She had given it her best shot. Or at least sort of. She'd given it sort of her best shot. In all honesty, finding out that the job was absolutely nothing like The Devil Wears Prada was kind of a buzz kill, and she was pretty shocked that she'd lasted as long as she had.
It had been a total of two months, three weeks, and two and a half days, and her time with the Glen Cove Times had come to an end. A voluntary end. Which is to say that she'd had it with her boss and his ridiculous requests, and told him where he could shove his Rolodex.
She walked through the front door, not even bothering to stop and open it, grumbling to no one in particular about the heavy August heat as she bitterly tugged at the collar of her turtleneck, and then suddenly froze the moment she realized she was very much not alone. Piotr was stretched out on the sofa, peering up at her from over the top of his sketch pad questioningly. It had been three days since the ballet, and Kitty had pretty successfully avoided being caught alone with Piotr, at all. Until now.
She glanced around the apartment quickly, to verify that they really were alone, before her eyes found him again, giving him a forced smile.
"Uh... hey." She said, releasing the fabric around her neck to offer him a light wave, "I forgot, you're done with the..."
"Paintings?" He finished her hanging sentence for her with the corner of his mouth quirked up ever so slightly.
"Yeah."
He dropped the sketch pad in his hand onto his lap and sat up, "What are you doing home?"
"Oh... I quit my job" She shrugged indifferently as she dropped her keys into the bowl by the door, "You know, all in a days work, and all that."
Piotr furrowed his brow, and Kitty sighed, "It's not a big deal, I just couldn't handle it any more. I gave it a shot, and I just wasn't cut out for the fashion biz." She frowned as her hand found the collar of her shirt once again, giving it a frustrated tug, "The real problem is figuring out what the hell I'm gunna do with all these stupid turtlenecks."
The corner of his mouth tugged up in response.
"I mean, what am I gunna do, get a beret and become a beatnik?" Kitty frowned, "I'm pretty sure that wouldn't pay very well."
"No, I do not imagine it would." Piotr smiled.
Kitty pursed her lips, enduring the awkward silence that followed with great discomfort. She wasn't entirely sure what to think about the whole situation, and she definitely wasn't sure how they were supposed to proceed. Her first instinct had been to go to Rogue and seek the advice of her friend, but that idea was quickly thrown out the moment she realized the first words out of Rogue's mouth would be I told you so.
Cheerleader Kitty strikes again.
So instead she'd kept herself busy, and refrained from thinking about the incident, or Piotr, or the way he'd looked at her that night. Or the feeling of his hands smoothing across her back...
"Okay," She said suddenly, "So, I'm gunna go-"
"Katya," Piotr interrupted with a sigh, flipping his sketch pad shut and setting it down on the coffee table, "We need to talk."
"Yeah. Okay..." Kitty knit her brow and reluctantly crossed the living room, coming to sit down next to him a comfortable distance away, "Look, I'm really sorry, Pete."
"You do not need to apologize, Katya. I should be apologizing to you."
Kitty rolled her eyes, "Well, I mean, technically yes. You sort of initiated the... you know." She glanced at him, feeling her cheeks grow warm with embarrassment over the entire ordeal, "But you just got dumped. You're all emotionally vulnerable and here I am being all... Barbie..."
"You were not being anything but yourself." Piotr assured her seriously, "I just... I suppose I got caught up in your optimism. That is all."
"Cheerleader Kitty." She frowned.
"Yes." He cracked a grin and held her gaze firmly, "It is obviously a curse."
She rolled her eyes with the hint of a smile, "Could we just like, pretend that it never happened?"
Piotr squared his jaw and gave her a single nod, "Of course."
Kitty nodded back, chewing her lip absently. There was obviously just a learning curve she'd have to adjust to. Piotr was her first male best friend. Sure, Remy and Pyro were her friends too, but she didn't connect with them the way she did with Piotr. And then of course there was Kurt, although she'd never have really described him as a best friend before he'd gone and fallen in love with her, which had obviously put a serious strain on whatever type of friendship they'd had at the time. But things were very different with Piotr. She enjoyed spending time with him, just as much as she did with Rogue, maybe even more really. She eventually decided that it would just take some getting used to. Establishing boundaries within the confines of a platonic friendship had to be normal. Even though she'd never had to do it before. She was sure it was normal.
It was at this point that she realized she'd been staring blankly at Piotr for probably a full minute while she inner-monologued to herself about the issues with being attracted to a platonic friend. Her eyes un-glazed and she cleared her throat uncomfortably,
"Uh... you know," She blinked, "I'm totally just trying to focus on my career right now."
"Oh yes." Piotr chuckled, shaking his head and leaning back in the couch comfortably, "Maybe you could look into becoming a mime, I am sure they wear turtlenecks."
"I would be the worst mime ever. Could you imagine?" She laughed with an abrupt snort, "I would be narrating everything I did. They'd kick me out of clown college for sure."
Piotr cracked up at the idea and shook his head, "You would go back to school for that?"
"Well, I mean, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right." Kitty rolled her eyes, "I'm not gunna half ass being a mime, Pete."
"Intentionally at least."
"Exactly." Kitty grinned, tucking her leg up underneath her and turning her body towards him. She let out a breath and shook her head, "So... we're okay. Right?"
"Of course we are."
"Good." She nodded again for what felt like the hundredth time.
Piotr let out a breath and furrowed his brow, "I would hate for things to become... strained between us. Your friendship is very important to me Katya."
She visibly relaxed, putting a hand on Piotr's knee with a small smile, "You're very important to me too, Piotr."
His eyes darted down to the hand on his knee and she quickly pulled it away, "Friendship. Your friendship is important to me."
He shifted his position on the couch slightly and cleared his throat, showing Kitty that he wasn't quite as calm and collected over the whole situation as he appeared to be.
Before she was able to formulate some type of embarrassing joke to break the uncomfortable tension between them, the front door kicked open.
"Oh look, Remy's home!" She announced, twisting her body away from Piotr to take in the sight of Remy with his arms full of organic groceries.
He narrowed his eyes at her enthusiasm, kicking the door shut behind him with a frown, "What did you do."
"What do you mean-"
"You're excited to see me and you're home in the middle of the day. You did something wrong." He set his brown paper bag on the kitchen counter and dropped a case of beer next to it, "Did you get into the coffee again? Because if you did, we're getting a padlock for the coffee machine. I don't even know how that would work, but I'll figure out a way."
"No." Kitty rolled her eyes, "I... sort of quit my job."
Remy rolled his eyes as he began pulling his groceries out, muttering to himself under his breath, "Jesus. What did you do this time? Did you hit on your boss? I keep telling you Kitty, sexual harassment should go DOWN the food chain..."
"Wh- no! You don't-" She turned to Piotr with a frown, "He's never told me that before."
"Well obviously I should have if you were fired for sexual harassment."
"I wasn't fired-"
"Oh, so they just forced you to resign?" Remy smirked at her over his shoulder.
"I quit you jackass!" She snapped, "My boss left me responsible for doing his job last week, and I might have accidentally let an ad for a local travel agency through which boasted about it's many erotic destinations."
Remy barked out a laugh and Kitty's frown grew.
"My boss didn't find it funny. He was freaking out at me when I finally reached my wits end and quit."
"That does not sound fair." Piotr frowned.
"Right?!" Kitty agreed, turning back to Piotr with a nod, "If anything, he should have lost his job."
"We're not committing any crimes on your behalf this time, so don't even ask." Remy muttered as he emptied the entire case of beer into the fridge.
"I wasn't going to ask." She mumbled, crossing her arms with a little pout.
"Well, since we're all home tonight, I thought we'd cheer Pete up with a Star Wars night." Remy said from over his shoulder, not needing to further explain what all the beer he'd just purchased was for, "I guess it'll cheer you up too, or something."
"Seriously, is that how dudes cheer each other up after a breakup?" Kitty cut her eyes to Piotr, "You guys are geeks."
"No, this is just phase one." Remy explained, "Phase two is strip club-"
"I am not going to a strip club." Piotr cut in.
"-But Pete won't go to a strip club, so we're gunna skip it and move right on to stage three."
"Which is... eating raw cookie dough and watching romantic comedies starring JLo?" Kitty guessed with an impish grin, ignoring the way Remy rolled his eyes out of irritation.
"Don't worry about phase three, you won't be included in phase three." Remy stated, shutting the refrigerator door as he finished up his work, "What time does Pyro get home? Since the Kitt-iot is home early, maybe we can get two Episodes in tonight."
Kitty narrowed her eyes, "Not funny."
"I think it's very funny. Kitt-iot." Remy grinned, "It just says so much, in one little word."
"I'm gunna kill Rogue." Kitty frowned back at Piotr, "I'm going to phase her brain out of her skull, I swear."
Once Pyro eventually got home from "work", which he absolutely refused to talk about, they wasted no time starting in on the movie and beer. Somewhere around the middle of the first movie, Remy got up to throw together a pizza, which was being devoured by the time the end credits were rolling.
"This is just ridiculous." Pyro grimaced at the pizza, poking it in disgust, "Who puts spinach on a pizza?"
Kitty glanced at Pyro, lounging on the other side of the couch from her as he took tiny bites of the crust, and rolled her eyes, "It's not that bad. Actually, I think it's pretty good."
Piotr nodded in agreement from his place on the love seat, "You should at least try it."
"It has tomato slices. Whole tomato slices." Pyro frowned, "An' olives. An' the cheese smells like ass."
Remy rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to starting the next movie up, "Then don't eat it, dipshit."
"I'm serious, mate. It's like you're some kinda rodent. You got carrots and leafy greens on your pizza." Pyro griped, "You shoulda let me just order a normal pizza."
"I thought we could try eating healthy for once." Remy stated as he cued the movie up, flopping back down into the tan arm chair, "One slice of this pizza basically has two servings of vegetables-"
"Veggies don't belong on pizza. Fruit is even pushin' its luck, but it's welcome as long as its accompanied by lots of ham. Lots."
Kitty rolled her eyes, "This is officially the stupidest conversation I've ever heard."
"You were not here for the Great Baywatch Debate..." Piotr muttered.
"Silicone is the best." Pyro announced suddenly, "There is no debate, mate. It's just a fact."
"No, real is best. Even small ones. Ain't nothin' like the feel of a nice pair of real tits-"
"Oh, okay, that's just-" Kitty frowned, "No. Let's not."
"It puts the pizza toppings argument into perspective, yes?" Piotr shrugged, taking another bite of pizza.
"Yes." Kitty grimaced, "Horrible, disgusting perspective."
Pyro took a long drink of beer to wash the taste of healthy pizza from his mouth and gestured to his chest in a wide circle, "Huge perspective, eh Sheila?" He winked, "Huge like the boobs."
Kitty's eyebrows perked up, "Yeah. I got your subtle joke, John."
Pyro choked on a mouthful of beer as he laughed at his own joke, eventually spewing the entire mouthful out as he sputtered and coughed, while simultaneously dumping the contents of his entire beer bottle onto the couch in the midst of his momentary panic.
"Come ON Pyro!" Kitty cried out as she swiped at the beer he'd just spat on her as he continued to breathlessly laugh.
Remy simply rolled his eyes at the mess on the couch, "He's just breaking it in."
"Christening it." Piotr added with a smile.
"Yeah well, I don't want my new couch wreaking of beer." Kitty snapped as she marched to the kitchen to retrieve a wet cloth. She forced Pyro to help her clean up the mess before forcing him to cart the cushions out to the balcony to let them air dry for the night while she went to her room to change out of her beer soaked clothes.
When she came back, Pyro was sitting on the floor in front of the cushionless couch, with his legs under the coffee table and a bowl of popcorn on his lap, looking very much like a little kid. She was about to make such a comment when the realization suddenly struck her that the only free seat left was the one on the love seat, next to Piotr.
"Are you gunna sit down so I can start this thing already?" Remy asked with an irritated frown.
Kitty squared her shoulders, mustering up all the confidence she could and gave Remy a nod, plopping down on the small couch next to Piotr and kicking her feet up on the coffee table. She was pretty proud of herself at first, for being as mature as she could about this whole situation. It was silly of her to feel uncomfortable around Piotr, after all. A week ago, she wouldn't have even given this a second thought. She'd have sat down next to him with a happy grin as she made herself quite comfortable next to him.
She glanced at him quickly as her pride began to fade, realizing that she could pretend to be mature all she wanted, but the truth of the matter was, she felt awkward. She felt as if she might as well be sitting right on his lap. And a week ago, she probably could have done just that without even batting an eyelash.
It was suddenly very apparent to her why Anya had hated her.
Eventually the awkwardness was forgotten and she managed to focus on the movie. A little over halfway through, however, the sound of Pyro choking on a snore tore her attention away from the screen. She then realized that not only was Pyro asleep, curled up under the coffee table like a house cat, but Remy was fast asleep as well, with his head tipped back at an unnatural angle over the arm of the chair.
She winced and shook her head, "He's gunna regret that tomorrow."
Piotr glanced at her before turning to see Remy's uncomfortable resting position and smiling, "Yes, probably."
Kitty crossed her arms and turned back to the TV, "So this is how your wild and crazy Star Wars nights always end up? Remy and Pyro passed out before nine thirty? I'm starting to wonder if they've ever actually seen an entire Star Wars movie all the way through."
Piotr chuckled, "I'm sure Remy is still unaware that Vader is Luke's father..."
"It's like warm milk for these two." Kitty snorted, "Seriously, I'm super disappointed in these so-called epic Star Wars nights."
"They were never really intended to be epic." Piotr shrugged, "They only started out as a way for the three of us to pass the time together. It was very difficult for us to get along when we first began working under Magneto, and this became our means of..."
"Bonding?" Kitty turned to him with a wide grin, "Star Wars brought you together? There's some kind of force joke in there... I just can't figure it out..."
Piotr smiled. "After a while, it just became a ritual."
"Like, a bros night."
"Sure."
"Huh." Kitty pursed her lips and looked back at the TV, "So... you guys letting me hang out during Star Wars night is actually kind of like, a pretty big deal."
Piotr stretched his arm out along the back of the couch with an amused smile, "I guess you could say that."
"You guys totally love me." She stated matter-of-factly, casting a grin back to Piotr.
"Well," Piotr shrugged in return, "You are pretty irresistible."
Kitty turned her body towards him with a light smile, "Are you making fun of my curse?"
"No." He gave his head a slight shake, his eyes still twinkling with amusement, "It is just... impossible not to love being with you, in spite of your optimism. That is all."
"Oh, that is all?" She chuckled, poking him in the ribs playfully.
He smiled down at her and she grinned back.
And then they both fell silent.
The playfulness between them quickly evaporated, her smile faded away, and she found herself staring into his beautiful blue eyes, remembering how soft his hair felt between her fingers and the warmth of his kiss, as she felt them being pulled together, as if by some invisible force beyond their control.
Piotr suddenly sucked in a sharp breath, breaking the trance and causing Kitty's spine to stiffen as she sat back.
"Oh crap." She breathed, "Seriously Pete, what is wrong with us?!"
Piotr squared his jaw and shook his head, "I don't think anything is-"
"Oh no, there is definitely something wrong. We were just talking about this. We are grown adults! We should be able to control our... hormones!" Kitty squeezed her eyes shut and ran a hand through her hair, feeling her face flush in embarrassment.
"It is fine." Piotr said reassuringly, "So we will just have to avoid... intimate types of situations for a bit."
"You're right." Kitty said with a resolute nod, "No compromising situations. No playful banter, no snuggling on the couch-" she shifted herself away from him by an inch, "No compliments. No flirting. You need to stop flirting with me, Pete."
He let out a dry laugh, "I was not flirting with you, Katya. If anything, you were flirting with me."
"I was not." Kitty denied indignantly, "Trust me, dude. If I was flirting, you would know it. You would definitely know you'd been flirted with, okay? And it wouldn't be just a kiss we'd have to worry about, because I got mad flirting skills. You wouldn't stand a chance."
"Is that so?" Piotr asked, tipping his chin up with a crooked grin and narrowing his eyes thoughtfully, "Remind me about your objective to find a doctor boyfriend the other night...?"
Kitty blinked for a second before, looking away, "Okay so maybe I have poor direction, but that doesn't mean my flirting powers are any less awesome. If those guys had been straight, they so would have been all up in this." She stated, gesturing to herself.
Piotr's smile grew and he turned back to the TV, "I am sure they would have."
She cut her eyes to him quickly.
Remy choked on an abrupt snore, suddenly shifting his body and tucking his chin against his chest with a sleepy mutter about counting ducks before going back to snoring softly, leaving the two of them in silence.
Piotr squared his jaw, and let out a breath, "That did not count as flirting."
A/N- Thank you all for your patience over the summer. I'm back home now, busy de-summering (Oh yes, I just invented a word) but things should return to normal in a few weeks. I'm going to keep begging for your awesome reviews, because I love them, and because nine times out of ten they put me in a writing mood. I'm a people-pleaser, what can I say?
So please give me mucho amour! That was both Spanish and French, wasn't it? This is what happens when a Canadian watches Dora...