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Rogue and Zack 6
“I can tell you now… You’re not going to like this…” Her eyes shifted away from his, looking down at the dark floor of the Jeep. He’d laid out a blanket for her to lay on, and, considering how hot the material likely got, she was grateful for it.
“Do you live in the slums or something…?”
“Oh… Yeah, you could certainly say that… I’ve spent the past two nights in the Sector Five slums. In the park.”
“In the…? Where in the park?” He looked startled. Not too bad, but the look he’d fixed her with was reproving and questioning. The implications weren’t exactly dawning on him.
“You know that little kid’s playhouse? I’ve been sleeping in that…”
For a second, Zack simply stared at her, then smiled faintly and shook his head.
“Jesus Christ, woman… Why?”
“I can’t afford any kinda hotel around here… My dad’s not exactly an option to live around…”
“Alright… Do you want to…?” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “If it’s okay with you… Do you want to come stay with me? I know we don’t know each other that well… But I’m not a freak or anything… I guess you know that… I’d be fine sleeping on the couch…”
Rogue’s cheeks flared bright red. Okay. She hadn’t seen that one coming.
“Zack… Thanks, but that’s way too much for me to ask of you… Really. You’re such a sweetheart but… For one, I sure as hell can’t kick you out of your own bed. And for another thing, I… We’re partners. Our lives rely on each other.” A smile tugged at her lips. “If I start living with you and we get sick of each other…”
Zack couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s not gonna happen. I don’t think. I’m not worried about getting sick of you anyway. You’re… Well you’re the only real company I’ve had in a long time. Since I left home, really. I don’t much count Kunsel. We’re friends but… I guess that only goes so far. Its kind’ve a lonely way to live… I’d like it a lot if you would… At least consider it?”
Aww, ********. Rogue, you are such a ********’ sucker…
Now that he’d said it, that he was lonely, she could see it so clearly at the back of his bright eyes. A longing to be with someone. To not be alone.
“I… Oh fine… We can try I guess… But I’ve got the couch. No way am I coming before you in your own house. No way.”
His return smile was gentle, genuinely happy.
“Alright. I can do that I guess…” His big, calloused hand skimmed over her hair. Still damp, with little strands straggling free of their ponytail, it was a mess. He didn’t seem to care. “Let’s head to my house then…”
It was that easy. He playfully bullied her into lying back down, and climbed over the back of the front seat to slide into the driver’s seat.
In ten minutes they were pulling up onto a curb in front of a decent apartment building. About sixteen stories of faded gray brick with exposed, homey windows, all actually intact, most barred with curtains of various colors. Not a very affluent place, but a homey one.
Zack came around and opened the door for Rogue, helping her out onto the sidewalk with his arm under hers, holding her close against his side. “Well, here we are… The elevator doesn’t work so we’re gonna have to climb up five flights of stairs. Can you handle it?”
“Yeah, I can. Don’t worry, Zack, I’m not that fragile.” She shot him a sweet smile as she cautiously stepped away from him, allowing him to lead the way up.
The interior was simple. A lobby, decorated with scattered plants and a sign on the elevator door, “UNDER REPAIR” in big, bold, capital letters, lines of stairs and halls, gray walls lined with gray doors with numbers written on in either cheap black paint or maybe the world’s biggest Sharpie. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead, the bold, naked light nearly unbearable. The carpet was worn flat and thin, a strange bluish gray. For an apartment building it was remarkably quiet.
His apartment was room number 213. Rogue’s eyes lingered on that for a second as he unlocked the door. That was both their SOLDIER numbers. He was #2, she was #13. Interesting.
He swung the door wide into a simple bachelor’s apartment. The first room inside was the living room, with the door set into the far corner, a long gray couch with a TV in front of it and a coffee table in front of it to the right, the small kitchen/dining room to the left, splitting off to a hallway where there were only two doors, both slightly ajar. His bedroom and a bathroom. A small stack of books lay on the coffee table. A dish towel lay discarded beside the sink. There wasn’t a speck of dust in this place, but then, that made sense. It was so small a grown man was bound to use all the space. The carpet of the living room was gray, but not the same sad, sorry stuff that was in the hall outside. Not quite. The kitchen’s tiles were classic black and white. The walls were entirely a dull white, and the lights were slightly dim.
It was the nicest place Rogue’d seen in years.
“It’s not much… But its home.” Zack said softly, glancing back over his shoulder at Rogue, his expression almost nervous, as though wondering what she would think. Worried about what kind’ve judgment she might pass on his house.
“You worry too much. It’s really great, I like it…” She shot him a smile as she almost immediately dropped on the couch, tucking her knees against her chest and leaning back. “Really. I owe you a lot for just letting me stay. It’s not something a lot of people would do, you know?”
“Well, I’m not ‘a lot of people’, and you are my partner. That means a lot in a job like ours.” His eyes and smile were both gentle as he flipped the locks home on the door. “Besides… We’re friends, right? I got the impression we were…” Those deep blue eyes lifted up to Rogue’s, a shy uncertainness clouding them, but hope lighting them up behind it, like the glimpse of a flame through a stained glass window. He really was lonely.
“Yeah. Yeah, I really think we are.” She grinned softly. “Though I swear to God, I’m gonna really piss you off… Unless you wanted a little sister that is…”
Zack just laughed. “I don’t think you’re gonna be able to do that.” He sat down beside her, relaxing. “You want me to fix dinner or order out?”
“Shocking though this may be… If you want, I can cook.”
“You aren’t feeling well. We’re gonna order out tonight then. Pizza?”
“Chinese to Italian… Sure, that sounds fine,” she sighed contentedly, leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder. She could feel her cheeks burning in a blush but she shoved those feelings below. Let herself have this moment… Whatever it was, with him.
He glanced down at her with a faint blush coloring his own cheeks.
“You’re still burning up… You feel up to grabbing a shower while I call it in?” His tone was gentle. He wasn’t telling her to. He was still worried, hoping a shower would lower the fever.
“Sure, I think I can manage.” She closed her eyes for a second. “Towels?”
“In the bathroom, in the cabinet under the sink.”
“Thanks,” she murmured against his neck as she got up and wandered, almost staggered, into the bathroom.
Shutting the door behind her, she found… She could leave the lights off and still see. Not as well as normal, but she’d be able to get around fine. Without the lights on to aggravate the headache, things could only get better.
She hopped up onto the counter to untie and pry off her boots, one hand working the knots while the other yanked the tie from her hair. A wavy black cascade framed her face as she took off the boots, stuffed her socks inside, and plopped them into a corner with a heavy thud.
Half a second later there was a soft knock on the door. “You alright?”
Rogue couldn’t repress the laugh. Zack’d been worried she’d collapsed? Damn, from dropping her boots? Was she that tiny? Worse yet, was she that weak?
“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
She could practically feel him hesitate at the door. He lingered for a moment, deciding if she was telling the truth or being strong.
Strong, sure, he probably thinks of me as pigheaded.
But in the end he did leave. Well, as much as walking back to the couch in the living room was leaving. Rogue stood up and finished getting undressed, glancing at her flushed skin in the mirror before twisting the knobs in the shower, unleashing a cool spray into the smooth white belly of the tub. Stepping in, she shivered violently. Hell, she half expected the water to sizzle and evaporate against her heated skin.
It didn't, but it raised some killer goosebumps.
After the shower, shivering so badly she looked like she was having a seizure, Rogue dried off, tossed the towel in a dirty laundry hamper, got dressed, and went back out to curl up against Zack's side on the couch, her skin much cooler, but still trembling like a puppy waiting for the foot to fall.
His strong arm cupped around her, held her close. Natural as though they'd been together their whole lives.
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