Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.
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Staring at the same face as always in the mirror foggy from his morning shower, Logan wiped back the condensation and ran the tap until it was scalding. Lathering up and marking those places in white foam, he began the ritual all over again shaving the stubborn stubble that always came back just like any other man. Nicking his lip with a wince of the pain that was always there, by the time he wiped it clean there was just smooth skin beneath the bloody stain. Taking a pair of pointed stainless steel scissors he trimmed his chops, wiping his face clean from the muddled water of the sink to pull the drain.
Dabbing just a hint of aftershave, a present from Marie, he stared at himself and thought of all the scars he would carry had it not been for his gift. He thought of the trophies that should be dragged down his back by his goddesses nails, a sacrament for a nights pleasure. The only marks that would be there to tell of the night past would be his teeth at her throat and the bruises from a grip too strong as they tumbled through the sheets to land in a heap on the floor. All he had to show for it all were the memories made one day from the next, and the people he called friends and more.
Clenching his fist and flexing his forearm, claws he knew to be bone but laced in metal burst free with an awful snickt, staring at them and thinking of all the blood that they had spilt right down to his first friend, Rogue...or as she had finally revealed to him, Marie. Staring at them with his reflection cast in the hazy mirror, something about this part of his morning ritual hinted at more as he stared down to the sink thinking how easily he could cleave it in two.
"I'll pay for it..." Logan found himself saying, never knowing just what he owed beyond a world of hurt to so very many.
Thinking of all the kids that had put their trust in him, the boys and girls he had seen grow into men and women, maybe he was finally paying his dues one way or another. He'd been lost for so long just making a living off hurting people to pay for his beer money and the occasional roll in the sheets with women that were always gone in the morning. Words again not his own tugged at him, closing his eyes as he struggled to remember the first time he had heard them in his hazy past.
"Not all those who wander are lost..."
"The Fellowship of the Ring."
Snapping his eyes open to stare at her in the mirror, she leaned as Eve against the frame without a fig leaf of false modesty, just ivory hued hair and dark caramel skin looking luxurious in the early morning.
"I never took you for Tolkien." Ororo greeted.
"Who?" Logan asked, an arched eyebrow meeting her in the mirror as she wrapped her arms about his shoulders.
"Next years reading, the movies were well done too that I might just let you cheat." Ororo purred, breathing in his aftershave and his decidedly intoxicating fresh from the shower scent.
"I get the feelin' I saw it somewhere else once..." Logan confessed in the tight quarters of his bath.
"Do you have any idea where?" Ororo asked full of interest.
As much as she knew of his wanderings looking for his past, always seeming to bring him right back where he was needed, her own life was one full of trials with a childhood spent finding a calm to carry her through one day to the next. Only now was she learning that there could be both the serenity and the rage in that perfect moment before the crash of thunder and the breaking of a storm to express herself.
"Somewhere I owe some folks..." Logan said lowly and full of a gritty growl knowing he'd never have the chance to pay that debt.
Clenching his hands against the vanity and threatening calling his claws again, he felt her light fingers trail down the flesh of his forearms and rest between his knuckles soothing away itch.
"We have a school to teach." Ororo whispered.
"Just another day at the office?" Logan asked staring into her eyes reflected in silver and glass.
"We can only hope." Ororo said lightly, kissing him once before stepping into the shower.
As much as he just wanted to climb back on in with her, he had to pay his debts right down to teaching the youngest kids a bit of Home Ec to make sure they all started the day off on the right foot. It was his one way of making sure bacon and sausage still found its way to the menu, right along with some southern fried grits someone had taught him to make even if she wasn't around to enjoy them.
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Heading back from the country market, Bobby had long since learned to defer to Pete when it came to picking out everything. It was an excuse to get out on those bare roads in the early hours of the day and just let loose and enjoy the scenery. Heading around a bend and seeing a man with his thumb out, Bobby was about ready to blow past him when something about the man had him slow and have Pete roll down his window.
"Where ya headed Mister?" Bobby called from the wheel.
"Just a school up the ways, Xavier's." The man called back.
With a split lip and stubble, the man might look a bit disreputable but it was the pale orange hair and something in his eyes that had Bobby squinting. Sure he'd seen that face somewhere before, he threw the locks to the car open and put the car in park.
"What's your name Mister?" Bobby asked as the man climbed on in, a stink of alcohol still on him along with sweat and something else he wasn't yet familiar with.
"Name's Sean, Sean Cassidy. Got my darling daughter going there." Sean called after climbing on in.
Trying to think of any Cassidy in the school, Bobby left that for some musings on the asphalt as he peeled out and headed on back home. Something about Pete though had him wondering, his buddy always the observant one with the iron trap of a memory and an attention to detail. It was probably why he was making such a good artist, that and why he never fell for the same trick twice in a fight with Logan.
"You're Theresa's father." Pete said, not a question.
"Terri? You know my little girl, shoulda known I wouldn't have seen any farm boys driving a car like this." Sean grinned back through the rearview.
Bobby had to fight to keep the car flowing around a bend, turning to look to Pete who was staring back at whoever Sean was in a different light.
"I know Theresa, I carried her to safety the dawn of one morning through the woodlands not far from here." Pete said low and level.
Feeling his breath taken from him by how suffocating the car had become in that one moment, Bobby spared a glance to the rearview without regard to the road behind him to see a tightness in the eyes of the man there and the first sign of tears. Working his jaw and swallowing hard, Sean reached to place a hand on Pete's shoulder as the first tears fell and just gave a nod that said more in thanks than words alone could convey.
It seemed enough for Pete as he gave a nod back in the rearview, reaching to take Sean's hand in his own for a few pats that promised a meeting again when they weren't in the cramped confines of the Lexus as it sped through the countryside.
"You're Pete ain't ya? Bad as it was to hear about her crush on my man's baby brother, let me tell you some of the stuff she wrote about you. Meeting you face to face now, I get the feelin' if you go and break my baby girl's heart you just might be the first fight I've lost." Sean said laughing with a sniffle, tears rolling down his cheeks even as he was smiling.
"I'll try and not do that sir." Pete said dutifully.
"Good, because there's more'n a few girls out there that would hate you for ruining my rugged good looks right along with her Ma." Sean laughed.
Pulling up to the gate and peeling up the drive, Bobby had one last look between the two feeling he could breath again only to realize he'd missed out on something completely all this time. Throwing the car in park with a jerk and turning to his best bud since one asshole had proved him wrong, Bobby saw Pete just smile and throw him an uncharacteristic wink.
"Where the hell were you going to tell me!?" Bobby cried out thinking they had no secrets between them.
"I thought you had enough worries without knowing." Pete said, excusing himself with the shopping.
"Are you kidding me, do you know the crush Kitty has on you!? Fuck, now I gotta go text Rogue! And you know they're best buds now! This is all your fault!" Bobby shouted, already finding his phone to send the text that would light the fuse.
"What do you mean? Katya?" Pete asked confused.
Exiting with knowing eyes and a pat on Pete's back, Sean took the shopping and headed off to where he remembered the kitchen to be recalling just what a pain in the ass it was to be a boy all over again.
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