MAGNETIC ATTRACTION

Part Twenty-One

Remy sighed to himself as he slipped a box of honey-nut loops into one of the shelves in the cabinet by the fridge. Exhaustion was still pulling at him every way, it was trying to catch up with him no matter how much he tried to fight with it.

"Where does this go?" Wanda asked, taking a large sack of long grain rice from one of the grocery sacks.

"I don't know...where do we usually keep rice?"

"At the Chinese place where we usually order from," Wanda remarked.

"Okay then...find a place for it. I don't know. Just...put it away," Remy commanded, he picked up the box of chocolate pop tarts and put it away. The act felt horribly mundane and made him feel weirdly domesticated. Not all like himself. Remy LeBeau was not the kind of man who liked to organize food cupboards and work out cooking schedules.

Wanda looked at a can of chopped tomatoes, her expression dull, "why do I have to do this."

"'Cause you ain't doin' anything else," Remy responded, "and like I said, you need to start puttin' more work in around here."

"I don't know where half of this shit goes."

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put groceries away, Wanda," Remy responded.

"Whatever," Wanda tossed the can grumpily into the cabinet and slammed the door.

Remy watched her, but bit his tongue. He really didn't want to start an argument with her. "I could really use a cup of coffee, you know," he admitted as he retrieved the next item from the grocery bag on top of the counter. He looked at her, then glanced towards the coffee maker pointedly.

"How about you make some then? I'm not your slave," Wanda rolled her eyes at him and was about to walk away from him and head towards the door to leave the kitchen altogether.

Remy gave a slight cough, clutching the jar of peanut butter he had yet to find a place for. "Fine. I'll make it myself," he responded casually, he put the peanut butter away and reached for the new unopened bag of coffee. "Just thought you'd maybe like the opportunity to find out how I take my coffee and how you take yours. If we're gonna be together, it's the kind of thing we should know isn't it?"

"Oh."

Manipulation was key, he decided, to make it seem if he were at least trying to put some effort into getting to know her better. At least this way, when she does get bored she can't throw it in my face that I didn't try, that I'm to blame.

Stubbornly, Wanda grabbed the bag of coffee from his hand, "where the filters at?"

"In one of the bags," Remy responded casually before continuing with the process of putting the groceries away. Every now and then, he turned to look at her, her fumbling with a coffee maker she wasn't even sure how to fill up, her bursting open the bag and spilling some on the tiled floor. Wanda was not at ease with domesticity any more than he was. He could see her frustration, could tell by the strange noises the nearby microwave was making and the slapping of wires behind their sockets that her anger was affecting her powers.

Remy said nothing, determined to let her have the moment to try and deal with the issue herself.

Wanda was tugging on the coffee pot which didn't seem to want to come loose of the casing it was attached to. Her face went red with annoyance as she tugged and awkwardly rattled it.

She'll break it before she gets it out, Remy thought.

At that moment, Rogue came wandering into the kitchen, sipping from a Burger King milkshake cup. Her hair was slightly damp again, and her purple hooded top was rain-splattered. Her boots left slightly muddy footprints against the tiles. .

"Wanna help put these groceries away?" Remy asked hopefully, gesturing to the several paper bags lined up on the floor.

Rogue slipped her hooded jacket off, "no problem."

Remy noted Wanda look over her shoulder angrily at them both, she gripped hard onto the handle of the coffee pot.

"We got a system?" asked Rogue as she pulled a paper bag up from the floor and placed it upon the counter on the opposite side of the room.

"Stil kind of trying to work it out...plenty of cupboard space though, should be a place for most of it," Remy gestured.

"Okay," said Rogue, she began unpacking the bag she'd picked, her eyes falling upon Remy who was taking out the items one at a time, "You're going about that all wrong, you know. You'll take twice as long and end up havin' to rearrange everythin' in there."

"Hmm?" he asked.

"Take everything out at once, put it out on the counters and sort it out before you put all away, that way you can figure out the best way to arrange it, then you can put away piles of it at the same time. It's the fastest way."

Remy paused, looking at the open cupboard he'd already half-filled.

Wanda snorted in contempt, "He's a grown man, Rogue, I think he knows what he's doing."

"Actually," Remy said, hating how incredibly inept he sounded, "I've never done this before."

Rogue and Wanda exchanged dirty looks, Remy felt caught in the middle of a strange silent war.

"So I should just take it out now?" Remy queried.

"Yeah, just rush takin' it out, then we split it into sections, cans, boxes, dried foods, then we figure out which cabinets should be for which."

"Oh."

"And if you want my advice-" Rogue began.

"He doesn't," Wanda uttered under her breath.

Rogue ignored her, "don't put the bag of rice in the cabinet above the sink."

"Oh?"

"If the thing bursts completely on the way out of the cabinet, then at least you can salvage what doesn't go on the floor. Really...we should have a big jar or a tub or somethin' so that somethin' like that doesn't happen."

"I'll figure out something," Remy responded, "any other tips?"

"We don't have a very big freezer," Rogue noted, "so we need to be careful about space there too. Ah see you got a lot of frozen food."

"Yeah."

"Those boxes aren't all gonna fit in," Rogue picked up a box of frozen chicken fillets, "see, things like this, you take out of the cardboard – there's a bag inside with the thicken in it, and all you do is you take a magic marker, write on the bag what this is, then throw it in the freezer. It takes up way less space. It also means you can shift it around a bit to force it to fit into the narrow spaces between stuff."

"That's kind of...genius," Remy nodded, listening. He'd never thought about these issues.

"Ah used to have to put away groceries a lot back at the institute."

"Sounds like all that experience is going to be a blessing, here," Remy smirked.

Wanda grunted, "I can't get the stupid coffee pot out of the machine!" she turned to Remy and hissed, she moved away from the machine and kicked one of the grocery bags stubbornly so that it fell over, spilling the contents to the floor. A can of kidney beans rolled towards Remy and stopped at his feet.

"Uhm...you don't pull it, you twist it..." Rogue stepped over and removed the coffee pot with ease.

Remy turned to look away, suppressing his amusement as much as he could, hoping Wanda wasn't about to start a fight.

"You guys want coffee?" Rogue asked as she filled the pot with water to then in turn, fill the reservoir in the machine.

"Yeah," Remy answered, "I take mine-"

"Yeah, I know, cream and two sugars," Rogue reminded him. Remy realised he should have remembered that they had shared a few coffees together at the diner. He hadn't realised she had paid that much attention.

"Yeah..." he said, smiling a little.

Wanda frowned, "You know what, I'm done. You two can put this shit away since you're having so much of a blast."

Remy winced as she kicked another bag down and then stormed out of the kitchen furiously. As she left, the kitchen door hinges unscrewed themselves faster than either Remy or Rogue could blink, and the door fell completely from its hinges.

Rogue stared down at the door, which had made a loud bang as it landed on the tiles. "That was...uhm..."

"Ignore it," Remy suggested, and he went back to the task at hand. "So...you went out?" he asked, he pointed his eyes towards the milkshake cup. "Your car is fucked, how'd you go to town?"

"Ah promised Lance Ah'd help him pick a present for Kitty's birthday. So we used his jeep," Rogue explained simply, she filled the coffee machine, and switched it on, then went to pick up the groceries while Remy picked the fallen door up and moved it aside out of the way.

Remy thought that quite interesting that she'd take the time to help Lance, considering he had never made any attempts to be remotely nice to her since the day she'd joined their team. "You're a bigger person than I am," he commented after a moment.

"Hmm?"

"Helping Lance? He's a dick."

"Yeah, well...Kitty is my friend, Ah don't want to see her feelings hurt just because her boyfriend doesn't know her well enough to understand that she can't wear a necklace with a cross on it which he'd have more or less bought without understandin' that she's Jewish."

Remy snorted, "typical Lance...doesn't pay attention and doesn't think."

"He can't help it. He missed a lot of school," Rogue shrugged.

"Yeah, well, so did I," Remy turned to look at her seriously. "But I know enough that you don't try to give one religion another religions symbol as a birthday present."

"You missed a lot of school?" she asked casually.

Remy wished he hadn't said anything, he winced but tried to play it off. He didn't like admitting to the fact, sometimes feeling as if it would give people reason to question his intelligence. Why bother. She's already absorbed my memories...she probably knows half of it already. "I was fifteen when Jean-Luc made me leave School so I could put more focus on my training in the guild,"

"Oh."

Remy picked up a can of tomatoes and studied the label absently. "School wasn't easy for me anyway. You know how it is. Bein' a mutant back six years ago was even more unacceptable than it is now...and I'm not capable of hiding what I am with these eyes."

Rogue nodded, understanding.

"So...the school just let me disappear from the system entirely, didn't chase me up, didn't try to make me go back..." he put the can on the counter and sighed, "at the time...I was so sick of bein' looked down upon by the teachers and the students, I never even thought about goin' back either. Anythin' I learned, I had to learn from the school of life...lessons learned the hard way..." he stared down at the counter unhappily, wondering if she thought him an underachiever.

She leaned against the counter, he could feel her drinking in his image as if he were an oil painting and she were at a gallery. It made him feel oddly...naked and exposed. "Ah'd have never guessed."

"Seriously?" he snorted, wondering how it was she could have absorbed his memories and thoughts more than once and never have understood about his limited education. "Way I talk, I'm surprised it wasn't more obvious that I'm a high school drop out..." he moved moved away to pick up another grocery bag to empty.

"Actually...the opposite," Rogue commented, "you're a smart guy, Remy...and Ah really mean that..."

He turned to look at her with suspicious eyes, wondering if she were trying to make him feel better by pretending to believe this about him. But there was nothing other than sincerity there in that pretty painted face. She must have read his surprise, because she continued.

"You're intelligent, and logical..."

Although he could tell she believed these things about him, he still felt reluctant to believe she did, and so he looked away from her and continued with his task. He heard her step towards him.

"You're bilingual..." she put her hand on his arm, he felt her tugging to get his attention, and he turned slightly to look over his shoulder at her. "You speak French and Russian."

"I only know a little bit of Russian," he commented irritably, not comfortable with the subject any more. Why the hell did I bring this up? He had to wonder why it was compliments seemed to make him feel worse about himself than better.

"You know more than Ah do," she smirked, "You're good at math...Ah know you have a real head for it."

He tilted his head, "How you know that?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Ah was watchin' you and Piotr goin' over some of the blue prints for the gym...makin' all those calculations on square footage, and wall height, and how much weight the support beams were gonna have to take..." Rogue shrugged, "Ah wouldn't have known any of that. Ah can measure a piece of wood, and that's pretty much all Ah can do..."

"Yeah well," Remy looked down to the counter, "sometimes my work in the past has required a little mathematical skill," he shrugged. "Bein' a thief is about more than just being able to tally up how much you'll earn, you know," he explained.

"Such as?" she asked curiously.

"A lot of it is trade secrets that I'm really not meant to share," he explained simply, "somethin' I swore to the guild when I took an oath."

"Oh come on!"

"My lips are sealed. Anyway, regardless of what I know...it doesn't mean I'm book smart. Not like you any way."

"You think Ah'm book smart?" she laughed, "Ah'm barely skimming by. You think Ah'd be at Bayville Community College if Ah was book smart?"

"I had a look through your text books, Rogue. I couldn't make head nor tail of it," Remy shrugged.

"Join the club," Rogue made a face, "why do you think it takes so much time for me to study?" she pointed out and nudged him playfully. "Half that time is re-reading the same paragraph ten times just to try and get what it means."

Momentarily – despite her lie that she didn't understand her books – he felt better, and he turned and looked at her with a smile, which she returned before turning to walk away back to the opposite counter to continue helping with putting away the groceries.

"So...what's up Wanda's butt today?" Rogue asked casually.

What isn't? He thought dully. Maybe I should just tell her? He thought for a second, but decided against telling Rogue. She'd lose too much respect for him if he should reveal the truth.

"You know...the usual, she doesn't like being made to do anything remotely useful around here," Remy remarked. "I made her go grocery shopping with me, and participate. This thing where she just sits around all day and watches everyone else do the work is gonna stop, for real. Sick of her not pitching in and helping."

"Be fair," Rogue commented, to which he turned and looked at her strangely until she continued by saying, "she could accidentally chip a nail, and the whole building could fall apart when she freaks out about it."

He smirked, but it was an empty one at that. He sighed, "Sad thing, it ain't far from the truth. Girl has problems. But...you know. We all got problems."

"We do," Rogue said, "which...is why you need to be a little less tough on the others sometimes..."

"Huh?" he stopped and turned toward her, letting his backside rest against the counters.

"Ah'm not tryin' to start a fight," she warned, putting her hands up slowly, "but sometimes you're a little rough on Lance and Pietro...Wanda too, for that matter. Ah get that they're screw ups but...they can't help it. It's like you said...we all have problems. They have problems too."

Remy bit his tongue, he wanted to remark but decided to hold back for the moment.

"You need to be just a little more understandin'. It's the only thing that's holding a good leader back from bein' a great leader."

"So you're hoppin' on the bandwagon with the rest of them now?" Remy asked, feeling a little attacked.

"No. Ah'm just..." she paused, seeming to be trying to find a way to explain herself. "Look, Ah know that they're bein' assholes. But you need to look at it from their perspective. They're used to bein' able to do whatever the hell they want with only random orders to work with. It's a big adjustment for them, and yelling at them for doin' everything wrong isn't gonna help them."

"Neither is mollycoddlin' them. I'm not here to make friends...I'm here because I'm bein' paid to do a job, that's it."

"You're here because you have nowhere else to go," Rogue folded her arms, "You said it yourself."

He looked away, furious now. He pursed his lips tightly. Sometimes it's just better to keep your mouth shut, he decided.

"You know what it's like bein' treated this way. Just lay off a little...get off their backs, and try some positive reinforcement instead of just goin' off at them. Maybe they'd stop givin' you so much shit if you just be a little nicer..."

"You're siding with Lance, now, is that it?" Remy asked. "You spend a few hours with him and suddenly you're best buddies?"

"No..." she blinked, she seemed quite confused about the accusation.

He turned away from her, placing his hands on the counter and shaking his head, angry with both her and himself.

"They're still kids, Remy. Legally they might be adults, but emotionally...they're just...kids who weren't even brought up properly by people who cared. They're not that different from you. They dragged themselves up, had to basically fend for themselves, figure things out on their own, learn how to survive. One of them spent her time in a rubber room with a straight jacket. Come on, you know it ain't their fault."

Remy supposed he couldn't blame her for identifying with them and being sympathetic. She's too kind hearted, Remy thought it almost amusing, as when he'd been first hired to follow her and track her movements, he'd been told Rogue was quite bitter and cold-hearted. Nothing cold about her heart, she's far warmer and far more sensitive than everyone told me she would be, he realised. Probably why her bein' locked in that skin bothers her so much, she can't share as much of her heart as she'd like to.

"Okay, fine," he turned and looked at her, squinting his eyes at her, "I'll lay off, okay?". He hated being mad with Rogue and somehow, he just couldn't stay mad with her, even if she was defending those he felt were going against him. "But if they start goofing off even worse than they do now, then things are gonna go back to the way I was running things before."

"All right," Rogue said softly, she pursed her lips. "Now come on, we got lots to put away...or this stuff is gonna defrost before we get to it."

Remy watched her while he worked at putting the items away with her. It was odd, he realised, that almost in a strange ironic way that Rogue's wanting to side with those who were determined to oppose him and give him nothing but grief only made him care so much more for her. She had her own mind, she didn't feel the need to agree with him, and she didn't feel the need to hold back when she thought he was being unfair. Her straightforwardness, her guts, her intuition and her sincerity...they were all traits that day by day he was becoming even more attached to.

This is going to make it so much harder once I convince her not to go through with the evolution process. She's going to leave...especially if she ever finds out about the deal I made with Wolverine.

Remy sighed to himself as he ripped the box from some frozen chicken fillets and used a permanent marker to write on the bag of contents.

Rogue heard the sigh, and paused, "something wrong?" she asked.

"Just...you know. Bored. Of this place, I mean," he lied quickly. He tossed the bag into the freezer and flattened the box for the recycling bin.

"Ah know, this isn't a very excitin' thing to do, but it'll be done soon enough."

"Yeah," he agreed, "I suppose you're right."

Over the next half hour they continued to put things away, arranging cupboards and fridge contents. The time spent with her had been fine, up until Rogue stepped up to the counter next to him to put one one of the jars away in the cupboard he was standing by. He watched every movement, from the way she stood on her tiptoes, to the way her bust brushed against his arm unintentionally as she leaned across to put a tub of chicken seasoning away.

He winced, that familiar stirring in his loins. He'd been desperately trying to avoid the problem for nearly a week. Right now, it was becoming damn near painful. He wet his lips, swallowed hard and closed his eyes, trying to force the thoughts out of his head and make the feeling subside. It didn't want to.

Memories of his dreams rushed back, of Rogue in that stunning white gossamer dress, her hair pinned in curls. How her lips had felt, how her skin had felt, how she had felt against him. A dream had never been so vivid. Sex had never been so good as that dream.

"Remy?"

"Hmm?" he asked, his eyes still closed. Put it out of your head. Why are you thinking about her like this? Just stop it already.

"You okay, sugar?" she asked, he felt her gloved fingers brush his cheek and he opened his eyes to turn and look at her, slightly flustered by the gesture. "You look a little flushed."

"I'm...I'm fine," he blinked, "Just...felt a little light headed for a minute there..." he drew a deep breath. Did she just call me sugar?

"You're sweatin'," Rogue brushed his hair from his forehead tenderly, "you feelin' okay?"

"I'm fine. Just feeling a little hot," he gently removed her hand from him gently; even her touch was sending him nearly over the edge. This isn't fair, what kind of a joke is this? Have me get turned on by the only girl I count as a friend? The only one I can't have emotionally or physically?

"Maybe you should go lie down," Rogue offered, "Ah can finish up here if you like."

"That's sweet of you," Remy admitted, "but...I started this task, I should finish it...besides, we're nearly done," he waited until she'd turned her attention from him for a brief moment so that he could adjust his jeans a little and hide the growing bulge.

"So what you got planned for the rest of the day?" Rogue asked casually as she began disposing of the pile of paper bags that had been tossed into the corner.

"Probably some more work on the gym, still a lot needing done," he responded.

"Remy. Take a break," Rogue put the paper bags in the recycling box, then dusted her gloves off. "You're going to burn yourself out."

"I'm fine, really," he assured.

"You'll make yourself sick. It's no wonder you're all flushed and feverish..."

I'm flushed and feverish because I'm horny, he thought miserably as he sipped the coffee she had made him a little while ago, which had now gone quite cold. "I'm fine, I promise," he said afterwards.

"You're not fine, you're tired and you're stressed, you're lettin' the people here drive you crazy and you're not even giving yourself a moment to rest. So...we're goin', whether you like it or not."

"We are, huh?" he folded his arms and looked down at her, smirking just a little, "is that an order, leader?" he pointed out.

"Yes," she remarked, "it's an order. It's a Saturday and you're not Leader today. You're not leader, you're not Gambit, you're not a mutant. You're just Remy LeBeau, a normal every day kinda guy and you're on your day off."

He supposed she was right. "Fine, you're right, I could use a day off," he finally agreed. "Where you wanna go?"

"Where do you wanna go?" Rogue asked, pointedly, "this is your day. We can go anywhere, but not the hardware store, or to pick up anything for the building projects."

Remy wasn't sure there was anywhere in Bayville he really wanted to go. "You know what, I don't care where we go..." he shrugged. "You pick somewhere."

"Remy, this is about you, doin' something you like."

"Chere," Remy smirked, "I like hanging out with you, whatever you wanna do, I'm cool with. Long as you're with me, I'm game for anythin'."

Rogue stared up at him, her expression curious. It seemed she wasn't quite sure how to take this statement. He hadn't meant it to sound so...flirtatious. But somehow, it always seemed to come out of him eventually when he spent time with Rogue, just as these frequent periods of arousal kept occurring in her presence too.

It's just hormones, he tried to assure himself.

Rogue drew her breath, "Okay...well...there's this...horror movie convention goin' on up near Bayville Lake at the convention centre...you know, for Halloween comin' up next week," she seemed to chew her cheek. "Is...there any chance you'd be up for goin' to somethin' like that?"

"I don't have to dress up like a goth or anything, right? I mean...do I need to...put on eyeliner, or...white face or anything?" Remy cocked his head and looked at her quizzically.

"No, it's just a horror movie convention. They sell posters, figurines, t-shirts, you know, the usual shit," Rogue responded.

"Then I'd love to," Remy grinned, "lets just clear this crap up fast and we can be on our way."

End of Part Twenty-One

Another not so exciting chapter but the next few will pick up a little (really can't wait to get them posted!). Thanks as always for the people who take the time to review, and for those who have already spent their time reviewing and making this story a favourite and on alert. I was quite amused by the review I got that I must be some kind of secret writer working for Marvel. It really made me laugh, haha! Anyway, hope you all enjoy! More to come soon (next few days). 3