SUMMARY: Things go wrong between Wolverine and Jubilee-- but will they fix it, or kill each other trying?
RATING: This one could probably pass a PG-13, if not for 'fuck,'
DISCLAIMER: Marvel, bite me.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ok…I won't lie to you. This is basically a filler chapter to set up for what's coming next (which, hopefully won't disappoint) I won't say too much, other than there's some romance, angst, and senseless violence around the bend. Also, if anyone could send me a little profile of Gen X, I would be very grateful. I hate to admit the only one I really know is Jubilee, and for accuracy purposes, (accents, etc,) it would be nice. (April, Lionessoflight@hotmail.com)
THANK YOU: To all y'alls who reviewed the first chapter. Being a good writer is nothing if you don't have the confidence if to do it. Keep it up, and I'll keep it coming! Now stop reading this and read the story, already!
It was Tuesday, the next day, and the scene wouldn't stop replaying in her head. It had just been some innocent roughhousing, right? Then why did she catch herself staring? Why did she want to be so close to him all the time? By Wednesday, she had decided it was a crush. And she wasn't happy about it. Jubilee yanked the brush through her hair, cursing as it caught, causing her to drop two of her mouthful of bobby pins.
"Jubes, you ever coming out of there?"
"Keep yer damn pants on, Logan."
She almost laughed at herself. If she had a crush, that was sure a strange way to show it. But she'd always talked to him that way. It was just…natural. Whether or not he was a… good-looking…nice smelling…manly…
"For godsakes, darlin', it's an emergency!"
Jubilee, who had just taken off her tank and cotton bra, opting for the padded, yelled back,
"I'm half naked! Enter at your own risk!"
She screamed when the door flew open.
"I didn't mean it! Get outta here, ya pervert!" She yelled, clutching a towel to her chest and throwing the nearest item of makeup his direction. Wolverine only paused a second, to catch the flying bottle of foundation, then took Jubilee's spot at the mirror.
"…Just woke up this mornin', an' the damn thing was on my head..."
Jubilee, letting curiosity get the better of her, leaned forward to look closer. She saw…nothing.
Unfortunately, her action had caused the towel to droop at an angle that had Logan forgetting all about the mysterious ailment on his forehead. Jubilee, determined to find the cause of his agitation, looked closer.
"Logan…It's a zit. A really, really small one."
"What did you…Small?" Logan yelled at her, momentarily snapping back to reality. "Ya call that thing small? It's looks like a mac truck."
"I can't believe, you the great Wolverine, is, like, obsessing over a pimple." She said, allowing the valley girl to get the better of her.
She heard a dangerous growl come her way.
"I ain't obsessing. An' if I were you, darlin', I wouldn't go--"
"Is that you two?" An irritated, sleepy voice asked from the doorway. A blurry-eyed Paige scratched her head.
"You're waking the whole house up! It's only 6:30…Fighting like brother an' sister, I swear…"
"Don't matter anyway, I'm just leavin'," Wolverine growled, and pushed past her out the door. Paige shook her head and sleepwalked away.
Shit, Jubilee thought, left alone in the bathroom. Brother and sister. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Not at all. She looked up at herself, hair hopelessly messed, lipstick too bright. She took a tissue and wiped it off. Why try, she wasn't his type anyway. He wanted dangerous women. Beautiful, tantalizing, women. And of course, bar whores. She slammed the makeup drawer closed angrily. The closest she could come to any of those would be the bar whore, and she didn't even have enough cleavage for that. He didn't deserve her anyway, she angrily told herself. But she didn't believe it.
* * *
"Remy LeBeau, ahm warnin' yah, ten minutes tops."
"I know, chere, I'll just be a minute."
Gambit rolled his eyes as soon as he was sure Rogue couldn't see him.
"And don't yah roll yoah eyes at me like that!"
An expression of fear crossed his face. How did she know these things?
* * *
Wolverine was back in his room, pacing. He seemed to be there, doing that, a lot lately. And the truth was, it was driving him insane. He was mad, horny, and confused, and the combination didn't do him or any of the rest of Gen X any good. He'd put some of that Clearasil stuff Jono had handed him on the zit, but he was still pretty sure everyone knew just what it was.
Humiliatin' that's what it is, he fumed, letting his claws instinctively flicker in and out of the back of his hands. The biting pain bringing momentary satisfaction. And to top that off there was the other problem.
It was Hank, to his utter mortification, who had given him the lecture. The whole thing played back in his mind.
"Logan, another thing about the age you are at…" Dr.McCoy fidgeted a little, obviously not sure how to put it.
"Spit it out," Wolverine said in an agitated manner. If it was something important, he needed to know it.
"Well, two things, actually. One…er…possible side effect may be increased aggression."
"Ya mean, like, fighting?"
"Yes, increased protection of territory, possessions…And well, the other is…Well, the drive."
"The drive?" Wolverine asked, summoning up images of motorcycles, which didn't help at all.
"Sex hormones…you may experienced an increased…drive...for." Hank was blushing, which was extremely hard to do when your natural color was blue.
Well, he thought Possible side effects are happening, and at an unpleasant rate. Not that Jubilee was helping.
It'd merely been the shadow of a thought, but his mind brought him back to it. Oh, she smelled so good. So…female. And lately, she'd been smelling even better, though he wasn't sure what that was about. And this morning, he'd gotten an eyeful, to say the least…without the towel…
"Stop it! Stop it! She's Jubilee!" He yelled out loud, clutching his own head in frustration.
"Goddamn hormones!" He yelled at no one, smashing his fist into a coffee table. The wood shattered, and his fist ached. His breathing was ragged. He couldn't take this anymore. He needed to work it off…
* * *
"Hello? It's Remy…" Gambit looked around the corner to see an empty room.
"Gumbo?" Gambit snapped his head around, to find Jubilee. She was carrying a pile of books.
"Hey dere, June fille. I was looking for Logan."
"He's not in his room?"
To the negative answer, Jubilee shrugged her shoulders. "Could be anywhere." As she turned a paper fell out of the stack, onto the floor. Gambit reached for it and caught a glimpse of a heart and arrow with pink scribbles around it. Jubilee quickly snatched it away from him, cheeks turning bright pink.
"You got boy trouble, chere?"
"Er...I guess so," Jubilee said hesitantly, willing her face to return to its normal hue. How much had he seen? Please not the initials. Please, please not the initials.
"You want to tell ol' Gambit anyt'ing about it?" He asked, grinning. Outside, Jubilee heard a car honk and a southern-tinged voice yell,
"I'm not waitin' forever Remy! You better get down here!"
"Fast," Gambit added.
"Well there's…" Jubilee paused, trying to think on her feet. "There's a boy…I like…and I'm not sure if he likes me. I'm not sure how to go about…ya know…getting him interested."
Jubilee winced a little. It had sounded much, much better in her head.
"Well, I can only tell you de t'ing dat works for me," Gambit said, leaning in confidentially.
"You got to be aggressive, chere, let him know your intentions,"
Jubilee smiled and nodded, absorbing the Cajun's advice. The horn sounded again.
"I swear, Remy, I ain't gonna wait for you."
"I got ta go, chere, but tell Logan I say hi, no?"
"I will," Jubilee promised.
Gambit walked downstairs and shut the door behind him just as Rogue peeled off in the Honda with a squeal of tires.
"Chere, wait!" He yelled, but to no avail. Remy began to walk the length of the street before he realized he had forgotten to give Jubilee the most important advice of all…Not to listen to a word he said.
* * *
It was Thursday, and Jubilee had had it. She had the very distinct feeling that if something didn't happen soon, the little "firecracker" was about to go off. So she took Gambit's "aggression" advice and decided to work things out the Wolverine way. Ironic, very ironic, she told herself. She headed for a try in the Danger Room, which had been recently upgraded.
She found him already there.
Not only there, he was gone deep in a berserker rage, tearing and ripping out the guts of simulated enemies with apparent glee. He had gone all the way to growling and snarling, and his claws dripped with holographic gore.
She didn't even pause before she entered.
The program shut down, and Wolverine looked around him, momentarily confused, sweating and breathing hard.
She let her eyes drift over his now younger body. The blood all went south, and she cursed herself for letting herself get distracted..
He scanned the now empty room until he saw the slim figure of Jubilee standing there, all suited up. She only said one word, which was more of a question.
"Rematch?"
The growl was low in his throat.
"Ya think you can handle me?"
It was more of a threat than a question.
She answered him by coming up and socking him hard, in the jaw. He could've dodged it easily, but it took him completely by surprise.
"That's for the bar whores," She hissed. He barely had time to say, "Wha---" Before he dodged a right hook. Logan ducked and came in low, getting in two good hits on her torso. Jubilee doubled over, and barely managed to feint and avoid the kick that followed.
"That hurt!" She yelled at him, trying to catch her breath.
"Whadd'ya expect?" He asked, his voice mocking. "Need me to go easy on ya'?"
His tone infuriated her, and she aimed semi-high powered paff at him. It blinded him, and as he stumbled back she kicked him hard, in the stomach.
"That ain't fair, and you know it!" He snarled at her, and there was an audible SCHLUKT as his claws sprung out.
"Plan to skewer me, Wolvie?" Jubilee, gone in rage, yelled, using her former name of endearment as an insult.
Wolverine shook his head, clearing the afterglow of sparks from his vision.
"If ya can't fight fair, then get out!"
"You're talkin' about fair?" Jubilee screamed back. "You should! Ya don't know a damn thing about fair!"
She rushed him, and though her small frame couldn't do much, the momentum carried them back, knocking him against a wall. At this point, the lines blurred. Punches and kicks were dealt as often as rough caresses and they came indistinguishable. Wolverine honestly wasn't sure whether he was trying to fuck her or kill her. Jubilee had abandoned all trace of visible sanity, and was somewhere to the point of trying to kick Logan's ass while begging him not to stop. He didn't stop. It was the voice that came in that did it.
JUBILATION, LOGAN, CEASE THIS IMMEDIATELY!
They broke apart abruptly, each grabbing their heads with the telepathic onslaught. The lights dimmed as the danger room door opened and Professor Xavier wheeled in. Mildly irritated would not have started to describe his expression.
"What…Just what do you think you're doing?" Disbelief was obvious in his tone. "I came to see how the Generation X idea was working, and here you are tearing at each other's throats!"
A strained silence followed as Logan backed away.
" You are two of my most trustworthy X-Men…and Logan, you have your claws out."
With a guilty SHLUKT and a menacing look, they disappeared back into his forearms.
"And Jubilee…both of you…"
They wouldn't make eye contact. The whole thing, if anything, had just gotten worse. And now…
"…Suspension from the danger room for at least a week. I don't approve of any kind of behavior like this, especially between friends."
If only he'd known what kind of behavior…
"Sorry," Jubilee mumbled and ran past the Professor, out the door, leaving Logan behind to glare. She only stopped once she had gotten to her room. She slammed the door shut behind her, then slid down the wall to the floor. She remembered the hard touch of his hands like imprints on her body. She shivered as she thought of him, taking her by the shoulders, holding her against the wall, his eyes filled with anger and…lust? Had she imagined it? She let her head drop into her hands.
"Aw, Hell."
She might be visiting the kitchen stash tonight, after all.
Yes, It'll be continued! The next chapter promises to be…spicier. And constructive criticism is welcome. But you know, praise never hurts me! Oh, and I'll post ASAP, so keep a lookout…