Rogue was shocked at her own boldness, at her choice to kiss Remy in the hall. The previous moment, the one in the kitchen, was not her choice. Carol could see Rogue's very obvious attraction to Remy. Carol wanted to make a joke of it, lean forward and press her mouth to Remy's, and make Rogue uncomfortable. When Remy moved towards her, it was enough to break the spell Carol had over her. Her fearfulness was stronger than Carol's meanness.
Later, she'd stood on her toes and then lifted herself into the air so his height was not an imposition on her. When he leaned back against the doorframe and let her kiss him, and did not advance on her or persist, it was exactly what she wanted. His lips left a tingling warmth on hers, as if there was a live current running beneath his skin. She wondered if the rest of him would feel the same. Felt instantly flushed all over for even thinking about it.
She'd meant to tease him with her 'cute boy' comment. Rogue had thought at one time that she and Bobby might be more than friends. But with the lack of a physical commitment on both of their parts, she realized that it wasn't fair to either of them to press it any further. She did not have the same physical reaction to Bobby as she did to Remy. Remy was so different; darker, warmer skin, darker hair, dark dark eyes, a dark, knowing smile. A different build, and she'd seen plenty of it when he'd first been brought into the mansion. His body was not an overall even musculature, but a focused build, like an Olympic swimmer. Like he was built to do one thing, and do it well.
push ups? Carol suggested. bet you'd like to be under him while he counts sets.
The thought of being beneath him both frightened her and sent a rush of desire that tightened her lower belly. Shut up! she screamed. I won't let you ruin this!
you ruined my life, it's only fair, Carol said, and feeling both furious and guilty, Rogue recognized she was right.
She walked down the hall to where Remy was staying, knocked on the door. It was nearly eight am, and she knew he'd been up late the night before. But he wasn't asleep. He opened the door and smiled at her. Rogue's heart squeezed in her chest. Remy beckoned her into his room and sat on the edge of his bed.
"You need a hairbrush, sugah? Did we forget to give you one?" His hair was a damp tangle that fell to his shoulders, he must have just showered. Water droplets stained the shoulders of his shirt which Rogue guessed might have been one of Scott's cast-offs given the size and school logo treatment.
"I got a brush," he told her and pulled a sneaker onto his foot. "This is de outcome. 'Fraid it doesn't get any better." He pulled on the second sneaker and looked at his feet. "These hand-me-downs are better'n what I got."
"We should probably get you set up with a new set a duds," Rogue told him.
Remy stood. "I have some clothes," he told her. "Stashed at a flat nearer de library."
"Maybe we can go pick 'em up?" Rogue suggested.
He nodded. "Got any other plans for me?" he asked, raised a dark eyebrow. The way he said it insinuated something.
"Ah thought Ah'd give you a formal tour," Rogue said. "Satisfy your curiosity before it kills ya."
"Sounds good. Where should we start?"
Rogue nodded to the hall. "C'mon, we'll go through the parts that don't have giant holes blown through 'em."
They proceeded down the hall. She told him that he was sharing this part of the wing with the male members of X-Factor, who were temporarily in residence.
"So, I gather they used t'live here, but now don't?" Remy asked. When Rogue nodded he continued: "Why not?"
Rogue drew a breath. "Well, they kinda went their separate ways. Went t'school. Started jobs. Joined the Defenders and Avengers. Died…"
"Jean, right? I thought I'd heard Logan say she was back from de dead. She looks plenty alive t'me."
Rogue nodded. "Ah guess rumors of her death were greatly exaggerated."
"And Jean and Scott, they're a matched set?"
Rogue shook her head. "No, Scott is married. His wife is Maddie. They have a baby."
Remy had a flash of something pass over his face. Concern? "And where are they?" he asked finally.
"Alaska, Ah think," Rogue responded. "Anyway, that was another reason for him to go. Ororo thought if she'd take over leadership from him, he'd head on back to his family. But...Ah guess not."
They were silent for a moment as they walked down the hall. "I guess we shouldn't be gossipin' about de man," Remy finally said.
"You're gonna learn pretty fast, sugah, nothin' stays a secret 'round here for very long."
"Dis'll be a different change of pace. In my family, we ain't got nothing but secrets. Think I'm considering setting up a hermitage, get away from it all."
"Ah think you'd get pretty bored not having anyone to talk at," she said.
"Talk t'myself all de time," he smiled. "Brilliant conversationalist."
She took him towards the main staircase. "Center of the dorms, Magnus' room is here. The women's quarters are down that way. You'll find a laundry over here. The kids, the New Mutants, they're at the back of the women's dorm area, took over the old study hall. Ororo is upstairs in the loft."
She guided him down the staircase. "You've seen our parlor, dining, kitchen. We had to expand that, take over the old formal sitting room. Switched our parlor for the formal dining, there's just too many people to feed here now. Xavier's office you musta taken a gander at that, Ah suppose."
"Sorry it got trashed. I can help fix it. I know some electrical stuff. I hardly set anything on fire anymore."
"Ah think we'll leave it to the professionals, Remy. You been in the formal library?"
"No, show me."
Rogue took him into the library. He wandered over to the shelves, crouched and examined some titles there.
"Ah, de complete works of Doctor Henry McCoy," he said, fingering the spines.
"You got an interest in genetics, Remy?"
"Not particularly, but it beats physics. We can come back later, yeah?"
"Sure, hon. Let's get some breakfast." He followed her into the kitchen. "What're you hungry for?" she asked.
"Coffee's fine," he replied. "Usually skip breakfast."
"Well, you don't get to skip meals on mah watch," she informed him. "Have a seat."
"No, no way. I am not gonna sit here and watch you cook."
Rogue extended her arms. "This is mah domain!"
"I'm never introducing you t'my father. He will steal you away."
"Ah don't think his wife will like that."
"He's not married," Remy told her.
"Divorced?" Rogue asked.
"No, no, ...ah, I don't actually know what he is, was," Remy said.
"But...Matilde?" Rogue was confused.
"Oh, they're not involved. They're just...uh. Hm."
"Partners in crime?" Rogue joked.
"Sure seems dat way," Remy said to himself. More loudly he said: "If you're making food, I'm helping. Consider me your more than capable sous chef."
"Ah'll just make eggs," she told him and pulled out the carton from the refrigerator. She picked up a pound of bacon. "Ah suppose Ah should've asked you if you ate meat before Ah fed you that sandwich."
"I won't say 'no' to bacon," he told her and took the eggs from her hands.
At the kitchen table, two of the New Mutants were watching them with avid interest. "It's nearly eight-thirty, you two," Rogue told them. "Don't you have somewhere t'be? Like class?"
The pair reluctantly departed. Hank wandered in, staring at a newspaper, mindlessly took a box of granola bars from the pantry and wandered off. Logan entered just as Hank was leaving. "Did I hear someone say 'bacon'?" he asked.
"No," Rogue told him. "No, it is not Saturday mornin', y'all got to fend for yourselves the rest of the week."
Remy had turned on the vent for the stovetop, found a pan and had thrown half a stick of butter in it. "Might as well cook de whole thing if we're gonna do a fry up," he said.
Logan grinned at Rogue. "This kid can talk sense," he said.
"Remy if you feed this man he will keep comin' 'round like a stray cat," Rogue said to Remy's back. She removed the toaster from under the cupboard, grabbed the bread from the breadbox.
"Just so happens I like cats," Remy told her. "Save for de one!"
"Not a feline fan," she told him.
"Cats are...hm, sleek lookin', independent, clean."
"Creepy, aloof, have claws."
"Cats purr!"
"They crap in a box in your house, too," Rogue added. "Give me a dog any day."
"You can have your dog," Remy told her. "Just keep it away from me. Dogs are no friend to de thief!"
Rogue put sliced bread in the toaster, depressed the button to make toast. Walked over to the second pan on the stovetop and checked on the bacon. "Ah don't think Ah can trust someone who doesn't like dogs. Speaks something to your character, Ah think."
"I urge you not to trust me at all, chère. You don't know what all I can get away with otherwise," to Logan he asked: "How d'you like your eggs?"
"Cooked by someone else," Logan answered. He'd been observing the exchange between Remy and Rogue with a bemused smile on his face. When Rogue dropped two pieces of toast on his plate, he raised his eyebrows at her.
"Don't you even start," she told him in an undertone. "Ah will send you packin' so fast."
"Here's a man who knows what's what," Remy said, oblivious to their exchange as he stood by the noise of the vent. He walked down the length of the counter and deposited eggs onto Logan's plate.
Rogue handed Remy a mug of coffee. "You need cream and sugah...Sugah?" she asked.
"I'm sweet enough," he told her, and winked at her over the lip of the mug.
"Aren't you two just the cutest," Logan said. "Maybe take your date down to the Danger Room later, Rogue. Work out some of that extra energy you've got this mornin'."
"D'you want to end up in the lake?" she asked sweetly. "Ah happen t'know you'll sink like a giant adamantium stone."
"Danger Room?" Remy asked.
"Torture chamber," Rogue quipped.
"But that's just a big empty room. Is it so you can relish in de echoing screams of your innocent victims?" Remy asked.
"Are you trying to say you're innocent? I don't believe that for a second. It's a training facility," Logan explained. "There's still plenty of screaming going on though."
"We use it to learn how to use our powers better," Rogue added. "Sometimes it's fun."
"Should I be believin' it's 'fun' from a woman who can't be bruised, beaten, or blown up?" Remy asked Logan.
"Ah'll show him round the sub-sub basement first," Rogue said.
"Is that where you keep de jet?"
"How'd you know we had a jet?" Logan asked.
"Lucky guess and confirmed by you."
"You fly, Rem? Don't tell me you're a pilot too," Rogue asked.
"I'm only half a pilot. Got de bird in de air. Did not stick de landing so much," Remy told her.
"Don't let him in the Blackbird," Logan told Rogue and pointed at Remy, then added as he looked the thief in the eyes: "Don't touch her!"
"De Blackbird or...this bird?" Remy nodded at Rogue.
"Why don't you bring us the bacon, Remy," Rogue said pointedly.
"At your service!" he hopped back to the stovetop. "If there's any trainin' going on, I'm going to need to get back to my apartment and pick up my stuff."
"You keep an eye on him," Logan told Rogue quietly. She nodded.
"Apawrhtmint?" Logan repeated loudly.
"Apor! Apah- Apare- My flat!"
Logan chuckled and put a forkful of eggs into his mouth.
"I don't hear you makin' fun of Jean or Besty for not pronouncin' their R's!" Remy accused.
"That's 'cause their accents are sexy," Logan said.
"Oo, oo really naw? What's that aboot then, eh?" Remy said.
"Hey!" Logan snapped. "I do not sound like that!"
Remy dropped bacon on his plate and grinned at him. "Hope y'don't mind dis here is real U.S. of A. bacon, and not dat crap they got back where you come from!"
"Hey!" Logan countered again.
Rogue laughed and made two plates up for herself and Remy. She placed hers on the table with a mug of coffee. From the center of the table, she picked up a sugar jar, dumped several spoonfuls into her mug. "We'll go inta town and get your stuff after," she told him. "Then maybe Logan can settle the score with you in the Danger Room."
Remy said: "Sure, we got nothin' else to do anyway!"
Rogue smiled. Later they'd discover that they would find plenty to do.
Next time: Absolutely no kissing. Everyone keeps their clothes on. Just some good ole wholesome fall fun... ;-)