Nick and Catseye: Date Night

[x-wolfcub.livejournal.com]

With both still a bit confused, Nick and Catseye venture out on a horrifying experience for any young mutant. A date.



Nicholas Gleason had never felt so uncomfortable in his own skin as he did in this moment. He reached up with his free right hand, tugging at the collar of his borrowed dress shirt and tie, trying to clear an airway. But as much as he didn't want to admit it, it was not the shirt that was causing him to have shortness of breath. That honor belonged to what he knew was on the other side of the door he had been staring directly at for the past 5 minutes straight, unable to get up the nerve to knock on it yet. Taking one final breath, he closed his eyes, and wrapped his hand several times against it.

Catseye had put on her sundress collar today, deducing from watching other girls around the mansion that this would be a good choice for a date. Knowing what to wear was as far as her knowledge went, however. She was completely at a loss as to what to do on a date. Luckily, Nick looked even more nervous than she was feeling when she opened the door, and his nervousness- knowing that he was feeling the same way she was- caused her to relax a little. "Nicknicknick!" she said cheerfully by way of greeting. "Nick looks veryverynice tonight! Where are Nick and Catseye going to go on their date?"

Nick flashed a smile. It was an involuntary reflex for him whenever he was around Catseye. "Cats, you look... you look..." He threw he hand up in the air. "Wow." He held out his right arm for Catseye to take, but turned his left behind his back to keep it hidden from her view. "But I can't tell you where we're going, that wouldn't be fun now would it?"

The purple-haired girl looked at Nick's arm, confused. "Why is Nick holding out his arm? And why is Nick hiding his other arm?"

"I was trying to lead you someplace without you knowing where we were going." The half smirk once again appeared on the boy's face. "And the other arm is holding a part of your secret." Nick held out his open, free hand, gesturing it forward towards her. "The question is, do you trust me?"

Catseye studied the hand. Holding hands meant they were a couple, didn't it? She still wasn't sure if she wanted to be a couple with Nick, but the catgirl was certain that she didn't have to stay a couple with Nick if she decided she didn't want to be one later, so she gave him her hand and a nod. "Yes, Catseye trusts Nick, even when he is being sneaky," she grinned.
"Hey I learned from one of the best didn't I?" As the grin quickly flashed across his face again, he began moving the girl towards the stairs of the mansion. "So how did the first week of school go for you?" He hoped that the small talk would distract her from using her senses to smell the picnic basic securely tucked under his left arm.

"Not bad," she answered diplomatically. "Catseye used to hate school so much because she did not like being in girlform but now Catseye thinks girlform is not so bad and school is not so bad anymore too. Catseye likes learning new things and Catseye especially likes talking about books in Mister Beaubier's class. What class does Nick like best?"

"I've actually been liking the Creative writing course. It's a lot different from what I'm used to, you know." He cracked open the door to the mansion, still leading Cats as he continued to push forward. "So, do you have any guesses on where we're going." He was quite happy that he had at least kept their destination a secret up until this point.

"Catseye thought it was a secret? How come Catseye is allowed to guess?" She'd smelled the food in the picnic basket from the time he'd opened the door, but had decided to let him play his game of keeping it a secret so now she was confused about why she was allowed to guess.

"Just because it's a secret doesn't mean that you're not allowed to guess. It's..." He paused for a second, looking off into the air, as if the words he wanted to think of were hanging their in mid-air by some miracle. "It's like when you get birthday presents, sometimes trying to think about what they might can make it more exciting when you find out what actually is inside of them."

That made a lot of sense, but Catseye still didn't feel comfortable with guessing. "What if Catseye says guesses for what she hopes the date will be and then the date is not any of those guesses? Then will Nick feel bad? Catseye does not want Nick to feel bad so Catseye is not going to guess!"

This took the boy back for a second. "Well, if the date isn't what you were expecting then how about I promise you that I'll take you out on one of the dates you really wanted sometime soon?" The pair had reached the edge of the forest around the campus, but Nick kept trudging forward.

"But Catseye does not know what a date is supposed to be so Catseye does not know what she really wants a date to be," she pointed out.
"Well..." The boy paused, squinting for a second. "I actually haven't been on too many dates to tell you the truth." But I hope it's something like this." The boy pulled up short in the middle of a meadow deep in the grounds of Xavier's. "Do you recognize it?"

"Umm... it's the woods?" Catseye answered, confused. She sniffed at the air of the meadow, knowing something about it was familiar. "Oh! It is where Catseye and Nick first met? Does that mean it is special for a date?"

"I hoped that it would be." With another quick grin, he pulled out the picnic basket he had been hiding holding it out in front of him. "And I hoped that these pastrami sandwiches would help too." Putting the basket down, he began unwrapping the sandwiches which were literally covered in paper towels. As he looked up at Catseye, his smile transformed into a smirk. "I tried to cover the smell as best I could."

"Catseye could only smell them a little bit," she admitted, smirking back at him. "So this is a date? Eating sandwiches in the woods? Catseye thinks she likes dates!"

"Well, I think dates are just being able to do something alone with someone you like." Holding out a sandwich in front of him, the boy moved towards Catseye. "And I just like being with you, but the sandwiches are always a help.

The purple-haired girl tore into her sandwich happily, beaming at Nick. "Catseye thinks that is a very good answer for what a date is," she agreed. "Catseye likes being with Nick too. Now Catseye knows what a date is and what a couple is," she said proudly. "Catseye just has to learn what sex is because Catseye still does not understand how it is fun." It was the one aspect of the whole 'being a girlfriend' conundrum that was still confusing her the most, but she was still too embarrassed to ask an adult about it.

Nick let out a long burst of nervous laughter. "I... uh... I..." He did his best to keep the image of Forge's pipe wrench out of his head, but it's like when you tell someone not to think of something. It's always the first thing that pops into your head. Scratching the back of his head, the boy plopped down next to Catsye. "I don't think we have to worry about the whole sex thing for a while. Right now, I'm more than happy just spending time with you."

"Good," she nodded, finishing off her sandwich. "Catseye is happy too." And now she would have more time to figure out the sex thing. "Do boys read to girls on dates?" she asked curiously.
The question took the boy back a bit as he considered. "I don't see any reason why they couldn't if the girl wanted them to." He titled his head slightly to the side, looking at the girl who was always a bit of a mystery to him. "Why do you ask?"

"Because Catseye likes it when people read to her and Catseye remembered that Catseye has never heard Nick read before. But Nick does not have to read to Catseye," she added quickly. "Nick probably has other things he wants to do on the date. Catseye just wanted to know if reading was an okay date thing."

The boy couldn't help but smile. "Of course, I'd love to read to you." The boy bulled the basket over close to him and quickly dug through it. Happy with his own dumb luck, he fished out his worn bock of Shakespearean sonnets which he had left in there after his most recent trip out to the woods. "You want to get comfortable first?"

"If Nick will not be uncomfortable?" she asked. She shifted to catform and jumped up on to his shoulder, draping herself around his neck like a purple scarf so she could look at the book over his shoulder, purring loudly.

A huge grin spreading across his face, Nick opened up the book in front of him. "Number 1... From fairest we desire increase..." As Nick continued to read, the smile on his face grew even larger, quite content with the purple cat around his neck.