This is a "how we got here" set immediately after the chapter 5 of Utter Chaos; it's helpful but certainly not necessary to read that first. But basically: Ororo and Logan have had it with the rumours flying around them.

Rated T because Logan insists on being a pottymouth when emotionally stressed.

Together We'll Wonder

The party was, of course, quite an affair. Despite the Professor's explicitly clear instructions for Logan and Hank to act like they were caught off-guard by the students' planned surprise party, none of the younger mutants were fooled. There was a round of protests and groans and I-hate-to-say-I-told-you-so's thrown around, but the afternoon turned out to be a success anyway.

"I wash my hands of this," Hank mentioned to Ororo after the lunch had wound down, when the kids shooed them back inside. The adults weren't allowed to help with clean-up. "I am, as you know, a thespian; clearly it was no fault of mine. Logan, on the other hand, I'm not so certain could act to save his posterior..."

"Can it, Blue," Logan growled, and Ororo had to hide her own grin behind a demure hand. "No one asked you."

"T'was but a mere observation, my friend," Hank grinned, fangs gleaming. "Now, if you two will excuse me, I must take my leave as I believe I've an entire day's worth of procrastinated labwork waiting for me sublevel."

Hank bowed grandly before knuckle-walking away. With him now gone and Charles still detained by Scott and Jean outside, Logan and Ororo found themselves suddenly alone in the front hall. It wasn't an uncommon occurence, being alone with each other like this, and normally the two could enjoy a comfortable silence around each other, but after the day's happenings...

Logan shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying not to think about the stupid bet the kids started. Ororo had her eyes trained outside, where she could see the students chasing each other with table cloths, instead of cleaning up. Laura was among them, one adamantium claw shining in the afternoon light, chasing after a laughing Tabby. Try as she might, Ororo could not get Logan's young clone's words out of her mind.

She sighed, and glanced back at Laura's gene-father. "... We need to talk."

If the words fazed him, he didn't show it. He kept his face turned towards where Hank had disappeared behind steel elevator doors, shoved his hands into his jean pockets and finally glanced back at her from the corner of his eye.

"Yeah... yeah," he said, on an exhale. "I know. Just - not here; Jeannie's got a habit of eavesdropping." He scowled. Hell if he was going to let the mansion get any more involved in his personal life.

The way she can't help but crack a tiny, amused smile (which he catches, no matter how hard she tries to hide it) makes him feel a little bit better. He grinned right back, thinking that maybe this won't be that bad.

She cleared her throat. "Then... perhaps the gazebo, later tonight? Away from prying eyes and ears."

He can't help the wider grin, the easy comeback. "A late night rendezvous, eh, 'Ro? What'll the kids say?"

An eye roll. This is exactly what we need to talk about, Goddess, she thinks, exasperated. But all she says is, "I think we both know what they're saying about us, Logan." She told him, challenging.

"I will see you tonight." She walked away without waiting for an answer.

Logan shook his head, amused. He deserved that, he'd admit. Still, it doesn't keep him from watching the inviting sway of her hips as she walked away.

xoxo

He was already there when she arrived, later that night. She knew he could hear her coming, so she didn't bother announcing herself.

Instead, she studied his profile from behind as she approached. Backlit by the moon, he was leaning on his forearms against the gazebo railing, an unlit cigar hanging from one hand. She raised an eyebrow at it when he finally turned to her; it'd been a long while since she'd seen him smoke one. Charles had asked him not to do so as long as he was in the mansion, and he'd studiously ignored that request until the first students started to arrive.

"Thought about it," he said, in answer to her curious gaze as he got up. "Figured I'd need one, y'know? But you don't particularly like the smell, do ya 'Ro?" He tucked it into his shirt's front pocket with a shrug, and Ororo felt her heart warm a little at his rarely shown thoughtfulness. Traitorous heart, she thought distantly.

The breeze coming in from the sea was pleasant and cool. Ororo let the faint wind calm her for a moment before she moved to join him at the railing. The moon was waning, three-quarters full, but it seemed perfectly round in its reflection in the sea.

She cleared her throat and he half-turned to her then, already unruly hair windswept by the ocean breeze.

"So," she began, voice soft and lilting. "I heard something interesting today."

"Yeah, me too."

A beat of silence passed before they both began, again:

"Did you/Didja know that Laura put in a bid for that ridiculous/godforsaken bet, today?"

They were both startled into awkward silence for a heartbeat, until she chuckled softly. He grinned sheepishly back. Awkwardness never did last very long between them.

"That... is actually what I wanted to talk about, yes."

She chose her next words carefully. "I think... that we can no longer pretend not to hear what they say about us, Logan." Finally, she turned to face him completely, looking at him straight in the eye. Logan found that he couldn't hold her gaze for too long, and had to turn back to the quiet sea.

... Why wasn't he saying anything?

"Well?" She tried again, raising her voice just a little. "What do you think about all this? Surely we will need to discuss it at some point."

He sighed, slanted his eyes to her without turning. "... Whaddya want me to say, darlin'?"

Her answer is bold, exactly what he expected from someone like Ororo. "The truth, Logan." Her words had him turning to face her, now. "This... it is a time for honesty."

The truth? Truth was, he wasn't sure what to do with this - these feelings. He hated it, really, just as any self-respecting man couldn't deal with talk about emotions. But Ororo's face was set, her voice serious. There'd be no skirting around this, this time.

He heaved a sigh, gruff. "Ororo..."

Her full name. Not 'Ro, 'Roro, and not darlin', either. Not even Storm. The woman in question felt her eyes flutter closed; she wasn't sure what that meant.

She found herself speaking before she realized she had anything to say. "I hope you know that this is not some game, Logan-"

Sharply, immediately - "You think I'd play with you, 'Ro?"

"I - No, of course not. I know you better than that, Logan."

And Logan realizes that she does. Know him, and know that he's better than that.

"Then why the hell-"

"Because," She sighed, and backtracked uncertainly. "Because this - it cannot be how it was in the early years, Logan." She paused to check if he remembered, and saw at once that he did. Even before Scott and Jean had stepped into the mansion, they had an unspoken attraction to each other, and had flirted carelessly. Much as he'd hate to admit it now, it had been a game of sorts, and Logan had costantly pushed the boundaries, seeing how far they could get without sparking anything remotely serious.

But that was long ago, it seemed, and they'd stopped (or at least, turned it down several levels) once the students started arriving. And now...

"It cannot," she repeated, more for herself than for him, for she was no longer sure she could go back to that, as they seemed to be doing so in recent history. "The students would think-"

"Fuck what they think," He scowled, meaning the words. His private business was private, damn it.

She spared him a momentarily amused smile that had him feeling slightly sheepish. Why she tolerated his language when he got like this, he'll never know.

She continued on, calmly, as though he hadn't interrupted her. "The students would get the wrong idea about us, what we feel." she said simply.

His scowl deepened, not entirely comfortable with where this was going, and opened his mouth to divert the conversation. But Ororo barrelled on.

"And I'm not sure I am comfortable with their assuming things about what we feel for each other. Because truth be told, Logan," she took a breath, for courage, "I think I do have feelings for you. I just... do not know how much of that was influenced by the rumours about us."

She paused then and allowed herself to look away, slightly shaken by the effort it took to say the words. But they were out now, and that was what mattered. Even if it couldn't hold a candle to what she wanted to say.

I am afraid, she wanted to add. Afraid of just how much of those feelings are hers, and how much was wishful thinking fueled by the students' silly rumours. Afraid of how strong those feelings have become, of how she couldn't bear it if she had mistaken simmering attraction and treasured friendship for something more.

Afriad of how she'd slowly come to realize that she wanted more.

His voice interrupted her thoughts suddenly. "You think I ain't scared shitless myself, darlin'?"

She blinked, surprised at his words. Had she spoken her thoughts aloud...?

Her worry must have been apparent because he continued speaking, dark charcoal eyes gleaming with something between wry amusement and soft reassurance. "Y'didn't have say anything," Because just as she has come to know him so has he come to know her: this woman who needs no protection, but he wants to protect anyway, damn it. Who has stood and fought beside him for years, now. Who he's rescued as many times as she's had to rescue him. They have each other's backs, even in this. Especially in this.

"... 'Ro." He ran a hand through his hair. "You know I don't usually do the whole feelings and emotions business." Hell, he was having a hell of a time just finding the words. "But," - a rough exhale - "But m'not gonna deny this -" he gestured vaguely between himself and her - "... whatever it is we've got goin' on here."

His words sent a rush of unfamiliar feeling through her. At the back of her mind she wondered vaguely why it was that a few simple words from him had her famous tightly-reined control flying out the window, so often.

But, she had to be sure.

"Is there something going on between us, Logan?"

He studied her carefully, eyes trained on hers; she gazed unblinkingly back until he sighed, finally. "... Would it be so bad if there was, 'Ro?"

That stilled her breath for a moment, and he noticed immediately. They knew each other well enough by now that they could read each other's body language with ease and familiarity, and hear whatever was left unsaid with startling clarity. The only thing left was whether or not they were going to act on it.

They're both silent for a few more heartbeats, gathering thoughts and words and the will to speak.

It's Logan who first breaks the silence, as he shifts so he's facing the ocean again.

"Won't be easy, though."

Ororo answers with what she hopes comes off as a neutral shrug. "... Relationships are not meant to be easy."

To his credit; he doesn't even flinch when she brings out the R-word. But she's being serious about this, and he has to know.

"And I got a lot of enemies out there," he continued, bringing out his cigar again. He doesn't light it, but he does play with it just to give his fingers something to do.

"So do I," He gives her a doubtful look. "It's true. You are not the only one with enemies, Logan. And if you think for one moment that we cannot be together because you fear for my safety-"

"Didn't say that, 'Ro." He held up a hand, smiling wryly. He supposed that he knew better than most that she could protect herself just fine. "Just covering my bases."

"Whatever for?" She demanded of him, frowning a little. "I'd like to think that I know you well enough to be aware of that, Logan," she paused, before adding softly, "No amount of feeble excuses will scare me away."

Somehow, he knew she'd say that. And right then and there, he realized that he did really want this - wanted what she wanted, too. Especially since the more he thought about it - about him, and Storm and the two of them together, the more it seemed to make sense.

Suddenly, he had to wonder why it had taken them so long - even longer than it'd taken Scott and Jean, he realized - to stop dancing around each other the way they did.

Right, because it wasn't that simple.

He sighed, deciding to tuck his cigar back into his shirt pocket before he ended up lighting it.

"Don't get me wrong, darlin', I want this," he paused to gesture between the two of them, vaguely, "Just as much as you do."

"- I just wish it weren't so damn complicated."

Ororo blinked once, the words seemed to echo with a sense of déjà vu in her mind. Her next words came tumbling from her lips before she had time to consider them.

"Perhaps... it doesn't have to be."

He raised both his eyebrows. "You suggesting we forget everything we just talked about?"

"Goddess, no. No. They are legitimate concerns, and we were right to talk about them. But..."

She paused and willed herself to look him in the eye. "Maybe we should just take things a step at a time."

With that she placed a hand over his, right over his knuckles, and this time, Logan does flinch. He tried to pull away, but she closes her fingers over his fist. It's the first time she's touching him so purposefully intimately, and she's chosen the most dangerous part of his body.

Trust is the first step.

Her smile is gentle, and kind of shy (an expression not often seen on her), her eyes soft but entreating in the light of the moon. The only question left is if he will leave her to fall alone.

He chuckles, dry and weary, shakes his head.

"C'mere." He pulled her a step closer with a tug of their still-joined hands.

"- Logan?"

He was grinning. "If we're gonna do this, we'll do it right." He turned his hand so that he was holding hers - raised it to his rough lips for a brief kiss, then drops it so he could hold her slim waist in his hands.

Ororo laughed lightly, leaning her head down so their foreheads touched. Her eyes were shut and she told herself that it was a simple effort to contain her emotions, not to stave off gathering tears of relief.

"Can't promise you it'll be easy, 'Ro," Unlike her, his eyes were open, searching her face, comitting each lovely detail to memory. It wasn't often that the goddess came down from her perch to show vulnerable human emotion like this. "Can't rightly say I know what I'm doing, either..."

She smiled and leaned forward those final few inches, closing the distance between them with a chaste kiss. They lingered that way for only a moment before he grinned around her lips and slanted his head to deepen the connection.

They part, finally, and her eyes open to meet his gaze with a little smile.

"... Then we shall learn together."