Summary: Set in the movieverse shortly after the third film. Writing this for all those who love and crave some serious Gambit time.

Remy plans to steal the ultimate treasure from a fellow X-man and by the way things are going with Bobby and Marie, he just may succeed. ROMY

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men nor am I affiliated with Marvel in any way.

Author's Note: I do not know French, I naively rely on translators. I also write with bare minimal accents so, please use your imagination for those. Rated M for suggestive content.

Remy hid in the shadows, tucked away in a dark corner by the fire exit. He had no idea what he was doing here. Loud Top Forty music boomed from the D.J.'s speakers, drowning out any decent conversation, not that he was feeling particularly chatty anyway. The room was packed with dancing, laughing bodies, all having a good time. This whole mixer had been Storm's idea.

In the aftermath of the tragic Mutant Civil War, Storm had kept Xavier's School's doors open in an attempt to keep Xavier's dream to 'co-exist with humans in peace' alive. She had decided that a united front within the mutant community was best and started within the school walls. She wanted everyone— the teachers, the students, the teams all to show up to the mixer and mingle. Get to know one another and make new friends.

Remy wasn't interested in meeting new mutants. He was here because it was mandatory. He had obeyed Storm's request and shown up, which was the only rule he'd be following this particular evening. He took a quick glance around, making sure he was undetected, and then slipped a small, silver flask from his coat pocket. Alcohol was obviously prohibited, this was a school and there were minors here—himself included. He took a quick swig, relishing the sweet burn as the bourbon slid down his throat.

"Pretty sure you're under age, Bub," a familiar voice growled beside him.

Remy almost spit out his drink. Of course Logan would have found him. It was inevitable. Nothing got past his team leader.

"Not in Canada," Remy replied casually. "Would you believe I'm Canadian?"

Logan cocked an eyebrow and was about to say something smart-assed back when an obnoxiously repetitive pop song began to play. Logan simultaneously rolled his eyes and cringed, grabbing Remy's flask. He took a long swig and swallowed it fast. He handed the bourbon back to a surprised Remy.

"You know what, kid? Tonight I'll believe you're Canadian, even with that Cajun accent. It's about the only way guys like us get through these types of events."

"I'll drink to that," Remy nodded in agreement, raising the flask to Logan.

"Just don't be hung over for training tomorrow, Gambit, or there'll be hell to pay."

Remy couldn't argue that. Wolverine's team was a tough team and Remy was glad to be on it. He had been Logan's first pick. Wolverine had been granted permission from Storm to delegate his own team. A rapid response team, trained to respond to violent and potentially dangerous situations that the other teams, due to morals and codes of ethics couldn't handle. In light of recent events, Wolverine's team of highly trained attack specialists had become imperative.

Since the end of Magneto's Mutant Civil War, humans had begun forming their own radical anti-mutant groups. Some proved to be deadlier than the mutants themselves. Mob mentality now ruled, and groups like the Friends of Humanity and the Sapien League went after any mutant, whether they were harmless or not. Many completely innocent, law abiding mutants had met untimely deaths at the hands of these radical lunatics.

Logan's training was a combination of strict, ruthless and adrenaline charged lessons and situations. Logan didn't stand much for rules or proper protocol, what he did stand for was getting the job done by whatever means necessary. Remy, with his background in all things unsavory had been the perfect candidate for Logan's team.

Raised in a crime family in Louisiana, Remy had all sorts of experience in breaking the law and not getting caught. At twenty, he was already known as a master thief in his city of New Orleans. Of course he knew right from wrong, but it was always a matter of whether he cared or not. He wasn't a 'bad guy' per say, but he sure as hell wasn't a saint. Moral ambiguity was one of his trademarks and it had kept him alive thus far.

"Not again," Logan mumbled and Remy snapped out of his thoughts, curious as to what Logan was mumbling about.

He followed Logan's concerned gaze to a girl Remy's age sitting alone on a chair, pretending—and failing—to not look upset. It was Marie, the telltale white streak in her hair giving her away. Remy had seen her around the school before. He never really paid any attention to her though, it wasn't that she wasn't cute, she just wasn't his type. She was quiet and jittery, really nervous all the time.

He knew her personality came as a result of her mutation. Before she had taken the cure, Marie's skin could suck away not only power and memories, but one's life in a matter of minutes. She'd had an incredible mutation and had been one of the best and brightest of the students. She traded it all away for the chance to touch people with her bare hands. Remy had to admit, he felt kind of sorry for her. All Marie wanted was to be normal and have normal human contact.

Her cure wasn't permanent.

Since the 'miracle cure' had surfaced months ago, reports were coming in by the hundreds. Mutant powers were returning to those who had taken the serum. It was only a matter of time before Marie's mutant power came back. He imagined she was even more of a nervous wreck.

Here she was on borrowed time with the ability to touch and she wasn't even on the dance floor dancing and enjoying herself. In Remy's opinion, she should have been all over her boyfriend before it was too late. Speaking of her boyfriend…where was he? Puzzled, Remy quickly scanned the room for her boyfriend, Bobby Drake. Bobby was the friggin' golden boy of the school, one of the first students to get his uniform and join an X-team. He spotted Bobby not too far away on the dance floor dancing way too close to…

Oh, so that's why Logan's concerned.

Remy had forgotten about that.

It wasn't a big secret to anyone that Bobby had become closer to Kitty Pryde in the last two months. Even with his girlfriend being totally touchable, he still was seen more often with Kitty than with Marie. Marie seemed to believe that they were just friends and didn't seem to interfere in her boyfriend's dabbling.

Remy never understood why. It was obvious to him that Bobby was playing two girls at once. Maybe he hadn't planned on it from the start, but Bobby had fallen for Kitty while he was still with Marie, and for some reason Bobby wasn't willing to let Marie go.

And here they were at their current situation.

Marie could see Bobby and Kitty dancing, and from the look on Marie's face, Remy guessed she was starting to figure things out.

"Last dance!" the D.J shouted from his mic. "It's a slow one, so grab your lady."

Remy heard the song start and watched in mild shock as Bobby's arms folded around Kitty. Remy felt slightly outraged on Marie's behalf. Bobby hadn't even bothered to look for his girlfriend. Marie had looked away, pretending she didn't see or care. Not cool. Not cool at all. Remy couldn't care less one way or the other if Bobby was fooling around with Kitty behind Marie's back but in front of her? Well, that was a bit of a different story.

Let's see if Bobby likes seeing some other guy all over his girlfriend.

Before Remy could even think about what he was doing, he was shrugging off his coat and handing Logan his flask. Logan raised his eyebrows in question.

"Can't have a girl sitting out the last dance of the evening." Remy shrugged. "I am a gentleman."

Remy headed off in Marie's direction. If he had any sense at all, he would have left her well enough alone. Problem was he had a theory. It was a simple theory, one he lived by as a master thief; you could steal it if the other party was undeserving of it. You could steal it only if it was meant to be yours.

He had never applied this theory to people before, and if it wasn't for her boyfriend, he would never have thought to put his theory to the ultimate test. He didn't quite understand it himself, but he felt the need to intervene and show Bobby that Marie was an attractive prospect and any guy would be lucky to have her. Right now she was a golden opportunity, a once in a life time chance. Her mutation could come back anytime time now and she'd be forbidden fruit.

This intrigued Remy, and suddenly the combination of her jerk boyfriend and her limited time frame to touch made her incredibly attractive to Remy. Marie would be a challenge and in Remy's experience anything easy to do wasn't worth doing. And that included women. Marie had just become his type without even trying.

She looked up at him, a bit startled as he approached her. He held out his hand to her, not bothering to ask her to dance. She glanced over to where Bobby was dancing and bit her lip, contemplating. She made her decision and tentatively took Remy's hand. He pulled her up from her chair to the dance floor, sliding his hands around her waist. She awkwardly rested her hands on his shoulders and moved stiffly with him as though they were both back in junior high. That would never do.

Remy gently reached up and laced one of her hands up around his neck and slid the other within his. With one hand still on her waist, he expertly moved it to the small of her back and tugged her closer to him. Their bodies were now pressed up against each other. Remy had half expected her to resist and try to pull back, they were dancing quite close for strangers. Instead, she melted into his arms as if she belonged there. Remy couldn't deny it was a perfect fit. He began to question just how far he could take this.

She wouldn't look him in the eye because she was trying to hide her smile and excitement that she'd been asked to dance. When he did manage to catch her eye, she would blush and quickly look away. So shy. He knew he shouldn't be dancing this close with her. He really hadn't meant to dance this intimately, but she fit so perfectly in his arms that he couldn't resist pretending that she didn't belong to someone else. He had even leaned his head in dangerously close towards hers.

She instinctively looked up into his eyes then, and his world stopped. It was at that moment that he realized he wanted her. It only confirmed his reasoning to steal her away. The song continued on and they both moved slowly to the rhythm. Why hadn't he noticed her before? He toyed with the idea of kissing her, right here in front of her boyfriend, in front of everyone.

The song ended and the spell the music wove broke with the silence that followed. Marie smiled shyly, colour rising to her cheeks and pulled away from him.

"Thank you for the dance," she whispered before she vanished into the leaving crowd.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and Remy turned. He was expecting this.

"You were dancing pretty close there with my girlfriend, Gambit," Bobby said. His voice was clipped with anger.

Remy turned to face Bobby. "No closer than you were with not-your-girlfriend," Remy replied coolly.

Bobby clenched his jaw and shoved past Remy in anger. Remy had planned it perfectly. He knew Bobby wouldn't make a scene. He was just as guilty as Remy. Remy sauntered back to his now fully lit corner to retrieve his coat and flask. Wolverine was still there with a bemused look on his face.

"What the hell are you doin', Cajun?" Wolverine asked, slightly amused.

"Turning a triangle into square."

"I thought you said you were a gentleman?"

Remy slipped his coat back on and tucked his flask away, giving Logan a short wave. "I am, Logan," he answered back with a debonair smile. "I didn't take her back up to my room."

He winked and headed off out the door.

Marie was confused. She shouldn't have danced that last dance. Bobby was angry with her. She hated it when he was mad at her. This wasn't going to help her win him back at all.

If anything, she'd just driven Bobby further away from her. She knew he was seeing a lot of Kitty and she was concerned that he was going to leave her. Marie didn't know what to do anymore.

She loved Bobby with all her heart. He had been the first student to befriend her and the first boy to love her regardless of her mutation. Now everything had changed. Bobby still loved her, if he didn't, they would have broken up already. But at the same time, he was hardly ever around anymore. Bobby was always training with his team, which consequently Kitty was on. Marie had taken the cure to 'fix' their already failing relationship, but even that hadn't worked. They were together but always apart.

She was lonely.

She missed the physical contact from the hand holding, to the kissing, to the more intimate aspects of their relationship. Marie kept blaming her mutation. That was the reason she was slowly losing him. It had originally put a wedge between them and now with the news of the cure only being temporary, Bobby had withdrawn again. Soon she would no longer be able to freely touch anyone again.

When she had been offered a hand to dance, she was unsure. He wasn't Bobby, but she wanted to be held. No, needed to be held. The desire for human contact overwhelmed her and she took him up on the dance.

Remy hadn't even introduced himself to her. She knew who he was by reputation alone. He was one of Logan's 'wild boys' and had a penchant for trouble, but it was wonderful to be held in someone's arms again even if he was known to be a bit unruly. Not nice and safe like Bobby at all. It was thrilling to dance so closely with him. Remy had had no qualms about touching her at all.

He had danced with her as if she was a precious, irresistible treasure and she loved the attention. For a moment she had forgotten what her life was really like and she'd gotten lost in the simple pleasure of touching another human being. It wouldn't be like that all the time. The dance with Remy had briefly pushed her grim future from her mind. Soon her mutation would return and people would treat her as though she had the plague. People would go out of their way not to touch her. Some would even avoid her all together.

And with Bobby slipping away…

She was lonely.

Her mind drifted back to the dance and the way Remy had held her close. Was it a crime to find solace in another man's arms?