Cameron looked at the moonlight shining pale squares on the wall and ceiling, then at the alarm clark- 1:26. He sighed and rose, grabbing his shirt from the chair, rifling through his drawer for socks and dressing. He gently shut the door and tip-toed through the halls.
The kitchen and living room were deserted, so no one disturbed him as he snuck to the weight room. He gently slipped through the door, and was surprised by the harsh glow of florescent lights that met him as he entered. Shielding his eyes, he was surprised to see Wolverine.
"Oh, hello," Cameron said mildly. "Good morning."
"It's not good if you're up this early," Wolverine said gruffly, not looking over. "So, since I'm here and you're a teenager I'm sure you're going to want to spill whatever is bothering you. Everyone else does."
"Not really, I just haven't been sleeping well," Cameron replied. He looked at a weight tree and lifted plates off with his mind, twirling them neatly onto the bar on the squat rack. Four hundred pounds heavier, he lifted the bar off the rack and went through the motions, eyes closed as he just took in the hum of the air conditioner.
"How come Ms. Monroe didn't punish me?" he asked eventually.
"Because, we have these amazing things called security cameras installed in public areas of the school," Wolverine replied. "We could see that Bobby attacked you first. Storm thought you overreacted, but Sage, Beast and I thought you were well within your rights, case closed."
Cameron shrugged and began another set. They worked out in silence for almost an hour, and as Wolverine was leaving he spoke again. "It's always the same dream, every time I sleep. There's this horrible grinding noise, and screams, and smoke, and glowing red eyes. I've talked to Sage, and she said it must be the image from a possible future lodged in my unconscious mind that I just need to work through.
I see it every time I sleep though. I've almost got my pre-cognition under control, at least so that I can focus on the present while sifting through the future, but this is terrible. I've only been sleeping maybe four hours a night.
Does anything I'm talking about sound familiar?"
"No," Wolverine said, a look of concern flashing across his gruff face. "I'm...sorry.
"Just so you know," Wolverine said, his hand on the door, "I like Rogue dating you more than I liked her dating Bobby, but if you break her heart, I'll cut yours out."
"Yes sir," Cameron said quietly when he had gone.
"So, what do you want to do tonight?" Rogue asked Cameron.
"I don't know," he replied, not looking up from his copy of Inkdeath. "Do you have any ideas?"
"Well, we could always...you know," she left it hanging, uncertain. "Have..."
"No," Cameron said flatly, closing his book. "Rogue, I really like you. But we've only been going out for three weeks. I don't want to say I love you, because I don't really know you well enough yet, and I don't want to have sex unless I'm sure I love the person I'm having it with."
"Oh," Rogue said.
"I didn't hurt you're feelings, did I?" Cameron asked, gently trailing a finger along her cheekbone. "I didn't mean to be harsh, but I'm really old fashioned. I want to have sex, believe me," he smiled, "but that's something I want to wait on, okay?"
"Okay," Rogue said, sheepishly although she felt both disappointed and relieved inside. Ignoring the storm of illogical thoughts in her head, she said, "Well, we could go for a swim and then just sit on the dock and talk. Late at night, no one will be there."
"Bobby Drake, you are a seething pot of male hormones," Emma said, taking the seat across from him. "Girl troubles?"
"Emma, I'm really not in the mood to play twenty questions with the psychic slut," Bobby said coldly. "Don't you have some jock popping steroids to play with."
"They're all booked up, Bobby Drake," she replied icily. "As much as I enjoy our verbal repartee, I really just came to see if you're okay." Bobby snorted. "What, is that so hard to believe?"
"Emma, you never do anything out of the goodness of you're heart. At least, you don't if there is nothing in it for you," Bobby said.
"Bobby Drake, you will never find a new girlfriend with that suspicious attitude," Emma smiled sweetly at the look of pain that flashed across his face. "I just thought I'd let you know that not everyone is fond of Cameron Davies as Rogue and her little posse. If you ever want to talk about how much you wish he'd die, or do a little more than talk, feel free to find me."
Rogue removed her shirt, folding it neatly on the pier. She let her toes skim the water and suppressed the urge to squeal. Inch by inch she forced herself in, enjoying the gradual feeling of her body getting used to the water and the feel of warm air blowing across her goosebumps.
"You know, I could have warmed the water up a few degrees for you," Cameron smiled. His flip-flops were besides him, but he'd yet to remove his shirt.
"Just because we have powers doesn't mean we always have to use them," Rogue said. "I went for years without wanting to use my powers, and I'm still not ready to use them on a whim. They're special, and for some reason I feel they should be used for special reasons."
"Okay," Cameron said. "I hate cold water though."
"I don't care. I got in, so you go in," Rogue replied, swimming away. She ducked her head below the surface, plastering her hair to her head. When the water had drained away from her eyes, she saw Cameron pulling his shirt off.
In the weeks since they'd started dating, she knew Cameron had spent hours everyday working out. She knew, because she'd spent quiet a lot of time watching him working out and, occasionally, working out with him. She hadn't seen him with his shirt off since that day she'd walked in on him exercising, but the difference was striking.
His arms and chest were bigger, and more toned. She realized that his calves were larger too, and wondered how she hadn't noticed before. As he was folding his shirt, she observed the new muscles moving in his back, the hard V of his torso. As he turned around, she noticed how cut his abs were.
"What?" he asked, slipping into the water. "What were you staring at?"
"Nothing in particular," she said, kissing him. "But, would you do me a favor and go see Sage tomorrow? I'd like you to get a check-up."
"Okay, but why?"
"Have you looked in the mirror? You look like an Olympic athlete, and I'm willing to bet you've put on a ton of weight. So please, go talk to Sage. I just want to make sure you're not hurting yourself by working out so much."
"Okay," he said, kissing her. They swam for a while, and crawled back out onto the dock where Cameron whisked the water away from their skin. He laid back on his towel, enjoying the lingering notes of the warm summer breeze. Rogue curled beside him, running her fingers along his treasure trails, letting them thrum over the ridges of his abs.
She fell asleep next to him, and only woke up briefly to get dressed before Cameron carried her to her bed.
"Hi Sage," Cameron said, smiling at her. "Can you give me a check-up? Rogue is worried about me."
"Of course," she said. "Anything in particular you want me to check for?"
"Um, I guess body fat level and weight from the time I enrolled here to now, please," Cameron said uncertainly. "She's concerned I'm exercising too much."
"No problem," Sage said. "Just strip to your underwear and I can do the measurements. I don't suppose you keep one of those books charting weight training progress and body measurements?"
"Yep," he said, his voice muffled by his shirt. "I brought it with me." He pulled it out of his pocket and tossed it to her.
She read through the measurements he had taken before using calipers to measure his body fat and then recorded his weight. "You weighed 165 when you entered, and you weight 175 now, which is a very large gain for a month. However, when you entered you were approximately 10 body fat, and you are now 3, which is the very borderline of malnutrition. When you do the math, you've put on about fifteen pounds of muscle."
"Cameron, how many hours per day, average, do you work out?" she asked.
"Five, maybe six," he said. "But I get all my schoolwork done, it's just I can't sleep so I workout to help relax."
"Are you still having those dreams?" Sage asked, looking away as he got dressed. "The ones about the darkness?"
"Yes," Cameron said. "They're getting worse- darker, louder, stranger. I can almost see the face with the red eyes in it, but it slips away and I can't remember. What makes it worse is that, when I try to scan the future consciously, I can't pick up a trace of what is happening. It's like something is blocking me and that dream slips through the cracks in their shield."
"I'm sorry, Cameron. When I jump-started your power, I didn't know that your power would become so uncontrollable. I know it doesn't help now, but it will get better. Your control, your life. It just takes time."
"In the meantime, please try to cut back on the exercise by at least an hour. If you can't fully stop moving, then at least try something a little less calorie intensive like tai chi."
"Okay, Sage," Cameron replied as he left.
Sorry that it took so long to update, college has been terribly busy between Humanities and Composition. I'll try to update sooner. I hope that this chapter was okay. Have a great day!