Disclairmer: I do not own the X-men
The Brotherhood arrived at its hideout on the outskirts of NewYork just to find a shiny Harley Davidson already parked outside.
"I don't get why we have to stick with this stupid jeep while he has a bike for himself!" John, aka Pyro, murmured to himself. "It's not fair at all. I mean, what does he do? Nothing."
"I like the jeep." Lance, aka Avalanche, said this as if he himself had been insulted and not the car.
"Then keep it to yourself! Suits ya, mate." John shot back.
"Will you two shut the heck up? I wouldn't mind the jeep if I could be alone in it." Wanda pushed the door open after entering a code. "It's already bad enough I work for my dad…" She whispered the word in a disgusted tone. She turned on the lights of the living room and found Magneto sitting there with a blue diamond in his hands.
"Well done. It was a very good team work, even for the first time." He said with a proud smile to his new mutant group.
"Yeah! Even-though-things-didn't-go-as-expected." Pietro added quickly.
"I told you that might happen. That's what I trained you all for. Charles' students love to get into other people's business."
"But this time, they got burned. Haha." John joked, only to get an angry glare from Wanda.
"That was SO funny."
"What was funny?" A husky voice sounded from behind Wanda. She felt small shivers and turned around to complain, but her voice got caught in her throat when she saw Magneto's new recruit standing right in front of her, wearing only a black towel. His body was still wet and water dripped from his hair. "Y' like what ya' see, chérie?" He smirked, noticing she was blushing and her eyes were wide open.
"Will-you-stop-flirting-with-my-sister, Gambit?" Pietro rushed to their side and put an arm over his sister's shoulder, staring right into his eyes.
"Pietro, shut it!" Wanda blushed even more and walked away after slapping his arm. "I'm not your baby sister."
"Wasn't doing anything forbidden, mon ami." Gambit tilted his head to the side.
"Actually, Remy, I'd rather have you away from my daughter. And put some clothes on. This is not a hotel where you can walk around the way you feel like." Magneto stated as Remy sighed and went up to his room to dress. "Now back to business. We succeeded in getting one more diamond. Now we've got 4. Probably Charles already knows about our new achievement since it's been all over the news. Although I'm sure he knows nothing about the others since they were stolen in other countries and a professional thief did it, not leaving any traces."
"You call that a professional? He's just a cheap thief!" Lance looked at Magneto in disbelief.
"As I said, not leaving any traces, something a cheap thief wouldn't be able to do." At that, Lance got silent. "The problem is now our task is much more difficult. There is just one diamond remaining, and I left it as the final one because once we get it, we will have the X-Men after us."
"And why is that?" John asked.
"Simply because Charles possesses it. He bought it when we were still friends, and I remember it very well. He was quite curious about what the diamond could do. So was I. While Charles was busy, trying to convince humans to accept mutants and some other utopist ideas, I started studying the diamond myself. I found out that, despite its small size, it can absorb a huge amount of energy and maximize it. Later, I researched all by myself and realized that wasn't the only diamond with that capacity. But back then we still didn't have the technology to do what I wanted. Now things have changed." Magneto raised the diamond and observed it as it sparkled. "As you know, I've got a very profitable partnership with a scientist. This man seems to share the same interest as me about these diamonds' capacities, and he has gone much further than me studying them. He has all the resources needed to take the most out of them. My last machine was only a small toy compared to what this new project will be able to do, with its own energy source. There's only a complication. A few months ago, I thought it would be easier for us to steal the last stone. But then Charles came back from the dead. No one can step into that mansion without having their mind read."
"Cept' for me." Remy said, returning to the living room dressed in dark jeans and a red and black shirt that matched his eyes.
"What do you mean?" Fred, aka Blob, finally spoke.
"I mean this is the main reason Gambit got this job. Besides being an exceptional thief…"
"Very exceptional, I should add." Remy interrupted.
"His power doesn't allow any type of psychical invasion." Magneto went on as he hadn't been interrupted at all.
"So that means that-" Lance started but Remy interrupted again.
"Oui, mon ami. Remy will be goin' to a comfortable mansion as ya stay 'ere." He smirked and went up to his room as the rest of the Brotherhood stared in disbelief at Magneto, who was smiling, lost in his thoughts.
Rogue walked to the Med Lab to check on Kitty. She surely had been upset at her friend lately for being with Bobby all the time but it didn't mean she was angry at her and she wanted to let her friend know that. After all, Kitty and Jubilee were her first girlfriends at the institute. Rogue sighed as she thought about the days when everything was just fine, including her relationship. However, all those thoughts stopped when she opened the Med Lab door and she stopped in her tracks. Bobby was sitting by the side of Kitty's bed, talking to her and laughing, as they shared a pot of ice cream.
'What does he think he's doing?' She thought as anger built up inside. She coughed to announce her presence and Kitty just smiled wide at her as Bobby lowered his eyes.
"Hey, Rogue! I thought you wouldn't, like, come and visit me."
"Sorry, Kitty, Ah was exhausted from earlier and took the day off." She repeated Bobby's words, narrowing her eyes to him for a second but he just avoided eye contact. Her voice softened as she talked to Kitty. "How ya doin'?"
"Oh, you know, Mr. McCoy said I should stay and rest for tonight. Just because a piece of the ceiling fell on my head! Can you believe that? It's such a waste of the night."
"At least Bobby is here keeping you company after such a hard day for us." Rogue said with a slight sarcasm on her voice. Kitty looked at her, feeling a bit guilty. She felt bad Rogue and Bobby had been arguing so much lately, especially because she knew most of their fights were because of jealousy. The worst part is that she didn't even like Bobby in that way. He was her friend, and that was all.
'Why would I, like, waste my time with a boy who's got a girlfriend when there's a piece of heaven like Pete around?' She thought.
"Rogue, I just thought it would be nice to come and visit her. After all, she is hurt. I was worried." Bobby said to her, with a hint of impatience in his voice. All the jealousy over Kitty was getting him annoyed. He thought it was silly, since they never did anything wrong. Just flirting wasn't a crime, right? And he always thought Kitty was so cute and at the same time so different from Rogue. But she was his girlfriend and he had to put up with her mood swings. It was true their relationship was in a crisis, and yes, he had thought many times about breaking up. The problem is: Why would he leave his girlfriend if he didn't think Kitty would ever date her friend's ex-boyfriend?
'Not that I would do that to Rogue, but…' Bobby felt bad for having those thoughts. 'It's not easy to date someone who I can't touch. I wish we could just have a normal relationship.'
"Yeah, Bobby. Ah think it's nice that ya visit Kitty and all. She is mah friend too. However, you dismissed meh earlier with the excuse you would spend the rest of the day resting, remember? And now Ah find you here, doing something we could be doing, just you and meh, but that you said you were too tired for!" She struggled to keep her voice low, her hands curled in fists by her side.
"She is a member of our team who got hurt in action. I thought it would be important to give her some support. As a team leader." He said defensively.
"Team leader? And since when ya are the team leader? Ah don't remember any of us getting to that consensus!" Bobby glared at her as if he had just taken a bite of a lime. "So is it important to give her your support as a leader? What about giving meh some support as a girlfriend?! Isn't that important to ya too?" Rogue finally let her anger out. She was tired of spending almost everyday by herself while her boyfriend had much more important things to do, like going out with his friends, studying with Kitty, watching TV, and so on. Not that she didn't feel like having time for herself and having her own space, but that was way too much!
"Now don't you start again, please!" He raised his hands and looked at her in annoyance.
"Start what? Bobby, Ah just want us to be together!... Ah'm not gonna talk about that here. She should be resting."
She turned around to leave and heard Kitty call her name, but she didn't look back.
"Sorry Kitty, but Ah just wish it was mah boyfriend calling mah name, not you." Rogue said, before closing the door behind her. This time she didn't go to her room, but to the garden. Sitting there in the grass and watching the moon always made her calm down and think about how all the problems were so small compared to the stars above.
She passed the hall of the mansion and heard Jubilee call her from the kitchen door, but she didn't even bother to look. She needed to be alone for a while. When Rogue finally reached the trees she sat beneath an old oak. It was her favorite place in the Institute, especially at night. The forest around the mansion somehow looked magical. That's exactly what she needed, to get away from her problems for a while.
Rogue hated feeling sorry for herself and that's why she tried to focus on the good things around her. It wasn't worth sitting and crying for hours because it wouldn't do any good. It would only give her a stupid headache and a swollen face. She knew the world wouldn't stop just to watch her weep. Things would keep happening, hours would still pass, and she wasn't willing to waste her precious life with self pity. Sometimes though, she just couldn't help some tears escaping her green eyes. She looked at the stars and wished she could have someone there to wipe those damn tears and to kiss them away. She wished for someone who would stay there by her side even if sometimes she tried to push them away. Someone who could see the truth behind her words, who realized that all she wanted was someone who wasn't scared. But it was only her and the old oak. Maybe she was just asking for too much. She pulled her knees to her chest, rest her head on them and cried. Finally, after two hours sitting there, she stood up.
"God, if Ah stay here more time Ah'll become a tree mahself." She winced when her back started hurting because of her sitting position. 'Great! And tomorrow Ah got Danger Room session in the morning with Logan. Ah'm dead.' She walked back to the mansion and went to her room.
When she got there, Jubilee was already sleeping and a small paper was over her own bed. She picked it up and read: Sorry about today. Tomorrow I'll make it up to you. Love you, Bobby.
For some reason she couldn't explain, she almost felt like rolling her eyes, but she stopped herself from doing it. 'Why didn't ya just come after meh instead of leaving a note?' She frowned and sighed. 'When did ya become so bitter, Rogue?' She lay on her bed and stared at the note, getting lost in the memories of when everything was fine between her and her boyfriend.
The best times they had ever had were exactly after she got the Cure and her powers disappeared. They had gone through a crisis before it, but it was immediately forgotten as soon as he realized she could touch. They would stay together all day long, and he kissed her so much people made fun of it, saying one day their lips would stick to each other. 'Such irony.' It was exactly what happened in the end. They were in his room one night, when most of their friends had gone out, and Logan and Scott were accompanying Xavier in a congress. She could still remember how nervous she was, her heart pumping and a thin layer of cold sweat covering her body, while Bobby kissed her neck, laying over her on the bed. As his hand crawled up her belly underneath her shirt, he looked into her eyes and smiled, telling her he would stop any time she wanted. Rogue had answered that with a deep kiss, all of her thoughts completely blurred with the excitement that took over her. But suddenly she realized not only her thoughts were blurred, but her head seemed to be filled with whispers, and the whispers turned into chaos. She snapped her eyes open and saw Bobby trying to move from over her, but he was loosing his consciousness and their lips were still glued to each other. Rogue felt her own body weak and trembling, but found the strength to push him away and stand, as tears rolled down her cheeks. She then started to scream hysterically for help, as Bobby fell from the bed shaking, looking just like Cody did one day. Kitty was the first one to get to the room, phasing through the walls, followed by a bunch of students and then Ms. Munroe. She would never forget the look on those people's faces: fear, pity, accusation. Bobby woke up a couple of days later, but since then their relationship hadn't been the same.
'At least he is apologizing. That's already a big step, right? He is trying to make things up. If Ah try too, maybe we can make it work again.' She smiled slightly and wondered what he was planning to do on the following day. 'Ah just wish we would stop arguing and do something nice.'
She covered herself with the sheets and was half asleep when something came to her mind, nearly as a dream. Those red on black eyes. She snapped her eyes open and looked confused. 'Oh c'mon Rogue, it was just a guy at the mall. Just go to sleep.' She told herself and finally fell asleep.
The following morning, Rogue woke up with a ray of sun coming through the curtains and heard the sound of birds singing on the balcony. She stretched and turned her face to the window, seeing a bright blue sky with no clouds. In that moment, a few more birds passed flying and she took that as a good sign. 'Beautiful day… at least it is a good start.' She looked to Jubilee's bed and saw her friend still asleep, drooling on her pillow. Rogue went to the bathroom and took a long, hot shower, feeling all her problems being washed away. When she finished getting ready, she went back to the room only to find her friend in the exact same place.
"Jubs, wake up or ya gonna be late." She tried to shake Jubilee, but the girl only rolled to her other side and said something that sounded like hmm ahhn uhm grunf. Rogue rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen to get some breakfast before the Danger Room session. Bobby was already there chatting with some other boys and rushed to her side when he saw her sitting down by herself.
"Hey." He whispered, sounding a little embarrassed. "Did you get my note?"
"Yeah." It was all she could say.
"I'm really sorry Rogue. I know I've been such an idiot yesterday and all the days before. It's just that my head is so full of things, you know? I'm trying to be a good boyfriend, a good friend, a good X-Man… it gets hard to sort it out sometimes."
"Ah know, sugah. You just need some priorities." She took his hand and faced him. "Ah'm not asking you to forget the rest of the world because of meh… Ah'm just asking for a little attention, that's all. Ah just need you by mah side, every now and then."
"I'm here now. Forgive me?" His blue eyes made a silent plea as he pressed her hand in his.
"Ah forgive you." She smiled when he sighed in relief and chuckled when he kissed her gloved fingers.
"You know what? I'll redeem myself by cooking you some pancakes, what do you think?" Bobby sounded as excited as a child, his blue eyes glistening with excitement.
"Oh, sugah… ya really don't need to…" Rogue's eyes scanned the whole kitchen in search for help, but none came.
"But I want to! I learnt this recipe the other day and I want you to be the first one to try it. It will be a sweet way to start our day." He didn't wait for her answer and moved to get the ingredients. His enthusiasm brightened Rogue's mood, but she knew his reputation as a cook.
'Murdering meh… nice way to make peace.' She chuckled and rested her head on her arms, waiting for her executioner to finish cooking the pancakes.