Smoke in the Night
The girls arrived home around 8:30 with shopping bags and groceries in hand, all the boys were sitting in the living room watching some wrestling match yelling for their guy to get off the ground. Rosie walked into the living room before saying,
"Have you boys eaten dinner yet?"
Everyone but Lance looked up at her and shook their heads no, Todd spoke up before saying,
"Sometimes Mystique leaves us money for dinner and sometimes she doesn't, the grocery run she sent y'all on was the first one in at least two weeks."
The girls looked at each other with a noticeable amount of shock, Mystique didn't seem like the kind of person to do that, but they had only known her for a few days before she moved them into the house. If the girls had realized that the boys didn’t have food to make, they would’ve invited them out to dinner. Rosie gave a determined look and turned to them saying,
"Dinner will be ready in an hour."
And with that she slipped off her black vans, put them by the door and made her way to the kitchen. All the boys looked excited with the promise of dinner, a chorus of
"What are we having?!"
followed Rosie into the kitchen, she yelled back to them,
"It's called goulash, it’s a meat sauce and pasta with mashed potatoes and garlic knots. We can probably get it done faster if you boys want to come help?"
With that Fred and Todd got up to come in, Rosie even got Todd to wash his hands before helping which was a miracle in itself. With the five, eventually six after the wrestling match was over and Pietro came in asking what he could do to help they’d gotten dinner going along. After the match had ended and waiting a few minutes, Lance wearily stood in the doorway to the kitchen watching them make dinner and dance around. At some point Lena had gone up to get a speaker and played music for them to dance to.
While they were waiting for everything to cook, Todd whirled Lena around the kitchen jokingly. Lance could already tell that the two of them were going to be good friends, most likely partners in crime. They joked around and switch who led the two of them. Lana was teaching Fred how to do some type of dance that involved basically dancing in a box, although he was more focused on not stepping on Lana than he was learning the steps. But he was slowly getting it, even though he looked a little silly doing so but Lance wasn't going to ruin their fun.
Rosie and Pietro were gently and slowly, which was odd for him, the young man was always going a hundred miles a minute. Then Lance noticed the look on his face, he was content, he didn’t need to speed things up because he was enjoying the moment he was in too much. Lance had noticed how close the two of them were getting, at first that made him a bit jealous. Having his little crush on Rosemarie and all, but after talking with Pietro Lance understood that the two of them had a sibling like bond. According to Pietro, they both lost their siblings very early on in their lives and came from bad home lives. It was a horrible reality that the two of them shared but they bonded over their pain.
Lance was shocked out of his stupor when Lana appeared in front of him with a hand out stretched. Lana stood there for a moment before he took her hand and she spun him to do the same dance Fred had. However, he wasn’t stumbling around his feet like Fred did, he knew this dance, the little girls at the orphanage who took dance classes loved to dance with Lance when they got back from class. As he spun her around the others Lana whispered to him,
"You know if you just talk with Rosie and apologize for making her angry she’s going to forgive you, she doesn’t like to hold grudges."
Lance looked down at her as she smiled,
"Fred told me that you wanted to apologize to her. Listen if you guys wanted for us to tell you what our mutant abilities are all you have to do is ask. To be completely honest we trust you guys a lot more than we do Mystique."
With that she winked and spun away from him as the buzzer for the garlic bread sounded off. He smiled as the girls brought everything to the island and set up plates and forks. Having all of the dishes done and clean was not something that the boys were used to, neither was having a fresh homecooked meal. All of the guys took on odd jobs to make ends meet whenever Mystique would disappear without leaving them enough money. Most nights they ate out or had ramen and instant meals for dinner. Once the food was set out and everyone had gotten their helpings all the boys were about to dig in before a sharp noise from Rosie cut them off. She then looked to Lana and nodded, Analada then said a prayer in a language none of the boys understood. After finishing she nodded to everyone and they all dug in, the confused look on Lance’s face must’ve caught Lena’s attention as she leaned over to him saying,
"It's a prayer of the gypsy, her parents were with a group of traveling gypsies when they had Analada. She was so young when she lost them."
Lance looked over to Lada who was talking with Fred and Rosie to observe her appearance. Rings, bangles, and bracelets adorned her arms and fingers glittering as she moved but oddly not making much noise. A tight fitting long black sleeve crop top outlined her chest and arms. A white peasant girl’s skirt laid gently on her legs. A light blue piece of fabric tied at her waist gave a pop of color and a jeweled belt that had smaller jewels hung low on her waist but accentuated her hourglass figure nicely.
As the seven of them ate side conversation could be heard in the kitchen, those ranging from what type of music the girls liked to how the three had become friends. The Brotherhood loved the newest additions to their little family that they had made, they wanted to protect the girls and make sure that they were happy in the house. As dinner was coming to an end Lance gathered everyone’s attention,
“Listen I know all of us guys know this, but I wanted to warn you girls about the Xavier’s kids.”
The boy’s eyes went to each other as they really didn’t want to be having this conversation, but Mystique told them that they had to. Especially after finding out from Lance and Pietro that the girls had unknowingly met the X-men already. Hesitant glances were exchanged between the three girls and Lana asked,
“Xavier’s kids? Who are they?”
Pietro quickly jumped in to help Lance explain, hoping not to ruin the night as it had been such a good one. He just wanted them to understand that the best place for the girls was at the Brotherhood house with them.
“There’s a place called the Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters; they all stay there. They have mutant abilities like us.”
The girls brightened up, Lena almost shouting out,
“So, they’re like us! We won’t be the only mutants in Bayville, maybe we can be friends with them?”
Fred saw the looks on the guys faces, they had to shut down the excitement to be sure that they didn’t get the chance to talk to them.
“That’s not good, I’m sorry girls.”
The mood quickly dampened as Rosie looked to Fred,
“And why is that? They’re just like us, we shouldn’t isolate ourselves from them. Being a mutant is tough enough, having friends more than enemies is always a good thing.”
Todd took up where Fred left off,
“Those kids are actually called the X-Men, they go on mission and generally try to do as much harm as they can. We fight them and try to protect people from finding out about us mutants as you all know, some people don’t take kindly to it.”
Each of the girls faces darkened, Rosie hand traveled to her side where a large scar rested. A constant reminder that she had to keep her powers hidden, and that she would never see her family again. Screams of her siblings echoed in her head as she remembered the ceiling of their home caving in. Tears slid down Lana’s cheeks and she remembered the fire and people that burned down her traveling home as she was forced to watch in horror. Lena had to get up and walk away from the table, a black mass seeming to be forming around her. Lana got up to go walk out after her gently calling out her name, the boys all looked to Rosie as she slowly brought up her eyes. Unshed tears threatened to spill as she looked at their shocked and saddened faces,
“We’ve all lost things from being outed as mutants. We’ll stay away from them; you don’t have to worry.”
As that was said she got up to climb the stairs and went to her room and shut the creaking door quietly.
All the boys looked to each other in shock and sadness, they stayed that way for a moment before Todd silently spoke up,
“That couldn’t have gone worse.”
Everyone nodded in silent agreement, they’d all had their fair share of trauma and loss. But it seemed like they had been through nothing compared to the girls. The boys began to clean up the dishes and put everything back where it belonged, they didn’t want to waste all the hard work the girls had done.
After a long period of silence, the guys crept up to the girl’s room to put their ears against the door of the room. Silent crying could be heard as they looked to each other sadly, they’d never meant to bring up the pain that the girls had seemingly pushed down. All they wanted was to keep them from the Xavier kids like Mystique had told them too, now all of them wishing they could’ve taken the whole conversation back. A voice shocked them out of their stupor as it began to sing quietly,
“Nel profondo del prato, sotto il salice
Un letto d'erba, un morbido cuscino verde”
The guys looked to the door as the voice continued, lulling them into a calmed state. It was soft and gentle, like a mother trying to sing her baby to sleep.
“Abbassa la testa e chiudi gli occhi
E quando si apriranno, il sole sorgerà.”
Fred has set himself on the ground as Todd leaned against him and the two began to drift off to sleep. Everyone had an exhausting day and the gentle singing was lulling everyone into a comfortable state of slumber.
“Qui è al sicuro e qui fa caldo
Qui le margherite ti proteggono da ogni danno
Qui i tuoi sogni sono dolci e domani li rende veri
Ecco il posto dove ti amo.”
Pietro and Lance looked to one another, Pietro silently mouthing,
“Rosie?”
To which Lance nodded and looked back at the door.
“Nel profondo del prato, nascosto lontano
Un mantello di foglie, un raggio di raggi di luna
Dimentica i tuoi guai e lascia che i tuoi problemi si stiano
Quando è di nuovo mattina, si lavano via.”
The notes that Rosie sang was heavenly, it made Lance want to sit there and listen to it all night. It reminded him of when his mom used to sing for him whenever he had nightmares when he was little, now when he woke up with a start dripping in sweat. He didn’t have anyone to lull him back to sleep, only headphones and the angriest metal music money could buy. But Rosie’s singing was something else entirely, the feeling it gave him felt like home.
“Qui è al sicuro e qui fa caldo
E qui le margherite ti proteggono da ogni danno
E qui i tuoi sogni sono dolci e domani li rende veri
Ecco il posto dove ti amo.
Ecco il posto dove ti amo.”
By the time the song was over, Pietro looked as if he was going to nod off and Lance looked about halfway there himself. The two almost falling asleep when the lock clicked, and the door began to open. Pietro was shocked awake and sped the two of them into the bathroom around the corner, just in time for Rosie to miss seeing them. She stepped out into the hallway and softly smiled as the saw Todd and Fred leaning against one another as they slept. After disappearing for a second, she returned with a blanket covering up the two and smoothing down their hair. She then turned and started heading down the steps. Pietro motioned for Lance to follow her and apologize, the two had a quiet debate before Lance finally gave in and followed her. He walked down the stairs and looked into the kitchen and living room, but Rosie wasn’t in either of those places. He then looked through the windows of their front door and saw her sitting on the front steps. As he opened the door the scent of cigarettes wafted into his nose, he looked down at the red head who was bundled up in a blanket. He contemplated what to say to her before Rosie spoke up,
“Care to join Lance?”
Lance had been so focused he hadn’t notice that Rosie had turned to look up at him as pink eyes met blue ones as she waited for his reply. He moved to sit down on the steps with her and noticed the cigarette dangling in between her fingers. Trying to strike up a conversation he looked to her and asked,
“You smoke?”
She giggled silently before saying,
“Yeah I think the cigarette might be giving that away. It’s a bad habit I picked up a while back, to be honest I wish I never had but everyone needs some stress relief every once in a while.”
She moved her hand towards him, silently asking if he wanted a drag. He thought about it for a moment before taking it from her, he hadn’t been able to get his hands on one in a while and he missed the chemical burn he’d feel in his lungs. He took a few drags before handing it back to her and said,
“Listen I’m sorry about earlier, Mystique wanted us to figure out more about what you three could do and the only plan we could come up with was to make you guys mad. In retrospect we should’ve just asked.”
Rosie nodded her head in agreement as smoke fell from her lips,
“That probably would’ve been a better idea, I forgive you for it. At dinner, I’m sorry that we reacted the way that we did. It’s just that we’ve all lost our families because of being outed as mutants. They only wanted to protect us and love us as we were but horrible people took them away from us, it’s not fair.”
Lance looked over to Rosie as she spoke, he gently raised his hand to set in on her shoulder. Not wanting to scare her from speaking,
“Rosie you have nothing to apologize for, if I was in the same situation as any of you have been I would’ve reacted the same. If anything we should be the ones apologizing for upsetting you guys so much.”
They sat in silence for a while, passing the cigarettes between the two of them. Time drew on and small side conversation had broken between the two of them.
After a while Rosie picked up here phone before saying,
“Oh my god it’s two in the morning! We really outta get some sleep, it’s my first day of school tomorrow and I’d prefer to be somewhat rested.”
Lance nodded and put out the cigarette under his boot before opening the door so Rosie could walk inside. The two walked up the steps careful not to wake the rest of the house. When they reached the hall, it was apparent that Fred and Todd had woken up and went to their respective rooms. Lance opened the door to his room before noticing that Rosie had stopped in front of hers and was looking back to him. She looked at him for a second before saying,
“Thank you for apologizing and explaining everything, you had no reason to do that, but you did anyways. And it was nice having company tonight, I’m normally out there by myself.”
Lance smiled at her before saying,
“Anytime, if you’re ever lonely out there just come and get me. I’ll sit outside with you and we can talk.”
Rosie smiled before turning and going into her room and shutting her door. Lance watched her before going into his own room and changing before laying in his bed. The conversations and Rosie’s singing replaying in his head. He was very glad that the two of them had made up and were now back to being good friends. Maybe one day they could be even more than that, he really would like that. With the final thought leaving his head for the night, he laid his head on his pillow and drifted off into sleep.