Title: They Smile
Category: X-Men: The Movie
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairing: Wolverine/Rogue (Logan/Marie)
Word Count: 362
Summary: She's always smiling like she's got some big secret…

They Smile
-Drabble-

She's always smiling like she's got some big secret. On the outside, they see what they want to. When they look at them, they see all shades of wrong. He's too old, too jaded, too gruff for her. She's too young, too innocent, too sweet for the likes of him. Even those who know her, who know them, can't help but wonder why. Why him? Him with his growl and his grunting and his sneers that say more than any words could. With his cocked brow of indifference and the adamantium blades that he uses to forcefully tear opponents apart. Why him when he so often returns splattered with others blood, huffing and growling and enraged with his feral other half? Why not someone more sensible? Another Bobby Drake, perhaps.

But each time a mission is over with, every time he returns from one of his memory-searching journies, she's right there to greet him. Poisonous skin and all, she's got her arms around his neck and she's kissing his mutton chop like he's a faithful dog returning to its owner. And he catches her as she dives into the air to hug him, careless that he's a killing machine masked in human skin. He hooks an arm around her waist and hauls her back into the mansion without so much as a glance at anybody else before he absorbs himself in just her.

The others talk; they wonder and they make their assumptions. The outside world sees a young girl with a man who should know better; they see an innocent with a fucked up meathead. But they take it all in stride, ignore the whispers and the looks, the pointing and the outright disgust. And sometimes, when they're not looking, there'll be someone who walks by and sees what's really there. They see the large but gentle hands that cradle her close, the generous smile she sends up to him, reminding him of his humanity in its most clear form. They see the interactions between man and woman, beyond that of age or looks. They see adoration, friendship, love and loyalty. And so they smile, they accept and they move on.