Hiding

Roisin, Ron, Sandy, mine- all others- property of Marvel Comics being borrowed carefully by me. Yay Marvel!


Roisin smiled broadly, blushing at Kurt's gesture. She'd stopped shaking and looked distinctly less angry now. Kurt was still holding her hand.
" If you need help, and I’m able to provide it, I’d be honored. Plus, you said you’d watch movies with me, right?” Roisin smiled at Kurt, her sharp little teeth shining against the dim light in the room.

Kurt saw her fangs and felt his heart start to pound. He couldn’t believe that she’d called him beautiful- and apparently meant it- He himself had never seen anything so beautiful. She was short- petite was the word that the ladies preferred, he remembered, and her eyes were a shocking green with pupils like a cat. She had dark hair, brown with some little black streaks in it underneath. He'd never understood women and their fascination with changing their hair color. He thought the brown alone was pretty. Her face was plain- more cute than beautiful but when she smiled he thought she was truly beautiful. Her tail (!) was long, almost down to her ankles and covered in what looked to be a soft pale brown fur. He thought how nice it would be to touch it and felt the blood rise to his face, thankful for the dark blue fur that covered his blushing. Roisin could feel him looking her over and quickly pulled her hand away, putting her hands down over her belly. She'd not exercised for a few years and too many pizzas had given her a rounded look that occasionally caused strangers to ask her when she was due. Kurt didn't notice,being oblivious to the myriad self-confidence hurdles women threw themselves over daily. Logan saw what she was doing and shook his head a little, knowing exactly what was going through her mind. She'd been starving herself when he knew her, and he was happy to see she'd put a little meat on her bones. He cleared his throat in an attempt to get the topic back to where it had started. Kurt looked over at his friend.

“Thank you Roisin. I don’t know how much Logan explained to you about my situation.” Kurt looked over to where a battered couch was sitting underneath the window. He saw that snow had started to fall. Snow falling used to give him peace. Nothing really did that anymore. Not praying, not anything. He felt lost and hopeless.

“I’m sorry, I’m a terrible hostess. Kurt, Logan, please sit down. Would either of you care for some wine?” Roisin looked expectantly at the two other mutants. Logan nodded.

“Thanks Rosh. That’d be great. Kurt’ll have some too, right?” Kurt nodded to Logan’s statement. Roisin smiled and rushed out of the room. They heard the sounds of things rattling around and getting knocked over. Kurt made to stand up but Logan stopped him.

“She’s catlike- most of the time. She’s also a grand klutz. She’d appreciate it more if you pretended not to hear the sound of things breaking. If you’re gonna stay here, you better get used to it.” He laughed softly as he heard something else fall down and Roisin’s muttered expletives. Kurt and Logan looked quickly at each other and stifled a laugh. Kurt's expression turned more serious.

“What’s the story with you and her?” Kurt asked quietly, looking at the doorway and still seeing the velvet curtains closed.

“It’s not good. You’re not gonna like it, Kurt. Not the kind of thing your sensitive mind and heart would approve of...10 years ago, she was like 17-18, we met, we hit it off, we had a passionate but brief affair- I took her virginity, stayed for a few more weeks and then ran off to join the X-Men.” Logan didn’t look at Kurt as he said this.

“You broke up?” The German born mutant asked, not looking at his friend. For some reason he couldn't quite put words to, the thought of Logan having sex with Roisin bothered him.

“No. I just took off. I didn’t tell her I was leaving- I just left. I’d met Jean. I had to follow her. I sent her postcards now and then- sometimes they got sent back- return to sender, that kind of thing. Some she kept.” Logan pointed to the two from Japan he’d noticed earlier. Kurt was quiet.

“Look, Kurt, you know I’ve had problems being the kind of man I should be…women have been hurt…I’ve done some terrible things.” Logan looked extremely forlorn as he lit another cigar.

“Did you love her?” Kurt asked his friend, whispering as he heard Roisin approaching.

“Yeah. I did. I still feel li shi shit for what I did to her also.” He shot Kurt a halfhearted smile before jumping up to help Roisin with the glasses and the wine bottles, the cigar hanging out of his mouth.

“Thanks Logan. Here you go, Kurt. Would you prefer red or white?” Roisin was smiling broadly at Kurt and he felt his heart pound in his chest again and the eerie reawakening of feelings he’d tried his hardest to crush when doing his seminary training. Lustful thoughts bad…He thought to himself, remembering when Stacy X had come into his room completely naked, crawled on top of him and began to kiss him passionately. It had taken every single ounce of self-control for him not to throw her against the wall and fuck her till she couldn’t stand anymore. These were not the thoughts he should be having about someone who was trying to help him out of the goodness of her heart. Even if she did have a tail and did call him beautiful. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had met him and not instantly gasped in horror. Roisin had gasped but Kurt had seen no horror in her eyes. Fascination and..approval? He wondered what that tail would feel like entwined with his own and felt the blood rush down. Logan elbowed him in the arm and Kurt suddenly realized he was being addressed.

“Oh...sorry. Red, please.” He smiled and nodded. Roisin started to open the bottle of red wine and almost immediately knocked it over. Kurt teleported across the room and caught the bottle an instant before it hit the floor. Roisin just stood there, gaping at what he’d just done.

“I’m sorry, Roisin. I just- I know the smell is somewhat unpleasant.” Kurt muttered, wishing desperately the smell of teleporting was not brimstone and sulfur but instead roses or some fancy perfume. Anything but what it was.

“That was awesome! How do you do that? Never mind, that must be your mutant thing. Duh, right?” Roisin had now successfully opened the wine and was pouring it into two glasses, one for Kurt and one for Logan. She went to open the second bottle and Logan stood up and walked over.

“Let me do it, darlin’. Have a seat, talk to Kurt, and get to know your houseguest. I don’t want to have to smell that again. Or clear out the purple smoke.” He chuckled at Kurt’s quick sneer at him. Not very elflike he thought to himself. Maybe he's jealous? Good sign. Maybe this'll help get him out of this funk he's been in.

“Oh, thanks Logan. Kurt, can you tell me why you need my help? Or maybe why Logan thought that I would be the best person for it? Especially considering the fact that I haven’t seen him in 10 years?” She shot a quick glance over to Logan who was now handing her a glass of chardonnay. He pretended not to notice and instead looked carefully at the wine bottle’s label. Kurt could feel the tension between the two of them and wondered if perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea. Again. Especially if this girl still had feelings for Logan. His best friend. Not realizing it, he ground his teeth and growled quietly.

“I can growl, too!” Roisin burst out, immediately turning a very bright s of of red. “Not as well as I can make a fool of myself though…” she whispered. Kurt put his hand on her shoulder- waiting for the inevitable cringe that always followed the distinct “not human not right” feelinopleople got when he touched them. Thought she'd reacted fine when he'd kissed her hand, he knew that gesture never failed. Women nowadays didn't expect something so old fashioned and almost universally took it well. Even though his hand had three fingers instead of the 5 and each one was much longer and larger. Still, surprisingly the cringe didn’t come. Instead, she seemed to lean into him just a little bit. He felt himself relax. Logan smiled to himself at the scene before him and then looked up quickly, eyes scanning towards the front of the shop. He put the wine bottle down and moved towards the curtain.

“Someone’s out there. Out front.” He hissed. Roisin jumped up, almost tripping over the coffee table in front of the beat up couch. Instead she only knocked over the ashtray and the magazines hanging precariously off the side of the table. Kurt immediately got up to fix the mess. Roisin was standing at Logan’s side, peering out the curtain.

“Oh. That’s just Ron. He’s dropping off a shipment.” She said brightly, marching out into the front of the store. Logan followed her and Kurt stayed back in the room, picking up the cigarette butts and looking for a dustpan.

"Kurt! Stay back there. I don't know if it's safe." Logan barked at his friend. Kurt rolled his eyes, not that anyone would be able to tell or that Logan could even see him from where he was.

“Why is he dropping things off now? It’s a little late for deliveries, isn’t it?” Logan asked in a suspicious tone. SNIKT. His claws were out and he felt himself tense up like he always did before a scrap. Roisin punched him in the shoulder. He turned to her, stunned. She looked incredibly pissed off.

“Logan, gimme a break. It’s what, 6:30? That’s not late. Besides, how do you pop in after 10 years and decide to get all protective? That's a little insane, don't you think? This is when Ron usually drops stuff off. Every Tuesday.s jus just that he doesn’t really like the daylight. It makes him a little uncomfortable. People tend to stare. Didn’t you notice what I stock here? Mutant sex toys in addition to the traditional homo sapiens ones?” She gestured towards something that Logan suddenly had the awful realization was not a vase.
He retracted the claws and rubbed his knuckles.

“That’s what the X on the door is for, so mutants know I’m mutant friendly. I wanted license plates but the DMV doesn’t have ‘em. ” Roisin was unlocking the door and raising the gate.

“Ron! Hi! How’s the wife and kids? This is my friend Logan. Logan, this is Ron Winston” She called out to a man Logan saw was covered in small yellow scales. His one large eye was a pretty purple and Logan was pretty sure he was smiling at Roisin. Logan sighed and tossed the cigar into the gutter.

“They’re great, Sandy’s pregnant again, and my oldest girl is starting pre-school soon. At Xavier’s! Isn’t that wonderful? I’m so happy she’ll get a good education and not have to worry about people staring at her.” He whipped out a bunch of photos and shoved them in Logan’s face.

“Isn’t she gorgeous? That’s my little angel. Serena. And this is Rachel and Ronnie Jr.” Logan looked at the pictures- three scaly little children, mercifully with two eyes each, beamed back at him. They were really cute in a yellowy reptilian kind of way. Ron was smiling hugely, almost as if the words PROUD FATHER were stamped across his scaled forehead.

“They’re beautiful children.” Logan agreed, smiling. Ron definitely seemed harmless. Slightly brainless too, he thought, but harmless enough. Ron grinned back at him and put the pictures back in his wallet, walking around to the back of the truck and opening the door. He took out four huge crates that easily weighed two hundred pounds each with one hand and carried them up to the door, whistling a jaunty tune as he brought them inside the shop.

“Isn’t he a doll?” Roisin asked. Logan just nodded. “I met him at a convention in Vegas, for mutant sex workers and shops. His wife is gorgeous- she’s not a mutant but boy is she a looker. Supermodel, actually. She did those Superbra ads? I introduced them. They’re like the nicest couple in the whole world. They’ve been like family to me. Sandy is the one who got me out of the Dom business. She told me I’d be safer running a store and wouldn’t end up with varicose veins from standing all day whipping people.” Roisin was smiling brightly and Logan remembered the first time he’d met her, with that same beaming smile reciting her price list to him in some dingy bar in the East Village.

Logan had to admit that he was glad she was out of that business and how painful her reminder that she was a dominatrix and not a whore had been to him. Best $400 he’d ever spent, he thought to himself quickly and then remembered “Kurt needs help- not for me to fantasize about this girl that I messed things up with ten years ago. Even if she did make me come like no one else had ever been able to. Mutant healing factor or not, he'd been out cold for a good 45 minutes afterwards.

“Thanks Ron! See you next Tuesday! Give Sandy a hug for me, and the kids too. We need to get together soon!” Roisin was now hugging the scaly man. He walked over to Logan and suddenly looked a lot less friendly. He put his hand out and Logan suddenly heard the deliveryman’s voice in his head.

“Roisin is a good girl. You hurt her in any way and I’ll come skin you alive, you got it?” Logan nodded. The mutant spoke out loud now, so that Roisin could also hear him. Logan grudgingly admitted to himself that he had to respect anyone who would threaten him- claws visible or not, Logan clearly gave off the Do Not Fuck With Me vibe.

“Nice to meet you, Logan. You take good care of our girl, here, ok?” He was smiling again.

“Sure thing, Ron. Take care now.” Logan shook the man’s hand and watched him get into his truck and drive away. Roisin was back in the store, trying to drag the boxes into the back room. Logan followed her back into the store and locked the door again, putting the gate back down and Kurt stuck his head out from behind the curtain.

“Everything is ok, I assume?” he said, smiling at Roisin. She nodded, turning a little bit red. “Let me help.” Kurt picked up a box and carried it into the back room as effortlessly as Ron had done. Logan chuckled to himself. The elf is showing off he thought, picking up the two remaining boxes and bringing them into the back room.