#gambit has commitment issues

It wasn’t on purpose, well… at least not at first, but then you saw him padding down the hall barefoot in nothing but a pair of loose sweatpants one day –looking all sleep rumpled and soft as he wandered towards the kitchen– and your stomach rolled, bile inching up the back of your throat when you noticed how everyone’s eyes followed him, shamelessly looking their fill as he sauntered past.

It was like, once you noticed how much attention he attracted, you couldn’t unsee it.

You knew that people watched Gambit, of course you did, you’d have to be blind not to see how gorgeous he was and you knew before you started dating him that he was kind of known as the resident flirt of Xavier’s Mansion, but last night was the first time that you became aware of just how much Gambit liked being the object of other people’s desires. 

You had gone out to a nearby bar with Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Morph, Kitty and Kurt, just hoping to have a nice night out after a rough mission but, about ten minutes after you’d arrived –while you’d been distracted chatting with the girls– Gambit had slipped away from the conversation and ended up at the pool table swarmed by women. 

And, while Gambit drawing a crowd of admirers wasn’t exactly anything new, it kind of stung that he seemed to prefer their company over yours. You had shot glances at him all night as you nursed your drink, the void in your chest widening until you felt numb every time Gambit met their sultry stares and touches with his own flirtatious smirk and more than a few card tricks in order to impress them.

It wasn’t until Jubilee and Morph were thoroughly sloshed –with Kurt, the poor thing, trying his best to rein them in when they began to get too rowdy– and Rogue was ready to crawl into bed, that you finally gained the nerve to approach him, pushing through the his posse of admirers in order to grab his hand. 

Thankfully, he didn’t fight you about leaving and, after slamming the rest of his drink and placing the empty glass onto the edge of the pool table, he gave the men and women that had flocked to him a two-fingered salute before letting you tow him out of the bar.

From then on all you could think about was how, the entire time you’d been content in the relationship and how it was progressing, you’d been blissfully ignorant of the fact that Gambit seemed unsatisfied and felt the need to get whatever you weren’t giving him from other people.

Maybe you weren’t spending enough time with him?

You had been admittedly pretty busy over the past week with mission stuff and that hadn’t left you and Gambit –someone who went out of his way to spend time with people he liked and appreciated when they did the same– a lot of one-on-one time… but surely he didn’t blame you for that? But then how did you explain why, when he had the chance to be with you at the bar, he just… chose not to?

If he was mad about your lack of free time, perhaps you could get back into his good graces by taking him out on a date? There was a new movie in theaters that you’d been thinking about seeing and it wouldn’t hurt to ask Gambit to go with you instead of doing a group outing like you had planned…

“Are ya even listenin’ t’ me?” Rogue’s voice cut through your intense deliberation and you blinked rapidly to refocus yourself before turning your head to glance at her, wincing when you saw her narrowed eyes that indicated that she had caught on to the fact that you were distracted.

“Uh… no, sorry.” You said sheepishly as you side-stepped two young students that ran by, the hallways filled with rambunctious mutants of all ages that were either chatting animatedly amongst each other or goofing off with friends before the school day officially started. Though most of them had the same idea as you and Rogue and were also following the smell of earthy, spiced sausage and fragrant garlic coming from the kitchen, which was a pretty clear indication that Gambit was cooking.

“Whut's goin’ on with ya, sugah?” Rogue asked gently as she shifted closer to your side in order to avoid anyone overhearing your conversation before reaching out to wrap and arm around your waist in order to rub her hand up and down your side soothingly, and you immediately felt guilty for worrying her.

“Nothing.” You said quickly and you could practically feel the unconvinced look Rogue aimed at the side of your head, but you weren’t going to cave because you really didn’t wanna discuss your relationship troubles with Rogue –who was Gambit’s ex– because you were terrified of hearing how different your relationship with Gambit was compared to Rogue’s experience with him.

You’d already been told far more than you had ever wanted to know by fellow X-Men and students alike about how the two of them had made an amazing couple… which –in hindsight– had probably been the cause of your spiral into anxious doubt. 

You could see how they complimented each other in personality and power, you weren’t blind. They were both formidable in their own right, unfairly attractive, and their flirting seemed to come naturally to them even though it was more playful than suggestive now. It was like they’d been meant for each other, which was why everyone had been caught off guard when they suddenly broke up one day and decided that they were better off as friends. 

And, even though their separation had happened several months before Logan had found you and brought you to the mansion to recover from your sleep-deprived rampage through a rural town once your mutation manifested, people still felt the need to tell you all about how perfect they had been together.

“Just… didn’t sleep very well last night. That's all.” You replied, hoping that Rogue would take the half-truth at face value, especially since she knew firsthand about your frankly appalling sleep schedule, which was partly due to your mutation and partly because of your subpar mental health as of late.

You couldn’t stop thinking about how, immediately after meeting you on your second day at the mansion –since you had slept for seventeen hours straight once Storm had shown you to your room– Gambit had pursued you with a boldness and charm that you had never experienced before. Which, while it had felt flattering at the time, now felt more like you were just a convenient rebound who didn’t know any better.

It would explain why more than a few of the older students at the school acted like Gambit was still on the market even though Gambit was openly dating you now, something that Rogue didn’t have to deal with while she was with him.

Though, whether the lack of attention was out of respect for her claim on him or from fear of gaining her ire, you weren’t sure.

“Has that swamp rat been givin’ ya trouble? Jus' say th' word an' I’ll knock some sense inta that empty head a’ his.” Rogue growled as she punched her fist into her open palm and cracked her knuckles threateningly before speeding up her pace so that she was stalking towards the kitchen, leaving you to scramble to keep up.

“What? No! Please don’t beat up Remy.” You said quickly as you jogged after her, passing Rogue and walking backwards in front of her as you frantically thought up a way to de-escalate the situation before she did something extreme. “Think about it! You two fight, the food gets burned, everybody goes hungry, and Gambit is in a bad mood for the rest of the week. No one wins.” You blurted out the first thing that came to mind that might convince her to reconsider, glancing behind yourself every so often to try and make sure you didn’t run into anything or anyone.

“Well, when ya put it like that…” Rogue mused as she slowed her breakneck pace to something a bit less aggressive and easier to keep up with. “Fine. But only cause I got a hankering f' some good home cookin’.” She begrudgingly backed down and you breathed a sigh of relief before finally turning around in order to walk next to her again, grateful that the promise of Gambit’s cooking was enough to douse her murderous fire.

You inhaled as you finally reached the kitchen –more than a little excited to see what Gambit was making since it smelled absolutely amazing– but you paused in the open entryway as your incredulous gaze was immediately drawn to the crowd of young men and women surrounding the stove… where Gambit was in the middle of a dramatic retelling of a heist he’d pulled off during his days with the Thieves Guild. 

He had an arm lazily slung over the shoulder of a young man who couldn’t have been older than twenty as he spun his tale with his usual dramatic flair, gesturing wildly with his free hand in order to embellish certain parts of the story to his wide-eyed, captive audience.

You bristled when you noticed that, while the guy that Gambit was lounging all over was visibly flustered but otherwise respectful, the same could not be said for the girl on Gambit’s other side. She had her hands curled around his bare bicep –his red tank top showing off his impressive arms– like she was some kind of maiden being escorted across the street, and you’re expression twisted up into a sneer when you saw her bite her lip when Gambit motioned with his hand, causing his bicep to flex enticingly under her grip.

“Shoulda figured that he’d be struttin' 'round like a banty rooster. Can’t leave that troublesome swamp rat f' even a second without 'im drawin' folks from all over.” Rogue complained as she put her hands on her hips and shook her head, though the obvious fondness in her voice took all the bite out of her words.

“I gotta go.” You said absentmindedly, not waiting for a response before you abandoned Rogue and began making your way over to Gambit, who paused in the middle of recounting the exciting climax of the story when his eyes locked onto you just as you reached the edge of the small crowd he’d drawn to himself.

“Ah, voilà ma moitié.” Gambit purred, his voice dropping into that low, honeyed drawl that you loved, and you froze as every set of eyes turned to you all at once, suddenly self-conscious of how rumpled you looked in your pajamas now that everyone was staring at you. “Bout time you came out from where you was hidin’. Venez ici.” He continued as he moved his arm off of the guy’s shoulders and shook the girl’s hand off him –both of them pouting in disappointment at being ignored– in favor of stepping toward you and offering you his hand.

“Hey, babe. You got a minute?” You asked, frowning when the group parted just enough to let Gambit through, leaving you to forcefully shove your way past at least three people in order to close the distance between you and Gambit so you could take his hand, your next breath catching oddly in your chest when Gambit stared at you with relief as he curled his fingers around yours and gently squeezed your hand before he quickly schooling his expression, plastering his usual cocky smirk back onto his face.

"Course. Gambit always got time for you, cher." Gambit said with a flirtatious smile, though you couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes stayed soft, and the knot in your chest that had been squeezing tighter with every terrible thought that had flicked through your head finally loosened some.

“Great. Because I’ve been thinking… and I realized that it’s been awhile since we went on a proper date, just the two of us, so I figured we could maybe go see a movie together?” You suggested as Gambit led you back over to the stove, guiding you in front of him so he could plaster himself to your back without letting go of your hand, hugging you from behind as he rested his chin on your shoulder. “I’ll even let you pick the movie.” You added when Gambit hummed as if he was considering your request while nuzzling into the junction between your shoulder and neck, pressing a kiss to the sensitive spot just below your ear.

“Somebody feelin’ generous today.” Gambit teased as he reached out with his unoccupied hand in order to give the huge skillet of andouille hash a quick stir, trusting you to grab the handle and hold it steady for him as the oil sizzled and popped. 

“I have my moments of benevolence. Don’t get used to it.” You said with mock-seriousness, unable to help but grin when you felt Gambit hide his wide smile against your throat as he blindly moved his hand over to the other dish he was in the process of cooking, drawing your curious gaze to the saute pan he had on the burner directly in front of you as Gambit lifted the lid up and off, revealing what looked like poached eggs in some kind of tomato sauce, which was a bit different than his usual repertoire of dishes he liked making.

“De movie theater sound great, cher.” Gambit said before you could ask what he was making, his easy agreement totally derailing your thoughts and you turned in Gambit’s embrace in order to stare at him for a long moment, a genuine smile spreading across your lips as his sincere eyes held yours. But, before you could respond, the girl that had been clinging to Gambit scoffed and rolled her eyes, drawing the attention of everyone in the kitchen to her.

She was staring boredly at her nails, like she thought that you were wasting Gambit’s time by bringing him on a nice, relaxed date to the movies or something, and you scowled at her before choosing to ignore her petty interruption in favor of shifting your gaze back to Gambit, your eyes widening in a mix of shock and alarm when you saw his signature smile falter as his expression shuttered.

His stare darted over to you for a split second and you saw something complicated pass over his features too quickly for you to decipher, before he was letting go of you and prowling toward the girl, who looked eager to have his attention back on her while everyone else warily backed away upon seeing the impassive look on his face.

She flipped her long hair over her shoulder and smiled up at him coyly as he reached out… only for him to subvert everyone’s expectations of retaliation by plucking her hair tie right off her wrist. She blinked at him in surprise as Gambit casually twirled it around his finger twice –giving her a wink– before charging it with kinetic energy and firing it at the ceiling, the band glowing a bright pink for half a second and then popping like a small firework, sprinkling harmless sparks over their heads.

The group gasped –half startled, half delighted– and scrambled back before laughing as they stared up at the glittering pink sparks raining down from the ceiling, but your focus was solely on Gambit, who watched the crowd with an eerily blank look on his face for a moment before turning his attention back to you, the Cajun’s expression shifting into something less detached and more warm when he noticed that you were already watching at him.

Gambit perked up and made a beeline straight to you now that there were no more distractions, wrapping an arm around your waist and leaning in close to press up against you like an affectionate cat, kissing his way across your shoulder toward your neck. 

You glanced at the occupied crowd, making eye contact with the jealous girl that had decided to try and provoke you before pointedly turning your head in order to place a soft kiss against Gambit’s temple when he got close enough, grinning triumphantly when you felt the tension melt from his body the moment that your lips touched his skin.

“Nice trick, babe.” You murmured, watching the scowling girl stalk out of the kitchen with a sense of vindictive pride as you ran a hand through Gambit’s soft auburn hair, breathing a subtle sigh of relief when Gambit huffed out a soft laugh –sounding lighter than he had in days– and grabbed onto your free hand, gently rubbing his thumb over your knuckles.

“Bien merci.” Gambit hummed as he reached out to turn the burners off and let the stove cool now that breakfast was finished. “So… Gambit pick de movie and den after we talk proper-like? Gambit know dat you not tellin’ him somethin’. Promise me dat, cher, an’ it’s a date.” Gambit asked quietly and you paused, a shiver rolling down your spine when his lips brushed intimately against the curve of your ear, his gaze suddenly boring into the side of your head with an intensity that you usually didn’t experience outside of dire missions.

“I, uh…” You replied a bit stiffly, hesitating to agree with Gambit’s stipulations since you still didn’t feel ready to discuss something so emotionally heavy for you, but then you met Gambit’s pretty eyes filled with tentative hope and you immediately caved. “Yeah, alright. We can talk.” You sighed with a small smile and Gambit squeezed your hand in silent gratitude as he pressed a slow, reverent kiss to your lips.