Recovery
The afternoon was a gray and rainy one, the sound of a million tiny droplets hitting the roof echoed through the mansion and was loudest in the top floor common room, where Morph and Wolverine were hanging out. Usually, at this time, they had the danger room reserved along with Gambit, but today they gave up that time to him and Rogue in favor of letting Morph recover from the events of the past week and a half. They laid across the couch, sleeping and listening to the weather while resting their head on their boyfriend’s warm lap. Logan gently stroked their face as they slept, and in his other hand was the stereotypically evil looking notebook Rogue had stolen from Mister Sinister the day before. As he flipped each page, the light sound would always be accompanied by a sigh. Everything he did to hurt The Wolverine’s partner made his knuckles itch, wanting to kill the wicked man. He looked down and wondered how anyone could hurt them, they’re so, so precious, and funny, and beautiful with skin like snow and humor that could make a boulder laugh. He put the book aside and just watched them sleep.
They slept with their mouth open, Logan was unsure how Morph’s breathing worked with the whole lack of nose and all, but no matter what form they took, whenever they slept, it was with their mouth open. He sat there just rubbing his thumb along their cheekbone. Recovery was a process, and Logan needed to be there for Morph every step of the way, this time around. After just existing on that couch with his partner for what could’ve been hours but was really just minutes, he noticed Morph starting to stir in their sleep. They shapeshifted into their more human form with brown hair lazily drooping over their closed eyes. Must be dreamin Logan thought. They did this from time to time, it occasionally meant that they were about to have a nightmare, but not always, so he just watched them for any sign of distress, ready to wake them at the first wrinkle of uncomfortability to form on their face, but not wanting to disrupt their much needed slumber. Morph’s expression changed slightly, they furrowed their brow and bit their lip. They turned slightly in their sleep and were now facing more towards Logan’s stomach. They whined a little, and their face changed again, turning into the one they used while under Sinister’s control, with sunken eyes and yellowish skin. That was Logan’s sign. He rubbed their face a little firmer and whispered “Hey, bub, think ‘s ‘bout time to get up.”
They shook their head rapidly and whispered, “No, no, no, nononono please don’t.”
“Kev, bub c’mon.” He shook their shoulder a little bit.
“I can’t…please…not again” Tears started to fall out of their tightly shut eyes.
“Morph, get up, yer havin’ a nightmare!” He shook them harder and spoke louder.
Their eyes shot open and they looked at him. “Logan?”
“Yeah, bub, it’s me, you were havin a bad dream.” He placed his hand back on their face and began to softly pet their cheek with his thumb.
They rubbed their hand through their tangled black hair and down their face and felt that they had eyebrows, and a nose, and realized what form they had shapeshifted into. “Don’t look, Logan don’t look!” They grabbed the blanket and threw it over their face.
He could feel their skin change under his hand that had gotten trapped under the cloth. “‘s ok bub, it happens. I love you no matter what you look like.”
“I don’t like looking like that.” They brought the blanket away from their face, and they were back in their natural form. “You guys don’t like when I look like that, it scares you.”
“It scares you, bub, that’s why I don’t like it.”
They stared up at him and nodded. “It means I’m not in control.”
“You’re in control now though, babe. It’s ok.” He wiped the tears from their face. “I won’t let him do that to you again.” There was a slight pause as he tried to convince himself that he truly could protect them from Sinister. “You wanna talk about your dream?”
They shook their head. “Just more of the usual. Hehe” The laugh was sprinkled in there to play it off, but Logan knew that the usual was hard to get through.
“Usual shouldn’t be this” He leaned down and kissed them gently. When he lifted his head again he just stared at their face, tracing every feature (or lack thereof) with his eyes. The silence felt awkward.
“What are you staring at?” Morph’s brows twisted in confusion.
“Just thinking ‘bout the first time I saw you like this. You were so scared that I’d think yer weird.” He laughed, “But, I love it.”
They smiled up at him. “Thanks.” Blush began to creep on their face. “I love your face too. It hasn’t changed in all the time I’ve known you. It’s a nice constant. I feel like every time I look in the mirror, I’m a completely different person.” Their hands reached up and grabbed his face, just to hold it.
“Wish I could change, look like somethin’ else for once.” He let himself relax into their grip. “We’re good f’r each other.”
“Hehe, I guess we are.” Morph’s arms began to feel heavy and they had to bring them back down, and away from their boyfriend’s face.
“Soft again?” He knew that the state of their body was currently very sensitive to any form of pressure.
They nodded, “Yeah, my shoulders aren’t very solid right now.” A frown made its way across their face. They just wanted to hold Logan in their hands, but they couldn’t even do that right now.
“Yeah, I figured. Just try and relax, you gotta take care of yourself.”
“I want to take care of you, though.”
“Tell ya what, next time some government fuck face tries to take me and make me work for them, you can save me and help me get better.”
“Don’t joke about that.” Their face was riddled with worry. “That won’t happen again.” It was their turn to make a promise they wouldn’t be able to keep. “I won’t let them take you again.”
He smiled “Well there ya go, you’re protecting me, and I’m protecting you.”