Morning Madness

Rogue awoke to the sound of her roommate's alarm clock blaring into the once peaceful silence of her slumber. To make matters worse Kitty's alarm was playing a trashy love song by NSYNC. Rogue pulled her pillow from under her head, shoved it into her face, groaned and rolled onto her side hoping to either drown out the sound of the horrid boy band or to successfully suffocate herself and end the torture. The backstreet boys were infinitely better, but that was beside the point.

The sound of Kitty cheerfully getting up and turning off her radio alarm was enough to make Rogue raise her pillow. Kitty, in Rogue's opinion, should be murdered painfully for being so happy at the ungodly hour in the morning. Following her roommates lead, she began to pull herself out of bed and gather her bathroom supplies.

Grumbling about the incompetence of morning people, Rogue made her way down the hall and to the end of the dramatically long waiting line for the girl's bathroom. As she settled against the wall for her indefinite wait she began to notice how cramped the hallway was getting. Rogue wasn't claustrophobic like the resident weather witch, but she was not a huge fan of crowds; especially crowds of hormonal, teenage-gossips.

As if the noise was just reaching her, she made a disgusted face and began shifting her weight from one foot to the other. To say this morning was not one of her best was putting it mildly. Rogue was fed up, as simple as that. Realizing that Jean was in the bathroom she decided she could deal without the added stress she simply stormed off and went back to her room.

Pulling on the first clothes she saw, she began to dress haphazardly with intention to clear her mind. After pulling on tight black jeans and combat boots, she took off her oversized, long-sleeved night shirt and left the white tank top on that was underneath. Picking up her green and black striped hoody and zipping it up half way she made her way over to the dresser in search of her everyday black gloves.

Without even a glance at the mirror she lazily pulled her hair into a ponytail and left her white streaks to frame her face; she left her room without bothering to put on her usual gothic-inspired makeup and stomped out.

As she angrily made her way back down the hallway towards the stairs people began to look at her with disbelief. Rogue was rarely seen without her gothic mask, but what was even more unnerving to the students was that her temper was, uncharacteristically, set ablaze at the early hour –as opposed to its usual appearance sometime after school.

Kitty looked over to Jubilee, who was mindlessly popping gum and couldn't hold back her traitorous thought.

"Like, she should totally dress like that more often. She looks super cute without all her makeup."

Rogue practically flew by the kitchen in an angry gust of wind and slammed the door behind her as she made her exist down the mansion driveway; the adults at the breakfast table were completely ignored. Strom raised one perfectly shaped brow in the direction of Logan.

The gruff man's answer was short and surprising.

"Honestly 'Ro, I didn't expect her to hold it in this long."

Rogue had sufficiently put a fair distance between her and the mansion as she slowed her enraged walk into a relaxed stroll. There was no doubt that during this time her fellow students would be leaving for school. In her opinion she was better off without it; what she felt this morning at the mansion was mere child's play compared to what she felt at school. Despite what most may think, she didn't enjoy being moody and grumpy all the time.

She sat at the bench of a deserted playground in which she had visited a few times before, mostly in the dead of night. She pulled her right leg onto the bench and hugged her knee to her chest with her arm as she swayed her dangling left foot with the warm breeze of the morning. She breathed deep, enjoying the peace and serenity that was engulfing her in the form of silence. She took what she could while it lasted; things never seemed to stay that quiet around her for long.

Just as she predicted she felt the bench dip ever so slightly under the weight of her visitor.

Remy LeBeau sat next to Rogue with his left leg perched on top of his right and his arm draped over the back of the bench as he waited for her to look up at him. He knew she would wait just a split-second longer than he would expect, she always did.

As she turned her face to look at him, he noticed that she was free of her gothic mask. The sun shone in her hair and her emerald eyes sparkled making her look like an angel; his ange.

"Yo' look très belle this mornin'"

She rolled her eyes and responded with her usual sarcastic greeting.

"Shut it Cajun, Ah was in a rush ta get out"

"De famille again?"

They had had this conversation before, other times when Rogue had simply up and left to clear her head for a couple of hours. It was almost routine; it never ceased to amaze her how he knew exactly where she was every time she had one of her "moments".

"Still stalkin' meh Swamp Rat?"

"Non Chère,mais dis ol' t'ief always look out for yo'"

"How do yah always know?"

"Remy can feel it"

"Stupid empathy, Ah knew yah were cheatin' somehow!"

"Yo' wound moi"

"Ah wish, then yah would leave meh to mah peace and quiet."

"Don't lie Chère, Remy knows you'd miss him."

Rogue gave a small huff in reply as she scooted closer to him on the bench. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder as she watched the clouds above. A comfortable silence fell over them for quite some time.

"Empathy or non, I always know where yo' are and how yo' feelin'. I can sense it, in here."

Remy lifted his hand from his knee and placed it over his heart. Rogue looked at him seriously for a moment and smiled softly at him.

"Yah may be a thievin' Swamp Rat, but yah mah Swamp Rat."

Rogue took his hands in hers and began to lose herself in his eyes. Their faces moved closer together until they were but a breath away from each other.

"When yo' going t' tell dem?"

"Soon"

Was her only reply as she closed the gap for a brief, loving kiss; she had every intention of telling the mansion that morning but things never worked according to her plan. She would complain, but then again that was exactly how she met her fantastic, Cajun boyfriend.

As she gave him one more, brief kiss she decided she would bring him home and tell them; she couldn't hold it in any longer. By god, how she loved this man.

-[X-Men]-

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