Rogue was stuck.

After spending ten minutes measuring and sketching out the picture window on the matboard, she had spent an additional three making sure her straight edge was perfectly positioned for the first cut only to discover that her mat cutter was... nowhere to be seen.

It was Friday night, and everyone else in the mansion seemed to be out having fun outside of the X-mansion. Being this week's designated, responsible, on-call adult, Rogue opted to stay in and spend the evening matting and framing some of her smaller paintings.

It had been a great plan in theory, and had she not lost her cutter she wouldn't have needed anyone's help. She nearly gave up and went searching for it when she remembered the feral mutant next door.

Logan was home, too, having been nominated as designated semi-responsible adult number two.

"Logan!"

"What?" The man in question shouted from his adjacent bedroom.

"Can you come here a minute?"

He appeared in the doorway to find her awkwardly stooped over her craft table.

"I can't find the mat cutter," She said by way of explanation, "and I can't move without spending forever realigning my ruler. Help a girl out, sugar?"

"Yeah, yeah, what am I looking for?"

"It's metal and has a razor blade that pokes out at an angle when you push the lever. I think...," and by 'think', she knew for a fact, "it says 'Logan' as the brandname on the handle."

An adamantium claw popped into Rogues peripheral vision.

She bet he thought he was really clever with that move.

"Unless you can cut a consistent forty-five degree angle I'd like the real one, thanks."

The man scoffed. "'Course I can."

"It's overkill," Rogue demured.

"Eh. Save some time looking." Logan replied as he sidled up behind her.

He wasn't quite touching her, and for some stupid reason, her heart sped up. She hoped he wouldn't notice, but she she knew he probably... definitely... did, dammit.

But he was expecting an answer, wasn't he?

"Fine. The board is three millimeters thick, and you only want to score the undermat not-"

"I know, " he interrupted, "I've watched you enough."

Sure, he'd seen her do this plenty, but she hadn't expected him to actually pay attention to what she did and how she did it. The admission that Logan took notice of those details made her grin goofily, in spite of herself.

He inched forward, brushing close enough that Rogue could now feel the heat of him behind her. Little butterflies began to swirl in her belly, and this was so, so not good. She'd gotten over her crush years ago. Sure, there may have been a little back and forth flirting recently, but she knew better than to take him seriously.

Nevertheless, Rogue stood, breathless and trying too keep a lid on it, as Logan leaned over her and cut a perfect line through the board before retracting his claw.

"Hey, it worked! Ready for the other three sides?" She beamed up at him.

His face was much closer than she had anticipated, and whatever she had been planning to say next died on her tongue.

Logan nodded once, but rather than coming to his senses and jerking away, he closed the small gap between them, and-

Oh.

For an instant her brain short circuited, and she nearly lost control of her skin. Then she was kissing him back, and there may have been a little bit of groping on her part.

That was, until, her hand gripped something hard... and metal... and mat cutter-shaped in Logan's back pocket. She pulled her prize free and broke the kiss.

Logan tried to follow her, but she drew his attention to the object in her hand.

Logan grinned, snagging the device, and made a show of looking it over before plunking it back on the table.

"Well, would you look at that. It's a Christmas miracle!"


Chapter End Notes:
Because I've been amused by the brand name of my mat cutter for years.
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