Xavier School- Wednesday late night

[throughaphase]

When they'd left what was left of Benetech, Kitty just wanted to get back to the mansion and crawl into bed and let everything sink in. Except on the way she'd found out that while she'd been getting Peter, the Stepford Cuckoos had reached out to Emma to tell her something was wrong there. That meant that once they got back, there were freaked-out kids to deal with, along with Wing himself, and Kitty barely had the energy to deal with it. That went for mental and emotional energy along with the physical kind. She tried anyway.

Finally, when Logan took it upon himself to get Peter settled in, he also told Kitty to go the hell to bed and things would still be broken in the morning, and that was all the encouragement she needed. She just went straight up to her (and Clint's, when he was here) room, phased out of her costume and threw on a sleep shirt and then flopped onto the bed without even bothering with the covers. It was that kind of night.


[For the Avenger!]

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[so_hawkward]

Clint had spent the better part of the evening trying - and failing miserably - to keep the kids calm. Then, like icing on the cake, he'd found out that the mission had ended with Kitty finding the super awesome mutant love of her life who had died, except for how he hadn't.

Their worlds really sucked sometimes.

By the time he got up to Kitty's room, he was probably feeling about as good as she was, and when he closed the door behind him, it was like all the exhaustion finally hit him at once. "So, today went a little differently than I thought it would."

[throughaphase]

"Weirdest night ever," Kitty agreed, raising one arm to wave him over.

[so_hawkward]

Clint hesitated for a second before going to the opposite side of the bed and sitting down. "I'm sorry. I did a really crappy job of taking care of things while you were gone, huh?"

[throughaphase]

Kitty frowned, because he was too far away here. "Don't do that to yourself. It would have been much worse if you weren't here."

As in, Wing would have gotten thrown off a roof.

[so_hawkward]

"I still could have done more. I should have just shot the guy and gotten the kids out, or something," Clint said. He scooted a little closer on the bed and looked over at Kitty. "Did--uh, did you guys manage to find anything useful before you had to come back?"

[throughaphase]

"He almost took out all five of us last time we faced him," Kitty told him. "The research for the cure was conveniently destroyed for the moment. Ord's in either SHIELD or SWORD custody. A mutant's supposed to bring about his world's apocalypse, and surprise, Peter's not dead."

[so_hawkward]

Clint relaxed a little at her mentioning Peter because hey, at least she wasn't trying to hide him. "That's got to be weird. The last part, I mean," he said. "The rest... well, you all can deal with that in time, I think. But Peter... it's great that he's okay, right?"

[throughaphase]

"It is," she said quickly, propping herself up on her elbow. "It's just... I have no idea where to even begin processing that."

[so_hawkward]

"Well, it's good, right? That he isn't dead? At the most basic level, this is a good thing," Clint said. "Whatever he was dealing with when he wasn't here isn't so good, and you being fooled into thinking he was dead isn't so good but this is good now."

[throughaphase]

"Yeah," Kitty agreed. "It's just... I can't imagine going through what he did, and for so long, and I'm so mad that it happened, and I feel guilty because I've just been living my life while he's been getting tortured for this stupid cure, and I'm mad at him for supposedly dying in the first place, and I'm happy he's back and I feel really dumb that I had an emotional breakdown in freaking Russia over some random guy's ashes..."

[so_hawkward]

"You don't have anything to feel guilty about," Clint said quickly. "You didn't know what was happening to him. If there was any hint that he was alive, I know you would have gone looking for him in an instant. And you didn't know the ashes weren't his so of course you were upset. You had every right to be, he's important to you."

Was, is, would be, it was all essentially the same - Peter mattered a ton.

[throughaphase]

"And that's another thing," Kitty said. "When he died, that was my last straw. It was the last in a long string of everyone close to me dying, and I quit and took off and ended up in Fandom, and while I don't regret that at all and I'm glad I got there, I had my last straw over something that didn't even happen. It's just... Wow, this is a good way to mess with my head."

[so_hawkward]

"I'm sorry," Clint said, taking a chance and reaching for Kitty's hand to give it a squeeze. "At least Peter being... taken or kept or whatever happened probably wasn't directed right at you? Like, it still sucks, but you weren't targeted and hey, that's a positive we've got to take when we can get it."

[throughaphase]

"True. It's just a lot to wade through, mentally," she said. "How are you doing with him being around?"

It was not lost on her that it was probably massively weird for Clint too.

[so_hawkward]

Clint shrugged a little, like he didn't quite know what Kitty was asking. "I assume he exists in my world, but I've never met him. I only know about him from you so I'm just happy you guys have another mutant on your side back, and I'm happy you really didn't lose someone you care about." Someone who was tall and strong and smart and tall and... yes.

[throughaphase]

"I mean with my dead ex-boyfriend hanging around. Probably sticking around on my team," Kitty said.

[so_hawkward]

Clint thought about it for a second and shrugged again like it wasn't a big deal, except, "You left because you thought he was dead. Now that he's not, it would make sense for you to stay and... you know, pick up where you left off," he said, finding the bedcovers super interesting.

[throughaphase]

Kitty frowned. "You think I want to get back together with Peter?"

[so_hawkward]

"I don't know, do you?" Clint asked, a little quietly.

[throughaphase]

"Nope," she said. "Come here and let me play teddy bear."

[so_hawkward]

"Are you sure? I mean, it's Peter," Clint said, even as he was moving closer to Kitty. "He's kind of a major part of your history."

[throughaphase]

"And he's my ex for a reason," Kitty said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, he's a great guy, and one of the kindest people ever, but he's also a pretty terrible boyfriend. Also, I love you."

[so_hawkward]

"Oh." Well, it was kind of hard to argue with that. "I just--I mean, I know that, I just wasn't sure if you still loved him too."

[throughaphase]

"As a friend, yeah. He was my first love, but that doesn't trump all," she told him. "We were together when I was fourteen. And it took a long time to get over him, but I am over him. When I think about my future now, he's not the one I see there with me."

[so_hawkward]

"I guess that makes sense," Clint said, finally wrapping his arms around Kitty. "I just thought... I don't know, first loves are important and sometimes I wonder how much I can really help you not being a mutant too."

[throughaphase]

"The mutant/non-mutant thing is not an issue for me at all. You help me tons," Kitty told him, snuggling closer. Well, as much as she could with the level of negative degree of energy she was working with. "And honestly, you and I have the much healthier relationship here."

[so_hawkward]

"I guess I should have known that. It's just not every day that someone comes back from the dead, let alone someone important," Clint said. "I just naturally assumed the worst."

[throughaphase]

"Yeah, it's... a weird situation. But you've got nothing to worry about," Kitty said with a little smile. "He's my friend. You're my guy."

[so_hawkward]

"You sound so possessive. I think I like it," Clint said, cracking a smile. "And you're my girl. Gal. Lady. Whatever word you want to use."

[throughaphase]

"Anything but 'gal,'" Kitty said, wrinkling her nose. "You know, on a good day, this is where I'd be hitting on you but I don't know that I can move anymore."

[so_hawkward]

"That's fine. That means you won't be getting away from me," Clint said, going more for octopus mode as he wrapped his arms and legs around Kitty.

[throughaphase]

"Oh, no, I'm trapped, whatever will I do," Kitty said, not sounding at all like she minded this.

[so_hawkward]

"Mmm, my evil plan worked. Now you have no choice but to put up with me," Clint said, kissing along Kitty's neck. He miiiight have been a little possessive too.

[throughaphase]

"Okay it's not even a little fair when you start with that," she said.

[so_hawkward]

"I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be fair? I missed that memo," Clint said, continuing his trail of kisses to Kitty's ear and nibbling at her earlobe.

[throughaphase]

"Mm hm. I forgot to send the memo out because I was really busy," she said, tilting her head a little to give him more room. "And because I didn't know I'd be phasing through weird stuff all night."

[so_hawkward]

"If you're really exhausted, I'll stop," Clint said. "I don't want to... you know, bother you if you just want to rest. We can just sleep like this." He'd have body parts that would be asleep later, but whatever.

[throughaphase]

"No, you're fine," Kitty assured him quickly. "I just don't know that I can do everything."

Seriously, someone was getting checked out by Hank tomorrow.

[so_hawkward]

"We don't have to do everything. You don't even have to do anything. I can do all the work," Clint said, grinning at the thought. "Like a reward for working so hard."

[throughaphase]

"I don't want to be not fun with everything, though. I have personal performance standards," she said. "How about we see how things go and the rest I can give a rain check on in the morning?"

[so_hawkward]

""IOU one session of sexy stuff' or something?" Clint teased. "I like the sound of that."

[throughaphase]

"Well, you know, I'm a pleaser," Kitty smiled.

[so_hawkward]

"You are very, very pleasing," Clint insisted. "And I love you too. I think I forgot to say that back."

[throughaphase]

"I know you do," Kitty said. "I kind of count on that."