" You get it, right?" Kitty-sorry, Kate asked as she placed a gentle hand on your shoulder. She had explained why she had asked you to call her 'Kate.' You heard every other word at best. Hearing her ask you to call her 'Kate' felt like a sucker punch. Her voice is gentle as always, but her asking you to discard her childhood nickname made you wish the floor would open up and swallow you. There was a sadness that you couldn't quite explain.

" It's just..." Ki-Kate. That would take some getting used to if you ever managed it. " 'Kitty' was fine, great even. And it was cute. But, everything's changing. We're on Krakoa. Scott and Jean are married. I lead a team now. Everything's changing, and I thought, I dunno, maybe it was time I did too." Kate rubbed the back of her head in thought, sounding like she needed to convince herself just as much if not more than you.

Ki-Kate! Kate still had to remind herself to think of herself as 'Kate.' She had been on the X-Men for as long as she could remember, and as the youngest member along with you, she was everyone's kid sister. Hell, Logan had even been oddly parental, teaching her about how to grow up and how to fight. For years, she had been fine with Kitty as a nickname, she loved it. She even loved the nicknames you had given her like Kit-Kat. But like she said, so much had changed. It was time for her to figure some stuff out about herself, and she had! Kate loved leading the Mauraders, loved being the Red Queen. It was a far cry from names like 'Sprite' or 'Ariel.' And she had kissed a girl too, figuring out she liked women too after years of trying to figure herself out. 'Kate' felt like the next evolution for her, the next step. Right? So why did it still feel so....wrong?

" It's just a name," Kate swallows a lump in her throat. " We don't have to be different, right?"

Oh, but you two did. For years, you two had been in a very long "will they or won't they." But if she were going by Kate now, trying to grow up, what if she had outgrown you too?