2840/The 6th Perfect Kiss

The 6th Perfect Kiss
Date of Scene:	14 October 2017
Location:	Xavier's School, Backyard
Synopsis:	Just a random morning meeting that turned into a memory of a lifetime.
Cast of Characters:	Colossus, Shadowcat

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Colossus has posed:
It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The sun was shining. Most of the students were either still in bed. It's long since the day when Saturday morning cartoons ruled the airwaves, and even so, most of the students at Xavier's were beyond such things. The pool was giving off a marble like texture as the replenishment system worked, clearing out anything that might have happened during the night. Perfect weather for a dip, or to relax on one of the loungers.

But there was only one person there, and he was not dressed for swimming laps. No, Piotr Rasputin stood, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow as he admired the extensive and rather impressive barbecue. Though why he was admiring it wasn't immediately clear. It looked the same as it always did. There were some tools around, a folded up bag of grout. A few extra bricks. The usual tools you'd expect when doing some construction, and yet, the barbecue looked identical to the way it always did. It even had that little chip from when Rogue threw something and had missed her intended target. There were signs of use. Scratches. Scrapes. Everything looked just as it had, always.

So what the devil was he up to? His black shirt, tight across his chest, had a three areas where some kind of white or greyish powder had touched it. His blue jeans were snug, tightened with a brown belt. He wore work boots, and although his shirt was short sleeved, he currently had one brown glove over his left hand. The right one was sitting on a tool box, next to safety goggles.

Shadowcat has posed:
The cooler morning weather brings other people outside as well -- Kitty for one. She runs a lot now, using the morning run to clear her head and do whatever it is that she does in that always-busy mind of hers. As she jogs up the path toward the pool and spots Piotr standing there, she alters her course and slows to a walk near him. Her ponytail swings jauntily behind her, and her long legs are not bare but her running gear does outline her lithe form and leaves little to the imagination. She's not the slender child he remembers, she's put on just that extra little bit of maturity in the form of curves. She'll never be as curvy as some of their teammates, but she's got nothing to be ashamed of either. "Morning," she offers with a grin at him as she approaches.

With her eyes drawn to the barbecue, she gets a puzzled look. But ... well, this is Piotr. He usually sees things that need repairing long before anyone else notices. She glances back up at his massive form and asks, "Do I *want* to know why you're rebuilding the barbecue?"

Colossus has posed:
At the sounds of running shoes hitting the pavement of the jogging path, Piotr turned his body. It was almost amusing at how much bigger his shadow became when he changed his posture from being perpendicular to the sun's light, to parallel with it. He regarded her with those clear blue eyes. Even in shade and darkness, his sapphire pools shone brightly, and his lips did the same as she approached, "Good morning, Katya. You look well today." He liked her as she was, both natural, and comfortable, with, as far as he understood it, nary a care in the world. Of course, for all he knew, she might have applied makeup for her run. Men were just different, especially Russian men.

As she took note of his efforts, he looked crestfallen when she immediately noticed that he was rebuilding it. He had gone to such lengths to try and make it appear as if nothing had happened. Sighing a bit, his chest heaved, but the smile returned shortly thereafter. He smiled often when he was in her company. "One of the students had an accident. I did not wish to stunt their emotional maturity, so I have tried to reconstruct it as close to the original as I can." He was an artist. He had spent time chiselling marks, scratches, those little imperfections from wear and tear, and he was good, or so he thought.

Shadowcat has posed:
Her expression eases from amused to sympathetic. "Awww. Well, you did a great job, Piotr," she tells him bracingly. "The only reason I asked was because you have all the gear here to repair or rebuild it, so I assumed something must have happened." She puts her hand on his forearm, dwarfed by him in the morning light. "No one else will notice, once the construction stuff isn't here. Promise."

When the deep brown eyes come up to meet his blue ones, from her perspective there is an electric moment where time just seems to stand still. Kitty's eyes widen just a little, a flare of ... awareness perhaps? passes across her face. And she blushes and reflexively ducks her head and goes to pull her hand from his arm.

And then she dithers about the matter, first pulling back, then not pulling back, then pulling back again. It looks rather awkward, and she finally raises her hand to her forehead, unwilling to meet his gaze again as she giggles. "I'm sorry -- I'm being silly. It's beautiful, Piotr -- I think it looks exactly right."

Colossus has posed:
"Thank you, Katya," he says after she had awed and explained that she felt she had done a great job. "I should clean them up then." He agreed, before the students woke. Thankfully, most were late risers. His eyes immediately dart to her hand on his forearm. It makes the hairs stand on edge, and with his pigmentation, being so pale with black hair, they stood out. Her reassuring promise brings another smile to his lips, and the eye contact. Oh, the eye contact.

That charge of electricity hits him as well. Blood even rushes a little to his cheeks, giving them a slightly pinkish hue. Her awkward dithering on the matter only endears her further to him. When she raises her hand to her forehead, not wishing to meet her gaze, his own hand comes to it, gently applying pressure, implying her to remove the covering hand. "Why do you think you are being silly?" Perhaps he didn't understand, perhaps he understood all too well. Piotr was incredibly open and forthcoming, and yet, he was also a hard man to read at times. It was probably the language. He was also so precise in his word choice. It has the effect of making him seem far more reserved than he already was.

Shadowcat has posed:
When his hand closes around the one she was using to rub her forehead, Kitty clasps it and allows him to tug her hand gently from her face. "Uhm... because all of a sudden I don't quite know how to act?" she ventures. The pink is evident across her cheekbones. She risks a glance back up at him and grins shyly. "We know each other, but... since we spoke in the garden, my brain hasn't stopped analyzing, reanalyzing, and overanalyzing everything when it comes to you. I didn't think we'd really act any differently, but I find that ... having you *see* me makes me a little nervous."

Colossus has posed:
He could be so wonderfully practical times, like how when the barbecue was damaged, he set about fixing it. There were funds available for such things. He got into one of the school's trucks, went into town, bought the supplies, and went about doing it. What isn't immediately clear is that this all happened last night. He has not slept. Though, he did do most of the work while in organic steel form. It had the advantage of needing fewer safety precautions, he didn't need to sleep, so he tire further, and few of the students or faculty would notice him at that time of night. For his body, it was as if it were only around 10 o'clock in the evening.

"Then act as you have always acted. No matter what comes, be yourself, be Kitty Pryde," and with a look to make sure that no one was around, "be Shadowcat," and then he added, "be the girl I have always known. I will do the same. And it will work, as it worked with our parents, our friends, or colleagues. We can have that too, if we want it. And, when you are nervous, when you have doubts, know this: I have always cared for you, and I always will."

Shadowcat has posed:
His words bring a deeper blush to her features. "Well... I *did* say I was tired of tap-dancing, didn't I?" Kitty's smile eases as she looks up at him and she squeezes his hand. "I can't be anyone but myself -- I just don't want to do anything wrong, that's all. I don't ..." She stops and then shakes her head. "I don't want you to be sorry that you admitted it, I guess? I keep thinking you'll figure out that we're too different."

Colossus has posed:
Nodding his head, he wasn't too sure about the tap-dancing. Some euphemisms escaped him. Not many, but there were still some that got past him. He was fluent, but he was not a native speaker, and there was a difference. Even if he could pronounce each and every word correctly, it was still easy to tell that he was from Eastern Europe, or in his case, the Russian part of Asia. "Then let us dance together, yes?" He squeezes her hand back, not hard, he had a lot of strength, even in his human form, but he returned the gesture. "You can do no wrong in my eyes, Katya. And differences bring strength. If we were too alike, we would be incompatible. But I believe, I think, I know that we are complimentary."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty's grin is quick. "I like this dance -- talking *to* one another instead of around what we feel. It's ... awkward. Makes me nervous. But it's fun." She blushes a deeper pink suddenly and clears her throat. "So... now that I've told you that you still make me nervous, that my brain is running in circles about relationship things, and that I've thought about kissing you since I was like 16, can I help you put all the construction equipment away?" she asks.

Colossus has posed:
It was at that point that Piotr decided to try something he had wanted to do for some time now. He leaned in, going about ninety percent of the way. He remembered watching Will Smith explain that to Kevin James in a film called Hitch. He understood that the film was no better in English than it was in the Russian translation he witnessed. But the theory seemed sound. Initiate the kiss, commit to it, but do not complete it. Allow the girl to reciprocate and decide to complete the action. Ah Piotr, he had so much to learn, but he was trying.

Shadowcat has posed:
Well, when one blurts out things to Piotr, one USUALLY expects him to *think* about them for a while! Kitty is embarassed to have said all that, and her heart was already pounding really hard against her ribcage even *before* he went ahead and acted on that badly disguised lead-in.

When he leans down, she stares up at him with her hand still captured in his. She pulls in a startled breath and tips her face up to meet his kiss, standing on her toes to meet him over that last small distance -- so it's not something he's doing, it's something they're sharing. And as their lips meet in those first gentle touches, her brain short-circuits for the first time ever. Her free hand comes up to rest on his chest, a place to balance as well as feel the strong heartbeat beneath her fingertips. If it's not her first kiss, it's the first one that's ever had that element of of coming home to it - a sense of sweetness, of relief to finally have found her way - and it's the first time she's ever quite felt desire blaze through her quite that way, too. It makes for a breathless kiss between them, at least from her dazed perspective.

Colossus has posed:
For Piotr, this is a moment that he will remember for the rest of his life. Keenly aware of his surroundings, he will remember the scent of the mortar, the dust on his shirt, which she felt, as she pressed her hand to his chest, feeling the beating of his heart. He will remember the sweat on her brow, the way her clothes were damp in certain areas from her jogging. He will remember the way the light caught her bouncing ponytail. And of course, he will remember the soft, tender touch of her lips against his. This was his first kiss. Yes, he will be a late bloomer. But he was waiting for her, hoping that she would one day be his first, his last, and his only. Instinctively, he brought his hands around her, pulling her into his embrace. This was nice. He liked it. It felt right. He felt at peace.

Shadowcat has posed:
When he tugged her closer, her arm slips up around his neck and is joined by the other arm, which his hand was holding. //Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind. (tm)//

By the time their lips part finally -- it could have been a zillion years and a nuclear war later and Kitty wouldn't have had a clue. She stares into the blue eyes of the massive Russian, her color high, her curves pressed into his strength, her parted lips damp and swollen, and her breathing coming in soft gasps. "Wow," she whispers.

Colossus has posed:
His breathing was heavy. Every beat of his heart seemed to come faster than the last one. And pressed together as they were, she could feel everything. She knew how he felt. She had the evidence right there. And when their lips finally parted, he continued to hold her near him. He looked down at her. Their height was, well, a bit comical, but if it could work for Wladimir Klitschko and Hayden Penettiere, it could work for Piotr Rasputin and Kitty Pryde. He kept one arm around her, and used the other to brush away a strand of hair that had blown in front of her eyes, "Bay," he agreed in Russian, which was pronounced similarly, almost sounding like 'vau'.

Shadowcat has posed:
Closing her eyes for another moment -- she hadn't even realized she'd closed them -- she tips her face into that gentle touch. If she thought about it, she might laugh at how they must look with him holding her up literally one-handed. And the flush on her face deepens still further to a flaming pink color as she realizes that she's pressed against him from shoulder to knee... and he's not even a little bit unhappy about it! With her arms wrapped around his neck still, she lowers her face to lay her forehead against his jaw. Because things could move very very fast from here, and she wasn't quite ready for the world to literally tilt on its axis.

Pressed as they are together, so tightly a slip of paper wouldn't fit, she struggles to catch her breath and stop the subtle tremors that are running through her. Shock and awe... definitely something that just happened. But she seems content in that moment of silence to remain exactly where she is, not withdraw and simply run away.

Finally, though, she whispers, "You should probably set me down, Petya." The diminutive never showed up when they were younger, but it's come out of her mouth several times this week. She doesn't exactly sound like it's what she wants, but well -- one cannot dangle about forever, right?

Colossus has posed:
And he does as he is asked. A part of him is sad when they step back from each other. He only took one step, giving her some space, but he didn't entirely step out of what is usually considered a comfort zone. More, he stepped towards the edge of it, showing that while he was giving her space, he did not want to be too far from her. He was giving her the choice. To take another step back, to stay where she was, or step forward. He was worried about her though. That feeling, of kissing her, his first one, and of being pressed against her, yes, truly, today is a day that he will look back upon often. Hopefully fondly, but for that, only the future could tell. "That was wonderful" is all he says, suddenly realising that he hadn't spoken in some time. Not with his words anyway. He had done nothing but speak with his body language.

Shadowcat has posed:
As she regains her feet, there is a moment where she clings to him, unwilling to separate. And then with a soft sigh, Kitty lets her hands slip from around his neck. But she doesn't remove herself from his personal space despite that he gives her room to. She merely draws in a deeper breath to rein in and contain the myriad emotional responses so she can perhaps sort them later into something of a coherence? Probably not -- these moments in her memory will likely always live in brilliant color and confusion, vivid even when she's 90.

She starts to speak and then has to clear her throat to get her voice actually working. "Quite." The word seems to be all she can manage for a second. And then Kitty's dazed expression finally starts to clear. Her rin turns a little impish and she murmurs teasingly, "I guess we've confirmed that the chemistry is good?"

Colossus has posed:
And Odin, Zeus, or any other god willing, Piotr will be right there beside her, when she's 90, talking into her Wayne brand hearing aide about how she will be as beautiful to him then, as she is to him now. Smiling at her teasing, he tries to return the favour. He doesn't think he's very good at it, but she will have to be the judge of that. "You were always better at chemistry. I always found physics and mechanics to be the easier subjects." Moving parts, repairing things, finding out how they worked, while he had never been the kind of child to be interested in Lego, he knew quite a bit about tractors, how to get their motors running and wheels moving. He was a farm boy, through and through.

Shadowcat has posed:
He might not be a technical geeky genius, but Piotr has his own brand of genius -- usually to be found in the beauty of his art and, when he chooses, his words. Kitty's blush doesn't fade and the short huff of laughter shows that she appreciates the double entendre there. "I should go inside," she tells him easily. "Will you join me after we both catch showers? We could have a late breakfast," she offers.

Colossus has posed:
Piotr nodded his head in the affirmative, and the shadow he cast moved with him. "Da, I would like that." And then, a brief glimpse to the construction materials he needed to move. It wasn't a weight issue, so much as a trip issue. He could carry it all in one go if he could put it in something big enough, but the largest thing they had was a wheel barrel. "I will join you as soon as I can."