The weeks passed lazily with Vixen and Pietro dating with difficulty, every now and then having to come into conflict but they flatly refused to fight each other and laughing about it afterwards.
The Christmas holidays were getting closer and the idea of a Christmas party floating around, not yet certain, but the weather was still very mild.
One day in early December, Kurt was listening to music late into the night while he was working on an essay for school.
He switched his music off as he decided to go to bed but just as he was getting his pyjamas on, he heard a fox howling. Knowing that foxes were too small to be dangerous, he decided to take a look.
He pulled his jacket tighter around him as he pushed through some bushes, getting closer to the source of the noise. He pushed his way through a particularly thick shrub he heard the fox howl again and seemed to recognize the voice.
'Vixen?' he called breaking free from a particularly stubborn bramble. In the moonlight he saw a small dog-like animal watching him.
As he observed, it slowly morphed into the blond girl he knew and treasured.
'Kurt?' came her teary voice, 'Wh- what are you doing out here? It's late, you should be in bed asleep.'
'So should you.' he replied, 'What's wrong?' he came and sat on her left on the dry ground. 'Why are you crying?' he asked putting his arms around her cold shoulders.
'I-' she started, but the tears were flowing hard and fast. 'I guess I just… miss Franky.' she finished, sobbing and putting her head onto his shoulder.
'Who's Franky?' asked the blue teenager, stroking her hair with his right hand.
'He's my brother.' she answered, nuzzling her face into his fuzzy neck, appreciating with comforting warmth and softness. 'He's a mutant too.'
'Why doesn't he come here?' asked Kurt, wiping away some of the tears on her cheek, she continued to weep.
'He can't, I asked him.' she replied, sobbing and trying to dry some of the dampness on her cheek. 'Mom and Dad won't let him.'
'Was that why you ran away?' asked the boy tenderly, rocking the upset girl back and forth gently. 'Your parents, I mean.'
'Yeah…' she said tearfully. 'Yeah, they were shitty to me. Do you know what they did to me?' she asked, suddenly angry. The boy shook his head and pushed hers gently back onto his shoulder. 'They tried to do tests on me. In fact, they did. Dad took blood samples and shit, and Mom asked me all these dumb questions.'
'Shhh…' interrupted the boy soothingly, stroking her face again feeling her tears start pouring out again. 'It's okay… you're with us now.'
Suddenly, the girl threw her arms around his neck, sobbing overpoweringly into his shoulder. He wrapped his strong arms around her and squeezed her tight, wishing he could take her pain away.
A few minutes later the two teenagers were lying in the soft grass, gazing at the stars and listening to "when you say nothing at all" by Ronan Keating on Vixen's iPod nano.
'You know,' started Vixen slowly, 'I actually hate this singer.' Kurt laughed, making her laugh with him, 'No, seriously! I really hate him, but I just like this song.'
'You're really weird.' said Nightcrawler rolling onto his side and holding his head in his hand. 'But, I guess that's what I like the most about you.'
'What?' said the girl rolling onto her stomach and looking at him, 'That I'm weird?'
'Sort of,' he replied, 'but mainly because you pretend to be all hard and not care and stuff, but actually you're just a softy.' she threw a clump of grass at him and they both laughed. 'What do you like best about me?' he asked after a moment, still gazing at her.
'Ooh, that's a toughy.' she said giggling slightly, ' Umm… I guess that you are so different, I mean you look like some kinda demon…' Kurt laughed, 'but… you still manage to be the nicest guy around.'
'You're really nice too.' he answered, smiling at her. There was a pause then he sat up. 'Listen to me! I sound like I'm trying to hit on you.'
'What you're not?' asked the girl in mock surprise, he smiled at her. 'Are you in love with Amanda?' she asked suddenly, losing her smile. Kurt sighed.
'She was the first girl to look at me… that way.' he confessed. 'But now that she's moved away, it's really hard.' he looked over at Vixen who was watching him intently. ++++++++
There was a long pause during which she sniffed again, wiping her left eye.
'How do you know when you're in love?' asked the blue teenager, looking over at the girl, the song still playing in the background.
'Oh, that's easy.' replied Vixen flopping her hand uninterestedly, 'I always know when I'm really in love cos' I'm always blushing and feeling awkward around the lucky boy.' Kurt nodded slowly, letting it all sink in.
'Do you blush around Quicksilver?' he asked slowly, looking back up at the dark sky. She slowly turned to look at him, a small smile defining her lips, and shook her head letting a few strands of hair fall over her pretty face.
'No.' she answered quietly. 'But he's really… you know.' she stopped herself, feeling like she sounded full of herself. 'He's really into this.' she finally managed.
'But if you're not,' started Nightcrawler turning to watch her, 'how can you bring yourself to pretend all the time?'
'I don't.' she replied shortly, shrugging indifferently. 'I do enjoy being with him, and I don't lie to him.' she continued as though defending her case, 'I've never told him I love him.'
'You always look happy with him.' confessed Kurt nodding and frowning to himself. The girl shivered slightly. 'Come here.' he took her in his arms and cuddled her close to him. 'You're smaller than you look.' he said rocking her back and forth in his strong and warm arms.
Vixen was very relieved she had her head on his chest at that moment so he didn't notice her blush crimson, as they continued gazing up at the stars.