Control: An X-Men Adventure and Wolverine Romance

Family

It became a part of my routine to train late at night if I couldn't sleep or if I'd woken from a nightmare. I found it helped release a lot of the stress from me to be allowed to be in a destructive mode without any risk of anyone real getting hurt.

One of these nights, I was furiously punching away at one of the bags, this was part of my regular drill again, thanks to the special boxing gloves the professor had comissioned for me which allowed me to throw punches without slicing into my palms every time. I was really giving it hell when Logan wandered into the gym.

It was about three am and I didn't notice him approach due to how aggressively I was whaling on my imaginary foe. Thinking I was alone and well out of earshot of anyone, I had really let myself get into it, and was for sure making some strange grunting sounds.

"For a moment there I wasn't sure what I was about to see."
I jumped and spun round at the sudden intrusion of his voice.
Logan was smirking at me as he walked over.
I wiped the sweat from my brow with my forearm and sighed, partly in relief that it was just him, and partly in embarassment at his comment.

"I've heard you creeping down that hallway a few times in the middle of the night, curiosity got the better of me and I came lookin' for you".
"Why are you here, lonely again?" I muttered, colder than I'd intended.
He was quiet for a moment, an unreadable look in his eyes.
"Forget it," He muttered finally, turning to leave, looking a little angry. I instantly felt like a jerk.

"Wait, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be such a dick," I pleaded hurriedly, overtaking him and blocking his path.
He froze in place demeanour still prickly. I tossed aside my gloves so I could place a hand on his arm, feeling his body relax as I did.
"I'm guessing you're awake for the same reason as me, and, if you can forgive me snapping at you then I'd gladly keep you company for a couple hours".
He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply.
"I can't stay mad at you, Grizzly."
I smiled - usually I hated nicknames, but Logan had one for everybody and it was pretty endearing.
"You hungry after all that?" He asked.
"Yes actually, might have to go raid the kitchen as per my usual M.O." I announced proudly, taking him by the hand and tugging it for him to follow after me.

Soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of bacon and eggs as they fried in the pan atop the old-fashioned stove. Logan had decided to make me a breakfast bagel and so I sat on one of the high stools, observing him.

When he finished, he set down the plates and two glasses of orange juice in front of me and settled down opppsite as we ate in comfortable silence. Once we were done I began to wash the plates while he dried. There was something surreal about the pair of us taking part in this little domestic ritual - sometimes the every day, boring bits of life seem extra special when everything else becomes extreme.

Tiredness finally starting to set in, I began to yawn and my eyes felt heavy. We tramped back up the stairs to our floor, and I lingered in the hall for a moment as he entered his room. I thought I should probably head back to my own room to turn in, but I wanted to be close to him for a little longer.

"You coming in, or going back?" He asked as he stretched lazily.
I crossed the threshold into his room and closes the door behind me, much to Logan's apparent surprise, and crossed over to the bed.
"I got so sweaty working out, you sure you want me lying next to you?"
Logan shrugged.
"Shower if you want, but it's no bother to me."
"Ok, then give me ten minutes and I'll come back." I answered, desperate to get the feeling of being so grimey post-work out off my skin.
He opened the window, letting in some of the crisp night air. I figured he was going to take a smoke break, and so I went to my own room to shower.

When I returned, in fresh clothes and with my hair wrapped up in a towel, Logan was lazily reclined on his bed. There was a lingering smell of cigar smoke mixed with hos cologne. I once again clambered into bed and shuffled over next to him.

"Good shower?" He asked in his low voice.
"Yeah, I definitely needed it."
"At least you don't stink now," he teased.
"Hey!" I chided, slapping his arm.
He laughed and put a big arm around me as I settled down with my head resting against his chest.

"Can I ask you a question?" I mused, after a long silence.
"Sure."
"You don't have to answer but, do you remember if you had a family?"
He was quiet for a while before giving his answer.
"I have a few fragments of memory but I don't remember... there's a woman, my mother I think, and a boy, maybe a brother, but I can't say for sure. The professor has applied to a historical archive for some papers which he thinks could give us some confirmed names."
"Do you think, if you do have a brother, he's like you?"
"Unless he has the same or a similar mutation, he'd be long dead by now..."
"What about you Grizz, you got a family?"
I shook my head.
"You never knew 'em, or?"
"Well, I do have parents. Or I did. It's complicated. They were very controlling. Everything got worse after my mutation showed up."
"D'They kick you out?"
"No... not as such. I had cancer, and it wasn't until the very latest stage that things started to change. The professor thinks the cardiac event which technically killed me was what finally did it."
"Holy shit" he murmured, I could feel the words vibrate through his chest.
"Yeah... I died, sort of. I woke up in the morgue. My mother was overjoyed to have me back, obviously, but she became so paranoid. I couldn't do anything, It felt like I'd come back from the dead but I didn't have a life. I wasn't allowed to live. It just led to fight after fight."
"That's rough".
I sighed.

"Yeah, I just couldn't do it anymore. She controlled who I saw, she pulled me out of school. Hell, she even controlled what I ate. I know she was scared of losing me, but she drove me away. It's fucked up."
"You ever think about trying to find her?"
"From time to time, but I'm not ready for that... besides, my father, he won't want to see me. I guarantee it."
"Yeah?"
"He was convinced that I wasn't really back. It began as a kind of suspicion, but it grew into him fully believing I was a demon posessing his dead kid's body. I think to him, I really died that day... and it's like the loving father I knew died too."
"Shit. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Yeah, but it's like Jean said to me a while ago, people here understand. We all have slightly different experiences but overall, being a mutant, a fair amount of fucked up shit comes with that.
"Well, that's true."
"I'm starting to feel like here... here I have a family."
He ruffled my hair with one of his hands.
"Yeah, much as I sometimes hate to admit it, we all need each other."