It had started out innocently enough.
Logan had returned, about six months after he'd left. The first thing he did on riding in at five in the morning was seek her out. He was surprised to find that the room his nose tracked her scent to - the dorm room she shared with three other girls - didn't contain the one he was looking for. Instead, a fresher trail led him away and down another hall, directly to the room that had been his when he was there last.
Laid out, fast asleep, under a thin sheet, was the girl he had been searching for. She looked like an angel, hair fanned out around her, white streaks stark against the remainder of her dark locks, pale skin a siren call to any man with a pulse.
The Wolverine growled appreciatively to find the girl exactly where he wanted her. Logan quickly kicked him back down, he knew what Wolverine wanted. Truth be told he wanted the same thing, so it wasn't easy tamping down on their shared desire, but Marie was too young, too innocent, far too sweet for the likes of him. That didn't mean he couldn't enjoy her attention and company though, he'd told himself, as he dropped his bag, kicked off his boots, stripped off his belt, and crawled under the sheet with her. Moments later he had his arms full of the soft sleeping girl when she rolled over, seeking out his warmth, and plastered herself to his side.
When she had woken two hours later, she panicked on waking pressed up against another person, demanding assurance she hadn't accidentally hurt him in her sleep. Once he had assured her adequately, she threw herself back into his arms, hugging the living daylights out of him, and began bombarding him with questions.
They chatted for about another hour, Marie filling him in on the goings on he'd missed, what she had been studying, the latest pranks the students had pulled and who had gotten caught and blamed for them. Marie proudly revealed she had managed to avoid detection, despite being one of the main instigators. Logan couldn't help being proud of that, his girl was remarkably astute for her age. A good trait for a mate, Wolverine pointed out, gaining himself another mental smack, it didn't have the desired effect though, he just chuckled knowingly and sunk back into the mire of his mind.
At around eight they both decided to head down for breakfast, and Logan was surprised it didn't require a trip to Marie's room for her to dress. It turned out she had a small stash of clothes hidden away in his room. The nightmares, she told him, often drove her out of her own room, when she was afraid of waking or harming her roommates, and she had been spending a lot of nights here. After waking late a few times, by the time she had snuck back to her own room to dress she had been really late for class, so this had been saving her some time. They headed down to breakfast, arms slung around each other in a friendly manner, after Logan left an open invitation for her to come to his room whenever she needed to.
And so began, or rather continued, their easy camaraderie.
--
For three months nothing much happened. Marie spent her evenings doing homework in Logan's room, slipping back to her own at curfew. More often than not coming back to his room later in the night, with the excuse of nightmares. If anyone else noticed they didn't say anything.
On the weekends Logan would take her out on the motorcycle he continued to commandeer, they would drive for hours. Sometimes short trips to enjoy the wind in their hair, sometimes longer trips that would see them stay out until late on Sunday night or early Monday morning. They went camping in the Adirondack's, watched the sun rise over Niagara Falls, and a trip to Rhode Island that came about after Marie’s request to 'go to the beach'.
Everyone at the school seemed accepting of the friendship. Storm and Jean noted how much more content and confident Rogue was. Scott was just happy it was taking Logan's attention off Jean - even if he did flirt with her on occasion just to piss Scott off. Her friends were happy to have the untouchable girl out of their hair, so they didn't have to feel bad about doing things they couldn't include her in, like pool parties and sunbathing.
No one noticed the subtle shift soon after.
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