Control: An X-Men Adventure and Wolverine Romance

Cologne

Later, upon returning to my room, I encountered Logan again on the stairs. He too was headed back to his room after a day of helping Storm to train some of the older mutants. Self-defense couldn't be more important with the current state of affairs; even with Stryker dead and Magento M.I.A.

He grumbled a hello as he shoved open his door, tossing his kit bag onto the floor and practically collapsing onto his bed. I lingered for a moment in the hall, thinking that the smell of his cologne was pretty nice.

"You need something, kid?"
"Uh, no - and still not a kid," I answered hurriedly.
He lazily sat upright and looked right at me.
"I'm sorry, it's just a habit with the students. It doesn't mean I'm looking down on you, Cass. Besides..." he trailed off.

"Besides what?"
"Well, I've been around the block you know?"
I frowned, not following his meaning.
He sighed.
"I'm pretty old, older than I look. You know that right?"
"Yeah I guess. Storm did mention it in passing." I said dismissively.

"You can come in you know, you don't have to stand out in the hall"
I shuffled into his room and awkwardly leant against his dresser.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it. I meant what I said though - I've been around a good while. I don't see you as a kid, I called nightcrawler kid too yesterday. We're just not used to having adults join us here".

I turned these words over in my mind for a while, considering them carefully.

"So, how old are we talking, like grandpa old, or dracula old?" I grinned, unable to pass up the opportunity for a playful jab.

This got a smile out of him.

"Well, I was a kid in the 1840s, that should give you the right kind of idea. I don't remember that thanks to Stryker, but the professor found records going back to then. I'm trying to connect the dots."

I was unable to mask my surprise at this. I'm not sure exactly what I had expected, but that response wasn't it.

"You can pick your jaw up off the floor now" he chuckled.
"So we're talking ancient then, you should be in a museum," I said deliberately mocking him.
He raised an eyebrow.
"That so?"

I turned my attention to the items on the top of his dresser. A bottle of whiskey and a cut glass for it - which he'd no doubt 'borrowed' from Xavier's personal set. His wallet, beaten up and dog-eared. A glass bottle of cologne, and a lighter - not unlike the one he'd handed to me on our second meeting. There wasn't much else of note.

He stood up and wandered over to join me. I became aware of the closeness of his body as he stood watching.
"Are you casing the joint?" He joked.
"Well, from the looks of things there wouldn't be much worth stealing here".
His expression was one of amusement.
"If it's not up to your standards, you know where the door is," he gestured.
I laughed a little and turned to face him directly.

We were less than a metre apart now and my eyes flicked quickly over his body before I managed to redirect them elsewhere. It would have been a lie to claim he didn't look espescially hot in his white tank top.

There was a heavy pause as we made eye contact for a moment and I wondered if something more might be about to happen... I stepped a little closer to him.

"I like your cologne," I thought aloud, holding the blue glass bottle in my right hand. It was cool against my skin.
When you had a keener sense of smell than most humans, there were a lot of unpleasant aromas, but the occasional good smell was all the more intense too.
He took a step closer to me, closing most of the gap between us. His fingers brushed against mine as he gently took the bottle from my hand and placed it back on the dresser. I was taken back for a moment when he then took my hands in his own.

He was looking intently at them, the tips of my retracted claws glinting - unlike his, they would never be fully hidden. Instead, they looked almost like particularly sharply pointed acrylics, but tougher and with a slight curve to them. They were also now permanently a dull metal chrome. Suddenly feeling self conscious I moved to hide them, but he stopped me. Sure, in a way, I was fortunate that they could just about pass for 'normal' in public, but they were also a constant reminder of what had happened. I couldn't help but want to hide them, from myself as much as from anyone else.

"You don't have to hide here," Logan said still holding my hands in his own but loosening his grip so that they weren't trapped there.

His hands were, of course, a fair bit larger than mine. The thought of those razor sharp blades beneath his skin was strange and surreal; Stryker had made him a weapon, and yet his hands were holding mine so gently in this moment. How it was possible that he could, at times, behave with surprising softness, astonished me.

There was a sudden sharp knock at the door and we both hurriedly sprang apart - but not fast enough! Jean had pushed the door open gently and caught sight of us. She looked pointedly at each of us in turn and then a knowing smile spread across her face.

I suddenly began to wonder what she thought was happening. I seriously doubted Logan thought of me in that way at all. Besides, he definitely had feelings for Jean, and how could I compare to her?

"Sorry for interrupting, I couldn't find Cass, so I wanted to ask if you'd seen her, but... well, here you both are".
Logan let out an awkward sort of cough and said nothing.
"I'm sorry, I, uh, lost track of time for a moment but I'll come with you for that walk now," I said, hurriedly gathering up my bag and rushing past Logan, out into the hallway.

She shot another knowing look between us, particularly strongly at Logan - who by now had him arms folded across his chest, almost defensively. I tried my best to ignore the implication, deliberately avoiding eye contact with either of them.