"You can let me go now." Laura was doing her best to keep up her usual snarl, but I could tell she was in pain. It was obvious if you were paying attention.

"Hmm? I'll fall without holding onto you," I said with a small shrug. It was a lie, and I had the world's greatest lie detector next to me, but she didn't argue.

We'd infiltrated a HYDRA training base. A hundred armed Nazis had been shooting at us while we'd worked our way through the facility. They'd all had some weird version of the super soldier serum they'd been dosed with that'd made them a chore to kill, but killing Nazis was its own reward! Still, Wolverine had taken almost all of the damage, practically soaking up bullets like a sponge while I'd been mostly safe and only been shot twice.

Wolverine heals. That's what Wolverine is best known for. But the pain and soreness that came with a gunshot didn't fade away instantly. If it took a normal person a month to heal from a gunshot, it'd take them a year to heal from the soreness and aches that came with it. If it took Wolverine a minute to heal from the gunshot, it might take a day or more for that soreness to go away.

And she was getting shot a lot every day.

I kept one arm around her waist as I reached out with my other hand, tapping the room key to the lock. The motel room was dirty and dingy and smelled like sweat and mold. But we'd only be here for a few hours. I kicked the door shut behind us and helped Wolverine limp over to the bathroom.

"What's other people's blood smell like," I asked, trying to keep her talking. It was my role as a Pool next to a Wolverine. I was supposed to bother her until she opened up.

"Better than a teammate's," she grunted, wiping some blood off my shoulder. I was fine! Mostly. My costume had caught the bullet, but the tiniest piece of shrapnel had broken off and grazed my shoulder, making a wound that bled a lot more than it hurt.

"Well, your blood smells like old pennies." I tugged my mask off and unhooked the leather strap to let my katanas slide down my back and clatter on the tile floor behind me. I was a bit more careful with the gun holsters, putting them in the sink instead of on the floor.

"You telling me I stink, Poole," Wolverine asked with a huff, resting her shoulder against the cool bathroom wall to take some of the edge off the ache. If you watched long enough, you could see patches of her skin fade from light purple bruises to its normal light tan color.

"Kinda, yeah. But like… good stink?" Even I wasn't entirely sure what I was saying, I was too busy getting the water running as hot as it could go. We were gonna need it.

"You can shower first," she said quickly, beginning to take a step towards the door. "I won't-"

"Can you help me out of my costume? The zipper's in the back and I can't reach with my shoulder all messed up." Whether it was James "Logan" Howlett or Laura Kinney, Wolverine had easy to exploit weaknesses. Giant, powerful magnets. Cheap beer. Pretty girls. She might as well have been intoxicated by my magnetic personality.

Okay it was funnier as a thought bubble.

Laura huffed before reaching over and grabbing the zipper to my costume. She tugged it down to about my waist before stopping. I threw an annoyed look over my shoulder at her.

"I know the readers love seeing you in costume, but I'm really not trying to shower with mine on," I grumbled, daring her to not pull the zipper the rest of the way down. She grunted again before dragging the zipper the rest of the way down. I shimmied a bit and let my costume fall off my hips and onto the bathroom floor.

"I can feel you trying not to stare," I told her, fiddling with the shower knobs to get it to run just a bit hotter. These cheap motel showers took forever to heat up. I had to make sure the bathroom got nice and steamy, otherwise the artists would be stuck drawing us from the neck up for the rest of the scene.

"... we don't have communal showers at the mansion," Laura mumbled, keeping her eyes posted on the shower head above me.

"It's not a communal shower. It's a shower with me." Was I being a bit of a brat? Yeah. But it was my writer-given right as a Pool to make Wolverine's life harder.

"I… I don't know what that's supposed to mean."

"I'm positive the other Wolverine doesn't need it spelled out like this," I huffed, reaching for her hand. Her green eyes locked on mine for a bit and I could tell she was struggling to come up with an excuse to say no.

She didn't find one.

We stepped into the shower, the hot water soaking dried blood and guts on my shoulders and legs and slowly rinsing it away. The bruises on my body where I'd been shot weren't going to fade away in seconds like Laura's did. Neither would the dozens of cuts and scrapes. They'd only go away after a scene change, or when the colorists gave up. Sometimes I kinda sat in the ache and pain for a bit. It made me feel human for just a while.

"You're hurt," Laura mumbled, resting her fingers on my shoulder while she inspected the bruise. I'm sure she could smell if something was wrong.

"Getting shot and stabbed tends to do that." I moved to let more of the water hit my aching shoulder before reaching up and taking off Laura's cowl. The fabric of her costume was riddled in holes and looked like it'd fall apart if she even tried to take it off. "Your costume is barely hanging on by a thread."

"Just another thing that doesn't heal," she said with a shrug, resting her other hand on my waist. She was smaller than me, but just barely. Her hair was long and unruly. She smelled like blood and sweat and viscera. Before I'd come to the Marvel Universe, I'd had no idea what viscera even smelled like.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," I said with a smirk.

"I worry, okay? I go out there in bright yellow and black and leave covered in red because if it's not me, it's someone else. And that someone else might not be able to walk it off the way I can," Laura grumbled, her green eyes flitting back to my bruises for a few moments. I sighed and helped peel her out of her costume, getting it down to her waist without ripping any more of the fabric.

"I appreciate your noble sacrifice, O Wolverine. But I've read it all before. I get it. Thank you." I took off her belt and tossed it over my shoulder. Her gloves followed next, and I made sure to massage her hands, especially her knuckles. It wasn't like having two foot blades slide out of your hands didn't hurt. "You do look a lot better in the yellow and black. Love your ninja look, but it didn't exactly feel superheroy enough. You're an X-Man. You should be in bright colors."

"Do you ever shut up?" Laura rolled her green eyes at me as she pushed a bit closer towards me. She tugged a few scraps of flesh and sinew out of her hair, making a disgusted face as she tossed it down the drain.

"I think if I made a merc with a mouth reference I'd practically be inviting him," I chuckled, reaching out and wiping some blood off her cheek. I watched as her body responded to the touch. Her cheeks reddened and her eyes locked on mine like she was readying for a kill.

She pounced, her hands tangling in my hair as she pushed me against the shower wall. I was taller and had been teasing her this whole time. In our dynamic, I was supposed to take control. Right?

Wrong.

Wolverine didn't kiss. She made out. She did things that weren't even in the dictionary. She did things that definitely went against the Comics Code Authority. I was breathless in minutes. I could feel her strong, toned body pinning me to the wall, forcing me into whatever position she wanted from me. My shoulder didn't even hurt anymore. I couldn't see through all the steam. All I could focus on was how hot making out with Wolverine felt. I wrapped my arms around her, and she pressed even closer against me. She placed a hand on my thigh and led my leg up to wrap around her waist.

"Y'taste like raw wheat," I mumbled, my head spinning with how much Laura demanded of me. "Wheat n cheap beer-"

"How are you still talking?" Laura wrapped one of her hands around my throat, squeezing just a bit and getting the tiniest whine out of me before she leaned back in to kiss me again.

Maybe I let her win that match of Wolverine vs _pool?