A.N.: Here is the next installment in the "Tipsy" series. I'd love to hear from you about any fun ideas you may wish to see in this series of one-shots as well as wanting to let those of you who've left feedback know just how much I enjoy reading your comments; they are what keep these additions coming. When that wonderful feedback goes away, so does this story. Thanks for helping to keep it going!
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, but I sure do like playing with them.
For the next several days Rogue and Logan had everyone in the mansion on edge with their avoidance of one another. If one walked into the room, the other walked out through a different doorway. When Rogue hit the danger room for some practice, Logan quickly found somewhere else to be. As Logan entered the garage to work on his bike, Rogue suddenly decided to go for a walk rather than out with her friends whom had kept her waiting for them. Even with all of these clever tactics, however, both constantly felt the presence of the other as though they were being watched over. The rest of the instructors could barely wait for the camping trip to be over just to have something around to distract them from the ever-increasing tension in the air.
Moira's break from her work was over so Logan volunteered to drive to the airport. After Logan had tried to be discreet while 'Chuck' and his friend bid one another goodbye, he escorted the Professor back to their vehicle and stowed the wheelchair before pulling out of the parking garage. "So you and the doc are, uh?"
With his usual dignity and aplomb Charles replied, "Moira and I have been friends for a long time. It's a friendship I cherish."
Logan grunted then nodded. "I get that."
A wise, knowing expression lit the telepath's eyes. "Yes, my friend… I believe you do." The two men didn't say anything more about it. After twenty minutes of silence, the professor asked some questions regarding the team's training and Logan's evaluation of everyone's progress which led them to a much easier and more comfortable conversation. Entering the grounds and making their way down the long, winding drive they were both glad to be home while still each silently bearing their own emotional struggle.
When Logan finished putting the keys away, Charles was already inside making sure all preparations for the return of the rest of their residents tomorrow. Logan swaggered inside, as usual. Stopping in the kitchen to snag a bag of chips to go with the beers stashed in the little fridge he'd put in his room Logan was passing through the hall when that friend of Rogue's who always wore yellow pinned him to the wall with a lot more strength than he ever would have credited to her.
"Hey there, Wolverine…" she ground out suggestively. "You haven't been going out much lately and I know I could use a little, hm, company myself."
Logan held his hands up to keep from touching her, but it did no good as she was pressing herself against him. "What do you think you're doing?!" he wanted to know, but she only giggled like some barfly looking for action.
That's when he saw Rogue standing just down from where he was cornered. She first had the stricken look of a young girl whose trust had been completely annihilated, but then those eyes took on a new glow. They lit with an inner fire neither of her friends had seen on her before. Rogue walked up to them and with no warning or preamble cold-cocked one of her best friends watching Jubes fall to the ground before giving Logan a look filled with disappointment and disgust and stalking quickly away.
Professor Xavier called out to her as she raced past his office so she went to him. "Yes, Professah?"
"Have a seat, Rogue," he invited with a wave of his hand. Once she was seated in the large leather chair near his desk, her leg jiggling with pent up energy, he enquired, "You look upset, my dear. Has something happened?"
Rogue huffed. "Nawt realleh. Ah'm jus' nawt havin' a vereh good day is all." Rogue stood, making it clear she was unwilling to linger while showing her mentor no disrespect. "Ah'll tell ya somethin', though," she turned back to face him. "Ah am extrehmeleh thankful Ah'm not a man. Ah may get emotional and have cramps, but apparentleh testosterone can suddenleh render an otherwahse normal person completeleh mentalleh unstable, no offense."
The thick drawl would have told him all he needed to know about the source of her anger if her words hadn't already done so. Xavier wasn't sure what Logan had done now, but he was very glad to not be the object of her wrath. An angry Rogue was no easy creature to tame. Still, were he a betting man Charles would put his money on Logan with confidence. The man was relentless.
Rather than going outside for a run, as she'd been planning to when leaving her ex-friends behind earlier, Rogue changed course and made her way to the upper-level gym where she commenced a rigorous workout. It took two hours of weights, mock-sparring, and abusing the punching bag but she did feel a tiny bit better. Tugging the tape off her hands Rogue continued the grumbling under her breath that had accompanied her entire exercise routine. "Stupid hormone-driven, moronic, oversexed jerk…" She grabbed a towel from the stack placed on the bench by the door. Blotting her face Rogue continued her complaints.
"Some friend that dippy, daffodil-tinted sparkplug turned out to be…" Now she was simply growling while briskly walking through the halls leading to her bedroom. With an aggressive slam her door was shut in a way that let everyone know to keep their distance. Not glancing left or right she went straight to the shower, cranking up the heat on the water so that steam soon filled the small tiled room.
Rogue's ranting continued under her breath throughout her shower. Her mumbles were easing if not completely silenced by the time she emerged with a towel on her head and another wrapped about her body, knotted firmly. "Tha' whole thing's un-freakin'-believable," she finally exploded, frustrated at the vaguely lingering wisps of her accent clinging to some of her words. She sank to the bed giving in at last to her emotion's demand for release.
The tears started slowly with her swiping at them impatiently, but sped up quickly. Logan, who'd been propped against the wall outside her door ever since he'd spied her walking through the adult wing followed by the resounding bang of her door, let his head fall back against the plastered surface hating the uncertainty that filled him as he smelled the salt of her tears and listened to her sobs. How did this even happen?
Well, one thing he was sure of was that he wanted a drug test on Jubilee. She had to be on something to pull a stunt like that. Logan was so mad he hadn't even stuck around to take her to the med lab. John and Bobby rounded the corner in time to see his back retreating and he assumed they'd take care of her. Logan couldn't even look at her right now without wanting to run her through with his claws. Now his girl was crying and he didn't know how to fix this mess.
Cursing, he stomped away. Kitty watched with dismay from her hiding place. Well that plan hadn't worked at all. Crap! She phased through the floors until she'd arrived in the lower levels where John was trying to hold back his laughter while Jean finished bandaging the stitches on Jubes' cheek, the result of her crashing against the hardwood floor in the hall. "I can't believe you actually came onto Wolverine!" That was Bobby's brilliant contribution to an already horrible situation.
Seeing Kitty's arrival Jubilee demanded in her newly muffled and congested-sounding voice, "So whad's habbenin' now?" Kitty still found it hard to believe Rogue had actually broken Jubesy's nose.
"It's not good at all," she reported. Shaking her head in dismay she let them know, "Rogue's, like, crying after beating the crap out of the punching bag and Wolverine's all torn up and roaming the halls growling at air."
John finally piped in, controlling his amusement with difficulty, "I can't believe you two really thought that would work anyway." He shot a look at Jubilee. "You ought to be glad it was her that got in the first hit and not him. Who knows what he would have done if she hadn't knocked you out cold."
If her head didn't hurt so much already, Jubilee would have rolled her eyes and let John know exactly how she felt about his input.
"I can't believe I'm actually agreeing with John, but he's right. Explain again what was supposed to happen?"
"Well, since we got tired of waiting for tall, dark, and snarly to pee or get off the pot, we thought we'd get Rogue-girl to take care of business. We figured if she thought someone else was making moves on her man she'd let him see how she really felt and he'd finally get on with things."
Jean sighed. Understanding their motivation didn't make it a wise course of action. "You should have known better than to meddle in other people's love lives."
"Yeah, well you can take my word for it that we won't be doing it again!" Jubilee asserted, although it took them a minute or two to figure out what she'd said as her voice still sounded funny due to her injuries.
"Good! I'm glad you learned your lesson." Jean moved to put away her supplies, choosing to ignore John's snort.
"Please! It's not like we're still students, Jean. Give it a rest!" He tugged on Jubilee's arm and pushed her through the door ahead of the rest of them. "Let's go, guys. Kitty," he instructed, "grab those pain pills." Kitty phased back into the room to grab the bottle Jean had levitating in the air before rejoining her friends and escorting Jubes to her room to rest.
Rogue was spreading butter over her toast the next morning when the campers returned from their adventure. Logan had just come in immediately looking directly at his girl his serious eyes boring into her when Storm followed the last of the stragglers into the room. She smiled openly and readily greeted, "Logan! It's good to be back." She reached out to touch his arm in a friendly gesture, but got distracted when Rogue's dish slammed against the nearest table top, a chair she kicked out of her path grating annoyingly against the floor as she stormed from the room. The passing second in which she'd met Logan's dark, brooding eyes with her own fiery glare had him already starting after her.
"Kid, wait!" he ordered. She whirled to glower at him, sparing a moment to narrow her sparking eyes at Ororo, who had no idea what was happening, before continuing on her way.
"Well HEL-!"
"Logan!" Hank interrupted, alarmed at what the man was about to burst out with.
Cutting himself short of finishing what he was shouting, Logan roared incomprehensibly before going through the French doors leading out to the grounds, his cigar clenched in his teeth before he'd made it all the way through. Ororo's shocked glance swung between the places where she'd last seen the two depart while Hank wanted to know what was going on. Standing with his narrow lips twisting in wry acknowledgment of the situation's unique humor was Erik Lensherr. "Well, well… it seems the courtship has commenced."
"But," Ororo started only to fall silent as Jean mentally filled her in. Ororo couldn't decide if she should laugh at the humorous misunderstanding started from the best of intentions or if she should be dismayed at the dark cloud currently hovering over the two least understood but most loyal friends any of them enjoyed here at the institute. I'm sure they'll work things out, Storm. At least, provided we keep Jubilation and Kitty away from them. Sharing a slight smile with Jean, she turned to the coffee machine with deep appreciation.
Noisy students were soon rushing through almost every corridor, but they all avoided the teacher's wing. Rogue was thankful for the reprieve from the tumult. She knew she ought to be out there helping get the kids settled back in and to prevent things getting out of hand, which happened quickly around here, but she just couldn't muster the motivation to do it yet. Finally the muffled sound of a minor explosion drove her from her refuge and she made her way to where Tabitha, a student who specialized in creating small orbs of explosive power, yelled back at the incensed Leech, who'd become another of Xavier's wards after they'd rescued him from Worthington Labs. The once slight boy was now graced with impressive height, sleek muscles, and slightly long brown hair. He was currently backing the brash blond against the wall. She was obviously intimidated without her powers at her command.
"Lighten up, Leech! It was a joke!"
"I'm sick to death of your lame excuses for jokes, Boom-Boom." He had lowered his voice now and was seriously invading her personal space, making the girl's eyes widen with alarm.
Rogue was about to intervene when she was distracted by the sound of a distinctive step coming from behind her. She knew that heavy tread. Well, dang it… she had a job to do here and she wasn't going to let her personal issues with someone who was just a slave to his y-chromosome get in the way of that. A low rumble that was supposed to warn him off came from deep in her throat as she moved closer to the combative pair.
Logan, of course, ignored the danger signs from his girl and reached out to take her shoulder in his firm hand. Before she could react or he could make contact both were startled by the muted sound coming from the ones they were there to discipline. Leech had taken things into his own hands and begun ardently kissing his classmate. Rogue just stared slack-jawed at the amorous couple while Logan scowled before swinging away again. The whole state of affairs between he and Rogue was incomprehensible and a big load of bull anyway, but there was no way in blue blazes he was going to stand here and see some snot-nosed kid work things out better than he could manage. That was just adding insult to injury.
He caught a flash of mahogany and white in his peripheral vision and looked back over his shoulder to see Rogue's big, bottomless eyes shining at him filled with a trepidation he hadn't seen since that first night in the seedy dive back in Laughlin City. Da#! He never wanted to see her that uncertain and scared again and here he was staring it in the face and knowing it was his doing. How was he supposed to fix this?