-A/N-: Can you believe that this fic was intended to be a one-shot?

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She very truly wished that time would stand still at that very moment – like in a still photograph where everything froze in place, and every little infinitesimal detail could be further examined at some later occasion. But no, time wouldn’t wait for her, nor for anyone else.

Not that she would ever forget the image of pure rage written on Logan’s face, the pain written on Bobby’s, the grimness on Piotr’s, the distress on Ororo’s and above all the others, the look of inner-turmoil on John’s.

John. He seemed indignant, almost angry, in his current position – pinned to the wall – but, as Rogue searched them even at such a distance, his eyes betrayed what he truly felt. She was pretty sure that the only thing going through his mind at that moment was the apprehension of being thrown out of the mansion for trying to do something that was clearly in self-defense. Well, theoretically, it was Bobby’s fault for starting it. What the hell was he supposed to do?

Moments passed and Piotr slowly released his grip on Bobby, allowing him to rise from the wet floor. Logan however, seemed to have no intention on letting John go.

Eyes still trained on the seditious pyrokinetic mutant before him, the Wolverine grunted and spoke into the impregnated silence.

“I always thought putting you two together was a bad idea. But maybe the real issue here is this: what in the hell are the both of you doing in Marie’s room?” His growl was deathly quiet. “Whose bright idea was it to start one of your bitch fights in the middle of the night? You kids had better start talking. Starting with the Ice Queen,” he pointedly turned to glare at Bobby expectantly.

“Uh…” Bobby began, an obvious frown on his face, and John very clearly tensed. “Well, actually it was…” Pause.

Rogue shut her eyes in dread. ShutupBobby. Don’tsayanything. Shutupshutupshutup. Was he going to blame it all on John? Was he going to lie? Wait. They hated each other. Of course he was going to accuse John of starting the whole thing, lie or not.

Bobby appeared to be thinking hard. Thinking about what to say most likely, the way his eyes kept flickering over to John and then to her and then back to John again... But Rogue knew that she herself would have no idea on what was going through that mind of his in that instant.

At last time sped up, and Bobby opened his mouth to speak.

He sounded almost guilty when he said it.

“It was me. I started it. It was my fault.”

Rogue did a double take and exchanged a quick glance with John, who raised an eyebrow in her direction. Did Bobby just say what she thought he said? Was Bobby Drake defending John Allerdyce?

Logan’s grip on John slackened a fraction as he looked at Bobby. “You started it, huh?” It was more of an accusing statement than a question.

John looked into Bobby’s cold, blue eyes skeptically. His face was unreadable and John was unsure of the sincerity that the Iceman was suddenly revealing.

Reinstated amity? Or just plain honesty?

Whatever it was, John cleared his throat and decided to speak, even though there was no outright acquiescence for him to just butt in to say something.

“He did make the first move. But it wasn’t totally his fault. I guess we both got aggravated whilst provoking each other. And things just went too far.”

John sounded no where near as guilt-ridden as Bobby, but the way in which the fire manipulator was looking at the boy who was at his throat just moments before told Rogue everything she needed to know. Just moments ago they were fighting. Now, as though a switch had been flicked and they had both just passed a test they had set for one another, they were sticking together, defending each other, like John was never a traitor and Bobby never hated him.

It was a truce of sorts.

A weakly restored, albeit unstable friendship. Forged right then and there on the spot.

Rogue didn’t know whether to laugh herself silly or to scream her lungs out.

Logan started talking again just as Ororo Munroe stepped further into the room, frowning at the puddle of water that she’d just treaded on.

“Right. Fine. If you two bloody kids can’t get along in the same room without trying to eradicate each other in a heartbeat then maybe we should just throw one of you out on the streets and see what happens.”

“What?” Rogue exclaimed, unable to help herself. Throw one of them out? What the fuck? He could not possibly be serious. She didn’t think she would be able to stand it if John were thrown out. And she didn’t think she hated Bobby to such an extent that she would want him kicked out either.

Logan glanced at Ororo implicatively, “You heard me. ‘Cause we apparently have no other rooms available at the moment.”

Ororo made an impatient noise. “No, we’re not throwing anyone out. And damn it Logan, it’s true that we don’t have anymore rooms. I thought we had this conversation before?”

Logan let go of John completely and turned to confront the weather-manipulating woman. “What do you suggest we do then?”

Ororo glanced around Rogue’s room once, taking in the minor burn marks on the walls, and her eyes finally fell on Piotr, who was standing next to Bobby trying hard to look inconspicuous but failing terribly.

“We’ll switch roommates,” she said at last, making up her mind decisively. “Piotr will move out of Pietro’s room and in with Bobby. John then moves in with Pietro.”

“It’s settled then,” Logan said hastily before anyone said anything else.

“Pietro?” John inquired, quirking an eyebrow. The name was familiar to him – he was one of those new mutants he noticed at the gathering the previous morning.

“That’s me, dude,” someone quipped from the crowd gathered outside. “Hey, you guys hear that? Pyro’s gonna’ be bunking with me!” Pietro announced frivolously.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. This was probably the first time she’d ever heard Pietro speak. And she was disturbed by the indecipherable intonation that the arrogant-sounding teen used. From his tone of voice, it sounded as if he’d known everything about the Pyro-was-a-Brotherhood-member issue and was either awed about the fact that this ‘traitor’ was about to be his roommate, or extremely condescending about it. Rogue couldn’t tell and it bothered her.

“Alright, people. Back to your dorms. Now,” Ororo ordered exasperatedly, “It’s almost two in the morning. Nothing for you to see here.”

Students slowly dispersed. Ororo turned back to the rest.

“Right, I want Piotr and John to pack up their stuff and switch rooms. And Rogue, try your best to clean this room up. Get Pietro to help you or something.”

“Aw, what?” Pietro groaned, already set to get back to his room, “But I didn’t make any of this mess!”

Ororo only gave the teen a hard look.

“Alright. Fine. Cool. I’ll help her,” Pietro drawled, sending a hand through his wild, silver hair in irritation.

“Good. Now that we’re all settled, let’s get moving already. I need my beauty sleep,” Logan growled and left the room in a huff without further reason.

Ororo sent one last glance towards them all – Bobby, Piotr, Pietro, John and Rogue – before leaving.

With a sigh, Piotr made his way out of the room. “Guess I’ve got to go pack my stuff now and move in with Bobby.”

Bobby shrugged and followed suit, pausing only to give Rogue a quick unreadable look before disappearing around the corner.

Rogue looked at the two remaining boys, her mind a blank.

John gave Pietro a strange look before asking, “Where the hell’s your room?”

It was Rogue who answered immediately, “Piotr’s. You should know where that is.”

John grinned, “Got it. Guess I gotta’ go haul my stuff out of Bobby’s and into Pietro’s now.” He paused for a moment, and then said quietly, “I’ll talk to you later.”

Rogue nodded and watched as John exited her room. She wished he’d stayed a while longer, wished she’d given him a goodnight kiss maybe. But that would probably have killed him.

“Right. Let’s get this shit over with,” Pietro said then.

He had managed to retrieve a towel from Rogue’s bathroom, soak up all the water on the floor and walls, change her bed sheets and covers and, almost chivalrously, returned the chair that belonged to her desk to its rightful place – all in a span of less than thirty seconds.

Rogue stared. So this was Pietro Maximoff’s mutant ability. Super speed. She tried not to look too impressed.

“You could have at least given me a chance to help you,” she said, looking warily at the boy. He was possibly just a tad younger than her and he had the air of a haughty, conceited teen.

Pietro scoffed. “You kidding me? You? Help me?” He gave a short laugh as though she said the most ridiculous thing.

Rogue just rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you’re right. You don’t need my help.”

He nodded.

Rogue gave him a pallid smile. Maybe this guy isn’t as bad as I thought, she conceded. As an after thought, she extended a hand – an obvious gesture of acquaintance. “We hadn’t been introduced yet I think. Name’s Rogue. You’re Pietro, I know.”

The teen glanced down at Rogue’s outstretched hand and looked back up at her, a small smile playing on his lips. “Sorry. I’d love to stay and chat and everything. But I really don’t care much for a get-to-know-you session right now. See ya.” And instead of taking Rogue’s hand, he rocketed out of her room, leaving her to stare after the speed demon in annoyance.

-

John was in Bobby’s room, making all the necessary rearrangements to his bed and throwing his stuff back into his duffel bag that he’d unpacked just days ago. Not that he had much stuff to pack away in the first place anyway.

He was clicking his lighter open and shut all the while. It calmed him down somewhat.

Bobby was eyeing him from the other corner of the room. They hadn’t said a word to each other since their heated dispute but Bobby had an increasing desire to break the silence, punctured only by the sound of metal against metal from the zippo. He felt he needed to say something to John. But he could tell John wasn’t in the mood to converse with him right now.

But the questions plagued his mind. Were they still at loggerheads with each other? Did he really see the armistice between them or did he misinterpret John’s intention of backing him up just after their fight? What was with that anyway? And what’s going on between him and Rogue? Why the heck was he in Rogue’s room in the first place?

He felt he had to ask. He had to know. To see. To find out. He decided to test John.

He phrased the question such that he knew John wouldn’t take too seriously. But then again, you’d never know what John took seriously and what he did not. Still, his voice was light as he broke the silence.

“So, you tryin’ to steal my girl now, huh?”

John’s head whipped up so fast and sudden that Bobby swore his neck cricked. John had one of his eyebrows in the air and Bobby knew he was taking this very seriously.

“Where the hell did you get that idea from? ‘Your girl’? You never cared about her in the first place!” John grated.

It came as a surprise and Bobby took a moment to flounder for the words he was looking for before replying.

“Look, ‘Dyce. Her and I – We may not see eye to eye anymore. But that doesn’t mean I won’t kick your ass if you do anything to her.”

John snapped his lighter shut, like closing an imaginary book of irresolution. The Iceman’s voice had been hard and quiet. And John knew he was serious.

But the wavering resonance of a restored camaraderie was there.

The familiar sense of a rigid friendship was there.

It still was. Is. Always had been.

John grinned.

“Don’t worry, Ice. I would no sooner hurt her than get myself kicked in the ass by you of all people.”

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-A/N-: I can hear people screaming ‘RYRO! RYRO! RYRO!’ right about now. Okay, yes, there’ll be a lot more Pyro/Rogue in the next chapter. I swear. Oh, and I bet no one noticed that I used the fade in/fade out sequence from the prequel. Heh.

Also, it hadn’t really crossed my mind until Fallen Heart suggested it so… WANTED: beta readers for this fic! You see, most of my chapters aren’t beta’d and I don’t really have the time to re-read it all time and again. Anyone interested, drop me a message! Preferably someone with an eye for literature – you don’t have to be an expert in writing proper English but good enough to check for typos and/or missing words. Help is greatly appreciated.

THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK, REVIEWERS: EvilEyeKat, em wolf, rogueparker, PsYcHoThErApY17, Kari Lynn Craine, secondrate, Xtreme Enigma334, we-r-the-cure, the sillylittlepanda, blonde-gal, jade598, yaba, tanza, Obiwanfan, xLiLix, Chica De Los Ojos Cafe, AquaRias, Black Sorceress, Fallen Heart, wowimweird, Dementa.