Neighborly Intentions

You didn’t see Cable for another week and a half. You rode past the school twice a day, trying not to be hopeful and still finding yourself disappointed when he wasn’t out in the yard. It’s not like you were thinking about him night and day or anything (not really, anyway), but you had a growing interest in not only his biology (he is a human but also metal???), but in his stoicism and personality. You’d only spoken to him once, but you felt yourself getting hooked.

The weekend following your first run in with Cable, Neena invited you over to make cookies. It would’ve been impossible to say no; the possibility of running into a certain silver fox and baked goods? Resistance was futile.

Rolling up to the front of the beautiful mansion, Neena was settled on the front steps, toying around with what appeared to be a butterfly knife. Upon your arrival, she flipped it shut and jumped up to greet you. Clenching it in your fist, she gave you a hug—she truly was one of the best huggers you’d ever met, even with a knife in her hand—and immediately started off the night with, “Do you wanna see this cool new trick I just learned with this thing?”

You couldn’t help the laugh that came out of you. “You never fail to surprise me, Neen. Lay it on me.”

You watched as she flipped and twisted and twirled the knife in an elaborate choreography that ended with the blade out and pointed towards you. There was an immense amount of pride hidden behind the smirk on her face, and you applauded overenthusiastically. “Bravo! Well done! Impeccable!” The smirk turned to a grin, and she took a massive, dramatic bow. “Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week.” You rolled your eyes and started up the steps, asking, “No, but really, that’s pretty cool, where the hell did you learn that?”

She followed beside you, shrugging as she said, “You’d be surprised some of the shit people know around here. I learned that one from Cable, the guy I introduced you to last week,” like you didn’t know that, “but Yukio knows a few tricks, too.” You nodded; you’d met Yukio in the kitchen after a few of Neena’s many experimental cooking successes. She was dating an X-Men—X-Man? X-Woman? —that went by Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Friends called her Ellie, but you were never sure whether you were her friend or not, so you politely stuck to the longer of the two options.

Stepping into the foyer, you took a moment to adjust to being inside these walls. It was always an interesting change going from ‘quaint cottage in the woods’ to ‘massive castle-y mansion on an estate’. You were constantly trying to be careful of what you touched and where you were walking; who knew how much some of the vases and paintings around here were?

Neena took your hesitant adjustment period as an opportunity to take the lead, and she worked her way through the main level to the kitchen. You followed suit, knowing your way around just well enough that you no longer had to follow right on her heels for fear of losing her in the many corridors and doorways. Entering, you shook your head lovingly at the display in front of you. Your sweet friend had carefully laid out all the ingredients for basic chocolate chip cookies, in order of addition, as well as all the utensils, cookie sheets, and two huge bowls for mixing. Despite her sometimes-laissez-faire attitude, this was yet another example of what a huge and sincere shit she gave. Clearing her throat, she shifted the attention from the meticulous arrangement and towards herself. “What kinda music do you think?”

Pondering for a moment, you felt the risk taker in you rear its head. “Oh, what the hell, let’s just shuffle it.”

She smiled softly and dramatically tapped the screen without another word. Lou Reed’s “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” came spilling quietly from the speakers in the corner, and you started to measure out the flour as Neena stood on the other side of the center island and began to scoop brown sugar.

Time slipped by, the two of you chatting casually about your individual jobs and social lives. It never ceased to amaze you how easy it felt to be around Neena, no matter what you were doing. She was an extremely positive force, and one to be reckoned with. You’d managed to steer the conversation to a recent mission she’d gone on with her team, and boy howdy, you did not wanna get on her bad side. Lady Luck did not seem to be particularly nice to those that wronged the lovely Domino.

You shook your head, cutting her off midsentence. “Okay, wait, wait, wait, the guy trips on a pipe and dies? And Wade is just sitting in the corner, feet cut off, and he’s criticizing you for not saving him? I gotta be honest, that’s a real dick move.”

“Yeah, it is.” You jumped at the sound of a deep voice, turning around to see none other than Cable leaned against the frame of the door directly behind you.

“Way to creep, Cable,” Neena scolded, taking a breather from mixing some dough to cross the kitchen and grab two beers from the refrigerator. She held one up to you, and you nodded. Why not? This was going to be the last batch of cookies, anyway, and you had nowhere to be. You watched curiously as she leaned back into the fridge and grabbed…a third beer? Your stomach clenched just a bit. Did that mean there was going to be three people drinking? And was one of them severely outside of your age and gender demographic?

The tall woman returned to your side of the kitchen, handing you a bottle and reaching behind you to give one to Cable. Drinking a beer with Cable, no biggie. Beside you, Neena set the lip of the cap of her bottle on the edge of the counter and slammed the heel of her hand down on it, effectively opening it and sending the lid flying. Cable, on the other hand, cracked his open very casually with his metal arm—can you say ohmyfuckinggodthatwashot?—and cheers-ed with Neena before looking at you expectantly. Okay, opening a bottle, you could manage that. You tried to twist the cap off, and felt your face warming as you failed. Your hands were too sweaty, go fucking figure. This wasn’t a fucking twist off cap and you weren’t a freaking mutant, what were they expecting? You laughed awkwardly, trying with all your might to open the bottle without making it look like you were struggling. You were struggling. That was okay, though, you’d been looking for a reason to move away and start a new life somewhere that didn’t have unbearably attractive older men watching you fail so miserably at something so freaking simple that—

He sighed and reached over. You froze, your hand moving away as his metal arm twisted the cap off the bottle with hardly any strain. It fell into the palm of his hand, and he held it out to you. Your eyes went from the cap, to him, with that stupidly handsome face, and back to the cap before you moved to take it. You picked it up gingerly, noticing the surprising warmth of the metal of his palm, before he pulled away and brought his other, beer holding hand forward to tap his bottle against yours. He caught your eyes again as your hands met with the softest clink of glass on glass, and you felt like time stopped for a moment. Hell, maybe it did; Neena had mentioned he was a time traveler. The way he looked at you now was cataclysmically different than the way he had last week. Then, he’d been annoyed, but now, you saw buckets of curiosity and a glint of humor in those multicolored eyes. That was promising. But the moment was there and then gone in a flash. He pulled away. You remembered where you were, and that time was real. Right. “Thanks.” He took a swig and nodded, leaving it at that.

Neena breathed a laugh through her nose before saying, “Cable and I don’t hang out much, but Wade’s always trying to force everybody to bond, form team comradery or whatever, so we drink a beer every Monday night. It’s not actually that hard to hang out with him when he’s a little tipsy. It helps that Wade isn’t around.”

You laughed, rolling the bottle cap around in your hand as you took a sip. Ahh, beer. Not your favorite, but it got the job done.

Cable’s eyes were on you. You weren’t sure, but you got the feeling that they hadn’t left you for more than a second ever since he came into the room. Clearing your throat, you turned towards him. “So, Cable, I’ve got a lot of questions for you. Kind of an interrogation, really.”

He shrugged, taking a large swig from his bottle before swallowing and uttering an affirmative, “Shoot.”

“You’re from the future, right?” A nod paired with a grunt that was meant to sound indifferent (but you knew better; who wouldn’t hold the ‘I’m from the future’ card close to their chest?). “What’s that like?” You could tell he’d been asked the question before. He basically started speaking before you’d even finished the question. “Different.” He had a small smirk on his face; he knew he was being a tease, and he liked it.

Neena leaned over to you and stage whispered, “That’s all he ever says when people ask.” Raising her voice to a normal level of speaking, she added, “My theory is that he’s not allowed to say anything because of the Butterfly Effect or time travel law or something.”

You nodded. “Yeah, sure, of course. But, like, how is it different?”

All he did was narrow his eyes at the question. You got the feeling he wasn’t really a fan of this playful line of questioning.

You raised your hands in a surrendering motion. “Okay, okay, I get that, no problem.” You paused slightly, before adding, “But maybe, like…How is it not different? Are you allowed to answer that one?”

He shook his head incredulously, murmuring, “Jesus…” under his breath.

You couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, okay, fine, I’ll stop, I’m sorry. I’m just curious, but I can take a hint.”  You took a guilty sip of your beer and hoped you hadn’t stepped on his figurative toes. Swallowing, you added, “So what other bonding activities does this Wade make you do?”

Cable rolled his eyes dramatically. Neena scoffed at the response. “Oh, c’mon, don’t act like you’re above playing Twister with grown adults in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. At least we’re not blackout drunk doing it at 3:00 in the morning.”

Under his breath, Cable muttered, “I wish that was how we were doing it.”

Now it was Neena’s turn to roll her eyes. “Oh, please, I think you’ve just been tea bagged by Wade too much and you’re embarrassed.” She punctuated this point with a long drink from her beer, slamming it on the counter. Somehow, you were incredibly entertained by this dialogue. Maybe it was because she seemed like she was very right. Or maybe it was the idea of Cable in compromising positions…

Cable interjected. “No, it’s because you always win with your dumb fuckin’ luck.”

You smiled to yourself as the two continued to go back and forth about the outcomes of the numerous games Wade made them play. You made a mental note to stop by the mansion on Thursday nights, so you could witness the reason behind this quasi-argument in person. The topic drifted on from there, to a recollection of another of their recent missions, to a shared interest in Star Wars (the only thing the time traveler would say on the matter was, “Well, they got a few things right,”), and soon enough you’d finished your beer, then Neena hers, and Cable was last.

Neena grabbed the three empty bottles from the counter top and tossed them in the recycling bin, and you giggled to yourself as you watched Cable eye the pile of almost cooled cookies from his position in the doorway. You spoke in soft tones as you said, “You know, I think Neena would be okay with you taking a cookie, Cable.” Leaning in conspiratorially, you whispered, “She might even let you take two, if you ask nicely.”

Neena turned around from the bin, mouth open with mock hurt. “How dare you, I am very generous with my baked goods.”

You raised your eyebrows at her. “Yeah, okay then, how come I never got any of the muffins we made a couple weeks ago? Or any of those cupcakes from last month? Hmm?”

She shook her head with accusing eyes. “You little shit. You’ll get some of these cookies, alright? And, to prove my generosity, I’m going to go give Ellie and Yukio some, too.” Grabbing two cookies in each hand, she locked eyes with you as she marched out of the room, a smile on her face to ensure that no, she was not actually offended, and yes, you were right, she ought to share some of her baking triumphs with others.

You looked to Cable now, your grin growing bigger as you noticed the knowing smirk on his. Neena was one of the most adorable and endearing people you’d ever met, and it seemed he had similar thoughts.

Turning to start picking up the minor mess you had made on the counter when mixing the dough earlier, you startled as you felt his presence at your side. He was helping you clean. In the back of your mind, you noticed Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” playing in the background. Of course, it would be a song like that when it was just the two of you. Trying not to be noticeably flattered (or flustered) by Cable’s closeness, you kept your eyes down as you casually questioned the older man, “Okay, can I just ask you one more question about being a time traveler?”

The corners of his lips turned up and he laughed (you made him laugh!), teasing you in a low voice, “You can ask all you want, darlin’, but I think you already know I won’t answer.”

You felt the slightest blush in your cheeks at the term of endearment. You could really get used to him calling you that. Outwardly, you shrugged. “That’s okay, I figured you probably wouldn’t, I was just going to ask if you missed it. You know, the future.”

He didn’t speak, and you accepted that with a returned silence.

Then you heard him answer. “Sometimes.” Just a murmur, from somewhere deep within his vocal chords, almost like the damn things didn’t want to let him say it.

You paused. Did you press further? Who were you kidding, of course you did. You wanted to make sure your words weren’t pressuring or insulting, though. You thought on it for a moment, letting the moment steady itself, before questioning softly, “What do you miss?”

As soon as the words left your mouth, he had angled his head to face you and fixed his eyes on yours. You anxiously met them, letting your hands still themselves on the counter, and you felt your stomach tighten. He did not want to talk about that right now, and you could feel his desire to avoid the subject coming off him in waves. “I’m sorry,” you blurted.

His hard brow softened at the sincerity in your voice, and he broke the eye contact he’d so aggressively established to take a deep breath, lean forward, and grab a cookie from the pile on the counter. You watched the way he moved as he did so, and you were in awe watching his non-human arm at such close range. Its movements were so fluid and precise, and in that moment, you remembered how very impressive the man next to you was.

He took a bite of the cookie, and after a few chews, brought his eyes to yours. Swallowing, Cable hummed under his breath, “You’re not ready for that, kid.” Another bite, another few chews, another swallow, “But stick around. Think we could use someone like you around here.”

It was hard to keep eye contact with him, and yet you couldn’t find the will to stop. His eyes were mesmerizing. You were surprised at the strength in your voice as you said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

He shoved the last of the cookie in his mouth and nodded at you before grabbing the pile of dishes you’d put together on the counter and taking them around the center island to the sink. Setting them inside, he turned to you and, after his final swallow, said, “Good.” A nod, a sniff, and another, “Good,” before he crossed to the refrigerator and pulled the door open, leaning in to grab another beer before shutting the door firmly and catching your eye one last time. “Good seeing you, Y/N.”

You uttered a casual, “You, too, Cable,” before watching him grab another cookie and exit the kitchen. You listened until his footsteps were too quiet to hear.

You spent the rest of the night getting drunk with Neena, and all you could think about was the way he had said your name.