Can I ask for a hc of Cable from Deadpool falling for a tough, introverted reader please? X
When he first meets you it’s because you’re with Wade
The two of you are arguing, not really paying attention to anyone else around you until Wade realizes that Cable is there
Wade introduces you to Cable and rambles on about how the two of you met while you roll your eyes and offer Cable a handshake
He’s more surprised that you’re associated with Wade than anything at all
Seeing you fight for the first time it makes sense, you can clearly hold your own in any conflict but still you seem the opposite of Wade
While Wade’s extroverted and talks nonsense at any moment it’s clear to Wade that you’re introverted and won’t be the one to start conversations unless you feel comfortable
Cable doesn’t ever realize he’s falling for you at first, it’s irritating but Wade’s the one to point out when he won’t stop staring at you
And Cable has to admit that he’s not wrong, there is an attraction to you
He’s seen you punch people in the face and the next moment crash on a couch to binge watch sitcoms, there’s something endearing in that
It takes time for him to be comfortable with pursuing a relationship again
Being stuck in what is the past for him with the knowledge that he was once married, it takes a toll on a guy
But you’re easy to talk to, easy to joke with, and he likes that you’ll answer all his questions about the current timeline as long as he answers your questions about his own timeline
Him being nervous to offer a confession of his feelings, not just because he worries you’ll reject him but also because you can kick his ass if you wanted to
Which, he totally uses sparring as a way to flirt with you
Becomes a showoff in front of you
But that’s ok because you don’t mind it as long as there’s not a life or death scenario going on
Cable attempting to get advice on asking you out from Wade and then regretting it
Blushing when you come up with nicknames for him and secretly being glad that you’re comfortable enough around him to do so
Just being in awe of you whenever you’re in the middle of fighting someone
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The hotel ballroom was alive and kickin’, spurred on by the jazz band that was playing an old swing number. You’d been sent off to hunt for a rogue mutant, some higher-up with too much money and a lot of bad intentions. It wasn’t a particularly difficult mission - there was no hiding, no deception, no sneaking around. In fact, they were going to meet their mark face-to-face for a little negotiation.
Thankfully, you weren’t even going to be the negotiator - you were the translator for Colossus, who was supposed to be mainly employing his native Russian for this mission. All you had to do was play the cute little honeypot to really reel the target in, and you’d been given Cable as your extra arm candy. Honeypots weren’t exactly Cable’s favorite type of job, but with his rugged looks generally imposing demeanor, he was well-suited to play the overly-attentive bodyguard to your attractive translator role.
“No more parties, please,” Cable said, jerking at the tie he was wearing. He huffed when it didn’t loosen properly. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve worn a tie.”
“Oh, stop, it looks good on you,” you reply, craning your neck to see if the mark had entered the ballroom yet. She was supposed to be a short little redhead, well-built and expensive-looking. But you were short and she was even shorter, so likely you weren’t going to be the one to spot her. “Not that I’m complaining about your usual t-shirts.”
That got him to smirk a little. “Yeah, I caught you over-drying them again.”
“I can’t help that you don’t buy pre-shrunk cotton. I’m doing the world a service.”
“Speaking of service,” Cable replies, also craning his neck to see, “where’s the big guy?”
“Trying to look imposing over by the champagne fountain.”
“He’s seven feet tall. Why does he have to try?”
“Because he’s a teddy bear on the inside and he’s overcompensating.”
Negasonic’s voice chimed in loud and clear over the speakers in both of their ears. “Will you two stop flirting and look for the mark? She should be there any second.”
“She’s definitely not here yet, Negasonic,” you reply, still surveying the room. “No redheads in sight.”
“Well, keep looking. If she stands us up, we have a real problem.”
You fiddle with the mute button on the clear earbud in your ear so that you can still hear Negasonic, but she can’t hear you. You reach over and do the same thing to the one in Cable’s ear. He gives you a questioning look.
“You look really nice in that suit,” you say, taking his arm. “I think we should go kill some time…”
“Is that right?” he chuckles, leaning down next to your ear. Thank goodness Negasonic and Colossus can’t hear what he’s saying - that low, smokey voice is only for you.
“Be a shame to waste the opportunity…”
“Can’t wait until we get back to the room tonight?” he asks, lips dangerously close to your ear.
“Think of it as a preview for later,” you say, tugging his arm.
You lead him through the ballroom, past the scores of people who barely gave either of you a second glance. You weren’t the only pair latched onto each other - just another couple running off to find somewhere private for a minute.
Once you find a quiet little nook in the hallway, it doesn’t take much work
to get Cable panting. His hands are on your hips, drawing you in close to him.
You press him up against the wall, fingers searching for his belt.
He’s holding back from his usual grunting and groaning, but once you’ve got your hand down his pants, his control is definitely strained.
Cable slides his knee between your legs, trying to give you some amount of friction in return. You time every twist of your hand, rubbing your clit against his thigh until you can feel pressure building in your stomach.
“You like that, darlin’?” he says breathlessly. He trails his lips along your collarbones, stopping right at the hollow of your throat. “Rubbing your pussy on me like that?”
You hum in the affirmative, too busy with your hand around his cock. He twitches in your hand, burying his face in the hollow of your throat. You stroke him once, twice, before he’s cumming all over your hand. You stroke him as he softens, rubbing yourself on his thigh until you follow suit with a low, slow gasp. You do your best to help clean him up, but he’s definitely going to need to find a bathroom.
“Hey, where are you two? Target’s been spotted!”
You glance up at Cable, amused. “I’ll cover for you while you go clean up.”
“You’re getting some hardcore payback tonight when we get back to the room…”
How extensive is the virus? Has it spread to his legs? Groin? Feet? Is it mainly on just that one side or does it have areas on the other side too?
Looks-wise, I’m more DP2 based as far as where his virus is.
So far, it’s just on the left on the outside of his body. The virus entered through his right eye and traveled over. So under his skin, some of his musculature and his bones are metal on the right side, centering around his skull, cheek, and jaw and blossoming outward. His left eye, funnily enough, is actually a result of his natural mutation. So the glowy nature of it has nothing to do with the virus in my portrayal.In my headcanon, the virus burns hot. It’s burns so hot that the body’s immune system can’t burn it out. That’s why it looks like a lot of his skin over his chest and back looks like it’s melting off and chunks are like stuck to the techno-organic metal. His skin is cracked and raw because the moisture isn’t there anymore due to contact with the virus. It’s stuck and puckered like when you put meat on a barbecue and try to take it off prematurely.
Very little of Nate’s skeleton is original. I would say his right hand up to the elbow and his legs below the knee are legitimate bone because they’re the farthest away from his core and where the virus initially entered his body.
To sum up: The parts of Nathan that you see in these gifs are all that you can see of the virus on the outside of his body. There’s a lot more of it running under the surface.
I could talk about Nathan’s virus all day but thanks for coming to my TED talk.
You Look Like Trouble (Morning Glory Wine - Cable/OC
Here’s chapter nine!
We’re almost done, y’all! The final chapter is already written, I’m just working on editing.
Also, I need to include a warning for this chapter. There's an action sequence that's grounded in a domestic situation. It's not graphic, but the situation is present. Please take care of yourself and skip over section three if you need to.
(And as always, not to be that person but if you’ve got the time and the inclination, kudos or a comment would be greatly appreciated.)
The front lawn of the mansion was emerald green and perfectly curated, the short blades of grass waving in the breeze. It was early morning; the sun had just peeked over the horizon, casting the lawn in oranges and golds. It was a hot morning, too hot to be comfortable for any amount of clothing, but nevertheless everyone was in full costume and raring to get the day started.
Vivian stood on the front porch of the X-Mansion, staring out onto the front lawn. She was dressed and ready to head off to her shift at the clinic. She didn’t have to wear scrubs or a white coat anymore unless she just wanted to (she didn’t), so she’d chosen her usual civilian outfit of trousers and blouse. She was pretty sure she'd already sweat through her shirt in the mid-morning heat; the material clung to her back, sticky and wet.
At that particular moment, Vivian wanted nothing more than to take another shower and just crawl back into bed. She’d stayed in Cable’s room at the mansion for convenience (and booty) that night despite the fact that she still had weeks left on her apartment lease. It was far more comforting to hole up for the night in Cable’s small, cozy room than going home to her empty apartment.
She'd been coming home to a multitude of empty rooms for so long that she'd forgotten how lovely it was to have someone waiting for her when she walked in the door. She was willing to admit (not out loud) that in the few weeks since that first night alone with Cable, it had gotten quite difficult to come home to her empty apartment when all she had to do was drive out to the mansion where, more likely than not, he would be waiting. She'd done her best to balance personal space with her attempts at affection, but even when she chose not to make the drive out to the mansion, more likely than not, he'd be on her doorstep sometime before midnight.
Part of the team Wade had lovingly dubbed the X-Force stood on the front porch with her. Of the three big, scary men waiting to get the day started, Wade was the only one still struggling to gear up. He swatted at the back of his neck, searching for the connecting panel of the velcro strip meant to secure his mask in place. Vivian reached up and smushed the velcro strips together, then patted his neck and stepped back.
“Looks like you boys are all set,” Vivian said. She crossed her arms. “So who’s driving? Do any of you have a license?”
Colossus looked at his shoes sheepishly. “No need for driver’s license when you can’t fit in car.”
Cable shrugged. “I don’t exist here.”
“Yeah, no, that got taken away a long time ago,” Wade said cheerily, pulling out his phone. “Dopinder it is!”
Such a functional team. They’d get the hang of this X-Force thing eventually, probably. Maybe.
Vivian rolled her eyes. “Did you expect to walk back? You three big, scary dudes plus my skinny kids can’t fit in Dopinder’s taxi. Why don’t you just take the jet?”
“We wanted to go in more discreetly,” Colossus replied. He gleamed orange in the morning light. “But, in this case, perhaps the jet is the better choice.”
“Look, I don’t care how you do it,” Vivian said. “But you do have the access codes and a jet is a hell of a lot more official than rolling up in a taxi.”
Colossus nodded in agreement. “You make a good point. We will take the jet. Gentlemen, if you would follow me...”
Colossus headed out towards the back of the mansion, his skin gleaming brilliantly to the point of blinding everyone staring after him. Vivian shifted and picked at her fingernails before cracking her knuckles until they hurt. If there was anyone she trusted, it was these three, but she still felt nauseated at the thought of not going with them herself. But it had been so long since she'd trained for an active situation, she felt it was ultimately better to let the trained mercenaries handle ut.
“We’ll handle it,” Cable said, as if sensing her discomfort. Not that he had to sense it, exactly; her skin was ashen and he'd heard her knuckles crack light thunder. He leaned in for Vivian to kiss his cheek. "You have every right to be worried, but we're gonna have them back here before you even get back from your shift."
Vivian shrugged, twisting her hands nervously as she’d been doing all morning. “I’m not worried. Who’s worried?”
“You broke two mugs this morning, reversed it, broke them again, then accidentally reversed the dishes that I washed.”
Vivian sighed. “Alright, I’m worried. I just have a bad feeling.”
Cable had a bad feeling too, but he didn't want to admit that out loud to her.“What do you have a bad feeling about?”
“Jack’s smarter than he looks," Vivian said. "I don’t know, I just have a weird mom feeling.”
Cable placed his hands on her shoulders. He wasn't too much taller than her, but he was just tall enough to press a kiss to the top of her head. “Whatever’s causing the weird mom feeling, we’ll handle it - okay? I’m gonna get them back here.”
“I know, I know. I trust you.”
“I’ll call you when we’ve got them. Just go do what you do best and keep your mind occupied. Don’t stick anybody too hard.”
“Right, right.”
She watched him head out to find Colossus. He'd wrapped a thin scarf around his neck - she couldn't fathom how he could be remotely comfortable with as many layers of clothing as he had on (which, truth be told, wasn't that many, but Vivian was basically always hot). She ultimately presumed it was meant to cover the ropes if tech slowly creeping up the back of his neck, so she didn't mention jt.
As he walked off, Wade leaned into Vivian’s side. “I need a favor.”
Vivian turned to him. He always smelled like sweat and leather. “The undying gratitude can wait until after you get Shelly and Benji.”
“Nothing overly self-indulgent," Wade replied. He was trying to cheer her up, or at least keep her mind occupied. "A buddy of mine is gonna meet you at the clinic. Gunshot wound.”
“Is this one of your “mysterious buddy” situations where I don’t ask the name?”
“Kind of, but if you ask him who he is, he’ll probably tell you.”
“Right. Got it," Vivian said. "Please be careful, Wade.”
"Hey, don't worry about me. I can take a bullet." He poked the tip of her nose. "Now, you go have a great day sticking your fingers into people's wounds. Or whatever you want to stick your fingers. I don't judge."
---
Vivian parked next to the clinic in her usual spot - the one that had her name (misspelled) painted on the cement. She locked her tiny car behind her and walked into the clinic. The only person there other than the receptionist was a curious figure dressed all in black, holding his shoulder gingerly.
Vivian had seen some of Wade's shadier buddies on multiple occasions, but she was sure she’d never seen this guy before. In fact, she was a little surprised that Wade sent him to the clinic rather than asking her to run by and meet him at Sister Margaret's. But the clinic was in Queens - probably closer for whoever this guy was.
“You Wade’s friend?” Vivian asked.
The guy looked up at her. She could just barely see his eyes through the eyeholes of the ski mask he was wearing. “Yes, ma’am! That’s me.”
Vivian was taken aback. A mercenary calling her ma’am (who wasn’t Cable)? Unheard of. She motioned for him to follow her. “I’m Dr. Sharpe, if you'll follow me. Heard you’ve got a gunshot wound.”
“Following! And yes, ma'am.”
Vivian led him into a back room and closed the door gently behind her. The TV was blaring loudly in the corner - just the local news reporting on something bad, as usual. “Alright, show me whatever’s bleeding.”
He sat down on the exam table. Once again, Vivian was a little shaken by how young he sounded. “Yes, ma’am.”
The guy took off his shirt and tossed it onto the counter but kept his mask on. There was a bullet wound on his right shoulder with no exit - whatever the bullet’s caliber was enough to take a pretty good plug out of him but not enough to blow through his shoulder.
Vivian peered into the wound. “Well, you’d be in better shape if it was a clean hit. I’m gonna have to poke around a little bit to look, but depending on the location, I may not have to get the shrapnel out. Either way, it’s not going to feel good.”
“Whatever needs to be done. Just - I can pay cash. As long as I don’t put it on my aun- my insurance.”
Vivian laughed. “I’m guessing you’ve never done the backroom-doctor deal before. Don’t worry - Wade’s taking care of it.”
“Okay." Definitely a kid, then. He seemed relieved. "Okay. Good.”
Vivian pulled what she needed out of the cabinets and laid it all out of a tray. The kid shifted nervously, trying not to move his shoulder. There was no way this guy was over 21 - not with the musculature and voice.
She sat down across from him in her rolling chair. “Alright kid, how old are you?”
“What- I-?” The guy (kid) cleared his throat and tried to sound less nervous and squeaky. “I’m old enough, ma’am.”
“You couldn’t be older than sixteen,” Vivian said, staring him dead in the eye. She noted all the scars and marks on his exposed skin. “You've been doing… whatever you've been doing for a while, but haven't taken a real serious hit until now. Wait - are you that Spiderman kid?”
“Seventeen!” the boy said, sighing. “Yeah, yeah, I’m Spiderman. Now can you please get this bullet out of my shoulder? Accelerated healing doesn’t work if there’s still shrapnel.”
“Shit - I thought Wade was joking!” Vivian said. She gently tugged the mask over his head. “How’d you get roped in with Wade? I thought you were an Avenger.”
“Shoulder!”
Vivian rolled her eyes and pulled out a syringe filled with lidocaine. She shot his shoulder full of painkillers and waited for the solution to take effect. “He’s not getting you to do weird shit, is he?”
“No, he took care of something in Queens for me about a year ago. I got shot last night and I didn’t know who to call, so I called him.”
“Well, I’m the best backroom doctor you’ll find,” Vivian replied, checking his shoulder. “Numb enough?”
“Yeah.”
“Hold still. I’m gonna check the wound. Since the shrapnel is in your shoulder, it may not necessarily need to come out. Bad news is, you'll have to heal like a normal human, but I'll give you some antibiotics to help with that.” Vivian peered into the wound and found that she could see the tail end of the bullet close to the skin. “So what happened?”
“Guy shot me point-blank with a .50 cal. My suit absorbed most of it, but it still got through.”
“Must have been a strong suit. A .50 cal. will take your whole arm off.” She took a pair of forceps, took hold of the end of the bullet, and removed it as quickly as she could. The wound leaked, but she could see the skin knitting back together. “I’m going to give you a round of antibiotics anyway just to be safe. Don’t get an MRI without getting an x-ray first. It looks like I got the whole bullet out, but you never know.”
He moved his shoulder gingerly. “Thank you, Dr. Sharpe.”
“Anytime, Spidey.” Vivian placed a patch on his shoulder and taped it down. “Look, you seem like a good kid. Don’t let Wade get you into trouble, okay?”
“I won’t.” He looked up at the TV, face twisted in surprise. “Hey, he’s on TV right now! Oh, that looks bad. I should go help-”
“Wade’s on the TV?” Vivian looked around for the remote and turned the volume back up.
“Authorities have been called to the scene of what seems to be a hostage situation involving an adult male and two children. It appears that a team known as the X-Force have responded to the distress.”
“Where are my fucking kids, Wade?” Vivian asked to no one in particular.
"Sources have indicated gunfire but no confirmed casualties. No demands have been made yet."
Spiderman looked up at the TV with a certain amount of concern. “I should go help with that!”
Vivian shook her head and patted his back (on the side that hadn't been shot).“No, Spidey, that’s gonna be my job. But I’d appreciate you being on standby for when I murder Wade so you can take his place.”
The poor kid didn’t look like he knew whether to laugh or agree. Being a smart kid, he agreed. “Okay.”
“Take care of yourself, Spidey. I’m gonna go save my kids.”
---
“So, this is not going well,” Wade said, ducking behind a car parked in front of the warehouse.
“Ya think?” Cable yelled, ducking behind the same car. Jack had been firing out the door for some time now. Usually, they’d just barge in were it not for the fact that he had a second gun trained on both kids. “We need a game plan!”
Colossus leaned against the back bumper of the same car, peeking around the side every time the firing stopped. “I’d say wait until he runs out of bullets, but I’m afraid we’d be too late.”
A tiny black car rolled up beside them containing Vivian. She was not in a good mood.
“What the fuck is going on?” Vivian yelled, throwing open the car door.
“He already had a gun trained on them when we arrived at the house. Apparently something happened earlier and we walked in on it. He fled, we followed.” Colossus explained as gently as he could.
“What has he been saying?” Vivian asked, trying to peer into the half-open front door. The windows were all busted out, but she couldn’t see past the leftover dirty broken glass still attached to the window frames.
“Says no one can have them, if we get close, he’ll shoot, he’ll take care of his mutant kids himself. The works,” Wade replied. “Basic familial hostage situation.”
Vivian groaned. “Anyone got a plan? Hmm? Or are we just gonna stand here until one of those bullets actually makes contact?”
“I’ve got a plan,” Cable said, all-too-calmly. He’d reached the pinnacle of mercenary - cold, calculating, methodical. A perfect antithesis to Wade’s shoot-first method. “Deadpool and Colossus create a distraction and draw fire, since bullets won’t have any effect on them. Colossus may be able to de-escalate, anyway. I’ll sneak around behind the warehouse, go in through the back, and take him out before he hears me coming. Viv, you find a way to get up to the second floor and be on standby in case he fires in a direction we don’t want him to fire. You can put the bullet back in the chamber.”
“Works for me,” Wade said. He holstered both of the pistols in his hands.
Colossus nodded. “Agreed. I will try to talk him down.”
Vivian bit her lip. “There’s an AC unit around the side - should be tall enough for me to climb up onto the ledge to get to the second floor.”
Cable nodded. “I’m heading around back.”
The unit was directly under the end of a ladder that dangled into the open air. Vivian hopped on top of the AC unit with as little clanging and banging as she could manage. The edge of the ladder hung just within reach above the unit. She climbed the ladder and swung up onto the ledge, making a mental note to talk to Colossus about some serious training if they all made it out in one piece. She found a window out of the line of sight and crawled through it.
Jack was on the warehouse floor with Benji and Shelly, guns blazing. He had Benji tied to a column, still in his pajamas. Shelly was braced underneath one of Jack's arms.
Colossus and Wade both braced the door. Wade poked his head in just past the door frame. “Jack - this is ridiculous, just let them go.”
“Get back!”
“Come on, they’re your kids - you don’t want to hurt them.”
“I’d rather kill them myself than hand them over to you.”
“You really don’t want to do that!” Wade called back, poking his head past the door again. Another bullet whizzed by his head.
Vivian caught Cable creeping in the back out of the corner of her eye. He had yet to be seen by anyone else and she was still out of the line of sight. As Cable creeped in, Wade poked his head further past the front door.
“No, you don’t.”
Jack fired the gun trained on Benji. Vivian lashed out, freezing the bullet just before it hit the mark. She held steady just long enough to redirect the force from that distance. “Cable!”
“Send it back now! I’ve got them!”
Cable grabbed Shelly out from under Jack’s arm and shoved him just far enough into the path of the bullet that when Vivian sent it back, it caught him in the knee. He picked Shelly up and kicked the gun out of reach before untying Benji and sending him out the front door with Colossus and Deadpool.
Vivian climbed down the ladder and picked both of Jack’s guns up before leaning down over the man’s head. “None of this was necessary.”
“Get out of my face,” he said, spitting at her. “You took out my fucking knee cap.”
“You’re lucky I don’t take your head off,” Vivian replied, wiping the spit off of her shoe with the sleeve of his shirt.
“You gonna kill me?”
“You deserve it. But no - not in front of them. I’ll leave the cops to deal with you.”
“You can’t just leave me on the ground like this!”
“Watch me.”
Vivian slammed the warehouse door behind her. Colossus was directing the authorities into the building in a show of his usual responsibility. Benji sat on the ground at Wade’s feet, staring blankly at the sky and just letting the man fuss over him. Shelly was still firmly latched to Cable’s side. He stroked her hair and mumbled into her ear that she was okay, that everything was okay.
As soon as they caught sight of her, they launched themselves into her waiting arms. She let them cry, one on each shoulder, for the better part of two minutes before taking each one under her arm and directing them to her car.
“Let’s get you two somewhere safe,” Vivian said, motioning for Cable to follow her. Colossus trailed along while Wade caught up. “You’re both going to counseling first thing in the morning.”
Vivian put both of them in the backseat, then reached into the front to crank the car up. She shut the door and turned to Cable before grabbing him in a bone-crushing hug.
“Thank you,” she said, unwilling to let him go.
“Nothing to thank me for,” Cable replied, kissing the top of her head. “We’ll talk about it back at home.”
She grabbed Colossus and Wade in turn as they walked up. They all smelled like sweat and stress - unpleasant in the heat. “I’ll meet you three back there. I’m gonna go get them food.”
“We’re gonna go get their stuff,” Wade replied. “Then we’ll meet you back at the mansion.”
“Don’t case the place,” Vivian said, climbing into the front seat and shutting the door behind her. She rolled down the driver’s window. “On second thought - have fun.”
---
Vivian let herself into Cable’s room after she’d gotten Benji and Shelly settled in their respective rooms. She would stay the night again, and in the morning, she was going to get her stuff and set up her room at the mansion earlier than expected. She suspected she’d be spending more nights in Cable’s room than in her own, but it was far too soon to start piling her shit in his private space.
Cable looked up as she walked in. “How are they doing?”
Vivian flopped down on the bed, beyond exhausted. “They've both got counseling appointments in the morning. Benji seems comfortable enough in his room, but I guarantee Shelly won’t stay in her room tonight. She’ll be banging on the door in the next couple of hours.”
Cable fiddled with a gun over in the corner of a room, wiggling it apart so that he could clean it. A gun manual lay open in front of him on the table. “Maybe not. They could barely stay awake through dinner.”
“I could barely stay awake through dinner. I haven’t done that in years,” Vivian replied, stretching. Her arms were on fire, and she knew she’d be sore tomorrow. She really had to get on Colossus’ training schedule. “I can’t believe you’re not tired.”
He smirked, a rueful smile. “I’m used to it.”
“I know.” Vivian grabbed a pillow and pulled it to her chest. It was the pillow Cable usually slept on. It smelled like him. “What a terrible thing to be used to.”
“Yeah, it is,” he agreed, reattaching the gun parts after swabbing them with a soft cotton pad. “I’ll turn the light off if you want to go to sleep.”
“Please.”
Cable got up and padded over towards the light switch. He took a long look at her before switching off the light. Vivian had changed out of her work clothes and into a pair of pajamas, her hair piled up in a bun on top of her head. The circles under her eyes were worse than ever and it was barely 10PM. He flipped the light switch, leaving the room lit only by his desk lamp.
Instead of going back over to his desk, he crawled into bed next to her, back leaning against the headboard of the bed, and pulled her into his lap. She maneuvered so that her head rested against his abdomen, arms wrapped around one of his legs. He stroked her hair, nails dragging gently long her neck. She took his wrist and kissed the back of his hand, lips trailing along one of the veins.
“You need sleep,” Cable said. His hand ran across her shoulders, working at the knots of tension that he could find.
“Put me to sleep, then.”
He chuckled in her ear, running his hands up the back of her neck. “How about this: in the morning, after you get a full night’s sleep, I’ll make sure the door is locked and we’ll get the day started right.”
“And then you can take a shower with me.”
“That’s right.”
“Okay,” Vivian yawned, nuzzling into his leg. “Wake me up if they knock.”
“If they knock, I’ll take care of it.”
“That’s asking too much. You literally just met them this morning.”
“Doesn’t matter. If they don’t want me, I’ll come wake you up.”
Vivian didn’t say it, but in the thick haze of exhaustion, she caught herself thinking it. Those words. Those three terrifying words. She didn’t dare let that slip out, though. Not when they’d finally made progress. It was too much, too soon.
So instead, she went for the safer option. “Thank you.”
“You can thank me by sleeping.”
---
Cable had carefully extricated himself from Vivian’s grip after she’d finally gone to sleep and replaced his leg with a pillow. She didn’t know the difference; she was out like a light. He sat at his desk, tinkering with some weapon and a manual he was trying to interpret (he’d had to relearn a few things about past weapons). True to prediction, at approximately midnight came a soft knock at the door.
When the knock came, he pulled on a shirt and answered the door. On the other side of the wooden frame stood Shelly, hair disheveled from a restless sleep and eyes red. She blinked up at him blearily, her eleven-year-old brain working to comprehend what she was seeing.
“Where’s mom?” she asked, rubbing crusties out of her eyes. She carried a stuffed animal in one hand, obviously old and worn from use. It looked like a rabbit - or that it had once been a rabbit - but it was too old to really tell.
“Asleep,” Cable replied gently, “Like you should be.”
“I tried,” Shelly replied. “Water would help, but I don’t remember where the kitchen is.”
“Come on. I’ll get it for you.”
He guided her downstairs, treading lightly so as not to disturb anyone else. He could hear snores in several different rooms, mostly snores from people he hadn’t seen yet. Most of the other residents were gone during the day, so he didn’t usually run into anyone. He led her into one of the few tiny kitchenettes and grabbed a glass from an overhead cabinet, filling it with tap water. He handed her the glass and pulled out a chair at the kitchen table for her to sit at.
“Thank you, Cable.” Shelly took a sip and stared at him again. She had the same eyes as Vivian - wide and piercing, as if she could make you tell the truth just by staring at you. “Are you my mom’s boyfriend?”
He almost smiled. “We’ll talk about it in the morning, after you’ve slept. Now, finish that so you can go back to bed.”
Shelly drained the rest of her glass and left it on the table. “Just yes or no.”
“Yeah,” Cable replied. He took the glass and put it in the sink, making a mental note to come back and wash it in the morning. “Now, come on. Back to bed.”
You Look Like Trouble (Morning Glory Wine - Cable/OC
Here it is. Chapter ten.
It’s been a long year, kids. I appreciate all the kudos and comments I’ve received, and I am so glad that y’all liked Vivian. Usually, after I finish a work, I like to do a full edit + update + rewrite. I’m gonna start working on that tomorrow. I won’t post the full chapter on here after it’s been updated, but I’ll post a notice that it was done. Onward and upward.
(And as always, not to be that person but if you’ve got the time and the inclination, kudos or a comment would be greatly appreciated.)
Early morning dawned bright and clear. The curtains in Cable’s room were cracked just enough to let the first slivers of light bleed through the room, casting bloody orange light on the bedspread. Cable’s room was freezing cold - a testament to the fact that he always got unbearably hot when he slept. They both got irritatingly hot, especially as the day began to heat up with the first strains of dawn, so they’d learned - and had an unspoken agreement - that cuddling was pretty much out of the question after a certain point.
Vivian had been awake for half an hour already. She’d tried to go back to sleep, but found sleep impossible. She’d become accustomed to waking up before dawn and couldn’t usually sleep past 6AM, 7AM at the lastest. She lay still, listening to Cable breathe beside her, but when his alarm clock ticked past the 7AM mark, she had to move.
Cable groaned beside her, startled out of sleep by her movement. He didn’t sleep much anyway, and when he did manage to sleep, it was restless and light. Vivian could bet with some accuracy that he’d had only three-ish hours of sleep. She hated to move too much and really wake him up, so she crawled back down between the sheets as gently as possible, not that it mattered. He was already awake.
Cable wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Vivian replied, sticking her face right u[ against the hollow of his throat. It was a good place to be. “Can’t sleep past 6AM, usually.”
“That’s okay,” he said, tucking her head under his chin. “Just try to sleep.”
Vivian tried, she really did. She closed her eyes again, stayed as still as possible, and found that she was - unfortunately - now very, very awake. What a pain in the ass. Whatever would she do? She could probably get him to wake up...
“Nate?”
“Hmm?”
Cable’s morning voice was deep and a little gruff, strained from sleep. The tension he usually carried in his jaw was gone, replaced by slack comfort. He was soft somehow, despite the cords of muscle the expanse of tech covering his arm and chest. Pliable was probably a better word than soft, or maybe unburdened in a way that he couldn’t be when he was completely awake. Vivian almost hated to wake him up when he seemed so comfortable. Emphasis on almost.
“Is the door locked?”
Cable shifted, repositioning his arm under his pillow. “Locked it when I went to bed last night.”
Vivian pulled away and looked up at him. “Wanna get the day started right?”
Cable chuckled and kissed the top of her head. He hitched her leg over his hip, rolling her onto her back. “Guess I promised, didn’t I?”
“I won’t hold you to it if you want to sleep.”
“Sleep…” Cable hummed, running fingers along her sides. “Or getting you to make that noise that you make when I’ve got your leg over my shoulder…”
Vivian grinned and hummed against the hollow of his throat. “Difficult choice, I know.”
“It’s not every day that we don’t have anywhere to be.”
Vivian kissed his cheek, trailing her lips down his neck to suck at the hollow of his throat. “Speak for yourself. Gotta get the kids to school.”
“Well, we’d better get down to it, then.”
Vivian pushed his shoulders until she got him on his back. She straddled his hips and kissed him, biting his bottom lip. She kissed his cheek, making her way down to his ear. She trailed the tip of her tongue along the shell of his ear, making him shiver and tense beneath her.She kissed down his chest, carefully avoiding the metallic cables crossing his chest, down his stomach, until she reached the super fun v-lines that made her brain go numb sometimes. She nipped at his skin gently, tugging his pajama pants down over his hips.
His cock was hard and flushed already from the combination of her mouth on his skin and simply just waking up. She avoided that entirely, choosing to kiss her way down his inner thighs and back up again. She braced his hips so he couldn’t inch away from her; she made a point to trail her tongue up his thigh as lightly as possible, which always made him squirm.
Cable groaned as she ran her tongue along the length of his cock, slamming his hand down over his mouth to keep quiet. She looked up at him as she took the head of his cock in her mouth, enjoying the intensity of his stare. He carded his fingers through her hair, looking for some kind of relief as she took him down to the base of his shaft. He squeezed her shoulders, rubbed the back of her neck - doing anything really to keep himself from arching up into her mouth.She stroked him as she wrapped his lips around him, running her hands along his thighs until she took his cock in her hand and stroked him.
Cable groaned again. This time his groan was softer, closer to a whimper than she’d ever heard him get. “Fuck, I love when you do this.”
Vivian didn’t bother to take her mouth off him. Instead, she hummed as if she meant to answer him. He twitched, body tensing from the vibration. She hummed again and stroked him, pleased when he twitched even harder and tensed up.
“Don’t- don’t,” he said, biting his lip. She hummed again anyway, this time dragging her teeth lightly along his shaft. “Fuck, darlin’, stop teasing me. You’re gonna make me come.”
Vivian shrugged, hollowing out her cheeks and grinning when he let out a rough, shuddering breath. She stopped just long enough to respond. “Look at you, gettin’ awful chatty.”
His response was positively a growl. “Oh, I’m gonna show you chatty. I’m gonna fuck you until you’re screaming yourself hoarse. You just wait until I’ve got you under me - I’ll have your legs up over my shoulders, wrapped around me, taking me as deep as you can. I’m gonna make sure my name is the only thing you can say.”
“Is that so?” Vivian asked, flicking her tongue across the head of his cock before taking him down again.
“You’re goddamn right, it is.”
She squeezed his thighs. “Looks like I’ve got you begging.”
“I’ll show you begging.”
Cable flipped her onto her back, settling himself between her thighs. He tugged her shirt up over her head, mouth on her nipples before her shirt had even hit the floor. He licked a circle around one while his fingers pinched and pulled at the other. He tugged on the one currently in his mouth with his teeth, sucking until she whimpered. He switched to the other side, giving it the same treatment while his fingers pinched at the other.
He didn’t let up on the nipple already in his fingers, but he mouthed his way down her stomach, pausing at the line of her navel. He didn’t bother to pull her underwear off; instead, he just moved them out of the way with his fingers as he tested how wet she was for him. He slipped a finger in, then two, massaging her clit with his thumb.
Cable kissed his way back up her stomach, pausing to flick his tongue at her nipple, until he found her lips. She arched up against him, tight and tense, as she clenched down on his fingers.
“You’ve made your point,” Vivian groaned, trying to sit up as he pulled away from her. He kept her on her back. “Now stop teasing me and fuck me.”
“Ask nicely.”
She huffed. “Fine. Please stop teasing me and fuck me, Nate?”
He slid his fingers out, pulled her underwear off, and lowered himself down onto his elbows. “Yes, ma’am.”
Cable reached down between them and lined the head of his cock up with her entrance, pushing in slowly. He cradled her head in his other hand, bringing her face up to his so that he could kiss her. She moaned against his mouth, her thighs tightening around his waist. She arched against him as he pulled out and pushed back in, just as slowly as before.
He grabbed her thigh and pulled her leg over his shoulder, thrusting a little faster. She clutched at his sides, his forearms, his ass - whatever she could reach - and dug her nails into his skin. He snapped his hips forward, pulling a rough groan from deep in her throat. He could only imagine what he sounded like, probably as gruff as he always did, but she sounded wonderful. And a little too loud. He slipped his thumb into her mouth, snapping his hips forward again when she bit down.
“Look at you,” Cable said, his unoccupied hand squeezing her hip. “You look so beautiful, so tight and wet for me. Are you ready, baby?”
Vivian nodded. Cable moved her leg back down to his waist. He leaned down on his forearms, chest to chest, so that he was pressing down on her. He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips so that he could kiss her fingertips, her palm, the back of her hand. She squeezed his hand as he thrust into her once, twice, harder each time, until she called his name and clenched down around his cock. He pressed his forehead to hers and came just after her.
Cable kissed her forehead and pulled her against his chest. He said nothing and just enjoyed the feeling of her skin against his.
Vivian kissed his cheek. “We’ve got to get up and go shower.”
“Mhm.”
“I’m gonna make pancakes.”
“Perfect.”
---
Vivian never claimed to be a great cook, but she did okay when she really tried. She hadn’t cooked for herself much over the past few years. Instead, she’d relegated much of her diet to foods that didn’t have to be heated up - salads, a ton of vegetables, too many cookies.
She was quite proud of her pancakes that morning. She’d only burned one of them, and it was just the ugly first pancake. The rest had been relatively homogenous and fluffy. She stacked a few on a plate for Benji and handed it to him as he walked into the kitchen.
Benji looked exhausted and a little peaked, but otherwise he seemed fine. Vivian would take him to school and to the counselor later in the day, along with Shelly. She hoped that would help them with the trauma of the last couple of days - something that she couldn’t quite do.
Vivian put a pot of coffee on for herself and whoever else wanted any. “What time is your soccer game, Benji? So I can get Shelly and make it there early.”
“7PM,” Benji replied, tearing apart his pancakes with a fork. “Dad never wanted to drive to the middle school and come back to the high school, so Shelly usually stays with me during practice.”
Again, it was one of those things that Vivian would just have to learn. Not that Shelly and Benji would be in school much longer. The end of term was just a few weeks away, which meant that the city schools would dismiss for the summer. After that, Vivian would have to discuss with them about whether they wanted to continue public school or whether they wanted to attend Xavier’s academy.
“I thought I’d pick her up from school and take her shopping or something until your game starts,” Vivian replied, plating up a pancake for herself. “Unless you need her at practice?”
Benji shrugged. “I like it when she’s there, but she’d probably rather go shopping.”
“I’ll make sure to take you guys out for dinner afterward, then,” Vivian said. “Do y’all go out as a team afterwards or anything?”
Vivian kind of hoped not, but again, she’d do whatever would give the two of them some sense of continuing normalcy. If she had to fit the soccer mom stereotype for a little while, she would do her best.
“Yeah, all the moms like to sit around and gossip at Mello’s,” Benji said. He stabbed at another piece of his pancakes, seemingly pleased.
“I’m not really the group mom type, but I’ll join in on the gossip just for you, kid,” Vivian replied, laughing. She could just imagine what the soccer moms would say. They probably wouldn’t even let her into their circle (not that Vivian minded).
“I’d rather just go to dinner with you and Shelly,” Benji said quietly. He finished up the last few shreds of his pancake and took his plate to the sink. “Dad used to stand around and flirt with the other moms. And teachers. It was annoying. So, I’d rather not stick around.”
“Well, I’m sorry you had to see him do that,” Vivian replied. Yeah, therapy was a good choice. “I’ll take you and Shelly to dinner, then.”
“Uncle Wade can come, too…” Benji said, looking up at her out of the corner of his eye. He washed his plate quickly and set it to the side to dry.
Vivian rolled her eyes. “Is Wade forcing you to call him that because I can make him stop-”
“And Cable, if he wants,” Benji finished. He sat back down at the table across from her, sipping his own cup of coffee. Vivian was quite proud to see that he liked coffee. “And Colossus. No pressure or anything, just if they want to. Or can.”
Vivian ruffled his hair and started picking up the plates behind him. “Don’t worry, kid. I’ll ask them. Now, go get your stuff - I’m gonna go get Shelly so we can get out the door.”
Vivian called upstairs for Shelley and caught her as she barrelled down the stairs. She was barely a wisp of a girl, gangly and tall. Vivian couldn’t remember ever being small like that - she’d always been short and thick.
“Go eat breakfast and get ready to go,” Vivian said, pointing Shelly into the kitchen. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. We’re leaving as soon as I get back in that kitchen.”
Vivian stalked back up the stairs to Cable’s room so she could find her shoes. She was going to go get the rest of her stuff out of her apartment while Shelly and Benji were at school. When she walked into Cable’s room, she found him tinkering with something vaguely lethal-looking at his desk.
She sat down on the edge of the bed to put her shoes on. “I’ll be back by lunch. I’ve got a couple of movers coming in to get the furniture out of my apartment, and I’ve got to pack up what’s left of my stuff.”
“I’m happy to come help you, if you want,” Cable said, still tinkering with the weird little tool in his hand.
“Nah, I don’t have much,” Vivian replied, walking over to his work station. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Benefits of never being home is that you don’t have time to buy a lot of junk.”
Cable nodded. “Let me know if you change your mind, then. I’ll be here.”
Vivian stopped at the door and looked back. “Also, you’re invited to Benji’s soccer game tonight if you want to go. I think he likes you.”
Cable grinned - it was a soft smile, barely there, but it was still there. “Be glad to.”
---
The near-summer night was warm, but not unbearable. The days had started to get longer so that it no longer got dark by 6PM. Still, the stadium lights were already on and the bleachers were packed.
Vivian had found a pair of old shorts and a t-shirt with the high school’s name on the front. She had no idea how old the shirt was - several years, at least. She’d chosen a spot as close to the field as she could get (she’d elbowed a few people out of the way). Sitting on either side of her was the horde of mutants she’d brought with her. Cable, in one of his usual tight shirts and jeans, sat on her left. (Vivian had literally never seen him wear anything other than his macho-man uniform and had no idea where he’d found the jeans, but she wholeheartedly approved of the choice.) Wade sat to her right, resplendent in every single bit of awkward spirit gear that he could find. Colossus, who’d elected to come in his human form rather than his defense form, towered over everyone else around them.
They looked extremely out of place, yeah, but none of them minded.
Shelly stood at the railing, yelling while the game dragged on. She’d done that for as long as Vivian could remember. Since she’d been old enough to walk, she’d stood up and yelled for Benji like a tiny cheerleader. Wade, being his usual self, hung over the railing and cheered with her.
Cable had been silent since he’d sat down. He watched the game with some amount of intrigue, despite the fact that it was just high-school soccer. Finally, he leaned over to her. “We still play this even after everything goes to shit.”
“It’s the most popular sport in the world for a reason, I guess.”
“He’s fast, right?” Cable asked, motioning to where Benji stood on the field.
“Yeah, I had to remind him this afternoon to slow down,” Vivian replied. “Kind of an unfair advantage. I don’t want the soccer moms getting tipped off.”
“That’d be a problem, yeah.” Cable smirked.
Vivian shrugged. “You know, I don’t even know what Shelly can do. I haven’t been able to ask.”
“Listen to her,” Cable said, nodding his head in Shelly’s direction. “She can amplify sound. You can hear her over everything else.”
Vivian had never really thought about it because she’d always been paying attention to Shelly. She’d just assumed that the noise around her was drowned out in comparison. She told him as much. “It’ll be interesting to see what she can do once she’d trained.”
“Very,” Cable said.
Benji’s team absolutely destroyed the visiting team. They’d had to call it a day when the score ran 10-0, thanks mostly in part to Benji himself. He’d done as he’d promised and kept a normal speed, but he was undeniably good even at a normal place.
Vivian headed down onto the field to hug him, Wade running out in front of her, Cable and Colossus trailing behind her. Shelly had attached herself to Wade (as Vivian expected she would) and made him carry her out onto the field on his shoulders. Vivian gave Benji a hug as soon as she found him. He was gross, sweaty, and ready to leave the field immediately.
“Let’s go get dinner,” Vivian said, wrapping her arm around his shoulders.
“Anywhere but Mello’s,” Benji replied, giving a pointed look at the gaggle of soccer moms closing in on them. A couple of the younger ones had gotten a good look at Cable and Colossus and were undoubtedly heading over to talk to them. “We can duck out around the scoreboard before they get here if we hurry.”
“Lead the way, kid,” Vivian said, pushing him in that direction. “Before I have to make small talk.”
They ducked out around the scoreboard as Benji instructed and headed out into the parking lot. Said parking lot was a grassy, unpaved field behind the stadium. It was muddy, overgrown, and filled with cars sinking further and further into the soft sod. Thankfully, they’d come in Cable’s truck. It was the only vehicle that could fit all of them, including Colossus in his human form. They’d made Wade sit in the bed of the truck.
As Vivian was getting into the truck, she caught Benji stop Cable out of the corner of her eye. She listened carefully, trying to pick out their voices against the din of Wade and Shelly chattering away.
“I really appreciate that you came,” Benji said, shuffling his feet. Vivian noted that they needed to work on his eye contact. “It’s nice having someone here who…”
Benji trailed off. Cable reached out and ruffled his hair. “Anytime, kid. Now, let’s go. I can hear your stomach growling over your sister and Douchepool yelling.”
Vivian couldn’t help but smile as Cable climbed in behind the wheel of the truck. He looked over at her and raised his eyebrows.
“What?” he asked, turning over the ignition. The pickup roared to life, like an old, angry lion.
Vivian took his hand, leaned over across the front seat, and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
“That’s gross, mom!” Shelly called from the backseat. Yeah, Vivian could hear it now - Shelly’s voice was louder than anything else around them. There was almost an echo, like an undertone.
“Yeah, Dr. House, that’s gross!” Wade yelled in tandem. He squeezed himself between Vivian and Cable. “Now where’s mine? I want a kiss, too!”
Four a.m. was an early night for both Vivian and Cable. Vivian rarely got in from Sister Margaret's before 2AM and sometimes ended up closing the bar with Weasel at 6AM, depending on the clientele that night. Vivian was exhausted after an already-long night of stitching up criminals and snuggling with a mercenary she’d almost kicked out of her backroom office before said snuggling occurred, but she didn’t feel like sleeping. She’d slept on the ride home, but with Cable now standing in her kitchen, she was more than wide awake.
Vivian figured that she had to be crazy to have invited him in. She had to have lost it, she decided. Both she and Cable had dark circles under their eyes and the night wasn’t even finished. She’d never invited a guy in after a fight, not even Jack when they'd still been married. And certainly not in the last five years (to be fair, she hadn’t been near anyone in the last five years, but that was beside the point). It was just him. Cable and his stubborn gruffness, his deep voice, those muscles - and the compassion that he did his best to keep hidden.
Everything about him was strange and out of place in her cozy little apartment. The mechanical arm and eye, the obviously anachronistic weapons hanging off his hip, even the obligatory tight-shirt-and-cargo-pants mercenary uniform. His rugged appearance was resolutely different from her sensible little kitchen, but as soon as he dropped the weapons and sat down at her kitchen table, it became strange to think that he’d never been there before.
Well, she certainly wasn’t going to kick him out, that’s for sure. Yeah, they still had shit to work through - a lot of it. But this was cozy, comforting. As if they’d known each other for years. As if this was no different than every other Saturday night. And it scared the hell out of both of them.
“Coffee?” Vivian asked, fishing out a new coffee filter for the machine and two mugs. “I’ve got decaf too if you don’t want a case of the jitters..”
“Full strength will do just fine, please and thank you,” Cable replied, elbows on the table. He watched her fuss with the coffeemaker, almost smiling behind his hands. He’d seen her fuss over people before, himself and Wade in particular, and her fussing over the coffeemaker wasn’t so different from that. “Not a fan of decaf.”
“My kind of man,” Vivian replied, pausing when she realized what she said. “Well, if you couldn’t already tell.”
“This would be an awkward predicament if I wasn’t.”
“I certainly wouldn’t be making you coffee at four a.m. if you weren’t.”
Vivian poured two mugs of coffee, handed him one, and sat down at the table. She knew she looked a mess - the dark circles (and darkening further) that never seemed to go away; long, dark hair pulled up in a high bun; old jeans and a t-shirt. Not that it mattered much at four a.m. what state of disarray she might be in, especially when Cable looked at her like that anyway. She felt prickly, anxious, like she was being poked with needles. It was probably because the extent of her physical contact with anyone in the past five-ish years had been Wade’s hugs. It couldn’t be that Cable looked fucking delicious even after a long-ass day of no-telling what he did during the day.
She took a sip of coffee and found the taste of that particular sip to be the best thing she’d ever put in her mouth. It was a welcome rush of heat after a long, long day. And she would probably enjoy it even more, but the problem was she couldn’t quite sit still.
“Are you hungry?” Vivian asked, leaving her coffee on the table and jumping up to open the fridge. She pulled out everything that looked kind of good - mostly just a loaf of bread and some peanut butter for sandwiches. She liked to cook, but she didn’t have time. And why she was pulling out food, she couldn’t say, but it seemed like the appropriate thing to do.
Cable smiled around the rim of his mug, taking a sip of his coffee. “Viv.”
“What?” she asked, halfway through pulling plates out of her cabinet.
“You nervous?” he asked gently, still smiling. She’d never seen him smile this much, not since she’d met him. It was a good look on him, soft against the otherwise rugged aesthetic.
“No, no, I just…” she realized that she was, in fact, fidgeting like a madwoman. “I’m the one who invited you in. I’m too fucking old to be nervous about…”
Cable lifted an eyebrow, sitting his mug down. “No, you’re not too old to be nervous. I’m nervous too, if it makes you feel better.”
"You don't show it."
"I've had a lot of practice hiding it.”
Well, if macho man can be nervous and admit to it, she supposed she could give him the same courtesy. Vivian pulled the plates down and closed the cabinet with a sigh. “I guess I am, too. It just feels… It’s strange to go from feeling like a sad teenager after a bad fight to… maybe having something after nothing at all for so long.”
“No stranger than falling for someone after losing your entire family.”
Vivian sighed. “Look, if I pushed this too far too soon -”
Cable stood up, making his way over to her. He tugged the plates out of her hand gently and put them down on the table. “Listen to me, Vivian. I want to be here. I wouldn’t have come in if I didn’t.”
“Especially not at 4AM.”
“Especially not at 4AM."
With that, Vivian reached up, took his face in her hands, and kissed him. This kiss wasn't like the first one they’d shared weeks ago - that one had been all closeness and heat and intimacy. This kiss was ravenous, hungry and a little desperate. Cable kissed back with just enough force to drive her back against the kitchen counter, bracing his palms against the marble countertop on either side of her.
The world was, at that moment, reduced to its barest form: Cable's mouth on hers, hard body pressing her back against the kitchen counter, and his insufferable inability to figure out what to do with his hands. Words were a silly idea, a logical fallacy of the highest order. And if her brain hadn't gone a little fuzzy, she'd be annoyed that she was still in the kitchen (trying to avoid getting smushed against the food sitting out) and not being fucked stupid into her own cozy mattress. No, in that moment she was really only annoyed that Cable still had clothes on.
After a few gasping breaths, Cable pulled back away from her. "I'm fine with doing this in the kitchen, but…"
"I think we're gonna need a bed if you let me do what I've got in mind," Vivian interjected, hands still cupping his face. His eyes were dark, and she could just barely see the glimmer of red behind his left eye.
He licked his lips, tongue gently poking out past his teeth. "I'm all yours, darlin’. Whatever you've got in mind."
Vivian wrapped his arms around his neck. "First room on the left down the hall."
Cable slid his arms underneath her ass and picked her up. "Yes, ma'am."
Cable must have had a little super-strength mixed in with his list of abilities because he didn’t stumble even once under their combined weight. He didn’t quite make it to the bedroom before Cable pressed her up against the wall, lips and teeth sucking at the hollow of her throat.
Vivian couldn’t seem to keep her hands off of his face. She pressed her palms to his cheeks so that she could draw him in for another kiss, unwilling to let him go long enough to let him take her the final three steps past the bedroom door.
“Wait just a second,” Cable gasped, pulling away just long enough hoist her up higher. "Let me adjust..."
“What’re you telling me to wait for?” Vivian asked, hooking a finger under his chin. “You’re the one who stopped at the door.”
Cable grinned, adjusted his grip on Vivian’s waist, and shoved open the bedroom door.
Vivian’s room was smartly furnished, if a little minimalist. There was a dresser shoved into one corner and a desk in the other. Not that it mattered - the only important bit of furniture in the room at that moment was the bed pushed against the back wall.
Cable collapsed on the bed, bringing Vivian down with him in a tangle of limbs, teeth, and tongue. She straddled his lap and pressed her hands against his chest, pulling away from him (if not a little unwillingly).
“Seriously, though,” she started. “It’s been, like, a long time since I’ve… and it wasn’t good last time and-”
“That’s alright,” Cable replied, brushing her hair back out of her face. “I think we both need to take it easy. We’ve got all night. Well, all morning.”
She'd never seen that look on a man's face before - a look of such understanding and tenderness that her breath caught in her throat. For all his gruff exterior, the manly macho attitude, he could empathize with her. This was different for both of them - him, after he'd essentially lost his family to the literal test of time and her, letting someone in for the first time in years.
"Nothin' to thank me for," Cable said. "This is new for me, too."
"We'll just take it slow."
He raised an eyebrow. He tended to like it slow anyway. "And that's not necessarily a bad thing."
Vivian shifted in his lap. She could feel his cock against her thigh through his clothes, half-hard and hot. "Not a bad thing at all."
Cable slid his hands up under her shirt and tugged it over her head before pulling his own shirt off. He picked her up against and twisted them around so that she was on her back, head almost knocking against the headboard, and he was wedged securely between her thighs.
Vivian watched him pull his shirt off. She wasn't fixated on the metal arm - she'd seen it more than a few times and had the techno-virus issue explained to her. She was a little fascinated by how far the virus extended over his body, but that could be chalked up to scientific fascination. No, what she was fixated on appealed to the very basic instinct of the little reptilian part of her brain that only thinks in terms of sex pleasure satisfaction want want want. He was fucking ripped.
Vivian wasted no time in running her hands along the corded muscle criss-crossing his body. "Are you kidding me? I haven't been to the gym in six months and you've got a fucking eight-pack. Are you even real?"
"Oh, I'm very real," Cable laughed and reached under her back to snap the clasp on her bra. "And I know the bra trick, too."
"You're not real. I'm dreaming." Vivian wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him close for another kiss. Yep, that was all of him pressed against her thigh now. "Well, I guess you are real."
"You're awfully chatty when you're worked up," Cable teased. "I don't think I've ever seen you this talkative."
"I talk a lot when I'm nervous."
“If you need me to stop, you say the word."
"Oh, no, I'm doing great right now." Vivian paused, shivering as Cable pressed his mouth just below her ear. "I talk a lot when I'm horny, too. So you really never know where it's coming from."
"Well, let's see if I can calm you down."
Cable crawled down her body, pressing kisses to her neck and down her chest, sucking bruises into her skin. His mouth slipped across one nipple and then the other, fingers pinching and pulling at the one not currently occupied by his mouth. Vivian raked her hands through his hair, holding his head in place as he grazed her nipple with his teeth.
She grabbed at his shoulders as he mouthed down her belly, all the way to her navel. He dipped his tongue just under the waistband of her pants before licking a stripe back up her body and biting her nipples again.
“You’re gonna kill me-”
Cable kissed her neck, her cheek, the corner of her mouth. “Relax for me. I’ve got you.”
“Easier said than done, but I’ll do it for you.”
Cable trailed his lips back down her body, and this time, he didn’t stop at her waistband. He peeled her jeans off of her and threw them in a heap on the floor at the foot of the bed. He hooked her legs over his shoulders, spreading her thighs wide for him and bracing her hip with his nonhuman hand. It was cold against her skin at first but warmed up quickly.
He started down near her knees, trailing his lips up her inner thigh, sucking and biting as he went. He left marks up all the way up her thighs, then switched to the other just as his lips hovered over her cunt. She huffed when he started on her other thigh, impatient and needing relief.
He slid his fingers in, one after the other until he could fit three fingers knuckle-deep into her cunt. He pumped his hand slowly, pressing the pad of his thumb against her clit and moving in slow, even circles. He trailed his mouth along the line of her clit, tongue flicking out to press and tease her cunt. Vivian gripped his hair, fingernails scrabbling over the short military cut.
“Nate, come on, that’s enough teasing-”
The sound of his name got Cable to look up at her. He seemed surprised. “What did you call me?”
Vivian blinked, a hard twinge of fear stabbing through her stomach. “Sorry, I guess I should have asked first…”
“Say it again.”
“What?”
Cable stared up at her, eyebrows raised. “Say my name again.”
“You want me to call you ‘Nate?’”
“Yes,” he said, none too gently. His voice strained with want, as if just hearing her call his name tested his willpower.
And of course, that gave Vivian an idea. She had never been able to just relax in a situation, never been able to just lay back and enjoy what was being done to her. She needed a little control. In fact, that would probably help with the fluttering nervousness in her stomach.
“You like when I say your name?” Vivian asked, fingers scratching at the back of his scalp.
Cable crawled back up so that his hands were placed firmly on both sides of her head. “Yes.”
“Why don’t you show me how much you like it?” Vivian said, sitting up. She bent to kiss him, stretching up onto her elbows. She tasted herself on his lips.
“What have you got in mind?” Cable asked.
“Take your pants off and find out.”
Cable chuckled and did as she asked, stripping down until he was completely naked. She had him sit on the bed and straddled his lap, pushing him to lean back against the headboard.
Vivian braced herself on her knees, lowering herself down over his lap. She slid herself down over his cock, just brushing against him. He jumped as she lowered herself down, watching intently, his eye flashing red in the half-light. She gripped his shoulders for leverage and leaned down to bite his earlobe, the hollow of his throat, until she claimed his lips in another kiss. She rubbed his cock just enough to get him all slicked up and aching, until he was moaning in her ear.
“Jesus, that feels so good,” Cable breathed, gripping her hips. “You gonna fuck me, baby?”
“Maybe I’ll tease you until you say please,” Vivian replied, grinding down just a little harder.
“It won’t take much more, I can promise you that.”
Vivian eased up enough to sit back on his thighs and get herself positioned comfortably. She took the base of his cock in her hands, pumping gently - not that he needed any more help at this point. He was hard and flushed red from root to tip, heavy in her hand and ready for her to sink down on.
“Hold on,” Cable said, voice strained. “Condom?”
“Baby factory doesn’t work.”
“Then go for it.”
Vivian sank down on him, working herself down slowly so that she could stretch to accommodate his size. He was good and slicked up from her just rubbing on him, so it wasn’t a hard stretch. She heard him sigh, heard him call her name, before she lifted herself up and sank down on him again.
“Fuck, baby,” he breathed, leaning his head back against the headboard. His fingers dug into her hips, searching for anything to grab.
“You like that?”
“I like that.”
She sank down on him harder, deep as she could go, until he was almost lifting her up and slamming her back down himself. He called her name again, one right after the other, peppered in between fuck and yes and his deep, gruff groans. Finally, he grabbed her hips, lifted her off of him, and flipped her on her back, settling down between her legs. He slid his cock back in, looking for any kind of friction he could manage.
“You’re so fucking tight,” he groaned in her ear. “So wet for me, baby. You want me to fuck you like this? Nice and hard like this?”
“Look who’s chatty now,” Vivian breathed, making him smile against her skin. “Keep fucking me, Nate.”
“Say that again.”
“Fuck me, Nate,” Vivian said, digging her nails into his back. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him in as close as she could. “Just like that.”
“My name sounds so good in your mouth, darlin’,” he said, slamming his hips against hers. “I’m close.”
Vivian nodded. “I’m ready.”
Cable pressed down against her so that they were chest to chest as he thrust once, twice, and came with her name in his mouth. Vivian followed right before him, squeezing every bit of him that she could manage with her hands as she clenched down around him. He rode out his release, pumping his hips slowly until he could ease out. He pressed his forehead against hers, breathing heavy, before kissing her forehead and rolling onto his side.
He ran his fingers down her side, following the line of her hip. “You okay?”
Vivian kissed him, throwing her leg over his. “Never better.”
----
They’d been asleep for maybe a couple of hours before a knock sounded at the door. Vivian wouldn’t have heard it at all had she been sleeping by herself, but it was hard to stay asleep when she wasn’t used to someone being in the bed next to her. Especially someone naked who looked as good as Cable did disheveled from sleep. Cable, on the other hand, was a light sleeper anyway and would have woken up from a pin dropping in the next room over.
Vivian rubbed her eyes and sat up on the edge of the bed. Cable grabbed her hip, scooting her in close to him. “Want me to get that?”
“No,” Vivian replied, standing up to stretch. She searched around for the first shirt she saw and something that kind of looked like shorts on her floor. “It’s 9AM. I guarantee I know who’s at my door.”
“If it’s that clown in the red suit-”
Vivian pulled on the clothes she found and bent down to kiss him good morning. “I will send him promptly on his way with no cookies, nor milk. Or coffee. That’s usually why he gets here this early.”
“Go get rid of him,” Cable replied, stretching before throwing the covers off of himself. “I’ll make breakfast after you slam the door in his face.”
“My hero.”
The knocking was getting louder and was now punctuated by Wade’s sing-songing voice. She almost wanted to see how long he would do it before either giving up or having the cops called on him. She could bet that calling the cops would happen before he gave up. But she wanted breakfast and five minutes awake with Cable before the both of them had to go get the day started.
Vivian opened the door and made sure to block the entrance so that Wade couldn’t push straight past her. “Can I help you?”
“Well, hello! Good morning to me.” Wade said, looking up Vivian up and down and whistling. “I was just in the neighborhood and noticed a blue truck parked next to your car in a place where there usually isn’t a blue truck. And I find you this morning wearing the shirt a certain Grumpy Daddy was wearing yesterday and a pair of boxers I guarantee you don’t own.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vivian said, grinning. “These are my pajamas.”
“Don’t you lie to me. You wear those Pikachu pants I bought you to sleep in.”
“Well, I wear these under the Pikachu pants.”
“Come on, McSteamy! You’ve got to tell me all about it!” Wade whined, on the verge of outright begging. “Viv, he’s still here this morning. I want all the dirty details, right on down to what Grumpypants says in bed.”
Vivian nodded, pretending to hear him out. “Still don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Viv, for the love of God, just say yes or no. Was the dick good?”
“Yes.”
And she promptly slammed the door in his face. She locked every lock so that there was no chance of him getting in short of literally breaking down her door. She could still hear him yelling out her name, trying to get her to come let him back in.
Vivian padded into the kitchen where she found Cable searching through her fridge. He was still naked, considering that she was wearing his clothes. “You won’t find much in there to make breakfast with, I’m afraid. I don’t have time to eat here that often.”
“There’s eggs and bacon. Looks like a good breakfast to me.”
Vivian sat down at the table and watched him get to work. He’d already set to making a pot of coffee. “I’m gonna put in some clinic hours today. Want to take a shower with me after breakfast?”
“Yes ma’am,” Cable replied, sitting down at the table across from her. He handed her a steaming mug of coffee and took one for himself. He peered over at the stove every now and then to check on the eggs and bacon. “I’ve got a job to do after lunch, but it won’t take me long.”
“So, I’ll see you tonight then?” Vivian asked,taking a sip from her mug.
“Mhm. And we’ll get a good night’s sleep after that.”
----
Vivian had put in her hours at the clinic and headed right over to Xavier’s mansion. She still had a month left of working her clinic hours, but after that she’d be moving permanently back into the mansion. As she walked down the hallways of her old home, she wondered if her room was occupied or if it had remained empty all these years. Surely Colossus had boarded another new trainee. Maybe she’d finally get a bigger room…
She sat down at the kitchen table with Colossus and waited for Wade to show up. He’d been living at the mansion for months now, ever since Colossus had pieced him back together after Vanessa’s death. Really, of all the people at the table, she was the one who should have been late - not Wade. And yet, he always seemed to run on his own schedule unless he had a job to do.
“So, this is what we are going to do,” Colossus said, clicking his pen. He’d been doodling on his notepad while he waited for Vivian to get comfortable and was more than done with waiting for Wade to pop in. “We are going to create a game plan.”
Just then, Wade popped into the kitchen. He plunked himself down at the table on the other side of Colossus, peering over the larger man’s shoulder. “Well, Uncle Wade’s coming along no matter what, so I’m just gonna sit in on this one.”
Colossus wrinkled his nose, the easiest way to determine that he thought something was a bad idea. “I am not sure that is a good idea, Wade.”
It usually wasn’t a great idea to bring Wade along on any mission that required tact, but Vivian kept her mouth shut on that one. She couldn’t take part, so she didn’t have much to contribute. This was Colossus’s area of expertise, not hers.
“I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? We knock on the door to take the bastard’s kids and he pulls a gun on us?” Wade asked, snorting. “I’ve got bad news for him.”
“He won’t be able to do anything,” Vivian said. She fidgeted with the edge of the tablecloth. It was something Colossus had picked out, clearly - it was minimalist and a little utilitarian, but it was clean and crisp from being freshly laundered. “The X-Men aren’t subject to the government. If you’re coming to get Benji and Shelly, Jack doesn’t have a choice but to give them up.”
Colossus scribbled with his pen. “Be that as it may, I am still not sure if you should be the one to go with me, Wade.”
“I’ll go.”
A voice sounded from the kitchen door, gruff and deep. The three turned to find Cable leaning against the doorway, fully dressed in his usual uniform of cargo pants, skin-tight t-shirt, and utility bag (Wade still wouldn’t give up the fanny pack joke - Vivian tended to agree but she didn’t mention it). He strode in and took a seat at the table next to Vivian, crossing his legs under the table.
“Well, howdy stranger,” Vivian grinned. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here,” he replied.
“You could have mentioned that,” Vivian said, bumping his shoulder with hers.
“You didn’t ask.”
Wade reached all the way around Colossus and clapped Cable on the back. “Glad to have you on board, Marty McFly! What a way to meet your new girlfriend’s kids, huh?”
“Are you sure about that, Cable?” Colossus asked, watching him carefully. Colossus still had a hard time trusting Cable, but he’d never made it known. He accepted that his wariness also came from a place of protectiveness, but Vivian was a big girl and could handle herself just fine.
Vivian mirrored Colossus’s concern. “I kind of agree with Colossus here. Wade can handle this just fine.”
Cable shrugged. “I’m not gonna kill the guy. Probably.”
“Enough!” Colossus said, tearing the sheet out of his notepad and crumpling it up. “The three of us will go. We will keep this as peaceful as possible.”
“And if we get a few good headshots in, no harm done!”
Vivian smacked Wade’s arm. “If you traumatize my children, I will find a way to kill you.”
“Colossus will cover their eyes, Cable and I will take aim.”
Cable put his hand on the back of Vivian’s chair. “We’ll take care of it.”
“I trust you. All of you. On varying levels, but I can’t go with you so I’m going to have to trust you.”
Colossus wasn't expecting Vivian to return to the mansion so soon, but when she rang the doorbell of the X-Mansion, he welcomed her with open arms. She'd been to the mansion twice in one year, an unprecedented event. Colossus was almost astounded - almost.
Colossus brightened considerably upon answering the door. “This is unexpected.”
Vivian had made her decision. Colossus knew what her answer would be, it was just a matter of when. And apparently when was now.
Vivian raised an eyebrow. "Is it unexpected, though?"
Colossus shrugged. "Not really. But I am glad to see you!"
"I'm glad to see you, too," Vivian replied. She crossed her arms, peering past Colossus into the depths of the mansion. “Can I come in?”
Colossus sensed that something was wrong, but he knew Vivian. She wouldn't answer his questions if he asked her how she was doing. She'd have to tell him on her own, if she told him anything at all.
“Of course.”
He put on a pot of coffee, busying himself with finding two clean mugs. "Am I correct to assume this is about our previous discussion?"
"You are correct, as you always are," Vivian replied, taking the coffee mug from him. The mug was purple with little flowers that spelled Ellie on it. The coffee was just how Colossus knew she liked it - black, two sugars. "I'll do it."
Colossus was quite honestly surprised to get such a glib answer from her. She could be blunt, but this was decisiveness to the point of uncharacteristic. "I will be honest, Vivian. I did not expect your answer so soon."
She almost rolled her eyes. "You knew I would say yes."
"Hoped, not knew."
Vivian swirled the coffee around in her mug. "Well, as soon as my lease is up, I'll get moved in here."
Colossus didn't drink coffee. He'd made tea for himself, which he took a delicate sip of. "That is more than acceptable. I will have your room ready."
"Rooms, as in plural. I need your help."
Ah, there it was. Colossus was surprised that she'd gotten to the point so quickly. It made him nervous.
"Anything, Vivian. You only need ask."
"Benji and Shelly both have mutations. I need to get them away from Jack."
Colossus set his mug down on the kitchen table. "Has something happened?"
"No, Shelly says he doesn't know." Vivian drained the rest of her mug. "But accidents happen, and if he finds out… You saw what he did to me. I can't imagine what he'll do to them."
"You do not have to lift a finger," Colossus replied. "We will go get them. No court order has bearing on us."
"Just get them away safely…"
"And I'd like to speak to Jack myself... You never let me near him."
Colossus being his gentlemanly self... It was the first time in a week Vivian had smiled. Perhaps she should have let him confront Jack all those years ago. It didn't matter now, and it was probably better that he hadn't. Colossus would take care of whatever she needed.
"Don't kill him, big guy. Although I appreciate the brotherly sentiment."
Colossus looked appalled, though it was mostly just a put-on. "Kill him? Never! Hurt his feelings... different story."
Vivian started collecting the mugs from the table to put them in the sink. If she was going to live here again, she supposed that this was just the beginning of her chore list. "I trust you, Piotr."
"I know. I will see that they are safe. It won't be today, but once I have a plan, I will take care of it."
Vivian hugged him, the first time she'd done so since she was a teenager. "Thank you."
-
Wade never claimed to be much of a planner. He was more of a do-er, a man of action - shoot first, think later. His method of firing random bullets at life had worked well for him for the past few decades, although “well” was more or less a subjective term. Nevertheless, his man-of-action method usually got him about as far as he needed to go. In fact, sometimes it worked so well that he could even talk a girl as stubborn as a mule into going back to work.
Wade managed to talk Vivian into pulling her shift that night via his "shoot until you hit something" method. He had to cry a little bit to convince her, but once he got one of those Cry-Baby tears to roll down his cheek (he could see his handiwork in the window reflection behind her head), Vivian gave in. And he may have threatened to tell Weasel her address.
Vivian had taken up her usual spot in the backroom. She’d had more than enough clients for the night to make up for her absence over the past week. In fact, some of the usual miscreants had let their minor wounds fester until she came back. Puckered, greenish stab holes were not what she’d hoped to see that night. Really, she’d hoped to fix a few broken bones, grab a drink, and make Wade or one of his buddies drive her home.
But things never really seemed to work out the way she wanted them to.
Both Weasel and Wade had been in and out of the backroom all night, which was strange because usually Wade had a job well before midnight and Weasel was too busy managing the bar. But they’d both been fluttering in and out, asking if she needed any supplies or a drink. She couldn’t tell if they were catering to her because she was back or because they were afraid she might leave. Wade had even sat in on a meeting with a patient who had to get his broken arm reset (the screaming was awful).
In any case, Vivian usually closed up shop around 2:00 AM, so when she got a knock on the door directly after that, she was a little perturbed. And it didn’t get any better, because when Vivian opened the door, it was Cable on the other side.
She paused, sighed, and shook her head. “Not happening.”
She shut the door again, but try as she might, she just couldn’t ignore the soft knock that sounded about a minute later. Like he’d hesitated, maybe even turned around to walk away, but thought better of it.
It was only when he knocked a third time, even more softly than the last, that she finally opened the door again.
She crossed her arms and stared him dead in the eye, wondering idly how many people had ever done that and not been stabbed. “If you’re not bleeding, the answer is no, you can’t come in.”
Cable grimaced a little, but didn’t flinch otherwise. “Can I at least apologize?”
“I don’t want an apology. I want an explanation.”
“The explanation is part of the apology.”
She signed again, more out of annoyance for herself than anything, but she stepped aside to let him in. “Fine. Come in.”
Honestly, Cable didn't have much of a game plan. He didn't think he'd get this far. He didn't think he'd even make it through the backroom door.
He hovered next to the examination chair, supremely uncomfortable. “I guess you have questions.”
Vivian stood directly in front of him, arms crossed. She glared at him, incredulous. “Uh, yeah?”
“Look, I’m sorry, I just-” he sighed. “Maybe if you just ask me-”
“Alright. Why did you kiss me if you’re married? Why didn’t you tell me that you’re married in the first place? I would have left you alone and I wouldn’t have embarrassed myself.”
"I... I don't know how to explain-"
"You've got ten seconds to figure it out before I walk out that door and leave you here to mop the blood off the floor for Weasel."
She tapped her foot, waiting for his response.
“I’m from the future,” he began, finally sitting down in the exam chair. He'd been on the receiving end of interrogations before, and this sure did feel like one. “I came here to save my wife and daughter. In my timeline, they were murdered.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear about your family.”
“I saved them - I think,” Cable replied. He stared at the wall, as if his mind was somewhere distant. “I had one charge left to get home, but I made the choice to use it to save your buddy Wade and stick around to stop the world from going to shit.”
Vivian, ever relentless, continued. “So if you consider yourself to be still married then why did you even entertain the idea of being more than friends?”
Cable stared back at her, doing his best to maintain the air of cool, calm, and collected - none of which he could say he actually was. “I take solace in the hope that I did my job and saved my family. My wife... I don’t think she'd want me to be stuck here miserable and alone. I don’t… But I didn’t think I’d even meet someone here I could… feel something for… in the way that I felt for her.”
She stared at him silently for a while, brown eyes searching his face for something unknown. She'd long since memorized the lines of his face - every scar, line, and mark - from their talks. She was looking for something more than skin-deep.
“I’m sorry Wade pushed you into my lap.”
“He didn’t push me," Cable said. "And I’m glad he brought me here.”
Vivian sat down in her chair, finally at eye level with him. She stayed a careful distance away - a safe distance away. Enough distance that she didn’t feel like getting up to hug him.
“I was raised in the X-Mansion. I left when I was eighteen because I was determined to go off to college and become a doctor. I got pregnant when I was twenty, got married, had my son. Made it through college. A year into medical school, I got pregnant again, which leaves something to be said about the quality of sex education at the X-Mansion because I obviously didn’t know how to make my ex-husband put on a condom.”
Cable’s eyebrow was quirked, but he didn’t say anything.
“When my son was nine, he got hit by a car. I came home to a yard full of sirens and flashing lights. I never thought he would be in the back of one, but he was. His leg was crushed and his lung burst. I managed to heal his lung and correct some of the damage to his leg.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He’s fine now. My ex-husband found out. He didn’t know I was a mutant, you see. He figured it out because how does one explain this kind of miracle, but for mutant abilities. He served me with divorce papers the next day, took both of my kids, called the hospital where I worked and had them fire me. I lost my kushy, fancy job that I loved and worked hard at, and I lost my kids. They live about two miles from here, and I don’t get to see them unless my ex-husband doesn’t show up to something.”
Cable didn't quite know what to say to that.
“We make a pair, don’t we?”
"Seems that way, doesn't it?"
They sat in silence for a while, not much else to say. Finally, Vivian reached out and took his hands in hers, but didn't say anything.
“I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. What do I have to do to fix this?”
“Take me home.”
Again, he raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“Not like that. I’m done for the night and I haven’t slept in days anyway. Just come and spend some time with me away from this dump where we can talk. This is not unsalvageable, but we need to work through some things first.”
Cable nodded. “Alright.”
When Vivian opened the door, she found a wall of people with their ears pressed to the wood. Several of them teetered and backed up, one of them fell flat on his face. Wade and Weasel were at the forefront, bar abandoned.
She rolled her eyes. “Y’all are some nosey bastards.”
-
Vivian climbed into the cab of Cable’s truck. The seats were soft, cushioned leather upholstery, cracked from age and peeling in places. The dash was equally as cracked and peeling - and a little sticky from sitting out in the hot sun. She had no idea what model it could be; she barely drove enough to know the model of her own car. Nevertheless, the front cab of the truck was comfortable and smelled like leather.
“I like this truck. It’s got character.”
When Cable crunk it up, it stalled a bit before roaring to life. “Stole it about a year ago from some hicks outside of town.”
“Yeah, seems more suited to hauling around a dog and a cooler of beer than Marty McFly and his futuristic supersoldier weapons.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
Vivian kicked her shoes off and put her feet up on the dashboard. “Back to the Future? Don’t worry, Wade and I will make you watch it. Are movies even still a thing where… when… you’re from?”
He smirked, amused by her familiarity. “Yeah, but I never had much time for them.”
“Well, you do now.”
Vivian rolled down her window to breathe the night air. The city was stale and damp, but the smell got less and less oppressive the further away they got from the red light district where Sister Margaret's was located. Skyscrapers gave way to office buildings and medical facilities. Parking decks became gated lots. And the closer they got to the interstate exit, the more Vivian didn't want to go home yet.
They rolled to a stop at the light.
Vivian caught his attention. “Hey, turn left here.”
“I thought we go right?”
“Just go with it.”
He turned left.
They drove until they were no longer in the city, until the skyscrapers and concrete and steel gave way to rolling hills and green fields and unnamed crops. Both of them had been silent since they left the city. They filled the silence with the sound of the radio, the breeze rushing through the open windows, and the cool night breeze filling the cab of the truck.
“Pull into that field.”
Cable did as she asked and pulled into the field, careful to tread only where he could already see the tracks of some farmer’s truck. Vivian reached into the backseat and grabbed her bag and jacket, along with a couple of Cable’s utility rolls and a worn denim jacket she found wedged up next to a pillow.
Cable watched her collect all of the stuff from his backseat. “What are you doing?”
“Humor me.”
She got out of the truck, let down the back gate, and threw everything into the bed of the truck, arranging it until the makeshift bed was relatively comfy. She marched back around to the passenger’s side and stuck her head in the window. She reached across the cab to turn up the radio, fiddling with the knobs until she found a station she was satisfied with.
“You coming?” she asked.
Cable blinked, but the corners of his mouth turned up into the barest hint of a real smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
Vivian crawled up into the bed of the truck, clutching the denim jacket like a blanket. She leaned against the back window so that she could stare up at the sky. Cable climbed into the bed after her and settled in close next to her, his arm just barely brushing hers. The stars were bright, glittering like diamonds in the night sky.
“This makes me feel like a kid again,” Vivian said, pulling the denim jacket up under her chin. It smelled spicy - not dirty or musty, but worn and masculine and comfortable. “Growing up, my friends and I used to ride out into the fields and sit out arounds for hours listening to music and staring up at the stars.”
“Did you grow up here?”
“I grew up down south, until my mutation showed up. I think I was twelve or thirteen when I went to live at the X-Mansion. We used to sneak out late at night and come out here.”
“You can’t see the stars in my time.”
Vivian looped her arm through his, tucking his arm under the jacket with her. “Ten points for the past, then. It’s not so bad here.”
Cable looked down at her. “Not so bad at all.”
The song playing over the radio was an older country song - maybe Patsy Cline or some other old crooner. Vivian almost never used the radio anymore (too many commercials, not enough music). And she’d be hard-pressed to choose a country station if she did choose the radio, but there was something pleasant about the late-night country music radio shows - the ones that played the old, slow songs rather than the cute, pop-country party songs.
“You never really answered me earlier," Vivian said. "Why didn’t you tell me you were married? What made you think about… this? About me, I guess.”
“What would you have done if I told you I was married?”
“Honestly? Wouldn’t have come near you - beyond a professional capacity, of course.”
“I thought I’d processed things," Cable replied, staring off into the sky. "Come to terms with the fact that I’ll never see them again - that she wouldn’t want me to be alone and miserable.”
“She sounds lovely.”
“She is.”
“Why me, then?”
“You have compassion. Determination. Patience. I respect that. Why’d you reciprocate?”
“You’re heartfelt, even when you don’t mean to be. You’re not pushy. And you're funny, in your own way.”
Cable chuckled. "I've never been called funny."
"And I've never been called patient, but we see things in others that we don't see in ourselves." Vivian took his hand, lacing her fingers through his. “Anything else you need to tell me?”
“Name’s Nathan. Nathan Summers.”
“Duly noted.”
Vivian snuggled into his side, the weight of his arm warm and comforting. They stayed like that for about an hour, until Vivian was starting to doze off.
Cable carefully extricated himself from her grip, gently nudging her awake. “I guess we should go.”
Vivian yawned. “Yeah. I’m gonna end up falling asleep on the way back.”
“Go ahead - I’ll get us back to your place.”
The ride going home was much longer than the ride out to the field, as it always was. Vivian must have slept the whole ride because she didn't remember ever giving Cable directions. Nevertheless, Cable got them home in one piece and without shaking her awake.
When they pulled up to Vivian's apartment, Cable parked in one of the front spaces. He waited for her to grab her bag and jacket out of the back of the cab. She started to shrug the denim jacket off.
“You can keep the jacket,” Cable said. “It looks good on you.”
Vivian couldn't resist teasing him a little. “So you like when I wear your clothes?”
“Well, I guess I do.”
Vivian climbed down, and before she shut the door, she had a thought. Normally, she'd wouldn't be quite so keen on having someone stay the night right after an argument, but with his job being as dangerous as it was and her inability to stay awake some nights, now seemed as good a time as any.
She turned back to look at him. "Hey, uh, it's late, and I'd hate for you to have to drive back to… wherever you live… So, if you want to stay…"
Vivian couldn't call it a smile, but the corners of his mouth turned up in something close. "I've got nowhere to be. Be glad to."
She mirrored his grin. "Well, come on in then, cowboy."
Yeah, you read that right. I probably should have done a directory like this a while ago. I’ll update it occasionally. You can safely assume that everything is risque. Asterisks are for fluff.
Colossus
1. The O.G. Alphabet Meme Masterlist
2. Dissolve (Multichapter Colossus/OC)
3. Cheer Me Up (Part 1)
4. Cheer Me Up (Part 2)
5. In re Colossus’s V-Card
6. Good, Ol’ Fashioned Fucking
7. Double Teaming DP (Co/R/DP)
8. Green-Eyed Monster
9. Baking Cookies *
10. Etiquette (Baking Cookies: Smut Version)
11. Peg Board
12. Rowdy (Co/R/Ca)
13. For Her Pleasure
14. Reversing In re V-Card
15. Sit Still *
16. Thick Thighs
17. Or We Could Make Out *
18. Afterglow *
19. Research
20. Daddy (It’s Exactly What You Think)
21. Lava *
22. Vibes
23. Honeypot
24. Keep Quiet
25. Safehouse
26. Responsibilities
27. Play Doctor
28. Electrocution (Pre-Safehouse)
Cable
1. The O.G. Alphabet Meme Masterlist
2. You Look Like Trouble (Morning Glory Wine) (Multichapter Cable/OC)
3. Sexting (Part 1)
4. Sexting (Part 2)
5. Pickup Truck
6. Rubbin’ One Out
7. Little Black Book
8. Rowdy (Co/R/Ca)
9. Unconditional *
10. Loud
11. Your Cheatin’ Heart *
12. Learn to Knock
13. Delete It.
14. Deny, Deny, Deny *
15. Negotiator
Deadpool
1. The O.G. Alphabet Meme Masterlist
2. Double Teaming DP
3. Tease
4. It’s Like Frozen, but Not Really Because There’s Dick
