[SCENE] SO MUCH AWK.

[hellion-x.livejournal.com]

His throat burned but he kept breathing; his legs continued to pull him further, across the grounds. It'd started raining not a minute ago, a light drizzle that progressed angrily into a downpour. Before that minute the sun had been shining and the warmth had warranted light clothing and a worked sheen of sweat.

Spring was definitely here.

He didn't rush through the thunderous weather, instead savoring the coolness of the rain, breathing in the fresh scent of it. It wasn't until he ran up the steps of the mansion that his speed slowed, only stopping when he had pushed through the wide doors. The mansion was quiet save his labored breathing and he left a trail of mud as he made his way deeper inside.

As he passed through the kitchen, Rogue raised an eyebrow at his drenched and mud dripping state. "Adding more decoration to the mansion?"

He smirked, wiping off sweat and rain from his face before sticking his head into the fridge, fishing for a water bottle. "I thought the mud would give it a nice touch."

"Frost and Storm are going to kill ya if they catch ya," she said dryly, taking another sip of juice before setting the glass down before her.

"I'm not that worried," he said as his breath slowed, straightening to gulp down the ice-cold liquid. He glanced back, their eyes catching for a moment before he turned around again to finish his drink. "What are you up to?"

She nodded in the general direction of the rec room. "Avoiding the chaos for the most part. The younger kids decided that a Scooby Doo marathon was in order." She took another long drink. "And why did you decide to look like a drowned rat?"

"New fashion statement," he laughed, tossing the empty bottle only to reach for another and slamming the fridge shut. "It started raining when I was jogging." He plopped onto the a stool opposite her and then furrowed his brows mid-drink. "I can't see why you'd want to miss a Scooby marathon."

"I'm twenty, not twelve," she replied with a laugh, shaking her head as she did. "Although if you're really dying to watch some, I'm sure they can make room for one more in there."

"I think I'll pass," he said gruffly, smiling in her direction. "So you're just staring into space out here, then?"

Rogue shrugged indifferently. "It beats Scooby Doo or an essay for class."

"I guess so," he agreed with a shrug, a short yet comfortable silence commencing. Julian's eyes fixed on some point on the table and his fingers absentmindedly ripped the label on his bottle bit by bit.

She watched him for a few moments, the pile of shredded paper ever growing as time wore on. "Everything alright, sugah?"

His lips tugged and he looked up at her with suddenly alert eyes. "Why would anything not be alright?"

She shrugged again, gaze dropping to her hands as they toyed with the almost empty glass. "Dunno. You just seem to be out of sorts or something."

"We're all allowed our off days." He brushed her perceptiveness off, returning his gaze to the quickly shortening label.

"Never said you weren't," she answered just as quickly, gaze raising again to watch him. "You don't need to get all snippy."

"I wasn't getting snippy," he denied, bringing his eyes up to hers.

"Testy then?" she asked, a slight smirk appearing on her otherwise blank expression.

"I wasn't getting testy, either," he huffed, mirroring her lips.

"No," she nodded, "You're right. Testy's not right either. Bitchy's the word."

"Ahhhrgh," he groaned, wiping a hand down his face as his simper grew. "Now I'm a bitch? Make up your mind, sweetheart."

"There's a difference between being a bitch and being bitchy," she replied primly, finishing off her drink.

"Whatever, regardless," he held out a restraining hand. "That's not the point. Name-calling isn't nice."

"So says Julian Keller," she said, snorting with laughter.

"Hey, I've reformed," he slung back, gulping his water through a short pause, "I don't name-call without a good reason now."

Rogue laughed again, sliding off her stool to pour herself another glass. "And what do you consider a good reason?"

"When it's true. Or they deserve it." He let out a short guffaw, juggling the last reason with a wobbling smirk. "Or it's funny."

She nodded knowingly. "Uh-huh. Reformed you said, sugah?"

"Like a born-again Christian." He winked.

Before she could come back with a retort of her own, a short but noisy train of kids ran into the kitchen, almost knocking Julian off his stool. Rogue faired better: most people in the mansion who didn't really know her tended to not chance bumping into her and therefore touching her skin. "You're done with the marathon already?"

"Nope!" one of the three replied, rummaging in the fridge while the other two headed for the cupboards. "We ran outta popcorn. And soda." With a surrounding cyan mist, a thing of popcorn floated over the two much shorter heads to land in the microwave while the soda bottle landed in the hands of the one who'd spoken. All four of them turned to look at Julian who had a confident smirk on his face.

"Thanks!" another one of the kids said brightly, hopping from one foot to the other as they waited for the popcorn to finish. When the microwave finally let out a loud beep, it took the kids all of five seconds to grab it and disappear back into the rec room.

"Show off," Rogue muttered, shaking her head with a laugh.

"Am not," he muttered right back. "I was being nice."

"Nice, sugah?" She shook her head, settling back down now that it was safe. "You?"

"I can be nice!"

Mid-retort a small blond walked into the room cautiously, and their laughter died along with Rogue's response. Julian cleared his throat in the tense silence, feeling suddenly guilty to even look in Rogue's direction.

"Hey, princess," he smiled, hesitating only slightly before getting up to greet her. Rogue took a distracting sip of her water as his lips descended on Amara's.

"Hey..."

Gritting her teeth, Rogue resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Amara," she greeted the other girl stiffly, staring determinedly at a point on the counter and taking another drink of water to excuse herself from having to say anything more.

"Did I interrupt something?" She smiled uncomfortably. "I heard laughing."

"No." Julian shook his head, returning to the kitchen island, eyes nervously finding Rogue's and letting them fall to his feet when she nearly flinched away her gaze. "We were just... talking," he fell back in his seat and Amara followed after, tucking strands of her hair behind her ears.

"Oh. I was just getting some coffee," she explained, detouring to the cabinet.

A few choice words passed through Rogue's mind that she managed to refrain from voicing as she shifted out of the younger girl's way and turned to face Julian again. "Did you get around to signing up for classes yet?"

"Yeah," his eyes flicked to his girlfriend's back and then to Rogue; he swallowed down some discomfort. "Are you going to take Psych 2?"

"Probably," she replied. "I'm still finalizing a few details of my schedule. I'm dropping math though."

"Who wouldn't?" He tsked, bringing his bottle to his lips again. "What time were you going to take Psych?"

She glanced over at the sound of the coffeemaker finishing its work, just barely repressing a smirk at the tense set of the blonde's shoulders. "Nine again. Might as well keep things simple. No use in changing it up if I don't have to."

"Heh, yeah," he shifted and then spun a bit on his seat. "I'm taking it at the same time too."

"Lovely," she said dryly. Amara had finished making her coffee and turned to face them, drink in hand. Turning her gaze partially to the blonde for the first time since she'd entered the room and not able to suppress the smirk any longer, she asked, "Feel like giving me a ride over again?"

Julian choked and Amara's brows furrowed, her blue eyes narrowing. "Uh," he coughed, having the grace to blush but not enough to look at either of the women. "Sure. If that's..." He coughed against his forearm and tried to smile, finally looking up to Rogue. "...if you need one."

Amara exhaled and slid closer, close enough to press her arm along Julian's. "That's nice of you," she deadpanned.

"Well, I'm a nice guy."

Rogue managed to bring the smirk back under wraps, replacing it with a blank one, voice filled with dry humour. "And reformed apparently."

"Like a born again Christian," he repeated softly, studying the floor before cautiously glancing at Rogue with pained grimaced expression.

She let out a laugh before draining the rest of her glass and dropping it in the sink and moving towards the door. "Well, as much fun as this has been, I've got a date with Ali in the DR. See y'all around."

"Say hi to her for me," he called to her back, finally bringing his eyes to Amara's, expression carefully innocent. "Well, that wasn't awkward..."