"Hey! What's shakin', bacon?"
"Geez, Jubes!" Marie set the coffee pot down with a rattle. "Let a body wake up a little first, huh? It's too early for sneak attacks."
"I wish Remy could hear you say that. He thinks I'm hopeless at being stealthy. I freely admit that I could climb that man like a tree, but we both know he's so full of crap his eyes should be brown instead of red and black."
"Ew!"
Jubilee crossed the kitchen and eyed the battered Mr. Coffee with a critical expression. "Forget that nasty stuff. Coffee should never, ever come from a can." She nodded to the old coffee maker that was spitting a little on the counter as it brewed a new pot. "You'd think with as loaded as the Professor was, he could have at least sprung for a Keurig somewhere along the way. I mean, really! How the hell are we supposed to suit up and save the world without being properly caffeinated first? That's all kinds of wrong."
It all came out in a big rush. God. Did she even breathe? Marie wondered just how many coffees Jubilee had already downed this morning, but she still laughed in spite of herself.
"Jubes, is there a point here somewhere besides your freakish need to mainline espresso?"
"Abso-friggin'-lutely. And it's a talent, not a need. But whateves." She pressed white paper cup into Marie's hand. The steam was fragrant and smelled divine. "I brought you a peace offering. A pumpkin spice latte with extra whip."
"Mmm… Thanks." Jubilee had long ago drunk the Starbucks koolaid. She was fully indoctrinated. It was hard to fault her shameless infatuation with overpriced coffees when she came bearing them as gifts, however. Marie took a sip and sighed with pleasure. Maybe Jubes did have a small point about good coffee. "Peace offering?"
"For the other day…? I know how I am, my mouth should be a registered weapon of mass destruction, but I didn't mean to make you cry, you know? We're compadres, amigos! Besties. Makers of cookies, epic practical jokes and—"
"Trouble?" Marie teased, taking another sip.
"Well, yeah." The firecracker's eyes sparkled with mischief.
Both of them were on the wild side, reckless and prone to making impulsive decisions that frequently began well and ended... messily. The difference was that Jubilee just sort of found herself in difficult situations at random and was often surprised by the outcome. The Rogue chose to be there, knowing full well what was coming. Logan was loud in her mind at those times.
If you wanna play rough, you gotta be tough.
"S'all good, Juby. It's just sometimes it gets to me."
"Sorry, girl."
"It's not your fault."
"Don't take this the wrong way, chica…. but maybe if you just told him?"
"It's not like that and you know it."
"I guess with age doesn't always come wisdom, huh?"
"You said it, sister."
"Maybe you need a new resolution this year?"
"Maybe."
"Or he does."
"Amen to that."
"We still on for watching the ball drop in Times Square?"
"You bet." Marie wordlessly claimed a stool, her heel hooked on the bottom rung as she wrapped her hands around the warm paper cup.
Jubilee picked at a muffin from the basket on the island while Marie drank her coffee. The silence was easier than it had been in a long time.
"So, what exactly did you mean when you said you probably think about oral too much?" Jubilee had never been good with long silences. Her brain raced too much not to fill them with idle chatter. The feeling was even harder to suppress when she had a burning question.
"Jubes…"
"Hey, you're caffeinated now, so get on it with. Inquiring minds wanna know."
"You can't work that one out for yourself?"
"Hey, your 'too much' and my 'too much' might be two entirely different things. Just sayin'."
Marie considered that.
"I was just thinking about it, actually."
"You were not."
"Yep. As I was fixin' to pour my coffee. Word of honor."
"What you could possibly find inspiring here? It's not exactly Nine and Half Weeks territory." Jubilee scanned the kitchen with a look somewhere between apathy and condemnation before settling at the island.
"I was sorta thinking about coming in while he was pouring his coffee... Not here, here. His place or my place."
"If you had a place."
"Hey, it's a fantasy, right?"
"True. Carry on…"
"So I was thinking maybe it's like the mornin' after we just… you know, and—"
"Bonus points for imagining you could even walk after a pounding like that. What? Don't give me that look. We both know there's no way he'd be able to keep the animal in if you ever gave him the green light to Nookietown, but go ahead, girl. It's a fantasy, like you said…"
"You forgotten he heals?"
"Hey, that's him, not you, babe."
"You forgotten what my skin can do?"
The truth hung between them starkly. There was nothing Logan could do to her that she couldn't heal afterwards with just the lightest of touches… provided she wanted to. The idea of feeling the physical echoes of their lovemaking the morning after appealed to a girl who had been denied touch for years. Maybe a part of her needed tangible proof that someone had wanted her, deadly skin and all.
Jubilee turned that one over. "Oh my God!" Her eyes were wide. "That's…" for once, she was speechless.
"Don't judge. You know as well as I do that when you can't have something, you want as much of it as possible."
"Damn, chica. That's pretty full-on. I guess you're The Rogue for real now, huh?"
Marie wasn't so sure. In some ways, she felt like she'd always been The Rogue, even before she'd manifested. It fit better every day. "Always." There were some things still too personal to share.
"So exactly how does your morning after fantasy fit in here? Because I'm still not seeing how we go from bad coffee to oral?"
Marie snorted. "That's kinda the point. I come in and catch his eye while he's making coffee in just his jeans, and I sort of just slip up next to him and tug his buckle and whisper to him: 'Can I? With my mouth?' And then I do. Right there against the cabinets. Fast and a little wild."
"Whoa."
"Yep. Rock his world, bigtime. The coffee he just poured would still be steaming when I handed it back to him. I was thinking it would be crazy hot and kinda sweet to see him leaning back against the counter, looking mostly satisfied — but kinda surprised, too."
Jubilee was a little surprised as well. The Rogue she knew was a little wild, but not like that, and she rarely gave up such personal details. She wondered what other secrets lay hidden under the surface.
"That would definitely, definitely blow his mind... among other things."
"Hey, it's just a pipedream. There's no reason to get excited."
"Not get excited? You have met me, right?" Jubilee's voice grew uncharacteristically soft. "It doesn't have to be only him, you know. There are lots of fish in the sea and most of them would kill for that kinda wakeup call."
"Imagination is one thing. Real life is totally different."
"You didn't do that for the Bobsicle?"
"What? No! There's only one man I want to do that with." With not for. It was a subtle distinction that was entirely lost on Jubilee.
"Damn, girl. Doesn't that torch ever get heavy? It's gotta weigh a fuckton by now."
"Sure. Maybe someday I'll change my mind. Or at least grow up enough to let that dream go and think about that kinda stuff with someone else."
"Fuck!" In the adjacent mudroom, Logan slammed the door of the electrical box shut with a low growl.
"Logan?" Storm's voice was half concern and half censure. She didn't approve of his language, but a man with metal his his body and his hand in an ancient power box was making her jumpy.
Logan grimaced. 'Ro couldn't hear the girls talking in the kitchen next door, but he could as clearly as if they were standing right beside him.
Goddamn women. He needed some space before he clawed something. Or someone. The firecracker was first on the list. Storm's hovering wasn't endearing her to him much, either.
"This old box is a shit show. Gonna hit the hardware store. Need some parts and I was goin' today to check out appliances for the house anyway."
He mentally added a coffee pot to the top of the list.
Up Next: She Drives Me Crazy. You can only push the Wolverine so far before he snaps...