Lights were dim. Their mood was dim. It rained outside. They both sat in the kitchen, wrapped up in grief. She had gotten cured from her mutation, and now she was loosing it. Her skin was slowly turning back on. He had killed the woman he loved.
“Fuck this. Lets go and see if we can get me drunk,” Wolverine huffed, dragging Rogue on to her feet.
“Technically we are not supposed to drink. We are on duty,” she reminded him when they walked in to roadhouse, just few miles from Xavier.
“Scooter’s dead, kid. I don’t need another tight-ass to tell me what to do, and what not to do. Tonight we will get drunk.” There was no malice in his voice. Instead he sounded tired, almost desperate.
Few hours later she was smashed. She couldn’t talk, think or walk straight. He had drunk at least twice the amount she had consumed, and was still stone sober. And slowly getting pissed off. Rowdy bunch of bikers had vacated booth next to theirs, and they were shouting proposals and whistling to Rogue non-stop.
“One more whistle, and I swear they can collect their lips from the floor…”
“Calm down. Drink some more,” she slurred and pushed bottle of whiskey towards him. Bottle nearly fell over, and few droplets of golden liquid splashed on her gloves. Gloves. For two whole weeks wonderful freedom, and now she had to wrap herself up again. Wolverine took her gloved hand and sucked few droplets away, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply.
“So. Didn’t have time to get laid?” He asked, turning her hand palm up, drawing lazy patterns on it with his fingertip.
“No. But I don’t care. And I seem to recall you had bit of a timing problem, too.” His eyes darkened a notch. He lowered his gaze to her hand he was holding.
“No. It wasn’t timing. It was who I am. And who Scott was. What they were together. He could give her things I couldn’t.”
“In the end you gave her everything she needed.” Wolverine’s grip from her hand tightened. His throat muscles worked furiously.
“Lets get the hell out of here,” he groaned with thick voice, stood up and dragged her after him, his hand firmly locked around both of her wrists. Bikers cheered and applauded. He didn’t even look, but she turned her head and stuck her tongue out, wiggling her ass for the good measure.
“So, where are we going?” She asked when they sat on his bike.
“Anywhere. Anywhere but here.”
Anywhere seemed to be small wooded area near the mansion. Narrow dirt path lead to a small clearing in the woods, and there he stopped the bike.
“It’s too much. Everybody needs something. Kids need teachers. Ororo needs help choosing the right ones. Hank needs this and that gadget and thingamajig. School needs to be repaired. We have to install better security systems. We have to hire new staff… I can’t do those things. I’m not wired to run a fucking school.” She sat next to him, plucking soft strands of grass from the ground and just listening.
“I was going to leave after it all was over. Leave for good. But now… I can’t. Jean once said good guys stick around. I wanted to be a good guy. I still want to be…” His eyes glazed over, and he just sat there.
“You’re going to blow a gasket if you try to please everybody. You’re no good to anybody if you don’t take care of yourself first,” Rogue said, and he turned to look at her.
“I don’t know how to make it work.”
“Make what work?” She asked.
“Life. Up until now everything was pretty simple. We’re the good guys. We go and kick some bad guy ass, go home and teach kids. Now there are no bad guys, just a bunch of misfit brats and handful of stressed up muties trying to juggle them through high school. I’m no good at it.” He unsheathed claws from his left hand. Moonlight reflected from them.
“This is what I do. This is what I’m good at.” She reached one gloved hand and run her fingers over dull edges of his claws. He shivered slightly and closed his eyes; claws hissing slowly back inside of him.
“You were never afraid. Other kids… I could smell them from the mile away. Not you. Why?”
“You never did anything to scare me. Bobby was afraid of you, but I think it was more jealousy. When we were kids, he had a crush on me. And I think he thought… He thought that I had a crush on you,” Rogue said, blushing slightly. Wolverine smirked.
“Bad guys turn you on?” He asked, and now she was blushing even more.
“Okay. It was years ago. I was just a kid back then.”
“What about that ogling few months ago? For educational purposes?” Wolverine asked, mischief shining in his eyes. She smiled and rolled her eyes.
“Aww, come on! You have a hot body! I’m a healthy girl with a healthy appetite. Porn sites in the net are interesting only so far…”
“I know you have a healthy appetite. I live next door,” Wolverine reminded her, tapping his nose.
“Oh, dear God… Kill me now…” She hid her face to her hands. It was one thing to masturbate, and totally other to be reminded of it.
“Doesn’t bother me. Have to admit I was quite flattered the other morning…” And that was an understatement.
From the smell of things Rogue had been about to come. He had pressed his ear against the wall, out of curiosity. He had wanted to know about whom untouchable girl had been dreaming. His day had turned from worse to better, when he had heard her gasp his name. Not Wolverine, but Logan.
“Is it just me, or has this conversation taken a weird turn at some point?” Rogue asked cheeks covered in rosy hue. Wolverine snorted.
“Weird? Hardly. Interesting? Definitely. I think we are getting in to something here…”
“Well, at least we’re not moping around anymore, so I guess this could be considered improvement,” Rogue giggled.
“Yeah… There are ways around it.” He suddenly said, serious look on his face.
“Ways around what?” She was still giggling a bit, but it was halted when he took off her lacy scarf and covered her face with it, leaning closer.
“I’m going to kiss you now.”
First kiss was slow and gentle, almost a whisper. His lips traced hers lightly, pressing only close enough to breathe same air with her. Suddenly she wasn’t drunk anymore. She was in the woods with Wolverine, and he was kissing her. She pulled back abruptly.
“What are you doing?”
“Apparently something I shouldn’t do,” he muttered, releasing her and turning his gaze to the ground. Her mind was still reeling from the sensations his kiss had evoked in her body. Her first kiss. She was twenty-five, and she had just gotten her first kiss. Her whole body was humming with energy. A kiss. He had actually kissed her.
“Logan?” From the sound of that name his head snapped up, eyes fixing to hers.
“Marie. My real name is Marie.”
There were tears on her face, but she was smiling.
“Thanks. I really mean it. I thought I never… I thought everybody would be too afraid of me…”
“Come here,” he murmured, pulling her closer and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, placing her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beat through his clothes. Slow, steady rhythm.
“I know what it’s like. Live your life surrounded by people who are afraid of you. I have to admit I never gave you more thought than for the others. You were just one of the kids. That one morning when I woke up with you… You said you didn’t want to hurt me. After that I have been thinking about you from time to time. You are the first person who wasn’t afraid of me, but afraid for me. It felt nice. There are not too many nice things in my life. I’m guessing it’s the same with you.” He played with a strand of her hair while he spoke.
“I would like us to have nice things in life. Right now either of us I ready for it. But later I will ask you a question. Later. When we are both ready to go on with our lives.” His hands disappeared from around her and she felt him shifting a bit. Soft, clinking noise.
“Hold out your hand.” She opened her hand, palm up. He lowered his dog tag to her hand, followed by its chain and closed her fingers around it.
Next weeks were spent in grueling work, rebuilding the school, providing kids education, comfort and safety. Surprisingly many of them had returned, and more were coming every day. Teachers and other staff had barely time to rest and eat. For Rogue it all stopped one morning, when temporary school nurse called her to med lab.
“He wouldn’t let me touch him. Peter and Warren brought him in…” Woman was stuttering.
“He can be stubborn ass when he wants to… Oh my God!” Wolverine lay on a gurney. Thick iron rod protruded from his upper chest. Angry, warning snarl erupted from him when she approached him with the nurse.
“They said he fell from the scaffolding. Straight to a pile of those,” nurse said, pointing at the rod.
“He got rest of them out easily, but I think that one is lodged against something. He won’t let me close enough to see…” Nurse was babbling. She was horrified.
“Marie?” His voice was hoarse, thick from pain. She walked closer, so that he could see her.
“Get. Her… Out!” He rasped.
Nurse obeyed willingly. She practically ran out, slamming the door behind her.
“And now we have gotten rid of that pesky professional. How about I’ll go and try to find nice and friendly blacksmith to help you out?” She asked, putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head.
“Fuck you, too, kid. Pull it out,” he growled.
“Be nice, or else I leave you here to rot.” He closed his eyes and forced conversational tone to his voice.
“I promise not to spank you too hard, if you yank that rod out of me right now. Nice enough?”
“That spanking part sounded kind of promising. On three?” She said, wrapping her hands around the rod. She could actually feel his pulse throbbing through it.
“One…” He started, and she pulled with all she got. Rod slid out, accompanied with metal against metal grinding sound.
“Fuck! Aren’t you supposed to be a teacher? What kind of… Fucking quacks they hire in here? Can’t you count?” Wolverine lay curled to his side on the floor, clutching his shoulder.
“Does that mean there will be no spanking?” She asked, turning on her most innocent face. Eyes wide and lips trembling.
“Ohh… Trust me, little girl… There will be spanking soon enough…” Wolverine was getting on his knees, and something positively feral lurked in his eyes.
“Oh… Uh… And this is the part where I run?” Rogue squeaked and sprinted out, highly amused and slightly aggravated Wolverine hot on her heels.
She got as far as to an elevator. Wolverine lunged in after her, and pinned her against the wall with his body, securing her wrists above her head with his other hand. When door closed, he reached the control panel with his other and locked down the cart.
“All that talk about spanking… Feeling naughty today?” He hissed.
“Well, you started it.” His eyes trailed over her features, devouring every inch of her face, finally stopping to her cleavage, where his tag lay.
His bare lips brushed over hers, briefly enough to fool her skin. Yet it was enough to wake her untouched body. Scent of her arousal was still weak, but promising.
“I told you I would ask you something. I’m not going to ask it yet. I have some business to take care of first.” He kissed her on top of her head and released her, unlocking the elevator.
“Hi. Sorry I didn’t come earlier. Things have been kind of hectic around here lately.” He was sitting next to her grave. Beautiful, white marble stone, decorated only with her name. Jean Grey-Summers.
“This place was a mess. Nobody knew what to do, and how to do it. But we made it. It’s getting easier now. New wing is almost ready. You would like it. Big class rooms, lots of light, high roofs.” He sighed. This was the one task he had been putting off.
“I… I’m sorry. Sorry for the way it happened. I was quite angry for you at first. Then she made me understand. I still miss you. All of you guys. Even Scooter. But it’s getting better. Every day is little easier. And I have one person to thank for it.” He glanced up to the sky. Strange tightness in his throat made his voice all weird.
“When I first saw her, she was just a kid. Noisy little brat. You should see her now. You would be proud of her. That cure she took… It wore off. She’s just as lethal as she was before. But she’s not afraid of it anymore. At least not with me.” He paused for a moment. How the hell this could be so hard?
“I guess I just came to tell you… I came to thank you. You made me want to be the good guy. And I think it’s working now.”
She sat in the kitchen when Wolverine walked in. He looked relieved and relaxed, even giddy, walking to the fridge and taking a bottle of beer. He plunked it on the counter and sat opposite her. He fiddled with the etiquette for a while, and then took a deep, calming breath.
“Remember when I said I wanted some nice things to happen for both of us?” He asked, still little unsure how to continue. Rogue nodded.
“My tag was my promise. I promised I would try to make those things happen. Do you trust me?” He asked.
“Yes. I have trusted you always,” she whispered.
“Marie… Will you be my girl?”
Kiss they shared now was more heated than earlier ones. Hands roaming and groping almost desperately, teeth gnashing together. It took her nearly a full minute to notice they were touching skin-to-skin, and nothing bad was happening. Then he did things to her body, things that made it quite difficult to think straight, so she pushed it off from her mind for now, just enjoying when his hands caressed her bare breasts. Bare breasts?
“Logan! What if somebody walks in…” She tried to resist feebly when he started to strip off rest of her clothes. He smirked and jiggled a key chain in front of her.
“Nobody but Kitty can get in. And she’s on vacation.” Keys flew to general direction of the table. Soon her jeans and socks followed. His clothes ended up to a same pile.
“I have always been your girl, Logan.”
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