Sigh, once again I'm sorry for the wait, damn, I'm getting bad with updates lately.  But I'll try and get the chapters out at least a bit faster from now on, okay?

Relwarc, thanks for the advice and I will be keeping it in mind for future chapters and stories:)

Please enjoy and don't forget to review, all comments welcome…

Chapter Five

The training sessions seemed to fly by for Remy.  After the Professor had spent a good twenty minutes marveling over Remy's mind, which he could not read due to the psychic interference created by his charging power, and Remy had been introduced to the rest of the mutants, Remy spent forty-five minutes in the Danger Room with team leader, Cyclops, every evening.  The Professor had assigned Cyclops to help him because they were both energy converters.  Xavier remained in the observation room to give help when it was needed.

Roberto had given Remy a demonstration of his powers at Remy's insistence.  All that had escaped Remy was a breathless 'whoa' when he had seen Roberto powered up.  He couldn't believe how striking Roberto had been and had stared enthralled at him for several minutes.  That had been on his second training session and, ever since then, Remy had found himself watching Roberto more.

It was now the third week since he had started training at the institute.  Kurt, Bobby, and Roberto had somehow managed to find a way past his defenses and were quickly becoming good friends.  Roberto was beginning to want more, though.  It had become routine for him to watch all of Remy's training sessions; watching the way he moved, quick and graceful as a cat, muscles rippling through the fabric of the new uniform that he wore, the grin on his face when he succeeded in something new.  Remy often stayed for Roberto's sessions as well, enchanted by Roberto's power and grace when he fought.

In the weeks that Remy had been at the mansion, their attraction had gone beyond physical and turned to something more.  Roberto knew now that his first assessment of Remy had been horribly wrong.  Once Remy had begun to trust him, they had gotten along better than Roberto managed to get along with most people.  After training, Remy usually stayed and they would spend the rest of the evening together.  They were getting closer and Roberto could tell that Remy was just as interested in him as he was in Remy but he was too damn much of a coward to do anything about it.

Roberto was starting to think that he knew why Remy was so nervous around people.  Roberto saw the bruises that would adorn Remy's face or arms on occasion even though Remy tried his best to hide them.  Roberto had tried to bring it up before but Remy had shut him out, refusing to say anything about it or coming up with some bullshit lie.  Roberto didn't buy Remy's explanations for a moment but couldn't force the truth out of Remy either.  Even after three weeks, Remy still didn't trust him enough to let Roberto help.

#

Roberto was snapped out of his daydreaming when Bobby snapped his fingers in front of his face.  He blinked his eyes and looked up at Bobby in confusion.  Bobby rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, sun-boy," Bobby said in amusement.

"What are you talking about?"  Roberto said irritated at the interruption of his thoughts and the stupid nickname.

"The bell rang five minutes ago, man.  Let's get out of here or would you rather hang out in school for the rest of the day?"  Roberto didn't bother with an answer and rose from his seat.  They met Kurt outside the room in the hallway and headed for their lockers together.  Once there, they found Remy leaning against the lockers and drumming his fingers impatiently.  He looked at them with a smile as they approached.

"About time y' guys got here, what were y' doin'?"  he asked, moving so that Kurt could get into his locker.

"Roberto here wouldn't stop daydreaming," Bobby said nudging Remy in the side.  "Who do you think he could be daydreaming about?"  Bobby winked at Remy.  Roberto glared at Bobby, trying not to blush.  Remy glanced down at his feet.  Kurt shot a death glare at Bobby.

"You know what we were thinking?"  Kurt said trying to dispel the uncomfortable moment.  He didn't understand why these two hadn't gotten together; any idiot could see that they wanted each other.

"I'm not so sure I want to know what you two were thinking," Roberto said looking at the two of them in suspicion.

"We were thinking," Bobby continued, ignoring Roberto's comment.  "That we should tell everybody about our relationship."

"It's about time, everybody knows anyway."  Bobby looked at him in shock.

"No way!  We were so careful, they can't know," he practically whined.  Both Remy and Roberto looked at him like he was an idiot.  "Oh shut up," Bobby mumbled.

Roberto laughed at him and turned to leave.  "Come on, let's get out of here, the Professor wanted to talk with you today, Remy," Roberto said, leading the way down the hall.  Remy nodded and followed with Bobby and Kurt.

#

Sam's ears perked up as he heard voices and footsteps entering the room next to his.  He listened for a moment, trying to determine exactly who it was.  Amara looked at him curiously.  She too had heard the voices but didn't see what all the sudden interest was about.  She was about to speak when he looked at her with a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Okay, now I have to know what's going on," she stated.

"Listen," he answered simply and pressed his ear to the wall.  She looked at him oddly but did likewise, wanting to know what was happening that she was missing out on.  There was silence and then voices talking again.  She shook her head and looked back at Sam again.

"I don't get it.  It's Kurt and Bobby talking, what's so amazing about that?"  She was definitely missing something here and it would be pretty pathetic if Sam, clueless innocent Sam, figured something out before her.  Especially if it was something that would make good gossip.

Sam rolled his eyes at her.  "Haven't you noticed how much time they've been spending together?"  he asked.  She shrugged her shoulders.  So what if they were spending time together, isn't that what friends normally did?  "And how close they've been?  Literally?"  She looked at him clueless.  "Come on, Amara!  Put it together!  They're dating," Sam finally said.

"Bobby and Kurt?"  she squeaked out.  Sam nodded, grinning.

"Yeah, they think they're hiding it but I'm pretty sure everybody knows."  He smirked at her.  "Well, everybody except you of course."  She smacked him in the arm.

"Shut up, hayseed."  She couldn't believe she had let this slip by her.  The door opened then and Ray walked in.  He looked between the two of them.  Sam was smirking and Amara looked perplexed.

"What's going on?"  he asked moving over to his bed.

"I just told Amara about Kurt and Bobby."

"You mean you didn't know?"  Ray asked incredulously, he had thought everybody knew.

"You mean even you knew?"  That's it, she was definitely slipping, she would have to make a bigger effort to keep up with the gossip from now on.

"Everybody knows," Ray exclaimed.  "Hey, you know what we should do?"  It was a rhetorical question but Sam and Amara shook their heads anyway.  "We should start a pool."  All he got were quizzical looks.  He sighed and tried again.  "We should bet on when they're finally going to come out and tell everyone.  We all put five bucks into the pot and the one who picks the right time and day, or the closest to it, wins all the cash," Ray explained. Sam and Amara's faces lit up with understanding and interest.

"Cool!  Count me in," Sam said.  Amara also nodded her head.  Ray grabbed a paper and pen, wrote down the times they wanted and collected their five dollarsas well as his own.  He put the money in a desk drawer for safe keeping.

"Come on, let's go and see who else wants in."

#

Xavier smiled and nodded as Remy came into his office.  Remy took a seat and waited expectantly for Xavier to begin.  After the first week, he had finally taken off his glasses, allowing the rest of the X-Men to see his mutant eyes.  The Professor was glad for it; he hoped that it meant Remy was becoming more comfortable with them, that he trusted them more.

"I'd just like to say that you are doing very well in your training so far," Xavier began.  "Already you have learned the basics of control and should no longer charge things unless you want to.  It will take more work to get the fine control that you will need though.  Your mind is very well shielded as well.  Whenever I try to read it, all I get is static."  Psychic interference the Professor had once told Remy.  "It also seems to shield those who are near to you as well.  With time and training you could become very powerful, you could be a great asset to the X-Men."

"Non," Remy shook his head and the Professor looked on with interest.  "Only need t' know enough t' control it.  I don' need t' make myself more powerful, I just don' want t' hurt anyone."

The Professor nodded.  "I understand your fears but please consider it?"  Remy nodded his head without commitment.  He wouldn't have the time to learn that much control anyway.  In a couple more weeks Jean-Luc would grow suspicious as to what he was doing.  Remy had told Jean-Luc that he had a job but he couldn't keep up that lie forever, not when his father realized that he wasn't bringing in any paychecks.  Xavier dismissed him and he met with Roberto in the hall.

"Have y' been out here waiting for me de whole time?"  He had been in Xavier's office for at least thirty minutes.

"Uh, yeah, thought I'd walk home with you."  Remy laughed softly and they headed for the main entrance.

#

Kurt snickered quietly as Scott walked by the plant he was hiding behind, unable to hold it back.  He readied the mud filled water balloon as Scott paused, and waited for the perfect moment to strike.  Just because Bobby and he were going to do the responsible thing and tell everybody about their relationship didn't mean they couldn't be creative or have some fun.

Scott tilted his head to the side, he was sure he had heard a noise.  After a moment he dismissed it and turned to walk away, oblivious to the danger he was facing.  With Scott's back facing him, Kurt took his opportunity.

"Hey, Scott!"  Kurt yelled, jumping out from behind the plant and hurling the water balloon at him.  "Catch!"

"What the-?"  Scott managed to get out before he raised his arms in reflex and the balloon splattered into them, showering him with muddy water.  Scott shook himself off in disgust and anger.  He saw Kurt disappear around the corner, laughing madly and took off after him.  "Kurt!  Get back here!"

Kurt looked over his shoulder to make sure that Scott was following him.  He led Scott down the hallway that led to the bedrooms, jumping onto the wall so he could run along it.  He spotted Bobby at the other end of the hall and quickened his pace to get to him.  He could hear Scott's footsteps pounding to catch up.

Scott also spied Bobby up ahead and pushed himself to go faster.  It never occurred to him to wonder why Kurt didn't just teleport to safety; he was too focused on getting revenge.  He took another step forward and felt his foot skid out from under him as he hit a clear sheet of ice.

"Yaaaahhhhhhhhh…"  They watched in amusement as Scott pin wheeled his arms, trying to regain his balance but failing.  His back hit the ground with a crash.  Kurt and Bobby winced in sympathy before Kurt teleported them both to safety.

Lying on the floor, Scott found himself looking up at the ceiling.  Taped there was large poster proclaiming Bobby's love for Kurt and vice versa in big red letters.  Scott hauled himself off the floor and shook his head in exasperation.  He had wondered when those two were going to come out but he had never imagined it would be like this.

"You could have just told me!"  Scott yelled and heard laughter coming from the roof through the open window in the hall.

"One down," Bobby said.  Kurt grinned and they began plotting who would be next.

#

"What did the Professor want to talk with you about?"  Roberto asked curiously.  They had been walking in silence for a few minutes now.  Remy seemed depressed about something and Roberto was determined this time to find out what was going on.  It was one of the reasons he had decided to walk with Remy today.

"Wanted me t' join de X-Men."

"But you're not going to," It wasn't a question.

"Non."

"Remy, come here."  Roberto grabbed Remy's hand and drug him over to a nearby bench, pushing him down on it.  He sat next to Remy but didn't release his hand.  Remy couldn't run if he was holding on.  "What is going on?"

Remy looked at him in surprise.  "Don' know what y' talkin' about, homme."

Why did Remy have to be so stubborn?  He just wanted to help.  "I know there is something going on Remy and I hoped that you would tell me yourself.  I see the bruises Remy, why won't you talk to me?"

"Jus' leave it, Roberto," Remy bit out.  He and the others only cared about Remy because he could be a powerful mutant, nothing more.  Why couldn't they just let this drop?

"I can't leave it, Remy!  It's your father isn't it?  Or maybe your mother?  Why don't you fight back, you could-"

"Fuck off!  Y' don' know what y' talking about so just stay de hell away from me," Remy practically yelled and stood to walk away.

"Can't you see that I care about you?"  Roberto stood, frustrated.  Remy spun around and threw his arms up.

"Why?!  Why do y' care so much?!"

"Because I think I love you!"  Roberto shouted without thinking.  "Shit, Remy…"  he tried to redeem himself but couldn't think of anything to say.  He wasn't really sure that he wanted to take it back.  Remy stared at him in shock for a moment and Roberto chewed his lip nervously, unable to meet Remy's eyes.

"Y' love me?"  Remy said in a choked whisper.  Roberto didn't look up, just nodded his head sullenly.  "Roberto, I, merde, I can' do dis.  I'm sorry," Remy said as he backed away then turned and ran.  He wasn't worthy of Roberto's love, didn't deserve it.

Roberto looked after his retreating form dejected.  But what had he expected?  That Remy would just be okay with having another guy suddenly confess his love for him?  He had been deluding himself, thinking that Remy actually felt something more than friendship for him as well.  Roberto snorted in disgust at himself and stood on the sidewalk for a moment not knowing what to do.  Eventually, he sighed and turned back towards the mansion.  He had really screwed up now.  He would probably never see Remy again.