Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or the related characters and places. Marvel does, and they do not share.
"Bowling?" Gambit asked disbelievingly as he hung onto the side door of the X-Men's van.
"Yeah, bowling," Rogue affirmed enjoying the flabbergasted expression on his otherwise controlled visage.
"Wit' de stinky shoes, and de stale beer and de—"
"Yes to all those and more, 'cept for the beer that is. Ya coming Gumbo?" Wolverine asked, sliding in behind the wheel.
Logan felt a little joy watching Gambit's façade crack further and Remy's upper lip gave a twitch at the nickname. Annoying people wasn't something Logan usually did purposefully, but it didn't mean that it wasn't fun.
Gambit eyed Wolverine balefully. Bowling had never even been fit to rank among his least favorite activities. His mind kicked into overdrive as he shifted his weight onto another leg, and a thousand and one ways to get out of the situation flew through his mind. That is, until he shifted his gaze six inches to the left and saw Rogue, then all his alternative plans went out the window. He groaned in defeat.
"That's the spirit," Logan mocked.
"Dis have got to be de worst activity on de face of de earth."
"Cheer up Gambit, it'll be fun," Jean said smiling brightly as she leaned over in her seat, a striped bowling bag already in her hand.
"Y' have y' own equipment," said Gambit as his eyebrows stretched upwards in disbelief that anyone would spend enough time on the non-sport to actually invest money in it.
Kitty strolled by hopping into the already crowded van, a pink bag bumping against her leg.
"It's way less gross if you have your own stuff," Kitty said unzipping her bag to reveal a sparkling blue bowling ball. She held it out to him, "I have one of the new scented kinds, do you want to smell it? It smells like blueberries," she coaxed.
Gambit, if anything, looked a little greener. "No thanks," he managed to offer.
"Hop in if yer goin' Gumbo," shouted Logan already flipping through radio stations trying to find one that wouldn't have his eardrums bleeding before they made it into town.
Gambit hesitated glancing from his tempting motorcycle across the lawn to the over packed van. There was no choice as for which vehicle he wanted, but a shy smile from Rogue melted his resistance.
"I'm gonna regret dis," sighed Gambit pouring himself into the van to sit squished between his girlfriend and the doorframe. "De things I do."
"If I have ta do it, ya have ta do it," Rogue grinned.
"I get boyfriend bonus points fo' dis right?"
The inside of the building wasn't as bad as Gambit had imagined, but it certainly wasn't anyplace he'd choose to spend his time unless he was desperate. It was reasonably well lit, but it was still a bowling alley. Décor with pins and bowling balls would never be particularly stylish.
There were signs posted every ten feet forbidding drinking, eating, and smoking at the lanes. The X-Crew blithely ignored the rules, as did everyone else apparently, nacho cheese smeared on one of the seats.
Gambit, clad in designer jeans and a seventy dollar t-shirt, cringed slightly as he chose a chair three seats down from the mess. By the time all the shoes had been put on and the orders arranged, the nacho mess was the only chair left for Scott.
"Oh thanks guys," said Scott looking put out.
"I t'ink it's another life form. Why don' y' try to make friends with it," Remy joked as he light a cigarette and conscientiously blew the smoke away from the crowd of teenagers.
"Har, Har," Scott groused stalking off to find a towel.
Gambit, willing to watch if not participate was slouched quite comfortably in his seat until an unexpected smack to his stomach from Rogue.
"What was dat for?" he asked bewildered sitting up quickly.
"No smoking," she said pointing imperiously to a discolored sign.
"No beverages," he returned with a pointed look at her unhealthily large container of Dr. Pepper she'd obtained within seconds of entry.
"That's different," Kitty said picking up her unsightly bowling ball from its matching case. "She's not under the age limit for pop."
"Who said I'm under de age limit?" Gambit smirked taking another relaxed pull, unconsciously tracking Jean as she left for the other side of the building to greet a group of guys in matching shirts she seemed to know.
"Ya better be, or yer too old ta be dating Stripes," Logan said as he approached the half-circle of chairs. "Toss it," Wolverine ordered when Gambit gave no sign of relinquishing his hold on his cigarette. "Ya know the rules."
"No smoking in front of de kiddies, dey way over dere," Gambit tried, pointing towards the boisterous group of pre-teens two lanes down that a harried Storm was attempting to corral.
"Now," Logan snapped his earlier good humor evaporated.
Aggravated, Remy took the cigarette out of his mouth and tossed it with a loud pop that signaled its explosion.
"Are we going to have a problem, Cajun?" Wolverine growled leaning in close.
"It's okay Logan, nobody saw," Rogue said turning from her position on the paneled lane in hopes to distract Logan.
"She's right, nobody even looked up, that horrible karaoke music is too loud," Kitty said, vocal support for Rogue, if not Remy. Logan snuffed, but let it go walking over to check in with Storm. There was something to be said about picking your battles. The Cajun would learn that eventually. Once Gambit stopped these little power struggle games of his, he might not be that bad of a guy.
"Not dat de view from here isn't great," smirked the thief, checking out Rogue as she hurled a ball with a tad too much force, "but I gotta step outside for a minute."
"What for," asked Kitty suspicion in her eyes, "your phone didn't ring."
"I know dat," Gambit said rolling his eyes as he stood up and stretched. "If y' need an excuse, y' can tell dem dat I'm not going outside, so I can not smoke."
The air outside was sharper, colder, and it calmed Gambit immediately. Rogue was great. Rogue as a member of the X-Men was okay. Rogue and the X-Men was doable. Rogue, the X-Men, and their chaperones were a bit much.
Remy finished his first two cigarettes in their entirety before he even considered looking up. Bad habit or not, it steadied his nerves. A muffled noise caught the thief's attention and he cocked his head to the right.
The Louisiana-borne mutant followed the noise into a wide alleyway blessedly free of garbage. The real interesting thing though, was that Cyclops was being hassled by a group of five guys in matching teal t-shirts. The same guys Jean had been talking to earlier.
"Knock it off, Duncan," Scott said trying to warn him away, "You don't want to do this."
"I don't want to beat your pansy-ass?" Duncan said pushing himself forward aggressively, "I think I do."
Scott's eyes narrowed under his shades. He was tired of fighting Duncan. Tired of not being able to take him out in a way that would make Duncan understand how incredibly overmatched he really was. Even without his powers he could take Duncan down, that is if he didn't always travel in a pack. Five on one though, wasn't good odds for anyone.
No matter how untrained, when the punching started Cyclops simply didn't have enough hands to block them all and Scott had about twenty seconds a cheap shot to the stomach make him crumple up, the wind knocked out of him. A following slam to back had his knees hitting the ground hard still clutching his stomach. Unlike other various baddies, they were unwilling to take turns. Partially recovering, Scott lashed out with his left leg
sending Duncan's cousin into the wall. Surprised by the move the other two basketball players wrestled for his arms to hold him into place. A punch flashed past his nose and Cyclops was a little astonished to discover it wasn't flying in his direction.
"Don't hurt anybody!" Scott ordered as he fought free of two morons trying to restrain him. He'd only seen Gambit in action a few times, but the school didn't need any lawsuits over broken arms, or worst case scenario, dead bodies.
Focusing on his own pair of yokels, Devon and Chris, Scott needn't have been worried. Gambit knew his way around a fight, super-powered or back-yard bully. His punches looked sloppy, but they always hit their mark. The acrobatics that Gambit's file was noted with were absent, but that didn't seem to hamper his effectiveness. He'd never once, as far as Scott could tell, broke into his mutant powers. In fact, it looked like the Acolyte was playing with Duncan's cousin, letting him keep swinging while Gambit tagged him with minor blows.
Scott finished off Chris with a powerful right hook that left the senior moaning on the asphalt. Devon, not particularly strong, had run away after the odds evened up, his heavy footfalls still sounding.
"Watch out, Summers!" Gambit yelled, getting a punch to the face for his inattention to his own fight.
Cyclops whirled in time to catch Duncan running at him, trying to head butt him into the dumpster. A quick sidestep had Duncan barreling himself into the solid surface. Impact made a steely gong that the barely conscious Duncan probably didn't get a chance to appreciate. He knew Duncan was dumb, but this was ridiculous. Scott couldn't help smiling to himself, Jean couldn't reprimand him for beating up on Duncan if he knocked himself out.
The sudden realization of relative silence penetrated his thoughts and Scott turned to see his erstwhile partner leaning against the cement brick wall, the slightest glisten of blood on the Cajun's lip for his trouble.
"Well," Gambit said, his breathing only sped up slightly, "dat was fun."
Cyclops shook his head slightly, Remy actually look as if he meant it. Fun, no. Necessary, yes. Walking up to Gambit, Scott caught the almost feral grin of excitement on his face. Fun, maybe.
"Summers?"
"Yeah?" Cyclops asked warily wiping away the dirt from his hands.
"Y' almost got beat up by a bowling team."
"Shut up," Scott said good naturedly, standing up and shoving Gambit in the shoulder to detach him from the wall. They turned to head back inside.
Above, secured on the low rooftop, Logan grinned wolfishly. Xavier would be on cloud nine to know that the kid had stepped up to help an X-Men other than Rogue. It was progress, even if it was slow.
A/N: Answers to last chapter's questions:
Ima Super Mute Ant: Thieves. As in members of Thieves Guild? We'll probably see some, but I make no promises.
Nettlez: As for Gambit receiving a lot of injures. Yes he's a very talented thief but---well you have to wait and see on this score. : ) sorry
sheisbeautiful-sheisnotme: The whole ambidextrous thing. Gambit Is ambidextrous. Because he's unnecessarily secretive he was pretending to be left handed while he hung out at the mansion. So when he uses his right hand at dinner Logan gets suspicious. Gambit tries to smooth it over by telling everyone he Is ambidextrous, but when Logan throws stuff at him he always catches it with the same right hand. If he was ambidextrous (and not injured) he would have caught the second roll in his left hand as his right was already full. Thus, Wolvie figures out Gambit is injured. Wow that was a long explanation, hope it worked.
Thanks guys I appreciate it, especially when I start flagging: Aethena, BJ2, Dark Elf 3, Elmothecajunpuppet, Gambit's Belle Rogue, Ima Super Mute Ant, ishandahalf, Lumberjane, Nettlez, Puppybaddog, Samson28, Streetwise Girl, sheisbeautiful-sheisnotme, Wildcard186, and X-Storm.
