Pietro walked into the house and noticed it was quiet. They had all gone to sleep. Pietro sighed with happiness and sat down on the couch. He large a large boom and a bunch of groans. Tabitha came down the stairs to get a glass of water and spotted Pietro.

"Freddy fell again." She grumbled and Pietro couldn't help but laugh. Tabitha drank her glass and sat next to Pietro. "Where have you been all this time?"

"Out." Was his answer. Tabitha gave him a no-shit look and he explained more. "I was out walking and I ran into Rogue and we were just talking."

"Ok." said Tabitha. Tabitha looked a little hurt and she went back to her bed. Pietro couldn't believe what happened. 'Tabitha must have a crush on me.' he thought.

***

Back at the mansion, Rogue woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. She looked at her alarm clock and it read 1 am. She moaned and got up to go get a midnight snack.

When she walked into the kitchen, Ray Crisp (a.k.a. Berserker) was eating a brownie.

"Hey." He said. Rogue said hey back and opened a box of crackers. "Why on earth are you up at this time."

"Ehh... Can't sleep." He replied. Rogue was probably the only person at the institute that didn't hate him. Well, Rahne was friends with him but she was probably the only other person. Scott hated him because he has a crush on Jean. Kurt, Evan, and Kitty hate him because he gets mad easily. All the new mutants hate him because they all like Sunspot but he doesn't. He's threatened to leave the institute before but Rogue's stopped him. He and Rogue were truly good friends.

Ray shared a room with Roberto and he didn't like it. Rogue didn't blame him because she thought that Roberto was the most boring, arrogant, and stupid person in the world. Roberto was also mean. Like Rogue, Ray had a rough childhood and Roberto often made fun of it and Rogue knew that when he "can't sleep" he had just been made fun of by Roberto. Rogue also knew that Ray was a caring and sweet person when you talk to him but his rep was of a mean and ugly person.

"Oh Ray." Rogue said. "Did Roberto say something." He nodded.

"He said that I was just a fuck up and I should just leave because I'm ruining his shine. He is the most annoying person in the world." Ray explained. Rogue was getting even more annoyed with Roberto. "I'm gonna go to bed." and with that, Ray sprung up and tottered of to bed. Rogue decided to go to bed also.

***

The next morning was full of surprises for Rogue. She got up and applied all of her make-up. She took another 30 minutes freshening up and walked out of the bathroom. She was walking towards the dining room to eat breakfast when someone pulled her into a room. She grunted when she floor and landed on top of the person. The person moved and got up. The light flicked on and she saw Ray standing before her.

"That really hurt." She said.

"Sorry." He said. He had deep circles under his eyes and looked like he was afraid.

"What's wrong?" Rogue asked.

"Rogue. I.... have a crush on you." He blurted out. Rogue was surprised.

"You do?" She asked. "You do know about..."

"Yeah I know. I just needed to tell you." He replied.

"Good. We'll always be friends." Rogue said and she gave the boy a hug. She had never seen him so... nervous. Before she could think about it anymore there was an abrupt pounding at the door. Ray jumped back frightened. Rogue walked up to the door but Ray tried to stop her.

"What's wrong?" Rogue asked. He didn't reply so Rogue went to open the door. It was Scott.

"What are you too doing?" He snapped.

"Talking." Rogue told him.

"So now this fleaball has a crush on you?" He asked.

"Why yes.. But how do you know? Were you eavesdropping? You were weren't you?" Rogue replied sharply. "Ray come on. We don't have to listen to this." She grabbed Ray and shoved Scott hard into a wall.

"Oh. ho... We'll see about that." Scott chuckled devilishly.