Chapter 3: Tough Guy
John walked through the halls of the mansion, searching for Kitty and his lighter but had no luck. His talk with Xavier had sort of shaken him a bit for sure though he was proud of himself for sticking up for himself and his own beliefs. Just because he went to their school didn't mean he had to think the way they did about everything. People had their own opinions and no one was going to change his.
Peter Rasputin, the hulking muscle-bound student with the ability to coat his skin with metal was walking by with a sketchpad.
"Hey Paul Bunyan. You seen Kitty?"
Peter stopped, clearly a bit surprised. John and him had hardly ever spoken, let alone made small talk in the halls. He looked down at John, since he was many inches taller than him, and just gave a small nod of his head.
"I think I saw her outside by the basketball court. Was just heading back out myself." He held up his sketchpad. "Thought I'd take advantage of the nice weather."
John eyed the sketchpad and suddenly remembered drawings that had circulated around the students all the time. Usually of things like Storm teaching with a few students having rain clouds over their heads in boredom or of a one eyed Scott Summers, and the ones John found most funny were the ones that involved Rogue and Bobby's troubles with making contact. Peter had drawn a few and most of them ended up with a cartoon Bobby in some sort of terrible pain from trying to kiss her. Despite the fact they didn't talk much, John had to respect the guy's style.
The two of them walked outside together though only exchanging quick small talk when John finally saw Kitty sitting under a tree by the basketball course, reading some book. He thanked Peter and then broke off in Kitty's direction. He decided to approach her quietly and did, unnoticed, sneaking up behind the tree.
John suddenly leaned around the tree and placed his hands over her eyes.
"You stole something of mine, mutant scum." He said in a deep voice but Kitty just phased her face through his hands, causing him to fall off balance next to her.
"Funny, John, but I could smell you coming." Kitty said with a smile.
John sat up next to her on the grass, returning her smile with his usual tough guy smirk.
"Really? I put on deodorant."
"You smell like a fireplace."
John's mouth fell agape, jokingly insulted, and he sat closer to her, putting his arm around her and bringing her close.
"Luckily," she raised her book up. "It makes it seem like I'm having a nice time reading by the fire."
They both started laughing while cuddling against the tree trunk. After a few moments of perfect serenity, enjoying the beautiful glow of sunshine and the chirping of birds, Kitty's head was against John's shoulder when he finally spoke up.
"Seriously though, give me my lighter."
Kitty started to laugh again and 'grudgingly' gave him his Zippo back.
"Why do you even keep taking this?" John asked, admiring it in his palm. "It's not like you're a smoker and you definitely don't need it to throw fireballs like yours truly."
Kitty put her face right up to his, so they were practically nose to nose, staring into his eyes, practically into his very being and a wide beautiful smile formed on her lips.
"Because I know how much you love that thing and I know you'll always come back for it." She leaned in closer. "So I figure that if I have it, I know for sure that you'll always come back to me."
With that, they shared a passionate kiss and for John and Kitty, life couldn't get much better.
Later, as the sun began to set over the mansion, John walked through the mansion's corridors and into the common room where some students were huddled around the couch watching some TV. John closed in on the group to see what was going on and noticed that it wasn't just students there, but the teachers, Scott Summers and Jean Grey, were there as well.
"So far, there has yet to be any backlash from the arrest of mutant terrorist, Erik Lensherr, who is the alleged leader of the group of mutants that were responsible for the attempted attack on the world summit. He remains in custody though the specifics of his location and his trial date have yet to be released." The reporter on the TV said.
John flipped his lighter lid open and clicked it for a flame to appear before snapping the lid shut while scanning the faces in the room. The kids looked a bit frightened while Jean and Scott just gave each other looks. John still didn't see what the big deal was about that guy. He seemed like just like any old guy.
"Hey." A voice said from behind.
John turned to find Peter towering over him once more, a piece of paper in his hands. Peter held out the piece of paper in offering and John accepted it, looking it over. It was of what looked like a cartoon version of John and Kitty sitting front of a tree, with a big heart enveloping them both as they kissed. John almost thought it was kind of nice until he saw that the cartoon Kitty's hair tips were on fire. John looked up from the drawing and crumpled it up in front of Peter.
"Real funny, big guy."
"I thought it was."
"Hey everyone, listen up for a sec." Scott was now standing up and John turned around to listen with the rest of the students. "Anyone who's going on the field trip to the museum, we're going to have a meeting in Storm's classroom tomorrow at 11 to talk about rules and guidelines. So make sure you are at that meeting."
John groaned quietly. Just great. More kid's stuff.
"You going on that trip?" Peter asked.
"Unfortunately."
"Unfortunately?"
John flicked his lighter on and off again, really wishing he wasn't having this random conversation with a guy he'd usually never talk with.
"Yeah…well, Kitty's not going so the already boring trip just got more boring." John said. "How 'bout you? You going?" He didn't know why he asked that but he chalked it up to being sick of being on the defense in this conversation.
"No. Not really my thing."
John mentally kicked himself. Great. He was going on a field trip without Kitty who was going to be stuck in the school all day with a guy's whose muscles were bigger than his head.
Just great.