InsaneJournal

Who: Velma Kelly & Logan Howlett
Where: The Blackbird
What: Cutting the trip short
When: Today (4/8)
Warnings/Rating: R for discussion of violence and sexual themes
TW: discussion of attempted rape
Status: Complete



The day after the face-off at the cemetery had passed without incident, though both Velma and Logan had been on edge. Velma had done her best to act normal, if wary; seeing ghosts around every corner wouldn’t help anything. Logan had said that the bastard would lay low for a few days, and she trusted that he knew better than she did. She’d had a nightmare the other night that Logan had seemed to sleep through, but she hadn’t gone back to sleep since.

They were back on the Blackbird now, though, and Velma couldn’t help but be uneasy. She was more than half serious when she asked Logan, “Creed doesn’t have access to anti-aircraft weapons, does he?”

“God only knows,” Logan replied, hardly reassuring. He lifted the jet off, engaging the cloak and turning on every counter-measure it had. He slammed it into afterburner, and the g-forces pushed them deep into their seats. He’d been on edge the whole time, and was pretty antsy, as far as Logan could get. He felt...fear. For Neena and Eli and Alyssa and all the others.

Velma yelped, choosing to close her eyes and try not to think about feeling crushed. “Christ,” she murmured under her breath. She tried to think about practical things instead. Most normal communications were out of reach at this altitude, but maybe there was a system to wherever this thing was supposed to go? And obviously he’d turned on every protection he could. It wasn’t enough to feel safe, but what the hell could she do about that.

“Can you reach anyone through the plane itself?” she asked after the G-forces seemed to lessen. “Any direct lines or anything?” If he knew the owner of this thing, maybe he had contacts who could protect people.

Logan nodded his head. “We can get some messages off. Summers can put some measures in for our...people.” It was like there was a whole paramilitary group of mutants ready to respond at a moment’s notice.

“It’s something.” Velma shook her head. “The question is how many people you want to know about this. I’m going to warn Lo, and my brother Danny, but other than that, nobody.” The rest of her family could be fucking blown up for all she cared. And she doubted Creed would bother - his problem was with Logan; he’d go after Logan and Vel before he’d go after Vel’s family.

“The other mutants. Kitty an’ Neena, Alyssa and Eli. Laura. Jubilee an’ Gaz should know. Kurt an’ Remy.” Logan loosened his grip on the yoke and sat back, letting the plane fly itself.

“I don’t know some of those people, but you know I’ll help.” Velma was doing her best to sound confident and calm. But she did have to ask him one thing. “Maybe, though, you can do one thing for me? I’m not thinking I should go home.” Clothes or whatever, she didn’t care; Creed was not the kind of monster who’d check her bank accounts. She didn’t think. She looked at him. “I know you need to be alone sometimes, but I don’t think I should be. Can you recommend anyplace I might stay?” It burned to say it, but she was just a human, not ‘special’ like him. And while she’d happily have never gone anywhere without him, she knew he needed to be by himself sometimes. At that time she’d just worry more that he’d go do something stupid.

Logan looked over at Vel, something dark and emotional passing over his eyes. He felt torn in several directions. He wanted to protect her, and he wanted to respect her, and he wanted to push her away from him.

"You can stay with me...Just dunno how safe that'll be."

She looked at him for a long moment. “It’s probably safer for all involved,” Velma finally said. “I was thinking I could hide at Kitty’s or something, but then I’d put her in danger.” She bit her lip. “I don’t know if you saw, but I mean, he’s pissed at me, not just because I was with you. He grabbed my foot and pulled me down at one point and I kicked him so hard in the junk I hope a nut popped.” She couldn’t entirely help a small smirk at that, inappropriate as it might have been. “Men like him don’t stand for that.” His misogyny actually helped her focus; as frightening as it was, it was very personal.

She shook her head. “I can stay in another room or something, if you want. But thank you.” She didn’t know why he’d extended the offer, but it made her feel safest, and was probably the most practical, too.

"She's got the twins to keep an eye on," Logan said. He wouldn't put it past Creed to use the twins as bargaining chips, or worse. He reached over and took her hand. "Eh, you can stay in mine if you want. Bed is big enough." He smirked at her.

Velma laughed, going to sit on his lap like she had on the way to Japan. “I just don’t want to get in the way.” She wasn’t stupid, there were things she couldn’t do. But she was more capable than he probably thought she was.

“You won’t.” Logan smiled at her, pulling her close, his expression half ‘woo hoo easy access to pussy’ and half genuine happiness at the idea of having her nearby.

Velma knew that smirk and half jokingly sighed. “Have you always just been horny as fuck?” It was honestly kind of endearing on him, though she didn’t say it. “Or did this come a little later in life?” She wasn’t trying to tease him about being old; he was only a year or so older than her. Still, he must have broken so many girls if he’d always been such a heartbreaker.

He laughed, and nuzzled her neck. Here, he wasn't that much older than her, but in the other world? He'd be robbing the cradle. Age never really bothered him precisely for that reason. "Less horny than I used to be."

“Less?” Velma stared at him, laughing. “Christ, Logan. I guess that’s why I’ve only been fucked so hard I can’t walk once?” When most of the men she’d had in the last five years had barely been able to find the clitoris?

Still, she shook her head. “Nah. I do like you for other reasons besides the sex, just saying.” Better make that clear. Even men like Logan had egos.

Logan smirked at her. He'd have to make sure she got fucked into the ground tonight. He was extremely stressed and could use the release. "Yeah? Like how?"

“Why do I like you besides the sex? Or how did I get fucked so hard I couldn’t walk? Because you should remember that one.” Vel smirked right back. It felt good to distract him. Hell, they both could use it.

“Keep that up an’ I’ll do it again,” He poked her in the ribs. “I mean, why do you like me besides the sex?” He sounded genuinely interested.

“You can do that again.” Velma poked him back. But she considered his question. “You’ll laugh when I put it like this, but honestly, I like how loyal you can be. I liked that you gave a damn - at least one or two - from the minute I met you.” What else? “You’re a hell of a lot smarter than you look at first. I also like that you surprise me.” She felt surprisingly vulnerable saying that. “So many people are just ... even when they try to be all unpredictable and spontaneous, they do it in the same way. Does that make sense? I like being surprised. I like being challenged.”

She couldn’t help but grin a little. “You’re also one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, but you’ve got a rep, so I try to keep that quiet.”

Logan could brag. It didn't seem like it, but he had a mind for tactics and planning. It just that his feral side tended to get in the way a lot. It made him unpredictable and dangerous, but it was also a liability. One he kept trying to work on.

But Logan didn't like to brag, so he just listened to her, a fond smile on his face. "Lets not ruin my rep, darlin'. I won't ruin yours. Your secret soft side. I like that. I like the way you sass, an' the way you don't take any sass back. You're strong, you can keep up. But you're...that secret soft side." It let him feel like he could offer her something.

“I don’t like being soft.” She shook her head. She did smile a little, but it was fleeting. “Not to get too touchy-feely, but the fact you see it should tell you I trust you. Because being soft just gets you bit in the ass.” Velma almost told him the family secret, but this wasn’t the time.

“You ain’t soft soft. But you got soft edges. You aren’t a hard person.” He rested a hand over one of her breasts. “Not in here, anyway. Not like you think you are.” His tone had softened.

“You aren’t either, you know.” She didn’t deny it; it seemed kind of stupid to pretend. “Not completely.” Though she wouldn’t talk about it with anyone but him. Maybe that was what being fond of somebody was about - not puncturing their delusions, at least not completely. All the shit he’d seen - and she gathered it was a lot - and he still could be kind to people and look out for them. For all his bluster, though, the thing that mattered most of all was that he seemed to respect her. Respect her judgment and her intelligence and strength. Nobody did that - family, underlings. Not even Lo did that most of the time.

She leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. That alone meant the fucking world to her.

Logan’s arms encircled Vel, and he rested the side of his face against her hair. It was damn difficult for him to talk about certain things. Or say certain things. But Vel seemed to find a way to worm into parts of him he’d thought were dead.

Fuck it, maybe it was time. She couldn’t think of another way to explain why his respecting her strengths meant so damn much. “When I was in college,” Velma started, “I roomed with this girl and we got to be close. Did everything together, like college girls do.” She kept her tone as unemotional as possible; she just wanted to tell the facts, the emotional shit ought to be obvious. “One night, I was at a study group or something, and I came home and heard her screaming. My brother Paul had come up to see me, and when I wasn’t there, he figured it’d be fun to rape my friend.”

She shook her head. “I hit him and got him off her, but he was of course all you’re not going to tell the cops, right? I said of course I fucking was and called them right then and there. They hauled him off to jail.” She still didn’t regret that part, even if Roxanne had thought she didn’t do enough. “Then, though, my father went to the media after the shit broke. Said I was disassociative, fucked in the head. Locked me up in therapy and paid enough that Paul went free. Never went to trial.”

She didn’t want him to use it as some excuse to coddle her, or to treat her like one of his strays, but that was the damnedest thing. Velma didn’t think he would.

“That’s bullshit.” They were the first words out of Logan’s mouth and they were one hundred percent the truth. Brother or not, he probably would have shanked the man. “So he got off and both you an’ the victim get blamed for stirring shit?”

“Yep.” Velma’s eyebrows rose along with a grimace. “No record or whatever, and when I introduce myself people sometimes still get that look in their eyes.” He never had. Not once.

That kind of thing happened too often and it made Logan’s blood boil. “Sometimes there ain’t any justice.”

“Nope.” Velma shrugged. “I still talk to my brother Danny because he’s like, a decade younger, and he was a kid when all that shit went down, but that’s it. But the point of all that was that you’ve never looked at me like I’m fucked in the head.” She didn’t move from where she was, didn’t try to make it anything more than it was. She’d wanted to explain something to him, and now he hopefully understood.

“Ain’t sayin’ you’re not fucked in the head,” Logan replied, giving her a teasing smile. He lifted his hand to cup her face, and pressed his lips against her cheek. “You’re you.”

She slapped him on the arm, but not hard. He was teasing, and she got it. “You’re such an asshole.” But there was no venom behind it. Fuck, it was scary that she’d told him that. Velma sighed, closing her eyes again. For better or worse, at least she’d managed it. And she trusted him with it. Just, to tell it all again had been hard. Even if it was to somebody she cared about. Fuck.

Still, she had to joke, had to crack a smile. It was getting to be too much. “So, will that Summers be able to tell we did some screwing around in here?”

“Yes.” Logan’s tone indicated that that was one of the best parts.

“Good.” Velma smirked. Boy, it’d have been nice to be able to stay up here for a while. Creed couldn’t hurt what he couldn’t catch.

Still, she had to be the practical one. “Do you want to get in touch with anyone now? Or ... it can’t be much longer until we land.”

“I need to send some texts. You warn who you need to, we’ll swing by your place to pick up some clothin’ an’ anything else you need.”

Velma nodded. “Just Lo and Danny. And I don’t need much. Not even sure I want to bother going home. It’s not exactly an invisible place. I can swing into a department store or something.” She did smile. “You’re still kinda new to having a crapload of money. It does come in handy sometimes.”

“I guess. I used my fortune in my dreams to set up a school.” He smiled at the memory. “Ended up blowin’ though most of it an’ scamming an alien casino, though.”

Velma had to laugh. "Yeah, sounds like you. I've never been a gambler, but they say I have a nice poker face."

Logan smirked at her. He could imagine her on his arm while gambling, classy and sassy, and it was a very pleasant image. It helped banish some of his worried, at least for the moment. “We got the dough we needed from the casino, though. Just took a lot more money to run a superpowered school than I thought.”

“Tell you what. After all this crap gets settled, maybe you can teach me how to scam the house at blackjack.” Vel kissed him, smirking right back. “For now, I’ll go get clothes when we land - if you think it’s safe for me to go home for a second, I will - and then maybe you can see if you can get my legs to give out again.” Teasing, yes, but honestly, call it a hunch, fucking did tend to relax a body.

"I promise," Logan said, though what he was promising was left up to Vel's imagination.