Just Another Day

"So… does this happen a lot?" Conner asked with a quirked eyebrow as he looked at the scene unfolding in front of him. He had just got back into his room after heading to take a shower in one of the locker rooms and had to stop short at what he saw. His roommate John—whom he'd gotten accustom to fairly easily because he was mildly entertaining—was standing on top of a teetering bureau holding a lighter protectively in his hands while Remy and Piotr—two others he had formed a fast friendship with because of Remy's attitude and Piotr's quiet kindness—were scrambling to try and reach the pyromaniac. Remy was trying to climb up the already unstable piece of furniture while Piotr had grabbed a fistful of John's shirt and was holding him in place, even as the blonde and red head tried to claw at the wall to escape. Was Conner shocked by the sight? Yes. Was he amused? Yes. Was he confused? Hell yes.

The three immediately stopped and looked towards the door. Conner had hung his towel around his neck and looked at the group in confusion. "Uh… da, comrade…" Piotr answered his question sheepishly.

Within a few seconds, John had tilted too far to one side and toppled off the bureau, dragging Remy down with him, the two landing on the ground in a heap with loud curses being shouted. The corner of Conner's lips twitched up into a small smirk as he moved away from the door and went to sit on his bed, using the towel to dry his hair. "So, why were you assaulting John?" Corner asked curiously, looking to the Russian, seeing as the other two men were still arguing and trying to untangle themselves from the floor with John still trying to hold onto the lighter.

"John has a way of… how you say… making mischief?" Piotr asked with uncertainty. When Conner nodded, Piotr continued. "He makes mischief with a lighter. He enjoys watching fire burn."

"Ah, a pyromaniac?" Conner guessed, causing Piotr to nod and smile that he was understood. Conner looked over to Remy who had managed to grab the lighter back from John and stood up from the ground, leaving John pouting in a corner. "So we shouldn't let him have a lighter?"

"Don't listen to 'em mate! They just don't know how to have a good time!" John argued, hoping to sway the newbie to his side.

Remy shook his head. "Don't give 'em any lighter or matches. Dat's how he burned his last room."

"It was an accident!"

"You watched and laughed," Piotr deadpanned.

"It was a happy accident!"

Conner shook his head. "Got it… no flammable objects."

John whimpered but didn't complain. Instead he got up and went to his bed to flop down and pout like a child. Remy sat on the edge of John's bed while Piotr sat on the floor, leaning against the bed so he wasn't the only one standing. "So what's ya story, mon ami?" Remy asked, pulling out a deck and shuffling it in his hands as he looked towards Conner. The boy quirked up an eyebrow and Remy shrugged. "How'd ya end up 'ere? What's ya powers? Ya know dat kinda stuff."

"What's it to you?" Conner asked with a skeptical look on his face.

Remy shrugged again. "Curiosity. We all got a story, homme."

Conner thought about his statement for a few seconds before he opened his mouth to respond. Before he could say anything however, he snapped his mouth shut and he turned his ear upwards, narrowing his eyes as he concentrated on something. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Piotr asked in confusion as he looked around at Remy and John to see if they had heard the noise as well. When they shook their heads, they all turned to look back at Conner who had his eyes narrowed suspiciously at the closet. He kept quiet for a few more seconds before he quirked an eyebrow up.

"You do remember I told you I had super hearing, right?" Conner asked, looking in the direction of the closet, confusing the other three occupants. They looked over to the closet and saw nothing. Conner rolled his eyes and started to get up from his bed. "I can hear you both breathing." This time there was a small squeak coming from the closet that got the attention of all the boys in the room. "Pretending to be a mouse isn't going to help you," Conner said with mild amusement as he walked over to the closet and threw the doors open causing Kitty to yelp and Rogue to facepalm. The other three boys jumped to their feet in surprise that Conner was right. The blue-eyed boy crossed his arms over his chest and gave the two girls a challenging look. "Care to explain what you're doing in here?"

"Kitty why didn't ya just phase us out?!" Rogue hissed.

"I thought he was bluffing!" Kitty replied in a helpless tone.

"Katya?" Piotr asked in confusion, looking over Conner's shoulder to peer at the small brunette in the closet, who immediately began to flounder for some sort of explanation or something that could say to salvage the situation.

John laughed. "I have so many comin' out the closet jokes ready."

"Did ma chere come ta see Remy?" Remy asked with a smirk on his face.

Rogue was about to retort, but Kitty beat her to it. "Yup! Totally! She really wanted to see you so she asked me to help her! Begged me even! So here we are!" Kitty quickly agreed, bobbing her head up and down as if it would solidify their claim. Rogue had whipped around to stare at Kitty in shock.

"Kitty!"

"Don't deny your love for him!" Kitty retorted back dramatically, tossing an apologetic look towards her friend. Really it should've been expected. Rogue knew that Kitty was no good under pressure and it was either going with what the Cajun said or her making up some horrible excuse about being closet inspectors for the new recruits. "Lesser of two evils," Kitty whispered. And really it was. They're options were acting like creeps or getting caught spying for Logan. Neither one were good options, but seeing as her shopping trip depended on her being able to deliver accurate information to the feral man, she had absolutely no choice but to throw her friend under the bus.

"I heard that," Conner said with a quirked eyebrow. "What lesser of two evils?"

"No, no, mon ami," Remy interrupted as a large smirk appeared on his face. "Remy dinks da chaton is onto somethin'. Let's let da petite speak. Tell Remy about dis love Roguey has for em."

"Phase us out of here now!" Rogue ordered, grabbing onto Kitty's arm.

Without hesitation Kitty and Rogue disappeared through the back of the closet, leaving the four boys there still standing in confusion. They blinked a couple times before Conner closed the closet and walked back over to his bed, and lied down shaking his head. "What the hell have I gotten into by coming here?"

"Dat's da million dollar question, mon ami."


The piercing glare burrowing into the back of her skull eventually forced Kitty to turn around and face her roommate. Once she did, Kitty winced. Rogue was glaring daggers at her. The expression 'if looks could kill' came into Kitty's mind briefly before she tossed Rogue the most sincere apologetic look she had in her. "Okay, first let me tell you how much I love you. Second, I really had no choice! You know Logan would kill us if we got caught spying the first day! And to be fair, I didn't think that Conner's super hearing was that good! Plus I didn't know that Remy or Peter were gonna be in there! Totally not my fault! Did I mention how much I love you?"

Rogue continued to glare.

"…do you need a hug?"

"Ah'm gonna kill ya."

"Murder is frowned upon."

Rogue's glare intensified as she grabbed her pillow and hurled it at Kitty's face. Now while the girl could've very well phased herself through the pillow, she made the decision that if Rogue was mad at her now just phasing through all of her 'attacks' would really get her going. So she just let the pillow hit her face before it fell to the ground. "Why woula ya tell the Swamp Rat that Ah 'loved' 'em?!" Rogue hissed at the small brunette.

Kitty shot her a helpless look. "What was I supposed to tell them? 'Hey guys, were just in your room to make sure you're not totally evil cause Logan doesn't trust you. But don't mind us, keep talking!' Cause it was either that or me saying that we were doing a routine closet inspection to make sure everything was up to code!" Kitty retorted, throwing her arms up into the air dramatically.

Rogue rolled her eyes and shook her head, knowing that Kitty was probably right and that the girl was seriously bad under pressure if they weren't in the middle of some sort of battle. Toss her into the middle of a fight and she can come up with plans and handle herself fine. Toss her into a social situation where she has to lie and she gets a case of verbal diarrhea. Finally Rogue sighed and tossed another pillow at Kitty's face, though this one was thrown with noticeably less force. "C'mon we still gotta talk ta that Marissa girl."

"Let's not phase this time," Kitty advised as she and Rogue started to make their way out of their room to head to the room right next door to theirs. Seeing as Tabby was roommates with Amara and Jubilee shared with Rahne and Jean had a room by herself, Marissa also got to have her own room, right next door to Kitty and Rogue's. The two girls walked over and knocked on the door and waited patiently until Marissa opened the door, her short hair clipped up on the sides and dressed in a pair of running shorts and a lime green t-shirt. Kitty wrinkled her nose the slightest bit at the color of the shirt but quickly wiped off the expression and smiled. "Hey there!"

"Hey," Marissa said with a quirked eyebrow and a slightly narrow stare. "You're that Kitty girl right? And you're Rogue?"

Kitty nodded her head, giving the girl an enthusiastic smile. "Yup, that's us! We just wanted to stop by and welcome you to the Institute. We know how hard it is to be new here. Like it's so stressful sometimes, so we like just wanted to make sure that you feel at home!"

Marissa's narrowed stare morphed into a slightly surprised and curious expression. "Oh, well thanks I appreciate it."

"So, where did ya learn to control ya powers?" Rogue asked curiously, trying to see if they could pry any information out of the girl. "Ya looked like ya had a good handle on 'em earlier."

"My mom is a mutant too," Marissa explained with a shrug as she leaned against the door so they couldn't see in and so she didn't have to invite the two girls into her room. "She taught me a lot of how to control my power. The rest was just trial and error."

"Oh did you live with your mom?" Kitty asked with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, with both my mom and dad. My dad didn't really care about us being mutants as long as we didn't do anything too stupid with it. They're back in California right now," Marissa explained with a tiny smile on her face. Suddenly she looked at the two with a genuinely curious look on her face. "Can I ask you both a question?"

"Sure, ask away! We're always here when you need to ask us something," Kitty assured.

Marissa got a wicked little smile on her face as she leaned over to whisper to the two girls. "Do you know if those new guys are single or not? Not the pyromaniac, cause he freaks me out, but the other three." Rogue and Kitty blinked in surprise, sharing a look with one another that clearly meant 'what in the world?' Marissa didn't catch the exchange and instead grinned a little wider and kept talking. "That Cajun has got the sexiest accent and the Russian is totally drool worthy. Oh and that one with the scar through his eyebrow… mhmm… you girls totally know what I'm talking about, right?"

There was a slight pause in which Kitty forced a smile—Rogue didn't even bother hiding her shock or slight disgust—and nodded as sincerely as she could. "Yeah… totally… drooling and accents… I'm not really sure if any of them are single or not though…"

Marissa gave her a smile and shrugged. "Guess it doesn't matter either way. I did inherit my mother's ability to snatch up men."

"Well look at da time! Kit, ya got that thing ya gotta go get ready for. Ah'll help ya. Nice ta meet ya," Rogue said abruptly as she dragged Kitty away from the door and back to their room, with Marissa tossing them a smile and returning back into her room. As soon as she got Kitty back into their room and she slammed the door, she whirled around to look at the shocked look on Kitty's face. "Do ya believe her?! She was askin' about the guys bein' single as if this was some sorta matchmakin' service! Ah mean did ya hear what she said about them? Talkin' about his accent bein' sexy? How pathetic!"

Kitty, who had been bobbing her head in agreement with Rogue, abruptly stopped as Rogue slipped up and both girls fell into a silence. Rogue and Kitty both stared at each other, Rogue's face paling while Kitty's broke out with a Cheshire cat grin. "Ya didn't let me finish."

"Yeah I did," Kitty replied, her grin growing wider and wider. "So is that why you kept that card he gave you?"

"Kit, stop it. It's not what ya think. Ah didn't finish my statement."

"Yeah, you did. And Marissa only talked about one of their accents being sexy. Just one. And he happens to be a certain Cajun we both know," Kitty replied, a checkmate expression on her face. Rogue just looked at Kitty, trying to will the small brunette to forget what she had heard. When Kitty merely continued to stare at her, Rogue sighed and shook her head.

"Kit, don't make a big deal about this."

"So it's true?" Kitty gasped, perching herself on the bed and grabbing her pillow, looking as if she was about to start watching a romantic comedy instead of listening to her friend. "You actually like Gambit?"

Rogue shook her head vehemently. "No! Ah mean… Ah don't like 'em. Ah tolerate 'em… ugh… Ah don't know," Rogue finally spat out as she flopped down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. "He jus' get's on ma nerves! Ah wanna hit 'em sometimes! And other times Ah actually like bein' around 'em. Ah thought that with 'em in the Acolytes and me 'ere, Ah wouldn't have ta deal with this like back in New Orleans—"

"So something, did happen when he kidnapped you?" Kitty questioned, with a small pout on her face as she tried to figure out what exactly was going on through her friends mind.

"No… well… Ah don't think so."

Kitty continued to pout as she stared at her friend before it was like a light bulb had gone off in her head. "Rogue, when you got back to the Institute after you were kidnapped, did you start to kinda miss Remy?"

"Well Ah was used ta his ramblin'," Rogue said with a shrug.

"And why did you keep the card?"

Rogue shrugged. "Don't know."

"Rogue…"

"What?"

"You had a crush on Remy!" Kitty exclaimed, jumping up and down on her bed. She spotted the horrified look on Rogue's face and she beamed. "It totally makes sense! You had a crush on Remy after he kidnapped you! And now that he's back, you're totally crushing on him again! That's why you like got so upset with Marissa! You like Remy! So I wasn't lying to Remy earlier!"

"Ah do not like Remy!" Rogue argued, shaking her head as if she was trying to shake the entire idea of a relationship with the Cajun out of her mind. "Ya've gone crazy, Kit."

"Sure, I have. I'm telling you Rogue, you totally like him. I guarantee you! Mark my words, you'll end up with Remy!"

"Don't try an' jinx it! Ya're tryin' to give me bad luck! Ah don't like the Cajun!" Kitty just continued to grin at her and Rogue rolled her eyes. "Quit lookin' at me like that, Kitty."

There was a series of light knocks on the doors that sounded like there was ten different people each trying to get the attention of the people inside. "Kitty! Kitty, I need your help!" The echoing voice alerted the Shadowcat to the fact that the person on the other end had to be Jamie. She frowned and got up from her bed to answer the door to see ten Jamie clones in the hallway, talking all at once, trying to explain something to her at different times creating a jumbled incoherent mess.

"Whoa, like slow down, Jamie," Kitty cut in, holding her hands up to get the attention of the clones. Once they all ceased their talking, Kitty looked at them seriously. "Now, just one of you explain what's going on."

The real Jamie stepped forward and waved a stack of papers in the air. "Kitty, I really need your help with my math homework! My teacher told me that if I get anything lower than an A on my homework or tests she'll fail me for the year! She hates mutants and she's doing this cause I accidentally sneezed and made two of me in class. I really need your help! Please? Please?"

"Sure, she'll help ya! She's got nothin' ta do until one anyway," Rogue piped up from behind Kitty, looking satisfied that she would be able to get rid of her roommate for a decent amount of time. As soon as the Jamie's heard her response, they beamed, grabbing onto her hands, arms and clothes before they pulled her along the hall, despite her complaining and shouts for them to stop pulling her along. As soon as they had disappeared down the hallway, Rogue smiled in satisfaction before closing her door and walking back over to her bed. "Finally, peace and quiet."