A/N: Happy New Year! Yeah, I know, another reeeaaaly late update, but how bout I make it up to yah with a long chapter?
Chapter 6 - When I think about you…
xXx
Wanda woke to the glare of the rising sun piercing her eyes. She stood up, a little disoriented, and then felt the cold on her body. It was a weird feeling to be standing in the middle of a living room wearing nothing but combat boots. She immediately snatched the closest fabric near to her, John's Ninja Turtles t-shirt, which had been ripped sometime during the previous nights "events".
She looked over at the Australian who was lying on the couch, butt naked, cuddling with a throw pillow and snoring loudly with his mouth hanging open. For a split second Wanda found the sight adorable, before shuttering at the fact that that thought had even entered her mind.
Of course, she thought, she might as well snap a Polaroid incase she needed to blackmail him in the future.
The flash made John fidget a little in his sleep. Wanda then found her clothing, which was strewn around the room, dressed, and left. Though she stowed the Ninja Turtles t-shirt in her bag after catching sight of herself in a mirror and seeing what is did for her chest.
xXx
Sunday morning was probably the only time when the mansion wasn't in total disarray and a person could sleep without being disturbed by crashes and explosions occurring behind their door. Of course Rogue had to wake to Kitty gossiping over the phone.
"No! Did she really say that!?" yelled Kitty excitedly into the receiver.
Rogue moaned and rolled over beneath the blankets. She had to get up. She had some research project in history due the next day. She'd been a little distracted the past few days and hadn't started yet. She thought briefly of Remy but it only made her head hurt so she decided instead to focus on "The Effects of the Collapse of the Roman Empire on the Ancient World" for the rest of the day.
She grabbed her book bag and slice of toast and headed out the door.
"Hey, Stripes, yah need a ride somewhere?" Asked Logan from behind The New York Times as Rogue swung the front door to the mansion open.
"No, just going to the library. I can take the bus."
"Sure?" Logan asked as their eyes met.
"Yeah." Said Rogue before continuing out the door. Logan's coddling was getting a little annoying. She was going to graduate in a couple of months and didn't feel as if she needed someone standing over her shoulder constantly like Logan would, no doubt, like to do.
xXx
Remy woke with a horrible migraine. He rolled over in his bed and looked at the right side of the bed, which was still made but had been ruffled a little from when Rogue had lain there the night before. He looked away from it and got out of bed. On his way to the kitchen he passed John, still huddled up on the couch and made a mental note to have the couch cleaned.
Remy was digging thought cabinet for the Tylenol, the must have run out, when John walked in, dressed up to the waist.
"You seen my Ninja Turtles T?"
"Non" Muttered Remy desperately rummaging for some form of painkiller.
"What ever happened with Rogue last night?" John asked checking beneath the kitchen table.
Remy winced with his back to John but then shrugged and said: "She left." He finally gave up on pills and found some peas in the freezer that would suffice.
"You seen Wanda?"
"Non," Remy muttered and then retreated back to his bedroom.
xXx
The brotherhood house was in its usual state of disrepair this Sunday morning as John walked up the sidewalk to it. One of the windows had been shattered and a television was lying on the lawn in front of it. Objects (or living beings) being thrown from windows was always proof Wanda had spent some time in a building.
John navigated his way up the front path, which was strewn with broken glass, litter, and several smashed up copies of different Pearl Jam albums. He hopped up the front steps and found the front door slightly ajar. He pushed it further open with his index finger and poked his head into the foyer.
"What the fuck!" yelled a voice from the living room. "Where are my Pearl Jam CD's!?"
A green boy was hopping around on the countertops in the kitchen and then the earth began to shake. John looked up to see Blob bounding down the stairs. The chandelier that dangled from the ceiling above John shook so vigorously he was sure was going come hurtling down on top of him.
"What are you so chipper about?" Lance asked Blob who had ran right past John, the smile on his face had obstructed his vision enough for him to not even see John.
"Jean's gonna tutor me in calculus!" The giant announced.
"Do you even take that class?" Asked lance as he rummaged through the CD rack.
"No, but she doesn't know that."
Lance sighed. "Damn it, Wanda! Did you touch my Pearl Jam CD's!?" He yelled.
Another voice yelled down from the second floor.
"Eddie Vedder's voice makes me wanna punch a baby!" (1) Yelled the witch before starting to descend the stairs. "I swear to god if I had to listen to 'Jeremy' one more time I was gonna go insane."
"But it's the greatest song ever written!"
Wanda didn't respond. She had stopped in the middle of the stairs.
"Hi." She greeted the Australian at the door.
"All we've got for food back at the base is beer and vegemite. And breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so…" The Australian turned and marched into the kitchen. Wanda followed him with her eyes.
xXx
Rogue was staring at a book that was as thick as it was wide. Her eyes were moving over the words, but weren't registering any meaning. Her thoughts floated around aimlessly. She bit her lip as her unfocused eyes drifted off the page and around the musty library she sat in.
It was twenty old guys reading newspapers, a gothic teenage mutant hunched over book which could have easily chronicled human history in great detail, and, striding towards the girl, was a man in his early twenties who had the sixty-three year old librarian craning her neck to get a second look.
Rogue's eyes met the fuzzy six-foot figure. She blinked and her eyes focused.
"You stalkin meh o' somethin'?" She asked the Cajun, who's smirk looked a little forced.
"Soul mates never have trouble findin' eachot'er"
There was a 'Shush' from the librarian on the other side of the room. Both southerners ignored her.
Rogue stared for half a second, before blinking awkwardly and looking back down at the book. Remy drew a chair from another table and sat opposite Rogue.
"Homework?" He asked looking at the thousand-page doorstop. Rogue simply nodded.
"Rogue…" Sighed Remy. Rogue quickly interrupted.
"Research essay actually, worth thirty percent o' mah grade."
Remy shut his mouth and sat back in his chair. Rogue looked back down at the book and pretending to be picking up where she had left off but found it hard to focus with his eyes on her. She sighed.
"You know Ah really have a lot to do-
"Ah need to talk to yah."
Rogue held her forehead in her hand. "Remy.."
"Yah can't not tell meh what the limits are and den be pissed when Ah cross 'em."
Rogue cringed. "Can we not talk about this rihght now?"
"Please just talk to meh, Rogue."
"Really Remy, just leave meh alone, right now."
"Why are you being so difficult?" Demanded Remy. Rogue sighed and shut the colossal book. She was getting tired of breathing so heavily. "Just tell me what yah want."
"Ah don't know what Ah want!"
"Shush!" said the librarian a bit more violently this time.
"Oh, go fuck yahself!" Snapped Rogue at the woman.
Remy almost flinched at Rogue's reaction and quickly got up and gabbed her by the arm, dragging her out the room.
"Let go o' meh, Cajun!"
"What's wrong with you?" Remy asked after they had reached a back hallway.
Rogue yanked her arms from his grasp. "Can yah just leave meh alone, Ah really have to write this paper."
"Please talk to meh!" Begged Remy. Rogue made to leave but Remy jumped in front of her. "I ask what you want, you say you don't know, what does that mean?"
Rogue sighed for the umpteenth time and leaned back against the wall. Seeing Remy was like a punch in the face.
When Rogue didn't respond, Remy continued. "You know Ah'm fihne wit waiting."
"It didn't seem that way last night." Muttered Rogue, staring at the wall.
"Ah was drunk,"
"There's truth in whine." (2)
Remy lowered his head to meet Rogue's eyes. There was the smallest bit of moisture collecting in them. "rogue.."
She couldn't really be mad at him. The tears had nothing to do with what he'd done. It was just the fact of his existence. She had been fine with her isolation when she didn't have someone dangling themselves in front of her. Remy stirred up feelings she'd never be able to satisfy. Why couldn't he just let it be. It would be nobler of him to leave her, rather torture her with her own frustration and the guilt being able to give him nothing.
"Please.." The breaking of silence made Rogue glance into his eyes which were bearing into her own.
"Ah…don't know." She said looking away. "Ah need tihme to…sort stuff out."
"Ok" Said Remy almost silently. They stood in silence for a moment. "Ah'll leave yah to finish your work." Remy muttered before turning to leave.
"mm, Wait," Said Rogue wiping her forehead. "Can Ah bum a rihde home?"
xXx
Wanda was standing in the kitchen doorway of Mystique's house staring at a flame-haired Australian cooking eggs and dancing to the Devinyls "I touch myself."
"…I love myself, I want you to love me…"
"What's it with you and eighties female pop stars?"
John shrugged and flipped the eggs in the frying pan. "I just like songs about a masturbation." (3) John went into the cabinet and pulled out two plates. "..When I feel down, I want you above me…"
Lance stormed into the kitchen. "Wanda! What did you do with them!?" He demanded, referring to the conversation that had been interrupted by the arsonist's arrival.
Wanda looked at the fuming gen-x-wanna-be with little interest. "I disposed of them,"
"What the fuck! Those were mine! What the hell did you do with them!"
John had reached the chorus. "..When I think about you, I touch myself.."
Wanda's attention returned to her chef. "Hey, John, what do you think of Pearl Jam?"
John paused his singing and looked back at the two. "Oh its like the murder of hour old puppies."
Wanda smirked, vindicated. "See, I was doing the world a service in their destruction."
Lance fumed and opened his mouth to yell. But once Wanda's hand glowed blue his jaw snapped shut and he backed out of the room.
Wanda looked back to the Ausie who sitting at the kitchen table. Wanda, being very hungry decided some eggs couldn't hurt, besides she'd probably contracted all of John's cooties already.
She sat down across from him and was about to dig in when John pulled a jar from his jacket pocket. Wanda cringed.
"oh, don't tell me…"
"Can't have eggs without vegemite!" He said before dumping the contents of the jar all over his eggs. The mere sight of the substance caused Wanda to loose her appetite. She shoved her plate to the center of the table..
"There's no way I can eat in the presence of that crap."
John smirked. "What? You mean this?" He asked shoving a fork full of vegemite-covered eggs in her face. Wanda yanked her face away and faked a dry heave over the edge of the table.
John ignored her response and happily shoveled his concoction into his mouth, while Wanda grimaced, horrified at the spectacle.
"Do you have any idea how disgusting that is?"
"More than you, you won't even try it."
"Well I try not to put anything in my mouth that could probably burn a hole in floor."
Freddy poked his head in the doorway, with his nose high in the air.
"Eggs?" He asked in a curious tone.
"Have'em," Said Wanda, offering up her unwanted breakfast. Freddy shot over to the table and snatched the plate and scarfed down the eggs.
Wanda noticed John looking at her. "What?" She asked.
"You got any movies?" He asked finishing the last of his eggs. "'The Green Slime', 'Gamera', maybe 'Pod People'?" (4)
xXx
An hour and a half later the two psychos were falling off the couch in laughter and yelling "Huzzah!". (Funny if you've seen Pod People)
Having spent all his money on CD's that Wanda destroyed, Lance was forced to download eight albums worth of songs off of LimeWire. (A/N: I don't know anyone who downloads legally.) He sat at the computer staring at the stationary download bar while the other two cackled across the room. This of course was a day when the WiFi they were stealing form the neighbors decided it didn't want to work.
At the foot of the couch Wanda was lying on her back looking up at John who was saying something about renaissance fairs in between bursts of laughter. Her own laughter had died and she felt the kind of satisfaction one can only have when you laugh so hard you're sure you're going to suffocate.
John finished a sentence Wanda hadn't been listening to and looked down at her for a response. She smirked and he was glad to know he was amusing. He sunk down to the floor next to her. The remote was an inch from his hand but he let the credits run.
Still staring at him, Wanda felt that feeling in her stomach again. The one that had nothing to do with alcohol or boredom.
"How come sometimes you hate me and other times you're like this?"
Wanda blinked, her mind had been very far away and it was only now that realized the only sound in the room was the faint music on the television and Lance vigorously typing in song titles. After registering what John had said she shrugged.
"Dunno, I haven't taken my medication in a while," It was the truth but it wasn't like the colorful pills had ever done much for her.
John rolled his eyes at her response. "You're no crazy, believe me I know crazy."
It was the thing that Wanda had been insisting to everyone she knew for years and it was a little strange to hear it come out of John's mouth. But he defiantly did know crazy.
"You ever think you're what causes my rage?"
John looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. "And what? When ever I'm not around you're a perfect angel?"
Wanda smirked and peered at Lance across the room and then looked back at John.
"Y'know, he's got some Tool CD's upstairs…"
xXx
Remy mounted his motorcycle and handed his helmet to Rogue. Rogue stood awkwardly beside the bike.
"Remy?" He looked up at her. "Ah'm not mad at yah."
He nodded. "Ah know."
Rogue was about to put the helmet on when a bulky figure stormed past and caused her to loose her balance. When she looked up Remy was pinned to a tree by two adamantium claws.
Logan growled, sheer rage was preventing him from forming any words. Rogue leapt up from the ground.
"Logan!" She said in almost a scolding tone.
"What's Magneto got you doin' now?!" Logan ignored Rogue. A snarl was stuck on his face.
Remy stared at the gap between Logan's middle and rind fingers from which the third claw had yet to emerge. Logan grabbed Remy's collar and jerked him once.
"Huh!? Where's Magneto hiding?"
"Yah think Remy knows any more dan you? As far as Ah'm concerned dat sentinel blew'm up."
Logan's grip only tightened. He growled. "I swear to god you're gonna be in so any pieces-
"Logan!" Rogue interrupted, yanking at Logan's shoulder. He turned his head to her. "Let him go." She said sternly.
Logan narrowed his eyes. "Rogue? How can you trust this guy? He worked for magneto."
"Exactly, he used to work for Magneto. He can't redeem himself if you don't give him a chance."
Logan glared at Remy for another moment before retracting his claws and dropping him. Logan then swiftly turned around, grabbed Rogue by the arm and went marching off. Rogue glanced back at Remy who was sitting at the base of the tree. Their eyes met for a moment before Logan nudged her and she spun back around.
xXx
Wanda's combat boot clad feet hit Lance's bed with a crunch before lifting off again. Her fingertips graced the ceilings surface and she hung in the air for a second before crashing down once again on the pile of Tool CD's.
"Breaking Benjamin?" Asked John, who was across the room tearing apart Lance's CD rack.
Wanda gagged and another CD got chucked into the pile. Wanda came smashing down on the pile again.
Crunch
"311?"
Crunch
"Nickelback?"
Crunch
"Evanescence?"
Crunch
"Screw this," John lifted the CD rack up and lugged it over to Lance's bed and dumped it beneath Wanda's feet. Wanda grabbed his hands and yanked him up on to the bed.
"It might be quicker to torch –
John was shut up by Wanda's tongue.
xXx
"Fuck!" Echoed through the Bayville streets along with a siren at least a mile away and a dog that just wouldn't shut up. Rogue had lost her footing and was dangling from a second story fire escape. She pulled herself up and crawled over to a window. Beneath the windowsill lay a pile of cigarette butts.
She managed to lift the antique window open with great difficulty. She lifted her right foot over the threshold and ducked her head down in order squeeze through. Her head hit the window with a thud. The sound awoke the sleeping Cajun and he sat up in his bed.
"Who's there?!"
Rogue flinched at his bellow and fell through the threshold landing sideways on the floor.
"It's meh, swamprat!" She said with a scowl as she felt her head, there would be a lump there in the morning.
Remy got out of bed and walked over to her to help her up.
"Why the hell is the front door locked?" She asked. The acolytes were very neglectful when it came to locking up the base. According to Remy, if anyone wanted to get in, a deadbolt wouldn't stop them.
"Oh, John came home saying somethin' bout Avalanche wanting him dead. It's a good thing you didn't get the door open. The whole downstairs is booby trapped…Ah wasn't exactly expecting a visit from you in the middle of the night."
Rogue looked up at him. "Yeah, well, Ah've sorted stuff out."
"Huh?" Remy asked. Rogue stared at him biting her lip. The room was pitch black except for the moonlight coming in through the windows but he could see that Rogue's eyes were lit up by passion. "oh…" Was all he managed to mutter.
xXx
(1) - Part A (the punching babies thing) Yes, I love Dane Cook, even if he does do awful romantic comedies, he's still an awesome stand up.
- Part B (the Eddie Vedder thing) Eddie Vedder, being the lead singer of Pearl Jam, does have a weird voice. I'm not insulting the band, I just can't stand the sound of that guys voice. (Actually since writing this I have fallen in love with "Hard Sun" despite his voice.)
(2) – Translation of a Latin expression
(3) – Wanda is referencing Chapter 2 when John sings the Cyndi Lauper song "Girl's Just Wanna Have fun". John is referencing the other Cyndi Lauper song "She Bop" which is full of metaphors for masturbation. "I touch myself" is very clearly about self-love.
(4) – Some more Mystery Science Theater 3000 movies
A/N: Wow, a lot of music in this chapter, and a strange absence of abuse. (What's with that?) I can't promise an update too soon, so you'll have to wait for the rest of that last Romy scene, which I promise will be worth the wait.