Disclaimer: It's not mine! I admit it, okay? It's not mine! *grumbles*
Not legally, anyway. *looks at where Todd has joined forces with Kurt of
all people* HEY! QUIT THAT! DID I SAY YOU COULD LEAVE?! Frog boy,
you're getting the soap! And you, you furry blue elf! (That I just
love...heehee) No more burgers for you!
A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews everyone! They really inspire me (especially my bad ass cheerleader Jade Starr, LOL....and LadyTrunks, of course, with all the intimidating looks). So, here's chapter nine everyone. Hope you enjoy and to help me get chapter ten out faster, don't forget to review! (That's my obviously not so subtle way of telling you to review.) And onto the story!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few weeks later, Pietro stared in disatisfaction at the growing pile of paper balls in his trash can. Sighing, he shook his head and threw the most recent one, feeling only a twinge of satisfaction when it went in.
Rogue still wasn't talking to him. And though in the past few weeks he'd become better friends with Kurt and Kitty, he missed Rogue. Heck, he even talked more to Summers than he did to Rogue and he barely spoke to him at all. She only spoke to him when it was really necessary and he didn't really count that as talking (considering that those times mostly consisted of things like "Pass the salt." or some other mundane thing. He had a feeling that soon she'd be spouting nonsense like "Fine weather we're having today.").
He frowned as he began drawing again. His hands flew over the paper as he sketched the image that he wanted. He was working from memory after all, so if he wanted to get this right, he had to concentrate. Pietro paused and held the paper up, studying his work. Then he grinned.
"Perfect!" he declared, stretching the word out, much like he had when he had "clothed" Kurt at the Style Pile. He gave the paper one last glance.
Yeah, this would work just fine.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The only sound in the room was the sound of fists connecting with the punching bag. Pietro stared at the bag, all his attention focused on one spot as he threw more punches.
Scott walked throught the doors and paused, watching as Pietro proceeded to punch the bag as if it were the cause of all his troubles. He looked like he was having entirely too much fun punching it. He walked further into the room and stared at the paper that Pietro had taped to the bag.
On it was a stick figure with brown hair that was sticking out every which way and huge red goggles. Scott raised an eyebrow and looked back to Pietro.
"You didn't get it." he said simply. Pietro scowled at the stick figure version of Scott.
"What are you talking about Summers? I drew it and therefore it is perfect. The best." Scott raised an eyebrow.
"Keep telling yourself that, Quicksilver." he said. At Pietro's glare, he smiled and then added, "I just thought you'd be interested in knowing that Rogue's upstairs in her room. Alone." Pietro frowned.
"So?" he asked, though Scott had noticed him pause.
"You have been trying to talk to her for the past couple of weeks. Usually alone. And she practically never is anymore."
Pietro scowled. He was right. Rogue had almost always been with someone, usually Wanda, Kitty, or Kurt. And when she was alone, she simply ignored him. Not an easy job, but she seemed to have mastered it.
Wait a minute. Summers was right about something?
Hell had to of just frozen over.
"So? Are you going to go talk to her?" Scott asked, interrupting his thoughts. Pietro looked a bit startled as he jerked.
"No, I'm not." he replied. And he wasn't. No, he wasn't. He had his pride, didn't he? If he had anything left, it was his pride. And he didn't want to give that up.
"Suit yourself." Scott sighed, turning and walking out the door. He gave Pietro a few minutes before he'd be upstairs.
Pietro shook his head. He wasn't going up there. Sure, Rogue was probably the only real friend that he'd ever had besides the Brotherhood, but that didn't mean he had to go crawling to her, did it? And okay, so he was sort of becoming friends with Kurt. That wasn't the point either.
He wasn't going up there.
The image of Rogue's face when he had exploded at her entered his mind and he grimaced, punching the image of Scott a little harder.
He wasn't.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*Earlier that day*
"Hey Rogue." Scott said casually, as he paused in the doorway to her room. Rogue turned away from whatever it was she was writing and looked at Scott.
"What is it, Scott?" she asked, her voice sounding tired for the first time in awhile. Scott frowned a bit and walked further into the room, stopping to lean against her desk so that he could get a closer look at her. He leaned down a bit.
"You look tired."
"Yeah, well, you can thank Logan's wonderful Danger Room sessions for that." she told him. Scott shifted, a little uncomfortable, especially about this.
"Listen Rogue..." he started. She looked expectantly at him as he trailed off, seeming to stop. "About Pietro..."
Instantly, Rogue's face closed off. Her expression lost all emotion. "I don't have anything to say about that. We're not on speaking terms and it's by Pietro's choice. That's all you need to know." she said, her voice completely neutral.
"That's just it, Rogue. I've seen Pietro trying to talk to you these past few weeks. And you've just ignored him or been too busy to talk to him. Obviously he wants to talk to you and yet, you're still pushing him away. Why?"
"I really don't think that's any of your business, Scott." Rogue turned her head to stare at a spot on the wall.
"Rogue, I know what I said before. But I'd like to talk, if you want to." he offered.
"I don't. I really don't." Rogue sighed and turned back towards Scott. "I know you just want to help and knowing how you feel about Pietro, that means a lot, Scott. Really, it does. So thank you. But I don't want to talk about it."
"Alright." Scott nodded and turned to go. He stopped at the door and turned to look at Rogue. "Just one last thing." Rogue looked at him, questioningly.
"Yeah?"
"I don't know what Pietro did or what he said. It must've been pretty bad if you guys stopped talking. And I can't say that I know how you feel because I don't know. But is it really worth losing one of your closest friends over? Do you really want push him away for good because of it?" With that, Scott turned and walked away.
Rogue turned back to her desk, a considering look on her face.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*After Scott's visits*
"I'm not going to Rogue's room. I'm not going to Rogue's room." Pietro whispered as he walked up the stairs. "I'm just going up there to see if..." he trailed off. "If I left my...." Pietro scowled. "I'm just going to see if I left my jacket up there. Yeah. That's it. After all, I can't go out without my jacket. My outfit wouldn't be complete and then it would be less than perfect. And if my outfit is less than perfect then I can not be see wearing it." This was Pietro's logic as he walked up the stairs.
He should've guessed that he was lying. Even if it was to himself.
Pietro stared through the doorway of Rogue's bedroom and shifted a littly nervously. He didn't know why he was so nervous anyway. It was just Rogue, right?
Which was *exactly* why he was so nervous.
Because it was Rogue.
Inside Rogue sighed. "What do you want Pietro?" She turned and Pietro looked at her a little shocked.
"How did you know it was me?" he asked. She looked at him as if the answer were obvious.
"You're the only person I know that can fidget that fast." she told him.
"Oh." Pietro looked over at her and then away again. He took a step into the room and when she didn't try to throw him out he continued to go into the room. "Can we talk?"
"About?"
Pietro sighed. She wasn't going to make this easy for him. Typical.
"About..." He sighed again. "I'm sorry. About how I treated you. I blew up at you and I shouldn't have."
Rogue tilted her head and stared at him, standing there. "Then why did you?" she asked him softly. Pietro shook his head.
"That's just it. I don't really know. I just...I had a crappy night and so I was already in a bad mood that morning and instead of getting better, it just seemed to get worse. And then, I don't know. You tried to get me to talk about and something snapped and I just took everything I was feeling out on you. I just...I wanted you to know that I really didn't mean what I said. About you not being able to touch...I didn't mean it when I said it wasn't a big deal."
"Pietro-" Rogue started, only to be cut off.
"No, really. I know how hard it is for you. Well-not-really-because-it's- your-mutation-and-not-mine-but-I-know-that-it's-hard-for-you.And-I-know-you- know-how-it-feels-to-be-betrayed-by-a-parent-because-your-mom-is-Mystique- and-after-everything-that's-happened-and-what-she's-done-to-you-of-course- you'd-feel-betrayed..." Pietro said, his voice speeding up the entire time. Rogue shook her head as his words became unintelligible, though she got the gist of it. He was still talking when she realized that she had forgiven him. It had only taken hearing what he had to say about what had happened and she'd forgiven him. While she wasn't sure how good of a thing that it was that she had forgiven him so quickly after weeks of avoiding him, she felt better because of it. Now all she had to do was get him to stop talking so she could tell him.
"Pietro!" Rogue exclaimed. He stopped talking abruptly and looked at her.
"What?"
"It's okay." Pietro stared at her.
"What?" he asked again, this time a little disbelieving. Rogue let a smiled begin to cross her face as she looked up at him.
"I said it's okay. As in, apology accepted, I forgive you." She raised an eyebrow at him and he couldn't help but grin at what she had said. Rogue felt a slight breeze and suddenly he was leaning against her dresser.
"Good. Now let's get some ice cream. I'm hungry." Rogue let out a short laugh.
"You actually want me to go with you and willingly give you something that's just full of sugar?" she asked.
"Well...yeah. You say that like it's a bad thing. Come on, Rogue, please? You sound like somebody's mother...or worse, Jean." He shuddered dramatically for effect. Rogue frowned.
"That was low." she muttered, standing up. Pietro's eyes lit up and he became a blur as he dashed to her side.
"So-we're-going?Really?" he asked, excitement causing his voice to speed up once again. Rogue sighed.
"Yes, we're really going."
Pietro sent Rogue a slightly smug look as they began to walk down the stairs. "You know, I knew you were going to forgive me sooner or later." he told her. Rogue snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Sure you did, Silver."
"I did." Pietro insisted.
"Uh-huh." Rogue replied, beginning to walk a little faster. Pietro frowned at her.
"I did!"
There was no response.
"I did!"
Nothing.
"Rogue? I did, you know!"
Rogue still didn't reply, instead just smiled and continued walking.
"Rogue! I did!"
A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews everyone! They really inspire me (especially my bad ass cheerleader Jade Starr, LOL....and LadyTrunks, of course, with all the intimidating looks). So, here's chapter nine everyone. Hope you enjoy and to help me get chapter ten out faster, don't forget to review! (That's my obviously not so subtle way of telling you to review.) And onto the story!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few weeks later, Pietro stared in disatisfaction at the growing pile of paper balls in his trash can. Sighing, he shook his head and threw the most recent one, feeling only a twinge of satisfaction when it went in.
Rogue still wasn't talking to him. And though in the past few weeks he'd become better friends with Kurt and Kitty, he missed Rogue. Heck, he even talked more to Summers than he did to Rogue and he barely spoke to him at all. She only spoke to him when it was really necessary and he didn't really count that as talking (considering that those times mostly consisted of things like "Pass the salt." or some other mundane thing. He had a feeling that soon she'd be spouting nonsense like "Fine weather we're having today.").
He frowned as he began drawing again. His hands flew over the paper as he sketched the image that he wanted. He was working from memory after all, so if he wanted to get this right, he had to concentrate. Pietro paused and held the paper up, studying his work. Then he grinned.
"Perfect!" he declared, stretching the word out, much like he had when he had "clothed" Kurt at the Style Pile. He gave the paper one last glance.
Yeah, this would work just fine.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The only sound in the room was the sound of fists connecting with the punching bag. Pietro stared at the bag, all his attention focused on one spot as he threw more punches.
Scott walked throught the doors and paused, watching as Pietro proceeded to punch the bag as if it were the cause of all his troubles. He looked like he was having entirely too much fun punching it. He walked further into the room and stared at the paper that Pietro had taped to the bag.
On it was a stick figure with brown hair that was sticking out every which way and huge red goggles. Scott raised an eyebrow and looked back to Pietro.
"You didn't get it." he said simply. Pietro scowled at the stick figure version of Scott.
"What are you talking about Summers? I drew it and therefore it is perfect. The best." Scott raised an eyebrow.
"Keep telling yourself that, Quicksilver." he said. At Pietro's glare, he smiled and then added, "I just thought you'd be interested in knowing that Rogue's upstairs in her room. Alone." Pietro frowned.
"So?" he asked, though Scott had noticed him pause.
"You have been trying to talk to her for the past couple of weeks. Usually alone. And she practically never is anymore."
Pietro scowled. He was right. Rogue had almost always been with someone, usually Wanda, Kitty, or Kurt. And when she was alone, she simply ignored him. Not an easy job, but she seemed to have mastered it.
Wait a minute. Summers was right about something?
Hell had to of just frozen over.
"So? Are you going to go talk to her?" Scott asked, interrupting his thoughts. Pietro looked a bit startled as he jerked.
"No, I'm not." he replied. And he wasn't. No, he wasn't. He had his pride, didn't he? If he had anything left, it was his pride. And he didn't want to give that up.
"Suit yourself." Scott sighed, turning and walking out the door. He gave Pietro a few minutes before he'd be upstairs.
Pietro shook his head. He wasn't going up there. Sure, Rogue was probably the only real friend that he'd ever had besides the Brotherhood, but that didn't mean he had to go crawling to her, did it? And okay, so he was sort of becoming friends with Kurt. That wasn't the point either.
He wasn't going up there.
The image of Rogue's face when he had exploded at her entered his mind and he grimaced, punching the image of Scott a little harder.
He wasn't.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*Earlier that day*
"Hey Rogue." Scott said casually, as he paused in the doorway to her room. Rogue turned away from whatever it was she was writing and looked at Scott.
"What is it, Scott?" she asked, her voice sounding tired for the first time in awhile. Scott frowned a bit and walked further into the room, stopping to lean against her desk so that he could get a closer look at her. He leaned down a bit.
"You look tired."
"Yeah, well, you can thank Logan's wonderful Danger Room sessions for that." she told him. Scott shifted, a little uncomfortable, especially about this.
"Listen Rogue..." he started. She looked expectantly at him as he trailed off, seeming to stop. "About Pietro..."
Instantly, Rogue's face closed off. Her expression lost all emotion. "I don't have anything to say about that. We're not on speaking terms and it's by Pietro's choice. That's all you need to know." she said, her voice completely neutral.
"That's just it, Rogue. I've seen Pietro trying to talk to you these past few weeks. And you've just ignored him or been too busy to talk to him. Obviously he wants to talk to you and yet, you're still pushing him away. Why?"
"I really don't think that's any of your business, Scott." Rogue turned her head to stare at a spot on the wall.
"Rogue, I know what I said before. But I'd like to talk, if you want to." he offered.
"I don't. I really don't." Rogue sighed and turned back towards Scott. "I know you just want to help and knowing how you feel about Pietro, that means a lot, Scott. Really, it does. So thank you. But I don't want to talk about it."
"Alright." Scott nodded and turned to go. He stopped at the door and turned to look at Rogue. "Just one last thing." Rogue looked at him, questioningly.
"Yeah?"
"I don't know what Pietro did or what he said. It must've been pretty bad if you guys stopped talking. And I can't say that I know how you feel because I don't know. But is it really worth losing one of your closest friends over? Do you really want push him away for good because of it?" With that, Scott turned and walked away.
Rogue turned back to her desk, a considering look on her face.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*After Scott's visits*
"I'm not going to Rogue's room. I'm not going to Rogue's room." Pietro whispered as he walked up the stairs. "I'm just going up there to see if..." he trailed off. "If I left my...." Pietro scowled. "I'm just going to see if I left my jacket up there. Yeah. That's it. After all, I can't go out without my jacket. My outfit wouldn't be complete and then it would be less than perfect. And if my outfit is less than perfect then I can not be see wearing it." This was Pietro's logic as he walked up the stairs.
He should've guessed that he was lying. Even if it was to himself.
Pietro stared through the doorway of Rogue's bedroom and shifted a littly nervously. He didn't know why he was so nervous anyway. It was just Rogue, right?
Which was *exactly* why he was so nervous.
Because it was Rogue.
Inside Rogue sighed. "What do you want Pietro?" She turned and Pietro looked at her a little shocked.
"How did you know it was me?" he asked. She looked at him as if the answer were obvious.
"You're the only person I know that can fidget that fast." she told him.
"Oh." Pietro looked over at her and then away again. He took a step into the room and when she didn't try to throw him out he continued to go into the room. "Can we talk?"
"About?"
Pietro sighed. She wasn't going to make this easy for him. Typical.
"About..." He sighed again. "I'm sorry. About how I treated you. I blew up at you and I shouldn't have."
Rogue tilted her head and stared at him, standing there. "Then why did you?" she asked him softly. Pietro shook his head.
"That's just it. I don't really know. I just...I had a crappy night and so I was already in a bad mood that morning and instead of getting better, it just seemed to get worse. And then, I don't know. You tried to get me to talk about and something snapped and I just took everything I was feeling out on you. I just...I wanted you to know that I really didn't mean what I said. About you not being able to touch...I didn't mean it when I said it wasn't a big deal."
"Pietro-" Rogue started, only to be cut off.
"No, really. I know how hard it is for you. Well-not-really-because-it's- your-mutation-and-not-mine-but-I-know-that-it's-hard-for-you.And-I-know-you- know-how-it-feels-to-be-betrayed-by-a-parent-because-your-mom-is-Mystique- and-after-everything-that's-happened-and-what-she's-done-to-you-of-course- you'd-feel-betrayed..." Pietro said, his voice speeding up the entire time. Rogue shook her head as his words became unintelligible, though she got the gist of it. He was still talking when she realized that she had forgiven him. It had only taken hearing what he had to say about what had happened and she'd forgiven him. While she wasn't sure how good of a thing that it was that she had forgiven him so quickly after weeks of avoiding him, she felt better because of it. Now all she had to do was get him to stop talking so she could tell him.
"Pietro!" Rogue exclaimed. He stopped talking abruptly and looked at her.
"What?"
"It's okay." Pietro stared at her.
"What?" he asked again, this time a little disbelieving. Rogue let a smiled begin to cross her face as she looked up at him.
"I said it's okay. As in, apology accepted, I forgive you." She raised an eyebrow at him and he couldn't help but grin at what she had said. Rogue felt a slight breeze and suddenly he was leaning against her dresser.
"Good. Now let's get some ice cream. I'm hungry." Rogue let out a short laugh.
"You actually want me to go with you and willingly give you something that's just full of sugar?" she asked.
"Well...yeah. You say that like it's a bad thing. Come on, Rogue, please? You sound like somebody's mother...or worse, Jean." He shuddered dramatically for effect. Rogue frowned.
"That was low." she muttered, standing up. Pietro's eyes lit up and he became a blur as he dashed to her side.
"So-we're-going?Really?" he asked, excitement causing his voice to speed up once again. Rogue sighed.
"Yes, we're really going."
Pietro sent Rogue a slightly smug look as they began to walk down the stairs. "You know, I knew you were going to forgive me sooner or later." he told her. Rogue snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Sure you did, Silver."
"I did." Pietro insisted.
"Uh-huh." Rogue replied, beginning to walk a little faster. Pietro frowned at her.
"I did!"
There was no response.
"I did!"
Nothing.
"Rogue? I did, you know!"
Rogue still didn't reply, instead just smiled and continued walking.
"Rogue! I did!"