xp_logs | [log] Marie & Logan, Friday night chat

Sam will kill him if he tries anything... (see The Very Secret Diaries)

The last day of the first week of classes. Logan finished beheading the last of the speed-weasels in the Danger Room, showered, and dressed in clean sweats. He prepared two mugs of hot chocolate, grabbed a bag of Oreos, and headed down to Marie's room, tapping quietly on her door.

"Hey, come on in," Marie called, looking up from her course notes. She was sitting at the table with all her papers and plans spread out in front of her and a stack of paragraphs waiting to be graded close at hand.

He shuffled the mugs in his hands and opened the door, laughing at the sight before him. He kicked the door shut behind him. "Ms D'Ancato, Ms D'Ancato! I brought something for you!"

Marie took a look at him and shook her head, trying not to laugh. "Eww... Don't call me that, Mister Logan." She got up and came over to him to take the cups out of his hands.

He snorted at the name and looked for somewhere to put the Oreos that wouldn't disturb her work. "I thought you might like to give maturity a miss for the night, since you've been a grownup all week."

"Come on over here," she headed for the coffee table and put the cups down. "No school work over here. I've missed you this week, how'd it go?"

He sat down, dropping the bag of Oreos on the table. "Not too bad. Kids all think they're tougher than everyone else, of course. You?"

"Pretty good, actually. The kids are great. I have to say that Phys. Ed. is more fun than Lit. But that's the way it always is." She sat down in one of the chairs and tucked her feet under her. "I didn't think that I'd like teaching, but it's... I guess it gives order to my day, keeps me busy. Keeps my mind off of... things."

"Glad it's workin' out for you." He'd worried that she wouldn't find any solace in it; he's glad she has. "Y'got a favourite yet?"

"Oh, you know I like Artie. He's a sweet kid." She smiled fondly and reached for the Oreos. "And he's got a great sense of humour. I always liked kids when I was younger, I liked teaching Sunday School and all. And there's very few bad kids out there. It's nice to be around them."

His smile softened even more, if that were possible in her presence. "Artie's a good kid." He shrugged. "Don't know much about kids, though."

"Well, it's keeping me busy. Which, I think, was the general idea, right?" She opened the cookies and took two, then passed him the bag.

"I dunno what Chuck had in mind when he gave you the job," Logan said honestly. He pulled a cookie from the bag and put it back on the table. Twisting it open, he licked out the cream center. "I wasn't really consulted, y'know."

Marie laughed at him. "You are such a kid yourself, you know?" She dipped a cookie in her hot chocolate and nibbled at it.

"Am not," he denied, mock-frowning at her. "I'm an old, old man. /Old/, I say." He popped both cookie-halves in his mouth at once. "Old," he said again, around the cookie bits.

"And you're cute, too," she said accusingly. "You are so /not/ old, Logan."

He snorted and grabbed another cookie, handing the bag to her when he was through. "Cute?" He took a drink of hot chocolate.

"In a growly sort of way." She gave him an impish smile and took the cookies from him. "The cookies help."

"Hmph." He twisted open his cookie and licked at the center. "You're pretty cute, yourself," he said, winking at her.

She blushed and shook her head. "Now we're just getting silly." She hid behind her hot chocolate and peeked at him, then giggled. "Truce?"

He grinned. "If the lady insists." He offered a cookie-half as a token of his part in the truce, eyes still glittering with mischief.

She took it from him and dipped it in her hot chocolate and and then ate it. "So does this mean that I can't share cookies with anyone else now?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You were /never/ allowed to share the cookies with anyone else." His grin took on a slightly possessive edge. "Just me."

"Well, I'm glad we got /that/ sorted out before anything untoward happened," she said lightly, handing him half of one of her cookies. "I'd hate to get anyone in trouble."

He popped the cookie-half into his mouth, chewing slowly. "Mm. Glad to hear it," he said, swallowing. "Wouldn't want to have to do anything Chuck'd kick me outta the mansion for." He grinned and it was /mostly/ friendly again.

"Me too," she said, sipping calmly at her hot chocolate. "I don't think I'd like to have to commute to work to keep teaching."

Though he'd like to say that it wasn't true, he blinked in surprise. He knew that he'd follow her, but he hadn't realised the promise was mutual. "I. Well, the bike'd get you here pretty quick. Scott wouldn't miss it. Much." He took a drink of his hot chocolate, still mulling over this new information.

"We'd manage," she said simply. "However, since I'm not commuting and have time to fill, do you think you could make time to help me with continuing training?"

He blinked again. "What kinda trainin' d'you want?"

"Well." She wiggled in her chair so she could face him better. "Mostly the hand to hand stuff really. Since this Stanley business, I can't train with just anyone. I'm kind of down to you and Piotr and I think I'd learn more from you, though I can practice with him."

He nodded. "Of course I'll help. D'you wanna do one-on-one or d'you wanna join the advanced self-defense class?" He sipped his drink, thinking. "Or both?"

"I didn't really think of that. I could join the class," she paused, biting her lip. "I'm just still... I don't want to hurt anyone, you know? I mean, until I have to, and then it's fine, but... I guess I don't trust myself, on any front." She stared into her half-empty mug, looking somewhat lost.

He put his mug down on the table, turning toward her. "You trust yourself with me. Don't you?"

She nodded, not looking up at him. "Yes," she said in a small voice. "But I know you'll be okay somehow, no matter how I screw things up. You're resilient like that. Other people aren't."

He frowned. "I wasn't gonna pit you against poor Shiro and tell you to beat the hell outta him." He twisted off another cookie-half and, leaning over, tapped it against her lower lip. "But I wouldn't mind workin' with you by yourself, either, don't worry. 's not like I get tired of spendin' time with you." He grinned softly.

She took a bite of the cookie and her clouded expression cleared slightly. "Are you sure? I just don't feel up to making an idiot of myself in front of other people, not yet anyway. I already had a moment of that with Piotr a while back."

He tapped her nose with the rest of the cookie. "I'm sure. Haven't gotten tired of you yet, and I don't intend to. Ever. A little trainin' ain't gonna change that."

She grabbed his wrist and ate the rest of the cookie out of his hand. "And you'll forgive me when it hurts?"

His eyes narrowed as he watched her. "I'll probably thank you," he muttered, reaching for another cookie with his free hand, but never taking his eyes off her.

Marie gave him a sweet smile and let go of his wrist. "Then I guess we should decide on when and where." She put her mug down on the coffee table. "I'll go get my agenda." She stood up and, stretching, walked over to the dining table to find it.

He sat back in his chair, picking up his hot chocolate and taking a long drink. He swallowed, then jammed the cookie he was holding into his mouth, not bothering to lick the cream first.

Marie pushed some papers around on the table, then found her agenda and a pen. She opened the agenda and came back, chewing thoughtfully on the end of her pen as she looked over her schedule. "Well, I have classes and recess duty and that's about it, aside from the firing range and the time I'll need to do my daily prep work and marking. My mornings are actually pretty free after my run. Are you busy then? I'll be all warmed up already."

He took a breath, gritted his teeth, and thought for a moment about his own schedule. Both of his classes were in the afternoons, as well, and he usually went for a walk through the woods in the early mornings. "Sounds good to me." He put the mug down. "Where d'you wanna do this?"

"It's a little cold to play in the woods," she said, then winked at him. "Where are we likely to do the least damage? You're in charge, you tell me."

"I'm in charge, huh?" He chewed another cookie, then said, "Okay. We've got the gym, the fencing hall, and the danger room. D'you have a preference?"

She looked over and gave him a simply wicked grin. "What's got the strongest walls? I'd hate to have to tell Mister Marko that I put you through one."

He fought the urge to poke his tongue out at her. "We should probably skip the gym. Wouldn't wanna damage the exercise equipment." He raised an eyebrow, mischief adding an edge to his grin. "Maybe the fencing hall? Think you and me could put on a better show than I did with Betsy?"

She shrugged and went back to writing in her agenda, still smiling. "We'll see. I suppose that's all the more reason for you to do your best teaching me, isn't it?"

"I s'pose it is," he agreed, taking another drink of chocolate. "What kinda trainin' d'you wanna do? I'm teachin' Sarah some judo kata and tanto-fightin'."

"Monday, Wednesday, and Friday good for you?" she asked. She sat back in her chair, looking speculative. "And, I'm not sure. I liked the training we did in the self-defense classes but it's really not enough. I mean... I can pick Piotr up in his metal form. Just like that. I want to be able to put that to use, but I don't want to hurt anyone unless I mean it. And when I mean it, I want it to be... permanent." She said the last with emphasis, though her expression didn't change.

"Yeah, that's fine for me. I'm not busy in the mornin's, much." He thought about what she'd said, what she /meant/. "There's a Korean style that's probably what you're lookin' for. We'll try that one, see how it goes."

"Excellent." She closed her agenda and stood up. "Do I have to call you Mister Logan?" she asked mischeviously.

He smirked, eyebrow raised. "Master Logan might be more appropriate."

"I can do that." She leaned over and kissed him on the temple. "Master." She straightened and walked away from him to put her agenda back with her things. "Just while we're training, right?" she paused and looked over her shoulder at him.

He met her eyes, not speaking for a long moment. "We'll see," he finally offered, blinking slowly and looking back at his mug of chocolate.