"You’re certainly up to something."
Who: Kitty, Xi'an, Illyana, Clarice, and the twins What: A very special dinner When: Friday night Where: A restaurant Status: Complete Rating: PG
Boxes had been placed in the trunk of the car, kids made to clean up and dress nice, and Kitty had chosen to wear slacks and a button up shirt and jacket. It was a new look for her and she kind of liked it. She knocked on the door to Clarice and Illyana’s room, "Hey, it’s time to go!"
"Just a minute!" Clarice was fumbling with the zipper on her dress, having finally gotten satisfied with the coverup she was using for her exposed skin.
Kitty shook her head and tried to walk calmly back to the living room. Chill. Zen. Chill.
There was a pink flash of light, and Illyana popped out of a portal, already ready to go. Where she'd just been was a mystery, but she looked well put together and there wasn't a scratch on her. She walked up to Clarice and swatted her hands away, "Here. Let me do this."
Clarice flailed, letting her hands drop, "I've got it, Illyana." She let her lover fuss anyway, enjoying the attention. She'd been worried about Illyana lately, but had been trying to not let the worry dampen her good news and vibes about her next major play.
If Illyana was worried about anything at all, it didn't show. This was Kitty and Xi'an's day, and her only focus was on them.
She zipped Clarice's dress up and then smiled at her, "You are beautiful no matter what color you are. I could eat you up right now but that would mess up your makeup job and I think Katya would complain about how late we are."
"It might give her an excuse to make herself late," Clarice replied, kissing Illyana's cheek lightly enough to not smudge lipstick or make up. "She's probably driving herself batty with this. She needs to relax, it'll be fine."
Except it wouldn't be fine. Something could go wrong. Xi'an could say no. God, what if she said no? Kitty stopped mid pacing.
That was a risk everyone took! But Illyana didn't think Xi'an would say no. It wasn't even a thought in her mind. She smiled at Clarice and then started heading out of the bedroom, "Well. Are we going to eat fancy food or not? I have starved myself all day for this."
Kitty glanced at Illyana, eyes wide with cold feet and panic. Clarice came over and put a hand on her shoulder, "Relax."
"Easy for you to say!"
"Everything is going to be fine. Stop thinking. It gets you into trouble when you think." Illyana patted Kitty's other shoulder.
Kitty nodded, exhaling slowly. They were right. They were right. But she still was nervous and a little scared out of her mind. What was she thinking? Rocking the boat?
But Xi'an deserved this. The twins did. She herself deserved this, "Okay. Just waiting on Xi'an and the kids and we can get going."
Xi’an finished dressing and helped Leong with his tie. He’d insisted on having a bow-tie--a real one, not a clip on. Xi’an had managed to find a kid-sized one. Then she’d had to Google and print off instructions for tying it. It was not as easy as the diagram made it look. Certainly not when you were trying to make sure you got somewhere on time.
"Next time, start trying to get this tied earlier," Xi’an said.
"Okay," Leong replied. Next time, he was thinking, he just wouldn’t bother. But he couldn’t tell her that now because she’d just managed to get it tied correctly.
Nga sighed. "Are you done yet?"
Xi’an gave Leong’s shoulder a squeeze and herded both twins towards where Kitty and the other waited. "All done."
Kitty grinned at Leong, "Don't you look like a little gentleman, and not the devil you are? Girls are going to be all over you. Probably guys to." And Nga looked adorable, "Xi'an, we're going to need lots of sticks."
Without further ado Kitty herded everyone out to the car, reservations were at seven and she was going to need some aggressive driving to get them there on time.
Clarice just exchanged a grin with Illyana.
Xi’an rolled her eyes. Leong grinned and Nga smacked his arm. Xi’an gave Kitty a peck on the cheek. "I’m sure we’ll manage."
And then they were packed away into the car. Yay driving!
"I will get a very large stick and sit outside the door, beating everyone away with it. They will question my sanity, and I will tell them it is just for fun." Illyana commented, from the back seat of the car.
Kitty laughed, "Best way to help, right?" She took a short-cut, following the GPS and cutting through surface streets instead of the too busy main roads. She figured they'd save five or six minutes. Not that she was in a hurry or anything, really!
Xi’an laughed. She liked the little family she and Kitty had collected. IIt gave the twins a chance at having what amounted to aunts, and Kitty’s dad would make a good grandfather-figure, she was sure. That would give Leong and Nga a positive male figure in their lives.
"They’ll certainly think twice before doing anything," she said.
"Good. They should think twice. They should think four times, because that is how many people will beat them up if they are hurting any of the childrens." Illyana grinned at Leong and Nga, like she knew they didn't like this idea, and did not care whatsoever how they felt about it.
Kitty was happy about it too. She'd always wanted a larger family, and the extended unit that had fallen in together was almost perfect. Almost. She wouldn't want it to be entirely perfect.
Right on time she pulled into the restaurant. It was pretty fancy, and they were all dressed for it. She glanced at Illyana, who would be responsible for getting the gifts in, then took Xi'an's hand with one hand, and Nga's with her other, "Lets eat!"
Illyana pulled her phone out of her purse, "I will be right in. I have just remembered a phone call I need to make for the store."
It was a ruse, of course, but she got out of the car and dialed up a phone number anyway, ducking away from all of them to have some privacy while she spoke to whoever was on the line.
Which was probably Kitty's voice mail.
They were led to a table on one side of the restaurant, and Kitty made sure that Xi'an was seated in a place of honor. She wondered if her lover had any idea what was in store for them. She also made sure Illyana and Clarice would be able to play footsie under the table.
"So..I think thanks to Stark's experiments, we can force the price down on that house."
Xi’an beamed at Kitty. "Really? That’s great! As long as Stark doesn’t go breaking the sound barrier over the neighborhood a lot." She laughed and gave Kitty’s hand a squeeze. "I am so glad you found a great place. And it looks like you’ve picked an amazing restaurant as well."
"Pfft, you're just happy to have a sugar-mama," Kitty teased, even though she was grinning like a loon. Clarice rolled her eyes at the twins, mouthing, 'they're so sweeeet.'
Xi'an was about to learn that Kitty was great at picking out jewelry, too! Illyana had ended her fake phonecall not too long after they'd disappeared into the restaurant. She took a few seconds to make sure that each special wooden box had enclosed its piece of jewelry, and then placed the red cloths over each one like she'd read about.
Shortly after that, she carried them into the restaurant, arranged on a little tray. It looked better than trying to juggle them in her hands or something, and Illyana thought it lent something to the presentation value.
She walked up to the table they were sitting at with a huge grin on her face, and set the tray down in front of Xi'an, then winked at Kitty and took her seat.
Kitty fidgeted nervously in her seat, both wanting to look at Xi'an's face and also wanting to sink through the floor. She licked her lips, "I have..something very special for you, hon."
Xi’an looked at the tray curiously. She looked at Kitty and raised an eyebrow. "You’re certainly up to something." She smiled. "I can hardly wait to find out what."
The twins nodded at Clarice’s comment, then stared inquisitively at the boxes. This was certainly different.
Kitty glanced at Illyana, "We..well mostly Illyana.. did some research. And we put together a Vietnamese tradition, with our own touches."
She reached for the first box (it had the pendant), and handed it to Leong.
To Nga she gave the box with the chain for the pendant, "Put them together, and put it on her. We're going to make her beautiful tonight."
"Not that she is not already quite beautiful," Illyana intoned, with a soft smile that was more genuine than her usual ones. This was a good night, and aside from her brothers, everyone she loved in the world currently was sitting right here.
She gestured to the boxes, "There is an even number of them, which is customarily good luck. We had to do some searching to find the traditional boxes and cloths to put over them."
She wasn't sure how much more she was supposed to say, and glanced at Kitty, "We have been working at putting this little feast together for several weeks."
Leong and Nga gleefully set about putting the necklace together before clasping it around Xi’an’s neck and high-fiving each other.
Xi’an lifted the pendant to look at it, smiling as her eyes began to fill with happy tears. "You’re all too sweet," she said. There was much she didn’t know about customs, but she was touched that her friends had tried to bring them to life.
Kitty gave Clarice a box. Clarice opened it, walking over to Xi'an and sliding the hair comb into her hair. She opened another box. Inside where a pair of Jade earrings that matched the pendant. She took out the earrings that Xi'an were currently wearing to put them in. There were still four more boxes. She let Illyana give Xi'an the gold earrings. Nga got the anklet, and Leong a pair of bracelets. That left one box.
"Well, some of us are sweet," Illyana corrected, with a playful smirk. She opened her own box, and held up the gold earrings that lay within it, "These are to go with other gifts not yet unwrapped. I will not put them in your ears, since you are already wearing the jade ones."
She instead set the box beside Xi'an on the table, "It is customary in this specific tradition that your family members dress you in the jewelry presented. We are all very happy to do this for you."
Nga and Leong put the jewelry they were given on their sister and hugged her. They gave each other a look that basically said they had a pretty good idea that one of those boxes had a ring in it. Kitty was awesome.
Xi’an hugged the twins back and smiled at Clarice and Illyana. "I’m happy to call you family," she said. "It really does feel like you are."
"I'm happy to be welcome. I don't think I'd be dealing with these dreams anywhere as well if I was alone," Clarice admitted, putting a hand on Illyana's arm.
"Me too." Kitty smiled fondly, then picked up the last box. Inside were a pair of rings. Each ring was a set - an engagement ring that fit into a wedding band. One pair was gold, the other was white gold. Kitty pulled the yellow gold one out.
"I like to say that with all that the world throws at us you need to take your chances when you get those chances. I've also learned that it's a good idea to really understand what those chances actually mean." She held the ring up for Xi'an to see, "This is a chance I want to take. To build a family and have that happiness, and give that happiness. I want to marry you, if you'll have me."
Xi’an’s hand flew to her mouth as the rings were revealed. The tears started falling as Kitty spoke, and when Xi’an moved her hand, she was smiling. "Yes. Yes, I will definitely have you."
Leong and Nga applauded. They’d been right!
Swallowing her nerves and ignoring the watering in her own eyes, Kitty glomped Xi'an and hugged her tightly, then remembered the ring. She separated the wedding band from the engagement ring and slid the latter onto Xi'an's finger, "I got the..other one for myself. I figured we should match. I love you!"
Watching the entire display had made Illyana almost misty-eyed, herself. Mostly out of happiness for her best friend and Xi'an, really, though a small part of her really just wondered if she'd ever be in a similar place, herself.
Proposals tended to do that to people who weren't directly involved. This entire process had given her a lot to think about. She clapped her hands for the both of them, "Now we will feast, because that is the other part of the engagement tradition. And I am buying champagne for you to drink. Because I am happy for you both, and the best way to show that happiness is to get your engaged friends inebriated."
Xi’an chuckled and nuzzled Kitty, then took the other engagement ring and slipped it on Kitty’s finger. She felt giddy and a little dizzy, and extremely happy. She hugged Kitty again and grinned at Illyana. "Champagne sounds amazing right now!"
Clarice made a mental note to slip the kids a teensy tiny bit of champagne when no one was looking. Because she was the cool "auntie" like that.
Kitty hugged onto Xi'an again, inhaling the scent of her hair, but careful not to poke out her eye on the haircomb. Then she sat back down, her face red from all the attention they were getting from other patrons, "Okay.. Uhm. Order whatever you guys want!"