DISCLAIMER: I own none of this.
(Bianquis, thank you for reviewing, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! rogue-scholar07 thank you! LadyMageLuna, it'll get better I promise. Anon goddess you have been so helpful and inspiring and I really hope you'll continue to review and tell me what you think; I agree, it's not often someone has the same understanding as you and I'm so glad we do because Pyro centrefolds and Brotherhood family goodness will eventually save the world. You make me want to try harder and be better. Laceylou76, girl you're amazing and bloody fantastic and your reviews make me feel like I can write until my fingers bleed and do better than last time because you have faith. Thank you so much.)
~Scarlet Letter ~
Game Plan.
~*****************************************************************~
There was complete silence as Wanda and Rogue raised their mugs to their painted lips in unison and took a deep sip.
"Yo, what's with the no-talking thing – " Freddy stifled Toad's question in a meaty fist and waited until the girls raised their faces and eyes to the ceiling and expelled breathy sighs of ecstasy before answering.
"New rule: when the girls are drinking tea, there's no talking." Rogue licked the rim of her mug and made a purring sound.
"Damn right Freddy-boy..." she said languidly, and Wanda blinked twice before adressing the five youths all scattered around the settee on which the girls reclined. Fred had put Pietro upstairs to wake up.
"Okay, here's what's going on – " she shifted a little, moving Pyro's arm so she could drape her own over the armrest without disturbing him too much, although seeing as he was half-sitting half-leaning against it, she could only put his arm somewhere behind her where it came to reside on the backrest instead, so in effect he had one arm partially around her. There was a moment of staring as she got comfortable, seemingly not noticing neither the staring nor that his arm was in such a position as to cause any.
" – Rogue's staying here as long as she wants," she smiled warmly at Rogue who smiled back, a look of female understanding passing between them that only the former Acolyte on the other side of Rogue whose arm actually was around her shoulders, and the pyromaniac slightly above and behind Wanda whom she was basically lying across could see. It mattered little that they were also the only ones in the room capable of interpreting the look which was universal 'Woman' for I-got-your-back-girlfriend. The fact that neither girl was likely to refer to the other as girlfriend notwithstanding.
"And any X-Men are to come to the door in normal clothes and ask nicely if they can come in or they get thrown out. I don't want a big scene, I just want them to leave. Scott Summers isn't even allowed in the garden because he's an arse. If he's seen around here I want to know. Kurt's taking his car back to him later when he comes to visit Rogue and Kurt is allowed to teleport in the house for convenience. Jean Grey isn't allowed in the house even if she is in normal clothes and asks nicely because I don't want her here. Kitty is always welcome no matter what the hell she looks like because we love her and she can be trusted." Lance flinched.
"Remy is always welcome too. I know some of you haven't always gotten along with him, but for my sake, if you could please try?" There was a bout of nodding, some more good-natured about it than others, some downright sullen. But there were no exceptions. She beamed at them all.
"And I just want to say, you guys were just so great out there earlier, backing me up like that thank you so much... I really felt we were a team," Fred smiled hugely.
"We're a family, Wanda," he said as though it were the most natural thing in the world, and Wanda reached out and rubbed his forearm affectionately.
"Thank you Freddy... You guys are the best..." The large mutant looked at her with something akin to pride in his eyes.
"Now, tonight Remy and John are staying in and Remy's cooking because I'm tired of pizza and Rogue hasn't had Jambalaya in ages but we're going out shopping first because there's no food in the house and I need to ask you guys to clean the kitchen so we can cook when we get back... Will you do that for me?" Lance murmured his assent and Toad raised his hand.
"Sweetums, I can't use the soap," he said as though afraid she'd force him to scrub the floors using his tongue as a sponge, and she nodded.
"I know. I want you to vacuum the living room instead because if you get a rash we have to take you to the specialist again and he asked too many questions last time." Toad looked at her in a mixture of relief and disbelief.
"I didn' know you cared, Cuddlebumps..."
"It's too much trouble to bail you out if you get exposed because of a stupid rash. Freddy – can I ask you to keep an eye on things while I'm gone? Make sure Pietro's still breathing and stuff?" Freddy nodded, smiling, and Wanda beamed around at them all.
"Thanks you guys..." They acknowledged their dismissal and left her and Rogue alone in the living room with the two older mutants who didn't stir from their places next to the girls. Wanda was the only one who really moved, and only to face Rogue, tea firmly in hand.
"Wanda, Ah – " Wanda shook her head and sipped her tea.
"No. It's just what we do. This was your family once too, honey. You haven't forgotten how it works, have you?" Rogue gave her another look. The universal look of 'I-love-you-so-much-there-are-no-words-so-here's-some-non-verbal-lovin'.
"This is still mah family, sugah... Ah don' forget mah family..."
"You're lucky to have one like this," Pyro observed, seemingly the only one who had not registered and fixated on the fact that Wanda had tipped her head back to look at him while he spoke and her head was almost in his lap.
"Y' both are. Pyro ain' got no famille an' Remy's be psychopaths t' un homme." The casual way he said it made Rogue snigger.
"Your Daddy sure ain' no posterchile fer good parentin' that's fer damn sure," she giggled, and he shrugged.
"Win some lose some," he admitted, and Wanda stretched and finished her tea, getting up with the aid of a gallant hand from Pyro who was abruptly right in front of her, offering it.
Rogue emulated her, getting up on her own though and looking to Wanda.
"Remind me ta call Kurt an' ask him ta bring me some stuff from home," she said, and Wanda nodded.
"Sure. Kitty invited tonight?" Wanda put on her coat, again with the suddenly present assistance of John who had procured it out of nowhere, and Rogue shrugged.
"Ah wanna dig fer more details an' Ah think Lance knows what he did. We'll ask her ta come tomorrow... Where's mah – "
"Voila, chere..." Remy handed it to her with a minor flourish and she blinked and accepted it, draping it over one arm before linking arms with Wanda and walking out of the house ahead of the boys.
"How are we getting to the store?"
"I'll go with Pyro, you go with Remy. Easy enough." Rogue gave her the I'm-not-sure look and Wanda squeezed her arm a little.
"Don't worry honey. He'll take care of you or I'll wear his genitals as a hat and he knows it."
"If only that were mah concern," Rogue sighed.
~*****************************************************************~
He had to wonder if it was having women riding pillion with him that had unhinged Pyro at some point because having Rogue behind him as they rode out for groceries was threatening to drive him permanently insane. But he didn't think Pyro had ever mentioned being in love. Had he? If he had, he hadn't been listening. Perhaps drunk. And it wasn't as if the lack of sanity made the Aussie weirdo any less appealing to the femmes, Remy had seen that proved beyond any shadow of doubt and to resounding shock more than once so it couldn't be that. Pyro was most likely just Pyro. But Remy was Remy. And he'd had tens of thousands of women on the back of his bike over the years – well, close enough - and that had never, ever been as unhinging as the feeling of her pressing into his back, her legs curving up around his... He almost drove smack into a lorry which was minding it's own business on the other side of the road, which made Rogue tighten her grip on him and he himself completely forget to feel bad for perhaps having scared her. Oh well.
He could see Pyro and Wanda up ahead and accelerated to catch up, drawing level and tipping two fingers in a salute at the Aussie, who literally shrieked with laughter and made his own gesture at the Cajun – one that also involved two fingers but wasn't nearly as friendly as his own had been and wasn't even native to America. Yes, Pyro was definitely just Pyro. And the weirdest thing was yet to come, as per always when dealing with the unstable mutant. Wanda leant back, curling her legs completely around Pyro's abdomen and curving her back so she was practically lying down, a blissful expression on her face as she howled with delight. He felt Rogue fisting her hands in his T-shirt convulsively, nails digging in, and he knew that she was certainly scared now.
Pyro didn't seem bothered and experience dictated he shouldn't be, Wanda definitely not, but he felt he had to be somewhat bothered by Rogue's obvious fear that something might happen to her friend and signalled to his friend to do something about it. Or rather, he gestured at him and Pyro got it. It was a male thing. Unfortunately, Pyro doing something about it entailed him bending back, looping Wanda's arms around his neck and straightening up again which did not look at all safe and, in all fairness to the way Rogue was clawing at his chest, wasn't. As Remy passed them, Pyro graciously giving up his slight lead in the silent understanding that Rogue couldn't freak out if she couldn't see what there was to freak out about, Rogue once again made use of the female form of communication in that she shot Wanda the 'we-will-discuss-this-later' look and then tossed her head and settled into Remy again, who couldn't help accelerating just slightly more than was really called for. Thankfully, since she could no longer see the probably illegal antics of her friend, the rest of their ride passed without incident, until they pulled up at the grocery store Wanda had specified, Rogue got off in a spectacular swinging of her legs that nigh stopped his poor Cajun heart and stood cross-armed swinging her helmet from her hand, waiting for the two others to arrive.
Pulling up, Wanda leant into John for the briefest moment before getting off in the second mouth-watering display of leg-swinging in as many minutes the humble grocery store car-park and it's patrons had been treated to, puled off her helmet, tossed her hair, and approached Rogue who linked arms with her and pulled her about ten metres away from the two former Acolytes. John went to stand next to Remy, observing what appeared to be a perfectly civil, friendly conversation between the two Gothic mutants.
"Why?" Remy asked offhandedly, and John chuckled.
"Wanda likes ta shock. An' play with fire." Remy nodded.
"Fair enough. She's got de righ' body for it."
"Go there and you have no dick in five, four, three – "
"Jus' makin' an observation, mon ami." John gave him a serious look he didn't wear very often. Or, Remy assumed he didn't. He certainly hadn't seen it before.
"She's like a child, Rem. She's just a little girl. Her brother – he's a righ' bastard but he's got one thing right. All that shit inside her ain' gonna stay wrapped up forever an' when it starts comin' back she ain' gonna be an 'appy camper. I don' wan' ta get involved. The stunts she pulls aren' her bein' a minx. They're her bein' a child because the memories Jase put in 'er head didn't show her how ta be one. An' the saddest thing is, it sets her apart an' she doesn' know what's makin' 'er differen'."
"Like ma chere... Dey're both like dat, hein? Belle et innocent..." John nodded.
"'Cept one's innocent an' doesn' know it an' one's innocent an' won' admit it ta save 'er life. Bravado an' bluster but one hell of a pretty package..." he let his eyes slide to where the girls were still conversing quietly, for all the world best friends if you missed the way Wanda's toe was tapping her heavy boots hard into the asphalt, and the way Rogue's smile showed too much incisor.
"Not involved, mon ami?" John smirked at him.
"Easy mate. I don' wanna be you. One of us 'as ta be the sane one."
The girls turned as one and faced them, smiles clean and real now, bad blood apparently leeched and forgotten.
"C'mon then, don' want them ta close on us do we?" Rogue laughed as she swept past with Wanda and the two guys exchanged knowing looks.
~*****************************************************************~
"What the hell were ya doin' back there Wanda? Ya coulda been killed!" Wanda kept her voice and body neutral just as Rogue did, but her tone was pure agression.
"Maybe I just wanted to feel and not have to think for a moment, consider that?"
"Well ya sure as hell weren't thinkin' were ya? What, ya think he woulda given a shit if ya, oh Ah dunno, fell off or somethin' equally horrible?" Wanda's eyes narrowed.
"Don't."
"Wanda, ya know Ah'm makin' sense here. Ya gotta be the responsible one here."
"I don't want to be responsible, I want to feel alive."
"And Ah wish Ah knew how ta give you that without you havin' ta die on some road sugah but until we find the way ta do it ya gotta promise ta think before ya pull somethin' lahke that... Remy's probably got Sabretooth-worthy scratches all down him Ah was so shit-scared..." Wanda smiled at her warmly.
"With a little luck he can tell Summers you gave them to him for a different reason. We'd all get a laugh out of that at least!" Rogue had to laugh too and embraced the other Goth.
"Just try and remember – there are other ways to feel..."
"And groceries to buy honey, come on!" They linked arms and walked over to the boys who were chatting about something, John flicking his lighter, the metallic clicking echoing around the concreted outside walls of the store, Remy performing a card trick with one hand without looking at it.
"C'mon then, don' want them ta close on us do we?" Rogue said teasingly as they walked past, Wanda looking back to make sure they followed, not missing the way Remy was checking Rogue out.
"He did it. You owe me," she whispered into Rogue's ear, the flash-fire smile that barely arrived on her friend's face telling her everything she had been afraid she already knew.
~*****************************************************************~