A/N School is kicking me where it counts, but here's chapter two.
Storm was more than pleased with Gambit's choice to stay. She had tried to convince him for years to come up, but he'd always had an excuse not to. At first, Storm was worried that Gambit's curiosity in Rogue was unhealthy and the main reason he was staying, but Gambit also started to cultivate an unusual friendship with Logan as well. They were frequently seen leaving to hit up bars and casinos. Rogue called these nights their 'man dates'.
During the day, Gambit helped out Rogue with training some of the beginning to intermediate students in self defense. Logan became frustrated too easily so Rogue had taken over many of the younger classes. She also took over many of the creative writing classes. Gambit somehow got roped into teaching French, much to his dismay.
"How'd yo' talk me into dis again?" he muttered to Storm before the first day.
"I asked," Storm said.
"Well like I told yo' already, dey won't learn traditional French, it'll all be Cajun slang," Gambit warned.
"Cajun French is better than none," Storm said.
"I didn't plan on staying here dis long."
"Do you want to leave?" Storm asked, worried.
"No," Gambit said thoughtfully. "Which is odd…" Storm let it be at that.
It was a good bet that if Gambit wasn't with Logan, he was with Rogue. While he got along with most people at the mansion just fine, he just clicked better with the two of them. He bumped into an unpleasant blast from his past though, a fierce anger named Emma Frost. No one seemed to know why they hated each other, and neither were telling, but the tension between the two was obvious. Emma made a snide comment whenever she passed Gambit, and he either made a move to trip her or called her a skank, though only when Storm wasn't around.
"Why don't you just make nice with her?" Storm suggested out of irritation.
"Not likely," Gambit snorted. "Why do yo' want a cold hearted bitch like Emma around anyways?"
"She's valuable," Storm told him. "Without a telepath cerebro is useless, and we are very nearly blind and defenseless. She even took some of the professor's classes."
"Don't care," Gambit said. "Doesn't make up for being a rotten person."
"I was hoping you would be willing to work with her, see if you can overcome the amnesia."
"No."
"Remy…"
"No."
The hostility wasn't too difficult since Emma hardly spent any time with the majority of the school. She also managed to avoid having to supervise the school's Halloween dance thrown for the middle and high school aged students. Gambit blamed her psychic abilities. He, Rogue, Bobby, Pete and Kitty had been delegated the task of chaperoning the event.
Gambit sat sipping his drink, which he was glad Storm wasn't there to chastise him for, at a small table with Rogue, Bobby and Pete. Kitty was busy on the other side of the dance floor, dragging two fighting girls upstairs. Gambit casually flicked a card that exploded at the feet of a couple dancing rather provocatively, causing them to jump back from each other.
"I'm actually pretty impressed with what Storm's done with the place," Rogue commented. It was a good point, the formal dining hall that was never used was decorated with orange and black drapes, with eerie candles on each small, round table. Music was blasting through speakers on the far wall. Rogue watched with a grin as Pete followed Kitty with his eyes as she dragged the screaming girls out of the hall.
"What?" Pete asked.
"Nothing," Rogue answered. "Just admiring you admiring the view." Pete blushed.
"Pete got a bit of a crush on Kittttty!" Bobby teased. Rogue kicked him under the table as Pete grew impossibly redder.
"Nothing wrong with dat mon ami," Gambit said smoothly. Rogue shot him a grateful look. "Does she know you feel dat way?"
"Uh, no," Pete said awkwardly. Bobby was still making kissy faces at him.
"Well yo' should do something about dat," Gambit said, ignoring Bobby.
"Er…" Pete stuttered.
"I know it can be overwhelming," Gambit went on. "But yo' can even use de shyness t' your advantage. Some women love de shy, sweet man."
"It's true," Rogue chimed in. "Even if she doesn't feel the same, at least you won't have to worry about it anymore."
"De idea is t' do something simple dat shows yo' are thinking about her, too much flamboyance is only going to freak out de femme."
"Like what?" Pete asked cautiously.
"Could be anything," Gambit said while Bobby tried to not make it obvious that he was listening for pointers from the ladies man. "Something like an innocent touch…" He demonstrated by brushing his fingers across Rogue's hand as he reached for his drink. "A compliment, not a creepy one though. Or a kind gesture, anything t' make yo' stick out in her mind."
"Hey Rogue," Bobby said, drawing inspiration from Gambit's words. "Wanna dance?" Gambit worked hard not to wince at the way he asked. Rogue smiled and trailed after her boyfriend.
"See dat?" Gambit said, referring to the couple. "Dat's not de way t' do it. 'Wanna dance' sounds like a pimply 14 year old boy whose voice hasn't broken yet asking his date t' dance. Not de kind of thing for an adult t' do." Pete nodded, embarrassment fading when Bobby and his teasing disappeared.
Gambit shook his head, it was almost too awkward to watch Bobby and Rogue. Bobby had his hands on Rogue's waist but his arms were straight, keeping her body from straying too close to his. He looked very much, as Gambit had said, like an awkward kid trying to dance with his new date. His eyes narrowed as he saw Bobby trying to show Rogue he was being the sweet, loving boyfriend, while physically distancing them and literally keeping her at arm's length. Gambit shook his head in disgust as the song ended. He leaned over to Pete.
"See Bobby's mistake? Watch de difference of de master," Gambit said. Pete raised his eyebrows .Bobby and Rogue sat back down, Bobby looking smug and triumphant while Rogue had a polite smile in place. Gambit stood and walked until he was in front of the sitting Rogue. He put his hand, palm up, in front of her.
"Dance with me, cherie?" he asked. Rogue glanced at Bobby, who shrugged, before taking Gambit's hand shyly. He pulled her to her feet and led her to the dance floor just as a slow tempo song came on. He swung her out, then pulled her in, close. Bobby narrowed his eyes as Gambit wrapped an arm around Rogue's waist, pulling her body right up against his. He took her hand in hi free one and started the slow dance.
This close to him, Rogue could feel his heart beating steadily against her chest, and smell his musky yet surprisingly clean scent. Gambit could also feel her heart, which seemed to be beating extra hard. He frowned, worried he was making her uncomfortable. "You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him.
"Bon," he said, shaking off the inexplicable moment of insecurity. He rubbed his thumb where it sat on her lower back as they moved to the music. Rogue was very aware of his breath against her neck by the time the song ended. The places where his hands had been touching her still felt warm as he pulled her to the table by her hand, kissing the back of it as they took their seats. Bobby glared at Gambit and muttered something about 'get your own girlfriend'. Rogue smacked him again. They wrapped up the night not too long after, sending the younger students to bed. They all requested the next dance off.
After a few weeks, when Gambit's arm had miraculously healed, he was invited to join in on team practices in the danger room. He made it very clear that he wasn't joining the X-Men, but he was happy to train with them. Logan had set up one of the exercises to put half the teams against the other half. Rogue, Bobby and Jubilee were going head to head against Gambit, Kitty and Pete.
"Last group standing wins, your goal is to have as much of your team left standing as possible. Storm and I will be calling death blows from the control room," Logan announced. The danger room scene changed to a rolling meadow. Kitty and Bobby laughed a little. "Funny?" Logan asked. Three feet to his left, a pillar shot from the ground and grew fifteen feet tall. Similar pillars in different sizes shot out everywhere around them. "You need to be aware of your surrounding and how they change. The obstacles will get more involved as time goes on. Have at it."
Like Logan said, it started out slow with growing pillars. Soon, the pillars began to move as if the ground was made of water. The teams squared off and began against each other. Jubilee threw blinding fireworks at the opposite team. Pete and Kitty were expecting this managed to look way in time, but Gambit, who'd never trained with Jubilee, wasn't so lucky. Temporarily blinded, Bobby jumped in, icing the ground under his feet. Gambit stumbled, but didn't fall. He extended his bo staff and started deflecting chunks of ice Bobby flung a bit angrily his way. Rogue was in the middle of a fight with Pete when she glanced over to Gambit and Bobby. Bobby hadn't ever been around Gambit while using his powers, so he didn't recognize the magenta glow emanating from his hands.
"Bobby, watch out!" she yelled over her shoulder, turning in time to take a glancing blow from Pete. Her warning wasn't in time though, Gambit's charged card hit Bobby in the forehead, singing his eyebrows.
"Bobby's out," Logan's voice came over the speaker. Bobby huffed, not convinced Gambit was lethal, and moved to sit on the sidelines. By this time, the pillars were moving, changing in height, and the earth was rolling beneath their feet. Rogue grabbed Pete's arm and thank to the hole in the palm of her glove, absorbed his strength. She turned herself metallic, grabbed a pillar and swung, managing to clip both Gambit and Pete.
Kitty and Jubilee were trapped in a weird dance of fireworks and phasing, when gravity started slowly changing. Fed up, Kitty phased Jubilee and threw her fairly bodily into Rogue. Pete made a grab for her, but with her palm flat on the grass she used her power to light the grass, and Pete, on holographic fire.
"That's Pete down," called Storm. Jubilee had some success deflecting Gambit's charged cards with some fireworks, but she too was soon out. Rogue, still with Pete's power, surprised Kitty by knocking her down then punching a hole two feet deep next to her head, and she was sent to the sidelines.
Now it was flickering between night and day, as Rogue and Gambit circled each other cautiously. Teaching fighting with each other everyday had given them a fairly good grip of each other's styles. Finally, Gambit lunged. Rogue dodged neatly, and sent a kick his way. He dodged and threw an array of glowing cards her way. Rogue whipped herself around the now bouncing pillars and swung into Gambit's side, who grabbed her waist neatly and rolled them onto the ground. When they'd fallen, Rogue's plamless glove was a centimeter from Gambit's face and his glowing staff was poised next to her ear. They froze for a few seconds, then Gambit tapped her on the head with the staff, releasing the charge at the last minute.
"I win," he said gleefully, hopping up.
"It was a draw," Rogue said and pulled herself to her feet.
"Nope, a win."
"Draw."
"Win, Rogue!"
"Draw, Swamp Rat!"
"I won!" Gambit yelled, throwing exploding cards into the air.
"Don't you mean WE won?" Kitty asked.
"Depends, are WE sitting on de sidelines?"
"Next time you'll all be working as a unit," Logan promised. "This was just to shake things up for you. For fun."
"Fun he calls it," Jubilee said faintly. "He gets to sit up there, ogle at Storm and drink his beer while he calls this 'fun'."
"I heard that."
"Of course you did!" Jubilee yelled. "You hear everything! There's a horse shitting in Arkansas right now that you can hear!"