Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 15
Chapter 3: Charming, Gambit, Charming
The next morning was a beautiful day for march, the sun had come out, and warmth flooded over the Xavier estate. Ororo used her powers to slightly enhance the weather, she made sure not a cloud hung in the sky to block the sun, and made sure the cooler winds was kept at bay. The grounds were lush and green, the sky a beautiful soft blue, the water on the lake sparkled like flowing diamonds.
To celebrate the escape from the island and the clones, it had been the Professor's idea to have a barbecue. The students arrived back from Muir Island in the late morning, and the place was a buzz of excited chatter – even the students seemed to be interested in what Monet had to say about her adventures in the blackbird and her encounters in Genosha.
Rogue was still sore, but feeling slightly happier as she sat at a patio table near the pool, watching the kids frolic and splash around. Bobby had not turned up for the barbecue but she was glad of this, as she wasn't sure she could face him right now. He'd looked even more annoyed with her since Remy had come back with them.
Remy had not arrived down for the celebration yet, she supposed he was sleeping in, and quite rightly so, he'd been through a lot. Kitty and Logan were still also sleeping in. But the others were full of life again. Appreciating life more now that they understood how close they'd come to living it in a prison.
"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"
Rogue turned, the Professor was sitting next to her in his wheelchair, he was wearing his less than formal Xavier's Institute T-shirt, it was rare anyone ever saw him in anything other than a suit. It showed that even the Professor could let loose just a little occasionally. "Yes, it is," she replied, a little tiredly.
"Did you sleep at all last night?" The Professor asked, sipping on Alison's homemade lemonade, which had been popular with everyone – and judging by everyone's excitement and boundless energy, there was probably half a bag of sugar in the stuff as well.
"A little. Still pretty sore…but…I'll be fine. It's different to feel this kind of pain…been so used to having nothing more than a little headache every now and then," she reminded.
"You've seemed a little edgy since we returned," Professor Xavier admitted quietly.
"I'm not edgy, just…a little sore," she shrugged, and it hurt to do so.
"You were talking with Remy on the jet…did he mention whether or not he'd be resuming his career as an X-Man."
"Not really," Rogue said, "he seems a little on edge himself, now that I think about it…"
"He's obviously been through alot…as have we all."
Rogue nodded.
"Perhaps…it would be best to leave our questions of his ordeal for now…and focus more on this beautiful day, and enjoy the celebrations, hmm?" The professor pointed out.
Rogue paused for thought, then turned to look at the Professor, "I think you might be right."
Kitty had barely pulled on the top of her pink bikini when Remy came barging into the bathroom without knocking.
"REMY!" she gasped.
"Sorry, petit," he said, he was wearing nothing but his boxer shorts and looking a little more well rested than he had the night previous, "I thought you'd maybe already be out there with the others."
"Then if you weren't looking for me, why are you coming into my bathroom – wearing nothing but your underwear I might add…" she pointed out. "Is this a new thing with you, Remy…the less clothes, the better?"
"Hey, I'd go around commando all the time if I could…if only I wasn't afraid of sunburn or frostbite on my co—"
"That's plenty," Kitty said, urging him to stop before he went too far, "what you lookin' for?"
"Scissors," Remy said, "and possibly some kind of razor. Girls shave their legs…armpits…" he gestured to her, "bikini zone…" he added wiggling his eyebrows.
Kitty rolled her eyes, "You're back to the old you alright," she said, "here," she took a pair of scissors out of her cabinet, "what you want those for?"
"Cut off this singed hair," he uttered, "I've been growin' my hair for seven years and it finally gets singed off…bitch, huh?" he asked.
"You need that hair cut, your hair looks like a horses ass when you wear it in that goddamn ponytail," Kitty responded, "I hate it when guys have longer and prettier hair than I do…" she said, she turned on the shower over her bathtub, "wet your hair," she commanded.
"I can do it," Remy said reaching out for the scissors, "lemme do it, you'll make a mess of it and end up lookin' like somethin' out of 'That 70's Show'," she uttered.
Remy folded his arms, "fine, just don't cut too much of it off, I wanna keep some of it. Ladies love long hair." He bent over the shower and soaked his hair beneath the water, he then wrung it out.
"Right," Kitty responded, "you have NO idea how much I've wanted to do this," she gave his hair a quick towel dry and brushed his hair quickly. She grabbed a hand full of his hair and began to cut away eagerly. "By the way…your stuff is still here…y'know, the clothes you were wearing the night in Illinois…its downstairs in the hospital wing…that god awful trenchcoat that's probably older than you are."
"That coat has Character," Remy assured.
"We had to wash the blood out of it…"
"Blood?"
"I'll explain another time," Kitty promised.
"Petit?"
"Yes?" Kitty asked, cutting more hair off, going wild with the excitement of having control over this hair over his that had bugged her for so long.
"I didn't…uhm…mean to cry last night."
"I know," Kitty responded, "it's been a very hard time for us all, it just got to you, that's all," she admitted sounding quite casual about it. She ran the brush through his hair then cut a little more.
"It's just between us though, right?"
"Of course," Kitty assured.
"And…my problem?"
"What problem?" Kitty asked, pulling his hair between his fingers and snipping carefully to layer the ends of his hair.
"With the emotions and the mood swings…the whole manic depression thing?" he asked quietly, sounding quite embarrassed about it.
"Oh…that?" Kitty asked, sounding a little troubled.
"Why do you sound like that?" Remy asked, he stopped her and turned towards her looking like a split personality with one side of his hair long and the other short.
"Uhm…it's just that when the cops raided your apartment they found all your medications…and uhm, they told reporters and it was in all the newspapers…" Kitty said, "so…everyone kind of knows…"
"Fuck," he made a face.
Kitty turned him back around, "I'm sure they've already forgotten about it…who cares anyway, its your problem, not theirs."
Remy sighed, "that's easy for you to say…I don't want people knowin' how I can be…it's bad enough them knowin' how I was before it all…"
Kitty patted his shoulder, "I'm sure it'll be fine."
Rogue's head swung around when she saw Remy coming out of the back doorway of the mansion, his hair damp, severely short compared to it's previous length. From the long ponytail that had touched his backside to just below his ears it had almost completely transformed his face, accenting his strong jaw, the layers giving him a more clean cut look. "Wow…" she whispered, gaping.
Remy glanced over at her and acknowledged her ever so slightly, then headed towards the beer cooler – which Kurt was guarding with his life in case any of the students were to try and steal some – and grabbed a bottle. He took the cap off with his teeth and spat it back into the cooler.
"Charming, Gambit, Charming," Kurt responded.
"You know it," Remy grinned, and headed towards the table where Rogue was, he dropped into the unoccupied seat beside her, "'sup?" He asked lightly.
"Uhm…nothing…" Rogue said, a little flustered. She felt like a silly school girl with her first crush, he'd shaven, put on some old swim trunks, his hair was so much more attractive and he was a damn site cleaner than when she'd seen him. Despite his bruises cuts and slight burns, he looked exceptionally handsome.
"So, Gambit," the Professor, who was sitting to Rogue's right said, sounding quite congenial. "Have you thought anymore about whether you might join the X-Men again?" he asked.
Remy gave a shrug, "I'll get back t' ya on that," he took a drink of his beer.
"You do that," The Professor smiled, pulled out from under the table, and wheeled himself away to speak with Ororo who was sunbathing by the pool.
Rogue ran her gloved fingers along the table absently, "so…haircut, huh?"
"Kitty did it," Remy answered, "a lot of my hair was singed by the blast from the explosion so…" he touched his damp hair absently. "Like it?"
"It's you," Rogue responded, she took a sip of her lemonade, "she did a good job."
"Yeah, she wanted to do it for a while…" Remy said casually. He glanced at her, she was wearing a pale green chiffon sundress that covered her completely, the sleeves were see-through and she had lacy white gloves on that complimented it perfectly.
"Yeah, she's like that…it's her pet peeve when a guy has nicer hair than she does," Rogue smirked.
Remy nodded, "so I believe…" he looked at her, "y'know…I think this is…the first proper time we have a conversation since…y'know…"
Rogue nodded softly. "yeah...I guess…at least where one of us hasn't been pissed at the other…" she added. She glanced over to the kids splashing in the pool.
"If neither of us was pissed at the other for something I guess we'd have nothing to talk about at all, really, would we?" he asked.
Rogue smirked, "remember that time you sent me the naked picture of you but it was your head photoshopped onto some gay model's body?" she asked.
Remy chuckled, "yeah. Kitty had it under her pillow," he reminded. "I always wondered why, I mean she told me she never really had a crush on me so WHY did she have that under her pillow…"
"I don't know, she probably pasted Orlando Bloom's head onto it or something.," Rogue suggested.
Remy snorted, "yeah, probably…"
Rogue shook her head, "we were a little crazy when we were young I guess."
"Yeah…" he answered, "now we're all grown up…and a lot crazy."
Rogue smirked, "how things change."
"Yeah…how they do."
Rogue paused for thought then turned to him, "want to take a walk around the lake?" she asked, noticing it was quieter around there, at least they could be together alone for the first time in a while.
Remy stopped to consider this, then shrugged, "alright."