Evo Romy
Title: Backfired
Characters: Rogue/Gambit, Kitty, Kurt
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1648
Disclaimer: Marvel and KidsWB own.
AN: For 10_themes, prompt #9- gritty.
Xavier had made him an offer once, then again recently. Gambit decided to join for two reasons. One he had difficulty acknowledging even late at night when he was alone with his thoughts and the other rarely acknowledged him day or night. Despite that, the transition to Xavier’s had been a smooth one. Of course, not everyone welcomed him with open arms. That one major obstacle, who wore a lot of make-up and was rather vocal about her unrelenting dislike of him, kept him from feeling too at home with the X-men. But given the situation he currently found himself in, Gambit forgot all about that.
Truth be told, he was very pleased with himself. The huge grin on his face let everyone who would have seen him know it. He would have made an attempt to be more modest, had anyone bothered to believe in him, but practically the entire mansion had told him he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell at getting Rogue to warm up to him after everything he had done. The charged playing card. Bothering her at school. New Orleans. They all said she would never like him. He chuckled at their naiveté; all the femmes liked him.
As the students walked into the kitchen for lunch, one after the other, they gaped at the sight before them. Gambit sitting on a stool openly flirting with Rogue. Rogue wearing an apron, smiling, and taking the flirting in stride.
No one expected her to talk to him again, let alone spend all Saturday afternoon baking and decorating cupcakes for him. The shock was etched into every one of their young faces.
“Hey,” Rogue greeted them, “Ya want a cupcake?”
Kitty’s eyes were wide. She stared at a smiling Rogue, then back at the smiling Cajun, then back at Rogue again. It was scary.
“Are you, like, okay?”
“Ah’m fine, Kit,” Rogue picked up two plates, one with chocolate covered cupcakes and the other with vanilla frosted ones, “Want one?”
Gambit was well aware of the dumbfounded audience and decided to give them a little show.
“These for me, chérie?”
Rogue smiled sweetly at him and though some of the X-men, Scott and Kurt especially, tried to find a hint of anything else - maybe revenge, or preferably malice - they couldn’t.
“Ah told ya, Cajun, yours are comin’ up. Now, the rest of ya, eat up!”
She handed off a plate to Kitty and the other to Jean. She wiped the hair away from her face, leaving a white streak of flour along her forehead.
Kitty took the seat next to Gambit. She chose to talk to him while Rogue was checking on the last batch of cupcakes.
“Like, what did you do to her?” she whispered.
Gambit offered her a lazy smile, “Nothin’, petite. Rogue said she wanted to do somethin’ nice for th’ new recruits. Especially me,” he winked at her, “Her words, not mine.”
…
All the cupcakes were gone save two vanilla ones. The novelty of Rogue being nice to Gambit had worn off for the most part and the kitchen was nearly empty. Scott would have stayed behind, but Jean insisted everyone deserved a second chance and that included Remy. She also threatened him with something so severe, he practically ran out of the kitchen.
Only Kitty and Kurt remained with Gambit and Rogue. Neither of the younger two X-men knew exactly what Gambit had done, but they weren’t going to let him do anything else, so they kept a close watch sitting on either side of him.
“Alright, Cajun,” Rogue carried a plate of the prettiest cupcakes Kurt had ever seen. They were covered in a dark red frosting that reminded Kitty of Remy’s eyes. Rogue placed the plate with great care down in front of Gambit, “These are all yours, sugah.”
Kurt reached for one, but Rogue smacked his hand away.
“These are Gambit’s!” she admonished fiercely.
Kurt pouted, but didn’t argue. Kitty sucked in a breath in surprise, but didn’t say anything for fear Rogue would snap at her next.
“Merci, chérie. Mais, there’s enough for all of us, non?”
“Ah guess,” Rogue shrugged, but she cast Kurt a sideways glance that warned him not to try to take one again.
He didn’t.
Rogue smiled at Gambit as he grabbed a cupcake, peeled the foil wrapping away, and took a bite. Her face lit up and he felt a stirring deep inside to be at the receiving end of such a smile. Then, he became acutely aware of what exactly he was eating. He had never tasted anything more abominable. The cupcake was dry and rough and it crumbled the minute it fell into his mouth. It was like he was eating sand! Even the frosting, which looked so smooth and creamy, had the most foul taste he had ever had the displeasure of encountering.
Panicked red eyes searched innocent-looking green ones. He didn’t want to offend her by spitting out the disgusting flavors swirling in his mouth, but he also did not want to swallow the vile excuse for food either. He glanced up again and found her looking intently at him. That’s when he caught the slight tremor in the right corner of her mouth that threatened to curl upwards.
Merde. It all made sense then - the friendly smiles, the subtle blushes across her cheek, the insistence “to do something nice” for him. He had believed it all a bit too easy given what he knew of Rogue and what the others said, but after only a few attempts and some perfectly chosen words, she seemed to be willing to forgive and forget. He bought into it all.
Oh, how wrong he was and what an amazing actress Rogue turned out to be! Nearly as good as him, that was certain. He could tell that all she wanted to do was laugh. Yet she masked her apparent victory rather well. Remy tried not to curse his overconfidence, but it was difficult with the disgusting, gritty mess in his mouth. Dieu, she had got him good. His eyes were staring to water and he contemplated spitting it all out just to have it over and done with.
But where would be the fun in that? Revenge would be much, much sweeter. He took a deep breath and swallowed.
Rogue’s eyes went wide for a second.
“That was…incredible,” he finally said.
Rogue blinked. Then, blinked again.
“Mes amis, you have to try these,” he said, handing one to Kurt and one to Kitty, “The Rogue outdid herself this time.”
Rogue was trying to go over the unique recipe in her mind. To her surprise it actually took a lot of effort to get something to taste so bad - a fact she found she didn’t have the heart to share with Kitty. She had an idea of what the cupcake was supposed to have tasted like and the swamp rat should not have found it edible. Unless she gave him the wrong ones, but the others ate the cupcakes without any problem... She looked at him then and found that infuriating lopsided grin staring back at her. She saw Kurt and Kitty both about to bite into the horrible cupcakes.
“Wait!” Rogue screamed, but it was too late.
…
Rogue sat under a tree pretending to read. She didn’t hear the footsteps until it was too late to attempt an escape. She didn’t bother looking up and kept her gaze on the open book on her lap.
“They still mad?” Gambit asked.
She wasn’t about to talk to him. If he hadn’t embarrassed her enough already with his flirting and pretending to like her, he made Kitty so mad at both of them for “their, like, childish games”, that she wasn’t talking to Rogue or sleeping in their room. Kurt had suffered such a bad allergic reaction to the cupcake that half of his fur fell off.
“You still mad?” he tried again, squatting down to one knee.
She turned the page even though she hadn’t read anything on the previous two. Or the last chapter, really.
“I don’t see why,” Remy continued, set on getting her to talk to him one way or the other. He knew why he couldn’t just let things go when it came to her, though he had yet to admit it to himself without making excuses. “I’d say we’re about even no-”
“What?!” Rogue finally looked up only to find a grinning Cajun looking back. He was teasing her. Again. She slammed her book shut. “Whatever,” she mumbled with the intent to storm off.
“Chérie, wait,” Remy grabbed her arm, but she swatted him off.
She clutched the book close to her chest, a deep scowl marring her face. “Just leave me alone,” she whispered and walked away.
He followed behind her, “What if I don’ wan’ t’?”
She quickened her pace.
“What if I…?”
She stopped abruptly and spun to face him. His face was open for once and she was afraid of what she thought she saw there. Recognized there. Understood. She felt a tightening in her chest. Her mouth felt dry and she swallowed.
“What if ya what, Cajun?”
He wanted to say it. He wanted her to know. But if he said it and if she knew, he’d be tied to her forever. Wherever he went, because he would go eventually, he’d feel a piece of himself missing because he left it with her. It happened before and he couldn’t let it happen again.
His gaze left hers.
“What ifs don’t matter, Gambit,” her voice was sad, resigned, “What ifs are a waste of time. Trust me, Ah know.”
“No y’ don’,” he argued, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words that would prove her wrong. Prove him wrong, too.
He just couldn’t do it.