Just like the first day they arrived at the cabin, there they were tipped back in matching chairs, striking identical poses with their legs up on the porch railing, beers in hand. But it was a hell of a lot different than the last time they sat like this.
It was damn unnerving, that jagged ripping sound she kept making, popping a set of bone claws on her left hand every minute or so while she sipped beer with her right. They’d already gone through a six pack each since Rogue had roused from her dead faint and announced, “That’s it, we’re getting drunk.”
It was almost time to start with the whiskey. The sun was setting now and they hadn’t said a word since they’d started doing damage to his booze cache, just watching the fiery ball slink towards the horizon as the sky turned purple with brilliant orange and pink clouds zigging across.
She was entranced by the sight, absorbed in her evolved vision, the colors crackling like electricity across her gaze, filling her mind with combinations of hues and textures she never though the simple sky could create. She didn’t even seem to be aware of the regular rip and slide of here claws.
He couldn’t take it anymore. “Would you cut that out?” he barked, making her jump from her reverie. She knocked back the rest of her beer, put the bottle down, then massaged her knuckles as the claws retracted one more. The skin took a minute to heal over the slits, longer than it did for Wolverine but still it was impressive to them both.
“Sorry about that sugah, didn’t realize…” Sugah? Where the fuck did that come from?. Rogue reached for the unopened whiskey next to her chair, briefly considered seeing if she could take the neck off with a claw, then thought better of it and twisted the cap instead.
“Don’t they hurt?” She looked over at his question, cocking one eyebrow.
Shit, did she take that from me too? he thought, annoyed.
“Every time darlin,” she said somberly, then tipped him a wink and raised the bottle for a swig. His hoarse laugh made her smile against the bottle mouth, and a little sloshed over her chin.
“Hey now, don’t be wasting the good shit.” Wolverine reached over and swiped the bottle from her, taking a generous slug for himself, momentarily absorbing the taste of her lips on the mouth, before patting his jacket pockets for a cigar. Finding one, he stuck it in the corner of his mouth, struck a match off the railing and pulled, gazing once again at the setting sun. Rogue’s gloved hand wandered into his sightline and made a beckoning motion. He sighed, handed her the lit cigar, and pulled a fresh one from his pocket.
Wolverine wondered if he displayed cockiness with every movement the way she did now. If so, then people definitely thought he was an even bigger prick than even he believed himself to be. It was like having a freaky twin sitting next to him, unconsciously mirroring his stance, his gestures, his attitude, but they was still hers….and distinctly feminine. Rogue practically oozed smug satisfaction at the moment, which was in complete opposition to what he was feeling.
“Don’t start,” she said, cutting him off just as he opened his mouth.
“What?” he snapped.
“Don’t start with the apologies and shit Wolverine. Neither of us need them.”
“I wasn’t-“
“Yes, you were,” she interrupted. “I don’t know how long I’m gonna retain your mutation. Could be gone tomorrow for all we know, even though it feels different. In the meantime, don’t spoil it.”
“Spoil it? Yer enjoying this?” He glared.
“Hell yeah sugah,” she drawled, meeting his eyes. “I’m faster, stronger, heal like magic, and am having a hell of a time with these enhanced eyes and nose and whatnot…” Sighing, Rogue traced her one ungloved hand over her leather clad legs, almost wallowing in the sensual texture under her fingertips.
She kept doing that, leaving one hand uncovered so she could feel everything. His eyes fastened on those bare fingers, the trimmed neat nails, the blue veins tinged underneath milky white, hands that had hardly ever seen the sun. Are they as soft as they look? He roused himself as she spoke again.
“I feel like I’m understanding you a lot better, seeing what you see, feeling how charged the world is, how it almost….pulses…” he lips lingered on the word. “…around you all the time. All the light, the smells, the sensations.” She puffed on her cigar, then rolled it between her fingers, slitting her eyes against the smoke and studying it. “This is totally different than having your memories for a while. This isn’t in my head. It’s all around me, running through me and over me nonstop. I think I finally get you, what its like for you. And it’s pretty interesting, Wolverine.” Her voice fell on the last word, and he could’ve sworn he heard something like a purr in the back of her throat.
He shifted, his jeans starting to feel uncomfortably tight. He shoved down the fantasy unwinding in his head about running his hands through and over her nonstop, made a noncommittal grunt, and took another drink. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing for time being, having her personality a little altered by his, give her something else to think about other than the idea that they would probably have to return to the Institute in the next few days, before Xavier decided they’d been gone too long without contact and sought them out.
She eloquently expressed her opinion when he mentioned it. “Xavier will lock me in the med lab for a month and you too, to figure out why your mutation isn’t fading from. Fuck that!” she spat. “I ain’t going back right now.”
“And I still want to know everything you…I…can do like this,” she waved dramatically, trying to encompass everything that had changed in her with a futile gesture. Wolverine understood perfectly how she was feeling. The responsible, albeit miniscule, part of him had felt obligated to bring up the notion of returning to the school, but he was happy to let her less than articulate reasoning persuade him against the idea. But he’d still have to let Xavier know they were going to be gone longer than expected, and he told he told so before he jumped in the jeep and drove to town to use a payphone on town, about 10 miles away.
Whenever he came to the cabin Wolverine shucked almost all trappings of the outside world, including his cell phone. The whole point of being here was to do your own thing, and he was going to let Rogue do that, even if things had taken an unexpected turn. He wished briefly he had brought his cell phone on the trip. He could’ve called the X-men and the Blackbird could’ve been there quickly with Dr. McCoy to sort her out. Wolverine could’ve avoided giving her claws and a taste for his cigars. But there wasn’t anything to be done for that now except give her the time she wanted.
“Hiya Chuck. Yeh, yeh, everything’s fine, Rogue’s doing better…She definitely needed some time away…Uh, yeh, about that…no. NO! She took a tumble earlier and I had to heal her…wait…yeh, nothing serious, but it was that or take her to a hospital and have her kill a couple of doctors during examination. Sure…yeh, I should’ve let you know, but it wasn’t a big deal…Anyways, she’s uh a little, ummm…feisty right now…yeh, some of my less charming traits...you better not be laughing! Ok, ok…yeh, just…yeh, you’re right. I agree…probably not a good idea to bring her back right now….yeh…you could say that…Another week or two? I dunno……you sure? I’ll let you know…ok. Thanks, Chuck.”
Wolverine was pretty pleased with himself, letting Xavier think it was his idea for them to stay longer. But he didn’t doubt for a moment the telepath wasn’t fooled; even if Rogue and Logan were too far away for Xavier to read their thoughts he was an extremely intuitive man, even without his mutation, and he’d caught the gist of what Wolverine was trying to convey and went along easily with it.
Wolverine stopped at the liquor store on the way back, noting the old bar he used to cage fight in was still tucked behind it, and he wondered if he might have some time to get in some knuckle dusting while up here. But leaving Rogue alone overnight probably wasn’t the smartest idea if right now. She might have gained control of his physical powers to an amazing degree in a short time, but his main concern was what of his was surely knocking around in her head.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
She thinks she's got it all figured out.
Chapter End Notes:
Things get a bit more graphic from here on out.