Fic: A Thread of Gold (X-men)
Title: A Thread of Gold
Author: wizefics
Fandom: X-men 616
Warnings: None
Rating: Gen
Summary:
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men and make no money writing fanfic. Damn.
A/N: For second_batgirl. I hope you enjoy!
Many thanks to handyhunter for the beta. Any remaining fail is because of me!
As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.
*************
There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself. ~John Gregory Brown
Logan may not have been bit by a radioactive spider, but he had spent enough time with Spider-Man to trust his spideysense. Someone was talking about him. Of course, it might not have been his spideysense, and just his keen sense of hearing, but he could hear his name being whispered two rooms away.
"So you, like, punched Logan in the face?" The whisper sounded half amused and half appalled.
"Yeah." No mistaking that quiet response. Hisako often came across as a mass of contradctions. On the one hand, she had, indeed, punched him in the face - totally unapologetically, by the way - but she always seemed embarrassed by that fact whenever anyone brought it up.
Logan smirked. Kid had packed a hell of a right hook.
"Then what happened?" He recognized the whisper this time. Jubilation Lee. Of course.
"We fought." He could almost hear Hisako shrug. "He said his claws would cut through my armor and I told him he had to reach me first."
"Damn, girl." Jubilee sounded impressed. "I don't know a lot of people who pick fights with Wolvie and live to talk about it."
There was a long pause, and Logan could imagine Hisako picking at her sleeve. "I didn't want him to be depressed. About Ms. Pryde, I mean. He was… I dunno. I haven't seen him that way before. Or since."
There was an even longer pause and Logan knew that Jubilee was struggling for something to say. "Sometimes, he needs us to take care of him."
"Yeah."
Rustling fabric indicated that the girls were standing up and Logan hurried away before they discovered him eavesdropping. For whatever reason, the thought of his girls taking care of him didn't settle very well. Then, as he so often did, he shoved the thought to the back of his mind and decided not to worry about it until later.
****************
"Hey, Laura." Jubilee dropped into a seat next to the enigmatic mutant at the small kitchen table. "Wolvie. Whatcha doin'?"
"Eating," Laura replied and Logan had to hide his amusement when Jubilee rolled her eyes.
"I can see that. I mean what are you doing next?"
"Haven't decided, darlin." Logan drawled, picking up his sandwich. Almost immediately, he regretted his candor, because Jubilee got a certain glint in her eye that made him wary.
"Good. Meet me and Hisako down on the beach in half an hour."
"To what purpose?" Laura asked, her intonation so similar to Wolverine's that Logan cringed inside. Whatever else happened, he owed it to Laura to try and give the girl a better past than he had.
"It's a surprise." Jubilee smirked, eyes narrowing when Laura looked skeptical. "You'd better show up."
Surprised, Laura nodded. "Very well."
"You too, Wolvie." Jubilee ordered, before getting up and bouncing away from the table. She paused long enough to sling an arm around Logan's neck and give him a quick hug. Logan saw Laura watching and cringed inside again, wondering why he'd never gone out of his way to make more of a relationship with his own flesh and blood - literally.
"What do you think she wants?" Laura asked and Logan blinked and focused on her face. She watched him carefully, cautiously, and Logan forced a carefree grin.
"With Jubilee, you never know."
"She and Hisako have been spending a lot of time together since she arrived."
"They have a lot in common." Logan shrugged.
Laura stood up and cleared her place at the table. "Yes. You." She was gone from the room before Logan could respond.
The sandwich suddenly seemed like a bad idea and Logan shoved the plate aside. After a moment, he followed Laura from the room. His sense of smell told him that Laura had gone into the library and he followed her. She sat in a window seat, looking out over the island. "You okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Laura didn't turn to look at him and Logan couldn't think of a way to answer. He shifted uncomfortably then sat down in one of the uncomfortable stuffed chairs that Scott seemed to favor. A newspaper sat on the small table next to him and he picked it up.
"That band you and Pixie are always talking about is going to be in San Francisco in a few weeks," Logan commented after he'd read several pages. "You should go."
"Megan looked up tickets. They're expensive." Laura's voice bounced at him from the window since she didn't turn to see him.
"My treat," Logan offered, earning a speculative look from the younger mutant as she stared at him in the reflection off the glass.
"Why would you do that?"
Logan debated his answer for a moment. "Because I want to."
Laura considered that before nodding. "Thank you. That would be nice."
Logan went back to his paper. "You're welcome."
Silence stretched between them again, but this time it felt comfortable. Finally, Laura turned. "It's been half an hour."
"You coming?" Logan asked, earning a speculative glance.
"Do you think it's safe?"
"Just call me a skeptic." Logan admitted with a small smile and after a moment, Laura nodded.
"All right." Logan waited until she was at his side before he settled into a steady pace. If she was surprised by his attentiveness, she didn't show it. For now, Logan speculated, that would have to be enough.
****************
For a meteoroid, Utopia had a surprising number of hidden nooks and crannies. It had taken some of the younger kids a few days to discover a fairly flat stretch that sank into the water. Immediately, they had dubbed it the beach and somehow they had managed to cover the stone with sand. Logan had no idea how they'd accomplished it, but it didn't matter. It felt real.
Hisako knelt next to a small fire pit that she'd already set ablaze. She fed the flames with small amounts of dried seaweed to keep it alive while Jubilee raced back and forth between a few coolers.
"What's all this?" Logan demanded.
"What's it look like?" Jubilee turned to shake her head at him, clearly despairing of his social skills. "It's a party."
"Really?" Logan looked around in surprise, noting that someone had set up a beach volley ball net.
"Yep," Hisako answered, sounding proud of herself. "Jubilee and I put the whole thing together. With some help from Dr. McCoy. Someone had to get the junk food."
"Did I hear junk food?" Meghan popped in a few feet in front of Logan making him jump. He heard Laura snicker as she brushed past his left shoulder to go and stand next to her roommate. Meghan handed Jubilee a small portable radio. "The others are coming. I told everyone that they needed to get down here and party like it's 1999. Or, you know, a Friday night when we're not trying to save the world."
"Excellent!" Jubilee clapped her hands. "Wolvie, can you help Hisako make another fire pit? We'll need at least two for all the s'mores."
Hisako glanced at him critically from where she knelt. "How good are you at setting fires? Not the kind meant to burn down buildings I mean."
"I've been camping since before your grandparents were alive," Logan retorted, going to her side and kneeling down beside her. "You just tell me where to dig."
"Over there." Hisako pointed to a spot about ten feet away and Logan grabbed several handfuls of the dried seaweed. He could hear several other people arriving on the beach, but he ignored them for the time being. Bobby and Meghan were discussing the possibility of setting up a better sound system. Laura had gone to help Remy and Rogue set up a long table that they'd carted down. From behind them on the hill, Logan could see Hank and Scott struggling with several bags of what he suspected carried snacks.
"How did you girls pull this off?" Logan asked Hisako when she came to join him.
"It was Jubilee's idea," Hisako said, carefully setting stones around the hole that Logan had dug. "We thought of it two days ago and have been nagging everyone to help out."
"You should have asked me to help," Logan said gruffly and Hisako gave him an amused look.
"Logan, you didn't even know what a party looked like." Hisako stood up to go and fetch more of the seaweed. "Just… try and have fun."
"I can be fun," Logan called to her retreating back. She didn’t turn, but he could hear her laughter. "What? I can be."
"Logan, your idea of a good time is a bar fight." Scott approached him, his expression amused.
"Only the good ones," Logan retorted. "And if anyone shouldn't be offering advice on fun…"
Scott held up a hand. "I know, I know. Jubilee cornered me and told me in no uncertain terms that I was to let her throw a party. 'Too much seriousness isn't good for anybody.' At least, not according to her." Scott mimicked Jubilee and Logan grinned.
"Girl knows what she's talking about."
Scott shrugged. "I didn't see what it could hurt."
"That's because you're a fool, darling." Emma picked her way through the sand carefully, her heels sinking into the ground as she walked.
"Hey." Scott slipped an arm around her waist when she reached them. "They promised to be good."
"I wasn't worried about the children, dear." Emma glanced around. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to investigate and find out just what the appeal of a s'more is."
"You've never had a s'more?" Scott sounded utterly astounded and Logan grinned as the X-men's leader hurried after his girlfriend to instruct her on the art of melting marshmallows.
Thirty minutes later, Logan had to admit that Emma might have a point about the potential causes of destruction. Hank took beach volley ball very seriously and Scott approached his team as if it were a war council meeting.
Jubilee slipped up beside him. "You havin' fun?"
"Yes, actually."
"You don't have to sound surprised. I may not be good at much, but I know how to throw a party," Jubilee huffed, offended.
"You're good at plenty." Logan caught her arm before she could leave. "More than you know. And a party is just what we needed around here, Firecracker."
The old nickname caused a flash of hurt to pass over Jubilee's face, but she shrugged it off easily enough. "Too much work makes Scott a dull boy." She grinned. "And Hank and Logan and …"
"I get the point." Logan cut her off, but he settled an arm comfortably over her shoulder. "Thanks for looking out for us."
"Just doing my part." Jubilee giggled, watching as Meghan ordered Hisako and Laura around in an attempt to build a giant sand castle. She noted several others watching, clearly biding their time until they could rush in and destroy it. "Something I learned from you, by the way," Jubilee added, looking at him and grinning before walking away to join Hisako.
Logan watched them, noting the way that Hisako glanced darkly at the crowded group of onlookers before ducking her head and having a hasty conversation with the other three girls. Clearly, they were gearing up a defense. Maybe it wasn't the way most people conducted a beach party, but it gave Logan a sense of hope.
With the future in the hands of his girls, he didn't have to worry so much.
Author: wizefics
Fandom: X-men 616
Warnings: None
Rating: Gen
Summary:
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men and make no money writing fanfic. Damn.
A/N: For second_batgirl. I hope you enjoy!
Many thanks to handyhunter for the beta. Any remaining fail is because of me!
As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.
*************
There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself. ~John Gregory Brown
Logan may not have been bit by a radioactive spider, but he had spent enough time with Spider-Man to trust his spideysense. Someone was talking about him. Of course, it might not have been his spideysense, and just his keen sense of hearing, but he could hear his name being whispered two rooms away.
"So you, like, punched Logan in the face?" The whisper sounded half amused and half appalled.
"Yeah." No mistaking that quiet response. Hisako often came across as a mass of contradctions. On the one hand, she had, indeed, punched him in the face - totally unapologetically, by the way - but she always seemed embarrassed by that fact whenever anyone brought it up.
Logan smirked. Kid had packed a hell of a right hook.
"Then what happened?" He recognized the whisper this time. Jubilation Lee. Of course.
"We fought." He could almost hear Hisako shrug. "He said his claws would cut through my armor and I told him he had to reach me first."
"Damn, girl." Jubilee sounded impressed. "I don't know a lot of people who pick fights with Wolvie and live to talk about it."
There was a long pause, and Logan could imagine Hisako picking at her sleeve. "I didn't want him to be depressed. About Ms. Pryde, I mean. He was… I dunno. I haven't seen him that way before. Or since."
There was an even longer pause and Logan knew that Jubilee was struggling for something to say. "Sometimes, he needs us to take care of him."
"Yeah."
Rustling fabric indicated that the girls were standing up and Logan hurried away before they discovered him eavesdropping. For whatever reason, the thought of his girls taking care of him didn't settle very well. Then, as he so often did, he shoved the thought to the back of his mind and decided not to worry about it until later.
****************
"Hey, Laura." Jubilee dropped into a seat next to the enigmatic mutant at the small kitchen table. "Wolvie. Whatcha doin'?"
"Eating," Laura replied and Logan had to hide his amusement when Jubilee rolled her eyes.
"I can see that. I mean what are you doing next?"
"Haven't decided, darlin." Logan drawled, picking up his sandwich. Almost immediately, he regretted his candor, because Jubilee got a certain glint in her eye that made him wary.
"Good. Meet me and Hisako down on the beach in half an hour."
"To what purpose?" Laura asked, her intonation so similar to Wolverine's that Logan cringed inside. Whatever else happened, he owed it to Laura to try and give the girl a better past than he had.
"It's a surprise." Jubilee smirked, eyes narrowing when Laura looked skeptical. "You'd better show up."
Surprised, Laura nodded. "Very well."
"You too, Wolvie." Jubilee ordered, before getting up and bouncing away from the table. She paused long enough to sling an arm around Logan's neck and give him a quick hug. Logan saw Laura watching and cringed inside again, wondering why he'd never gone out of his way to make more of a relationship with his own flesh and blood - literally.
"What do you think she wants?" Laura asked and Logan blinked and focused on her face. She watched him carefully, cautiously, and Logan forced a carefree grin.
"With Jubilee, you never know."
"She and Hisako have been spending a lot of time together since she arrived."
"They have a lot in common." Logan shrugged.
Laura stood up and cleared her place at the table. "Yes. You." She was gone from the room before Logan could respond.
The sandwich suddenly seemed like a bad idea and Logan shoved the plate aside. After a moment, he followed Laura from the room. His sense of smell told him that Laura had gone into the library and he followed her. She sat in a window seat, looking out over the island. "You okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Laura didn't turn to look at him and Logan couldn't think of a way to answer. He shifted uncomfortably then sat down in one of the uncomfortable stuffed chairs that Scott seemed to favor. A newspaper sat on the small table next to him and he picked it up.
"That band you and Pixie are always talking about is going to be in San Francisco in a few weeks," Logan commented after he'd read several pages. "You should go."
"Megan looked up tickets. They're expensive." Laura's voice bounced at him from the window since she didn't turn to see him.
"My treat," Logan offered, earning a speculative look from the younger mutant as she stared at him in the reflection off the glass.
"Why would you do that?"
Logan debated his answer for a moment. "Because I want to."
Laura considered that before nodding. "Thank you. That would be nice."
Logan went back to his paper. "You're welcome."
Silence stretched between them again, but this time it felt comfortable. Finally, Laura turned. "It's been half an hour."
"You coming?" Logan asked, earning a speculative glance.
"Do you think it's safe?"
"Just call me a skeptic." Logan admitted with a small smile and after a moment, Laura nodded.
"All right." Logan waited until she was at his side before he settled into a steady pace. If she was surprised by his attentiveness, she didn't show it. For now, Logan speculated, that would have to be enough.
****************
For a meteoroid, Utopia had a surprising number of hidden nooks and crannies. It had taken some of the younger kids a few days to discover a fairly flat stretch that sank into the water. Immediately, they had dubbed it the beach and somehow they had managed to cover the stone with sand. Logan had no idea how they'd accomplished it, but it didn't matter. It felt real.
Hisako knelt next to a small fire pit that she'd already set ablaze. She fed the flames with small amounts of dried seaweed to keep it alive while Jubilee raced back and forth between a few coolers.
"What's all this?" Logan demanded.
"What's it look like?" Jubilee turned to shake her head at him, clearly despairing of his social skills. "It's a party."
"Really?" Logan looked around in surprise, noting that someone had set up a beach volley ball net.
"Yep," Hisako answered, sounding proud of herself. "Jubilee and I put the whole thing together. With some help from Dr. McCoy. Someone had to get the junk food."
"Did I hear junk food?" Meghan popped in a few feet in front of Logan making him jump. He heard Laura snicker as she brushed past his left shoulder to go and stand next to her roommate. Meghan handed Jubilee a small portable radio. "The others are coming. I told everyone that they needed to get down here and party like it's 1999. Or, you know, a Friday night when we're not trying to save the world."
"Excellent!" Jubilee clapped her hands. "Wolvie, can you help Hisako make another fire pit? We'll need at least two for all the s'mores."
Hisako glanced at him critically from where she knelt. "How good are you at setting fires? Not the kind meant to burn down buildings I mean."
"I've been camping since before your grandparents were alive," Logan retorted, going to her side and kneeling down beside her. "You just tell me where to dig."
"Over there." Hisako pointed to a spot about ten feet away and Logan grabbed several handfuls of the dried seaweed. He could hear several other people arriving on the beach, but he ignored them for the time being. Bobby and Meghan were discussing the possibility of setting up a better sound system. Laura had gone to help Remy and Rogue set up a long table that they'd carted down. From behind them on the hill, Logan could see Hank and Scott struggling with several bags of what he suspected carried snacks.
"How did you girls pull this off?" Logan asked Hisako when she came to join him.
"It was Jubilee's idea," Hisako said, carefully setting stones around the hole that Logan had dug. "We thought of it two days ago and have been nagging everyone to help out."
"You should have asked me to help," Logan said gruffly and Hisako gave him an amused look.
"Logan, you didn't even know what a party looked like." Hisako stood up to go and fetch more of the seaweed. "Just… try and have fun."
"I can be fun," Logan called to her retreating back. She didn’t turn, but he could hear her laughter. "What? I can be."
"Logan, your idea of a good time is a bar fight." Scott approached him, his expression amused.
"Only the good ones," Logan retorted. "And if anyone shouldn't be offering advice on fun…"
Scott held up a hand. "I know, I know. Jubilee cornered me and told me in no uncertain terms that I was to let her throw a party. 'Too much seriousness isn't good for anybody.' At least, not according to her." Scott mimicked Jubilee and Logan grinned.
"Girl knows what she's talking about."
Scott shrugged. "I didn't see what it could hurt."
"That's because you're a fool, darling." Emma picked her way through the sand carefully, her heels sinking into the ground as she walked.
"Hey." Scott slipped an arm around her waist when she reached them. "They promised to be good."
"I wasn't worried about the children, dear." Emma glanced around. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to investigate and find out just what the appeal of a s'more is."
"You've never had a s'more?" Scott sounded utterly astounded and Logan grinned as the X-men's leader hurried after his girlfriend to instruct her on the art of melting marshmallows.
Thirty minutes later, Logan had to admit that Emma might have a point about the potential causes of destruction. Hank took beach volley ball very seriously and Scott approached his team as if it were a war council meeting.
Jubilee slipped up beside him. "You havin' fun?"
"Yes, actually."
"You don't have to sound surprised. I may not be good at much, but I know how to throw a party," Jubilee huffed, offended.
"You're good at plenty." Logan caught her arm before she could leave. "More than you know. And a party is just what we needed around here, Firecracker."
The old nickname caused a flash of hurt to pass over Jubilee's face, but she shrugged it off easily enough. "Too much work makes Scott a dull boy." She grinned. "And Hank and Logan and …"
"I get the point." Logan cut her off, but he settled an arm comfortably over her shoulder. "Thanks for looking out for us."
"Just doing my part." Jubilee giggled, watching as Meghan ordered Hisako and Laura around in an attempt to build a giant sand castle. She noted several others watching, clearly biding their time until they could rush in and destroy it. "Something I learned from you, by the way," Jubilee added, looking at him and grinning before walking away to join Hisako.
Logan watched them, noting the way that Hisako glanced darkly at the crowded group of onlookers before ducking her head and having a hasty conversation with the other three girls. Clearly, they were gearing up a defense. Maybe it wasn't the way most people conducted a beach party, but it gave Logan a sense of hope.
With the future in the hands of his girls, he didn't have to worry so much.