AN: Thanks everyone for reading! In this chapter, Kitty and Rogue discuss Lance, and Logan becomes a bit over-protective of the half-pint.
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Chapter 17
Kitty looked over at Rogue as her roommate was putting away her laundry. "Hey…Rogue?" Her voice was cautious. Rogue had not been in a good mood the last few weeks; she'd practically bitten Kitty's head off more than once, and Kitty knew if she was still in a bad mood that Rogue would not appreciate the question she was about to ask.
"Yeah?" She looked up expectantly. It always gave Kitty a pause to see Rogue without all that make-up she always wore. It made her roommate look more like an adult. Kitty actually preferred her that way, but it wasn't something she'd share with Rogue unless the other girl asked.
"Um…are you seeing someone?"
Was it her imagination, or did Rogue just blush? "No, why?" She turned back to her laundry, matching gloves up and placing them in the top drawer of her dresser.
"Cause I came home at three in the morning last night and you weren't here," Kitty said bluntly. The truth was, she was worried about her roommate. Rogue's mood swings were becoming worse; she could go from perfectly normal (well, as normal as she ever was) to a raging bitch in a matter of days.
"I fell asleep watchin' a movie downstairs." Rogue wouldn't look at her.
"No you didn't," Kitty said carefully, biting her lip. "I checked."
"I ain't seein' no one, Kit, okay?" Rogue whirled on her, and Kitty was surprised to see how worried she looked. "Just…don't worry about it."
"Rogue, something's up with you. I'm just worried. You're not…you've not been yourself lately." Kitty held her breath as Rogue's eyes narrowed, her face unfriendly.
"Look, just 'cause you're out until three am with a boy don't mean I am," she said tightly, averting her eyes.
"I just wanted to ask," Kitty said softly, wishing she'd not said anything. "I worry about you. You know that."
"Yeah, I know. Everyone worries about me. Poor Rogue, a tickin' time bomb. Waitin' for me to go boom, ain't you, just like everybody else." Rogue slammed her drawer closed and stood in the middle of the room with her hands clenched. "Well, you ain't got to worry about me for a little while, at least. I'm fine."
Kitty knew when to back off, so she held up her hands. "Okay! I just wanted you to know that if you needed to talk to me or whatever, you could." She lay back on her bed, looking up at the ceiling.
"Thanks," Rogue said, surprising Kitty somewhat by saying so. "Really, Kit, I know that."
"Good."
There was silence between the two of them for a few minutes until Rogue spoke, her voice hesitant. "So, uh…you were with Lance until three in the morning?"
"Yeah. I was." Kitty sighed, sitting up again. "Rogue, I don't know what to do about him."
Rogue sat on her own bed, Indian-style, as she continued with the laundry. She tended to wait until the clothes hamper resembled a mountain before taking care of it. "Why? You wanna break up with him again? He bein' an ass?"
"No, it's not that." Kitty blushed. "Can I…um, share some TMI?"
Rogue smiled briefly. "Sure. What are roommates for?"
"Borrowing clothes?" Kitty asked with a laugh.
"The day you borrow somethin' of mine, Kit, is the day I'll give up black eyeliner," Rogue joked, which made Kitty giggle.
"Really? I might just show up to school one day dressed a la Rogue just to make you experiment with other shades," she responded, and Rogue laughed.
"You would, wouldn't you? Okay, so. Lance ain't bein' a jerk, and you're over there until the early morning hours. What's the problem?" Her face darkened. "He ain't—you know—forcing you to do stuff, is he?"
Kitty groaned and fell back on the bed. "No, of course not. It's just, he won't do anything."
Rogue was quiet for a few seconds. "You mean, he won't—touch you?" Her voice sounded strange.
"No, he will. I mean…you know." Kitty concentrated very hard on the glow-in-dark stars on her bedroom ceiling, which she could only barely see in the daytime. "It's just…we always stop."
"And you don't want to?"
Kitty sat up again, looking over at Rogue. "No. I don't. But he won't—" she shook her head, running a hand through her hair, loose around her shoulders. "Why? I mean, doesn't he want to?"
"Kit, he's, what? Eighteen? Of course he wants to." Rogue sighed. "You ever think to ask him?"
"What, say, 'Gee, Lance, I was wondering why you don't want to sleep with me?'" Kitty shook her head. "No. I mean…what if, like, he doesn't want to? I'll be so embarrassed."
"What? Kitty, seriously. Listen. First you hate him, then you're dating. Then you dump him, then you hate each other again. Then Apocalypse nearly turns us all into mutant zombies…and you're dating him again."
"What's with the history lesson?" Kitty asked, annoyed. "I know what we've been through, trust me."
"Yeah, and so does he. And you always break it off. Maybe he's tryin' to not, you know. Pressure you or something." Rogue picked up one of her endless long-sleeved green shirts and began folding it. "Kinda sweet, really."
"No it isn't. It's frustrating. You have any idea how bad it is to want someone to touch you and—" Horrified, Kitty clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh. Rogue, I'm—I'm sorry."
To her surprise, Rogue shrugged. "I do know, so no worries. But it ain't like my attempts at romance ever get that far."
Kitty peered at her curiously. "I thought you were dating Pietro. Or at least wanted to."
Rogue snorted. "No, thanks. He's too much of a punk for me."
"Oh, that's right. You like older men." Kitty giggled, but blinked in surprise as Rogue leveled a fierce glare at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, and Kitty sighed inwardly. Rogue's temper was exhausting.
"Gambit? Remember him? The guy you ran off with—"
"Ran off with? Hello? You mean the guy that kidnapped me," Rogue reminded her, arms crossed, but she didn't look as angry as she had before.
Kitty waved a hand. "Whatever. Besides, I thought you thought it was romantic." She smiled. "Demented, but romantic."
"Yeah, well. I ain't really so interested in guys that want to use me." She stood up, carrying her laundry to the dresser. "Not unless I'm getting something out of it, and there wasn't anything in that deal for me. Next time I see that son of a bitch, I'll tell him where he can stick his cards."
Kitty giggled again, but she didn't doubt what Rogue had said at all. Her roommate wasn't really very…forgiving. "So what do you think is up with Lance?"
"I think he's freaked about you runnin' off again, so he doesn't want to pressure you. Uh, have you told him that you want to—you know? Have sex with him?" Rogue blushed, which Kitty thought was sort of cute.
"No. I mean…I thought I made it clear that I didn't want to stop."
Rogue had a far-away look on her face. "Maybe you should just tell him, straight out. Maybe he just wants to hear you say it before he'll do it."
"Maybe you're right." Kitty bit her lip. "Do you—do you think I should? Sleep with him, I mean?"
"Do you want to?"
Kitty nodded. "I—I think so, yeah. I mean, I have—I went and got the pill last time I was home, so…" she trailed off, a little embarrassed, but she was really glad Rogue didn't mind talking to her about this.
"I think you should. If you want. Life's short, you know. No telling when we might run off into some battle and not come back." Rogue's voice hardened. "Or end up in some camp, since they seem determined to pass that stupid Mutant Registration Act."
"That'll never pass," Kitty said convincingly. "I watched the news with Lance. They said that there were too many special interests groups that would freak out, not to mention it's totally unconstitutional."
"Sometimes that don't matter," Rogue whispered. "Sometimes it happens anyway."
There was something a bit…off…about Rogue in that moment. "Um…you okay?" Kitty asked a bit nervously.
Rogue shook her head as if clearing it. "Yeah. I'm fine. I'm gonna go down and check on my last load of laundry." On her way out of the door, Rogue paused. "Maybe you should talk to Jean. Do you think—I mean, surely her and Scott are sleeping together by now, aren't they? They have staff rooms and everything."
"Gosh, Rogue, I don't know. I like Jean and all, but she's kind of private about all that. Besides, I don't think they're doing so well. I heard—well, I don't want to be a gossip, but I heard them fighting the other day. I don't know what it was about, though." Kitty sighed. "I just wanted them to be happy together, you know?" For a moment, Kitty tensed, wondering if Rogue still had any feelings for Scott.
Oh, God. Maybe Rogue was the reason Scott and Jean had been fighting! Maybe—
Stop it! You're inventing things. Rogue doesn't like Scott anymore.
"Yeah. They're really too boring not to date each other," Rogue said with a small smile, and Kitty laughed, a little relieved.
After Rogue had left, Kitty lay back on her bed and thought about Lance. Last night, she had really wanted to keep going; it was just that it felt so good and yet he'd still stopped, even though she didn't think he really wanted to...
Why was he being so difficult? Why couldn't he just act like any other boy his age? Then she could stop worrying about it all time and just get it out of the way.
Sighing, she put her hair up into a ponytail and started to fix her make-up. Boys were ridiculous sometimes.
ooooooooOOOOoooooooo
"Hey, half-pint."
Kitty was waiting for Lance to pick her up later that evening, sitting on the front steps and enjoying the cool evening air when Wolverine pulled up on his motorcycle. He turned off the ignition and took his helmet off, leaving the bike parked in the middle of the driveway.
Kitty had always wanted to ask Wolverine why he wore a helmet if he had a healing factor and an adamantium skull, but she'd never gotten up the nerve. "Hey, Mr. Logan. You're back!"
"Yeah." Not a man of many words, Logan leaned against his motorcycle and crossed his arms. "What are you doing out here?"
"Got a date," she answered, smiling.
"Not with Avalanche," he said, shaking his head as she nodded. "You're too good for him, but I bet you already know that."
Kitty giggled despite herself. "Well, duh."
He smiled briefly, and turned as if he were going to climb back on the bike. Lance showed up just as Logan straddled the bike, his Jeep careening into the circle drive with obvious enthusiasm. "Hey, babe," Lance called, then paused as he saw Wolverine.
"Kid, you lay one hand on her and I'll kill ya," Logan said bluntly, and Kitty was torn between horror at what Logan had just said and amusement at the look on Lance's face.
"Um," Lance said, obviously unsure what to say to that. "We're just going to the movies."
"Yeah? I know about movies," Logan growled, dismounting his bike and taking a threatening step towards the Jeep. He might not be a tall man, but that didn't mean he wasn't an intimidating one. The metal skeleton and the claws helped. "And about what kids do in movies."
"Logan," Kitty said, shaking her head as she climbed in the Jeep. "We'll be back right afterwards." Which was kind of a lie, but maybe he'd be too busy to notice.
"See to it that you are. You ain't eighteen yet, half-pint." Logan took a step back, his eyes narrowed. "Don't make me mad, boy. Have her back before midnight."
"Uh…okay. Yeah. I will." Lance shot her a look and started the car up again, driving away as Kitty laughed. "Hey, what the hell's with the over-protective guardian act?"
"Oh, Lance, he's just being Logan. You know how he is," Kitty said, still giggling. "He'll be doing something else by midnight anyway."
"Yeah, like what? Polishing his claws?" Lance looked dubious.
"Storm," Kitty said, grinning. It was the worst-kept secret in the mansion, that.
"She's hot, though," Lance said, smirking as Kitty glared at him. "What? She is. But not as hot as you."
Appeased, she settled back into seat. "Hey, we're not really going to go to the movies, are we? Especially not if I have to be back by midnight," she teased him, laying a hand on his leg. She liked the way he tensed immediately and sucked in a breath at her touch.
"'Course not. All the movies out right now suck, anyway." He smiled at her. "We'll just go somewhere else. But I thought you said Wolverine would be…occupied…at midnight, so what's it matter when you get home?"
"Because I was out until three am this morning? And you know what was so weird? Rogue wasn't in our room. I had this crazy thought—" she stopped suddenly, concerned. Maybe she shouldn't be gossiping about her housemates.
"Yeah? About what?" Lance was heading out of town; she wondered where he was going.
"That maybe she was seeing Scott. I mean, she used to like him, and he and Jean have been fighting a lot." She felt a little guilty sharing all of this information, but Lance was her boyfriend.
"Dude, you like to think Rogue's doing something scandalous. First Pietro, now Scott?" He grinned at her again. "I liked the idea of her dating Wanda better."
"You would," Kitty murmured, hitting him lightly on the shoulder. He pretended to be injured and swerved the car, which made her squeak and then yell at him for being careless.
"Oh, but being careless is fun," he told her, a glint in his eyes. Kitty smiled slowly at him, hoping he really meant that.
She was in the mood to be careless. They were alone and the night was full of possibilities. Now, if only he'd take advantage of a few of them, she'd be a happy girl indeed.
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DeadSparrow: Why thank you! Yes, Magneto-Rogue is my OTP, so I write a lot of it, in both Evo-verse and movie-verse. Occasionally even comic-verse, too! I'm really rather obsessed, so I am glad someone enjoys the fruit of said obsessions. I do hope you enjoy the new chapter!
Lady Leeli: Thanks! And oh dear, please don't get in trouble! I would feel very badly about that. Rest assured, there shall be more Rogue-Wanda and Pietro-Wanda shortly! Thanks again for reading!
IvyZoe: Hee, thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying my dementia. Hope you like this scene, though really it's rather tame.
Nercia Genesis: Thanks! Our poor Magneto and Rogue are so clueless, aren't they? Here's hoping they get it together eventually. They're both very stubborn characters!
MyLovetheSwampRat: Thanks! Glad you are enjoying the story, and thanks for your review!
Miss Information: Yes, do check us out! We're a fun community. And wow, yay for a long fic from you to read! I'm not sure how Eschatology will stack up chapter-wise to Ideology, I can never tell. This one has gotten away from me, but I think I can see where it's going eventually, which, haha, is probably a good thing. Yes, my husband loves the X-Men and all the verses, and he's highly amused at my obsession. Plus, he gets to read all my comics. And I am, of course, glad you liked the scene and the "sir". Hee! Thanks as always, and hope you enjoy this moment of Lancitty cuteness.