Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters, dialogue, lyrics, and/or situations are not my own. I repeat: I do not own anything.
"Hey, here are some of my old clothes. Sorry, there's not much to choose from. I left everything else at the mansion. You're welcome to choose from my brother's clothes," Bobby said as he threw the last of the acceptable clothing on his brother's unkempt bed. For the past ten minutes he had been rummaging through his closet trying to find clothes that weren't too dated or too small.
John set down the photograph he had been looking at of Bobby and Ronnie playing baseball as kids. "Your stuff is fine with me as long as I don't have to wear any of your father's dorky clothes," John replied as he began sifting through the offered clothing. John was never one to hold back his distaste for things. It was one of the many traits that separated the two friends.
Dismissing the gibe at his father, Bobby headed to the closet to dig out some shoes. All of his remaining shoes were too small so he rifled through his brother's closet looking for pairs Ronnie wouldn't miss.
"Yeah, Rogue's not as lucky. She's going to have to wear some of my mom's old clothes."
John gave a small laugh as an image of his friend in 60's clothing came to mind. Bobby was just thankful that Rogue wasn't too hard to please. As long as she was covered she would be okay with whatever he brought her.
"Why don't you just give her a sweater or something? That way she can keep wearing what she has on. It looks damn good on her," John added as an afterthought, an impish smile appearing on his face as he remembered the generous amount of curves he had seen. Rogue had a nice body underneath all her layers.
"John," Bobby said in an exasperated tone. As she was pretty and mysterious, Rogue often drew lewd glances from the male population; it was something that Bobby was used to, but it still irked him on occasion.
"C'mon I know you like seeing her dressed like that. Hell, I'm sure even Logan liked it." There was a hint of goading to John's voice.
"Knock it off." Now Bobby was irritated. Throwing the pairs of shoes he had deemed acceptable on the bed, he proceeded to quickly gather up his things to change in the next room. He wanted to avoid the subject of Logan.
"You honestly don't think Logan hasn't had dirty thoughts of her especially since she's throwing herself all over him." John found it hard to believe that Bobby could be that oblivious to his girlfriend's relationship with the gruff man.
"You don't know what you're talking about. They're just friends." Despite being very uncomfortable with the turn of their conversation, Bobby couldn't help but defend Rogue.
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. I saw your face when she gave Logan his tags back. You were worried. You probably didn't even know she had them in the first place."
John had been surprised to learn that Rogue's relationship with Logan wasn't as one-sided as it seemed and, judging by his face, Bobby had been as well. It had been extremely awkward to witness the exchange in the car, so he had decided to break the tension with music which, unfortunately, didn't go as well as he had hoped.
"No, I wasn't," John gave Bobby a look of disbelief, "alright, maybe I was, but that doesn't mean anything. Again, they're just friends."
John scoffed at his friend's ignorance or was it denial? "Like hell it doesn't. You don't get it. They're always going to be more than friends, and I don't mean just in a romantic way."
As soon as John had said the words Bobby felt like he had been punched in the gut. Rogue seemed to be comfortable and free around Logan in a way she never was around anyone else. It stung Bobby more to know that Logan was the same way around her.
John saw the hurt look on Bobby's face and tried to think of a way of to help him. "I don't know. If you keep being cautious around her you won't get far," John said in a more helpful tone.
"What do you mean?" He wasn't sure about the point John was trying to make. Between him and Rogue he would say she was the cautious one.
"I mean if you keep letting her call the shots you're never going to do more than hold her hand. You need to be aggressive. Take control." John mimed grabbing a woman by the shoulders and bringing her close.
"I don't know about that, John." Bobby was not too keen on manhandling his girlfriend; he didn't think Rogue would appreciate the approach.
"Do you think Logan asks for Rogue's permission before he touches her? No, he just does, and she lets him. You need to be more like the man she wants." Truthfully, John was a little shocked that he had to spell it out for Bobby. His advice was all about getting Bobby to act in a way Rogue was receptive to already.
"I don't want to be like Logan. I want Rogue to like me as I am." The words sounded childish to him, but Bobby knew they were true. He liked Rogue the way she was, mutation and all, and that's how he wanted her to like him. Being a second rate Logan had not been the type of boyfriend he had wanted to be. Anyway, Bobby was confident that it was the man rather than the style that affected Rogue so much.
"Fine, don't take my advice, but don't say I didn't warn you." John was done with trying to give his friend relationship advice. If Bobby chose not to take it then it was not his problem. Dating and relationships were never at the top of his favorite topics list anyway.
John grabbed his clothes and headed to the bathroom to change leaving Bobby behind thinking of their conversation. Judging by the contemplative look on Bobby's face maybe there was a chance of him taking John's relationship advice to heart.
It was when Bobby decided he had nothing to lose in trying to be forward that he plucked up the courage to take his relationship with Rogue to the next level…
"You won't hurt me."
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