Archive of Our Own ^beta

Gambit was having a magnificent day.

The sun was shining. Birds were singing. He’d managed to win that stuffed bear at the carnival game (rigged, obviously, but his powers helped with that).

And most importantly, he had a bouquet of roses—Rogue’s favorites, the deep red ones—tucked under his arm.

Life was good.

He skipped—actually skipped—down the busy street, spinning the flowers occasionally because he was just that happy. People gave him weird looks. Gambit didn’t care. He was in love and he had flowers and soon he’d see his beautiful wife and—

There.

That flash of white and reddish-brown hair in the crowd.

Rogue.

Gambit’s heart did that stupid fluttery thing it always did when he saw her. Even after all this time. He picked up his pace, grinning like an idiot, ready to surprise her when—

He stopped.

The flowers fell from his hand.

Because Rogue was there.

On Magneto’s arm.

Actually, multiple Rogues.

Rogue in a cute Santa dress, giggling at something Magneto said.

Rogue in her normal green and yellow outfit, leaning into Magneto’s shoulder.

Rogue in that set—the one Gambit had bought her for their anniversary, the lacey one that was supposed to be just for him—holding Magneto’s hand.

All of them. Just… there. With Magneto.

And Magneto—that smug bastard—had his arm around the Santa-dress Rogue, was whispering something to the normal-outfit Rogue, was smiling at the lingerie Rogue in a way that made Gambit’s vision go red.

“WHAT DE—” Gambit lunged forward.

Strong arms grabbed him from behind.

“Woah, woah, easy there, Cajun!” Wolverine snapped, his voice strained with effort.

“LET ME GO!” Gambit thrashed, cards already glowing in his hands. “LET ME AT HIM! GAMBIT GONNA KILL—”

“Gambit, calm down!” Cyclops was now on his other side, also struggling to hold him back.

“CALM DOWN?! CALM DOWN?! YOU SEE DIS?! YOU SEE WHAT DAT HELMET-WEARING FILS DE PUTE IS DOING WIT’ GAMBIT’S WIFE?!”

“We know, we know—”

“MULTIPLE OF HER! HE GOT MULTIPLE ROGUES! DAT’S—DAT’S—” Gambit couldn’t even form words. He just made incoherent rage sounds.

Storm floated down, looking sympathetic but also actively holding him back with a wind current. “Gambit, you need to—”

“NO! GAMBIT NEED TO COMMIT MURDER!”

Beast had joined the dogpile now, all of them struggling to contain one furious Cajun.

“HOW?!” Gambit screamed at the universe. “HOW DIS HAPPEN?! GAMBIT HAD FLOWERS! GAMBIT WAS SKIPPIN’! EVERYT’ING WAS PARFAIT!”

Magneto, for his part, just smiled that infuriatingly calm smile and tipped his helmet at Gambit.

All three Rogues waved.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH—”

——————

“—HHHHHHHHHH!”

Gambit jolted awake, sitting bolt upright in bed, still screaming.

The bedroom was dark. Quiet. No Magnetos. No multiple Rogues. Just their room, with their stuff, and—

“Remy, what the hell?!”

Rogue sat up next to him, hair mussed from sleep, squinting at him with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. She was wearing one of his old shirts and looking decidedly not like she’d been on Magneto’s arm.

Gambit stared at her.

Looked around the room.

Back at Rogue.

“…It was a dream?”

“Ya think?” Rogue rubbed her eyes. “Sugah, you were screamin’ like someone was murderin’ you. What—”

“Mon Dieu.” Gambit collapsed back onto the bed, hand over his racing heart. “It was horrible, chère. Horrible.”

“What was?”

“You was wit’ Magneto.”

Silence.

Then: “…What.”

“You was wit’ Magneto! On his arm! Multiple of you! Gambit was skippin’ to you wit’ flowers, then… then Ah saw three of you! One in dat Santa dress from last Christmas, one in your regular outfit, and one—” Gambit’s voice dropped to a horrified whisper. “—one in de lingerie Gambit bought you.”

More silence.

“Remy.”

“And Gambit was bein’ held back by de whole team! Wolverine, Scott, Storm, Beast—everyone! Dey wouldn’t let Gambit get to him! And you just waved! All three of you! Like it was normal!”

“Remy.”

“And Magneto smiled at Gambit! Dat smug little—”

“Remy.”

Gambit finally looked at her.

Rogue was giving him the flattest look he’d ever seen. “It’s four in the mornin’.”

“Gambit know, but—”

“You woke me up screamin’ about a dream where Ah was with Magneto.”

“Oui, it was—”

“Multiple mes. With Magneto.”

“It was horrible, chère!”

Rogue pinched the bridge of her nose. “Remy. Sugah. Love of mah life. Father of mah future children, hopefully.”

“Oui?”

“Why the hell would Ah be with Magneto?”

“Gambit don’t know! It was a dream! Dreams don’t make sense!”

“And why would there be multiple mes?”

“GAMBIT DON’T KNOW! Maybe he got dat Sinister cloning t’ing goin’! Maybe it was some kind of alternate dimension situation! De point is, it was terrifyin’!”

Rogue stared at him for a long moment.

Then she started laughing.

“It’s not funny!”

“It’s—” She was trying to stop, but couldn’t. “It’s a little funny.”

“Chère—”

“You were skippin’ down the street with flowers—”

“How you know Gambit was skippin’?!”

“Because you just told me! And then you saw dream-me with Magneto and lost your whole mind!” She was wheezing now. “The X-Men had to hold you back!”

“It was a reasonable response to seein’ your wife wit’ another man!”

“Remy, Ah can’t even touch Magneto without killin’ him!”

“…Dat’s a good point, actually.”

“And even if Ah could touch him, why in the world would Ah want Magneto when Ah got you?”

Gambit felt his panic slowly subsiding. “… You mean dat?”

“Of course Ah mean it, you ridiculous man.” Rogue leaned over and kissed his cheek. “You’re mah husband. Ah love you. Not some helmet-wearin’ megalomaniac who keeps tryin’ to start wars with humans.”

“Even if he can control metal and has dat whole ‘master of magnetism’ t’ing?”

“Especially then. That’s just showin’ off.” She settled back against the pillows. “Now can we please go back to sleep? Some of us have trainin’ in the mornin’.”

“Oui, oui.” Gambit lay back down, pulling her close. “Sorry for de screamin’.”

“It’s fine. Just… maybe lay off the spicy food before bed.”

“It wasn’t de food! It was a legitimate nightmare!”

“Uh-huh.” Rogue was already closing her eyes. “G’night, Remy.”

“…You really wouldn’t leave Gambit for Magneto?”

“Remy.”

“Even if there were multiple of you?”

“There’s only one of me, and that one is tired.”

“What if—”

“Remy, Ah swear to God—”

“Okay, okay! Gambit stoppin’!” He pressed a kiss to her hair. “Love you, chère.”

“Love you too, you crazy man.” A pause. “Even if you do have weird dreams about me leavin’ you for your arch-nemesis.”

“He’s not Gambit’s arch-nemesis—”

“Go. To. Sleep.”

Gambit closed his eyes.

But just before he drifted off, he mumbled: “Still gonna blow up his helmet next time Gambit see him, though.”

“That’s nice, dear.”

——————

“You look tired, Remy,” Jean commented, sipping her coffee.

“Didn’t sleep well,” Gambit muttered, stabbing his eggs with more force than necessary.

“Nightmares?” Scott asked.

“Somet’ing like dat.”

“Want to talk about it?” Jean’s therapist voice was activating.

“Non.”

“He dreamed Ah left him for Magneto,” Rogue announced cheerfully, buttering her toast.

The entire table went silent.

Then Logan started laughing. Or more accurately, cackling.

“It’s not funny!” Gambit protested.

“It’s just—” Logan was wheezing. “Magneto of all people?!”

“There were multiple Rogues!” Gambit added defensively. “In different outfits!”

This made it worse. Now Storm was trying not to laugh. Scott was hiding his face behind his coffee mug.

“And you all was holdin’ Gambit back! Wolverine, you was dere! You wouldn’t let Gambit fight him!”

“To be fair,” Logan said, wiping his eyes, “in real life, I probably wouldn’t let you fight Magneto either. He’d wreck you.”

“GAMBIT COULD TAKE HIM—”

“Boys,” Storm said warningly.

“The psychological implications are fascinating,” Beast mused. “A manifestation of jealousy and insecurity, perhaps? The fear of losing one’s mate to a perceived superior rival?”

“Magneto ain’t superior—”

“He is the master of magnetism,” Jean pointed out.

“WHOSE SIDE YOU PEOPLE ON?!”

Rogue patted his hand. “It’s okay, sugah. You’re very secure in our relationship.”

“Gambit is secure! Gambit just had one nightmare!”

“About me leaving you for Magneto.”

“It was horrible!”

“And there were multiple mes.”

“In dat Santa dress and—” Gambit stopped, realizing the entire table was staring at him. “…You know what? Gambit done wit’ dis conversation.”

He stood up, grabbed his coffee, and stalked toward the door.

“Love you, Remy!” Rogue called after him.

“Love you too, even though you all terrible people who don’t understand Gambit’s trauma!”

The door slammed.

Logan was still laughing. “Multiple Rogues. With Magneto.”

“It was a very vivid dream, apparently,” Beast said thoughtfully.

“Should we be worried?” Jean asked.

“Nah,” Rogue said, biting into her toast. “He’ll be fine once he blows somethin’ up in the Danger Room.”

“Fair enough.”

——————

BOOM

“TAKE DAT, MAGNETO!”

BOOM BOOM

“AND DAT’S FOR DE SANTA DRESS!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM

“AND DAT’S FOR SMILIN’ AT GAMBIT LIKE YOU WON!”

In the observation room, Rogue watched her husband absolutely demolish a holographic Magneto with extreme prejudice.

“He’s really workin’ through some feelings,” Logan observed.

“Yep.”

“Think he’s okay?”

“He’ll be fine.” Rogue smiled fondly as Gambit charged an entire deck of cards and threw them at holographic Magneto’s helmet. “Just needs to get it outta his system.”

“YOU NEVER GETTIN’ GAMBIT’S WIFE! NEVER! SHE GOT GOOD TASTE AND IT AIN’T YOU!”

Another explosion.

“…Though Ah might need to have a talk with him about the yelling.”

“Probably for the best,” Storm agreed.

Down in the Danger Room, Gambit was panting, surrounded by the smoking remains of multiple holographic Magnetos.

“Feel better?” the computer asked.

“…Oui. Much better.”

“Good. Same time tomorrow?”

“Maybe.”

Gambit looked up at the observation window, where Rogue was waving at him.

His Rogue.

The real one.

Who was definitely not with Magneto.

He waved back, grinning.

Yeah. Everything was parfait.

Even if he was never eating spicy food before bed again.

Just to be safe.