SECRETS
by C. S. Raine (aka battousai24)

CHAPTER 2

Rogue woke up to the sound of the door opening and closing. She didn't even realize she had fallen asleep. She opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep from them and blinking as she sat up. She stifled a yawn. Kitty walked towards Rogue's bed and sat next to her sleepy roommate.

"Hey, Kitty, how was detention?" asked Rogue, stifling another yawn. She ran her hands along her hair, hoping she didn't look like a banshee.

"Boring, what else?" said Kitty with a groan as she fell back on the bed, lying down next to Rogue. She turned towards the older girl, who was still trying to wake up. She was excited to watch a movie with her crush, but she didn't want to push it if Rogue was too tired.

"We can watch a movie tomorrow, if you're too tired," said the younger girl, smiling up at Rogue. She brushed away a few strands of the older girl's white streaks from her face, careful not to touch her skin, and yet it was hard to keep herself from doing so. Rogue was a bit startled by the proximity of Kitty's hand, afraid she might drain her, so she backed away. Kitty felt embarrassed, thinking that maybe she was being too forward.

"Oops, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," said Kitty again, flashing her friend an apologetic look. Rogue shook her head and smiled.

"No, it's okay. I was just surprised, is all. I didn't want to drain you accidentally," she said. As much as Rogue really was worried about draining Kitty, she was also quite worried about what she could have done had Kitty actually touched her. Rogue shook her head. It was hard to keep the urges down when you're a lesbian-in-the-closet and you've just had an incredibly hot dream about your Biology teacher. Rogue gulped, just now realizing that Kitty Pryde was on her bed... LYING DOWN on HER bed and looking up at her, all adorable-like. Had this been a lesbian-themed movie, Rogue thought, but she didn't finish that sentence. That was so wrong. Kitty Pryde was her roommate. Wasn't there supposed to be that invisible line that says you shouldn't get in your roommate's pants? Shouldn't. A loophole. Shouldn't is different from can't. Rogue sighed. This was not going where her mind wants it to go. Hell no. No way. Besides, Kitty was straight, wasn't she?

The whole time that Rogue was debating with herself and trying to fight against her libido, Kitty Pryde just watched her. Rogue had suddenly been quiet, thinking to herself, and it was just mesmerizing. She loved watching her crush, but this was such a treat! Rogue was adorable when she was trapped in her thoughts. She could only wonder what the older girl was thinking. She couldn't help but giggle at Rogue's expressions.

Rogue snapped out of her inner musings when she heard giggling. She turned to Kitty, who was the source of it all. She raised an eyebrow, wondering what was so funny. Lustful dreams and thoughts were thrown out the window for the time being. She wanted to know what had cracked up her friend so much. Kitty was still giggling even after she noticed Rogue's attention was now on her, but soon calmed down as she felt her staring, feeling a bit self-conscious now.

"Sorry, Rogue. It was just a bit amusing watching you make faces," she said, letting out a few more giggles. Rogue blushed, feeling embarrassed now. Yeah, sexual tension has definitely left the room, thought Rogue. It was good, though, because Rogue felt uneasy and a bit awkward thinking that about her friend. After all, Kitty was younger than her, as well as her good friend and roommate. Everything about having sex with her was awkward and weird – awkweird. It wasn't quite "sick and wrong," but "awkweird" was definitely the way to put it. Despite herself, Rogue smiled at Kitty and scratched the back of her head, laughing a little.

"Well, I must've looked pretty stupid, huh," she said, chuckling some more. Kitty shook her head with a smile before speaking.

"Nah, you were adorable," she said, winking at her friend. Kitty didn't plan to drop hints this soon, but the words came out of her mouth before she realized it and she just thought, Well, to hell with it.

Rogue was a bit taken aback by the compliment, unsure how to put it. Kitty seemed to be in a playful mood, though, so she just took it as her usual teasing.

"Well, glad you liked what you see," said Rogue, winking back at the other girl before laughing. Kitty made a thumbs-up gesture and grinned, laughing as well. So it seemed like it wasn't going to be as easy as she thought, but Kitty was determined to eventually let the other girl know about how she felt. Never mind that Rogue might not even be the least bit interested in her, or she might not even swing that way at all, because that wasn't what was important. Kitty was patient. She could deal with this. At least Bobby's out of the way, she thought.

"So... you still up for that movie marathon?" asked Rogue. She was tired earlier, but she really still did want that movie night. It was Friday night, after all. She didn't want to sleep all night when everyone was out on a date. It was bad enough she didn't have one, but she was happy to spend it with Kitty nonetheless.

"Definitely!" said Kitty, as she sprang up from bed almost immediately, surprising Rogue a little. The older girl chuckled at Kitty's excitement. Shadowcat was always kind of hyperactive, but she makes it less annoying and more adorable, so who's to complain, thought Rogue.

"Okay, well, I've got a bunch of new horror flicks. Hold on, let me get them," said Rogue, getting up from her bed and grabbing the DVDs from her desk. She counted them and seeing they were complete, she walked towards their door.

"Well, come on. Before anyone else grabs the remote," said Rogue, looking back to Kitty. The younger girl smiled and happily walked out the door with her. Kitty loved horror movies, just as much as Rogue did. They loved getting creeped out, which is why they clicked as roommates to begin with. At first, Rogue thought she wouldn't get along with Kitty at all. The girl was upbeat and girly to begin with. Rogue was the typical awkward teen who can't even touch anyone. That was like, loser-squared in her book. However, time passed and it seemed as though Kitty was pretty much like her, just more upbeat and girly. That was pretty much the only difference they had. They loved the same movies. They had slightly different tastes in music, but they never argued about the other's music being such noise. They had similar views on life. They both hated jerky boys. They were, in a sense, best friends, they just haven't figured it out yet.

When they got to the common room, it was surprisingly empty, save for the few younger mutants who were about to leave after finishing their cartoons. They were probably getting ready for dinner. It was a Friday night, so they figured most of their friends were out on dates or partying, or what-not, and while the older mutants had free reign of their time outside classes, the little ones had to abide by the schedule their teachers, who doubled as their guardians, gave them: dinner at six o'clock and in bed by nine, except for weekends, when they could stay up as much as eleven o'clock, as long as they promised to behave. Of course, a few of them would get into trouble every now and then. They were just kids, after all.

Rogue didn't bother going around the couch to sit on it. Seeing as there were no adults anyway, she tossed the bags of microwavable popcorn onto it, jumped on the couch from behind and grinned sheepishly at Kitty. Kitty grinned back and did the same. They both chuckled a bit at their silliness.

"So, which movie would you like to watch first?" asked Rogue, as she reached for the remote controls. She turned on the TV, switching it to DVD mode and turned on the DVD player as well. Kitty was going through the DVD titles and was finding it hard to choose. Rogue had some Asian horror titles that had been revamped to English. The RINGU series, The Grudge and The Eye were among the choices. Kitty was more in the mood for the last one at the moment. She had watched the English version and wanted to compare it to the original.

"This one," she said, handing over the DVD to Rogue. Rogue looked at it and turned to Kitty, giving her a look that said 'Not bad,' before loading the DVD player. The opening credits came up and the two girls shifted closer to each other, their feet safely planted on the couch, knees to their chest, just in case monsters would grab at their legs from under the sofa. They both loved horror movies, yes. They were also two scaredy-cats. They were a little masochistic that way, but they loved the crawling feeling in their spines and screaming to the most frightening scenes.

It didn't matter that they didn't understand the language spoken in the film. There were subtitles anyway. It didn't matter either that they had to read the subtitles. The movie was creepy enough as it is. It wasn't the scariest movie they've both watched, but it did have its shocking scenes. It was pretty obvious the two were engrossed in the film, because they were unaware of how close their bodies actually were to each other. Their arms were now practically wrapped around each other, legs entangled, and faces so dangerously close that their hair was touching. It was a good thing that Rogue was wearing a long-sleeved top and her never-leave-home-without-it gloves or there would be a different kind of screaming happening right now. Kitty also now had her hair down, as she felt chilly sometime after the first scary scene, so that kept her face pretty much safe, for now.

By the end of the movie, the two were practically Siamese twins, despite the last bit of the movie being more sad than terrifying. Sniffles could be heard coming from the two girls as the end credits rolled up the screen. It wasn't like it was that sad of an ending, but they did tear up a little at the end. By this time, though, the two were slowly becoming aware of their positions, with Rogue being the first to notice.

"Oh, God, sorry about this," said Rogue, disentangling herself from her roommate. She silently thanked whatever higher power there was that no draining happened during the movie. While Kitty was a little disappointed with Rogue pulling away, she knew it was far too dangerous to stay that way. That, and that it would be awkward to tell Rogue that she actually preferred being so close to the older girl.

"It's okay. Nothing bad happened anyway," said Kitty, smiling at the other girl. Rogue smiled back, blushing a little bit as she recalled how they were a bunch of tangled limbs just seconds ago. She was used to cuddling with Bobby, but they never really got too close to each other the way she and Kitty had been. It didn't even help that Rogue was still feeling a little turned on from her dream about Jean Grey. Her face was definitely redder now, she figured. She only hoped Kitty didn't notice it in the dimly lit room.

"So, are you still game for another movie? I think I want to watch RINGU. I've watched The Ring once, but none of the ones after," said Rogue. Kitty agreed and so they proceeded to watch it, this time with a bag of popcorn in hand.

After the second movie, they were out of popcorn and they've drank a couple of bottled sodas each. They didn't end up as entangled as the first movie, but they were seated much closer to each other. The third movie started and both were now feeling a bit tired. Kitty eased into the older girl's side. Rogue was only mildly aware of the other girl's actions. She was too sleepy to realize just how they must have looked like. They sat there in a cuddle, with Rogue's arm wrapped around Kitty, and Kitty had her arms wrapped around Rogue's waist.

It must have been the detention or the sugar crash from the soda, but Kitty felt her eyes drooping. She couldn't concentrate on the movie anymore. She noticed Rogue's breathing slowly starting to even out, which meant she was falling asleep as well. The younger girl snuggled closer to her roommate, enjoying the warmth. She pulled a nearby blanket over them and closed her eyes, a smile forming on her lips as she drifted off, the movie soon forgotten.


A/N: Okay, so... it was short, considering I haven't updated in a looooooong time. I've been pretty busy with medschool (exams and all that jazz), so I haven't had much time to write. And... No J/R in this chapter. I thought I'd throw Shadowcat (and Shadowcat/Rogue shippers) a bone. I promise to have some Jean/Rogue moments next chapter! Anyway, let me know what you guys think. :)