Waking up in a bed that had actual support was... different. You never realize how shit the bed you've been sleeping on for ten years is until you sleep on a bed you don't have to pull out of a wall. I got up and got dressed for the day and met up with everyone for breakfast which was uneventful. We were actually joined by Kurt, Bobby, and Tabitha. And Tabitha being there reminded me of the talk we had the night before. Or the talk she said at me. Everyone started going their separate ways, Laura going to the danger room, Tabitha dragging Jubilee off to the mall by here, Allie left to once again do "super cool stuff I wouldn't understand" again, Kitty said she was going back to the pool, and it eventually left me and Rogue alone. But before Kitty left Rogue handed her a stick of lipstick she said she borrowed, but Rogue didn't have a glove on and zapped her in the process. Rogue told her she forgot she took off her glove to eat and Kitty walked away holding her head a little. Rogue put her glove back on before she grabbed my hand and gave me a sly look.

"Hey, like, wanna see something cool?" She asked me.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" I said smiling back. We quickly got up and I followed her outside where she eventually brought me over to this big fence that surrounded a forest. She grabbed my hand and phased through the fence, taking me along with her. We then immediately ran down the hill right by the fence and into the woods. We reached the bottom of the hill and I took in all the beauty of nature. "Wow, you know in New York I don't see stuff like this a lot."

"I ////// bet as much." Rogue said before punching me in the shoulder.

"Hey, what was that for?" I laughed.

"That's for takin' so long to finally do somethin' with me, ya jerk." She said.

"Listen, you could've suggested something and I would've gone! It's not my fault I'm being dragged ten places at once. I'm popular among mutants apparently."

"Mhm." She said hooking her arm around mine. "C'mon, sugar. This isn't what I wanted to show you."

"Alright, what is it? Are you luring me to my death or something? I knew I could never trust an E-Girl."

"A what?"

"Nothing. It's an internet thing."

"Am I gonna hafta put you on a watchlist?"

"Was I not already? I'm literally a super criminal." I said before we showed up to where she wanted to show me and it was... wow. It was this cool little area surrounded by autumn leaves with a sparkling lake in the middle, and the lake was somehow covered up by branches to have the sun beaming down in the middle in the form of a heart. Before I could say anything Rogue said "I got sick of waitin' for you to ask me out first."

"Wow, Rogue, this is a lot." Was all I said. "Let me guess, you also zapped a terraformer and made this perfect piece of Heaven?"

"Nope. This place has always been like this. Only ones that know about it are me, Logan, and Laura." She explained. "When I first made the switch from The Brotherhood and wasn't really makin' friends, I would come out here to find myself. I never showed anyone this. Laura and Logan eventually just found this place. They don't take too kindly to staying in one place. Now..." She started taking off her clothes... SHE STARTED TAKING OFF HER CLOTHES. "Are you gonna join me or what?" She asked. Without saying anything I quickly started to take every thing off. She giggled at my eagerness but started blushing when I was standing in front of her in nothing but boxers. Meanwhile she was standing there with purple panties and a black bra with a skull pattern all over it.

"I'm not gonna lie this is completely off base from what I imagined my first time being like." I blurted out. Rogue's face quickly turned crimson red before she started laughing and snorted. She went back to being embarrassed and covered her nose but kept on laughing.

"Oh my god, that's not what I brought you out here for, you dope!" She said before walking backwards and jumping into the water. She rose back up with a smile on her face as she beckoned for me to join her, using her finger to gesture to me to come closer. I looked around hesitant for a second.

"Uh, Rogue? I don't really know how to tell you this but uh... I can't... Y'know... swim." I finally admitted to her. She smiled at me again surprisingly.

"You're cute when you're embarrassed, sugar." She told me. She swam over to something and stood up on something so the water was knee high. "There's a big rock where I am. We can sit on this." She said extending a hand to pull me closer. Before I grabbed it I concentrated on nullifying her powers and when she pulled me closer, I pulled her towards me as well and she gasped as I wrapped one arm around the small of her back while still holding her other hand.

"Hey." I said.

"H-Hey." She said now blushing. I could practically see her goosebumps on her body. "Sometimes you make me really wanna lose control."

"Who says that wasn't the goal?" I asked her. Before I could do something else she put her finger to my lips.

"Pas si vite, beau." She said. "I don't think we've built up enough tension."

"First off, was that French?" I asked her.

"I always thought French was a romantic language." She said.

"Second off, you're telling me the last month hasn't been enough tension?"

"When I brought you out here I expected to have a cute little talk first but fuck if I don't just melt at your touch."

"Now that's the type of French I understand."

"Can you blame a gal who's been touch starved her whole life?"

"You ever watch The Addams Family?"

"What?"

"Whenever Morticia speaks French, Gomez is right there to grab her arm and kiss her from her hand to her neck." I said before slowly spinning her around so she didn't fall off the rock. I pulled her close and said "What if I just-" before she turned back around and pushed me away, pushing herself into the water in the process. She came up and splashed me.

"God, you're such a jerk!" She said before splashing me again.

"I forgot you still have some Kitty in you still."

"You can't just do that to a girl! It's rude!" She said.

"I was just building tension."

"That wasn't tension, that was being a tease!"

"Says the girl who stripped to her underwear and pulled me close to her to tell me she wanted more tension." I said now sitting on the rock. Rogue swam over and joined me.

"You're an idiot." She told me. "A cute idiot, but still an idiot."

"And an asshole."

"You're getting better."

"I am. Thanks for that."

"I didn't do anything."

"You didn't give up on me and still believed in me even after I briefly forgot the phrase 'being a good person'."

"Like I said, I knew how you felt, being the outsider and all."

"You still remember that day? The first time we had a conversation?"

"Sugar, it was only a month ago." She responded. "But I feel like if you ask me when we're old and gray that answer'll still be yes."

"Who says I'll still be around when we're old and gray?"

"Don't joke like that."

"I mean it I've had four assassination attempts on my life so far and I'm not even in my twenties yet."

"I said stop it."

"Alright, alright... how do you know you'll still want me around by then?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Rogue, I'm not a good person. I-"

"Oh hush with that!" She said looking me in the eyes. "You're a little rough around the edges but deep down I know you're a good person! You were dealt a bad hand but given the chance I know deep down you have good in your heart! There's a hero buried by trauma and betrayal in there but every day I see you he's clawing his way out more and more! You were a criminal outta necessity and now you're a criminal due to blackmail! When the dust settles and it finally comes down to a choice between right and wrong, I'm willin' to bet everything that you'll pick right!" She told me. Something about her words really struck me with how much she believed in me.

"Rogue I don't kn-"

"Well I do know." She said ///// before grabbing me by the cheeks. "Like how I know we've built up enough tension. So, shut up and kiss me." She said before I could feel her breathe against mine. I realized she had popped a mint while we were walking. I pulled her close and kissed her with no second thought and she leaned as far into it as she possibly could. I felt the sparks flying between the two of us, it almost felt like the kiss with Gwen, but more... spectacular? Rogue completely melted in my arms and if we weren't sitting down I would've thought she wouldn't be able to stand up. Rogue eventually pulled herself off of me.

"Before I could accidentally put you in a coma." She answered before I could ask why she pulled away. "That was... fuck, that was good."

"Two fucks in five minutes, maybe I'm rubbing off on you." I joked. "So, is this the part where you give me so bullshit about how we wouldn't work out?"

"I'm not Gwen, (Y,N). I thought we spent the last two minutes establishing that." She told me. "I like ya a lot, (Y,N)."

"I like you too, Rogue."

"...Anna Marie."

"What?"

"My real name is actually Anna Marie. The only other two people I've told are Kitty and The Professor. I didn't exactly have a nice childhood growin' up. But I trust you (Y,N). And I wanna help you learn how to use your powers so even if you don't join the X-Men we can still be together."

"I'd like that a lot." I actually felt a little warmer and happy hearing this from her. And now I finally felt like I had someone to trust too. I concentrated on using my nullifying powers before pulling her in to another kiss. She melted once more. This one was brief as I didn't know how much longer I could keep control.

"I-I could get used to that..." Anna Marie told me.

"I think I already have." I said.

. . .

Rogue and I hung out in the lake a little while longer before going back and showering (separately) and then meeting up with everyone else. We all hung out with Bobby, Kurt, Tabitha, and this guy who was good friends with Kitty named Piotr. The metal guy we were talking about before in the car. We were talking about the plan to be back by tomorrow night in New York, but people that weren't in the main group (plus Kitty) kept bringing up that it didn't really make sense for them to come back with me since as far as they knew I had a good handle on the brotherhood and wasn't going to be convinced to join the X-Men if nothing from this trip worked. This made me realize I needed a breather from everything to think things over. Once I got far enough away I realized I was outside. I climbed up the side of the building until I made it up to the roof. I sat up there and began to think for a moment before someone came up to see me as a song started to play.

"Dammit" by Blink 182

"Heart of Glass" by Blondie

"Creep" by Radiohead

"After Dark" by Mr. Kitty

"Blinding Lights" by The Weekend