Gambit woke up one fine morning and felt a wave of nervousness. Today was the day. Today was going to be one of the most terrifying and difficult days of his life.
He glanced at his clock and cursed. Half past seven in the morning. He had slept in! His personalized Danger Room session with Cyclops started at seven forty five.
He jumped out of bed and ran to get his uncomfortably tight spandex uniform on. As he raced out of the room, he grabbed Piotr's energy bar and stuffed it in his mouth as he sprinted down to the Danger Room. When he got there, Cyclops gave him a stern look.
"You tired yourself out trying to get here on time, Gambit. Let's go."
They began their one on one sparring session.
"Rogue contacted me and told me she has completed her mission," Scott said as Remy blocked his punch, "She should be home tomorrow, early morning."
"Ah, bon," Gambit replied, though inwardly surprised. He had gotten the impression that Cyclops didn't much like him and rather disapproved of the relationship he had with the resident River Rat.
"Hey, Gambit!" Scott stopped abruptly, slightly concerned. "What's going on? You're distracted today."
Gambit shook his head. "Je suis désolé, One-Eye. M' head was in de clouds."
Scott shrugged it off and continued the spar. But it was obvious to him that Gambit's head was not in it in a few minutes, when Gambit failed to block a punch directly to the face. "Okay, Gambit, 'fess up. What's going on?"
Gambit looked at him a little nervously. "I wanted to aks y' a question."
An eyebrow rose from behind the visor. "Oh?"
"Oui." Gambit shifted from one foot to another. "It's about Rogue. But 'fore I ask y' de question, I need t' know one t'ing - how close are y' wit' her?"
Scott cocked his head to the side and frowned. "Well, when she joined the Brotherhood eight years ago when we were still in high school, I was her only friend. It was more for her benefit than mine initially, but she has a way of worming herself into your heart, as I'm sure you know." This was the first time Scott had referenced Gambit and Rogue's relationship without a hint of disgust. "I can now honestly say she's my best friend. I only want the best for her, and I want her to be happy. I tell her everything and she tells me everything. I was the first person she told when she accepted your date after the years of rejecting you. She helped me pick a ring out for Jean when I was going to propose."
Gambit blinked. His Rogue and the stiff leader were best friends? How did he not know this?
"We aren't the type of friends who hang out together in public," Scott answered, correctly reading Gambit's expression. "We have movie nights every Tuesday evening when the younger students have overnight Danger Room sessions and the older X-Men are eating. I don't even think Jean knows how good of friends we are."
"I see." Gambit was even more antsy now. Cyclops already hated him, and that was before knowing he was dating Cyke's best friend. How the hell was he gonna ask him that question now?
"Why'd you ask?" Scott asked curiously. Remy gulped. No backing out of it now.
Gambit walked out of the Danger Room, feeling considerably better. That conversation had gone exponentially better than he had expected it to.
By the time Scott and Remy had finished training (or rather, talking), five hours had passed and it was time for lunch. The two men walked together, having forged a new bond over a girl they both cared about deeply, albeit in extremely different ways.
It was actually Rogue's turn to cook, but seeing as she wasn't there and on a solo mission instead, Piotr took it upon himself to provide the meal.
As they all sat down to eat, Gambit saw Jamie look up at Scott. "Hey, Cyclops?" Asked the seventeen year old.
"Yes, Jamie?"
"When's Rogue gonna be back?"
This question piqued the interest of all the younger students. At twenty four, Rogue was the most popular resident at the mansion with the kids. It was probably because she had been the queen of sneaking out in high school and always covered for the teens when they had stayed out late. Plus, she could sass Wolverine and get away with it, so that was an added bonus.
"Yeah, Mistah Summers, is she comin' back soon? She's been gone forevah!" Emphasized Paige Guthrie.
"She's only been gone for three weeks," Jean pointed out with a smile.
"Exactly," groaned Marrow. "That's way too long!"
Scott smiled brightly, and Remy couldn't believe he'd never seen the close friendship before. "Well then I guess you will all be glad to hear that Rogue will be back tonight and she'll see you all early tomorrow morning, since she signed up for your Danger Room session."
All the Gen Three X-Men, as the New Recruits (meaning Tabitha and Jubilee) had dubbed them, cheered and whooped.
Bobby suddenly burst into loud perks of laughter, his face turning bright red and tears pouring down his face in mirth. "I can't believe the antisocial goth girl is this popular as an adult!" This earned quite a few chuckles from the Senior X-Men and the New Recruits.
"Wait, Goth?" Asked Marrow in interest, flicking her pink hair out of her eyes. Jamie started to laugh as well.
"Oh my God, I totally forgot about that!"
"Wait, that's real?" Asked Pixie in astonishment.
"Oh, yeah," Angel, who had joined the mansion right after the Apocalypse incident, jumped in on the fun, "And she hated people. When she and Scott first came to help me out at Christmas, she gave me a withering glare when I dared to ask her what her name was. I nearly wet myself. Then she knocked Magneto out and battled him in midair. She almost won, too, but he obviously had more experience. And the best part was, afterwards, when I thanked her and Cyclops, she waved goodbye to me by giving me the finger."
"No!" Gasped Gen Three in shock as Scott grinned at the memory.
"Hey," Kitty made a face at Warren, "You didn't have to, like, share a room with her!" All the Senior X-Men and New Recruits groaned.
"She wasn't that bad when she was Goth," Jean said fairly, "She did save my life and rescue me from a kidnapping when she was part of the enemy."
"And let's not forget zhat time she absorbed Keetty and danced like her right before absorbing Zabertooth and gaining his long hair and grooming issues," laughed Kurt.
"Wait, what changed?" Asked Polaris in interest.
Remy smirked. "Well, firs' she go' possessed by a creepy man 'n brought Apocalypse back. I kidnapped de fille after she though' she killed her mère, den I nearly go' her eaten in de bayou after we broke int' de house o' major Assassins. Den, she killed Apocalypse, 'n graduated high school wit' a scholarship int' Yale fo' pre-law. So y' see, a whole lot changed."
Dead silence from the younger kids.
Amara and Rahne exchanged glances in amusement. Rogue was now officially even cooler in the eyes of the teenagers.
Paige turned to her older brother. "Sam, can Ah exchange yah for Rogue as an oldah sibling?" She joked.
Everyone laughed as Sam pouted humorously, and with that, lunch was resumed.
After the midday meal was completed, Remy slipped out after Logan, who had gone to polish his bike.
"What is it, Gumbo?" Growled Wolverine. Gambit smiled uneasily. This was going to be much harder than it was with Scott.
"Remy be wonderin' if he could have a word wit' y'?"
Logan stopped polishing his bike. "It's about Stripes, isn't it, bub?"
"Oui." Gambit took a deep breath. "I know y' see her as y'r daughter, mais I want y' t' know I really care about her."
Wolverine looked at him strangely. "I already know you do."
"Vraiment?" Gambit asked in surprise.
"Well, yeah. I can smell the affection on ya every time her name's mentioned, and I can hear her heart thumping faster every time she sees ya. I haven't seen two people love each other so much since Scott and Jean's wedding." The normally gruff man was confused. He found it obvious that Rogue and Gambit were completely in love. After all, he could smell it and hear it, and there was nothing Wolverine trusted more than his senses.
Gambit was surprised yet again.
"M'sieur, I have one more question."
Remy practically skipped out of the garage thirty minutes later, feeling on top of the world. Wolverine had agreed to his request! Now he had to go teach class, but afterwards, he'd be going to see Kurt. After Scott and Wolverine though, Nightcrawler would be easy to persuade.
He walked to his classroom to find the Gen Three kids sitting attentively for the first times in their lives.
"Hey, Mr. LeBeau?" Asked Pixie curiously.
"Oui, p'tite?"
"How did you and Rogue meet?"
"Da," agreed Illyana Rasputin, "I vould also like to listen to dat story."
So Remy, who was never able to resist talking about Rogue, sat down on the floor, criss-cross.
"We were in de middle of battle. I was part of Magneto's team, and she was, of course, an X-homme. I tried t' blow her, Kurt, Spyke - he's wit' de Morlocks now - and Jean up but dey all ran away. After, she ran int' me 'n I charged de king of hearts 'n gave it t' her. She t'rew it away, t'ough."
"Wow," Lorna gasped. "So how did you guys get together?"
Remy chuckled. "Well, y' see, we met close t' eight years ago. She was barely sixteen 'n I was almost eighteen. We met again when de Apocalypse t'ing went down, 'n after dat, Colossus et moi joined de team. She rejected m' for deux ans, den I finally won a bet against her 'n I took her out on a date. We've been together since."
Remy felt it best to leave out the extremely stressful (not to mention personal) time for everyone right after Rogue had accidentally absorbed Carol Danvers fully. He and Rogue had not been friends at the time, as she was annoyed by his womanizing ways and he was only flirting with her because he couldn't have her. Then, she had nearly been torn apart by Carol's vengeful psyche and he had come to be her rock and understand a lot about her. It was that true friendship that created the grounds for their relationship, and Remy found himself developing real feelings for the green eyed girl.
"Oh mah God! That's so sweet!" Fawned Paige. Remy only smiled back at her.
"You love her, don't you?" Asked Marrow worriedly. Remy was her first friend at the Mansion but Rogue had a way with the younger kids that made her very popular with them. Marrow didn't want to see Rogue hurt.
Remy's smile became very secretive and wistful. "Oui, p'tite. I love her very much."
"Bonjour, M'sieur Bleu."
Kurt sighed in exasperation. This had been Gambit's nickname for him since the sister-defiling Cajun had come to stay at the mansion eight years before.
"Vhat is it, Gambit?" He grumbled, rolling his eyes. He looked up at the Cajun, who was in a relaxed stance. Gambit was slouching in place, leaning against the kitchen entrance casually and a smirk dancing across his face. Kurt's eyes zeroed in on Gambit's hands.
Rogue had once told her brother that there were only two ways she could tell how Gambit was feeling. His eyes (she was the only one who could read the red on black glow) and his hands.
"He grew up a thief, Kurt," she had explained to him, "He was trained tah keep his feelings from physically showin'."
"But how can you tell vith his hands?" Kurt had asked back. She had sent a fond smile in the Cajun's direction. Kurt had to force himself not to cringe. His schwester was obviously infatuated.
"Whenevah he's tense, or nervous, or generally upset, he'll fiddle 'round with those cards of his," she had said softly, gazing at Gambit with a look in her eyes that Kurt couldn't place. Well, he could, but he didn't want to.
Kurt looked now at Gambit's hands. Sure enough, the cards were out, being shuffled as easily as if they were extensions of Gambit's own body.
"Why don' we go in de other room?" Gambit said casually, glancing in the direction of Storm, who was about to cook dinner. Kurt hesitated.
"Ja," he agreed reluctantly.
Once the two of them were in an unused classroom, Gambit started.
"M'sieur, Remy wants y' t' know dis humble Cajun -"
"I don't care, Gambit," Kurt said impatiently. This was what he had secretly been hoping for, a chance for a heart to heart with his sister's boyfriend. All this time, he had been pretending to be okay with the relationship, and he was tired of it. Gambit stopped short and cocked his head to the side.
"Y' don' like Remy," he said in surprise and something else - was it disappointment? - and looked rather like a kicked puppy. "May I ask why?"
Kurt hissed. "You vill end up hurting my baby schwester!" He yelled, tail waving in the air angrily. "You are a vomanizing menace! She is fragile! She only just got to touch other people! Who can say if you vill dump her after you sleep vith her? I vill not allow it!"
Gambit was quiet for a long moment. "We haven't slept together yet."
Kurt stared at him in disbelief. Why would Gambit tell him that? That would only reinforce what Kurt thought of the good for nothing lowlife. "How does zat help your case?!"
"She wanted t'. I tol' her t' wait. I knew she'd regret 't if 't wasn't special."
Kurt was taken aback. "I don't believe you," he finally responded.
Gambit swallowed. "Come avec moi, Bleu."
He led the way to the room he, Gambit, shared with Piotr. Once inside, he trotted over to Piotr's closet and pulled from the depths of it, a little black box. Kurt's breath caught in his throat.
"Is zat...?" Kurt trailed off in an awed whisper. Remy nodded.
"Oui. I love y'r sœur. I know y' don' like me, mais I was hopin' y' would be okay wit' dis." Remy looked at Kurt seriously.
Kurt didn't know how to feel. "You must have asked Cyclops. Scott is the leader. Vhat did he say?"
Remy sat down on his bed with a sigh.
"Why'd you ask?" Scott asked curiously. Remy took a deep breath.
"I love Rogue. I love her so much dat I wanna keep dis t'ing we got. But I'd like t' do it right. See, I was betrothed t' someone once. She was tres belle, but I didn' love her - our families arranged 't. T'ings got bad. Real bad."
Scott had remained silent, an unreadable expression on his face. Remy took this as a cue to continue.
"M' powers developed right when we were 'bout t' say de vows. 'N to top it all off, her frère tried t' kill me. I panicked, 'n I didn't know I had powers. I killed him."
This was the second time he had spoken those words aloud. He had projected the thoughts to the Professor, so he didn't have to say anything. The only other time he had told his story was to Rogue.
Scott shifted. "I'm sorry," he said finally, "That must have been difficult."
Remy smirked. "Y' have no idea, mon ami. Or -" he glanced thoughtfully at Cyclops' visor, "-perhaps y' do. Anyway, since den, I have never tried t' get close t' any femme. Until Rogue absorbed dat Danvers girl 'n I was her caretaker."
Scott grimaced. "I remember that. Rogue gave me an earful for it initially, but she was fine with it by the end."
"I love her, Scott."
Scott was visibly taken aback by Gambit's use of his first name.
"I want t' marry her."
Remy breathed out. He had said it. "Mais, I want t' do it right. She don't have a père, so I was gon' ask de most important men in her life - you, de leader, Wolverine, her vague father figure, and Kurt, her frère. So," Remy looked hopefully at Scott, "Will y' let me marry her?"
Scott's face broke out into a wide grin. "Of course! I mean, I'll be the first to admit I hated the idea of you and her together in the beginning, but you make her so happy. How could I ever deny my best friend the happiness she deserves?"
"Wait, y' support me?" Gambit was in shock. He thought Cyclops would take a lot more cajoling. "Y' really support me?!"
Scott smiled broadly, the closet romantic in him making an appearance. "Gambit, I'll support you and her together until the day you stop being the cause of her delight. And I don't see that happening. Not ever. You and Rogue were made for each other."
Gambit grinned widely and rushed to the man he once called a rival to capture him in a crushing hug.
"Merci beaucoup, mon ami."
Kurt was quiet yet again. He didn't trust Gambit exactly, but even the daring Cajun wasn't dumb enough to give a story that honest Scott would counter.
"I see. So you mentioned zat you asked Volverine. Vhat did he have to say?"
"M'sieur, I have one more question."
Wolverine looked at him suspiciously. "You're 'fraid o' somethin', bub, you're reeking o' fear."
"May I marry her?"
Wolverine froze. Marry her? Marry Rogue? Marry the girl he felt an obvious kinship towards?
His instinct was to say no. To refuse the stinkin' Cajun from going near HIS cub. Rogue was like a kid to him, and there was no way he was going to let this Cajun have his kid for himself!
But the more human part of his mind told him to take a step back and think about the situation logically. If he, Logan, really didn't care about Gumbo, then he was upset on Rogue's behalf. But why was he upset?
Because his freaking kid would be leaving him, that's why! The feral side reminded him. But Logan shook his head. He wanted his Stripes to be happy. And, no matter how much he hated to admit it, Gambit made Rogue happy.
"You hurt her, Gumbo, I swear to God I'll kill you." He growled finally. Gambit's eyes widened and Logan could smell the excitement on him.
"Dat a yes?"
"Yeah."
Gambit looked back at Kurt. He was starting to feel really scared now. Who would have thought that Kurt, Rogue's carefree elder brother, would be the hardest one to convince?
"Zat' a fair point, I suppose," Kurt said finally, still not happy. He looked to Gambit. "How much do you love her?"
Gambit relaxed. An easy question. "Y' can't measure m' love for her, mon ami. I would do anyt'ing 'n everyt'ing t' make her happy. Honestly. I gave up smokin' for her, 'n I've been smokin' since I was eleven years old."
Kurt could see it in Gambit's hands. He was not shuffling his cards anymore - instead, he was staring at one in particular.
"She is de queen o' m' heart," Gambit said seriously, not caring how cheesy that sounded. Kurt smiled at him. He had passed the test. Nobody with an ego like Gambit's would risk being laughed at for something they didn't think was worth it. And Gambit had refused to put a value on his love for her, meaning he thought it was priceless. Perhaps - just perhaps - he deserved a second chance.
"Okay."
Gambit looked up, hardly daring to believe it. "Truly?"
Kurt gave him a small but sincere smile. "Ja, but if you dare to do anyzhing zat vould hurt her, I vill port you over the Arctic Ocean and drop you in, before grabbing you and porting you over a volcano. I vill drop you in again, and zis time, I vill not take you back out."
Gambit winced at that rather descriptive account of Kurt's plans. "If I hurt her, y' will have every right t'."
Kurt's smile got bigger. "Good."
A week had passed since Remy had gotten permission from the three men. He was currently in bed with a certain red and white haired woman sleeping peacefully next to him, her head lying against his shoulder and her body curled up sideways against his. Remy looked down at her and smiled happily. He could get used to this.
"Chérie?" He whispered as she started to shift. "Ma cœur, wake up."
She yawned and stretched, forest green orbs opening to meet red and black eyes.
"G'mornin' Rem," Rogue said groggily, smiling up at him lovingly.
"Why don' we go down 'n start breakfast b'fore de kids start bangin' on de doors?" Remy whispered in her ear. She shivered.
"Ah think that's a great idea, Rem," she said and the two of them changed and headed down to cook for the rest of the mansion.
"Ah'll start on th' pancakes, sugah, you do the eggs." Rogue called out to her boyfriend. She had her back turned to the flour, and was readying the stove.
She never saw the attack coming.
Quick as a flash, Remy grabbed a handful of flour and threw it in her face when she turned. She stood still for a second in shock, then grabbed the eggs Remy was supposed to be cooking and cracked them on his head.
Remy retaliated by charging a grain of the still open flour bag next to Rogue and making the whole thing explode in her face. In return, she used Bobby's power to freeze the eggs in Remy's hair, so he'd have a tough time getting them out.
At this point, both of them were laughing like crazy and having fun. Rogue turned off the stove with Jean's telekinesis, and soon a battle had started. Both were throwing whatever they could get their hands on at each other.
Gambit squeezed honey into Rogue's hair.
Rogue sprayed whipped cream into an empty bowl and smashed it on Remy's face.
Remy grabbed some chocolate chips and stuck them in the honey.
Rogue took the cake icing Kitty had bought a while before and smeared it all over Remy's shirt.
And so it went, until the kitchen was unrecognizable and Rogue and Remy were on the floor next to each other, laughing and having fun like a couple of children.
"That was fun," Rogue giggled.
"I know, ma cœur. 'N I want us t' have de opportunity t' do dis sort o' t'ing whenever we want."
Remy sat up, looking seriously into Rogue's eyes. She sat up as well, feeling something serious from him.
"What is it, Rem?" She asked, standing up all the way. Gambit followed her lead and grabbed her hand. Rogue gasped. Even though three months had passed since she had gained control, it was still strange and extremely moving when she experienced touch.
"Je t'aime, Anna-Marie." He breathed, and Rogue felt tears spring to her eyes at the special use of her real name. She stared at Remy, his hair stuck in egg yolk, his face covered in whipped cream, and icing on his shirt. He looked so strange, but she had never loved him more.
"Ah love yah too, Remy LeBeau. More than anyone could evah measure."
Remy beamed at her, and sank to one knee, pulling out a little black box he had hidden in his pocket.
Rogue's entire world stopped moving. She heard, on a vague level, the door to the kitchen opening and the rest of the mansion pouring in.
"Remy..." She whispered quietly, making everyone else (who had been shocked at the state of the kitchen) look towards the two of them.
A hushed silence filled the room as everyone waited to see what would happen.
"Rogue," Remy continued, "I want t' live wit' y' forever, stay wit' y' til de end o' time, 'n experience everyt'ing in de world wit' y'. I love y', and I promise I will love y' forever, even after we're dead. So I wanted t' ask y' t' marry me, 'n make me de happiest man in de world for de rest o' our lives."
"Oh, Remy..." Rogue whispered, tears filling her green eyes and falling down her cheeks, creating streaks in her flour-covered face. She didn't even look at the ring as she knelt down beside him and took his face in her hands. "Remy, Ah love yah so much. Marrying yah wouldn't just make yah the happiest man in the world - it would make me the happiest and luckiest girl in the world. Of course Ah'll marry you," she ended with a slight sob and kissed Remy deeply.
Cheers sounded in the small kitchen as the couple covered in food had their special moment. Gambit slid the ring on Rogue's finger, and she looked at it for the first time.
It was gorgeous in its simple design, beautiful in its lack of intricacy. Remy had gotten her a gold band with a medium sized square diamond in the center. "Mah Gawd, Remy."
Remy laughed, the dopey smile on his face refusing to fade, "I know, ma cœur. We're gettin' married!"
As the recently engaged couple basked in the presence of each other, Kurt, Scott and Logan exchanged bittersweet glances. Their girl, their Anna-Marie, their Rogue, their sister, best friend, and daughter, was happy, and that was all that mattered.
okay, i know it's REALLY fluffy, but i kind of needed a pick-me-up after i found out i was failing a class. thank god i actually have time to pull my grades up though.
please tell me what you think! i'd love to know!
love all of y'all!