Swish, flick, swish, flick

"Would you cut that out?!"

"Someone's got their panties in a bunch."

"I don't. It's just that. Oh just shut up." Rogue added after a note, "And don't talk about my panties."

"Alright. Suit yourself."

Swish, flick, swish, flick

Rogue could not believe that this was how her night was going down. Approximately four hours ago, the professor had called her to give what could possibly the best news she'd received in months. They'd found a serum - a cure, really - for her 'condition'. This particular miracle liquid would act to neutralize her mutation, enabling her to have physical human contact for the first time in years. There was only one catch. It was temporary. Eight hours to be exact. After that, bye-bye nice human skin and hello leather gloves!

Still, words could not describe how Rogue was feeling at that moment. She could touch! This meant that for all she cared, she could strip naked and rub herself against every available living soul in the mansion.

Well, not quite.

For her, it was really more about the simple things, you know. Like shaking hands. She'd really love to shake the Professor's hand, congratulating him for housing all these wayward mutants and giving them a proper education (and in a school with jets!). She'd like to give Logan a kiss in the cheek for looking out for her. And she'd do it in front of the other kids too, just to see that nice tomato color creeping up his rough Wolverine face. She would even sit her heinie down for a silly little makeover from Kitty. Or maybe do those silly little pillow fights.

But, yeah, above all, she'd like to touch Bobby. She'd want to do things other girls could do with their boyfriends. Hug, hold hands, kiss, make out. Well, you know, stuff that she'd be embarrassed about if the professor were to probe her mind at that moment.

Speaking of the professor.

"Rogue? Why don't you suit up? I'll have Cyclops and Storm prepare the Jet. Ask Mr. Drake to come along as well. I'm sure he would be more than willing to be your first test subject for this serum."

Rogue - praying that that statement did not come from a recent mind probing - nodded and eagerly looked for Bobby. His face just absolutely lit up when she told him. It had been rough, these past few months for him. First his family sold him out to the cops then John walked out on him. So having Rogue delivered that news to him was like winning a proverbial million bucks, really.

An hour later, the two of them, Cyclops, and Storm were making their way through this secret medical facility. Apparently, it had been set up as a research center to 'tackle the mutant problem'. After about twenty minutes of searching, they found their prize. Rogue didn't feel any different, but she felt so happy when Bobby was able to touch her cheek without turning all pale and veiny. She was sure that Cyclops and Storm looked mightily uncomfortable when she and Bobby started kissing after that.

But, alas, who should barged in on their party at that moment, but Magneto and his merry band of mutants. Rogue had to admit that it was quite awkward to see John again. And she could definitely feel Bobby tensing up beside her.

They exchanged the usual pleasantries and banters. After figuring out that Magneto would use something he acquired tonight to slot an ugly fate for humanity, the X-men couldn't help but start the hostilities. Soon, Mystique was gracefully hopping all over the place while Cyclops tried to blast her and Storm was doing a pretty good job of zapping away Magneto's, uh, 'magnetic advances'.

Meanwhile, on her side of the ring, Bobby and John were engaged in a battle that basically supported those early scientists' basic theory of fire and water neutralizing each other. Rogue did not know what to do. It was obvious that the two of them were so focused on each other that they didn't listen to what she was saying. At some point, while she was yelling at John from behind him, Bobby managed to get a hit, sending a train of ice straight into his chest. Unfortunately, the force was enough to send both him and Rogue tumbling into the next room.

Bobby, stricken with worry, let his guards down, which allowed John to retaliate with a massive blast of flame. Two seconds later, alarm bells started to whine throughout the compound and, before Bobby could reach her, thick doors slid down, effectively sealing Rogue and John in the room.

Rogue had tried the communicator attached to her suit, but found her link jammed by some sort of device in the facility. From what she could gather from the very bad connection, the other five on the other side were finding their escape route blocked as door after door sealed off in the compound. And she figured that the doors were not made from pure metal since Magneto was having trouble moving them. She didn't know what the others were going to do; whether they'd try to find a way out and call for backup, or stay and face the stormtroopers. What she knew was that she and John were going to be stuck there for a considerable portion of her 'touchy-touchy' time.

To say that she was disappointed was an understatement. Because it wasn't like she could stuck another needle in her arm and be all touch-happy after her first eight hours were up. Apparently after the first exposure, her body would develop some sort of resistance to the serum, rendering it 'harmless' to her. Dumb-ass human scientists haven't got the technology perfect, she thought.

Which brought us back to present time. Rogue was slumped down against the door, apparently giving up after forty-five minutes of pounding her fists against it. John was sitting against one of the side walls, playing with his lighter. He had tried directing a jet of flame against the door, but to no avail. Unfortunately, his efforts - combined with the fact that there was only a single ventilation duct in the ceiling and the shutting down of the aircon after the siren - only made the tiny room incredibly hot.

The room itself wasn't claustrophobic. One wall was lined with bottles and a bench (like a kitchen island) stood in the middle of the room. There was enough room to move around, but there wasn't any chair. So the two mutants were forced to sit down on the floor.

John watched as Rogue started to calm down after her earlier frenzy to get out. He wondered why she was so desperate to escape. Sure, she was cut off from the rest of her team, and of course those moron humans with their guns were going to pour down them on them anytime now, but it wasn't like the rest of them weren't going to find a way out eventually. So John figured that the two of them should just sit tight and wait it out.

Maybe she was just claustrophobic, John reasoned. Or maybe she just doesn't want to be stuck with you.

Personally, John doesn't mind at all to be trapped alone with Rogue. In fact, out of all the people he could possibly be stuck with, he'd choose Rogue any day. He'd always had, he supposed, a little crush on her ever since she came to the school. She was cute and he got eyes. So sue him. When everyone sort of freaked out about her power, he actually found it fascinating. As a fire manipulator, he marveled at touching something normally untouchable. So above anything, he'd wanted to touch her. But of course, perfect, cool (no pun intended), best buddy Bobby Drake swooped in then and claimed her as his. John didn't let their relationship bother him though. In fact, he tagged along whenever he could. He masked it as an attempt to piss Bobby off and as a part of his 'who gives a rat's ass' persona, but in truth, he did it to hang out with her. He wasn't in love with her or anything, but he was definitely drawn to her. When he went off with Magneto, the one thing he missed the most was his time with Rogue (which involved Bobby as well, since the happy couple was rarely apart, to John's annoyance).

Anyway, going back to the present situation. John, who very much disliked uncomfortable silences, decided to quip, "So how's it going, Rogue?"

Rogue didn't answer immediately. Instead she focused her attention on stripping away her leather gloves, obviously feeling hot in her suit. "You mean after you abandoned us?"

Ouch. Well, she's going to bring THAT up sooner or later.

John sighed. "I made a choice, Rogue. I was sick of being treated as a kid. I wasn't going to be ashamed of my power."

"The professor doesn't make us ashamed."

"Yeah, but he wants you to play polite when all humanity wants us dead. How can he expect us to feel proud of our gifts when we have to constantly hide them from the world?"

"That's real nice, John. Be all you can be, right? And if some people get killed on the way, well, that's just part of your proud mutant identity." Rogue replied sarcastically. Ironically, that side of her was usually brought on by John-in-her-head. "Magneto is a ruthless killer! Have you forgotten what he did on Liberty Island? What he did to me? How could you join him?"

"Rogue, I'll never forget about that." John paused, finding it hard to justify his membership in the Brotherhood to Rogue, "But you just got to understand that Xavier's fighting a losing battle. Humans will never accept us. Magneto is going to get things done and he doesn't hold you back."

"So basically you follow him because he lets you blow things up once in a while. And who cares, right, if he wants to kill off humanity along the way?"

Despite the seriousness of her tone, John couldn't help but chuckle. "Rogue, I see that we're never going to agree about this. Let me just ask you this, have you ever wished that you could use your full potential power without holding back? That you could just touch people and steal all their memories and feelings and powers? I bet you'd find it exhilarating."

Rogue had to pause before she answered, "No. I can't take more voices in my head. I wish to be rid of this 'gift', to tell you the truth." Then she added under her breath, "I can't believe that when I finally did that tonight, I'm stuck here."

John apparently didn't miss that, "What did you say?"

Rogue, who started banging on the door again, acted as if she didn't hear him.

John got up and approached her, "Rogue, you said something just then. What was it?"

Still pouncing on the door, Rogue sighed, "It's nothing, really. Forget I said anything."

John wasn't going to let her go, though. "No, you said something important, about being rid of your power."

Pound, pound

"Rogue, listen!" He boldly grabbed one of her gloveless hands to stop her from pounding. When he didn't feel the sucking force of her mutation, he smirked, "I guess my hearing was right, after all."

Rogue turned around with a defeated look on her face. "It's not permanent. It only lasts eight hours. After that, I'm back to being hazardous material. And no, it's a one-time thing."

"So let me get this straight. You finally found some sort of cure that lets you touch for eight hours and you're stuck here with me for perhaps most of that time?"

Rogue nodded limply.

John whistled, "No wonder you're pissed. And I can only imagine what Drake's must be feeling on the other side of that door. Man, he's gotta be blowing up a gasket! Or a snowstorm, in his case."

"This is so unfair. Someone up there just doesn't want me to be happy. Hey, what are you doing?!"

Rogue just realized that John had just put his other hand - the one that's not holding on to hers - on her cheeks. She had to admit that it felt good, though, to feel a simple human touch after all that time. And John felt especially warm from his nicely heated body - courtesy of his mutation, she supposed - that Rogue could not help but lean herself to his palm.

Meanwhile, John, who noticed her slight movement, smiled, "I'm just checking. After all that 'look but don't touch' that you got going on, I just want to know what it was all about."

"And?"

John pretended to assess her skin, lightly grazing his fingers across her cheeks. Rogue reminded herself that she should not make any noise that slightly resembled a purr. That would just be embarrassing. "Uh, a bit coarse in some area. You could do with a bit of those scrubby things Kitty was always on about."

Rogue seemed to snap back at that point. She shoved his hand away. "Take your hands off me, John, and go sit back down."

John put up his hands, "Hey, I was just kidding!"

And he WAS kidding. Frankly, Rogue's skin felt exactly how he'd always imagined it to be: Creamy like butter, cool like rain, and soft like marshmallow. Immediately after he thought it, he felt like an idiot. Like those morons in those dumb-ass romance movies I was made to suffer through, back at the mansion. Still, Rogue's skin felt so good to touch that he had to hold himself from moving his hand down her neck. which would have required him to unzip a bit of her bothersome, but very sexy, leather suit. Yup, he'd sure to get Rogue's hand permanently imprinted on his face if he tried that stunt. He just wouldn't look formidable, you know, as a member of the Brotherhood if he had a big-ass hand imprint on his head. That was why he quickly retracted his hand and why he gave her that comment, which, as expected, did not make her happy.

John decided to add an afterthought, "Your skin was all moist and silky and stuff, Rogue. You got nothing to worry about. I'm sure Bobby would be very pleased with it." He eyed the door and quipped under his breath, "That is if we ever get out of here."

"We will. They're going to get us out soon. We just have to be patient." Rogue tried to summon the rational part of her, which was quite hard with both Wolverine and John inside her head (in addition to Magneto and Bobby). Wolverine was rooting for her and 'actual' John to pound the doors together, which John and Magneto somewhat supported. Magneto-in-her-head thought that they could either try blasting their way through or wait until those pathetic humans open the door for them (at which point, they should blast their way through anyway). John-in-her-head was telling her to just sit tight and take advantage of the situation, especially with 'real' John in the room with her, *nudge, nudge, wink, wink*. Rogue felt herself chasing him around in her head with a baseball bat. The only sane voice, as far as she was concerned, was Bobby's, who had so much optimism in the rescue party on the other side of the door. But Bobby-in-her-head was often bullied by Magneto, and sometimes even Logan, that Rogue found it hard to listen to him.

Rogue was brought back to the land of the solid by John's voice. She noticed that he was back to where he sat and was playing with his zippo. She shrugged off her inner musing, "What did you say?"

"I was just saying that, you know, since you only got these eight hours. and we don't know when we're going to get out. you know, there are other things that we could be doing, Rogue."

John said all that without looking at her, so she didn't know how serious he was. But his tone told her that he wasn't kidding. She found it surprising that she didn't find the proposal (was it a proposal?) preposterous. However, she still hung on to that Bobby-in-her-head (and also Magneto since he was the only remotely optimistic one. John-in-her-head was now lying unconscious, if that's possible, after her inner Rogue swung a good one at him). Rogue decided to dismiss him. "They're going to get us out soon. Just. just stay there and be quiet, okay?"

"Just pointing out a fact, Rogue." He nonchalantly shrugged, "I'll be here if you need me." He started flicking his zippo again.

Swish, flick, swish, flick

Rogue pretended to look annoyed, but could not help sneak a glance at her companion. Should I be worried that that begins to look endearing?

Swish, flick, swish, flick

By their second hour of being trapped, Rogue was feeling restless. Her earlier optimism that she was going to escape soon (and with enough time to have some quality moments with Bobby) was diminishing with each minute passed. She couldn't believe that a group of highly powerful mutants (who in several occasions had come close to obliterating humanity) could not take down a stupid damn door (considering the purpose of the facility though, she supposed she shouldn't have been surprised if the place was rigged with the best anti-mutant technology).

In addition to that, Rogue was also feeling increasingly hot. The air-con had stopped a long time ago and the slight flow of air that circulated through the tiny vent on the ceiling was only enough to keep them from suffocating. Rogue had considered using the vent as an escape route, but it was obvious that the opening was way too small to fit either of them. So the only thing she could do was sit still, curse her incredible bad luck, and wait for the rescue party. Oh, and boil inside her leather suit while she's at it.

Sure, she loved that damn uniform, and sure, she looked good in it, but at that moment, all she wanted to do was rip it to shreds (Wolverine-style, if she could). Owing to the nature of her mutation, Rogue was normally uncomfortable at exposing bits of her skin, but considering how hot she was feeling at the moment, she thought, what the hell!

The relative silence of the room was broken by the sound of a zip being pulled down. Carefully, but hurriedly, Rogue shed the top part of her uniform, revealing a grey tank underneath. Then, she bent down and took off her boots, letting her bare feet touch the cool concrete floor. She relished at the feel of air on her damp skin.

While she was doing this, she also managed to sneak a peek at John. Although he was being cool about it, Rogue did notice the glance that he threw at her as she took off her jacket. He had this teensy tiny appreciative smile on his lips before he returned his gaze to the zippo in his hands.

Rogue frowned. She wasn't John's biggest fan at the moment. Out of all the people to be stuck with.

Actually, if she were to be honest with herself, she'd found that she didn't really mind being trapped with John. He had been one of her best friends, after all, before he joined Magneto. And although she didn't like to acknowledge it, she'd always had this tiny, harmless crush on John ever since she came to the school. She'd been somewhat fascinated with him after seeing him form that fireball in his hands on her first class. There was just something about him that drew her. But, of course, Bobby was so nice and sweet to her afterwards that she was delighted to be his girlfriend. She'd never let her curious attraction (was it attraction?) to John get in the way of her relationship with Bobby. She even managed to become friends with the pyromaniac, both loving and hating his cocky 'devil may care' attitude. Seeing him now, she found that he hadn't really changed.

"Hot?"

Rogue looked up at John. He was sitting calmly on the ground, flicking his zippo, and not in the least bit looking hot. Rogue found that annoying. "Yeah. Aren't you?"

"Not really."

"How come?"

John shrugged, "'Comes with the gift, I guess. Makes me more tolerant of high temperature."

"Lucky you. Can't you do something to make it less hot? Like suck the heat to your body maybe?"

John chuckled, "You're asking the wrong guy, Rogue. Cooling things off is iceballs' thing." He turned to look at her, "I bet you're desperately wishing you were here with him instead of me, aren't you? What do you think you guys would do, if you were stuck together like this?" He raised his eyebrows for emphasis.

Rogue couldn't help but blush, "John, that's really none of your business. For your information, I was planning to spend some time with other people beside Bobby during these eight hours."

"Yeah, sure. I certainly doubt that you guys would just sit around and kill time for the next eight hours though."

"Well, what do you suggest we do?"

"I've got some ideas off the top of my head, but you probably wouldn't go for those." John smirked and Rogue frowned. "So here's what I think we should do. Just to show you that I'm not such a bastard. You said you wanted to do things with other people, right? How about you pretend that I'm them and go do those things with me?"

"Are you serious?"

"What else do you want to do? Sit around looking all miserable while I go click-clacking my zippo all night? Besides, this is going to be a one-time thing, right? You really shouldn't waste it just because you're pissed off at me."

"I'm not pissed off at you," Rogue said quietly. Despite that though, she gave no indication of whether she was going to agree to John's proposal. She stayed quiet for several minutes.

"Rogue?"

No answer.

"Okay." He started to flip his zippo again.

Rogue, meanwhile, was taking in what John was suggesting. It really couldn't hurt, she thought. Immediately she could hear John-in-her-head, who had finally regained consciousness, cheering. She felt inner Rogue raising the baseball bat (mental bat?) threateningly at him. That shut him up. She also felt inner Bobby sulking at some corner of her busy brain. Apparently, his hope for a quick rescue was dimming and he wasn't very happy that John got to spend all that time with her. Wolverine-in-her-head wanted them to continue hammering their way out, while Magneto just didn't care. In the end, she listened to inner Rogue: You have been craving for this moment for such a long time! You shouldn't let it go to waste. Even if it is with John.

Surprisingly, she wasn't alarmed by that little train of thought. Rogue turned to look at John. She let her gaze focused on parts of his skin that were exposed and found herself wishing that she could run her hands across them: His hands that were tracing the metal of his lighter, the expanse of his neck where his Adam's apple was slightly bobbing up and down as he swallowed, the skin of his face which looked so smooth and warm. She found every crease fascinating. It wasn't hard, really, for a girl who'd been so deprived of touch.

Rogue made up her mind. She definitely wasn't spending the rest of her time here obsessing over John's skin. She got up, walked over to John, and extended one hand at him.

John looked up at her and curiously took her hand. He let her pull him up.

"John, you're such an ass sometimes."

"Play along."

"Oh okay. 'No, professor, that was last night's thoughts. I was delirious. I think Remy might have spiked the chocolate milk. I would NEVER dream of going with the EVIL Magneto. And Pyro is so WIMPY."

"Hey!"

".that I would never follow his footsteps! No, professor, I came here today to shake your hand. I think you are doing a fine job, housing and schooling all these mutants, and maintaining the X-men with their hot uniforms."

"Amen to that!"

".and their state-of-the-art jet! Magneto ain't got nothin', really, compared to you. So, yeah, thank you professor.'" Rogue suppressed a giggle and offered up her hand to the professor-AKA-John.

John took it up earnestly and covered it with his other hand. "'You're welcome, my child. Your praise of me is greatly appreciated, considering I almost wiped out humanity a few months back. I think my big mutant head is getting bigger because of your praise."

"John, quit it!" Rogue managed to gasp through giggles.

"Couldn't help myself," He shrugged. "See how much more fun this is than just moping around?"

Rogue just nodded, still not letting go of John's hand. She had a tendency to do that, he noticed.

"So who's next?"

"Well, I was going to get this stupid makeover from Kitty but I don't think you can."

"Oh, no, I love a challenge." He breathed deeply and produced a shrill sort of voice, "'Rogue, honey, guess what I just learned from the magazines today! Here, let me try it out on you." He grabbed her face and started rubbing her cheeks with his hands, ".Yeah, see here, you need to EXFOLIATE at least once a week. I know that no one can usually touch your skin, Rogue, but that's no excuse for allowing all those dead skin cells to linger'."

Rogue was laughing, "That's almost scary! How do you know about exfoliation anyway?"

"Well, I'd like to say that Mystique - being a chic and all - has imparted me with her wisdom, but with blue scaly skin, I don't think she worries too much about dead skin cells.

Nah, the Brotherhood's got some very interesting reading material lying around. Scary as it sounds, I can now tell you, with some confidence, the five easy steps to wax-perfect eyebrows. I think it's Magneto's way of keeping hatred for humanity."

They laughed silently for several minutes, suddenly realizing that John's hands were still cupping her face. Rogue gazed at him, not making any move to be released from his hold. To be completely honest, she was enjoying his touch. She loved the way heat transferred from his hands through his fingers to the cool surface of her cheeks. She could even feel his pulse through his fingertips, if she concentrated enough. And she could definitely feel her own heart beat accelerating. Rogue didn't want him to let her go, fully allowing herself to lean into the touch. She eyed his lips.

While all of this was happening, the occupants of Rogue's head had their own little reactions to it. Inner Johnny was rooting for Rogue to just smack one on him, while inner Bobby was reminding her that 'real' Bobby was loyally waiting on the other side of that door. He tried to nudge Johnny out of the picture (or out of her mind frame, in this case) and the two of them ended up pummeling each other on the ground. Logan sort of ignored them and told Rogue to do whatever she liked ("Hey, it's your life, kid."), while Magneto spared a passing glance at the squabbling boys and made one condescending comment: "Teenagers". Inner Marie just got a 'deer-caught-in-headlights' look and refused to comment.

Meanwhile, back in the not-so-schizo reality, 'real' John was finding it hard to stop staring at her. He seemed to be preoccupied with her eyes. In his head, he could hear himself shouting, Kiss her, you dumb-ass! Just lay one big one on her. He was moving his hands to brush away some white strands of her hair, and was about to lean in, when he somehow came to his senses and snapped back. On second thought, better enjoy this for a while, dude. Let HER make the first move. He promptly released his hold on her face, effectively breaking the moment.

The 'deer-in-headlights' look formally made its way to Rogue's face.

Acting as if everything was perfectly peachy, John gave her a clueless grin, "So, what do you want to do next?"

Rogue pretended to think while she calmed herself down. She chanted herself a mantra: Nothing was about to happen just then. You were just caught up in the moment. You wanted nothing to happen. So NOTHING is going to happen. Nothing.

After several seconds, she plastered on a smile, "Well, I've always wanted to strangle Jubilee."

John chuckled, "Who hasn't?"

"Can I do it then?"

He bared his neck to her, "Sure, go ahead. I'm not even going to TRY to do an impression."

Rogue beamed at him. Hmm, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe being stuck with John isn't such a bad thing after all.

During the next two hours, John facilitated Rogue with some more of your basic skin-to-skin activities, like tickling, punching ("Girl or no girl, I should get to punch you too," John said. Rogue challenged him to do it, but he ended up only giving her a light nudge on the cheek. She didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed), playing thumb-wars, and getting piggyback rides (Rogue felt incredibly stupid requesting this, but since this was her only chance, she figured, screw pride!).

She knew that all her requests must have sounded silly for John (and he did make fun of her on some of them), but having gone without human touch for such a long time, she really cherished every one of them. Before she knew it, four hours had passed ever since they got stuck in that room. Rogue heard her stomach rumbling.

Apparently, John heard it too, "Was that you or did something just drop dead in the vent?"

Rogue smiled sheepishly, "I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" She slumped down against one of the side walls.

John went through his pockets and tossed her a bag of M&M's. "How's this?"

"Great!" She popped some of the rainbow-colored goodness in her mouth. "Hmm. You know, that reminds me. I've always wanted to share popcorn with someone. You wouldn't have some corn kernels in there, would you?"

John sat down next to her. "What's the deal with popcorn?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really. It's just that. you know how when we were watching movies, you guys always had this BIG bowl of popcorn to share between everyone? Well, I don't know if you noticed, but I always had to have my own bowl, in case I touched someone when I reached in. It's stupid, I know, but it was just one of those things I couldn't do because of my stupid mutation."

John considered it. Wow, 'never thought of that before. Man, it sucks to be her. He looked around the room. "Well, I don't have corn, but I can offer you something better." He jumped up, grabbed a huge beaker from the shelf, and emptied the M&M's package into it. "There you go."

"Thanks!" Rogue looked at him disbelievingly. "See, John, I knew that underneath that whole 'screw the world' attitude, there's a nice sweet guy just lying around."

"Well I do have an ulterior motive to be doing this, Rogue. I don't usually get to hang out with you - without frosty around, that is - that I feel like I should take advantage of the situation. You know, build up my image in your head, that sort of thing. How am I doing so far?"

"Um. I hate you less than before."

"'Glad to hear it. So who did you want to share popcorn with anyway?"

"My dear friend John, of course," she teased.

"Dear friend, huh?" John gave her a sneer, "'Thought I was the guy who abandoned you?"

Rogue sighed, "John, why don't you come back with us? You can be part of the X-men and fight alongside us."

"Rogue, I know that I belong with Magneto. The professor just doesn't get that humans will never accept us. He's wasting his time."

"But I don't want to fight you, John."

"You won't. You'll be fighting Pyro, Rogue."

"Then, you'll know that I'll suck you dry, right, if that's what it takes to stop you?"

"Geez, you sound like a vampire, but, yeah, I'll be counting on it."

Rogue frowned. So John put his arms around her, leaned his forehead against the side of her head, and whispered, "Hey, look at it from the bright side. Maybe I'll end up with a stronger voice in your head. And then, who knows, maybe that added inner Johnny will convince you to swing around to my side."

"He's really annoying, you know. 'Thinks he's better than everyone else." Rogue had turned her head too. They were now sitting face-to-face with their foreheads touching. Rogue hadn't imagined being in such close proximity to John before, but oddly, didn't find it daunting. She simply rested her forehead on his while she gazed down at his zippo-flicking hand.

"That's just 'cause I am, Rogue. But I bet he kept you company after I left." He raised his hand and tapped the side of her head lightly with his zippo.

Rogue smiled, "He did throw some nice parties in there."

"Hope he didn't trash the place up too bad."

"Bobby cleaned up after him."

John chuckled and pulled his head back, "Ever immaculate, the freak."

Rogue just shrugged and they proceeded to munch quietly on their M&M's.

"So who's next?"

Rogue considered it. She still wasn't happy with the fact that John wasn't coming back, but decided not to press the matter. If there was one thing she knew about John Allerdyce, it was that he was as stubborn as an energizer bunny. Speaking of stubborn creatures. "Logan, I suppose."

"Sweet! I've been waiting for you to say him." John contorted his face to look way bad-ass, hunched his shoulders, and shaped his fingers like they were claws. He put on a gruffy voice, "'Hey, kid, you're not doing things with the ice boy that I should be worried about, are ya? Otherwise I wouldn't mind shish-ke-'BOBBYING' him like those troops back at the mansion. You wanna know what I think? I say go for the fire guy! I like him. His raw animal magnetism and recklessness sort of reminds me of myself, back in the days. Anyway, you got any beer lying around? I need beer. Grr. growl.'"

Rogue could feel Logan-in-her-head looking indignant while inner Johnny laughed his head off. Wolvie proceeded to raise his claws threateningly at the cackling boy. Rogue decided to ignore them and play along, "'Logan, Bobby is a real gentleman. You've got NOTHING to worry about. And John? Well, I'm pretty sure that John is gay.'"

"Hey! I don't paddle my canoe up that stream." He continued his gruff, "'So why do you need to see me, Rogue?'"

Rogue shook off her laughter. "Uh, no reason really. I just want to give you this." Quickly, and without thinking, Rogue reached up and gave Logan/John a peck on the cheeks.

Afterwards, she kind of gave a little gasp upon realizing what she just did. Rogue couldn't make out the expression on John's face, but he definitely seemed surprised. She decided to continue with the charade though. Rogue threw her arms around his chest and drew him in for a hug. "Thank you." She wasn't really sure whether that was for Logan or John.

John looked like he was doing a mighty good impression of Logan. The expression on his face was exactly how Rogue pictured Logan would have looked if she'd given him a kiss and a hug. On the real Logan, Rogue imagined that she'd be resting her head on his chest. But since John was shorter, Rogue's head came to lie on the crook of his neck instead. It was actually much more comfortable.

Immediately, Rogue felt the voices in her head reacting to this. Inner Johnny was yelling "sucker!" to inner Bobby, whose protestations were somewhat ignored by all the other occupants of her head. Inner Wolvie wondered whether Rogue really pictured THAT kind of hug with him, while Magneto thought that the situation was "interesting" (all said in that sinister voice of his). Inner Marie, however, asserted herself as the primary proprietor of Rogue's head by telling everyone else to shut it; declaring that she hadn't been able to touch anyone for SUCH A LONG TIME that it was only natural to want a hug. The four men just mumbled quietly to themselves after that.

Rogue, who felt like she was turning insane with five different voices interacting in her head, decided to just enjoy the hug. She liked the feeling of having her body completely pressed up against John. She could feel his heartbeat against her chest and his breath on her hair. She relished at that little point of contact between her cheek and his neck. And she loved the feel of his arms encircling her own bare arms. Yup, Rogue was definitely content on staying in this position, Bobby or no Bobby.

John, meanwhile, was still shocked at the hug that Rogue gave him. If this was the kind of gesture that she'd like to give Logan, then John was feeling mighty envious of the big Wolf man. Still, he wasn't going to dismiss the fact that he was the one who got Rogue in his arms. He figured that this was the closest that anyone ever got to her in years so he should consider himself very lucky. He rested his head on hers and breathed in her hair. If only I got to do this back at school, I might have never left.

John felt himself jolt at that little train of thought.

Where did THAT come from? Sure, he liked Rogue and sure, he thought she was hot, but he never imagined that he'd want some sort of relationship with her (like something she has with Drake?). He left because he didn't like the way he was being held back at Xavier's. He never really considered staying for her. But now, he wondered: Would I have stayed if things had been different between me and Rogue?

John didn't like where all this was going. So he decided to stop the source of his confusion: the hug.

Rogue could suddenly feel John loosening his hold, signaling the end of the hug. She wasn't ready to let him go, though. She relaxed her embrace, but shifted her head slightly. She felt John shiver when her breath blew against his neck.

She was now facing his neck. The bridge of her nose was touching the bottom line of his jaw and her chin was tucked in at his collarbone. The skin of his neck that covered his Adam's apple - one that had captivated her earlier - was now just an inch away. If she'd just reach in a bit, she could almost feel it. taste it.

In a swift and spontaneous move, Rogue flicked her tongue out and pressed it lightly on John's throat.

For once, after she'd gotten her gift, she didn't hear any other voice in her head but hers. Inner Rogue ran the show now and she was acting on pure instinct.

At same time, she felt John's entire body stiffened against her. Somehow, though, she didn't care that she just violated about eighty-seven rules in 'The Handbook of Platonic Friendship'. She was too preoccupied with the sensation of tasting him. John had tasted salty - like how she'd imagined skin would taste like - but, also, at the same time interestingly. 'smokey'. There's really no other word to describe it. John tasted like that smoke feeling in your mouth; not the bitter one you get from cigarettes, but more of that salty, fresh-from-the-barbecue sort of taste.

Rogue decided that she wasn't satisfied with just a slight taste. Feeling that there was no turning back now, she slowly touched her lips to his neck and began planting very soft feather kisses, flicking her tongue out once in a while to get a little taste.

Inner Bobby was about to raise the mighty-ol'-fire-alarms in her head when inner Rogue tapped him on the shoulders and knocked him out with a pretty lil' blow to his pretty lil' head with that pretty lil' baseball bat. She could hear inner Marie justifying it to Bobby: Sorry, Bobby. But you have no idea how FRUSTRATING it is not being able to touch anyone. I CAN'T waste this chance. Better if you're not awake to see this. Johnny came over to offer her a high-five, but Marie just ignored him.

Meanwhile, real-life John was still frozen in shock at Rogue's action. Okay, I'm pretty sure she and Wolvie don't have THIS kind of relationship. So that means...

Huh. I could live with this...

Wait! A minute ago you didn't want to hug her and now you're letting her peck you? John heard a rational part of him quipped (Huh, 'guess Rogue wasn't the only one with the diverging inner voice in her head).

Ah, screw that! 'Can't deny instinct, bud. Live with it.

He felt like he needed to know where this was going though. So he tightened his hold on her arms and pushed her back slightly.

Rogue gazed up at him but didn't say a word. Her lips on his neck had now been replaced by her fingers, which were curiously traveling up and down the length of his neck. She had this confused look on her face and she was studying his eyes as if they were one of those impressionist paintings (great mystery of life, those color strokes...). It was as if she was discovering something new of him. She smiled.

"Rog�" He was stopped by one hand on his mouth.

"Just. Ssshh. I wanna see something." Her eyes were still holding his and he noticed that they had a new spark in them.

Slowly, Rogue closed the distance between them. Still perplexed, John did not make a move to stop her.

Then, when only an inch stood between them.

"Rogue, are you sure you want to be doing something you've been saving for Bobby with me?"

Rogue looked up at him, eyes locking his. "No." She answered slowly, "But this is something I've wanted to do with you."

She closed the remaining inch between them and pressed her very warm lips on his.

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