AN: This is my first fan fic on and it's just going to be a one shot. Takes place sometime after X3.
Clubs were never her thing.
She chalks it up to the uncomfortable amount of people that cram in together in every area they can. The dance floor is a sea of moving bodies that flows to the rhythm of the house music and the flashing lights is its pulse. Even the bar is crowded with people tipping back shots dressed in clothes her momma would never have approved of.
There is so much skin. Too much skin.
She chooses the club anyways.
After the day she's had, she needs some hard liquor and she knows Logan is going to be checking her usual bar first.
She tries not to be bitter as she wonders if Bobby's looking for her at all.
"Your phone is ringing sweetie." The bartender is pointing at the outdated flip phone that's lighting up on the counter. She checks it, hits ignore.
To his credit, Bobby called.
"Ah'll have anothah, please."
She uses the fake ID that John had gotten for her back when he was living at the mansion. The three of them had went out for a night on town. Her chest aches when the memory comes to her.
The good old days.
Back when Jean, Scott and the Professor were still alive and her, Bobby and John were inseparable. Back before the shit had hit the fan and that stupid cure had ever been created.
She closes her eyes tight at the thought. It hurts inside her chest to think of it.
"Y' know, if y' hold dat face for too long its gone get stuck like dat."
Her eyes snap open at the voice that's far too close to her ear and she almost topples over from her stool as she instinctually jerks away from its owner, her eyes wide with fear.
The owner gives her a lopsided apologetic smile.
"Ain't gone hurt y' none, petite."
She takes his appearance in from head to toe. He's tall, much taller than her 5'5" frame. If she'd had to make a guess, she'd say at least 6 feet. She takes in the lean body he's covered with a worn in trench coat that she has a feeling has seen more than a few women's floors. His hair is a shaggy brown, almost auburn she thinks and it hangs close to his chin, framing his strong jaw. The most peculiar thing is the sunglasses he's wearing in the dark club.
Everything about him screams 'hurt' and 'heartbreak'.
"Ah know, ah'm sorry. Yah just scared me, s'all."
He takes the seat beside her, and she doesn't remember inviting him to.
He's giving her an amused smile but she can tell he's thinking about something, and she fights the urge to hug herself insecurely.
"What?" She finally asks, agitated that she can't see his eyes and he's being rude by staring.
"Mississippi." He states, waving the bartender down and ordering a drink. "Not too many people wit' dat thick of an accent up dis way chere. Y' visitin'?"
Her face scrunches in a way that she's sure is unattractive but she can't believe the audacity of this stranger stealing the seat beside her and talking to her like a close friend when all she wants to do is drink her problems away all by herself. She just stares at him like that for a moment, hoping he'll get the point and go away.
Instead he chuckles, and his next line infuriates her further.
"What'd Remy jus' tell you about y' face getting' stuck like dat?"
Her mouth opens slightly, and she closes it in defeat. He's obviously not going to go away, so instead she turns back to her beer at the bar, takes a gulp.
"Moved here about 2 years ago. What about yah?"
He seems pleased that she's taking part in his conversation, or maybe he just lights up when he gets to talk about himself, she's not quite sure.
"I'm from de great city o' New Orleans." He says, lifting his glass of bourbon as if he were to cheers to the city before taking a sip.
"Yah decided tah move here from New Orleans?"
He pauses for a moment before answering her. "Somet'in like dat."
Something in his voice tells her to not push the subject any farther. She hopes that he's decided she's not worth the small talk and he'll leave her alone because he's been quiet for 2 minutes now as she continues with her drink.
No such luck.
"S'funny."
"What's funny?" She asks, trying to hide the annoyance in her voice.
"Wouldn't picture you as a beer drinker, s'all."
"Ah'm not."
He raises an eyebrow and that amused smile is plastered on his face again, and when she meets his look he nods down to the beer bottle in her hand. When her face flushes slightly he finally realizes just how young she really looks. Her face is beautiful, undoubtedly, but it has almost a sense of innocence still painted across it. He licks his lip as his eyes skim over the rest of her, and the first thought that comes to him is that her body is anything but innocent.
"Yah wouldn't understand."
There's something in her voice that doesn't seem right with that answer. Regret?
"Try me."
He watches the thought process play across her face and he's pretty sure she's going to answer him as she starts to open her mouth when a vibrating noise interrupts her.
Both of their eyes flash to the phone as it lights up and vibrates down the bar. She picks it up to look at the name, and with a sigh hits ignore.
"You hidin' from someone, chere?"
He's joking, but she looks slightly put out by his question. It reminds him of why he approached her in the first place. Sure, her looks had originally caught his attention while he flirted with the bartender on the other side of the bar but it was her sad demeanor that had lured him over to her side at the end.
He doesn't know why, but he doesn't like to see her sad.
His hand skims the small of her back lightly as he leans in to her ear, his mouth so close his breath tickles as he speaks and it makes her insides warm in a way that makes her cross her legs a little tighter.
"Remy knows a few good hidin' places, if y' are." His voice could be described as nothing but husky.
This time she is off of her stool, and he thinks he might of pushed a button because she looks so angry that he thinks she may burst into tears any second.
"Stop doin' that!" She snaps, and he thinks he really does see tears fighting in the corner of her eyes. She opens her mouth to give him another lashing, but evidently decides against it because instead she's pulling a 20 out of her back pocket, slapping it on the bar with a gloved hand and storming off.
"Chere, wait!"
He doesn't know why he's following her, but he can't help but feel bad because he's made her feel worse when he could tell she was already feeling down. He grabs her wrist and she struggles slightly but finally stops to look at him and this time the amount of hurt floors him.
"I'm sorry." He says dumbly. He didn't know why he followed her, didn't know what he was aiming at. She'd made it perfectly clear she wasn't interested, and if he was in his right mind he'd be moving on to the next one who wouldn't be nearly as hard to get into his bed.
"What do yah want?" She sighs.
"Let me buy y' another drink. I feel awful for upsettin' y'."
She stares at him for a moment, and seemingly decides that he's being genuine because she's nodding as he leads her back to their abandoned stools. He motions for another round and she's looking down at her gloved hands in her lap when he looks back at her.
"Ah'm not." She says when their drinks arrive, and she pushes a white stripe behind her ear as she takes a sip.
"Not what?"
"Hidin' from someone."
It bothers him that he can't read her. He's usually very good at reading people, women in particular. Somehow this girl with the innocent face, womanly body and sad eyes has stumped even him.
"Den why y' drinkin' at de bar in a club all by y'self?" He knows he's already on thin ice, but he hopes she doesn't take it offensively.
She pauses and it's evident that she wants to tell someone.
She needs to tell someone.
Her chest aches.
"Ah'm a mutant."
She says it so quiet he thinks he heard her wrong so he waits for her to continue because he doesn't want to scare her off again.
"But ah got the cure." She's looking at him now and he can only guess that she's wondering if he's going to storm off at the revelation.
He doesn't.
"What was y' power?"
"Ah... mah skin, it would absorb people's memories, thoughts and even their…" She pauses to look at him, "life force and powers if they're a mutant, too. Ah couldn't control it."
It takes a moment to sink in.
"Merde, dat had t' of been a hard power t' deal with, petite. 'm sorry." He is.
He could swear he sees her lip quiver momentarily.
"The cure wore off today."
He suddenly realizes why she looked so sad since arriving. He understands why she looked so hurt, so angry when he'd gotten so close to her skin. He'd been being completely insensitive without even knowing it.
"Fuck."
It's all he can think to say.
She laughs at it.
He likes the sound of her laugh.
"Yeah, fuck." She agrees, nodding as she takes another swig. "Worst part is… ah'm not even sure if ah care that it came back, you know? When I got the cure…" she pauses, "ah'm not even sure if ah really did it for mahself."
He's happy she's seemed to open up to him now, seemed to trust him and found him worthy of talking about this too. He doesn't deserve it. He wants to deserve it.
"How so?"
Another laugh, but he doesn't like this one as much because there's a sense of bitterness behind it.
"Mah boyfriend, he's a mutant too. Ah love him, and ah just wanted us tah be able to tah have a normal relationship, yah know? Ah thought if ah could touch he wouldn't cheat on me with mah own friend." She's looking back down at her gloves again. "He still did."
His jaw tightens, and he feels a sense of anger build in the pit of his stomach. He has to admit, the mention of having a boyfriend had disappointed him slightly but it was only filled with an intense anger that this boy could take for granted someone as physically stunning and generally pleasant to be around as her.
"Y' boyfriend is an imbecile."
She looks offended.
"No he ain't. It's… hard for him. He's young and we couldn't touch for so long a-"
"Non, he's absolument stupid if he cheated on y', chere."
"He is not!"
"Is t'."
"Is not!"
She notices that he's now shuffling cards in agitation. She wonders where he even got them from.
"Is."
"No he isn't! How dare yah even make such an assumption, yah have no idea what yah're talking about, he gave up a lot tah be with me when ah couldn't touch, and now ah cain't again and he's STILL with me, okay?!"
He tries to ignore how much thicker her accent gets when she's angry, and he really tries to ignore the thought of what her accent would sound like wrapped around his name if she had been as heated during other activities.
The speed of which he moves startles her as he's getting off his stool and shoving it away so quickly that she swears she's only blinked before he ripped her from her own stool and had her pinned between him and the bar. His face is so incredibly close and she can see he's so incredibly angry over their argument.
Good, because she's angry too.
"An' take off those damn sunglasses!" She snaps in his face.
His jaw clenches angrily. "Non."
She lets out a growl that Logan would be proud off, and she reaches out to rip them off his face herself.
She gasps.
His eyes are burning embers sitting on black coals. They're undeniably not human, and they are burning with an intense glow.
They're absolutely beautiful, she thinks.
She hasn't said anything and he's sure his eyes have disgusted her by now. He's bitter and angry now, no longer wanting to play the good guy. He listened to her and tried to make her feel better, but some people just didn't want to be helped.
That's why he did it.
Abruptly he grabbed her brown hair in his right hand, drawing her face towards his as he crushed her lips against his. When she lets out a startled cry he takes the opportunity to press his tongue past her lips, letting it dance with her own.
The kiss is angry and demanding and there's nothing sweet about the way his mouth moves over hers because he'll be damned if he doesn't leave a lasting memory. Her body feels hot and she knows Bobby's kisses had never been like this. Bobby's kisses are slow and sweet and this kiss is rough and exciting and she can't help but be completely turned on by the way he tastes of bourbon and cigarettes.
He feels the tug of what he can only assume is her power, and he pulls away from her to gasp for air. He can see the shock and disbelief in her face, but most of all he sees that she's panting too and it has absolutely nothing to do with her mutant abilities.
He doesn't hide the smug smirk.
"Mah power! Are you ok?" She looks concerned and even worse, guilty.
"I can handle de pain, chere." He licks his upper lip, enjoying the taste of her still being there.
But then it's her turn to surprise him as she grabs the lapels of his trench coat, pulling him down to her level and she doesn't have to prompt him to open his mouth for her as she kisses him with a whimper that sends chills through his body. He can't stifle a groan when he feels her warm body press harder into his, trying to extinquish some of the heat that's been building in her stomach.
The sound of her phone vibrating once again causes them to break apart although it came at good timing because he was starting to feel dizzy by that point anyways. He puts his hand on the bar to steady himself, her body still pinned between it and himself.
She hits ignore.
He meets her eyes.
"Like I said, he'd have t' be absolutely stupid t' cheat on y' chere. Even wit' y' powers, y' kiss is unbelievable." He says, cupping her chin in his gloved hand, giving her one more brief kiss.
He leaves a bill on the bar, gives her another glance and walks away, weaving through the sea of bodies and out of her line of sight.
She stands there dumb founded as her phone rings again. She touches her lips with a smile, and hits ignore.
