A general disclaimer: the X-Men belong to Marvel, X-Men Evolution belongs to...whoever owns it...in any case, I don't own anyone mentioned within this text.
Author's note: Break it down...I'm not exactly sure the time in which my events take place, it may jump around from season to season, unintentionally, please don't hurt me on that account. I should state now that Rogue/Gambit is my OTP, but that doesn't mean I can't do Rogue/Scott (although I'm not a huge fan). Something I'm even a less of a fan of is Scott/Jean, but that could be popping up in here, too. Someone pointed out to me that in terms of Evolution, Rogue/Scott *is* canon...
Well, whichever, hope you enjoy. If you don't, feel free to flame me. I'll probably deserve it.
NeoVenus22
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Whatever Happens, Happens
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Chapter Eight: Scott's Morning
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Scott had tossed and turned most of the night, and his thoughts had been muddled enough when he'd gone to bed that he'd completely forgotten to set his alarm. Now he awoke to the bright glare of sunlight reflecting off of his mirror. He squinted, allowing the blurry shapes time to make their lines clear, then looked over at the clock...
...and nearly jumped out of bed. "Late!" he yelped frantically, clamoring out from under the covers and dashing into the bathroom, where he undressed and hopped into the shower. "Late late late!" He turned on the water, and with a sudden burst of sound and steam, he was pierced by needles of near-boiling water. "Hot hot hot!" he said, and adjusted the knob so that the water was a little more forgiving to his skin. When he finally got done with his shower, his body was raw from the combination of rapid scrubbing and scalding temperatures. His skin was lobster-red, like he'd been in the sun too long. (But then again, wasn't his skin *always* red when he looked at it?)
He brushed his teeth and got dressed, then darted down the hall and banged on respective doors. "Evan! Kurt! Jean! Kitty, Rogue! C'mon! We're late!"
Kitty's head popped blearily through the wooden paneling of the door. "Say what?"
"We've got about twenty minutes before the first bell rings," he informed her, and the freshman became more alert. "On it!" she said, disappearing behind the door once more. "C'mon guys, let's go!" Scott yelled to the hall, then returned to his room to throw his books in his bag. When he emerged again, Evan was just coming out of his room, clipping his helmet clasp shut with one hand, gripping his skateboard and backpack with the other. "Gotta catch some air, see you at school!" he said, dashing down the stairs. Before Scott could issue the 'no boarding in the institute' rule for what seemed like the millionth time, he heard the thump of Evan's skateboard in the front hall, and the rush of wheels as the guy sped outside.
Scott banged again once more on the three remaining doors, then went downstairs to try and scavenge for breakfast. He was surprised enough to freeze for a second as he saw Jean sitting at the table, calmly sipping tea from a mug. "You're up," he observed.
"So are you, finally," she answered.
They were saved from awkward conversation and more awkward silence by the bamf!-ing sound of imploding air as Kurt appeared in the kitchen, and as Kitty phased through the ceiling, holding Rogue. Kitty landed neatly on her feet, but Rogue was off-balance and went toppling instantly upon impact.
As she fell over, she fell straight into Scott's arms. It was a tipsy few seconds, as he tried to balance the heavy backpack that had fallen off one shoulder and now rested in the crook of his arm, and the unsteady weight of a teenage girl, who had a heavy bag of her own, but after a moment, they both straightened, reddening slightly. "Uh, hi," Scott said, painfully aware of *everyone's* eyes on the two of them. Either they all knew, or they at least all suspected that something was going on between him and Rogue.
But there was zero time for relationship drama, seeing as how the second hand was rapidly ticking towards detention if they missed homeroom. Principal Darkholme, a.k.a. Mystique, was incredibly strict as an administrator to begin with, but she had no tolerance whatsoever for any of the residents of the Xavier Institute.
Kitty had phased her arm through the door of the fridge, and was pulling out a few juice boxes, which she tossed behind her. Her wayward aim caught Jean in the forehead, causing her to say "Ow!", and Kurt offered her a smile as he retrieved the fallen carton off the floor. Scott plucked two juice boxes out of the air, and passed one to Rogue. Kurt grabbed a few apples out of the fruit bowl on the counter, and tossed one to Scott, one to Kitty, who emerged from the fridge, and offered one to Rogue, who declined with a shake of her head.
"Okay, let's go," Scott said, and five teenagers hurried down to the garage, where Scott hopped over the door into the front seat, Kitty phased into the back. Kurt had teleported from the kitchen into the middle seat, and Jean moved to open the door and take her usual place in shotgun. But she glanced at Scott and quickly glanced away, moving to sit in the backseat. It came to a surprise more to Scott and Rogue than anyone in the backseat that Rogue took Jean's usual place.
They split up the second the engine died. Kitty was a freshman; Kurt, Rogue, and Evan (who was now boarding up to the school's front steps) were sophomores, and Scott and Jean were seniors. They shared basic classes, like history and math, with others in their respective grades, and might have shared different electives with different members of the team. As far as Scott knew, however, only Rogue and Kurt shared a homeroom. For once, though, he was glad he didn't have homeroom with Jean.
He was still supremely upset about what she had said to him last night; it played through his mind like a broken record. 'That's what this is about? Neither you or Rogue have a real family, so that gives you the right to exclude me? So I have to have my parents die, is that it? I have to be an orphan, or betrayed by Mystique to be your friend?'
Scott had never thought that Jean was capable of saying something so low. Of any of them, Rogue was the only one with real bite, but even she, with her Gothic dress and bitter, 'doesn't-the-world-suck' attitude would never say something so heartless and callous.
And Rogue...as Scott filed into the school with everyone else, less than a minute before the bell, his mind skipped from his conversation with Jean to his conversation with Rogue. Which left him questioning why he *had* kissed Rogue. It had seemed so simple at the time, as an expression of his newfound friendship with her...
But thinking about it now, what kind of excuse was that? It wasn't a friendly kiss. A friendly kiss would have been on the forehead or cheek, or maybe a peck on the lips. Something that lasted not even a second, something that with her powers would at worst had left him a little woozy, maybe unharmed entirely. But no. He'd held on for as long as he could before her powers got the better of him, and he collapsed.
What did any of this even *mean*? It was driving him nuts. He was supposed to like Jean, right? Had since he'd met her. Jean was perky, and preppy, and popular, and...well, basically, everything Rogue was not. The two girls were opposite sides of the spectrum, totally, and it boggled his mind, this whole Rogue-Jean situation.
What was the deal with Jean, anyway? When had she stopped becoming this perfect creature, and was instead this eavesdropping, insulting, catty person? Overnight, she'd somehow become just like all of those girls she hung out with.
Maybe he was just finally seeing her foibles. Mutant or not, she was just human, just like the rest of them. He should stop putting Jean Grey up on a pedestal.
And yet...
Scott sat in homeroom, trying to wrap his brain around this, having completely tuned out the morning announcements, and subsequently, the bell signaling he should go to first period. It wasn't until someone tapped him on the shoulder that he snapped out of his reverie, and looked up.
"Hey, Summers, that's my seat," Duncan Matthews said. "Shouldn't you be running off to class now, or something?"
Any other day, Scott would have glared, said something biting or derogatory, and been on his way, but all of a sudden he just wasn't in the mood for going toe-to-toe with Matthews. "Yeah, okay," he said, shouldering his backpack once more and heading into the hallway without so much as a backward glance for his rival.
The bell rang, and judging by the sudden lack of kids in the hall, it was the second bell. This morning was not getting off to a good start. To make matters worse, his first period class was on the opposite side of the school. And it was one he shared with Jean. With a sigh, Scott started to class in more of an amble than anything else, just feeling completely drained, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
"Would ya knock it off?" a voice nearby said. A very familiar voice. "Ah'm tryin' ta get ta class."
"Y'know, I always thought there was something weird about this girl," another voice, a male one, said. "She's such a freak...bet she's a mutant."
"Wanna find out?" he heard Rogue growl, and Scott darted around the corner quickly, hoping that Rogue wouldn't do anything stupid. It wasn't her style, no, but if you were feeling threatened, you could do anything...
Rogue had her back to the row of lockers, though with a good foot between skin and metal, giving her some sort of edge, enough room for escape or fight, if it should come to either of those. It was cut-and-dry evidence of Danger Room training, and Scott felt an odd surge of pride. She was staring down two big bulky guys, a little too thick to be any of Matthews' cronies, yet too much thug and not enough misfit to have anything to do with the Brotherhood. Scott didn't know the two, but his best bet was that they were the human equivalent of Alvers and his cronies. They stood at least a good foot taller than Rogue, and were leering at her in a way that made his blood boil.
"Hear that?" the taller of the two said, smirking at his friend. "She's threatening us."
"Listen, girlie, we don't want no one to get hurt or nothin'," the friend drawled. "Just give us a little kiss, and we'll be on our way."
"How about this?" Scott said, stepping up. "You get on your way anyway, and leave her alone."
The two goons sized him up, and although they were bigger than him, there was something about Scott that apparently scared them off. The taller of the two huffed, "Yeah, okay, whatever, dude. We'll leave your little girlfriend alone." As they trudged away, Scott thought he heard one of them mutter something about "freaking muties," and he was glad that things had gone the way they had. Clearly, it could have been worse.
"Ah *shoulda* kissed 'em," Rogue snarled at their retreating backs. "Woulda served 'em right." She then whirled around to face Scott. "An' *you*! Ah coulda handled that mahself, Summers, Ah didn't need you ta come in and play knight in shinin' armor." Scott blanched; he never knew how Rogue would react to things, although he suspected he should have predicted her being angry. But not this angry...she hadn't called him Summers since she'd joined the team.
"I know you could have," he said contritely. "And I'm sorry I stepped in, it wasn't my business to. But you were risking exposure, Rogue."
"Ah'll..." she began, but trailed off as she took in the emptiness of the halls. "We're all alone."
Scott looked around, and he fully appreciated how dead the hallways of Bayville High were between classes. With a deep breath, he decided there was no time like the present to talk about what they'd been talking about the night before. He opened his mouth, about to form the words.
"Hey, vhat are you guys doing here?" came the familiar voice of Kurt.
Author's note: Break it down...I'm not exactly sure the time in which my events take place, it may jump around from season to season, unintentionally, please don't hurt me on that account. I should state now that Rogue/Gambit is my OTP, but that doesn't mean I can't do Rogue/Scott (although I'm not a huge fan). Something I'm even a less of a fan of is Scott/Jean, but that could be popping up in here, too. Someone pointed out to me that in terms of Evolution, Rogue/Scott *is* canon...
Well, whichever, hope you enjoy. If you don't, feel free to flame me. I'll probably deserve it.
NeoVenus22
*** *** ***
Whatever Happens, Happens
*** *** ***
Chapter Eight: Scott's Morning
*** *** ***
Scott had tossed and turned most of the night, and his thoughts had been muddled enough when he'd gone to bed that he'd completely forgotten to set his alarm. Now he awoke to the bright glare of sunlight reflecting off of his mirror. He squinted, allowing the blurry shapes time to make their lines clear, then looked over at the clock...
...and nearly jumped out of bed. "Late!" he yelped frantically, clamoring out from under the covers and dashing into the bathroom, where he undressed and hopped into the shower. "Late late late!" He turned on the water, and with a sudden burst of sound and steam, he was pierced by needles of near-boiling water. "Hot hot hot!" he said, and adjusted the knob so that the water was a little more forgiving to his skin. When he finally got done with his shower, his body was raw from the combination of rapid scrubbing and scalding temperatures. His skin was lobster-red, like he'd been in the sun too long. (But then again, wasn't his skin *always* red when he looked at it?)
He brushed his teeth and got dressed, then darted down the hall and banged on respective doors. "Evan! Kurt! Jean! Kitty, Rogue! C'mon! We're late!"
Kitty's head popped blearily through the wooden paneling of the door. "Say what?"
"We've got about twenty minutes before the first bell rings," he informed her, and the freshman became more alert. "On it!" she said, disappearing behind the door once more. "C'mon guys, let's go!" Scott yelled to the hall, then returned to his room to throw his books in his bag. When he emerged again, Evan was just coming out of his room, clipping his helmet clasp shut with one hand, gripping his skateboard and backpack with the other. "Gotta catch some air, see you at school!" he said, dashing down the stairs. Before Scott could issue the 'no boarding in the institute' rule for what seemed like the millionth time, he heard the thump of Evan's skateboard in the front hall, and the rush of wheels as the guy sped outside.
Scott banged again once more on the three remaining doors, then went downstairs to try and scavenge for breakfast. He was surprised enough to freeze for a second as he saw Jean sitting at the table, calmly sipping tea from a mug. "You're up," he observed.
"So are you, finally," she answered.
They were saved from awkward conversation and more awkward silence by the bamf!-ing sound of imploding air as Kurt appeared in the kitchen, and as Kitty phased through the ceiling, holding Rogue. Kitty landed neatly on her feet, but Rogue was off-balance and went toppling instantly upon impact.
As she fell over, she fell straight into Scott's arms. It was a tipsy few seconds, as he tried to balance the heavy backpack that had fallen off one shoulder and now rested in the crook of his arm, and the unsteady weight of a teenage girl, who had a heavy bag of her own, but after a moment, they both straightened, reddening slightly. "Uh, hi," Scott said, painfully aware of *everyone's* eyes on the two of them. Either they all knew, or they at least all suspected that something was going on between him and Rogue.
But there was zero time for relationship drama, seeing as how the second hand was rapidly ticking towards detention if they missed homeroom. Principal Darkholme, a.k.a. Mystique, was incredibly strict as an administrator to begin with, but she had no tolerance whatsoever for any of the residents of the Xavier Institute.
Kitty had phased her arm through the door of the fridge, and was pulling out a few juice boxes, which she tossed behind her. Her wayward aim caught Jean in the forehead, causing her to say "Ow!", and Kurt offered her a smile as he retrieved the fallen carton off the floor. Scott plucked two juice boxes out of the air, and passed one to Rogue. Kurt grabbed a few apples out of the fruit bowl on the counter, and tossed one to Scott, one to Kitty, who emerged from the fridge, and offered one to Rogue, who declined with a shake of her head.
"Okay, let's go," Scott said, and five teenagers hurried down to the garage, where Scott hopped over the door into the front seat, Kitty phased into the back. Kurt had teleported from the kitchen into the middle seat, and Jean moved to open the door and take her usual place in shotgun. But she glanced at Scott and quickly glanced away, moving to sit in the backseat. It came to a surprise more to Scott and Rogue than anyone in the backseat that Rogue took Jean's usual place.
They split up the second the engine died. Kitty was a freshman; Kurt, Rogue, and Evan (who was now boarding up to the school's front steps) were sophomores, and Scott and Jean were seniors. They shared basic classes, like history and math, with others in their respective grades, and might have shared different electives with different members of the team. As far as Scott knew, however, only Rogue and Kurt shared a homeroom. For once, though, he was glad he didn't have homeroom with Jean.
He was still supremely upset about what she had said to him last night; it played through his mind like a broken record. 'That's what this is about? Neither you or Rogue have a real family, so that gives you the right to exclude me? So I have to have my parents die, is that it? I have to be an orphan, or betrayed by Mystique to be your friend?'
Scott had never thought that Jean was capable of saying something so low. Of any of them, Rogue was the only one with real bite, but even she, with her Gothic dress and bitter, 'doesn't-the-world-suck' attitude would never say something so heartless and callous.
And Rogue...as Scott filed into the school with everyone else, less than a minute before the bell, his mind skipped from his conversation with Jean to his conversation with Rogue. Which left him questioning why he *had* kissed Rogue. It had seemed so simple at the time, as an expression of his newfound friendship with her...
But thinking about it now, what kind of excuse was that? It wasn't a friendly kiss. A friendly kiss would have been on the forehead or cheek, or maybe a peck on the lips. Something that lasted not even a second, something that with her powers would at worst had left him a little woozy, maybe unharmed entirely. But no. He'd held on for as long as he could before her powers got the better of him, and he collapsed.
What did any of this even *mean*? It was driving him nuts. He was supposed to like Jean, right? Had since he'd met her. Jean was perky, and preppy, and popular, and...well, basically, everything Rogue was not. The two girls were opposite sides of the spectrum, totally, and it boggled his mind, this whole Rogue-Jean situation.
What was the deal with Jean, anyway? When had she stopped becoming this perfect creature, and was instead this eavesdropping, insulting, catty person? Overnight, she'd somehow become just like all of those girls she hung out with.
Maybe he was just finally seeing her foibles. Mutant or not, she was just human, just like the rest of them. He should stop putting Jean Grey up on a pedestal.
And yet...
Scott sat in homeroom, trying to wrap his brain around this, having completely tuned out the morning announcements, and subsequently, the bell signaling he should go to first period. It wasn't until someone tapped him on the shoulder that he snapped out of his reverie, and looked up.
"Hey, Summers, that's my seat," Duncan Matthews said. "Shouldn't you be running off to class now, or something?"
Any other day, Scott would have glared, said something biting or derogatory, and been on his way, but all of a sudden he just wasn't in the mood for going toe-to-toe with Matthews. "Yeah, okay," he said, shouldering his backpack once more and heading into the hallway without so much as a backward glance for his rival.
The bell rang, and judging by the sudden lack of kids in the hall, it was the second bell. This morning was not getting off to a good start. To make matters worse, his first period class was on the opposite side of the school. And it was one he shared with Jean. With a sigh, Scott started to class in more of an amble than anything else, just feeling completely drained, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
"Would ya knock it off?" a voice nearby said. A very familiar voice. "Ah'm tryin' ta get ta class."
"Y'know, I always thought there was something weird about this girl," another voice, a male one, said. "She's such a freak...bet she's a mutant."
"Wanna find out?" he heard Rogue growl, and Scott darted around the corner quickly, hoping that Rogue wouldn't do anything stupid. It wasn't her style, no, but if you were feeling threatened, you could do anything...
Rogue had her back to the row of lockers, though with a good foot between skin and metal, giving her some sort of edge, enough room for escape or fight, if it should come to either of those. It was cut-and-dry evidence of Danger Room training, and Scott felt an odd surge of pride. She was staring down two big bulky guys, a little too thick to be any of Matthews' cronies, yet too much thug and not enough misfit to have anything to do with the Brotherhood. Scott didn't know the two, but his best bet was that they were the human equivalent of Alvers and his cronies. They stood at least a good foot taller than Rogue, and were leering at her in a way that made his blood boil.
"Hear that?" the taller of the two said, smirking at his friend. "She's threatening us."
"Listen, girlie, we don't want no one to get hurt or nothin'," the friend drawled. "Just give us a little kiss, and we'll be on our way."
"How about this?" Scott said, stepping up. "You get on your way anyway, and leave her alone."
The two goons sized him up, and although they were bigger than him, there was something about Scott that apparently scared them off. The taller of the two huffed, "Yeah, okay, whatever, dude. We'll leave your little girlfriend alone." As they trudged away, Scott thought he heard one of them mutter something about "freaking muties," and he was glad that things had gone the way they had. Clearly, it could have been worse.
"Ah *shoulda* kissed 'em," Rogue snarled at their retreating backs. "Woulda served 'em right." She then whirled around to face Scott. "An' *you*! Ah coulda handled that mahself, Summers, Ah didn't need you ta come in and play knight in shinin' armor." Scott blanched; he never knew how Rogue would react to things, although he suspected he should have predicted her being angry. But not this angry...she hadn't called him Summers since she'd joined the team.
"I know you could have," he said contritely. "And I'm sorry I stepped in, it wasn't my business to. But you were risking exposure, Rogue."
"Ah'll..." she began, but trailed off as she took in the emptiness of the halls. "We're all alone."
Scott looked around, and he fully appreciated how dead the hallways of Bayville High were between classes. With a deep breath, he decided there was no time like the present to talk about what they'd been talking about the night before. He opened his mouth, about to form the words.
"Hey, vhat are you guys doing here?" came the familiar voice of Kurt.