Marie took the opportunity to look him over while his back was turned. He wore his usual wifebeater and jeans, though his hair was mussed up and he was barefoot and beltless.
So he either sleeps in jeans, in the boxers that may or may not be underneath those jeans, or naked, Marie thought, proud of her deductive skills. She was leaning towards naked. Or maybe he wore tighty whities. Captain America tighty whities. Like Bobby. She felt a smile tug her lips at the mental image, but pushed it away quickly in case he turned around.
Marie dropped some ice chips into her cup then filled it from the pitcher of tea in the fridge. She took the barstool next to him.
Being this close to Logan always made her feel a little bit nervous, and a lot warm inside. It was a bit stronger version of that thing she used to feel with Bobby, that thing he and Kitty now felt with each other. They had gone out of state for school after junior college, and now that she didn’t have to look at them together every day, it didn’t hurt so much. She could be happy for them. Maybe she hadn’t moved on just yet, but she was getting there.
Logan seemed to be ‘getting there,’ too. He didn’t visit Jean’s grave as often as he did the first couple years. Now it was just whenever the flowers wilted, he’d replace them with fresh ones he either bought or picked somewhere. He never talked about it, and Marie didn’t pry. She had a feeling it was something meant to be just between Logan and Jean. That didn’t hurt so much anymore, either.
Again, that may have been because she didn’t have to see them together every day.
Not that she was glad Jean was gone.
Was she?
It wasn’t really worth thinking about. The fact was, Jean and Scott were passed on, the Professor was back, if unrecognizable, and the permanent cure she had been promised was fading a little more with each passing day. How she felt about those facts didn’t make much difference. It was simply the way things were. Best to just accept life for what it was, and only try to change the things she really could change. That was what being an X-man was all about, she had come to realize.
Marie took a sip of her tea, so sweet she could almost feel the enamel dissolving off her teeth. Yum. Logan seemed content to let the silence stretch a little bit longer. It didn’t feel awkward so long as they were both occupied with drinking.
She snuck a peek at his profile, and there was only a little tension in his forehead. The lines around his mouth had softened some, and that perpetual twitch in his jaw had relaxed. Downright peaceful, compared to his usual expression. That made her inexplicably proud, like his relaxation was some special honor he bestowed just on her. She wanted to follow his lead, to share that easy relaxation whenever she spent time with him. She tried hard. And sometimes she succeeded.
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