Logan downed the beer in his hand and slammed it rather forcefully down on the table, where it joined several others. He’d spent the entire evening in this seedy bar, slowly going through bottle after bottle of beer. His healing power ensured that he didn’t get too drunk, both a curse and a blessing. Being drunk would have meant he could finally forget about Rogue, if only for a short time, but being drunk could also mean he’d end up doing something stupid, like calling her.
He had hoped spending some time on the road might help him forget what happened between him and Rogue the last time he came to the mansion, but now, three weeks later, he still could feel her lips on his, still couldn’t think about anything but her.
Angrily he pushed back his chair and stood. This wasn’t helping one bit. He threw down some money on the table, enough to pay for the beers he’d gone through, and then he left the bar, heading for the motorcycle that had once belonged to Cyclops. But Summers was dead now, and he had been for a long time. Logan actually missed him in a way. They’d always been fighting, but Summers really was a decent guy under all that stuck-up leader façade.
Logan pushed the thoughts of his old team-mate from his mind. He had enough to worry about. Like what the hell he was going to do now. Obviously him being on the road didn’t make him forget about Rogue, but maybe it had made her forget about him? With a small sigh he started the motorcycle and headed out of the parking lot. For a moment he hesitated, and then he turned onto the road in the direction of the mansion. It was a long drive, and he wouldn’t get there in hours. More than enough time to change his mind.
xXx
As the sun broke over the horizon Logan could finally see the mansion ahead. It looked exactly like it had when he left, but then again, it always did. He’d come back here enough times to know that by now.
He left his bike in the garage and walked up the path to the entrance on heavy feet. He was still not sure if coming back was a good idea, but now that he was here he might as well get some decent food and a good night’s sleep in a bed that didn’t smell of old sweat and other bodily fluids.
The mansion was quiet—it was still early in the morning—so Logan walked straight to his room without being interrupted. The room was exactly like it had been when he left, and his bed looked very tempting. He shrugged off his leather jacket and fell down on the mattress, falling asleep almost instantly, still in his jeans and boots.
As he woke, hours later, the first thing he did was set off towards the kitchen. This time, as he passed Rogue’s room, he walked on, not slowing down. He met the occasional student on his way, but most of them just scuttled off, paying little or no attention to him.
As he walked into the kitchen he regretted it instantly. There was one other person sitting there already, and of course it had to be Rogue. Logan wanted to turn around and go back, but Rogue turned around and looked at him. He cursed silently, but nodded in greeting.
“Hey, Logan,” she said plainly and turned back to her meal. Logan just stared at the back of her head. He had been hoping that she would have forgotten about that night, but he hadn’t thought that she actually would, not like this at least. She was being so…casual, like he was just an acquaintance of her, that he’d never told her he loved her and that she’d never said the same to him. But now he was confusing even himself, so he just shook his head and got some food out of the fridge. He’d gotten what he wanted, she had obviously forgotten all about it, so shouldn’t he be happy now?
“So, how’s everything?” he asked warily as he took a bite of his sandwich.
“Fine,” she said, not even turning back to look at him.
“And Bobby?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” she said, her voice eerily empty of emotions.
He finished his meal in silence, leaning against the counter, all the time looking at Rogue, waiting for something to happen. But she ate her own meal and didn’t say a single word to him, not until she finished and pushed back her chair.
“Storm said that I should tell you to meet up in the Danger Room at five if I saw you.” And with that she left. For a moment he just stared after the now closed kitchen door in confusion. Then he shook his head and looked up at the clock on the wall. It was already 4:45, so he quickly made his way downstairs to get changed and ready. He shouldn’t be surprised that Storm was setting him to work already. She hated it when he left, and this was her little revenge: setting him to train the students in the Danger Room. But as long as she didn’t try and get him to teach any home economics classes he wasn’t going to complain.
As he stepped out of the locker rooms and over to the door that lead into the Danger Room he was a little surprised when there was no one there. Usually the kids were eager to train in the Danger Room and came on time. But now the hallway was deserted but for himself.
He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed before him and waited. Rogue had said five, so they should be here soon. It was only a minute past, so they were probably just going late. He’d just have to let them work extra hard to make up for it.
Soon he heard the familiar sound of the elevator doors opening. He glanced over just as Rogue stepped out of the elevator. She wore a pair of black sweatpants and a dark green t-shirt. It looked like she was among those due for a Danger Room session, and Logan wasn’t sure what he thought about that. He wanted to act casual, but whenever she was around that was just plain difficult.
She walked over to him, but stopped and leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the corridor. For a moment they just stood in silence, and he did his best to avoid staring at her.
Suddenly the silence was breeched by an insistent ringing. Logan looked around, momentarily confused, then realised that it was a communication device mounted on a wall that was making the sounds. He walked over to it and pressed the button to open up for a conversation. The voice through the speaker was easily recognised as that of Storm.
“Logan, there’s been an accident. Jubilee blew up the TV and I don’t think her or Kitty will be able to come down to the Danger Room session. Has Rogue shown up?”
Wolverine was not surprised to hear about the accident, stuff like that seemed to happen every day at the mansion. “Yeah, she’s here,” he told Storm and cast a glance over at Rogue. She was looking the other way, her stance with her arms crossed before her chest perfectly mimicking how he’d been standing just moments earlier. He wasn’t sure if that was her intention or if it was accidental.
“Good. Then I think it will only be the two of you, is that okay?”
For a moment Logan didn’t know what to say. Just him and Rogue in the Danger Room? And since Rogue had abandoned her powers it was going to have to be a lesson of close combat. She seemed to prefer that, so she would be prepared to defend herself if she would have to. Martial arts, kicks and punches, possibly sparring—all close contact. Logan turned away so he wasn’t facing Rogue. He was not going to mess things up, he was going to act casually, like she was just one of the students at the mansion and he was one of the teachers. Nothing weird about that at all. “Yeah, we’ll be fine, Storm,” he said and pushed the button that broke contact between him and Storm in the headmistress’ office.
He turned towards Rogue. “You ready?” For a moment Rogue just looked at him, then she pushed away from the wall and nodded. Logan opened the door and took a deep breath to calm himself.
xXx
The session turned out to be pure torture to Wolverine. He’d kept the Danger Room plain, with only a punching bag in the middle for Rogue to use. He’d shown her some moves, and watched as she tried to repeat them. But she was moaning and grunting and making all kinds of noises that drove him crazy. And soon a fine sheet of sweat spread on her skin, and that drove him crazy as well. It was as if the scent of her was multiplied and attacked his senses. He’d had to turn away for a moment to get control of himself again. He just wanted to grab her and throw her to the ground and attack those perfect lips of hers with his own.
As he turned back he saw that Rogue had stopped punching the bag and was staring at him. Her left hand was resting on her slightly cocked hip, and her right was drying away the sweat that was dripping down her forehead. For a brief second Logan got the image of licking those drops of sweat away, but he shook his head and filed that in the ‘forget about it’ file in the back of his brain.
“You okay there?” Rogue asked.
“Yeah, nothin’ wrong here. What about you? Too tired to continue?”
“You wish,” Rogue said, and there was a gleam to her eyes that made Logan’s breath catch in his throat.
“Don’t you get all cocky now.”
“Or else?”
Logan couldn’t help but to smile at her obvious invitation for some sparring. If that was what she wanted then he sure as hell wasn’t going to stop her. He’d show her to never get too cocky, that in the field that could have devastating consequences. He shrugged off his zip-up sweater, which left him in only a white wife beater. “Or else you’ll have to fight me,” he said with a grin.
“Oh, you are on,” she said, and suddenly darted towards him. Logan easily parried her kick.
“You have to do better than that, darlin’!” he said with a chuckle.
“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet, sugar,” she retorted.
And she was right. It had only been warm-up. She had gotten a lot better than he’d ever believed, and she was delivering kicks and punches like a whirlwind. He actually had to concentrate to block all her blows. But, even if she’d improved greatly, she had a long way till she could beat the Wolverine.
As she made a mistake and sacrificed her defence for an offensive attack he took his shot, grabbed her, and flipped her to the ground. She landed on her stomach with a heavy thud accompanied with a groan. For a moment Logan was afraid she was hurt, but then she uttered a stream of profanities that almost had him blushing, and he understood that the only thing that was hurt was her pride. He couldn’t help but to chuckle, something that earned him a nasty glare. “I think you need a little more practise,” he said, earning himself yet another glare.
But then she truly surprised him. In the blink of an eye she got to her feet and jumped up on his back. Before he could react she had her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his throat. “And you need to keep your guard up,” she whispered into his ear. “If I still had my powers you would be toast right about…” she waved a hand before his face before she rested it on his collarbone, “…now.”
That small touch of skin against skin had Logan going crazy again. He hated himself for being so easily affected by her. They were just having a friendly sparring, nothing else, and he knew that. He really needed to get a grip on himself, and he needed to get it now.
“Toast huh?” he said and grabbed her hand. “But darlin’. You don’t have your powers anymore.” With ease he flipped her over his shoulder. Only his hands on hers kept her from falling to the floor.
Again all he got was a glare, but now it wasn’t from Rogue lying sprawled on the floor, but Rogue standing just a foot or two away from him. He dropped her hands like he’d burned himself.
Rogue’s glare faded to be replaced by a different look, one he wasn’t sure how to interpret. For a moment they just looked at each other, neither saying anything, neither doing anything. The only sound to be heard was her heartbeat. His enhanced hearing allowed him to hear how it quickened. It had already been pounding, from working out and sparring, but now it beat even harder. A faint blush crept to Rogue’s cheeks, and her eyes seemed to almost sparkle.
He couldn’t help himself anymore, all those little hints told him one thing: Rogue hadn’t forgotten about him, this was affecting her as much as it was affecting him. Slowly he leaned in towards her, his lips yearning to meet hers. He could see her head tilt and lips opening slightly in anticipation of what was to come, and he knew she wanted it as much as he did, he just knew it.
Just as their lips were inches away Logan heard voices outside, and seconds later the doors to the Danger Room slid open. Rogue and him leapt away from each other, trying their very best to look inconspicuous. He wasn’t sure either of them managed well, but Bobby and Peter who now came in the door didn’t seem to notice anything weird.
“You finished?” Bobby asked, and with a quick glance at Rogue Logan nodded.
“It’s all yours,” he said and quickly made his way out of the room. He didn’t stop and wait for Rogue, just set off towards his room. All the way he beat himself up about it. How could he be so stupid, how could he end up almost kissing Rogue when he well knew that he shouldn’t? He knew he couldn’t be with her, he should know better than that. He was a grown man for fuck’s sake! And Rogue was just barely a woman. There was no way they could ever be together, and he didn’t know why he was doing this, why he was making it so difficult on himself.
Next time, he promised himself, next time he’d do better and leave the poor girl alone to get over whatever little crush she might think she had on him. She deserved so very much better than him.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
It took me a while longer than anticipated to get this chapter posted, due to my lacking computer skills and patience. But, here it is. Oh, and thanks for the reviews!
Chapter End Notes:
Third chapter is written, so I should be able to post it fairly soon.