Progression, Ch. 19
Title: Progression, Part 19
Author: Sionnain
Fandom: X-Men Evo
Pairings: Various.
Rating: MA overall, R for this chapter.
Summary: After Ascension, things begin to change as the lines begin to blur.
AN: A million thanks to my wonderful beta Nevacaruso, who had a lot of great suggestions for this chapter to make it work. In this chapter, Magneto and Rogue have a conversation about their strange situation, and decide to do something surprisingly...normal.
Part one of Progression is Here
Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Magneto lay on his back, his head turned to gaze at Rogue as she lay beside him. Her breathing was slowly evening out, her eyes far-away and glazed. She looked as peaceful as she ever did, which was good considering what he needed to discuss with her.
There was something about their arrangement that wasn’t sitting well with him, and hadn’t been, for the last several weeks. It had taken him a great deal of time to figure out what it was, and while he’d been happy to perform the service he knew she wanted from him, he wanted something…more. It was a conclusion he wasn’t entirely pleased with, but he rarely denied himself the things he wanted.
“Somethin’ the matter?” she asked him, her soft voice drowsy. “You’re lookin’ at me funny.”
“I’m fine.” He wondered if this would be the last time they’d be lying together on his bed. He turned on his side and propped himself up, staring critically at her. “I’m just thinking.”
“You do that a lot,” she said seriously, her eyes searching his. “Brood. You know somethin’? Pietro may look like you, but I think Wanda acts more like you.”
Surprised, he was unsure what to say to that. He knew Rogue was friends with his daughter, but that was one of the many subjects that remained an anathema between them. She must have remembered that; her eyes dropped suddenly from his. “I-I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No, it’s all right,” he said slowly, not entirely displeased at her assessment. “Why do you think that?”
“She’s moody like you are, you know. And she’s intense, too, has that stare that looks like she’s shootin’ laser beams out of her eyes.” Rogue grinned. ”She’s got a temper like you do, too.”
He knew that well enough. “I wasn’t aware you thought I was moody.”
She actually laughed. “You remind me a panther stalking around at the zoo, thinking maybe you would like to eat the people lookin’ in on you.”
He blinked; it was an astute observation, actually, as to how he felt at Xavier’s. “Some days I would rather just maul them,” he said, and she laughed again. He smiled at her.
“You should smile more,” she said, surprising him by reaching up and touching her fingers lightly to his mouth. It was the briefest of touches, and it reminded him oddly of a kiss. She dropped her hand and blushed, as if she were surprised by what she’d done.
“So should you,” he said quietly, tracing his gloved hand down her naked chest, in the valley between her breasts.
She shifted a little on the bed and shivered. “You wanna hear somethin’ crazy?”
His black gloved fingers on her skin were a striking contrast, like black ink on white paper, and he had to forcibly make himself look her in the eye. “Mmm?”
“I don’t hate you anymore,” she whispered, biting her lower lip.
“Don’t you?” He lifted his hand and traced her lips, pleased.
She shook her head. “No.”
“You don’t look happy about it,” he informed her, fingers twining lightly in her lock of white.
“I ain’t, not really,” she said bluntly, which made him smile briefly. “You understand, don’t you? Why that might be kinda bad?”
His eyes met hers again, and he nodded. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I understand.” He sat up. “You should get dressed.”
She was still accustomed to obeying him in the bedroom, so she stood up and dressed slowly, finding her various articles of clothing tossed carelessly on the floor of his room. He found a change of clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.
When he’d cleaned up and deposited his clothes in the hamper-he was doing an awful lot of laundry at odd hours of the night-he went back out into his bedroom to see her sitting on his bed, fully dressed. “Come along.”
“Uh…you gonna walk me back to my room?” She looked at him warily. “Don’t think that’s such a good idea, Magneto, do you?”
“Nothing about this has ever been a good idea,” he reminded her, and she stood up and shrugged.
“You’re right, but…probably this would be even less of one.”
“I’m not taking you to your room. I am taking you out of this mansion somewhere we can talk.”
“Uh…what?” She couldn’t have looked more surprised as if he’d just told her they should have their next rendezvous on the kitchen table at dinner.
“Rogue, you know we need to talk as much as I do, but you are not…we have rules, remember? You are to obey me in the bedroom? We need to be somewhere neutral. In lieu of obeying me, perhaps you could just listen and follow me without asking so many questions?”
“You’re so bossy,” she informed him, but threw up her hands in defeat. “Fine! I’ll come with you, as long as you’re not gonna like, kill me or something.”
“Tempting as that may be, my girl, it wasn’t on the agenda,” he said in a silky voice, opening the door with a wave.
“See? Like I said, moody,” she muttered, peeking into the hallway and walking quickly towards the stairway.
Luckily, they passed no one as they made their way towards the garage. He looked critically at the cars. He wasn’t about to borrow that death-trap roadster of which young Cyclops was so fond, and motorcycles had never appealed to him, so he opened the doors to the Hummer with a wave.
“Don’t you need a key?” she asked him curiously.
He gave an exasperated sigh and wriggled his fingers at her. “No.”
“Oh, right. Your powers are a lot more useful than mine. Except that, thanks to Gambit, I know how to hotwire a car.” She went around the car and climbed inside on the passenger side. “Just let me know if you need some help.”
He didn’t dignify that with a response, merely used his powers to start the car, piloting it smoothly out of the garage and into the dark night. She was very quiet next to him, staring out of the window, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.
“Are you cold?” he asked her solicitously, using his metal sense to turn on the heat.
“A little,” she said quietly. “It’s all right.”
He drove them a few miles away from the mansion, wondering if this was a good idea after all. While he probably wouldn’t ever admit it to anyone but himself, it was an undeniable fact that he could often be a bit…rash. Had he truly thought about what this conversation would mean?
He parked the car up on a hill overlooking the city; the lights sparkled in the distance, glowing softly in the cold night. The moon hung swollen and full in the sky, illuminating the interior of the car with a soft white light.
“If we start hearin’ a tap on the roof of the car, be careful,” she intoned, and he had a strange feeling he was missing something. “It could be the hook-murderer.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Just a joke,” she muttered, looking down. “Not a good one, I guess. Uh…why are we here? She turned her face to his, her expression guarded.
“What’s your name?”
It was obviously not a question she was expecting to hear, so it took her a moment to answer. “Anna-Marie Adler,” she answered, almost as if surprised she’d just told him. “But only the teachers at Bayville ever call me that.”
“The others, they know it, though, don’t they?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Sometimes Kitty calls me that when she thinks she’s bein’ funny, or she used to. Everyone just got used to callin’ me Rogue, and that’s just my name now.” Her eyes were shrewd. “That’s why you brought me up here? To ask me my name? You could have asked me that back in the mansion.”
“You would have told me if I’d asked you in my bedroom, because those are our rules. They are not, however, the rules here.”
“Why did you want to know?”
Instead of answering her, he leaned over and tipped her chin up, then kissed her. He kept the contact as long as he could, even after her powers started, pulling away before she could do him any serious harm.
She touched her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. Very slowly, she reached out and laid a trembling hand on his shoulder. “You don’t hate me anymore, either, do you?”
“I never hated you,” he said honestly, holding very still as her tentative touch traveled over his neck.
“I make you kinda irritated, though,” she said, her voice shaking a little. “And you still sort of scare me, and make me mad.”
“I know.” He leaned back against the seat, submitting to her tentative exploration.
Her fingers brushed lightly over his jaw. “What does this mean?”
“I don’t know,” he said honestly.
She unbuckled her seat belt. He could hear her breathing, very quick and fast, and his body was tense and poised as if for battle. She rose up on her knees on the seat next to him. “You want to end it, don’t you?”
He looked over at her. “I’m taking advantage of you.”
“I’m taking advantage of you, too.”
He smiled, but it wasn’t friendly. “Yes. I know. I don’t like to be taken advantage of, you know, and I realized very recently that I’d conveniently forgotten that with you.”
Her eyes were speculative. “This is what I do,” she said slowly, carefully. “I mean, with my powers. I take things from people and use them. It’s the way I am.”
“I know. And my power is to control, to manipulate.” He laughed softly. “Perhaps this is the explanation of our attraction. You cannot deny there is one, not trembling as you are beside me in the dark. You want to touch me, I know you do.”
“You want to touch me, too” she said challengingly, and his blood pulsed slow and hot in his veins at both the tone in her voice and her inability to deny what he’d said.
“There are a lot of things I want from you,” he murmured.
“Would you just say it already? Tell me you want me to stop coming to your room, and I will,” she muttered, her voice tight.
“I want you to stop using me to make yourself feel better about things over which you have no control, Anna-Marie, and I want to stop taking control over you as some sort of substitute for the things over which I have no control.”
“So you want to end it,” she said angrily.
He reached over and hauled her into his lap, settling her against him. “That’s not what I said, is it?”
Her hands rested on his shoulders, and her small body was as tense as his own. “So what are you saying?” she demanded, her eyes narrowed. She was shifting a little in his lap, moving on him, and he had to still her with effort.
“Stop that. And I don’t know. I do know, however, that sneaking around like this is only going to cause problems.”
“Magneto, are you asking me to go steady?” She stared down at him as if he’d suddenly morphed into Apocalypse. “Cause that might make me faint.”
He stared up at her. “Don’t be flippant.”
“Well, what do you mean, then?”
“Only that our…relationship, as it were, has progressed past our original set limitations. If this scares or bothers you, you are free to never speak to me again, but I am no longer content to be some vehicle for your use. I am also no longer content to have your capitulation to my every whim, because there is no challenge left in that.”
“Well, fine, if you don’t like it-”
He shook her slightly. “You misunderstand me. I am trying to tell you that I want more from you than what our current restrictive relationship provides.”
“Why?”
That, of course, was a good question. “I have absolutely no idea,” he said bluntly. “I’m attracted to you, of course, and I have been ever since I backed you up against that wall in my bedroom and we first began…whatever this is. You’re attracted to me, too, and it’s not just because you like submitting to me, is it?”
She stared down and him for a moment before giving a terse nod. “So, what? We try something else that’s more normal? Magneto, that’s crazy,” she said, but there was a strange look on her face. “Isn’t it? I mean…we couldn’t possibly…could we?”
“Tell me you have no interest, and I’ll take us both home and we shall never speak of this again.”
“I just don’t…how can this have happened?” She was obviously bewildered.
He understood the feeling. “You’re not answering my question.”
She glared and hit him lightly on the shoulder with a gloved hand. “You’re so infuriating.” She sighed. “Fine, I ain’t denyin’ I’m attracted to you, and that maybe I think about you more than I should, and maybe I want something more, but Magneto…” She blushed. “I don’t even know what that would be.”
He snorted. “Neither do I. By the way, I would also appreciate it if you’d stop calling me ‘Magneto’ all the time. I understand the allure of one’s mutant name, but there is a time and a place for it.”
“I ain’t callin’ you ‘Magnus’ like the Professor does,” she informed him dryly. She made no move to get off of his lap.
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t. My name is Erik.” He moved her closer, nuzzling at her neck. She was soft and warm, her body pressed enticingly against his.
“I know that,” she said breathlessly, fingers moving up to wind in his hair. “This is so…it’s just weird.”
“I know,” he murmured, moving her back with effort, when all he wanted to do was move her on his lap. “I’m as surprised as you are.”
She looked at him consideringly. “This ain’t just cause you’re in my head, is it? I mean, I find it kinda hard to believe I’d want anything from you without some help.”
Oddly offended, he glared at her. “You still annoy me, and I would like to buy you a new wardrobe and a grammar book-”
“You’re still an arrogant ass, and I think you’re sneaky and shady and-”
“You have a narrow-minded, flawed view of right and wrong,” he began hotly, and she hit him again on his shoulder, this time not so lightly.
“Yeah? At least I have a sense of right and wrong-”
“Oh, yes, taught to you by a man who refuses to use his powers and help his people from being hated and feared and locked up--”
“Strong words from a man who built and lived on an asteroid--” She was firmly riled up, now, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright.
“I’m very irritated with you right now, Anna-Marie, do you realize this?”
She nodded jerkily. “Yeah, I do.”
He bared his teeth at her in a vicious approximation of a smile. “And yet, I still want you. And you want me, don’t you, as much as you’re itching to go for your glove?”
“Yes,” she hissed, then sighed. “God. This is crazy.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “It is. But I rarely do things that aren’t, so perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised.” He yanked her closer to him with a hand on the back of her neck, kissing her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. He nipped at her lip and she moaned and made a sound almost like a growl as she nipped his lower lip in return. His hands were roughly moving over her body, hers frantically pulling at his hair. Her powers were pulling at him, making him dizzy, and eventually he had to push her away before she knocked him unconscious.
“Do you see?” he asked her huskily, his voice roughened with want and the effects of being drained by her powers. “Do you?”
She was nearly hyperventilating as she stared at him. Her fingers were curled tight into his shirt, her entire body shaking on his lap. “Yeah. I do see. I do want this, but I-I’m not really happy about it.”
“Me neither.” They stared at each other for a long moment, breathing fast, before she spoke again.
“So what do we do?”
He traced his fingers gently over her collarbone. She shivered a little and smiled. “Why don’t we go to dinner? That seems safe enough.” His fingers drifted lower, and she sucked in a sharp breath.
“Okay. But, I think…If we’re gonna try something normal…” she bit her lip, looking nervous. “I think maybe we shouldn’t-”
He understood what she meant and shifted her off his lap, though reluctantly. “Yes. We shouldn’t, for a while, I suppose.”
She stared at him, her eyes drifting down to his mouth. Her tongue came out, slowly running along her bottom lip, and he bit back a groan. “Anna-Marie, that is not enticing me to leave you alone.”
“Oh, right.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “It’s just…now I’m all sort of hot and bothered, and-”
“Continue with that and you’ll be back on my lap again.” .
“Though I wasn’t supposed to follow your orders now, sir,” she said pertly, and he leaned over and tugged her hair.
“I’m not averse to that sort of play, as you’ve noticed. But surely you understand why, if we are to attempt to figure this out between us, we should…refrain, for the time being, until things are a bit clearer?”
“Yeah,” she said quietly. “I do.” The slight tone of reluctance in her voice made him want to pull her back on his lap again. He restrained himself with effort.
He started the car and drove them back to the mansion, both of them lost in their own thoughts. When he’d had pulled through gate onto the driveway, she placed a hesitant touch on his shoulder. He looked at her expectantly.
“Wanda. She’s my closet friend. I can’t do this-go to dinner with you-and not tell her.”
“You may talk to her if you wish. I shall have to speak to Charles, at any rate.” His voice hardened. “I may have to leave. He could always forbid this, though I suppose we shall deal with that if and when it happens.”
“I’m eighteen,” she said in a determined voice. “If I want to go out to dinner with you, I will, and there really ain’t nothing he can say about it even if it’s the craziest idea in the whole world.”
He smiled despite himself. “What a charming turn of phrase you have, my girl.”
She smiled at the endearment, which made him relax somewhat. “You know any better way to describe it?”
He parked the car in the garage, feeling the various gears and systems within the car shut down and quiet with a thought. “Not really.” He opened her door for her with a wave of his hand.
They were silent as they entered the house. At the top of the stairs, he paused and reached out to lightly draw his fingers down her cheek. “Good night, Anna-Marie.”
“Good night, Erik,” she said quietly, leaning close to him for a moment. “They did tell us to try and get along. Won’t they be surprised.” She pressed her cheek to his chest for the briefest of moments, before hurrying off without a backwards glance.
He smiled and backed away into the shadows, watching as she turned and headed off towards her room. This was insane, but when had that ever stopped him?
Chapter 20
Author: Sionnain
Fandom: X-Men Evo
Pairings: Various.
Rating: MA overall, R for this chapter.
Summary: After Ascension, things begin to change as the lines begin to blur.
AN: A million thanks to my wonderful beta Nevacaruso, who had a lot of great suggestions for this chapter to make it work. In this chapter, Magneto and Rogue have a conversation about their strange situation, and decide to do something surprisingly...normal.
Part one of Progression is Here
Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Magneto lay on his back, his head turned to gaze at Rogue as she lay beside him. Her breathing was slowly evening out, her eyes far-away and glazed. She looked as peaceful as she ever did, which was good considering what he needed to discuss with her.
There was something about their arrangement that wasn’t sitting well with him, and hadn’t been, for the last several weeks. It had taken him a great deal of time to figure out what it was, and while he’d been happy to perform the service he knew she wanted from him, he wanted something…more. It was a conclusion he wasn’t entirely pleased with, but he rarely denied himself the things he wanted.
“Somethin’ the matter?” she asked him, her soft voice drowsy. “You’re lookin’ at me funny.”
“I’m fine.” He wondered if this would be the last time they’d be lying together on his bed. He turned on his side and propped himself up, staring critically at her. “I’m just thinking.”
“You do that a lot,” she said seriously, her eyes searching his. “Brood. You know somethin’? Pietro may look like you, but I think Wanda acts more like you.”
Surprised, he was unsure what to say to that. He knew Rogue was friends with his daughter, but that was one of the many subjects that remained an anathema between them. She must have remembered that; her eyes dropped suddenly from his. “I-I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No, it’s all right,” he said slowly, not entirely displeased at her assessment. “Why do you think that?”
“She’s moody like you are, you know. And she’s intense, too, has that stare that looks like she’s shootin’ laser beams out of her eyes.” Rogue grinned. ”She’s got a temper like you do, too.”
He knew that well enough. “I wasn’t aware you thought I was moody.”
She actually laughed. “You remind me a panther stalking around at the zoo, thinking maybe you would like to eat the people lookin’ in on you.”
He blinked; it was an astute observation, actually, as to how he felt at Xavier’s. “Some days I would rather just maul them,” he said, and she laughed again. He smiled at her.
“You should smile more,” she said, surprising him by reaching up and touching her fingers lightly to his mouth. It was the briefest of touches, and it reminded him oddly of a kiss. She dropped her hand and blushed, as if she were surprised by what she’d done.
“So should you,” he said quietly, tracing his gloved hand down her naked chest, in the valley between her breasts.
She shifted a little on the bed and shivered. “You wanna hear somethin’ crazy?”
His black gloved fingers on her skin were a striking contrast, like black ink on white paper, and he had to forcibly make himself look her in the eye. “Mmm?”
“I don’t hate you anymore,” she whispered, biting her lower lip.
“Don’t you?” He lifted his hand and traced her lips, pleased.
She shook her head. “No.”
“You don’t look happy about it,” he informed her, fingers twining lightly in her lock of white.
“I ain’t, not really,” she said bluntly, which made him smile briefly. “You understand, don’t you? Why that might be kinda bad?”
His eyes met hers again, and he nodded. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I understand.” He sat up. “You should get dressed.”
She was still accustomed to obeying him in the bedroom, so she stood up and dressed slowly, finding her various articles of clothing tossed carelessly on the floor of his room. He found a change of clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.
When he’d cleaned up and deposited his clothes in the hamper-he was doing an awful lot of laundry at odd hours of the night-he went back out into his bedroom to see her sitting on his bed, fully dressed. “Come along.”
“Uh…you gonna walk me back to my room?” She looked at him warily. “Don’t think that’s such a good idea, Magneto, do you?”
“Nothing about this has ever been a good idea,” he reminded her, and she stood up and shrugged.
“You’re right, but…probably this would be even less of one.”
“I’m not taking you to your room. I am taking you out of this mansion somewhere we can talk.”
“Uh…what?” She couldn’t have looked more surprised as if he’d just told her they should have their next rendezvous on the kitchen table at dinner.
“Rogue, you know we need to talk as much as I do, but you are not…we have rules, remember? You are to obey me in the bedroom? We need to be somewhere neutral. In lieu of obeying me, perhaps you could just listen and follow me without asking so many questions?”
“You’re so bossy,” she informed him, but threw up her hands in defeat. “Fine! I’ll come with you, as long as you’re not gonna like, kill me or something.”
“Tempting as that may be, my girl, it wasn’t on the agenda,” he said in a silky voice, opening the door with a wave.
“See? Like I said, moody,” she muttered, peeking into the hallway and walking quickly towards the stairway.
Luckily, they passed no one as they made their way towards the garage. He looked critically at the cars. He wasn’t about to borrow that death-trap roadster of which young Cyclops was so fond, and motorcycles had never appealed to him, so he opened the doors to the Hummer with a wave.
“Don’t you need a key?” she asked him curiously.
He gave an exasperated sigh and wriggled his fingers at her. “No.”
“Oh, right. Your powers are a lot more useful than mine. Except that, thanks to Gambit, I know how to hotwire a car.” She went around the car and climbed inside on the passenger side. “Just let me know if you need some help.”
He didn’t dignify that with a response, merely used his powers to start the car, piloting it smoothly out of the garage and into the dark night. She was very quiet next to him, staring out of the window, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.
“Are you cold?” he asked her solicitously, using his metal sense to turn on the heat.
“A little,” she said quietly. “It’s all right.”
He drove them a few miles away from the mansion, wondering if this was a good idea after all. While he probably wouldn’t ever admit it to anyone but himself, it was an undeniable fact that he could often be a bit…rash. Had he truly thought about what this conversation would mean?
He parked the car up on a hill overlooking the city; the lights sparkled in the distance, glowing softly in the cold night. The moon hung swollen and full in the sky, illuminating the interior of the car with a soft white light.
“If we start hearin’ a tap on the roof of the car, be careful,” she intoned, and he had a strange feeling he was missing something. “It could be the hook-murderer.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Just a joke,” she muttered, looking down. “Not a good one, I guess. Uh…why are we here? She turned her face to his, her expression guarded.
“What’s your name?”
It was obviously not a question she was expecting to hear, so it took her a moment to answer. “Anna-Marie Adler,” she answered, almost as if surprised she’d just told him. “But only the teachers at Bayville ever call me that.”
“The others, they know it, though, don’t they?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Sometimes Kitty calls me that when she thinks she’s bein’ funny, or she used to. Everyone just got used to callin’ me Rogue, and that’s just my name now.” Her eyes were shrewd. “That’s why you brought me up here? To ask me my name? You could have asked me that back in the mansion.”
“You would have told me if I’d asked you in my bedroom, because those are our rules. They are not, however, the rules here.”
“Why did you want to know?”
Instead of answering her, he leaned over and tipped her chin up, then kissed her. He kept the contact as long as he could, even after her powers started, pulling away before she could do him any serious harm.
She touched her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. Very slowly, she reached out and laid a trembling hand on his shoulder. “You don’t hate me anymore, either, do you?”
“I never hated you,” he said honestly, holding very still as her tentative touch traveled over his neck.
“I make you kinda irritated, though,” she said, her voice shaking a little. “And you still sort of scare me, and make me mad.”
“I know.” He leaned back against the seat, submitting to her tentative exploration.
Her fingers brushed lightly over his jaw. “What does this mean?”
“I don’t know,” he said honestly.
She unbuckled her seat belt. He could hear her breathing, very quick and fast, and his body was tense and poised as if for battle. She rose up on her knees on the seat next to him. “You want to end it, don’t you?”
He looked over at her. “I’m taking advantage of you.”
“I’m taking advantage of you, too.”
He smiled, but it wasn’t friendly. “Yes. I know. I don’t like to be taken advantage of, you know, and I realized very recently that I’d conveniently forgotten that with you.”
Her eyes were speculative. “This is what I do,” she said slowly, carefully. “I mean, with my powers. I take things from people and use them. It’s the way I am.”
“I know. And my power is to control, to manipulate.” He laughed softly. “Perhaps this is the explanation of our attraction. You cannot deny there is one, not trembling as you are beside me in the dark. You want to touch me, I know you do.”
“You want to touch me, too” she said challengingly, and his blood pulsed slow and hot in his veins at both the tone in her voice and her inability to deny what he’d said.
“There are a lot of things I want from you,” he murmured.
“Would you just say it already? Tell me you want me to stop coming to your room, and I will,” she muttered, her voice tight.
“I want you to stop using me to make yourself feel better about things over which you have no control, Anna-Marie, and I want to stop taking control over you as some sort of substitute for the things over which I have no control.”
“So you want to end it,” she said angrily.
He reached over and hauled her into his lap, settling her against him. “That’s not what I said, is it?”
Her hands rested on his shoulders, and her small body was as tense as his own. “So what are you saying?” she demanded, her eyes narrowed. She was shifting a little in his lap, moving on him, and he had to still her with effort.
“Stop that. And I don’t know. I do know, however, that sneaking around like this is only going to cause problems.”
“Magneto, are you asking me to go steady?” She stared down at him as if he’d suddenly morphed into Apocalypse. “Cause that might make me faint.”
He stared up at her. “Don’t be flippant.”
“Well, what do you mean, then?”
“Only that our…relationship, as it were, has progressed past our original set limitations. If this scares or bothers you, you are free to never speak to me again, but I am no longer content to be some vehicle for your use. I am also no longer content to have your capitulation to my every whim, because there is no challenge left in that.”
“Well, fine, if you don’t like it-”
He shook her slightly. “You misunderstand me. I am trying to tell you that I want more from you than what our current restrictive relationship provides.”
“Why?”
That, of course, was a good question. “I have absolutely no idea,” he said bluntly. “I’m attracted to you, of course, and I have been ever since I backed you up against that wall in my bedroom and we first began…whatever this is. You’re attracted to me, too, and it’s not just because you like submitting to me, is it?”
She stared down and him for a moment before giving a terse nod. “So, what? We try something else that’s more normal? Magneto, that’s crazy,” she said, but there was a strange look on her face. “Isn’t it? I mean…we couldn’t possibly…could we?”
“Tell me you have no interest, and I’ll take us both home and we shall never speak of this again.”
“I just don’t…how can this have happened?” She was obviously bewildered.
He understood the feeling. “You’re not answering my question.”
She glared and hit him lightly on the shoulder with a gloved hand. “You’re so infuriating.” She sighed. “Fine, I ain’t denyin’ I’m attracted to you, and that maybe I think about you more than I should, and maybe I want something more, but Magneto…” She blushed. “I don’t even know what that would be.”
He snorted. “Neither do I. By the way, I would also appreciate it if you’d stop calling me ‘Magneto’ all the time. I understand the allure of one’s mutant name, but there is a time and a place for it.”
“I ain’t callin’ you ‘Magnus’ like the Professor does,” she informed him dryly. She made no move to get off of his lap.
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t. My name is Erik.” He moved her closer, nuzzling at her neck. She was soft and warm, her body pressed enticingly against his.
“I know that,” she said breathlessly, fingers moving up to wind in his hair. “This is so…it’s just weird.”
“I know,” he murmured, moving her back with effort, when all he wanted to do was move her on his lap. “I’m as surprised as you are.”
She looked at him consideringly. “This ain’t just cause you’re in my head, is it? I mean, I find it kinda hard to believe I’d want anything from you without some help.”
Oddly offended, he glared at her. “You still annoy me, and I would like to buy you a new wardrobe and a grammar book-”
“You’re still an arrogant ass, and I think you’re sneaky and shady and-”
“You have a narrow-minded, flawed view of right and wrong,” he began hotly, and she hit him again on his shoulder, this time not so lightly.
“Yeah? At least I have a sense of right and wrong-”
“Oh, yes, taught to you by a man who refuses to use his powers and help his people from being hated and feared and locked up--”
“Strong words from a man who built and lived on an asteroid--” She was firmly riled up, now, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright.
“I’m very irritated with you right now, Anna-Marie, do you realize this?”
She nodded jerkily. “Yeah, I do.”
He bared his teeth at her in a vicious approximation of a smile. “And yet, I still want you. And you want me, don’t you, as much as you’re itching to go for your glove?”
“Yes,” she hissed, then sighed. “God. This is crazy.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “It is. But I rarely do things that aren’t, so perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised.” He yanked her closer to him with a hand on the back of her neck, kissing her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. He nipped at her lip and she moaned and made a sound almost like a growl as she nipped his lower lip in return. His hands were roughly moving over her body, hers frantically pulling at his hair. Her powers were pulling at him, making him dizzy, and eventually he had to push her away before she knocked him unconscious.
“Do you see?” he asked her huskily, his voice roughened with want and the effects of being drained by her powers. “Do you?”
She was nearly hyperventilating as she stared at him. Her fingers were curled tight into his shirt, her entire body shaking on his lap. “Yeah. I do see. I do want this, but I-I’m not really happy about it.”
“Me neither.” They stared at each other for a long moment, breathing fast, before she spoke again.
“So what do we do?”
He traced his fingers gently over her collarbone. She shivered a little and smiled. “Why don’t we go to dinner? That seems safe enough.” His fingers drifted lower, and she sucked in a sharp breath.
“Okay. But, I think…If we’re gonna try something normal…” she bit her lip, looking nervous. “I think maybe we shouldn’t-”
He understood what she meant and shifted her off his lap, though reluctantly. “Yes. We shouldn’t, for a while, I suppose.”
She stared at him, her eyes drifting down to his mouth. Her tongue came out, slowly running along her bottom lip, and he bit back a groan. “Anna-Marie, that is not enticing me to leave you alone.”
“Oh, right.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “It’s just…now I’m all sort of hot and bothered, and-”
“Continue with that and you’ll be back on my lap again.” .
“Though I wasn’t supposed to follow your orders now, sir,” she said pertly, and he leaned over and tugged her hair.
“I’m not averse to that sort of play, as you’ve noticed. But surely you understand why, if we are to attempt to figure this out between us, we should…refrain, for the time being, until things are a bit clearer?”
“Yeah,” she said quietly. “I do.” The slight tone of reluctance in her voice made him want to pull her back on his lap again. He restrained himself with effort.
He started the car and drove them back to the mansion, both of them lost in their own thoughts. When he’d had pulled through gate onto the driveway, she placed a hesitant touch on his shoulder. He looked at her expectantly.
“Wanda. She’s my closet friend. I can’t do this-go to dinner with you-and not tell her.”
“You may talk to her if you wish. I shall have to speak to Charles, at any rate.” His voice hardened. “I may have to leave. He could always forbid this, though I suppose we shall deal with that if and when it happens.”
“I’m eighteen,” she said in a determined voice. “If I want to go out to dinner with you, I will, and there really ain’t nothing he can say about it even if it’s the craziest idea in the whole world.”
He smiled despite himself. “What a charming turn of phrase you have, my girl.”
She smiled at the endearment, which made him relax somewhat. “You know any better way to describe it?”
He parked the car in the garage, feeling the various gears and systems within the car shut down and quiet with a thought. “Not really.” He opened her door for her with a wave of his hand.
They were silent as they entered the house. At the top of the stairs, he paused and reached out to lightly draw his fingers down her cheek. “Good night, Anna-Marie.”
“Good night, Erik,” she said quietly, leaning close to him for a moment. “They did tell us to try and get along. Won’t they be surprised.” She pressed her cheek to his chest for the briefest of moments, before hurrying off without a backwards glance.
He smiled and backed away into the shadows, watching as she turned and headed off towards her room. This was insane, but when had that ever stopped him?
Chapter 20