Who: Logan Howlett and Neena Thurman Where: an IHOP What: being disturbed When: 2/14 Warnings/Rating: PG-13 at least for foul language Status complete
Neena woke up late Thursday morning. Well, early Thursday afternoon. Her body wasn’t as sore as it had been the day after the raid on the warehouse, but she was still feeling it a little. She didn’t mind, but the prospect of cooking wasn’t one she relished. She went to the kitchen, staring at the coffee pot mournfully.
“Fuck this, I’m going out for breakfast.”
"Want company?" Logan was still camped out on Neena's couch, though he had ordered repairs on his and was looking for a motel. He couldn't stay in her good graces forever, after all. Eventually he'd have to leave. Eventually he'd have to face Laura again.
She poked her head out of the kitchen. “Yeah, I can put up with you for a few more hours. Pancakes okay?” She examined her outfit, which was supposed to be for a morning (early afternoon), jog. Eh, she was fine. They were just getting pancakes.
"Pancakes are fine," Logan said, snorting. He just had on jeans and a tight t-shirt. Not much better than what she was wearing. He looked about as good as she did. Which was, actually, pretty damn good to most neutral observers.
She grabbed her jacket and keys, then went for the door. “Good. I’m going to drink enough coffee to kill a horse. I need to get used to staying up late again, Tuesday night nearly did me in.” Of course, there were other, better reasons Tuesday night had been exhausting, but this wasn’t the time to talk about it. Or think about it. In fact, never was a good time to do both of those, and she was content with that idea.
"Coffee stunts your growth," Logan commented, following Neena out the door. He was much better than he had been. Their little excursion had helped him center himself, and find an outlet for his anger.
Neena laughed. “Good. If I get any taller I’ll need bigger boobs, and these are about as big as I can deal with.” She smirked at him, in a remarkably good mood. Maybe the best mood she’d been in all week.
“Bigger than they used to be,” Logan commented, before he opened the door and climbed into Neena’s vehicle. The grin he was giving her was pure evil.
She laughed loudly at that. “You’re just saying that because you finally got to cop a feel. Isn’t that how it goes? Boobs you can touch are real and better than ones you can’t?” She smirked at him, starting the truck. “Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky after breakfast. If we don’t go into a pancake induced coma.”
Logan just grinned at her, leaning back in his seat as Neena drove. "I don't think I could go into a coma if there's a chance of gettin' lucky, darlin'. I think that's motivation enough." He tilted his head, looking her up and down. "You were goin' to work out?"
“Yeah, you know, take Dante for a run, that kind of thing. Got to keep doing the maintenance on this fine figure.” She shrugged. It was part of her routine, and that made it important to her. Just not important enough that she wouldn’t blow it off for pancakes.
Logan snorted, then glanced out the window. “Dante can deal without a run for one day. We both needed to get the fuck out.” He paused for a moment, then said. “Repairs should be done soon.”
“I’ll take him out later, it’s not like I’m doing anything else, unless you’re going to keep me occupied all day.” She smirked at him, her expression softening a little when he mentioned the repairs. “Good, I’m sure you’ve miss being in your own place.” She kind of missed having her privacy as well. She’d gone from seeing him at work a few times a week to being around him all the time. They got along well enough, but it was a drastic change.
“Damn, you sussed out my plan,” Logan replied, chuckling. “Yeah, I miss the place. Gonna be kinda weird without Laura there. But probably best if she stays elsewhere for now.”
“Yeah. It’ll give you both time to get yourselves together. You heard from her the other day, didn’t you?” The traffic was murder. Neena made a face. “Man, the IHOP is packed. What the hell?” She pulled into the parking lot, cruising around for awhile until she found a distant parking spot.
“She doesn’t seem pissed at me,” Logan replied. The relief was palpable on his face. “Want me to slice some tires. Might make us feel better about the traffic.”
He still wanted to see Laura. Just when she was ready.
“Nah, because you’re a mechanic and you’ll get four people asking you to change their tires before we leave.” She shrugged. “I wonder if they’re having some kind of special today or something. Is it free pancake day?” The hike to the IHOP wasn’t that bad.
“Right.” He looked down at what he was wearing. He probably would get that, and then they’d never get out. “Dunno. Haven’t been keepin’ track of the days lately.” Logan snorted in amusement.
That just made Neena smirk at him. “Between me in the daytime and all these little women you have after you, I can see how you’d forget stuff like that.” The answer came to her as she walked in, and it looked like Cupid had thrown up all over the place. “Oh, fuck.”
“What?” Logan was still trying to tell if she was just being snarky or was actually upset at things. Then his eyes widened, and he echoed, “Oh fuck.”
It was Valentine’s Day. The amount of pink was literally sickening.
Neena was just being an ass, though she did think the girls he was interested in were too young for him. Beside, now they had a bigger mutual problem. “I had no idea. We’re not on a date.” She was quick to clarify that, especially after the way he’d taken her previous comment.
“No, not a date,” Logan agreed, eyeing a hanging cupid like it was somehow the anti-christ. “But I still want those fucking pancakes.”
“Agreed, I didn’t deal with traffic for nothing.” She stepped further in, and was told they were in lucky, as a table had just opened up. Neena didn’t even look surprised, she just sighed. “I think I’m getting some of the side benefits of these dreams, now.”
“Lucky us,” Logan remarked, smirking at her. He didn’t think he’d minded. The contrast of dark on white on places like her lips and...other things... was hot.
The table was in the open, and right in the middle of a bunch of stay at home moms and their husbands on lunch, with a sprinkling of teenagers skipping school. Neena sat down and buried her face in her menu. “I hate this holiday. I hated it when I was married, too. I don’t like enforced celebration days.” She didn’t like her birthday for the same reason.
He took a seat. “Don’t mind Christmas. I make a passable grumpy Santa Claus.” Not that he was particularly religious. If anything he leaned towards Eastern religions, but that had to do with experience. And Mariko. Although he had gotten to spend a Christmas with her and Amiko before they were murdered... It had been nice.
“I can tolerate things celebrating stuff that doesn’t directly deal with me, like Christmas and Easter. But if I’m with someone and they need an official day to celebrate our relationship, it’s not going to last long. I’d rather get nothing consistently than get gifts because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Anniversaries?” Logan asked, raising his eyebrow. He was curious, and his question lacked any gruffness. He was curious - he felt like there were parts of Neena he didn’t know yet. Which only made sense.
That was a good question. “Not really. I mean, I’ll say, wow, it’s amazing we’ve been married or you’ve been dead for x years, but it’s not a big deal to me. I didn’t love my husband more on valentine’s day or our anniversary, and I don’t miss him more on the day he died. I kind of feel like that’s what that kind of thing is saying.” She shrugged.
“Don’t think that’s what it’s supposed to mean,” Logan replied, as he looked at the V-Day meal special. “I think it’s supposed to be a reminder. There’s always hard times, an’ good times. It’s a reminder that you can make it through, an’ be stronger for it. Or something to remind you of what you’d had before, when time and movin’ on has dulled the emotion.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t give stuff like that much thought. I’m not very romantic.” She shrugged. “Sometimes it’s best to let go of things after a while. Obviously not the love in a marriage, but it’s not healthy to look back on what was and mourn it once a year. But what the hell do I know? Dante was Milo’s dog, and I’d probably shoot you in the face if you threatened him, so I shouldn’t talk about moving on with life.”
Logan smirked. "Everyone handles that kinda shit a different way. Dante for you. A sword for me." It had been Mariko's gift to him, and he treasured it greatly. He shrugged a shoulder, and sighed. "Guess I'm getting hearts for breakfast. I still want those pancakes."
There was an irony in talking about this while ordering hearts for breakfast.
“Yeah, there’s no way around it.” She nodded. “Your wife gave you a sword? That’s pretty badass.” Of course, it made perfect sense to her. If she was going to get Logan a gift it would be beer, tools, or weapons.
“Katana. Was in her family for generations. Goin’ back about three hundred years. It was a...betrothal gift.” Seeing it always reminded him of her, but it was the more pleasant memories. He was glad he hadn’t gone through with using it on Creed.
“Wow. that’s incredible.” She couldn’t imagine giving us something with so much personal and real world value. She didn’t like her family much, but if she had anything that had been in it since before America was a country, she wouldn’t give it to anyone. “She must have loved you a lot.”
Logan nodded somberly. Even so many years later it was hard to talk about her. As long as he didn’t have to go into detail, it would probably be okay. “I was assimilating into the culture pretty easily.”
She nudged him lightly. “We can talk about other stuff. You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.” She didn’t share stuff about herself easily, she wanted him to know she didn’t expect from him what she was reluctant to give.
“It’s okay. Just some old wounds.” Logan flagged down a waitress and ordered a metric ton of pancakes, hashbrowns and eggs. He was starving. “Can never decide if it was the way she died that made it worse or not.”
“I think it does matter how it happens. I’ll probably always regret that I couldn’t be there for Milo at the end, that he died on the other side of the world from me. There’s never any dignity in death, but there can be a little comfort, I think. Being with someone you love makes it easier.” Now she was thinking of Nathan, and that bothered her on a few levels. “I’m always leaving, or gone. It’s my nature, I guess.”
"I don't know if it's your nature, or just your luck," Logan replied. "Be like sayin' all the death that seems to follow the women I fall in love with would be in my nature. It feels like that, even if logically I know it ain't llike that."
“I guess there’s not a lot that’s logical about our feelings for the people we love.” She smiled wryly as she said it. “But at least we have each other. I’d rather have a best friend than a husband.” Though, given the opportunity, she’d like to have them both in the same person.
"Best friend, huh?" Logan picked up his drink as it arrived, and took a sip. He liked how that sounded. How that felt. "Beats the hell out of bar regular, that's for sure. An' you're still gettin' some on the side. Better than a husband."
Neena shook her head. “Not really, but it’s better than what I’ve got right now.” She drank her coffee, feeling quite a bit less sorry for herself. “You can stay with me until your place is fixed up. Don’t waste your money on a hotel.”
Logan shrugged a shoulder. Really, he could understand where Neena was coming from. There was something about having that link to someone that couldn’t be put into words. Logan had never been scared of commitment. He just wanted to make sure it was with the right woman. “You sure about that?”
“Yeah. You’re not so bad. I can put up with you for a few more days, and with you getting so many dreams, I figure you’d probably like to have someone around to talk about ‘em with. Besides, I’m kind of getting used to having you around, and I go back to work tomorrow.”
He nodded. “Suppose it’s worth losing comped drinks.” He gave her a wry smile, and picked up his drink to take a sip. The hell was their food? It better not come draped in Valentine’s goodness.
Of course, it would. Heart Pancakes with pink syrup and sprinkles. Egg over easy also in the shape of a heart. Cupid shaped hashbrowns.
What the hell was this? Neena stared at their food in shock. “Seriously? You’ve failed me, International House of Pancakes.” She grabbed her fork and beheaded the hashbrown cupid first thing. “Well, here’s hoping they’re tasty, at least.”
Logan didn’t use a fork. He used a knife to kill Cupid. And stab the hearts. Because he could. “I’m startin’ to hate this fuckin’ holiday.”
“Told you.” Neena said, mixing her eggs and hashbrowns together. “This whole thing is grotesque. I mean, pancake hearts with pink syrup? It’s like what you’d make for Hannibal Lecter the morning after.”
Logan snorted orange juice up his nose and started to cough and laugh at the same time.
Neena grinned at him, giving him a couple pats on the back to prevent him from choking to death. It would be awkward trying to explain why that only lasted five minutes to the freaked out EMTs. “Doing alright there?”
He held up a hand, and nodded. “Yeah..yeah I’m fine. You’re sick and twisted, but I’m fine.” Just not that long ago he’d gutted his roommate and sometimes lover, and here he was, eating cupids and hearts.
Life was messed up.
“LIfe’s sick and twisted. I’m just well adjusted.” She grinned at him, and started on her food. The syrups was strawberry, which was actually pretty tolerable.
“What does that say about the rest of us?” Logan flagged someone down to order a beer, because this day suddenly required alcohol. And he wanted beercakes now.
Luckily, this was a very progressive IHOP. Neena was quick to order one as well. “You’re all delusional.” She said with a nod.
Logan drank half his beer, and dumped the rest into the syrup. It looked horrible, but tasted wonderful. “Fuck you, then. I like it here, in crazy town.”
She laughed at that, a laugh that occupied her whole body, her head thrown back. Everyone turned to look at her for a moment, but she didn’t give a single damn. “That works out, I tend to like crazy people.” She drank her beer and began to earnestly work on her breakfast.
Logan rolled his eyes, and got to work with slaughtering - that is devouring - his pancakes. There wasn’t much difference. By the time he was done the plate was a mess of syrup, beer, and oil from the hashbrown and eggs.
Neena wasn’t any neater than him, but she had to stop to drink her beer every now and then, so she took a little longer. Beer on cornflakes hadn’t been a good idea, she didn’t want to risk beer and pancakes. Despite the theme, the food was good, and Neena finished her beer with a satisfied smile. “Well, this could have gone worse.”
“Yeah? How?”
Confetti suddenly rained down on them, and Logan looked positively alarmed as a woman came out and started to sing that ‘stop in the name of love’ song.
Neena wasn’t really capable of blanching at this point in her life. She she just stared in horror, covering her beer with one hand to keep confetti out. “That’s it, we’re leaving.” She pulled some cash out of her jacket pocket and stood up. “Fuck this noise.”
Logan threw down a twenty just in case and because he just wanted to get the fuck out of there. Hauling ass out of there to the sound of The Surpremes. There was no stopping, and certainly not in the name of love.