The follow is a collection of 5 of the stories I wrote for Rogue/Gambit 2020 Fanworks week on Tumblr

Fanworks Week, Day 4: What Gambit Keeps in his Pockets

Rogue straightened, Vertigo's unconscious body on the ground before her. She caught her breath sharply and began running down the hallway.

"Rogue!" Jean called after her. "Where are you going? We have to stay—"

Rogue turned the corner, continued running down the hall, made a left, and finally stopped outside of a door, which she opened using Vertigo's code. She stepped inside.

Hanging from the ceiling in an excessive number of chains, and stripped down to his underwear, was Gambit.

"Why Roguey, isn't this a nice surprise?" Gambit greeted her.

"Huh," Rogue said as she looked him over. "And here everyone was thinking you were working for Sinister."

"Everyone?" Gambit asked pointedly.

"Well," Rogue gave him a coy smile, "everyone except me. I'm guessing Sinister doesn't trust you."

"I can't imagine why he would think I was at all untrustworthy," Gambit replied. "Soooo, whatcha say you get me down? I think I'm starting to lose feeling in my arm…" He looked over at his left arm and flexed his fingers.

"I think I could manage something."

Rogue looked around the room. It was little more than a cell. There was a camera in one corner, but Rogue knew Kitty had already disabled base security so the camera was recording exactly nothing right now. Rogue frowned and tugged at Veritgo's mind, which was still fresh.

"Hmm…" Rogue said thoughtfully. "Your stuff is just next door. I'll be right back."

"I already miss you," Gambit called after her.

Rogue chuckled to herself. She let herself into the nearby storage room, where a box simply labelled "Gambit" had been temporally stashed. She lifted the lid and peeked inside, but everything was still as Vertigo remembered it. Rogue grabbed the box, and his staff which was leaning on a wall nearby, and headed back to Gambit cell.

"Now, let me see," Rogue said as she set the staff against the wall. "I'm sure that you've got multiple sets of lockpicks in here."

"Whatever makes you think that?" Gambit asked mischievously as Rogue sat on the floor and opened up the box once more.

"What do you think?"

Rogue started pulling things out of the box. Half a dozen decks of cards, one half empty; nail clippers.

"Talcum powder?" Rogue asked, and held up the small container for him to see.

"Did they go through the pockets on my coat?" Gambit frowned.

"Yep. What's this for?"

"Stopping my cards from getting sticky," he replied, "you know, from the oils on your skin."

Rogue looked at him, and then set the powder by the mostly-new playing cards. "I find it very hard to believe that any deck of cards stays in your hands long enough to get sticky."

Gambit grinned wickedly at her. "There might be other, say we say, professional reasons why I keep that on me."

"Now that I can believe," Rogue replied.

Out came a set of weighted dice, his phone, a packet of gum, and a palm-sized mirror. Rogue held the mirror up.

"I always suspected you were a narcissist," she said teasingly.

"How else am I supposed to make sure I look gorgeous before entering a room?" Gambit replied with a smirk.

Rogue gave him a long look and shook her head. "This is a thief thing too, isn't it?"

Gambit chuckled as she set the phone aside. "Mayyyybe."

"Uh huh." Rogue pulled out a bottle of oil, partially wrapped in a cloth.

"My lockpicks cannot possibly be that deeply buried. I have at least seven sets on me at all times."

Rogue removed a small bottle of graphite. "Better make that eight and start keeping one in your underwear."

"Good idea."

Rogue glanced up at him as she set aside a small ball of rubber bands. "Of course you would take that seriously."

"I've been chained to a wall."

Rogue gestured towards him with a slim jim. "If you had any in your underwear right now, you wouldn't be able to reach them."

"No," Gambit replied slyly, "but you would."

"Touche."

She pulled out a cable crimper, a pair of pliers, tweezers, and a bottle of clear nail polish before she finally found not just one, but three sets of lockpicks.

"Ah ha!" Rogue stood, lockpicks in hand, and looked up at Gambit hanging from the ceiling. "Right, so, how are we doing this? Do I need to absorb you and pick the locks myself?"

"Nah. There's a notch on the end of my staff. Just hook the lockpicks on that and lift them up to my mouth," Gambit replied cheerfully.

Rogue grabbed his staff and spotted the notch. She hooked the lockpicks on and then looked up.

"Wait, what lock are you going to be unpicking?" she asked with a frown. "There's nothing in reach."

"This one," Gambit said, and gestured with his head towards a lock that was just to the left of behind his head.

"How? You can't turn around."

"I can turn around enough. Just pass me the lockpicks. I wasn't kidding about losing feeling in my arm."

"Alright," Rogue replied dubiously.

She lifted the staff and held it carefully in place. Gambit snagged the lockpicks with this teeth, and after taking a moment to move them around, twisted himself around to attack the lock.

"Oh hell!" Rogue exclaimed. "No! No one should be able to contort themselves like that. It's just wrong."

She turned around in complete refusal to watch any more, and looked back at the box. She started pulling out his clothes, all but his belt and boots had been cut open in various places, no doubt to get at hidden pockets. As she shook the clothes out, other items were dislodged, which she put back into the box (along with the other bits and pieces she'd taken out in her search). She found the rest of his lockpicks, most of them singular; a screwdriver with multiple heads; a pen; and electrical tape.

"Ooh, condoms," Rogue said as she picked them up off the ground. "Good to know you're fully prepared for our next date."

The chains rattled and Rogue reluctantly looked up to see Gambit wriggling himself free of several layers of chains. He passed the lock picks along to his right hand, and started work on the next lock.

"I won't be caught off guard again," Gambit replied. "Although, it was fun breaking into Scott's room."

"I thought you said it was easy?"

"It was. Doesn't mean it wasn't still fun."

And with another rattle of chains, Gambit dropped to the ground. He stretched and wriggled his arms and legs.

"Ah," he said. "Much better."

As he began to get dressed, Rogue looked around for anything she might have missed. She turned, and saw that a small white jewellery box had fallen behind her. She grabbed it.

"Who'd ya steal this from?" she asked as she opened the box.

Inside was a ring. A heart shaped ruby, surrounded by smaller diamonds, and set in a white gold band. She started at it. Her mind raced: Was this what it looked like? Was it meant for her? Did her original thought still apply and this was just something he stole from someone else? Were both options true?

Gambit dropped his tattered coat into the box, interupting her chain of thought. "Gonna have to fix that before I can be seen wearing it again." He grinned at Rogue, who continued to look at the ring. "Thanks for getting me out of a jam."

Rogue's head jerked up. "Oh, um, sure, any time, sugar."

He smiled faintly at her. "You should read the inscription."

Rogue gave him a long, searching gaze, and then slowly pulled the ring out of the box. Inside it said "Queen of Hearts."

"Is… is this…" she stammered.

"Yes," Gambit replied as he lifted the box of his gear. "But I'm not going to pop the question in one of Sinister's lairs."

Rogue smiled shyly at at him. "It's not very romantic, is it?"

They heard the sound of multiple footsteps coming towards them and tensed up. A moment later they heard Logan say "she went this way."

Gambit looked back at Rogue. "Not in the slightest."

The door burst open. Rogue snapped shut the jewellery box and dropped it in Gambit's box of stuff just as Logan stepped in. Scott and Jean were close behind him.

"Rogue what are you…" Logan stopped and looked at Gambit, then at the chains behind him. He narrowed his eyes. "You."

"When I absorbed Vertigo, I found out they'd taken Remy prisoner," Rogue explained, then took Gambit's hand in hers, and smiled at him, knowing he would feel the ring on her finger. "I wasn't about to leave you behind. Ever."