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The business was doing quite well at Xavier’s school. Scott had been working there for years. He knows the ins and outs of the school, it was a real privilege to be working here. People are happy with their classes and it’s very safe - apart from the new teacher, Logan Howlett. Everyone’s been talking about him. ‘He’s so nice!’ ‘he’s so cool!’ for some reason, Scott hated him.
Maybe it was because he was so pretty-looking - not to mention he was kind. But he smokes and drank too much, he wasn’t professional. He was currently going to catch the elevator to a board meeting. He waited, suitcase in hand with his tie perfectly straight. The doors pinged open, inside was Logan, scrolling on his phone.
“Scott,” he greeted with a smile. Logan and his stupid smile.
“You’re in a good mood today,” Scott spoke, keeping his distance from him. He fixed his glasses and looked to the floor. The older man folded his arms. “Am I supposed to be in a bad mood?” Logan chuckled.
Scott tapped his foot nervously and kept looking back and forth. He knows that Logan could cut him up to pieces and Scott could blow him up to bits - but he would be healing in a matter of seconds.
“Scott, why do you hate me?” he asked as the elevator went upwards.
“I don’t hate you,” he admitted, folding his arms, “I dislike parts of you.”
The Canadian chuckled “oh, really, which parts?” Scott frowned, he hated how the man would toy with him sometimes.
“Stop trying to be smart with me,” he snapped, taking a step closer to the shorter man. The elevator came to a sudden halt, causing both of them to fall on top of each other. Scott blushed, scrambling to get up and refocusing himself.
“Looks like we’re stuck,” Logan said, kicking the doors. Stuck? Scott thought he pressed the emergency button. This was not a good day. Stuck with him? Logan? The sickening asshole that just entered their school, acting angry and getting attention… “It can’t be.”
“Don’t worry Slim, it will pass – what are you doing?”
Scott pulled out his phone, dialling Jean, his friend. “Calling Jean. She’ll get us out of this.” there was no signal. He kicked the wall in anger. He was tired and just wanted to get to the meeting on time. Logan had not many classes today. Stuck on the 4th floor. Together. “So,” Logan rocked his feet back and forth nervously, “nice weather we’re having, huh?” he tucked his hands in his pockets. It was a shame Scott hated him. He really wanted to get to know him, know him properly.
“You serious?” Scott sighed.
“Dead serious,” he chuckled, stepping towards the elevator doors, trying to push them open. Scott paced up and down, it was a small space and he didn’t like the thought of spending a lot of time with this man. The taller man groaned, “the weather is...okay,” he finally replied after long minutes of silence. The man chuckled, the way he laughed sent a warm feeling in Scott’s brain - he almost couldn’t comprehend it.
Then, they sat there for a while, in the heat and silence. They could hear each other breathing - Logan knew Scott really didn’t like him - but didn’t entirely hate him either. It was from the way he looked at him from across the hall, the way his voice changed in board meetings…
“Do you hate me?” he asked, leaning against the metal walls. Scott paused and thought about it. “No, not entirely.” Logan scratched the back of his neck, confused “why do you look like you want to kill me all the time?” He looked at the ground.
Why are you looking? Scott thought, poking at the ground shyly. “I...don’t,” he mumbled slowly.
“You do,” he said sadly. Truth was, he was smitten. Real smitten, the way he crafted his words and taught his students - he aspired to be as calm and kind as him one day. “I don’t,” Scott reassured. He stared at the wall, it feels like they’ve been in here for hours. Has anyone noticed? Has time stopped? He could feel Logan getting closer. Why are you getting closer?
“You single, Slim?” he asked with a cheesy smile. Slim. He was quite fond of the nickname. Scott nodded. He and Jean had something when they were younger, never really hit it off. “You? Single? With a man with that pretty of a face, I’m in disbelief.” He blushed when he called him pretty. Not something you’d hear every day from a colleague.
Then, Logan told him stories about how Xavier helped him with his PTSD. Then he talked about his history classes, “I really enjoy talking about history. I went to Japan. I trained with swords and learned from a good master.” Logan was more interesting than he imagined.
“You have so many good stories, not as good as mine.” Scott laughed.
He nudged him by the elbow, “tell me some of them,” he smiled. He sighed, “well, I warned you.” he paused, thinking about his childhood and thinking about his past and history.
“I had an accident when I was little,” he pointed to his glasses “which is why I wear these.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. He knew what it was like to lose people. It was a familiar feeling.
“No no, it’s okay...I had a brother named Alex. He had similar powers to me.” he smiled sadly at the thought. “Then...I grew up in an orphanage. Wasn’t that bad, but my whole life I wished my powers went away.”
“Me too,” he said, looking at his knuckles.
“Really? Your’s are cool,” he said slowly. “It hurts,” he said, the familiar Snikt sound coming out, revealing the shiny adamantium claws “whenever it comes out.” he puts away the claws. Scott put his hand on his. It was a warm, comforting feeling - something that Logan has been starved of. His breath hitched. He felt intimidated.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly.
He swallowed nervously “It’s okay,” he replied, “I think…” he removed his hands, “I think we can get out of here now.” The doors opened and Xavier was there, concerned but almost glad. “Glad you two are safe.” he smiled, knowing what happened in the elevator. “Come on, you have a meeting to go to.” he smiled. The two of them looked at each other, now they know each other better.