Matt opened his eyes; the sun was peeking through his window sending beams of light across his bed. The beautiful morning deceived his mind of the underlying layer of emotion that was churning in the mansion. With self hating realization Matt remembered what had happened the night before. Heaving himself up into a sitting position he reached for a shirt.
Rogue sat in her and Kitty's room staring at the ceiling. There was no way she could go out there and face him after what had happened the night before. Rogue debated what to do. She should have punched him. The more she thought about it the more she wanted to cause him physical pain in some way. She ran a brush through her hair and stood up.
I want you to at least experience a few things. That's what he had said, maybe he just wanted her to experience that. Rogue pushed it out of her mind and went to brush her teeth.
Matt and Tabbby kissed hello and left for school. Rogue watched them leave and then went to Scott's car. She breathed a sigh of relief, not having to talk to Matt. Jean grabbed her bag and stepped towards the car. She noticed Rogue's silence and insecure posture.
"What's the matter?" she asked
"Nothin'" She said defensively.
Matt looked at Tabby out of the corner of his eye. She was rifling through her purse looking for something. Matt debated whether of not to tell her what happened but the dryness in his mouth kept his tongue from moving. He breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the school and he nearly ran to his locker. He busied himself shoving books onto the shelf when Kitty bounced up beside him.
"What did you and Rogue do last night?" she asked incredulously. Matt looked down at her.
"What do you mean?" he asked putting on an innocent face.
"She like didn't come in till like two o'clock in the morning." She said narrowing her blue eyes. "She said she was with you." Matt shrugged.
"Just talking." He said trying to get her to leave.
"About what?" Kitty said cornering him against his locker.
"Nothing." Matt said starting to walk away. Kitty groaned and left. Matt was too busy looking over his shoulder at Kitty and he nearly slammed into Rogue. They both sucked in their breath and stared at each other for a moment. Slowly Matt's brain began to turn again.
"Rogue, I'm sorry about what happened last night, it just sort of came out of nowhere." He said scouting the crowds for Tabitha.
"Yeah, whatever," Rogue said. She pushed past him and continued to her next class. Matt closed his eyes and leaned against the lockers.
"What are you doing?" Tabitha asked walking up to him. Matt told her he had a headache. They kissed, but Matt's thoughts wandered back to Rogue. He could see her eyes staring at him, filled with hate, confusion and a tinge of happiness. His thoughts were abruptly cancelled when Tabitha left to go to her next class. Matt turned and left. Around the corner Jean watched them leave.
Jean looked over her shoulder at Matt. He sat staring down at his notebook, tapping a pen on his desk. She debated whether or not she should look in his head but quickly reprimanded herself and decided against it. Matt looked up at her and forced a smile. She caught a glimpse of his notes, in the corner of the page a picture of a girl with two white streaks of hair lay flatly on the surface of the desk.
Lunch rolled around, but for fear of seeing each other Matt and Rogue didn't meet up with the others.
"Have you noticed anything different about Rogue lately?" Jean asked as she and Scott walked to his car. He shrugged.
"Now that you mention it, she has been acting strange lately, even stranger than her usual self." Scott said, adjusting his sunglasses. Jean looked around for the other two mutants, but they were nowhere to be seen. Jean put a hand to her temple.
"Rogue is with Kitty, Matt's off with Tabitha." She said dropping her books into Scott's car.
Matt sat with Tabby overlooking the school grounds from their spot on the hill. He sighed disconsolately. Tabitha looked up at him. His eyes searched the distance without seeing.
"What's wrong?" she asked, expecting a meaningless answer, and not really caring what he said. Matt sat silently before he took in a deep breath.
"I kissed another girl." He said. Tabitha jerked away and stood up.
"What?!" She asked furiously. Matt pulled himself off the ground.
"I'm sorry, it came out of nowhere. I'm really sorry Tabby"
"Who was it?" she asked, her eyes narrowed, her hands on her hips.
"Just a girl I was talking to, she had never been kissed, I wanted to help her out."
"I said who." Tabitha said, her anger growing.
"Does it really matter? It was me who kissed her, she pushed me away. Its not her fault." Tabitha continued to glare at him.
"Tabby, I'm really sorry, how would you have liked it if I hadn't told you?"
Her look softened a bit but she remained stiff.
"You better pray I'm in a good mood." She said. The look in Matt's eyes made her lose a small piece of her anger. Not wanting to let herself soften she turned and walked away. Matt hung his head and ran a hand through his hair. He turned to see Jean come up behind him. She lifted him up with a hoist of her hand. Matt smiled.
"Thanks." He said.
"Just something to lift your spirits, something you want to talk about?" Matt shifted on his feet. Raising his own hand he lifted Jean's hair out of her face and put it behind her shoulders, still three paces away.
"Jean, if you found out you could help out a friend who's had it rough, but you'd end up hurting someone else would you do it?"
Jean looked into his bluish gray eyes. "Depends," she said. "I'd need to know the circumstances."
Matt held a hand to her head and let her power sweep his mind. As she saw his memories of kissing Rogue she drew in a breath and abruptly let go of his head.
"How is this possible?"
Matt looked around and picked up a sharp stick. He dragged it across the back of his hand, but no blood seeped from a fresh cut. His hand turned silver and the image of the stick became distorted. Matt dropped it. Jean grabbed his hand and examined it.
"You need to see the professor."
Matt sighed. He didn't want Xavier to know about him and Rogue. Jean and promised to keep quiet, but he wasn't sure what would happen when Xavier found out. Tabitha had forgiven him after several days, and everything was back to normal, in no way did Matt want to disrupt the peace. He had practiced in his room for days, setting his hand in flames, even avoiding injury. Rogue had been avoiding him like he was carrying the plagues of Egypt. He had tried to talk to her, but she was always making excuses. In one final attempt Matt waited for Rogue to walk past his room. Rogue followed Jean down the hall towards the kitchen. As she paced by Matt swung open his door and pulled her into his room.
"What the hell are ya doing!" She said as he forced her to sit.
"We need to talk." He said more earnestly than he had planned.
"About what?" she asked trying desperately to push away the subject.
"About, what happened that night." He said making sure his door was closed.
"What about it?" she said acting annoyed. Matt was getting irritated.
"I just wanted to apologize, you know, it was uncalled for, it was a total accident." Rogue shrugged.
"Okay." She said emotionlessly.
"Come on Rogue, at least make fun of me or something. I want things to be normal again." He pleaded.
Rogue laughed suddenly. Matt's questioning look only made the spasms of laughter more uncontrollable.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothin' you just sound like a girl." She said pushing a strand of hair out of her face, and mimicking his earnest apology. Matt laughed too in an attempt to cover the uncomfortable moment.
"Rakes, you're a dickhead." She laughed. Matt pushed her over.
"Bitch." He said. They shammed a fight, both growing more comfortable.
"So how was it?" Matt asked regaining his composure. Rogue looked up.
"What?"
"The kiss."
"Oh, right." She said. "What the hell am Ah supposed to compare you to? Ah've never kissed anyone before."
Matt shrugged. "I don know, compare kissing an apple."
"Kissing an apple?" she said, her dark eyes laughing at his remark.
"Yeah, you know, when you bite into an apple next time, kiss it first."
"Your insane." She said.
The two wrestled around, Rogue not wearing her gloves, when Jean knocked on the door and opened it slightly. Rogue quickly hid her hands but Matt didn't show any nervousness.
"Its okay Rogue, I know." Jean said stepping into the room. Matt used a little teke to pull out a chair for the red head. Jean sat down and folded on leg over the other.
"Have you talked to the professor yet?" she asked. Matt flashed a mischievous smile and shook his head.
"Why? Secrets are more fun." He said lifting Rogue up with his telekinesis and letting her float in the air before setting her down on the bed. Jean gave a disapproving shake of the head.
"You could be mutating too fast, he needs to know." Matt shrugged.
"Fine, come on Rogue." He said and they walked down the stairs to Xavier's study. He looked up from his papers
"Matthew, Rogue, what can I do for you?" he asked, smiling.
"Just came to say hi professor." Matt said casually.
"Hold still Rogue you have an eyelash on your cheek." He said. Before Xavier could say anything he put his bare hand against her face and brushed away the imaginary lash. Xavier's smile vanished and was replaced with a look of concern.
"Matthew, what has happened to you?" he asked, almost not believing what he saw in front of him. Matt stood smiling, his hand glowing in the shimmering silver light.
"Check it out Professor." He said enthusiastically. He pulled out a flamethrower from the kitchen and snapped it to life. He set his bare hand in the flame, watching as the silver light kept the fire from harming him. Xavier wheeled over and took Matt's hand in his. He examined it.
"You need to see Dr. McCoy." He said.
Matt sat on a medical bed in the mansion infirmary. Hank stood with his back to him observing data that flashed across the screen. Xavier sat next to him.
"Keep at it Hank, tell me when you discover something. My eyes are too old for this." Xavier said rubbing his temples.
"Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye." Hank said quoting his favorite writer. Xavier smiled.
"Shakespeare did have a keen sense on the written word." He said. Xavier left as Hank came over and examined Matt's hand.
"Sorry I didn't come in earlier." Matt said. "Not really fond of medical things."
"People who are always taking care of their health are like misers, who are hoarding a treasure which they have never spirit enough to enjoy." Hank said. Matt shrugged.
"Shakespeare?" He asked.
"Sterne actually." Hank said looking up and giving Matt a calming smile.
"How do you remember all those quotes?" Matt asked in awe.
"A strong memory is generally coupled with an infirm judgment." McCoy said. "Written by Montaigne, but my judgment is always firm." He said. Matt smiled, and left with Hank's approval.
Sitting in the sun under a tree Matt and Tabitha sat together soaking in the warming rays. Magma had been smart enough to point out to Tabitha that she herself flirts with everybody, so Matt's little act of indiscretion was forgivable. Though Matt came to the institute with a crush on Boom Boom he found himself looking at Rogue more and more often. Hank walked up to the two teens. He smiled warmly down to them.
"Excuse Tabitha, might I borrow Matt for a moment?" Tabitha smiled and rolled onto the ground. Matt stood up and followed Hank a few yards away.
"Matter displacement." Hank said. He held up a manila folder. Matt flipped through it.
"Your mutation allows you to touch things without the dangerous side affects. Hence your ability to hold you hand in flame and touch Rogue." Matt thanked the doctor, kissed Tabitha goodbye and ran into the mansion. Galloping up the stairs Matt ran straight into Scott. Both men were knocked backward and Scott's glasses flew off. Scott clamped a hand over his eyes.
"Watch it Rakes!" he exclaimed pulling himself off the ground and searching blindly for his glasses. Matt handed Scott his glasses and apologized sheepishly. Scott turned and watched as Matt ran down the hall.
"What is he so happy about?" Scott asked as Jean came up behind him. She shrugged.
Matt ran to his room and threw the file on his desk. Even he didn't know why he was so pleased. Maybe he was glad because it wasn't a passing side effect of his mutation, that it was a permanent characteristic. Matt opened the file and read a few paragraphs. Slowly, inevitably his mind slipped from the paper down the hall to Rogue. He wondered what she was doing.
Snapping awake at the sound of Roberto and Ray fighting outside, Matt reprimanded himself for thinking about a girl besides Tabby. But he couldn't stop thinking about her. Unable to focus he walked down the hall and back outside. Looking around he saw Tabitha talking to Jubilee. Matt felt compelled to walk over, but for some strange reason he walked in the other direction. Rounding the corner, he nearly collided with someone again. Matt looked down to see Rogue.
"Sorry," he said. He looked at her eyes, afraid she would be angry with him for some unknown reason but she shrugged it off. She continued walking but he grabbed her arm and pulled her around the corner.
"What are you doing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. His mind raced for an answer but all that came out of his mouth was a sigh.
"I-um, do you want to-um, take a walk?" he finished lamely. A smile flitted across her lips and she glanced around the corner at Tabitha and Jubilee, deep in conversation.
"Ah dunno if it's such a good idea." Rogue said jerking her head towards Tabitha. Matt frowned slightly in his girlfriend's direction.
"Come on, she doesn't know it was you. Please?" His stormy sea eyes hit a soft spot in her and she walked with him toward the pool. Their silence was almost comical but the birds and the noises of the others made it less awkward.
"So…. What did you eat this morning?" Matt asked. Rogue stifled a small laugh.
"Cereal and an apple." She smirked.
"Ah, an apple." Matt said, putting his arms behind his back. "Was he a good kisser?"
"Ah dunno, he could have been better."
"Better like more qualified, or was his mouth just a strange shape?" He asked looking down at her profile. He smiled as he saw her face break into a small smirk.
"Not as good as some that I've had." Rogue remarked thoughtfully.
"Why Rogue." Matt said in a philosophical tone. "I believe you've only kissed once before. Who was he, anyone I know?"
"Maybe." She shrugged.
"What did this mystery man look like?" Matt asked with false curiosity and a skeptical look.
"He was tall." She began letting out a small breath. "He had brown hair and gray blue eyes."
"Ruggedly handsome?" Matt joked giving her shoulder a nudge with his own. She chuckled.
"Maybe, not too bad." She said shaking her head to move the white hair from her eyes. Matt looked down at her as she spoke.
"Don't know what he saw in me." She finished. Matt stared at her in shock.
"I bet I know what he saw." They stopped walking and faced each other. "I think he saw beautiful green eyes, and a perfect face, and a great personality." She peered up at him form beneath her hair.
"I think he has a girlfriend." She whispered. Matt looked up to see Tabitha coming up behind him.