Second Chances

Disclaimer: Logan, Jean, Alex, Scott, Bobby, Dr. and Mrs. Grey and Remy are the sole property of Marvel Comics, Disney Corp., and 20th Century Fox. I make no moneys off of either character, nor do I claim them as my own. Matthew and Stephanie and the other few miscellaneous characters are my own creations and therefore, I own the rights to them and you do not. (LOL, sorry). No harm intended. No moneys exchanged. Strictly fiction and fun.


After a long moment of sitting there, watching the rain pour down, Remy took a sip of his beer and then a deep breath after swallowing. He knew Logan wanted to ask him something personal but Remy wasn’t really wanting to divulge anything. He found himself trying to be as quiet as possible. His brain was screaming for him to be silent but his heart wanted to pour out his soul to a neighbour who only worked for his father.

Taking another sip of his beer, Logan gave a sideways glance over to Remy. “What’cha thinking about?”

“S’nothin.” Remy shrugged and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Closing his eyes, he knew what kind of a conversation might be lingering on the air between them. As he looked back over his shoulder, he sighed inwardly and turned to stare down at the neck of his bottle. “You want to know about de inner workings of Remy, hehn?”

Logan straightened from his slouch and cleared his throat. “Well, some things can remain a mystery. But, why guys? You don’t care for women at all? Sexually, I mean.”

“I care for dem, oui. Just not sexually.”

Logan nodded.

“Poppa has fits about ev’thing I do. Always has since—“ he fell silent and took another sip, a longer sip as he hid a shudder.

Tilting his head, Logan waited for Remy to continue. “Since what?”

Remy sighed and his brow furrowed as he recalled the events of a terrible and lingering night out with his friends. “When I was 22, I went out wit’ a few friends of mine, down in Nawlins. We stopped at a place called, ‘Le Même Coeur.’ Anyway, we had a few drinks an’ met a few guys. Dey went deir ways wit’ deir ‘friends’ and I stayed behind. When I left, dere was one o’ de guys from earlier. He started talking to me an’ I started thinking well-, but he kept talking to me while his friends came up behind me an’ clobbered me. Held me down while one hit me in de head wit’ a beer bottle an’ his friend kicked me in de chest wit’ a knock off boot.”

“How nice. Just when ya meet someone, they stomp all over yer heart with knock-off boots and a beer.” Logan half-joked but understood it was a serious matter.

Sighing more heavily, Remy continued with his memory. “Was in de hospital for a week. After dat, poppa was so uptight about my lifestyle dat he refused to let me be wit’ a man. When I met Alex,” he paused as the name seemed to roll off his tongue with little hesitation. “Poppa wouldn’t have it at all. So, I moved out an’ into my own place.” Raising the bottle to his lips to finish his beer, Remy's phone beeped loudly, indicating that it was time for Remy to take his medication.

Logan's brow furrowed in question as he looked around the dark garage for the source of the beep. "Dryer done?"

"Huh?" Remy looked confused. "Oh, s'time for de meds."

"Ah."

Remy hadn't moved from his seat but finished his beer before giving thought to getting up and turning off the beeping noise that was now getting annoying. Swallowing his last sip, Remy stood up and wavered slightly before moving over to the stool, where his phone sat, and pushing the button to silence the alarm. He stared at the picture on his phone of he and Alex, smiling for the camera as they cuddled.

A crack of thunder rumbled loudly overhead and shook both men to attention. The rain poured down heavily on the roof of the garage, giving Remy's freshly cleaned car an even bigger rinse as it sat out in the driveway. The moonlight reflected off of the clouds the covered the sky, giving them the only light as Remy hadn't wanted to turn on the garage light at all. The florescent flickering gave him a headache and the incessant humming noise of the bulb drove him crazy on quiet nights.

The beeping started again, indicating that Remy was now late for his medication and forced him to go inside and take care of them. "You uh, wanna come inside?" He turned and looked at Logan, who was now standing from his chair, and waved him over to the door to the house.

Logan nodded and crossed the room to step into the house, that was also dark, and wait for Remy who pushed the button to shut the garage door. To the right, was the kitchen and livingroom, to the left was the small office Remy often used when he didn't want to go to work. As he lead the way to the kitchen, he asked "what kind of meds are they?"

Remy turned the corner into the kitchen, behind Logan, and opened a drawer beside the stove to remove his pillbox. "Dey're for my heart. Poppa drug me to 17 different doctors in de bayou before findin' one, from England, dat could help me. Normal pills don't do nothin fer Remy." Setting his empty beer bottle on the countre beside the sink, Remy reached for a glass from the cupboard and ran some water from the R.O. tap.

Logan watched, curiously. "Is that beer gonna screw it up?"

"Nah. An' if so, oh well." Taking his pills and replacing the box in the drawer, Remy reset his alarm on his phone for morning and the left it on the countre by the glass of water.

Nodding, Logan leaned against the wall, by the sink, and watched as Remy made his way over to the bar to sit down. "Heart still givin you trouble?"

"Oui an' non. Depends on what part of it is givin de troubles."

~~~~

Remy sighed as he sat down on a stool at the bar, his back to Logan. With head in his hands, Remy could hear but not see what Logan was doing. He flinched a bit as he felt Logan's strong hands on his shoulders, massaging them slowly. Relaxing himself, he leaned back, letting Logan take advantage of his shoulder muscles. A moan escaped him as he closed his eyes. He had been so tense for the past couple of days and admittingly, being this close to Logan, while Logan was massaging his shoulders, he was only becoming more tense than not.

"You gonna start purrin, next?" Logan contained a low laugh. Logan's fingers buried themselves in Remy's tight shoulders, forcing tiny gasps and whimpers out of the younger man. Rubbing, churning, squeezing into Remy's muscles gave Logan brief snaps of memories to when he used to do the same massage to Jean. Somehow, afterwards, they would both give in to the temptations and wind up in bed together.

Giving in to the joke, Remy purred loudly for Logan and quickly broke into a laugh with the other man.

Logan continued to rub the young man's tense shoulders and swallowed dryly as Remy started to pant and groan out of pain/pleasure in what he was doing. Suddenly, he stopped and patted Remy's left arm to indicate that he was finished. He was about to say something else but the phone, next to sofa, rang and startled both of them from the quiet.

Remy didn't move to answer it. He knew who it was and why they were calling. A minute later, the machine picked up and the caller left a message.

"Remy, c'est poppa. Jus' checkin on ya, mon fils. I know you're home an' you don' have ta answer. T'ought you might be at de cemetary, today. S' Alex's birthday, non?" Jean-Luc paused. "I talk to you later, hehn? Je t'aime, mon fils." After the hang-up, there was an audible silence in the room. Jean-Luc had spoken the name Remy didn't want to hear just then.

A sigh escaped Remy as he slid off of the stool and trudged over to the machine to erase the message. "I uh, I think I'm gettin' sleepy. Gonna go up an' lie down, ok?" His voice was barely a whisper as he said it over his shoulder to his guest.

"Sure. No problem." Logan took a breath as he watched Remy climb three stairs and pause. "You ok, kid?"

Remy only nodded and glanced over to Logan as the other man stepped towards the front door. "Logan-?"

"Yea?" With his hand on the knob, Logan turned to stare at Remy as the young man had turned to look at him.

Remy swallowed and silently hoped for a positive answer. "Would you stay wit' me, for a while? 'Til I fall asleep, non?"

Logan thought for a moment but nodded and turned to follow Remy up the stairs.

~~~~~

Remy lay on his side of the bed, closest to the bathroom, while Logan sat propped against the headboard, on Alex's side. Laying on his side, curled and facing away from Logan, Remy blinked as he stared at the dark bathroom. The room had been dark, save for a small green nightlight, just inside the bathroom, in case Remy had to get up in the middle of the night.

Logan looked around the mostly dark room and found two turned down picture frames that contained pictures of Remy and Alex together on candid holiday trips. He knew what Remy was going through as it had taken Logan that long to be able to even say Jean's name, after she died. "You feelin' ok, Cajun?" Logan had whispered it so that he didn't scare Remy awake with his voice.

Remy nodded but didn't speak.

"After Jean, there were nights I'd lie there and swear she was right beside me. Every time I closed my eyes, there she was." Logan found himself staring at the back of Remy's head yet he knew the Cajun was listening. "Her hair was a gorgeous red-- like yours. She would always brush it a thousand times, until it was so soft, you'd swear it was spun silk."

Remy found himself listening to this wonderful woman's story and wishing he could have met her. "She mean de world to you, non?"

"Yea, she did."

Rolling over and sitting up, Remy observed Logan's outline in the darkness. "When I was in de hospital, last year, Remy felt so bad. When I came home, Alex was right dere. Tol' him ta go home an' dat I could take care o' myself but, Alex don't listen. Alex tucked Remy inta bed an' den cuddled him 'til Remy fall asleep. Poppa never understood why Alex come along. Remy de top but, Alex-- he take care of Remy." He found his eyes traveling down Logan's barrel chest to his waist and further down to Logan's strong legs. "When I was five, my broder an' I shared a bed. Had nightmares all de time. My broder would put his arms around me an' rock me ta sleep. Remy felt safe, dere, wit' him. So, when I grow up, Remy wanted ta take care of someone, like my broder did. Make dem feel safe, non?" Bowing his head, Remy concluded, "Now de nightmares are back an' Remy have no one to hold him."

Logan swallowed hard. Opening his arms and waving Remy into them, he held the younger man to him, letting Remy sob softly into his white T-shirt. Shushing him and rubbing his back with one hand while the other stroked Remy's auburn hair, Logan had no clue what to do next. "I'll be here for awhile. I'm not goin' anywhere." He could feel Remy tighten his grip around Logan but loosen up as it was only a gratitude hug. "Why don't you uh-, lay down and try to get some rest. I'll be right here. C'mon, lay down."

Remy rolled onto his right side so that he was facing Logan, who had scoot down to lay beside him. He waited for Logan's head to hit the pillow before snuggling against Logan, once more. With an arm draped over Logan's chest, and Logan's left arm around Remy's back, Remy was starting to feel safe again.

Ten minutes went by and neither had moved. Both were still awake but lying there quietly, not to disturb the other. Remy listened to Logan's heartbeat as his head lay on Logan's left shoulder, and Logan inhaled Remy's sweet-smelling hair. Complete bliss as both men imagined they were with their lovers, instead of the real picture.

"Logan?"

"Hm?"

"Ya like de taste of a woman's kiss?"

Logan thought about the answer to the question and of the question itself. "Yea."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?" Logan looked confused.

Remy pushed himself up to look at Logan. "Never had a fille, before. Dey're so-- fragile, non?"

Clearing his throat, Logan grasped the conversation. "Not all are so fragile. Some want to kiss you as much as you want to kiss them. Jean had soft lips and big green eyes. Her skin was so soft and warm."

"Ya liked makin' love to her?"

Logan nodded. "Yea. Yea, Cajun, I did."

"She have a sweet taste?"

Again, Logan nodded.

Remy lowered his eyes. "Oui, Alex did too. Can still taste his kiss." Raising a hand to his lips, Remy brushed his fingertips over them, as if trying to find Alex's lips on his.

"Why do you like kissin' men?" Logan watched Remy stroke his lips, gently, caressing their softness. In an odd spark, he found it was intriguing.

Remy stopped and turned to look down at Logan. "Ya never kissed a man, before?"

"Nope."

Hesitantly, Remy leaned down and gently pressed his lips against Logan's. A soft, quick kiss that lasted just long enough for Remy to taste the beer on Logan's lips, inhaling the sweet cigar breath from the man beneath him. As he pulled away, his eyes met with Logan's that carried the stare of searching in them. Remy bit his lower lip in quick thought before delving back into another kiss that lasted longer than the first. He could feel Logan's hand reach up to fist in his hair as he closed his eyes. Logan was stronger than Remy imagined and allowed himself to be flipped over and straddled while their lips seemed locked to each other.

With a small pause to catch his breath, Logan was flipped back over to his back as Remy sat atop his hips. What the hell was he doing letting this happen? The Cajun was handsome and even pretty, to a certain degree, but some unseen force seemed to pull at him until he was powerless to stop what Remy was doing. Remy was lifting his shirt and running his hands over Logan's bare, hairy chest. But, Logan didn't want it to stop. He found he was curious as to why Alex took the breakup hard, and why Scott seemed so jealous that he tried to kill Remy to claim him.

Kissing Logan's lips, jawline, collarbone, chest, stomach and finally belt buckle, Remy paused to look up at Logan. He knew what he was doing and was more willing to stop if Logan said so but, he didn't want to. Shame washed over him as their eyes met again. He knew better than to force himself on another person who might not have wanted his affections. Sitting up and wiping his mouth, he apologised. Excusing himself to the bathroom, he stood at the sink and stared at his reflection, asking it for an explanation that he didn't have.

A minute went by and Logan pushed himself up and over to the bathroom. Standing in the doorway, he stared at Remy's back and then down to his back pockets. Strangely, he hadn't been offended by Remy's advances. He had even come to enjoy the Cajun's company and was willing to explore Remy's world as much as Remy was letting him. He cleared his throat. Logan walked over to Remy and placed his arms around Remy's thin but muscled waist, kissing his shoulder. "S'okay, kid. I know you want this."

Remy pressed himself back against Logan and felt more than just taut muscles and body heat. He could feel Logan's firm length and moaned in need as Logan's hands slid down to unfasten Remy's jeans. "Wait-- stop."

Logan backed away from Remy.

Remy turned to face his neighbour. "I don't do too well wit' feelins. Not gonna treat dis as just a fling but, need you not to treat dis as a joke, non? Remy can't handle dat." He was sincere, just as he had been with Alex, only Alex turned into something more than what he and Logan might never be.

Nodding, Logan stepped closer to Remy and answered with a soft, warm, inviting kiss.


Continued.