Chapter 11: Cars and Apologies
Logan was on his back under the car's front end when Kurt appeared in the garage. Kurt didn't speak, but he knew Logan's enhanced senses would have no trouble registering his presence even if his entrance hadn't been accompanied by the smell of brimstone. He perched himself on a nearby counter and waited for Logan to acknowledge him.
"Make yourself useful, elf, and hand me that wrench."
Without getting up, Kurt collected the wrench in a twist of his tail and dangled it next to Logan's hand where it peeked out from beneath the car.
"That ain't a hand," Logan observed, taking the wrench.
"Sorry."
Logan grunted. He was engaged for several minutes before he finally wheeled himself out.
"You gonna come for a ride with me or what?" Logan asked, rising and wiping his hands and face with a nearby rag and then lowering the jack.
Kurt vaunted effortlessly into the passenger's seat.
"Where are we going?"
"Can't go far. Maybe just the edge of the compound."
"Sounds like a hot date."
"Only the best for you, elf," Logan deadpanned, settling into the driver's seat.
The fall air was crisp but not foreboding, not cold enough to eclipse the joys of riding in a '72 Triumph Spitfire convertible. The stars had come out and the sky was clear and bright with a half moon. Crickets screeched noisily on every side and fireflies blinked lazily against the trees and hedges. Kurt noticed that Logan drove suspiciously slowly; he suspected the car was not as road-worthy as his friend's offer of a test drive suggested.
Logan took them to where the gravel road ended in a turn-around point at the top of the compound's highest peak. From there, one looked out over treetops and a sprinkle of distant farms and country mansions toward New York city, visible as a glowing patch of faded orange far away beyond the invisible horizon.
Logan turned off the engine and hopped out, beer in hand. Climbing gently onto the car's hood, he used a barely protruded claw to snap off the bottle cap. He raised the beer to Kurt.
"You want?"
"Not right now."
Kurt climbed over the windshield to join Logan on the car's hood. They sat that way for a while, contemplating the stars, beer, and crickets.
"How did your interview go?" Kurt finally asked.
Logan shrugged. "Heard she asked you out."
"Why has everyone heard that?"
"Small compound, big mouths."
"So this is Scott's new car? Since when has he been interested in British cars?"
"Since now, I guess. Bit cute for me."
"We shouldn't be sitting on the hood."
"Nope."
"Logan, I…" but Logan was already eyeing him strangely.
Kurt's heart stopped. He can smell her, he realized. He knows. Kurt wanted to say something, anything, to try and explain, but he could think of nothing meaningful to say about things he couldn't even explain to himself.
"I'm sorry," he said at last, hoping desperately that those tiny words could encompass everything and knowing they couldn't.
"Ain't nothing to be sorry about."
Kurt usually appreciated Logan's uncomplicated succinctness, which he knew was his friend's own way of apologizing. But this time he writhed under Logan's attitude for how it seemed to highlight the inadequacy of his own ridiculous apology. "But Logan, I really…"
Logan laid his hand on Kurt's back and Kurt trailed off, knowing, suddenly, that all words were truly inadequate. Kurt leaned toward Logan so that his head rested against his shoulder, while Logan let his hand slide across Kurt's back until his arm was wrapped around him. Squeezing Kurt's body gently against his own, Logan savoured the familiar, now-mingled smells of his two closest friends. In the same moment, Kurt listened to the strong, steady heartbeat that always pulsed everywhere on Logan's body, feeling all his anxiety melting away in that rhythm and the calming weight of Logan's heavy arm holding him close. They sat that way for several minutes, unmindful of who might see them or what conclusions they might draw. The stars stretched out toward the glowing, distant horizon and New York City, in whose aura they finally dissolved into murkiness.
"I should go," said Kurt finally, pulling away.
Logan didn't ask for an explanation. "You want a ride?"
"Not unless you're headed back anyway. I can just teleport."
"I think I'm going to stay put awhile."
Kurt jumped down and cast a final look out over the landscape. "Danger Room? Tomorrow at 9?"
"See you there."
Kurt turned back toward his friend just as he was about to 'port.
"Logan?"
"What is it, elf?"
"I'm very happy you're back."
"Me, too, elf."
Kurt disappeared in a puff of smoke and Logan opened another beer.