Disclaimer: X-Men: Evolution and all related names belong to Marvel Entertainment, Inc.

Picking up very shortly after "The Makings of a Hero" left off. (I wonder if "Blind Alley" will have any fanfiction inspiring material.... I suppose only time will tell!)

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"Is This What Love Feels Like?"
By William Logan
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"And then he comes runnin' in to save the day... I really wasn't sure if I was gonna make it out of that fight," Rogue told Kitty Pryde, who was sitting on the bed across from her in their makeshift bedroom in the basement of the Xavier Institute.

"Yeah? And then what?" Kitty asked, her eyes sparkling with interest. She'd never seen Rogue this happy about anything.

"Well, after we scared off those punks, he kinda started flirting with me, real smooth like," Rogue said with a blush, "he has such a nice voice... and those red eyes are to die for." Kitty gave Rogue a strange look as her roommate sighed dreamily.

"Red eyes, to die for? Like, okay, that's just plain freaky," Kitty said.

"Hey, I had to listen to you talkin' to Lance all those nights on the phone! I think I'm entitled to some girly gush time, don't you?" Rogue tried her best to sound offended, but just ended up giggling, which earned her another look. At the mention of Lance, Kitty's nose wrinkled up slightly. Rogue frowned, apparently the breakup was still a touchy subject with the brown haired girl.

"So what did he say?" Kitty asked, trying to push the thoughts of Lance to the back of her mind.

"Well, he handed me this card, the ace of hearts, not that that part is really important, but still! He told me to remember him by it... promised me it wouldn't blow up because he didn't want to mess up my 'pretty face.' He thinks I have a pretty face! He's probably the first guy who hasn't just ended up calling me 'skunk head,'" she let out a soft squeal, grinning, "and he has such a cute butt!"

"Uh, Rogue, are you okay?" Kitty blinked rapidly, "I've never heard you talking about anyone like this before... or being this excited about anything, for that matter, except maybe those Rob Zombie tickets you won a few months ago."

"Oh, this is way better than that! I finally have a guy that thinks I'm attractive, and one who knows about my mutation and doesn't mind, at that!" Rogue said, again noting that Kitty's mouth drooped a bit, though not into a full frown, "you're still gettin' over Lance, aren't you, sugah?"

"No, I've gotten over that loser," Kitty replied, perhaps a bit too defensively. Rogue shrugged, looking at the clock.

"Oh! We'd better head to the dining room before all the food is gone," the pair jumped up off their beds and rushed up to the dining room, where dinner was all set up on the table. As Rogue took a seat next to Spyke, she softly hummed "Wish You Were Here" by Incubus, earning her a couple of strange looks from around the table. Dinner went by with very little incident, although Rogue did little more than play with her food happily, there were far too many butterflies in her stomach for anything else to fit. As everyone got up to clear their plates from the dinner table, Logan approached her and pulled her aside.

"Is somethin' wrong, Mister Logan?" She asked, eyeing him a bit nervously.

"Who were ya hangin' around tonight, kid?" he asked suspiciously.

"No one," she said, looking more than a little guilty.

"Was it that lackey of Magneto's? The one with the cards? 'Cuz I smell him on ya," he said with a grimace, which was very much like his normal facial expression.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," she said, tugging on her shirt, "but if I did, it really isn't any of your business, is it?"

Logan growled, "Just watch it, he's one of Magneto's guys, so he's likely to have a few tricks up his sleeve."

"I'll keep that in mind," Rogue huffed, heading back to her room. He's right, she thought, I really don't have any reason to trust the guy... but he's so cute! That was reason enough to be suspect about him, the cute ones were always trouble. After all, just look at Kitty and Lance, he was one of the cute ones, and he was major trouble for poor Kitty. Rogue saw the look on her friend's face whenever she saw the boy pass on the street, she could see the pain in her eyes when he averted his eyes from her, simply because he, too, had been badly hurt by the break up. Rogue didn't want that to happen to her. But then again, she remembered the look of happiness on Kitty's face whenever she was talking about Lance before the break up... was that happiness worth the risk of the heart break later on? The girl with the silver streak in her hair simply couldn't make up her mind. She sighed, entering her bedroom and flipping the light on, letting out a soft gasp when she looked at her bed. On it was laying a single red rose, a note tied around the stem. She picked it up, reading the note with a smile.

"S'est levé pour s'est levé," she murmured, "a rose for a rose..." He was a charmer, that Cajun, she thought as she felt her cheeks light up again with that energy that came from a flattered blush. "But I wonder how he got in here..." she said curiously, shrugging it off, not really caring as she collapsed onto her bed with a soft giggle, holding the rose up to her nose and breathing in its soft fragrance. So, was this what love felt like? She hoped so, she truly did.

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FIN
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