So, everyone who was alerting this has been proved right; I couldn't leave it alone. I also discovered a plot *gasp* I hope you all enjoy it :)
On a side note, I think this is the closest to an M rating I've ever written.
Disclaimer: If I owned it, I would be living in my own place, thus would not have had all the landlord-related problems I've been having recently. For all those of you with working showers; I envy you.
Rogue licks her lips. She is lying on Remy's bed, with the man himself leaning over her. Well, lying is a nice term for it. Her wrists are tied to the head of the bed, Remy is positioned between her knees, and his hands are doing all sorts of pleasurable things to her sides and stomach. She groans and tries to pull him closer with her feet, but he laughs and frees himself from the cage of her legs, walking from the room with a wicked grin. When he hasn't returned after almost a full minute, she begins to pull at the bindings. They snap easily, and she sits up and slides to the edge of the bed, wondering where he's got to. It's not like him to abandon their time together.
She is about to stand when he reappears in the doorway, one hand holding a small silver bowl. She can smell the contents from where she sits; melted chocolate. She grins at him, but his only reaction is a raised eyebrow.
"You broke the ties, ma chère?"
She shrugs.
"You disappeared. I thought maybe you'd left me."
He shakes his head and stalks towards her. The look in his eyes makes her giggle as she scoots back to the centre of the bed. He crawls on top of her again.
"Never gonna leave you, chérie," he croons, dripping the warm chocolate onto her stomach and dipping his head to lick it off. His tongue dances into her bellybutton, making her squirm beneath him.
"Remy..." she moans, almost upending the bowl as she grabs for him, trying to pull him up so she can kiss him. He tuts and carefully places the bowl on the floor before grabbing her wrists and hauling them back over her head. He salvages the remains of the ties, wrapping them back around her hands.
"Bad girl," he scolds, with a look of absolute glee in his eyes. She lets him tie her up, trying not to giggle like a schoolgirl at the excitement on his face. He retrieves the chocolate and dribbles a fine line of the sugary treat along her collarbone and down her chest, tongue lapping at her skin before he's even finished. She squirms again.
"Are you going to punish me?" she manages to gasp out. He halts his attentions to her throat and looks up, his eyes glowing crimson.
"Oh, oui," he promises, leaning down for a kiss. He tastes of chocolate. She moans against his mouth. He trails his lips across her cheek to her ear, nipping at the lobe lightly until she moans again, then bringing his head up to whisper.
A shrill buzz meets her sensitive ears.
She sits bolt upright, instantly transported from Gambit's room to her own. She's at the Xavier mansion, clothed and alone, and rather wishing that she was back in her dream with Gambit. Her alarm clock flashes the time at her in neon green figures; 3am. Why is she awake?
Oh yeah, the border alarm.
As soon as she places the glaring whine, she shoots out of bed and to her balcony, flying to conserve time. As she is a teacher now, she has a room to herself, which she blesses because anybody in the room with her would be getting quite the show right now; she is clad only in a short satin nightgown, and the breezes from the open balcony doors and her own flight are making the material do interesting things. She spares the time to grab a pair of shorts before flying outside to investigate the grounds.
In the event of an attack on the mansion, there is a specific protocol to follow. With far too few staff available to ensure the safety of the students and also mount a response against any intruders, heavy emphasis has been placed on the former. Jubilee, Kitty, Bobby and Piotr are all tasked with finding and evacuating the students while Storm creates a windy, icy distraction to ensure they get away. Until sixteen months ago, Rogue was also on 'evacuate the students' duty, but since her acquisition and apparent control of Ms Marvel's powers, she has been moved to defence. With the abilities of flight, super-strength, invulnerability and an innate sense of approaching danger under her belt, there is little that can stand in her way if she chooses to remove it.
Her 'sixth sense' as some of the kids call it, is highly attuned. Being nearly killed a dozen times before your twentieth birthday will do that to you. So, it surprises her when she rounds the front of the mansion to where the alarm was triggered and it doesn't start screaming at her to duck and run for cover. The flashing lights of the perimeter breach tell her where the intruders are, but not how many there are or what kind of weaponry they carry. She may be invulnerable, but a bullet to the chest still hurts, even if it doesn't bleed. She approaches warily.
There is a single figure standing directly beneath the bright white light of the perimeter alarm. It takes her a few seconds, but Rogue recognises the intruder and freezes in midair with shock. He stands with his hands fisted huffily, casting the blaring alarm a look that suggests he wants to carve it up into tiny little pieces. And, with the claws protruding from his knuckles, he may well do it.
Rogue lets out a low squeal and dives for him. He spots her just in time to open his arms, and she flies into his hold with a laugh, steadying them to prevent the sudden impact from landing them both on the ground in a heap. After a second of shocked inactivity, he hugs her back, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling deeply. She pulls away when she hears his bones make protesting metallic creaks. She is squeezing too hard.
"Logan!" she shrieks, finally putting her feet on the ground. He grins at her, but she can see annoyance in the lines on his brow.
"Hey Kid. I see a lot's changed since I left."
He looks her up and down. She shrugs and lowers her head, suddenly self-conscious.
"Yeah. Long story."
He winces again as the alarm increases in pitch and raises a hand to his ears.
"Either you turn that thing off, or I will," he growls. Rogue smiles and flies up to the alarm box located on top of the fence, disengaging it with a practiced hand. The cold wind that is just beginning to pick up falters and dies off. Storm will be out here soon to investigate why Rogue has halted the alarm. Her time alone with Logan has been cut to mere seconds. She decides it best to spend that time with her feet on the ground and her arms around her friend. When Storm comes out and sees her with so much skin showing, the failure of her Cure will be exposed and he will avoid touching her like all the others. She wants to be held while she can.
Sure enough, just over a minute later when Storm finds them, Logan's face falls as Rogue is forced to let go.
It is the next night before she and Logan have a chance to speak alone. After calling off the evacuation and resetting the alarms, Storm spends hours alone with Logan in her office. By the time he emerges, Rogue is teaching her even-sleepier-than-usual class. She skips dinner, as is her usual routine, and instead spends the time dressing for a night out. She and Gambit are meeting tonight. Even Logan's arrival back at the mansion cannot make her miss her night out with a man who actually seems to care about her.
It might be able to delay her though.
She locks her bedroom door from the inside (not that it will keep many people out, but it sends the appropriate message, and nowadays nobody is brave enough to force entry to her room) and steps out onto the balcony, shutting the doors behind her carefully and accessing her power of flight. She almost falls out of the air in shock when a gruff voice calls up from beneath her.
"Where you sneaking out to, Stripes?"
She lowers herself to the ground floor carefully, wary of attracting anybody else's attention. Logan is leaning against the wall casually, taking a drag from the cigar between his teeth. She tries to affect an innocent air, but doesn't think she manages too well. Logan is still watching her with that look in his eye. That dog-with-a-big-bone look. He isn't letting go until he gets answers. She sighs.
"I can't stay here 24/7, Logan. I've gotta get out now and then. I've gotta feel like a normal person, just for a while."
Logan eyes her carefully before throwing the remains of his cigar to the ground and stubbing it out with his boot.
"You're not normal, Kid. None of us are. The people who understand that best are in here," he says, jabbing his thumb at the wall. Rogue snorts.
"Yeah, right. If you believed that, you wouldn't have left for over a year."
He smirks at her and nods.
"If 'Ro asks, I tried to talk you round."
Rogue sighs and leans against the wall herself.
"You got the whole 'since her powers came back she's been closed off and we can't talk to her' speech, huh?" Rogue has overheard that particular conversation many times between various members of staff. It's done nothing to improve her mood.
Logan nods slowly, a serious look coming over his face. Rogue straightens almost subconsciously. Nothing good ever comes of that look.
"What's up with you, Kid? What's changed? Before I left, if you knew the Icicle was cheating on you, you'd have kicked his ass from here to Mexico. And don't try to tell me you don't know; I'm not stupid and neither are you."
She sighs. So finally somebody not only plucks up the nerve to talk to her about it, but assumes that she's smart enough to have noticed. Of course, that person would have to be Logan.
"Bobby can do what and who he likes. He doesn't care about me; why should I give a rat's ass about him?"
Logan is silent for a moment. When he speaks, it is with a measured calm that bodes ill for whoever has pissed him off. Rogue can't help the shiver of fear that passes over her at that tone.
"Want me to shish-kabob him?" he offers, extending his claws for emphasis. Rogue chuckles and shakes her head.
"Nah. I can take care of it myself."
He sheathes his claws and eyes her carefully.
"Then do," he says, a note of finality in his voice. "If you don't want Bobby anymore then for God's sake toss him. I don't know what game you're playing, but I don't like it. You're an adult now, Marie; act like one."
She flinches back at his words and lifts her feet from the ground, hovering with their faces level. He's a fine one to talk – she wasn't the one who ran away for over a year.
"You're not my father, Logan," she growls, more hurt at his assessment of her behaviour than she cares to show. It figures; the first time she cares about anything in this damned mansion it turns around and bites her. She should just start to be suspicious of any good thing that happens to her, because God knows it'll turn bad eventually. Logan is meant to be on her side. "Don't try to tell me what to do. Now, if you don't mind, I have other places to be."
She takes off into the air, not caring who sees her leave. She just wants to get away as far as she can.
Normally, she would fly to the outskirts of the city, touchdown somewhere unobtrusive where a flying woman won't be noticed, and then walk casually into the nightlife of the club to find Gambit. Five minutes flying, ten walking, and nobody gets called 'mutie' and starts a fight. Tonight she bypasses that safety measure and flies right over the city centre, headed for Gambit's apartment block. They were supposed to be meeting at a bar not too far from his place – paying to get into the club only to walk out again a few minutes later finally occurred to both of them to be ridiculous – so they could get a drink before he led them back to his, but she is several minutes early thanks to her failure to obey gravity and not in the mood for crowds anyway. She hesitates above his building. Landing at the front door is likely to get her lynched and she doesn't have a key, so she would have to wait for Remy to find her and let her in. The roof poses the same entry problem – forcing her way in may be appealing, but will do no good for either herself or Gambit if she is caught using her powers to break in. Perhaps his window?
She carefully lowers herself to the right level and peers into the nearest window. The walls beyond are pink – not Remy's place. She moves to the other side of the building. Her second guess is the right one – she can see him in his living room, adjusting his shirt as he reaches for his keys. She's caught him just as he's about to leave. She taps on the glass, startling him. He spins around to face the window, cards sparking magenta in his hands, then relaxes when he sees it's her and de-charges the playing cards, shoving them back in his pocket and making his way over. He opens the window for her, and she slides in.
"Well, this is an unorthodox way to start a date," he jokes, closing the window again and turning to face her. "Not that I'm complaining. A très belle femme comes knocking on my window; who am I to turn her down, hein?"
Rogue nods distractedly. His jovial tone fades into confusion as he reaches out to touch her shoulder.
"Why are you using the window? What happened?"
His concern on top of everything else is too much. She lifts a hand to her face and begins to sob. Immediately, his arms wrap around her and he pulls her against his chest, mumbling nonsense to her in French. She catches the phrase 'ma chérie' a few times, but she doesn't speak the language very well so most of what he says goes over her head. She doesn't care if she doesn't understand; his soothing tone and his hands rubbing her back calm her quickly. She sniffs a few times and wipes away the last of her tears. Gambit holds her close for a few seconds longer before leading her to the sofa and sitting her down. His shirt is damp where she has cried against his shoulder, but he doesn't seem to notice. He sits beside her, his hands holding hers and his concerned eyes boring into her own.
"What happened, Rogue?"
She sniffs again and shakes her head, letting out a small laugh that only serves to show how shaky she's still feeling. "Nothing."
He shakes his head firmly and increases his grip on her fingers. "Non, that wasn't nothing. A fille as étonnant as you should never cry like that. Tell moi, Rogue. S'il te plait."
He smoothes her hair with one hand, bringing her knuckles to his lips with the other and brushing whisper-light kisses across them. "Tell me."
She takes a shaky breath. She did just turn up at his home and burst into tears on his shoulder. That may warrant an explanation. She nods then bites her lip, wondering just what to tell him. Why did she cry? Because he was kind to her? Because Logan wasn't? Because Bobby still has a say in her life, and it's all her own fault? She closes her eyes and exhales slowly, regaining control of her breathing. The sofa beside her creaks and moves as Gambit gets up and walks away, returning a few minutes later with two steaming mugs of coffee. One of them is black, the other almost white with the amount of cream he's added. He offers her the pale one. She smiles and takes it from him, inhaling and sipping at it slowly. It's loaded with sugar, almost too sweet. He sits beside her and places his own mug on the floor by his heel.
"Ma Tante always said 'sweets for shock'. There's five spoons of sugar in that," he explains, nodding at the mug. She laughs a little, no doubt what he was going for, and takes another sip. She does feel better, though whether that's because of the coffee or the company is debatable.
He lets her drink in peace for several minutes before he questions her again.
"So, ma chère, what happened to make you cry like that? Who am I beating up, hmm?"
His attempt at a joke makes her smile weakly and wrap her hands more securely around her mug.
"Well, if you want the source of the problem, then me."
He pauses, then moves his hand to her knee and squeezes gently. He doesn't say anything, for which she is grateful, but she can see the disagreement written all over his face. She ignores it for now and takes another sip of her coffee.
"I have a boyfriend. Bobby."
At that, his grip on her knee becomes tight enough that she thinks it would be probably be painful for anybody else, and he sits up a little straighter.
"Boyfriend?"
She smiles self-consciously and nods, turning her eyes to her cup.
"Yeah. With my powers I was surprised too, but he asked me out even before I took the Cure. Pity date I guess."
Gambit shakes his head and his eyes flash red, but Rogue barely notices. The swirling surface of her coffee is all she is willing to look at right now.
"After the Cure wore off, I wanted to break up, but he said it'd be ok; that we could find a way around my powers. Then I found out he was cheating on me with my best friend."
Gambit removes his hand from her leg abruptly and curls his fingers into fists a few times. The tiny sparkles of magenta tell her that he is charging the air particles. She opens her mouth to ask if he is alright, but he speaks before she can.
"And you stayed with him after that?" he asks, disbelief colouring his voice. Rogue smiles thinly and waves a hand in the air between them.
"I haven't exactly been faithful either," she notes. Remy takes a couple of breaths and calms down, though his eyes still glow slightly.
"Who cheated first?" he asks, voice soft, as though he doesn't really want to ask. Rogue snorts and turns her gaze back to the liquid in her mug.
"The day I found out was the day I met you. It's why I was in the club in the first place. I saw them together and I ran; I just wanted to get someplace where nobody knew me."
He puts a hand on her shoulder and squeezes, running his bare fingers up and down the side of her neck. She closes her eyes and focuses on the sensation.
"Someplace people didn't flinch away from me every time I took a breath."
He leans in closer and wraps her hair around his fingers, massaging her scalp with little circular motions. She lets out a little groan.
"Someplace people weren't afraid of me," she concludes, almost whispering the confession. His lips graze hers as he speaks, his voice even quieter than hers.
"I'm not afraid of you."
She kisses him. He pulls her closer and runs the hand that's not tangled in her hair up and down her spine, making sure to brush her skin with each pass. She moans against his lips and he pulls away before she can get too carried away.
"Bobby is un fou," he decides, making her chuckle and shake her head. She understands that one.
"Nah, I'm the idiot. I should have broken up with him as soon as I found out. Instead, I pretended I didn't know, because if I acknowledged it, then I'd be alone again. Even the lie was better than that."
Gambit scowls at her, but she continues before he can speak.
"Now, I don't know. I guess I kinda want him to own up to it, you know? Everyone at Xavier's knows about him and Kitty, but nobody's brave enough to say anything to me. They all whisper about it though. And then Logan..."
Gambit frowns and leans back. "Logan?"
She nods and sighs. She suspects this is why she started crying in the first place. She was coping just fine until he came back and made her feel guilty.
"He's my friend. He's been... away for a while; just over a year actually. He came back last night. Tripped one of the perimeter alarms and scared the whole mansion half to death. Storm told him about it all I guess, 'cus unless they're suicidal, Bobby and Kitty won't do anything while he's within smelling distance."
Gambit looks blankly at her. She smiles and elaborates.
"Part of his mutation; he has enhanced senses. Anyway, he cornered me as I was on my way here. Asked me about Bobby and why I've changed and something about not liking the game I'm playing. 'You're an adult now Marie; act like one'," she mocks huffily, anger taking hold over the misery. "Filthy hypocrite," she mumbles, downing the rest of her coffee and twirling the mug between her fingers. "I shouted at him then came straight here. And you were nice to me and... yeah. I turned into a sobbing mess. Sorry about that."
He takes her hand and kisses her fingers as she finishes.
"Don't apologise, ma chérie. I'm glad you came."
She snorts.
"Yeah right. Because all guys love it when a snivelling wreck of a girl comes crawling in through their window."
He catches her chin and forces her to meet his gaze. His eyes are glowing again, the brown of the iris' turning several different shades of red.
"Don't ever talk about yourself like that again, do you hear me?"
She blinks at his sharp tone and wrenches her head from his grasp. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair.
"You're not a 'snivelling wreck'. And you're certainly not just a girl. You're all woman, chérie, and if Bobby can't see that then it's his loss. My gain though, hein?"
She sniggers a little at that, the tense atmosphere dissipating a little. He grins at her and takes her hand again.
"Now, I have a question."
"Am I gonna break up with him?" Rogue guesses. She shakes her head and looks at the floor. "I dunno. I know I should, but then they'll all ask awkward questions, and I don't really wanna answer them. This is... it's between us, you know? None of their business," she says haltingly, trying to put her feelings into words. He smiles at the last acknowledgement and nods.
"Oui, and interesting, but not what I was going to ask."
She blinks and laughs a little. She's just made a fool of herself. Well, to be honest, that's been a theme all night so far. Maybe it's a little late to start thinking about censoring what she says.
"Oh. Then what?"
"Marie?" he enquires, sounding hopeful. She blinks, wondering where he heard that, then realises that she said it herself while ranting about Logan. She blushes and looks down at their joined hands.
"It's my real name," she admits quietly. Apart from Logan, nobody at Xavier's knows her name. She has never even told Bobby, and they've been 'together' almost three years. Perhaps it's time somebody else knows. After all, as much as her codename describes her behaviour for the past year, Rogue is an untouchable mutant with an attitude problem. As the last hour or so has adequately proven, with Remy she is not that person. She wants to be Marie again. She hasn't let herself be soft or touchable in so long. "Anna Marie."
"C'est très jolie," he says, sounding genuinely happy. She turns her head to look at him, and sees the smile spreading across his face. He cups her cheeks with his hands and kisses the end of her nose. "Ma Anna Marie."
She giggles as he peppers her face with little kisses, darting along her brow, down her chin and carefully brushing both eyelids before returning to her nose and finally her lips.
"My Remy LeBeau," she breathes, feeling him freeze at the words. She pulls back, fearing she's pushed some boundary – she's been his for a long time, but this is the first time she's let the illusion that he is somehow hers swallow her enough for her to slip in his presence. He tugs her back before she can move more than an inch, kissing her with a fervour that she isn't expecting, but gladly responds to. Perhaps he doesn't mind after all.
They pull back when the need to breathe overpowers them, and Rogue reaches up to cover his hands with her own.
"Thank you, Remy."
"For what?" he purrs, grinning. "I haven't started yet."
She laughs at that and pulls away so she can focus on his face without going cross-eyed.
"For listening to me. For being there, I guess. I don't get that too often. So, thank you."
He looks at her like he's trying to find a hidden meaning in her words. He nods slowly, not losing eye contact with her even for a second.
"Anytime, Anna Marie."
She smiles and pulls his hands away from her face, directing them to her stomach before planting her own hands on his thighs and rubbing little circles into the denim with her thumbs. He makes a noise in the back of his throat and leans forward to kiss her again, moulding his hands against her body. The man has magic hands, she swears. The things he can do with his pinkie finger...
She tugs at his shirt, and seconds later it hits the floor. Hers follows not long after. She sighs as his mouth settles on her shoulder, kissing and licking his way down her collarbone. She pauses and grins, pushing at his chest until he withdraws, making protesting sounds.
"What?" he asks, eyes not moving higher than her bra. She doesn't care. She's just had an amazing idea.
"Do you have any chocolate?"
She loves when his eyes glow.