#calogan

His brain needed a whole moment to process that his sleepy eyes were seeing: his head was nestled on the other mutant's shoulder, his arm sprawled across the other's chest. Logan's arm laying around Caliban's waist, he was sound asleep, his chest raising and falling under his palm.

Despite the clothes they still wore, Logan's hand on his waist still burned through the fabric all the way to his sensitive skin, making Caliban hyper-aware of the touch.

Caliban was about to jump up and get as far away from here as possible, when it occurred to him that Logan was still asleep, and if he only allowed himself a moment of selfishness, he could enjoy this for a short while, he could pretend that...

He didn't finish that dangerous thought, pushing it away as quick as possible - he wasn't ready to face that. Besides, living with a mind reader had his downsides.

A propos Charles - he should check on him, it's been too long - how long exactly? He wasn't sure what time it was.

As soon as Caliban made an attempt to carefully disintegrate himself from Logan, the other turned on his side towards him and Caliban now found himself trapped not only with one arm, but both.

Apparently still sleeping, Logan pressed him closer to his chest, nuzzling the top of his head and making unintelligible sounds. Caliban would never admit it to himself, but it made his heart flatter.

For fuck's sake!

Caliban granted himself one single moment to enjoy the proximity, tried to memorize the feeling, absolutely sure that once it was over he won't get to feel like that again, and then thoughtfully freed himself from the sleeping mutant and rushed to put his poncho on in order to go check on Charles.

One last glance back at the peacefully sleeping Logan, Caliban suddenly felt a pang in his chest and his throat constricted. Confused about his own reaction, he rushed outside.

~~~

Charles was fine, still sleeping though, and Caliban took care of the plants and prepared the medicine for then the older mutant's gonna wake up. While working, his thoughts kept returning to what happened last evening.

It's been a while -  five or six months, if he remembered correctly - since he came to live here and help Logan. Prior to that... well, he didn't like to think about that time in detail, but he didn't have anyone to rely on for a very long time. He wasn't used to show weakness, or receive comfort. Usually, his weakness was rewarded with more pain.

But not this time. Caliban could still feel the strong arms around his shoulders, the palm casually resting on his waist. The soothing touch on his burned hand. It was futile to try and deny that he loved the feeling. But.

But it was also futile to harbour any illusions regarding Logan's motivation. The other mutant wasn't a bad man, far from it. He saw Caliban in a bad state of mind and tried to help and help it did!. It would be extremely stupid - not to mention selfish - to think that this had any further meaning than that, or to hope that it would happen again, ever.

It would be best to forget the whole thing - maybe thank Logan first - and move on. Also: be careful next time.