Logan's morning
Logan couldn't sleep. He stared at the ceiling, counting the minutes until he had to get up and wrangle up his horde of children. Logan was sure that Laura, Kitty, and Jubilee were most likely up and getting ready for school already, with Kitty and Jubilee using Itsu's old makeup to make themselves look pretty. At the same time, Laura just brushed her hair and teeth at the bare minimum.
Itsu… now that was a name Logan hadn't thought of for a long time. Would she be proud of the man Akihiro is becoming, because some days, Logan felt he was failing them both. With Akihiro's criminal record, his sneaking out and staying out late, and doing who knows what, Logan feared that Akihiro was becoming like him.
As Logan lay on his back, letting his mind fill with dread, his bedroom door opened just a hair and so quietly that even Logan's sharp senses didn't pick it up.
"Papa?" a tiny voice called to Logan, causing him to almost jump out of his skin and look over at the side of the bed. Logan stared right into the bright green eyes and the scarred face of his youngest daughter, Gabriella. Logan sighed as he picked up the little girl.
"Yes, baby?" Logan asked as he placed the tiny girl on the bed with him. Gabby giggled as she cuddled next to her father.
"Did ya want something, darling, or did you just wish to cuddle?" Logan asked this time with a slight chuckle. Gabby just giggled and cuddled closer into Logan's shoulder. Logan liked the mornings when Gabby wanted to cuddle; it made him feel like he was not failing all his children. He would never admit to his children or friends that he felt like he was failing his children. Logan knows he's not traditionally failing the kids, like he makes a good living with both of his jobs, at least enough for the kids to have good food, after-school clubs, etc. But emotionally, he felt like he was failing them.
Logan has never been too in touch with his emotions. He believed it might be the trauma that came from being passed around foster homes after foster homes. That's no excuse for him to be so closed off. Now he has had a relationship or two, how else would he have gotten Aki, Laura, and Gabby, but they never lasted, they either just wanted sex, to "save" his children, or something in the middle, but rarely did they end on good terms.
Logan thought Sarah and Itsu would have been good for the kids—a mother or at least a second parental unit or something like that! Logan also thought Ororo would have been a good parent for his kids if she had wanted them. But when they were getting more serious and talked about the possibility of more children, Ororo was honest and said she didn't want to be a mother. Ororo is still in his life as the kids' auntie, and he likes that for them, but they don't have another parent in their life that isn't talked about in whispers.
Logan sighed, finally letting himself sleep at least 30 minutes before his alarm went off, telling himself to prepare for the day. However, the minute he closed his eyes, he heard a high-pitched beep of an alarm, but it wasn't the sound of his alarm clock. No, this beep sounded too high-pitched. Logan cracked one eye open, listening to see if the beeping continued.
That's when Logan heard the sound of hushed yelling and panicked footsteps, and the beeping started to get louder and more frequent. Logan sniffed the air; he smelled smoke and knew something was on fire. Logan placed Gabby on the bed and jumped into action.
"KITTY! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!!" Jubilee screamed as she stood on one of the bar stools and fanned the smoke away from the smoke detector.
"I'M TRYING! I DIDN'T THINK EGGS COULD BURN THAT FAST!" Kitty yelled back as she held a frying pan with charcoal-like eggs that were belching smoke and embers. Logan ran to where Kitty stood, grabbing the on-fire frying pan and throwing it into the sink with a loud Clanging sound, then turning on the water to put out the smoke and fire of what he assumed was an attempt at breakfast.
"Wha-'s going on?" Akihiro yawned as he walked out of his room, rubbing his eyes. Gabby followed Akihiro, grabbing one of his Pajama bottoms and holding her stuffed wolverine lovey, Jonathan. Logan sighed as he did a head count of his kids, only to realize that Laura was missing.
"Where is Laura?" Logan asked, a bit more annoyed than truly worried about his oldest daughter. The two other girls looked at each other, concerned that Laura had run out of the house to get the garden hose, and tried to lie in case she came back inside all wet and dirty.
"Laura is um in the shower…yeah! She said she felt grimy and-," Kitty started to say when the front door slammed open with Laura in the front, hair covered with twigs and flower petals that Logan instantly recognized. Next to Laura stood Ororo, still wearing her nightclothes, a blush pink silk robe over a black silk Cami nightdress, and her hair in a matching pink bonnet. Laura walked over to Logan and wordlessly turned off the running water. Logan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Hi Ro, I'm assuming Laura ran to your house through the rose bushes to get ya when whatever kitty was making went up in flames?" Logan asked, ignoring Kitty's soft comment that it was supposed to be eggs and bacon, looking at the tall, beautiful woman who entered his front door.
Ororo chuckled, looking at her old friend, who looked tired, and simply nodded.
"You guessed correctly, but it seems you might need some help this morning," Ororo said with a smile and walked into the kitchen, gathering stuff to make breakfast. Logan nodded as he finally heard his alarm clock blare in the background. With a huff, Logan returned to his room to turn off his alarm and back to the kitchen, where Ororo made pancakes and chatted with Kitty and Jubilee.
After breakfast, negotiations about hair brushing with a fussy five-year-old, and a quick change, Logan had everyone ready for the bus just in time. With a quick good-bye for his oldest kids, Logan returned to the house to find Ororo cleaning up breakfast, thankfully not in her nighttime wear.
"Thanks, Ro. You… didn't need to do this for us; I had it handled," Logan said, rubbing the back of his neck. Ororo chuckled as she placed the cup she was washing on the counter next to her.
"Yes, and by all handled, you mean ruining one of your best frying pans and going to get McDonald's for breakfast?" ororo teases as she saw Gabby's eyes light up at the word McDonald's. Logan huffs as he walks beside Ororo and starts putting dishes away.
"It wouldn't have been McDonald's, ain't got McDonald's money for every time Kitty cooks," Logan grumbled, causing Ororo to laugh. Logan smiled; he liked that laugh.
"Daddy, I'm gonna be late for preschool if we don't leave now," Gabby said as she pointed to the digital clock on the stove. Logan looked at the clock, and she was right.
"You're right, darling, let's get ya to school. Thanks again, Ro. I owe ya for breakfast, my treat." Logan said as he started to pick up Gabby and her lovey. Logan and Gabby waved bye to Ororo as they left for the day.
As Logan starts to leave for the day with Gabby, he notices Wade Wilson, the neighborhood menace. Logan huffs as he picks Gabby up and starts walking faster to his truck. Logan hoped that if he walked faster, Wade would see them, or more importantly, he hoped Gabby didn't see Wade.
Logan didn't know how or why, but one day, Gabby and Wade started talking to each other and became friends. Now, if he hadn't known Gabby was a chatterbox and would say hi to a ghost if it made its way across her path, he would have been more than a little concerned that his little girl was talking to someone like Wade. To Wade's credit, he had been very kind to the five-year-old, but Logan still considers Wade a punk kid.
Unfortunately for Logan, he hadn't walked fast enough this morning because he heard a loud and high-pitched sound from the shoulder where he had lifted Gabby.
"GOOD MORNING WADE!" Logan cringed, hoping that Wade didn't hear her. "Please god," Logan thought to himself. "I was just five steps away from my car. Please, I did not have time for whatever nonsense Wade had going on today." Logan's thoughts died mid-sentence when he heard an equally loud.
"HI GABBY GIRL!" from Wade as he ran to catch up to the father-daughter duo. Logan sighed, pinching his nose with his other hand, getting ready for at least a few minutes of Wade's babbling.
"Hi Wade, how are you?" Logan asked, trying to seem civil with the unruly teen. Wade smirked and gave him a flirty look.
"Hi, Peanut," Wade flirted, causing Logan to roll his eyes and turn back around to where his truck was. Nope, Logan did not have time for this nonsense—absolutely not! Logan was not gonna listen to Wade's flirting.
"Waaait Peanut come back I was only kidding!" Wade yelled as he chased after the two, causing Gabby to giggle and try to get off Logan's shoulder. Logan swore to god if Wade wasn't his landlord's…son?...ward?...whatever their situation is, if he wasn't related to Big Al, Logan would have called the cops or at least set up a restraining order a year or two ago.
"Bye bye, Wade! I'm going to school!" Gabby yelled, showing off Jonathan to Wade, who wore the same Rainbow tutu Gabby was wearing.
"Come on, Gabby. We'll be late if we don't hurry, and I'm sure Wade has other people to harass today," Logan said as he opened his passenger door and put Gabby in her car seat. Wade pouted and acted hurt, making scoffing sounds to boot.
"Pfft, no, I don't have many errands today." Wade scoffed, turning his nose up, causing Gabby to giggle again and Logan to roll his eyes for the fifth time today.
"Sure, Wade, whatever you say, tell Al she'll get her money this weekend if you stop kicking in my door!" Logan called out, getting into the driver's seat. Wade gave Logan the double bird, kicked a can, and walked home. Logan just sighed as he started the truck.
"Daddy?" Gabby asked as she played with Jonathan's fur. Logan sighed and looked at the preschooler with a tired smile.
"Yeah darling, what's up?" Logan asked, wondering if he had forgotten to grab her lunch in the hurry or something like that, when Gabby looked him straight in the eyes.
"Do you hate Wade?" Gabby asked with bright green eyes, staring at him, cold and calculating. Logan shuttered. he hated when she became fully conscious about the world.
"No baby, I don't hate Wade; he annoys me," Logan stated, trying to be as neutral as possible. Gabby just kept staring at him. Unconvinced by Logan's answer. Logan sighed and patted her head.
"Gabby, I don't hate Wade. Yeah I mean he's an annoying little shit and Al doesn't always have him under contorl but I don't hate him." Logan answered honestly, looking at the road.
"Okay, daddy!" Gabby smiled as she went back to playing with Jonathan's fur. Logan sighed, thinking Today is gonna be a long day.
Pulling up to the familiar building that was Gabby's preschool, Logan couldn't help but notice how brightly colored it was. He guessed it was appropriate. Seeing how it is called the Mushroom Kingdom, how the hell or why the hell it was called that, Logan would never know. Logan unbuckled Gabby and walked up to the building.
"Hiya, Mr. Logan!" yelled a high-pitched, nasal voice, causing both Gabby and Logan to cringe because the voice hurt their ears. Toad was at the front desk, waving students and parents in for the day.
"Good morning, Toad. It seems you had your coffee today." Logan gruffed as he walked up to the desk. Toad laughed, shaking his head, handing Logan the sign-in board.
"Nope! I don't drink coffee. Doc said it's bad for my health, but it must be my natural love for life," Toad said, stopping mid-stentice when the next parent walked into the building. Toad gulped quietly to himself as Logan turned around to see Bowser standing at the front door, looking as tired as he felt.
"G-good morning, m-Mr. B-Bowser, h-how are you?" Toad stuttered, taking the clipboard from Logan, then handed it to Bowser. Bowser walked over to the desk, grumbling a quick "fine" as he signed. Gabby looked behind Bowser to see two little boys with bright colored hair and smiled widely.
"LARRY LEMMY!" Gabby yelled, throwing her arms up in a hug-like motion. Larry and Lemmy look out from behind Bowser's legs to see the excited little girl in her father's arms. Both boys smiled widely.
"GABBY!" Larry yelled back. Well, Lemmy jumped up and down in a stimming manner. Gabby wiggled out of her dad's arm, running to her friends to hug them. Bowser and Logan looked down at the scene of preschoolers giggling and jumping up and down, causing both parents to chuckle softly.
"Okay, you three, it's time to come inside. I'm sure your daddies have work to do," Peach said as she called over the trio. The children ran over to their teacher after giving their fathers a quick, 'Bye dad/daddy,' causing the two fathers to chuckle and wonder how the hell they had so much energy this early in the morning.
"Morning, Bowser. How are you this morning?" Logan greeted the tall redheaded man, who deeply chuckled as he scratched at his fiery red beard.
"I'm good kids drove me crazy this morning, how the hell Kamek deals with them after school… without a Stanley of Rosé or something like that," Bowser confessed, wondering how his father could handle seven children on his own when Bowser worked late.
"Probably because they aren't always all home at one time," Logan pointed out as they dropped their daughters off at the same dance class and other clubs and activities.
"Hahah, I guess that's true." Bowser laughs, patting Logan's back, causing him to roll his eyes and head to his truck.
"Ya coming, it's your day to pay for coffee?" Logan called back to Bowser, who clackled yet nodded at the shorter man.
"Yeah Yeah! I'm coming, don't get your undies in a twist!" Bowser called back after Logan had headed to his car.