***
Disclaimer – I *still* don't own X-Men: Evolution
· Chapter takes place a few days after the last
· Thank you Lisa for the name of the segment. :P
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Ever have a staring contest with the wall? You have? Then you know it's just about impossible to win. It's almost as possible to win as it is to lick your elbow. After staring at the wall, for about an hour and a half, Remy Lebeau sighed heavily. His copper-colored fringes fell in front of his eyes as his head fell forward. He made a mental note to get a hair cut later. For what seemed like the millionth time that day, he slipped a deck of cards out from his pocket on his trench coat and flipped them from one hand to another. That got old fast. Within a minute he slipped them back in. He leaned back in the chair and now stared up at the ceiling. What an adventurous life he lived. He propped his feet up on the table, crossing one foot over the other.
"Get your feet off the table." He didn't need to look at the person to know who it was. The soft Southern accent easily identified the person. He glanced up at Rogue who was standing a few feet away from his table, with her arms crossed. She was wearing black pants, ripped at the knees, with a long sleeved green mesh shirt over a black t-shirt. She wore black gloves with velcro across the wrists. When he didn't move his feet, she moved them for him. A sound echoed out through the library when his boots hit the ground.
"Nice to see you too, chérie." He smirked at her as she pulled out a chair and sat down across from him. "Didn't even know this place had a library."
"Didn't know you could read." She shot back, opening a book. He watched her carefully as her eyes moved side to side. After several minutes of silence, she glanced up at him. Her eyes met his red orbs. "Want somethin'?"
He smirked as he shook his head, amused. "Nothin' Ro', nothin'." He knew she wasn't exactly thrilled with him staying here. He wasn't staying at the institute, just visiting. St. John on the other hand, was living in a luxury here, and Colossus decided he would go after they found out what made Magneto croak.
"Jean-Luc offered to forgive an' forget. Why didn't you go back?" Rogue suddenly asked, her voice no higher than a whisper.
"Because." Remy leaned in towards her. "He wanted me for my mutant powers." He tapped the side of his head. "I thought you'd be able to figure that one out on your own, Ro'."
"Hey Rogue." Both Southerners jerked their head to the right to see Ray standing at the end of the table, holding his infamous laptop.
"Hi Ray." Rogue said, smiling as she eyed the laptop in his arms. Remy arched his brows up, watching the two in amusement.
"Here—" He walked over and handed her the laptop. "Kitty just told me you wanted to use it. Can you try to give me it back after dinner?"
"Sure thing." Her accent thickened, making what she said sound like 'suh' thang.' "Thank ya, Ray."
"No problem, Rogue." And with those words, he glanced past Remy, and left the room.
"I see you two are on first name basis."
"Shut up, Pepe Lepew."
***
Colossus looked around for Pyro, who had proclaimed he wasn't leaving the mansion until his dear friend left.
"Hey Colossus." Kitty showed up, walking besides him, carrying a plate of cookies. "I can't find Kurt, who's my usual taste-tester, so would you please try a cookie for me?" She stuck out her lower lip.
Being the overly sensitive, quiet, misunderstood and nice guy that he is, he reached for a cookie and tried it. His face remained the same as he chewed it and swallowed it.
"Well?" Kitty looked up at him with big hopeful eyes thinking that maybe she actually didn't food poison people this time.
A small smile found its way on his face. "It is the best I have ever had, Shadowcat."
She squealed. "Thank you! At least someone around here appreciates my baking!" She smiled. "And you can call me, Kitty."
"And you can call me Piotr, Kitty." His face went back to being expressionless. "Do you know where I could find St. John?"
"Second floor, forth door to your right. I just saw him go in there, like, twenty minutes ago."
"I thank you, Kitty."
"No problem!" She watched as he walked away and walked up the stairs. I think he's the first person to ever try my cooking and walk away with perfect health.
***
"St. John?" Colossus walked right into the room to see Pyro sitting in a bathtub, surrounded by bubbles. "Oh my—I am so sorry."
"Look at my rubber ducky!" St. John proclaimed gleefully as he held up the yellow squeaky rubber ducky. He frowned when Piotr turned around, ready to exit the room. "'Ey! Get back 'ere P-P-Col!"
"I would rather not." The Russian declared without turning around.
"Don't be such a virginal homophobic and get in 'ere. It ain't like I'm going to ask ya to scrub my back and shoulders.. 'Ey! That ain't a bad idea!"
But Colossus was already long gone.
***
"I swear if your foot touches mine one more time I'm going to—"
"You're goin' to what, chérie? Kick me?" He asked, with a wink. "O' get Electricity-Boy after me?"
She glanced up from the laptop. "What?"
"I know you can tell he likes you." Remy said, looking down at his game of Solitaire. "Do you like him?"
"If you know he likes me then shouldn't you know if I know he likes me and if I know I know he likes me and if he knows I know I.." She stopped. "Shut up."
He sniffed the air. "Do I smell smoke?"
A book suddenly flew off the table and hit his shoulder. It knocked him back with force, almost making him fall out of his chair. "Merde! Hey!"
"Sorry. I was aimin' for your face."
"Stupid telekinesis." He mumbled, rubbing his shoulder. He picked up a card, and charged it. He then glanced over at Rogue, to see her reaction.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Wouldn't I?"
***
The small explosion could be heard out through the mansion. The younger recruits, who all sat around in the rec room, watching television, just rolled their eyes; the older mutants would resolve whatever caused the explosion.
"Should we go see what that was?" Amara asked as she reached over and took a handful of popcorn out from the bowl that was sitting on the table.
"Nah." Rahne said, watching Roberto and Ray have a contest on seeing who could fill their cheeks the most with popcorn.
"When we hear screams, we'll come running in to save them all." Jubilee mumbled, trailing off during the middle of her sentence as Bobby converted his ice into sculptures.
"They're goin' to think y'all are lazy." Sam said from his spot on the floor, next to the couch. He was playing Jamie in a game of checkers.
"Y'all?" Jamie asked, jumping two of his pieces. "We don't see you up there, Sam."
"We're like their backup team. They don't need us." Amara flipped her hair behind her shoulder and sighed. "Pyro or Gambit probably made the explosion."
"Pyro." Jubilee turned around, her mind not on Bobby anymore. "He was following you like a lovesick puppy begging for a flame."
"That's why I got him this." Amara reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a metal lighter. She flicked it with her wrist and the cap went up, and then down, making a soft clicking noise.
"Aww!" Half the room cooed, "How sweet."
"Shut up before I make a bunch of recruit marshmallows.."
***
"What's going on in here?" A frantic Ororo asked, barging into the library. Remy was standing up, looking deadpanned, and a hysterical Rogue sat on the floor, on the opposite side, surrounded by parts of a laptop. By hysterical, I mean she was laughing so hard she could barely catch her breath. Soon, Scott and Jean came in behind Storm.
"What happened?"
What had happened? Remy had accidentally dropped the card, and right before it blew up, Rogue used Jean's power to put a force field around herself, forgetting about the borrowed laptop. The force field blocked her from the attacked but knocked her back just as the pieces of the laptop went everywhere. Remy, was speechless, while on the other hand, Rogue couldn't stop laughing.
"I think she hit her head." Remy managed to mumble a few minutes later.
***
Hours later, right before dinner, Rogue placed all the pieces to the once existing laptop on Ray's bed. She was kind of hoping he wouldn't notice. Of course he was going to notice, and she thought about using telepathy to make him think he blew it up somehow, but she knew the Professor would somehow find out and she'd get an earful.
"Hey Miss Vampire!" Pyro frolicked down the hallway and stopped when he saw her phasing out of the doorway of a room.
"Miss Vampire?" She asked dryly.
"Y'know, you suck the power out of people! You're a power absorbin' vampire!"
She poked his shoulder. "I also absorb your memories when I touch ya." She poked his shoulder again, this time hard. "And unless you—"
"You should absorb me! Then we could be a team and control fires together!"
"Why would I want you inside my head?"
"Because of my devilishly good looks and my charm?" He soon trailed off. "My bad, Sheila! I forgot, you want REMY inside that head of yours!" Before she had a chance to respond, or club him outside the head, he grabbed a lock of white hair. "So, is this natural?"
"Yes, it is." She snapped, pulling away. "Don't touch my hair—don't talk to me, and don't touch me."
"But after everything we've been through!" His eyes got watery. "You can do this to me.. Uh.." He snapped his fingers as he tried to remember her name. "Rouge!"
"That's Rogue."
"That was gonna be my second guess."
"I bet." And with those words, she shoved past him and walked down the hall.
He chuckled softly to himself. That Gammie has a weird taste in girls.
***
"I can't believe your letting them stay here, Professor!"
"Scott, they have no intention of staying. Gambit and Pyro will surely leave when Colossus goes home."
"Professor—"
"Scott. It's dinnertime."
Scott's jaw dropped as the Professor wheeled out of the office.
***
Remy sat outside the institute, smoking a cigarette. In a few minutes, he was going to head back to the base. He only stayed at the institute for two reasons: one – to look after Pyro and two – to spend a little time with Rogue. He felt weird ever since the incident in the library. It just reminded him of the time his powers first manifested. What if Rogue didn't have all those stolen powers? What if she hadn't blocked the explosion from the card? She might've ended up like the laptop. Of course she found the whole situation to be hilarious.
"No smokin'." The cigarette was pulled out from his lips and tossed out onto the sidewalk. "You're goin' to get some sort of cancer if you keep smokin'."
"Since when do you care?" He asked, reaching into his pocket for another one but found the pack of them to be missing. "You goddamn thief."
"I ain't the one in a guild."
"Then give me back—"
"Your fags?" She asked with amusement as she sat up, placed the pack of cigarettes beneath her and sat down on them.
"I hate you." He mumbled bitterly. "Anyway—" He stood up. "I'm thinkin' 'bout taking 'Luc on that offer."
Rogue deadpanned. "What?"
"Maybe I should make peace with my family. Without 'napping you, don't worry chérie."
"W-When are you gonna head back?"
"Sometime after Pyro heads back to the base, o' where ever the homme is goin'."
She made a face. "I hope it's soon. That guy is gettin' on my last nerve."
Remy shrugged. "He's a good guy. Probably hasn't taken his meds in a few.." He paused. "Months."
"That explains a lot." She mumbled, with an eye roll. "Your family will be happy to see you."
He shrugged again. "I might not go back."
"You need to make up your mind."
He reached behind her and patted her head. "Oui, I do petit'." He slipped his arm around her shoulders, waiting for her to smack him, or violently do something of the sort but she didn't. She just relaxed and rested her head on his shoulder.
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Part one completed – January 4, 2004
Seems like a good part to end it. It was originally going to be a cliffhanger but I'll just save that for the next chapter.. :)
Sorry, not up for answering reviews.. :( Maybe next time..
-- Aro