Author's Chapter Notes:
For a starting reference point.
Marie is 15, Logan is 16.
As Logan's skeletal structure hasn't finished developing, he doesn't have adamantium reinforcement.
All other changes in character backstory will be revealed in the first couple of chapters :)
Marie sat down heavily under the low hanging oak. It was the furthest point on the field that she had been told she wasn't allowed to travel beyond – being inside just wasn’t an option right now. It was the furthest from her Uncle, Charles Xavier's mansion come mutant high school, and the furthest from the rest of the pupils. She had noticed them watching her as she had been brought in. Accompanied by her parents, acclaimed Mutant Rights politicians, Eric and Raven Lehnsherr, and no less than five of her father’s top bodyguards. What a way to make an entrance into high school...

Her parents were currently in her Uncle's office, arguing with him about Marie's own bodyguard being allowed to stay on campus, to literally follow her around day and night. She was firmly siding with her Uncle in the 'no' camp, in fact, if anyone had cared to ask her it would be a resounding 'hell no', though her mother would strenuously object to her use of such language. Either way, wouldn't take long for the other students to figure out who she was, and that would lead to enough ostracism in and of itself.

The one concession Uncle Xavier had made to her parents demands so far, before she had been turfed out of the meeting, was to allow Marie her own bedroom on the teacher's floor. Her parents didn't want another PR disaster a-la her long-awaited mutation finally manifesting, leaving one of her previous high school classmates in a coma for a week after he had tried to steal a kiss. Thankfully her parents had managed to downplay the severity of that incident, by responding that she was simply defending herself from unwanted sexual assault. That wasn't entirely incorrect, and the witnesses, who attested to clearly hearing her tell the boy in question to leave her alone multiple times before he touched her, bolstered that claim.

In light of all that, her parents had opted to remove her from the prestigious private school she loathed, and transfer her to a special mutant school. Uncle Charlie was also going to be working with her to teach her how to control her mutation, though from what she had overheard of that conversation he appeared to have his own doubts in that area. The terms 'rogue mutation', 'obstreperous', 'outré', and the like had been thrown around, along with other such comforting comments as 'precarious', 'destabilising', 'megalomania', and 'psychotic breakdown'.

As if she didn't have it hard enough being the awkward, nerdy, daughter of politicians, now she had this screwed up mutation on top of it all. At least she'd finally gotten rid of the braces, silver linings, right!

She was sitting curled up under the tree, with her arms crossed and propped up on her knees, with her face buried in her arms. She wasn't hiding, rather pretending she simply didn't exist, when a voice sounded from above her.

"This is my spot," the male voice said.

Jumping Marie looked up, expecting to see someone standing in front of her. There was no one. Frowning confused she looked further up. Several feet above her, lying on a thick branch, was a boy, probably a little older than her.

"Sorry, I didn't realise you were there," she commented, "I didn't mean to intrude on your brooding, this just looked like the spot for it."

The boy almost grinned, smothering the reaction immediately. "You must be new here, everyone knows this is my spot, unless you want to end up a social outcast on your first day you should probably leave."

Marie laughed, missing the appreciative look that was shot her way when she did. "Yeah, I'm new, I'm going to end up a social outcast anyway, that's kind of what happens when you put people in comas just by touching them, shall we be outcasts together, or am I too fucked up even for the broody boy who likes to hide in trees?"

He paused for a moment, watching her curiously, before he shifted and with an agile grace rolled off the branch he was lying on. Marie gasped apprehensively as she watched him fall towards the ground, breathing a sigh of relief when he landed in a crouch on the ground in front of her. He seemed amused by her reaction, as he moved to sit beside her at the base of the tree.

"I don't think you're fucked up," he commented, "And I wasn't hiding."

"Oh really?" Marie asked sarcastically, "What were you doing up there then?"

"Enjoying the fresh air... and avoiding getting beaten up," the boy replied with a shrug.

"Beaten up!? I know this is a high school but my U- uh, the teachers would never allow that, surely?" Marie said with surprise.

"I heal, so, without injuries no one ever believes me, especially if I defend myself, the other kids always end up worse off," he replied with a dismissive shrug.

"But... why do they pick on you?" Marie asked confused, maybe this boy was a jerk after all.

"My dad's a teacher, they think I get special privileges because I don't live in the dorms, plus, my mutation was later coming in so I got picked on for being the 'normie' initially, and now, I have an unusual mutation so... six of one half a dozen of the other in that department. What about you? Why do you think you'll be an outcast?" the boy asked.

With a sigh Marie began, "Well my parents are Mutant Rights political figures, Professor Xavier is my Uncle, I'm moving into a private room on the teacher's level not the dorms, unless my Uncle can talk my parents out of it I'm going to have a goddamn bodyguard following me everywhere, and did you miss the part where my mutation puts people in comas..."

"Wait, your parents are Eric and Raven Lehnsherr!?" the boy asked surprised.

"You're not going to go all fanboy on me are you and do something really cringy like ask for autographs or something?" she asked, cringing at the very thought.

The boy laughed. "Nah, I just pay attention to the politics so I know what's going on, I'm not really interested, definitely not to that degree, I just like to know what to expect I guess, and I know Raven is the Professor's sister, so two and two."

"I guess that means you know about what happened at my last school then and why I'm here," Marie replied glumly.

"I heard their daughter, uh, you, manifested, I didn't pay attention to the spin, I mean, your parents are both mutants so it was kind of inevitable you would be too, I figured it was just political gossip to try and make a big deal about it. Anyway, seeing as how we're going to be fellow outcasts, I suppose we should introduce ourselves, I'm Logan," the boy said, holding out his hand in greeting.

"Marie," she replied, smiling shyly as she took his hand. She expected a handshake but instead, he brought her gloved hand to his lips, and kissed the back of it.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Logan said, grinning as he watched her blush before releasing her hand.

--

They chatted for hours, missing the lights inside and out the mansion slowly come on, they missed the light bleed from the sky, in a fiery display of pinks and oranges, as the sun set. It wasn't until a gruff voice interrupted a rather animated argument, over hockey teams, that they suddenly realised, they had been gone for quite a while.

"There you are," the hulking figure of a man stepped under the tree. Marie jumped with a squeak, having missed his approach both by sight and sound. Logan however hadn't.

"Hey dad, what do you want?" Logan asked, it was unusual for his dad to actually come looking for him before curfew.

"I was sent to find your little lady friend," the man replied with a chuckle. "You managed to give five bodyguards the slip, I'm impressed, your mom was worried when you weren't already in for dinner," he said to Marie, who was staring at him opened mouthed.

"He's your dad!?" Marie asked, turning to Logan in surprise.

"You're not going to go all fangirl on me, are you?" Logan replied, rolling his eyes with a chuckle, repeating Marie's earlier statement.

"What!? No! Well, maybe, why didn't you tell me your dad's Victor Creed, your dad is so much cooler than mine," Marie pouted.

"Newsflash, he's still a dad, does all the normal irritating dad things," Logan replied, pushing himself to his feet and dusting the dirt off his butt.

"Yeah, I think your idea of 'normal dad things' and mine are probably pretty different," Marie stated sadly, as Logan offered her a hand off the ground.

"What do you mean?" Logan asked, looking confused as they began the leisurely stroll back to the mansion.

"I honestly don't see all that much of my dad, even before I got shipped off to my first boarding school, sometimes I feel like I only exist for appearances, you know, so they can cart me out on special occasions just to show me off..." Marie admitted sadly, as they began to walk towards the brightly lit building.

"When did you go to your first boarding school?" Logan asked curiously.

"When I was eight," Marie replied, "I'd get to go home on the weekends but mom and dad were usually attending fundraisers and stuff, so I don't know why they bothered bringing me home."

"But surely when you were little..." Logan started before Marie interrupted.

"I don't even remember a time my dad gave me a hug, my mom hugs me sometimes... but only ever when someone else is watching, it's all about appearances," she muttered angrily, as she began to tear up. "I don't want to talk about this anymore," she added, swiping at her eyes to wipe away her tears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry," Logan offered apologetically.

"It's okay, it's not your fault," Marie replied with a smile. By the time they reached the dining room, Logan had Marie smiling and laughing again as the entered the room together. Victor double checked to make sure the girls’ parents had seen she was now present, just as he was about to leave Charles waved him over.

"Was everything alright?" the older looking man asked worriedly.

"She was just making friends and lost track of the time," he assured Charles, and the girls’ parents. Her father looked decidedly uninterested, her mother however looked particularly unimpressed, though she was trying to cover it over with a tolerant smile. He excused himself quickly, checking on the unlikely pair as he left the room, they had tucked themselves into a deserted corner and were back to chatting happily. He was pleased to see his son finally making an effort to make a friend.

--

"Curfew's ten on Friday’s, and Saturday’s, so what do you want to do? We've got two hours," Logan offered, as he and Marie wandered down the hall after dinner.

"Well, I haven't had a tour yet, could you show me around?" she asked.

For the next two hours Logan led the way around the building, showing her all the normal things, the kitchen, the classrooms, which dorms were where, the teachers offices, the rec room, TV room, and the rest. He also showed her plenty of unusual things too; a hidden elevator from the teacher's level to the ground floor, and below, multiple attic spaces, and even a foray into the secret lower levels where the X-Men, of which Logan's dad was probably the most famous one, operated out of.

When curfew came, they were wandering down the teacher's hallway, Marie glanced oddly this way and that. "I don't know which one is mine," she admitted, aside from being told this was where her room would be, she hadn't actually been told where her room was.

"Allow me, stay here," Logan said, before he slowly wandered away down the hall, eyes closed, sniffing at the air.

"What are you doing?" Marie asked a moment later.

"Trying to pick up your scent, you stuff will have been taken to your room and it will..." he stopped, turned toward a door, sniffed again, before turning back to her with a grin. "This one," he declared proudly.

Marie looked sceptical as she approached, and knocked on the door, it wouldn't do to accidentally walk in on someone else. The door was immediately opened, by her mother.

"There you are Marie!" she snapped irritably, adding in a softer tone when she spied Logan, "I was worried, I was about to send Mr Creed to find you again. What were you doing out so late?" she asked, as she gestured Marie to enter. Marie did, Logan stopped in the doorway.

"Logan said curfew on Friday and Saturday is ten so, he was showing me around," Marie replied.

"That was nice of him," Raven replied, the hint of disdain in her voice telling Logan she didn't mean that.

"Well, goodnight Marie, I'll let you get settled. If you need anything overnight," he quickly pointed out which teachers were in which rooms.

"Thank you, goodnight, see you tomorrow," Marie replied with a smile, before her mother shut the door on him.

As soon as the door was closed on him, the smile disappeared off Raven's face. "Stay away from that boy, he's bad news, just like his father," she warned her daughter sternly.

"His father? You mean the recognized war hero, with the bravery award given him by the President for saving an apartment building full of people from an arson attack? The guy who was photographed in newspapers shielding a baby from the flames, as he emerged from said building literally on fire? If Logan's 'bad news' like that, I think I'll hang out with him more often," she replied, as she pulled her suitcase up onto the bed and began digging through it to find her toiletries and pyjamas.

The bodyguard standing quietly in the corner of her room smirked at her spiel but made no other indication he was listening. "I take it Uncle Charles won and I won't be suffering the ultimate high school humiliation by being followed everywhere I go by a living shadow?" Marie added, noting the bodyguard in question was not hers but her mother's.

"Charles has insisted additional security would be unnecessary, you are under the same rules you were given this morning though, and Mr Creed has been tasked with making sure you keep them. We'll see if you still think so highly of him once he's stopped you from breaking curfew a couple of times," her mother smiled sweetly at her.

Marie glared back, yay, she was literally under house arrest. "Is that all?" she asked in response, indicating that she wanted to go to the bathroom now.

"Yes dear, that is all, if you need anything at all email me and let me know, enjoy your stay here, learn to control your mutation, and for goodness sake, make better friends," she said, before walking out of the room, a parting 'see you soon dear', thrown over her shoulder.

"Bye Marie, have a little fun," Chris, the bodyguard, winked at her as he followed her mother out of the room. Marie smiled at him, she liked the bodyguards, as annoying as their presence sometimes was, most of them were nice to her, she knew it was because some felt sorry for her but... it was better than them being distant and ignoring her, like her parents did.

She hurriedly got ready for bed, it had been a long day and she was ready for sleep.

--

"Have fun?" Victor asked, as his son walked into the suite looking distant and distracted.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, Marie's nice," Logan commented with a grin.

"You know, the other kids are nice too if you give them a chance," Victor added, pausing his work to turn his attention to his son.

Logan huffed a laugh. "Yeah? Tell me, how many chances do I give them to kick me before I walk away?" he asked, only partly sarcastic, as he grabbed himself a soda. He considered the beer but decided he didn't feel like starting a fight tonight – his dad sometimes let him have a beer in their suite but it was still against the rules.

Victor grimaced, he knew it was true that there was a group of students that were intent on making Logan's life hell – and he had a feeling Logan wasn't exaggerating with how far these kids were taking it, not that he had been able to catch them at it yet – but that didn't mean the boy had to cut himself off from everyone. Maybe Marie would be a godsend in that department, maybe if she made some other friends Logan would be able to fit into her friend group and make some more friends of his own. "Can't answer that for you kid, but some people are worth going out on a limb for, look at Marie, you made yourself vulnerable to get to know her and you like her, right, so it was worth it?" he pointed out.

Logan shrugged and grunted, whether in agreement or just to get him to shut up, Victor wasn't sure. "I'm going to bed," Logan added, heading for his room.

"Hey, come here," Victor called him back. "You know I love you, right?" he asked, placing his hands on the boys’ shoulders.

"Yeah dad," Logan said with a grin, he only reminded him at least twice a week.

"Good," Victor added with a grin of his own, pulling the boy into a hug. "Now get to bed, don't forget five am training," he added, as Logan headed back in the direction of his room.

"Never do," Logan replied, as the door closed behind him.
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