Hello! Thanks for your patience, guys. Life has gotten a little more normal what with adjusting to emergency distance teaching and the break up. Thanks for the kind thoughts and reviews. It was really appreciated even if I didn't have a chance (or the brain power) to answer back. If I did miss a response in this time, one is coming because I genuinely love answering back and appreciate the effort of putting in a comment so much (I'm usually terrified to do it haha)
I've taken to writing longer chapters it seems, but updating a little slower. I hope this works okay for you guys :D
Oh two things I wanna clarify before we dive in:
I love 90's Remy and his third person talking fits him really well, but yeah I think Evo!Rogue would call Evo!Remy a tool if he did it since it's not something he canonically does in this universe. I'm having him do it here and there, but it's usually for a very specific reason (or reasons).
Also, I love Scott. I'm giving him such a hard time and I promise you that won't be forever. He's a really complex character to me and I wanted to break that down just as I'm breaking down Remy. Both guys have issues with themselves that exacerbate their issues with each other, I think, before any respect can be there. Also it's kind of fun (in a mean way) to stick Rogue in the middle and have her try to figure out these two important people in her life without it being a love triangle. Same thing with any other character I start writing in a way that might make you frustrated with them, unless it's Alex Summers I'm doing it to drive the plot/character development (or try to. I'm still learning haha).
Thanks per usual to thehazeofdusk, who always happens to know what words I'm trying to get to and, really, is the reason I got this chapter (and the next one) written faster than I'd thought I would.
Chapter 8
By the time school ended the next day, Rogue still wasn't sure which emotional track to take. Partially (probably stupidly) she was kind of...excited? She still wasn't entirely sure what a good friendship entailed (after all, how could someone get close to a person emotionally when they could kill you with a mere touch?), let alone a good friendship with Gambit of all people, but she had enjoyed cooking with him the night before. Their dinner had turned out amazingly in the end. Kitty had apparently forgotten she was on cooking duty (although Rogue had been sure Kitty had reminded her before heading out of the meeting the night beforehand) so she never showed up.
It had felt kind of nice to have someone to laugh with instead of staying sequestered off on her own. She liked sitting off to the side and not having the attention on her well enough, but it was a nice change, in a weird way, to have him at the Institute temporarily.
On the flipside, she was already exhausted at the idea of running a Danger Room session. At this point the senior team had missed both sessions on Monday and now one this morning as well. There was no need to guess if Scott was anxious to get them back into training. Kurt had tried asking Jean if they were going to have to do Capture the Flag again, but she hadn't known and wouldn't break her morality rules and read his mind to find out, the traitor.
Rogue glanced over to her side quickly. If Jean had heard that thought, she wasn't giving any indicator. Rogue sighed and pushed off the elevator wall as motion stopped and the doors opened with a soft 'ding'. She hastily brushed her hair off her face and marched towards the Danger Room doors, Kitty and Jean flanking her as she rolled her shoulders in preparation.
"Do you really think it'll be Capture the Flag again? Like, he's gotta be done with that by now, right?" Kitty was saying.
Rogue scoffed. "Knowing Scott, yeah. I think we're gonna be doing the same damn thing."
"Well...maybe not the exact same thing," Jean answered, voice very pointed. Rogue almost got the feeling Jean was smiling as she gestured towards the group of Acolytes congregated around Scott and Kurt, although she couldn't imagine what exactly was so entertaining for Jean.
Whether it was by the frustrated furrow of Scott's brow, the smirk on Gambit's lips, the panicked look on Kurt's face moving between the Acolytes and Scott, or just the general tension in the air, Rogue immediately knew that whatever the next hour held, she did not care to take part in it. She looked nervously at Kitty but instead of a similarly worried expression, all Rogue saw was deep seeded excitement. Honestly out of all the people in that hallway, the only one who seemed to be having a sane response (outside of herself) was Colossus. The larger man's lips were tight and he seemed to be assessing everyone around him, arms crossed tightly over his chest. At least someone else was sane here.
"There's no way Wolverine agreed to this," Scott's tone was incredibly harsh.
"Think again, mate." Rogue was surprised when it was Pyro out of the three Acolytes who spoke, albeit with a mostly terrible impression of Magneto. "Ol' Bucket Head formally requested his team have use of the training facilities whilst we have our temporary ally-ship. Your Professor was only too happy to oblige his old friend."
Scott huffed. "That doesn't mean at the same time as us though. The Professor knows our training schedule. Why would he- ," If Scott's face could get any redder, Rogue wondered if it might also explode. She wanted to help the poor guy, really. He was her friend after all. However, she thought as she exchanged glances with Kitty and Jean, perhaps all those killer, repetitive, basically pointless danger room sessions justified not stepping in just yet.
"Well see, that's exactly why y' professor sent us down right now, Slim," Gambit's drawl was even thicker than normal as he stood straight from the wall and interrupted Scott's rant, maintaining direct eye contact with the X Man the entire time. Gambit's expression was void of everything but his signature smirk and Rogue was immediately reminded of how different the Gambit she regularly interacted with was from who she saw before her. She was no expert on Remy LeBeau, but she did have a better (although still very small) window into his thoughts and mannerisms than others (mostly from the time his psyche had spent in her head), but his poker face was locked so solidly into place that she couldn't make out even a glimmer of the guy she'd spent several hours cooking with the night beforehand. When it had been the two of them on the battlefield with the Sentinels, she had been able to see some flashes of emotion in his eyes, even if she couldn't distinguish what was inside his head. Now she could see only what he wanted the world to know, just the same as everyone else.
It wasn't just his face, it was how he held himself as well. Hanging out and in New Orleans, he'd been graceful and relaxed, yes, but right now his posture screamed danger from every single angle. Danger and Gambit were almost synonymous, so she wasn't surprised by that, but she did suddenly feel incredibly aware how close he could be to unleashing some of his wild pent up energy into the world. It was always there bubbling under the surface (even when he was goofing back and forth with her), but in tense situations like this it felt like it wouldn't take very much for him to pop the cork and unleash some of that chaos at any second with little regard outside of completing his goal, no matter the destruction. This was not her Gambit. This was another creature entirely.
Gambit's casual tone made her both relax and tense almost at the same time as he continued talking to Scott, stepping closer and accentuating the slight high advantage the Acolyte had. "After all, if we gonna work t'gether f' t' time bein', only makes sense we train t'gether once'o twice."
Before Scott's face could get any redder, Jean cut in. "I just asked. The Professor said to begin your training session and just add in three slots, Scott."
Scott turned back to his girlfriend and seemed to be taking a deep breath, their eyes trained on one another long enough it was clear they were still talking telepathically. The conversation didn't last long enough to create too awkward of a silence and quickly Scott turned back around, his face suddenly calmer. "Fine. Game's Capture the Flag," Scott ignored a groan from Kurt and Kitty. "Your team's job is to get the flag before the timer runs out.
"This is it? Get the flag?" Colossus was looking back and forth between Scott, Gambit, and Kitty, looking for a correction. It didn't surprise Rogue that this type of training might be unheard of for the Russian.
"First one to the flag's the winner, then? Right-o. Make way, folks. I'm about to make mincemeat of this course," Pyro cracked his knuckles and readied his stance, apparently not taking in the fact that they hadn't even entered the Danger Room yet.
Scott's voice had taken on an authoritative tone. "Not so fast, Pyro. Your team has to get the flag."
"Alright, then. I call team captain! Who wants ta be on my team? Red? Skunk? Big Guy?"
Cyclops sighed. "The whole group is your team."
Pyro looked confused. "It's gonna take eight of us to get a damn flag? Where is it, Antarctica?"
"Seven. I'm running the sim," the authority in Scott's voice seemed to find its footing, his confidence back on solid ground. Rogue was kind of proud of him. He might not have control over all the variables like a normal Danger Room, but he seemed to be taking the impromptu learning experience somewhat in stride.
"My point remains, mate. It's gonna take seven of us?"
Scott smirked. The confidence he had in the simulation he built didn't give Rogue any confidence that seven would succeed where four hadn't.
"So what...we all...just run for it and race to get there first?" Pyro was saying.
"We would be so lucky. We've done this sim too many times and we just only almost got to the flag on Sunday," was Kurt's answer. She couldn't blame his defeated tone. It was a stupid simulation, especially when Scott refused to tell them what kind of lesson he wanted them to learn. At this rate, Rogue was starting to feel like Scott just panicked and made the simulation impossible to defeat while he figured this leadership shit out. She wouldn't drag Scott for it in front of another team, but Scott already knew how she felt about the sim being pointless. There was no reason to run into a brick wall over and over and over to learn a lesson...let alone what the lesson was in the first place. Scott needed a different tactic.
She glanced quickly over at Gambit, who had become curiously quiet during the exchange, and found he was already looking at her. She raised an eyebrow at this and saw his lips turn up slightly at her before looking away. His expression was just as tight and locked down as it had been the whole conversation, but there was a small quirk of his lips which signaled they were still good (and made her realize how much had actually changed with them since before New Orleans). The only other signal to what he could be thinking was the miniscule tightening of his jaw as he looked back at Scott.
"Too many times?" Rogue wasn't sure if Colossus was clarifying because he didn't understand or because he was trying to take in Scott's tenacity.
"Try like twice a day for like five or six days," Kitty answered, rolling her eyes. "Same thing every time until we solve Scott's puzzle or lesson or whatever."
Cyclops shrugged, although he looked pleased at the idea of his sessions being challenging. Rogue wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject with him that his sessions were almost impossible to the point of unwinnable without being too blunt. "It's a tricky lesson," was his simple answer.
"Sounds like y' lesson just sucks," Gambit spat. Rogue found herself not really caring as she stared at him openly. His face showed none of the aggression of his tone, but it was there all the same. It wasn't unheard of for him to sass Scott (hello, team Pow-R8), but he'd been so quiet thus far Rogue had assumed he might stay that way.
To give him credit, Scott did his best to ignore Gambit's remark. "Work as a team. Locate the flag and retrieve it. Since there's seven of you, I'm going to knock the timer down to thirty minutes."
Kurt groaned as Scott walked towards the Control Room door. "Go in and get ready. Sim'll be up in five."
The door closed right on Scott's heel and Rogue glanced nervously at Kitty. Neither was quite sure what to do. It wasn't like they'd never worked with an enemy team before, but working with the Brotherhood to take on the Juggernaut was pretty different than training with the Acolytes.
They all filed in as Jean pressed the button and opened the Danger Room door. Rogue was certain she felt nervous energy from Colossus at least, but Gambit was as unreadable as Pyro was excited.
She watched as the Acolytes all checked out their surroundings in various ways. Colossus was openly in awe, the giant room impressing him especially as Scott started booting up the various programs and the room came to life. Pyro, in a move that Rogue felt by now she should have expected from him, was overly curious, roaming around and moving towards each new thing Scott popped up. Remy-Gambit was the only one standing still.
His eyes were suddenly observant, carefully watching every new thing and taking in his surroundings. He looked casual and calm, but the vastness of the Danger Room had broken his poker face and a sliver of fascination showed in his expression. His eyes moved quickly from different faces to different parts of the simulation being set up, taking in the whole situation. She tried to turn away from him quickly-no one needed to know she was curious as to what he was thinking (especially him). It wasn't that they'd discussed how to act when on "business time" and decided to pretend they didn't know each other, but she certainly felt that was the correct path and based on his lack of invading her personal boundaries, he did too.
She chose to look around as well, taking in any changes Scott had made to the course. They were no longer in a crate yard, but the room was still leading to a maze from what she could tell. He'd picked what resembled a house you'd see in a horror movie this time, Rogue thought. The walls were aged, wallpaper peeling and the drywall behind cracked. There was a clear old, musty smell as well. The room they were in had nothing to see except four doors, each closed.
"We must get through the house?" She was pulled out of her observations by Colossus looking up towards the Control Room to ask Scott.
When Scott didn't answer, Kitty did. "Don't get your hopes up. It's never that simple. And we've never done this layout before either. The flag could be anywhere in this place."
"Yeah, and Scott likes mazes and puzzles so chances are it could take the whole session just to figure out where the flag is, let alone get to it," Rogue felt the resigned frustration in her brother's voice. Kurt was right. And they never should have told Scott about escape rooms (by the time they'd figured out what a colossal mistake that was, it had been too late. He was unstoppable).
"Okay, so we pair off and go for it then," Pyro was way more hopeful and optimistic than he had any right to be.
"Let's sync our watches and then yeah. We should pair defensive with offensive powers," Jean said, distracted by trying to pull out her communicator.
"What no fancy universal timer here?" Pyro asked.
Rogue looked up towards Scott and smirked at Pyro's question, crossing her arms. She'd asked the same many times.
"No," she heard Scott saying over the loudspeaker. "That removes a sense of reality from the simulation."
Rogue rolled her eyes and pulled out her own communicator to set a timer. "Thirty minutes, Scott?"
"Affirmative. Partner up and we'll begin."
"Dibbs on Pete!" Colossus looked surprised to have been picked by anyone and it was beyond sweet to see such a large man blushing and trying to make himself as small as possible as Kitty bounded to his side. "Ready, big guy?" He nodded and his smile was just as sweet as his demeanor. How the hell did such a nice guy end up working for Magneto? Rogue had always known he didn't act as into the evil parts of the plans as the rest of the team, but seeing him act so shy was something else entirely. Pyro, she could guess why he was there. Gambit, she had ideas about why he was there. But Colossus stuck out like a sore thumb.
"Not fair!" Pyro yelled. "Petey, ya can't just abandon me like this! What am I supposed to do. Work with Gambit? You know what happened to my eyebrows last time we tried that."
Rogue turned towards Remy, a mischievous look on his face as he shrugged and ignored that Pyro's question had been directed to Colossus.. "No such luck, John. Y' heard the lady-we both got offensive powers." Immediately, Rogue heard the ulterior motive in his voice and was so not surprised when he moved towards her. "Looks like y' gonna have t' be in a threesome with Red and the teleporter over there."
"No fair!" Pyro yelled again just as Scott's voice crackled over the loud speaker; "Absolutely not."
Rogue looked towards the Australian, trying to figure out if he was pissed to get last choice, or if he was just pissed about who he'd ended up with. It wasn't like working with her would have been that fun for the guy.
"'Absolutely not', what, Scott?" Rogue asked, hands on her hips as she glared upwards.
There was a small amount of hesitation before Scott spoke. "You and Gambit have worked together before. You should work with different people."
Rogue rolled her eyes, but it was Kitty who answered back. "Yeah, exactly Scott. We're picking advantageous pairings. They've worked together before and they're a good team-we're being smart by putting the two of them together again. Are you gonna try to tell Pete and I we can't work together again? How about Kurt and Jean?"
"This is a training simulation. Everyone should work with different people as much as possible."
"Oh, whatever, it's not like anything is gonna actually help us beat your stupid sim anyway, so why not just let us pick our own teams? Besides if it's new you want, you have three people in a senior level sim who have never been in the Danger Room before," Kitty retorted, hands on her hips and a slight pout to her lips.
Rogue glanced up nervously at Gambit, who was glaring daggers in Scott's direction as he spoke to Kitty. "Don't worry, p'tite, he's jus' unhappy someone else had a better idea than him."
"Rogue, pick a different partner."
Immediately Rogue felt every pair of eyes turn to her, but only the red on black ones right next to her made her face feel like it was burning. She again felt just as stuck and frustrated as she had working with both Scott and Gambit the other day. Whatever pissing match was going on between them, she didn't like being basically caught in the stream of pee every time.
"I'm the leader and I'm telling you to pick someone else, Rogue."
Her face flushed in anger this time and she frowned up in Scott's direction. It seemed between this session and the last he was intent on torturing her specifically. "You ain't the field leader during sims, Scott. Jean is and I don't hear her objectin'. Now can we just get this over with already?" What the fuck was his problem? Scott had been very controlling in his journey to learn how to be in charge, but something about the past few days had set him off to a whole different level and it was really starting to push Rogue past "angry" and into "absolutely done".
There was silence from above before finally Scott spoke again. "Fine. Session begins in 3, 2...1."
Immediately the lights went out as the sim began.
Rogue stumbled and cursed. Of course they'd picked the stupid door that led to the stupid basement. And of course the rock Gambit had picked up to light the way with his powers didn't reach as far as she needed, especially with him a few steps ahead of her. Oh, yeah and of course they were still walking down a giant fucking staircase they couldn't see the bottom of as she tripped. She grabbed for the railing, trying to be subtle, but he was too quick. The rock dropped and exploded as she felt his hands under her elbows, supporting her as she in turn steadied herself on his forearms.
She looked up just as the explosion lit up his face and for a moment, the eerily quiet demeanor and tone he'd had was gone and in its place was a small flash of concern in his eyes. Just as quickly as the expression flashed across his face, they were plunged into the darkness.
"Fuck," she sighed, already letting go of his arms, trying to not notice how small her hands felt when she was grabbing onto his arms like that. But he didn't let go in return.
She heard a small creak of the steps and felt him shift more in front of her, still holding her elbows. Had she not been able to hear him move, she certainly would have been able to tell when she felt his breath inches in front of her face, minty and cool. "I'm fine." She tried to pull her arms from his grip, but still he didn't let go. As her eyes adjusted, she swore she could see his eyes in the darkness, mostly level with her own.
"Gambit…" she said warningly, not even sure which warning she was trying to voice.
"Thought we talked 'bout this. Not Gambit."
"Right now you are though."
He didn't respond and she knew she'd made a solid point, despite feeling like her voice was stuck in her throat from the warmth of his forearms still resting under her own.
This was a new norm for them to navigate, keeping their friendship separate from work time. "Y' really tellin me y' done this sim over half a dozen damn times and y' ain't just told Ol' One Eye to stuff it?"
He was still far too close. She again tried to pull her arms away from his grip, but his large hands tightened briefly around her elbows, keeping them locked together. She could stand on her own, damn it. It was just a stumble.
She looked away from him; from his accusation and from the completely uncomfortable feeling that she could see his eyes and how that might mean he could see her much better than she could see him at the moment. When she didn't answer, he continued on.
"M' surprised y' even tried t' tell him no jus' now."
Mouth dry, she turned her face back to the direction of his, "What?"
His hands finally let go of her elbows, slowly, and she was surprised when she felt the loss of his warmth just as strongly as his evident disappointment.
"Jus' sayin. Y' always been the good little soldier for Summers. Could count on one hand the number of times I heard y' tell him 'no'."
Rogue was taken aback. "You clearly didn't watch me as close as you thought then, Gambit."
She both felt and heard a snort of annoyance from him. "Whatever y' say, chère." Ouch. The way he spat out 'chère' was a perfect mimic of her emphasis on his code name and she found she was not a fan.
She heard his voice turning away from her as he'd spoken and she also heard him fumbling around inside his coat. Rogue winced as a card lit up, eyes struggling to adjust to the sudden light, and although his tone had gone completely neutral on his last statement, she could see the annoyance on his face from the lit up card, grasped between two fingers.
"Gambit, what the fuck is your problem?"
He didn't answer and continued to walk down the steps. She huffed in frustration and clenched her fists, moving quickly to catch up so she wouldn't lose the light.
Seriously, what was his problem? First Scott, now Gambit. He'd never acted this way before when they were enemies-like he personally was pissed off. He suddenly stopped moving and she looked down to realize they'd reached the bottom of wherever they were going, concrete beneath his feet.
He had set himself on a mission, apparently, as he got down looking around on the floor. She didn't have to wonder long when he threw the card off to the side with a soft popping sound as it exploded. She could see him shake his hand after the card left it, like someone who had touched a stove for a second too long.
As another rock lit up, she quirked an eyebrow at him, curious. "What, the card not enough?"
He looked back at her, his expression carefully blank again. His voice lacked any warmth as he answered, an almost robotic monotonous tone taking over. "The rock's bigger-can hold the charge longer without goin' boom." His voice softened but when he looked at the rock and spoke again, the same blank face and voice were still in place. "Haven't figured out how t' hold the charge on cards f' very long yet wit'out Remy's hand gettin' a lil' crispy." The end was an attempt at a joke, she knew, still it unnerved her to see the shadow of a very quick and manufactured smile at his own words.
Although she probably should have, Rogue hadn't really considered the idea of Remy struggling with his powers like she did or even having to learn to control parts of it. Maybe it was because he always seemed in such good control or maybe it was because he was a few years older than her. Or maybe it was because he always seemed to be able to mask any struggles he was having. But come to think of it, she hadn't ever seen him use his powers this way. She hadn't picked up on any hint of it when his psyche was in her head either. Holding the charge on objects and delaying the explosion was a new trick he'd returned to Bayville with.
She stepped closer to him, looking upwards at his face, still turned toward her over his back and shoulder as he looked down at the rock, a small pensive look on his face. "How'd you figure that out?"
His eyes flickered to her face and then his face snapped forward, holding out the rock to try to figure out their surroundings. "Y' know how powers are. Sometimes things jus' show up."
She frowned, but chose not to continue that subject. Instead she copied his movements and began looking around the room.
"Surprised he hasn't sent a battle sim after us yet," she said softly, hoping Cyclops was focused on a different group at that time.
Gambit looked at her, holding his gaze on her face a second longer than before. "The maze an' puzzle ain't enough?"
"Apparently not, but it's how he wants to run the sims I guess," She shrugged and rolled her eyes and walked as far as she could see in the opposite direction, arms crossed over her chest. There was another opening to walk through, but no door. It was an expanse of darkness through the opening and it made her skin crawl thinking about walking through there with not much light to look for attackers.
"Well if Cyclops wants t' make everyone's life harder here, why the hell not." Although she was slightly happy to hear some expression in his voice, she wasn't sure if she liked hearing his barely veiled annoyance Any better. He walked past her towards the opening she'd been looking at, holding the light out as far as possible to get a look at what might be inside the opening.
She huffed in annoyance and stormed over to him, grabbing the shoulder of the arm not holding the potentially explosive rock and yanking him around to face her.
"Rogue, what the hell?"
"I'm serious, Gambit. What the fuck is your problem? I know you're at work or whatever right now and I'm not expectin' you to act otherwise, but you've never been…" she trailed off, noticing the tightening of his jaw and his refusal to meet her eyes.
"Never what," he demanded, eyes almost defiant as he finally glanced at her quickly before turning away from her. "Never pointed out th' cold hard truth that y'd do basically whatever y' fearless leader asks? Even if it's a stupid decision?" She quickly dropped her hand from his shoulder, not wanting to be touching him or acting remotely familiar when he took on that tone of voice. She clenched her fist at her side as he continued on. "What y' gonna do, Rogue, when one day he asks you to put y'self in a position y' ain't gonna come back out of so easily?" She felt like she was gaping at him like a fish, unable to reply. Her face was buzzing with all the frustration she was hit with on each word he said. It was like a slap to the face and gut and she held both hands tightly at her side, trying to not start an actual fight.
He tossed the rock through the door opening and it exploded, a flash of light almost letting her make out shapes through the darkness. Large shapes. Not moving shapes, but large shapes all the same. She had no time to point this out to Gambit though, because as soon as the rock left his hand he was stalking towards her, backing her into what felt like a small bookcase against the wall. She braced her hands on it, looking for leverage and unsure how the hell they'd gone from cooking together last night to suddenly now...this. Whatever this aggression was.
His body was so close she could almost feel it against her own, like the phantom brush of a feather as their chests just barely touched. She looked upwards and found the red of his irises, keeping stubbornness planted on her face. This couldn't be what he wanted this to be like, right? He couldn't be expecting them to be fine outside of business hours but fight and poke and frustrate one another during, right? He couldn't be -
She felt one hand land beside her own on the bookcase and she froze as she felt the fingers of his other hand gently pushing her bangs away from her face. Once he finished, his hand didn't drop, it stayed in her hair, resting there, fingers weaved through the strands carefully to avoid his bare fingers touching her scalp. It was such a sudden change in his demeanor, she felt a different punch in her gut this time, stomach twisting and turning as she struggled to breathe quietly and not let on her confusion at his sudden attitude change.
When he spoke again, there was an immediate difference in his tone as well: it was the Remy from last night she heard, even if his voice was still packed full of frustration despite his volume lowering. It made his voice sound deeper and it rumbled in his chest against her own. "What y' gonna do when one time y' follow his orders blindly and get y'self in serious trouble? Think he gonna thank y', chère? Or just keep askin' for more till y' got nothin' left t' give?"
Rogue wasn't sure how to answer that. She didn't know how to explain that Scott wouldn't do that in a way Remy would believe. Because he wouldn't. Scott was her friend, and he was trying to be a good leader, he just hadn't figured it out yet. She was going to give him hell for it, yeah, but she knew he wouldn't go that far to put her at risk without care. She hated when her brain dropped the memory of the time he'd asked her to save Jean from her powers going haywire. She'd volunteered in the end, but she'd done it because he'd asked. Well. Because the team had asked. But mostly because he had. Putting herself in danger had been her own choice and the team wouldn't have asked it of her if they wouldn't do the same for her. She was sure of it.
She grabbed his wrist and pushed his hand out of her hair in response, still trying to find the words to use when she was having trouble breathing from how close he was to her. The energy crackling around him made her feel almost trapped by him this time (although not in danger), as opposed to only the discomfort of a body close to her own like in the crate yard. She felt everything was charged up this time like one of his cards, from the air to the tension in her body.
He immediately grabbed her hand mid-push and laced their fingers together, bringing both their hands down to rest by their sides. She tried to pull her hand away, but just like on the stairs he held firm. His eyes drew closer to her as he bent down to even their height difference, his breath now directly on her cheek, warming more than her face. She pushed and pulled away again, trying to move her body away from his, needing to breathe, but he simply sighed and grabbed her free hand as well and pinned it down on the bookcase.
"Let. Me. Go," she allowed as much ice as possible to bleed into her tone.
"Ain't happenin', chère," he suddenly sounded very tired.
She tried to squirm her legs to knee him enough to get him to let her go, but with her body and hands pinned and their chests so close, she was having trouble maneuvering herself in a way that wouldn't give him forewarning to her plan.
"Wasn't fair of me to say."
She didn't respond and instead glared ahead, probably straight at his shoulder, knowing he probably couldn't see her but hoping the general anger would fill the air and maybe replace some of whatever it was that was keeping her from feeling like she could breathe normally.
"Chèrie, don't do this."
She blinked, incredulous. "Do what, Gambit?" Although she hadn't liked being on the receiving end of her name being spat out, in her anger she wasn't able to stop from doing it again.
She felt his head lean down as he sighed again, almost as if his forehead were about to rest on her shoulder, and he pulled their hands with laced fingers between their chests.
"This. Get pissed off and…I didn't...I'm jus' tryin' t'..." he stammered, something she'd never heard before, and trailed off at the end of his sentence, never really attempting to finish it, just pick a different angle. He exhaled loudly, apparently having found the words he'd wanted. "Now ain't the time."
She let out a frustrated noise and tried to pull her hand out from under his. "Are you kidding me? You started this and you're wantin' me to let it go?" Also, although she didn't say so, something about this felt distinctly like it was very far from a work squabble.
She imagined she could feel him wince as his head did land on her shoulder. She froze, feeling electricity run from her shoulder down her torso. Between his hands radiating heat up her arms and the rest of her body getting electric shocks from the feel of having him so close, she wondered if she was ever going to breathe normally again. She also wondered if he could feel her heartbeat thrumming through every inch of her, especially since every bit was pressed against him in some way or form.
"I know I started this. An' I shouldn't have." She could hear he was carefully choosing his words and he sighed again before continuing. "It's jus' so...frustratin'...to watch sometimes.'
"You don't have to watch," her voice sounded stilted to her own ears.
His hand tightened around her own slightly and once again she tried to not notice how small her hand felt against his own, especially with their fingers lacing them so close together. He snorted. "Hard not to."
"Try harder."
This time his snort was almost a laugh.
"I'm serious. That's an X Men thing anyway-not really your place to be judgin' how I follow my team leader's directions, especially when we're in the middle of a sim. Like you said. Not the time for this," his head shot up from her shoulder and she tried to speak levelly as she looked up into his eyes, which were now directly over her, so close she was worried their noses were about to touch. She finished, feeling the need to defend as much as the need to clarify. "I shouldn't be puttin' my nose in Acolyte business either."
She held her breath in, incredibly self conscious of how fast her heart and breath were fighting to go, until she felt his thumb on their interlaced hands lightly stroke her hand and figured that as weird as the whole blow up had been, this might be as close to a resolution as they would get today (maybe ever, and maybe that was okay).
"We can talk more about this after," she added softly, already feeling an insane need to separate their friendship from business time.
She could tell he closed his eyes momentarily as the red of his eyes briefly disappeared. He stepped back from her, giving her the space she'd so desperately been needing...but weirdly now the space left her feeling cold and empty without the buzz his body had been creating by being so close to her own. He'd let go of their entwined hands, but as she stepped away from the bookcase, finally feeling in control of her own space again, she felt the thumb of his other hand brushing her own as he continued to hold on to it.
It was a weird sensation, but, hey, everything with Remy had always had that extra punch of "what the hell?", especially the past few days and especially with him deciding to invade her personal space so constantly. It seemed to be a mostly absent motion for him, she thought to herself as she heard him use his other hand to begin rummaging around in his coat.
With the first flash, the card lit up between his fingers. With the second flash, Rogue swore, eyes wide as she saw what Scott had just thrown at them.
She had to have jinxed them by saying Cyclops hadn't sent a battle sim their way yet because, she realized as both she and Remy dodged the explosion that had just been flung their way, now they had not only one sim coming for them (and judging by the snarls coming from the giant hulking mass in front of them, she was certain she knew who it was), but two:
Sabretooth.
And Gambit himself.
"Well, this is gonna real get confusin' real fast."
"Scott, are you kidding me with this??"
"Ready t' fight, mon ami?" At least the terrible french lilt in the simulator's voice at least made it easier to tell which Gambit was talking.
Immediately, Rogue ducked and rolled, apparently just in time she realized upon hearing an explosion from the wall right behind where her head had been.
She quickly glanced over to Remy, who was sizing up both the virtual Sabretooth and himself as he slowly backed up in her direction, cards already fanned out in his hands. She stood quickly and moved to his side, fists out and ready to go and unleash all the pent up tension she was feeling: from how close she and Gambit had just been to the anger at Scott for doing this. He just had to try to put the Acolytes in their place, didn't he? Quickly, Remy looked at her and she tried to convey she would explain later with the quick exchange they had. However, while tension was written across his whole face, curiously, there was no accusation or anger as she'd been expecting. Concern was also absent, as well as his signature smirk.
He was just...blank.
"How accurate are these things? Jus' the powers?" As he spoke, Sabretooth launched himself at Gambit, immediately knocking him back and into the bookcase they'd just been standing by. She didn't have time to check on if he was handling fighting his old teammate well (hopefully they'd sparred before) because apparently tackling was the battle move of choice today. Quickly, she found herself sailing through the air, landing on her back with the simulation of Gambit kneeling overtop of her, sitting himself right on her hips. "Ma belle chere, 'bout time I got your body under mine." (She heard a scoff from across the room and a mutter that sounded suspiciously like "'m not that bad").
Rogue kneed upwards into his spine and rolled to her side as soon as the weight of the sim had left her. Cards rained sideways in her direction and she dodged and rolled again, heart racing in so many different ways. This was not the kind of thing to convince Gambit that Scott wasn't that shitty of a leader. She worked to avoid the cards flying towards her to find a moment to finally answer across the room, "Accurate to the last battle Scott saw you in usually."
She heard a giant grunt from his direction and a sickening crack of a head against the wall, Sabretooth snarling the whole time. She couldn't turn to look and make sure it wasn't Gambit who got taken out though. Simulation Gambit was advancing, cards fanned out similarly to his real counterpart, glowing a deep gold. "Ready t' dance, ma belle?"
"Rather take you out and get this over with," Rogue grunted, landing a solid punch in his gut.
"Oh, ma belle, if y' wanted a date t' go wit' the dancin', all y gotta do is say so. I'll add y' t' m' t'-do list immediately."
She flushed, realizing the innuendo she'd opened herself up to and heard herself let out a very Logan-like-grown as she landed another punch, this time to the simulation's jaw. He stumbled back against the wall, stunned and holding his jaw. From behind her, she heard the sounds of Gambit struggling with Sabretooth. She took advantage of her sparring partner being temporarily out of commission to sneak a peek and was dismayed at what she found.
It had been Gambit who hit the wall, as evidenced by the blood on his forehead, but that wasn't the most alarming thing she was seeing. His face was very close to a snarl as he swung his staff at Sabretooth with wild abandon, whacking the larger man over and over as he fought him off. Gone was his smirk, his usual banter, and the look in his eyes that said he always had a plan. He was in an almost frenzied state, unlike any way she'd ever seen him fight, unleashing everything he had onto Sabretooth and almost growling back to Sabretooth more and more each time he landed a hit with his staff or cards.
"Oh, ma chèrie..." She turned back to her own opponent, who was recovering from her sucker punch to the jaw. She frowned. Gambit had never spoken to her with that tone of voice; like a creepy guy in an alley. Sure he'd teased, been condescending in the beginning, and honeyed his tone several times to get what he wanted...but he'd never sounded gross like this before. She found she hated the way the simulation called her 'chèrie' even over the way the real man had spit the nickname out as they'd descended the staircase.
She rolled her eyes and readied herself to duck and roll again. Damn it, Scott really set her up to have to use her powers here, didn't he? She knew it was just a simulation-no psyche would enter her head if she dropped this douchey version of Remy, but if she relied on using her powers in here she would start doing that in the real world too. She sighed, preparing to remove her glove. Apparently Scott was going to win this round.
All thought of avoiding using her powers went away, though, when the simulation of Gambit sent a card straight for her gut, knocking her backwards into a wall as the explosion happened. Shit, that hurt. Getting hit in a sim wasn't the same as the real world (Logan had safety settings in the Danger Room, irony of all ironies), but it still stung like a bitch getting knocked in the gut into a wall. She ripped off her glove at the same time she heard Gambit yell her name, followed by several quick explosions. They were larger than any explosion she'd known him to do before and the sound was louder as well-almost deafening. She tried to sit up quickly, but immediately her hand went to her head, dizzy from the hit and now from the large amount of smoke surrounding them.
Gambit, what seemed to be the real Gambit, was already at her side. She could vaguely hear him asking questions and felt his hands hovering all over her, probably looking for a sign of the explosion on her body. She was sure she imagined how unsteady he looked but all the same, while his voice sounded calm, the frenzied feeling she'd gotten from him earlier was still there behind his eyes and in the energy practically vibrating from him.
A mechanical voice came over the loudspeaker. "Simulation. Over. No success." As the simulation flickered and started disappearing, Rogue could hear yells from her teammates (and Pyro) about being this close. It sounded like the four of them had all ended up in about the same area.
She didn't need Remy's help to stand, but she let him keep his arm around her bicep as she did so anyway. Something about the way he was looking around, mostly between her and the simulations of himself and Sabretooth disappearing, told her telling him what to do at that moment might not be the best choice, especially if she wanted things to stay getting better between the two of them. It was similar to the looks she'd seen in his eyes several times since he came back to Bayville and each time she saw those looks on his face she hated it even more.
Rogue waved her hand in front of her face, clearing the smoke as quick as possible. She gave a few coughs and looked up to Gambit, whose eyes were glued where the two simulations had just been, as well as several giant scorch marks still on the Danger Room floor.
Rogue pulled her brush through her hair aggressively, drying it as quick as possible while also wishing instead she were punching Scott in the face. What, he couldn't have taken five seconds to remove the Acolytes from the simulation? Not that it would have mattered: None of the other teams had faced simulations of actual people-all of the simulations they'd gotten were ghosts or monsters, Kitty had said on their way back upstairs. Scott had sent those two simulations there on purpose.
And why? To try to remind her Gambit used to be someone she only saw as a bad guy? To trip Gambit up and make him fight himself? If Scott had wanted that, he shouldn't have picked Sabretooth to go in as well. That or he hadn't known what Rogue immediately had instinctively known as Soon as they saw the sims and they began battling: no way was Remy going to give her the harder battle when he could do it himself. Even if she'd tried to go for Sabretooth, she was fairly certain Gambit would have maneuvered them to trade enemies somehow.
Satisfied her hair was done, she walked out of the bathroom and flopped onto her bed, groaning.
There was a soft knock on her door and she lifted her head up towards her bedroom door, wondering if she'd imagined it. No one ever came to her room except Kurt and Kitty. Kitty would just phase in ("we're roommates we've seen each other naked enough times it's not weird" Kitty had said, like that made it okay), and Kurt's knock was much more exuberant. Another knock came, louder this time.
She raised an eyebrow and pushed herself off the bed. It could be Jean, she guessed, but Jean normally would reach out telepathically before coming to her room. Rogue grabbed the handle and as she opened the door realized that, although she would have expected him from the balcony, she probably should have known it would be Gambit at her door.
She froze as she looked up at him, hair still slick from the Danger Room and blood still on his forehead from the hit he'd taken. "...This is the girl's hallway?" Great, apparently intelligent thought was not going to be her strength this time when he came to her room either.
He grinned. "Not gonna get caught."
She rolled her eyes and opened the door to let him in before closing it behind them. She leaned back against the door, aware that again she was only wearing very short shorts and a hoodie that suddenly felt zipped far too low. She wondered if she zipped it up if it would draw more attention from him or less. "So. You came to the front door this time, huh?"
He chuckled and leaned against her vanity, arms crossed. "Wouldn't want Wolvie t' figure out how easy it is f' me t' sneak into y' room."
She rolled her eyes again. "Yeah, cause you care what he thinks."
He grinned again and she suddenly felt much better. She hadn't realized how off-kilter his behavior in the Danger Room had made her until they were back in her room, okay to act how they wanted without worrying about what other people thought. "True, but if he finds out he'll try t' actually make it a challenge f' me t' sneak back in here."
She found herself grinning back and sat down on her bed, pulling on her gloves, satisfied her hands were dry enough from after the shower to do so. A heavy silence fell over them, jokes falling to the wayside. It wasn't awkward silence so much as it was loaded, but still she didn't like it.
"Scott shouldn't have done that." He looked her in the eyes but didn't answer, waiting for her to speak more. She even had trouble hearing herself as she added, "he was being a dick." It wasn't very specific, but it was true.
Remy looked down towards his feet and she heard him let out a breath before he straightened and walked over to sit next to her.
"Wasn't the only one," was his answer.
She resisted the urge to pull her knees up to her chest, and settled instead for putting her hands on the comforter on each side of her thighs. This time she was the one who remained quiet to let him keep talking.
"Y' okay." It was a statement, not a question. When she didn't respond right away, he gestured towards her abdomen. It took her a second to remember she'd been hit in the Danger Room.
"Oh. That. Yeah," she looked down to where he meant and then back up at him. "Hits from sims with fire or explosives or anything able to injure badly like that are set to hit you without hurting too much. Feels more like a punch than anything."
He nodded in response, but didn't react much more to that information. He rested his elbows on his knees, bent over, and from that angle she could only see his ear and his jaw tightening over and over for a few seconds before he spoke again. "Y' ever…" He stopped and ran a hand over his face before leaning back on his hands and turning his face to hers. He sounded so tired again, just as he had when they'd been fighting. She knew the feeling. It wasn't about the actual fight necessarily (it never was). For her, it was usually more so being tired to the bone with whatever it was that sparked the fight. He looked up towards the ceiling and again she could see he was choosing his words carefully. Normally, she felt like words came so easily to him, no matter the situation-it was a skill she almost wished she could absorb and keep if she could do it without negative side effects for either of them - and it only made his occasional hesitation in the several days since he'd come back all the more obvious.
"Y' ever think what y'd be if y' could've gotten out from under Mystique's thumb quicker?"
She quirked an eyebrow at the subject change, unsure of where he was going with this, and allowed herself to pull one knee up to hug to her chest. "Wouldn't do much good, would it?"
He looked at her momentarily, his eyes openly telling her (for once) that he knew that would be her answer; his answer would be the same about Jean-Luc, after all. He pulled out a deck of cards again and began playing with them as he had the other day, watching the cards move. She found herself watching them just as closely, letting the silence drag on as they both watched his skilled hands move the cards this way and that. It was calming almost, to watch his hands smoothly move the cards in whatever pattern he picked.
Finally he spoke again, words obviously chosen very carefully and almost in a rehearsed manner. "Y' team's not Mystique. They're good t' you. I see that." He paused again. "But it don't mean Scott don't use y' loyalty t' take advantage. Same as her."
She jerked back, creating space between them. "You're comparing Scott to Mystique?"
He sighed and took her hand. She pulled away and this time he let her instead of hanging on tighter. "How he's actin', yeah."
Her lips pursed and she glared at him, looking at her so levelly as he waited for a response. He reached his hand slowly towards hers again, as if she were a wounded animal. In a way, she almost felt like it. "Scott isn't anything like Mystique. He hates her. He wouldn't..." her voice cut off abruptly, too angry to find any more words in his defense.
Softly she felt his hand grab her own, holding it so gently he was barely even gripping it. His voice felt as soft as his grip. "'S not my place. I know. An' I shouldn't have gotten pissed at you 'bout it earlier. Y' a big girl an' y' don't need me...but it is nice t' have someone watchin' out f' y' sometimes, right?" The same words he'd already said, echoed again. Weirdly, she wanted to give a very hesitant, very quiet 'yes'. She chose not to and looked away from him, teeth clenching.
She let out a long exhale and felt their hands, still connected very softly, come to rest on the bed between them. She could feel his eyes watching her closely.
"I don't want this t'..." he stopped and started again, his voice a little more normal this time. "Y' were right. 'Bout work time being separate from friend time." The low volume only served to magnify the warm timbre of his voice.
She looked over to him, still not ready to turn and look at his face fully, but curious enough to meet his eyes a little bit.
He gave a soft snort. "Prob'ly shoulda thought of that sooner, huh?"
She felt a small smile in the corner of her lips, unable to keep her muscles from moving. "Guess so."
"So."
"So."
"So. We...jus' keep our noses out of other team business. Like y' said." She turned her face more towards him as he spoke. "An' t' be smart, make sure Magneto doesn't know."
She felt herself grin a little at him. "Wouldn't take kindly to you befriending the enemy, huh?"
His lips tightened momentarily before answering. "Don't care so much 'bout him knowin' as a concept. Jus' would rather not let him in on my personal life."
She looked away and nodded, staring at the wall opposite them. She took a deep breath. "Deal."
Out of the corner of her eyes, she swore she could see him smile a little. "Okay, then. Deal."
There was a small moment of silence before she turned to him and found herself reaching for his forehead. His gaze followed her hands the whole time, watching her with eyes full of curiosity.
"Got you good, huh?" He winced a little as she touched his forehead.
""S not so bad. It'll clean up quick. Y' know head wounds."
She nodded absently, brushing his hair back a little from where the blood reached his hairline. Remy winced when she touched a particularly tender spot and her eyes widened as she pulled her hand away, a knee jerk reaction. Normally when she touched someone and they winced or gasped, she was either accidentally too close to their skin (exactly why she didn't make stupid decisions like reaching out to someone like she just did), or she actually did touch their skin with hers and her powers took effect.
Almost immediately she felt his thumb brushing the side of her hand, which was still held so softly in his, both still resting on her comforter. Again, the sensation made her stomach flip and her face feel like it was tingling. It made her uncomfortable, but not necessarily in a "this is terrible" way. More of a "what is happening" way.
If he noticed, he didn't let on. "Now a good time f' friend time then?"
She wrinkled her nose. "If you shower first. You smell like the county fair."
He laughed and the grin remained on his face as he leaned closer to her. "Would, but the boys showers seem t' be busy at the moment. Somethin' 'bout John and the ice kid. Y' stuck with smelly me."
"You are not gonna stink up my room, Swamp Rat," she said, dryly.
He leaned even closer. "Too bad, chère. No other option, 'less y' got a secret shower in here I can use."
She froze, stuck on why the idea of him in her shower with just a wall between them made her heart stutter. Finally (finally) she found her voice. "Might be outta hot water, but actually I do." She used her free hand to gesture towards the bathroom. Using her free hand only made her all the more aware of his thumb slowly tracing patterns on her other hand.
His eyes followed her hand, looking towards the door. "No more communal showers for you, huh?"
She shook her head, even though he wasn't looking in her direction. "When we rebuilt the Mansion the Prof made plans for the senior members to all have suites. Kit and I share a bathroom."
He turned back to meet her eyes, but she was already standing, her hand leaving the warmth of his and she was somewhat sad for the loss. She needed to move. Somehow. Her heart was beating far too fast.
"Kit and I already both showered, so like I said, hot water might be gone." He followed her as she walked into the bathroom to lock Kitty's side of the door. She turned once she finished, facing him, and again she was stuck on how...surreal?...the idea of Gambit in her shower was, so she continued on playing the role of hostess to keep herself moving. His eyes were quietly on her the whole time, from their walk to her pointing out where to find things to when she bent over to show him how to jiggle the faucet to get the water to heat up.
After she finished explaining and started to move toward the door, he began pulling his shirt off, effectively blocking her path to get through the door as he did so unless she wanted to duck and go under his very wide arm span.
If she hadn't felt like breathing was impossible before, now it really was. Her mouth was incredibly dry, despite the remaining humidity left in the bathroom from her own shower. And she'd thought the muscles on his arms were defined. Holy shit, the man's torso was like it was from a movie screen, every inch of his tanned skin toned and muscular. Different from what she'd seen in the movies, however (outside of the fact that this was very real - not a dream - and happening in front of her) was the patchwork of scars covering his torso and (she noticed in the mirror) his back. Some were small, some medium sized, but plenty of scars young and old. She wanted to reach out and touch one, but thought better of it for many reasons (chief among them she was the untouchable girl: can't really touch people if they can't touch you).
She could barely even hear his voice, muffled through the shirt, as he thanked her. When his shirt finally came off, his insufferable smirk was on his face and she luckily remembered to nod at him in response, trying to keep her eyes from looking as obviously panicked as they did in the mirror. "See you in a few then," he paused and his smirk became a shit eating grin. "Unless you wanna stay?"
Shit.
He definitely saw her looking.
Not like her face, red as a tomato, wouldn't have given it away anyway, she thought to herself as she hurried past him and closed the door between them, leaning against it briefly to catch her breath. She closed her eyes and brought her hand to her chest, willing her heart rate to calm down even just a little. Remy LeBeau was shirtless in her bathroom.
Shit, he wasn't just shirtless. He was probably completely naked by now, she realized as she heard the water turn on.
What the hell had she gotten herself into?