Rogue and Kitty's School Project

Disclaimer: I do not down X-men and I am not making any profit from this work.

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Rogue and Kitty's school project

Rogue and Kitty are assigned to work on a school project together, but as the night progresses, Rogue ends up learning more than her fair share about Kitty's secrets and mutant abilities.

"Stop what?" Bobby mocked while pinching Rogue's sides playfully and laughing at her squirming and giggling beneath him on her bed.

"Bobby!" She shrieked between laughs, "Stop it! I can't breathe!" When Bobby wasn't taking her seriously and she'd had enough of it, Rogue reached back and punched him in the arm

"Ouch, " he winced though laughing at the same time. He sat up and shook his head at her, cautiously touching the ends of her silver-streaked hair and looking down at the girl he adored but couldn't touch for more than mere seconds at a time. Knowing that was more painful than the throbbing pain in his arm from where she'd socked him.

He shifted closer, but Rogue pushed him back when he got too close.

"You need to be more careful, " she warned.

"It's okay, Rogue, " he said, leaning over her for a kiss.

Not wanting to argue about how pointless and teasing this all was to her, she closed her eyes and inhaled the crisp scent of his cologne. Sensing the approaching kiss, she pursed her lips to meet his, but just as they touched, she heard a knock at the door.

"You expecting someone?" He asked, pulling back a little.

"No, " she answered, hoping that whoever it was would go away if she ignored the knocking.

Bobby bent over to kiss her again, but whoever was at the door, knocked again. Frustrated, Rogue sighed as she aggressively pushed Bobby off of her so she could answer the door.

"Ugh, it's Kitty, " she said peering through the peephole.

"I can hear you, you know, " Kitty replied from the other side of the door.

Rogue opened the door, but stood in the doorway to block her from entering.

"You have impeccable timing, " she said through a forced smile. She cleared her throat and tossed a glance behind her to indicate that she had company and thus, wasn't welcome.

God, she hates me, Kitty thought to herself while peering over Rogue's shoulder to see Bobby waving at her from the bed.

"Oh. Hi, Bobby, " she said, returning the greeting with a shy smile and a wave. "I, uh, didn't mean to interrupt. Sorry."

"It's okay, " Bobby said getting up from the bed and coming to the door. "What's up?" He asked with a slight sparkle in his eye for Kitty.

"It can wait until tomorrow, " she said, retreating a bit into the hallway, embarrassed and uncomfortable with him flirting with her in front of Rogue.

"Well, you've got my attention now, so you might as well tell me, " Rogue answered.

Kitty sighed and turned back to look at Rogue, but without coming any closer to the doorway.

"Well, you never showed up after dinner like you said you would. I thought maybe something happened, but as it turns out, you just totally blew me off."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, shifting her weight and crossing her arms defensively.

Kitty did the same, irritated by Rogue's blatant disrespect for her and her time.

"You were supposed to meet me in the library after dinner, to help me with research for our project, remember? I waited for you for almost an hour!"

Rogue couldn't stop herself from smirking

"You thought I was serious?"

"You never gave me any reason to think that you weren't, " Kitty scoffed, adjusting the tote bag full of books on her shoulder then re-crossing her arms.

"Kitty, it's a Friday night and that assignment isn't due until Monday afternoon. We can work on it later, " she dismissed.

Kitty furrowed her brows at the taller girl in the doorway, thoroughly ticked off that Rogue hadn't even bothered to apologize for standing her up. Bobby noticed and withdrew himself from the two girls arguing in the doorway, not wanting to get caught in the impending crossfire.

"So when were you planning on doing your research? On Sunday night?"

Rogue shrugged, "If I had some time then, yeah."

"Look, Rogue, " she huffed, "I didn't want to be your partner on this anymore than you wanted to be mine, but I'm not about to do all the work just so you can take credit for it on Monday!"

"I never expected that, but we have 2 and half days to research a topic and come up with an outline. hat's more than enough time so why do we have to start now when you can see that I have company?"

"Actually, I should go, " Bobby interrupted. Rogue's mood had been tarnished and she was no pleasure to be around when she was this riled up.

Rogue turned her back on Kitty to address Bobby.

"What? I thought you didn't have plans tonight."

"I don't, " he said squeezing to stand between her and Kitty. "But it sounds like you have something to work out with Kitty so I'll just go see what Peter is up to until you guys get it sorted out."

He gave Rogue a prolonged peck on the cheek, pulling back when he felt his lungs tighten. "Just stop by my room later, okay?"

"Okay, " Rogue agreed as Kitty took a step back so that Bobby could leave. When she heard the door click behind them she turned around to Kitty with a glare "Thanks a lot, " she sneered.

"It's not like you'll never see him again, " she replied. "Besides, if we get this done tonight, we'll go our separate ways and then you can have all weekend to do whatever you want without my interference."

What has happened to us? Rogue thought to herself upon hearing Kitty's words. It's not that she hated Kitty. In fact, they used to be pretty close friends. But lately...lately, Rogue was just about fed up with all of Kitty's snide, jealous comments when it came to her and Bobby. She knew that was why Storm had assigned them to work together on this project. They needed to get along in order to be successful together while out on missions and this stupid school project was a test. Rogue was going to have to try and swallow her jealousy for the night and make the most of it.

"All right, let's go, " Rogue said going to the end of her bed and picking up her green cloak.

"Go where? I already brought a bunch of books from the library. Unless you'd rather work in the library, but it's freezing in there."

Rogue laughed in spite of herself, "Kitty, do you know how many layers of clothes I wear?"

"Well, I don't want to be cold, " she said crossing her arms.

"Ok, I guess we can work in here, " she replied, disappointed that her date with Bobby was somehow being trumped by doing homework with Kitty on a Friday night. Maybe this doesn't have to be that bad, she thought, getting an idea. "Can we grab a snack first?"

"We haven't even gotten started, " Kitty argued, picking up the heavy bag of books again and slinging it back over her shoulder.

"It won't take that long, " she replied, taking the bag from Kitty and setting it by her desk before leading her out of the room.

When they entered the kitchen, Kitty scrunched her nose from the pungent scent of burned popcorn that permeated the room. "Ugh, I used to like popcorn."

Rogue snickered, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I used to eat it all the time before I got here, but this place has really killed it for me."

She lifted a barstool from under the kitchen island and placed it inside a pantry so she could reach the top shelves. "Let me know if anyone's coming and make sure I don't fall over, okay?"

"Strength is not my forte so I'm not sure what you expect me to do if you fall, but okay, " she replied. She watched Rogue climb onto the chair and try as she might, she could not help but notice the girl's subtle hourglass figure beneath the simple wrap-around shirt. Rogue tossed her long, loosely knit scarf over her shoulder as she rummaged around on her toes to get to what she wanted. Without turning around, she handed Kitty a bag of pretzels.

"Pretzels?" Kitty asked, puzzled. "Don't tell me that you're climbing all the way up there for boring pretzels."

"No, " Rogue chuckled. "I'm climbing all the way up here for this, " she said turning around with two 6-packs of Canadian beer.

Kitty gasped, "Rogue! You've got to be kidding me."

"What? You don't drink?" Kitty needed to lighten up and Rogue thought she might actually like the girl again if she wasn't so uptight and focused on impressing their mentors for once. It was going to be a long night if she couldn't get Kitty to at least have a drink.

"It's not that I haven't before, but we will get into so much trouble if we're caught, and I don't want to be kicked out!"

"Psh, we won't get kicked out, Kitty, " she snickered. "We might have to do extra long sessions in the Danger Room and suffer a few detentions with Storm, but I can handle it if you can."

"I can't believe I'm helping you do this, " Kitty said more to herself as she obediently took the two packs of beer from Rogue. She set the bottles down onto the hardwood floors behind her and stood up to help Rogue down from the barstool, but Rogue had already taken a step down and Kitty immediately saw that her long scarf was underfoot.

"Rogue, be careful!" She yelled, trying to reach her before she tripped.

But it was too late. Rogue tripped over her scarf and flew forward, landing hard on top of Kitty who fell against the counter before they both went tumbling to the floor. In an effort to lessen the blow of hitting the floors, Kitty phased herself ever so slightly while grabbing Rogue. But in doing so, her hands accidentally grabbed the skin under her shirt and upon contact, her phasing ability was sucked right out of her and they hit the floor with a disastrous crash.

Feeling Kitty's hands on her waist, Rogue felt when her powers activated against her, but before she could react to it, she felt them subdued somehow. That had never happened before and she panicked. She thought she'd hurt Kitty so she shoved her hands off and sat up quickly to get away.

"Kitty, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" She asked, pushing her long, silver hair out of her face to look and make sure that Kitty didn't need to go to the infirmary.

"I think so. My back hurts from hitting the counter, but I'm okay, " she answered, sitting up and rubbing her back. Rogue's skin had never come into contact with hers before and even though Kitty had been curious to know what her powers felt like, it was a lot more painful than she thought it would be. At the same time, the suffocating danger of her powers somehow felt good and she wasn't sure what that meant or how to explain it to herself.

"What about you?" She asked, finally looking over to Rogue.

Between the tenderness of Kitty's eyes and the massive influx of thoughts and memories from the girl's recent past, Rogue was thrown and couldn't answer her right away...

Rogue is in the library, silver hair falling over her eyes and her back is leaning against the tall stacks of books. When she sees me, she pushes the fallen strands out of her face and steps forward, lowering her lips onto mine, kissing me. Her lips are as smooth as the satin covering her fingers. She lifts her hand to my cheek and I feel when she opens her mouth, pulling me into her with her tongue and fusing us together. Wrapping my hands around her, I reach under the back of her shirt and touch her forbidden skin, feeling its dangerous electricity prick the tips of my fingers. I drop my kiss to her neck and hear her whisper my name: Kitty.

"Rogue?" Kitty addressed her again.

Rogue heard her name, but couldn't respond. She looked back blankly into Kitty's dark eyes that weren't so different from her own, completely dumbfounded. She wondered if she'd known about Kitty's feelings for her all along but had kept her at bay just so she wouldn't have to acknowledge it. She wasn't ready to deal with it and now she was being forced to. She's always thought Kitty was attractive, but she'd always been threatened by her beauty since she'd assumed she was interested in Bobby...and vice versa. She'd misread almost everything about her.

"Is everything all right in there?" Scott called out from the living room across the hall.

Rogue jumped at the sound of his voice, but Kitty quickly shushed her and pushed her back against the kitchen island to sit still.

"We're fine, " Kitty called back. "Rogue tripped, but she's okay." They sat still for a second until they realized Scott wasn't going to come by to check on them.

Scott never would have bought that line from me without coming by, even if it is the truth, Rogue thought. But no one ever suspected Kitty to be the type to bend the rules so she could easily get away with it. Rogue recalled one of the reasons why they used to be so close when she had first come to Xavier's: Kitty played the good-girl to a fault and could escape or outsmart anyone or anything like no one she'd ever known before. The only reason they weren't friends anymore was entirely Rogue's fault and she knew it. She was ashamed of her excessively jealous behavior and owed Kitty a major apology.

Relieved that they were being left alone, Kitty looked back at Rogue, who appeared to be better, but was staring at her.

"What?" She asked, taken aback by Rogue's intense gaze.

"Nothing, " Rogue lied, waking up from her daydream, wondering what Kitty would do if she...stop it, Rogue. Even if you do think she's pretty, you have a boyfriend. Standing up, Rogue helped Kitty put the beer into paper bags so they could conceal it on their way back to her room. Before heading back, she watched Kitty pull her hair out of its messy ponytail, run her fingers through her hair a few times, and then rebind the dark tresses back into its bouncy perfection.

"Ready for a long night of exciting historical research?" Kitty asked with a coy smile.

I've already learned all the history I need, thanks, Rogue thought, knowing that she was going to need a drink far more than she'd originally thought.

Upon entering her room, Rogue flipped on the overhead light as well as a lamp by her desk. Kitty set the bottles down and then pulled out a couple of books from the tote, handing one to Rogue on the bed. She kept the other book for herself and dragged the desk chair over to the side of the bed to sit down and begin researching a potential topic for their joint presentation.

"You can sit on the bed, you know, " Rogue offered.

"This is fine, " she answered with a smile. "But thanks."

After paging through her first book in silence, not reading a single word on the pages, Rogue glanced up at Kitty to see her totally engrossed in whatever she was reading. She furrowed her brows at her, wondering what she saw in Kitty. They were so different...but she was also so pretty, and at least in the fantasy Rogue had seen and felt, she was an amazing kisser. She got flustered thinking about it again.

"These subjects are so boring, " Rogue whined, tossing her book back to the pile on the floor.

"No, they're not, " Kitty chuckled, without looking up from her book. She licked the tip of her finger, turned the page, and kept reading.

Rogue looked at Kitty as if she'd suddenly mutated horns. Not that it wasn't possible. If she'd learned anything since coming to Xavier's it was that anything was possible with this group of students. "You're going to need a drink sooner than I thought you would, " she said bending over the side of the bed and reaching into the paper bag and pulling out a bottle. She unsnapped the cap and handed it to Kitty. "Drink, " she told her with a smile.

Kitty laughed and took a sip, but cringed at the taste. "Blech, " she spat, "you should have at least grabbed an ice pack or something."

"No need, " Rogue said, leaning forward and wrapping her gloved hand around Kitty's in order to pull her and the bottle closer. Rogue tried not to get fixated on the beautifully curled eyelashes that encircled Kitty's eyes and instead focused her energy away from the obvious tension between them. She blew an icy breath over the mouth of the bottle, chilling its contents completely.

Kitty felt the chill go well beyond the glass bottle. If she could, she would kill Storm for assigning them to work together on this project. The night had only gotten started and Kitty was already starting to freak out that Rogue would somehow realize that she had a crush on her. She was certain that Rogue would be offended and in turn, hate her even more than she already did.

She nervously scooted back from Rogue and took another sip of the stout beverage. "Much better, " she said with a shy smile. "I know you think your mutation is a curse, but that's pretty cool, Rogue, " she said, trying to make a simple conversation out of nothing.

"Bobby taught me that party trick, " she said reaching down to get her own drink. Shit. Why did I bring him up? Rogue cursed herself, waiting for Kitty's snide comment.

"Yeah, I figured that much, " she responded bitterly, discouraged that his name had come up so soon into the night. Kitty took a longer sip of the now cooler beer, hoping that maybe the alcohol would somehow numb her resentment for the boy who had everything she could never have.

Ordinarily, Rogue would have retaliated Kitty's tone with her own smart remark, but now she knew that Kitty wasn't jealous of Rogue; she was jealous of Bobby. Rogue pressed her own amber-glassed bottle to her lips and took a long drink, thinking that this would all be so much easier if she could just continue to live in denial.

"I'd offer to turn on some music while we study, but my stereo is broken, " Rogue said after too long of a pause, growing increasingly paranoid of sitting in silence with Kitty for too long.

"I could fix it for you if you want, " Kitty offered, looking up from her book.

"Really?" Rogue asked her.

Kitty shrugged, "Sure. Where is it?"

"Under my desk, " Rogue said pointing to the small radio/cd player on the floor.

Kitty got up from her chair and knelt down to pick up the radio. It was dusty, so she blew off the first layer of dust, coughing a bit when some of it blew back into her face.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It hasn't worked for a really long time. I don't even know why I still have it, " Rogue said, apologizing for the dust.

"Well, you'll be glad you kept it in a minute, " Kitty said, setting it onto the desk. She ghosted her hand through the stereo so she could feel the inner workings of the electronic device. She quickly located a loose wire and pushed it back into place before removing her hand from inside the player. With one flip of a switch, the green "on" light illuminated and music started playing from the speakers.

"Wow, Kitty. And you think chilling beer is cool?" Rogue snickered, taking a sip of beer before continuing. "Thanks for doing that for me."

"No problem, " she said sitting back down and locating the page where she'd left off in the text and continuing on with her research.

"I may be able to pay attention to our project now that I have company, alcohol, and music, " Rogue joked, leaning back against the headboard and taking another swig.

"Now that you have enough distractions, you mean?" Kitty asked, glowing a little on the inside from finally getting the kind of attention she wanted from Rogue.

Rogue smiled back, noting the girl's flushed face. "Yeah. Something like that, " she said absently.

"It's okay. The second you wanted to go to the kitchen for snacks before you picked up a book, I sort of accepted the fact that we weren't going to get much accomplished tonight, " Kitty said with a shrug.

"That's not true, " Rogue laughed. "Look, I have a book in my lap and a drink in my hand. This is how I study. We'll have this outline done in no time."

Kitty rolled her eyes and snickered to herself. Yeah right, she thought, turning her attention back to the book in her lap.