With You Here

Title: With You Here
Author: Jordanna Morgan (librarie@jordanna.net)
Archive Rights: Please request the author’s consent.
Rating/Warnings: G.
Characters: Colossus/ShadowCat.
Setting: Mid-X2.
Summary: Colossus contemplates after the invasion of the school.
Disclaimer: Marvel and Fox create the characters that sell. I’m simply playing with them.
Notes: A 400-word drabble about a pairing I like, but have had little past opportunity to write. It was written for Madripoor Rose as a Fandom Stocking gift. It stands alone, but it also fits in with Beast, a much larger story I have just completed.

With You Here

It was not until after the escape that fear caught up with Peter Rasputin; not until after the adrenaline of fight and flight, and the completion of the duty he was charged with. In the direct presence of danger, all that was required of him was action—and that was easier than the thinking and feeling that came afterward.

The afterward came when he had safely guided all but six of his fellow students to the safe house two miles from the school.

Within an hour, Doctor McCoy had arrived to look after them, and Peter thought it should have been a relief to relinquish the role of guardian… but he found himself unable to rest easy in idleness. His mind ceaselessly retraced everything that had happened, and everything he had done. He wondered who the attackers were, and what they wanted, and whether they would come again. He wondered what would happen now. He wondered if the six missing students were alright—and worst of all, he wondered if he could have done anything to rescue them.

Sitting curled up in a corner of the safe house’s small, comfortable living room, he watched as Kitty Pryde moved among the younger children, giving them hugs and softly murmured words of reassurance.

She was younger than him, but at that moment, she looked far more grown up than he felt.

When her rounds of gentle comforting brought her close to him, she paused to meet his eyes, giving him a thin smile. “You okay?”

Peter didn’t feel like it, but he returned the smile, nodding slightly. “Yeah.”

“That’s good.” Kitty’s smile wavered, her lips trembling slightly, and her voice dropped to a near-whisper. “Because I’m not.”

The quiver of fear in her voice, and the lost look in her eyes, were something Peter could respond to; something he could focus on instead of himself. He leaned forward, lightly capturing Kitty’s hand in his.

“Hey… it’ll be alright.” With you here, he added silently.

Kitty smiled wanly, but gratefully—and he was startled to hear her repeat his own thought. “With you here… maybe it will.”

A faint, surprised smile flitted briefly across Peter’s face. Kitty gave a slight shrug, and her hand squeezed his before it slipped out of his grasp. He watched her thoughtfully as she turned to continue looking after the children.

Maybe it will be alright, after all.