her ridiculous jokes. You never laugh at my jokes."

"You do not make jokes."

"I see the way you are together. I am not blind, I have seen how she fawns over you with no shame." Anya said evenly, "And I see the way you look at her, Piotr."

He gave his head a shake, "You are exaggerating."

Anya pursed her lips, staring at Piotr silently for a moment before lifting her chin and offering him a single nod, "Fine." She cleared her throat and looked away, "You have made your decision, and that is fine. You do not wish to live with me."

"It is just too soon."

She nodded again and folded her hands in front of her, "I do not think we should continue seeing one another."

Piotr frowned at her silently in response.

"You have feelings for her. Don't you." Anya continued flatly.

"Of course not." Piotr's frown deepened, "Do not be ridiculous."

"Am I being ridiculous?" She quirked her eyebrow, not waiting for him to formulate a response before she gave him a firm nod and stormed off.

He stared after her, watching as she slipped through the crowd and disappeared amongst the throng of people. His eyes slid back to Remy, Kitty and Rogue, deciding that he was no longer in the mood to assist with any picture taking involving fictional board game characters.

In fact, he was no longer in the mood to be in the theater at all.

He quickly made his exit, loading himself into his Tahoe, ignoring the check engine light which was undoubtedly still glowing beneath the duct tape Kitty had applied earlier in the day, and drove himself home as fast as possible, just in case Kitty had been wrong and his vehicle should spontaneously combust en route.

When he arrived home, he pulled his suit jacket off tossing it on the back of the tan arm chair as he headed for the refrigerator to retrieve a beer. He tugged his tie off, dropping it on top of his jacket as he passed by, sitting down hard on the new couch.

This day was supposed to have been a good day. He was supposed to have sat through a lovely performance featuring his girlfriend, and then wowed everyone afterwards with his charm and wit, wooing them into loving his work.

It sounded so simple.

And yet now he was sitting alone at home, drinking some crappy American beer, stewing over the fact that Anya had ruined what should have been a very happy night for both of them individually. He should have been enjoying the evening with her, and his friends, having fun all together.

But this had never really been an option with Anya. She wasn't the fun type. Sure, she could have fun. She could be fun too if she wanted to, but it was a chore for her. It didn't come naturally. Originally, Piotr had respected that about her. She was determined, driven and successful, which were all qualities that Piotr had been raised to admire, and she supported his career choice, almost to the point that it was basically her behind the drivers seat, pushing him to do better.

However at the end of the day, the same rigorous strict routine became boring. After all, he wanted a girlfriend, not a manager. He wanted to be able to talk to her about things other than work. He wanted so badly for her to like his friends.

But couldn't expect Anya to change any more than she had expected him to.

He understood that good relationships took work. But they shouldn't be so much work, should they? He felt as if it were like trying to force two pieces of a puzzle together. If they don't belong, then you should just stop trying.

He supposed that summed up their relationship pretty well; They just didn't fit.

He'd been sitting there for at least a good half hour when he heard the front door open and shut, looking up to see Kitty set her pink purse down on the counter before phasing her heels off.

"Hey!" She stopped when she saw him sitting on the couch in the dimly lit room, "What are you doing here?! I thought you were still back at the Gala."

"I left a while ago." He replied with a shrug, reaching forward to set his now empty beer bottle down on the coffee table, "I did not expect anyone to be home so soon."

"Yeah," She rolled her eyes as she shoved her shoes off to the side with her foot, "We found Pyro sucking face with one of the dancers, so Remy got all pissy. Then Rogue started insisting that one of the waiters looked exactly like Jeremy Renner, and begging me to take their picture. If I'd stayed, I might have killed her. And Colonel Mustard already left, so I couldn't blame it on him, in the study, with the candle stick."

Piotr cracked a small grin, turning back to stare at his empty bottle and Kitty knit her brow, "What's up with you? No comments on Pyro hooking up? And my Clue joke was gold, Pete. Is everything okay?"

He let out a breath, glancing up to her momentarily before shrugging, "Anya and I broke up."

Kitty frowned and sat down next to him on the couch, "What happened?"

"I told her that I did not want to move in with her." He looked back to Kitty and pressed his lips together, "She did not take it so well."

Kitty's shoulders slumped and she shook her head, "Ugh, Pete... I'm so sorry."

He ran a hand through his hair and gave his head a shake, "She did not even know who Colonel Mustard was."

"That's a deal breaker."

"I am just... I don't know..." He pinched the bridge of his nose with his eyes squeezed shut, "I am questioning my judgment. I feel like an idiot."

"You're not an idiot." Kitty pressed her lips together and draped her arm over his large shoulders and he gave his head a resigned shake,

"You were right. I should have listened to you."

"Well, I often am." Kitty quipped, squeezing her arm around him playfully, "But this time, it really sucks that I was right. I wish I'd been wrong."

"It is like I suddenly saw her in a new light." He continued, glancing back at her, "It was not until I heard her talking about you three as if she were better than you. I realized that I am not good enough the way I am. Not to her. She kept saying things about you being childish and how I should not be seen with a mutant because I was still being observed by potential investors... I should distance myself from you..." He shook his head and trailed off. "And when I told her I could not move in with her, she became angry and jealous. It is like she turned into an entirely different person."

"I can't really blame her for being jealous. You're pretty awesome." Kitty dipped her head into his line of vision and gave him a smirk. "She was probably jealous of the way all the other dancers eyed your artwork."

Piotr cracked a grin and shook his head, "She was jealous of you."

"Well, nobody accused Anya of being a genius." Kitty rolled her eyes, "What is there for her to be jealous of? I couldn't even get a couple of dumb doctors to talk to me without having them claim to be gay within 30 seconds of the conversation. It's this stupid dress, I look like Barbies little sister, Skipper. Nobody likes Skipper."

"Your first mistake was attempting to find a straight single man at a ballet." Piotr pointed out with a half smile.

Kitty thought about that for a moment before uttering a dejected sigh, "Crap."

"And I do not see anything wrong with your dress." Piotr said as his eyes fell to admire her attire, "You look-"

"Cute." Kitty cut in with an eye roll, "Like Skipper."

"Beautiful. Like Barbie." He finished with a smile.

"Oh Piotr, you silver tongued devil." Kitty simpered playfully, giving his chest a light swat.

He looked down at her and gave his head a small shake, "It's true. I think there is a lot for her to be jealous of."

She pressed her lips into a coy smile, and as he watched her look up at him from beneath her long eyelashes with that cute look of embarrassment on her face, he recalled Anya's parting words.

And he began to think that maybe it wasn't such a ridiculous idea after all.

He lifted a hand to brush a few strands of hair from her face, and then he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on her lips.

As quickly as it had happened, he pulled away, observing the wide-eyed look of shock she wore.

His mind raced as he tried to formulate some type of apology for being so inappropriately forward when she slowly moved back in, pressing her lips back against. Her hand slowly found its way into his hair and he instinctively wound his arm around her small frame, inching her in a tiny bit closer. Any uncertainty he might have had melted away and he quickly became completely enthralled, drinking in every tiny detail of the way she felt in his arms.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he decided that Anya had most certainly not been wrong.

And just as he came to this decision, he heard a clomp somewhere off in the distance, followed by the distinct sound of the front door clanging against the door stop.

Kitty yanked herself away in a flash and jumped to her feet as the lights flicked on. Remy frowned at Kitty with Rogue's body leaning up against his and her arm slung around his shoulders,

"Alright I'm done." He announced, kicking the door shut behind him. "I've done the chivalry shit. She's here now, she's your responsibility."

"What?" Kitty blinked with her cheeks still flushed, looking between Remy and Rogue as he tried to help her stand on her own.

"She's drunk." He clarified, "I'm not exactly complaining, she's pretty friendly when she's drunk. But she ain't sleeping in my bed. Not unless she plans on puttin' out."

"Yeah, okay." Kitty nodded, flipping her hand towards the hall, "Just... put her in my bed."

Remy rolled his eyes, clearly irritated that he had to help Rogue down the hall.

"I kissed Jeremy Renner." Rogue announced to the room.

"Yeah, sure you did." Remy rolled his eyes, as he led Rogue down to Kitty's room.

"He has such soft hands..." She mused.

Kitty looked back at Piotr once they were gone with her mouth slightly agape, "I have to go watch Rogue sleep." She blinked, "Not... like... watch her sleep. You know..." She attempted to explain as she began to back away, tripping over the coffee table in the process. She recovered as smoothly as possible, apologizing to the table and then wincing once she realized she'd apologized to a table, before disappearing down the hall, leaving Piotr to sit alone in bewilderment.

A/N: What's up lovies? This will likely be the last chapter for a short spell (which is why it's basically massive), simply because I'm on "vacation". Using the term VERY loosely. Visiting family is not quite "vacation" but I thought it would be harsh to say I'm "in hell for the summer".
Y'dig?
My brain has been fried by the heat, and I'm unable to come up with happy ways to beg you all for wonderful and well thought out reviews, so just do it ya'll. Just do it. :)