om_main | Kitty and Nico, Backdated to February 3rd

Kitty attempts to talk to Nico. It goes pretty terribly.

Kitty wasn't sure that it was the best idea.

She'd spent any number of days just wondering, worrying, thinking about it. But in the end, it was - do it or not do it, and when had she ever backed down from anything, right? Except that thing with Rockslide which totally didn't count.

So, good idea or not, she waited until it was a little later in the evening, then found Nico in one of his favorite haunts - the rec room. Fortunately, it was vacated of any others, including Yana.

"Hey," she said quietly as she came in, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Nico looked up from the book he was slowly working his way through with furrowed brows. He only slightly relaxed when he saw who it was. "Oh, hey Kitty."

"Am I interrupting?" she asked, mostly because it was polite because duh, she was clearly interrupting. In a move to hopefully make sure he wouldn't tell her to just get lost, she moved forward and sat down across from him.

"It's not like I was understanding much anyway," Nico attempted to joke, shutting the book and rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"I could help, if you want?" Kitty asked, rather than jump right in to why she had sought him out. She tilted her head, trying to get a look at the title.

"Help...with the book?" Nico asked with a tinge of suspicion, a slight frown pulling at his lips. People didn't usually seek him out just to help him with homework.

"Sure? And...anything else?" she added tentatively.

"Like what?" Nico replied in confusion, a slight frown coming across. He wasn't sure he liked the direction this was heading.

"Like...anything? Else?" Kitty huffed softly. "Maybe we should take this to a private room?"

Yeah, no, Nico wasn't sure he wanted to take this to a private room. He scowled at her instead, "Nope, nothing comes to mind."

Yeah, she thought not. Her lips twitched. "Look, I know you didn't want me to know. Or to find out like that. Or...to know," she repeated. "But I do and I don't care! And I'd still really like to be friends with you, you know, considering we have someone in common."

Nico knew that Yana would always be in the middle of them, and he knew how much it sucked to have two friends who hated eachother (thank you Yana and Vic), but he wasn't so excited about this proposition. "You were never supposed to know."

Kitty fish-mouthed for a moment, then sighed. "Yeah. I know. But I don't care. And I won't tell anyone."

"You better not," Nico agreed. He stood up, too much pent up anxiety to sit still, and asked, "Anything else?"

"Please don't leave it like this with us," Kitty frowned, standing too.

"Leave it like what?"

"Like...angry?" she suggested, spreading her arms.

"You're the one who started this," Nico pointed out. Besides, he was almost always angry. Anger was kind of his thing.

"And I wanted to talk, not run you off. There are people you could talk to! People our age that've been through this. People who know what you're going through," Kitty argued.

"If you thought I would talk about this, you don't know me at all," Nico told her, shaking his head. Yana's best friend was crazy. No way around it.

Kitty sighed. "I'd hoped."

"And how's that going for you?" Nico asked her, the bite in his voice unintentional. He felt...attacked.

"Look I...I just wanted to help," Kitty breathed out, dropping her arms to her sides.

"I don't need help. Yana's already helping me," Nico pointed out, crossing his arms and trying not to go into full on pissed off mode.

Yana was ignoring the problem and putting a great big rubber patch on a sinking ship, Kitty thought, but she knew better than to express that opinion. Instead, she ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm sorry. I have no business sticking my nose in it."

Nico nodded, because, yeah, she didn't. But better not to say anything Yana'd get mad at him for.

Kitty blew air out through her nose. She just did not get Nico. He was cute and talented, and probably smart if he bothered to apply himself at all, but all he did was glare and pout. She told herself that she didn't have a right to judge him. He probably had plenty of problems, and she didn't need to go making more for him. But it still really bugged her.

"Yeah, okay," she answered, and began sinking through the floor. "See you around."

Figuring he had probably just offended her, Nico decided to call out, "Yana's lucky to have a friend like you," hoping it would reach her ears before she sunk through entirely. It was true, after all.

Just when she'd thought it was useless to talk to him, she thought, as she disappeared through the next few floors toward her lab. She might have returned and tried to talk to him more, but she had a feeling Nico really just wanted to be left alone. Still, she appreciated the sentiment, and as she disappeared, she raised her hands and made a little heart symbol over her head with her fingers before she disappeared completely.