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kumeko · 15 days ago

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A/N: For the @dayoffzine! You have no idea how hard it was for me to resist the urge to just write about Logan and all of his mentees. In the end, though, somehow Kitty took over the whole fic XD

…

It was quiet on the moon. To be honest, it was always quiet in space, even when the Eternals lived on the moon or aliens travelled across the dark tracts. Yet it was especially quiet on the Blue Area of the moon, where Uatu the Watcher lived.

There was always something to watch, so Uatu had no need to look for entertainment. Whether it was an apocalypse, a world-domination plot, or even simple infighting amongst the heroes, Uatu had plenty to observe and note down.

Still, if he ever did have a desire to see something different, something new, it was easy enough to do so. While he primarily watched his designated Earth, Uatu could take a peek at other what-ifs, at the places beyond mere mortal’s view of time and space.

He could see, if he so desired, the same night across multiple universes. Such as a particular Halloween night…

-x-

Earth 10005

Logan had not known peace since he’d met Charles and joined the X-Men. Actually, if he were honest, and he was always as brutally honest as he could be, Logan hadn’t known peace since Alpha Flight. Or maybe it was even further than that—back to when he had been wandering the wilds of northern Canada or picking fights in bars for scraps of money.

Part of him was certain that if he ever regained his memory, his childhood would be the same. Some people were just born under an unlucky star and there were few unluckier than he was.

Still, all of those other situations were a walk in the park compared to now. Those fights would involve adults, and Logan knew how to take care of adults. He knew exactly when to walk away, when to show a claw, and when to give a beat down. It didn’t make for a great life, but it certainly made for a simple one.

Here in the Xavier Academy, however, all of his knowhow went out the window. Everything involved a kid.

Logan was not a man made for kids. He was barely a man made for adults.

Somehow, that didn’t stop kids from flocking to him. First it had been Rogue, randomly appearing in his truck like a bad penny. Then there was the trickster Kitty, who grew bolder and bolder with each passing day.

And now there was Jubilee, a punk who was standing between him and the fridge. Standing between him and his cold beer.

Today was Logan’s day off. There weren’t any strange emergencies. He had no kids to ‘teach’.

He didn’t have to put up with this bullshit. Logan growled, “Move, kid.”

“I’m not a kid,” Jubilee corrected, with all the authority and know-of of a 16-year-old kid. She grinned brightly. “And I won’t move until you agree.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn ya,” Logran growled. He stepped forward threateningly. When she didn’t budge, he grabbed her firmly.

“Hey! What’re you—”

“You can be annoying over here,” he grumbled, setting the girl down on the other side of the fridge. Without waiting for a response, he yanked open the fridge door and riffled through the shelves for a beer.

“Rude. Why’re you always like this?” Jubilee snapped, stepping on his foot. She was lucky he wasn’t in the mood for a training bout. “No wonder you don’t have any friends.”

It was a stupid, petty insult. Logan got worse a dozen times a day from that ice kid, Bobby. What Rogue saw in the kid, he’d never understand. “That’s none of your business.”

It was a mistake to even reply. He realized it the second he grabbed his beer and closed the door. Now that he could see her face, Jubilee covered her mouth in mock horror, her eyes wide. “Don’t tell me you actually don’t have any friends?”

It was a stupid, petty argument, but something about Jubilee made him want to get into a stupid, petty fight. Maybe she was just that annoying. Or maybe he was just that tired. Either way, he extended a claw and roughly snapped off the lid of his beer, making sure she saw the whole thing. “Don’t think Xavier’ll care if he’s missing a brat.”

“It sounds like a threat when you say it.” Jubilee laughed, hitting him on the back. “Anyways, let’s hang out tonight.”

Logan’s instincts were sharp and honed carefully through his experiences. All of them screamed: this is a trap. He stepped away. “Not interested.”

“Come on, it’ll be just like the old times!” She tried again, bouncing in front of him. “Just the two of us on an adventure.”

“Adventure?” Logan wasn’t sure just what he’d ever done to give the kid the impression he was the ‘adventuring’ type, but he had to clear it up today. “Not interested. Never been interested. Go play with some kids.”

“Come onnnnn,” Jubilee whined, grabbing his free arm. She had to have been taking lessons from Kitty. He missed the days when Rogue refused to touch him. “It’ll be fun.”

“Fun? Oh, now I’m definitely not interested.” Logan yanked his arm free and strolled out of the kitchen.

“Wow, do you know any other words or do I need to buy you a dictionary?” Jubilee rested her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. It was the stereotypical teenage look. Logan had gained immunity to such childish sarcasm after his third day here.

“Insulting me?” Logan chuckled, amused. He took a swig of his beer and wrinkled his nose. It was terrible shit again; some one had taken his shit again. “That’s a new tactic.”

“Look, I’ll leave you alone after,” Jubilee pleaded, clasping her hands as she dashed in front of him. “Promise.”

Now, this was actually new tactic. Logan narrowed his eyes. “For how long?”

She laughed, rubbing her neck sheepishly. “Alright, got me there. An hour?”

Logan snorted. “You’re delusional. A year.”

“A year?” Jubilee flinched. Dramatically, she laid her hand on her forehead and leaned back in a mock-swoon position. “Jeez, someone’ll get the wrong idea and think you hate me. A day?”

“It’s not the wrong idea,” he barked. “A week.”

“No wonder you don’t have any friends.” She shook her head sadly. “Two days.”

It was probably the most he’d ever get out of her. If he was lucky enough that she even kept her end of the bargain. “Fine. Deal.” Logan watched her over his bottle. “Now what?”

Jubilee pulled out an eye patch from god-knows-where. “Alright, now put this on and go dress up like Patches.”

Logan flinched. The only reason he had to tolerate this kid was because she somehow knew of his stupid attempt of a disguise. A disguise he had used years ago in Hong Kong. A terrible disguise that everyone had seen through the second they’d seen it and pretended they hadn’t.

He had been born under a very unlucky star.

“Why?” Logan glared at her, ignoring the dangling eyepatch.

“Cause we got some kids to give candy to and we’re not so boring we’d just dress up like normal, right?” Jubilee smiled innocently, as though she hadn’t surprised attacked him. “You know it’s Halloween, right?”

-x-

Earth 616

If there was one benefit to going to Xavier’s school, it was that Kitty had met a lot of people: students, professors, and everyone in between. The school’s doors were constantly revolving as people came and left, sometimes via graduation, sometimes via the morgue. In this tiny ecosystem, she’d learned life’s harshest and best truths.

Right now, she was learning yet another one: Rachel Summers and Illyana Rasputina should not be put in the same room.

Then again, maybe she should have known better. It wasn’t bad enough to have two exes in the same room (and Kitty had to thank the small amount of common sense she had not to invite Piotr too), but she also had to invite in the two with the strongest, most aggressive personalities. Any other combination of her friends could have ended with a little give and take, laughter, and everyone leaving in one piece.

Now Kitty had to worry about portals to hell and an ancient, universal power destroying everything over a popcorn feud.

Kitty sighed into her knees. She had folded herself up as small as possible as she sat on the couch, squashed between Rachel and Illyana. Knees bent, arms wrapped around her legs, she rested her chin on her knees and stared blankly at the tv. What she was watching, she had no idea, but it wasn’t enough to distract her from the cold war occurring over her head. Even without looking, she knew they were glaring at each other.

They always did. The romantic in her liked to think it was over her, the realist realized it was just the way they were built. They were magnets with the same polarity; it was impossible for them to touch.

“So.” Kitty spoke first, unable to take it any longer. She finally figured out what horror movie they were watching. “You guys liking the movie? It’s good for Halloween, right?”

Illyana turned her head slightly, assessing the movie. Kitty could feel Illyana’s bare leg brush against her thigh as Illyana shifted her position.

It was going to be very hard to concentrate on the movie if she didn’t move.

“I guess. It’s pointless,” Illyana finally said. She bent her arm on the armrest and rested her chin on her hand. “The plot’s the same.”

Rachel snorted. As usual, her voice was low and husky, giving her a mysterious air even though she was wearing an ordinary flannel top and jeans. She sounded like she could be from anywhere. “Now the princess is a critic.”

“Oh, I forgot, you like boredom,” Illyana sniped back, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Rachel growled, “I just like safety, unlike a certain rabid dog.”

Ilyana curled her lip and sneered. “Safety or just hiding from yourself?”

They were glaring at each other. Kitty felt like she was surrounded by knives. This had been a terrible idea. For two people who looked like they’d get along on paper, they were impossible to have in the same city, let alone room in reality. Any two other people would have been a better match than this.

Hell, she would have taken Logan and Scott and their weird rivalry over this. The only good thing is that with her powers, she could sink into the basement before they accidentally murdered her.

Pulling out her phone, Kitty texted furiously. Kurt. When are you getting here?

It took two seconds for her phone to buzz as her fuzzy friend replied. Sorry. Busy.

She twitched. Kurt had known about this movie night for weeks now. He’d even promised to bring nachos. Glaring at the screen, she wrote, Liar. Get here. Now.

I like living. I’ll see you tomorrow.

He was bailing. On her. Kitty clenched the phone tightly, wishing it’d crack. Who needed friends?

-x-

Earth 11052

Rogue was nervous. Her palms were sweaty, she couldn’t keep still, and her feet were itching to just leave. The last time she’d felt like this, she’d gone to prom and almost killed a guy.

It was silly. She shouldn’t feel like this tonight. That had been a long time ago, before she’d known her powers, before she’d learned how to control her powers. Rogue had been alone then. Now, she had the X-Men on her side. Unlike then, tonight would be a normal, teenage night. Well, as much as it could be, when the world was out to kill you and your classmates were composed of your enemies.

It was funny what ‘normal’ could look like.

“Nervous?” Kurt asked, standing next to her in the floor-length mirror as he adjusted his collar. With his regulator on, he looked like an ordinary teenager and nothing like the furry elf she’d come to consider a brother.

“Don’t know why ya bother,” Rogue chided, side-stepping the question as she watched him mess with his hair now. The dorms rules were pretty relaxed, not caring who went into whose dorm room as long as it was all kid-friendly. “Ah doubt you’ll look any better.”

Kurt didn’t even flinch. Instead, he grinned and boasted, “I know, it’s hard to make the regulator match my beauty, but I do my best.”

She didn’t know how to feel about that. It’d been a long time since anyone had gotten this close to her, emotionally. Long time since anyone saw past her barbs for what they were. These days, Kurt had stopped cowering in her presence. Hell, he even sought it.

Brother. Perhaps there was something to the family crap.

Reluctantly, Rogue answered, “Ah’m not sure if ah should be comin’.”

“Well, I’m sure,” Kitty interrupted as she entered their shared bedroom. She was dressed up now, all black and leather and sleek as can be. The cat ears on her head gave away her outfit: slutty cat. “I want to go clubbing with both of you.”

Rogue glanced at Kurt and tapped her jaw. “You’re drooling.”

“I’m not!” Kurt wiped his mouth anyways.

She chuckled. It was hard to resist teasing him ever since she’d found out about his very obvious crush on Kitty. It was a miracle the lady in question had never noticed it. Turning back to the mirror, she tugged on her arm length gloves, double-checking that every part of her was covered up. “There’s a lotta people. Somethin’ could happen.”

“So? We’ll take care of it,” Kitty replied confidently, her hand reaching for Rogue’s gloved one with no hesitation. “You know what we can do. Dodging people is easy.”

“Ja.” Kurt reached for her other hand. “And I can teleport you away. We gotcha.”

It was easy to believe that, with their hands in hers, with their reflections smiling back at her.

They made her want to believe. She gripped their hands tight. “What’re we waitin’ for? Let’s go!”

-x-

Earth 982

There was unfair and then there was unfair. Mayday had fought supervillains on her way to exams, hidden from classmates to protect her identity, and even bailed on a date to keep peace. She knew all about the various degrees of bullshit the universe tossed around on a daily basis.

Seated in her living room, surrounded by her family, she had never seen a worse situation in her life. It was bad enough that she was too old to go trick-or-treating without having to deal with this. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, complaining, “This is unfair.”

Across the room, her father and uncle high-fived each other before turning to her. They were old and middle-aged and still for some reason had enough baby fat on their faces that they looked like they were in their 30s. If Mayday was lucky, she won the genetic lottery and got that too.

“What’s unfair?” her father asked, plopping on the recliner.

“You two,” Mayday grumbled, shaking a fist at the pair.

Uncle Ben slouched on the couch, his posture almost identical to her father’s. He’d been born an adult; twenty years weren’t enough to change old habits. He grinned mischievously. “Do I hear a sore loser?”

“I’m not!” Mayday leaned forward, directing her death glare at her uncle. “The rest of us don’t get clones who can just read our minds. This is cheating!”

“I can’t read his mind.” Uncle Ben chuckled, covering his mouth with his hand as he tried to take the matter seriously. It didn’t help. His shoulders shook and Mayday flushed, embarrassed.

“Hey, it’s a possibility!” she defended herself. “We fight gods every Tuesday! It could happen.”

“Well, I didn’t get bitten by a radioactive psychic.” Her father, ever the jokester, pinched his brow and stared off into the distance like he was listening to a far away voice. “Yes, master, I think she fell for it.”

“Peter,” her mother chided. Any hope Mayday had of her taking it seriously was lost the second she giggled.

“You know, this is charades, right?” Uncle Ben asked, his hands moving as he talked. “If we didn’t talk or write, it’s not cheating.”

“You two don’t even have to talk!” Mayday stood up. If her mother wouldn’t do it, she’d do it herself. “You just look at each other or make a gesture and you already know what you’re going to do! It’s unfair! We’re swapping partners.”

Her mother finally calmed down. She reached for Mayday’s hand and squeezed it gently. “That’s a great idea.”

Not expecting the back up, Mayday blinked owlishly. “It is?”

“They do have an unfair advantage.” Her mom smiled beautifully, as though she were out walking the runway or giving a photo shoot. “I’ll take Ben.”

Peter, who was half-way getting up, froze. “Huh?” He jerked his head up, offended. “What?”

“He’s cuter,” her mother teased, winking at her uncle.

Ben played along, blowing a kiss back. “I got the good genes.”

Her father fell into his seat and pouted. “It’s the same genes. Which I had first.”

“What do you think, Mayday?” her mother asked, turning to her with a mischievous grin. “Who do you want to partner with?”

It was an easy question, even if her mother wasn’t making fun of her father. Without hesitation, Mayday answered, “Uncle Ben. He’s smarter and funner and nicer and—”

Her father squawked. “Mutiny! Treason! Attacked on all sides!”

-x-

The Watcher smiled, tearing his eyes away from the wonderous sights of the night. There were so many worlds to observe, so many experiences to consume. This was more than satisfying for this night. Perhaps tomorrow he’d look for more worlds, more stories, more people.

Perhaps tomorrow, he’d find an irreplaceable sight.

#marvel #logan wolverine #kitty pryde #rogue #kurt wagner #ben reilly #mayday parker #peter parker #mary jane watson #rachel summers #illyana rasputin #utau the watcher #fanfic #x men evolution #earth 616 #and then many more but I am not tagging everything

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