Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to X-Men or any of the characters in this story. Be glad because I certainly wouldn't have created them so well. Please enjoy.
Special Thanks: luvbubbles75, for the idea. And my reviewers for making me believe I could write X-Men Fanfics.
Being Only Human
by
Zodiac Eclipse
(set after X3 and the events of my oneshot Rogue's choice)
Rogue heard them whispering about her as she walked through the halls. Even the so-called psychics who didn't actually need to whisper to talk about her, she didn't have to actually hear their voices, she knew what was going on. Eyes passed over her quickly and knowing looks were exchanged.
Everyone seemed to think things were finally getting back to normal at the institute. Classes were starting to resume, food fights were being thwarted, the world outside was less chaotic and tolerance was spreading. Everyone seemed to think things were better, but everyone was wrong.
"Hey Jubilee," Rogue called, glad to see a friendly face.
"Hey Rogue, how ya doing?" The attractive Asian girl smiled as Rogue ran up to her.
"I'm doin' fine, have you seen Bobby around?" Rogue was still unable to shed her souther drawl, though everyone had been gracious enough to act as though they didn't notice.
"Haven't seen him, but Colossus was talking about having a senior students only meeting with Storm later, maybe he's at that," Jubilee offered with a shrug.
"I didn't hear about a meeting."
"Well I wasn't invited either if that makes you feel any better."
"Do you know who all was invited?"
"I think it was just the kids who fought with the team at the Alcatraz thing."
"They are calling them 'senior students' now?" Rogue raised her eyebrow skeptically. Jubilee gave a laugh.
"Well thats what Pete said anyway."
"Thanks for the info," Rogue said with a wave as she turned to leave.
"Anytime," Jubilee replied, her smile fading quickly as Rogue rounded the corner toward the professor's old office. Shaking her head Jubilation Lee turned and walked away.
Rogue pushed passed multiple versions of a young brown haired boy who seemed to be trying to pull himself together. It was weird how you could just get used to seeing things like that. When she had first come to the school she had been completely fascinated by the other mutants and their variety of powers, but now she barely noticed the spectacles around her.
Arriving at the office door she found it closed. The Professor usually only closed the door for classes or meetings, Rogue wondered if Storm kept up this tradition. Especially since the Professor never minded interruptions.
A loud slow knock on the thick wooden door brought silence to the lips of the people in the room. Kitty jerked her head nervously at the sound, stopping her question mid-sentence.
Storm crossed her arms over her chest, a posture she found herself using frequently these days.
"Come in," she called.
The door opened slowly as Rogue peered in at the occupants. Storm stood arms folded in front of a large oak desk. Logan stood next to her, chewing on an unlit cigar. To his left in a smooth black leather arm chair rested the quite Colossus, his brow creased in thought. And to his left sitting comfortably on the matching couch was her boyfriend Bobby Drake, and the girl he seemed to be spending way too much time with, Kitty Pryde. Rogue noticed Bobby lean against the arm rest slowly moving himself away from Kitty.
"What can we do for you Rogue?" Storm asked. The question wasn't unfriendly, but it had an air of authority to it that Rogue was unaccustomed to when speaking with Storm.
"Nothing particular, just wondering where everyone ran off to," Rogue said offering a nervous smile, "guess I found y'all."
"We're just finishing up an important meeting, you can wait outside if you like," Storm offered cordially. Again, it wasn't what she was saying that made Rogue feel tense, it was the way she said it.
"My missin' anything important?" Rogue asked still leaning against the door frame trying to seem casual.
"Nope everything is fine, just sorting out some staff duties, we'll be done in a moment," Storm smiled.
Rogue wanted to ask more, ask what was going on, and why she wasn't in on it, but something about Storm's smile made her decide against it. The two of them had formed an uneasy friendship since Rogue had returned from receiving the cure. There had been a confrontation even though Storm had allowed Rogue to remain at the school, things had not been the same between them since that day.
"I'll be done in a minute if you wanna wait for me," Bobby offered. Kitty's eyes were on the floor.
"Sure, I'll be waiting out here," Rogue said brightly slowly pulling the door shut on her own face which quickly conveyed a look of fury. Why hadn't they invited her to the meeting? Why hadn't Bobby or Logan insisted she be included? And what was Kitty doing sitting so close to HER boyfriend?
Time passed by and kids wandered passed on their way to various activities and chores. Rogue was about to give up and storm off when at last the door opened and a laughing Bobby emerged. Peter gave Rogue a brief nod and walked away. She didn't worry over it too much, that was just Pete's way.
"Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow Bobby," Kitty was saying with a quick glance in Rogue direction.
"Sure Kitty, see you then," Bobby replied flashing her a quick grin before turning to face his irritated girlfriend.
Rogue glanced behind him to see if Logan would also emerge, but instead the door shut once again.
"Lots o' meetings today?" Rogue asked.
"Yeah guess so," Bobby said looking at the closed door over his shoulder before turning back to Rogue. He reached out slowly and took her hand. It felt smooth against his own, odd how they had been together so long and yet just the feeling of her skin was so unusual to him. They began walking towards their dorms.
"So..." Rogue began, leaving a lengthy pause behind the all too versatile word.
"So?"
"What was that all about?"
"Oh, Storm wants us to be teachers."
"What? But you guys are still just kids."
"Well not full time teachers, we'd still be taking classes with the rest of you, just helping her and Logan run some things, taking over supervising some activities and such, nothing too important."
"Nothing too important? Are you guys like the new X-Men now?"
"What? No, No way. They just wanted us to help out since we've had combat experience and worked with the team before."
"I worked with the team once, why wasn't I invited to the little meeting?" Rogue glared at him, her frustration showing through. Bobby noticed and picked his words carefully.
"You'd have to ask Storm, she just told us that the three of us where gonna be senior students now and that meant that we'd have a lot more responsibilities around here."
"That's not fair," Rogue protested pulling her hand away from Bobby and making a tight fist at her side.
"Honestly Rogue, it's really not as cool as it sounds, I'm gonna have so much extra work it's not even funny."
"Something was funny when you were leaving the room, must have been something Kitty said," Rogue hissed. Bobby sighed in exhaustion.
"Your not on that again are you?"
"I wouldn't be if even a single day would pass where I didn't see the two of you hanging out together."
"It's not like that Rogue, this place may be a mansion, but it's not so huge that you can expect me to never run into someone."
"You could try a little harder, you know, for us," Rogue lip trembled a little as she said the last part. She looked away from Bobby, not wanting to break down right here in the hallway.
"Actually I can't," Iceman sighed, "Kitty is one of the senior students too, we'll be working together on a lot of stuff from now on, doing specialized danger room training together with Pete. I really can't avoid being around her."
"So it's like that huh?" Rogues eyes betrayed her resolve and filled with tears. She turned to walk away.
"Aw Rogue come on, there's no way around it, it's not my fault," Bobby said seizing her shoulders and turning her to face him.
"You could have told Storm that you didn't want to be part of her special people's club," Rogue shot back accusingly.
"No I couldn't," Bobby replied his voice growing stern, "look around you Rogue, everything is different now, the Professor's gone and Storm can't do it all on her own. I was one of the ones who begged her to keep the school going, there is no way I could tell her I wouldn't step up to help her."
"I don't like it Bobby, I don't want it to come between us," She sobbed throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.
"Don't worry Marie, nothing will come between us if we don't let it," he said soothingly holding her close against him. It felt so good to have her there.
"If you really feel so strongly about it, why don't you go ask Storm if there's something you can do to help out too," Bobby offered as the embrace ended.
"I suppose I could," Rogue replied tensely. The idea of meeting with Storm to find out why she wasn't important enough to be included in the first place really wasn't something she wanted to do.
"If you don't wanna ask her directly you could always ask Logan to talk to her," Bobby pointed out, putting his arm around her shoulders as they resumed walking.
"I like that idea better."
"What's the deal with you and Storm? I thought you guys had made up."
"She thinks I did the wrong thing Bobby, I don't think she will ever really forgive me for it."
"Or maybe she already has and you're just reading too much into things."
"Yeah maybe," she muttered, though she didn't for a second believe it. A girl a few years younger than Rogue glanced up at her wide-eyed as the teens passed by. Rogue frowned and wondered if she was reading too much into the girls stare.
The next day was full of surprises for Rogue. Starting first thing in the morning when she entered her first class and saw Kitty standing there at the teachers desk. Rogue could barely listen to anything Kitty said, she was too focused on despising the girl immensely.
After the period had ended several of the other students stayed behind to talk to Kitty about her new job. Kitty had all the appearance of being shy and modest about her position, but Rogue just knew the girl was eating up all the attention. It made her blood boil just to think of it, pushing her chair away from the desk hard Rogue got up and grabbed her books and made a quick dash towards the door.
"Oh Rogue, wait up a moment would you?" Kitty's voice was calm, sweet. Rogue distrusted it immediately. The other students said their goodbyes and exited the room, headed for their next destinations.
"You wanted to see me?" Rogue asked her eyes narrowed as Kitty began flipping through a notebook in her arms.
"Yes, I was looking over the class records this morning, it looks like you had a little trouble with the last couple of tests."
"I was a little distracted, world ending again and all," Rogue said snidely.
"Well Storm wanted us to make sure and take extra time to get everyone back on track after all that's happened."
"Back on track?"
"Sure we don't want your grades to suffer. I have an extra credit assignment you can do to raise your grade some, then as long as you do well on your final your grade for the term shouldn't be too bad."
"Actually I'm really not in the mood for this right now," Rogue growled and turned to leave. The students for the next class were slowly starting to file in.
"Rogue! I'm just trying to help."
Rogue bit her lip hard and whirled around to face the other girl.
"If you really wanna help Kitty why don't you start by staying away from MY boyfriend?"
"What?" Kitty looked honestly shocked. The students already in the classroom looked up in surprise also, anticipating a full out boxing match.
"You heard me, stay away from Bobby, he's mine."
"Rogue, me and Bobby are just friends, why are you being so uptight about that?"
"Just stay away from him!" Rogue said, more loudly then she had intended. She heard whispering and some giggles from the back of the room and turned to glare at the students sitting there. They quieted under her gaze, but she knew that they would resume their gossip as soon as she left. Feeling defeated she turned and stomped out of the room. She went by her dorm and dropped off her class books before venturing outside to take a walk, she needed some space from this school for a bit.
After several hours of just wandering aimlessly around the school grounds Rogue finally had calmed herself down enough to head back, hoping she wasn't too late to meet Bobby for lunch. She had barely made it up the steps to the front door when Bobby rushed out to meet her.
"Rogue what did you do?" He asked, an accusing tone in his voice.
"What do you mean?"
"Kitty came to me crying, saying that you said horrible things to her and that she was gonna resign as senior student because of it."
"I'm not responsible for what Kitty does."
"Everyone's talking about your little outburst this morning you know."
"I don't care."
"Well you should, do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to be trying to teach a class and all they wanna talk about is some imaginary love triangle you're supposedly involved in?"
"Supposedly?"
"How many times do I have to tell you? There is nothing going on with me and Kitty, we are just friends."
"And what are we Bobby?" Rogue stared into his eyes trying to find the answer there. She had finally asked the question they had both avoided since she came back from getting the cure. When Bobby had found her back in her room he was surprised. Part of him had never expected to see her again, and when he found her there he had been confused.
Gradually they had tried to go back to the way things were, but things were so different now. He could finally hold her, the way he had longed to for so long. Rogue wanted them to take their relationship further, but Bobby confessed he wasn't ready for that. She was a little outraged at first, apparently assuming it was her right, but eventually she realized that they were having to start the relationship over, only this time neither had been sure of the rules.
"I really don't know what to say," Bobby admitted. He had loved her before, he was sure of that, but she was so different now. So needy and jealous, he wasn't used to that. Before she had been confident, brave and strong, heck she had flown the jet once, when he had been too terrified to try. It almost seemed like curing her mutation had changed the person she was, and Bobby wasn't sure he liked the newer version.
"Say what you're really thinking," she challenged.
"You've changed."
"Of course I have Bobby, I'm cured now, I'm normal."
"That's just it Rouge, it's not normal, they way you are now, it's not you."
"But it is me Bobby."
"Why did you take the cure? Really? Was it just so we could... be together?"
"Isn't that what you wanted? Isn't that all you've thought about since we got together?"
"No. I wanted to be with you once, but honestly now, I'm not so sure. And for the record, it wasn't all I thought about."
"What now that you finally can be intimate with me you don't want to?"
"I loved the Rogue I knew before the 'cure' she's the one I want."
"That's the trouble with you Bobby, you only want what you can't have," Rogue snapped, she stormed away to her room. Bobby almost called out to her, but instead sat down on the stairs sadly. Where had his Rogue gone?
(more to come, please review)