Noh and Jubilee had decided they wanted to be married the week after classes ended at the school, before anyone went on any trips to Japan or interplanetary expeditions, that sort of thing. So Kitty had come in from with Peter Quill at the end of the school year to help throw Jubilee a bachelorette party for the ages — complete with plenty of sugary sweets, pajamas, and taking over Storm's office with the best pillow fort the mansion had ever seen.
The girls were pretty well relaxed, each of them sitting with their feet soaking after the pedicure scrubs, just chatting easily before the big day, discussing the details ahead of them, among other things.
"You know, I'm still convinced Noh doesn't understand the flowers," Kate said with an easy grin. "You should sock him with the ones you brought to Billy and Teddy's, America."
"If you think those are easy to find, you're crazy," America replied easily, without even opening her eyes as she had her head tipped all the way back. "They only bloom for about an hour, so you have to open the portals just right.... For the Demiurge? Sure, I'll do that trick. But I had to sleep it off for a week, couldn't open a thing for seven days, Kate."
"Okay, my bad for asking," Kate said, waving her hand with a smirk. "They just smelled nice is all."
"Well, yeah, they smell different to everyone." America looked over at Jubilee. "What'd you smell? Bet it was something sugary sweet and Kree-flavored," she said with a troublemaking grin.
"That .. was perfectly personal," Jubilee replied. "So never you mind."
America just grinned wider. "C'mon, Glitter Queen. It's not like the whole world doesn't know about you and Marvel Boy."
"Why don't you tell me yours and then I'll tell you mine — since I'm SO predictable?" Jubilee challenged.
"Smells like a medicine cabinet," America said with a shrug.
"Druggie," Jubes said under her breath.
"Lucy keeps me in good supply," America laughed easily. "Must be why I keep going back for more dates."
"So you are an addict," Jubilee said. She grinned widely at her. "When do we get to spend actual time with her? She's cute."
"Well, I was going to bring her last night, but you know how it is. Dating an EMT." America sighed. "Sooner or later, I'll bring her around, but then she's going to meet Storm at a girls' night here, and then she'll probably dump me. Clearly, she's just using me to meet cool superheroes," she teased.
"Just tell her that Storm isn't around much anymore. Rekindling old flames," Jubilee said with a raised eyebrow. "Scandalous."
"Didn't she just fly in from that test flight with Forge, like, this morning?" Kate asked, shaking her head. "Brave woman."
"And back out again this afternoon," Kitty told her. "The Maker is on a roll."
"I've mentioned how cute it is that she calls him that, right? Because it's really cute," Kate said, giggling slightly.
"And he calls her 'his Goddess'," Kitty told her. "They're disgusting."
"Fit right in around here, actually," America told Kitty with a little grin. "You should see Kate and Kurt. It's just nonstop."
"Still?" Kitty said, turning toward Kate. "Honeymoon phase is supposed to be ... you know. After the honeymoon."
"Guess we couldn't wait," Kate said with a grin and a shrug.
Kitty leaned forward with a raised eyebrow and leveled her finger at Kate. "As long as you intend to follow through and not make my Elf a broken little Elf."
"Hey, I have zero plans to break the cutest X-Man in existence," Kate said, holding up her hands.
"Excuse you," Jubilee said. "I am the cutest X-Man in existence — on any plane, thankyouverymuch."
"She's got you there, Princess," America laughed.
Kate shrugged and laughed. "Well, I am biased."
"A cop out way of admitting that you know you're wrong," Jubilee said with an airy tone.
"Oh, I'm never wrong. I just can see where you'd think my bias would blind me to the truth," Kate laughed. "It was an olive branch, Jubes. Take it and just pretend you don't know you're second fiddle to the blue Elf."
"You are not only wrong, but you're so hateful," Jubilee laughed before she looked around the room. "I think I need back up."
"Need someone to pin her down so you can tickle her? Usually works for me if she annoys me," America offered.
"I'll give you a kiss if you just do it for me?"
"Ooh, Lucy might come after you," America teased. "You're pretty cute, you know. Cutest X-Man and all. She could get jealous."
"I'll kiss her too," Jubilee laughed.
"Then you got it, Glitter Queen," America said a split second before she jumped at Kate, pulling her out of the foot soak and pinning her down to tickle her mercilessly, until Kate was gasping for breath, tears in her eyes, and America finally let her get her breath back — though she was still totally pinned.
"You know," Paige said quietly. "You could have just asked Kurt for the tie breaker."
"This is so much more fun, though," America said, grinning. "Besides, he would've said Kate, and then we'd have three contenders."
"No, he would have said Jubilee," Kitty said. "She's getting married, and he's doing the ceremony. She is the cutest right now."
"Right now," Kate gasped out from underneath America, though that just had the bushy-headed former Young Avenger back to mercilessly tickling her best friend.
Just to be a pain, Kitty pulled out her cell phone and made a quick call to Kurt to ask him, and a few moments later, after a few giggles from Kitty, she hung up to say "Jubilee is cutest; he's the most debonair."
"Okay, the debonair thing is true," Kate said as America finally let her up and she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "Gotta love the dapper Elf."
After Jubilee gladly paid up with America — complete with a deep dip and a ton of giggles all around — the conversation twisted from cutest X-Man back to plans for the wedding. And, inevitably, the ever-romantic Miss Guthrie had to ask what was on several minds.
"So, who's next anyhow? You and Kurt have been together for quite a while now, haven't you?" Paige asked with a friendly smile Kate's way.
"Almost two years, yeah," Kate said carefully.
"Well that's great!" Paige said with a broad grin. "You two really do make a cute couple; I've seen the pictures."
"I'm pretty partial to him," Kate agreed, grinning to match Paige, though her body language was still a little guarded. "He's kind of adorable."
"He does have a way about him," Paige said. "So when is your date? Two years is pretty serious. Particularly with an X-Man."
"We don't have a date," Kate said, shaking her head and looking like she wanted out of the conversation.
"Well, it's not that big of a deal really; one of my brothers just threw a dart at the calendar and went with it. He's been married for six years now — sweetest little hayseeds you ever saw," Paige said with a laugh. "You thinking about maybe a fall wedding or waiting until next spring?"
"Um." Kate pushed back her hair even though it hadn't really fallen out of place.
"I guess it really doesn't matter, does it?" Paige said with a wave. "He's probably going to say it needs to be in a church anyhow. Those pretty Catholic weddings with the incense and the colored windows — it'll be gorgeous, I'm sure, no matter what time of year it is."
"Yeah, the cathedrals are gorgeous around Easter and Christmas," Kate said, trying to change the subject. "I mean, the Easter Mass wasn't as amazing as the midnight Christmas one, but that was a whole other—"
"Oh! A cathedral! That — that would be great! A big long train... and if you did do it by Easter, there's all those purple things all over the place."
"I did notice that," Kate said with a smile. "The purple's nice." She took a deep breath and decided the only way off this train was to stop it dead. "But you know — we're not engaged or anything. He's just.... We're just dating."
"What?" Paige said, wide-eyed and completely deflated. "I thought — I thought you were serious about him."
Kate looked around the room for a moment and just shrugged quietly as she found herself facing down several expectant looks. "I am," she half-mumbled.
"Are you seriously going to try to just Hawkeye your way outta that?" Jubilee teased.
Kate shook her head and held up her hands. "Hey. I'm not Clint. I'm not — that's not... "
"Well that was a great impression of him."
"Come on, Jubes," Kate said, looking pleadingly at her friend.
But Jubilee wasn't any help as she just leaned forward. "Hey. Listen. Noh and I are going first — just to prove it's not fatal, okay?"
"And we're all very happy for you. Seriously. He's obnoxiously excited to throw the 'lace' at the guys. It's endearing," Kate said with a little smirk.
"And think of how adorable it would be if it was Kurt," Jubilee pointed out. When Kate's smirk disappeared, she added, "I'm not saying you have to do it as quick as Paige is pushing for — but come on. He'd be so much cuter as a groom than he is even now as the minister."
"He loves being the minister," Kate said, getting some of her smile back and trying, once again, to get the conversation off of her. "He gets this look on his face and just... it's the most adorable thing I've ever seen. Like he's going to burst."
"Can you imagine the stroke he's going to have if Logan ever gets that far?" Kitty asked, trying to help Kate avoid a stroke of her own — for the moment. "He won't know what to do — pick a role. best man or minister. He'd freak out."
"He'd try to do them both at the same time," Kate laughed. "Can you imagine? 'Porting between the different roles."
"Yeah, he's going to have trouble picking," Kitty agreed with a laugh of her own. "And you know Logan would leave the choice to him. Just to watch him twitch."
"So mean," Kate giggled. "We should really start prepping Kurt for this life-altering decision. I mean, Logan and K have been together for a while now, too."
"Not nearly as long as you and Kurt," Jubilee pointed out, not about to be deterred from her self-appointed mission. "And she's on the edge of disappearing at the drop of a hat."
"Well, it's not a race," Kate pointed out. "There's no rule that says you have to get married after you reach a certain point."
"That's true," Jubilee agreed. "But still."
"Well to hear Noh say it, you're supposed to get married after the 'I love you's," America said with a smirk Kate's way. "Which was, what, well before the year mark for you two, wasn't it?"
"Noh is still convinced that the rice-throwing is meant as a plague on your house," Kate teased.
"Noh asked Wolverine and Cyclops into the war room to ask permission. Alone," Jubilee said.
"I know. You should have seen the look on Scott's face right after he came out of the room. He was dying. I thought his face was going to crack from all that grinning," Kate laughed.
"I'm just saying, he's got you beat in the guts department," Jubilee mumbled shrugging and doing her level best to be as obnoxious as possible.
"Kate, I think she just called you a Chicken Hawk," America said with a troublemaking grin that got an almost immediate response from a very betrayed-looking Kate.
"Do you have that cued up? It makes me happy," Jubilee laughed, her hands clasped as she grinned at America.
America tossed Jubilee her phone. "It's got its own icon. David programmed it for me. It's the purple chicken."
Kate threw back her head and groaned dramatically. "When are you guys gonna let that go?"
"Oh, well. Article 206 of the X-Men Handbook. When you joined the team, you missed the fine print," Kitty said. "Any nickname given to you by Logan will stick indefinitely. I'm sorry. It's the law."
"Well then. Jubes, I hope you're happy with Bug Boy," Kate said with a smirk.
"He calls him a cockroach when he's irritated," Jubilee said with a shrug. "Doesn't bug me at all."
America winced theatrically. "Ooh. Really? Puns?"
"Guess I've been living with the Chicken Hawk for too long," Jubilee said.
"I'm not the punny Hawkeye," Kate said with a wave. "You're confused. Must be pre-wedding jitters."
"Nope, it was that great Clint impression you did earlier. So authentic."
Kate glared at her for a moment. "You're lucky you're getting married tomorrow."
"I really am," Jubilee agreed. "You'll see yourself one day."
"You two honeymooning on the moon with the sparkling flowers?" America asked with a lazy grin as Kate just covered her face with both hands. "Or are you thinking somewhere more Terran?"
"I have no idea," Jubilee replied. "He said he had an idea, so I'm rollin' with it. Whatever it is."
"Careful, or you'll just end up at Dazzler concerts," Kate teased. "He's a big fan."
"She's nice," Jubilee said. "Little flaky? But she's alright."
"Good. I hope you three are happy together," Kate said, smirking wider.
"I'm sure they will be," America said. She leaned back and grinned at the other girls as she finally decided to help Kate out and got to her feet. "Come on. I think there's still some Twizzlers we haven't finished off."
The next day, the girls were all getting ready for the big day — tucked away in a little house off the beach for the finishing touches. Jubilee had made good on her promise to put Kate in hot pink, as well as America — just to tweak her. But Kitty and Paige looked stunning in the light yellow dresses as they did each other's hair in up-do's. They were going barefoot, with skirts down to their knees, and already, they were planning some pictures standing in the waves — since Peter Parker, wedding photographer extraordinaire, was determined to get some good beach shots.
Jubilee had also gone for a short look, a sassy little dress with pearls at the sashes around her waist and sparkles in the half-veil that looked almost like sea foam. She was bouncing around excitedly, also barefoot, as the girls checked each other's makeup one last time.
The guys were already waiting on the beach when they came out, all of the guys in the Young Avengers squad looking dapper in their white ties and coat tails — though none of them were grinning quite like Noh, who was in all white and looked like he might start doing cartwheels.
As the girls took their places, Kate snuck a glance at Kurt, whose grin was second only to Noh. He was humming old German tunes to himself as he readjusted his collar and straightened his jacket, and one of the bamfs was very carefully fluffing his curls. All of the little imps had white ties and were taking the whole thing very seriously. There was even another such prepper for Noh — his usual tiny demon friend, who was determined that not a speck of sand would get on his white suit until Jubilee got there — a losing battle, no matter how valiant he was about it, especially since he was tracking sand where he perched on Noh's shoulder.
They were just waiting until the first edges of color hit the sky so they could get the perfect sunset wedding on the beach as the assembled Young Avengers, X-Men, and various other friends and heroes were out in force to celebrate. Once the first orange streaks lit up the sky, the music started up for Jubilee's entrance — and all eyes were on the positively beaming firecracker, walking arm-in-arm with Logan.
Kate wasn't sure what was making her grin more — the look on Logan's face, with the wide smile, puffed chest, and the way he had his hand covering Jubilee's on his arm; or the fact that Noh's lips had parted and he was just openly staring at Jubilee. It was a pretty close tossup.
When Logan got Jubilee down the aisle, Jubilee pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before he could hand her off, and then she turned to Noh to reach up and close his mouth with a finger under his chin.
Kurt looked just about ready to burst as he grinned at the two of them and addressed the group at large: "Dearly beloved," he said, the smile somehow getting wider even though that didn't seem to be physically possible. "We're gathered here to witness the union of two of the sweetest people I know. They deserve the most happiness this life can give them." He took a breath and looked out over the group before he looked to Noh for the vows, who took a moment to compose himself and grin broadly.
"My Jubilee," he said with such fondness in his voice that those in attendance could have sworn his voice cracked. "I should not be this happy. My home was one of transcendental peace and harmony, and I was content, but this deep... this bone-deep emotion — I've never known anything like it." He cracked the slightest of smirks for a moment before he added, "And you know I will adore you 'til eternity."
Those that knew Noh best had to smirk at the inclusion of the Ronette lyrics, but they were even more surprised when Jubilee cleared her throat, took a deep breath and broke into singing his favorite song to him — complete with the wha-ohs. Noh's smile had turned back into an open-mouthed stare as soon as she started in on the lyrics, and by the time she got to "For every kiss you give me, I'll give you three," those that were closest could see him holding back tears, looking surprised at himself.
Kurt looked like he was floating he was grinning so wide as he looked between the two of them, waiting just a moment for Noh to compose himself before he said, "If there is anyone here who objects to this wedding, speak now or forever hold your peace." When there was silence apart from a couple bamf growling threateningly like they might attack anyone who did speak up, taking their roles as possible trouble prevention very, very seriously, Kurt just nodded at the two of them.
"Then do you, Noh-Varr, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, to love, honor and cherish, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself solely unto her for as long as you both shall live?"
"Yes — I do," Noh said quickly, the bright smile returning.
"And do you, Jubilation Lee, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, to love, honor and cherish, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself solely unto him for as long as you both shall live?"
Jubilee had waited long enough for Kurt to finish before she bounced on her toes. "I do!"
"Then I pronounce you man and wife — you may—"
Jubilee didn't wait long enough for Kurt to finish before she grabbed Noh by his lapels and kissed him there for everyone to see, and the group burst into applause — and a few celebratory kisses of their own.
Noh had swept Jubilee up in the moment, and in a few long strides, he took them both out into the waves, standing with her in his arms in the middle of the water that came up to his knees as the sea lapped around them before he set her down in the water so that they could share a kiss in the waves.
The sun had set by then, the faintest hues of pink just on the horizon, as the group gathered under the sparkle lights to celebrate and chat. Kitty and Teddy gave the most hilarious (and touching) maid of honor and best man speeches, complete with stories of how they met the two — which had half the audience chuckling as Teddy recounted how Noh was trying to straight up murder him. "Fun times," he said.
No one was surprised when Noh and Jubilee had their first dance under the twinkle lights to "Be My Baby" — it seemed to be a theme that day. But there were a few people — those who didn't know Logan couldn't say no to his Jubes — that looked surprised when she pulled him out to dance with her to "Moonlight Serenade." When the song was over, she flung her arms around his neck, and he pressed a kiss to her temple before he gently put her hands back in Noh's as the dancing continued and more people joined in.
Eventually, Jubilee and Noh had to stop dancing to do a few other wedding traditions, including cutting the cake, which Noh seemed to be doing very precisely, cutting a piece to place on a plate and put a bit on a fork to feed Jubilee, who giggled, took the bite, and then picked up the entire piece and just smashed it into his face as he looked completely flabbergasted. She broke into a delighted laugh and flung her arms around his neck to start kissing him so she, too, could be covered in cake.
After the two of them managed to wipe the cake off and everyone had a bit of dessert, Jubilee was adamant about lining up the girls for the bouquet toss — and though Kate noticed that K was conspicuously gone to the beach house to "use the bathroom" at that exact moment, Jubilee didn't seem to care so much as she insisted everyone line up and grinned widely at Kate. She took a few steps and looked over her shoulder to toss it .... before she just laughed, shook her head, and took several running steps to shove the whole bouquet right into Kate's hands. "Congratulations! You caught it!"
Kate tried very hard to give the bouquet back as their friends laughed in the background. "That's not — you have to throw it," she tried to say, but Jubilee put her nose in the air, shook her head airily, and skipped over to grab Noh by the now-untied bow tie and pull him over for the garter toss.
Noh didn't go off-script from what he had studied in this custom, doing the garter toss exactly like he'd seen Scott do it, holding the delicate lace above his head to snap it like a rubber band and then spinning in place to quickly see who it was. And although it was clear Noh wasn't aiming for anyone in particular, the bamfs took one quick look at each other before they seized Kurt's arms and legs and teleported him directly into the path of the garter so that it hit him in the chest.
Noh grinned widely at Kurt. "In this case, I hope the superstitions are true," he said with a smile as Jubilee burst into giggles.
A very red-faced Kate stuck her tongue out at Jubilee and couldn't quite look at Kurt, so she looked around for a friendly face — and saw K at the bar with Logan. Setting the bouquet down on the nearest table, she all but sped over to where they were. "Way to leave me hanging," she said, shaking her head as she hit her friend in the arm. "You should've taken me with you to hide."
"I don't know what you're talking about," K said with a little wrinkled up nose. "I've been right here the whole time with him." She tipped her head Logan's way. "Nice catch, by the way."
"I didn't catch anything," Kate grumbled.
"Oh. You caught something alright."
Kate gave K a look and got herself some champagne, leaning against the bar. "Traitor."
"Listen, if you're with the kids over there — you get tied up in their little games. Little tip: you don't have to participate," K told her. "Logan wasn't over in that pile of desperation either."
"Yeah. Good advice for next time," Kate said with a small smirk, shaking her head. "Good thing no one's up on the docket for a while — unless you think America is that fast of a mover," she added with a smirk.
"I really don't know her well enough, but I wouldn't be surprised."
"K, it took her, like, a year before they'd gone on enough dates to be considered 'dating.' We're safe from flower assaults for a while, I promise." Kate smirked and took a sip of champagne, gesturing at the party. "You know. Theoretically. I wouldn't put it past the bamfs to just start showing up with flowers. Little demons."
"Yeah. Then I guess we're out of the danger zone for the time being."
Kate toasted her with her glass. "Seems like it."
As the girls took a drink, Logan shook his head and watched the show as the dancing started up again, and, after a few songs, Kurt teleported over with a smile.
"Hey, handsome," Kate said with a soft smile. "How's my favorite wedding officiant?"
"After trying to explain to the bamfs that they cheated? Still wonderful," he said with a grin.
"They are little demons," Kate pointed out. "Jubes, on the other hand, doesn't have that excuse."
"You don't know her too well then," Logan said before he pushed off from the bar and gave K a quick kiss before he walked off. "I owe Storm a dance. Have fun, troublemakers."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Kurt said as he grinned at the two girls leaning on the bar. "May I?" he asked as he put his hand out to K. The smile slipped a bit as she looked up at him and then to Kate, who just shrugged.
"Alright then, sure," K replied cautiously as Kurt grinned a bit wider. As soon as she took his hand, they disappeared and reappeared on the far end of the dance floor — with K cursing slightly as she clutched onto a laughing Kurt.
Kate smirked to herself as she sipped her champagne and watched the various sets of dancers on the floor, pleased for a moment that she seemed to have dodged the overly happy wedding Elf while she was still recovering from the flower assault. She'd turned to pick up a fresh glass of champagne when Kitty seemed to materialize next to her.
"What are we watching?" Kitty asked.
Kate waved her hand in Kurt's direction. "He's kidnapped K," she explained with a soft smile. "I can't decide whose expression is better."
"You mean between the dizzy coughing and the grinning imp? Tough call when she abandoned you, I suppose," Kitty said as she picked up her own glass of champagne.
"Backstabber," Kate agreed with a little smirk.
"So what happened? Do you two have some kind of a pact or something?" Kitty asked.
"Nothing that official," Kate laughed, shaking her head. "Just ... she gets it."
"Really? You're saying it's just coincidence that both of you are just toying with two of my favorite people in the world?"
Kate looked surprised at the change in Kitty's tone and turned to face her better. "That's not—"
"Both of them. Both of you. I'm not amused," Kitty said, her arms crossed over her chest and feet planted firmly.
Kate shook her head quickly. "It's not ... we're not playing games, I swear," she tried to explain.
"That is not how it looks," Kitty told her. "I'll leave plenty of energy for ripping on her for when I can corner her — but you? Come on, Kate. He's completely smitten with you, and you're rubbing it in his face."
"No, I'm not!" Kate said, shaking her head, looking almost pleading. "He's — I love him to pieces, Kitty."
"Then maybe you better either re-evaluate what you consider love, or pony up and do something to prove it." Kitty looked overly serious as she glared her way. "I'm not saying you have to get married right away like these guys did. I'm really not. But you better make sure he knows that he doesn't have to give up what he wants out of life either."
"Kitty," Kate said, trying to reason with her. "He... he knows. He has to know."
"He's not a telepath, and hey. He's a guy. You know how to deal with men? You have to use small words they can process and speak slowly. And repeat yourself. A lot. Are you doing that, or just hoping he knows that you 'love' him?"
"I tell him all the time," Kate said.
"And you also make it very clear that you have no interest in making an actual commitment to him too," Kitty said. "Not like you're the first to do that to him, though."
Kate was simply floored, staring at Kitty openly. "I'd never... I wouldn't....!"
"Wouldn't what?" Kitty asked, eyes narrowed even further as she leaned forward.
It took Kate a long moment to shake her head and try again. "Leave him. I'd never do that. I'd never hurt him, Kitty, please."
"Maybe, maybe not," Kitty replied. "But if you think that just stringing him along won't hurt him? You're wrong. And he would do anything for you." She just glared at Kate for a good long moment, even as the song ended, and she didn't drop her focus off of Kate until Logan stepped up between the two of them to grab a drink.
"You girls playing nice?" Logan asked as he leaned against the bar between them, pushing them both to the side to separate them better, watching both of them.
"Just having a little chat, right, Kate?" Kitty said.
Kate blinked a few times and just nodded. "Mmhmm."
Logan didn't look convinced as he let out a sigh and turned to Kitty for a moment, then back to Kate. "What are you drinkin' tonight, darlin'?"
"Oh... I think just water from here on," Kate said quietly.
"Whiskey it is, then?" he teased her.
She had to smirk the slightest bit. "Yeah. That."
He gave the bartender a nod and a moment later put a shot glass in her hand as Kurt and K returned, both of them laughing quietly, as K held on tightly to him still. "He's vicious, Kate," K said as Kurt handed her off to Logan.
"Lies," Kate said with a soft smirk. "He's dashing."
"Terribly, cripplingly dashing, yes," K agreed as Kitty clearly fixed her sights on her.
"Glad to hear you had fun," Logan said as he set his now empty shot glass down. "But it's my turn now, kids." With that, he pulled K back out onto the dancefloor as Kitty half glared after them.
"I think he has the right idea," Kurt said as he offered Kate his hand. "What do you say, Vögelchen?"
"Oh, yes, please," Kate said quickly, taking his hand and pulling herself closer to him, just barely managing not to look over her shoulder at Kitty — and in an instant, they had teleported off to the dance floor.
They had been gently spinning to the music for a while before Kurt had glanced over to his friend and tipped his head Logan's way. "I think she's starting to relax a little," he told her.
"Well, she didn't run off when she found out he was Canadian," Kate said, latching onto the subject.
"A delicate time for any girl," Kurt said with a laugh.
"Those Canadians are scary," Kate smirked. "So apologetic and syrupy."
"Well, when you think of the Canadians we know — I can see her point," Kurt said. "Logan and — you haven't met anyone from Alpha Flight yet, have you? They're something else — then of course, Wade."
"Ah, well, Wade." Kate shook her head. "I think she's finally starting to ease up on Clint for that one."
"From what I heard from Logan, I wouldn't bet on that," Kurt said.
"She knows it wasn't Clint's idea, right?" Kate asked with an arched eyebrow. "I mean, I feel like I gotta defend my fellow Hawkeye."
"I believe the term she used was 'accomplice'."
"Poor Clint," Kate said, shaking her head.
"Don't feel bad for him," Kurt said. "She won't hurt him. Not permanently. But Wade .... may not like her very much the next time they cross paths. Logan has agreed to let her handle it alone."
Kate winced theatrically. "Ouch."
"You know, she doesn't seem to be kidding about the Viking thing. Family stories and whatnot. She made Logan cringe describing something she wanted to do to someone ..."
"That's one story I'm definitely okay never ever hearing," Kate said, shaking her head in disbelief.
Kurt just laughed and pulled her closer to kiss her temple. "Are you enjoying yourself tonight?"
"I am right now," Kate said with a little smile as she returned the kiss. "But that might just be because of how much I love you."
"And I you," he replied. "It was beautiful tonight — and Jubilee ... I don't think anyone was expecting her to do what she did."
"What, marry a Kree? Well, I guess she's full of surprises," Kate said, waving her hand.
He chuckled. "The song. It was adorable. I don't think I've ever had anyone sing their dedication."
"I thought Noh was going to just die. It was amazing," Kate agreed with a wide smile.
"Full of surprises, our firecracker," Kurt laughed.
"And you loved every second of it," Kate said.
"I did," Kurt admitted. "They are always so unique. No two are alike."
She smiled at him and stopped spinning to pull him into a kiss. When the kiss broke, she put her head on his chest and held him tight. "Love you, Elf," she said quietly.
He let out a quiet chuckle as he returned the squeeze. "I love you too, liebling."