Skin, Trust, and Rain

Author: Morwen

AN- X-Men Evolution doesn't belong to me. Scott's cute. All Scott romances are cool. You know the drill.

Rogue hurried down the hall, clutching her books to her chest. She’d be late if she didn’t-

A leg kicked out swiftly in front of her, and she lost her balance, tumbling to the floor. Her books and papers scattered and a chorus of high-pitched giggles resounded off the lockers. She looked up as the bell rang, catching sight of a crowd of Jean’s friends- popular people, although Jean was not to be seen among them- dashing away through the flock of milling students that seemed to suddenly evaporate.

She was still staring after the last of them when a pair of feet stopped in front of her and a warm voice broke through the open wound she held around her.

"Those girls bugging you, Rogue?" A standard American accent, with a hint of Canadian behind it, quiet like a bruise over the air. She looked up at him.

"Oh, Scott. Ah, just… fell."

Scott chuckled grimly, and squatted down next to her, picking up her papers and shuffling them into order. She scooted over to where her geometry book had dropped and then picked up her history text, which was lying behind Scott.

One of the strange things about Scott was that he never seemed to be afraid of touching her. It wasn’t like the other kids avoided her like the plague or anything, (Only once in a while, because she made them.) But Scott simply avoided physical contact casually, as if he didn’t know to keep away. And it never stopped him from touching her. He knew she couldn’t affect him with a layer of cloth between him and her.

He grasped her hand and pulled her up with him, and handed her the papers, smiling slightly.

She blushed.

"Hey, come on. I think Trowlski’s monitoring our study hall, and he likes you. We might get in unscathed."

"Ug," Rogue moaned, brushing a lock of hair out of her face and trotting down the hall next to Scott. "How much more ‘till ah can leave, again?"

Scott grinned.

"41 minutes, if you don’t count the walk home."

"Not at all. It’s a nice day out. No clouds."

"Hmm…" Scott smiled slightly as they passed a window and rushed up to the door of their Study Hall, the last period of the day.

"Mr. Summers, what exactly do you mean by coming in this late? Do you think you can just waltz in and-" Mr. Trowlski, who normally acted as the lunch monitor, but managed 8^th period Study Hall in Bayville High every other Friday, (A difficult task at best, considering the end-of-week excitement) started in on Scott immediately. He let Rogue slip passed unnoticed, but she spoke up, using the quiet, soft voice she reserved for teachers only.

"Mistah’ Trowlski, it was mah’ fault. Ah’ tripped in the hall, and Scott was just helpin’ me get mah’ papers."

Trowlski regarded the two for a minute, and then waved his hand in a dismissive manner. Scott and Rogue hurried to take seats in front of Paul, a normal student and a friend of Scott's.

"Yeah," snickered Paul, grinning. "You tripped. And bumped into Scott. And your lips accidentally collided, too, I bet."

"Paul- I bet we could have a field day with what I caught you trying to pull on the captain of the cheerleading squad…"

"Alright, alright- I get the hint," he snickered again. "You're feeling a little less utterly devoted to that girl with the leash on your neck-"

"Jean hasn't got a leash on my neck!"

"-And you feel bad about grazing other pastures. Well, pal, y'should- It's not like she made a commitment to you- I hear she was giving a blow job to Duncan Mathews after the game last nig-"

It was difficult to figure out who hit Paul first- Scott or Rogue. But they both managed to keep enough frame of mind to sit back down immediately. Fortunately, Trowlski had his back to them, and Paul rubbed his head relatively unnoticed.

"Oww..."

~*^*~

Scott and Rogue walked out of the school building, letting the air and the sun bathe their faces. They strolled down the sidewalk, watching the other students spread out, floating their different ways.

"This way," Rogue motioned; jumping over a stone wall that ran between the sidewalk and the woods that bordered the edge of Bayville. "It's a short-cut," she explained.

They wandered down what seemed to be a slightly worn path, relatively barren of trees and shrubs.

They were silent until Scott stopped and looked up.

"It's going to rain."

Rogue glanced up as well.

"What're yah' talking about- there's not a cloud in the sky."

"Doesn't matter. Smell the air, it's humid. It's going to rain tonight."

She sniffed the air. He was right.

"Smells like a June night back at home."

Scott nodded. "Warm weather we're having, for only May."

More silence, but not the kind that was awkward. It was a pleasant, well-worn silence that fit them each down the last curve of their minds.

After a moment, Scott broke the silence.

"Y-y-y'don't think what Paul said was true, do you...?" he stuttered, quietly.

Rogue glanced at him. "What? That Jean has you on a short leash, or that she's been fucking around with some football player?"

Scott chuckled. "Both, I guess."

Rogue looked up at the trees. "Ah don't think she's been doing anything with anyone. Don't think she's that kinda' girl."

Scott nodded.

"But she does keep you pretty close, normally. Ah think she's got plans for you- but she isn't ready to unveil them quite yet."

Scott frowned.

"I- I don't think..."

"Where is she, anyway? Don't you two normally walk home together?"

He raised an eyebrow. "She has cheerleading practice."

Rogue chuckled.

"What?" Scott asked, a little annoyed.

"Nothing."

"Hmph."

More silence that fit like a glove.

"You... you care for her, don't yah, Scott?" She asked quietly, leaning forward as the walked, trying to look at his face.

He stiffened. "I care for the team, the group. You're my friends."

"Yeah, I know. You forget ah' have your thoughts in mah' head. Ah' know you'd take the bullet for any of us... But I also see something else in that bundle of thoughts of yours for Jean... Something that isn't there for Kurt, or Kitty, or... Me."

Scott glanced at her, and then set his eyes back on the ground. He was silent for a minute, and then he spoke again. He was using that soft voice again, the one that sounded like a bruise. It occurred to Rogue that it might be a product of too many bruises. She wouldn't be surprised- not having seen what she had seen in Scott's memories.

"Tell me, Rogue... What else have you seen in my thoughts?"

Bitter cold caking his voice. Rogue finally glanced away from him when his eyebrows moved, indicating that he was trying to meet her eyes through those dark sunglasses. She stopped walking, and Scott came to a halt next to her, still looking at her.

"Ah... ah've seen the plane. And yer' parents. But we all knew about the plane crash, after Alex an' everything...

"But ah've seen other things that you never told nobody about... Things that the Professah' probably only knows about, and maybe Jean. Like the orphanage.

"Ah've seen what that guy, Nathan, did to ya', and all that crap. And all the blood he took. You should tell Kurt about that. He thinks he's the only one who had to deal with Mutant Experimentation.

"And ah've seen you run away. Ah know all about playing pool and all about the places you stayed. 'For I absorbed all that, ah thought I was the only one who had been a run away. Ah was on the run for a few hours. You were out there nearly two years. Ah've seen that. And ah've seen Jack.

"Ah don't blame ya' for what he made you do, Scott. Ah know you can never get rid of all that pain and guilt. You feel like it sticks to you, wherever you go..."

She looked up at him. He had turned his head away from her and was leaning on the tree. She gathered that he was trying not to cry.

"But the truth is, Scott... It don't. If ah' hadn't seen your memories, all ah'd see was the Scott you hold over. The one who's always protecting us and tryin' to grow up fast enough to do that better. Ah could tell you'd take the bullet for any of us without having seen everything you've gone through. Ah wouldn't understand what drove you to that, but ah'd see it. And ah'd know that you love Jean, without seeing all the hurt that drove you to need her like you do.

"But I have seen your thoughts, so ah understand. Ah understand that you need someone to touch ya' and hold ya' in their arms, and chase away all those memories of the arms that didn't love you. So ah understand why ya' feel the way you do about Jean... and not about me.

"She does love ya', Scott. You shouldn't worry so much; thinking that everything you've been pulling together'll come apart just 'cause you're not perfect. Ah love you for what yah' are, and so does Jean. Ah only wish I'd seen that in those memories of yours."

She looked up again, and was startled at how close he was. He slipped one hand to her hair, and brushed one bang back from her face. He leaned forward and brushed his lips softly against hers, protected by that thin layer of lipstick. He pulled back slowly, and Rogue felt a memory from long ago- a long ago for Scott- when he had been able to look in a mirror and see his own eyes. Warm brown and green spiked through them.

"There's more than one type of love, Rogue," he murmured, one hand cupping her head through her hair. "And I assure you. You have one type all to yourself."

He turned around, and she could sense his throat tightening, just as they had been able to sense the rain in the sky, without a cloud in sight. (And, she noted, the clouds had started to gather ominously)

"I trust you."

And with that the well-fitting silence resumed, and they hurried up the path toward the mansion, before it could start to rain.

~*^*~