X-Men New Traditions

Although it isn't something Illyana openly admits, Kitty knows that the holidays are the blonde's favourite time of year. From the very first day of December she's been blasting holiday music and getting the twins into the spirit, happy as Shadowcat has ever seen her. Their twin daughters are easily swept up in her merriment. They've taken great pleasure in decorating the tree and throwing around handfuls of tinsel and trying to hunt Lockheed down to get elf ears on him. They've also investigated every possible place that their parents could have hidden their presents—every place except between the walls.

On one hand, Kitty's dying to give them some of their presents already, to see their little faces light up when they tear off the paper, and hear their delighted squeals when they play with their toys for the first time. This is the first year they're old enough to understand presents and Hanukkah and Christmas and to ask for things they want, and Kitty and Illyana have had the time of their lives shopping for them—and playing with some of the toys themselves.

With the kids being babysat by Kitty's mother, they ransacked all the toy stores they could find and went a _little_ bit overboard. They ran down the length of one aisle in particular and set off all the musical bears and trucks and dolls they're able to get working. Then, they hid in the next row and pretend to be just as confused as everyone else when the employees came to investigate. Of course, as bad of an actress as she is, Kitty's face might have betrayed them if Illyana hadn't stuck a stuffed toy in it. It only makes her laugh harder when the workers finally return to their stations.

Lucky for their children, and for Kitty and Illyana both, celebrating Hanukkah as well as Christmas means that Nadya and Tatiana have gotten a small present each for the last eight nights. It only keeps their excitement mildly sated, however, and now, on Christmas Eve, they're bouncing off the walls despite their best efforts to get them to sit down.

Old holiday traditions have been mixed with the new ones that Kitty and Illyana are trying to create for the family. The first tradition was to set the tree and lights up on the first day of December, then the family photos on Santa's lap and the ones while making snowmen and snow angels and the holiday greeting cards signed by all of them—the twins messily traced their names in crayon—and sent out to all their friends and family. They wrote wish lists to Santa for them and their claims of having been good and the kids were told stories and given rudimentary knowledge of what the holidays mean to different people. They even went carolling for a few hours with the rest of the X-Men until the twins are practically asleep in their stroller.

They lit the last candle on the Menorah hours ago, and they took a stroll down their street to look at all the Christmas lights on the houses—of course, their house trumps them all—and they hung their stockings up, but still the twins are claiming to not be tired.

"Santa won't come if you're awake," Kitty warns them now as she and Illyana tuck them into their respective beds anyway, one of them at each of their daughters' sides, "And the sooner you sleep, the sooner you can wake up and have your presents."

"But we're not tired," Tatiana protests, squirming under her blanket like that's somehow going to help her argument. Illyana brushes her hand over the young girl's forehead.

"I know, zvonochek*, you're excited," she tells her, holding the girl's fluffy brown hair away from her face, "but I know something that might help."

"What is it?" Nadya pipes up from her bed as Kitty twists around from her position next to her daughter to look at her lover.

"If you're quiet and you listen hard enough, you can hear Santa's sleigh bells," Illyana tells them, eyebrows lifting as a way of silently saying, 'cool, huh?'.

"I can't hear anything," Tatiana complains after only trying for a moment.

"_Shhhh_," Nadya hisses at her vehemently. After a few seconds, she makes a violent hand motion at Kitty and Illyana to wave them out, "You're breathing too loud."

Kitty and Illyana exchange a wiry glance. The blonde inclines her head to the side and is met with a resigned, but relieved, shrug from the brunette. The sorceress leans down to press a kiss to Tatiana's forehead at the same time that Kitty kisses Nadya's, and then they both rise and swap beds to bid good night to the other twin. Kitty switches off the light and they leave, the glow-in-the-dark Christmas stickers on the ceiling and walls casting a faint red and green glow to go with the crack of light let in by the door.

They don't say anything until they're back in the main room. Kitty leans against the counter and lets out a long sigh that ends in a laugh.

"Good work."

"They're probably not sleeping," Illyana says honestly, a grin on her face as she lifts herself up onto the counter and lets her legs dangle down, "They _are _**our** kids."

"True," Kitty laughs. One hand on Illyana's thigh, she turns around to put herself directly in front of her, "But at least they're in bed. There is _one_ more tradition we have left to do."

"The donuts?" Magik's grin only widens, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip.

"Sufganiyot," Kitty corrects her, though she still has a grin of her own in place. Given that neither of them can cook—and that Kitty's mother is only too aware of that—Theresa had brought a plate of them over earlier in the day. The twins had gorged themselves on most of them, but Kitty had made sure to hide some away for herself and Illyana to share later. Those too had been hidden inside a wall.

Now, Kitty ducks down to get them, phasing her entire upper body through the cabinet and reaching into the wall behind it. After a few moments of feeling around, she pulls out the tupperware container with the last two donuts. She cracks the lid open as she straightens up, and sets it down on the bench beside Illyana. Then, she picks one up and holds it in front of her lover's mouth.

The sorceress leans forward and bites into it, keeping eye contact with her lover as she does. She inhales at the wrong time, however, and the powdered sugar tickles the back of her throat. She tries not to cough, closing her mouth to hold it in, but the puff of air that escapes her nose blows some of the sugar on the top of the donut right into Kitty's face.

Kitty sees it happening right before her eyes, but still she isn't able to close them in time to avoid getting the sugar in her eyes. With their faces as close together as they are, just the donut between them, she feels the bits of sugar land on her skin. She starts laughing before she's even cracked open her eyes again, and her attempts to glare at her lover fail.

"Dammit, Yana," she chuckles, using her free hand to wipe her face, "Don't breathe, just eat it."

Illyana's face is red from the laughter she's trying to hold in, unable to swallow the bit of the donut she bit off. She brings her hand to her face, covering her mouth and muttering, "I'm trying."

The look on Illyana's face has Kitty trying to hold in her own laughter again, less she sets the blonde off again. She wants to be able to eat her own donut _sometime_ tonight. When she sees Magik swallow, she holds the donut out again, "Try again."

This time, she's successful in taking a bite without incident and the next bite and the bite after that are just the same. When she finally finishes it, she wraps her hand around Kitty's wrist to hold it still so she can lick the remains of the sugar and jam from her lover's fingers and then she's pressing a kiss to the pad of her thumb.

"Good, right?" Kitty asks with a smile as she hands Illyana the tupperware box so she can take her own turn.

"Mm," Illyana hums her approval, letting her tongue lick what's left on her lips as she plucks the last donut from the container and holds it out for the other woman.

Kitty tries to be more delicate with her own bite, but jam squirts out from the middle of the donut as soon as she sinks her teeth into it, and she can feel the sugar all over her lips. It's just as good as she remembers it being, and is made even sweeter because she gets to share it with Illyana.

When there's nothing left of the donut, she leans forward to give her lover a kiss that's deep yet gentle all the same. There's sugar and a few specks of jam all over both of their faces when they pull apart, and Kitty has to press her lips together _again_ to keep herself from laughing.

"Happy Hanukkah," she says instead.

"Happy Hanukkah," Illyana repeats—because even if she doesn't believe, she knows how important to is to Kitty and that makes it important to _her_—and kisses her again.

* * *

*_little bell _— translated from Russian


End file.

X-Men, Family, Romance