Chapter 1: Sparks
Rogue had dozed off again, and it hadn't been the first time that day she had. However it was the first time she'd dozed off in the library during study period and felt her head slam hard against the table.
Her eyes shot open, and she looked around a little panicked, confused at first as to what happened, she heard Kitty laughing softly, though Kitty wasn't glancing in her direction, Rogue got the distinct impression Kitty was laughing at her.
"You did it again," Kitty said after a moment, she was using a large eraser to completely remove a sentence from some notes she was writing.
Rogue yawned, she glanced at her watch, they'd been sitting in the library for only half an hour, she sighed, an hour and a half to go before she could get out of there and try and get some sleep. Exhaustion felt as if it were pulling her down harder than gravity. "I'd be fine if it weren't for that stupid training session," she kept her voice low, knowing there were too many other students in the room to overhear.
"Serves you right for staying up until one-thirty am," Kitty stuck her tongue out, "you knew you had a danger room session at six."
Rogue yawned again and stretched a little, "I forgot, alright?"
Kitty smirked, "yeah, I suppose with all the distraction you had with your date it slipped your mind completely."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Rogue raised an eyebrow.
Kitty smirked, "not a thing…so what did you guys do last night?"
Rogue scratched the back of her neck absently, "we saw Matrix Revolutions, went for dinner, and came home…"
"You guys were still out at eleven," Kitty said, "I went to bed at eleven and you guys still weren't home."
"Oh…" Rogue trailed off, she thought for a moment, "oh, yeah, we went to the cemetery."
"Jesus, I'm glad I'm not dating you, is that the goth idea of fun? Going to cemeteries on dates?" Kitty chewed the end of her pencil.
"We were visiting Gabrielle."
"Oh…" Kitty suddenly felt quite guilty for having made fun of the cemetery comment. "Sorry…that was rude."
Rogue shrugged, "Y'know, Remy is still pretty cut up about Gabrielle…never really got over it."
"Who would expect him to?" Kitty said.
"No one, I guess," Rogue yawned a little once again.
"So…how do you think the date went? I mean, judging by the little thing going on in the rec room at one-thirty this morning, I'm guessing things are PRETTY good," Kitty kept her voice low, she talked from the side of her mouth so that even the other students around couldn't read her lips.
"We're makin' a lot of progress, yes," Rogue blushed furiously.
"Is it just me or is Remy different lately?" Kitty tapped the end of her pencil upon her bottom teeth thoughtfully.
"Different how?" Rogue dabbed at the corner of her eye to remove a sleep crust.
"I don't know," Kitty went back to writing notes, "Just different. Haven't you noticed?"
"He's been…a lot more reserved lately," Rogue shrugged, "don't know why…last night he was kind of shy, which is strange because I always figured when it came to…y'know…"
"Sex," Kitty replied.
"Yeah…I always thought that when it came to that he'd be…more forward…I mean when I first met him, he was all makin' comments and smart assed about sex, actin' like there wasn't nothing he didn't know or that nothin' would make take a red face," she explained, "but…last night…it was kind of nice…" she shrugged, "seein' him so bashful made me feel like I wasn't bein' so stupid feelin' so nervous the way I was…" Rogue chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, "do you think I'm different?"
"Everyone knows you're different. The stuff you've been wearing lately doesn't exactly hide it, does it?" Kitty reminded.
Rogue scratched the tip of her nose thoughtfully, "what's wrong with it?"
"It's just not you…"
"Feels like me," Rogue shrugged.
"Oh come on, the Rogue I knew was a bit more inhibited and withdrawn than you've been lately," Kitty reminded. "You saunter around in tiny little corsets with your boobs bulgin' out, outfits that you'd need two hair-dos to wear, if you know what I mean…it's not exactly appealing. It's kind of intimidating," Kitty tucked her hair behind her ear, "and so unlike you."
Rogue gave a nonchalant shrug, it was something she didn't really understand herself, but it didn't bother her as much as it seemed to bother Kitty, or Remy for that matter. "Remy seems to think the same thing."
"When Remy starts seeing your outfits as intimidating and overly sexy, I'd say its time to worry…" Kitty smirked.
"Speak…of…the…devil," Rogue whispered, she glanced up, Remy had sauntered into the room, a rather large stack of books balanced in his arms.
Remy didn't look tired at all, Rogue realised he had probably slept until noon. He looked well rested, his fiery eyes bright, his hair shiny, his skin emitting a healthy glow. His movement was more free of pain than usual.
Kitty raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Remy looks a million bucks today…gee, I WONDER why," she teased.
Rogue nudged her, "ssssssh," she whispered.
Remy began filing books away in alphabetical order, he glanced over his shoulder at Rogue and Kitty momentarily, flashing a grin, then going back to what he was doing.
"I need a dictionary," Rogue lied, getting up.
"Sure you do. You need a dictionary for maths homework," Kitty giggled.
Rogue stuck her tongue out at her friend and headed towards Remy, who was several feet away from the table, on the other side of the very large library, she brushed her hand against his back as she approached. "Hey."
"Bonjour, ma cherie," He smiled, never glancing back to her, he placed a book on a high shelf.
"How's your back?"
"Feelin' a lot better today, actually," he replied, "how did the training session go this morning?" he asked casually.
"I was half asleep and flew into a wall," Rogue replied, chewing her lip.
Remy stifled a laugh with his hand, but composed himself, "sorry…" he apologised. "Is Kitty bothering you with stupid questions? Sure looked like it."
"What do you expect, she's my best friend, she expects to know everything," Rogue leaned against a shelf, "What are all these books?"
"Just came in…Shakespeare, Bronte, Dumas…" he gestured to the large pile, "my guess is someone's gonna get to be asked to do book reports soon," he shrugged.
Rogue realised a lot of eyes were on them both, Rogue pulled her black cardigan tighter around herself, concealing her rather revealing corset top, "Remy, can I ask you something?" she asked quietly.
"Oui," He looked at her puzzled, then went back to stacking books.
"The way I dress…is it too much?"
Remy paused, "If I answer that are you going to bite my head off and dump me or something?" he asked concernedly, he swept his hair away from his face, half of his brown hair – which hung in touselled layers – was hanging out a very untidy ponytail.
"Just answer the damn question, swamprat," Rogue rolled her dark green eyes, she folded her arms.
"Yes, chere, I think its too much. It's not like you," he admitted, "You used to cover up everythin'…now you're showin' everything…" he kept a low voice.
"Hey, I wasn't the one naked in the shower," Rogue reminded with a smirk, she kept her voice low so no one could possibly overhear.
Remy smirked a little, "lets keep that discussion for private rendezvous later, eh?" he winked, " Why are you askin' about this way you dressin' now thing? Is someone giving you a hard time about it?" he asked, "want me to go beat them up? I could stick a charged up card down their underwear…it wouldn't blow anything up but it'd sure hurt."
"No…its not that," Rogue smirked a little at the thought, "its just one of Kitty's little concerns, and you know how I have to take her seriously or she gets all over dramatic and pouty."
Remy finished stacking the books, "Well, I gotta go…" he glanced at his watch, "if Storm catches me in here talkin' to you, she'll complain forever like she usually does…"
"What are you two talking about now?" Kitty had made her way over.
Remy smirked at Kitty, "we're talking about how we're going to assassinate you…it'll probably be in your sleep…maybe suffocation with a nice pillow…or, uhm…maybe just shoot you in the head."
"Nice talk, and you call yourself a friend," Kitty went to swat his bare arm, she jerked back with a gasp, her blue eyes wide, her expression agape.
"What is it?" Remy looked at her confusedly, Rogue seemed just as perplexed.
"I got an electric shock," Kitty shrugged, "must be the carpet," she glanced down to the carpet and dragged her left foot along it.
Rogue frowned a little, she remembered a similar incident from the night before.
Remy glanced down to the carpet as well, but the look on his face indicated he was beginning to think along the same lines of Rogue, that something strange was going on. "I…better go," he flashed a bright smile, "I'll see you girls later," he gave a gracious bow, and left the room.
Rogue waited until Remy had completely left the room before she spoke to Kitty, "that happened last night…when me and Remy were taking a walk after dinner…"
"What happened?" Kitty asked, she glanced at the new books that had been brought in by Remy.
"The spark…" Rogue said, "I think somethin' is goin' on with his powers, but he acted like it was probably just static electricity or something."
"It probably was," Kitty shrugged, "I think you're reading too much into this."
"What if his powers are about to go haywire…he could blow this whole mansion up."
"No way," Kitty raised an eyebrow, "the bigger the object, the longer it takes to charge up, it'd take him weeks to build up enough power to blow this place up."
"But if his powers are growing…"
"You have no proof. You're overreacting because of a little electric shock," Kitty headed back to the table.
Rogue realised Kitty may be right, "Yeah…maybe you're right…maybe."