Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Sitting alone up on the roof of the mansion, Remy enjoyed a smoke to the sight of the setting sun. A favourite retreat of his, while many knew of it, there were easier haunts of his to check before they made their way up there as the last stone to be turned over.

"Hey, Remy? How do you get a guy to like you?"

So that was why he was so surprised to have such an odd question asked entirely out of the blue by his P'tite. Coughing hard, his lungs had their vengeance at last after all the years he'd abused them with his bad habit. Through watery eyes he saw Jubilee pull herself up over the edge of the roof from where he knew there was a patch of ivy he never before would have thought to be strong enough to hold anyone, at least anyone other than her.

"Yo, hate to sound like a PSA here, but newsflash, smoking's bad for you if you're not Logan. Or maybe Snaggletooth, but I think he's got bigger problems to worry about ever since that Deadpool dude used his head as a hand puppet. Groady or what, am I right?"

Laughing even as he had another coughing fit, it didn't take Cassandra Nova for him to know better. Stubbing out his cigarette, Remy patted a small space beside him, one hidden in the leeway of two windows of the rarely explored attic. Strolling up with her ususal bold and sure step, not for the first time he admired the catlike grace Jubilee possessed, thinking again that someday he'd make a thief out of her.

"You be asking Remy what he do to get a guy to like him?"

"Uh, is it okay if I say yes even though you know that's not what I meant? Because now you got me curious about what you would do."

Ruffling her hair, his answer to that question was No and she knew it. There were things, of course, that he had done in his life that he wasn't proud of. Flirting with a mark, though, was never one of them, be them a lady or a man. No, his regrets always laid in the morning after where his betrayal was to be discovered, that and the theft which had been his motivation.

"You need help with a boy, neh? Jono? Why not ask Rogue for help with that?"

Of all the withering looks he had ever found himself on the receiving end of, those of a teenaged girl were masterpieces that not even a thrice scorned lady could evoke the majesty of.

"Dude? Seriously? Getting guys to like her isn't a problem she has, it's her follow through. I mean, yeah, life sucking skin is a handicap in the sack. But hey, right back to teen orientated PSA's, no glove, no love. C'mon, you can't tell me you guys can't figure something out..."

"P'tite?" If he had to describe her expression, it would have been Oops.

"...can we just skip ahead to you telling me how to get Jono to actually notice that I'm a girl?"

Pulling Jubilee into a hug that lasted until the first stars of night shone through the waning light of the day, the stubborn stiffness in her shoulders melted away as she curled against him.

"What make you think that?"

Huffing in that way which clearly said she thought he was being stupid, Jubilee warily peeked up from beneath her bangs, and in that Remy noticed that she wasn't wearing her hair in her usual style. How much longer it looked without all the stuff she put in it that, as Rogue had once teased, made it look like a gosh darn porcupine's butt.

"It doesn't look bad, does it?"

Running a finger through her hair, it wouldn't be long until it brushed her shoulders. Letting himself imagine it even longer, someday Jubilee was destined to grow into a real beauty. But someday was still too long off for her, so it clearly it seemed, especially with her being the youngest of all the students that had since joined the now re-opened school.

"No, not at all. Now, tell Remy why he should believe Jono not notice you with how much time you and he spend together."

"Yeah, time mostly spent with Angelo too! Not that I mind Ange, he's cool."

"But you think they see you as just another one of the boys, neh?"

"Duh? C'mon, you don't see them inviting Hayseed or M to hang out, do you? Though I kinda see why no one would invite Monet along, stuck up bit..."

Pressing a finger to his P'tite's lips to stop her from saying anymore, Remy indulged her obvious irritation with a tutting shake of his head.

"Jubilee?"

"What?! She is! Gawd..." Flicking her fingers to throw sparks in that way she did when annoyed, Jubilee ignored his amused smirk.

"There be things you can do to so that maybe Jono notice. I see you already trying one."

Stroking her hair once again, he let his hand fall to her shoulder. It was with a half hearted shrug that she tried to shake him off, only to surrender in the end to the circles he traced with his thumb.

"You don't mean makeup, do you? Cuz me and mascara aren't talking after I nearly poked my eye out one time."

"Baby steps, P'tite, baby steps."

Even as he said this he realized his poor choice in words, earning a sharp elbow to his side that stung just as surely as what he said had.

"Sorry," apologised Jubilee in the quiet that fell between he and her.

"I be the one who is sorry. But like I try to say before I put my foot in my mouth, little things first. Small changes that only be noticed if he really see you."

"...well, he sure hasn't said jack about my hair." Mumbling sullenly, Jubilee shot another spark into the night to dance and blaze until it vanished in a crackling pop.

"Then perhaps tomorrow we go to town and see what we can do about that, no? We still owe you a new jacket, among other things..."

Reaching to brush a finger against that broken earring of her's which she still wore as a badge of honour, Jubilee bowed her head at his touch that was a reminder of how recent that fight had been, and how close things had come.

"Hey, LeBeau? You offering to take me shopping?"

"Remy knows it always cheers up you, and I think maybe you need a little cheering up."

Even in the dim light shed by the distant lights which ran along the drive of the school, Remy could easily see the blush that set her cheeks aglow all thanks to his devils eyes. Twisting free from the crook of his shoulder, she knelt near enough for a chaste and sweet kiss, one she instantly regretted.

"Gah! No wonder Roguey doesn't wanna kiss you, ya got sandpaper for cheeks!"

Left to laugh as she scurried off across the roof, he watched her with care as she leapt from peak to peak, from rooftop to the garage, until her last jump had her hanging from the trusty old basketball hoop. With one last wave she vanished to join the rest in the school, her smile telling how eager she was to a little shopping tomorrow.

With no one to look up to him and no one to behave for, Remy reached for his pack of Marlboro's to indulge in that horrid habit of his. Tapping the tip, tobacco blazed in a flash of kinetic energy unleashed. Drawing deep a breath that lured the ember ever closer, the evening breeze greedily stole away the fragile ash. And at nary even half way through he knew he wasn't as alone as he had thought.

Flicking his half smoked cigarette past the roof, it tumbled with a vibrant violet glow that flared violently for a brilliant death. Searching the shadows, he knew her by her silhouette alone, his Rogue. The same breeze that snatched at his smoky breath carried on it her alluring scent, awash in the hibiscus which betrayed her.

"Now I be sitting here wondering to myself just how long you've been hiding there, Chere."

Sitting there in the darkest of shadows he enticed his Rogue join him with his devil eyes that smoldered for her. They were each the others temptation for a touch, a kiss, that they were forced to deny these simple pleasures a tragedy. With a tiptoe step she crept near to fall into the warmth left behind by a love struck girl.

"Long enough," whispered Rogue, her voice filled with an envy that had no jealousy in it, "Since before baby steps, and a bit before even that."

Clearly dressed for a late afternoon flight through the sky at sunset, his Rogue wore a T-shirt tied off at her midriff and denim cutoffs that got the kind attention that a tres belle fille he knew wanted. If not his touch, then it was to be the wind that caressed her as he could not, her skin welcoming of the fast fading heat of the day that still rose a sweat.

Admiring her with the ache of denial clutching at his heart, from beyond baby steps he found some wisdom.

"Rogue?"

Whether it was her own curiosity or the steely intent of his voice, she looked unto to him with a curiosity in her glistening green eyes. Resting a finger under her chin, never so glad was he to have worn his gloves as he was just then, guiding her to until a spill of her auburn hair fell as a veil to hide her beauty from him. And in that moment when all he had of her was that image burned forever into his soul, he leaned forward for a kiss, her silken hair intoxicatingly soft against his lips.

Hidden though she was, the dampness of her tears only encouraged him, lavishing his long denied love through the locks that tumbled and fell to keep them safe. Finally at last her ivory streaked tresses fell that he could brush his lips against hers, and to breathe her breath as his. Set upon the sickeningly sharp edge of their desire, he fell away from her so she wouldn't have to know the pain of pulling back. To hear her laugh, though, soothed his wounds.

"Baby steps?" asked his Rogue, her voice airy and breathless.

"Oui, Chere, baby steps."

From the very mouth of such a babe a truth was to be found, one long overdue for he and his Rogue figure out after so long, that of finding ways to be intimate at last. With the night still young and the dawn just a distant thought, there was time enough to explore all the ways they could kiss, right down to the brush of satiny smooth lips against the stubble of his own sand paper cheeks.

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