This is a songfic based upon the beautiful song Aprés Moi by Regina Spektor. If you know the song, you'll realise that the story doesn't fit at all with the song... When I wrote it, I was trying to think about the words: unfortunately I concentrated so hard on getting the words into the story, I forgot about the mood of the song... which is anything but light-hearted and gooey like my story is. Let me also take a moment to apologise for the eye dialects (if that's the correct use of the term) of both Remy and Rogue.

Sibby


Gambit had been planning to join the X-men for a while. Even before he became fascinated by a young Southern girl by the name of Rogue, he'd been toying with the idea. Working with Magneto, though fruitful, displeased him. After the Thieves Guild, Remy hated being used.

Afterwards, he'd claim he had no clue what the consequences of his joining the X-men would be. In actual fact, he had a very good idea of what would happen. As he left his interview with Charles Xavier, he murmured to himself "Aprés moi, le deluge." After me comes the flood. And it was true. In the months that followed Remy's début as an X-man, a flood of old friends reappeared on the team. Boom-boom came back, after promising to work harder this time. X-23 met up with Logan while he was wandering and agreed to try living with people her own age. Ex-students whose parents had removed them after mutants became public re-joined their old team-mates.

And just two weeks after Remy had been assigned his own room (frustratingly far away from Rogue's) there was a polite knock on the door of the mansion. As Gambit predicted, Piotr Rasputin had shyly come to join the X-men.

The giant Russian was almost comically awkward as he explained that he had left America to stay with his family a while. However, he had missed his new friends. His sister had managed to persuade him to return to New York. So here he was.

It was here the problems started. In a way, they were equal and opposite. Gambit took to following Rogue around. Kitty took to following Piotr around. The valley girl was fascinated by the seven foot Russian, which he found remotely embarrassing. They made an odd pair. Kitty did most of the talking: she was a girl who spoke her thoughts out loud in the right company; and Piotr was the right company for her. A gentle giant. She'd persuade him to draw pictures for her and made him daisy chains. Colossus seemed a little bemused by her attention, but did not push her away.

Gambit on the other hand was pushed away. Frequently. And sometimes with a lot of force. Yet, he always came back like (as he put it) "the Queen of Spades in a game of hearts." To Gambit this was a game of hearts. He tried several tactics to win Rogue's and once, it looked like he was succeeding.

"Chere." Rogue screamed. She'd been sitting with her back to a tree reading a novel, completely lost to world. The Cajun had sneaked up behind her. Her only weapon of defence was her book. However she was unwilling to damage it, so for now she had to be content with glaring at him.

"Whadd'ya want, Swamp Rat?" she spat at him. He seemed affronted.

"Chere, you must know da answer to dat by now. All Gambit wants it you!"

"Well, your not getting me. Or d'ya want me to give you a black eye?"

"Gambit already has black eyes, chere. And dose eyes are only for you."

Rogue ignored him, opening her book again. She felt him slide down to sit next to her. He leant over casually, as if to see what she was reading. Rogue was having none of that.

"Get away from me Cajun!"

"Gambit would like to speak to you! Dats all. A nice conversation. But all you do is threaten me. Now dat isn't friendly." Rogue remained silent.

"Chere, you can trust Gambit. You can't trust many people, but you can trust Remy LeBeau. Ah promise." Rogue still wasn't responding, but he ploughed on, regardless.

"You can't trust a lame person Rogue, cos they'll try to steal da legs from under you. If a person's freezing to death, they'll be willing to steal the blood from your veins. But you can trust Gambit. You can trust Gambit to steal only your heart." Rogue stared at him for a moment, mouth open. She had found herself caught up in his words. Her heart was thudding loudly and for a second she idiotically wondered whether he could hear it. Then she came back to her senses. Frowning she got up and stalked off back to the mansion. Remy watched her. He was getting there. All he needed was time. And he had that.