Ok... took me a few days to finish this... but I was bored, so what can I say? (I don't own the characters, Marvel does). Attempted Remy's accent without being too annoying so you could at least understand him XD Review!

This is Just What I Don't Need!

I sat up with a start when the indestructible alarm clock buzzed. Reflexively, I picked it up from the nightstand and in a symphonic sweep chucked it against the wall across the room. It didn't break, but the ringing stopped and it left a noticeable dent from the impact (there were plenty of other marks on the wall from the daily cycle). I exhaled a sigh of relief, massaging my throbbing temples, "Kitty, get up!"

Kitty groaned an exasperated, incoherent comment—rolled over, and fell back asleep.

Pathetic whispers of last night's nightmare plagued my mind, but none of the images were distinct enough to forge a story. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and clawed at the crust gluing my eyes shut, "Kitty…" I carried my pillow over to the other bed, "Ah said get up! We're gonna be late for Logan's stupid session!" It was more like the class for testing how far one could stretch his/her sanity before they broke and destroyed something. I smacked Shadowcat across the face with the pillow, harmlessly forcing her into reality. "Now."

"Alright, alright!" My roommate snarled and sat up, her hair jutting in every direction imaginable.

I slapped her with my feathery weapon again, giving myself a chance to beat her out the door. Towel tossed over my shoulder, I strode down the hall to the bathroom and jumped in the shower, letting ice-cold water ripple across my skin and wake me up. In the stall beside me Tabitha complained about my winter-temperature preference, but I ignored her and slipped into my uniform. As I turned the corner to the foyer I rammed into a familiar Cajun, meeting a pair of calculated red-on-black eyes. "Ah, chère! How're you dis mornin'?"

"Can it, Gambit," I hissed, but I noticed he had a strange expression plastered on his face—caught between blank and unreadable. "I wound up scheduled in Wolverine's class and Ah'm already late. Ah can't talk right now."

"But chèr," he got down on one knee and hugged my waist, "Remy has missed you so!" I slapped my hand over my face, feeling the piercing stares of the students. He had a way with women unmatched by his way with embarrassing them in public. The irony was that he saw me yesterday, and everyday of his forsaken life since Professor X asked him to join the X-men after the 'Apocalypse Crisis' (as delicately dubbed the Swamp Rat himself). "How's 'bout you take me up on my offer?" Damn you Professor X. Damn you.

"No," I answered vehemently and stomped off, leaving him on the floor.

"But Remy didn't tell ya what the offer was!" He sprang up, persistently tailing me. We trekked across the front yard to where Wolverine had his handful of underachievers saluting like some revolutionized platoon. Gambit droned on like I was interested in anything he had the say (and I never was, so the real universal question wasn't "Why does Gambit speak in the third person?" but it was instead: "Don't you ever get sick of listening to yourself?" He had a witty response to everything anyway, so I knew better than to waste my time with him), "You; me, this Friday night?"

"I don't think so, Swamp Rat," I considered touching him just to knock him out. Tempting, so… so tempting.

Logan cleared his throat, shutting us both up, "So nice of you to finally join me, Rogue. Where's Kitty?" I shrugged. He growled like a rabid wolf and turned to the several mutants. When Logan was angry he had a tendency to express himself by throwing impossible tasks in the students' faces and scolding them when they utterly failed (which was inevitable). He found excitement in such mission-definitely-improbable tasks when the trainees were put to the test at four in the freaking morning, and coaching them was a walk in the park because once they fell flat on their faces, they wouldn't get up for a while.

His idea of the fine line between "personal amusement" and "preparation" was suspended between warped and impaired, almost like his judgment during dangerous missions. Some of the trees' trunks were marked with tallies that Logan carved in with his claws, keeping count of how many students had passed out during each session. The current record is twelve for a full-day's worth of training.

This was his first session and already Bobby looked like he was going to collapse at any minute. Logan had four more lessons later today… he just might break his previous all-time high.

From the glower on his face I could tell he was about to unleash the full force of what events were in store today, and I swallowed dryly. Usually he took pity on me, mainly because I was the second most useless X-men on the team (the first being Jubilee. Seriously, Fireworks can't do shit against anyone. She can blind her opponents for about three seconds, jump-kick them in the shin and then get herself knocked unconscious for the rest of the battle. She's our back-up for blowing up control panels when Gambit isn't around).

It was going to be a long day.

Kitty showed up half-way through the first course of eleven sets of one-hundred push-ups, so she had to do thirteen sets. Bobby nearly died on twenty, Wolfsbane and Cannonball made it to fifty, Jamie multiplied so his thirty almost passed as three-hundred, but Wolverine kicked his clones into the pool and ordered him to start again. Kitty panicked when she accidentally squashed a caterpillar so Jubilee had to rush her to the recovery center before she hyperventilated. Gambit just stood with a smug grin playing on his lips.

During the second course we had to spar with Logan, since none of us made it past the first sixty push-ups. I slapped Gambit—hard—to briefly borrow his agility. Wolverine just swept at everyone's legs and took them down effortlessly, but when I was the only one to dodge he threw me in the pool, too. "Stay there," he coerced.

During the third course a minute later, he tossed the students into the water with me and demanded that we tread until we almost drowned. Bobby tried to freeze a platform beneath him but Wolverine shoved Gambit in the pool and ordered that he blow it up. Gambit sighed and uttered sarcastically, "D'accord, mon ami, dis is definitely the most effect way of handlin' dis…" and dove under, lighting up the block of ice. The blast blew Bobby into the tree behind Logan, who simply growled and shook his head.

"It's a nice temperature, non?" Gambit remarked as he back-stroked over to me.

"Don't even think about it!" I snapped, kicking down towards the shallow end of the pool. He followed me as I made a u-turn and latched onto the ladder, "Don't make me slap you again, Swamp Rat. Ah'll knock you out cold and make sure you sink to the bottom like a rock."

He grinned and grabbed hold of the edge, lifting himself out of the water with ease. "A kiss would do the trick, chère." He kneeled down before me, still smirking. He puckered his lips, blowing an imaginary heart in my direction with a wink. On a normal occasion my palm would have connected with my forehead, but this time I got an awful… glorious idea.

I forced a smile, parting my lips, "Oh, it's that easy? So you want to end up in a coma?"

"It'll be worth it," He replied, leaning closer as I pushed up on the ledge to raise my head towards his. His face swept closer, the gap between our mouths sealing all too quickly, but not swift enough. I kept my balance by gripping the front of his shirt—my leverage.

"Are you certain it'll be worth it?" I whispered seductively, tightening my grasp on him.

He rocked forward a bit too far, "I'm… positive…" Still the crevice closed; I felt my heart leap into my throat with a rush of adrenaline and the dreadful realization of the truth. Our lips brushed, which was almost enough contact to make me absorb him I don't think so and with that I dropped, using the momentum to pull him into the pool with me. He bobbed up to the surface, gagging, sputtering, "You're sneaky, chèr!"

"That Ah am!" I shot back, climbing out of the water. My gut did a double back-flip. If my brain hadn't clicked into place at that moment I wouldn't have this feeling—my stomach was knotting into a pretzel twist at the thought. I traversed over to Wolverine and told him, "I need to be excused, Logan."

He noticed my unusual, stung expression and arched an eyebrow; nodded, "Go ahead." I fled into the mansion, my mind screaming about how much of an idiot Gambit—and I—had just been. I was going to kiss him as a joke, but Gambit… Gambit was serious.

I changed into my second uniform, hanging the other one up to dry, but instead of returning to the military training with the man who still thought he was in World War II I fell on my bed and buried my face in the pillow. "That idiot!" I screamed, muffled by the stark-white casing, "He wants to end up in the hospital! And for what?" My chest hurt now—he always gave me these pains, either from standing around me or just plain old pissing me the hell off (more often than not it was the latter over the former that also made me throw a temper tantrum). "Ah hate him," I reiterated, kicking like a spoiled child, "Ah hate him Ah hate him Ah hate him!"

"Hate who?" A muffled voice questioned as the owner warped into the room.

I pushed myself off my bed and turned to my brother, "Hey, Kurt…"

He was giving me a flashy smile, "I heard a little rumor…"

Here we go. "What rumor?"

"Oh, nothing big but…" He side-stepped over to me like a crab and wrapped his arm around my waist, "Just a little whisper… here and there… oh, y'know… about you and Gambit almost kissing during Logan's training session?"

"Who started that?" I hissed menacingly.

Nightcrawler raised his hands defensively, "Hey, that's just what I heard. Tabitha and Amara are all over it, though." I checked my indestructible alarm clock (which seemed to replace itself, since Kitty refused to touch it out of fear she would get cursed or something. She once even suggested we get it exorcised after we threw it out and returned to find it on her bed) and realized that I had been only gone for twenty minutes. Rumors spread fast, but I didn't think this fast. "Now… the big question is… Did you really almost kiss him?"

"It was a ploy to get him to fall into the pool," I admitted, "Ah wasn't gonna actually put him in a coma—that'd be kinda weird to explain to everyone, especially the doctors at the hospital—but he…" I bit my lip until it almost bled, and finally said, "…Gambit was serious, Kurt. I don't know what to do."

He sniggered, "Oh, Rogue," He moved me towards the door, "then you'll just have to teach him a lesson about personal space."

"Ah already slapped him. What more do you want me do, punt him down a flight of steps?"

"Was immer du tun willst," Kurt responded blatantly and closed the door behind us, leading me down the hall, "but first, let's get breakfast! I'm starving!"

I groaned, "But Ah'm in the middle of a session! Can Ah join you for lunch instead?"

"Kill joy," He chirped the insult, clinging to my wrist and practically towing me down to the kitchen. As we padded down the steps (sometimes I wondered why he didn't just save us the few minutes and teleport us to our destination on the other side of the institute, but I kept my mouth shut) we nearly slammed into Gambit, who was drying off with a towel.

The Cajun grinned, "Bonjour, chèr. Oh, and de Elf is with you!" He sneezed, "Mon ami, I t'ink I caught a cold…" He noticed my glare and Nightcrawler's fading grin, furrowing his brow, "Did… Remy do somet'ing wrong?"

"Nah," I admonished, "Ah… could we talk alone for a minute, Kurt? Ah'll join you in a few." He cast his gaze from me to Gambit, back and again; then stalked off into the kitchen just around the corner. When he was out of ear-shot I faced Gambit who, for once, didn't have a smug or sly expression crossing his features. "Gambit… look, about the pool…"

"Dat was clever," He avowed, "Too bad you left. Logan made dem drop and give him a dozen more sets of push-up, but he grew bored and made dem run laps instead."

"Listen," I deluded, "Ah just… Ah don't want you touchin' me, alright? Ah'm afraid of hurtin' you." Sometimes I wondered why I tried. We've had this conversation before, but still he flirted—still he blew kisses in my direction, despite the numerous cold-shoulders I've countered with—still he persisted, and still I ignored.

"Oh, Rogue…" He wagged his head, "You don' get it. You can hurt me again and again, but I won' give up on you."

A response was caught in my throat for a moment. "Wh-Who do you think ya are?" I snapped, "You know Ah can't touch—so why do you bother? Ah'm not the kind of gal who's worth the wait, Gambit." He didn't falter, but his smile returned. "What the hell's your problem? Ah can't stand you, Cajun! You're drivin' me up a freakin' wall!" I felt tears well my eyes from the simple thought of how frustrating he was; my fingers curled into fists, and I slung a punch in his direction. He merely slapped my hand away. "Just leave me alone!"

"Désolé, chèr," He apologized, "There's gonna be a meteor shower tonight. You gonna watch?"

"Dammit!" I exclaimed, "This is what Ah'm talkin' about! Ah hate you!" Before he could react, I stormed off into the kitchen.

Kurt (and pretty much everyone else sitting at the table with him) was staring at me intently, "You're loud when you yell…"

I rolled my eyes skyward, "Tell me somethin' Ah don't know." I leant back against the doorway frame, arms folded tightly back against my chest. "Ah just hope Wolverine finishes with his session before Ah get back."

Tabitha playfully poked Amara's ribs with her elbow, "So… Rogue… Is the rumor true?"

You're the one who started it! You tell me! I felt my blood boil, "Go fall in a hole!" I turned abruptly and stomped off, only hearing mutters of 'Smooth move, Boom-Boom' behind me. Much to my dismay I returned to the battle front just as Logan ordered his squad to give him seventy more laps around the yard. Off in the corner, Jaime and Bobby were unconscious under the tree marked with three gashes. I tugged Logan's sleeve and pointed to the tallies.

As if reading my mind, he replied, "The third one is for Kitty. She's counts because Jubilee came back without her." Almost on cue, Jubilee tripped from exhaustion and Sam tripped on her. They both tumbled to the ground, unable to get back up. "That's two more for the record books." Wolfsbane had better stamina in her wolf form, but as she raced by Wolverine stuck out his foot and she collapsed, forcing her back into her human form. She couldn't get back up. "I'm gettin' good at this."

I slapped my hand over my face. The ground beneath my feet vibrated as Colossus jogged by, clad in iron. He paused before Wolverine, "I'm doing good?"

Logan sighed, "Considering you missed half of the previous exercise, yeah." Colossus shrugged, oblivious to the man's sarcasm, and continued running. "What's the matter, kid?" Logan asked me, observing my despondent mood.

"How do Ah put this…?"

"Cajun troubles?" He supplied.

"Pretty much," I agreed, resorting to pinching the bridge of my nose when the familiar accented voice called out to me. "And here we go."

"Gotta give him credit," Wolverine remarked coyly, "He tries."

"You're not helping!"

"Chère!" Gambit exclaimed and pounced on me with a hug from behind, smirking into my ear. "Remy's missed you so!" My elbow shot back and nailed him in the gut, forcing him to release me. "Ow, chèr! Ya hurt me!" He feigned a hurt expression, gasped like he had forgotten how to breathe, and collapsed. "De pain! Oh, it hurts me so—like the t'orns of a rose, so belle yet so sharp! My heart—how it beats at an unsteady pace whenever I lay my gaze on such a glorious sight!"

"Save the melodrama before Ah puke," I spat.

Off in the distance Colossus didn't see Scott and slammed into him. Wolverine sighed, "Better make sure Colossus is alright." He couldn't give a rat's ass about Cyclops. "You two lovebirds try not to hurt yourselves while I'm gone." He stomped off, leaving me alone with the dramatic Cajun.

Dandy.

Gambit smirked and covered his ruby-gleaming eyes with the back of his forearm, "Wit'out her love I am but the dirt! Wit'out her love I am lost, wandering the blank pat' b'fore me wit' only a broken heart! Mend my heart, chère! Fix it, for I am so lonely… and so sad…" The scary thing was that now his act sounded almost sincere. "My scars are open, hidden beneat' my mask! Why, chèr, why do you leave me to suffer like I am but a rat lying in the street?"

"Because that's exactly what ya are!" I raged, kneeling so I could swat at him. "What the hell's your problem?"

"You, chère," He mused, "My heart aches for you," he gripped his shirt like his arteries were about to explode out of chest, "it aches for but a simple kiss from such a delicate flower! I can feel it beating, pulsing, working like a machine—threatening to burst from how much emotion it has built up for you!" He's officially spent too much time with Beast—that or he's finally snapped. "Do you want to feel it, chèr?"

"No Ah do no—hey!" But he grabbed my wrist and removed my glove before I could blink, pressing my exposed palm against his chest. "Gambit, don't you…! Make… me…" My voice trailed off, my temper falling victim to the symphonic pulsing of his heart as it slammed against its cage. My own heartbeat fell in sync with his, everything silencing around us. I recognized this—he was scared, but I didn't know of what. "Gambit…" He sat up abruptly, breaking me from my trance. I quickly slipped my glove back on, cursing myself for becoming seduced by his charms. Despite giving myself a mental kick in the ass I stayed with him until the silence became overwhelming. "What're you afraid of?"

His gaze shifted slightly, "It's not what I'm afraid of. It's who I'm afraid for."

"Who?

"You."

"Why?"

"You keep pushin' me away, chèr," He answered honestly, "and I've noticed it's not jus' me, but everyone else, too. Chère, you may not want my help and I digress, but jus' accept de facts for what dey are."

"What facts?" I scoffed.

"I really like you Rogue… but it's hard to admit dat from time to time wit' you always rejectin' me," He almost smiled when I gave him a shocked-OMG-plot-twist expression. "Also, the X-men are you're family. You gotta let 'em in, too. You're so afraid of hurtin' everyone else you can't bear to get close to anyone. Chèr, you can hurt me again and again and again, but I'm not givin' up on ya. Not. Even. Close." And then he kissed me—briefly, just enough to avoid getting knocked out.

I didn't know what to think. First of all, Tabitha was never going to let me live this down since she was most likely watching from a distance like the stalker she was, and second… I knew he was telling the truth. I had absorbed his thoughts, and he… he was telling the truth. It wasn't that easy to convince me but he was going to try anyway—for my sake, for his sake…

"Dammit, Gambit!" I snapped finally, fighting back tears, "You know that Ah freakin' hate you sometimes, right?"

Smiling, he brushed a bang out of my face, "I know ya do, Chèr… I know ya do…"

Later that night, as we watched the meteor shower, I found out Wolverine had beaten his record of twelve by two. He's determined to beat it again.