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“Another,” Logan nodded to the bartender, motioning to the beer bottle he’d finished off seconds earlier. Raising his chin up Logan looked to the television mounted on the wall high above the back of the bar displaying the news where chaos had broken out on the west coast indicating that things were less than peaceful for the mutant nation still out that way.
It had been months since Logan had left, never looking back at the world he’d once been a part of as Logan made the decision to go back east and revamp the school that once meant everything to his kind. It was a labor of love, but one that felt a little bit darker without the presence of the man he’d written out of his life all those months ago there to share it with.
“I’ll have what he’s having,” a familiar voice announced before sliding into the seat beside Logan, leaving no room for Logan to stir in his unsettling thoughts. Instead, Logan feared he would be forced to be somewhat pleasant, silently hoping that the new arrival wouldn’t be a chatty one. It was all he could wish for after a long day of frustrations within the school itself.
“Logan,” the voice acknowledged Logan on the bar stool beside him.
“Barnes,” Logan grumbled staring directly at the mirror in front of him and recognizing the face of the old rival and skilled assassin at his side, working to procure his own beer from the bartender.
“Long time no see,” Bucky spoke up delivering no other reaction beyond the acknowledgment itself as the bartender returned with two bottles in hand.
“Not long enough,” Logan grumbled as the bartender looked between them, silently assessing the situation before tipping her head at them.
“Enjoy,” she set the bottles down and slid them across the bar before going to tend to a group of new arrivals seated at the opposite end of the bar.
“Thanks,” Bucky called out to her in an attempt at being polite, but it was lost on the woman who’d found far more pleasant customers that Logan suspected would be better tippers.
“What brings you to this side of town?” Logan inquired, not really certain he cared to hear an answer but given that he was there, and Barnes didn’t appear to be walking away, Logan decided to play it neutral.
“Business,” Bucky answered revealing nothing more in his response.
“Who dies today?” Logan was watching the screen above him when Scott showed up on the screen issuing a statement to the press about mutant equality in the face of war.
“Does it really matter?” Bucky angled in towards Logan looking between the man at his side and the one on the screen that Logan couldn’t turn away from, “You two still a thing?”
“We’re not a thing,” Logan scoffed before glaring at the former Winter Soldier behind a snarl.
“Right,” Bucky mouthed disbelieving as he raised his beer to his lips, “Whatever you say.”
“I say we weren’t a thing,” Logan snarled before squeezing his bottle tighter than before, “Never were.”
“That’s too bad,” Bucky shrugged lowering his bottle down over the top of the bar, “because last I heard you two were a thing—before you decided to call it quits and move up out here looking for something more.”
“Did it for the kids,” Logan muttered under his breath, turning his eyes to the television again and watching the way that Scott was navigating the press.
Granted, Logan had to hand it to Scott. Scott was good at what he did. Better than Logan could ever be and if it hadn’t been for being born a mutant, Logan was convinced the world would’ve loved Scott. The man had charisma and a power behind his words even if the world wasn’t ready to hear them. A bit of a stuffed shirt and far too uptight, but Scott could motivate those that followed him. Even piss them off with his rigid inflexibility, but as Logan watched Scott on the screen there was no denying the man was born to be a leader.
“I hear he’s shaking things up out west,” Bucky noted turning his focus to the television again, “Making people uncomfortable with what he’s been doing.”
“What do you want Barnes?” Logan snarled slamming his bottle back down on top of the bar and causing the otherwise disregarded bowl of peanuts to bounce upon impact.
“I just think that at a time like this it’s better to stand together then be a nation divided,” Bucky motioned to Scott on the screen again, “Guy’s got a lot of targets on his back right now.”
“You one of those working to use him as target practice?” Logan felt an overwhelming concern rush over him in imagining Bucky was someone sent to take Scott out of play for the government.
“Relax. Summers isn’t on my list,” Bucky assured him behind a cryptic smile, guiding Logan to be suspect even with Bucky’s promises, “He might be making someone angry, but no one I’d take a job for these days.”
“Good,” Logan fought to contain his relief before facing the front of the bar again, “Not that I care what he does or what happens to him, but it doesn’t make for good relations having one of our own gunned down like that.”
“Probably doesn’t help knowing that he’s someone you care about either,” Bucky pushed a little bit further.
“Like I told you before Barnes,” Logan huffed impatiently, “it’s not like that.”
“I heard what you said, but I also remember that time in Japan when I was there on assignment, and you were in that karaoke bar. Was kind of surprised to see you there with him…tucked into that corner where…” Bucky’s words deliberately dropped off serving as a reminder of the time Scott and Logan had thrown caution to the wind and wound up in a loud, booming place pretending to live other lives away from who they were when the rest of the team hadn’t been around.
“You weren’t on a mission,” Logan reminded Bucky with a grumble and a tightening of his fingers over the chilled, frosted bottle, “You and Rogers were…”
“Doing what you and Summers were,” Bucky finished before tapping his metal fingers on the countertop, “and we’ll leave it at that.”
“Yeah, well if you and Rogers are so big on doing that kind of thing, then why are you sitting here harassing me instead of going to play kissy face with him?” Logan tossed back at him.
“Because like you, I decided to be an idiot, refusing to say what I meant to say to him when Steve was still here,” Bucky answered with a sadness overtaking the cool composure he’d often carried with him, “Didn’t take the time to let him see that he was still needed here. That he had someone who felt he was worth keeping around. I just let things fall as they would and because of that I’m here. Stuck with you wishing I changed my response to his saying he was ready to go.”
“Again, why are you telling me this?” Logan huffed impatiently.
“Because sometimes it’s worth hearing,” Bucky finished off his beer and reached into his pocket. He threw a few bills down on the countertop letting them scatter across the wooden surface before Bucky rose from his barstool in his retreat, “Use your words, Logan. I didn’t and now Steve’s gone. Even if we weren’t destined to work it out together, that’s something I can’t ever take back. I just stood silent, and Steve walked away taking with him any potential for any more karaoke nights between us.”
“I ain’t looking for a karaoke night with Summers,” Logan stiffened against Bucky’s urgings, refusing to let go of the anger that surrounded Logan in his departure for Utopia.
“Suit yourself, but once he’s gone, you can’t get any of it back,” Bucky’s voice served as a harsh reminder as the assassin left his seat beside Logan and walked towards the back of the bar to where a man in a black hooded sweatshirt was waiting near the exit for Bucky’s arrival.
Out of the corner of his eye Logan spotted the hint of a smile that teased over Bucky’s lips in the other man’s arrival, hinting that even without Rogers around there was someone worth spending ‘karaoke’ time with as the scent of Tony Stark hung heavy in the air upon the man’s arrival. For a few seconds Logan observed the way Stark was working to be incognito, refusing to allow himself to step out of the shadows and risk being spotted before Stark was reaching for Bucky’s fingers and pulling him in closer. The longer Logan pretended not to watch them, the more Logan found himself intrigued observing the way that Bucky dropped his guard long enough to step into Stark’s arms and welcome the kiss that Stark had laid upon him in their meeting. It lasted only long enough to spark a sense of envy in Logan as he looked to the screen above thinking about the man he’d discarded in his anger. However, before Logan could really weigh out the situation, he heard the faint sound of the bar’s back door closing and taking with it Stark and Barnes away from the place where Logan had come to simply get lost in his anger.
Now turning his focus to his beer and Bucky’s money on the countertop, Logan felt himself overtaken by an overwhelming guilt knowing that being across the country hadn’t convinced him to stop hurting—to stop being angry about things that deep down he knew were beyond his and Scott’s control. So strong was the need to reach out to Scott again, to say the words Logan had been too damned foolish to offer up in his retreat, but now with the threat of danger on the horizon and Scott fighting for the others who’d stayed behind to follow him, Logan realized that perhaps Barnes had been right. If only for a few moments in time it was worth delving into further as Logan pulled his phone out of his pocket. Logan was hesitant, but soon he was pulling up the old, familiar number knowing it was a risk, but one he’d felt was worth taking as he found the courage to dial.
It was two rings before the voice on the other end of the line answered.
“Hello…” Scott’s tired, groggy voice answered indicating that for all the PR Scott had been doing lately he hadn’t been sleeping much.
“Slim,” Logan looked to the image on the television screen above him seeing the face of the man that he’d once loved and longed for talking to the world and sending his message about mutant equality in a world set on their destruction, “We need to talk.”
“So, talk Logan,” Scott’s voice was pulled from his exhaustion to a tense unrest, filled with uncertainty in Logan’s calling.
“I’d rather do it face to face,” Logan decided reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wallet to grab some money to pay for his drinks. In doing so Logan spotted the photo he hadn’t been able to bring himself to pull out of his wallet of Summers and Jean back at a time when Logan was more of an afterthought in their lives. At the time he’d stolen it, Logan felt like an asshole, but now seeing Summers and his smiling face Logan felt as if perhaps there was still hope after all, “How long do you think it will take you to bring the Blackbird out this way back to the school?”
“When do you need me there Logan?” Scott questioned as Logan stared at the photo in front of him.
“The sooner the better Slim,” Logan replied pulling out some money and tossing it on the top of the bar.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Scott replied without saying goodbye. Scott hung up the phone leaving Logan to his thoughts before Logan finally closed his wallet and stood up again knowing that Scott would be there soon. That had never been called into question, but now as Logan faced the possibility of a reunion between them, he thought back to Bucky’s suggestion hoping that when Scott arrived that his words would be enough to express what it was that he truly felt about his estranged lover.
“No better time than the present,” Logan decided pushing his arms into his jacket and making his way to the exit out into the parking lot over to where Logan parked his bike out back.
Logan was a few feet out of the bar before he noticed Stark’s sportscar at the corner of the lot with window steaming up and the outline of two bodies coming together in an intimate embrace revealing two lovers lost in a sentiment that Logan remembered only too well. Shaking his head with a smile on his lips in seeing how Barnes was working to deal with what came next by opening himself up to the idea of a romance with Stark, Logan continued to walk on by hoping that once Slim arrived that they’d find themselves in a similar place kissing and making up after all the horrible things they’d said to one another in their ending. Of course, given how horrible it had been, Logan tended to believe that probably wasn’t going to be a likely outcome, but still with a glimmer of hope in his heart, Logan chose to think positive even if it meant setting himself up for a downfall.