Walmart was surprisingly active for 2 a.m. on a Tuesday, Rogue thought. The dental care aisle was a maze of unopened boxes, and two blue-vested stockers stood near the end of the aisle talking about some allegedly hot, slutty blonde who worked in the shoe department. She caught snippets of their conversation over the wailing of Whitney Houston on the store's sound system.
A young, tired looking woman tried to push a cart around the boxes and finally gave up, shoving a stack of boxes to the side with a ragged looking tennis shoe as the stock boys ignored her. The small child sitting in the cart was grabbing random items off the shelves and tossing them to the floor, unnoticed by his mother.
Rogue tapped gloved fingers against her thigh and studied the shelves full of toothpaste. Why couldn't they just make one or two kinds? Each brand had whitening, breath-freshening, and plaque-fighting toothpastes, not to mention the various combinations of the three. It was all so complicated. Weren't there enough complications in life without having to think about which kind of paste to use on her teeth?
Logan came up beside her, and she kind of leaned on him, still staring at the shelves. As Miami Sound Machine replaced Whitney, she swayed to the beat, smiling at Logan as he tugged on a lock of her hair.
He leaned closer, his lips nearly touching her ear. "I love you," he said.
She fought the desire to laugh, knowing that he'd misinterpret it. Of all the times he could've told her -- making love, one of their daily walks together, a hockey-watching night when she was snuggled next to him on the bed or a couch, any one of the life-threatening situations they faced as X-Men -- he chose to finally say it in the toothpaste aisle of Walmart at 2 a.m.
Her pulse pounded, and her heart sang. She'd needed to hear the words, even though she knew -- she knew that he loved her. His actions showed her every day, every minute. But still. She was a girl. She'd needed the verbal confirmation.
Even though she knew he could read her heartbeat, her physical reaction, she shrugged casually and smirked at him. "I know," she said.
He raised an eyebrow at her feigned casualness and threw an arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him and nodded at the shelves in front of them. "So what do you think, sugar? Whitening-breath-freshening toothpaste, or should I go for the triple crown -- whitening-breath-freshening-plaque-fighting?"
THE END
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
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Story Notes:
For this little ficlet, I took two lines from one of my favorite movies and used them for my own. Why? Because I could. Thanks to Cheryl for the beta.