Familiarity Breeds Contempt – And Love
Legal age of consent (for sexual activity) in the state of New York is seventeen.
Standing there before Professor Xavier, Rogue did her best to hold her urge to tremble at bay. It was helped along by the fact that Pietro hadn't sped off, but rather stayed with her to face the music, as it were, and was, at that very moment, holding her hand in his own.
Xavier was just sitting there silently, contemplating them from behind his imposing oak desk. His hands steepled in front of his face, and he was giving them an inscrutable look. It was unnerving, the way Xavier was looking at them – as if he knew everything they were thinking.
Yes, the professor was a telepath, so he could know everything they were thinking, but unless it was an emergency – like when Jean's powers had exploded that one time – he normally asked first.
And, thanks to having touched him, Jean, and Magneto, Rogue had enough latent telepathic ability left in her to always know when he – or anyone else – was scanning her. And right now, he wasn't.
Maybe he's scanning Pietro… the thought came unbidden to her mind. She mentally cringed at the thought; who knew what Pietro was thinking at that moment? Most likely worrying himself to death – at five times the normal human rate of thought – like she was, but he could also be reliving the previous night in graphic detail…
Like she was trying not to.
"I must say I was surprised when Mr. Logan informed me of your…relationship," Xavier started the conversation diplomatically. His eyebrows rose as he added, "I was especially intrigued by the fact you two seem to be able to touch with no adverse effects." He glanced pointedly at their joined hands; Rogue's were bare of her usual concealing gloves and their palms were skin-to-skin. "I was unaware that you had gained control of your mutation, Rogue," he said with a note of hope in his voice. They had been searching for a 'cure' for her absorption power ever since she had first joined the X-Men over a year previously.
Rogue's cheeks heated up in blush and she frowned slightly at the hopeful look on both the Professor and Logan's faces. "Ah…Ah haven't, Professor," she said, and watched as the two men's faces fell. "We, ah…just found out that Pietro is immune ta mah power."
Pietro had been eyeing the two men warily, as if sensing some deception on their part, but at Rogue's words he felt the need to add his own. Nodding jerkily, he said, eyes focused on the floor, "My molecules go too fast for Roguey's power to get a lock on 'em…or something." He shrugged, indicating that it was just a guess on their parts.
Logan grimaced – at the fact that Rogue hadn't found a way to control her power, or that Pietro was apparently the only one she could touch, neither of the teens could tell. Xavier also sighed sadly at the revelation.
Clearing his throat softly to regain his composure, Xavier said, trying for tactful and falling short because of his own discomfort with the subject matter, "Be that as it may, there is no reason for you to be so…" He fumbled for words, "…intimate with each other just because you can."
Anger riled up by the dismissive way Xavier was talking, Rogue didn't pause to think that there was another type of intimacy he could be referring to. She also didn't remember that the Professor had never had a problem with Kitty dating Lance way back when. "Professor, if ya think we shouldn't be tagether just because he's in tha Brotherhood…"
"That's not it, Rogue," Xavier interrupted her before she could tell him of Pietro's change of allegiance.
Rogue's brow wrinkled in befuddlement. If it wasn't the fact that they were on different sides, what could Xavier have to be upset about?
"Then what is it?" Pietro asked diffidently. He squirmed under the heated glare Logan turned his way, as if the older mutant as angry with him for daring to speak.
Knowing the Wolverine, that was most likely the case. A pacifist, he was not.
Xavier took a deep breath as if preparing to launch into a difficult speech. "While I am a tad concerned that you are involved in a secret relationship with a member of the Brotherhood…"
Whatever Xavier had been about to say was interrupted by a commotion outside his office. A fast-paced knock sounded, and Logan moved to open the door, only to be almost bowled over by a jittering Scott, protective sunglasses askew and hair in disarray.
"Mr. Summers, what seems to be the problem?" Xavier asked, smoothly covering his irritation at the interruption with an inquiring look as he transferred his attention from the worrying pair of would-be lovers to the anxious young man in his doorway.
"Wanda Maximoff hexed her way through the gates and is now waiting in the front hall, demanding to see her brother," Scott reported, sending a glare towards the mutant in question.
All eyes turned on Pietro, who just blinked in mild shock. Flushing slightly, he ducked his head. "Well, I kinda didn't go home last night – I was worried about Rogue!" he added defensively when Logan turned his snarling countenance on the speed demon.
"Why would that bring Wanda here, though?" Scott asked, his irritation plain to see even though his eyes were hidden behind his visor. "I didn't get the feeling she liked you all that much."
"Maybe she got worried?" Pietro offered weakly, knowing even as he said it how unlikely that sounded. Most probable she was just mad about him skipping out on his turn to make dinner that evening.
Logan snorted and leaned back against the wall in his habitual pose, arms crossed over his chest. "From what I've seen, I thought the witch would cheerfully dance on pretty boy's grave if he died."
Pietro huffed in indignation, crossing his arms over his chest and pointedly turning his back on the Wolverine. His relationship with his sister was strained, true, but it wasn't that bad.
There was only a fifty-fifty chance she'd go to his funeral, however.
Xavier cleared his throat, hiding a smile at this display of ruffled feathers on the peacock in their midst. "Logan, there's no need for that," he chastised.
"Yeah, Wolvie; play nice with mah boyfriend," Rogue said, emphasizing her second and last words. She grinned widely as Logan winced; it was hard to tell if he hated her calling him 'Wolvie' more than the fact that Pietro Maximoff was her boyfriend.
"Shouldn't you get out there?" Scott broke into the building confrontation. He turned his haggard and frazzled countenance towards Pietro's back. "She's already scorched the marble flooring in the entryway. With the mood Wanda's in, she's liable to obliterate the whole mansion trying to find you!"
"Er…yeah, probably," Pietro said in a dull tone. He obviously wasn't looking forward to facing his sister.
Rogue shook her head in exasperated frustration. Glaring at his, she pointed towards the door. "Silver, grow a pair and get out there!" she growled at him, her tone a fair imitation of Wolverine's, 'I'm pissed off, bub, so ya better do what I say,' voice.
Blushing, Pietro squeaked, "Right away, dear," and zipped out the door.
Things were tense in the entry hall of the Xavier Institute.
More than tense; it would take Wolverine's Adamantium claws to cut through the apprehension in the air, it was so thick.
So it was with no small amount of relief – and an even greater deal of hope – that the X-Men watching their fuming visitor from the (hopefully) safe distance of the periphery of the room saw Pietro stick his head around the corner of the hall doorway.
"Wanda!" Pietro cried, going over to give his sister a hug. A hug that, for once, she accepted instead of rebuffed – sort of.
She didn't push him away for at least two seconds, and the shove wasn't followed by a hex.
Rogue came upon the scene just in time to witness the sibling bonding moment. That's progress, of a sort, she thought wryly. Leaning back against the doorjamb, she smiled at the sight. Sometimes she was still unable to believe that this was her life – almost-sister-in-law to the Scarlet Witch.
She grimaced at the thought. How very domestic. Ick.
"What are you doin' here, sis?" Pietro asked, not at all perturbed by the reception of his embrace.
"When you didn't come home after work, I though perhaps Maggie had gotten his magnetically slimy paws on you," she said, giving a disaffected shrug. "And I didn't want you leading him back to our apartment to ambush me."
Ah, she was worried when he didn't come home on time, Rogue translated, seeing how her dark eyes scanned Pietro from head to foot – checking for injuries, most likely.
"So I cast a tracking hex and tracked you down here. What in the nine levels of Hell are you doing in the X-Mansion, bro?" Wanda demanded. Hellfire and brimstone were in her gaze, causing everyone save her brother and his lover to back away a few feet. No one wanted to deal with the Scarlet Witch when she was pissed off; there was no telling what she would do. Mostly because no one – not even Professor Xavier, or she herself – knew exactly what she was capable of.
"Uh…defending my fair love's virtue?" Pietro offered, slanting Rogue a sideways look.
Wanda's eyes narrowed. "What?" she bit out.
"The two of 'em are in deep shit," Logan broke in, gesturing expansively to the two in question with his cigar. Normally he didn't smoke in the house because he knew the secondhand fumes weren't good for the kids – but he was strung out enough without trying to fight off his nicotine cravings.
Rolling her eyes, Wanda dispensed with Logan and turned to Xavier. "For what? For dating? Even Magneto didn't have that much of a problem with it."
"Of course, that was when he thought Pietro was gonna try and get me ta come back ta the Brotherhood," Rogue pointed out, keeping her words quiet enough not to be overheard by the blatantly eavesdropping teenagers nearby.
Wanda lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Semantics."
Clearing his throat to gather the other's attention, Xavier said diplomatically, "Rogue and Pietro are not in trouble for 'dating' per se, but rather for the manner in which the faculty and I were alerted to their relationship."
Wanda smirked. "What, ya catch 'em knocking boots in the girl's dorm?"
A growl rumbled up from Logan's chest.
Rogue blushed. "More lahke makin' out in tha pool," she mumbled to the floor. "Half-naked," she added, blush deepening.
Looking the redhead up and down, Wanda chuckled. "You go, girl." She gave Rogue a friendly punch on the arm.
Snorting, Rogue gave a small smile. "Whatevah." Ah, sisterly bonding. I think… She frowned minutely as she considered the intelligence of 'bonding' with the Scarlet Witch.
Xavier cleared his throat. "Be that as it may, Rogue, Pietro…Wanda." He lifted a brow at the raven-haired girl, tacitly accepting the fact that she would need to be included in the rest of their conversation. "There are still a few things we need to discuss. Preferably behind closed doors." He gave a meaningful glance to the teenagers gathered around the edges of the room, doing their best to appear invisible as they eavesdropped. Turning his wheelchair towards the door, Xavier said, "If you three would follow me?" Despite the civility with which the question was asked, it was obviously not a request.
Pietro gave his sister a pleading look – pleading with her not to be difficult or blow something up. Wanda sighed and gave an infinitesimal nod, following in Xavier's wheel tracks. Rogue and Pietro exchanged surprised looks and raised eyebrows, and ran to catch up. When they reached the professor's office, Wanda flopped down into a high-backed chair, and crossed her arms over her chest, a bastion of broodiness in the midst of all the confusion. Rogue and Pietro took up their previous positions standing before Xavier's desk. Logan stood with his back against the door, a silent guard against further intruders.
Once Xavier had taken his place behind his desk once more, Rogue asked, "So what were ya goin' ta say before Witchiepoo showed up?" She hid a grin at the murderous glare of death her almost-sister-in-law shot her at the use of the nickname.
Lips quirking up of their own accord at their sisterly byplay, Xavier clear his throat. "As I said, Rogue, while I was originally a tad concerned about your dating a member of the Brotherhood…"
"Wanda and I are not affiliated with Magneto anymore," Pietro interrupted, his cold tone of voice and use of his father's title indicating his stance on the topic.
Logan's jaw dropped and his cigar would have fallen to the floor if not for his quick reflexes.
Xavier just raised a brow in a show of surprise. He normally gave off an air of being omniscient – but in this instance, he was as unaware of the circumstances as anyone else in the Institute. "While I pleased to hear that you have struck out on your own," Xavier continued smoothly, "your former affiliation with the Brotherhood was not the reason for my unease over this matter."
Rogue and Pietro exchanged perplexed looks. They'd expected Xavier to have more of a problem that Pietro was a member of the Brotherhood than the fact they were having sex. True, as her guardian, Xavier was most likely concerned about her falling pregnant or contracting a disease, but she was a high school senior, and knew the risks. To her mind, if she was old enough to risk her life on missions, she was old enough to have sex.
"Then what is, Professor?" Rogue asked, hands clasped nervously in front of her. She gave Pietro a strained smile as he reached out to grasp one fidgeting appendage with his own hand.
"Pietro, how old are you?" Xavier asked.
The white-haired speed demon blinked at this apparent non-sequitor. "I'm sixteen," Pietro said, and then added, "My birthday's in June." His ice blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"
Xavier sighed heavily. "I was afraid of that," he muttered under his breath.
Rogue exchanged a confused glance with her boyfriend. She shrugged, indicating she didn't know what Xavier was muttering about, either.
Deciding to go on the offensive, Rogue asked, "Professor, what was it ya were gonna say earlier?" He never had finished it, despite the fact that he'd started the sentence twice. It would have been rather funny, if not for the tension in the air, and the precariousness of their situation. Whatever decisions Xavier made would impact the future of their relationship. And while Rogue had planned to move out of the mansion eventually, she still wanted to be a part of the team.
Aloud, Xavier said only, "As I was saying before we were interrupted…" Here he sent Wanda one of those quelling looks that made even the Scarlet Witch sit back and stay quiet – though she did grumble a bit. "I admit that while I was originally concerned with Rogue's involvement with you…I have no problem with the two of you being involved." Seeing how Rogue and Pietro both breathed simultaneous sighs of relief, the professor added quickly, "However…"
Rogue gulped and exchanged a worried glance with her boyfriend. "However?" Pietro asked weakly.
"However, until Mr. Maximoff turns seventeen, I am afraid I am going to have to ask to cease your…carnal activities." Xavier's flush was only a slight tinge of pink, but it extended all across his head. "As of this moment, were you two to engage in any…physical relations…Rogue could be prosecuted for statutory rape."
Rogue opened her mouth to give Xavier a few choice words on what she thought of that threat, when the professor continued, "I wouldn't want to give Magnus any openings to disturb your new life, Pietro."
That took the wind out of her sails. Xavier wasn't the type of person to get someone arrested just because he disliked them. Rogue's mouth closed with an audible click of teeth and she fought back a blush of her own.
Wanda snickered from her sprawl in the one of the armchairs. "This is priceless!" she gasped out. "I never realized Silver's younger than you, Stripes." She smirked. "But then again, he is my 'baby' brother."
Logan grunted; whether in agreement, or just surprise that the Scarlet Witch had chosen the same nickname for Rogue as he had, it was unclear.
Pietro grimaced sourly, though there was a twinkle in his eye from his twin's teasing of him. He was obviously pleased he and Wanda were becoming close again – at least, it was obvious to Rogue.
But there were more urgent, if not more important, things at the moment than dwelling on a lessening of sibling rivalry. Rogue decided to broach the subject while Xavier still appeared to be in a good mood. Clearing her throat, Rogue said tentatively, "So…when Pietro turns seventeen…"
Xavier coughed and looked away. "I cannot condone any such…activities of an intimate nature on school grounds by anyone who is still one of my students," he said, a trace of regret in his voice. Turning his eyes on the three teenagers in turn, he said softly, "I'm bound by law here, Rogue, Pietro…Wanda."
Rogue spared a moment to wonder why Xavier was making a point of including Wanda in this discussion – and then decided it would be better for her sanity if she didn't think too much on that. Wanda's birthday was the same as Pietro's, so it followed the same strictures that applied to him, would also apply to her…
The Scarlet Witch in a romantic relationship was a…mind-boggling…concept, to say the least.
"So, now that you've embarrassed them both to death…are we done here?" Wanda asked pointedly, interrupting Rogue's scary thoughts.
Xavier coughed, clearly amused, and quite thankful to have that awkward conversation over with. "Yes, quite."
"Good," Wanda growled, very reminiscent of the Wolverine with her monosyllabic answer. She turned on her booted heel and, after shoving Logan away from the door, threw it open and stalked out of the room.
Only to be corralled by the X-Geeks as she passed by the entrance to the living room.
"What?" Wanda hissed, again very Logan-like.
"We just wanted to talk to you a bit before you left," Evan said, smiling brightly.
Wanda's brow furrowed, the overhead lights glinting off her silver eyebrow ring. "Why?"
Jubilee snapped her gum, loudly, and grinned. "Because if Roguey's dating your brother, then that, like, makes you family!"
Snorting, Wanda rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Ask away – though I can't guarantee I'll answer."
"Fair enough," Scott conceded, waiting for Wanda to seat herself in one of the arm chairs before starting his interrogation. "You and Pietro are living on your own?" he asked.
Wanda gave Cyclops a look, then flicked her gaze to Jean, before nodding. "Yeah," she grunted, smirking. She obviously knew that the telepath had been listening in on their meeting with the professor, and just as obviously didn't care.
"How are you supporting yourselves?" Jean asked worriedly.
"Part time jobs," Wanda said, shrugging off the other girl's concern.
"Doing what?" Evan asked, for once managing to keep his wise cracks to himself.
"I work for the Salem Speedy Delivery Service," Pietro put in, appearing around the corner of the doorway. "Guy who runs it is a mutant, too – X-Ray vision, can you believe that? Saves a fortune on not having a machine in the office; he can tell with one look if there's a bomb or something inside – and he knows about me," he added, leaving off his lurking and coming into the room to stand next to his sister. "I work for a couple hours three times a week but since I deliver about a third of each days' packages he pays me a full-time salary."
"What about you, Wanda?" Jamie asked. He hadn't been at the school when she'd first been let out of the asylum, and he didn't know enough about her – beyond exaggerated versions of her and the X-Men's encounters told by some of the older recruits as ghost stories on the last team campout (which he had discounted as completely made up) – to be truly scared of her.
Scarlet Witch lazed back in the easy chair and gave a devil-may-care grin. "I work at The Scorpion."
"The Scorpion?" Jean asked, aghast. "The bar on Fifth Street?" 'Bar' was being kind. It was, to put it kindly, a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
At least to a properly brought up girl from New England suburbia.
"Strip club, you mean," Scott corrected sourly. The Scorpion was, in fact, the only such club within Bayville's city limits. Actually on the outskirts, it got a lot of traffic from truckers and the other rougher types of humanity. Normally he'd be worried about a girl their age working there.
Then again, this was the Scarlet Witch they were talking about. Scott actually found himself feeling sorry for the patrons.
"So do you wait tables, tend bar, or…ah…dance?" Evan asked. His platinum eyebrows did the frug and he grinned cockily at her.
Wanda's eyes flashed. "Wouldn't you like to know," she retorted dryly.
"Yes, I would," Evan agreed, nodding his head eagerly.
Snorting softly, Wanda said, "Perverts, the lot of you," before rising from her chair and stalking away.
Scott and Jean exchanged bemused looks, while Evan looked crushed that he hadn't gotten any of the more salient details. Jamie rolled his eye at the obviously growing crush Pietro's nemesis was developing on his sister.
Looking on from across the room, Professor Xavier remarked, "I get the feeling things are going to get…interesting around here."
Logan snorted. "Ain't that the truth," he growled, chomping so hard on his cigar that he bit it half. Face screwed up in consternation, he managed to catch the bitten-off bit before it hit the floor.
Storm kept her amusement to herself. She nodded and said, "I believe that Rogue is just what Pietro needs. Wanda too." She smiled serenely as she watched the couple, who were even now curled up on the couch and mocking a Survivor rerun on the television. Pietro had his arm draped fearlessly – but then, for him there was no fear of being drained – across her shoulder, his fingers idly playing with some white locks of hair. "And he is just what she needs, as well."
Logan's countenance grew darker, and he growled at that. "That 'need' of theirs better stay PG-13 rated or I don't care how fast Maximoff runs – I'll gut the little speed demon." With that pronouncement, he stalked away, leaving Xavier and Storm to exchange rueful smiles.
Interesting, indeed.