Who: Kitty Pryde and Gaz Membrane. What: Reunited BFFs. When: Right after Gaz gets back, Sunday morning, 4/12. Where: Alyssa's place where Gaz is staying. Warnings: PG-13. Status: Complete!
Gaz hadn’t told anyone in Orange County that she was coming back, she just did it. That was how most of her life worked; she decided she wanted to do a thing, then did the thing, without support or approval from anyone. She didn’t need anyone else; she had herself, that was all she needed.
But friends were pretty awesome. So she made her way on her bike over to Kate’s house, smiling as she guided the bike to a stop. Propping up the kickstand, she walked over to the door and rang the bell. She kind of hoped Kate wouldn’t pass out or scream too loud. She looked like a screamer.
Kitty actually was a screamer, but in the good way. Luckily for Gaz, Kitty had left behind the forwarding address, and then the forwarding address from the forwarding address (she just couldn't stand to live there right now). Even more luckily for Gaz, Kitty was home, even if Alyssa was out. She was set up in the living room with a laptop, Dragon Age on the TV and tumblr on her computer. She was in her Sunday get up (jeans, tight tank top) and she got up to answer the door.
She opened the door, and then stared. "Gaz? You little shit!" She jumped forward and hugged the woman. "What are you doing in town?"
“Moving back,” Gaz grinned, hugging Kitty tight. Oh, good, there hadn’t been any screaming. “So, uh. This is a new. Place.”
“I’m staying with a friend. I got … it’s complicated.” She tugged Gaz inside. “Lets just say it involves time travel and Orange County sucking, and I needed a place to stay that wouldn’t remind me of things.”
Like she was pretty sure that some people had disappeared from continuity but she hadn’t been able to confirm that yet. She took a step back to look Gaz over.
“Yeah. I know how that goes.” Gaz sighed, nodding at the house. “Think I can come in?” She held up her left hand to let Kitty know that she was single. Way easier than talking about shit.
Kitty gave the ringfinger a look then gave Gaz an understanding smile. “Get in here.” She closed the door behind Gaz. “It’s really good to see you.” She was a little sad to see it hadn’t worked out for Gaz, but there was also the part of her that was happy. Not for selfish reasons. Just a little selfish. Living it up single girl style. Yeah!
“Eh. Shit happens.” And that was all Gaz wanted to say about things. She leaned down to take off her boots, working the laces quickly. “Got anything to drink?”
“Do you want something hard core, beer, or just water?” Kitty moved towards the kitchen. She liked to keep things stocked and had been dutiful about making sure there was always food and drinks for her and Alyssa. Technically she was the adult and shouldn’t let Alyssa drink, but honestly.
“Eh. Whatever you have.” Gaz doubted she could get drunk anymore anyway.
Kitty nodded and opted for beers. She opened a bottle and handed it to Gaz, unsure how much personal space was required. “Soo… you’re looking good. How’s the art coming? Found anyone to paint like your french girls?”
“Don’t have any French girls,” Gaz shrugged. She moved to lean against Kitty. Gaz was a bit like a cat herself: she generally liked to be left alone, but when she found someone she liked, cuddling was okay. “Last person I painted in person was you.”
“Always liked your art. It was fucked up, in a good way.” She put her arm around Gaz and squeezed. “Going to do another gallery?”
“Of course.” Gaz let her head rest on Kitty’s shoulder and smiled a little to herself. “Should let me paint you again.”
“Of course!” Kitty rested her cheek against the top of Gaz’s head. “Whatever you want, I’m not picky. I just want to hang with you again.” It felt good to talk to her. She’d forgotten what it was like to have friends. People she trusted. Even before she’d gotten lost in time her circle had shrunk pretty small.
“You smell nice,” Gaz muttered, hoping that Kitty didn’t hear. “I’m glad to be back. I fucking hate Orange County, but it’s home, you know?”
“New shampoo.” Kitty darted her eyes. “It’s pretty …. you can hate a place and it can be home. Felt that way a lot of the time in my dreams. And a lot of the time here. But we do get breaks, however short. I try to enjoy the little gaps between the shitty times. Friends..people I care about and love, having them around helps a lot. Try not to close yourself off okay?”
“Nah, it’s less the hair and more your neck,” Gaz shrugged, burrowing. “I won’t. I won’t leave again, either. Not without you. Who else is going to help evolve my Graveler into Golem?” Pokemon. It cemented friendships.
“You could always put out a Craigslist ad. Seeking Pokemon trainer to help with evolutions.” Kitty tilted her head back against the couch, giving Gaz more room to nuzzle. She loved cuddling, and she was happy she had friends who were willing to do so.
“Yeah, but what if they put shitty moves on them? I know you won’t keep all the defensive crap on there,” Gaz mumbled. She was comfortable, and didn’t hate this house. It had a big TV, and it was comfy.
Gaz's mumbling was giving Kitty goosebumps. She rolled her eyes, and laughed. "You like them to overpower the opposition. I know your style." She shifted her voice, changing to an 'evil' British voice. "I know your methods. Where you're ticklish. How you tick. All your pokemon secrets are mine."
“I’m not ticklish. But yeah, you could probably beat me if I didn’t have a million healing things.” Gaz wrinkled her nose, shaking her head. “You’d be the worst Bond villain ever. Too nice.”
Kitty turned her head and rubbed her nose against Gaz's ear. "Had a dream once, one version of me ripped out someone's heart. Well, phased it out. I could do it. I've... almost done things like that."
“Yeah, but did you go ‘ew ew ew’ afterwards? Doesn’t count if you did.” Gaz shivered at the nose rubbing, but didn’t move away. It was the nice kind of shivering.
“Nope.” She’d actually died. And then there’d been the time she’d phased her hand into Logan’s skull. And she’d nearly bled out but was pretty sure she’d lived. “I’m more hardcore than you give me credit for, Gazzy.” She grinned, her lips turning up against the side of Gaz’s head. “Or maybe I’ve just reached the point where I’m more willing to do what has to be done.”
Did it compromise her soul? Of course she’d try other methods first, but sometimes… Sometimes you had to do the things you didn’t want to do. Logan had softened near the end, while she’d been hardening. Her dream world was getting fucked up.
“That one. You do things that’re gross or awful, but you don’t have to like it. And I doubt that you do.” Gaz twined their fingers together, smiling a little at their closeness. “It’s what makes you good.” Gaz wondered sometimes if she was good, but figured she was a bit closer to Ghost Rider or Spawn. Damned, but trying to be decent.
“You’re good. You might have done some things that suck, but you did them for good reasons. Don’t worry, you’re awesome even though you’re not a badass.”
Kitty squeezed their fingers together. It sounded like Gaz was two steps shy of pulling a Logan. Woe is me I’m doomed to do bad things and be bad and get people hurt around me! “Couple of times I almost enjoyed it. I know it’s possible. I’ve seen other mes that turned out that way. No one is born bad, but sometimes all it takes is a push in the right direction, and then even the people you put on a pedestal fall. Those guys fall the hardest.”
She wrinkled her nose, thinking of Scott, then scooted a little closer to Gaz until there wasn’t any air between them. “You look at me now, what do you think you’d paint?”
“Yeah, people who think they’re saints tend to get douchey pretty goddamn quick.” Gaz’s own father came to mind, and for a moment her eyes flickered red. But a question about painting soothed her, and Gaz lifted Kitty’s knuckles to her lips as she spoke again. “You, obviously. I always paint you.”
"I mean," and Kitty's voice caught. But as long as Gaz kept her fingers out of her hair she was probably safe. "I mean what would you see now, that wasn't there last time?"
“You’re comfortable with yourself.” Gaz reached up to move some hair out of Kitty’s face. “You seem happy. Well, happier.”
“I am. And I’m not. I think I’ve more… accepted things. Rachel isn’t dead, I know that much. Maybe I’ll never see each other again, that’s kind of how it’s always worked for us in the dreams. Coming and going, drifting apart again, usually because circumstances got in the way.” Kitty sighed, long and low. “I know she’s okay out there and I’ve had time to grieve and come to terms with it. Besides, I know exactly what she’d think. I have my friends, I have Logan. And while part of me would like some dream friends to show up, another part of me is happy they don’t have to deal with this bullshit.”
She glanced at Gaz, worrying at her lower lip with her teeth. “But I’m definitely more comfortable with myself. I’ve always had low confidence in certain areas and I’ve… come a long way with that.”
“I’ll try to stay close. So you don’t have to be sad about that too.” Gaz leaned forward and kissed Kitty’s forehead. “Fewer things to worry about. And Lockheed missed me, admit it.” Purple and purple, they matched.
Kitty closed her eyes, reminding herself that Gaz was straight and this was just Gal Pal type affection. But she was kind of starving for it, too. “Yeah, he missed you. He missed a lot of people, the little perv.”
Letting her head rest on Kitty’s shoulder, Gaz smiled. Granted, a Gaz Smile was mostly just a tiny crook at the corner of her mouth, but it was still there. “I’m just glad you missed me.”
“Of course I did. You’re my friend, and I’ve always worried a little about you.” But then Kitty did tend to make friends with people who were ‘monsters.’ Logan, Gaz, Illyana. She could see the human they actually were.
Leaning forward, Gaz gave Kitty a soft kiss, hugging her a little. “Well. Uh, thanks. Or something.”
"You're welcome." Kitty flashed a grin at Gaz, her face coloring red. She thought she'd closed that chapter. After the fiasco when she kept singing love songs at Gaz, and then that one kiss. She suddenly didn't know what was going on.
She lifted a hand to Gaz's cheek, brushing some of her hair back. "...you okay?"
“Yeah. Just didn’t know how much I missed you until I saw you again, you know?” Gaz closed her eyes and leaned into Kitty’s hand. “You’re blushing.”
“You kissed me,” she said. Just sort of putting that out there. She was quick to add. “It was nice.”
“That’s good.” Gaz shrugged. “I mean, we’ve kissed before.”
“Yeah. We have.” Kitty didn’t know what it meant, but she didn’t want to jump to conclusions. She hugged Gaz tighter, running a hand down her back.
“So. What else have you been up to? Are you working or whatever?” Gaz didn’t know what normal people talked about, not really.
So they weren’t going to talk about the kiss. That was going to be a thing. Kitty mentally shrugged it off as Gaz just being friendly, in Gaz’s own odd little way. “I kind of head up the logistics department for a local agency. Computer stuff, and so on.”
“Nice.” Gaz didn’t talk about the kiss because she assumed that it was understood that if Gaz was kissing someone, it was because she liked them.
“Yeah. It’s a lot of power.” Kitty grinned. “I have like 80 monitors, it’s great.”
“You game with it?” Gaz raised an eyebrow. Not even MMO stuff, because that’d compromise security, but standalone stuff.
“Hooked up a few things. Nothing networked of course. I brought in a few classic consoles and modified a PS4 so it didn’t have to log into the internet. I actually take the job pretty seriously so it was more of a … party thing? Something for the staff to have a little fun with.” She thought about that. “Actually I should look into setting up a permanent rec room.”
“Are you the boss?” Gaz grinned, liking the idea of Kitty in a position of authority over other people; people didn’t give her enough credit as a leader.
“I’m the head of the department,” Kitty replied. She moved her hand, playing with strands of Gaz’s hair. “So I’m a boss, yeah. There’s only a couple of people I report directly to. Fun part is most of them are women.” Come to think of it, Peggy was the Director now, and she was a woman. Nat was also one of her superiors, and a woman, and she couldn’t think of anyone else she did any direct reporting to.
It was kind of awesome.
“Awesome.” Gaz squeezed Kitty’s hand. “I’m proud of you. Really.”
She laughed. “It gets better. I’m the boss of the x-men too. Got tired of Logan’s shit and went all coup de tat on him.”
Gaz’s eyes went wide. “You should make me one. Super suit?” She pretended to pout, wibbling out her lower lip.
“Well I did make myself a modified suit,” Kitty said. She’d based it on her Xtreme era. All black leather and sexy. She shifted, suddenly tugging Gaz into her lap. To better look her over, honest. “Something that goes with your hair. Blacks and grays maybe some purple highlights. Killer combat boots. Honestly I’m the last person you’d want designing it. I can get you the materials, but yeah.”
“You want to grope me, huh.” Gaz waggled her eyebrows, grinning. “Yeah, the boots aren’t negotiable. I can wear heels, but they’re not scary, you know?”
“Yeah, I can’t control myself around you.” Kitty kept a deadpan expression on her face. “I don’t know. Heels with razor edges or sharp points are pretty scary. Or heels with guns.” She laughed. “But combat boots suit you better. The kind with studs.”
“Well, here.” Gaz took one of Kitty’s hands and put it on her boobs, her face expressionless. “Hell, I have a pair of boots like that. And yeah, heels like that are scary, but harder to run in.” Gaz was practical.
Throat tight, Kitty squeezed twice, and in the most serious voice she could muster. “Ripe melons.”
She dropped her hands back between them. “We can work your boots into the outfit. Maybe get you some fishnets. Fishnets are hot.”
“Short skirt with shorts underneath for kicking.” Gaz was getting into it now, and she nodded. “Yeah, I like that too.”
“Yeah, that’s perfect. If you want to go skirt you want one that’s kind of loose and flowy, otherwise it’ll restrict your movement too much.” She thought about the one she’d worn in one of her alternate dreams for awhile. Ugh. Not that one. How the hell had she let Peter websling her around New York with her ass hanging out?
“Yeah, but I don’t want to give creeps a show. Then they’ll throw themselves at me, asking to get kicked in the face.” And that was just weird and gross.
“Leggings underneath the skirt. Or even just shorts like you said.” Kitty nodded, like she was speaking from experience. “Maybe we could line your boots with a heavy metal. It’s not likely we’ll have to fight Magneto or like a metal bender or something.”
“Even if we do, it’s not like getting my feet cut off would slow me down for long.” Gaz shrugged. “I’d make out with you now, but dunno. I don’t think you’re ready for that kind of thing?”
“I’m mostly just really confused. You’ve been firmly in ‘straight girl cannot has’ territory since the last time we kissed and I’m not sure how to deal with this?” Kitty looked into Gaz’s eyes. “And I don’t know if this is just a mutual loneliness thing or a friends with benefits thing and I don’t want to assume anything because that’ll just lead to one or both of us getting her. And I just got you back and I don’t want to lose that over a misunderstanding.”
“Why did you think I was straight?” Gaz blinked, cocking her head to the side. “Did I say that?”
Kitty tilted her head, chewing on her lip. “You seemed more interested in men than you did in girls. Or at least me. I guess I kind of assumed….”
Gaz laughed. “I slept with a girl while we were hanging out.” She rolled off of Kitty, unable to not laugh a little. “Oh, man, I’m so sorry.”
Kitty resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands, instead blushing scarlet and looking up at the ceiling. “I’m really dumb.”
“It’s okay. I knew you liked me, but I was all stupid over that guy, so I didn’t really. You know.” Pay attention?
Life was less complicated just a few hours ago, Kitty decided. She leaned in and rested her face against Gaz’s shoulder. “It’s pretty easy to get all tunnel vision when you like someone.”
“Yeah, and it was kind of my first time liking someone like that.” Gaz pet Kitty’s hair, scritching her nails over the girl’s scalp. Friends and physical contact, she was good at those things.
Kitty purred. Literally. Her eyes fluttered shut and she moved her head against Gaz’s hand like Gaz’s hand was suddenly the best thing in the history of ever. “That always… Mmm. Throws you for a loop.”
“Is this why people call you Kitty?” Gaz had always called the other girl Kate, so she genuinely didn’t know.
“Uhn? I dunno. Everyone always called me that. I think it started with my parents and it kind of went from there. I didn’t actually pick a cat related codename at first.” Kitty wrinkled her nose. “I was Ariel and Sprite for a little while. The past x-men and younger students started calling me Professor K in more recent dreams. Ororo always called me Kitten, Piotr and Illyana called me Katya sometimes. Kurt called me Katzchen. Kitten bothers me the most. I don't mind Katya or Katzchen. Professor K makes me feel old, and I think they called me that because of the whole Professor X thing for Xavier."
And hardly anyone called her Kate or Katherine.
Gaz shrugged. “You’re Kate to me. I hate whenever anyone calls me my full first name.” She barely told anyone what it was, anyway. She didn’t even think Kitty knew.
She appreciated that from Gaz. “I don’t think you’ve ever told me. But I’ll call you whichever you prefer. Gaz is probably easier to say. Try saying Piotr Rasputin three times fast. Actually don’t, you might summon him and no one wants that.”
“My name’s Gazlene. Get it?” She rolled her eyes. “Say it fast.” It was like her dad had wanted her to be a fireball.
“Well you’re hot enough to start an explosion.” Kitty grinned at her. It was a terrible pun and she just didn’t care.
“Har har,” Gaz grumbled. “I sure as fuck hope Dad didn’t think that, the creepy shitbag.”
“Ew.” Kitty thwapped her. “I doubt that’s what he was thinking about. Probably thought you could be a weapon or something.”
“That’s what my guess has always been.” Gaz smiled and leaned a little closer to Kitty, leaning her chin against the top of Kitty’s head. “Fucker.”
“I’m sorry your dad was an ass.” She nudged her head against Gaz’s chin, and hugged her close. “Lets forget about him and do some bonding. I did give in and get Advanced Warfare.”
“It’s not hard, let’s do it up.” Gaz grinned, moving off of Kitty and stretching a little. “Same team, make some fourteen-year-old boys cry?”
Kitty’s eyes followed the curve of Gaz’s body as she stretched. She shook herself out of it and got up to get the controllers. “Definitely.”
“Wicked.” Gaz smiled back at her best friend, profoundly grateful she was there. “Kate? Thanks.”