It was a rainy November afternoon, and Piotr should have been busy painting. Or perhaps busy attempting to fix the water heater, for the umpteenth time. But instead of doing anything productive with his time, he was seated at the island counter, being used as Pyro's guinea pig while he fumbled his way through the instructions of his brand new magic kit, wearing a cardboard top hat intended for children and a towel tied around his neck. Lucky for Pyro, Piotr was generally a patient man.
"Is this your card?" Pyro asked with a little flourish as he flipped the three of hearts around.
Piotr sighed, "No."
Pyro grumbled and placed the card back on the deck, going back to consult the instructions again, and Piotr's attention was inevitably drawn to Kitty and Remy on the tan couch, their heads huddled together over a note pad.
"What are they talkin' about over there?"
Piotr pursed his lips and knit his brow, "Katya said they were planning a surprise party for Rogue."
"That's weird." Pyro hummed as he gave the cards a quick shuffle and fanned them out in his hands one more time, "Pick one."
Piotr plucked another card out of the deck and memorized it before replacing it and giving his head a shake, "It is not that weird."
"Well, why would they be all hush hush about it around us?" Pyro shrugged as he shuffled the deck again, "I mean, it ain't like we'd go off and blab to Rogue. If anyone would do that, it'd be Kitty. This your card?" He asked, holding up the six of spades.
Piotr shook his head and Pyro grumbled, stuffing the deck back into the magic kit. "Stupid cards are broken." He muttered, snatching out a trick coin to try out instead.
"They are just planning. You know how Katya gets when she is planning."
"Yeah, but Remy ain't like that." Pyro snorted, "Look at 'em. Sittin' over there like a couple of teenage girls gossiping."
Piotr observed the two thoughtfully for a moment, before knitting his brow, "I guess maybe it is a little strange."
"Totally." Pyro shook his head as he squinted to inspect the trick coin, "An' they were at it all evening in Remy's room. Not it like sex, I just mean holed up in his room..." Pyro's interest was suddenly piqued, and he looked up at Piotr with a little twinkle in his eye, "You don't think they're sleepin' together, do you?"
Piotr rolled his eyes, "Of course not."
"It would make sense!" Pyro replied quietly, turning his attention back to Remy and Kitty, "I mean, out of the three of us, I woulda definitely put Remy down as her type first. No offense."
"They are not sleeping together, Pyro." Piotr frowned.
"That'd explain why Remy's all excited about plannin', he's gettin' some tail out of the deal!"
"Oh, so now they are planning Rogue's party and sleeping together?" Piotr asked with a wry little half smile.
Pyro ignored Piotr completely and sucked in a sharp breath through his puckered lips, "Rogue is gunna kill 'em. I'd buy tickets to see that slaughter, ey mate?" He said, elbowing Piotr in the ribs with a wink.
"I do not know why I speak to you." Piotr shook his head, and Pyro shrugged, turning his attention back to the trick coin in his hand.
"Desperation, probably."
Piotr looked back over to the two on the couch with a frown, "Although now that you mention it, she was acting very strange when I got home last night."
"She's always acting strange." Pyro sniffed, and Piotr quirked a warning brow in his direction. "Oh don't gimme that boyfriend crap, you agree with me."
Piotr sighed and rolled his eyes, "She was acting stranger than usual."
"See, told ya. She was probably actin' all skittish because they were doin' it." Pyro shrugged as he bit down on the trick coin for some reason. "Right underneath your nose."
"John-" Piotr growled.
"Alright fine, they're not doin' it. But they're definitely doin' somethin' hinkey."
Piotr pursed his lips and watched as Pyro tried to nibble on the coin, "They are not."
"Totally are."
"Like what?"
"Ask her. Isn't that what bein' in a relationship is supposed to be all about? Communication?"
Piotr rolled his eyes, "You are not exactly the authority on relationship advice, John."
"Well, I'm not a complete moron. I watch Oprah." He replied defensively, before taking another chomp on the trick coin.
"Why are you chewing on a coin?" Piotr asked with a sigh as he rubbed a hand over his face.
"I dunno, thought maybe it would do something magical."
Pyro may not be a complete moron, but he definitely was a partial one, at the very least.
Piotr gave his head a shake and pushed himself up off the stool, muttering to himself about keeping better company as he crossed the living room to where Kitty and Remy were huddled on the couch, and took a seat on the tan arm chair.
"So, a surprise party for Rogue?" He asked, and Kitty turned to him with a smile.
"Well, you know, we're considering it. Just ironing out the details." Kitty said, tapping the legal pad Remy had been scribbling on.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
"Umm..." Kitty glanced over at Remy with her lips pursed together before giving her head a shake, "No, I think we've got it all handled."
"Okay." Piotr settled back in the chair and drummed his fingers on the arms idly, "So what have you got so far?"
"Huh?" Kitty looked back at him with her brow pinched together and Piotr's eyes moved to the legal pad.
"For the plans? What do you have?" He asked with a smile.
"Oh... you know, cake, balloons... party things." She smiled back with a flick of her hand.
"Balloons?" Remy raised a brow, "She's not 12, Kitty."
Kitty looked back at Remy and frowned, "Everyone likes balloons, shut up."
Piotr considered that perhaps the reason their planning was taking so long was because they couldn't agree on anything, and he offered Kitty a smile.
"Did you want to practice some parallel parking this evening?"
Pyro uttered a loud snort, which drew the attention of all three sets of eyes instantly, and he blinked when he realized his little faux pas.
"Sorry. Choked on the coin." He lied, holding up the trick coin with a forced smile, before turning his back on the three in the living room.
"Um... no, actually." Kitty chewed her lip and glanced back at Remy, "We're going to... check out some venues for the party tonight."
Piotr furrowed his brow at this and looked over at Remy, "I thought they had a date tonight." His eyes flicked back to Kitty, "You picked out his clothes."
Remy shrugged and glanced between the two of them, "She cancelled. What's it to you?"
Kitty chuckled along with Remy, before discreetly mouthing sorry to Piotr.
"Hey look at that, the cups have a trap door on the bottom!" Pyro observed as he pulled a set of cups out of his new magic kit.
"I thought magicians weren't supposed to reveal their secrets." Remy said without bothering to look up at him.
"Uh no, I'm pretty sure that's musicians." Pyro snorted as he fiddled with the trap door in the bottom of the cup, and Remy rolled his eyes, pushing himself off the couch, "C'mon petite, let's finish this up in my room. It's too hard to focus out here and we got a lot of work to do, if we're gunna do it right."
Kitty nodded and shot Piotr another apologetic look before scurrying to follow Remy to his room.
"Ya hear that? They're gunna do it right." Pyro chuckled, looking up at Piotr from his cup.
"Would you stop? They are not sleeping together, Pyro." He replied with very little patience left. "I am choosing to trust Katya. If she says they are planning a party, then that is what they are doing."
"I bet they'd have really cute kids." Pyro mused, clearly not listening to a word he was saying, "With her eyes and his bone structure? Gorgeous."
Piotr worked the muscles in his jaw, "John."
"Probably be dumber than a bag of rocks, but they'd be beautiful, I'll tell ya that much." He chuckled and gave his head a shake, and Piotr let out a long suffering sigh. "I wouldn't worry about that though, I'm sure there's plenty of Kitty love to go around." He smirked and looked up at Piotr with a glint of mischief in his eye, "Ya know, I could totally make a devils-three way joke right now-"
Piotr's eyes snapped up to Pyro dangerously, his patience completely expended, and Pyro shrunk down slightly with a frown.
"... But I won't."
Piotr stood up from the arm chair and sent one last glower at Pyro before clomping off to his room.
"Ah lighten up a little, would ya?" Pyro called out after him, "Geeze, ya make one joke about sleepin' with your best mate and suddenly you're the bad guy."
A/N- Look at this, two updates in under a year?! ;)
It was a short one, but I couldn't really add to it without making it feel... forced. So it's short and sweet and to the point.
Thank you all so much for the reviews, I was blown away by how many people left feedback letting me know that people are still reading. I for sure thought there would be practically no one left, and mostly just wanted to finish this story out of my own stubbornness, but you guys shocked my socks off. I refuse to abandon this story. I'm not going to be IGNORED, Dan!
I love hearing from you guys, so please feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think is going to happen next! :D