with piotr, upon his return

[prydeful]

There's a lot to talk about.

One thing in particular. Dancing and a kiss and waking and wondering.

But there's a lot to talk about, and Piotr's face is serious enough she hasn't kissed him yet, just silently tilted her head towards the door and moved with him back to Serenity and her bunk, silent and in the mood for business before anything else.

Because that's what has to be done now.

(She's still holding his hand.)

The door closes behind them, and Kate sits on the bunk.

"So what's happened?"

Comments

[steelartisan]

He was serious -- was, and is -- but glad to be back, too.

Glad to see her.

It's only been three days for him, and their moods feed off each other; the more businesslike one gets, the more the other responds in kind.

(But his fingers are tangled with hers, and his thumb strokes her knuckles once lightly as he sits down on the end of the bunk.)

"I talked to Beast. He has nothing new."

"And Captain America is dead. Assassinated."

[prydeful]

"What."

[steelartisan]

Yeah.

Pretty much.

"He was shot. Yesterday. He was going to his trial -- it was on the news, live, of course. Everything was supposed to be up front." There may be a bit of dry cynicism in that.

There's a certain amount of reason for it, after all.

"And then..." he shrugs slightly.

"A sniper. No one seems to know who yet."

[prydeful]

Kate stares.

And then she sighs and buries her face in her hands.

"Right." That's slightly dull. "Well. Did anyone burn the Constitution while they were at it? Maybe attack the Washington Monument?"

[steelartisan]

Dry: "Not yet."

His mouth twists a little.

Too many dead. Too many blows; too much injustice and cruelty, and too little hope.

He slips an arm around her shoulders, or tries. He's not really surprised when his touch meets nothing tangible.

[prydeful]

Normally, she'd notice he tried to do that.

Not this time, as she rubs at her own temples.

"Shiny happy fun time ahead, then. Great. Why do we keep going back there, again?"

[steelartisan]

Piotr breathes out in a slow, tired sigh.

"For everyone else."

He could say, I don't know. Because we enjoy pain.

But it would be a lie. Because he does know.

And it's still enough. The old dream, Xavier's old vision, is still enough; their friends are too, and all the bystanders who would be dead or imprisoned or tortured without them.

Barely enough, some days, but still enough to keep them fighting.

[prydeful]

"It should be us sometime, though," she says lowly, and then sighs and flops back onto the air, looking up at the ceiling.

"We're not good at the us-thing. You noticed that?"

[steelartisan]

"Da."

Piotr was raised to value the state and the community over the individual. You work without complaint, and your lot will improve because everyone's does.

This shows, sometimes. Often.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't notice.

Softly, "There are still good things, Katya. Our friends."

Of the many things he hates about Dr. Rao's mutant cure, one is that it made hope a dirty word.

[prydeful]

"Da, da. I know."

She knows lots of things. Among them that getting into a talk over this won't go anywhere helpful, because there have for years been talks over this.

"I want--I don't know. Sometimes I look at the worlds other people come from and it seems kinda extremely unfair we've got ours."

[steelartisan]

Softly, "Yes. I know."

[prydeful]

She doesn't say anything.

But she does lean against his side after a moment, slowly, head moving to rest on his shoulder.

And for a while it's just that before she says, "I missed you."

[steelartisan]

Just as slowly, his arm goes around her; just as slowly, his head bends over hers.

"How long was it?"

[prydeful]

"Almost a month," Kate whispers after a moment and closes her eyes with a soft sigh.

[steelartisan]

"Three days," he whispers. "Less."

I'm sorry, he doesn't say. Because the time difference isn't his doing.

"I missed you too."

[prydeful]

"Good to know."

It's wry, but the movement she makes to press her face against his neck is just gentle.

"Had a lot more room in bed, at least, without you."

And it was colder.

[steelartisan]

Piotr grins against her hair for a moment.

"I am glad there are some advantages."

But both arms are around her, now.

[prydeful]

"Trade off. I didn't have to deal with you stealing the blankets, but it was colder over-all."

After a moment she turns her head to kiss his jaw.

"It sucked."

[steelartisan]

"I am here now," he points out in a murmur, smiling again at the soft kiss.

"If you are cold."

[prydeful]

"That's the set up for so many bad jokes I could make," she laughs, and shifts towards his lap after a minute.

Another minute and she's straddling him, arms draped around his neck.

"But I don't really care."

[steelartisan]

Piotr just grins, pulling her closer, and leans in to kiss her.

It's been a long three days. For a lot of reasons.

Kate's always been a good kisser, and her mouth on his tastes as if she's just been drinking milk with cinnamon, sweet and strangely comforting. And he knows--

something infinitesimal and undetectable changes, and he has no way to know but he knows--

Piotr breaks the kiss with a gasp, staring at Kate as she's staring at him. "Katya, what--?"

[prydeful]

Kate doesn't answer.

Just reaches out to take his head in her hands and pull him closer, kisses him harder and deeper than before, and doesn't close her eyes.

Thank you, is half of it, and terror is the other, but she's still kissing him as deeply as she can.

[steelartisan]

He has more questions, even though he knows the answers to some of them -- knows what Dream has done, even though he doesn't know how or why. There are rules for the Endless, whatever they are, and he thought they couldn't do anything like this.

But his mouth is occupied just now.

And whatever the whys and hows -- whatever else they have to discuss, and whatever this means for the rest of their species -- they've just been given back a future Wanda took from them.

With a low, wanting sound in his throat, he slips a hand into Kate's hair and kisses her just as deeply and hungrily as she's kissing him.

[prydeful]

She's confused inside.

Because they were going to try, and then they couldn't, and then she had a month alone to accept that, to be okay with that, to start to think maybe that was best--

And now they can try again. Maybe. They can.

Now she's not sure at all what is best, but she doesn't have to decide that now, they don't have to.

Now she can just groan into Piotr's mouth and phase hands through his shirt, let her palms brush the skin of his back, and think on how much she missed him.

And how much they have. Might have.

[steelartisan]

Can have, now.

There's a lot this affects. Some of it he hasn't even begun to think about yet.

But that will wait.

Just now this room holds himself, and Kate, and a hope and possibility they thought was lost.