Much of Nathan's life had been spent thinking about the future. He grew up in the future, after all. Even that future was spent thinking about the future of the future… it didn't matter. What did matter was that his focus was singular and narrow. The Future.

So, it really threw him when Wade asked him about his past.

"I don't dwell on the past, Wade," he'd said. "The past doesn't matter."

As he lay in bed that night, Neena sleeping comfortably, and deeply, at his side, he realised it did matter. He'd come to the past to save the future. Gone to the even further past. He'd found unexpected connections in the past. The present. Cyclops. Marvel Girl. Corsair. The X-Men. X-Force. Neena. Wade. Hope.

Now his future was in the past and the past was his future.

Did it even matter which was which anymore?

He got out of bed. Using his telekinesis, he grabbed his psimitar and creeped out of the bedroom.

Outside, the moon hung high in the sky. Away from the light pollution, the constellations and the stars within were clearly visible. The night sky had changed only slightly since the days Nathan grew up, but he could tell it had changed anyway.

He stood outside in his X-Men uniform, his metal fingers curled around the shaft of the psimitar spear, the end resting on the ground. He looked more like a man from the past than a man from the future, but a man out of time is still a man out of time. Nine years ago, he was born. Two thousand years ahead, he was raised. Now, he lived. He didn't know what he was anymore. He didn't care.

Maybe a little.

'I knew I'd find you here,' said Wade as he approached. He was unmasked and in street clothes. From his jeans pocket he pulled out his phone, wiggling it in the air. 'Mainly because this told me.' His voice was the same. Coarse, gravelly. With a light rumble. Like someone who'd been smoking fifty cigarettes a day for the last eighty years.

Nathan simply grunted.

'All of a sudden, I'm feeling a little bit underdressed,' said Wade. 'What is this? Why did you call me here? For a sparring session?'

'No,' Nathan answered truthfully. 'I wanted to talk.'

'You? Wanted to talk?' Wade snorted. 'Don't make me laugh, Nate.'

'I couldn't tell Dom,' said Nathan, 'but I can't sleep.'

'Because she's asleep?' asked Wade. 'Look. It's okay that you're an insomniac. I've seen the future you grew up in. It's truly a living hell, alright. It's a nightmare. And that's… well, it's not okay really, but it's not like you really had any choice in the matter either - you were going to die regardless - or is that irregardless -'

'Irregardless isn't a word, Wade.'

'Yes it is, it means regardless.'

Nathan let out a low growl.

'Point is…' Wade frowned. 'I forgot my point.'

Nathan fought the urge to strangle Wade either with his bare hands or his telekinesis. 'You made me unable to sleep, not my hell future. My past.'

'Oh. I get it, Nate.

'You do?'

'You named yourself Cable because you're a link to the past, present, and future, right?'

'Trust me, it's a lot more poetic sounding in the Askani language.'

'I'll take your word on that,' said Wade. 'Not like I can speak or read it anyways. "Stab my eyes!" What does that even mean? Is it like "blow my mind", but stupider or something? Because I can -'

'Wade,' said Nathan in a warning tone.

'Sorry. Sorry.' Wade nodded. 'What was I saying?'

Nathan sighed. 'You were saying about how I named myself Cable, representing my link between the past, present, and future.'

Wade nodded. 'Oh yeah. Well, you're a link between the past, present, and future, but you don't truly belong anywhere, do you?'

Nathan didn't say anything. He knew what Wade had said was the truth.

'You do belong somewhere, Nate. You belong with me. And with Domino. And with your father, Cyclops and your mother, Jean Grey -'

'Jean isn't my mother, Wade, she's my stepmother.'

'Oh, that's right, the whole clone thing…'

Nathan glanced at the psimitar and swapped it in his hands,

'I remember when you gave that thing to me,' said Wade. 'I thought you were dead. I thought you'd died in that explosion on your island, Providence. Then you… you sent that to me. And kidnapped a premature baby from an incubator -'

'I had to! The Purifiers killed her mother and everyone else - they would have got her too!' Nathan said, defensively. 'Besides, you helped me raise her for -'

'You paid me, remember?' asked Wade.

'I'm surprised you do.' said Nathan, calmly.

'So am I,' said Wade.

The two men simply stared off into the night sky together.

'It's a nice night,' said Wade, breaking the silence after little more than two minutes. 'Clear.'

'Mhm.' Nathan nodded.

'Are you feeling better?' asked Wade.

'Wade. Did I ever tell you how I got this psimitar?' asked Nathan.

'Uh, no.' Wade shook his head.

'It was Aliya's,' said Nathan, hesitating slightly before he said her name. He hadn't spoken of her in years. It had been just too painful.

'Who's Aliya, Nate?' asked Wade.

Nathan froze. He and Wade had been close friends - no, more than that - for five years. They were like brothers. No. More than that. People assumed they were a couple - even Cyclops had assumed that. Had he really not told Wade about Aliya?

'Nate?'

'Aliya was… Aliya was my first wife. We had a son. Tyler. She was blown up in a fight with Stryfe, and she died in my arms. Tyler… Tyler went evil. But if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have met,' said Nathan. He turned to Wade. 'Do you remember how we met?'

'Not entirely. I was hired to kill you, right?'

Nathan nodded slowly. 'Yeah. We… you were. And we spent years as mortal enemies.'

'I was the Doctor Doom to your Fantastic Four.'

Nathan chuckled. 'Not quite, Wade, but you were a massive thorn in my side.' The smile vanished from Nathan's face. 'It was my son who hired you. He was Mr Tolliver.'

'I thought you said his name was Tyler.'

'He was using an alias, Wade.'

'Ohhh.' Wade nodded. 'Yeah. That makes much more sense. Was he responsible for our melding at the One World Church too?'

'Uh… no. That - it was a miscalculation on my part,' said Nathan. 'Tyler had been dead for two years by then. Logan killed him.'

'Really? Aren't you mad at him?'

'No. Because I would have done it myself had Logan not. Wade. He was hurting people. He had to be stopped.'

'I'm sorry, Nate,' said Wade. He sounded sincere too.

'For what?'

'That your first family turned out so bad for you. You're a great guy, mostly. You've some some sketchy things, who among us hasn't? And you're one of us so you have some pretty grey morals. But deep down, Nate, you're a good guy. And you know you are. If it wasn't for you, I… I don't think I'd be a hero now.'

Nathan sighed. 'You're not a hero Wade. But… you do try. I'm glad I gave you the space to do the right thing.'

'And I'm glad I believed in you when you first built Providence.'

Nathan felt Wade's fingers slip in between his metal ones. He could feel the warmth radiating from Wade's hands. As well as, of course, the cancerous sores, bumps, and blisters.

This time out under the stars was different than the first. The first time, they had been enemies. Both trying to end the other.

Now, they were friends. Brothers. More than that. Less than lovers. Friends with benefits, maybe? Perhaps their relationship was undefinable, even to them. And that was okay.

All they needed was each other.

Everything else was in the past.