Disclaimer: Don't own the X-men.
Last Time:
Wanda blinked. "I can't believe I forgot," she wondrously. She turned to John. "Let's go! What are you waiting for?"
They turned and both ran back towards the house.
The rest of them stared while John and Wanda ran into the house and in their haste forgot to close the door.
"So," said Rogue. "When are we going on that shopping spree?"
"You guys are coming right?" asked Kitty. "I mean, we like, need someone to hold our bags!"
Piotr turned to Remy. "I will always remember that this was your idea," he said.
"Merde," said Remy.
Chapter 21- Money Problems
Kitty knocked on Remy and Rogue's door later that evening.
"Come in," said Rogue.
Kitty opened the door and stuck her head in their room. Remy and Rogue were sitting on the bed facing each other and playing strip poker judging by the fact that Rogue only had on a purple bra and matching panties on and Remy was shirtless. Their clothes (and Rogue's jewelry) were lying beside them neatly.
"Anyway," said Kitty. "Do you guys want to like, watch a movie? The rest of us are going down to the mini living room to watch something."
"John an' Wanda t'?" asked Remy.
"Well, I haven't like, asked them yet, but do you want to?" asked Kitty.
"Yeah, soah," said Rogue. "Lemme put on mah clothes first."
"Why?" asked Remy. Rogue looked at him, mock glaringly.
"Okay," said Kitty. "Meet us downstairs in half an hour."
"'kay," said Remy. Kitty closed the door and walked across the hallway to John and Wanda's room.
"Guys?" she asked and knocked.
"Yeah, come in, sheila," said John. "We're decent."
Kitty poked her head into the room and saw Wanda sitting in one of the back-less chairs in their room with her eyes closed while John brushed her hair.
"Aww," said Kitty.
Wanda opened her eyes. "Shove it," she said.
Kitty grinned. "Do you guys like, want to watch a movie?" she asked. "The rest of us were planning on going to the mini living room and watching something."
"Sure," said John. "I'm almost done."
"Cool," said Kitty. "Meet us downstairs in half an hour."
"'k," said Wanda.
(-strawberrie-)
"So, what are we watching?" said Rogue as she entered the parlor. She stole a glance at the TV and saw herself going at it with Jean.
"Ya taped it?" she asked Kitty unbelievingly.
"I couldn't resist," said Kitty. "I knew you'd want to keep this moment forever, so I secretly taped the whole thing."
"Quiet down!" said Wanda. "I wanna see what happens!"
"Ya know what happens!" said Rogue.
"Well, that's different from seeing it," said Wanda, eyes not straying from the TV.
"Rewind!" commanded Remy. "Remy wants t' see the whole ting."
(-strawberrie-)
The next morning they were all at the kitchen table eating breakfast and reading mail.
"Oh shit," said Kitty softly.
The rest of them looked at Kitty incredulously. "Pardon?" asked Piotr.
"Fuck," said Kitty slowly.
"We are a bad influence on you," said Wanda.
"What is it Kitty?" asked Rogue. Kitty didn't say anything instead just handed over what she was reading over to Rogue.
"You might as well know," said Kitty. "It involves you too."
Rogue read over it, her skin slowly draining of all color.
"What's wrong?" asked Remy worriedly.
Rogue didn't respond, just stared at the paper, occasionally blinking to make sure that she wasn't seeing things.
Without saying anything Rogue put the paper on the table, got up and started pacing around the kitchen. Kitty just continued to sit there, silently staring into space.
Remy snatched up the paper. His eyes widened as he read it and he whistled. He handed it over to Piotr, who read it, eyebrows shooting up. Silently, he handed the paper to John who read it while Wanda leaned over and did the same.
"How many clothes did you buy?" asked Piotr.
"Yeah," said Wanda. "That's a lot of money you owe Xavier."
"We didn't buy that much," said Kitty. "Everything we bought we could pay for with the money in our bank accounts from our allowances."
"So what happened?" asked John. "If you could pay for it, how come you owe so much?"
"An' y' owe a lot," said Remy. "How long will it take y' t' pay up?"
"If we stop getting our weekly allowance, and instead use it to pay the money we owe then it will take us both twenty- five years to pay up all the money we owe," said Kitty. "Especially since the Prof is adding interest."
"Did ya add in the increase we get in our allowances next year?" asked Rogue, still pacing.
Kitty nodded.
"Damn," said Piotr.
"Do you owe that much?" John asked Wanda.
"No, I'm good," said Wanda. "Mystique's gone, so I used her bank account half the time, and I used my 'father's' the other half of the time."
"Don't y' know y' aren't supposed t' spend money y' don't have?" Remy asked Rogue.
Rogue stopped pacing and glared at him.
"Ah did have the money!" said Rouge. "It was yahre damn bike that ah didn't have the money foah, but ah loved ya enough and wanted ya ta have it!" She stomped out of the room and went to the back porch.
Kitty got up slowly and started to follow Rogue.
"So this money you owe," said Piotr softly. "This is the amount you spent on our surprises?"
Kitty nodded almost imperceptibly. "We didn't have the money in our accounts so we decided to use the Prof's bank account to pay," she said softly. "We thought he'd just punish us by grounding us or something, not make us pay." She left as she finished talking.
Wanda picked the paper up again, checked the sum and looked at Remy and Piotr.
"Damn," she said. "Do you two realize how lucky you are? I mean, they were planning on giving you guys that stuff even before they promised you your surprises."
(-strawberrie-)
"What the hell are we goin' ta do?" asked Rogue. She and Kitty were sitting on the chairs on the porch, staring into the distance. "Ah really don't want ta give up mah allowance foah the next twenty-fahve years. Even if we get a job, which is a slim chance, seein' as we're mutants, we'll still have ta give up a lot of our allowance and free tahme."
"I don't know," said Kitty solemnly. She sighed. "We're so screwed."
They looked up as Remy and Piotr entered the porch. They went over to the girls and tried to wrap their arms around Rogue and Kitty. Rogue pushed out of Remy's arms while Kitty just phased out of Piotr's hold. Silently, they reentered the house and walked into the study.
Remy made a move to try and go after them but Piotr held him back.
"Let her go," he said. "They need to solve this on their own."
(-no more strawberries-)
So how are they going to earn the money? No, Remy's not going to steal the money they need. In order to get the money there's going to be a reunion of sorts with the other members of the institute. Get ready.
N. S. Berrie