"Friends, Cars, Big Cats"
Ianto
It was a few days after he became my legal guardian and we were preparing for our move to New Orleans that Remy's attention diverted away from Rogue. Shocker, I know, but it happened. We were in New York City doing some sight seeing…
We were on Fifth Avenue to precise, hands in our pockets resisting the urge to nick something when suddenly I found myself alone. I turned around and saw Remy a few paces back staring at something across the street and over traffic. I went back to where he was and followed his gaze. The man he was staring at was not just hot but fucking HOT.
This bloke that had caught Remy's attention to me sort of looked like Wolverine only taller and friendlier and gay. Especially since he was wearing designer jeans, pink polo shirt, fancy trainers and had one of those swanky messenger bags over his shoulder. There was always the possibility that I could have been wrong but I didn't believe I was wrong. I'm not often wrong. I wasn't today.
The man smiled at Remy and gracefully dodged traffic to cross the street. Remy, it seemed was mesmerised. I waved my hand in front of his face and snapped my fingers "Earth to Remy, come in Remy."
"Hello" said the man with a dazzling smile "lovely day for a sprint across traffic, isn't it?" he was Welsh. From Swansea if I knew my accents and of course I did and do. And according to the infliction of the vowels I could tell he spoke fluent Welsh.
"Bore da" I smiled back, but that's where the flirting stopped, my brother after all had seen him first.
"Bore da" he looked as excited to run into another Welshman as I was.
Then Remy came to his senses—more or less "'Course it makes it easier that the traffic's hardly moving."
"Fair point" said the other Welshman "I guess at least one thing I've heard about New York is true." He held out his hand to Remy "I'm Jamie Davies and you are?"
Remy shook his hand "Remy Lebeau" he inclined his head towards me "my brother, Ianto Jones."
"It's a long story" I told Jamie as I shook his hand "but it's true, we are brothers."
"Oh I believe you. My nose can tell" he tapped his finger to his nose in a fashion very similar to Wolverine. He looked at Remy "You say you're Remy Lebeau?"
"Oui" Remy said warily.
"You're with the X-Men, aren't you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Can you help me? I'm trying to find my father".
Remy
Don't ever get me wrong, I love Rogue, I will always love Rogue. I believe we're Soulmates. But it's very easy to fall for someone else too especially when you're open minded. When I saw Jamie from across the street that day I froze, it was like time stood still. I hadn't felt that way since I met Rogue.
Anyway, after he crossed the street I came to my senses and was able to pay attention to what he was saying. I wondered how he knew I was in the X-Men but my main concern was why the hell he looked so much like Wolverine now that I was looking at him with my lust turned off. He was taller than Wolverine though which was good.
"Can you help me?" he had asked "I'm trying to find my father." Suspicion began to creep into my mind. Was there a reason he looked like Wolverine? Was this father he was trying to find short, temperamental and the owner of extremely sharp claws?
"Why do you need the X-Men's help?" I asked him after blinking a time or two.
"Well, I don't know his full name and he's a mutant." Jamie said. It seemed like he was being truthful.
Fifty bucks, Ianto's voice entered my head, says Wolverine's his father.
I ignored him and focused on Jamie, "Then of course the X-Men can help." We look after our own after all.
"Yeah," Ianto said "The Professor can use Cerebro." It probably wouldn't be necessary which was why I ignored Ianto's bet. I figured Wolverine was most likely Jamie's father.
Jamie smiled "Thank you. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this." Then his brows furrowed "there is one other thing." He seemed worried.
"Oh?" I said "what?" I hate to see pretty people in distress.
"I think there's someone after me, I don't know why. I've never seen him before."
Then I saw someone across the street staring at us. I recognised him right away. Sabertooth, all we needed. "Is he really tall, hairy, blond and has sharp teeth?"
"That's him. How do you…"
"Don't turn around."
Ianto's eyes went wide when he saw the overgrown alley cat, "Who the fuck is that?"
"That would be Sabertooth," I said "let's just walk away slowly, no sudden movements and we're going to find the only person who can handle that son of a bitch."
…
Fortunately, I had borrowed Rogue's car that day so there was room for all three of us. My motorcycle wouldn't have done. I drove to Wolverine's favourite bar where I knew he'd be.
"Mr. Davies, come with me…" I started once I had parked.
"Please call me Jamie and whenever you like" he winked at me.
I completely against my will felt my face heat up and it sounded like Ianto choked back laughter. The little brat.
"Right, then call me Remy. We'll just go in here, Wolverine will be able to help, I think." I looked at Ianto "Ianto, stay out here, first sign of Sabertooth, holler." I shouldn't have left him alone. I am such an idiot sometimes, I swear.
I led Jamie into the bar where Wolverine was shooting pool by himself and ignoring the other patrons as usual. His back was to us.
"What do ya want, Gumbo?" he said without turning.
I sighed "I hate it when you do that. Wolverine, meet Jamie Davies. He needs help."
Wolverine turned around and took in sight of Jaime. He sniffed and his eyes widened. So, looks like we were right.
"He's trying to find his daddy," I continued "any idea who that might be?" I was being facetious—yes I know that word. That tone of voice normally ruffled Wolverine's feathers but he was stunned. I guess he didn't know. "Jaime, what's your father's first name?"
"Logan" he answered "that's what my mam and godfather told me."
Wolverine still hadn't reacted since he sniffed Jaime. I was getting worried "Uh, Wolverine, you all right in there?"
"It's quite all right," Jamie said "he wouldn't have known." Then to Wolverine he said "Hello, my mother was Karen Davies, you knew her in the 30s."
30s? I looked at Jamie "I take it you have the same healing powers he does."
Wolverine finally unfroze himself "I remember Karen. She never…"
"She didn't know how to contact you," Jamie said.
"Oh. Right. How is she?"
"She's dead."
"Oh" Wolverine looked at the floor briefly "I'm sorry, I guess she would be by now."
"She died in '41, bomb killed her."
I looked at him and Wolverine had opened his mouth when we heard a crash coming from outside.
"Ianto" I said and ran to the door.
Ianto
I slumped in the back seat "Yes sir" I suppose someone had to guard the car.
A few minutes after Remy and Jamie were inside the bar I climbed into the front seat and saw that Remy had left the key in the ignition. He apparently trusted me or was just so overcome by Jamie's hotness that he simply forgot. Here's the unfortunate bit, it wasn't even his car, it was Rogue's—she had let us borrow it for the day. I honestly don't know what she was thinking, oh, Remy has a spotless driving record but she should have known better. Perhaps, if Remy had been by himself….
Another faux pas on my brother's part was to leave me alone in the car. Never, I repeat NEVER leave a fifteen year old boy alone in a car; especially a red convertible. It is not a wise idea. That said I will continue.
After some consideration, I thought I'd listen to some music so I turned the key. After all, what harm could it do? The car, of its own volition I might add, decided to lurch forward. I tried the brake, unfortunately it wasn't the brake—the blasted car accelerated and God help me, smashed into Wolverine's motorcycle. The car did come to a stop though. I climbed out of the car to survey the damage, oddly the car got worse than the bike and I was unhurt but I was quite certain I would soon be dead. Just as I was thinking who would kill me first, Rogue, Wolverine or my brother, that damn overgrown alley cat appeared, grabbed me by my collar and lifted me up. This was not turning out to be a good afternoon.
I smiled nervously at Sabertooth "Hello, you must be Sabertooth it's a pleasure…"
Right then I heard "Put the kid down, Sabertooth" it was Wolverine, I couldn't see as my back was to them but I was fairly certain Remy was with him. They must have heard the crash.
Sabertooth had an amused grin "So the Cajun has a brother? And the Wolverine has a kid?"
"Is that why you've been following me?" that was Jamie's Swansea lilt "because I smell like your arch nemesis?"
"I knew it!" I exclaimed and then I did something that could well have gotten me killed. I kicked Sabertooth hard in the balls and did a back flip out of his grasp, ripped my shirt in the process mind but I was unscathed. I needed to work on my landings though because I landed on my arse. Remy pulled me away as Wolverine charged Sabertooth.
Just then a slimly thing seemingly leapt from the sky and said "Toad is the greatest!"
Remy swore in French and said to me "You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Good, I'll kill ya later" and he began fighting the toad thing. I assumed he was called Toad. No idea where he came from.
Jamie came up next to me, "Apparently Wolverine is my father."
"Yeah, you look like him, only taller" we spoke in Welsh.
He indicated the fight going on before us "Does this happen often?"
"Well, I haven't been here very long myself but from what I understand, yeah it does. So, is your mam a regular human?"
"She was, yeah."
"Oh I'm sorry."
"No it's okay, I was born in 1936."
"Oh so you have healing powers like Wolverine?"
"Yep, we actually weren't sure who my father was till my powers developed. But Mam and my godfather were positive it was Wolverine who they referred to only as Logan."
"Yeah that's his name, well the one he answers to anyway. So you have a godfather?"
"Yeah, my mam died when I was five, bomb hit her so I was raised by my godfather, mind he wasn't around a whole lot."
"Oh my God, that's terrible about your mam."
"Well, it was 1941 and everything. My godfather was great though, it was his job that kept him away a lot. A bit different my godfather, I swear his smile can charm just about anyone into bed, why I bet if he had gotten near Hitler—"
"Wait, what do you mean 'can charm', shouldn't you have said 'could'?"
"Well, my godfather's kind of still alive but it's best not to ask. Believe me, just don't ever ask."
"All right" and I never did.
"Hey Welshmen!" Remy's arms were crossed and the bad guys were gone "Sabertooth and Toad scampered" then he looked straight at me "Now, Ifan François Jones, you wanna tell me what the hell happened?" he pointed at the car and motorcycle. I cringed at my middle name; I had only discovered it when I saw my birth certificate. My father had never mentioned it to me.
"Er—not really."
Wolverine cracked his knuckles "You might wanna start talking kid."
Remy came closer "You do know it's me Rogue's gonna kill, right? And that's only if Wolverine don't do it first!" his eyes were blazing "What the hell were you thinking? You could have been killed and I told you to holler if that cat showed up!" As scary as he was right then I could tell it wasn't the state of the automobiles he was upset with.
"I-I just wanted to listen to the radio, you left the keys in the car."
"I fucking know that! But you should have known not to touch something you didn't know how to fucking work!"
I heard Wolverine sigh heavily "all right, that's enough Gumbo, let's get outta here."
"I'm sorry about your bike Wolverine" I told him.
He shrugged "You're more important than the bike, kid."
"I hope Rogue has that attitude."
"Don't worry, it's me she's gonna kill" Remy said.
"I'm sorry" I said to him "I—"
"Shut up" he pulled me into a hug "just forget it Ianto, my fault anyway, shouldn't have left you out here. Sorry I yelled."
I shrugged "You had to yell at me sometime."
Yeah, that was a bit 'Full House', wasn't it? But bear with me; it did happen like that, at least to the best of my recollection.
Remy
I wasn't sure if I was taking to this whole legal guardian thing that well. It was my fault that Rogue's car and Wolverine's bike got a little bent out of shape. But the thing was I didn't even care about that, my only concern was my brother. I guess that's how it was supposed to be. Ianto could have been killed or seriously injured at the very least and it would have been my fault. I left the key in the ignition, I left Ianto by himself. 'Ianto, stay out here, any sign of Sabertooth, holler'. What had I been thinking? Ianto hadn't had any training in defence yet (other than a few staff lessons) and he didn't know anything about Sabertooth. How could I have been so stupid as to leave Ianto alone?
"You're brooding" Ianto said suddenly on the way back to the mansion. We had to call Scott to come and get us as both car and bike were not drivable "it's not a good feeling for you."
"Stop reading my emotions" I grumbled at him.
"Sorry, can't help it. But stop blaming yourself; it's not your fault."
"It is too."
"Guys" Scott said from the driver's seat "relax okay, we'll sort this out when we get home." In the rear view mirror he flicked his eyes to Jamie "so, Mr. Davies, how long have you been in New York?"
"About a day now and please call me Jamie." He was sitting very close to me, and had been glancing me in that 'you're hot, I'm hot, let's have a good fuck' sort of way since we met.
Does he have to flirt with me with his father in the car? I thought.
I imagine he isn't aware of what Wolverine might do to you. Ianto's voice was in my head.
Was I talking to you?
Either case I don't think Wolverine is noticing. I think he's oblivious to that sort of thing.
Shut up, Ianto.
You owe me fifty bucks.
Didn't I just tell you to shut up?
