Logan always had a habit of not sleeping well. A light sleep that was due to years, if not decades, of always expecting the worst as soon as we would go to sleep. Whether it was in the X-mansion or in a random motel room, where he was currently staying, he could never get a good night's sleep. So naturally, when a strange smell of smoke was felt in the room, he jumped up from his sleep.
He woke up so suddenly that he almost forgot what he was doing in the room in the first place. As he looked around, the memories slowly came back to him. He had just exorcised some sort of odd demon from his friend, Johnny Blaze and had taken refuge in the motel for the night. Visions of blood and guts appeased him immediately. Johnny... where was he ? He turned his head hoping to see the rider next to him, sleeping. But Logan was obviously alone in the room, no sign of his friend but still the smell of crimson wafting through the air.
The X-man then left the bed, went to the bathroom and knocked on the door.
"Johnny ? Are you in there ?"
No answer. You'd think Logan would have been worried about the silence, that he would have broken the door down to get to Blaze, but the truth was that he didn't really care about Johnny's feelings. Besides, he didn't really know if he considered him his friend. Sure, Logan had just saved him from a excruciating death, but that gesture meant nothing to him. It wasn't the first time he had saved him and vice versa.
Wolverine sat down and huffed, his back against the door. He didn't know if he should go in or just leave him in peace. The smell wasn't going away and he could hear the shower water dripping on the floor. Logan closed his eyes to better focus on the sounds coming from the room. He could hear small moans and muffled cries coming from the other side of the door. He knocked a second time.
"I'm coming in, okay ?"
A short silence before he gently opened the door, Logan then made his way into the small room. Blaze was sitting, curled up with his head in his hands, in the tub. The water from the shower soaking his blond hair, his body also drench and shaking uncontrollably, and still making muffled cries. When the X-man approached, he understood immediately what Blaze was doing : therapy against the Ghost Rider by water. Not very efficient by the way, the Rider could still very much burn in the water. He could see some of Johnny's limbs catch fire with impressive flames and a part of his skull that seemed to become that of the Ghost Rider. Wolverine lowered himself to the biker's level and put a hand gently on Blaze's flaming hand which managed to get his attention.
"Hey, look at me. It's all right, it's going to be okay."
The pain was unbearable ... nothing Logan couldn't handle. His inflamed skin was starting to blister, pieces of flesh were falling off, and yet his facial expression was serene and almost reassuring. Eyes swollen and reddened with tears, expression hard, Johnny pulled the other man's hand from his own.
"Go away Logan, you can't help me."
Logan got up and stepped over the tub to sit next to the biker. The bathtub was obviously not very big and the two men were squeezed into the small space. Logan looked ahead of him, seeming not to notice the other person sitting next to him. Johnny looked at him questioningly before shifting his gaze in the opposite direction. He seemed to be calming down, but his body continued to produce glowing flames.
"Do you want to talk about it ?"
Logan seemed sincere, Johnny tought it was annoying.
"It's nothing, I'm fine."
Wolverine couldn't hold back a slight laugh. The burns on his body were proof that he was not fine at all, he thought. Johnny seemed offended by this reaction and immediately stood up.
"I'm going for a walk outside."
Logan immediately grabbed him to prevent him from running away again and tackled him against his body with some violence, which caused the biker to scream and struggle.
"Let me go Logan !"
"Not until you calm down."
The struggles soon turned into feeble efforts to leave the X-man's arms. The tears were flowing, the flames were gone, the crying was loud and continuous. Johnny buried his head against the other man's chest and let his emotions flow. The screaming and crying soon blended into incomprehensible noises. Logan knew better than to try to find the right words to comfort him, he just thought better to keep him close to him and to rub his hand gently down his back as the burns on his skin slowly healed.