Afraid to admit that

Chapter Two: Declaration – Humiliating

Dedication: to Chica De Los Ojos Cafe, gyjvfvnvffdjiklgh, lovedanigth and wolvieluvr – my first reviewers. I'm glad you liked it. I try very hard not to write fluff, so it's good to know someone bothers.

And answering the question that Chica De Los Ojos Cafe asked, I can say only one thing: you'll see.

Stay calm. Stay calm. You are the Rogue. Bit your lip and stay calm. Do not cry without a reason. Do not be pathetic. Do not show any interest. Do not care. Stay the fuck calm!

Rogue muttered something under her breath and took a few steps, pushing Pietro away. She hardly controlled herself enough to put the key in the lock.

Miss Pitiful? Show off with the great superiority of your mind and prove that you can stay unaffected, by opening the locker properly, even in the face of Armageddon.

"I… you know, I've been thinking about you." she heard from behind her. She didn't want to turn back to him, because her face was not to be seen. She wandered, if there really was a sound of stress, that she thought she heard in his voice. Come on, why should he be stressed? He had time to prepare himself to this.

"How stunning." Rogue replied dryly.

She had finally took the books from the locker, and she was now ready to leave. Her last phrase was, in her opinion at least, sarcastic enough to leave him smashed by her coldness. But she couldn't help herself – she really wanted to know why he desired to talk to her.

Besides, it requires a lot of courage from him to face me after it all… Or rather it requires a lot of courage from me to face him. Anyways, it's a challenge for both of us. Having palmed herself off that way, Rogue decided that she would stay, and hear the rest. She even turned to him.

But moments passed, and Pietro said nothing else - he just kept looking at her with the eyes, that couldn't tell Rogue absolutely nothing about the intentions of their owner.

She started to feel uncomfortable. So, you've been thinking about me and…? I still think of you all, but I don't think it's a good reason to start bugging any of you. She decided that it was stupid for her, to stand there, peering at him, and decided to leave, when he finally continued.

"Are you happy with them?" Pietro asked, seemingly indifferently, but Rogue wouldn't get fooled by the tone of his voice.

She was in no mood to pretend that she didn't know who he was talking about, and she didn't feel like playing some stupid games with him neither.

"No." she replied, along with the truth. "But I see no reason, for which you should care."

"The reason is quite obvious for me. You stopped caring about us, but that wasn't enough to make us stop caring about you." he said quietly.

Rogue just stood still. She wouldn't admit, that the last part of that declaration meant so much for her. I don't believe it… it's not that Pietro I used to know. He would never say such a thing. I don't get it. Maybe he really… no, no. He acts. Like everybody.

"So, the almighty Brotherhood cares for something… somebody? Or was that just your personal declaration?" She looked at him, but his face stayed unchanged. But now, when she has started, she needed to finish it anyways. "In that case there's no reason for using plural form, I'm in no doubt that you know the basic rules of grammar."

Pietro apparently didn't plan to answer that accuse directly, so Rogue thought it will soon turn into another moment of awkward silence. She was wrong.

"You don't cry anymore?"

Rogue was so shocked with that question, that she didn't even realize when she started to answer it. "Yes… No… I don't…" she muttered chaotically. After a while she was in control again. "I've learnt to deal with my personal problems in other ways than crying them off, which doesn't help at all, just by the way. And once again, I don't know why you think that you have any right to ask me…"

Pietro cut her in the middle. "Do not bullshit, Rogue." She shuddered when she heard her name. "Crying helped you, as long as you had someone to cry in front of. May I tell you what I think?"

"No."

"You hold back tears. It's visible for anyone who knows you. Which means, that you've learnt to accept your… situation… the way it is. Before… before you tried to fight it. Now you just sit aside and hid yourself. Don't you possess determination anymore?"

Rogue quickly understood that he was perfectly right. Who gave him the right to be right? she asked herself, and got hit by the stupidity of that thought.

"Leave me alone with my problems. You are not my therapist! I don't want to talk about it with you!" she hissed. She didn't knew, why it made her so angry.

Pietro opened his mouth to say something, but she wasn't done with him yet.

"Could I shown you that I no longer need your advices, in more obvious way than by leaving you? If yes, tell me how, and I'll do it!" she continued angrily. She knew, that it was the last thing she wanted to say, but he musn't know what she really meant.

Pietro slowly closed his mouth, and a second after a smirk appeared on his lips. A smirk, that Rogue knew so well. Pietro was himself again. He extended his hands, and pointed at her.

"Wait, wait." he started, with great dose of cocky self-confidence. "You said, that you didn't want to talk about it with me, so do not, okay? Which reminds me..." he put his hand on the wall, next to her head, and inclined towards her. "Who do you want to speak about it with?" he whispered. Their faces were just inches apart, and Rogue involuntarily screwed her eyes.

But Pietro just made one sudden move back and smirked cheekily, while putting his hands pack to his pockets.

Rogue, who found herself pressed up to the wall, couldn't understand, why she felt so humiliated, so terribly used and humiliated. This time it was her to become speechless. She couldn't think straight enough to remember, what he said, because she concentrated on what he did. She was too ashamed.

She wasn't surprised to hear his laughter - she knew, how it must have looked like. Rogue wanted to say something ironic, something, that would wipe that damn smile off his face.

She had no chance to do so, because Pietro just saluted her, and walked away.

Her hurt pride wouldn't let her call him.

Yeah.

I was afraid of writing Pietro's parts in this chapter. But, for me, everyone can be a little more reflective. Even Pietro. I hope his being OCC doesn't hurt that much. Or does it? If you wish, tell me, what you think.