Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.
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Sitting at the sidewalk café with a cup of coffee cooling, the steam wafting and whisked away on the breeze, Sebastian played against himself at chess. Texts on his phone slowly gathered, ignored for the moment as he took a moment to himself away from all his ambitions to just enjoy a pure moment of contentment. Hearing a murmur run through the fellow patrons of the café, he looked up from his game to notice a curious sight unfolding. Taking up his cup for a sip and finding it agreeable if not enjoyable, he watched as Wanda walked fearlessly into traffic.
Wearing Raybans and sporting a classic Walkman, she looked completely oblivious to her surroundings, just snapping away to the music only she could hear. There were gasps and shocked cries, and of course so many apathetic souls holding their phones up to record the scene playing out. Cars swerved, brakes skidded, and in one spectacular show with a cargo truck barrelling at her, a sinkhole ate away at the asphalt to devour it neatly. Skipping up onto the sidewalk as if nothing had happened, Wanda ignored it all and made her way to him, taking the unoccupied seat and looking over the chess board.
"I believe this is where I would be prompted to say you could have been injured, if not killed." Shaw said after savouring another sip of his coffee.
"Just my strange luck I guess." Wanda replied, taking up a knight to move it and capture a bishop.
Sebastian looked to the captured piece, all his plans for it undone in that one careless action. It made the game all the more interesting, having to reconsider everything once more and adjust. Watching the uncertain waiter walk up with an eye to the chaos out on the street, the distant sound of police sirens and fire trucks could be heard. So much for getting away from the office he mused, picking up his phone and making a call that would sweep this unsightly mess under the rug as it were.
"Your brother?" Shaw asked.
"Who knows, who cares." Wanda shrugged off.
"Miss?" The waiter finally found the breath to ask.
"Chai tea, just milk. And...a slice of the lemon poppyseed cake." Wanda hadn't looked away from the board, her chin held in her hands as she waited for his move.
Left alone at last other than the looks they were given by all the other patrons, out along the street the angry and furious drivers looked to be struggling with their car doors to no avail. Likely burnt out electronics, mangled messes of metal or just something as simple as that one little connecting rod to the latch having come undone. Accidents had a way of working in her favour he knew, bad luck following her and befalling any who crossed her.
He could just barely hear Bon Jovi playing from the walkman, by no means loud enough to obscure the risk the traffic might have been had she not been who she was. The Raybans were shed and perched on her brow, intense blue eyes meeting him across the checkered board. Offering up a pawn and wondering just what her play would be, he leaned back in his chair and enjoyed his coffee all the more now that he had someone to play against.
"How's Emma?" Wanda asked, ignoring the pawn and moving deeper into his area of the board.
"Distracted, maybe working another angle or such. I'm sure we'll know in due time." Shaw answered softly, moving his remaining bishop to guard the one pawn.
"Her pet kittens friend?" Wanda asked, eyeing the board and toying with her queen.
"Now isn't that courtship going to become all the more interesting to watch?" Shaw said with a smile.
A rook recklessly captured one of his pawns, but as he had a second look to the board he saw a slow strategy forming. Indulging her, he ignored it and moved another pawn across the board and thinking ahead the moves that would put her in check. As her cake and tea came, he spared a glance to the road where emergency services were now clearly seen in the distant.
"And just what are you planning?" Wanda asked, her eyes meeting his.
"That, you will just have to wait and see." Shaw answered with an honest chuckle.
"You know you can't control it." Wanda let her gaze fall to her cake, breaking off another piece to nibble on.
"Just because it won't fetch or beg doesn't mean I can't have it do what I want, sometimes all it takes are just a few nudges in the right direction." Shaw said this as he watched her make her move.
Dangerous eyes glared up at him as he captured a pawn of hers and put her on the defensive of her King. Snapping up a pawn of her own and moving it but a single step forward, the flick of her finger was all the warning he had before his cup of coffee cracked and spilled the hot brew upon his lap. The pain was short lived, his power at work, just leaving an unsightly mess behind as he fished out a handkerchief to dab at his sullied slacks.
"Just make sure my brother isn't anywhere near where you'd unleash it." Wanda warned, her voice tight and chill.
"Noted, but don't you mean your brother and yourself?" Shaw asked for the sake of conversation even if he felt he knew the answer.
"I can take care of myself." Wanda sniffed, rising from her seat to finish the last of her cake in one bite.
Seeing her reach for her hot pink velcro wallet, he waved off her attempt to pay for her meal. Slipping her Raybans back down and turning sharply on her heel, he wasn't alone in watching her leave. At the sidewalk she turned to offering him one last look.
"Oh, don't go forgetting his flight lands in an hour, you wouldn't want to keep your distinguished peer waiting." Wanda added, walking off down the street away from the approaching police cars.
Smiling at this, he wondered just where she had found out about that flight and looking forward to figuring it all out. On days like these when she was functioning as flawlessly as this he could easily imaging her rivalling Emma and earning herself a place as a Queen of the Hellfire Club. He wondered just how long this bout of liveliness would last before she fell into a fugue of sleep and melancholy that left her brother dotting over her.
"Waiter?" Shaw called, catching the attention of the harried man.
Passing off a wad of bills for, the man counted them out looking confused and started to hand back the excess. Ignoring him, Sebastian packed up his chess set and noticed the sleek, black Lexus pulling up.
"Sir? Your change?" The waiter asked.
"Keep it." Shaw answered without turning back.
Climbing in and signalling the driver, his first stop would be to get showered and changed after his accident with the coffee. She had been right, he couldn't go keeping another King of the Hellfire Club waiting, this one from their Dubai branch flying in specifically at his request. He could just imagine how tempted Amahl would be upon hearing his proposition, helping him get Rachel back into their hands. Looking to his fist, he saw he still held the White King from his set. Pressing his thumb hard against the crowned head, it broke with a neat snap.
"Sometimes all it takes is a few nudges in the right direction." Shaw said in the privacy of his car, the driver hidden behind a pane of glass.
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"Who knew ya knew Judo?" Marie asked from her place on the bed.
Beaten and bruised, she gave as good as she got after a while but with a loll of her head to her side, Logan showed no signs of the kicks and punches she'd scored down on the mats in the Danger Room. No, now dressed in just a pair of jeans putting his broad chest on display, even the few bite marks from some dirty tricks she'd used had faded. His only answer to her question was a shrug and the snap and hiss of a beer opening. Taking up the offered Corona and drinking deeply, she rolled to her back and stared up at the ceiling of their bedroom.
"Hun?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah babe?" Logan answered softly, his voice painted with a deep pain.
"You okay?"
He sighed deep and it was one she had become familiar with out when it had just been them, a camper and hundreds of klicks of wilderness standing between them and the civilized world. Nights spent at campfires with her in his arms, those stubborn memories coming out slowly. There were nights when as she looked into those steely grey eyes of his that he seemed an old man, too much life and regret to bear. Looking at him now, she saw unspent tears lingering as he sat there with his untouched beer.
Rolling over and placing her nearly finished beer below their bed, she slipped off in just the skin that had once ruled her life, glistening from the soothing and sometimes sensual massage he'd given her to work out the kinks and aches from their workout. His arms opened to welcome her as she took her place in his lap, their noses nearly meeting, smiling as she saw him breath deep to take in her scent. Pressing her brow to his, she wrapped him up in her arms as he did her.
"Just feelin' haunted s'all." Logan whispered in the nearness.
Rubbing her cheek against his and feeling the grit of his stubble, she leaned to trail a few kisses down his jaw until he turned to capture her lips with his. His hands roamed her, gripping her by her bruised shoulder and still tender bottom. Surging from his seat he threw them bodily at their bed, him atop her encompassing her vision. She couldn't nor wouldn't hide the twinge of hurt that came as she saw him stare down at her, his eyes going distant and wondering just who he saw in her stead.
"Who's haunting you..." Marie asked, her voice wavering as he trailed fingers through her hair.
Blinking once, those tears of his fell as he looked at her now with a different pain expressed, begging silent apology with a kiss to her neck and shoulder unable to bear her gaze. She knew whoever this ghost was to him that she was important, more than even his Silver Fox, Kayla. She couldn't be jealous of the dead, taking solace in his arms, but her vision grew cloudy with her own tears freely rolling down her cheeks.
"Just a name..." Logan whispered.
"Say it Sugah, I know I'm in good company, all the ladies that loved you..." Marie said softly with her lips so near his ear, relishing the shiver she felt run through his flesh as she held him.
"Mariko..." Logan croaked, his grip on her tightening as the first silent sob wracked his frame.
Like the words to a spell, the name brought with it a slew of disjointed memories he shared with her in the welcome darkness of their bedroom. As if each were a brushstroke, it painted a picture of her lover that felt so right, her Logan learning the honour she always felt was there deep down in those unbreakable bones of his. Though Mariko sounded delicate and gentle, Marie knew like so many who loved Logan that the woman had a will cast of Iron even if it were hidden in silk.
"Mariko..." Marie whispered long after he had fallen asleep, "...thanks for taking care of him."
Nestling closer to him and drawing their shared sheets over them, she kissed him on the brow, the nose and then the lips before settling down for a nights slumber. The lingering tears she stubbornly fought against were for him, shed for the day she felt would someday come years from now when on a night like this he told another lover a story conjured by a name, her own.
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