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stormxpadme · 2 years

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Whumptober 2022 No. 4 - Waking Up Disoriented & Can’t Pass Out

08/2000

Something was … off.

She was on her side, for starters. She didn't sleep on her side. It had been a while since she'd last woken up so dazed from a nightmare that she'd accidentally phased downstairs right through her bed but it did still happen occasionally. And then not landing badly was so much easier on your back. But here she was, all curled up, with far too much flesh and curves in the way to be comfortable, and her bed smelled not like her favorite washing powder but rather a little like copper and frozen earth, and it was weirdly solid … Oh fuck. "You're not my pillow."

"No. Sorry." Piotr's deep, hoarse laugh rumbled in the massive chest Kitty was bedded against so shamelessly there. "But I've been told I make for a good one."

"Can confirm." Which still didn't explain how the fuck she had ended up lying in some bed, in some room with the boy she most definitely did not have a crush on … Which room was that anyway? When Kitty tried to open her eyes, all she could she was grey shades flickering in the weak night lighting falling in through some window. She thought that could probably be her cabinet over there but the dorms all had the same layout so it was really hard to tell. Especially with a body twice the size of hers blocking her view and her head throbbing as if she'd spent last evening doing shots instead of extra homework. Which she should still be doing, fuck. What was going on here? "Any particular reason we're in my bed?" She decided to just hope it actually was hers though she still couldn't find anything but a wild blur regarding the last few hours on her mind. Because if she'd somehow had ended up drinking, with Pyro probably, and had somehow found her way to Piotr's room instead of hers, then she'd just phase the fuck out of existence right there and then from embarrassment.

"You passed out," Piotr said, quickly becoming serious, but that couldn't be right, that was absolutely absurd and even more shameful if it actually was true because if there was one person she hated to be weak in front of, it was the boy who never seemed to be even for one damn second.

"I most certainly did not."

"Then I'd hate to see the other guy."

"Huh?" That answer certainly didn't help a lot with her confusion. Only when Piotr brushed her hair back from her face a little, a fleeting, feather-light touch grazing her cheek, it dawned on Kitty that maybe she couldn't right see out of her left eye because it was almost swollen shut. And that she probably only couldn't feel more than a weak sting and throb in her cheekbone and nose because that was painkillers, not vodka in her stomach making it hard not to throw up all over Piotr's white sleeping shirt. Like that was going to happen. Enough shame for one night. "I absolutely did not pass out," she repeated stubbornly, trying to sit up because as nice as that hug and that warmth and that smell in her nose and everything was, she had work to do. She couldn't just lay around here even if it was in the most comfortable, strongest arms in the world … The dizziness growing stronger immediately stopped that plan before it could unfold. Fuck, concussion, too. "I just … I just napped. I need to get back to my computer …"

"Doctor Grey kept it for the night. She said to tell you, you can have it back after catching up with the two nights of sleep you're missing." Piotr did his best not to laugh at Kitty's offended hiss, but there was also a faint underlying tone of worry in his voice she didn't miss.

Somehow, she liked that. "Tell me they didn't carry me to the sick bay like one of those drama chicks in the movie." That mortifying thought alone was a good excuse to bury her head a little tighter against that strong chest but fuck, that hurt, and she had to startle back with a wince.

"Careful. You need more pills? Doctor Grey left a whole blister of the good stuff." Piotr nodded vaguely to the nightstand – her nightstand, definitely, Kitty realized with relief – and a huge carafe of water there. "And no," he added, in that slightly too quiet, disapproving tone again when Kitty just shook her head because she was feeling off enough as it was. "She came here with the mobile x-ray. Bobby found you out cold when he came to compare notes but it didn't seem that bad. So, after all that happened lately, Doctor Grey didn't want to scare the juniors by carrying you downstairs. She says there's nothing broken, just a few bruises. You don't have to worry about like, your nose looking weird or anything. I mean, you'd still be absolutely stunning even with a broken nose. Which doesn't mean you should … Ugh, this is why I don't do talking." Piotr covered his face with his large hand which even without the lights on Kitty was pretty sure was glowing in a very interesting color right now.

"I don't know, I think you're not half-bad," she smiled, her own cheeks suddenly feeling far too hot but then quickly changed the subject because … Because things were the way they were, and Piotr didn't deserve the hot mess that was her life for a year or so now, and getting hopes up that would inevitably be crushed so much faster than even this body in his metal form could have done would have hurt so much more. "If you get me your computer here, I'll let you copy biology homework for two weeks when the new semester starts."

"Seriously, Pryde?" Piotr sat up so she slipped down to the mattress and could finally turn on her back, a relief that didn't make up for the loss of nearness though. "Don't you think Ice Cube and you are taking this whole hacker thing a little far? You don't sleep, you're late for workout every day, you guys are always in each other's rooms at night …"

With an annoyed remark about how Piotr did a really shitty Cyclops imitation already on her lips, Kitty shut them again just as quickly, her cheeks feeling only even warmer now when she realized what that untypical gruffness of her best friend might mean, and especially that he knew so well what she was doing at nighttime … "Hey, metalhead? Bobby's really not my type. I hate frostbite. Besides, he's with Marie, you know. We're working. We are so close, don't you get it? If we can get back in the Brotherhood's network, we'll all be a lot safer here. Besides, our score on the X-Men boot camp will skyrocket. At some point, they'll run out of excuses not to invite us on the team."

"Hm." That was all Piotr had to say to that last admittedly quite optimistic hope but Kitty hadn't expected anything else. Piotr was still struggling with a decision most of their group had long made, and maybe – just maybe –, she wasn't actually all that unhappy about it. Being on the bench most of the time was safer.

"Also, Professor Summers will be in a far better mood if he gets his girlfriend back soon. So what do you say, want to get me that PC tower? Just an hour, I promise. I need to check that last code again, and we have at least three potentially insecure ports again that Bobby and I need to check. Besides, U.G.E.R. has sent a demo for another Trojan creator that we wanted to try …"

"If I go, will you stop talking?" Piotr pushed himself to his feet with a heavy sigh, the wooden bed frame creaking from the shift of his massive weight. "Doctor Grey will kill me."

"Nope, she loves you. You never give her work." Kitty just grinned and sat up herself, finally feeling slightly clearer in her head. She wanted to put on something more presentable at least before Piotr came back, not this hideous Sailor Moon shirt … That she definitely … had not been wearing earlier. She was obviously not even halfway orientated yet. Only now, Kitty realized, on the nightstand, there wasn't only a blister and water waiting but also a neatly folded black piece of clothing that she'd done everything to hide from everyone in this house who didn't already know. So that was why she had been feeling icky and heavy and too fucking soft ever since waking up … And chances were pretty good, the last person she'd wanted to know about these alien and burdening kinds of thoughts and wishes she was struggling with, had also seen. Maybe she had made a noise she couldn’t remember or maybe Piotr just knew, because somehow, he always knew, because the light was suddenly on before Kitty could think of wiping the tears of shock and fear from her eyes, and Piotr was sitting next to her again, pulling her close so quickly and firmly that she bumped her nose against his shoulder again, and fuck, that hurt too. But at least it made that sudden lump in her throat go away for more than one reason. But she had to ask because if she didn't, she would be wondering every day from now on if it was maybe just a matter of time until that guy wouldn't seek her out for breakfast anymore or come to copy homework he was perfectly well suited to do on his own or complain about some heavy lifting duties he'd never let anyone else do anyway or for thousand other excuses just to be in her room. She didn't want that to end but if it would, then ripping off the band-aid always hurt less. "Uh … You didn't like, change my clothes, right?"

"No, that would also have been your doctor. She didn't want you to sleep in this." To Kitty's growing terror, Piotr nodded at her binder, both face and voice so casual, so blank that it was impossible to make out if he had an idea what that thing even was. And what for. "She said it's bad for the tissue or something? Not sure, I was too busy not to stare."

"Great. Right. Thanks." Kitty was still trying to sort out in her head what she'd just heard for an elaborate answer, and also a little too pissed with someone not in the room to snap at.

Now Doctor Grey came barging in that whole thing and tried to be smartass after it had taken both an X-Men team member who hadn't even been here half a year and one who had moved out here years ago to find out what had been weighing down on Kitty for so long now. She knew she was being unfair, that the X-Men had a lot to deal with since Liberty Island, and with Magneto's new mutation machine and all …

But that didn’t change the fact that she was feeling very alone with an issue she just couldn't tell the others of her age about, not yet, not while she was still trying to figure it out herself.

She was still crying, but she only realized it when a thick, gentle finger wiped the moisture off her cheeks, again so gently that it never even hurt for a second. "Hey, Freckles, stop that, please. You know I'm not good with this shit. It's alright, I promise, you'll be alright. Just a few bruises, and I really didn't look, okay? And you didn't like, hurt yourself with that thing, Doctor Grey said. Everything still where it should be and all."

Kitty took a deep breath and stopped that agitated hand before it could continue gesturing through the air like a drunk butterfly. Kindness … but courage when needed. Just what she liked – or maybe like wasn't a strong enough word – most about this boy, maybe she could do that too if she really tried. "What if I don't want it to be there? Like … like, this." She nodded down on her chest awkwardly, that was as close as she dared to get to the subject at least for the moment, her eyes wide, pleading, hoping that Piotr would understand and not leave immediately, telling her that she was a far worse freak than anyone else in this damn school …

He didn't leave. He leaned forward for a shy, quick kiss to the corner of her mouth, and those damn hummingbirds in Kitty's stomach started to fly all over again instantly. Yeah, that made it official, she'd never have the balls of that guy. "Then you'd still be you, Freckles. And I happen to like that You a lot. Okay? So no more kissing your desk in the middle of the night." After that, he got up pretty quickly to get that PC from next door because they both could use a second to not look like a pair of tomatoes anymore.

Kitty lay back down with the biggest smile possible on her face and counted the seconds until he came back.

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