Disclaimer: Not mine. Unfortunately.
Spoilers
: Not so much
Pairing: A little subliminal Rogue/Jean and some more overt Jean/Scott
A/N: I finally get back into writing fanfiction with a show I haven't watched in at least a year. Glutton for punishment much? Hopefully I still remember the important things though, like how exactly Jean and Rogue were written on the show. Also, this is dedicated to Akumu and Kristen, because I suck and neglected to get each of you a birthday present.


Rogue wears her make-up like a mask. She smears it on as thick as she can without looking like a clown and it works to keep people away. She's the 'freak', the scary one. In their hearts and heads some people pity her and wonder how lonely she must be, but no one ever says a thing.

This doesn't bother her though. She's resigned herself to a life of persecution and solace. Because she is a freak. She's a mutant
and one of the most dangerous at that. It works out in everyone's interests if she stays as alone as she can be.


Jean wears make-up sparingly. A little lip-gloss and some foundation on a school day, little more on a night out. She has her own mask to hide behind, a carefully cultivated persona of the traits most likely to push people away from her. She accents the things that people find irritating or dislike. She pushes people away without them ever realising. But it's better this way. A telepath can't ever be truly close to someone. When you're such a such a threat to everyone else's secrets you get paranoid about your own.

She tries to let Scott in, but she's trying to fool the both of them. Scott has enough issues of his own to drive an almost palpable wedge between the two. But if she tries to let him in she can almost pretend that she doesn't want to push everyone away. Only, it doesn't really work. Scott is blinded enough by his own problems not to notice, but Jean feels guilty every time she lies to him, whether it be through a single touch or a spoken word.

It's watching Rogue, sitting in the garden alone, that makes her want to stop lying.