When the Ball Drops

Posted on Tue May 13th, 2025 @ 10:56pm by Kennedy Kelly & Kurt Wagner

3,293 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 6: X-Fernus Agenda
Location: X-Mansion
Timeline: December 31, 1990

The scent of photo chemicals still clung faintly to Kurt’s gloves as he padded softly down the hall, clutching a thin envelope close to his chest. He wore an enthusiastic grin—his fangs barely hidden—as he turned the corner and made his way toward the main floor of the mansion.

“Finally,” he murmured to himself, tail flicking in excitement. “Not blurry, not overexposed, not half of mein finger in ze frame. I am... how do zhey say? Getting ze hang of zhis.”

Inside the envelope were glossy black-and-white prints—his first roll developed in the mansion’s dark room since Christmas. There were photos of squirrels in the courtyard, the snow-laden silhouette of the gate at dawn, a candid of Connor laughing in the kitchen, and one particularly well-framed shot of Kennedy mid-arrow drawn in the Danger Room, lit only by the flicker of the kinetically charged arrowhead.

He couldn’t wait to show her.

But as he stepped into the upper hall that overlooked the grand foyer, he came to an abrupt halt. He saw Kennedy—dressed to the nines in heels that probably could’ve doubled as melee weapons—darting from one side of the hall to the other, rifling through coat pockets, checking beneath end tables, muttering to herself in frustration.

Kurt blinked, tilting his head slightly at her hasty upset. He descended the staircase with a bamf of displaced air.

“Guten Abend, Kennedy,” he said, tucking the envelope of photos under his arm. “You look... formidable. But perhaps a little frazzled, ja?” He offered a crooked smile. “May I assist in finding whatever eet is zhat has you hunting like a predator on ze prowl?”

“Oh, hi, Kurt,” Kennedy said with a fleeting glance in his direction before she went back to searching. “I’m looking for my car keys. I could have sworn they were in the dish on the table…” She trailed off as she walked back to the closet and started to look through every coat pocket for the third time. “I’m going to be late if I don’t leave soon.”

“Late?” Kurt faltered a little in his excitement. Maybe this wasn't the best time, not if Kennedy was halfway out the door. In her haste, she barely even looked at him. That… Kurt wasn't sure how he felt about that. Usually he had Kennedy's full attention whenever she spoke to him. Whatever this was, it had to be important. “Late for vhat? It's already late in ze evening, ja?”

“Oh… I…umm… I have a date,” Kennedy said as she paused her frantic search to deliver the revelation. Suddenly her glamorous attire made a lot more sense, the skin tight dress in a deep purple that made her hair look like spun gold, the almost obscenely short hemline that put her long slender legs on display, the full face of makeup that accentuated her striking features. It was all to impress someone else. “I was invited out to dinner and a party by a guy who works at the coffee shop in town. His name is Donald… Blake? He’s pre-med and here for winter break. It was a little last minute but it should be fun.”

Kurt blinked, the words hitting him like a misfired bamf landing him somewhere between unexpected and slightly queasy.

“A date,” he echoed softly, his tail flicking once behind him in a slow, contemplative curl. “Vith… a stranger. From ze coffee shop.” His brow knit slightly as his mind tried to wrap itself around the thought. “How… queer. Or, is it ‘unusual’?” His golden eyes drooped a little. “Vhat I mean… you know, I did not know… vill ve still be able to hef our coffee togesther? In ze morning, I mean.” He chuckled anxiously as words came that failed to explain what he was feeling. What was he feeling? “Sunrise comes early, ja?”

“What kind of girl do you think I am?” Kennedy light-heartedly scoffed at his comment and what it presumed she would be doing until well past breakfast the following morning. “It’s New Year’s Eve so I will definitely be out past midnight. As far as a specific time? I’m not really sure, it depends on how well we hit it off.” She laughed a little while she continued to rummage through the closet. “Worrying about when I’ll be home, you sound like my father.”

“Nein, not zhat,” Kurt countered, blushing a bit at the awkward conversation he’d created. “Never zhat. I am not your vader…” So what was he? Just a friend? A friend would wish her a good evening. “I, ah, I just… I vould miss our talks if, eh, you vere too busy. But I hope you haf fun.”

“I’ll be home and I’ll tell you all about it,” she said with a smile before Kennedy began to look on the floor of the closet.

Kurt knew he should leave it at that, but curiosity got the better of him. “So… vhat heppens at midnight? Anosther American tradition, no doubt.”

“You go to a party and usually watch the New Year’s countdown on television, the biggest set up is a giant crystal ball in Times Square that drops as the clock hits midnight. And when the New Year arrives a lot of people… well... they kiss. It’s kind of a good luck, celebratory sort of thing. Sometimes people just kiss strangers but if you have a date…” Kennedy shrugged rather than finishing the sentence, he would put the pieces together.

“Good luck kiss?” Kurt was indeed putting the pieces together and he wasn’t sure how he felt about the result. He had shared a forbidden kiss with Kennedy when she’d been overwhelmed by gratitude and excitement for his gift of taking her to see the Nutcracker. The taste of her lips from the featherlight kiss was subtle enough for Kurt to brush it aside for the accidental gaffe he’d believed it to be in the moment, but in the days since, it was a pebble in his shoe that he hadn’t been able to shake off. The thought of her kissing someone else was, well, it filled him with confusion. “Uh, I see. So Americans find a date for New Year’s Eve to, ah, avoid kissing strangers.”

He chewed his lip for a moment before splitting his mouth into a grin. “Zhat is different from Europa. It is not unheard of to share a kiss vith our beloved, family, relatives, friends who are like family, and zhank good fortune for having zhem in our lives.”

Had Kurt just insinuated something? He froze for a moment, unsure of whether Kennedy would mistake his meaning… and whether it was a mistaken meaning at all.

“Well, some people like kissing strangers, it’s just a fun, in the moment, sort of thing.” She said in a nonchalant tone, “Of all the people here, I never thought you would have such strong opinions on kissing.”

“Just…surprised,” Kurt mumbled, not sure what to say. He was making a fool of himself and couldn't stop.

Kennedy found her nice, camel colored coat knocked off its hanger and balled up on the floor of the closet and in its pocket, her car keys. “These kids…” she muttered while collecting her things.

Her attention turned to Kurt for the first time that evening and she noticed the envelope tucked under his arm. “What’s that?”

“Vhat is vhat?” Kurt had completely forgotten about the envelope full of pictures under his arm. Now that Kennedy had pointed it out, though, he said a quiet prayer of thanks for the redirection. “Oh! Zhese are ze pictures from ze first roll of film in my camera.”

At first he merely offered her the envelope, but then he reconsidered. Instead he sidled up next to Kennedy where he could rotate through them one at a time.

“Ze first few are just from Christmas morning…” Kurt quickly passed over three pictures of students covered in wrapping paper, the brightly lit tree in the parlor, and one of the window obscured by his oversized thumb. “Ve can just skip zhose.”

Moving onward, there were pictures of the frozen lake as viewed from the mansion roof, the golden gate at dawn, and a slew of students one after the other. They ended with the fierce picture of Kennedy from the Danger Room lighting up an arrow and then one of Kurt taking a picture of himself in the mirror sans the thumb over the lens.

“Ja, zhese are much better,” Kurt said, his initial excitement returning to him from before. “Vhat do you zhink?”

“You’re getting better,” she said with a smile as she examined his photographs. “The exposure and developing times are getting better too, that tinge on the corners is going away.”

She paused and examined the photo of herself. Kennedy was no stranger to being the subject matter of photographs, her face had been in newspapers and magazines for as long as she could remember, a prop in the showcase of a beautiful life. But this picture of her was different, it was far from the staged and glamorous photos she had always taken.

“Do I always look so mean?” Kennedy asked as she focused in on the intense gaze she so often had when she was lining up a shot. “I look so… mad.”

“Mad? Nein, not mad.” Kurt’s tail flicked behind him as he shook his head. “It is a look of passion. I see it vhenever you dance or read somezhingk of interest in ze newspaper. Perhaps you hef mainly seen pictures of yourself smiling or bored.” He nodded down at the photo in Kennedy's hand. “Zhat is how ve see you vhen you put your heart into anyzhingk. It's not mean. It's magnificent.”

She shook her head and laughed a little. “No wonder the younger students never ask me to help tutor them. I would be scared of me too. But if you think it’s magnificent, then I guess it can’t be all that bad.” They stood side by side as Kurt had shown her his portfolio so Kennedy needed to lean forward a little in order to find his gaze. She had grown to love the soft moonlit glow of his eyes and how his lingering shadows accentuated the feature.

“So what’s next?” The question was vague enough that she could have been asking about anything. It hung in the air for a moment before Kennedy realized there were a million different answers. “I mean for your photography. What are you going to work on next?”

“Oh!” Kurt had indeed been captivated by the endless possibilities of what she could’ve been asking. “I hef not decided. So far I am just, how you say, getting ze hang of it. But Herr Professor said zhat photography is less about ze object and more about ze perspective, und zhat ze camera vas his gift to me so zhat I may share how I see ze vorld visth osthers. I suppose I should give zhat more zhought zhan I hef as yet.”

With that thought, Kurt reached into the camera bag that had been attached to his hip all week long and removed the Nikon F4 from within. Holding it up, he offered Kennedy a timid smile behind the raised lens. “Vould it be alright if I took your picture now?”

“Now?” Kennedy chuckled and glanced at her watch, she was always early and still had some time before she needed to leave. “Okay, sure.”

She set down her coat and keys before making her way to the staircase. Without instruction, Kennedy sat down and posed along the length of the steps. She struck a pose on the stairs that showcased the long lean lines of her body in an elegant yet provocative manner as that effortless grace Kennedy possessed was on full display.

She held the pose for a long moment and realized there was no snapshot coming from the camera. Kennedy broke the statuesque position and smiled and laughed, “Are you going to take the picture or not?”

“Uh, ja!” Kurt startled a moment, realizing time had moved on without him. He raised the camera upwards, but before he could set his eye to the lens, it slipped right out of his fingers.

“Oh, Scheiße!” Kurt cursed.

On reflex, his tail caught the camera before it could hit the ground. Heaving a sigh of relief, Kurt made the sign of the cross over his chest while his tail slipped the camera strap over his neck.

“God forgive me,” he murmured for more than one reason. “Take two, ja?”

This time Kurt raised the camera slowly, utilized the SLR feature and really took his time framing Kennedy before he decided on the shot.

“Smile!” Flash. Kurt lowered the camera and smiled. “I zhink that vill turn out very nice.”

“Always smiling photos,” Kennedy smirked before she got to her feet and adjusted the hem of her dress. “But then again you aren’t a somber person. I thought you were going to be so serious and solemn when I first met you in your monk’s robe… I’m glad I was wrong about that.”

Kurt’s cheeks flushed at that description. Coming from Kennedy, she had practically called him jolly.

Walking back to her things, Kennedy put on her coat and collected her keys and purse. She paused and pulled a tube of lipstick from her bag before she looked at her reflection in the hall mirror. “What are you going to do tonight? Capture New Year’s around the school?”

“I…” Kurt looked away, his gaze locked onto the crown molding, the strings of Christmas lights, anything but those pursed lips. “I zhought zhat… uh…” He sighed. How could a wayward monk with a camera compete with a pre-med student for company? The answer was simple. He couldn’t. “... ja, I vill see vhat is good around campus.”

Shoulders slumped, Kurt put his camera away. “Hef a good time vith… vhat vas his name? Herr Blake.” His chin slowly raised up, allowing golden eyes to meet blue. “Still coffee in ze morning?”

“Yes, of course.” Kennedy agreed but she noticed his sudden change in behavior and how his shoulders slumped. Kurt continued to confuse her with his mixed signals. He hadn’t asked her to do anything for New Year’s and he had rejected her advances but now he seemed sad that she was leaving.

She touched upon her lipstick in the mirror before looking at herself one more time. But her eyes lingered on the downtrodden Kurt who she caught in the reflection. It made her feel bad to see him so dejected, Kurt looked like a kicked puppy with the way his whole body drooped.

“Kurt?” Kennedy straightened up and turned to face him as she dared to be bold in a different manner than an unsolicited kiss. “Is there anything you want to say to me?”

“I…” Kurt didn’t know what he wanted to say. All he knew was how he felt in that moment. “Truthfully? I vas looking forward to spending ze holiday vith you as I hef every osther holiday since my arrival. But you hef osther plans. Zhis is alright.” He cleared the lump in his throat. “I vill make do vhile you hef a vonderful time.”

“Kurt…” There was sadness in her voice because she had unintentionally disappointed him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were expecting me… us… to do anything.”

While his voice didn’t exactly crack, it was still far more uneven than usual. Disappointment did not wear well on Kurt’s face. He forced a smile anyway. “Zhere is alvways tomorrow, ja?”

Why was he so confusing? Why did Kurt give her such mixed signals? Somedays he was completely clueless or uninterested in her advances and other days he made her stomach flip with how sweet and considerate he could be. Kennedy thought about Christmas and how he had brushed off her kiss, then she remembered the whole reason why he was here in the first place.

“Listen Kurt…” Kennedy struggled to find the words for a moment, she didn’t want to upset him but she also wanted to be honest with him. “I want someone to love me the way you love Wanda. How you’re dedicating so much of yourself to finding her… it’s beautiful. I want something like that for myself, I want someone to love me and to want me. I don’t know if Donald is the one to give that to me but at least he asked, at least he’s interested. I can’t just sit around this school and hope that someone falls into my lap, you have to make things happen for yourself, right?”

She wrapped her arms around herself in a familiar attempt to soothe and comfort herself, that sad reminder of how badly she wanted to be held. “So please don’t fault me for trying to find what you have. I like you, Kurt, I like you a lot… but I also want to be someone’s missing piece because I feel so lost sometimes.”

“Natürlich I find no fault in you,” Kurt said. His voice trailed off, unsure of how to make the situation better. Kennedy wanted something he couldn't give. No wonder she was so caught up with her surprise date with a stranger. No matter how close they had become, Kennedy still needed the companionship of the highest order. Far be it for Kurt to interfere with that.

“Und… I'm sorry zhat you feel so lost at times. As tempting as it is to make anosther person your raison d'etre… it's a terrible place to live. Zhat is vhy I returned to ze monastery after… after Vanda left. I needed to remember zhat life is bigger zhan loneliness.”

Why was he explaining all of this? The poor girl just wanted to leave in peace and he was keeping her from that. Kurt wanted her to understand because… maybe he didn't understand so much himself.

“Now I am searching for Vanda because she is missing und nobody is looking for her. Love gives me determination vhere even her so-called Vader has given up.” His own inner conflict began to show through. “If you are lost, zhen… I vant to help you become found as vell. I don't zhink you vill find yourself vith a random stranger in town any more zhan you did vith Jace.”

Kennedy seemed wounded by his words, they were reminders of her failure and her heartache. She bowed her head in embarrassment over her continued follies.

Too far. Kurt overstepped and he knew it. “But I could be wrong. Zhat is vhy I hope you hef a good time.”

The look on his face suggested that he did not expect she would, perhaps for reasons beyond just a simple prediction. “I… I hef said too much. I apologize for interfering.”

“No, it’s okay. You’re just being honest.” Kennedy appeared crestfallen from their conversation but the reasons behind it were complicated and went beyond discussing her previous relationships. Had he asked her to stay, she would have. Instead, he was pushing her out the door with well wishes. The hot and cold of Kurt continued to baffle her.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.” Kennedy looked at her watch, she was going to be late. “Happy New Year’s, Kurt.”

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