Variation on a Theme

Variation on a Theme Chapter Six (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta…*GLOMP * from the muses. They send the editorial muses… Readers/Reviewers: Laureate, thank you so much for your review on AFFN! *glows *



Somehow, it should have been wrong to be thinking of the fact I could still taste her on my tongue and lips and still feel the marks she left on my skin, the tingling warmth between my thighs… One should not think of such things while one is being grilled. They put me on one side of the couch and Rahne on the other with three feet of space between us. No one said we couldn’t scoot closer but I think it was some sort of a test, to see if we’d glom onto each other or something. I felt hot all of a sudden and not in a good way. Like when I got the flu when I was six and my fever shot up to something like a hundred and four… I was cold and hot and shaking all over. That’s what I felt like when the Professor pinned me with a gaze. “So…” Rahne glared at me, but I couldn’t bear the silence a second longer.
“It has come to my attention,” he said calmly, “that there are some rumors going around pertaining to your…relationship.”
“Aye,” Rahne said just as calmly, bless her, and stared him right in the eye. “I’d heard.”
I couldn’t help it. I grinned a little. Jean raised her eyebrow at me and it was everything I could do not to flip her the bird. “Yeah,” I said, glaring at her, “Kitty told me that Kurt told her that Scott told him that Jean scanned without permission or need.” There. A cosmic screw-you to Red.
The Professor raised both brows and frowned. “Jean, please stay after this meeting for a refresher on the responsibilities of being a telepath and telekinetic.”
If looks could kill, I would’ve dropped dead then and there. I didn’t feel too bad, though—the Professor isn’t stupid. He would’ve picked up on her scanning us soon, anyway, when it came out as to how people knew or thought they knew. Kitty spoke up then and sounded miserable. “I thought it was just a rumor from school or something, because you turned that Jeremy guy down for the winter formal. Thought maybe he, like, I dunno…called you a lez in front of Jean just to get back at you or because he, like, felt emasculated.”
Kitty must’ve been hellanervous. She never uses big words if she can help it—not because shetupitupid but because she talks fast. At least that’s what I figured. “I didn’t emasculate him. Besides, he turned around and asked Amara out so he wasn’t too heartbroken.”
Rahne snorted and glanced at Amara. “You say yes?”
“That’s not,” Professor Xavier said in his ‘listen to me now’ voice, “what we’re here to discuss. It is my concern that two of my charges are exploring intimacy without all the facts.”
Okay. My face was red as a beet. “Professor, with all due respect, it’s no one’s business what we do or don’t do, or what any of us do or don’t do.”
“On the contrary.” Geez. How does Storm do that invisible-until-she-talks thing? “The present issue aside, many of you are under the legal age for any sort of sexual activity and we would have to put a stop to it if you chose to engage in such.”
I could tell Rahne was doing the same thing as me, trying to recall the legal age for ttatetate of New York. Thank God for Kurt. “I’m sorry,” he muttered at us. He was all curled into a ball and playing with his tail like he does when he thinks he’s going to get yelled at. “I thought it was just a rumor, too. I didn’t think…”
“No one has said this is not a rumor yet,” the Professor said in that voice. “Jubilee, Rahne…I think you need to set the record straight.”
I know I cringed at his choice of words. Everyone was staring—Bobby looked really sheepish because he knew the truth ever since that first night but he hadn’t blabbed. He hadn’t run to our defense and lied but he hadn’t corroborated the rumor, either. I wanted to throw up then and there. Rahne was picking at the arm of the couch and looking really pale and everyone was just…looking. I had no idea what they expected…Did they want me to cry, her to deny everything, us to go at it there on the floor, a gay pride parade through the rec room? I laughed because I couldn’t cry. “Stand up,” Bobby mouthed. He sort of looked from me to the spot next to the Professor then at me and made these weird head jerk motions.
“Oh…okay…”
“Jubilee!” Rahne sounded…strangled.
It was dizzying, standing up in front of my friends and wondering if they would still be my friends in a minute. “Okay…Um, well, surprise. I like girls.”
My ears hurt, it was so quiet. Evan finally snorted and gave me this leering look, like he was picturing me and Rahne doing it. Scott shook his head. “I thought,” he said like he was disgusted, “you liked Bobby.”
“Well… That’s it…I did. But right now, I like girls.” The silence still hurt. I didn’t name Rahne. I didn’t want her to have to announce anything she wanted private.
“So…are you doing it with Sinclair?”
“Fuck you, Ray!” I couldn’t help it…it just sort of fell out.
“Hey, don’t get all pissy with me! I’m not the one doing gross shit!”
Evan laughed. “Yeah, but you’d watch.”
“ENOUGH!” I’d never heard the Professor yell before. It was scary. “This is disgusting.” For a horrible second, I thought he meant me. “I had hoped you would have developed a modicum of respect for other lifestyles and view points while under our tutelage here. I see I am sadly mistaken. I can only blame myself.”
“It’s okay,” Rahne said and I wanted to scream that no, it wasn’t, but she kept talking. “Not a long time ago, I would have said the same thing, probably. I mean, I would have been against it because the Church told me so or because it was just different. But…”
She paused too long. “Oh my God!” Evan’s voice was so loud s sus sure they could hear him outside. “You’re screwing Jubilee!”
“Evan, wait for me in the Professor’s office.” Storm’s voice was so cold I think we all got chills. “Ray, go with him. And Scott for good measure.”
“I’m very disappointed in you, Jean,” Professor Xavier said. I have to admit I did a little happy dance de ade about that. “Because of your error in judgment, a rift has developed in the team and you have wounded two of your friends.”
“I’m not wounded,” Rahne said. “I’m angry.”
“I love Rahne.” The words just poured out. “I love Rahne and I’m scared to death that you guys are gonna freak out on me and us and I couldn’t take that if it happened. So Jean,” I turned to look at her and she was staring like I’d grown another head, “I could happily punch you in the face right now for this because it was none of your fucking business in the first place. But I won’t. I’m not ashamed. I’m scared, but I’m not ashamed.”
Rahne stood up and I thought she was going to faint. “I can’t say as I love Jubilee but I’m her girlfriend.” She giggled. “I said it. I said it! We’re girlfriends!”
Logan looked very, very uncomfortable. “Okay, now that this coming out party is done with, can we go…just go?”
Professor Xavier smiled faintly. “I think so. Jean, my office.”
Bobby stayed back as everyone else trailed off. I knew this wasn’t going to be perfect but at least no one ran from the room screaming. Kitty kept chanting “I’m sorry” and Kurt couldn’t look at us. Well, tough titties. We don’t have to hide as much now… Rahne threw herself at me and kissed me right in front of Bobby, her tongue still tasting of me and mine of her. She moaned a little, remembering and relieved. “Um…” Bobby didn’t even blush.
“Yeah?” I smiled so big I thought my face would crack in half. I was so scared but Rahne hadn’t denied it and the Professor hadn’t kicked us out and no one had pushed for more details.
“I’m glad you came out like this… It makes it easier.” Bobby sort of shuffled nervously.
“Makes what easier?” Rahne asked about the time I twigged to it.
“Bobby!”
“Well,” he sighed. “It makes it easier for me, whenever I find someone, to tell everyone.”
Rahne just sort of stared and I laughed. “I knew it! No one can resist our charms that long!”
“Don’t bet on it…” Bobby's backwards glance as he left the room was enough to send me into a giggling fit for an hour.