Okay, so I've had this massive crush on a boy I sit next to Geography for the past 3 years and, being me, I've never had the courage to ask him out. Now, he's got a girlfriend and I've realised I'm in love with him! Not your stupid, passing fancy that teenagers decide is the real thing, but honest-to-the-Goddess love. This has made me realise that if you want something, take it, don't let it slip away. If there's someone you like out there, don't just hope they'll ask you out, take the bull be the horns and bloody-well tell them. Don't end up like me: locked in my room every day after school with "Samson" by Regina Spektor on permanent repeat, crying like you've got too much water in your body. Inspired by these feelings, here's a little Valentine's oneshot with Rogue in my position and how I wish things had turned out between myself and David.

Rogue lay awake once more, unable to stop thinking about him. Gambit. He was a chancer, always putting himself in dangerous situations for kicks. And he was in her mind permanently. Not like her psyches, but in her thoughts.

At first, it was curiosity. He was one of Magneto's Acolytes, one of the bad guys. And he had the most mesmerising brown eyes. Not because they suited his perfectly chiselled face like her favourite gloves fitted her hands like, well, gloves, but quite the opposite. It was because they didn't fit his face at all. She later found out it was because he was wearing an image inducer, like her brother's, because he had been a little self-conscious of his new 'comrades-in-arms' attitude to the rubies on onyx that were in the place of the dark chocolate. She thought about why those brown eyes didn't fit.

Then, there were the countless times they had met or fought. He had scared off some thugs that were picking on her friend, Evan, and had told her "Jus' passin' t'rough, cherie. Nice day". Then he had kidnapped her and taken her to New Orleans. That was when they had made a real connection. Then she found out he had only taken her to use her to help him rescue his deadbeat dad from a bunch of assassins with a vendetta against his family of thieves. She had hated him for using him like almost everyone else, but couldn't hate him for doing what he did. Had she been in his position, she would have done the same thing. She liked him, even when he elected to stay with his family and not with her, to try to bring peace between the two families. She thought about the brave sacrifice he was making, knowing, from his psyche's telling her, that the only way peace could begin was if he married the Assassins' princess, Bella Donna Boudreaux, who held him in nothing but contempt and only wished to marry him so that then she could call him hers.

Almost a year after Apocalypse's defeat, he had turned up on the X-Men's doorstep, telling them that his marriage to Bella had failed because her brother, Julien, had challenged him to 'a duel to the death' before the 'I do's'. No one needed to ask who won. The fact that Gambit was standing there with a solemn look on his face was answer enough. He introduced himself as Remy LeBeau and followed the Professor to his office for a talk. He was welcomed into the X-Men the next morning, the only objections being raised were those of Logan, Scott and Kurt. She had seen the haunted look in his eyes and only wished she could make him really smile. When she thought about him that night, she realised she like liked him.

He had been with them for six months, Scott and Kurt finally warming to him, Logan still holding a grudge. He had flirted with every girl in the mansion (even Jean, much to Scott's chagrin), but had only seemed serious about Rogue, rejecting every other girl's advances. She realised then, it wasn't just a mere, passing fancy. She loved him.

These thoughts carried her from her darkened bedroom to the room at the end of the boys' wing. She chapped quietly three times. When it swung open, she saw Remy standing there (she swallowed dryly when she saw he was only wearing boxers) and blurted out her feelings, terrified that he would reject her: "Ah love yah."
All Remy did was regard her silently before sweeping her into his arms, mindful of the exposed skin of her hands, neck and face. "Je t'aime aussi, Rogue, ma cherie. Je t'aime plus que ma propre vie."

And they had been together, and in love, ever since.

Translations
Je t'aime aussi, Rogue, ma cherie. Je t'aime plus que ma propre vie - I love you too, Rogue, my darling. I love you more than my own life

Happy Valentine's, y'all