Always
By Lady Trunks
Chapter 2

Delusional Rant: I have a question. What happened to all the old Rietro writers? For examples: Bazzer, Geministarz, MBLite, Rionithis, and Snow Illusion. Were they all kidnapped or something? I think it's a conspiracy perpetrated by the WB and the Evo writers to throw us all off so we won't be upset when they pair Rogue with Remy. But guess what, it ain't gonna work. I'm on to them, and their evil plot must be stopped. STOPPED!! DO YOU HEAR ME!!! Okay, all better now. Sanity slowly returning.

Warning: More fluff and lots of conversation ahead. Plus a little suggestiveness just to keep it fun. And once again, more author notes than story. Very bad habit. Of course the only way to remedy that would be not to review and then I'd die of a broken heart (I'm a sensitive soul ^^), which in my POV would NOT be a good thing. Besides, reviews are what got me into X-Men fanfiction in the first place.

HoneyBug16- Well it took me forever but here it is. I just haven't been able to concentrate. But right now I'm on a caffeine/sugar high so am extremely hyper… You might notice it in the fic. ^^

Lucky439- Any time chica. It is taking me a lot longer than I had anticipated. But the fluff abounds, so we'll settle for that.

X-DarkHorizon-X - Yes, I know it's been awhile. I've been so bad. I had planned to continue my whole updating every day thing, but it just hasn't been happening. To much going on at the same time. . I don't think it was a good idea to try four fics at once. Oh well, to late now.

Gecko- Well, you forced me into updating. It must have been the squealing. ^^ I hope that I can keep the fluffy-ness. I find myself trying to come up with some complex sub plot but I'm trying to avoid it. Pure fluff is the goal. ^^

CrescentFighter- Fluffy is fun. I'm trying not to overdo the fluffy-ness and make it too boring, but I think I might fail. ^^

Lady Aurra- Fluff might not necessarily be bad, but it gets kind of lost. I'm trying to force myself to move forward and not have them constantly flirting… Yeah, well I failed on that. ^^ Prom is in one week. Actually, let's say it's Monday and prom is on Saturday. As to the fanfic contest. I had plans to start it in March (yeah, I'm a little behind there. -.-) But with the four fics I've got going now I'm not sure if I have the time. Did you have an idea for one?

Rogue Le Beau- Well, I already answered all of this in an email so… … … … … (=== awkward silence ^^) And I can't wait for the wedding!!! You better get to writing!! ^_^

TrunksGirl- I think I need to start coming up with my own lines. ^^ I blame it on TV. Glad you think it's cool. Hopefully you'll keep thinking that.

One23mad- ^_^ Glad you like it. I don't know about cute, but it was very… fluffy. Don't look for plot, you'll just get lost in all the mush! ^^ I think I need a warning label. And the updates not soon, but it is here (Finally!).

Goddess_diana_hecate- You're the only one that asked who asked her. ^^ So, I put it in. It will probably factor in later. Who knows, maybe Pietro will go into a jealous rage. ^^

Ellen- I didn't think the review for PoB was weird. But even if it had been, I get weird. I am weird. ^^ And prom will be coming up. I think I'm developing a trend with dances in my fics… But at least this one she'll actually get to go to it… Probably.

Mistress fire- ^_^ Glad you're liking it. Hope you'll keep liking it, despite the fact that it's… what it is. ^^

~~~~~

"Ugh, Logan should, like, totally be locked up for cruel and unusual punishment." Kitty said falling to lay sprawled over her bed and staring up at the ceiling. "Those sessions are nothing short of torture."

"Feel free to call and report him for child abuse, Kit. But I don't want to be around when he finds out." Rogue said, smiling at her friend's dramatics as she continued to pull on her boots.

Kitty gave a huge sigh, before rolling over onto her stomach to look at the other girl. "So, Pietro finally asked you to the prom?"

"Yeah. I knew he would, but he should have asked me more in advance. I mean, five days is hardly enough time. It would have served him right if I had agreed to go with Danny."

"Whoa, back up." Kitty sat up quickly on the bed staring at her friend in amazement. "Danny asked you to go? Football star Danny? The one who replaced Jean's ex, Duncan, as football captain? That Danny?"

"Yeah." Rogue replied casually. Having finished lacing the right boot she switched to her left.

Kitty threw her hands up in exasperation at her attitude. "And how come I never heard about this?"

"It just didn't seem that important." Rogue said, having finished with her shoes she stood and walked over and grabbed up her green over-shirt and pulled it on.

"The most popular guy in our school asks you to prom and it's not important?!! Why on earth didn't you say yes?"

"Because I knew Pietro would ask me." Rogue replied simply, as if it explained everything. And in fact did. "Cover for me. I'm going for a quick flight."

"At 10:30 at night?" Kitty said, arching a brow. "Besides, it's going to rain."

"I like the rain."

"Uh huh." Kitty responded with a disbelieving look on her face. Then she got a sly smile. "Tell Pietro I said hi."

The Goth rolled her eyes in reply, but the effect was lost as she was already halfway out the window. She pulled herself the rest of the way through and floated in front of it for a second to call back into the room, "Thanks Kitty." With out waiting for a reply, she took off through the night sky.

~~~

Several minutes later found Rogue at the entrance to Bayville Park. The girl slowly sank from the air to the ground until her feet touched the pavement below. The moon contributed little in the way of illumination hidden as it was behind the clouds, so she only had the faint light of the streetlights to guide her down the side walk towards the center of the park.

As she approached the bench at the center, she noticed a shadowed figure already waiting there. "You're late."

"Only a few minutes." She said, shrugging it off.

"Hey, I'm a busy man. A few minutes is a lot of time."

Rogue's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Well, Pietro Maximoff, if you're so busy feel free to leave. I wouldn't want to keep you from anything important."

"Oh, chill. You know, you really are a grouch." He complained.

"I'm a grouch? You're the one suffering from a constant case of PMS. [1]"

"PMS?!"

"Pietro Maximoff Syndrome. An uncontrollable urge to be high-handed and arrogant."

"I am not high-handed. Arrogant maybe, but not high-handed."

"You actually say that like you're proud of it." She said, setting beside him on the bench.

"Hey, very few people can come even close to my perfection. I've earned the right to be arrogant."

"Oh yes. You and all your perfection. How can the rest of us mere mortals ever hope to compete?" Rogue's voice dripped with sarcasm, however the effect was lost as she lay down on the bench using Pietro's leg as a pillow and closing her eyes. The danger room session with Logan had exhausted her more than she realized, and was just now starting to kick in.

He seemed to consider it for a moment. "Well, you could wear more-revealing clothes."

She only groaned in response. "If I wasn't so tired I would hit you."

"Hmm, I'm not really sure how kink would change your rating. Now if you were to take all of your clothes off first…"

"I'm going to bite you."

"Oh, now you're talking. Even though the biting bits not a good thing; I do approve of getting the mouth involved."

"Perv." Though her eyes were sheathed behind her lids, he could tell that she was mentally rolling her eyes at him.

"Are you going to sleep?" He asked suspiciously, poking her in the side.

"Stop it." She said drowsily, rolling over onto her side and tucking her hand under her head. "I'm tired."

"And why are you so tired? I didn't know that I bored you."

"Course you do Piety. But the reason I'm tired is because it's 10:45 at night and I just finished a danger room session with a mutant dictator. Besides, not all of us are blessed with a super fast metabolism."

"No, but you certainly got the super fast mouth." Pietro muttered. The insult was ruined by him running his hand through her hair in a soothing motion. "Are you ready to leave that prison and come back home, yet?"

Rogue took a second to reply, enjoying the feelings of his hand stroking his hair. "Are you ready to give up your father's insane plans and actually dedicate yourself to a good cause?"

"I'm never going to live at the mansion with those drill sergeants, it would be to much like military school." He mock shuddered. "All the rules would drive me crazy."

He felt her smile against his leg in response to his remark before she sat up and turned to look at him. She gazed into his eyes and her expression turned serious. "So, we're back where we started. You won't leave and I can't go back."

He saw the sadness in her eyes and hated it. "Hey, don't look so down. It's only for another year, and then we're out of here and it won't be a factor at all." She gave a small smile in response, but the sadness was still there. He looked for something to change the subject to, and hit upon the perfect topic. "Did I tell you that my dad's going to let me use his convertible for the prom?" He could barely contain the excitement the prospective of driving the car invoked.

"It's the least that Bucket-head could do." Rogue said, smiling at his excitement.

"Hey, hey." Pietro wagged a finger in front of her nose and made tsking noises. "That's my father you're talking about, show him some respect."

Rogue rolled her eyes in response. "My bad. Mr. Bucket-head."

"That's better."

"You are such a dork sometimes." Rogue reprimanded the grinning boy, but was holding back her own laughter.

"Am not. I'm perfect remember. You said so yourself earlier."

"I don't remember ever saying any such thing." She said, standing up. Raindrops began falling from the sky, but both ignored it.

"Well, I recall it perfectly." He stood up as well, and both just stood there, staring each other down as the rain continued to beat down upon them.

Slowly, Pietro began to smile. "You're all wet."

Rogue returned the expression, "So are you."

Pietro continued to stare at her, taking in the wet clothes clinging to her frame, the hair that was plastered to her head, and the heavy makeup that the water was causing to run in streaks down her face. He tried to remember if he had ever seen anything more beautiful, and for the life of him was drawing a blank.

He stepped forward and slowly reached his hand out and gently clasped the back of her head as he moved until she was cradled against him. She tilted her head back so she could look into his eyes.

"Pietro." She whispered, her tone of voice a warning against him doing anything stupid.

He ignored the tone and leant towards her. With a quick motion he pulled her green shirt, made transparent by the rain, up until it was covering her mouth, and leaned in until his lips were pressing against hers through the protective covering. At the contact all thoughts of protesting faded from her mind, and she leaned into the embrace, her gloved hands wrapping themselves in his hair.

After a few minutes she reluctantly pulled away. "I better get back, it's getting late and we do have school in the morning."

He nodded, just as reluctant to have the moment end. "I'll walk you back.

"Okay." They began the journey back to the institute in silence, but it was soon broken. "And FYI, I still don't recall ever calling you perfect."

~~~~

1. The whole PMS (Pietro Maximoff Syndrome) is used by a doctor in X-FACTOR 87. I just thought that it fit and was to good to be ignored. ^^

And the fluffy-ness abounds. Don't hate me, I'm weak. Rietro's my weakness. Now if you love me you'll write a big long review… Even if it only says, "READ IT." Yep, that's all it takes to make me happy. I just want to know that people are reading it… Now if you want to write something long, that's good to. ^^