The Day We Were Born and Started the War

Young girl in the market

Music to the men
When the men leave
Her eyes are red
When her eyes are closed again
she sees the dark market
of above

Young boy in the market
Follows all the men
When the men leave
He's out of his head
When his eyes are closed again
he sees the dark market
of above

Young boy in the market
Sees the girl alone
And asks her
"Have you lost your way home?"

Rogue had to force her eyes to stay open. After fourteen hours of selling coffee and sandwiches to passengers she just wanted to crawl onto her mattress in the flat on the other side of the city she lived in and sleep. She looked at her watch: only a few minutes to ten, then she could close the shop and sleep.

The train station was nearly deserted, but that wasn't that unusual since the trains came only every thirty minutes and there was a café on the other side of the street.

She could see a man with a book, a couple and two other men that simply stared into the distance.

The doors opened and John came in and as usual he was the only person in this station that looked awake. He sauntered over to her like he owned this place, grinning in a way that she was sure, attracted people to him like honey attracted flies.

'Hey, Rogue, got a coffee for me?'

'If you can pay, sure.'

'I come here every evening and grace you with my charm and wits and you can't even give me a coffee for free.' He sighed melodramatically as he searched in his pockets for the money.

'My boss told me that you charmed her a long time before I showed up.'

'It's not my fault that only pretty ladies work here, is it?'

'Good night, John.' Rogue said as she handed him his coffee.

'See you tomorrow.' He sauntered out again, while she closed the shop. In the back were two additional rooms: a small bathroom with a toilet and a sink and the store room where she used to sleep before John had taken her in.

Rogue had met John right on her first day here. He usually came twice a day: once in the afternoon and then again in the night. She wouldn't have paid more attention to him than to the other regular customers if he hadn't saved her life once.

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She had been coming back after on the evening of her free day when a guy had grabbed her. Before she had even known what was happening, there had been flames everywhere and instead of the guy, John had been next to her and calmly watched the man burn.

'You should be more careful.'

'I…tha…thanks.' Rogue had stuttered and then blurted:

'You…you're a mutant.'

'Just like you.'

'How…?'

'Oh, please, no one wears gloves at this temperature. So either you had deformed hands or you were a mutant.'

'You killed him.'

'He deserved it and don't worry. They won't find more than a heap of ashes when I'm done with him.'

'Have you done this before?'

'I won't kill you.'

'Does that mean yes?'

'That means you don't need to be afraid of me. Go back inside.'

'John.'

'Yes?'

'Thank you.'

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That's how they became some sorts of friends you. She didn't know if John was his real name but it didn't matter since Rogue wasn't her real name either. Or maybe it was, maybe she left Marie in Mississippi.

John had brought her to his friends, a group of mutants, all around their age that lived in a flat together. The flat wasn't that big, it had four rooms but they were small, especially for two people sleeping in each of them. It was clean and warm, though. It was better than everything else she'd had except for Logan's trailer but that had probably more to do with Logan and less with the trailer.

She shared a room with Jubilee, who spent her days showing gymnastic tricks and fireworks on streets, in parks and shopping malls. Jubilee dressed in bright colours and always, always wore a yellow jacket. Marie and the others teased her mercilessly about it.

The others were Piotr, Angel and Remy. Piotr was from Russia. He sold his pictures on the streets and made portraits. His drawings hang everywhere in the flat, sketches from all six of them, colourful landscapes and Boston's streets.

Remy was close to John. While Remy never bothered to hide his New Orleans origin and John's English jumped through different accents and pronunciations that it was impossible to pinpoint where he came from, they both spoke the same Cajun French, particularly when they fought about something.

Angel was the only one with physical mutations. He had two huge, white-feathered wings on his back which made it impossible for him to go outside. Angel was even more secretive about his past than the rest of them, but he regularly chatted with someone on his old laptop that he called 'an old friend.'.

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'Remy!' Rogue knocked impatiently on the bathroom door in the next morning: 'If I'm going to be late because of you I'll kick your ass into the next week!'

'Give up.' John sauntered through the hallway: 'But Angel did the dishes last night so you can wash your hair in the sink.'

'With the dish-soap perhaps?' She asked sarcastically and hammered against the door again. If it weren't for her gloves she would probably already have splinters in her hands: 'Remy!'

John shrugged and opened the door to his and Remy's room: 'Jubes did. See you later.'

The bathroom door opened.

'Chère.' Remy's shoulder-long hair hang in wet tresses from his head: 'No need to break the wood, qui?'

'I can kill you with a touch.' She reminded him menacingly and yanked him out into the hallway while completely ignoring that the second most attractive man she'd ever seen was naked. She silenced his protests by shutting and locking the door.

After showering she towelled her hair dry as well as she could. Thanks to Remy she didn't have time for blow-drying it and breakfast. Life began early for all of them except for John, who usually ate and then went back to bed until he had to wake up for school. The rest of them sat at the table in the kitchen/living-room hybrid. Angel, who usually did all the housework because he was the only one of them who didn't bring in any money, was not permitted to cook under any circumstances. Jubilee already munched her way through a stack of delicious looking beignets. She waved at Rogue and shoved another for full of beignet and powder sugar into her mouth.

'Good morning, Rogue.' Piotr said from his seat. Angel swallowed first before greeting her and Remy, who stood at the counter making coffee threw her a flirtatious smile that she countered with an eyeroll. She hadn't forgiven him yet.

'Piotr has a date.' Remy told them.

'Whom?' Rogue asked between two bites.

'Her name's Kaitlin. I portrayed her a few days ago.'

'Cute?' Jubilee wanted to know. Of course with her mouth full it sounded more like 'Fufe?'

'She has an unique grace.' Piotr was finished with his breakfast and carried his dishes to the sink. Jubilee swallowed and blinked at the others: 'Was that a yes or a no?'

'I think he means that you shouldn't judge a person just by their looks.' Angel interpreted.

'Which means no, she's as ugly as an old turtle.' Remy threw in.

'Didn't he go on a date with the human statue last week?' Rogue asked.

'I think Kaitlin is the human statue.' Angel pondered.

'Wasn't the human statue's name Michelle?'Jubilee replied.

'No, Michelle was the ballet dancer.' Rogue corrected her.

'Michelle was the botany student and Simone the ballet dancer.' Angel's voice left no space for doubt.

'At least one of us has a life.' Jubilee said and dedicated herself to her breakfast again.

'Speak for yourself.' Remy mocked her. Jubilee glared at him like she contemplated throwing a little plasma light at him but decided against it and instead grabbed Remy's coffee mug and drained it while easily evading his hands. Stealing Remy's coffee came very close to committing a sacrilege.

'Bye!' She called and more or less jumped out of the flat.

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'Good morning, Rogue.' Raven smiled at her. Rogue was a bit surprised to see her since usually she opened the shop and her boss came in around ten.

'Morning.' Rogue replied: 'You're very early today.'

'Irene has a conference in Atlanta and the boys are on a class trip. I didn't know what to do with myself.' Raven laughed: 'If you want you can have the afternoon off.'

'Thank you.' Rogue answered sincerely.

'Don't mention it.' Raven winked at her: 'Could you wait outside for Nick? I'll warm up the coffee machine.'

'Sure.' Rogue grabbed her coat and left the building, looking for Nick's van in which he delivered the pastries and sandwiches they sold during the day. Funnily, Nick was a mutant, too and lived next door to Rogue and the others with his little sister Cassie. Or at least Rogue assumed that Cassie was Nick's little sister.

'Hey Rogue.' Nick called when he stopped the van in front of her: 'You don't need to wait outside for me.'

'My boss told me to.' She countered: 'You're late.'

'There was a road control on the way here. Rogue mutant on the run. Sorry,' he added.

'Better help me unload.' They carried plastic boxes filled with baked goods wrapped in grease-proof paper and unloaded them into the storage room. Raven smiled at Nick when they came out again.

'Morning, Nick.'

'Good morning, Ma'am.' Nick replied while Rogue tried to hide a snicker. She always expected Nick to salute to Raven and blush like a schoolboy, but he never went that far.

'How are you?' She asked friendly.

'I'm fine, Cassie as well.' He answered.

'She's happy in school then?'

'She's still getting used to it.' Nick admitted: 'We both do. The first teacher-parent conference was a bit awkward.'

'Oh, I know.' Raven laughed. She patted Nick on the arm: 'Have a nice day.'

'You, too.' Nick nodded at Raven and Rogue and then left the shop.

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The day went by easily. It was tourist season and time passed faster when you worked all the time as if there was nothing to do. During a short lull Rogue had sent John a text message to tell him that she would have a free afternoon and John had replied that in that case he would take a short vacation from his job, too.

'If that isn't John Allerdyce.' Rogue had been changing from uniform to street clothes in the storage room when she heard Raven's voice.

'You look as beautiful as always.' John replied smoothly.

'Don't try me, boy. I've got two of you kind at home.

'I'm regularly assured that I'm unique and unmistakable.' John leered.

'Ah, Rogue. You can vote for my distinctiveness.' John said when she stepped outside.

'I'm out.' Rogue answered. John mouthed 'traitor' at her and Raven laughed:

'Off with you two. Have a nice day.'

'Thanks.' Rogue said again. It was like an extended weekend since she had tomorrow off. The clouds outside didn't look nice. They were grey and hang low.

'Looks like rain.' She said. John followed her glance and shrugged: 'I wanted to stay indoors anyway.'

'New movie?' She guessed. If John wanted to stay inside without Bobby and a flat surface somewhere then it usually meant that there was a new movie out that John wanted to see.

'Bet on it.'

'Which one?'

'Does that matter?'

'As long as it's not one of these horribly realistic independent movies, no.' She pulled her hood up when the first rain drops hit her face: 'We could pick up Jubes and Piotr.'

John shrugged as if to say 'Sure, why not.'

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Piotr sat in or near the entrance of Boston's biggest park. He wasn't the only artist there but one of the most liked ones. Usually there was already another customer waiting before he had finished the current portrait. Today, with the weather not nice at all it wasn't like this, but despite the wind and the temperatures he only wore jeans and a t-shirt.

'Hey, Pete!' John called and Piotr made a face. He hated it to be called Pete.

'My boss gave me the afternoon off.' Rogue told him: 'Want to go to the cinema with us?'

Piotr shrugged but began to put his things together.

'I like this one.' John held up a picture of the Boston sky line seen from the sea: 'How much?'

'Five dollars.'

'Man, at least no one can say that you sell yourself cheap.' John complained but he paid.

Jubilee was a bit less enthusiastic to leave her workplace since the security guard had allowed her to perform inside the shopping mall instead of in front of it and her gain was accordingly high but John and Rogue managed to persuade her.

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'That was the worst movie I've ever seen.' Piotr declared firmly when Angel asked in the evening about the film they'd seen.

'Dreadful.' Jubilee confirmed emphatically.

'What was dreadful?' Came a male voice from the door.

'Logan!' Jubilee squeaked and jumped him.

'Logan?' Rogue asked surprised and when his eyes met hers over Jubilee's shoulder she saw them widen in surprise, too.

'Why didn't you tell us that you would come?' Jubilee asked when she finally let go of him.

'Rogue?' Logan finally asked: 'What...?'

'John brought me in.' She answered lightly.

'I didn't know you know each other.' That was Jubilee.

'Logan threw me out of his trailer after I saved his life in a seedy bar in Canada.' Rogue told Jubilee.

'And I picked you back up.' Logan reminded her. He followed the two girls into the kitchen where he nodded at Piotr and John.

'Hey, birdbrain.' He called Angel, who stood next to the window: 'Can I get a beer?' Angel threw a nasty look in Logan's direction but still went to the fridge.

'Thanks.' Logan said when he took the bottle: 'Where's Remy?'

'Out.' John merely said.

'With whom?' Logan wanted to know: 'Essex?' From what Rogue understood Essex was Remy's boss but John worked for him, too at times.

'Creed.' Everyone in the room tensed up when John mentioned the name of Remy's co-worker and boyfriend. Logan made a movement that looked like an uneasy shrug.

'Do you mind if I crash on your couch for tonight?' He asked John.

'I'm sure Remy would even let you have the bed.' John smirked. Logan snorted but before he could answer anything, John's cell rang. One look at the display had John's face light up like it was Christmas and the last thing they heard of him was a happy: 'Hi.' before he close the door behind him.

'I need some fresh air.' Angel announced and grabbed his coat, which hid his wings completely but made him look like a hunchback. Without a word, Piotr followed him but nodded to Logan and Logan nodded back.

'John picked you up?' Logan picked up the conversation earlier: 'Where?'

'Where you left me. With Raven's bakery.' Rogue laughed.

'She's okay? Raven, I mean.'

'She's fine.' Rogue assured him.

'How long are you staying?' Jubilee wanted to know.

'Don't know yet. A few days probably.' Logan answered.

The door was opened and John put his head in: 'I'm out and if Remy comes back tonight tell him that I won't. Bye.'

'New Girlfriend?' Logan asked: 'Or is it still Bobby?'

'It's still Bobby.' Jubilee replied: 'You don't call often enough, Logan. Angel and Remy have a bet against Piotr that Bobby's going to ask John to marry him on graduation day.'

'And what does Piotr say?' Logan wanted to know.

'That he's going to ask on prom night.'

'And if he doesn't ask at all?' Rogue was curious. She hadn't heard about this bet before either.

'Then I'm going to win an obscene amount of money.' Jubilee told them with a big grin.

It was nice for once just to sit here with Logan again and to listen to Jubilee telling stories from work: wild chases with security guards and the faces of people who thought that they had her lightening tricks all figured out when they realized that they hadn't.

The front door was opened again. This time it was Angel and Piotr, who were pretty much soaked through. Angel vanished into the bathroom as soon as he had set a foot into the flat but Piotr merely pulled his wet t-shirt over his head, which Angel took with him into the bathroom to put it up, and grabbed a towel from the linen cupboard to dry himself.

Jubilee purred appreciatively, which made Piotr blush. He disappeared into his and Angel's room for a few seconds and came back with a fresh shirt on. Jubilee mock-pouted at him:

'I was enjoying the view.' Piotr shrugged at that and proceeded to make tea.

'Do you want some?' he asked in the general direction of the kitchen table. All three of them shook their heads. When the water had boiled and soaked through two tea bags in two mugs, Piotr vanished into the bathroom. In the beginning this behaviour had puzzled Rogue because she had known that that Piotr and Angel weren't a couple but by now she understood that Piotr was the only one Angel trusted enough to wash his back where he couldn't reach it between his wings.

Ten minutes later Angel joined them in the kitchen in new clothes and with damp hair but instead of sitting down at the table he preferred to lean against a counter and sipped his tea.

'...and then he asked me if-'Rogue told a story about one of her more capricious customers when Remy sauntered in, followed by a giant of man: Victor Creed. Creed was a good foot taller than Logan with animal-like teeth and claws as fingernails. It was hard to see him as anything but a monster and none of them had ever understood what Remy saw in Creed.

Logan was on his feet as soon as he saw Creed.

'Jimmy.' Creed grinned unpleasantly: 'I didn't think I would see you here.'

'I'm sure Remy would have told you if he thought it would be necessary.' Logan growled.

Remy looked like he wanted to step away from either man but Creed's arm lay over his shoulders and his claws rested against the soft skin of Remy's throat. It was a clear gesture of possession.

Logan took a step in Creed's direction. Rogue could see the peaks of his metal claws coming through his hand's skin.

'I can share with you, if you ask nicely.' Creed's grin turned from unpleasant to lecherous. Rogue had the fleeting thought that she wouldn't want to touch Creed if it would save her life. She didn't want to know what thoughts this man had, what he felt.

Logan made another step forward and looked like he was a second away from attacking Creed but Remy laid a hand on Logan's chest and effectively stopped him:

'Cher. No need to ruin a pleasant evening, qui?' Remy pushed slightly and Logan back down:

'You sit 'ere with the girls and I see if I can John persuade to join you.'

'John's sleeping at Bobby's.' Jubilee said into the room.

'C'est bon!' Remy smiled: 'Now, excusez nous.' He danced down the hallway and Creed trailed him, but not without a last, nasty glance at Logan before he closed the door behind them.

All of them flinched at the sudden noise of breaking dishes but it wasn't Logan but Angel, who had dropped his mug, or rather thrown it against the nearest wall.

'Sorry.' He muttered when he noticed all their eyes on him and went to clean up the mess. Everyone was noticeably upset. Jubilee and Rogue excused themselves for bed and Piotr gave Logan some blankets and a pillow before he left.

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Rogue was woken by John and Remy yelling and screaming at each other – in French. On the other bed Jubilee rolled on her other side and hid her head under a pillow. Rogue, on the other hand, gave up on sleep and dragged herself out of bed. With any luck someone else was awake, too and had made coffee.

John and Remy stood in front of the closed front door and didn't even seem to notice her walking by, too busy clawing at each other's throats.

Logan sat at the kitchen table, Piotr, too, both with cups of coffee in front of them.

'Morning.' Rogue said and helped herself with the coffee pot.

'Morning.' Logan answered.

'Do I want to know what they're saying?' She gestured to Remy and John. Piotr shrugged and Logan admitted:

'My French's a bit rusty.'

'Creed's gone?'

'Just when John came home.' Logan told her.

'That's why they're fighting?'

There was a knock on the front door. John yanked it open and yelled:

'Creed, if you-'

'Uhm, hi John. Breakfast?'

John didn't blush but he had the grace to look sheepish.

'Sorry, Bobby. Come in.'

'Hi, Remy.'

'Bonjour Robert, John didn't say that you would come over today.'

'It was pretty much a last minute decision.' John helped Bobby to carry the paper bags into the kitchen while Remy woke Angel and Jubilee. Pretty soon seven half-awake mutants hunched over eggs and ham while Angel glared at Logan, Logan glared at Remy, Remy glared at John and John couldn't keep his eyes from Bobby although he didn't glare at all.

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Rogue stayed behind after breakfast to help Angel with the dishes. Normally Angel did all the housework himself but she had managed to talk him into letting her help this morning. John and Bobby were in John's room, Jubilee went to 'work' and Remy's...somewhere.

'Illyana's death day is on Wednesday,' Piotr's soft voice floated from the couch through the room to Rogue and Angel in the kitchen section.

'I know.' Was Logan's answer.

'Are you staying that long?'

'Yes.'

Illyana, Piotr's little sister had died on Wednesday a year ago. Rogue didn't know much about her, only that she had been very ill and the reason why Piotr and she had come to the US. Rogue slept in her bed now since Illyana had been Jubilee's roommate and best friend but no one ever talked much about her.

'Hey.' Angel's voice brought her back to reality.

'Sorry.'

'If it helps,' his voice was very quiet. He didn't want Piotr and Logan to hear him: 'I didn't know her either.'

'It does. Thanks.'

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Unsurprisingly she worked on Wednesday and equally unsurprising was that John didn't turn up. She bet that the rest of them didn't go to work either.

'You're quiet tonight.' Raven observed when they closed the shop: 'Logan's last night in town, isn't it?' She smirked.

'Yeah, it is.' He said so this morning when he had driven her to work.

'Don't worry. He'll be back before you noticed he's gone.'

'I noticed it last time and that was only seven months.'

'Seven months is something. Before he dropped you off at my doorstep I hadn't seen Logan for over two years.'

Rogue saw that someone had smeared 'Death the Freaks!' on a bench when she and Raven walked past it.

'Can I ask you something?' She turned to Raven.

'Sure.'

'Does your wife...I mean Irene, does she know that you're a mutant?'

'Yes, she does. I didn't tell her immediately...ten years ago things were even harder for mutants than they are now, but...yes, she knows. Why are you asking?'

'No reason.' With her mutation it wasn't like she would ever be able to have a relationship let alone a family, at least not unless they discovered a cure. The look Raven gave her said clearly that she knew what Rogue had been thinking but she didn't say anything.

Rogue met Angel when she reached the building they were living in. He leaned against a wall and smoked.

'These will kill you.' She told him.

'Maybe.' He shrugged.

'I'm surprised Piotr gets you cigarettes.'

'He doesn't.' Then he added muttering: 'They're all a bunch of anti-smoking fascists.'

'It is a nasty habit,' Rogue emphasised: 'Where did you get them?'

'I traded with our neighbours.'

'Nick doesn't smoke.' She pointed out.

'No, but Cassie needed a drink and for some strange reason it was easier for her to get cigarettes to trade with me than a drink.'

'Cassie's like 13. And you gave her alcohol?' Rogue frowned but Angel shrugged it off.

'She needs it for her visions. It helps, she says.' He held up his hands when he saw her doubtful face: 'Hey, I'm not one to judge. If she says she needs it then I believe her.'

'Wouldn't Nick buy her some if he thought it'd be a good idea?'

'I doubt that Cassie told him.' Angel laughed when he saw her sceptical face: 'It's the things we keep secret that keep us individual.'

'Is there such a thing as too much individualism?' She wondered.

'Don't ask me. I'm the wrong person for that question. All of us are, I believe.'

They were quiet for a long time while Angel smoked and Rogue simply refused to go upstairs.

'Do you know who shared Piotr's room before you came?' She had wanted to ask for a while now.

'A guy named Kurt. I mean I have bad luck with my wings but he couldn't go out at all. Apparently there was no way of hiding that he was a mutant. He killed himself three months before I came.'

'Do you know if he and Piotr were close?' Rogue couldn't help but ask. Warren shrugged:

'I don't ask questions, he doesn't ask questions. Makes us perfect roommates.'

'Can I have one?' She asked finally.

'I thought you don't smoke.'

'I feel like it today.'

'Because Logan left today?' Angel asked her with a sly smirk.

'My world doesn't revolve around Logan.' She reminded him and took a drag. The smoke filled her throat and stung in her lung. Then Rogue exhaled again:

'Did you ever think about the life you would have had if you weren't a mutant?'

'What did I say about questions?' He reminded her with a small smile.

'Sorry.' Rogue shook her head, and finished her cigarette in silence.

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It knocked on the door, four times, that was John. She got up from her mattress and opened the door. He was dripping wet.

'Hey, can I come in? It's freaking storming outside.' She let him in and he followed her to the storage room where I gave him a towel.

'Thanks.' He rubbed his face and his hair with it and then sat down on the floor, opposite her sleeping place. She lay back down and faced him.

'Does it disturb you?' Rogue asked as she watched him fiddle with his lighter.

'What?'

'That you're different.'

'Disturb?' He laughed: 'Fire's the best that ever happened to me. Does it disturb you?'

'I can't touch anybody without killing them, what do you think?' Rogue said a bit harsher than she intended to.

'Maybe you just need to learn to control it.'

'Or maybe someone will find a cure to this.'

'What we are is not a sickness you can cure.' He said seriously: 'It's evolution. It's a gift.'

'How it is a gift to nearly kill your boyfriend with a kiss and to make your parents look at you like you're a monster?'

'Maybe he was a jerk and your mutation saved you from getting your heart broken by him and your parents, well if they can't love you like you are then they are jerks, too.'

'It's that the reason why you ran away?'

'Who told you that I ran away?'

'Would you hustle if you weren't?'

'Do you like it here?' He asked while he looked around in the storage room. Rogue shrugged:

'It's better than the alternative.'

'You could come with me if you want. There's a free bed where I'm living.'

'And where is that?'

'Me and a few friends, we share a flat. We're all mutants. It would be safer than staying here.'

'That sounds great.'

Rogue took a photo that had fallen out of John's clothes. It showed John next to a attractive blue-eyed, blond boy.

'Who is this?' She asked and gave him the picture

'Bobby, my boyfriend.'

'He looks cute. Where did you meet him?'

'In school. He's in my literature class.'

'You go to school?' I asked surprised.

'What do you think I'm doing every morning?' He snorted.

'Sitting on some bench, watching the clouds go by?'

'Does he know?'

'Are you kidding me? Of course not. He's a perfect poster boy who saves kittens from trees and never cheats on exams. He thinks I'm showing fire tricks on the streets like Jubes.'

'Do you love him?'

'I'm not delusional, you know? This is not 'Pretty woman'.'

'Maybe it is.'

'Yeah, right.' He laughed humourlessly: 'Also, he's so freaked out about being a mutant, not to mention gay, that it's nearly disgusting sometimes. If I told him that I'm a hustler he would probably freeze my balls off or something.'

'You could do something else.'

'It's easy and it pays good enough. And I'm not taking drugs or anything so I actually get to keep most of the money. There are worse jobs.'

Rogue didn't comment on the numerous times she had seen him with bruises and scrapes and how careful he moved. They all lied to themselves in the end.