DISCLAIMER: I own nothing here and that's just the way it is.
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~Scarlet Letter ~
A Rude Awakening.
He was woken rather rudely by the sensation of being lifted up by the neck and slammed into the wall. Naturally, this meant that the actual process of waking up was much faster than it otherwise would have been and required no other stimulus to fulfil itself. Even with it being clearly far too early in the morning and his windpipe being severely compromised, he managed to free himself effectively from the frankly terrifying monster seemingly bent on murdering him by smashing his elbow into his face. Falling to the floor he rolled away from the angry beast towards his neatly folded clothing and delved into a pocket for his cards. Three charged and ready to go, he surveyed the scene. It was at that point he realised that Rogue had been shrieking profanities and statements involving invasion of privacy and grievous consequences as a result thereof. He caught the name Logan before he properly registered that the person who had so unconventionally woken him and whom he was now fully prepared to battle was indeed the infamous Wolverine. And he looked to be rather upset.
"- Gawd, Logan, what the hell d' ya think you're doin'?! Ah swear y'all are gonna be sorry if ya don' stop this righ' now!"
Logan attempted to get a word in edgeways, but she'd risen and was now standing between the two men, eyes blazing and looking about ready to drain them both dry.
"Then you mind telling me what in Sam Hill that piece of – "
"Logan!"
"- is doing in your room?" the teacher snarled, and Remy winced.
He'd seen what Wolverine was capable of, just as he'd seen what the rather less human Sabertooth was capable of, and he had to say he was fed up with clawed things attacking him, even if he hadn't ever been bested by his former fellow Acolyte. That said, that particular clawed thing hadn't ever had personal reason to attack him. Wolverine looked precisely like a father come home to find his virginal daughter in bed with some unworthy scoundrel. Remy considered this.
Assuming that Rogue was indeed as pure as the snow her skin resembled and that he himself would have to own the title of Unworthy Scoundrel Of The Year, about the only thing wrong with the scenario was that he hadn't actually been in bed with her. Hell, he hadn't been in any bed at all. He'd been on the floor next to her bed. He realised the injustice quite suddenly.
"He slept here!"
"He what –"
"We met at mah concert an' Ah asked him t' come back here with me! What the hell is the problem, it's not like we were even in the same bed!"
"That's not the point –"
"That's totally the point!"
"What did you think you were doing inviting an ex-Acolyte to your room to sleep over anyway? I've taught you better than that!"
"Aw, c'mon! Lahke Magneto isn't over here almost every day t' have tea and crumpets with the Professor? Don't give me that –"
Helpless to do anything and rather wishing he was wearing his trousers, Remy stood there watching the increasingly heated verbal exchange and couldn't help but feel unfairly treated. There was no way he could have done anything to Rogue even had they both wanted to, nothing had happened at all, and this was what you got for being a gentleman?
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'Logan! Rogue! Stop this immediately!'
Remy heard the voice of the Professor and thanked the Gods.
"Charles, she –"
"Professor, he –"
'This has gone far enough! Both of you, stop. Logan, join me downstairs please. Rogue, Gambit, if you'd care to join us when you're dressed?'
"But Charles –"
"Alright Professor," Rogue said quickly, with a pointed look at her misfit guardian angel, and the big man retracted his claws and moved towards the door.
"Fine. But this ain't over Bub-" he said with a pointed glare at Remy
" - and you'd better not be anywhere near her when she's –"
"Logan!" shrieked the irate teenage girl, and Remy was slightly amused to see even the great Wolverine get the hell outta Dodge.
"Argh!" she rounded on him. He decided it best to grovel shamelessly.
"Chere, je suis tres, tres desolé," he said sincerely,
"Dis is not y'r fault, Remy will take de blame," he added, hoping to God she'd calm down and that he wouldn't be forced to take a hasty swan dive out of the window.
"It's not your faul', Remy, it's mahne, Ah should've known Ah can't do anythang without them kickin' up a fuss over nothing!" she said, clearly still very angry, and he took a step towards her and brushed wayward strands of white out of her line of vision.
"Chere, tu est tres magnifique when y're angry..." he teased, and she sighed and let go of the frown creasing her brow.
"Ah'm sorry y' had t' wake up lahke that," she said apologetically, and he shrugged and smiled.
"Remy been woken up a lot worse over de years, ma chere, don' worry. Go get dressed an' we'll go straighten out dis little misunderstanding, hein?"
She smiled and turned on her heel, disappearing into the bathroom and leaving him to pull on last night's trousers and his ever-trusty trench coat. The cards he had been holding in his hand while being 'woken' he procured seemingly out of thin air, nothing but playing cards once more, devoid of kinetic energy of any kind, and placed them with their deck in an inside pocket. This was going to be tres interessante...
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The Professor was awaiting them with a longsuffering expression on his face. He'd heard Logan's seemingly endless rant on the subject of Gambit and Rogue's night together which hardly seemed an appropriate way to describe what had happened, and he was feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. Logan was now slumped against the wall beside him having finally calmed down a little and was restricting himself to mutterings on the subject of how long they were taking to come downstairs. Charles ignored him. He had to wonder at the 'chance encounter' that had taken place at the concert. Rogue was obviously free to go where she pleased and see whom she wished, but this was a young man who had abducted her and used her for his own ends, whose profession was to deal in lies and deception, even theft. It did not sit well with him that Gambit came back to Bayville and the first person to meet him was Rogue. It seemed too orchestrated. Even if it wasn't intentional, why was he even back in the first place? What errand could he possibly have here? Perhaps he was there on some personal business and if so, Charles preferred to know as little as possible about it, but there was still the matter of him coming into contact with their Rogue. And her inviting him back home with her to spend the night in her room.
Charles was no fool, he knew full well what his teenage students got up to at times, but he also knew that for this particular student too much negative emotion was still tied up in the fact that she wasn't free to do any of the things the others could. He simply couldn't imagine that there was anything in Logan's fears for her honour. Not only was it a dubious assumption that she would choose Gambit should she bestow affections upon anyone in that manner, but it was ludicrous to think she might be able to impugn said honour at all with anyone. The fact remained that she couldn't touch anyone yet without absorbing them, and he knew that she didn't wish to try, either. In many ways, Rogue was still afraid of what she could do, and he doubted very much that that was something she was likely to get over anytime soon.
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To say that they slunk in looking guilty and apologetic as most other students having been found out by Logan or any other teacher would have been a barefaced lie. Quite the contrary, Rogue strode in purposefully glaring daggers at Logan and stood in front of the Professor's desk with her arms crossed looking murderous, and Gambit walked in looking ridiculously at ease and closed the door politely behind him. He came to stand next to Rogue, and it did not escape Charles' attention that she allowed him to stand closer to her than she usually liked anyone to do. They were almost rubbing shoulders, or would have been had he not been rather taller than she. The Professor steepled his fingers in his customary fashion and addressed them in a reasonable, amiable tone.
"Good morning Rogue, Gambit –" a look of dissatisfaction crossed the young man's face briefly, and Charles stored this information. He apparently disliked being called by his professional name.
"- It's been brought to my attention that the two of you upon arriving here late last night after meeting at Rogue's concert decided to stay over in Rogue's room. Did you not have anywhere else to go?"
The question was directed at Gambit, who smiled pleasantly and said, "Je suis desolé, Professeur Xavier, Rogue kindly offered t' let Remy come back t' stay wit her –"
"Sorry, who?" Charles interrupted, and the young man smiled in a way that said he'd answered the same question about a thousand times before but was willing to make the effort to be polite just the same.
"He's talkin' about himself, Professor, it's an accent thang," Rogue interjected helpfully, and Gambit, whom Charles now knew was in actual fact called Remy – or called himself that at least – shot her a glowing look that had nothing to do with the red of his eyes. Logan seemed to notice it too because a low growl issued from the vicinity of his throat.
"Oui, c'est vrai," supplied the Cajun sounding not at all bothered by his predicament.
"Then I take it you wish to be called by your real name?"
"Oui, sil vous plait."
Charles nodded and smiled at them both. "Very well, in that case, did you not have anywhere else to go?"
"If Remy did, would it still be a crime t' take une femme up on her gracious offer?"
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The Professor had to admit, he was a clever lad this one.
"Of course not. We're merely trying to establish what made you do it seeing as how you and Rogue have a less than rosy history," he explained, and again, that flash of dissatisfaction crossed the young man's face before Rogue stepped in again.
"Ah wanted him t' come home with me, Professor. Ah wanted t' talk to him."
"Why was that?"
"Ah wanted t' know where he'd been all this tahme. An' – and it's not lahke he and I are enemies or anythang anymore, Ah mean there are no Acolytes or anythang now and even Magneto's seen the error of his ways!"
"I see. Well, you've both given the house something to talk about, that's for certain. And while I can see no real reason for any punishments to be given for what you've done, I'd still prefer it if this does not repeat itself. Gambit – sorry, Remy, if you'd be kind enough to leave the premises while Logan and I discuss a few things, I'd be grateful. Rogue will show you out."
The way the Professor said it made it very clear that he still wasn't certain that Remy should be allowed to get off scot-free. Although he smiled at the young pair, there was a furrow between his brows that said he was thinking over every possible reason for the two of them having met at all, and Rogue noticed that.
"Professor – none of us have done anythin' wrong," she said quietly, and Charles nodded.
"I know Rogue. Now if you'll show Remy out please, I'm going to have a word with Logan."
She set her lips in a straight line and made a noise of malcontent but put a hand on Remy's shoulder and led him out nonetheless. Once Charles and Logan were alone, the angry teacher was the first to speak.
"He's up to no good that one, you mark my words Charles, he's out to hurt her an' she'll never see it coming." Charles frowned and sighed, looking up at his old friend resignedly.
"Perhaps it wouldn't hurt for you to... keep an eye on him once he's gone? Just so we know where he's staying in case something does happen to Rogue." Logan nodded decisively.
"Yeah. Right."
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