Title: A Stranger's Touch: Allied Strangers
Rating: PG
Summary: A bond between two people can take many years to develop. Or a few weeks. [First part in what will hopefully be a series]
Type of fic: Story
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and places are not mine. They belong to Marvel and/or Marvel Studios, WB, Film Roman (I think), and whoever else claims rights to them.
Distribution: FF.net and Random Thoughts. All else, please just ask.
Author's notes: Sorry there's quite a bit, and with more to probably follow!
#01 - / denotes psychic thoughts /
#02 - This is pretty much - and very much - an AU story, however a lot of the stuff that's happened in Seasons One and Two WILL be included. Not all, but some.
#03 - My accent-writing ability extends only to "Ah" and "mah". I suck at it majorly.
#04 - This story is under the assumption that the Brotherhood members do NOT know that Mystique and Ms Darkholme are the same person, and that it was Mystique who recruited all the members. Remember - AU.

***

Allied Strangers

Chapter Four

'…and Mystique didn't even say anything, yo,' Todd was saying as he and Rogue walked past. 'And you guys didn't even invite me.'

'Aw, Todd, we bought you some nice chocolates, didn't we?' Rogue replied in a sweet voice. 'You liked them, didn't you?'

'Sure I liked them, but I would have liked to have gone too, you know.'

Their voices were quickly fading, and before Scott could overanalyse his actions, he stood up and ran after the two younger students. 'Hey, Rogue! Wait!'

Rogue and Todd stopped, turning to look at him. A scowl crossed her features, which Scott took as a bad sign. 'Ah got nothing to say to you.'

'Yeah, Summers, so why don't you make like an egg and beat it,' Todd added.

Scott just stared at the bad-smelling freshman, wondering how anyone could stand walking with him. He turned back to Rogue, offering her a smile. 'I was just, you know, wondering if you've read the required reading for English class yet.'

'You're asking about homework?' she asked, endearingly arching one eyebrow.

'Yeah. I just thought that maybe, if you wanted to, we could-'

'Hey, Scott!'

Scott ignored the call for attention. He kept the smile on his face, his eyes firmly on Rogue. 'If maybe we could meet and study-'

'Scott!'

Annoyed, he finally turned to face his friend. 'Kurt, just wait!' Scott turned back to Rogue and was disappointed to be met by her and Todd's retreating backs. He thought about once again running after them but changed his mind. He was certain that he had just been about to make a connection with the girl, but his chance had come and gone.

With a defeated sigh he walked in the opposite direction towards Kurt.

*

'Well, it's nice to see that you all remember where your home is,' a cold voice greeted them as they entered the house.

The three of them jumped at the voice, Rogue's hand reaching out to clutch his arm as they turned. Lance forced a look of boredom on his face. 'Hey, Mystique. Didn't know you were stopping by today.'

She glared at him. 'Don't get smart with me, Alvers.'

The urge to apologise was strong, but he didn't want Mystique to know how much he feared her. Fortunately, before he could answer in any way, loud noises from the kitchen distracted them all.

'Woah! Who's that?' Todd asked suspiciously as they all turned towards the sound.

From behind them lumbered the largest kid Lance had ever seen. He had a large tub of mocha chocolate ice cream in one hand and a large spoon in the other.

'Hey, that's mah ice cream!' Rogue said indignantly. Lance found it both amusing and charming that she was extremely possessive of her ice cream.

The stranger grinned at her. 'Yeah, it's nice.'

'This is Fred Dukes,' Mystique's voice introduced tonelessly. She moved so that she stood between the three of them and the new kid. 'Fred, your new housemates. Todd, Lance, Rogue.' As was her usual manner, she walked out and left them.

Lance just looked at the obviously new member of the Brotherhood. He had lost his grin and was now staring at the three of them, almost daring them to say something they would regret.

'Yo man, you're big!' Todd said.

'Are you making fun of me?' Fred demanded almost immediately, glaring hard at the freshman.

'No way, man, I wouldn't do that,' Todd replied hastily, surreptitiously moving behind Rogue.

'Don't make fun-'

'Hey man, chill,' Lance commanded, standing in front of Rogue and Todd. 'No one's making fun of you. Todd didn't mean anything by it.'

Fred's eyes darted between the three of them, then he looked down at the ice cream. 'I don't like it when people make fun of me,' he said darkly, before turning and walking back into the kitchen.

'He'd better replace that ice cream,' Rogue muttered loudly as she started climbing the stairs. 'Ah only just bought it yesterday.'

Lance turned to watch her.

'She really loves her ice cream, huh?' Todd said, standing beside him.

'Yeah, she does.'

'You think Scott Summers would want to know about how much she loves her ice cream?'

Lance felt the immediate feelings of dislike rise at the mention of his rival. 'What the hell are you talking about, Toad?'

As if sensing his displeasure, the younger boy started to back away. 'Summers was just pestering her this afternoon, that's all. You think maybe he likes her?'

Ignoring the question, Lance hurried upstairs. He knocked loudly against Rogue's closed door.

'Who is it?' she called out.

'Rogue, it's me.'

He heard soft footfalls, and then the door opened to reveal an emotionless Rogue. 'What is it, Lance?'

Although the two of them had grown close – as close as she would allow – in the two weeks since she had arrived, she would still distance herself from him at times. He knew it was just who she was, that it would take time before she fully let her guard down, and he had to keep reminding himself that he could wait. Still, it was frustrating and disappointing.

'Is Summers bugging you?' Lance asked, disliking the demanding tone that had crept in.

She narrowed her eyes at him. 'Ah can look after mahself, Lance. Ah'm not helpless.'

He sighed, shaking his head. 'I was just worried, okay? I don't like the idea of Summers stalking you.'

'He wasn't stalking me,' she muttered, looking away.

Rogue defending the X-Man was the last thing he expected and he just stared at her for the moment, unsure of how to react.

'It's nothing Ah can't handle,' she continued, then took a step back. 'Ah got homework.' Rogue closed the door.

Lance clenched his hands at the thought of Summers studying the lone female Brotherhood member, and he swore under his breath.

end part four.

Once again, much thanks goes to all those sweet and wonderful people who have reviewed. And to Goofn1, a special thank you for your detailed thoughts on the two chapters. I am actually quite a big fan of Todd, and I feel bad that on the show he just doesn't seem to quite fit in with the Brotherhood (that's how I see it), and definitely not with the X-Men, and I wanted to add him as much as I could to the story. As for the Rogue/Lance "date" - I didn't even think of it like that, but yay!