1963-10-23 - Friend Of His, I Guess
Summary: Kitty comes to visit Sinjin in hospital — now they're both "out", they have more to bond over. Jono drops by for no reason at all and Kitty finds a way, as always, to put her foot in her mouth. It's like her secondary mutant power.
Related: The conclusion of Missing Pieces.
Theme Song: None
kitty sinjin jono 


Hospital visit round two had Kitty Pryde leaving her sword with security — mostly because no one was about to let anyone have weapons while visiting the altogether beloved and controversial reporter. She's dressed for the interview circuit again today, and, thanks to being outed by the Bugle had a slew of job offers, much to her embarrassment. At least something good came out of the photo.

A gentle rap of knuckles on the door announces a visitor, and the brunette peeks in quietly before stepping inside. She'd invested in another orchid for the writer — a gift to brighten the room ad perhaps his day. Maybe. Assuming he appreciated flowers at all.

"Heeeey," she says slowly as she slides up towards the bed. "It's good to — " she not exactly sure what to say and lands on " — see that they moved you to a room — " that hadn't been filled with carnage or fire " — with a view." She motions towards the skyline. Nice save, Kitty.

*

Sinjin looks just as terrible as one might expect, still . The bandages from his oldest wounds, from the vampire hounds, are off and one can see that he's going to have some particularly alarming scars on his throat and his left arm, at the least. His face hasn't improved, yellows and purples from old bruises and a new layer of fresh bruising, and now stitched along the hairline from surgery. His jaw is still wired shut, as evidenced by the thumbs up and the little wave he gives Kitty.

«Come in, sit,» he manages to say, with gestures and pointing vaguely to a chair or the edge of the bed as options. Then, he grabs his pen to write on a yellow pad of paper that's in his lap. «I saw the paper. How are you?»

*

The orchid is set on the table next to Sinjin and the young woman pulls up a chair beside him. There's an uncertain lift of her eyebrows at the question. Kitty hasn't been one to mince words, but she's also not someone who hides behind lies. So she leans forward in her seat. "You know, I'm pretty sure my mom's brain melted. It's not like they don't know," her eyebrows lift. "My parents, I mean. And…I know I told you I'm Jewish. Well, not everyone likes that about me. I'm a mutant, and not everyone likes that." She manages a stiff smile.

"But I'd rather they know. Because when they don't, they say awful things." Her eyebrows draw together. "I'd worry about retribution, but to be honest, I don't even live somewhere I'd put others like me at risk. Not anymore." She swallows hard and pinches the bridge of her nose. "And after the picture, it was inevitable someone would rat me out."

*

«At least I did it on purpose,» John writes. He puts the pen down to reach over and pat her on the arm. before continuing «I'd come clean about everything but they can't arrest me for being a mutant. Not yet, anyway.» He rolls his eyes expressively. «Nice flower, by the way. How'd you know my favourite color?» That gets her a wink.

*

Kitty's eyes scan the words and gives them consideration. There's something oddly measured about replying to text rather than speech that seems to give her pause, even if it's short. "And we'll have to make sure they never can," she replies with a raise of her eyebrows. "I wouldn't let them." Her lips twitch, "You know, Weapon X opened the door to a lot, and unfortunately, now some of it is above ground. But putting me into a prison is still a problem they haven't resolved. Not really. I don't know why I woke up from sedation, I just know I did."

She points to the flower, "This is number two by the way. I lost number one running up the stairs when the fire alarm was going off last time I was here. David and I were in the lobby." Her eyebrows lift. "I'm just glad we weren't any later than we were."

*

«I owe you my life, both of you,» Sinjin writes. «I didn't have a chance in hell.» It's hard to read his expression under the bruising and the jaw wiring. Still, the way he taps his pen on the page speaks to anxiety. His left hand is closed, tightly. It's very likely there's a lighter in it, maybe the same one he had that day.

«It's almost as though you were sent to foil their plans.» This time, there's a creasing at the corners of his eyes that's definitely humor, and an attempt at a smile.

*

Surprise pulls at the corners of Kitty's eyes. "Actually… I was proud of you." She manages a side-smirk. "You outed yourself in the best way possible and made it impossible to ignore your story. You made it incredibly compelling. But in doing so," the smile shifts into a frown, "I'm sorry they targeted you. Honest."

Her hands lace together on her lap. "And I'm sorry I didn't fix things sooner. It almost feels like we might've been able to avoid so much of this mess if I'd just come to a reporter sooner. Any reporter. Not that just anyone would've taken me seriously."

She swallows hard. "What can I do for you? Anything? I… " her lips twitch into a smile, "…it's weird. I should be terrified. I should be afraid. When they put me in that place in Louisiana and I woke up with a tube in my nose… that was months of trauma. It's still there. I can feel it." Her eyes clamp shut for a moment. "But that photo of me against that agent. I'm stronger than I sometimes think I am." Her eyes reflect fire when they open again, "And I'm not taking their garbage laying down anymore. I'm going to fight. They should be afraid."

*

«That's how I felt when I wrote that story. They were going to use it against me some day, anyway. Last time I fought, before I came to NYC, it wasn't a thing I had a choice about. This thing, I had a choice. I knew this was a risk. It's okay.» Sinjin pauses, looking at her, and gives her another smile. «None of this is your fault. No one could have fixed this sooner. You survived, that's the best thing you could have done.»

*

"Is it?" Kitty manages a wry smile. "You know," she inhales a deep breath, "survival doesn't make a person a hero. It's hard to remember that sometimes. I had family that was.. the camps. My great aunt was in Auschwitz." She swallows hard. "She got out. The rest of the family," her head shakes. "It's easy to call heroism to survival. But what does that say about those who weren't so lucky? Like my grandfather, my grandmother… my cousins?" Her eyebrows lift again. "So maybe. Maybe survival is somehow courage. I suppose I could've given up. There was a moment… I was walking back from Louisiana to New York — before anyone knew anything. My feet were blistered. My hair matted from sweat, blood, and tears… and I almost gave up. Almost." Her lips tighten. "So maybe it's something to survive. Maybe."

*

«Dying doesn't mean you didn't try. But surviving when you could have quit? That is brave.» Sinjin makes an odd face. «Not that I think that way much myself. Easier to say it to you.» He stops writing and doesn't look at Kitty for a long moment, compulsively toying with the lighter instead of clutching it. His left hand is clumsy and he drops it, eliciting a muffled curse from behind his wired teeth.

*

If he's honest with himself, Jono doesn't know why he keeps coming back here. He has a few theories, all of them ridiculous — and yet, once again, he finds himself pacing up the hall towards Sinjin's latest hospital room, bundled up in his leather jacket and the scarf drawn up to his nose. The police outside aren't an issue. In fact, they don't even see him, because Jono doesn't want to be seen.

It's only after he's stepped inside and let the door close behind him that he realizes Sinjin already has company, and for a moment, Jono considers pulling the same vanishing act on her. But there's something about her face that distracts him just long enough. Where has he seen her before?

*

In an instant, Kitty is on the floor looking for the cigarette lighter, "Well, I almost didn't try myself. I… kind of lost faith in, well, everything. What happened isn't supposed to happen here. I like our president. Kennedy is a dream and a dreamboat. Seriously someone hit him with the pretty stick — " She clasps the item and straightens to see the room's other occupant… which causes her cheeks to flush bright pink. Did he overhear her call the President a dreamboat? That's probably disrespectful somehow. Instead of engaging in a long-winded inner monologue about whether or not she should apologize for saying the President is pretty, she clears her throat and manages as brightly as possible, " — hi! Uh. I'm Kitty," her eyebrows draw together.

*

Sinjin is trying not to laugh, because it hurts — Deathstrike apparently hates happiness — and it's incredibly awkward with his mouth forced shut so he stifles it. He'd introduce Jono but the man is on his own. Sinjin is still amused when he gives Jono a questioning look, unable to keep from wondering what he's doing back here. It's good to see him, though.

*

If Jono did overhear what Kitty said, it would explain the rather odd expression on what can be seen of his face. Is he judging her? …yeah, he might be. A little bit. But at least he's doing it sil«No accounting for taste, I s'pose.»

It… it still counts as not saying anything if the words don't come from a mouth, right?

For a moment, Jono just pinches the bridge of his nose. He's gotten stuck being social far to much lately, and acting like a person is exhausting. But he's already come all this way, so… «Jono. Friend've his, I guess,» he says lamely, waving towards Sinjin's bed.

*

Kitty looks between the pair. Her head turns from one to the other, and she nods. "Oh… Oh!" The voice in her head is enough to catch her attention, but it's not something she's never experienced. And so she nods. "Well. Nice to meet you, Jono." The notion of a friend (he guesses), however, causes Kitty's head to cant, and her smile to turn feline. "I can… are you?" her eyes flit between the pair and she points between them. She had met Sinjin in a gay bar, after all. Eloquently, she finishes up her rather embarrassed and altogether awkward interlude with a simple: "Huh."

Finally, realizing she's still holding the lighter, she rather awkwardly sets it in John's hand.

*

Sinjin is writing «Thanks.» to Kitty, for the lighter, when his brain catches up to what she's said. He ends up writing «Thanksquiggle». For the first time, he really, really envies Kitty's ability to sink through the floor. He's not usually awkward about this kind of thing but he doesn't want Jono to feel awkward and he doesn't usually give a shit whether anyone feels awkward and…thanks, Kitty. Thanksquiggle.

«Sadly, no.» he writes, and pushes it to where Kitty can see. «Well. Sad for me.» There. Humor will help. Yes. This is hilarious.

*

The (appropriately) feline nature of Kitty's smile gives Jono noticable pause and, if anything, he looks even more perplexed than he had just a moment ago. Whatever it is she's assuming is apparently not even on his radar, because when he looks over to read what John's writing in hopes of clarification, his expression remains unchanged.

He can't even blame Americans for this one. Sinjin's Australian. Damn the luck.

Well, whatever. Jono finally moves more fully inside, shoving his hands into his jacket's pockets on his way. «See they haven't taken his lighter again yet,» he muses, glancing sidelong at Kitty. «But I guess if there's nobody here fer you to wave a sword at, there's probably not been anyone fer him to try and set on fire, either.» Yeah. He finally placed her.

*

Kitty's cheeks redden at Sinjin's new notes. "Oh — I.." she becomes even more crimson as she starts back-pedalling, "It was the I guess that he," she looks towards Jono, "said, I mean he didn't exactly say it, but then I inferred because friend I guess, in Kitty-land means," her eyes turn up to the ceiling, "a friend but not a friend which geez I took to mean something more than," she continues to ramble, "but then it seems that I was wrong, so I'm sorry about that, and I shouldn't have assumed — but it's hard not to, I mean you're both really — " her ears turn red and her mouth just clamps shut.

No more talking. She nods once at Jono. "Yeah. No swords permitted. Uh. Kitty. Pryde. Katherine. Also known as the girl who doesn't have a silence button, but really wishes she did…"

*

Sinjin is torn between laughter and the rather painful truth that, briefly, he forgot that being a mutant didn't mean someone was going to be accepting of other differences. So, yes. He and Jono have a weird not-awkwardness going and he's fine with Jono's mutation and Jono seems fine with his…but that could all go to shit the moment that Jono finds out the rest of his truth.

«She thought you might be my boyfriend,» he writes, the letters a little blockier and tighter than usual. «Easy mistake, what with me being such a big queer.» Might as well get it over with.

*

Jono just kind of peers at Kitty as she begins to babble, and his expression is… patient? tired? bored? something like that, with a slight furrow to his brow and half-lidded eyes. With everything below his nose hidden by that scarf, anything more specific is difficult to really pin on him. 'You're both really' does make one of his eyebrows leap up, however, more for what ends up unsaid than anything else. She's going to leave him hanging? Hurtful. Just… hurtful.

«Kitty. Don't say that, gel — runnin' at the mouth is a privilege,» Jono replies with amusement in his 'voice', and his eyes finally slide over to read John's latest note. He blinks slowly, his head cocking to one side, and for a moment, he's silent.

Then: «Oh. I see.»

*

Kitty buries her face in her hands. "I'm so sorry! I'm so so so sorry! I didn't mean to presume — I just thought, and you're both so — " again the thought doesn't get shared. She straightens to a stand and rubs her face fiercely. "ANYWAYS. I should go just," she points towards the door. "Or bury my head in the sand for like a decade! Katherine Anne Pryde, and you thought being outed as a mutant was the worst thing to happen to you today — even though mom said it was being mistaken for a New Yorker — "

*

«KITTY.» Sinjin writes in all-caps. «When have I ever managed to keep THAT covered up?» He holds the paper up so she can see it.

Never. The answer is never. He doesn't really try, so he finds out up front. It's just it never really came up with Jono, what with the fucking vampires and then being completely fucked over by Weapon X. It's not a feeling he likes, that stomach-dropping moment of disclosure, not when he's already inexplicably invested in someone. Maybe it's because they're both recent imports or something.

«Pretty sure Jono here can do better, though,» he adds, then shoves the paper back at Kitty.

*

John's last comment earns an odd, disembodied laugh from Jono. «Mate, my romantic life died a very literal fiery death when my face exploded,» he says pragmatically, reaching over to give the other man a somewhat awkward clap on the arm. «Pretty sure I ain't got a heart anymore, either. Dating of any kind… not really my scene.» Not anymore. Let's not go into how his last relationship ended. That'll bring the bloody room down.

Jono lightly rubs the side of his nose with a fingertip, peering at Kitty with a thoughtful furrow of his brow. «Not offended,» he finally thinks to assure her. Both of them, really. «Surprised. Y'were here first, no reason t'run off.»

*

Kitty draws her hands away from her face long enough to read Sinjin's notes. She frowns slightly as she freezes and emits a soft sigh. But it's Jono that stops her in her tracks. "Wait. Your face exploded! Woah. Tough break." Because Kitty Pryde has a very thin filter today. She sighs again.

"Sorry. Honestly. I didn't mean to just assume, but I thought… and I didn't want to intrude." She pinches the bridge of her nose and trails back to the seat she'd been perched on.

*

This is not the time for a risk assessment quiz, though that is Sinjin's first reflex. He writes, «Let those who have never inadvertently blown shit up throw the first grenade,» before reaching over to give Jono a fond pat in return. «Heartless men are lower maintenance, by the way.» He's intolerable, it's how he survives.

«It's all good, Kitty. Really.» Truth be told, it is. Now that the initial stress is over, it's kind of endearing that she assumed John actually had some kind of ability to maintain a relationship.

*

As awkward as Kitty might be, Jono just gives another silent chuckle, one hand coming up as if to ensure his scarf is still securely in place. «Not just a fashion statement. Eh. No use crying over spilt milk.» Not that he doesn't brood and mope. But something about Kitty has him feeling strangely… open about these things. Weird.

He glances to John when he feels the pat, and Jono finally looks just a touch flustered. «Yeah. Well. Wait 'til yer pretty again.»

*

Relief washes over Kitty's face as she slumps in the chair. "Thank you for being so forgiving. Seriously. I got shouted at by my mother this morning. Do you know how shameful it is she has an identified mutant for a daughter?" She clucks her tongue. "So much shame for her." Her eyes roll. "Dad was more supportive, but I got the feeling they're fighting about it. Again." She chews on her thumb nail. "Anyways. I like the scarf regardless," she offers back to Jono. "It might not be a fashion statement, but it does suit."

*

«Let's see if that happens,» Sinjin scrawls, angling the page toward Jono. He rolls his eyes. He's not hopeful but it's okay. «Hope it's not just chicks who dig scars.»

Kitty's slump is a bit familiar. Sinjin remembers that feeling. That defeat. He was much younger, though. «I wasn't around long enough for my parents to find out any of it,» Sinjin scrawls. «They would have been the same. You being out means someone else's mom doesn't say the same to them, though.»

*

Jono's eyebrows go up again and he awkwardly looks down at himself, with a quiet, thoughtful noise. «Does it? Hmm. Silver lining. Ta.» Why is he accepting a compliment. Why is he doing so gracefully. What is up with this girl?

«My family weren't really fans,» Jono says in a very wry voice, hitching up on the edge of John's bed. He's sure he won't mind. «Though t'be fair, I did make a right mess of the living room.»

*

"Well, I made a mess of nothing and my mom definitely isn't a fan. And now that all her friends know? Yeah, even worse," Kitty's gaze turns up to the ceiling. "But maybe someday it'll get better for us, you know?" She shoots them both a small smile. "The worst is because she can't accept this, I choose not to tell them other things." Her cheeks puff out with exasperation.

And then as an aside she nods about the scarf. "You should invest in a couple others and trade them out. Honestly. This one goes with everything, but I bet you could get one that matches your eyes. They're very pretty." She turns back to Sinjin, "And I'm sure fellows must dig scars too. Probably." She shrugs. "And yeah, maybe I can make someone else's story easier, just… wish mine were sometimes."

*

«So say we all,» Sinjin writes out in firm letters near the bottom of the page. He's starting to fade, leaning back into the pillows more, grip looser on the pen, other hand tighter on the lighter as if there's only so much grip to go around. Ironically, that's because there are people here. It's easier to sleep with someone here. When he's alone, he only dozes a little.

*

«Her loss, innit? Sounds like she's decided you made a mess of her life, which is… ridiculous. It ain't about her.» Is Jono presuming a lot about Kitty's mother? Yes. Yes, he is. But there is a certain lazy confidence to his words, as if it's something he's seen a million times before. He shrugs a shoulder, hands still tucked away in his pockets. «You'll be fine, and her knitting circle will get over it.»

He glances to Sinjin again, but Jono says nothing. He recognizes his sort-of-friend's rapid approach towards sleep, but seems inclined to stay put where he is.

*

"They're Jewish, they get over nothing. I'm pretty sure they're not over Jericho. It's not likely to happen in this lifetime. Maybe my great great grandchildren… assuming I procreate." Kitty looks towards Jono and grins. "But, it does mean they miss out." Guiltily her eyes turn downwards, "I'm moving in with my partner and led my mother to believe I'm on my own. They miss out because they don't try. Ever." Her lips tighten into a small smile and she turns back to John. "Sleep well, my friend." She sinks back into her chair.

*

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