Title: Red
Gaze.
Fandom:X-men, any universe, it fits without spoilers, but it leans
a bit more to Evolution at the end.
Characters:
Gambit, Cyclops.
Rating:
PG-13.
Gerne:
Romance.
Notes: A
tossed coin decided the fandom and pairing of this one. It was
surprisingly less thraumatic than expected. Also, I had been working
on my preliminary research regarding birthstones for a Sailor
Moon fiction. You can say that late nighter inspired
this. Enjoy!
Red Gaze."But love is blind, and lovers cannot see what petty follies they themselves commit."
Gambit learned early on that people could be given precious stones to represent them, because like jewels, the color influences their value. He knows Rogue, for once, is an amathyst, dark, mysterious, deep, but sharpened in such a way, she's so untouchable, unattainable. Wolverine is a schorl, compact, with many things thrown inside, and explosive at the smallest provocation. Too dense for whatever lies within to be seen by others, but equally rich in contents that the sparkle of curiosity about him never truly died. Jean is a diamond, sparkling high above others, reflecting light towards them, but light without warmth, and Gambit knows she's, perhaps, even more untouchable than Rogue.
But Cyclops... Scott, he is a ruby.
He sees the world red, with fury and heat and passion. So much passion. Gambit would know, he sees the world red too.
He supposes it's because this shared point of view that they are always fighting. Scott will never trust him, because Scott is the epitome of being kind, good and honorable, and Gambit knows that he has done some nasty things for the sake of the Acolytes... and for the sake he could do it too. They see the world red, but for entirely different reasons. Scott sees the passion he needs to lead them, to guide them against a war with the very people they are trying to protect. Gambit sees red because he has seen the blood spilled, what a slight altercation can add up into when the right time comes.
Scott sees red when he sees Gambit, merely because Gambit is the embodiment of everything he has tried to ignore in the world. Because Scott knows he could fall in love with him, if he just gave him the chance. Gambit merely wants to be accepted, not tolerated, by the stoic leader. He wants him to understand that he knows what it's like, what it feels to carry sunglasses everywhere, what it's to wonder about what other colors might look like. Gambit wishes Scott would share with him more than a room and an occational fight. Scott wishes he could stop wanting to share more with him, that Gambit would learn to speak proper english, because his damned Cajun-ness is aggravating in the most embarrassing ways.
Late at night, Gambit sees red and recents Scott when he leaves the room silently, pretending Gambit will not know he goes to Jean's room. Scott hates himself when the visits become more frecuent, when Jean says nothing, although she knows. She has to know. He sees red everytime she keeps silent, because he feels it's writen in big, bold letters on his forehead, and he hates Gambit and himself for it.
In the end, when the War truly starts, their little game of pulling and pushing ends abruptly, because now the must see with their Red Gaze, no longer to play and wish for things they're too self concious to ask for, but to survive.
The curse of those who see red is that, surviving, specially when everyone else is gone.
When they sit on the burnt remains of their lives, their eyes meet, and they smile. If they must see everything red, they will do it together, like two lone rubies in a golden chain. Standing out, unique.
Alive.