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Scott stared out the window silently as rain beat against the windowsills. The suffocating silence stretched across the mansion study for as far as he could hear, interrupted only by the steady beating of the raindrops against the windowsill.
“And people say ah look emo,” Rogue crossed her arms as she walked past him. Scott blinked as she stood in front of him, unflinching.
“Hi Rogue,” he said. “How are you?”
“Ah was doin’ just fine till Jean starts complainin’ to me that you’ve been mopin’ all day,” Rogue scoffed.
“Is she upset?” Scott asked, sitting up straight.
“She’s scared, Scott,” Rogue shrugged. “Ah thought she was gonna start bitin’ her nails. Now are you gonna tell me what’s up or do ah have to get the Professor?”
“It’s fine!” Scott insisted. “I just- it’s just…”
Rogue’s gaze intensified as she sat down across from him slowly.
“It’s my orphanage birthday,” Scott mumbled.
“Ya what?” Rogue tilted her head in confusion.
“My orphanage birthday. Every year at the orphanage, I used to get a little celebration on the anniversary of the day I was admitted. I think they knew that a party on our real birthday would just remind us of…life before. It would be too depressing. For me, at least.”
Rogue’s gaze softened.
“It’s not about that, though, is it?”
“He used to give me a present every year,” Scott whispered, head in his hands.
“And I thanked him. I hugged him.”
“Sinister,” she whispered.
“He called himself Nate,” Scott muttered. “Technically it was the truth. I mean, apparently I name my future son after him-”
“You don’t know that,” Rogue cut him off. “It’s the future. It hasn’t happened yet.”
“Yeah, I know,” Scott sighed. “I just…I just feel so stupid. Like I can’t trust myself anymore. Every year, he’d get me something. Something small, but it always made me feel better. Like if I had been complaining it was too cold, he got me a warmer blanket. When I had been saying I was bored, he got me books to read. And I just…I thought he was my best friend.”
“Scott, ah know how ya feel,” Rogue whispered.
“Rogue, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t really think anyone knows how I feel,” Scott shook his head.
“Two words: Risty Wilde.”
Scott looked up instantly, a look of complete self-reproach covering his face.
“Rogue, I’m so-”
“It’s fine,” she held up her hand.
“Like ah said: I know how ya feel.”
They sat there for a little bit longer before Rogue spoke again.
“Ya still with me Scott?” she waved her hand in front of his face.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Yeah, I just…could you tell me what it was like?”
Rogue raised her eyebrow.
“Okay,” she shrugged.
“She wasn’t…there a lot. Like, physically. But when she did, ah always felt comfortable talking to her. I never got the idea she would judge me for my powers, or for acting…the way I can sometimes. Ah never got as close to her as ah did you guys. But she was the closest thing ah had to a friend outside this school.”
“She made you feel safe,” Scott nodded in understanding.
“Yeah,” Rogue nodded. “I told her things ah never told anyone else. At least, not at that point anyway.”
“You mean your massive crush on me?” Scott asked, a flicker of a smile returning to his face.
“Who told ya that?!” she asked.
“Remy.”
Rogue shook her head.
“Out of all the secrets…well, whatever, you know it’s over now!”
Scott just shrugged jokingly as he leaned back in his chair.
“What did “Risty” say when you told her?” he asked.
“That ah could do better,” Rogue scoffed. “Knowing what we know now, ah think we can see the ulterior motive behind that.”
“Well, I did lock her in Area 51,” Scott sighed.
“Yeah,” Rogue sighed. “And then when she escaped, instead of reaching out to me for the next 6 months, she lured you out to Mexico for her revenge. Shows where her real priorities were.”
Scott looked down sadly.
“I know. It really sucks. Did you ever find out if Risty Wilde was a real person?”
“No clue,” Rogue shook her head. “Logan called in some SHIELD favors and looked it up, and there are dozens of girls and women named Wilde across the pond. If she is real, she ain’t got a thing to do with Mystique.”
“I was just curious,” Scott sighed. “It doesn’t really matter. What she did was wrong either way.”
“You want to know the worst part?” Rogue asked. “After ah touched her. When ah finally sorted out what was from me and what wasn’t…I think she really thought we were bonding. She thought she was giving me a confidant. That she was doing me a favor.”
Scott scoffed.
“When he told me about the extent of his manipulation, Sinister acted like we were partners. Like he had been helping me out. And I thought it was just his twisted sense of humor. But the more I think about those ‘birthdays’...the more I remember how proud of himself he looked when I opened my eyes and saw what he got me.”
He looked up.
“What is it about them, Rogue? What could possibly have convinced them that lying to us, giving us false hope and taking it away, that any of it was a favor?”
“It’s because there’s something wrong with them, Scott,” Rogue sighed, taking his hands in her gloved fingers.
“Something broken in them, that only they can fix. Except they don’t know how, and ah don’t know if they want to.”
She made sure that Scott was looking at her before she kept talking.
“But you know what the most important thing is, Scott?”
“What?” he asked in a hushed voice.
“We didn’t put that there. They had their problems long before they met us.”
Scott looked down, his breath caught in his throat.
“Yeah. Yeah, I know. Thanks for reminding me.”
“Anytime,” she smiled faintly.
“Kurt told me recently that he can forgive Mystique, but he can’t forget what she did to him,” Rogue shrugged.
“Ah don’t know if ah can do that.”
Scott shook his head, knowing exactly how she felt.
“I’m glad for him, though,” he smiled.
“But we don’t have to make our lives about them,” she stood up, pulling him out of his chair.
“Cause I’m pretty the person your life revolves around is crying her eyes out waiting for you.”
Scott turned a shade of red almost as dark as his glasses as he ran for the door.
“Thanks, Rogue!” he called.
As she watched him run away, Rogue rolled her eyes.
“What are friends for?” she smiled softly.