Shelter from the Storm (RP for Logan)
*OOC -- The setup for this thread is based on the X-men: Endangered Species one-shot by Mike Carey.
The Professor was sitting behind them.
Scott was in a church, hands folded in his lap, listening to a eulogy for a mutant boy that he had met but couldn't remember, and all he could think was that Charles Xavier was in the pew behind him. Once the thought intruded, it was only compounded by the idea of being overheard. The Professor could be listening to Scott thinking about him thinking about. . .
Except that Scott didn't flatter himself. They had hardly spoken since the Professor's return from space. If the Professor wouldn't take the trouble to initiate a conversation, he wasn't going to waste his time prying around in Scott's brain. Anyway, Scott knew this wasn't what he should be thinking about right now. This day wasn't about what he had lost.
*
Scott walked out of the church, hand in hand with Emma. She had been good through all of this -- better than he deserved. He pressed his palm against hers, and his eyes fell on Logan, a few paces ahead of them. Logan. He had gotten back to the mansion just in time to leave for the service. He and Scott hadn't been alone. They had hardly spoken. Everything seemed normal. Maybe Logan had convinced himself that what had happened between them didn't mean anything. Hell, maybe it didn't mean anything and Scott was the one who -- with Emma's active imagination aiding and abetting -- had blown it all out of proportion.
Maybe. Maybe he shouldn't be thinking about this right now. This child had died. There was one less scion of a rapidly diminishing species. In another generation or two, there really would be no more mutants. Another generation, if it took that long -- He wondered whether they should be encouraging mutants to have children. He wondered whether he and Emma should think about having children.
He wondered what would happen if he walked right out there, draped himself across Logan like a pom-pom girl with her biker boyfriend, and kissed him on the mouth, right in front of Charles Xavier and everyone.
As though Scott and Logan could be doing anything Xavier didn't know.
As though they could be doing anything that he cared about.
Funerals made Scott think about the strangest things. He really hoped that Emma wasn't listening.
*
In the end, Logan was the one who found him.
Emma had kissed Scott good-bye and gone to ride back with the students. Alone in the cemetery, he raised his glasses and released a blast into the sky.
"Relieve your feelings?" Logan asked.
"Not really." But then, he hadn't expected it to.
They talked for a while, words he wouldn't remember later. It didn't feel as different as Scott expected it to. Their conversations had always been heavy with things they didn't say, and adding a little more weight to the scale didn't really change much.
Just as a silence fell, the sky opened up. After a moment, Scott turned to Logan and wiped a hand across his forehead. "What do you think?" he asked. "Time to come in from the rain?"
ETA: NC-17 adult content by the end of the comments
The Professor was sitting behind them.
Scott was in a church, hands folded in his lap, listening to a eulogy for a mutant boy that he had met but couldn't remember, and all he could think was that Charles Xavier was in the pew behind him. Once the thought intruded, it was only compounded by the idea of being overheard. The Professor could be listening to Scott thinking about him thinking about. . .
Except that Scott didn't flatter himself. They had hardly spoken since the Professor's return from space. If the Professor wouldn't take the trouble to initiate a conversation, he wasn't going to waste his time prying around in Scott's brain. Anyway, Scott knew this wasn't what he should be thinking about right now. This day wasn't about what he had lost.
*
Scott walked out of the church, hand in hand with Emma. She had been good through all of this -- better than he deserved. He pressed his palm against hers, and his eyes fell on Logan, a few paces ahead of them. Logan. He had gotten back to the mansion just in time to leave for the service. He and Scott hadn't been alone. They had hardly spoken. Everything seemed normal. Maybe Logan had convinced himself that what had happened between them didn't mean anything. Hell, maybe it didn't mean anything and Scott was the one who -- with Emma's active imagination aiding and abetting -- had blown it all out of proportion.
Maybe. Maybe he shouldn't be thinking about this right now. This child had died. There was one less scion of a rapidly diminishing species. In another generation or two, there really would be no more mutants. Another generation, if it took that long -- He wondered whether they should be encouraging mutants to have children. He wondered whether he and Emma should think about having children.
He wondered what would happen if he walked right out there, draped himself across Logan like a pom-pom girl with her biker boyfriend, and kissed him on the mouth, right in front of Charles Xavier and everyone.
As though Scott and Logan could be doing anything Xavier didn't know.
As though they could be doing anything that he cared about.
Funerals made Scott think about the strangest things. He really hoped that Emma wasn't listening.
*
In the end, Logan was the one who found him.
Emma had kissed Scott good-bye and gone to ride back with the students. Alone in the cemetery, he raised his glasses and released a blast into the sky.
"Relieve your feelings?" Logan asked.
"Not really." But then, he hadn't expected it to.
They talked for a while, words he wouldn't remember later. It didn't feel as different as Scott expected it to. Their conversations had always been heavy with things they didn't say, and adding a little more weight to the scale didn't really change much.
Just as a silence fell, the sky opened up. After a moment, Scott turned to Logan and wiped a hand across his forehead. "What do you think?" he asked. "Time to come in from the rain?"
ETA: NC-17 adult content by the end of the comments