After his scrap with the hairball, Wolverine didn’t have time to do anything but park the bike in the garage in a hurry, throw the duffle in his room, grab something from the vending machine for lunch, and run to the woodshop. Wouldn’t be cool to show up late from his first run off grounds, no point in riling Xavier up right now, he reminded himself as he stalked to his corner to work with the hand tools while the rest of the guys gathered around the power tools and proceeded to tear the shit out of anything that fit under a blade.
He continued to frown as his hands smoothly worked planes of the oak he’d decided on for his project. The run in with Vicky wasn’t what bothered him, he’d definitely had worse before, and his throat was already healed. It was the shit the guy’d said.
“Does it bother you, runt? To know you’re not the first.”
Wolverine was no unspoiled angel himself, so to hold Rogue’s history against her would make him a first rate hypocrite and not to mention a giant asshole. But the idea of her with that bastard sat heavy in his gut like a lump of lead. He knew his girl had a taste for walking on the wild side, but Vicky apparently tread the line between bad boy and psycho.
He couldn’t bring himself to dwell long on the idea of Rogue and that creep because the mental image that popped into his head made his jaw clench. She’d told him the guy hadn’t always been that way, something about being gone for a year and doing god knew what changed him.
Yeh, into a certifiable nut job with a clear death wish if he kept tangling with Wolverine.
Wasn’t Rogue’s fault her ex was an annoying fuckhead with a talent for jerking Wolverine’s chain. That was kinda the whole purpose of exes. Besides, Rogue was embarrassed and angry when he blonde feral showed up in her room, even kicked him in the nuts before she literally threw him out the door. Clearly, no love lost on her side.
Even though his brain was being all rational about it, it didn’t mean his gut liked it. Wolverine stamped down on the irrational jealousy that threatened to rise up. Rogue had had a life long before he waltzed into it, and he wasn’t going to make a big deal out it, even if he hated the bastard.
He decided just to try to forget about it, at least until the next time Victor decided to make an appearance. Instead Wolverine focused on the curve of the wood under his hand, the silky feel of the smoothed grain at his fingertips as he wedged two pieces he’d just glued together into a vice to set. He reached for a rung he’d been working on and a carving tool when a voice snapped his concentration.
“HEY!” He turned around. Think of the she-devil, and she shall appear.
“Hey darlin’ I was just-“
“Don’t you ‘hey darlin’” me!” Rogue thundered as she stomped towards him. The venom in her voice carried over even the table saw, which caught the attention of the other guys in the room and the electric screaming wound down as they watched her storm across the room.
The teen straightened up at her tone, “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, what’s wrong? What’s wrong? You bring back my bike tore up all to fuck and you want to ask me WHAT’S WRONG?!” Rogue shouted. “Then you sneak off, don’t even have to guts to tell me to my face! I gotta find it myself!” Her face was red even as her eyes were cold and dark.
Wolverine bristled at her accusation, “I just got in! I didn’t have time to find you before shop. I was gonna-“
“Ha!” she sneered, “You were gonna tell me? When? Huh, when?” Oh, she was on a roll and the longer she went the more momentum she gained. He had to nip this shit in the bud; no one called him a liar.
“At dinner for fuck’s sake!” he snarled. “I wasn’t sneaking, and I ain’t lying, so you need to knock that shit off right now.”
“Don’t you fucking swear at me, you asshole!” Rogue raged. “I let you borrow it as a favor and you wreck it!!”
“You need to calm down so I can tell you what happened, see-“
“I don’t care what happened!” she snarked, cutting him off with a wave of her hand in his face. “It’s one of the few things I own, and you wrecked it! I can’t trust you! I can’t trust you with shit!!!” Her voice rose to a shriek by the end and the other guys in the shop slunk back.
“That’s a fucking leap from a scratch on your bike to you not trusting me, Rogue” Wolverine growled warningly. “That ain’t the same and you know it.” She was pushing him too far.
“Whatever,” she drawled with a sarcastic eye roll that made him see red. “I don’t care what-“
“ENOUGH!” Wolverine roared. The ferocity in his voice and the anger clearly lining his face stopped her mid-rant. “So what, you ain’t gonna listen to me?! What, I’m just your errand boy, huh?! Pick up your goddamned gloves, your fucking makeup, your mystery packages! I fucking cheer you up when you’re pissed off, buy you shit, even make fucking friends with Cyke, of all people, for US!” He pointed a finger in her face, bitterly.
Rogue’s open mouth snapped shut in surprise at his tirade.
Wolverine’s voice lowered into the low and dangerous register, his fury at her accusations seething into every word. “And you say you can’t trust me and you don’t care, yeh? Fine, I’m sick of being lead around by the dick. I liked you Rogue, but if you’re act like this and treat me like shit, then piss off.”
Breathing heavily with pulsing anger and wounded pride, he turned away from her, spun open the vice and took out the rocker he’d almost completed for the chair he’d been making for Rogue’s room. He looked down at it bitterly then snapped it over his knee and threw the two pieces to the floor before he stomped past a shocked and silent Rogue.
Once in his room, he tore open the duffle, ripped out the bags of her shit, and crushed them in his arms as he marched down the hall then threw all her stupid crap at her door. A bag tore open and gloves in many colors spilled across the floor.
Let her clean it up, he wasn’t going to do anymore favors for anyone who called him a liar and a sneak.
Wolverine was a lot of shit: a fighter, bad tempered, subtle as a bull in a china shop and twice as prone to destroying shit, but he did NOT lie to people he cared about. He didn’t have a lot but he didn’t have a sense of honor, that no matter what little he had in the world, no matter how many times his mouth or attitude got him in trouble, no many how many foster-system crapholes they locked him in, he had that one thing that no one could take from him.
No matter how much he liked Rogue he wasn’t going to lie down for her or anyone else to walk all over him, disrespect him.
He kicked his duffle over in fury then bared his teeth in a grimace as red and black bags tumbled out, taunting him with all the money he’d just wasted for something, for someone, that he’d been stupid enough to hope was right for him. Wolverine chided himself angrily as he stuffed the bags out of sight under the bed for not realizing by now he wasn’t the kind of guy good things happened for. He’d just been lucky it had lasted as long as it had. Shit didn’t work out for him, never did.
He was just glad he had receipts, he was gonna have to return all this stupid shit, he though ferociously as he kicked the last bag under the bed. Muttering to himself about his own naïveté at hoping he’d ever really had a chance to be with Rogue that way, or for the long haul, he tore through the rest of his bags until he found his CDs. Ripping off the plastic he shoved the Nine Inch Nails into the boom box he’d checked out of the library the other day and cranked the volume before flinging himself onto his bed to a sulk.
Hours passed and his mood darkened along with the sky outside as afternoon turned to early evening. He had no intention of going down for dinner and seeing her, still too stung by Rogue’s words and how she’d embarrassed him in front of the other guys in shop to want to see anyone. He flipped open his phone to dial Avalanche, get him to bring him some food when there was a tap at his door.
Wolverine almost ignored it but then smell of a hamburger wafted through over him and his desire to hide out was quashed by his hunger. He flung the door open with a grateful “Lanche, thanks man,” but came up short when he saw the huge Russian holding the tray.
“Thanks,” Wolverine grunted as he reached for the tray his other hand already on the door to close it.
“No problem. May I come in?” Colossus rumbled.
Wolverine sighed and jerked his head irritably to indicate the big guy could come inside, then slouched at his desk as he dug into the double portion dinner.
“I hear vhat Rogue did today,” Piotr observed. Wolverine snorted and continued to shovel fries into his mouth. The Russian regarded his smaller friend with a small quirk at the corner of his mouth. The Wolverine was obviously as stubborn as his girlfriend. “She vas not veddy nice.” Again silence from the other boy.
Piotr tried another tack, “You did not damage her bike veddy much, I think. I know someone in town who can fix-“
“I didn’t fuck up her bike! And I can fix it myself!” the other teen snarled then shut up. He didn’t have any intention of fixing it after the way Rogue had screamed at him, but the idea of sending it to someone else as if he couldn’t repair it rankled. Whatever, wasn’t his problem anymore since Rogue apparently thought he was a creep and his pants were on fire. Let the bike fucking rot for all he cared.
“Zen how did it get damaged?” Piotr rumbled as he reached over and took a handful of fries for himself.
Wolverine sighed and fisted a hand in his hair then confided the whole fucking mess to his large friend. When finished he growled in annoyance and shoved the rest of his burger into his mouth.
“You did the vight thing, my friend. Victor deserved to have his ass kicked,” the metal teen said sagely. Wolverine nodded sharply, at least someone understood. “No surprise you ver hurt when Rogue-“
“I ain’t hurt!” the dark teen snapped. “I’m pissed!” Ok, maybe a little hurt, but more he was mad. He’d almost gotten pepper sprayed over that girl, bought her a bunch of shit, and she had the nerve to scream at him and not even give him a chance to tell what happened, and she tells him he ain’t trustworthy. Ok, that one did hurt.
“Of course, dat is vhat I meant,” Colossus amended. “Vell, I must go. Open hours start soon, and Polaris asked me to see her.”
“You sure you wanna do that, bub?” Wolverine asked as he ribbed his friend hard. “She’s kinda clingy, y’know.”
“Da, but she can manipulate metal and you vould not believe how good if feels when she-”
“TMI dude!” Wolverine flung a hand into his pal’s face before he got a mental image he could live without
After finishing his food Wolverine kicked the dirty tray into the hall. Let some asshole deal with it. Sure enough, his door opened half an hour later and his winged warden poked his head in. “Here already? Good!”
Wolverine rolled his eyes. “Not like there’s anywhere where to be,” he groused.
Warren chuckled in an incredibly irritating way before he said, “You left your tray out here.”
“Not like I can take it down to the cafeteria right now,” Wolverine snapped as he tapped an imaginary watch on his wrist then walked over to the stereo and cranked the music back up. Warren huffed, his feathers ruffled in annoyance, then picked up the tray and shut Wolverine’s door a little harder than strictly necessary.
Wolverine lay down on his bed once again and kicked off his boots. He twiddled his thumbs, he whistled along with the music, he bounced his head against the pillow, oh fuck he was bored. What the hell was he supposed to go now? No girlfriend to entertain him with dirty talk on the phone, no exciting text messages or photos, nothing to do all night except to sit there and sulk.
Well, there was homework.
“Fuck,” Wolverine growled and hoisted himself up to gather his books from the floor as he slouched into the chair in front of the desk, opened calculus and started on his assignment. Even if everything else sucks it wouldn’t hurt to keep working on getting into Xavier’s good graces, at least for now. When the next M.U. came around he’d see what he could do about making enough cash to blow this joint for good.
If he cleaned up at the last fight, he’d buy a ride and hit the road. No reason to stick around anymore. A motorcycle was an idea but not very practical. A truck, with a camper shell, something he could sleep in. If he just stayed under the radar for another year and half he’d be 18 and the state would have to leave him the hell alone. Yeh, he could do that.
Then why was he wracking his brain to figure out question 17? Hell if he knew. Maybe some math skills might come in handy down the line. Then what was the point of the history book he was now leafing through to start his essay on the war of 1812? No idea, but history was kinda interesting, all those wars and assassinations, good stuff.
Wolverine groaned and thunked his head down on his desk. Who was he kidding? He wasn’t going to bail on this joint. He liked having his own room, 3 squares a day, had friends for once, real friends. Shit he hadn’t had before, all of it good.
If he didn’t have Rogue, well then fuck it, he had the rest of the stuff even if not having her twisted in his gut. He’d thought they were a matched set, two of a crazy kind. But if she didn’t get him, didn’t understand he didn’t do sneaky shit the sneaky she’d accused him of, if she thought he was an untrustworthy sack of shit then she wasn’t the girl for him. Wasn’t the girl he’d hoped she was.
Whatever. He’d figure out how to get past it later, tomorrow when he had to leave his room and see her. That thought twisted his insides twist again and the hamburger did a queasy little jig in his gut at the idea of having to see Rogue and not be with her. Fuck.
He pushed aside the dark thoughts and the tinge of hopelessness that squeezed his chest and focused on his essay, erasing his untidy scrawl in some points to refine his inelegant thoughts on some long ago political assassination. Another knock at the door and before he could snarl at whoever it was to get bent, it opened and Warren stuck his head in once again.
“Rogue wanted me to give this to you,” he said irritably. Wolverine stood up and took the nondescript package from him, hefted in his hand as though weighing it for a moment, then brushed past Angel to stand in his doorway. With a scowl he pitched the package down the hall where it thumped into Rogue’s door.
Angel’s smooth brow wrinkled. “Lovers’ spat, huh?” Any further questioning was silenced at the murderous look Wolverine gave him. Not waiting for the winged man to move, Wolverine threw his shoulder into the door and forced it closed, forcing the older mutant into the hallway with a shove and an indignant shout. Wolverine threw the lock then leaned against the door and thumped his head against it loudly a few times to pound out the frustration building between his ears as he heard Warren knock on Rogue’s door and speak softly to her. He couldn’t make out exactly what they said but the distressed tone of Rogue’s muted voice carried pretty damn well.
“Let her be pissy, join the club, we got fucking jackets” he thought savagely as he stomped back over to his desk and tried to bury himself once again under his mountain of homework. He turned up the volume on the stereo again to drown out everything else, but the anguished fuck song Nine Inch Nails was screaming didn’t help matters.
An hour went by as he wrestled with his irritation and anger and his history essay and he was about to throw in the towel on 1812 when a soft “Hey” in his ear made him jump out of his seat.
“Shit, gimme a fucking heart attack why don’t you?!” he growled at the girl standing behind him.
“Shhhhh!” Rogue flapped her hands for quiet and jerked her head back to the hallway where Warren sat on guard duty.
Wolverine lowered his voice as he sat back down in his chair and fixed his ex-girlfriend with a stony look he hoped conveyed his heart was not pounding in his chest from anything other than surprise, “What the fuck you doing here?”
“We need to talk.”
“Great, every guy’s favorite words…wait, HOW the fuck did you get in here?!”
“Shhhhhhh!” Rogue hissed again, then sat on his desk and leaned down to speak quietly to him.
“I borrowed Kitty’s power for a little while, phased to the floor below then up again right there.” She pointed to a spot over his shoulder.
“What do you want?” he growled as he flipped open his math book again and tried to look anywhere but at Rogue. But it was pretty near impossible with her ass firmly parked on his notes, that nice tight little ass-
Wolverine growled at his pervy inner voice and reminded it he was pissed off, not horny. Ok, he was always horny, but anger was in the driver’s seat right now. But anger was also taking a look at that ass inches from his history essay.
“I’m sorry, sugar.” Rogue said softly. He kept his head down, he didn’t want to look at her, didn’t want to see her face because he knew it would weaken his resolve. “Hey,” she whispered as she covered his hand with her gloved on, cute little red wristlets he’s picked up at the mall for her today, “Colossus told me what happened with Victor. I know it wasn’t your fault. I should have let you explain.”
Wolverine closed his eyes and sighed. Damnit, why did she make being pissed at her so damn difficult? He sat back, but kept his eyes closed and scrubbed his hands through his hair. Nope, not going to look at her, not even a little bit, even as his lids cracked a millimeter and he saw her sitting on his desk with her head down, gloved hands twisting her lap.
He didn’t say anything, just waited. The ball was in her court. Finally, the ongoing silence got to Rogue and she sighed and scratched the back of her neck in discomfit. “I shouldn’t have said that junk to you. I was saw the bike and just went ape shit. That wasn’t cool.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Wolverine grunted in agreement. He opened his eyes finally and looked at her dead on. “You called me a liar, and I ain’t ever lied to you, Rogue. Not about anything.”
She caught his gaze and something in it made her blush. “When I get mad I shoot off my mouth before my brain gets going.”
“Know how that is. But you gotta understand something, Rogue,” Wolverine said quietly as he stood up and in front of her, looking her dead on. “I ain’t never said that kinda shit to you, much less in front of other people. You get what I’m saying?” She had the good grace to hang her head in embarrassment. “I wouldn’t. I don’t slag off the people I care about.”
“You care about me?” Rogue lifted her head and gave him a small hopeful smile.
“Dunno right now.” Her face fell and it made something in his chest tighten. “I gotta know something and you tell me straight. Do you trust me? I mean really trust me?”
He stared her down and he could tell she took his words seriously and steadied herself to give him an honest answer. “I do, I trust you Wolverine.”
He sighed in relief and lowered his hands to squeeze her knees lightly. “Good.”
“We cool?” Rogue rested her hands over his and twinned their fingers together.
Wolverine grunted, “Yeh, we’re cool.” And he leaned forward and rested his chin on the top of her head, protected by her hair. Damnit, he’d planned to stay mad at her longer than this, but she was so sincere, not a trace of deceit on her.
“So that was our first fight, huh?” He heard the humor in Rogue’s voice and felt her smile against his shirt.
“Guess so, don’t have much experience with the whole relationship thing,” he admitted awkwardly. Fuck he didn’t think he’d ever been in a real one. Did fuck buddies constitute a relationship? Probably not, especially since after the first screaming match he never saw the chicks again.
Rogue raised her head and that familiar glint of mischief shone and made a few goose bumps rise on his arms. “Oh, so we’re in a ‘relationship’ now?” she grinned.
“Damnit, woman,” Wolverine growled as his hand gripped her arm tightly and pulled her firmly to his chest, “You trying to pick another fight?”
“Maybe,” she teased. “Means we get to make up.” She leaned up and kissed him right below his ear and hell if a zing went down his spine and made him give a little jerk against her.
“Damn right,” he agreed and hauled her legs up and around his waist. “Let’s get to making up.”
“Wolverine, who are you talking to?” Warren’s voice sounded on the other side of the door. The doorknob jiggled and thank fuck Wolverine had locked the door when he threw out Angel earlier.
Rogue phased right through his arms and disappeared through the floor as Wolverine dug his cell phone out of his pocket and held it to his ear as he dashed across the room to throw open the door.
“Hang on Lanche,” he grunted to the dial tone in his ear as he quirked an irritated eyebrow at Warren. “What?” he said irritably. Damn it to hell if the winged man didn’t have the worst timing ever.
“I thought I heard you talking to someone,” Angel said suspiciously as he looked around the room.
“Duh,” Wolverine deadpanned and pointed to the phone cradled between his chin and ear. “Call you back, man” he said to the empty phone and snapped it shut. He leaned against the doorjamb as Warren looked around his empty room then walked over to the bathroom and flung the door open.
“No one here,” Angel announced.
“I could’ve told you that,” the dark teen growled moodily as the man looked over his desk and lifted a few stray pages of homework and rifled through them.
“Glad to see you’re using this time constructively, getting your grades up,” he said smugly. Wolverine shrugged. Well he’d meant to spend the evening doing all that responsible junk, but now he had other plans, at least he did if Rogue managed to sneak back here.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for your patience, I have been sooo lazy in updating this story. Just need this chappie and one more smutty one then we move back to Mutant Underground in all its violent glory...then the end of the whole thing a chapter or two afterwards. *sob*
It's kinda long and I hope not too boring, but I needed to get these two through this part of their relationship before we could move back to M.U. and the showdown surely waiting.
P.S. please forgive the typos, i've been working on this chapter for a week and am so darn sick of it i can't see straight when i proofread it.
P.P.S. i'm a comment whote feed the beast!
It's kinda long and I hope not too boring, but I needed to get these two through this part of their relationship before we could move back to M.U. and the showdown surely waiting.
P.S. please forgive the typos, i've been working on this chapter for a week and am so darn sick of it i can't see straight when i proofread it.
P.P.S. i'm a comment whote feed the beast!
Chapter End Notes:
again, please excuse any errors, i'm tired and will fix them tomorrow. :)