Disclaimer: Nothing here belongs to me.
Chapter Two
The Xavier Institute was not what it had once been, and Rogue believed it might never be again.
The introduction of sentinels and power inhibiting collars had quickly forced mutants into hiding, many had been killed and their numbers had never really recovered. The X-Men had tried to save as many lives as they could, but they just weren't powerful enough, and they too had lost so many lives in the fighting.
When Scott lost Jean, so soon after they had lost the Professor, it seemed that any fight he had left just abandoned him too.
Then finally, after what seemed like years of hardship, came the death of Boliviar Trask and the end of the Sentinel programme.
Humans however, didn't want mutants around anymore than they had done before. A new president had been elected and with him ushered a time of peace. Mutants were no longer hunted and caged like animals, so long as they agreed to never use their abilities in civilian spaces. With their collective injuries and depleted numbers, they had little choice but to agree.
Wounded, they had limped away.
Happy to be left alone to grieve in peace, happy to rest from being hunted.
The Xavier Institute had been reopened, under the stewardship of Scott Summers and a new team of teachers. He had made an agreement with the new Government, that the Institute would still be a place of teaching and a haven for all mutants should they want it, but they were under no circumstances allowed to train mutants to fight or to reform the X-Men. The threat of the Sentinels and the collars still all too real, Scott had consented to these terms and promised that they would remain there.
Their shelter as much as their prison.
But a much better choice than the alternative.
So the X-Men were no more.
Rogue had somehow found her way back to the Institute, overjoyed to find so many of her friends still alive but heartbroken to learn of the amount that had been lost.
Wasted lives of innocent people, whose only crime was that they had been born different.
She only wished that she could take on a role as a teacher, to help the many children that came here looking for a shelter and a future. Unfortunately, there were a thousand hoops to jump and a million exams to take herself before she could even think about doing that, and dropping the mutant bomb on her parents at the age of fourteen hadn't done much for her education.
But for now she had taken stewardship of the library, helping the students that came here for quiet. It was a peaceful place, full of the smell of old books and freshly brewed coffee.
It was Rogue's favourite place in the entire Mansion.
Rogue yawned as she slumped into her leather swivel chair behind the library's main desk. She hadn't been sleeping well recently, late nights of studying combined with dreams filled with sex didn't couple well with a restful night sleep.
She decided to take a break from the books tonight, give her overstimulated brain a rest in the hope that maybe sleep wouldn't evade her again.
"'Morning Rogue."
Rogue glanced up to see Jubilee staring down at her, the girl's brown eyes were puffy as though she too had been suffering with lack of sleep. Her black hair fell flat against her head and she was missing her trademark yellow leather jacket.
That wasn't the only thing she was missing.
Kitty Pryde had never made it back to the mansion once the war was over, and she had practically been Jubilee's shadow before the war began.
"You okay, Jubes?" Rogue asked.
Jubilee half smiled at her old nickname, "Hanging on in there."
Rogue wished she could say it would get better, but the holes of Jean, The Professor, Bobby and Storm still weighed heavily on her heart.
She reached to place her hand on top of the girl's, in a way of comfort. Jubilee however, moved her hand away just as she noticed the movement. Rogue tried not to be hurt. Of course, here nobody wanted to touch her if they could help it.
Here she cleared corridors, and everyone kept at least a meter between them when they talked.
They had been hurt enough, who was Rogue to begrudge them if they didn't want to hurt more.
"Can I help you with somethin'?" She asked, rolling back in her chair and checking a slip on her desk.
"I put in a slip for some books for my Psychology class" Jubilee muttered awkwardly.
Rogue turned to sort through the pile until the found Jubilee's books, as she passed them over she ensured their fingers didn't brush together.
No unnecessary touching, always staying within her own private bubble.
No wonder she was dreaming of being oiled up and massaged by a stranger.
That had been the last time she had been touched, and that had been over six months ago.
Once the war had finally ended and mutants didn't have to hide anymore there had been much to celebrate and much to mourn.
Rogue had been on the run, and once she heard the news had stumbled into a bar she couldn't name, in a town she couldn't place on a map, drinking a cocktail of alcohol she had never heard of, when she'd locked gaze with a pair of demonic, red on black eyes that called to her from the shadows.
Twenty minutes later she was naked in his hotel room.
She picked up a stack of books that needed returning to their shelves.
There had been little to think about then, everyone had been so delirious on freedom that no one had put much thought into anything. Rogue was just so happy not to be on the run anymore that she hadn't questioned this stranger that could touch her and stay conscious, as no man had ever managed before.
There had been nothing to worry about, nothing but the man with the hypnotic red and black eyes.
The red and black eyes that were watching her from the shadows right now.
Her head snapped up, but all she saw was empty stacks of bookshelves. Of course she hadn't seen him, they were miles from where the two of them had met and what would he be doing here?
She clearly needed to get more sleep.
Ideally free from dreams of him.
Rogue picked up a stack of books to be taken back to the shelves, humming slightly as she moved along the aisles. She smiled at some of the younger students as she passed them, working at tables together or browsing the books. She had managed to find the home of all but one of the dusty books she held. This one seemed to be from a deeper part of the library, the shelves were dusty, and the corridor was dark as though infrequently visited.
She had just spotted where the book should be placed when she felt someone's hand snake onto her hip, she smelled bourbon and cinnamon sticks as a deep as velvet voice whispered in her ear.
"Rogue."
Her knees buckled and the book she was holding fell to the floor with a thud.
He laughed, a rich sound that wrapped around her like dropping into a hot bath. "Still make yo' weak at the knees" he teased.
"Gambit" she gasped, all the air rushing from her lungs as though she'd been plunged into freezing cold water. "Is this a dream?"
She felt his nose skim against her neck, breathing her in and sending goose bumps over her entire body. "I sure hope not" he breathed.
Rogue could feel a hot ball tightening in her stomach, one of his hands was stationary on her hip as the other roamed her freely. He opened his hot mouth and began to place kisses on the crease where her neck met her shoulder.
"Oh Gawd" she breathed, gripping the bookshelf to stop herself from falling.
"It's just Gambit" she could feel his smile against her throat but she couldn't bring herself to face him. His hand snaked breath her shirt and skimmed along the top of her jeans. She couldn't have stopped him, even if she wanted to, she had absolutely no power.
His fingers slipped into the top of her underwear, excruciatingly slowly he dipped down until he found the part of Rogue that was hottest of all.
"So wet" he crowed in her ear, causing her cheeks to flush red hot. "This all for my benefit, Catin?"
She couldn't respond, couldn't speak if she wanted to as he worked her over with his finger. It took all she could muster within her not to moan, she was afraid if she opened her mouth all the sound she was holding in would pour out and she would give them away.
He teased her, slowly circling his finger over the spot she needed it most and bringing her ever closer to the edge she desperately craved. It wasn't until she was doubled over and hanging onto the edges of the bookcase that he finally gave her the sweet release that she almost begged for.
Ecstasy exploded in her stomach, spreading across her body until it reached her fingertips and toes.
With the return of her senses came clarity of what they had just done, in the middle of the library where anyone could have witnessed them. Gambit had removed his hand and before he could say anything else she had pushed off the bookcase and disappeared from the library.