Hello!
Thank you so much for all the reviews and follows! I'm so happy people are enjoying reading this cause I'm having a blast writing it!
So I tried to put in a little French because it fit, but it's definitely from google translate. I took German in high school and never did great with French in my voice lessons/etymology classes in college, so I'm just going to hope I didn't make too much a fool of myself. If I made a mistake I'm always very happy to learn/be made aware so I (hopefully) don't make the mistake again.
This chapter is brought to you by fluff. And like plot developments but mostly fluff. Felt like we all deserved a little fluff with all the tension and plot setting up that's been going on and what's to come haha
There is also a quote in here that I would never be funny enough to come up with myself: I saw it from A Very Potter Musical (and I think that's the original source?) but it fit what was happening really well so it stayed in.
Last, thanks as always to thehazeofdusk for always having the best edits. Idk if I've said it before but her stuff is phenomenal so check her out if you're looking for a good read.
Anyway. I hope you're having a great day and this brings you a little joy :)
Chapter 9
Rogue sighed, rubbing the heel of her hand into her forehead. She was trying to get her homework done while Remy showered, hoping it would get her chest to calm down a little. She'd tried to be productive while he was in the bathroom, but nothing she tried had kept her mind from wandering back to the idea of him yards away in her shower. It brought up too many images she couldn't ignore-especially after she'd seen him shirtless. She would manage one sentence of reading and suddenly-bam! A way too vivid image of Remy, shirt off, steam around him, water flowing down his body from his broad shoulders down those rock hard abs and down even further to - SHIT.
So she'd written a note to meet her in the library, left it on the floor in front of the bathroom door for him, and taken off. And here she was, trying desperately to do her homework instead of think about anything else. Math was very interesting, afterall.
It wasn't like she'd never seen a guy shirtless. Evan was known for stripping his shirt off when he played basketball. Several of the guys at the Institute were.
But none of them looked like Remy when their shirts were off. That had to be why she couldn't stop imagining and remembering his how his strong, lean torso had looked, how his muscles had flexed and moved as he'd taken his shirt off, how (when she'd tried to look away from his torso) the muscles on his back had made him all the more overwhelming and - SHIT.
That asshole. He had to have known that would fluster her so much. It's not like guys stripped in front of her that close ever. No other guy probably would, although she was pretty sure that didn't matter-after seeing Remy how could any other guy beat that? He was incredibly fit and although he'd been covered in scars, it only made the image of him with his shirt off all the more - SHIT.
That or he was just so used to people stripping in front of each other he'd forgotten she would have zero experience with it. Or...maybe he thought she did have experience with it? Although she hated to admit it, his time in New Orleans (and the subsequent time with his psyche in her brain for a little bit) had told her that without a doubt he did take that kind of stuff into consideration a little at least. He wouldn't go out of his way to make her comfortable (which is good. That would just feel patronizing), but he had given her a certain amount of respect by thinking ahead when it came to things dealing with her powers. Not that taking his shirt off was particularly disrespectful, it was just...flustering. How was she supposed to know what to do with that?
Probably not keep thinking about it. This was probably normal for anyone else, but it wasn't like she could up and ask Kitty or Jean what she was supposed to do when a guy took his shirt off a foot away from her. Kitty would have a field day and Rogue had a sneaking suspicion Jean might react the same.
She was going to murder him. Slowly and painfully, she was going to murder him, friend or not.
"Homework again?"
She jumped, although to give herself some credit, she didn't think it was as visibly as last time he'd snuck up on her. She swore internally-how did he move so silently all the time? She let out a soft snort, and tried to ignore the wide grin on his face she could see out of the corner of her eye. "Busywork is more like it. But yeah."
Remy plopped down in the chair next to her, hair still wet from the shower but drying somewhat quickly. It was weird-she known he'd use her soaps, but it just smelled so different on him in a sort of nice way. Not that he didn't smell nice normally, because...he kind of did (although she'd take that information to her grave). It was just interesting how the same soap could smell so different on him, softer even. She kind of liked it on him.
"How much work they really expect y' t' do?" the disbelieving expression on his face as he moved his hand over the pile of books and papers was comical, almost cute even.
She snorted again. "Apparently they want us drowning in it every night. This isn't due for a few more days though, so I don't need to finish it now."
He raised an eyebrow. "Thought y' note said y' had stuff y' needed to finish t'night?"
She blinked but hoped she was able to maintain an admirable effort at keeping her face unperturbed. She shouldn't have been so specific on why she had to go downstairs. "Math. Just finished it. Ready for friend time?" She stood, trying to be nonchalant as she stuffed her papers into her bag and tried to move past the subject. Maybe it's because it was him and he was really good at reading people, but she was starting to think lying about homework to escape being in her room (with him naked on the other side of the wall) was a worse choice than having to sit in her room and wait for him to finish.
"No French?"
"You're really rarin' to go on that, huh?"
He shrugged and grinned at her. "Well, seein' as y' professor's an idiot, 'm just gonna have t' take charge o' y' éducation française, oui?"
Rogue rolled her eyes. "Okay, Professeur LeBeau, do you want to hang out or focus on my education?"
He put his finger to his chin, playing at pondering. "Tough choice. On one hand, 'm sorry how did y' jus' pronounce that?" She swatted at him and he laughed as he continued. "On th' other...yeah, let's go hang out."
"Hang out?"
Rogue froze, realizing who exactly was behind them even before Kitty was suddenly right at her side, blue eyes gleaming with far too much excitement. "OMG, that's what we're doing! Right, Pete? We were gonna head to the family room to catch Chopped! Pete's never seen it before. Right, Pete?"
It was hard to not catch some of Kitty's enthusiasm, something Rogue was grateful for in the moment because she wasn't quite sure what she and Gambit would even do while hanging out at the Institute in the first place. He could probably think of things too, but it was the host's job to pick what they did, right?
She was struck with how bad she was at being friends with anyone outside of the Institute, not that she'd had much practice outside of … well. She guessed it wasn't as if Risty had actually counted as a friendship anyway in the end. Between Kitty's death grip on her waist (and Pete's wrist) they didn't have much choice but to follow along, but not having to worry about if Remy was enjoying whatever activity they'd picked took a lot of pressure off of Rogue.
She had just managed to pull Kitty's arm off her waist when she heard Remy's low voice in her ear from behind, making her jump again. "Didn't y' say she sucks at cookin'?"
"Jesus, Cajun! Do you have to do that every time?" How the hell was that man so silent? She looked quickly towards her former roommate, satisfied that the smaller girl was not watching how close the two southerners were in proximity, nor that she had heard what Remy said.
Remy bumped her shoulder with his own, a smirk firmly on his face as he chuckled, "Nah, but it's jus' too much fun watchin' you jump an' get all squeaky."
Rogue wrinkled her nose, honestly just trying to keep herself from smiling back, as she bumped him back lightly. "Whatever, Swamp Rat."
"I knew it." Kitty and Rogue were up at the front of the tv room, changing the tv settings and cords so they could access something other than one of the consoles the gaming enthusiasts constantly had hooked up.
"Knew what?" Rogue hissed back.
"Gambit was totally in our shower!"
Rogue did her best to not look back and make sure he hadn't heard their whispered conversation. "I don't know what you're talking about, Kit-"
Kitty rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You totally didn't let the cute guy that took you on a romantic, whirlwind trip use your shower after you paired up to work together in the Danger Room. Just like he definitely wasn't in your room last night after curfew."
"I- what? Romantic?- Kit, come on-that's not-" Rogue was not one to stutter, she felt, but this topic apparently was enough to make her do so. She looked over her shoulder, quickly, relieved to see Remy and Piotr seemed to be deep in their own conversation back on the couch.
"Right," Kitty answered back, looking entirely too smug for Rogue's liking.
"Do you actually need my help or did you just ask me to come over here to interrogate me?"
"Changing the subject, I see."
"Kit, shut up."
Her smile became all the more smug as she plugged in a cord and the tv sprung to life. Kitty stood up, grinning, and practically skipped back to sit in the empty chair beside Piotr. She immediately began playing with the remote and Rogue slowly stood to find a place to sit, eternally grateful when she realized Remy had vacated the chair he'd been in, now seated on the loveseat next to Pete, leaving her an armchair all to herself. She shot him what she hoped he knew was a grateful smile and was relieved when his lips worked upwards into a small smile back at her.
"Oh, what are we watching? Can we join?" Amidst settling into her chair, Rogue turned to see Jean, followed closely by Scott as she entered the room.
While Jean looked genuinely interested in joining in, the second Scott locked in on Remy's presence there was an immediate sour note coming from him. Remy, for his part, was not actively antagonizing Scott in that moment. After turning back to see who had spoken he'd pulled out some cards and began shuffling, a neutral look on his face. His expression wasn't so much bored or blank as it was carefully void of giving Scott a reaction.
The only reaction he really gave was the look she saw flash across his face when she turned back towards the tv as well, choosing to let Kitty jabber away about watching a cooking show and "sure! pull up a chair"; it felt like, to her, almost a mirror of the appreciation she'd sent his way minutes ago. He wasn't overtly thanking her, but he was thankful for some reason, she thought.
She wasn't turning away from Scott for him, but if it made Remy feel better or kept away those weird vibes he'd occasionally had when his face went similarly blank, she was glad her action was doing double duty. Truthfully, she didn't want to be near Scott at the moment.
He was her friend and he was a really good guy...it just was getting deeper and deeper down and harder to spot when so much pressure was on him to lead (even if a lot of the pressure was put on by himself). She felt for him in general and wanted to be there for him, but not after Danger Room sessions like today. It was just unfortunate that this was becoming more and more common.
She was worried that if she opened her mouth, she'd chew Scott out. Normally she had no issue with chewing anyone out, least of all Scott when he was acting like a douche, but she found herself trying to avoid it at the moment. She had a feeling if she did, it would only spark Remy into action as well and part of her (a lot of her) was curious what it would be like for them to have more than a few hours without the tension of the outside world disturbing the peace they'd made. Scott and Remy fighting would definitely disturb that.
Luckily, Kitty was there to do all the finagling and guiding of the situation and she soon had an episode up and streaming as Jean and Scott seated themselves on the loveseat to the other side of Kitty, who had plopped on the floor right in front of Piotr. There was a constant stream of chatter from Kitty that kept a lot of the awkwardness of the situation at bay.
Overall, it wasn't as uncomfortable as Rogue had thought it would be the second Scott and Jean had entered. In general, Scott kept to himself and really only addressed Jean, Kitty, and Rogue. Occasionally Pete. Remy, for his part, seemed to prefer that, spending most of his time playing a card game on the table in front of him while occasionally commenting back and forth with Pete, Kitty, and herself. It was almost normal, even though an immense amount of effort was being put in from multiple parties to keep it so chill. They all bantered back and forth, picking which contestant would win, but Rogue didn't find herself paying too much attention to the actual show on a whole, especially when her choice got out in the first round. She was more aware of how...nice?...it felt actually being a little social.
She'd hung around with everyone here before, with the exception of Pete, but something about this time just felt more...whole. She was actually relaxed and didn't feel any of her normal anxieties over worrying she'd bump into someone or that they'd think she was sitting too close or that she'd come off too blunt or not say enough. It was different to be in a larger group setting and feel as comfortable as she would with one or two people.
Even when some of the New Recruits came in and crowded the space, she didn't feel like there were so many people she couldn't breathe. Sometimes everyone was so used to being physically close while they interacted that the only safe option was for Rogue to back away. She didn't really have much of a choice but to stay usually, but it made most social gatherings incredibly uncomfortable. It was her power and her responsibility, but sometimes she did find herself deciding isolation was much easier than having to be the only one who was looking out for safety with her powers.
There wasn't much of an opportunity to move away anyway once the Newbies settled in. When everyone began piling into the room, before people had started to move themselves around and find seating, Remy had taken it upon himself to move from the couch next to Rogue to plop himself down in front of the chair she was curled up in, leaning back against it casually. He didn't speak much, but she did like that he was acting much more relaxed right now than he had in front of her since New Orleans. He would occasionally lean his head back, looking at her upside down as he would comment on the show or something someone had said. Even with his proximity, it didn't feel stifling. It just felt normal, even if she was still a little on edge about Remy and Scott being in the same room. Luckily, both guys were still ignoring each other's presence.
"Huh?" She looked down to meet Remy's eyes, having missed what he'd said to her due to her musings, his now dried hair brushing softly against her ankle as he let his head rest back on her chair's cushion. She could almost feel it through her tights.
He laughed softly before speaking again. "Was askin' what y' supposed t' do with a basket with dates and squid."
She found herself smiling down at him, unable to resist when she heard his joking tone, almost wanting to reach over and ruffle his hair. "Uhm. Chuck it all into a blender and call it deconstructed?"
He laughed again, louder this time, eyes never leaving hers. "Who knew y' was such an avant garde master chef, chère?"
"I don't know. You guys did a pretty great job on dinner last night-not much of a surprise to me," Jean shrugged.
Remy's eyes slid in Jean's direction, but his head stayed leaned back on Rogue's chair enough for her to see his cocky grin as he answered. "Thanks, p'tite."
"It was way better than having to order pizza for sure. You guys did a great job," Kitty cut in, grin wide as she looked towards Rogue and Remy.
"Wait, weren't you on dinner detail with Rogue last night, Kitty?" Scott added his voice for probably the first time to the group conversation.
"She was but Swamp Rat here helped me out instead. Kit had homework, right?" Rogue lied smoothly.
Kitty nodded in affirmative and grimaced for show. Rogue was impressed at her quick acting considering she'd never shown up in the first place. "Trig. Gambit was a real help stepping in for me so I didn't leave Rogue all on her lonesome."
"Not a problem, p'tite. Couldn't leave her t' cook on her lonesome when I have so many culinary talents t' offer, eh, chère?" He grinned up at her, tone teasing.
Before she could answer, a voice cut in. "Wait, what does that mean anyway?"
Remy's head turned with Rogue's towards Bobby as he answered. ""M a good chef?" She wasn't sure she would have noticed how warm his tone had sounded just seconds before until this moment when she heard the complete tonal shift in his answer to Bobby. It wasn't cold, per say, just lacking the energy it'd had seconds before.
"Not that. Whatever it is you called Rogue. Shah or whatever."
""S jus' what I call her sometimes."
"Yeah, but what does it mean?"
"Does it matter?" Kitty cut in, a frown firmly on her lips.
"Not really. Just weird to hear someone have a cutesy nickname for Rogue like that. She's just...Rogue."
That mentality wasn't anything new to Rogue. Remy, she could tell, was not liking Bobby's train of thought. She could hear the frown in his voice and his drawl became all the thicker. "What, she cain't have nicknames like everyone else?"
"Well, yeah she can, but - "
"But what?" Jean asked, making Rogue continue to feel steadily like the center of the conversation and thus everyone's attention.
"But he called you and Kitty 'petite' and called Rogue something else. Why would Rogue have a special nickname?"
Rogue knew it wasn't her imagination when she saw the muscles at the base of Remy's neck tighten.
Jean answered quickly, trying her best to play the peacemaker. "Is there a reason she shouldn't?"
"Well I don't know. It just sounds like...maybe it's because it's French sounding, but it sounds like something you'd call a girlfriend like babe or whatever and the other one doesn't. Geeze, it's just a question."
Rogue knew she was blushing and tried to keep her gaze and expression steady. If she were better at French, she'd probably know and be able to end this debate once and for all.
"And what, Rogue couldn't ever be someone's girlfriend?" Kitty asked, annoyance seeping into her tone. For someone so central to the conversation at hand, Rogue hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise.
"Well…" Bobby froze for a second, eyes looking around the room. It wasn't silent, the show was still on and Tabby was still talking to Ray and Sam about something or other, but still too many people were tuned in to this conversation for Rogue's liking. "But. That's not what I mean it's just...it's Rogue?" When no one responded or agreed with him, Bobby continued on, in true Bobby fashion. "C'mon, guys. You know what I mean."
"What exactly is it, y' mean?" If Remy's voice hadn't been cold before, it was now.
"I don't mean it like that. It's just like...it's different with her."
"Says who?" Kitty countered.
"Says who's going to try to date someone who can't touch. No offense, Rogue." Well. At least he had the decency to say that. This wasn't a new thing for Rogue to hear and she knew he was right. It sucked to be reminded of (especially in front of so many people), she couldn't be offended by the truth, she reasoned as she shrugged half heartedly.
"Look, I call Rogue chère because I call her chère. Ain't nothin' else to it." The annoyance in Remy's tone was evident, and she knew for sure she was also hearing the beginning of boredom over Bobby not just letting it go.
"Why not call Jean and Kitty that too then?"
If she could see his face, Rogue imagined Remy was rolling his eyes as he shrugged. "B'cause she is and they aren't. Simple." For all the nonchalance of his body language, his voice still gave away that he was annoyed and very tired of Bobby's choice in conversation. If this conversation could be good for one thing, at least she now knew she could easily identify annoyance and boredom in the Swamp Rat.
"Are you calling your friends sometimes 'bro'?" Piotr suddenly cut in, the first he'd spoken in a while. His voice was calm, but it was strong enough to get everyone's attention.
Bobby looked confused. "Well...yeah?"
"But sometimes they are not bro. They are dude."
"Sure."
"It is like this. Rogue is called one thing and others different and this is okay."
"Yeah, Bobby. You don't need to be a douche," Kitty followed, hands on her hips.
That seemed to mostly settle the conversation from there. At least Bobby only had a weak response (I said 'no offense!'), and everyone else was clearly not going to answer him back, if that was any indication to how done the topic was. Quickly, everyone's attention turned back to the show: everyone seemed to either be watching Rogue out of the corner of their eyes very closely or trying to act normal and not look at her.
All except Remy.
He had gone oddly quiet once Pete had begun speaking. He didn't seem angry, but still she could tell he was annoyed by the way he was cutting his deck of cards quickly, over and over, almost mechanically in nature. She wasn't sure anyone but her or Pete saw it really, but his annoyance was there.
He wasn't turned back, watching her face carefully to gauge her reaction, but all the same she felt like he, along with several others, were waiting to see how she would react. It was ridiculous, but she felt like her face was put on a gigantic billboard and everyone was watching her and only her. Rogue looked down at her hands quickly and then back up at the tv screen, trying to signal she didn't care about Bobby's stupid questions to not only the entire room (including Remy) but also herself.
"I said what I said!"
Rogue found herself chucking a pillow from her bed at Remy's face, only serving to make him laugh harder (although she'd hoped the pillow would have muffled him some).
"Swamp Rat!"
He laughed even harder and she had to fight to not give in and laugh with him, already forgetting what she'd even initially said in the first place. It was hard not to when he laughed like that, even if she knew Kitty could probably hear them. It was a nice laugh, a rich baritone with a big smile and eyes crinkled at the corner attached to it. There wasn't much else she could do than give in and let herself laugh along with him, even if she knew Kitty could probably hear them from her room, although Rogue did manage to roll her eyes in the process.
She probably shouldn't laugh (it would only encourage him) but all the same she couldn't really help it, she told herself. Not when he'd scared the shit out of her: the Acolytes hadn't joined them for the morning Danger Room session (and she could see why after yesterday's debacle, although a very small part of her had woken up hoping Scott hadn't run them out yesterday), so she'd nearly jumped out of her skin when she'd walked back in her room after the session and Remy had been just sitting there apparently waiting for her to get back as he lounged on her bed reading a book.
"Whatever, Swamp Rat. I need to shower. You can have friend time after." She pulled her leg and chest armor off (as well as her belt) and then began grabbing for a fresh set of clothing before heading towards the bathroom, refusing to look at him and making sure to not let him see how nervous the concept of showering with him on the other side of the wall made her. But if he could be so calm about it, she could act like she was too, right?
"Y' need help with that?"
She resisted the urge to push his face out of the bathroom like a five year old and opted instead to fix him with a glare and put her hands behind her neck to start unzipping. "Got it just fine on my own, Cajun. You gonna get out of here or not?"
Remy's eyebrows were raised and his eyes were locked on to her hands at the back of her neck where she was very slowly unzipping her uniform as steadily as she could without making herself look like an idiot. She saw his tongue dart out and wet his bottom lip before he smirked and took a step into the bathroom, leaning against the door frame. "That supposed to make me leave?"
She frowned, almost dropping her hands from her zipper as she suddenly didn't feel as comfortable with the game she'd started anymore. Why didn't he get how dangerous being around her was? Did he just not care because he thought their friendship was worth it, for some reason? Or did he just not care about the risk because he was a risk taker who had no regard for his own safety, to the point of not caring about himself at all? "Most people who don't want to accidentally end up in a coma would, yeah."
His smirk widened and he leaned in towards her slightly, arms crossed tightly over his chest and voice low; warm and husky like honey and spices. "'M not most people, chère." In the brightness of the bathroom, the red of his eyes had become so small it looked like his eyes had been very recently dilated, like at the eye doctor. She found herself copying his previous action and wetting her own bottom lip.
She cleared her throat and leaned back from him, face hot and feeling grateful when he immediately backed away as well, although he didn't retreat as far as she had.
"I'm not zippin' further until you get your ass out of here." She narrowed her eyes at him as she readjusted her arms to grab the zipper from behind her back between her shoulder blades now that it was low enough from the other angle, but refused to move the zipper further down her back.
He grinned and held up his hands in mock surrender as he backed out slowly. "Y' drive a hard bargain, chère, but a man knows when to admit defeat."
"You gonna close the door?"
"Depends. This count as 'out of here' enough f' y' t' keep unzippin'?"
"Depends. You want to put yourself more at risk for a coma?"
"Well, I have been overdue f' one," he said, putting a mock thoughtful expression on his face.
"Overdue my ass. Shut the door, LeBeau."
He grinned widely this time and another laugh escaped him. "Yes, ma'am," he said as he gave a salute and pulled the door closed, finally leaving her the privacy to finish getting out of her uniform and take her shower.
She finished stripping quickly and began running the water. Before she jumped in she couldn't resist yelling over her shoulder through the door "And no peeking!" and she was gratified to be met with another peal of laughter through the door.
She shook her head and rolled her eyes again. If nothing else, he kept things interesting. It was hard to predict what he was going to say or do sometimes, she thought to herself as she began lathering soap over her body. She cleaned herself quickly and maybe scrubbed harder than necessary, although she couldn't scrub away the image her brain supplied of Remy in her shower barely 12 hours ago. She knew what he looked like with his shirt off now for sure, so it wasn't a big leap to suddenly imagine him in the shower with her; short hair plastered to his head under the nozzle, eyelashes sticking together from the water, and worst of all the image of soap and water running down his strong shoulders to his chest to his washboard abs and down further and further to - SHIT.
Rogue hurriedly scrubbed herself wishing for once there was a psyche in her head to distract her from thinking about Remy naked in her shower. She was a little worried she especially couldn't get the image out of her head. She got out of the shower in record time and threw her clothes on quickly, deciding mixing Remy and the shower was a terrible idea and it might be safest if he was no longer allowed in her shower or her room while she was showering. Picturing anyone naked felt like a lot for the girl who might only ever have visuals to offer or enjoy with someone in the future. What else was she really able to offer someone without compromising their safety? The whole thing felt infinitely bigger considering it was technically now her friend she was picturing, not a boyfriend or something. She definitely should not be stuck on this like she was.
She fluffed her hair in her towel as she exited the bathroom, finding Remy still sitting on her bed, but looking at his phone now instead of the book he'd previously been absorbing. He looked up at her, an absent smile on his face. "Looks like friend time might have to go on hold until after y' finish school."
She raised an eyebrow at him, looking for clarification.
"Got a text for a team meetin' I gotta head to in a few."
She shrugged. "Not much time in the mornin' anyway. Probably for the best."
He laughed softly. "True. Well..." he paused for a second as he stood to walk towards the door before turning back to her, an unexpectedly soft look on his face as he did so. "Don't think I've ever said this b'fore, but...have a good day at school?"
She smiled at him, feeling incredibly ridiculous at the same time as very natural and genuine in response to the way he was looking at her. "Have a good day at work, Swamp Rat."
He left quickly and she set about the rest of her morning routine, getting ready for school quickly so she had a chance to get to breakfast before Kurt swiped the last bagel.
It was weird. Sometimes their conversation clearly showed how little they'd actually interacted with each other in the scheme of things. There were pauses and stumbling over words that were familiar from her early days at the institute, but had long since passed with many of the X men who had been around the longest. To be fair, they hadn't actually seen much of each other even if it occasionally felt like she'd known him for ages, despite his disappearance. Really some of their New Orleans trip shouldn't fully count towards that time learning each other either since he'd been pushing an agenda-not just talking to her. He'd always seemed so comfortable when talking that even when he did falter over something a little (unexpected, although probably explainable, even if she didn't know the explanation. She was picking up that something had altered his confidence a little in his time away, even if she didn't know what it was) he always made a smooth recovery. Potentially if he hadn't lived in her head for a bit she wouldn't notice it in the first place. In the end, it was there enough that Rogue knew she wasn't the only one stepping over egg shells while they figured each other out.
But other times, conversation, even when the situation or topic was completely unfamiliar to both of them (like a casual "have a good day" in the morning) flowed so freely and comfortably. Maybe it was because she knew their respective pasts had shaped them in similar molds: if it was foreign to her alone she felt almost lost and inadequate. But for the first time, when talking with Remy, Rogue felt like maybe she was on an even playing field with someone in a way that made a huge difference for her. If he was uncomfortable or new at this too (whatever the amount or reason) she didn't feel so self conscious. Even when she felt unsure what the right thing to say, she wasn't the only one wading in new waters here.
If you'd asked her even two days ago what would happen if Remy LeBeau came back to Bayville, "save my life, apologize for kidnapping me, basically ask for us to hang out and be friends, cook dinner for the institute with me, goof off and watch a cooking show with the X men, and show up to say good morning" would have been so far off her list. Maybe "fight me" or "ignore me" or even "kidnap me again", but then again this was Remy LBeau she was overanalyzing here. His name was basically synonymous with (among other things) unexpected.
She laughed to herself and was surprised that when she looked back at her own face in the mirror, the slight pink on her cheeks didn't mortify her or make her want to retreat to a safe place with no emotions. Instead she just realized it kind of made her look happy.
It wasn't a bad look.
Rogue was proud of herself when, after she'd finished school and trudged up to her room (relieved today was Scott's busy day at college so she was officially free of the Danger Room) and opened her door to find a Cajun lounging on her bed reading again, she didn't jump at all.
It was odd how it almost felt normal to see him there waiting for her after school. It had been such a short time he'd been at the Institute, but still it had been enough time that she knew he would potentially be in her room when she got back from school. Probably because he didn't have much else better to do at the Institute.
She entered, dropping her bookbag down by the door as she closed it, and he looked up from his book, smiling.
"Better not have your shoes on my bed, Cajun."
He laughed as he sat up and the entire absurdness of the situation made her stomach flip. Who would have thought she'd ever come home from school to find a friend (let alone a guy friend) (let alone a guy friend who was looking at her with a smile so different from his normal smirk) waiting in her room. On her bed. "Wouldn't dream of it, chère. Tante Mattie didn't raise no savage."
She had bent down and begun digging out the homework she needed done for tomorrow, but took a second to look up at him curiously. She hadn't heard him ever speak of an aunt or mother figure, only Jean-Luc. "Tante Mattie?"
She straightened and quirked an eyebrow at him, when he didn't respond. He looked frozen for a second, gaze somewhere off by her hips. Remy cleared his throat and scooched over on her bed to make room for her to settle in as he spoke. "She's part of th' family. Took over raising m' brother an' I from Jean Luc as often as she could."
Rogue nodded, intrigued to hear more about his family while trying to hide said intrigue. They were such a mystery-even when he'd been in her head, he'd been very careful to keep her out of everything involving his family and their secrets. She'd picked up some basic information about the Thieves Guild, but she'd gotten the feeling whatever information his psyche could keep from her, he did.
"Don't know much about your brother. Outside of the bad haircut experience, that is," She did her best to sound nonchalant, but she couldn't help her curiosity as she sat herself down next to him and spread her papers out, trying to also decide what she needed to work on first. After how his psyche had kept her from everything, she was honestly surprised when he answered her so smoothly.
"Henri. He's probably a couple years older," he said, mostly absently.
She hummed, not wanting to give him any reason to become skittish over sharing information. That's how she usually felt the second she said anything to someone else anyway. She pulled out her French homework sheet, figuring she did have the advantage of someone who spoke the language at that moment. She wouldn't if she saved it for after lights out.
"What we got t'day?" He leaned in closer to her to look and she was glad she'd chosen to wear her green ensemble that day-the mesh covering every inch of her shoulders and arms helped comfort her in the knowledge that he wasn't about to accidentally brush her when he leaned in so close. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination freaking out over all the terrible things that could go wrong, or just simply her discomfort from never really being so physically close to someone, but she swore she could feel the corner of his t-shirt brush against the mesh of her sleeve.
"Still rairin' to help me with my French?"
"Whatever French y'need, I'm y' man, chère."
His words were like lightning. Rogue wasn't entirely sure why that sounded so dirty to her. It wasn't like the guy was trying to joke about anything close to french kissing. Just...French. No kissing.
Shit. She never should have let him in her shower last night. It was seriously messing with her head. In no way should she be thinking about kissing outside of her books-even in the context of a joke. Let alone kissing in conjunction with her friend. Her friend who, she had just found out, was very aesthetically pleasing with his shirt off...
Luckily, the source of all her confusion was apparently very ready to distract her from said confusion. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders, sitting up even taller as he leaned over her shoulder even more. If the guy leaned any further his head was going to be way too close to resting on her shoulder. But if he could be comfortable next to a death trap...she could try too, right? That was apparently now her mantra, recognizing she'd thought it many times since Remy had come back.
His arm settled behind her, resting on the edge of the mattress as he leaned against the wall and reached for her paper to turn it slightly in his direction to read. Fuck, he was so warm. How was it he could radiate this much heat over to her without physically touching her? It was not good. Her heart wasn't beating fast, per say, but it certainly was beating as hard as it could.
Feeling slightly at a loss for words, flustered by how close he was (maybe she should tell him her personal bubble was bigger than he thought) (maybe he was forgetting how uncontrollable her powers were) (maybe he was stupidly not caring about the risk he was taking), Rogue took what she hoped was a very subtle calming breath. "This week's mostly vocabulary. I just gotta know how to spell 'em."
He turned his face toward hers and when she copied his motion, they were so close she could feel his breath on her lips, hot and slow. She looked down at his nose and then back into his eyes, which she found were locked onto hers. Instantaneously she felt like a dumb sixteen year old taking an exploding card from a random guy in a crate yard. Something about the way he was looking at her didn't make her feel so dumb though, which in and of itself was a weird feeling.
They both jumped as her door flung open hard enough for her to expect it to be disconnected from the hinges and one of Remy's arms immediately pushed her behind it while the other grabbed whatever he could, charging it immediately (her homework apparently...would her teacher accept "my friend blew up my papers" as as an excuse for not finishing it?).
Rogue groaned when she saw who was there, slumping back against the wall. "Ever heard of knocking?"
"I did. Not my fault you didn't hear me, Stripes."
Remy immediately relaxed and uncharged her homework, putting it back on the bed. She wasn't sure which Logan was going to hate more: her moving Remy's arm from in front of her, or her just leaving it there.
It probably didn't matter at the moment, because Logan's attention was solely on Gambit as he stalked closer to the bed. "Alright, how'd you get in here, bub."
"Through the door."
Rogue wanted to smack her face at Remy's answer. She moved his arm and sat up on her knees, deciding that might be the safest course of action at the moment.
"I know I didn't see you go down the girls hallway when everyone got home, Gumbo. Try again."
Remy did something then that Rogue wasn't sure anyone outside of Kitty and herself had ever gotten away with: he rolled his eyes.
Well. It was nice having a friend for the time it had lasted…
"Musta missed me."
"I don't miss anything, Cajun."
Before Remy could dig himself in even deeper, she cut in. "I asked him for help with my French homework, Logan. He's here cause I asked him to be. The library was crowded so I said my room was fine."
Remy's expression was entirely too smug as he gestured towards her homework.
Miracle of all miracles, Logan looked back and forth between their faces, landing on hers for an extremely long moment before he let out a frustrated sigh instead of murdering the Acolyte before him. "Look, Stripes, there's a certain talk you didn't get when you moved in here - "
Her face immediately felt like it was on fire and she could only imagine what Remy would be thinking. "Logan, you are not gonna - ," he held up his hand for her to stop, effectively cutting her off.
" - about doors needing to be open if someone comes to visit your room." He shot a glare at Remy. "Wide open, bub. Got it?"
Remy shrugged in agreement but remained silent, looking entirely too relaxed for someone who just earned an incredibly high spot on Logan's "Most Wanted" list. Rogue nodded quickly, gulping and wanting this to be over as soon as possible so she could curl up in her sock drawer and sleep for days.
"And no sittin' on the bed together. One of you at the desk or on the floor at all times. Got it?"
"Loud and clear," Remy replied, somehow managing to sound incredibly calm with Logan glaring at him.
"And that best be the only French you're teaching her, bub. Got it?"
Rogue felt a burst of frustration run through her and she fought to not roll her eyes, suddenly feeling very much like a teenager who got in trouble for messing around with her boyfriend, not someone doing homework with their friend. It made her feel like he was treating her like a kid. She knew he didn't trust any of the Acolytes (Remy in specific because of the kidnapping) but this all felt a little overkill. "We got it, Logan." She grabbed her French homework and plopped herself down on the floor next to the bed, resisting the urge to cross her arms and glare up at her mentor. Instead she grabbed a pencil and a book to put under her paper and began writing her name on the top of her worksheet.
Logan looked between the two of them a few times more and looked like he had more he wanted to say. He seemed to still be in a silent glaring match with Remy, communicating what Rogue would never guess, she assumed. Whatever it was, Logan grumbled something about "you better" before turning around and stomping out the door, making sure to kick it open even more on his way out.
There was a moment of silence after Logan left the room and just as Rogue was about to try to crack a joke to try to lighten the moment, she heard Remy reposition himself so he was laying on his stomach on the bed, long arm hanging over the edge while he rested his chin on his other to the side of her head.
"Thought Wolverine was supposed t' be scarier than that." Immediately, it almost felt like Logan had never come in the room. All the tension was gone and all Rogue could think is that only Remy LeBeau would survive an encounter with Wolverine and decide it wasn't scary enough. She looked up at him to reply and he turned his head towards her, a curious expression on his face. "Y' really never had th' 'keep the door open' chat b'fore?"
She snorted and looked away, trying to start filling out what she could of her worksheet. "It's not like there's much reason to with me, is there?"
She heard him shift above her and his right hand grabbed her own, stilling her pencil mid word. "Why do all of y' talk like that here?"
She sighed and turned to look at him and almost laughed at the fact that his face was almost just as close as it had been before Logan had interrupted. "Look, it's not an 'oh poor me' thing. Just...a reality. I'm not exactly able to do anything adults worry about, closed door or not."
He frowned and for a split second out of the corner of her eye she swore she saw his eyes dip down near her cleavage, which he now had a very convenient view of from his position (especially in her current attire-her tank didn't do much to cover her under the mesh). But again, why would he have been looking? It's like she'd just said; why look when you could never touch?
His hand didn't let go of hers and she was surprised at how naturally it seemed to fit around hers. "Don't know why y'd think that, chèrie."
"Probably because by the time I figure out my mutation I'm gonna be an old spinster," she tried to joke.
"Just b'cause y' power ain't in control, don't mean y' won't be able t' do everything y' want in life. Y' just gotta get a little creative, ma chère ," he said, his voice so soft, so full of warmth, so actually positive she could eventually figure her mutation out that it almost made her want to cry. Everyone told her she could do it or she could figure out a way to live semi-normally, but Remy said it with so much more confidence than anyone else ever had. It was weird for her to hear for so many different reasons.
He took his hand off hers and pointed to the second word she'd filled in on the worksheet. "Close, but switch th' o and th' e." And just like that he'd seamlessly moved them into safer waters.
She nodded and erased, following his instruction and slowly they began to laugh and joke again as she worked herself down the sheet. He occasionally threw out bullshit level long answers, requesting that she please just write it under the right answer. No matter how she argued that she wasn't looking to piss of her French teacher, he still made them both laugh every time.
"Glad I could help y' t'day. Might not have time tomorrow," he said, looking at her paper seriously over her shoulder still. It was so out of the blue and random. Rogue felt her forehead wrinkle in confusion.
She turned to look at him and his gaze shifted from the paper to her eyes. "Might not be able to for a little while." She surprised herself when she felt her heart drop in her chest, realizing he was probably trying to tell her something about his work without actually telling her. It made sense. They had agreed to keep work and their friendship separate so it wasn't like he was going to tell her anything outright, even if he could.
He was watching her closely for a reaction and seemed satisfied when she nodded in response and looked back at her paper. "I'll be waitin' t' hear y' grade though. Soon." She nodded again, almost worried at how much relief she felt when he said that.
She cracked a grin, doing her best to not let her disappointment that he was going somewhere show. "I'll be waitin' to tell you my teacher's response to me writin' that," she said as she pointed to the one bullshit sentence she had agreed to write in at the bottom of her sheet. "Got a feeling she's not gonna like me tellin' her my friend says the grammar in her directions sucks."
He laughed, a playful smile on his face as she felt him shrug from behind her on the bed. "If she gets t' give you an F for my perfect French, I get t' grade her bad grammar. Y' sure y' don't wanna try sayin' it again?"
She wrinkled her nose. "Didn't sound right when I did it."
"Y' gonna let that stop you?"
She frowned, but almost lost it when she turned to see his grin grow even wider. "...No."
"Good. Now say it after me: 'Mon ami dit que vos instruction ne sont pas grammaticalement correctes'."
"Well, I can't repeat it that fast!" She almost threw her arms up in frustration, to which she got to hear him laugh; loud, rich, and real.
"Okay, okay. Smaller phrases. 'Mon petit ami…'"
"Mon ami is friend though, right? That's not what you had me write down?" She looked down at her paper in confusion before looking up at him, surprised to see a similar pause in his expression akin to confusion before he waved her off and that quick moment seemed like nothing. Had she looked up a second later, she probably wouldn't have even seen it. Not that she had any idea what "it" was.
He smiled down at her, moving on apparently, and tapped her hair above her forehead (definitely not explaining any further-something almost she wanted to point out because how was she supposed to learn like that?). He simply repeated himself and waited for her to follow. She rolled her eyes, unable to stop a grin from overtaking her frown as she slowly repeated him.
When she awoke the next morning, it was not to her alarm or just gradually waking up. It was instead to the sound of Kitty shouting from the bathroom, incomprehensible at first. Rogue rubbed her eyes, and groaned trying to remember words.
"Rogue, there's no Danger Room! The professor called us down to the meeting room."
"Uniforms?" she asked blearily once she made her way to the bathroom door, opening it slightly to hear Kitty better.
"I'm just brushing my teeth, you can come in."
With the all clear given, Rogue opened the door fully and leaned against the door frame, almost like Remy had done the night beforehand. In her morning state, she couldn't control that she flushed at the thought of Remy in conjunction with the bathroom. She definitely did not need to think about that. Especially in front of Kitty, who seemed weirdly interested in figuring out why Remy was around Rogue so often.
"No uniforms. He said school clothes and then told me you weren't responding to his message so I should wake you up."
Rogue grunted and nodded in response and grabbed her own toothbrush.
"You're not normally this tired unless you didn't sleep well," Kitty said softly, big blue eyes watching Rogue carefully.
Rogue frowned quickly, saddened. Of everyone in the mansion, Kitty was the one who had suffered the most from Rogue's lack of sleep and constant nightmares from everyone (especially while Apocalypse was running wild), yet she was normally among the first to check in and make sure she was okay even with their new rooming situation. Kitty shouldn't have to worry after her. She tried her best to keep the nightmares at bay, but many, many nights she had kept them both up, unable to sleep. Despite her best efforts, Kitty always knew when she'd had a rough night.
"I'm good. Just slept deep. Really good, actually. Don't normally sleep so sound." Having finished brushing her teeth, she grabbed a brush to swipe through her hair. She met Kitty's eyes in the mirror, still worried-very aware Rogue wasn't often comfortable admitting when she had nightmares. She let her voice soften as she finished. "Promise, Kit."
A smile quickly overtook Kitty's face, a sing-song tone to her voice. "Was it Gambit keeping you up?"
Rogue rolled her eyes. "He was helping me with my French homework and he left before lights out. That's literally all the details there are."
"That totally means there's more details! Spill!"
"We have to get to the meeting."
"You can spill on the way."
"Kit, there's nothin' to spill. We hung out, he helped me with my French, he left."
Kitty huffed as they began walking towards the elevator, grumbling to herself. "Nothing to spill, my ass. What guy who's clearly not in high school himself is going to take the time to help a girl out with her homework and that really be the only thing that happens?"
"R-Gambit, that's who. Especially with me."
Kitty rolled her eyes back. "Bobby's an idiot, you know that right?"
They stepped onto the elevator and Kitty pressed in the code to take them to the lower level. "What does that have to do with Gambit helping me with my French homework?"
Kitty looked back at her, an incredulous expression on her face. She was silent a moment before she smiled at Rogue softly. "Nothing. I just didn't get to tell you yesterday."
"Random, much?"
Kitty shrugged. "Do you think the Acolytes'll be there?"
Rogue shrugged. "Not sure. Hard to know if Magneto'd want them there when we don't know what the meeting's about." But probably not, she thought to herself, starting to get a feeling in her gut that whatever Remy had been talking around yesterday had happened.
The elevator dinged and the two girls exited, making their way to the meeting room quickly. The entire senior team, as well as the Professor, Logan, Beast, and Storm were all there, apparently waiting on them. No Acolytes in sight.
"Ah, good. You're here. Time to begin," the Professor said as they walked up to the group. "You may be wondering where Magnus and his team are."
"Not particularly," Scott grumbled, but shut up quickly after that.
"It appears my old friend and I are in a disagreement over the best way to stop Trask. We agree capture is the best plan, however the method is where we have found a problem. He and his team left late last night after I made it clear I would not stand by his decision to put civilian lives in danger to capture Trask, even if it would ultimately keep all of us safe."
"He really wants to let people get hurt?" Kurt said, clearly at least a little appalled by the concept.
The Professor pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, as if trying to put off a headache. "He seems to think no one would actually get hurt, however I have deemed the risk is too large. We will find a solution another way without potentially putting innocent people in danger."
"But, Professor, what if the Acolytes get to Trask before we do?" They all looked around at each other nervously, waiting for his response.
The Professor sighed heavily. "We will just have to do our best to keep that from happening. I have already called in to school to excuse you all for at least today so we can be ready at a moment's notice. I want all of you carrying your communicators and on alert unless Logan, Hank, Ororo or I say otherwise, are we clear? Now. I want you all to eat so you're ready to go. No waiting because you're not currently hungry-trouble could strike at any moment."
They nodded and Rogue frowned to herself. What would happen if they did have to stop the Acolytes? Could she really separate her friendship from Remy enough to do whatever the Professor asked? Would he do the same for Magneto? She'd known this was coming, but she had hoped it wouldn't come so soon. Maybe after they were a little more sure about how to navigate their friendship through smaller work time situations. She grabbed her communicator off the charger and followed Jean to the elevator to go grab breakfast.
Rogue sighed and flopped onto her bed face first. She guessed she hadn't needed to do her homework last night, although it was probably just as well done so she didn't have to worry about it later. Well. Maybe she should go downstairs with everyone else. She was still exhausted, but if she remained around another team member, she would be sure to wake up then. Coming upstairs was probably a waste of time, outside of grabbing her uniform.
She pushed herself off her bed and as she did so noticed something that didn't feel quite like sheets under her pillow.
She pushed her hair back off her face as she grabbed whatever it was and pulled it out. Once she did, she found herself fighting a smile, feeling warmth course from her cheeks to her toes. A card.
She flipped it over and was unsurprised to find it was another Queen of Hearts, but was surprised to see he'd written on this one again; what she was pretty sure was his number followed by 'in case you lost it'.
She grabbed her phone quickly and double checked if it was the same number he'd given her previously, only to find she already had a text waiting from that number with just a winky face. She rolled her eyes, but still smiled. What a dork.
She texted back, taking a few seconds to decide the right thing to say without revealing information she couldn't before settling on just a normal smiley face.
Almost immediately he responded, a simple wide grinning smiley face.
She snorted. Yeah, he was definitely a dork. To be fair, he probably didn't have much time to send more than that though, if Magneto was moving as fast with his plan as she guessed he would. But also Remy LeBeau was still kind of a gigantic, emoji using texter, something that both did and didn't surprise her. Rogue grinned and went to the contact information to save him in.
It hadn't felt quite right before, saving his number on her phone. For one, she'd known it probably wasn't something people had unless he specifically wanted, but Hank had recently created a program to secure each of their phones so they were not only backed up to a secure server, but also incredibly safe to keep any private mutant information on even if the government came knocking. Between explosions and government task forces constantly beating down their door, it was something they'd been begging Hank to do for a while. Between Hank and Forge (although Rogue really did not like using anything Forge had created what with her previous experiences with the teen's creations), they'd finally managed to do it.
Beyond that, when Remy had basically ghosted her she'd been too annoyed and confused to even consider it (why give her the number if he didn't want to be in the loop?).
She hesitated, unsure of what to save him as. "Gambit" felt too impersonal now (and gave him away should anything go wrong technology wise). "Remy" felt too personal still. Just using his last name sounded stupid, as did his full name. She smiled and snickered to herself, having found the perfect solution. She quickly typed in "Swamp Rat" before saving. That should work for now.
She grinned.
Yeah, that definitely should work for now.