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Based wholly or partly on characters and situations created by Marvel Comics. Rated T for Teen: An unauthorized work of speculative fiction with adult situations and mature themes. Parental discretion is advised. Do not distribute for profit or without notification to the author. Not to be taken internally. No user serviceable parts inside.

X-Men: Snowfall

by ReverendKilljoy

"So the Professor says we need to talk," Logan said, dropping down to rest his butt on his heels. His boots crunched in the new-fallen snow, and his words hung as a cloud of steam in the dry, crisp air.

"I guess," Bobby Drake said, idly watching an icicle growing, drop by drop, from the edge of a table nearby. He was sitting, wearing only a pair of flannel pajama bottoms, reclining in a snow bank like the king of the winter carnival on his throne.

"Well, okay then," Logan continued lamely. He crouched, relaxed but always wary, letting the cold seep into his bones, feeling the flesh cooling. It was nice, a reminder of, not of home. Of the road. Of Canada and the white sheets of snow and the days spent outside the range of another human voice, or touch, or smell.

"So, is that it?" Drake looked over at his teacher, his mentor, his rival. The cold didn't seem to bother Wolverine at all. It was the other thing they had in common.

There followed a long pause.

"I guess not." Logan shrugged, muscles rippling under his shirt.

"She doesn't really love you, you know," Drake blurted out suddenly. He bit his lip, and went back to studying the icicle.

"I think you shouldn't give up," Logan said at last. "She'll come around."

"Yeah? How's that working with Ms. Grey?"

Logan must have sneered or snarled, because Drake jumped a little and looked away again. "That's nothing to do with you, or Rogue."

"You love her though, don't you?" Drake sighed, a small sound, but his breath didn't fog the air, cold as it was. "Rogue, I mean. That's why she won't give up on you, on her dreams that someday you'll come and, I don't know, carry her off. Fix her problems, fix her power. Make everything okay."

"Love is bullshit, kid."

"Love is what we make of it, Logan." He blinked, and regarded Logan again. "You're the knight in armor, the romantic hero. You're a freaking superhero, on hand to save the day and the world. You saved her life. Of course she loves you. But you got to admit to me, man to man, you love it too don't you? Love having her love you, look up to you, pine away for you? You act like it's such a pain in the ass but I don't see you running from it either."

"What you don't know about love is a lot, snowball." Logan grunted, and stood, flexing his fingers impotently. "Yeah, I love her, but not that way. You know that. She knows that. So don't blame me for your problems."

"As long as you love her even a little, she'll never let go of the dream of you." Drake stood, hands clenched by his side. He wasn't so much making fists as he was restraining the urge to hit, or beg, or reach out.

"No woman ever let go of her first love, till he broke her heart, kid."

"Not even then, Logan." Drake laughed, without joy or humor. "If you ever treated her bad enough to drive her away, she'd be convinced you needed help, needed fixing. All I can offer her is love, and what kind of competition is that?"

"She'll come around, trust me." Logan knew it was a lie. To his surprise, the kid knew it too.

"No she won't, because one thing you like as much as loving a woman you can't have is having the love of a woman you don't want. It's low maintenance. You just wake up and there she is. Treat her even a little decently and she'll never let go. When you wonder why Ms. Grey doesn't love you back, you can think of Rogue and tell yourself it can't be you, look how highly Rogue thinks of you."

Logan looked away. He flexed ever so slightly, restraining the anger that simmered under his skin always at a moment's notice. He didn't have an answer that wasn't just hot air.

Finally, he looked back at Drake with narrowed eyes and said, "Whatever you say, kid. You got it all figured out."

Logan kicked at the 3-inch cover of new-fallen snow.

"Whatever you do, get this out of here. Time to clean up your act."

He turned, and opened the door, walking out of Drake's dormitory room and down the hall. Behind him, standing ankle deep in the fresh snow, Drake stood, hands at his sides. Around Drake, and out a few inches into the hall, snow continued to fall.