Work Text:
After fighting in so many wars, protecting the people that matter, and murdering the enemy, violence starts to feel like second nature. To see a dead body in a field or to shoot a bullet through an incoming herd of soldiers became the norm, especially for mutants like Logan and his brother. Logan’s first war hadn’t been easy; he became nauseated at the mere thought of driving a bayonet through someone’s chest. It wasn’t long into battle when he learned that on the field, your brain shuts itself off, and your body runs on autopilot. Fight or flight was a beautiful thing, his half-brother, Victor, told him once, but Logan was unsure if he agreed.
Now, amid the Vietnam War, despite being plagued by the chronic nightmares of the atrocities he’s seen in the past weeks, he’s lying under the stars just outside of camp, as peaceful as a time like this could be. It’s supposed to be January, but with the weather being so humid and unforgiving, you’d never be able to tell. The grass around the campsite is thick and tall enough that Team X was relatively obscured from any enemies that might stumble upon their campsite.
It was one of those nights where things were nearly silent save for a couple of crickets. While the peace wasn’t unwelcome, it was almost uncomfortable. Listening to the sounds of gunshots and the pained screams of men was normal, as morbid as it sounds, so the silence was off-putting. The stars were as bright as ever, however, even if the world seemed so dark and dreary as of late. Logan soaked it up while he could though, laying with his back against the grass and his hands folded behind his head.
Next to him was someone that, even though Logan wasn’t too fond of him, there seemed to be a special place in his heart for him: Wade Wilson, the merc with the mouth, Team X’s worst soldier. Stryker once told him he'd be the perfect soldier if it weren’t for his mouth, which Wade never took too personally. Not everyone was equipped to listen to his wisecracks and smart remarks, but Logan was.
When the two had met nearly two months prior, Logan had a disdain for the mercenary after he cat-called him as he walked by (which earned him Logan’s claws pressed to his throat in a threatening manner, telling him that if he ever dared to whistle at him again, he’d make sure he’d regret it). Over time, Logan’s heart had developed a soft spot for Wade Wilson, and he allowed him to get close to him despite all the times he threatened to shove his claws down the mercenary’s throat.
Logan wasn’t sure what the two of them were considered; were they boyfriends, or friends with strictly romantic benefits? Were they just two dudes who liked to hold hands and maybe kiss when nobody was looking? It was unclear, but Logan knew one thing for certain: he was beginning to fall in love with Wade Wilson, though it was something he’d have to keep to himself. There was no way he’d let Wade have the satisfaction of knowing that he had successfully wormed his way into Logan’s cold, icy heart.
Unable to sleep, Wade decided to join Logan under the stars, mimicking the way he was lying, and rested his arms behind his head. The campfire was slowly dying out, leaving the moon and the stars to shine bright in the night sky. It had been mostly silent until now, but nowhere could remain quiet as long as Wade Wilson was around.
“There’s probably aliens up there, y’know,” Wade remarks, his eyes fixed on the stars. When Logan glances in his direction, he notices how the stars leave a sparkle in Wade’s eyes.
“Doubt it,” Logan mumbles back.
A breathy laugh escapes Wade and Logan can see his shoulders jump when he does, “You really think we’re the only ones out there? All those planets and there’s nobody else? C’mon, Logan, if mutants can exist, there are definitely aliens out there somewhere.”
Logan can feel the urge to roll his eyes itching at him, “I’ve been around a long ass time, Wade, how come I’ve never seen one?”
“Maybe they’re shy,” Wade shrugs his shoulders, breathing softly from his nose. God, the air smells humid.
Logan can’t argue with that. His eyes are drawn back to the sky, watching the stars twinkle amidst the dark sky. After being alive for over a hundred years, Logan has watched the world change. Nothing stays the same forever, yet the stars never do. No matter what, if Logan looks up into the sky, there will be stars twinkling away.
The stars bring him back to the night he and Victor ran away from home; two scared, young boys who were unsure of what the world had in store for people like them. If people thought mutants were hated now , they would be gobsmacked at how they were ridiculed back when Logan was young. They were unheard of, freaks of nature, things people threw into freakshows for a quick buck.
Deep down Logan longed for a normal life, one where he didn’t have to fear for his own life just because he was born differently. Though, if he hadn’t run away, there was a chance he would’ve never met Wade, and that was a life he didn’t want to live.
Wade was Logan’s light at the end of the tunnel, though he was too reserved ever to say such a thing out loud. The idiotic remarks and awful flirting attempts were charming to Logan in a way he hadn’t felt with anyone else. Being alone for so long, for years and years of his life, was lonely enough, but finding Wade made it all worth it.
“-Every universe,” Wade’s voice cuts through Logan’s thoughts, and he shakes his head to get the fog in his brain to dissipate.
“Come again?” Logan asks, which he immediately regrets when Wade quips back with, “Don’t mind if I do.”
Logan’s grumpy expression returns as he swats Wade in the arm, which has the mercenary giggling menacingly and scrunching his body away from Logan’s attack. Even if Wade holds a special place in his heart, that doesn't mean he enjoys listening to every word that comes out of the guy's mouth. Seriously, he always has some bullshit joke to pull out of his ass and Logan has to hold himself back from driving his claws into Wade’s abdomen.
“As I was saying,” Wade begins as he settles down, “I think we’re soulmates in every universe.”
Soulmates. Logan despises the word. How could two people be created so right for one another and fate has it that they bump into each other on a whim? With as many times as Logan had fallen in love in the past, and how many times his lover told him they were “soulmates”, the word began to lose meaning. Now the thought of anyone being his soulmate, his lifelong partner, felt far-fetched enough that Logan couldn’t quite wrap his head around such a concept.
“Sure, if that’s what you wanna believe,” Logan scoffs.
Wade gasps at the implication and props himself up on his elbows, looking down at Logan whose eyes are still transfixed on the stars above.
“You don’t wanna love me in every universe?” Wade pouts, but he knows Logan doesn’t mean any harm. Logan was always more reserved than the rest of Team X, especially Wade himself, and it wasn’t improbable for him to shoot down the idea that someone liked him enough to want to spend every universe in love with him.
Logan shrugs his shoulders at Wade’s question, finally bothering to look Wade in the face, “I’m not sure yet. Your ass is annoying enough as is, I can’t imagine what you’ll be like in another life.”
“Aww, I knew you loved me,” Wade winks down at Logan before easing himself back into the grass, hands folded over his stomach, “Just you wait, peanut, I’ll find you in the next life and you best believe I’m making your life a living Hell.”
“As if you already don’t?” Logan questions, sitting up to lean over Wade.
In any other instance, Logan wouldn’t dare kiss Wade out in the open; it was the 50s for crying out loud, and gay people weren’t exactly socially acceptable. However, in the quiet of the still night, with everyone asleep, Logan presses his lips against Wade’s, savoring the tender feeling of Wade’s lips on his own.
We don’t talk enough.
We should open up
Before it’s all too much
—
“Hi, peanut.”
Logan’s neck felt as if it would snap with how fast he turned his head to search for the voice; he wasn’t sure who he was expecting to see standing there, but coming face to face with a man in a skin-tight red and black suit wasn’t what he was prepared for. Nothing phased Logan anymore, not after all the things he’s lived through, but he had to admit it was certainly different than what he was used to.
However, there was something oddly familiar about the man that Logan couldn’t put his finger on. The voice had a hint of playfulness behind it that made Logan’s heart pound a certain way in his chest. The nickname “peanut” was familiar to Logan, as if he had been called it before, but he couldn’t recall anyone calling him that. Logan could feel his brain fogging up as he tried thinking back on his memories; his head always felt muddled when he tried to think back too far, but he could never remember why.
Logan swallowed the lump in his throat, feeling the familiar burn of whiskey go down with it, “I know you, bub?”
“Nope, but I know you.”
He wasn’t sure how true that was. The sound of the man’s voice was like a hazy memory that was barely there, but he could hear it in the back of his mind, echoing.
“Hi, peanut.”
Maybe the alcohol was getting to his head.
“Everybody knows me. I’m the Wolverine,” Saying his name left a sour taste on his tongue. The Wolverine was no longer a name that was admired by most, one that made him feel pride in what he had become after the adamantium, but instead brought him shame. When people called him Wolverine, they meant it in a derogatory way, as if he was some wild animal.
“Yes, you are, and I’m gonna need you to come with me right now,” The man was persistent, Logan had to give him that.
“Look, lady, I’m not interested.”
Logan pushed himself up from where he was sitting on the barstool, refusing to entertain this conversation any longer. It was clear he wasn’t wanted in his bar, the bartender made it crystal clear, so he decided to get out of there and try his luck elsewhere. Hopefully somewhere where there won’t be a blubbering idiot in his ear bothering him.
As Logan leaves the bar, throwing a twenty dollar bill that he managed to scrounge out of the depths of his pockets onto the bar to cover his tab, he can’t get the man out of his head. The memories he’s trying desperately to recall fog his brain, and Logan can barely make out the hazy face of a man. Vaguely, Logan can see the man grinning, but the rest of his face is too blurry to remember anything else. His heart still pounds in his chest at the murky memory.
“Logan!”
He’s halfway down the sidewalk when the man comes rushing after him, standing outside the bar and shouting his name loud enough for Logan to hear.
For the first time in Logan’s life, he felt the need to turn around and face the person calling for him. He had been too blind in the past, too caught up in his woes and misery that he forgot other people needed him; Logan never cared enough about anyone else till it was too late. Even though Logan didn’t know the man and considered him a nuisance, there was a little voice in his brain that was telling him he couldn’t walk away this time.
When Logan turned on his heel, facing the man in the suit who was standing just outside of the bar, the man was looking back at him, his stance rigid and nervous. Logan couldn’t be sure they were making eye contact, especially through the white eyes of the mask the stranger was wearing, but he felt it.
“Hi, peanut,” echoed through his head one more time as the two men stood in silence , Logan’s heart pounding a beat too fast in his chest.
Will we ever learn?
We’ve been here before.