When next we see them interacting, Northstar lets down his defenses in front of Rogue, even confiding some of his doubts to her. This is highly unusual behavior for Jean-Paul, but at the same time, not out of character. It mostly comes down to context. Prior to this, Jean-Paul has has multiple instances where he’s demonstrated loyalty, steadfastness, and protectiveness. With the exception of Aurora, though, he almost never displays these positive traits toward anyone on the Alpha Flight roster, likely because he doesn’t consider these people his friends, just the interfering Anglophone assholes he can never fully eject from his life.
Rogue is outside of all that. Despite the fact that Jean-Paul probably never would have opened up to a stranger willingly, thanks to Rogue’s powers, the two of them have a weird type of instant intimacy at a time when the people closest to Jean-Paul are either dead or not speaking to him. She makes it clear that she knows all about him, but passes no judgement on his homosexuality (which is more than can be said for Northstar’s own sister). In addition, Rogue has just made herself vulnerable to Jean-Paul as well by her admission: she’s all of eighteen years old, and since childhood she’s had to resign herself to the knowledge that she’s likely going to go the rest of her life without to ability to enjoy even the casual affection that other people take for granted, let alone anything like a normal relationship.
Yeeeah, no way the isolated gay guy was going to be able to empathize with that last bit, nope.
So maybe it shouldn’t be that much of a shock that, instead of telling her to **** off, Jean-Paul lets down his guard, then immediately shifts into over-protective brother mode. When Rogue has a chance to see if her most desperately longed-for wish has come true, Jean-Paul offers himself up as a test subject solely for her benefit. Far from being an intolerable presence, Rogue turns out to be one of Jean-Paul’s few friendships we ever actually see developed on-page.
And then there’s the matter of how Rogue relates to Jean-Paul, particularly where the “first dance” scene is concerned. Rogue is oddly insistent upon Jean-Paul being her partner for her first dance, despite the fact that any one of her male teammates would have been happy to oblige. (I mean, really, Nightcrawler turn down a waltz? Even if it was Magneto offering, he’d probably at least consider it.) And I suspect Jean-Paul’s sexuality plays a part there because Rogue knows he absolutely will not contemplate her as a romantic interest on any level.
As I mentioned before, Rogue is eighteen at this time, barely an adult. Her one experiment playing at childhood romance ended in tragedy, and she’s been without even casual touch since she was about fourteen. So she she’s had to put an enormous distance between herself and anything like typical human contact, let alone any hopes for future romance. She can flirt, use a kiss as a surprise attack, or admire a handsome man, but it’s all play-acting; it could never go anywhere and she knows it.
But suddenly, that’s all changed. Rogue has to rethink her entire way of interacting with the world, and that’s overwhelming enough without having to navigate male attention as well. And that last bit doesn’t go away just because she’s among friends: Brawler starts to pull a line on her as soon as she shows up in her new dress, Nightcrawler’s an incorrigible flirt, etc. But Jean-Paul won’t have that sort of interest in her, no matter what. She knows him intimately, he’s her first non-traumatic kiss, and there’s no chance of him introducing even a hint of complications she’s not ready to think on yet. He’s safe. She can just enjoy her dance as a dance and leave the rest of it to unravel later.
(That’s not to say that Nightcrawler or Colossus would deliberately do anything to make Rogue uncomfortable, but UXM #192 is a good illustration of why she might be wary. Kurt stepped over Rogue’s boundaries twice in a matter of seconds, simply because the level of isolation she has to endure momentarily slipped his mind and all he saw was a pretty lady to flirt with. He obviously didn’t mean to and felt awful about it as soon as he realized what he’d done. But just because the hurt he inflicted wasn’t malicious didn’t make it any easier for Rogue in the moment.)