K and Kate had spent the last couple of hours prepping for the masquerade ball that Kate had pulled together. It was strangely advantageous that they'd been in the city for two weeks with the Avengers, since it made coordinating the party that much easier. But now, it was time to finish their preparations, and Kate was giddy with anticipation — for the time being anyhow. She was alternating between that and sheer terror at any given moment, if she was being honest with herself.
"Kate, I could use a hand," K called out from behind the dressing screen that she'd set up in Kate's room. The guys were using Logan's room, since Kate insisted that they needed to be surprised by the big reveal. And, you know, so Kate could get some other things ready as well.
Kate finished zipping K up, and the shorter woman took a moment to check the way her hair was pinned up as she put in the sparkling earrings and glanced up at Kate in the mirror. "What?" she asked when she saw the almost dreamy smile on her friend's face.
"I'm just in a great mood. You know. Because I was right. And this dress so needed to be seen. And you are going to make an enemy when you kill Logan dead," Kate said with a grin.
"What about you?" K said as she turned to face her and reached out to fiddle with Kate's hair. "Aren't you supposed to get changed? You didn't trick me into putting on an evening gown all by myself, did you?"
"No way; I just want to see the hug magnet's face when he sees you ..." She gestured at K with one hand and a broad grin. "...like this. So far from blue jeans and t-shirts."
K rolled her eyes but quickly put on a swipe of lipstick, then tried to laugh off Kate's obvious enthusiasm as there was a gentle knock at the door — that Kate answered.
"He's distracted," Logan said quietly to Kate. "You ready for this, kid?"
Kate glanced up at K — who looked as if she was still preoccupied with getting her makeup just right — and took a deep breath. She plastered on the huge smile she'd been wearing before with K and nodded. "Yes. I think so," she said. "Just don't ...worry about me. You have your own things to worry over." She took his arm and pulled him inside, though she didn't get him far before he stopped and gave K a slow once over with a growing smile.
"So subtle, Kate," K said as she made her way over to Logan. She opened her mouth to say something snarky, but it never got out before Logan simply kissed the sense out of her and swept her out of the room.
"See you downstairs; can't promise that we'll be dancin'," Logan said with a wink Kate's way, finally leaving her alone to gather her thoughts like Logan knew she needed to do.
Kate let out a breath and closed the door, leaning on it for a moment before she made her way back over to the dresser to steel herself.
She examined the ring one last time in its velvet case. It was a deep black Tungsten — it would look amazing on Kurt, especially with the white gold in the middle. Darkness with light at its center — it was just what she wanted for him.
Now if only she could just... give it to him.
She was supposed to be changing into her dress ... she'd insisted that Kurt couldn't spoil the surprise by peeking. So there was no worry of him seeing...
She slid the lid closed and put the box back in the drawer of the dresser, tucked behind her socks. So far, she'd managed to keep it hidden from all but one bamf, too — and thankfully, it was her little flirt, who saw the box, let out a string of giggles, and then held his finger to his lips with a significant look, though the little guy kept giving her this look ever since he'd found it, like he was waiting for her to get a move on.
She sighed as she pulled on the gown, adjusted the necklace she was wearing, and then took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm ready!" she called out, and Kurt 'ported in front of her in an instant, dressed to the nines and grinning broadly as he took her in.
"Du siehst hübsch aus," he said as he took her in his arms, and she just grinned nervously, glad that he couldn't quite see her expression in the hug.
"You look pretty handsome yourself," she told him as she took a step back and raked her gaze over his outfit. She paused and bit her lip. She had the next line. She'd been practicing what she'd say all day. It was easy. Simple. Just say: I think you're missing something. That was all she had to do. That was the line, and then she'd give him the ring.
Instead, what she said was, "I like the cuff links."
He grinned as a few of the bamfs chattered for her attention as well until she'd told them each that she liked their ties too — though her little flirt was giving her that same look, arms crossed, tail twitching, and when he saw that he'd caught her attention, he pointed at his eyes and then at her before he teleported over to Kurt's shoulder, gave her another look, and then broke into an impish grin Kurt's way.
Kurt just smiled and offered Kate his arm. "Shall we, frauline?" he asked with a bit of a bow, and Kate wordlessly took the proffered arm and let him lead her down toward the ballroom, as with every step they could hear the jazz music getting louder and she cursed herself for punking out when she'd had a plan.
When they got to the party, it looked like several people were already out dancing, including Noh and Jubilee, who both looked like they'd just stepped out of a black and white movie together. When they saw Kate and Kurt, Noh picked Jubilee up as they spun so that she could see them too, and as soon as the song was over and the band played something different, the newlyweds all but skipped over to Kate and Kurt.
"This music travels through your smile," Noh declared once they'd arrived. "It's impossible not to move to." He gestured across the dance floor at Logan and K, who weren't dancing so much as they were demonstrating the most popular past time of the pre-war era; already overly involved with each other. "Not even our quieter friends seem to be able to resist its draw."
"They both lived through this era the first time around," Kurt said. "Though I believe their experiences were starkly different."
"Probably," Kate agreed, taking a tighter grip on Kurt's arm and wondering if it was too late to try again. It was probably too late. They were in public now.
"Doesn't Jubilee look stunning in this era's clothing?" Noh said to Kurt with a wide smile. "I have only seen her look so beautiful once before, though perhaps I am biased in my remembrance of that day at the beach."
"It's entirely possible," Kurt said with a grin before he turned to Kate and asked her to dance while the band went into a nice, slow Ella Fitzgerald song.
"You... you really do look nice," Kate said after a few moments of spinning to "Dream a Little Dream." "The debonair look really suits you. You should — you should wear it more often."
He grinned and stole a quick kiss. "And you are a vision tonight," Kurt replied.
She just smiled almost shyly. "Then everybody else must be jealous."
"With few exceptions," Kurt laughed. "Though they seem only to be those that are too preoccupied to notice how you're stealing the show."
"How we're stealing the show," she corrected him before she stole a kiss and lost herself in the music for a while.
Not long after that, the song ended, and most of the couples cleared the floor as something a bit more upbeat started up. On their way off the dancefloor, Logan and K caught up to them, and Logan very quickly leaned in and asked how she was doing, low and quiet.
"I'll... get there," she muttered low enough just for him.
"Have a drink, loosen up," he advised.
"Might help," she agreed.
Logan looked over his shoulder to where Scott was totally preoccupied with Annie and welcoming Captain America to the party as he reached into his jacket's inner pocket to slip her a flask.
She took a couple long drinks before she slipped it back to him. "It should not be this scary," she muttered under her breath.
"You'll be fine," he promised. "Stick by us if you're nervous."
"Thanks," she breathed out, as Cap made his way over to say hello to his old friend, looking like he might burst from grinning — and wearing something that looked entirely authentic.
The smile on his face only broadened when he saw the two women with Logan and Kurt. "Kate, K — where did you get those?" he asked.
"Paris, in the 30's," K said with a little smirk. "Got the good stuff out before the war started."
He grinned at her even wider and then shook his head. "You're full of surprises, K," he said.
"You want to dance?" K offered.
"If your fiance doesn't mind," Steve replied with a glance Logan's way.
"Go on, have fun," Logan said. "Just keep it at a dance."
Steve grinned broadly and offered his hand to K before he pulled her out into a dance to an old Glenn Miller tune. K gave the group a little wave as Kate giggled and grabbed Logan by the arm. "Dance with me," she asked him.
He just gave her a little smirk and nodded. "You got it, darlin'," he said, letting her pull him onto the floor.
She followed his lead as he pulled her into the dance for a while, just letting her be quiet for a while until she was ready to tell him — "I totally blew it. I had a line and everything."
"You don't need a line," Logan told her. "And you didn't blow it."
She blew out all her breath from her cheeks. "I want him to — you know, he's just so charming, so I want to charm him, and I had it."
"Honey, you can't charm a charmer," he said with a little laugh. "Just do it."
"Right. Yeah. Okay." She nodded a couple times and glanced over at Kurt, who was laughing at something Jubilee was saying. "Okay. I can do it."
As the song was coming to a close, Noh and Jubilee made their way across the dance floor to where K and Steve were dancing, and Noh tipped his head at them for a moment. "Can you show me how to do that?"
"Which part?" K asked. "It's pretty simple, really." She looked up at Steve. "Can you show Jubilee how to follow? I'll try to help the sparkling moondust baby boy."
Steve was grinning ear to ear as he offered his hand to Jubilee. "I'll do my best not to step on your toes," he teased as "If I Didn't Care" started up, while K let out a breath and tried to explain the dance to Noh as Kate had to grin from the sidelines at them.
"I've been learning dances as I go through Earth music, but the earliest I've learned is from the 1950's," he explained sheepishly as he narrowly avoided stepping on her foot.
"Oh, that has to change," K said with a little smile. "You're going to love swing — and if you're interested, there are a few from the 20's that are fun too."
He brightened entirely. "I'm always interested in music! There is nothing in multiple universes that quite matches what this world does."
"Hard to beat Glenn Miller and Billie Holliday no matter where you are," K said, laughing a bit at his enthusiasm.
"Shall we try that spin again?" he offered. "I think I understand the steps."
"You're leading now, hon," K told him. "Spin me when you want to."
He beamed at her for a long moment, leading her through the steps she'd taught him until he was ready for the spin, and the pure delight on his face when he spun her back to him was hard to miss. "Oh, I do think I like this era of music."
They finished the rest of the song together like that before Steve and K brought the newlywed couple back together as Noh extended his hand to Jubilee. "My dear Jubilee, do you think you could trust me to lead?" he asked with a teasing sparkle in his eyes.
"I can try," Jubilee teased right back as she took his hand with a grin.
Steve escorted K back to Logan and then asked Kate if she'd like to dance next, and Kate had to grin as she tossed a kiss over her shoulder at Kurt before she followed Steve's lead onto the floor.
"If we're playing the partner switch game, do you think you wanna play with me?" asked Tony as he slipped over to where K was with a wide grin.
She let out a little laugh and looked Logan's way. "Do you mind? I won't be too long."
"You know where to find me," Logan said before he gave her a quick kiss and glared Stark's way as they headed out for the dance.
"Do you even have any idea what you're doing? Because my teaching is over for tonight," K told him.
"Hey, I may not know how to kill people nine ways with a spoon, but this?" Stark grinned at her. "This is my turf. Dances, parties — I even brought you a present."
"Just make sure that you don't accidentally wander into the no fly zone, or you might not get it back."
Stark laughed outright and shook his head. "No, this one you asked for," he said as he reached into his coat pocket to show her the invention he had tucked in there. "And let me tell you. This was a challenge. Keep bringing me stuff like this, and I think we'll be fast friends," he laughed.
"Well if it's ideas for gadgets to help me take down things bigger than me? I'm sure we'll have plenty to discuss. How does it work?" she asked.
"Hey, you asked for a modified Widow's Bite, right?" He pulled out the little blue devices shaped like bracelets. "These pack twenty times the shock, but it's a one-time use. Takes a day and a half to recharge — but it'll flatten the big guy if you hit him right."
"Oh, I can hit him right," K said, smirking. She took a moment to look it over as he explained the finer points, and after he'd finally finished, she gave him a little grin. "Thank you. When I get him, I'll send you a picture of the damage."
"Please do," he said with a grin to match hers. "It's way more satisfying to see the end result."
By then, the song had ended, and she tipped her head toward Logan. "Time to get back. You coming?"
He looked Logan's way and shook his head when he saw the glare Logan had on. "Ah, no," he said. "I think there are some other people who need dance partners."
She gave his hand a little squeeze as she thanked him again and made her way right back to Logan almost at a jog, past Noh, who was enthusiastically pulling Jubilee along already to the next dance.
Meanwhile, Kate had been watching the whole show with a growing smile, pleased that her party had gone off so well for everyone involved, when she was pleasantly surprised by a familiar bamf noise and a pair of strong arms around her.
"Can I steal you for a dance, or is your card full?" Kurt asked with a teasing smile as he offered Kate his hand, and she seized it with both of hers to pull him along, grinning wide.
"You're my favorite dance partner," she promised him as they spun out onto the floor. She was contentedly grinning up at him for a while as they danced until she caught Logan looking at her nearby, where he was watching with K — though K was watching Noh and Jubilee with a smirk and thankfully not paying attention to Kate.
As Logan saw that he had Kate's attention, he tipped his head at her with a very pointed look, and she stuck her tongue out at him in response. He glared a bit harder, then mouthed out 'Chicken Hawk', before returning his attention to his dance partner as Kate shot him a dirty look. But then she looked up to see the bamfs on that side of the dance floor doing a little bit of a chicken dance.
She glared in their direction for a moment too long as Kurt turned to see what it was that she was looking at, but as soon as the bamfs saw that they were about to get caught, they very pointedly put their little arms behind their backs and started walking in circles and whistling innocently, trying to imitate the dancing that was going on around them.
"What are they up to?" he asked, almost to himself, and Kate shook her head.
"They're just being little demons," she said, sticking her tongue out at them again for good measure, which got a couple of them to pull faces at her and fall apart in troublemaking giggles. She shook her head and then put her full attention back on Kurt. "Never mind them. They're just... teasing me because Logan's egging them on. Silly imps." And to keep him from asking any further questions, she stood on her toes and wrapped him in a kiss.
But when this kiss broke and Kurt glanced over toward his best friend, Logan and K were doing their best display of the evening, kissing as they spun slowly. He couldn't help but grin and misinterpret Kate's meaning — only to melt into the same 'dance' with her.
Translations:
Du siehst hübsch aus - You look pretty.