A/N: this is based loosely on the beginning of the Wolverine and the X-Men storyline. I say loosely because it is supposed to be an insert into that timeline but it's been a couple years since I read those comics and I'm fairly certain I got plenty of details wrong. This is unedited and poor quality falls solely upon me.
In A Good Way
The last thing Quentin wanted was to be stuck here on this plane, going anywhere with Wolverine.
Of all people, it had to be Wolverine, didn't it? He had called this ages ago. Wolverine was going soft.
Okay, one thought was a lie. The last thing he wanted was to be locked up for good. And he knew Logan had kept him from that fate, but this one wasn't much better. A school? Schools suited him in about the same way a cat's bed suited a mouse. Somebody was going to get hurt... He would just have to make sure he clawed out the cat's eyes instead of the other way around.
Wolverine looked over his shoulder at the kid from the pilot's seat. Bright pink hair shaved into a Mohawk, sullen look on his face, slumped posture... He thought Quire looked just about fifteen going on four. He knew Quire didn't really understand why he wanted to bring him to the new school. Knew he probably thought Logan was crazy, or just wanted to torment him.
He sighed and handed the controls over to Hank. As much as McCoy was considerably more emotionally literate than Logan was, he wasn't the one who precipitated this life change. He wasn't the one Quire needed to talk to right now.
Logan pulled his mask back, and walked over to Quire's seat. The kid might put on a fairly good mask of bravado, but there was no disguising the way he tensed when Logan walked up. He chose not to comment, but he was a little slower than usual when he sat next to Quentin.
"Kid... Do you know why I'm bringin' you to the school?"
"So you can shut down any plans I might have before they can start?" Quentin scoffed. "So you can keep an eye on me in your own form of prison instead of letting someone else be the warden?"
Logan shook his head.
"Nope. I know that might be what you're used to expecting from the team back on Utopia. But that ain't what I'm about, and it ain't what this new school is about."
"Right. It's about your dead not-girlfriend. Classy."
Wolverine paused for a minute, looking hard at the teenager. He waited until he was a little less likely to snarl and shout before he replied.
"No. It damn well ain't about any of that stuff. This school, on the whole, is about lettin' mutant kids have a safe space where they aren't expected to carry the weight of the world on their backs. But you, specifically... Quintavius Quire, you need to be there so you can be a child."
The use of his full name and the implication that he was anything less than a hell raising anarchist rankled Quentin. He didn't like how Logan was talking to him.
I'm not a child! He protested directly into Logan's mind. But Logan wasn't having it.
"Get out of my damn head, Quire. You are a child. The hands life has dealt you so far, those plays tried to take that away from you. Tried to turn you into a villain, a felon. Something you're not. I ain't excusing your actions because you don't deserve to be excused from them, but the fact is, you're a kid. And the penance you've paid is well more than enough."
He paused once more, looking at Quentin. The boy's knuckles were white from the death grip he had on his own knees, wrinkling the nice slacks he was wearing.
Logan took Quentin's chin in his hand and, gently, made him look at him. The gaze returned was steady, if distrustful.
Good.
At least he wasn't scared.
"I ain't gonna put up with your bullshit, kid. But neither am I gonna treat you like a crook. I ain't a monster and neither are you. At least, I ain't a monster in my own house."
Quentin snorted, and Logan gladly let go of the kid. Thankfully, he didn't look away.
"Still sounds like a load of shit to me," Quire said matter of factly.
"Can't do much about how it sounds, kiddo. You're just gonna have to see for yourself."
"Don't call me kiddo," Quentin grumbled, his sullen attitude back at full force.
"I'll call you whatever I want to, brat," Logan growled. But there was little annoyance in his tone and Quentin could have sworn he saw the rough hewn man grin before he stood up to take back control of the jet.
If anybody asked him, Quire would have sworn up and down against it... But he actually kind of liked what Wolverine was saying to him. He could tell from his thought patterns that he was genuine in his intentions, too. It was nothing like he had ever expected or experienced from his other teachers, so maybe it was okay to hope that things would be different now. Different in a good way.