Working Past Casual
by Scy

Nobody came out and said, 'Peter, we think that it would be a good idea for you to keep a close eye on the new kid.'

The Professor would have chided them for such 'inconsiderate thinking,' but it was understood that they weren't safe.

Not even in the mansion.

Logan was the most qualified choice for checking up on new arrivals.

That would have been too obvious.

Very unlike the Professor.

No matter how careful Xavier was about exposing his cold-blooded side, he could have told Peter explicitly how to handle their guest in such a way that it was natural. From a certain point of view.

Someone just off the streets was unsure of their welcome by virtue of being unfamiliar. It wouldn't take much for them to abandon such an unusual idea as trusting strangers and returning to their former ways.

If someone was going to be following Remy around to make sure that he wasn't sabotaging their defenses, it was going to be Peter. He could at least make sure Remy was comfortable during this 'trial period.'

Being uncomfortable with his task was just part of why he had been good at the strong-arm stuff. Lying, however obliquely was harder than just glaring at other criminals and making sure that they didn't screw over his boss.

The Dream was about mutants and humans in peaceful coexistence. It didn't bode well if the moment's leader wasn't prepared to accept everyone. Yet, Wolverine had found a place with the X-men. Even Dazzler, who vocally didn't care about much besides music was finding a niche.

It wasn't the Professor that was uneasy about the new recruits so much as the 'first team.'

Storm had summarized, or rather complained about the failed recruiting mission that she had accompanied the Professor on. While she had been indignant about the reaction they'd received, Peter couldn't muster up much sympathetic anger. There were plenty of mutants who felt that they could make a life on their own and still more who were put off by Xavier's Dream.

It wasn't a crime to think differently, even if there were those in power who wanted it to be a felony.

If the wandering masses didn't want to join up, that was their decision. But if the Professor had sought the young man out, and it looked as though others had too.

It would have been nice to be sure that those lost causes would find a better way, but too often their path and that of the Brotherhood intersected. If not them, then other extremist groups were eager to take in those mutants who had skills and drive to disrupt order.

Gambit would certainly had made an excellent addition to any unorthodox team. After the 'theft' of Rogue and its repercussions, it seemed that his place with the 'friends' he'd made had not been entirely stable. He could have gone with many others or disappeared. Instead he'd chosen to pay a visit to the X-men.

 

He'd walked through the gates one day as though he was a visiting dignitary

No wild tales of why it had taken him so long to arrive, and no guarantees that he was anything but a visitor.

The Professor was not surprised to see him.

 

Some would have predicted that he would immediately go after one of the girls. Rogue or Kitty were unattached and relatively open to newcomers.

Of course, Kitty was in the same position as Bobby. As the youngest members of the team they were closely looked after by everyone.

From the standpoint of an outsider, that was no way to endear himself to the group.

Rogue, on the other hand, snapped like a creature just let off a line and wary that a chain was going to be slipped around her neck if she misbehaved. She'd made a remark about how dangerous her skin was and that Gambit better keep his distance. Second chances were hard to come by when it came to her fragile trust.

Even if Rogue hadn't been against getting 'familiar' with someone who'd tried to use her for his own ends, the three youngest members of the team had been forming some kind of triangle of late, and its points were already defined.

Peter watched Remy circle around the team and take their measure. Blending into the background when he towered over nearly everyone was difficult, but he had a lot of practice at hiding without a gene cloak.

Despite the unspoken 'keep an eye on him,' Peter didn't expect much to get past the nosiness of two telepaths.

Jean did mention that he felt 'fuzzy', but that his intentions weren't anything like Wolverine's. It was best to not bring up the wayward black ops agent's method of joining the team. The outbursts only increased in volume and vulgarity as Jean got increasingly worked up.

It was hard to stalk someone when your height gave you one of two modes: 'loom and intimidate.' If he wanted to become proficient at it, there were undoubtedly drills that Cyclops would be willing to show him.

Peter wasn't that serious about it, yet. Besides, talking with Scott was like walking into class and finding out that he grading had been happening while he wasn't looking.

Whether or not Scott meant to be on-duty nearly all the time, it wasn't easy to just talk with him.

So after awhile he stopped following Remy around with an eye for betrayal and went back to 'the usual.' Having not made any grand overtures of friendship, he didn't expect to be approached by the young man.

When Remy did, it was without warning.

 

It had never been his way to have the sort of brightness that made a person stand out. With Logan he had wanted to be noticeable. Others on the team were highly visible, and it was less of a strain to observe their drama than to become flashy as well.

Remy settled on the arm of the couch, not inside Peter's space but clearly making an effort to be sociable. There were no overdone gestures of friendship, and Peter appreciated the consideration. Both he and Remy understood ulterior motives and would recognize them no matter what they were covered up with. With no explicit conversational openers along the lines of 'I've picked this time to hang out with you for the following reasons,' Peter was left to weigh facts on his own.

He plucked the strings of his guitar in time with his thoughts.

While Xavier provided funds for everyone to have an extensive wardrobe, Remy still preferred his own clothes. It seemed to be a statement of his independence. He took only what he required to survive. A lesson that many had learned, each mutant adopting it according to their own experiences.

It was clear that Remy's life hadn't been easy. None of the students came from perfect homes, Bobby's was the closest. In Remy's case, Peter thought that 'home' was less than a word and more a place that had been escaped.

With his strange eyes, rough manners and hands that were too quick to be anything but a professional, he was unsafe.

"But not in the same way as Wolverine," Jean insisted.

She bristled like a drenched feline at the mention of the Canadian. Never mind that they were teammates now; bad blood stained their affair and wasn't likely to be washed out.

Remy, on the other hand, hadn't tried to kill anyone. It seemed that a little kidnapping was relatively easy to get over. Provided that people were allowed to smile one second and glare the next.

There were moments when the vertigo of deciding which side was 'right' gave Peter a headache. He usually relied on instinct and let Cyclops have his graphs and suspicions.

Which approach yielded the best results was a topic for discussion.

 

Sometime between midnight and sunrise Peter looked up from picking at his guitar to find Remy curled close enough to touch.

He was sound sleep, brow furrowed as though rest was a chore. Fatigue was evident in the line of lashes accentuated by purple dabbed beneath them.

Peter wondered how many people touched Remy. Fewer than he would let that close.

Jumpiness and reflexes that would break bone didn't make for good invitations. Unless those people were into that sort of thing. Then there were reasons for the weapons he kept on his person. Random objects, trinkets, anything could be used if he had to. And that was just if he wanted to work from a distance. The power was inside his body, just as with all mutants.

Peter wouldn't have tried to wake someone like himself without a wish for injury, and so he let Remy sleep.

Jean found them like that, and he could tell by her expression that she was considering probing their minds. He visualized a moat around his mind and populated it with hungry prehistoric crocodiles.

She made a quick exit.

He couldn't tell whether Jean told Scott that she was worried hanging around a Soviet expatriate would 'reinforce isolationist tendencies' or that Remy was looking for an easy mark.

Whatever the decision they'd reached, it led to a few instances too many where their 'fearless leader' was in the same place.

Even inside the mansion there was classification. To the others he was either 'Peter, that really sweet Russian guy,' or 'Peter, that really sweet Russian guy that probably has a massive thing for that bastard Wolverine.'

The newest arrival was something else. Loyalties weren't yet cemented, past grudges could emerge and threaten the group. He could just up and walk out- as Logan seemed to think was best from time to time. What he did would be based on the treatment he got.

As a whole, the team was doing their best to be more or less welcoming, with frequent bouts of paranoid cross-examination and inept spying. That he'd done the same thing wasn't the point. They had let him handle things up until the moment where he had actually begun to like Remy.

Remy seemed to accept it as part of how things were done in such cases and waved it off with jokes in a strong patois. "

"They don't trust Gambit. Think that I've gone and done something to your brain. Turned it in another direction." He winked at Peter, and a blush came on that he'd thought under his control.

"I can think for myself."

"Glad to hear that," and Remy turned back to the program they were watching.

Whether their concern was a belated attempt to 'look after him,' he didn't know. It seemed a bit too late for it to be endearing, he was mostly annoyed.

Better late didn't make up for anything in his mind. What he did and how he went about it were up to him.

Thinking about kissing a guy, besides the one he worked alongside and had an understanding with felt like some kind of cheating. Someplace else. Maybe in a reality where he wasn't just 'the friend,' and when he kicked Magneto's face in, he could say 'nobody messes with my boyfriend.'

Unless some handy reality-switching psycho dropped in to rearrange his world on a whim, that wasn't likely.

 

The television clicked off and Remy stood up, his own goals in mind. While he wore heavy boots, his feet, out of practice made no sound. Certainly, whatever his life had been before wandering through their doors, Gambit was accustomed to obtaining entry to places where stealth was a necessity. He exited the room as quietly as he'd entered it.

Peter was left on the couch, contemplating change.

Wanting Logan had become something he was accustomed to. Unattainable, rough-edged assassins who happened to befriend their Russian teammates were rare. Discretion was even more so. Logan had probably just inhaled deeply one day and known just how badly Peter wanted him, but there was no discussion about it. No embarrassing scenes where the fumbling 'this can't happen' explanation was worse than silence. Logan understood and didn't bring it up.

Only someone so used to poking around people's minds for what wasn't their business would think that yanking unspoken attraction out into the open would help.

Despite his uncertainty, a mental 'help me' sign was not an option. The Professor had a habit of trying to fix things by removing the problem.

Peter figured that a little exploration of his current 'problem' might be wise. He let his fingers move in a slow, pattern less glide over the guitar's neck, and thought.

Remy wasn't extremely jumpy; Peter had seen enough street kids to recognize those who had a strategy worked out. He would bet quite a few rubles that Remy had one or more semi-permanent hidey-holes around the city. More than one, so that his movements couldn't be tracked.

It was likely just a matter of time before the mansion's best places to 'avoid everyone' were discovered and claimed. Provided they hadn't been already.

If Remy was looking to be alone there were only so many options. Almost as though he was saying something with his departure.

He'd been so good at avoiding what he wanted that actively seeking it our was daunting. Even if the rest of the team hadn't been convinced that his brain had somehow been liquefied in some freak accident resulting from the heat that the Cajun put off, there were consequences to consider.

It wasn't his way to do something without thinking it through. The X-men were a family that he had committed to. Differences aside, they took care of one another.

He guessed that Remy had already been unsubtly threatened with a maiming should he dare too much. The 'visit' to his former boss hadn't gone unnoticed. Logan's method of 'sharing his opinion' consisted of making the other party aware of proficient he was in the use of sharp edges.

Thankfully no one had brought it up in Peter's hearing, as he wasn't sure whether to thank Logan or tell him that he knew how to take care of himself.

Logan would probably just ignore him and do what he thought was best anyhow.

That left him with the task of making the first move.

Peter didn't know what Gambit was looking to get, or what he would do when he found it. He had to decide whether or not he wanted what Remy would offer in return.

There had been no choice but to join the X-men. This time he had options, and as he stood, he knew in which direction he was going.

 

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