Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina has survived everything from a lifetime in hell to a duel with a demon bear, but by god math is going to kill her. Seriously. Hours spent poring over arcane tomes she could do in her sleep, but algebra? How is she supposed to make sense of that?

She groans, letting her head drop against the textbook with a thunk. It’s well past curfew, and Illyana’d be halfway to grounded by now if she hadn’t made it abundantly clear to Magneto that she was, in fact, studying. Although she’s so thoroughly shit at math that she hasn’t even made a dent in the number of assigned questions. This is shaping up to be a long, long night, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t feeling relieved. It’s harder than she wants to admit to try to sleep in that room without Kitty.

Her forehead’s still flat against the page when she hears, “Yikes, still at it?” from somewhere over her shoulder. Instead of lifting her head, she just rolls until her cheek is pressed flat against the textbook and she has a clear view of Dani in the kitchen, filling a cup with water from the tap.

“Yeah,” Yana sighs, “This is totally kicking my ass.”

“The demon queen of Limbo, defeated by her greatest nemesis: quadratic equations,” Dani snickers as she takes a sip of water.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Illyana sighs as she stands and stretches, so tired of sitting in the same spot and staring blankly at the same page. She yawns, and turns back to Dani. “Why are you up, anyway? Mags’ll get mad. You know he’s touchy.”

“Who cares what he thinks. The world isn’t gonna end if we stay up late or, heaven forbid, have some fun.” Dani’s finished her water and dropped the cup in the sink, and doesn’t look fazed by the prospect of getting another patented Magneto lecture.

There’s an awkward minute of silence as Illyana tries to find her voice. Something about watching Dani in her pajamas makes Yana’s face heat up. “Hey,” she gets out after the pause, “Do you wanna… go somewhere?”

Dani raises an eyebrow. “Anywhere in particular?”

What Illyana stops herself from saying Anywhere but here, this whole house feels full of ghosts with the X-men gone and I miss Kitty so much I can hardly stand it.

Instead, Illyana puts on a grin. “You know, somewhere fun. Somewhere Magneto would bitch about us going. Somewhere befitting the demon queen of Limbo and a Valkyrie.”

That gets a smile out of Dani, and it gives Yana’s stomach the flips again. Not that long ago, Dani and the rest of the students were visibly afraid of Illyana, and for good reason. She was, is scary, and she didn’t know how to be anything else. But months and months later, and they’re making each other smile in the kitchen, and Yana knows that as bad as she was at connecting with the others, none of them actually found it as easy as Illyana thought they did. But fighting for your life has a way of bringing people together.

“Okay,” Dani says, pulling Yana from her reverie, “Lead the way then, Magik. Or, actually, lead the way after I get dressed?” Illyana gives her a thumbs up, and goes to put her shoes on while she tries to think of a satisfyingly impressive place to take them. A couple come to mind…

First stop of Dani & Yana’s Midnight Adventure Tour: The Mall

Every time they teleport, the brief glimpse of Limbo sends a shiver right to Dani’s bones. She knows Illyana can’t help it, but it’s such a stark reminder of how terrifying her teammate can be sometimes. As the light from the stepping circle fades, so does some of Dani’s initial excitement about their trip. “The mall? Really? We can go here any time.”

“Hey,” Illyana says, defensive, “Not like this we can’t. We’ve got the whole place to ourselves! No civilians, no bad guys, no supervision…”

That… actually does sound kinda neat. Crowds make Dani nervous, and start her into the spiral of worrying about what would happen if her powers acted up and they were outed as mutants, or if some sort of villain ambushed them when they weren’t prepared. Bobby gripes at her all the time for being too quote-unquote “drill sergeant-y”, and not “loosening up”. But right now, there’s no one in the building. Even if something were to happen, it’s just her and Illyana, and they can take care of themselves. And, even better, there’s no one their age to stare and make her nervous.

Illyana’s already waiting impatiently by the unmoving escalator, having turned on the flashlight she brought with her from home. “Come on, let’s go try some stuff on! Get our outfits for the night.”

If there was ever a montage-worthy moment, it would be this one. The two of them ran through shops, grabbing everything from crop tops and leather miniskirts to suit jackets and ties before dumping it all in the changerooms to get ready for an impromptu fashion show. Yana goes first, wearing fishnets under an evening gown, strutting down the section of the walkway they declared would be the catwalk. Then Dani, wearing a men’s suit patterned with such an obnoxious cherry print that it made her and Yana shriek with glee when they saw it.

They go back and forth with more and more extravagant outfits until they’re both shaking with laughter, surrounded by shirts and hats and feather bowas. “Wait, wait,” Yana gasps, “I’ve got one more.” She disappears back into the changeroom while Dani attempts to use a ridiculously large sun hat as a frisbee. Her efforts yield fantastic success.

When Illyana comes back out, she’s wearing a white lace lingerie set, with a matching robe tied around her neck like a cape. “Is this Emma Frost or what?” She calls, grinning and striking a pose.

Dani feels like her face is on fire. She stares furiously at the ground, feeling like looking up at Illyana’s body even for a second would have disastrous consequences.

Illyana’s still snickering at her own joke, but she’s sensed the abrupt change in the mood, so she rushes back into the changeroom. When she returns, she’s back in the pink skirt, skull tank top, and massive leather jacket she decided on as her outfit for the night (Dani chose a pair of ripped jeans, a flannel, and a matching oversized leather jacket). The two of them still aren’t looking at each other, though. It’s palpably awkward.

Well, fuck, Dani thinks, as she and Illyana start cleaning up the mess they made, I’ve gone and fucked it up now. Why was I so awkward? She’s gonna think I’m a creep. Oh god, what if she thinks I’m a creep about Emma Frost? My life’s gonna be over. She keeps spiralling as she throws brightly patterned Hawaiian shirts haphazardly onto the hangers they were torn off of, and she’s still mentally writing out a list of consequences when Yana calls to her from the other side of the store.

She looks up, and Illyana’s triumphantly holding up a cowboy hat she found on a rack. “It’ll complete the look!” She yells. “Pardner,” she adds, smiling.

As Illyana runs over and gently places the hat on her head, Dani thinks, Maybe I didn’t mess this up so bad after all.

When they’re both satisfied with how clean the store is, Illyana calls up another stepping disc. “Okay,” she says, “This is where the real fun starts.”

Second stop of Dani & Yana’s Midnight Adventure Tour: The Las Vegas Strip

“Tada!” Illyana calls as the stepping disc evaporates, leaving them in the center of the swirling mass of lights and sounds. “I told you it would get exciting!” Exciting enough to distract you from that glimpse of my hell dimension, she doesn’t add. They’re in the middle of the street, flanked by casinos, surrounded by a mass of people all there to have the time of their lives. Everything as far as the eye can see is bright and loud and demands your attention, which is exactly what Illyana wanted. Something reckless and fun to stop her from thinking about Kitty, about her brother… She twirls around, and looks back to see if Dani’s excited.

Dani looks absolutely not excited. Surrounded by people and lights and noise, it’s clear that she feels overwhelmed, almost suffocated. It probably didn’t help that Illyana teleported in full view of so many people. Even though most of the crowd is inebriated, some have started to stare. Some have started to run. Yana’s heart sinks, but she pushes the feeling away in favour of anger.

“Oh, come on,” she complains, “I thought you wanted to have fun!”

“This isn’t fun, Illyana,” Dani snaps back, “This is stupid and dangerous. Everyone just saw us fucking teleport! It’d be easier to just write ‘MUTIES’ on our foreheads.”

“So what if they saw,” Yana fires back, “Most of ‘em are drunk anyway. And you said you wanted an adventure, but you get grossed out by lingerie and you think Vegas sucks, so what am I supposed to do?”

Dani pulls back, and Illyana senses that she’s going too far with this dumb fight, but then Dani’s coming back with, “I wasn’t grossed out! I--it was just--whatever! You only dragged me out here so you could have an excuse to stop moping about Kitty!”

“Don’t talk about Kitty.” Illyana snarls. “Just--just don’t, okay?!”

“What, am I not a good enough replacement?” Dani’s voice quivers, and before Yana can respond to that Dani’s turned and started pushing her way through the crowd in the opposite direction. Illyana starts sprinting after her, but there’s so many people, and she starts losing sight of Dani. Eventually she just starts ramming people out of her way, refusing to lose her friend. One of the people she shoves grabs her jacket from behind and throws her to the ground. “Watch where you’re going, bitch!”

Illyana doesn’t hesitate before whipping out her sword, baring fangs and a forked tongue at her assailant. He backs off pretty damn quickly, but Yana’s lost sight of Dani. She keeps running in that direction anyway, hoping feverishly that Dani hadn’t been turned around and gotten lost. She’ll never forgive herself if her stupid selfish distraction-quest leaves Dani lost and afraid.

*

Dani runs, and runs, until finally she sees an empty alley between buildings. She ducks through the crowd until she reaches it, and then presses her back flat against the wall, desperately trying to catch her breath. She curls up until she’s sitting with her forehead against her knees, cursing Illyana for dragging her here, and cursing herself for thinking Illyana’s idea of fun would be something she’d enjoy.

She’s not sure how long she’d been sitting there for when she hears footsteps pounding toward her, more frantic than those of the crowd. “Oh, thank god,” Illyana gasps. She stops running, hands braced on her thighs as she pants. “I was so scared I’d lost you.”

Yana comes over and sits down against the opposite wall, facing Dani. They stay like that for a bit, catching their breath in the darkness.

Ilyana takes a deep breath. “Dani… I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking about what you wanted to do, fuck, I wasn’t thinking at all. You’re right; I’m just trying to find something to distract me from how much I miss Kitty, and Piotr, and the X-men. I wanted something loud and flashy, and even though I know crowds aren’t your thing, I brought us here anyway. I’m sorry.” She sighs. “But, Dani, you’re not a replacement for Kitty. She’s my… I feel a lot for her. But I feel a lot for you, too. You’re unique.”

It’s quiet for another moment, and then Dani stands up and goes over to join Yana, settling down beside her against the wall.

“That was majorly uncool to do,” Dani begins, “And you’re not, like, totally absolved for it, but I get where you're coming from.” She leans her head against Illyana’s shoulder, leather jacket creaking. “Hey, Yana,” she whispers.

“Yeah?” Illyana whispers back.

Dani tilts her face to look up at Yana. “What do you mean that you feel for me, too?”

Yana sucks in a breath, her heart beginning to pound. “I… You confuse me,” she admits. “Sometimes, when I see you, when we’re training or laughing or just hanging out, I look at you and I get that same bottom-dropping feeling like when the stepping disc activates.” Illyana’s probably blushing pretty hardcore, now. She feels like she’s on fire. Dani could either put her out or set her ablaze.

Dani laughs. “That’s it. That’s the feeling. When you put on the stupid Emma Frost costume and you thought I was grossed out, that was the feeling.”

“Oh.” Dani’s just set her ablaze. If Yana thought she was blushing hard before, she must be a fucking fire truck right now. She looks into Dani’s eyes, and then with a surge of courage, she leans forward and presses her mouth against Dani’s. The fire she’s in her chest is roaring, and it’s magical.

Third and final stop of Dani & Yana’s Midnight Adventure Tour: The backyard of the Xavier School

The stepping disc deposits them once more, back where they started. They’ve been holding hands and giggling since Vegas. They have to quiet down as they sneak their way back inside the school. Dani can feel warmth throughout her body, radiating from Yana’s soft palm against hers. It’s incredible.

They tiptoe back up the stairs to their rooms. Illyana smiles at her as she stands at her door, and Dani pulls her in to kiss her again. She’s warm and gentle and slightly mischievous, and Dani makes a sad noise when she pulls away. Yana just grins at her.

“Want to go out again tomorrow?”

“No casinos and you’re on.”