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bantha_fodderSlowly Creeping In by Pen.
X-Men, rated PG. Kitty Pryde.
This is definitely movie-verse X-Men fic, but at the same time it takes a lot of influence from the comics. A bit like my DC fic, really.
With thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angualupin
**
Kitty knocks on Bobby's door. "Bobby?" she calls, hand half in the door, and listens to the whispers from within his room.
Logan pauses as he passes her. She looks at him; his eyes narrow, and he frowns. "I'd stay out of there, kid," he says, and his hand is soft and heavy where it rests above the star, before he continues walking. Kitty stares at the door for a second, then drops her hand as if she's burnt it.
"Oh," she says aloud. "Oh."
This is how Kitty learns that Rogue has returned, and that she was actually dumb enough to take the cure.
*
When she gets to the kitchen, Wolverine salutes her with the bottle in his hand. "Don't worry about it, kid," he says as he brushes past her, and though his voice is brusque she knows what he means. Piotr leans across the kitchen bench and slides a spoon into her hand.
"Katya," he says, and pushes a steaming mug of hot chocolate across to her. She watches the marshmallows bobbing on the surface.
Kitty smiles.
*
Bobby corners her at the entrance to the Danger Room. "Kitty, you shouldn't be going in there by yourself," he begins, and she lightly shoulders him aside.
"What do you care?" she asks. "You're so busy getting some." She shakes her head; shrugs, and starts to punch in her code.
"Is this about Rogue?" he asks, and she knows he can't be that dumb.
"Bobby," she replies, "This has nothing to do with Rogue. It's all about you."
"I didn't mean to hurt you," Bobby says. "But Rogue, well, she's special. I want us to be friends, though."
Kitty blinks. "It doesn't matter," she lies, and phases through the door.
She runs the Sentinel simulation again. After it kills her, she lies on the floor of the Danger Room and cries until the doors slide open and Logan walks through.
"Kid," he says, like she not in tears, "If you're gonna come down here, tell someone." He sinks down beside her and helps her to her feet, and when she buries her face in his chest he wraps his arms around her and doesn't push her away.
She is grateful.
*
Watching television with Artie is easy. She sprawls on the floor and pages through her notes; the white noise as he blinks is soothing and hides a multitude of sins, and she tries to ignore Rogue and Bobby making out on the couch.
"Bobby!" exclaims Ms Munroe from the door. "Please don't do that in front of the children." Kitty buries her face in her notes to hide her smile at the way Ms Monroe does not speak to Rogue, and when she looks up again the couch is empty; the room is empty, but for the hiss of Artie's eyelashes and her own, quiet breathing.
She annotates her notes, and turns the page around as she tries to read her writing. "Katya," says Piotr, and she looks up and up until she meets his face. "Ms Munroe's asked me to run some errands. Want to come with me?"
Outside, Bobby laughs. "Sure," Kitty says, and rests a hand on his arm.
His skin is warm.
*
In the supermarket, Kitty loads Piotr up with all the bags, until the check out assistant stares at them in wonder and suspicion. "He works out," explains Kitty, and gingerly takes one bag to carry on her own.
They pass an art store, and Piotr stops. "Kitty," he says. "Would you mind?"
"Oh," she says. "That's right, you like to draw."
"I do," he replies, "But I would love to paint."
He pushes the door open, and they go inside.
*
Piotr paints, solid, firm strokes across the canvas, and in the setting sunlight, Kitty watches him. The room fills with yellows and golds, and she is glad for the skylight. She watches as he mixes a brown with a red, and she reaches across the room and dips her finger in the result. "I wish my room was this colour," she says, and when she looks across at him he smiles.
"We can arrange that," he says, and swipes his brush across her cheek. "Did you want the furnishings to match?" he enquires.
"Oh, yes," she replies, and rubs her face. When she brings her hand away, she is gold and red and brown. "I want pillows of burnished gold, and orange bed covers."
"Like fire?" he asks.
"Like the sun," she says, and a scream filters from the garden outside.
Piotr runs for the stairs, but Kitty phases without thinking, and when she steps outside the sounds are familiar, and the memories they conjure are not pleasant.
"I didn't mean for it to happen," Rogue protests, and throws off Jubilee's hands. "We were just kissing!"
On the ground, Bobby lies still, and Ms Munroe hovers above him, her hands on his chest. He breathes in, and she looks up. "Piotr, help me," she calls, and Piotr runs to her and picks Bobby up. In Piotr's arms, Bobby looks so small and still and fragile, and Kitty wonders how it feels to have the life sucked out of you.
"The cure isn't permanent?" Artie asks at her shoulder, and Kitty shrugs. "I guess," she says aloud, and wonders where Magneto was when it happened to him.
She wonders where Mystique was when her pale skin changed to blue scales, and wonders if she was happy.
Kitty turns back to the house, and behind her, Rogue wails again.
*
By dinner time, Rogue's gone, her room empty, and nobody is surprised. "We need to find her," Kitty overhears Ms Munroe say.
"No," says Logan. "She needs to learn to be comfortable in her skin again."
There is a pause, and Kitty thinks it might be meaningful. "She never was, Logan," says Ms Munroe, and as she steps into the hallway Kitty phases through the wall. She drops to the floor, and looks up at Logan.
"You think we didn't know you were there, kid?" he asks, but there's no reproach in his voice. "You've gotta work on that."
*
They sit in the observatory, and the moonlight gives the canvas an eerie glow. "How can you paint up here?" she asks, and Piotr smiles.
"It is an experiment in colours," he replies, which is not really an explanation, and she sits in silence.
"So Rogue left," she says. Piotr hums his acknowledgment. Continues painting. "So the cure didn't work. I don't see why she would want it to. We're mutants, and God wouldn't want us to change that."
"It was her choice to leave."
"And where's she going to go? There's no one out there but the Brotherhood, and they're going to be too busy rediscovering their powers and breaking out of jail."
She breathes in, and holds her breath. Tries to control her annoyance, and the way she doesn't get it.
"We have what we were given, Katya," says Piotr quietly, and in the darkness, she meets his eyes. She leans across and kisses him.
His hands on her skin are warm, and gentle, and she closes her eyes.
END
X-Men, rated PG. Kitty Pryde.
This is definitely movie-verse X-Men fic, but at the same time it takes a lot of influence from the comics. A bit like my DC fic, really.
With thanks to
angualupin**
Kitty knocks on Bobby's door. "Bobby?" she calls, hand half in the door, and listens to the whispers from within his room.
Logan pauses as he passes her. She looks at him; his eyes narrow, and he frowns. "I'd stay out of there, kid," he says, and his hand is soft and heavy where it rests above the star, before he continues walking. Kitty stares at the door for a second, then drops her hand as if she's burnt it.
"Oh," she says aloud. "Oh."
This is how Kitty learns that Rogue has returned, and that she was actually dumb enough to take the cure.
*
When she gets to the kitchen, Wolverine salutes her with the bottle in his hand. "Don't worry about it, kid," he says as he brushes past her, and though his voice is brusque she knows what he means. Piotr leans across the kitchen bench and slides a spoon into her hand.
"Katya," he says, and pushes a steaming mug of hot chocolate across to her. She watches the marshmallows bobbing on the surface.
Kitty smiles.
*
Bobby corners her at the entrance to the Danger Room. "Kitty, you shouldn't be going in there by yourself," he begins, and she lightly shoulders him aside.
"What do you care?" she asks. "You're so busy getting some." She shakes her head; shrugs, and starts to punch in her code.
"Is this about Rogue?" he asks, and she knows he can't be that dumb.
"Bobby," she replies, "This has nothing to do with Rogue. It's all about you."
"I didn't mean to hurt you," Bobby says. "But Rogue, well, she's special. I want us to be friends, though."
Kitty blinks. "It doesn't matter," she lies, and phases through the door.
She runs the Sentinel simulation again. After it kills her, she lies on the floor of the Danger Room and cries until the doors slide open and Logan walks through.
"Kid," he says, like she not in tears, "If you're gonna come down here, tell someone." He sinks down beside her and helps her to her feet, and when she buries her face in his chest he wraps his arms around her and doesn't push her away.
She is grateful.
*
Watching television with Artie is easy. She sprawls on the floor and pages through her notes; the white noise as he blinks is soothing and hides a multitude of sins, and she tries to ignore Rogue and Bobby making out on the couch.
"Bobby!" exclaims Ms Munroe from the door. "Please don't do that in front of the children." Kitty buries her face in her notes to hide her smile at the way Ms Monroe does not speak to Rogue, and when she looks up again the couch is empty; the room is empty, but for the hiss of Artie's eyelashes and her own, quiet breathing.
She annotates her notes, and turns the page around as she tries to read her writing. "Katya," says Piotr, and she looks up and up until she meets his face. "Ms Munroe's asked me to run some errands. Want to come with me?"
Outside, Bobby laughs. "Sure," Kitty says, and rests a hand on his arm.
His skin is warm.
*
In the supermarket, Kitty loads Piotr up with all the bags, until the check out assistant stares at them in wonder and suspicion. "He works out," explains Kitty, and gingerly takes one bag to carry on her own.
They pass an art store, and Piotr stops. "Kitty," he says. "Would you mind?"
"Oh," she says. "That's right, you like to draw."
"I do," he replies, "But I would love to paint."
He pushes the door open, and they go inside.
*
Piotr paints, solid, firm strokes across the canvas, and in the setting sunlight, Kitty watches him. The room fills with yellows and golds, and she is glad for the skylight. She watches as he mixes a brown with a red, and she reaches across the room and dips her finger in the result. "I wish my room was this colour," she says, and when she looks across at him he smiles.
"We can arrange that," he says, and swipes his brush across her cheek. "Did you want the furnishings to match?" he enquires.
"Oh, yes," she replies, and rubs her face. When she brings her hand away, she is gold and red and brown. "I want pillows of burnished gold, and orange bed covers."
"Like fire?" he asks.
"Like the sun," she says, and a scream filters from the garden outside.
Piotr runs for the stairs, but Kitty phases without thinking, and when she steps outside the sounds are familiar, and the memories they conjure are not pleasant.
"I didn't mean for it to happen," Rogue protests, and throws off Jubilee's hands. "We were just kissing!"
On the ground, Bobby lies still, and Ms Munroe hovers above him, her hands on his chest. He breathes in, and she looks up. "Piotr, help me," she calls, and Piotr runs to her and picks Bobby up. In Piotr's arms, Bobby looks so small and still and fragile, and Kitty wonders how it feels to have the life sucked out of you.
"The cure isn't permanent?" Artie asks at her shoulder, and Kitty shrugs. "I guess," she says aloud, and wonders where Magneto was when it happened to him.
She wonders where Mystique was when her pale skin changed to blue scales, and wonders if she was happy.
Kitty turns back to the house, and behind her, Rogue wails again.
*
By dinner time, Rogue's gone, her room empty, and nobody is surprised. "We need to find her," Kitty overhears Ms Munroe say.
"No," says Logan. "She needs to learn to be comfortable in her skin again."
There is a pause, and Kitty thinks it might be meaningful. "She never was, Logan," says Ms Munroe, and as she steps into the hallway Kitty phases through the wall. She drops to the floor, and looks up at Logan.
"You think we didn't know you were there, kid?" he asks, but there's no reproach in his voice. "You've gotta work on that."
*
They sit in the observatory, and the moonlight gives the canvas an eerie glow. "How can you paint up here?" she asks, and Piotr smiles.
"It is an experiment in colours," he replies, which is not really an explanation, and she sits in silence.
"So Rogue left," she says. Piotr hums his acknowledgment. Continues painting. "So the cure didn't work. I don't see why she would want it to. We're mutants, and God wouldn't want us to change that."
"It was her choice to leave."
"And where's she going to go? There's no one out there but the Brotherhood, and they're going to be too busy rediscovering their powers and breaking out of jail."
She breathes in, and holds her breath. Tries to control her annoyance, and the way she doesn't get it.
"We have what we were given, Katya," says Piotr quietly, and in the darkness, she meets his eyes. She leans across and kisses him.
His hands on her skin are warm, and gentle, and she closes her eyes.
END
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 06:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 07:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 06:43 am (UTC)Gah. Love it. I'll stop gushing now.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 07:36 am (UTC)I want Rogue to be happy. I also want Rogue to go off and become a member of the Brotherhood, but hey! What can you do?
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 07:06 am (UTC)I love this. So much.
Even though it reminds me of how annoyed with myself I am that I wrote 1000+ words of movieverse Rogue/Gambit last night. With peripheral Kitty/Piotr. Because I have other things to write dammit and I don't do MOVIEVERSE.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 07:37 am (UTC)OMG THERE IS A SEKRIT YOU HAVE BEEN KEEPING FROM PX. Tell me more!
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 09:48 am (UTC)Now, I want to go see X3 again because you've shown me who they are. Danke.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 01:19 pm (UTC)Seriously. Kitty and Piotr are such fabulous characters, and I wish everyone realised that! Kitty deserved to be more than just a cog in the wheel of Rogue and Bobby, and Piotr - well, he was awesome, but he could have been even more so.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 10:20 am (UTC)Is there a good xmm lj community out there, or should the whole fandom be avoided at all costs?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 01:17 pm (UTC)I've not been active in XMM fandom in years, but last time I was in it
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 01:43 pm (UTC)*Sigh* Now I'm going to have to go and re-read the few X-Men comics I have left and try to resist the urge to buy more. See what you do to me? ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 09:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 02:38 pm (UTC)Just. Lovely.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 09:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 02:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 09:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 03:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 09:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 04:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 09:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 05:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 10:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 06:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 10:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 06:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 10:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 07:21 pm (UTC)And Rogue got her powers back and drained the life out of popsicle boy, well done, he needs to DIE so Roguey can go do the nasty with Wolvie or Gambit.
"No," says Logan. "She needs to learn to be comfortable in her skin again."
There is a pause, and Kitty thinks it might be meaningful. "She never was, Logan," says Ms Munroe, and as she steps into the hallway Kitty phases through the wall. She drops to the floor, and looks up at Logan.
This bit bothered me, because while I think Ororo is right about her not being comfortable in her own skin, I always thought Logan was the only person who understood that she wasn't, that she was an outsider pretty much like him.
This is a beautiful fic. Go Kitty/Piotr!!!!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 10:05 am (UTC)Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 08:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 10:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 10:35 pm (UTC)But I think you've done a lovely job of showing us "her side" of things as well.
Do you mind if I rec this?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 07:36 am (UTC)I think as an audience they thought we were dumb, to be honest, but KITTY yay. Nothing Kitty does in the movie in regards Bobby and Rogue's relationship is actually "wrong." She doesn't try to seduce him away, or whatever. Bobby is the one who makes all of the overtures.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 03:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 07:38 am (UTC)Kitty/Piotr is my X-Men OTP - they're so lovely, such lovely people, and when they have sex once she PHASED THROUGH THE FLOOR how is that not awesome?
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-31 04:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-03 12:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-31 05:50 pm (UTC)Be still my beating heart! I have shipped this pair since the Carter years, fergawdsake -- thank you for writing it back into being (though I'm pleased the comics are finally following along on this, too). I loved that they bonded over quiet moments, caring and honesty. Beautifully done!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-03 12:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-01 09:43 am (UTC)Poor Bobby though. And Rogue.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-03 12:04 am (UTC)I wish that Rogue had never taken the cure, and this fic is sort of a commentary on that, in a way.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-02 03:00 pm (UTC)As someone who is only now discovering the X-Men comic-verse I'm still learning my way around these characters.
I love Piotr's final words before they kiss. Sigh, I'm all melty.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-03 12:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-02 06:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-03 12:08 am (UTC)I love Logan so much, and I love the relationship that Logan and Kitty have in the comics, so I'm glad you liked him here!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-04 09:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-06 10:11 am (UTC)Bobby/Kitty is so random - so clearly artiface, too, an attempt to add depth to Rogue's storyline. If only they'd written Rogue better, they wouldn't have needed such a plot device!
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-05 04:42 pm (UTC)That is all. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-06 10:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-12 02:59 am (UTC)What a lovely breathtaking look at the return of powers from another perspective. One of my favorite things about you as a writer is your ability to look at things sideways. Fantastic.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-13 10:24 am (UTC)