WHO Pyro & Rogue WHERE Their apartment WHEN after the Pride showed up during villain plot WHAT Pyro and Rogue hanging out post chaos WARNINGS low/none STATUS Complete
Dealing with the Runaways parents was … hard. To be honest it was the first time since Alcatraz that John had really pushed his powers, and even then, it wasn’t expressly in a ‘kill them’ kind of way. He was tired and wet and sore, his hands were aching from mild burns and he just wanted to sleep for a week.
Kitty seemed to be okay with things, she’d likely open up or shut down, given what the X-Men pushed on people John figured it’d come eventually, and Molly and Klara at least knew that Molly’s parents weren’t getting their hooks into her. John had let Rogue deal with the girls, since they were closer to her, more reliant on her presence and trusted her the most. He’d tidied up a little, waved Kitty off as she went to pass out.
Loitering in the kitchen seemed the safest just then. He might want to face plant on the nearest soft surface and stay there for an eternity, but he wasn’t doing it before he made sure Rogue wasn’t fighting more personalities in her head, ones that might make her doubt herself or something else.
So, pottering in the kitchen seemed the safest bet until Rogue was ready.
Rogue had hung out with the girls until they finally started to drift asleep, then sat there a few minutes longer, watching them. Her head was a mess right now, and she valiantly locked away all the thoughts and emotions that weren’t hers - even Remy’s - then pushed to her feet. After one soft brush of gloved fingers over Molly’s hair, she slipped out of the room and headed for the kitchen, stretching as she walked.
When she reached it, she gave a tired nod to Pyro. “Hey,” she said softly, before sitting at the table and covering her face with her hands. “I need a drink.”
Making sure the girls were doing okay was the important thing; John couldn’t think of them as kids, because that wasn’t what they were, but they were still impossibly young, too young to have dealt with what they had.
“Hey,” he’d been wary at first, sure, Rogue’s decision to take on the guardianship role that slipped quickly towards parenting, especially as he’d been more and more drawn into the dynamic. But he was nothing if not true to form, and it was another thing he’d failed at; keeping distance. “Soda, or something stronger?”
There was an array of drinks in their kitchen after all. Given that there were two kids, three adults, a dragon and a dinosaur living there. “Because I’m pretty sure there’s still some alcohol in the top cupboard.” For all that John didn’t drink, he never really bothered with other people doing it. Within reason.
“Definitely something stronger,” she replied with a soft sigh as she lifted her head and looked over at him. She knew better than to get drunk - most mutants did - but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use a little something to take the edge off and dull all the voices in her head for a little while.
“Long day. Didn’t think they’d ever get to sleep.”
From start to finish, it had been emotionally draining just as much a physically. But John still moved to grab a glass and the bottle from the top cupboard (mostly to keep it from sight of Klara and Molly, needed or not) and placed them on the counter for Rogue to work out her own measurements.
"It's been a rough week for them." All things considered, they were both handling things well. Between Klara's emotions getting her plants too keyed up and then Molly's parents, it was just ... hard. "How're you sticking in there?" He kind of understood it, but Rogue took the parenting stuff real hard, especially when it came to keeping the girls safe.
Rogue pushed to her feet and eased over to the counter to pour herself a couple fingers’ worth of bourbon, which she then drank down. In silence, she put the bottle back in the cupboard, then stepped closer to John so that she could just sort of slide into his arms and rest her cheek on his shoulder.
“Can’t say I ever thought this would all be easy, but today was a harder day than most,” she admitted. “I’m just glad those...people...never got their hands on our Mols.” Or Klara, but Molly had been the main one at danger this time around.
Shifting slightly so that he could brace Rogue okay, his hand resting over Rogue’s, he shared the sentiment. He knew that when they opted to all move in together it’d be complicated, and it wasn’t like it was hard, given that Molly and Klara weren’t immature or babies. The balancing act was odd, but John was mostly just trying to support Rogue and make sure Klara and Molly knew that he and Kitty were there just as much as they needed.
“Yeah, things could’ve… been a whole lot worse.” Given how Molly pushed forward the appearance of being so strong, so grown up, so independent. Seeing her scared was enough to tell them all that it wasn’t even a small possibility of not taking care of things. “They’re strong kids, they’ll pull through it.”
And if anything, Rogue’s fierce conviction to protect them from those things probably would help settle them too.
Rogue nodded, determination flashing across her face as she met his eyes. “Hell yeah they will, and they’ve got us to help. Plus, I had a thought based on a couple things I saw on the network that I didn’t get the chance to address yet. Let me run it by you real quick.”
She took a second to shift her train of thought - because damn it was a little crowded in there right now, then focused on John again. “You’ve seen that girl Ciri? She’s about their age? They seem to get along with her and I saw that her guardians aren’t enrolling her in school. I think I’m gonna offer to homeschool her with our girls for them.”
Considering all the walks of life people were coming from, it wasn’t that surprising that people weren’t so keen on the school system as a whole. “I think I know the name, seen her I mean.” But it wasn’t like school suited everyone, and if they had options it’d be less restrictive. And they were still learning.
“It’s probably better for Klara and Molly too, y’know, bringing someone else into the learning environment.” Obviously Molly and Klara were close, they were like family to each other, and opening to letting more people into their collective circle would at least help them branch out to make friends more readily. Especially some their age.
“I don’t think it would hurt to offer.”
She flashed a small smile. “Glad you agree, sug,” she said lightly as one hand idly rubbed her temple. “And half the point of school is to socialize ya, right? So I figured having someone else around would help them out too. Though lord only knows what kinda trouble they’ll get her into - and that’s if her guardians and she even agree to it.”
Giving a small shrug, Rogue leaned her cheek against his clothed shoulder and shut her eyes. “I’ll see what they say after all this is done with.”
It was pretty much a good idea to get Molly and Klara around some kids their own age, and if it did lead to some kind of trouble, well, they were meant to get into these things, they were kids, “They’ll be fine, it’s never like they do anything serious.” It wasn’t like they were robbing places (like he and Rogue had) or terrorising people. Well, beyond calling the Avenger’s names, but they were big boys and girls and they could handle it. “Besides, it’s probably good for the other kid too.”
Being here at all was probably weird as all hell, and if the kids could make bonds and work through that with each other, well, it’d be better for them in the long run.
“Get through this chaos,” John was careful as he tipped his head against Rogue’s hair, avoiding skin in case, “then onto the next chaos.”
“Yeah, Ah think the worst they’ve really done is try and drive a car.” Rogue gave a little laugh and shook her head a bit, but then nodded at what he said about Ciri. “Ah get the picture that they came from a world that’s more of the sword and sorcery kind than urban and modern like this one, so there’ll be some good stuff in there for her to learn, Ah think.”
Rogue smiled as he rested his head against hers, and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Finally, she opened them and shifted a bit. “Let’s grab a snack and head to bed.”
“And who hasn’t tried joyriding at twelve?” John was mostly joking, a little bit not joking, but still. It wasn’t like Klara or Molly had run anyone down. “They’ll do better with someone else around I bet.” If only because they could branch out and maybe stop daring each other to do weird shit to piss off the Avengers.
Wrapping his arm around her waist, John pressed a kiss to Rogue’s temple, protected by her hair and taking a moment to just lean into it. “You want a quick sandwich or something? I could scramble some eggs.” Quick stuff, but at least something to get them through until the morning.
“Hell, ah’m pretty sure ah did back before my life went to hell,” Rogue said with a faint smirk - whether or not that was true or not, it didn’t matter. She could get behind the idea.
After the kiss, Rogue tipped her head up a bit and gave him a small smile. “Eggs would be good. And then I’ll show you just how grateful I am.” Smirking just a little and immensely grateful to have him around, Rogue slipped out of his hold to help him get out what he needed to cook.