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Xi’an kisses her and it is soft, and messy, and her chapstick leaves a shiny little stain on the corner of Dani’s mouth. As soon as she realizes what it is she's done she panics, that familiar fight-or-flight-or-flail kicks in, and then before she can hide her face in her shirt or the blankets, Dani kisses her again.
Kisses her for just a couple seconds, but long enough that they can't ever pass this off as a joke or an accident.
Xi’an strides back and forth across the dorm floor, growing more and more tense and irritated. “I mean, she
kissed
me.
She
kissed
me
,” she says, her hands gesticulating wildly. Sitting on Nga’s bed, Nga and Gabby watch her pace like they’re watching an invigorating game of ping-pong. “What does that mean?”
Gabby raises her hand like she’s in class. “It probably means that she likes you.”
Xi’an comes to a stop and makes a face. “She doesn’t
like
me. I mean. Maybe she does. I don’t know.” She huffs, shakes out her arms and resumes pacing. “How do I know? How can I just
figure
out if it was a one-time thing or if she actually
likes me
?”
“Just ask her,” Nga suggests.
Xi’an turns to stare at her little sister, looking kind of condescending and kind of confused. “I can’t just
ask her
,” she groans. “You cannot just
ask someone
if they like you,
ma puce
.”
Nga shrugs. “Sure you can. Hey Gabs, do you like me?”
Gabby tilts her head, thinking about it. “Like, as a friend or as a girlfriend?”
“As a girlfriend.”
“Oh, then no, although you’re really pretty,” Gabby says. “I just like you a lot as a friend. Do you like me as a friend?”
“Of course!” Nga laughs, bumping her shoulder.
Xi’an, who’s been watching the little display with mounting annoyance, throws up her hands. “
Tu me rends dingue
,” she mutters. “Let me know when teenage mutant improv night is over.”
She catches Rahne while the redhead is digging a cheese stick out of the fridge. “Hi.”
“Oh, hi,” Rahne says, peeling off the plastic of her cheese product.
“Do you still have that, ah…” Xi’an motions to her head. “Psychic rapport with Dani when you’re in your wolf form?”
Rahne gives her an odd look and shakes her head. “Nae, I’m afraid not,” she says. “Not since Dani lost her powers.”
“Right, right.”
Rahne takes a bite out of her cheese stick and chews thoughtfully. “Why?”
Xi’an tenses up, and not just because Rahne’s eating string cheese without peeling it like an alien. “No reason, no reason,” she says quickly. “I was just wondering. Making conversation.”
“Is there something you want tae know about Dani?”
“No!” Xi’an says, skirting around the counter and pretty much running away. “I can’t ask a question without getting the third degree,
mon dieu
.”
After Rahne leaves the kitchen (throwing a worried glance back over her shoulder), Xi’an paces around the kitchen island for a couple minutes before huffing and going for the ice cream in the freezer. She’s usually not a big ice cream person, but this whole headache calls for some sugar. It’s at that moment that Bobby Drake strides in.
“Hey,” he says, beaming. “Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma ChaMEEEle—”
“Cut that out or I will possess you and post embarrassing TikTok videos to your Instagram,” she threatens, waving a carton of mint chocolate chip at him.
Bobby puts his hands up in surrender. “My b. Betsy sent me in here to make sure you don’t eat all the ice cream. We need it for our ‘Twin Peaks’ binge-watching sesh later.”
Xi’an grabs a spoon from the drawer beside the fridge and digs into the mint chocolate chip ice cream like it’s personally offended her. “Tough. I need it more.”
Bobby gives her a funny look. “Are you okay, Xi’an?”
“Sort of. I don’t know.” She sinks onto the barstool beside the counter and continues eating her ice cream. “I kind of… I’ve got, well.” She sighs. “Girl trouble.”
“As in like… period stuff or… another girl
is
the trouble?” She taps her nose to the second suggestion. “Ooh, who is it?”
“Idon’twannatalkaboutit,” she grumbles into her ice cream, even though she’s been talking about it with anyone who will listen all day long.
“Is it Dani?”
Xi’an jerks upward, brandishing her spoon toward Bobby. She moves so fast that a glob of ice cream flies off the spoon and lands by his feet. “How did you—?
Mon dieu
, am I that obvious?”
Bobby snickers. “Nah, but Dani’s been stomping around the Danger Room viewing area all day, pestering Kitty with questions about you in grad school and trying to pick fights with Anole and Hellion.”
“She’s been asking about me?” Xi’an says, feeling something swooping within her stomach. “Do you think she—? Ach, I don’t know why this is so complicated.”
“You should just go tell her how you feel,” Bobby suggests.
“What? How is that going to help?”
Bobby stares at her. “Because, uh, every relationship— so I’ve heard— is really helped along by, like, talking.”
“I just…” She digs into her ice cream again. “Maybe I’m a coward, okay? But I can just imagine telling her that I’m crazy about her and what if she just wants to be friends, you know? And then if I get all…
mushy
, then we can’t even be friends anymore, you know?”
“In my professional opinion… as someone with eyes and ears… she definitely likes you back,” Bobby suggests.
She scowls. “I just don’t know. I can’t… I can’t face her right now. I’m too nervous.”
Xi’an eats her ice cream and Bobby thinks and then he snaps his fingers. “Okay. I have an idea. It’s really stupid.”
Xi’an sets her ice cream on the counter. “I’m all ears.”
Dani is shaken from her brooding in the Danger Room viewing area when Iceman walks in. “Oh, good, do you want to spar with me? All of these kids are chickens who won’t fight me.”
He laughs. “I actually wanted to talk to you. No fighting.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “Okay. Let’s talk.”
Bobby wilts, looking nervous, but then he straightens up again. “You’ve been grouching about Xi’an all day, but… I mean, how do you feel about her? Honestly?”
Dani’s face scrunches up and then she sighs. “How do I feel about her? She’s so… strong, and
smart
, and amazing. She’s my best friend and I
thought
maybe… more, I dunno. But we kind of had a
moment
and now she’s been avoiding me all day so… so, I don’t know, maybe she doesn’t feel the same way about me.”
The look on Bobby’s face is funny, kind of hopeful and amazed. “She does, Dani. She likes you back, she likes you back so much.”
“How do you know?”
And that’s when Dani notices the slight pink halo around Bobby’s head. “Because I’m not Bobby.”
“SHAN?!”
Xi’an-as-Bobby is grinning and laughing nervously and happily all at once, and she crosses the room to hug Dani. “I was so nervous about talking to you after that kiss and Bobby said I could use his body so if you shot me down it wouldn’t actually be me but you
didn’t
shoot me down and everything is just…
perfect
.”
Dani laughs hysterically. “Xi’an, that’s the weirdest fucking thing anyone’s ever done for me. You’re incredible.” Xi’an-as-Bobby beams. “Well, I’m gonna kiss you now. But I’m not kissing you by proxy. Where the hell are you?”
“The kitchen.” The pink aura fades and Bobby shakes his head, comes back to himself with a grin. “How’d it go?”
“You’re a real champ, Bobby Drake,” Dani sighs, shaking her head.
“Gay-lesbian solidarity,” Bobby responds, holding out his hand for a fist bump. Dani bumps her fist against his and tears off toward the kitchen.
Xi’an is waiting for her in front of the counter, her face a mosaic of glee and hope and happiness. “You like me back?”
“Of course I do, dummy,” Dani says, throwing her arms around Xi’an. “I kissed you, didn’t I?”
“Well, yes, but just to be sure,” Xi’an says, pulling away just a little so she can look Dani in the eyes, “do it again.”