"So after waiting for-fucking-ever, we finally get seated at this cramped, tiny, two-person booth thing. And when I say tiny, I mean, we were sitting across from each other and our kneecaps were touching. There was a taper candle lit between us on the table that I blew out right away because I was afraid I'd set my bangs on fire, you know? Personal space, hello? There's close and then there's way too fucking close."
Jubilee paused to take a sip of her coffee, wincing at the bitter taste. "Shit, chica, what is this crap? Sludge?"
Rogue smiled at her best friend's colorful description. "How would you know what good coffee tastes like? You're not exactly a morning person, Jubes. In fact, I'm surprised you even know what coffee is at all."
She gets a rigid middle finger and a jaw-popping yawn in response. "I just got back from the worst date of my entire life. Give a girl a break, would ya? Not all of us have hot, muscle-bound Canadian hunks warming up our sheets at night."
Across the kitchen table, said Canadian hunk barely glanced away from the newspaper as he ate his breakfast. Barefoot with only a worn pair of jeans on, he looked as though he’d just rolled out of bed and into the kitchen.
"Stop lookin' at me funny."
"I've just never seen hair point in so many different directions before," Jubilee replied with a sunny smile. "Without, you know, some quality gel and a fair amount of time involved."
Reaching for his empty mug, Rogue smiled at the exchange as she got up and headed for the coffee pot. Logan and Jubilee didn’t always get along, but they tolerated one another for her benefit and if that had somehow mutated into a friendship of their own . . . all the better.
"Well, the date couldn't have gone too badly, Jubes. Not if you're only just now crawling home."
Jubilee gave her telling look. "Hey, I've got needs."
Rogue just shook her head as she refilled his cup. "Jubilee! There are just some things I'll never understand about you, I swear. If you had such a bad dinner, why in the world would you sleep with him?"
"Yeah, and there are some things that I'll never understand about you, either. Like your pesky yet endearing need to tie love and sex together, which might be why you were the ripe old age of twenty when you finally got your cherry popped," Jubilee retorted as she reached over and tried to steal a piece of bacon from Logan's plate, only to get her hand smacked across the knuckles.
To Logan, she said, "That was just completely uncalled for, you know. Has anyone ever let you know what a mean motherfucker you really are?"
"Can’t help it," he grumbled, unfolding the sports section of the paper. Hazel eyes glare at her, but not without a trace of genuine affection. "I guess it must be all the pointy hair."
Handing him his mug, Rogue lifted a strip of bacon from his plate with her other hand and gave it to a smirking Jubilee. Who noted that while her own knuckles still stung, all Rogue got for the same offense was a lingering smack on the ass when she passed beside him on her way back to her own seat.
"So what else went wrong?"
Jubilee was interrupted before she could answer, when Scott Summers entered the kitchen and headed directly for the coffee pot. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars, and do not, by any means, speak to those around you.
Rogue watched as her former teacher poured himself a cup of sludge. Despite the fact that he was fully dressed and freshly showered, he still had the look of someone who’d been run over a few times.
Smiling, she couldn’t help teasing him. Blame Inner-Logan. "Well, hello to you too, sunshine. Rough night?"
Bringing a hand up to his temple, he visibly grimaces in their general direction. "Not so loud, please."
"Heh." That from Logan, who slid the comics and the sports section of the paper to the end of the table where Scott regularly sat. He laughed again when several young students came bounding into the kitchen, talking noisily and jostling a hung-over Scott in their search for Pop-Tarts.
Jubilee leaned over in her seat until her shoulder rested against Rogue's. To avoid young ears overhearing them, she whispered directly into her ear. "What do you wanna bet Jean turns up in less than a minute, comments on Logan's lack of shirt, digs at me about my sex life, and speaks loudly just for Scott's benefit? In that order."
"Got five bucks?" Rogue whispered back. Jubilee pulled a five dollar bill out of her bra and set it on the table.
"I bet she says something to you, but not about your sex life," she continued, lifting her hand to Jubilee's ear to shield their conversation from the others. "I bet she completely ignores Scott because he's somehow pissed her off, and I bet she lays a hand on Logan's bare shoulder while she bitches at him to put more clothes on."
Jubilee snickered at that last part, then whispered in Rogue's ear again. "And I bet she gets that hand taken right off if it lingers there a little longer than you'd like."
"Damn straight."
"However, that might be hard to accomplish, what with her telekinesis shit," Jubilee added rather thoughtfully. "But I'm sure you could get her away from Logan through the subtle art of pure irritation. Have you noticed how twitchy she's been around us since you and I started teaching this year? We've gone from being her teenaged students to becoming her coworkers, and it's freaking her out, big time."
"You both are fuckin` cracked," Logan told them, letting them know his sensitive heard every word of their whispered conversation. But he smiled as he dug his wallet out anyway and tossed a five for Marie's part of the bet on top of Jubilee's money.
And not a moment later, Perfection Incarnate in the form of Jean Grey walked through the door. Every fire-red hair in place, makeup perfectly applied to appear as though she really wore only a minimal amount, her eyes settled briefly on each of the kitchen's occupants. "Good morning, everyone."
And when every student in the kitchen paused in their chewing long enough to answer, so did Rogue and Jubilee. "Good morning, Dr. Grey!"
Even Scott laughed, hang over be damned.
Three minutes later, Rogue tucked her newly won ten dollars into her pocket as Jean left the room. The few students that had come foraging for their own food had already left, right after Jean began discounting the nutritional value of Hot Fudge Pop-Tarts.
"Woo hoo, whatever will I do with so much money?"
"What else?" asked Jubilee with a shrug. "Let's go shopping."
Scott looked up from the comics at her, eyebrows lifting above his dark glasses. "Don't you have some lesson plans to work on for next week?"
"It's Sunday!" Jubilee pointed out. "And how do you know I haven't already worked out my lesson plans?"
"Oh, I don't know, Jubilee. Maybe because every assignment I ever gave you was finished two minutes before class began?" And it's the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he said it that kept her from shooting sparkles of energy his way.
"Yet as I recall, they were nearly all turned in and again, as I recall, I did well in every class of yours I took."
Scott went back to his newspaper. "You're right, you did do well. Just as well as Rogue. In fact, sometimes it was as though the two of you shared a brain, because otherwise, how else would so many of your papers turn out to be nearly identical?"
"Hey, man, gimme a break. The shit got done, right? And I aced your tests all on my own, thank you very much. It was a necessary evil, you know? Because our senior year was swamped with other, more urgent matters." Jubilee elbowed a blushing Rogue in the ribs and said, "Operation Get Logan was in full-swing by mid-year. It's a wonder we graduated at all."
"Operation Get Logan?"
Logan wasn't participating in the conversation, looking for all the world engrossed in the local news. The reddened tips of his ears told another story altogether.
Jubilee nodded in response. "Although, to be honest, that particular endeavor had quite a few different nicknames. Oh my God, there were like, fifteen of them, each one dirtier than the last. Like, oh, remember this one, chica? Operation Lick -"
The next thing she knew there was a hand clasped over her mouth, cutting her off. Rogue, red faced and laughing, let her go only to stand up and say, "Why don't we go ahead and go now, before my husband pops his claws and shuts us up?"
Digging out his wallet, Logan grunted something along the lines of being `fuckin' on board with that plan'.
Several bills were shoved into her hand when she went around to his side of the table. "Go away, darlin`. Go far. And for God's sake, take her with you."
Smiling, Rogue counted the money and tucked it away in her pocket. "Is there anything you'd like me to bring back for you?"
"Nah. Just you, safe and sound." Logan wrapped an arm around her hips and pulled her against his side. "Be good, will ya?"
"She'll be with me, Logan. No worries."
Logan shot Jubilee a look. "I worry."
Rogue leaned down and left a lingering kiss on his mouth. "I'll be back in a few hours. Kitty’s bringing the baby back around eleven. He’s got extra bottles -"
"Have fun," he interrupted her, and tugged her down for another kiss. "Me and Matthew can tough it without you for a few hours.
Jubilee snuck another strip of bacon off his plate while he was distracted. "Hey, man! Where the hell are my good-bye smoochies?"
"Sorry, babe. All out," he replied as he let go of Rogue. "How about a swift kick in the ass? I'm sure I've got plenty of those left."
"C'mon, chica. When that man of yours begins to threaten violence toward someone as sweet as myself, it's truly time to boogie."
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
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