Blind w/ Open Eyes
Chap. 2
Okay, so I was just sitting in front of my laptop wondering what the heck could have possessed me to post that chapter in the state it was in. It took me about 15 minutes to try to get it on course to were I wanted it to be and should be picking up speed soon.
Special thanx to: Jade * todd fan * Dragonfire * gillywine * Carla * Lucky439 * LotusPen * darkfirestarter * gaea * Lady Auraa * untouchable-rogue * Shadow Knight * x-DarkHorizon-x * mori * animegrl1984 * DaughterofDeath * Nightmare Stalker * anyone else who reviewed
Those reviews really made me feel loved (more than my boyfriend does). Of course that may be because I don't have a boyfriend. Oh well! Most of the suggestions will happen in the story.
Disclaimer: Sorry I forgot this last time. The characters belong to the lucky people at WB. May we hope they never abuse their power and harm unsuspecting characters as they harmed Remy's beautiful mushroom, I mean hair.
Pietro is a sexy bastard - Thought
"Pietro is an extremely sexy bastard" - Talking
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Rogue walked back to the mansion after suffering another extremely boring day of school. Once again the cheerleaders had nothing better to do than mock her in the halls or ask her annoying questions. Luckily Jean was too busy with Duncan in the boy's locker room making out behind Scott's back to add to the torment. Monday had a slight perk because it was cheerleading and basketball practice today. Most of the mansion's inhabitants were either a) involved in one of the sports or b) drooling over someone else involved in one of the sports.
Thank God I'm alone. Was one of the few positive thoughts she'd had all day. As she lay down on her bed she reached for her diary but couldn't find it. Oh yeah, had to throw it away 'cuz I ran out of pages and stupid Kitty couldn't keep her eyes to herself. In truth, Rogue didn't hate the valley girl, just thought she was too flimsy. Scott and Jean on the other hand were a different story. She knew Scott just wanted to go along with his girlfriend, she had yet to figure out why Jean hated her.
Sure Rogue had never been Mrs. Sunshine with the prep, but she never wanted to have a major conflict going on with her either. The other people she lived with made harsh insults and kept away from her like just looking at her would kill them. But in Rogue's opinion she needed that. She may not like being treated like a contagious disease or being referred to as the "ice queen" but as long as it kept people from coming in contact with her "gift" it would be less people that were hurt. It's kinda ironic how me being bitchy to everyone has good intentions.
That's the main reason why she didn't blame her housemates for their lack of "family support". To Rogue, living at the mansion was just like playing a part. Her mask was the Goth make-up, while her costume was the dark clothes. Her role was simply to be the broody ex-BoM member who hates the world because she can't touch. It wasn't the true Rogue. The true Rogue had only been seen by a small number of people in Bayville. And they probably hate me right now for betraying them. As Rogue continued to ponder her role in life, a certain group of delinquents were having their own crisis across town.
+...+...+...+Brotherhood Boarding House+...+...+...+...+
"We have to friggin what?"
"Ican'tbelievethis.I'mhisownfleshandbloodandhewantsmetodothat!
"Hey yo, this doesn't seem fair."
"OK" At Fred's remark everyone turned to stare at him. "Howcanyouagreewithher?" "I'm just saying speedy that it's not that big a deal." "Not that big a deal? Were supposed to grow up to become leaders of the new mutant world and she just told us to become friggin maids!" At the end of Lance's outburst the house began to shake and forced Wanda to leave her room.
"Mystique, what's going on?" Was the question asked by an outraged Wanda.
"All I need them to do is clean the house and clear the backyard for some of the additions being made to the house. And when I say clean I mean put away and scrub everything. Not just shove it into a closet, Fred"
"Oops?" he replied with a sheepish grin.
"So what's the big deal?"
"You see sweetums," at this point Wanda gave a low growl, "I mean Wanda, you see the problem is Mystique wants us to clean, with soap." "OK Todd, I know your phobia of hygiene but that doesn't explain everyone else's reason for not wanting to do it."
Pietro choose that time to explain the major problem with cleaning to his sister. "Wanda the problem is," began Pietro in an uncharacteristically calm voice "we are guys."
"I think I've noticed this by now"
"Yes," continued Lance "but guys aren't supposed to clean. They watch TV, play football, and-" "Admire their girlfriends." added in Todd. Lance gave a tired sigh "Like I was saying, they do guy stuff and girls do girl stuff."
Wanda obviously wasn't satisfied with this answer when she continued to pursue the topic. "I know this place was clean at one time so why is it so hard now?"
The guys all looked down and it was Fred who first spoke up "Usually Rogue did all the cleaning or nagged us until we cleaned it ourselves."
"I remember when she used to do that yo!"
FLASHBACK
"O boys!" Rogue called up the stairs in a motherly tone. It had been about a week since Pietro had arrived and Mystique was once again gone on another one of her weeklong business trips. The male occupants were gathered upstairs to discuss the next prank on the x-geeks while the one female made dinner.
"Do you think we should go down there?" questioned Lance.
"Was it just me or was that voice a bit too Mrs. Brady?" added in Fred
"If you boys don't come down here you don't get lasagna." Rogue called up again in a sign-song voice.
"All in favor of going down raise your hand and say aye!" Announced Pietro in a commanding voice. 4 ayes were heard and hands went up in the air. Pietro was the first to race to the kitchen with the other boys close behind.
"I do not like that smile." Declared Lance as he looked at the way-to-happy Rogue. With that he turned around and headed back upstairs. "I guess that's more lasagna for everyone else." teased Rogue, knowing the power her food had over the Brotherhood's occupants. Sighing in defeat Lance turned around and asked what she needed.
"Well you see, the house has gotten kinda dirty and if we wanna keep all our limbs when Mystique returns I think we should clean up a little. Todd can do the dinning room since he can jump high enough to reach the chandelier. Lance can do the family room since most of the music in there is his. Fred can do the front yard since he's strong enough to lift the junk out there and Pietro can organize the kitchen since he's fast enough to do all the drawers and cupboards without getting in my way. Everybody got that?" Her captive audience was standing there with mouths hanging open and indecorous looks on their faces.
To bring them back to the world of the living she continued "The lasagna should be done in 45-minutes. I still have some more food to make. Finish the chores in less than an hour and the food should still be warm."
"Dowegetanythingextraifwedothechoresreallywell?" Inquired Pietro, hoping for a certain answer.
"Hmmm. How about I'll take you guys out to Fosters Freeze and then let you trash the place when you're done eating."
"Sounds good to me yo"
"Alrightyguys,youheardthelady. Startcleaning!" Okay, so it wasn't a kiss or picture of her wearing a bikini like I hoped for, but I guess its good enough.
50 minutes later, Rogue left the kitchen to be surprised by an amazingly clean house. After expressing her thanks the boys ate their well-earned meal and piled into the car.
"Ya guys do know I was kidding about tha whole destroyin' Fosters Freeze thing, raght?"
"No going back on your deal now Roguey." Chided Lance as he punched the accelerator and they rolled out of the driveway. They pulled into the parking lot to find the place empty since it was 11:25 PM at night.
" OK, I've finally decided what I want!" Announced Fred after staring at the menu. "I'll have" taking a pause for dramatic effect he continued "One large strawberry shake, an Oreo blizzard, large chocolate cone, a pineapple-apple smoothie, and a banana split with nuts and extra fudge."
The order taker couldn't help but stare, as the rest of the boy's friends looked quite disinterested as if it happened all the time. The other orders were fairly smaller though. Lance had a medium chocolate cone, Todd had a blizzard with gummy worms in it (after asking if they could be substituted with real ones), Rogue had a chocolate shake, and Pietro had vanilla.
Lance finished first and went to the bathroom. After the earth shaker was out of hearing range Pietro got an evil look on his face.
"Mind lettin' us in on what yur thinkin' Speedy?" Inquired Rogue.
"Wouldn't it be horrible if I _accidentally _ spilled my shake on Lance's seat and he _accidentally _ got a stain on his new pants."
"And then he'd _accidentally _ slam your skull into his fist" Replied Todd in the same tone as Pietro. Fred was off in the imaginary land that he often visits when surrounded by desserts.
"Oh come on Todd. What's life with out a little danger? What's the worst he'll do? Make me walk home. Ya gotta live on the edge!"
"All right yo." Replied the green-skinned boy. "Just don't say I didn't warn ya."
Just as Pietro began opening the lid to his shake Rogue gave an annoyed sigh.
"Jeez Pietro, you of all people should know that vanilla isn't as embarrassing or hard to get out as chocolate" All of this stated with an evil look that mirrored the speed demon's.
Standing up and taking a dramatic bow he responded "Be my guest"
With an evil chuckle the deed was preformed and Lance walked back none the wiser.
That is until he sat down.
Selected curse words and a slight tremor brought Fred back to reality and caused the cashier to glance over to the back seating area. During the time that all that took place the other three mutants were rolling on the ground with uncontrolled laughter.
"Who ordered the chocolate shake?" Asked Lance in a cold voice. The attention was directed to Rogue who was currently helping Pietro get off the ground.
"Lance," She began with a mock hurt expression, "How could you ever accuse lil' ol me of doing such a mean and disrespectful thing. I just don't know how to handle the fact that you don't trust me." To add to the drama she began to break out into fake sobs.
"Oh its okay Roguey. It's not your fault that Lance clumsily spilled your shake onto his seat without anybody noticing." Cooed Pietro in a sweet voice.
The two guilty members had straight faces for about 39 seconds until Lance turned around to get some napkins. Pietro and Rogue couldn't help themselves and broke out into another round of laughter.
The two were laughing so hard they didn't notice Lance fill a cup with chocolate syrup until it was too late. Rogue noticed the glint in Lance's eye and sat back down in her seat. Pietro unfortunately was faced the other way and didn't see the cup tilt as the viscous [1] liquid began to pour down.
"What the fuck!" as he felt something dripping on his hair. His face palled even more than it already was and brought his hand down to inspect the damage. Giving Lance a cold stare, in a chillingly low voice he replied "Lance, you will pay for that you bastard. If it's the last thing I ever do."
"Whatch'a gonna do about it?" Asked Lance in a cocky voice. In a blink Pietro was gone and and returned with two cans of whipped cream from the kitchen. He aimed at lance and pressed the nozzle as the cream traveled through the air. Unfortunately for Todd, Lance ducked just in time and it ended up hitting him in the face.
"Not cool yo!" Todd shouted as he reached into his cup and pulled out an ice cream covered gummy worm. Catapulting it through the air it hit Lance directly in the back of the head.
"Bulls eye!" cried out an ecstatic Todd.
After that there was complete chaos between the three boys. Rogue and Fred remained at the table and sat with amused looks on their faces. Lance picked up a whole handful of sprinkles and stealthily approached Pietro who was focussing on Todd.
Lance began to throw the sprinkles but slipped on a discarded shake cup and they ended up in Rogue's hair.
"Eww, yelled out Rogue in surprise as all the sprinkles became entangled in her pony-tail. Her dilemma was quickly forgotten as the middle-aged manager entered the back section of the fast-food establishment.
"What's going on in here!?" He yelled, looking at the area that had been clean only a half-hour ago. The teen mutants looked up with blank expressions on their faces.
"Out, NOW!" The manager bellowed, pointing towards the exit.
As they walked by they could hear him mumble about damn kids and how they listened to crappy music and couldn't wear their pants right.
Rogue let out a yawn as she slid into the front seat between Lance and Pietro. Todd and Fred sat in the back.
"It's 1:13 in the morning. We were there for almost an hour." Mumbled Rogue sleepily after looking at the clock.
"If you ask me, you're working out to much at the gym and making yourself exhausted. If you didn't use up so much energy you wouldn't be so tired." Piped up Fred from the back.
Rogue mumbled something incoherent before falling asleep using Pietro's (covered) shoulder as a pillow.
"Wow, I guess she really was tired," Noticed Lance as he glanced at her.
"I guess so." Replied Pietro who began to absentmindedly pick the sprinkles out of her hair. She stirred in her sleep and the right side of her body fell onto his legs with her head landing in his right thigh. Her Goth make-up was off since she didn't plan on seeing anyone else besides the brotherhood at the ice-cream place.
Damn she looks nice. Was the one thing he could think of looking at her sleeping face. He noticed the goose bumps on her arms through the sheer material and placed his jacket on her from the bottom of the Jeep. She once again mumbled something and leaned more towards his stomach. Pietro noticed that Lance was watching the road and the two boys in back were listening to their headphones and playing with game boys. Instinct took over him and he started to brush his hand up and down her arm. Her body became more relaxed and her breathing softened. A sincere smile graced his face but immediately left as Lance turned of the engine in the driveway.
"Should I wake her up?" the earth shaker asked getting out of the car.
"Nah, I'll just carry her." And with that Pietro unbuckled her seat belt and held her like a small child.
After he reached her room he placed her on the bed and took of her shoes. Pulling the covers over her and tucking her in he couldn't help but think how peaceful she looked. Just looking at her you wouldn't think that she could put you into a coma with one kiss. Would it be worth it? He didn't pity her because of her mutation. He admired her for the strength she had to deal with it.
Walking back towards the door he stepped on a floorboard and caused a loud creek.
"Pietro?" Rogue asked through half open eyes.
"Goodnight Roguey" he answered in a sweet voice.
"Night" she replied before falling back a sleep.
He turned back to look one last time before heading to his room and having dreams of his own.
END FLASHBACK
Wanda cleared her throat to gain the attention of the original members who had taken a stroll down memory lane for the last 8 minutes. Pietro hadn't ever told what had gone on between him and the sleeping Rogue that night to make the memory even more special.
"Well if you're all done talking we should probably start cleaning." Everyone groaned at Wanda but slowly wondered off to begin his or her jobs.
[1] Viscous- a thick or gooey liquid or substance. Take that bitchy English teacher who says I never use our stupid vocab words.
I'm posting this at 11:00 CA time so technically I met my earlier set deadline. The whole point of that was to start to build up the relationship that Rogue and the boys had before. We're selling our house soon so this weekend I must clean my room and bathroom before I do anything else. As for schoolwork I have a lesson for anyone going to Jr. High. NEVER EVER DO 8th GRADE HONORS! YOU WILL MOST LIKELY REGRET IT. Please review if you'd like a certain pairing or something done in the story. Please flame me if you believe it was a waste of your bloody time. That will be concluding tonight's broadcast. Please tune in again for chapter 3.