It had been a particularly wonderful day for Kitty; She had successfully sold three veils, and talked a very naive bride out of purchasing a pink gown for her wedding day, all in a day's work.

She made her way down the hall with a skip in her step and some Chilli's takeout in her hand, breezing in through the door. She dropped her bag of takeout on the island counter and glanced around the apartment,

"I have food!" She called out, which was her method of determining who exactly was home, but instead of an actual response, she was met with the sound of a power tools buzzing to life from down the hall. She knit her brow and followed the sound to the closet at the end of the hall, where she found Piotr squeezed into the small space with his drill. He was pulling the front panel off of the thermostat when she came to a stop behind him, resting her head against the wall as she watched him work.

"How's it going?"

He glanced back at her with a wry grin, "It is going." He rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand and shook his head, "I sent Remy out for some parts."

"Oh." A smirk played on her lips and she trailed her fingertips up his bicep as she admired the tight black t-shirt he wore, "I think maybe you should take a break."

"I cannot take a break right now, I'm-" He paused when she began tugging up the hem of his shirt, "Oh, a break."

She pulled him backwards, out of the small space with a playful grin, "You're entitled to a 15 minute break." She said before pressing her lips against his.

"Is that all?" He smiled back between kisses as she worked his shirt up over his head, discarding it on the hallway floor. She pulled him back with her into her bedroom, somehow managing to close the door before he had her pinned up against it with her legs around his waist.

They were busy working on the buttons of her off-white silk blouse when they heard the distinct sound of the front door shutting, followed by the distinct sound of Remy's muffled voice calling out to Pete.

"Shit!" Kitty hissed as she fumbled with the buttons on her shit, "I thought you said you sent him out for parts!"

"I did!" Piotr whispered back, "He should not be back yet."

"Pete?" Remy's voice called out from the living room, grumbling under his breath as he entered the hallway, "Where the hell...?"

Kitty cracked the door open and poked her head out into the hallway with a wide smile, "Hey! What's goin' on, bud?"

Remy knit his brow at her and blinked her strange greeting off, "Uh, where the hell is Pete? He's supposed to be fixin' this piece of shit." He said, throwing a hand towards the mess Piotr had left, before glancing inside Piotr's room, "Sends me out for parts and then he disappears."

"Oh uh, yeah, I just got back from work. Literally just walked in the door. But I'm pretty sure he went for a walk." Kitty nodded.

"A walk." Remy repeated flatly, turning his attention back to the closet with a frown, "Is that his shirt? What the f-"

"He said he needed some fresh air. I think he just getting frustrated." Kitty nodded quickly, "He said you'd be gone for a bit..."

"I found a part around here." Remy slipped his hands into his pockets and gave her a shrug.

Kitty frowned and narrowed her eyes at him, "What?"

The corner of his mouth quirked up and he shrugged again, "I'm sure the tenants of 801 won't miss it much."

"You stole it?!"

"What!" Remy began defensively, "They were askin' for it, they never hold the elevator for me, and their cooking always stinks up the entire eighth floor. It's like the shit house door on a tuna boat out there."

Kitty pressed her lips into a thin line, "Right."

Remy rolled his eyes, "It's just for now anyway, I'll put it back after Pete's had a chance to figure out what the problem is."

"Sure." Kitty replied skeptically, "Maybe you should... like, go see if you can find Pete. You know, I hope nothing bad happened to him."

Remy's face contorted into a frown, "Huh?!"

"Well you know," Kitty said, trying a different route of distraction, "He's not gunna be happy that you swiped the thermometer... thingy... from the smelly people in 801. You should just go buy a new one."

"First of all it's a thermostat." Remy began, "And secondly, you're acting like an idiot."

"What?!" Kitty gasped, "I am not acting like an idiot, sir. You know, you should go find Piotr, right now, and tell him off. He totally sent you on some stupid little errand just to get rid of you so he could take a break."

Remy crossed his arms and knit his brow as he considered this, "He kind of did, didn't he?"

"Yes! And you wouldn't have even known, had you actually... gone down to the hardware store." Kitty continued, "He needs to get his butt back here and finish this job!"

"Maybe I should call him." Remy said thoughtfully as he pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket.

"No." Kitty stepped out into the hall and quickly shut her bedroom door behind her, "I don't think he brought is phone with him. You know... how he is. He wants to clear his head, he doesn't want anyone calling him. Artists right?" She chuckled with a head shake, swiftly leading Remy back down the hall to the living room, "Why don't you just... sit here. And eat some of my sweet potato fries?"

"Oh yeah, because that's exactly what I wanna do on my day off. Eat Chilli's. That stuff smells worse than the stuff 801 cooks." Remy scowled as he dropped down onto the couch, accepting the sweet potato fries from Kitty despite his complaint about the smell.

"Whatever, just sit here and... stay here." Kitty held up a hand, "I am going to go and change out of my work clothes. And I will be back."

Remy frowned up at her for a long moment before giving his head a resigned shake, "You are definitely acting like an idiot."

Kitty chose not to acknowledge his insult, and instead hurried back to her room, scooping Piotr's abandoned black shirt up off the floor along the way and phasing back into her room.

"Quick!" She hissed, tossing the shirt at him, "He's eating my fries right now, but he's grouchy, and we both know how he inhales his food when he's grouchy."

Piotr nodded before pulling his t-shirt back on over his head.

"Okay, so I'll phase you out through this wall here, through the neighbours apartment and into the main hallway, so you can come in through the front door."

"What if the neighbours are home?" Piotr asked with a frown.

"Then we're screwed." Kitty nodded.

She took his hand and quickly phased him out into the main hallway as planned, thankfully without anyone witnessing the act, and by the time she'd changed out of her work clothes and gone back to the living room, Piotr was already there, pathetically trying to explain to Remy why he'd dropped everything and gone on a nature walk.

"Whatever." Remy snapped, rolling his eyes and tossing the empty carton of fries onto the coffee table, "Your stupid part is there, now get crackin'. I'd like to have a hot shower in my own apartment, thanks."

Piotr squared his jaw and grabbed the stolen thermostat off the counter, giving Kitty a pointed look as he passed her by, "I guess my fifteen minute break is up."

"It's alright big guy." Kitty said as she followed him back down the hall to the closet, "You can take a longer break later."

Remy followed behind Kitty, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall behind her as he watched Piotr start un-installing the old thermostat.

"Jesus, you don't even have that shit done yet?" He sighed, "We could have just paid for someone to do it-"

"No." Piotr said firmly, looking up at Remy with a frown, "I said I can do it and I will do it."

Kitty pressed her lips into a line and silently watched Piotr go back to work for a moment before sucking in a breath, "It's just that you're getting frustrated over it. I just don't think it's worth all the headache, Pete."

"I am doing it." Piotr said seriously, "It is my duty as your-" He caught himself and glanced over at Remy with a tight lipped frown, "-Roommate."

Remy's face twisted up and he snorted, "What? Are you kidding me right now? She's not the one who's been takin' cold showers all week. You owe it to me to get that shit done. Yesterday."

Piotr let out a deep soothing breath, turning back to the work at hand, "It will be done in a few minutes."

"It better be." Remy muttered, glancing back over his shoulder at the sound of Pyro bustling in through the front door. He joined them at the end of the hall, peering over Kitty's shoulder with great interest as the three of them silently watched Piotr set about his work.

"He done yet?"

"No." Kitty said, giving her head a shake, "Remy just brought him a... new-ish thermometer."

"Thermostat." Remy corrected irritably.

"Great, well when y'done that Pete, I got another project for you." Pyro grinned down at Kitty, "It's gunna be great."

"A new project?" Kitty asked tentatively, "What kind of project?"

"I bought an intercom system." He announced with an excited smile, "It was on sale an' everything! The only catch is, it's a self install only. But I figure this guy can handle it, hey?" He jerked his thumb towards Piotr who was tightly clenching the wrench in his fist as he worked the muscles in his jaw.

"Of course." He replied tersely, "I have nothing better to do with my time."

"I could probably take a crack at that intercom." Kitty said, sensing that Piotr was only becoming increasingly frustrated with this water heater, which was turning out to be a much bigger job than he'd obviously anticipated, "I mean, I'm no engineer or anything, but I helped Hank wire the mansion for internet. I can phase through walls so it makes the job a lot easier, but I picked up a lot of things from him. Plus I... watched a lot of Home Improvement as a kid."

Pyro let out a laugh, "Yeah, right." He directed a little chuckle at Remy before giving Kitty a condescending little grin, "The little woman thinks she can install an intercom system."

Kitty scowled at him and put her hands on her hips, "Um, ex-squeeze me?"

"Pretty little Kitty thinks she can work with the man tools?" Pyro continued with a patronizing smile, "You know which one the screwdriver is?"

"Yeah, it's the one I'm about to stab you with." Kitty snapped.

Piotr shot out a sharp breath and stopped working to glare over his shoulder, "Could you two please-" He let out another soothing breath and turned back to the water heater, snatching the wrench out of his tool box, "I am trying to focus here."

"Alright, relax. Pyro, everyone knows Kitty is smarter than you." Remy irritably rolled his eyes, "Not that that's a difficult accomplishment."

"Hey!" Pyro protested with an offended little gasp.

"And Kitty, watching some TV show from the 90's doesn't make you qualified to do something." Remy said flatly, "You think Pete got to where he is by watching Bob Ross?"

Piotr mumbled something unintelligible under his breath as he banged away at the pipes connected to the thermostat.

"I'm just saying I could do it." Kitty clipped as she warily watched Piotr get increasingly frustrated with the water heater, "It's not like I'm trying to renovate the kitchen or something."

"You stay away from my kitchen." Remy narrowed his eyes dangerously, "Don't even think about getting any ideas."

"Oh my gosh, chill!" Kitty frowned, "I'm not touching your precious kitchen!"

"You better not. If I get home one day and see pink doilies or purple ruffled dish towels, I'm kickin' you out." Remy warned with a pointed stare, "Don't test me on this one."

"Okay." Piotr interrupted quickly before the argument could escalate any further. He dropped his tools back into the box and dusted his hands off on his shirt, "That should do it..."

"Should? You don't sound mighty confident." Pyro commented as he leaned in to get a better look at the "new" thermostat.

"It's fine." Piotr knit his brow and pushed some buttons on the contraption, "It should work fine..."

"That's great!" Kitty smiled and patted Piotr's shoulder, "You did it!"

"It was not that hard." Piotr shrugged with a smug little grin, "Once I got the hang of it."

"Shotgun!" Pyro shouted suddenly, before hauling his shirt off over his head.

"No way, John." Remy said, grabbing Pyro by the shoulder and yanking him away from the bathroom door, "You'll be in there for hours. I'm goin' first."

"Nu-uh!" Pyro shook his head as he elbowed past Remy through the bathroom doorway, proceeding to undo his pants, "I'm goin' first! I called shotgun!"

"I don't give a shit if you called shotgun!" Remy argued as he pushed past Pyro to twist on the shower faucet.

"I'm gettin' in there." Pyro warned as he kicked off his pants, "You better get out of my way."

"Or what?"

Pyro hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his boxers and gave Remy a pointed look, "I think you know what."

"Oh gross." Kitty muttered, holding a hand up to block her view, "I don't wanna see that again."

"This seems like a good time for some driving lessons." Piotr said with a grimace as he watched Remy and Pyro continue to argue, letting Kitty lead the way back down the hall. "It is time for my break now anyway."

A/N- Look at that! Two chapters in two weeks! I'm not promising a continuing streak or anything, but I'm kind of on a roll. Please review! It'll keep my roll... uh, rolling.