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Glaring Decipher

Chapter Twelve:

Magneto sat at the kitchen table, waiting for the kettle to come to a boil. His mind, as per usual after a conversation with Rogue, was racing. He hadn't even noticed Charles entering the room: not until the man called out his name a few times. He glanced up at his old friend.

"Good evening, Charles," he said.

"Deep in thought?" Charles asked.

"Yes, very much so," he answered.

"Regarding Rogue?" Charles asked. "I heard you have a new Teaching Assistant," Charles commented with a raised eyebrow.

"The girl continued to know the answer to each and every one of my questions: before I had a chance to teach her anything. It helped at first being able to call on her, knowing she would help move the class along. But now that the other students aren't afraid to raised their hands it doesn't make sense to keep her as a student. She knows too much on the subject," he answered.

"But didn't she stay after the first class, so you could explain something to her?" the other man asked. Magneto let a little chuckle at that. "What?" he asked.

"Promise not to be mad at us?" he asked with a smirk.

"Regarding?" Charles asked: his eyes narrowing slightly.

"That first day, Rogue and I discussed how taking notes was unnecessary for her. She didn't want to get in trouble, so we made an excuse to explain the conversation," he said dismissively. Charles let out a sigh at that. "I'm glad she told me. Even if she didn't already know the material, I would hardly force her to endure the act of taking notes, as a pretense," Magneto said.

"How do you think she knows the material?" Charles asked.

"Oh, her powers, most certainly," he answered.

"Yes, but how? Has she opened up to you at all about her powers?" Charles asked.

"She's starting to," he commented. "But it's going to be a slow process. I'm earning her trust," he said.

"It must have helped that you were willing to lie for her," Charles commented dryly.

"Indeed," Magneto agreed. "And that I don't judge her for the knowledge she processes or whatever means she used to acquire her knowledge," he said. Charles let out a sigh at that. "It doesn't make me uncomfortable, as it does many others in this household," he finished as Charles let out another sigh.

"There's a morality to having access to other's minds," Charles commented. He held back the urge to yell at Charles.

"Yes and the girl actively pretends not to have such knowledge, isn't that enough?" he asked as the loud whistling noise filled the room. He used his abilities to turn off the stove as he stood up.

"You two have talked about this?" Charles asked shocked as Magneto walked over the stove. "I've had my suspicions, but Rogue has always been very secretive about her abilities," he said as Magneto took two mugs out of the cabinet.

'Damn it,' he thought. He should not have commented about it: the girl had trusted him with knowledge she had likely never told another living person and barely twenty minutes later he had betrayed her confidence.

"Not outright," he lied, "But I inferred as much. The same as you have," he answered smoothly. He had forgotten to ask the girl how she liked her tea and he had forgotten to ask her which tea she wanted. 'Damn it,' he thought again. He recalled watching her make it herself one time: what had she done? That's right: the girl had surprised him when she hadn't used a tea bag. She had a tin of Chamomile flowers instead. He opened the cabinet and found the tin.

"I see," Charles commented with a sigh. "I'm not sure if I should believe you, Magnus," Charles commented as Magneto opened the tin and scooped a few teaspoons of dried chamomile flowers into the mugs. "You've lied for her once already," he said as Magneto picked up the kettle and poured water into the glasses.

"Believe whatever you like, Charles," Magneto said as he placed the kettle back on the stove. He was going to have to wait at least three minutes before he strain the water. "Now, where the hell is the tea-strainer?" he asked out loud.

"I used it earlier today," Charles commented. "It should still be in the dish-drain," he said.

"Thank you," he said before he made way to the dish-drain and received the tea strainer.

"There is another matter you and I need to discuss," Charles said: his voice stern as Magneto placed the tea-strainer next to the mugs.

"Yes?" Magneto asked as he turned to look at the other man.

"Scott and Jean overheard Rogue's conditions," he said.

"The whole class overheard the conditions," he commented dryly. "You point?" he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Was she right to make you commit to them?" Charles asked.

"I am who I am, Charles. I doubt I would have gotten through the course without my ideology influencing the curriculum in one way or another. Rogue made me conscious of that. Because of her, I am going to be careful with how I word my lessons. As I've promised her, there will no propaganda," he said before he turned back to the tea.

"I didn't realize it would be necessary to issue conditions," Charles commented as Magneto obtained a third mug to strain the tea into.

"Well, you don't. Rogue took care of it on her own," Magneto said as he put the tea-strainer on one of the mugs.

"She should not have had to. Controlling you is not her responsibly," he argued. He didn't know why, but Charles' comment made his very angry.

"She is not controlling me," Magneto said, his voice elevated, as he turned to look at him. "The girl made a request: a reasonable one. She made me aware of something I would have done subconsciously," he said firmly. That was his cover story and he was going to stick to it. Charles couldn't know that he would have actively attempted to include his ideological views into the course. He could make this work: he just needed to calm down. He took a deep breath.

"And as I said," Magneto said, "I will be careful in how I design the course. Rogue will be assisting me throughout. Whatever, I don't catch the girl most certainly will. You have nothing to worry about," he said as assuringly as he could muster.

"Never-the-less, I would like to sit in on your next few classes," Charles told him.

"Of course, you do," he said dryly as he turned back to the tea.

"Is that a problem?" Charles asked him annoyed.

"No, of course, it's not," he said: forcing himself to sound somewhat pleasant. "You're welcome to attend my class anytime you like. This is your school after all," he said.

"Yes, it is," Charles said firmly. There was a hint of a threat in his old friend's voice.

"Is there anything else, Charles?" Magneto asked him. Charles let out a sigh.

"No, I'll see you tomorrow," he said before he felt Charles leave the room.


A few minutes later, he opened the door to his bedroom, using his abilities, as he carried the two mugs of tea in his hands. Rogue glanced up at him. The smile on her face quickly faded.

"Prof was in the kitchen?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered dryly as he walked into the room.

"How many classes is he gonna attend?" Rogue asked as he walked up to her. He raised an eyebrow at her question.

"He didn't say exactly. At least the next two," he said as he handed her one of the mug.

"Thank you," she said as he sat down next to her on the bed. She turned her body to face his and he followed her led: till they were both facing each other. "You were planning to use propaganda. That's why you wanted every mutant in Bayville under twenty in your class. He has every right to be angry. You realize that, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes, but he doesn't know that," Magneto said.

"And he doesn't have to," Rogue pointed out. "Because that's ain't what you're gonna do anymore, right?" she asked him firmly. He kept her gaze for a long moment. He mentally kicked himself for admitting it to her in the first place. He only had because she had called him on it- wait no. It was- it was because she had seemed so uncertain in the conversation. He had wanted her to be convinced that he could control Charles. But in doing so, he had given her the tool she needed to prevent him from enacting his plan. Wait- where had that conversation started?

'How do you talk to people, knowing that you know how they're gonna react, and not feel like some evil manipulative mastermind?' she had asked him. His eyes widened as he recalled her statement. Had she meant- did she know what she was doing from the start?

"I'm going to take your advice, my dear," he said looking up at her. "I will not underestimate you again," he said. A smile graced her face.

"Yeah, you will," she told him before she moved her mug next to his and touched the tip of her mug to his: there was a very familiar 'clink' noise. "But I'll drink to you trying not to," she smirked before he watched her take a sip of the tea. "Exactly the way I like it. However did you know?" she asked with smirk. Before he could stop himself he let out a loud laugh at that. She knew exactly how he knew: there was no doubt in his mind. She joined him, chuckling a moment herself.

"If Charles knew about this," he muttered before he took a sip of tea himself.

"Why did you think I wanted to keep this between us?" she asked him. "He can't know about this, not yet," she said. "No one can. But the only manipulation I'm gonna let you get away with is keeping this secret. You get that, right?" she asked him.

"Now, that you've done me the favor of telling me, yes I know that," he commented as he watched her take a sip.

"Are you okay with that?" she asked him. "You could always leave if you wanted to. No one's keeping you here," she reminded him.

"I beg to differ," he muttered before he reached up and cupped her cheek. They leaned into each other: kissing.

He broke the kiss as a question occurred to him.

"If I did leave, would you and I continue to see each other?" he asked her as he brushed her hair behind her ear.

"It wouldn't be easy. Everyone would know and I'd be judged like crazy for it. But I like you and I don't wanna give this up," she told him before she took another sip. "Would you wanna end it?" she asked.

"Of course, I wouldn't," he told her. She smiled at that before she leaned in for another kiss.

"I'm glad to hear that," she told with a smile.

"How far did you get with the rubric?" he asked.

"I finished it a few minutes ago," she told him with a smirk. "One completed rubric," she said as she reached behind her, grabbed the rubric, "as promised," she said as she handed a legal note pad to him. He glanced down at yellow lined pages as his eyes widened. It had taken him a week to write out the frame work for the rubric and now- How long had he been gone? Maybe a half hour and she had managed to complete it?

"How the hell did you do this in such a short time?" he asked her as he glanced up at her.

"Guess, I'm just a better strategist than you," she shrugged. He just kept her gaze: not certain how to respond to that. He choose to let the comment go, at least for now.

"Now, that we have this, what was your idea?" he asked hoping to change the subject, somewhat.

"Oh right," she said. "You should grade all the tests, but don't put any marks on the test papers," he raised his eyebrow at her. "Next class, spend the whole time going over the rubric. Start to finish. Then give them back their tests. As homework, they have to grade their own tests," she said.

"To confirm their understanding of the rubric," he finished with a smile.

"Exactly," she said. He chuckled.

"I like it," he said. She smiled at that. "I like it a lot… I might not get through the whole rubric in one class," he commented. "Actually, that would be for the best. Then the students would have all afternoon Saturday and all day Sunday to grade their own tests. I'll divide the material into two classes, regardless," he said to himself.

"Sounds like a plan," she said with a smile. "Tomorrow night I can help you grade papers if you want," she offered.

"It's only Tuesday and I now have till Saturday to get them all done. I'll manage on my own," he said with a smile. "This," he said as he shook the legal pad in his hand, "is more than enough to earn your title," he said.

"You're probably gonna wanna stay up and obsess over this for hours, aren't you?" she asked. There was little point in lying.

"Yes, most likely," he admitted.

"Okay," she said with a small smile. "I'll knock you unconscious tomorrow night?" she asked.

"Yes, that's works," he told her.

"Okay," she smiled before she kissed him. His eyes closed at the feel of her lips on his. She pulled back a minute later and stood up. "Try not to stay up all night, Max," she ordered with a little laugh."I'll leave you two alone now," she smirked as she glanced down at the note pad in his hands. He stood up: standing in front of her.

"I would prefer if you stayed," he commented as he placed his hand on her arm.

"Yeah, but it's a school night and it's getting late," she told him. "I need to be up by six," she reminded him. He let out a sigh at that. "You can always try and interrogate me tomorrow," she said with a smirk. He chuckled at that before he leaned in and kissed her. His hand cupping her cheek as she parted her lips and soon they both deepened the kiss.

She pulled back a few moments later.

"Six am," she said. He let out a sigh as he moved his hand off of her cheek.

"Good night," he said reluctantly as he took the mug out of her hand.

"I can take it downstairs," she said.

"I'll take care of it. Go get some sleep," he ordered. She leaned up and gave him one last peck for the night.

"Good night," she smiled. He watched with a sigh as she backed away from him and to the door. She turned and smiled at him one more time before she left the room.


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