Fic: Survivors 24
Previous bits are here.
Twenty-four/Twenty-six
Back at the mansion, Logan really wanted to drag Scott and Xander back to his room and put the day behind them. He was tired and he could still smell the stench of the house in the woods. He wanted a shower.
He could have a shower. He could have a shower with Scott and Xander and they could make sure that he didn't miss a spot while he was soaping up. Hell, Scott could call it a team building exercise - as long as he didn't invite any other members of the team.
Of course, things didn't work out like that. When they touched down, he caught sight of Marie watching him talk to Xander and Scott. She practically ran out of the hanger and he knew that he couldn't let her just leave. They'd come to the mansion together and he owed her better than to ignore her.
He touched Scott's arm. "I'll catch up with you later."
"Not too much later," Scott said.
"Yeah. You have to explain the lack of spandex to me," Xander said. "I'm very disappointed."
Logan shot him a warning look that the other man completely ignored. Deciding to continue that later, he walked out of the hanger, following after Marie.
It didn't take long to find her. She was pacing in the hallway, gloved fingers restless and worried. "Marie?"
She whirled around. "Logan! Hi!"
"Hi," he said patiently. "Do we need to have a talk?"
"About what?"
He stared at her. He could wait her out.
"I just didn't know!" She looked startled by her own outburst and quieted down. "I didn't know…you know. That you were like that."
Logan kept staring.
"That you liked guys." Her cheeks flushed.
"I like Scott," he said. "I like Xander."
"I thought that you liked Jean," she said quietly.
"I did," he said, just as seriously. "I did like her." He didn't know how to do this, how to explain sexuality to a girl. "It's the inside that counts," he said, feeling foolish.
Marie rolled her eyes a little. "Seems like you like their outsides just fine, too."
That surprised a laugh out of him. "Those aren't half bad," he admitted. "We good?"
"Yeah," she said.
Feeling better, he walked away. He didn't think everything was settled, but at least nothing was festering.
He wasn't sure where to find Scott and Xander. In a perfect world, they'd be naked and waiting for him in his bed, but if there was one thing he knew for sure was that the world was far from perfect. He decided to leave his room further down on his list of places to look.
Knowing Scot, he'd want to check in with the professor before doing anything else. He was going to have to work on that man's priorities. Logan wanted a shower, a shot of whiskey to clear the smell and taste of those woods out of his mouth for good, and then he wanted skin, hot, sweaty skin beneath his fingertips and lips.
Logan walked to Professor Xavier's office, but it stood empty. He couldn't catch Scott's scent in the air so he hadn't been there. Maybe Scott had shared his thoughts. Maybe he was grabbing a shower so he'd feel clean enough to get dirty all over again. Logan decided to check at Scott's room. He could round him up there, go find Xander, and get on with his plans.
Scott wasn't at his room and Logan was beginning to get irritable. How long was he going to have to wait? His only other option was to look for Xander, but that meant heading all the way out to the boathouse. Could they really have gone all that way?
Puzzling over where the other two men could have gotten to, Logan went so far as to walk down to the back of the mansion. He really wasn't going to hunt all the way to the boathouse. He was just going to take a look. That was all.
"Did you lose something?" Buffy's voice was perky, a complete turn around from her cold anger earlier in the day.
"Nope," he said. "Just making sure everything's fine since we left so fast before."
That just made her smile wider. "Did I make you push back your plans?"
He shrugged. "Nothing I can't handle."
"Make sure of that, would you?" The smile slipped away from her face. "Make sure you know just what you're getting into."
No threat at all to what she was saying but he could feel it just the same. He hated to have to admit it but she was scary. All of them from Sunnydale were a little frightening. He would have listened if little Dawn had started to lecture him. "I do," he said shortly.
Buffy nodded. "Xander's still in the mansion," she said, starting to walk toward the boathouse.
"Thanks." He felt like he'd just passed a test but he had no idea how. He decided to take what he could get and left with a friendly nod.
Not at the boathouse, not in with the professor…maybe Scott had really done the smart thing and gone to Logan's room to get ready for a shower. His shower wasn't really big enough for more than one person, but that could only make things interesting.
He didn't head back to his room with a lot of hope and wasn't surprised to find it empty. Since he was there, he stripped off and got into the shower, eager to be free of the lingering scents that continued to irritate him.
He was feeling much refreshed when he got out of the shower and even hummed a little as he toweled off, walking into the bedroom to grab new clothes.
"Hello, nurse," Xander said, watching him with interest.
"I can't believe you don't lock your door," Scott said, but he wasn't looking at all sorry for walking in.
"Most people wouldn't dare come in without knocking." Logan pulled on a pair of sweat pants.
"You're getting dressed?"
"Unless you think walking to the kitchen naked is a good idea."
"Why are we having sex in the kitchen?" Xander asked. His eyes got wide. "And why did I say that out loud?"
"Because you're hungry and need to eat." Logan tugged on a t-shirt. "And you're going to keep me company while Scott grabs a shower."
"What?" Scott looked down at himself. "Oh. I could just take off my clothes."
"Shower," Logan said firmly. "We'll meet you back here once I'm sure Xander here has the energy he needs to keep up." He grabbed Xander's arm before he could object. "Let's go."
"Why do I need energy?" Xander asked, walking with him down the hallway.
"Remember those snotty remarks about spandex?" Logan leaned in to speak into Xander's ear. "Still gotta pay for those."
"And the shower for Scott?" Xander was walking closer to him.
"Did anyone tell you about the place we went?"
"It was just a kid, I heard."
"It wasn't the kid that was the problem." Logan told Xander about the house they'd found. Xander listened with fascination as they made their way into the kitchen. Logan's description of the house and the mess the animals had made around it might have been too graphic - Xander waved away food, instead just watching Logan eat.
People came in and out of the kitchen while Xander kept him company. Storm walked in and put together a plate of food no doubt meant for Brenna. She glanced over at them, a carefully hidden smile ghosting around her lips and eyes. Bobby and Marie hesitated before walking in, but after they finally walked through the door both of them nodded and said hello.
Logan was surprised to find out that he actually cared what they thought. He'd been intimidated by Buffy's protectiveness and knew that Xander's friends would be watching to make sure that Xander stayed happy. He didn't doubt that the rest of the Xmen would be doing the same to make sure that Scott was happy, too. He liked that. Oh, he didn't want to have to go through a barrage of threats from them. But he liked protectiveness. He liked knowing that there were other people out there who would look out for the ones he cared about.
He looked back at Xander and found that the other man was staring at him. "What?"
"Nothing. I've just never seen a guy smile so much while eating a sandwich."
Logan shrugged. "Why not smile? I had a good morning. No one got hurt today." He leered at Xander. "I'm looking forward to a good night, too."
Xander's eye went wide, but he grinned back. "Well, uh -"
"Mostly it's because this is a really good sandwich."
He started laughing as Xander's expression turned to outrage.
**