Summary: How John and Rogue got together… Prequel to 'Knocked Up'
Disclaimer: Property of Marvel and Fox and Stan Lee and blah blah blah...
A/N: I don't think you'll need to read 'Knocked Up' before reading this story but it'll probably help a bit in later chapters.
Anyhoo, hope everyone who read that will like this one too!
Big thanks to CodenameCali for giving me the idea to write the prequel. WOO!!
Rogue could feel her eyes glazing over. Literally.
Bobby was babbling about something…and for the life of her, she couldn't remember what the hell it was. It was probably something ice or snow or frozen or winter related, they were the only things that got him this excited. He kept talking and she nodded at appropriate intervals. He didn't seem to notice that her attention had wandered off.
Her gaze roamed over the rec room. Peter and Jones were sitting at one of the larger the tables by the windows, doing some kind of model airplane project. It looked like Jones was unintentionally getting high from the glue fumes because he kept giggling at odd moments. Kitty was helping Siryn with her homework. Jubilee looked like she was suppose to be doing homework also but was instead doodling on the palm of her hand with her blue pen.
Rogue sighed softly, wishing she had a blue pen too so she could have something to do instead of listening this mindless chatter.
But what she really wanted though was for John to be here too. Then at least Bobby's attention would be on somebody else when she nodded off.
The three of them usually hung out together – mostly at Bobby's insistence that his girlfriend and his best friend should get to know each other. She thought the whole thing was going to be awkward but John somehow had the knack to make her feel at ease. He cracked a joke that had made her laugh and after that, it was like they had been friends forever – sort of like how John and Bobby seemed to have been friends forever.
She could feel her eyelids droop.
"Rogue!"
She started, covering up her yawn by coughing into her hand. "I'm sorry…what?"
Bobby had a sour look on his face. "You weren't listening…"
"I'm sorry." Rogue smiled apologetically. She reached for Bobby's hand but as soon as she moved, he flinched. Her hand was left suspended in the air for a split-second before she pulled back.
She wanted to be surprised by his reaction but she wasn't.
She sometimes wondered why he even bothered asking her to be his girlfriend.
He kissed her a total of three times in the four months they had been going out. The first time she felt like she was kissing an ice sculpture and the kiss left her shivering for days afterwards. The second time was so brief she wasn't really sure they had done anything and only knew that they had when she saw the self-satisfied grin on his face. The third time lasted a little longer but ended up with him pushing her away and gasping for air. And after that third time, no matter how times she said she was sorry, he was always hesitant about touching her even through the layers and layers of clothing she always had on.
"I should get started on my homework…" She got up and walked away without another word.
Bobby watched her go, wondering why she looked so mad.
Bobby knocked on the door to Rogue's room. He had tried talking to her at dinnertime but got, instead, Jubilee flipping him a penny and telling him to get a clue.
"Rogue? Are you in there?" He opened the door nervously. The last time he opened the door to her room without express permission to enter, he got lemon juice squirted into his eyes by Kitty who was trying to make some kind of homemade facial mask. But this time, there was nothing being squirted in his eyes because there was no one in the room.
Her book bag was gone so Bobby thought maybe she went to the library to do her homework.
But on his way to the library, he passed John's room and even with the closed door, he could hear Rogue's melodic laughter coming from inside.
What the fuck?
Bobby pressed an ear against the door, straining to hear what they might possibly be doing.
He heard her say, "Stop moving!"
"I think the whole point of this is to be quicker than your opponent, Rogue."
Then Bobby could hear…slapping?
He opened the door in a rush, expecting to see John doing some sort of bodily harm to his girlfriend. But instead he saw John lazily leaning against the windowsill. Rogue was standing in front of him between his outstretched legs. Rogue had her palms up, hovering under John's down-turned hands. She was trying desperately to slap the top of his hands but John was too fast for her and all she ended up slapping was air. When it was his turn to slap her hands, though, he never seemed to miss. The tops of her hands were already pink.
She was laughing – something Bobby hadn't heard in a long while now, at least not with him. And he doesn't remember the last time she wasn't wearing her gloves. But he saw that their touches were so brief, they must have not activated her mutation and that was why John was still standing, smirking at her whenever she thought she had gotten him.
It took them another five minutes before they realize they had company.
"You need something?" John said, lowering his hands.
Rogue turned slightly, looking over her shoulder to see who John was talking to. Bobby thought he saw a brief glimpse of disappointment flash across her face.
No, he must have just imagined that.
"Oh, hey, Bobby," she said softly. She reached over John to get to her gloves that were lying on the windowsill. Bobby didn't want to notice how she placed a hand on John's shoulder to balance herself while she grabbed her gloves or how she leaned against him slightly, her hair tickling against his chin. He didn't want to notice how John had a hand on her waist, steadying her gently.
They looked too much like… No, he didn't want to even think that…
"So…um…I thought we could work on that book report together," Bobby said, shifting from one foot to the other awkwardly.
"I don't think you can help me with Anna Karenina when you're writing about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Bobby." She looked at John when she finished putting on her gloves. He was lighting a cigarette, opening the window a fraction. Bobby realized that was why they were by the windowsill – John was probably about to have his after-dinner smoke like he usually does when Rogue came by. She was probably on her way to do her homework when she stopped here. It was all very innocent. He wanted to believe that. "What book did you get, anyways?"
"Fucking Pride and Prejudice."
Rogue laughed again, her laughter lilting in a way Bobby had never heard before. "The Professor must have been in a good mood that day."
"Real good mood… How did I get stuck with Jane Austen and Pryde got Hunter Thompson? I've read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas like a million times!"
"Maybe that's why you got Jane Austen instead."
John blew out a puff of smoke in frustration. "Maybe. Or it's someone's idea of a sick joke."
"Have you even started reading it?"
John shrugged. "Managed somehow to get to page two…"
"I would trade with you but I don't think Anna Karenina is going to be much better. Did you see how thick my book is?"
"I've read it already."
Rogue arched a brow at him. "You've read Anna Karenina?"
"Don't look so shocked. You wanna know how it ends?"
"Look, I've read Pride and Prejudice. You can help me with my paper and I can help you with yours. Then neither of us has to read anything since you seem so adamantly against anything by Jane Austen."
"And you've got nothing against Tolstoy?"
Rogue threw her hands in the air. "He's boring!"
"That's your argument for not reading the book, D'Ancanto? You should really look into becoming a prosecutor or something." John laughed, flicking the ash off the end of his cigarette outside.
"Thanks for the career advice, Allerdyce," she said, poking him in the side.
Bobby cleared his throat loudly, trying to get them both to realize that he was still in the room, being completely ignored.
"I'm gonna stay here and help this idiot with his paper, okay, Bobby? I'll see you tomorrow."
"Um…sure…yeah…" That's what he said out loud but what he really to say was something he couldn't – not without looking like some kind of possessive irrational jerk.
Bobby left the room, leaving the door open.
When he looked back, the door was still open – which made him feel slightly better about leaving them alone. But he couldn't help feel suspicious when he also saw that Rogue hadn't moved away from between John's legs, watching him as he blew smoke rings out the window.
Rogue walked into the classroom, making her way toward her seat when she noticed John and Bobby have a rather intense discussion about something. No, discussion wasn't the word to describe how they were talking – it was more like an argument.
But the moment she came up next to them, about to ask what was going on, they stopped abruptly.
"We'll talk about this later," Bobby said.
"There's nothing to talk about, Drake, because there's nothing going on," John gritted out between clenched teeth. He turned away and sat down next to a startled Peter. Peter who never had anyone sit next to him since he took up about 99 percent of the desk space with his chest-size alone. And the last person he expected to sit next to him was John Allerdyce.
Rogue turned to Bobby. "What was that all about? And why is he sitting over there? How come he's not sitting with us?"
"Maybe he wanted a change of scenery…" Bobby mumbled out, taking out his notebook.
Rogue wanted to ask him again what was going on but then Storm entered the room and class began.
"John! John! Wait a minute!" Rogue caught his arm before he made it into his next class.
"What is it, Rogue? I've got French with frigging Logan and I don't know what he'll do to me if I'm late again."
"What's going on with you? Why are you giving me the brush-off?"
"I'm not giving you the brush-off."
"You ignored me in the library, you ate lunch with Warren, you partnered with Jubilee in chemistry – which, by the way, she thought was, and I quote, 'too out-of-this-world weird.' What is going on? Did I do something?"
John blew out an aggravated breath, looking down at his shoes. "Why don't you go ask your boyfriend what the problem is?" he finally said.
"I'm asking you!"
"Bobby…"
"Bobby what?"
"He thinks…we're just hanging out too much. I'm just trying to…keep the peace, all right?"
Rogue narrowed her eyes at him, not believing a word he was saying. There was something more going on, something he was hiding. He was an accomplished liar, even on occasion fooling Dr Grey into believing his excuses, but Rogue knew when he was lying. She just had a sense about it.
The second bell rang shrilly, the one that signaled you had about five seconds to get to class or you'll be considered officially tardy. "I really have to go."
"All right…"
She watched him leave, knowing she had to have a talk with Bobby.
"Wh…what do you mean?" Bobby stuttered out.
Rogue sighed heavily. "I mean, I think we haven't been as close as before and we've kind of…I don't know…drifted apart…"
He was quiet for a moment, trying to keep any kind of emotion out of his voice. "Is there someone else?"
"No, Bobby…"
"Are you sure?" he bit out, angrily.
"What the hell is that suppose to mean? Is this what you and John were fighting about this morning? You think I was cheating on you with him?"
"You guys seem to have gotten real cozy, real quick," he spat.
"You were the one who wanted us to be friends!"
"So this is my fault?"
Rogue could only stare at him. She couldn't believe that this was Bobby Drake, all-around nice guy, the one who always kept an even temper no matter the situation. "There's no one to blame, Bobby," she said quietly. "John's your best friend and he wouldn't do that to you. And neither would I."
She started to walk away. Before she turned the corner and disappeared from his line of sight, he called out to her, "So now what?"
"I think we should start seeing other people."
