snikting | Appointments Post

It was unfortunate, then, that it was where Logan was exiting from. He was the sort of man who might bring a newspaper with him normally. Since Luceti had no such things, he had his journal. It was one of the few times he actually paid attention to it.

He merely gave Rogue a nod as he passed her by. Though he stopped. Because he smelled something.

Rogue, on the other hand, didn't stop. She gave Logan the slightest nod in return, barely looking at him.

He returned to the living room. And waited. Back turned towards the bathroom, but his ears peeled. He was waiting for her to emerge again.

Rogue took a nice long hot shower, brushed her teeth, and emerged dressed and... grumpy, which was not exactly her usual state after draining most of the hot water. She headed directly to her room.

Before she could even rest her hand on the doorknob, Logan called out to her. He heard her.

"You ain't gotta tell me anything, kid." He turned his head around the side of the couch, catching her in his peripheral. "But I'm thinkin' it might be a good idea anyway."

She paused at the door and glanced over at him, eyes haunted, "Yeah?"

She had a sick and twisted feeling in her stomach, more than guilt and shame - fear. Fear that she was going to lose one of the most important things she had: Logan's respect.

She couldn't go back now. Couldn't take it back. Didn't know if she'd do it differently if she could. Wanted to say she would. Wasn't sure. What a mess.

"Yeah."

He wasn't going to elaborate while she was at the door like that. He was tempted to call her out on it. Cavorting with the enemy was no light matter. Especially with what he thought he could smell. But he was giving her the choice.

When it came down to it, Rogue would rather know than wonder. She could deal, she thought, with being shut out, with being the outsider again. But having him watch her in suspicion, wondering what had happened... that would be worse.

"...okay."

There really wasn't any escaping the fact that living with someone with super senses sucked. And she wasn't a child. She could own up to the consequences of her actions. Rogue didn't run and hide.

Her gloved hand slid off the doorknob and she came to sit on the couch opposite him.

Logan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. An unfinished can of beer sat on the table in front of him, but he paid it no mind. He watched her eyes carefully.

"Ya know, if Chuck was here, he'd probably say somethin' about tryin' to avoid our enemies. Not that you kids ever had any luck with that."

Ain't that the truth.

"I didn't go seekin' him out, if that's what you mean." She tucked a strand of hair behind an ear and looked away, "An' this should be the last of it."

"You think so?"

He didn't. People like Loki didn't just stop.

She shrugged, shoulders rounded, posture concave. "We made a deal. I gave him a shot, an' if it didn't work he'd leave me be. It didn't work."

Rogue gave him a guilty, guarded glance. "If he breaks it, I don't hafta keep playin' nice."

That was when she could get others involved. If he crossed the line. But for now, everything worked out just fine. She hoped.

Which was why she felt guilty, sick, and miserable. It just wasn't fair. And she was so ashamed.

A deal?

"I'm startin' to think I'll need some context. Otherwise, you've just got me confused."

Her making deals with Loki did not sit well with him.

She huffed a little sullenly, some of her twisted upset manifesting itself as defensiveness. "Ain't it enough ta know it's over?"

"It ain't even close to being enough. You wanted to warn the others about Loki, but yer the one still seein' him. I know what he smells like, right down to his blood."

"It's not like I've sought him out!" Rogue was stung. First Tony, now Logan? This was exactly what she'd been trying to avoid. "Come on, Logan, we live in the same wacky town. Weird stuff's gonna happen!"

I didn't do this on purpose. I didn't mean to. I wouldn't betray you like that, I'd never do that please believe me please.

"Yeah? There some kinda experiment goin' on that no one told me about?" The Luceti excuse only went so far.

"Some kinda experiment did go on."

Sick and twisted and all her worst fears confirmed, she couldn't take his accusations anymore. Pale and almost trembling, gloved fingers clutched the couch.

"You got somethin' ta say to me, just say it."

Liar. Traitor. Just like your mother. Knew he couldn't trust you. No one can ever trust you. The only person who can even touch you - the only one - is a mass-murdering psychopath. Murderer. Monster.

"Fine. Yer messin' with someone who nearly got New York turned into a crater. This ain't like makin' friends with Avalanche or Gambit." The two examples being immediate, in respects to Kitty and Rogue.

"So if something's going on? I want to know about it."

"I'm not messin' with him, I--" Rogue cut herself off. She looked down. "I told you. This should be the end of it. If ya wanna know what went on before that, I'll tell you, but..."

She bit her lip, her shoulders slumping inward protectively, "...you're not gonna like it."

"I don't like a lot of things. Start talkin'."

"I told you what happened on the mission, remember?"

That Loki could touch her.

"Came on him by accident after the thing with Clint, but you knew that too."

That was one of the reasons she'd called the meeting, after all.

"What ya don't know is what happened durin' the week we all forgot who we were."

He nodded. It was why this all concerned him so much. She was vulnerable in a way she normally wasn't.

"Go on."

She shrugged one shoulder uncomfortably. "We met while I was lookin' for the best place ta get coffee. He was... nice. And we hit it off like two teenagers."

Best to just get it out there, "An' we acted like it, once he figured out how ta make a shield that he could put on me so I could touch."

Frowning, and feeling oddly as if she could cry, Rogue looked away from him. "It felt good. Just like touchin'."

So that's how it was. He took a deep breath. Right now his only thought was how much he'd enjoy ripping out Loki's throat and wearing it as a hat. It wasn't because he gave Rogue something good.

But because he was the only one who could give it to her. And of all the people to do it, why did it have to be him?

"... leadin' to today, I take it."

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