"How do you like Rob

"How do you like Rob?" Scott asked the next morning at breakfast. Everybody was at the table but Rob. It was almost nine and they had given up on waiting for him.

"He's ok" was the chorused response from Jean and Kurt. Kitty started to say something then stopped. Rogue looked kind of glum and Evan very happy.

"He's cool, he's a challenge." Evan said. He grabbed the pitcher of milk and started drinking from it. A chorus of yucks sounded from everybody.

"He's fine, I guess. He could be a little bit nicer. I mean, I haven't been able to touch people in awhile and seeing him is nice. But he acts so distant and like he doesn't want to get close to anybody." Rogue said. Jean nodded with agreement, but Kitty was frowning and shook her head.

"You acted that way once too," she said. Rogue began to look even more unhappy then before, so Kitty rushed on. "I mean, he can't exactly get close to anybody without killing them. His powers are much more advanced then yours are. He almost knocked me out yesterday. Maybe he thinks that he's going to hurt somebody."

"I guess." With that, Rogue slunk out of the room. She could hear the table return to the normal morning babble, but she didn't want to participate. Rob had got her down majorly. He was the first person she could touch in such a long time, and he didn't care. He wasn't making any kind of effort to be any of their friends. It was like he was afraid.

She continued walking down the hall and staring at the floor. She didn't notice the person standing in the hallway walking right toward her until she walked into him. "I'm sorry," she said without looking up.

"Rogue," the other person responded. "What's wrong?" The voice wasn't the familiar one of Scott and it wasn't the goofy one of Kurt. Rogue finally looked up. Rob was standing in front of her, his arms crossed.

"Nothing," she looked back down at the floor and continued walking. She could hear Rob walk up behind her.

"Don't give me any of this nothing crap. I'm not stupid. What's wrong Rogue? Don't like me?" Rob looked directly into Rogue's eyes. It looked to her like he was making an honest effort to be nice.

"You're the first person and probably the last that I've ever been able to touch and you're treating us all like shit. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Rogue burst out. "I mean, I wouldn't be as upset if you shot fire out of your fingers, but this is different."

"You don't understand, Rogue. None of you do." Rob turned around. He was beginning to regret talking to her. He had figured that trying to be nice for once couldn't hurt. He had had second thoughts after waking up that morning about not sticking around. This was a place to stay. A place where he could finish his senior year and then go to college and be on his own. He didn't have any definite plans on staying yet. He was finally considering it though.

"What don't I understand? I get the fact that you don't like us and would rather be rotting in a sewer somewhere." Rogue knew what she said was harsh, but she considered it to be true.

"That's not true." Rob back around and was now facing Rogue. "I can't get close to you people. You might end up.." he trailed off.

"End up what?"

"Kicking me out," he whispered. "If I get close to anybody, I'll be weak. Then when you all go away or I do, I'll be sad. I'll grow to depend on some of you. What if you let me down?"

"X-Men don't do that."

"I'm not up for this saving the world thing. I just want to be on my own. I want to live in the real world and fight my own battles. Not the one somebody's set out for me."

"The X-Men aren't really about saving the world. We're about helping each other through the development part of our powers. We're all friends to each other." Rogue couldn't believe what was coming out of her mouth. This wasn't her speaking. Then she realized that the words were coming from her heart.

"Rogue, you switched sides on everybody, 'member?" Rogue could only nod. She didn't want that part of her past being brought up. "Lance, Pietro, Todd, and Fred got dependent on you and you let them down by leaving. I don't want to get dependent on people or have them get dependent on me. It didn't work out well the last time."

"What happened?"

Rob sighed. He didn't really want to talk about this right now. "My grandparents kicked me out a little over a year ago. Three months after they kicked me out, my grandfather came to my apartment to say all was forgiven and invite me back home. He touched my arm. He went into a coma. My grandmother made it clear that they never wanted to see me again." With that, he silently walked around Rogue and into his nearby room. Rogue watched him, stunned. Then she ran over to his door.

"You're not the only one, Rob. You're not the only one who feels like that," she yelled. If Rob heard her, he wasn't showing it. He put a CD on the CD player in his room and turned the volume up on full, blasting Rogue out.

"You're not the only one who doesn't have a home." Rogue whispered, remembering the boy she had put into a coma and her run from that house. Suddenly, Rob's past actions came flying back at her. All of his words and movements were now explained. Her actions in the dining room must have been the reasons that Rob had stayed away from her. He doesn't want to get close to people. He doesn't want to be dependent on people. He just wants to look out for himself. He thinks if he gets close to anybody, he'll end up hurting them, Rogue thought. She walked to her room and lay down on the bed. Kitty was typing on her laptop.

"Are you ok?" she said without looking up from the keys.

"Yeah." Rogue said. For once she was telling the truth.