Lyrissa's Sparkles

It was the day before Allie’s birthday. Logan and Lyrissa’s relationship still wasn’t ‘official’ but it was clear they had feelings for each other, which meant he was doing everything he could to make sure the things she wanted done for the party was done right; which he did by either giving orders, or taking over and doing it himself.

Allie said she didn’t care what kind of party she had, as long as everybody was there, and they had chocolate cake with blue icing. Everyone, except Allie, Beast, and Professor Xavier had gone shopping for the party and her gifts at the mall.

“Remind me again we I had to come for this?” Logan complained as they made their way through the evening crowd. “Because Allie’s cute, and little, and loves you, and you want her to be happy?” Jubilee suggested. “I like that one. Good answer.” Jazz giggled. “Yeah, and just what should we get her? Can’t be clothes, I ain’t goin’ clothes shoppin’ with you girls after seein’ what ya came home with last time.” He griped. It was beyond clear he hated the mall. “As much as I hate admitting it, I agree with Logan on this one.” Scott sighed. “Oh relax Scott, we aren’t buying her clothes. Well not a lot anyway.” Jean smiled. “She wants to train with you guys. Maybe we should get her a little uniform.” Lyrissa suggested. “Oh my god, that’d be so cute! Little Allie fighting alongside Logan and Hank, it’d be priceless!” Kiera clapped. “It would. We could make it white and gold, those colors look very nice on her.” Storm agreed.

“Here we go.” Andrew groaned as the girls all started going on about Allie’s uniform, and how cute the whole idea was. “Think they’ll notice if we all just kind of stop walking, and hang at the food court, or arcade or something?” Box asked. “Yes, they would.” Scott sighed and pushed them forward.

“Hey Logan, isn’t that a good idea?” Lyrissa asked suddenly. “Isn’t what a good idea?” he asked dumbly; the boys all knew they were busted for not listening. “Getting Allie a uniform, and taking her for a few training rounds, weren’t you listening?” she answered, stressing the ‘weren’t you listening’ part. “Look, Jen, when girls start talking about dressing little kids up like they’re their doll, and ‘how cute’ and ‘oh so sweet’, boys quit listening. It’s in our nature, just like you zone out when we start talking about cars and stuff.” Jack sighed. “Do not, I know more about cars and stuff than you do Jackie.” She argued. “His point is, no, none of us were listening. Sorry Jean.” Scott shrugged apologetically.

“We’ll forgive you, but you have to earn it. Isn’t that right ‘Rissa?” Jazz grinned; Xavier had convinced her to forgive Lyrissa for hiding the fact she does drink, and helped them get back to their old friendship. “Yep, I think Logan can start carrying bags as soon as we get out of this toy store.” She smiled and led the group into a Toys ‘R’ Us.

“Okay, I read some of her thoughts to see what she would want, and the list is really easy to work with.” Jean announced, handing out some short shopping lists before they split into groups. “What’d we get Logan?” Lyrissa asked as the two of them, Jubilee, and Kiera made their way through one of the pinkest, most baby-doll stuffed isle in history. “A Barbie Sleeping Beauty doll and castle, with Prince Charming, and carriage.” He read off with a sigh. “How’re we supposed ta know which doll that is? Look at this place!” he complained. “Because, Logan, it says ‘Sleeping Beauty’ right here on the box.” Jubilee giggled as she grabbed a box with a blonde haired princess, in a long pink medieval ball gown.

They walked down the isle a little more before Logan picked up a prince doll. “This him?” he asked. “No.” the girls answered together. “I don’t even play with dolls and I know that’s not him.” Jubilee snickered. “Says ‘Prince Charming’ right here.” He protested, pointing to the title on the box. “Logan, it’s Cinderella’s prince charming, see the background? Sleeping Beauty has a different castle, and her prince has to battle a dragon, not evil step-mom.” Lyrissa explained. “I wanted to be a princess when I was little, you can just ask Jean. The first year I spent with you guys we did nothing but play with dolls and dress up.” She added with a soft giggle.

“This has to be him then.” He announced, picking up another ‘prince charming’. “Yep, good job Logan!” Jazz clapped and tossed the doll into their basket. “Now what?” Kiera asked. “Castle… Logan you just carry it when we find it. You’ll never find the right one.” Lyrissa laughed. “How many castles can there be?” He asked as they made their way to the accessory isle. “Uhm, one for each princess, sometimes two because the princess has one before marrying the prince. So Cinderella has one, Snow White’s prince has one, and she has the dwarfs’s house, Sleeping Beauty has one, and then the Barbie brand princesses all have their own.” Jazz explained. “And no, they’re not the same. Allie, and any other little princess can, and will tell the difference.” Kiera added.

They quickly found the proper castle, and met up with the others at the checkout. Gambit, Rogue, Max and Andrew had gotten some dress up clothes, Jean, Scott, Storm and the others had building blocks, and a tea set that could actually be used instead of the tiny doll-sized set Allie had before. “Alright, now that the gifts are out of the way, we need cake mix, and party supplies.” Lyrissa announced. “Yey! Real decorations!” Kiera and Jazz clapped excitedly. “Real decorations? What’s dat mean?” Gambit asked curiously. “It means for every other party over the years, we’ve decorated with old newspapers, trash bags, random shiny or pretty things we find while dumpster diving, the occasional party supplies we find dumpster diving, and our one and only ‘Happy Birthday’ sign we found, that’s missing three letters.” Andrew answered with a pathetic laugh. “Then what’re we waitin’ for? There’s a party store right around the corner.” Rogue smiled. “Sweet.” Jazz grinned. “Crap…” Max groaned; he knew his sister loved to decorate.

The girls all grouped together shopping for everything needed for the best fifth birthday party ever. Jubilee picked out a ton of funny hats, and then a stack of basic birthday hats, Lyrissa made sure to get Logan a personalized feather boa, remembering the game of dress up he had played with Allie, Jean covered plates, cups, plastic-ware, and streamers with Rogue, and Storm assisted Kiera and Jazz with party favors. The guys, after following them around and making suggestions, comments, and complaints snuck out of the store and sat on the benches in front of it.

“This bites.” Dante whined. “Yeah, why couldn’t we stay back at the mansion?” Max agreed. “’Cause we doin’ it for Allie. Besides, it make de ladies happy, dat’s good, no?” Gambit smiled smoothly, though it was obvious he was just as bored as they were. “So what you’re saying, is we’re doing all this to keep the girls off our backs?” Andrew asked as he fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt. “And because we care about Allie. Plus, it’s good to get you boys out of the house.” Scott answered. “Ain’t good fer me. And it’s kind of obvious none of us are havin’ a good time, Scotty.” Logan grunted, using Lyrissa’s nickname for him.

“Well if ya feel that way about it, go home. We took more than one car to get here, so us girls can do all the work and let you go do whatever.” Rogue commented from behind them, making all of them jump. “All done?” Scott asked. “Well, done here yeah. Now it’s time to eat, let’s hit the food court!!” Jubilee answered. “Yeah!” Max, Dante, Box, and Jamie all shouted in unison. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s go.” Scott confirmed, and led the way.

They had to push three tables together to fit everyone together, and have room for the six treys of food they brought with them. “Okay, who got the triple cheese nachos, with onions and olives?” Jubilee asked with mild disgust in her voice. “Me!” Box exclaimed as he took the food from her. “Kind of gross Boxers.” Andrew laughed. “Quit calling me Boxers! I don’t even wear boxers!!” he retorted with a groan. “Hey, we don’ argue about underwear at de table. Discuss it later, eh?” Gambit interjected, “Who’s meal is dis?” he added, holding up a ham and cheese sub, with meatballs and marinara. “Mine!” Jazz smiled. “I think this one’s yours Gambit. Who mixed all this up anyway?” Lyrissa laughed as she sent a plastic bowl of jambalaya that smelled so spicy it almost made her sneeze. “Yeah, that be mine Chéri.” He smiled as Jean passed it down.

A few minutes later everyone had their proper food and started eating. Of course it couldn’t be civilized because Dante ‘accidentally’ spilled his orange soda all over Kiera, who ‘accidentally’ retaliated with some BBQ sauce from her chicken strips, which lead to Dante shoving her and getting hit by Max who was across the table.

“Enough!” Storm ordered as one of Jazz’s meatballs barely missed her and Logan after Dante had thrown it at Max and missed. “Can you not behave for one day?” she asked with a hint of exasperation. “No, they can’t.” Andrew and Lyrissa laughed together. “Well, it usually changes, Box and Max, Dante and Jamie, Jamie, Dante, and Box, Max, and Andrew…” Lyrissa explained. “Andrew, Max, Dante, Jamie, and Box, against all us…” Jazz added with a smirk. “Yeah, but no they can’t be good for one day. It’s impossible.” Andrew sighed. “Well yer gonna be good for the rest of the day, or else.” Logan threatened harshly. They boys quieted down and ate their lunch in silence.

“Hey, I’ll be right back. I’m gonna use the bathroom.” Lyrissa announced as she stood up. “Me too.” Jazz agreed. Jean also stood up, and joined the group as they left. “Why can’t you girls ever pee alone?” Jamie asked Rogue innocently. “I dunno.” She laughed. “No one does.” Kiera added.

Suddenly there was a crash, and Lyrissa’s shriek probably echoed through the entire mall. Logan was the first one up to help, closely followed by everyone else. When they got to the bathrooms, they saw Lyrissa and a group of four guys arguing, with Jean standing between them and Jazz holding Lyrissa back. “The Michaels brothers… great. She’s gonna kill him. She’s gonna rip his throat out, and hang him with it.” Jack sighed. “Why?” Scott and Logan asked together. He didn’t answer, he just ran to help keep them away from each other.

“No you listen sweetheart, you owe me, and I’m getting paid one way or another!” the one in front yelled. “Owe you? I didn’t ask you to help me, and I sure didn’t hear you say anything about me paying you back! I told you this back in that alley; I don’t owe you a thing. Now leave me alone!” she argued. “Should’ve killed her and just been done with it.” One of the others commented. “We should kill her now and be done with it.” Another chuckled menacingly. “We don’t have to argue, we can simply talk this out like adults; no one is killing anybody.” Jean reasoned. “Shut up red, this ain’t your business.” the lead brother spat. “Hey Matt, enough ‘kay? She’s right, she don’t owe you squat. You cheated her, and expect something she doesn’t have. Go home man, this is why I banned you from the shack!” Jack retorted.

The others watched cautiously as the argument escalated, until it came to blows. Jean blocked one hit from one of the brothers, but took another, and Jack took two of them on, Jazz ducked out nervously because she’d never been in a fight, and Matt tackled Lyrissa hard, and started swinging. He got two good blows in, after bashing the back of her head against the floor before he was ripped off of her, and thrown into the wall. She slowly stood up to see Logan threatening Matt’s life, while everyone else joined in to keep the Michaels Brothers back. She could tell he was about to use his claws, and knew it would be a terrible mistake.

“Logan… don’t.” she begged quietly, wrapping her arms around the arm he was holding Matt with. He reluctantly let go as mall security showed up. “Yer bleeding.” He pointed out, gently touching her eye, and then wiped some of the blood from her nose with his thumb. “He wears a ring I think, something hit hard.” She groaned as she wiped the rest of the blood on her arm, since she was wearing a tank as usual.

“Excuse me, can I ask what happened here?” One of the mall cops demanded. “Those four started calling us out. We tried to talk to them but they just attacked us.” Jazz explained quickly, she wouldn’t admit it but she had been afraid for her life for a minute. “Did anyone see this happen?” he asked the crowd that had gathered. Most of them nodded, and a murmur of agreement with Jazz hummed through them. “Were you involved?” he asked Lyrissa. “Y-yes sir.” She answered, now she was as nervous as Jazz had been. “And your story matches hers?” he asked. “Yeah, but they started yelling at me before her. We know each other from a while back, and had a pretty bad argument then. They’re just still mad is all.” She explained.

Half an hour of Q&A later, they were finally allowed to leave the mall. Again they had tons of bags, but there weren’t any jokes going around about it. Logan kept his arm around Lyrissa as they walked, and Scott did the same with Jean, who had been hit in the mouth but not hard enough to draw blood; it was going to bruise though. Jack had taken the worst of the three of them, since he was attacked by two and wasn’t the best fighter to begin with. “Think we could’ve taken them if these guys weren’t here to help?” Jazz asked quietly. “It would’ve hurt a lot, but I think we could.” Lyrissa smirked, wincing at the pain by her eye where she had been hit. “I’m sorry I didn’t help… I choked. I should’ve jumped in like you two did; you were like ready for that fight ya know? I just backed off and stood there.” She sighed. “Jean trains for fights all the time, and Lyrissa used to train with us too when she lived with us before.” Scott explained encouragingly. “Plus she gets into fights all the time at the races.” Jack added. “So we’ve noticed.” Storm sighed disapprovingly. “They started it then, and they started it tonight, and if I see them again, they’ll probably start it then too.” Lyrissa ranted as they walked.

The car rides home were silent, as the younger kids fell asleep and the older passengers thought about the situation. As soon as they got back to the mansion, Lyrissa went straight to her room and locked the door without a word to anyone. She looked in the mirror, her eye was already starting to bruise, and it was going to be one seriously black eye for Allie’s party. Her nose was slightly bruised, and she wondered if it was broken. She grabbed a wet rag from the bucket of water next to her bed left over from the water war and got ready to clean the cut by her eye when someone knocked on her door.

“What?” she shouted, without meaning to sound hostile. “It’s me, open up.” Logan ordered from the other side of the door. She sighed and thought about opening the door when one of her wisps swished out and opened it for her. She jumped and stared in shock, she didn’t know those wisps were good for anything; they were just for show she thought. “Ya okay?” he asked when he saw the look on her face. “I just opened the door without touching it. One of those wispy things did it…” she laughed. He grunted and sat down on her bed. She joined him with the rag still in hand.

“Got ya good didn’t he?” he commented when he saw just how bad her eye was getting. “Street thugs play dirty.” She shrugged.

“Ya should have Hank look at that for ya.”

“It’s fine.”

“Ya sure?”

“Yeah, I’ve had worse.” Her voice was getting softer and quieter.

“Well, at least let me clean it up for ya then. Don’t want it gettin’ infected.” He said as he took the rag from her hand and gently started rubbing it across the cut by her eye. It did hurt, and she gasped with pain as soon as he touched the rag to her open skin. “Ya sure it’s fine?” he asked, since her wincing and gasping wasn’t too convincing of her statement. “Y-yeah. It just hurts, that’s all. I’ll be fine Logan.” She smiled.

He smiled back and gently touched the swelling and bruising skin around the cut with his thumb, being careful not to apply too much pressure and cause more pain. His skin seemed to burn against hers, but she liked the gentle feel of his fingers gliding across her newly forming bruises; it somehow seemed to alleviate some of the pain.

She didn’t know how, or why, or when it happened, but she suddenly realized that his lips were less than an inch from her own, and she was closing the gap. Before she cloud give it another thought they touched briefly, and she pulled away quickly, turning the deepest shade of red he had ever seen anyone blush in his entire life. “S-sorry…” she mumbled, keeping her eyes locked on her floor. “I don’t mind it.” He smiled playfully; there was the cocky, overconfident Wolverine again. She blushed even more, which she didn’t think was possible. “Well, I got some things ta get done. See ya ‘round, ‘Rissa.” He grinned and left the room, leaving her alone to comprehend what had just happened.

“I think they kissed.” Kiera whispered to Max at dinner that night. Lyrissa and Logan were sitting opposite each other, and every time their eyes met she blushed faintly. “Nah, they didn’t kiss. She’d break his nose if he tried to kiss her.” He whispered back. “Nuh-uh, they like each other. This isn’t Andrew’s Christmas prank we’re talking about, this is love.” She argued quietly. “They are acting strange… do you really think they kissed?” He asked. Jamie sighed heavily, “Here, look.” He directed as he straightened up. “Hey Logan, Sparkles. Did you guys kiss or what?” he asked loudly, so they could hear him from the other end of the table.

Logan raised his brow and watched Lyrissa’s amusing reaction; she gasped when he asked his question, but had a mouth full of bread and started choking. “W-what?” she asked through her coughs. “Did you two kiss?” he asked again. “I… I mean we…” she stuttered nervously, turning a deeper shade of red. “Oh my god! They did! They kissed! They kissed! They kissed!” Kiera shrieked. “Eww! Wolverine’s got cooties! Get away from me!” Dante laughed as he scooted his chair farther from Logan. “That’s enough children, leave them alone.” Xavier instructed with a smile.

“Well, I’m done… can I be excused Uncle Charlie?” Lyrissa asked with a laugh. “Of course you may.” He smiled. She stood up and left the room. Xavier nodded to Logan after reading his thoughts, and he followed. “Gonna make out some more?!” Box jeered. “Can it Boxers!” she shouted back from down the hall.

“They’re never gonna let this drop.” She sighed as she leaned up against the Danger Room wall.

“Nah, they’ll get tired of it eventually.”

“Not for a long time Logan. They’re kids, and we… we kissed.”

“So? We’re adults, we can do whatever we wanna do.”

“You’re right… it’s just weird with them, ya know? I mean, me and Andrew are kind of like their parents a little bit, well more like older siblings who take care of them in a parental way, but still. For them to know I like, like somebody, is me asking for nonstop teasing and jokes.” She laughed. He couldn’t help but to smirk at her childish use of ‘like liking’ someone.

“Hey, you up for a few rounds? Been a while since either of us got any good trainin’ in.” he asked after a pause. “Sounds great, street clothes, or should we change?” she grinned.

“Think ya can fight in that?”

“The jeans are crazy lose, and I can move around in this shirt without a problem. Yeah, I can.”

“Alright then, let’s fight.” He smiled and started up a training course.

They fought against each other for at least six rounds, with him winning every single one. The course had environmental challenges, like pillars that came up from the floor and crashed into the ceiling, pendulums, and the like. She was too focused on him, to notice one of the pendulums swinging right at her from behind. He tackled her out of the way, and they rolled to a spot on the wall where nothing would hit them.

“Thanks.” She smiled weakly, trying not to blush from the fact he was laying on top of her. “Don’t mention it.” He grinned, as their faces got closer. Lyrissa was ready for this kiss, and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer.

They were so caught up in their own actions, they didn’t notice the automatic pause triggered by someone opening the Danger Room door. “Hey! Wolverine, Lyrissa, de Professor wanna see you. Unless dat is, you to busy…” Gambit grinned at the last part, noticing how tightly they were wrapped around each other. Lyrissa jumped as Gambit’s voice echoed through the room, and almost screamed she was so startled, and embarrassed. “We’re comin’, don’t get yer’ panties in a twist Gumbo.” Logan retorted after helping Lyrissa to her feet.

“You want I keep dis a secret for now?” Gambit asked as the three of them walked down the hall. Lyrissa didn’t answer, she just walked in silence to see what her Uncle Charlie wanted. Logan just grunted and kept walking as well.

“Nice of ya to join us.” Rogue commented as they reached the War Room. “Dey be happy to stay here Professor, maybe get some alone time, eh?” Gambit snickered as he took his seat. “They will not be staying here, especially not Lyrissa. I need her with you all on this one.” Xavier replied. “This one what?” Lyrissa asked in confusion. “Mission.” Cyclops answered sternly, it was clear he didn’t want Lyrissa and Logan together, probably because he had adopted her as a younger sister over the years.

“Lyrissa, Jack has left the mansion, along with Andrew. I have reason to believe they will be approached by the Brotherhood. They are more likely to listen to you and return, than they are my X-Men.” Xavier explained. “Left? They freaking left?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yes, Andrew feels that he is overstaying his welcome here, and Jack has gotten restless from staying in one place for too long. They are going to Andrew’s cousin’s house once Jack procures a car.”

“Andrew can’t leave! I can’t take care of these guys alone, and he knows it! How can he just leave like that?” she was getting angrier by the second.

“Seeing you and Logan together probably. He doesn’t want to lose the Lyrissa he knows, and is very afraid that you being here with us, and with Logan is going to guarantee that.” Jean answered.

“I want you to suit up, and meet the others at the jet. There are anti-mutant organizations out there that would kill them on sight after seeing them on the news at the races.” Xavier instructed, and motioned for them to leave the room and get ready.