Warning for spoilers is currently required for prompts regarding Apocalypse (if the prompt is about something that wasn't in a trailer, then a warning is needed).
Fill: Keep On Walking (NC-17) 1/3nevcolleilJuly 22 2014, 23:35:04 UTC
Logan watches as Charles presses the needle of the syringe to his skin, red lips bunched in concentration. His breaths are pants shaken by the shudders that wrack his whole body, even in the warm, stuffy air of the mansion. Logan won't spare himself this, even as Hank looks away.
Watching his mentor shoot up is the smallest price Logan can pay for failing the man so badly, Logan figures. And this is Logan's failure - Logan believes that, no matter how the odds seem to have been stacked against him.
How was Logan supposed to convince this Charles to take up his cause? Logan's never been good with words, and he can barely wrap his mind around the fact that this Charles exists, bitter and broken and wrong.
Even as Charles's thumb hesitates on the plunger, Logan might have wondered if Charles could listen to anyone. Charles is too stuck in his own head right now - in his own pain - to hear. (Logan knows the look; he's been there.)
Except-
Except Charles keeps hesitating. He looks up at Logan... he looks over at Hank's bowed head. Charles's face crumbles, and seeing that actually hurts - but it makes Logan hope again.
'There you are, Charles,' Logan thinks, even knowing that Charles can't hear him. Not yet. 'There you are...'
Charles sets the syringe down beside him, the tiny clink it makes as he lets go ridiculously loud in this hushed space.
Logan nods. He keeps his expression neutral - at least until Charles's face is turned away, into Charles's own hands - but Hank looks like he's just found scientific proof that there really is a Santa Claus.
"Hank? Could you do me a favor, please?" Charles asks, when he's recovered himself enough to talk. It feels like it's been ages since any of them have spoken.
"Yeah! Yes, yes of course." Hank is only too eager to please.
"Could you help me to my study?"
Hank bends low and lets Charles throw an arm around him, grabbing Charles around his waist and helping him to his feet.
It makes Logan want to do something - anything - to help too.
"You need your chair or-"
Charles cuts him off with a laugh - and not a particularly pleasant laugh - but there's nothing unfriendly in Charles's eyes or his face when he looks up at Logan.
"I think we can hold off on bringing that out again for just a bit longer," Charles says. And although he keeps his eyes on Logan's as he adds, "I need a drink," like he's challenging Logan to try and stop him this time - Hank surprises them all (and breaks the tension) by muttering, "Amen to that."
Charles grins. "Perhaps there's even time to light up a joint. Do you think I could still operate Cerebro if I was stoned out of my mind?" he asks.
Logan rolls his eyes, but he grins with Charles. "I think it would make for an interesting experiment. What do you think, Hank?"
"You've never seen him stoned," Hank says. "He's not safe operating a telephone while he's wasted."
Charles laughs - for real this time - and if Logan had been about to argue with how Charles plans to wait out the serum still left in his bloodstream, he's sure he'd be giving up the ghost right about now.
"Oh, that sounds like a story I gotta hear," Logan says. Charles laughs again, and Hank starts to turn pink, which pretty much decides it.
Watching his mentor shoot up is the smallest price Logan can pay for failing the man so badly, Logan figures. And this is Logan's failure - Logan believes that, no matter how the odds seem to have been stacked against him.
How was Logan supposed to convince this Charles to take up his cause? Logan's never been good with words, and he can barely wrap his mind around the fact that this Charles exists, bitter and broken and wrong.
Even as Charles's thumb hesitates on the plunger, Logan might have wondered if Charles could listen to anyone. Charles is too stuck in his own head right now - in his own pain - to hear. (Logan knows the look; he's been there.)
Except-
Except Charles keeps hesitating. He looks up at Logan... he looks over at Hank's bowed head. Charles's face crumbles, and seeing that actually hurts - but it makes Logan hope again.
'There you are, Charles,' Logan thinks, even knowing that Charles can't hear him. Not yet. 'There you are...'
Charles sets the syringe down beside him, the tiny clink it makes as he lets go ridiculously loud in this hushed space.
Logan nods. He keeps his expression neutral - at least until Charles's face is turned away, into Charles's own hands - but Hank looks like he's just found scientific proof that there really is a Santa Claus.
"Hank? Could you do me a favor, please?" Charles asks, when he's recovered himself enough to talk. It feels like it's been ages since any of them have spoken.
"Yeah! Yes, yes of course." Hank is only too eager to please.
"Could you help me to my study?"
Hank bends low and lets Charles throw an arm around him, grabbing Charles around his waist and helping him to his feet.
It makes Logan want to do something - anything - to help too.
"You need your chair or-"
Charles cuts him off with a laugh - and not a particularly pleasant laugh - but there's nothing unfriendly in Charles's eyes or his face when he looks up at Logan.
"I think we can hold off on bringing that out again for just a bit longer," Charles says. And although he keeps his eyes on Logan's as he adds, "I need a drink," like he's challenging Logan to try and stop him this time - Hank surprises them all (and breaks the tension) by muttering, "Amen to that."
Charles grins. "Perhaps there's even time to light up a joint. Do you think I could still operate Cerebro if I was stoned out of my mind?" he asks.
Logan rolls his eyes, but he grins with Charles. "I think it would make for an interesting experiment. What do you think, Hank?"
"You've never seen him stoned," Hank says. "He's not safe operating a telephone while he's wasted."
Charles laughs - for real this time - and if Logan had been about to argue with how Charles plans to wait out the serum still left in his bloodstream, he's sure he'd be giving up the ghost right about now.
"Oh, that sounds like a story I gotta hear," Logan says. Charles laughs again, and Hank starts to turn pink, which pretty much decides it.
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