Who: Logan and Alyssa. What: Catching up over steak and beer. When: Right after this thread. Where: Alyssa's house. Rating: PG-13 for FTB shagging. Status: Complete! Also long! (Part 1 of 2.)
Logan rolled up on his bike, looking over at Alyssa’s house and shaking his head in rueful disbelief. She was one person he hadn’t expected to see again. Hoped to (just like he hoped Kitty would come back, but he had no way to get her). But never actually expected to see. He’d stopped to pick up a case of beer that wasn’t piss water, and he grabbed that as he swung off the bike.
He didn’t look much different, except for the scar over his left eye and he’d bulked up some after dreaming through that one… kind of weird world with Mariko and Yukio. He knocked.
She’d told him specifically that he didn’t have to knock, but she’d expected it anyway. The steaks were resting, and she’d thrown herself a salad together, expecting that Logan wouldn’t really want anything that was green.
Smoothing out her skirt and checking her hair as she walked to the door, she also made sure to take a deep breath. Just Logan. Just her first love. Really, it was no big deal, he was so obtuse, he’d probably not notice she’d put on a cute dress for him. Not like he knew what she was wearing before hand.
Logan actually didn't mind green things as long as he could drown them in Thousand Island. He could smell her before she even got to the door. Which would be creepy if he was anyone else, but it was just part of his natural state of being. He knew people by scent. Friends. Enemies. It was as much a part of them as their faces in his memory. Maybe more so.
He grinned at her when she opened the door. That dress was cheating, but he didn't think she'd do that on purpose. They'd put their relationship in a very specific closet a long time ago. "Ain't you lookin' good."
“Oh, shut it,” she murmured, moving to wrap her arms around him. She didn’t have his super sniffer, but when she tiptoed up to hug him she could smell him - soap, leather, motor oil - and it made her feel more calm, somehow. “See? Missed you.”
She didn’t let him go for a couple of beats too long, and when she went back down onto her feet, she looked up at him. “Oi, what’s that?” She reached out to touch the scar over his eye, fingers running lightly over it. “Who did that?”
He laughed, hugging her back with that heavy sort of movement he had, his hand rubbing up and down her back. Logan watched her face as she looked at his scar. "Lady named Deathstrike, in my dreams. Kinda stuck around after I got better."
“Well, if she shows up here, I’ll shoot her in the face.” She tiptoed up and kissed the mark over his eyebrow, laughing when her lipstick smudged off. Served him right; he’d probably done something. “Steak’s resting, should be done by now.”
"She'd get better," he grumbled, hand resting on her shoulder. The grumbling disappeared and he smirked at her. "You didn't really have to do that, but never gonna say no to steak." Obviously. He was here.
“With my arrows?” Alyssa raised a brow and shook her head. “We’ll see.” She padded toward the kitchen, putting their food on plates before sitting down to eat. “I was hungry too, you know.”
"Probably. Seen that bitch come back from worse." Logan followed her, kicking his shoes off before heading towards the kitchen. His expression softened a bit a she sat. He really had missed her. Logan always missed the people that got under his armor.
“Does she heal like you or something?” Alyssa cocked her head to the side. “I wonder what holy fire would do to her.” Because Alyssa Hamilton was nothing if not a mother bear, having to look out for her people.
As she cut into her steak, she smiled at him, chuckling. “Haven’t been home a week and you’re already here. I’m glad.”
"Kinda. Got a lot of her powers from cybernetics and other shit. Apparently she jumped bodies after the last time one of us killed her." Logan scowled. He'd thought they were finally rid of her. But of course not.
"I've been keepin' busy, but always got time for you. You?"
That made Alyssa wrinkle her nose. “Of course she did. So she could just pop round for a visit, right?” Why didn’t Logan have any attackers that would just die? Oh, right, because he couldn’t.
“Um. Mum told me she had cancer and wanted to die in England, so I broke up with Christian and moved home for a long while. I finally sort of felt like I could move on recently, and then realized that I didn’t have any friends in England. I missed it here. So, here I am. And hey, I own this house, so bonus.” Her tone was light and conversational, even though it was rather obvious it had all been hard on her.
Logan listened to her, then reached over and patted her arm. "Yeah, you still got friends here, an' you're good at making them so I don't think that'll be a problem." Astrid and Korra would probably never let him hear the end of it.
"If you wanna talk, I'm all ears."
“Nothing to say, really. I’m just glad you’re here.” She reached out to squeeze his hand, smiling back at him. “Now eat, you’re being all sappy.”
"I'm allowed to be sappy," he retorted, before digging in. The steak was nearly perfect - it could have used about thirty less seconds on the grill but it was still really good, and his overall mood improved.
“Oh? And why is that?” She leaned forward, grinning. “Are you with child?” But she keep from reaching out to ruffle his hair. “Silly old bear. See? Why did you think I wouldn’t miss you?”
Something about children hits a sad part of Logan's heart, in a way that his brain just hadn't caught up to yet - if ever. "Dunno. Figured you'd be busy with school and your new life. People drift apart, it's a part of life."
“Not us. Not ever.” She shook her head, answering more firmly than she would’ve liked to. “Dunno, you’ve shagged two generations of Hamilton women. Can’t lose touch with us now, can you.” There, a tidy deflection. “New life. I don’t think I’ve started one of those. Dunno how, really.”
Chances were he could shag a third generation eventually. He'd live long enough. The thought was both amusing, and saddening. He looked around the house. "This ain't a good start. Livin' here. You're just steppin' back into your old life. Could end up just stagnating an' never movin' on."
“Well, it is the most economical solution,” Alyssa smiled. “And it’s not exactly the same, I took Mum’s room this time and moved my things in there.” She’d made sure her mother’s things that she hadn’t wanted were donated to charity. “I’m back in school, and that’s a bit of moving on, isn’t it? What would you do if you were me? Not that I’ll do it, I just like your advice.” Sometimes it was even good.
Logan washed the last of his steak down with beer. "Blow it up and move some place smaller." He scratched the back of his neck. "Think I almost did that, actually. Instead of giving things away."
“You’re the paragon of practicality, Logan.” She shook her head, sighing. “Why did we date, again? Oh, right, that growly thing you do.”
"Was that dating? I thought it was slightly illicit an' very hot sex." Logan smirked at her. "Maybe blowin' up the house isn't the best idea. But it's pretty big for one person, darlkn'."
“I was emotionally invested, so it was dating.” Alyssa shrugged, taking a sip of beer. “And it is. I was thinking of getting a cat or seven.”
"Yeah... I guess you were." Logan sighed. He pushed his plate away and finished off his beer, before wiping his face with a napkin. "A cat or seven is probably better than a man. Maybe not as fun." “Are you saying you weren’t? You cried, Logan.” Alyssa winked as she took another sip of her beer, trying not to look as hurt as she felt. It was easier for him to think of it this way, and she knew it, but still. He was her first love. She was girl five thousand something to be served. It wasn’t like she didn’t know.
Logan sighed. They hadn't ever actually really talked about it. And he'd been happy enough to leave it at that. "I wouldn't say I cried. More like... leaked. I leaked a little."
Her eyes narrowed. “We’re alone. It’s not like you have to save face. If I meant nothing, why are you here?”
“Damn it, can’t a man tease you? Of course it meant somethin’.” It always meant something. Even one night meant something to him. He gave her a scowl.
“Only if he’s kneeling between my legs,” Alyssa countered, tossing her hair. She scowled right back.
Logan started choking on his beer. He coughed, and wiped at his mouth. "Damn it, woman."
She couldn’t help but snicker. “Don’t try to change the subject by nearly dying, Logan Howlett.”
"Eh, I'll get better," he said, though really he'd gotten better about not rushing pell mell into combat. Being mortal for awhile did that to a person. He knew people cared. He didn't want to make them hurt. That extended to Alyssa. "Sorry no one told you. What happened to me. You had a right to know, Lyssa."
The old familiar pet name made her smile, and she got up to go sit on his lap and hug him. “You came back, though. It’s not as if you’re the only one of us who gets up to dashing antics, you just do it more often.” And really, she’d only have been upset if the death thing had been more permanent.
Now she was just trying to kill him. He looped his arms around her waist and squeezed her. It had been close enough that even Laura had almost given up. "I almost didn't. They had me on ice, just in case. But I almost didn't."
“Well, next time, if you think about not, I’ll bring you back so I can kill you.” Alyssa kissed the scar over his eyebrow again, eyes closing. “You asshole. Who said you were allowed to die?”
"You know, when I died. I think I was finally comin' to accept mortality. Lookin' forward to it. Actually gettin' old. I didn't want to die. When you can't die, sometimes you want to, real bad. You want to hurt, you want to cease existing, jus' for a little while."
“I think I might understand, a little. Some of the ghosts in my dreams were like that.” But even the thought of his death made her teary eyed, and she sniffled, looking up so she wouldn’t have any tears spill over. “If I ruin my eye makeup, I’m stabbing you.”
Logan grinned at her. "I'm less partial to gettin' stabbed now, I'll have you know." She was looking a little teary eyed, so he poked her in the side. "You stop that, darlin'. I don't like it when girls in my laps are cryin'."
“Well, then stop making me cry. No talking about dying, you hear? Now help with the washing up so we can have another beer.” She smiled and moved off of him, taking her plate and empty bottle toward the kitchen. “All those years at boarding school made me neat.”
Logan wondered if she’d twitch if things were an inch off. It was one of his favorite ways to mess with Neena, after all. He resolved to test that out at some point. He followed her, tossing the bottle, then rinsing the plate off. “You do the machine or hand washin’?”
“Machine. I’m not that much of a control freak.” She leaned over to rinse the first plate before bending over to open the dishwasher. When they’d first met, she’d done something similar to tease him. She’d grown up enough where she knew he’d probably be ogling her bottom, but she didn’t care overmuch either way. They didn’t have sex, not anymore. Stupid feelings.
He looked. Because of course he did. At least she didn't care, which was nice. Logan still felt some guilt when it came to her. He definitely should have been better about resisting her. But that was in the past, and he put the dish in. "Figured I'd ask. Some people hate those things. I'd be buried in dirty dishes without 'em."
And now they were close again, but as long as she didn't get flirty he'd be able to resist. Damn redheads.
She looked up at him and smiled, amused at how close their faces were. “You know, if we were in an awful film, this would be when we’d bump heads and kiss. Why are all people in romantic comedy rubbish films clumsy?”
He snorted. "Don't know, don't watch many of those kinda movies. Can't even remember the last time I saw a movie." Maybe when Kitty made him watch Pacific Rim. That had to have been the last time, which was over a year ago at this point. His tv was permanently turned to hockey.
“Saw one on the flight back over, it was wretched.” She wrinkled her nose and stood more upright to wash her hands. “I don’t recommend long plane rides. I’d have teleported over, but ... dunno, it let me clear my head.”
"I hate planes. Security is real fun to go through, then you're cramped up like a sardine an' you keep bouncin' around. Even first class ain't much better. 'Cept the booze, the booze is nice. An' there was this one time with a.." He cleared his throat. Anyway. "Gettin' a chance to clear your head is a good thing. That ain't much different than a nice long bike ride."
Alyssa laughed. “How do you even get through security? You’re a walking Ginsu knife.” She hopped onto the kitchen counter with another beer, twisting off the top and grinning. “But yes, the booze was nice. God bless air hostesses who don’t bother to check ID.”
"I take the patdown," Logan replied, shrugging one shoulder like it wasn't that big a deal. The metal detectors were bad enough, but the body scans were even worse. "Thought you had a fake one anyway. Even then you're legal until you hit US waters."
“You would take the patdown,” she snorted. She extended her leg toward him, poking him with her toe. God, she was glad she’d had a pedicure before she came back. “And I do have a fake one, but it went through the wash. New friend online’s getting me a new one.” Alyssa leaned back, looking at him. “Why?”
"New friend online?" He couldn't help it, he was protective. Logan grabbed her foot with one hand, his other on her waist as he lifted her up to inspect her nails. "Just curious."
Squawking as he took her foot, she laughed a little. “Yes, she’s quite nice, and my age, and taken, thank you.” Alyssa rolled her eyes, but then tried to ignore how his hands felt on her waist. “You can borrow the colour, if you like.”
"Jus' makin' sure she ain't an internet killer." He'd actually met Asami through Astrid and would approve of her, but he didn't know it was Asami. "An' I wasn't gonna ask you to introduce us." Logan rubbed his thumb over her toes then put her foot down.
“Asami doesn’t seem like she’s very fond of blokes anyway, so no setting you up. Sorry.” She sighed a little when he briefly rubbed her toes, eyes closing, but the moment was gone as quickly as it had arrived. She belatedly hoped he hadn’t looked up her skirt or anything. “So, besides becoming a foot fetishist, anything else I should know that happened while I was gone?”
"Ah. Yeah. Met her. Pretty sure her girlfriend could bench press me." Logan tilted his head, thinking about it. "Other than shit I can't remember... Not sure. Pretty sure there were some fights. The usual shit. Neena and Clarice elopin'. I blew up once." He winced. "Astrid got to watch that part."
“You should tell me more about Astrid.” Alyssa smiled, genuinely glad that Logan had another girl to watch over in his life. “I know you get stircrazy if you can’t fuss over as many barely legal girls as possible, you big old papa bear.”