Title: Jungle Drum
Rating: M/NC-17
Pairing: Julian Keller/Laura Kinney
Universe: 616

Summary: "My heart's beating like a jungle drum..." 616- post Nimrod. Julian Keller just has a small addiction problem. You know, to a girl called Laura Kinney.
Fluff/smut (it's kind of none-explicit but M for sure!) New X-men: Hellion and X23

A/N: Short story, only 4 chapters long. Watch for other new stories coming soon including thefive (might be renamed), the world, and Detention. Yes, the ideas keep on comin!

-1-

Laura Kinney stormed headfirst into the locker room, her heart thumping in her ears, her eyes on the tiled floor. She was angry—angry at what Ms. Frost had said. The truth. The truth,
that she should leave the institute, because she was a danger to the other teens. She could snap at any given moment if exposed to trigger scent.

Why she was angry, she was not certain. She had never been angry about the truth before; usually it was unnecessary lies that irritated her. Unless vital to a mission, lies were the
stories of a coward and a person consumed with greed; and she graded such people against the likes of Dr. Xander Rice, part of the team that had created her.

He made her angry.

Laura clenched her fists, breathing hard and trying to stifle the tears that threatened to escape. Cessily had attempted to stop her at the hallway leading from the Danger Room, but
she had shaken her off and lost her amongst the flocks of appreciated the girl's effort and sweet nature, but Cessily didn't understand how right Ms. Frost was.

Her mind knew her next logical action: gather her possessions, and leave the mansion. Immediately. Should she tell Logan she was going? But Logan—the very man who should watch
out for her, and feel responsible for her predicament—didn't seem to care. He hadn't spoken to her in weeks, and Laura felt that all the promises he'd made her about protection were
false. The facility would never have to come through Wolverine to get her, because Wolverine wasn't there.

"Ahem."

Laura froze, and her nostrils flared, unwillingly. Her eyes travelled up, and she realized she was standing in the middle of the shower room—and it quite distinctly wasn't the ladies' room.

And straight across from her was the person she'd been watching in the Danger Room. Julian Keller. He was standing straight under a shower head that was running at full blast, and he was quite naked.

Laura's eyes shot to the one thing she shouldn't look at, and she flushed red.

"I—" she was speechless from embarrassment at her mistake. Her eyes widened and suddenly she found she couldn't tear her eyes away. She decided to back up, a horrible strategical
idea for an exit. Her foot caught a bar of soap lying on the floor and she slammed down on her behind, in a large puddle of dirty shower water.

"Wow, you alright there?" Julian asked, not coming to help her.

She looked down, letting her now-wet hair cover her face. "Yes," she mumbled.

Laura began to gather herself up, humiliated. At least she'd broken her gaze on…that. She was furious with herself. It wasn't as if she had not seen one before; and although she was fascinated
with the boy, she hardly wanted a confrontation. She preferred to watch him unnoticed.

She got to her feet and turned away, towards the hallway that led out.

"Noticed you watching me in the 'Room, X," Julian said suddenly, as she reached the doorway. "You got a problem or something?"

"…" Laura nearly looked at him again, but stopped herself in time, so she looked to the side. "No."

She heard him pick up a shampoo bottle and squeeze some into his palm; then the only sound was the water crashing down from the showerhead and his hands in his hair, so Laura moved
again. She was at the exit when he spoke again.

"Come here," he said.

Laura froze, her eyes riveted on the hallway. Then she turned and came back to the shower room, but she kept her eyes firmly on the tiled floor, determined not to repeat her mistake.

"Yes?" she asked.

"No, here, clone," he said. She could hear that he was sneering at her. She approached him slowly, her heart beating like a jungle drum in her chest. She came within a yard of him and stopped.

"Yes?" she asked again.

"Look at me," Julian said calmly.

Laura's eyes widened. "N-no," she said, her eyes on the ground.

He moved slightly, reached out of the region of the shower spray, and his finger curled under her chin and tilted it up. "I said, look at me."

Laura snapped her eyes shut in panic.

"I—no. I don't want to."

"Don't lie—you always want to."

"…" Laura realized this was true, and she was lying. Reluctantly, her eyes opened, and he came into focus. He looked even better than usual, his hair slicked back under the water, which
was also beating on his skin. The shine highlighted his musculature.

Her eyes dropped automatically, following the light trail of hair down his stomach to—something she had caught herself thinking about once or twice before, and trying to approximate, using
her knowledge of body measurements and proportions. And statistics.

As she looked on, he slowly began to react, and she froze.

"Thought so," Julian said, grinning. He reached out and pulled her under the spray of the water, a rough movement which caught Laura off-guard. She chastised herself lightly, wondering why
she seemed to have forgotten thirteen years of reflex training in this moment. She was being pressed against the wall by his hand. She was still staring at him with wide eyes, but now she looked up.

He leaned closer. "You come in here and stare at me, and you think I'm going to let you walk out of here, clone?" he taunted.

"Let go of me," Laura said apprehensively.

"You don't mean that," he said confidently. His hand slid down from her shoulder, down her arm and elbow to her wrist. It stopped there, his fingers curling around the soft skin that she
often parted with her claws.

She wished she could cut herself now. She was a ball of confusion.

He moved her hand towards him. "Get me off," he murmured, close to her ear.

Laura felt like a piece of rubber. Men had instructed her to do much the same thing before, but none had had this effect on her, because she had not been interested in their
advances. Now…her eyebrows drew together.

"Julian..." she said, her voice pleading. She couldn't do this, especially not now, when she was going to leave.

"That's my name," he said. He moved closer, and his teeth ran over the rim of her ear. "You can say it later. When you need to."

"…" Laura shivered, still uncertain. He pressed her hand against him, and the skin was very soft, and warm, and smooth. And went on for quite a while. Her hand slipped down
and reached the end; she looked at him again, and saw that he had closed his eyes, his lips parted.

"Like that," he said.

She considered, then she tightened her grip, and made a proper motion, like she had learned. His features screwed up and he put a hand on the wall to steady himself; a few
moments later she stopped. "No. I have to—I have to go."

"…" Julian grabbed her by the shoulders as she moved sideways and crushed her against the wall again. His lips found hers and seemed to meld against them in searing, burning
heat; for a moment her hand flailed helplessly against the wall, then the power of the sensation struck her, and she stopped trying to get away entirely.

The rest happened in a blur. Time became an abstract concept to Laura; she wasn't sure if the duration was several seconds or several hours. All she was aware of was his hands
running over her body—and being allowed to run her curious fingers over his, feeling what she had only seen in the past.

Her clothing was quickly peeled away (sopping wet from the shower spray), and her hair was doused in water by the time he slammed her against the wall purposefully, breaking
the latest frenzy of lip contact.

Laura knew what came next. She held her breath as he positioned them and then pushed her further into the wall, so close that their stomachs touched and she could feel the slight
ridges of his abdominal muscles. Something else too, that caused her to arc her spine and exhale as he miraculously hit the right spot.

They moved for a while longer, the water adding to the pounding sensation, his lips roaming up and down the side of her neck. He slid his finger into her most sensitive parts and
began to explore as they approached the breaking point of the tension that had built.

"Uh—" Laura threw her head back against the wall, coming undone with a series of seizures. She hadn't known this could happen. She opened her eyes wide, still trembling as
he finished, seemingly not noticing.

He slumped against her for a few moments, then drew away completely and wiped water off his brow with the back of his arm. "Good stuff," he mumbled.

Laura tilted her head, still breathing heavily. Good. Yes, that's what she felt; tingles travelling up and down her body where he had touched her—and a craving for more.

She tried her mouth; she was still speechless.

However, he seemed to have collected himself; he stepped back into the shower spray and resumed his cleansing, his back turned to her; Laura finally moved, her feet making a
squishing sound on the floor. Her eyes turned to her clothing, strewn on the floor—and sopping wet.

"M-my clothes," she said uncertainly.

Julian didn't turn.

"They're—"

"I don't care. You got yourself in here, you get yourself out."

Laura shivered again, and then stepped towards the shower—towards the heat.

"No, X." He glanced at her now, his expression slightly irritated, slightly loathing. "This was a one-time thing. And…you tell anyone, I will not be happy, got it?"

"Yes," Laura said, confused.

"Good. Now get the hell away from me before I tell the heads you've stepped up your creep factor."

Laura looked at the ground, then moved towards her belongings and gathered them up. She dressed quickly, ignoring the unpleasantness of the cold fabric against her skin; then she
headed for the exit, making squish squish sounds as she moved.

"X—" Julian called after her. She paused.

"Nice tits," he said, grinning.

Laura left in a huff.