Kurt Wagner, or any other nickname the children could come up with (Blue, Bamf, Elf, Houdini, Jumpy), had fallen, swiftly and completely, in love with Ororo Munroe, and in just a year of dating and laughter and late night kisses, his mind was utterly taken over by the urge to marry the woman who so very firmly held his heart in her palms. He thought and thought for hours, trying to come up with the perfect way to propose to the mutant, and when he finally grasped an idea, a sharp smile lit up his face, his near golden eyes glowing with excitement.
1.
Now, Kurt was nervous, discreetly dropping an engagement ring into a glass of champagne when Storm's back was turned, and he flinched as the clink of ring on glass sounded loudly in the large kitchen, but she didn't turn her head to find the source of the sound, and for that he was extremely grateful.
Nightcrawler had fixed a wonderful dinner, ushering the children back to their rooms when they'd come down to see what the good smell drifting through the halls was all about, and they'd pouted at him as they'd retreated, sad that they couldn't attend the dinner. Storm had been genuinely surprised, and the soft smile across her face had melted his heart all over again, his fingers shaking slightly as he tightly held the glass in his hand.
He didn't drink, never had, and set his glass of water down, in the process of placing the other glass down across from it. Storm turned, then, and Kurt's wide fingers hid the view of the glistening ring within, and she shook her head with a shrug.
"I'm not in the champagne mood today, Kurt," she murmured fondly, sitting down at her chair as he stopped in his tracks, trying desperately to keep his face from falling.
"But, I'm-I'm sure it's good. Perhaps you should look first-"
She put up a hand to stop him and gently laid it on his own. "I haven't drunk a sip of alcohol since the Professor died; there's too much responsibility there for me to lose control," she whispered lowly, afraid that the children that were no doubt snooping just behind the kitchen door would hear her small confession, and Kurt smiled down at her, a sad glint in his eyes, but he nodded in understanding.
"Of course."
And then low murmurs sounded behind the door, tiny complaints and small yelps of discomfort, just before the door swung open, a pile of students toppling to the floor after it, annoyed shouts tangled within the group and a small cry of pain as someone complained about their leg, and Storm gave an apologetic sigh as she glanced at her boyfriend, who gestured for her to go on, and she smiled as she helped them all up, taking a few to the infirmary with her.
Kurt watched the door swing shut with a heavy sigh, glancing down at the champagne glass still held within his three fingered hand, a diamond ring floating at the bottom, suspended and lonely within the amber liquid.
2.
His plan was foolproof.
The scent of cake in the oven had lured quite a few to the kitchen, but Kurt had politely told them that the cake was solely for one person, and they had rolled their eyes with a smile before leaving him to his thoughts. He had left Ororo with an errand to run, so that she wouldn't see him baking and become suspicious, but he feared that her store trip would end too soon, and that she'd come back to see him carefully pulling the hot cake out of the oven, waiting patiently for it to cool before grabbing the icing.
It was meticulous work, writing out the words and making it seem presentable, and Kurt realized-not for the first time-how hard it was to hold things with three fingers, but he finally finished writing and looked down at it with a smile.
As he heard the door close and her soft murmurs following it, signaling Ororo's arrival, he thought about how she absolutely loved cake, and how nothing in the world could stop him from presenting it to her.
At least, nothing in the world, except a door.
He was just at the kitchen entrance, preparing to walk out and show her with a happy smile, but the kitchen door swung open unexpectedly, opening and opening until Kurt was there, right in the way. The cake went in different directions, splattering his favorite shirt with icing and bits of chocolate, and the rest plopped to the floor, a giant heap of cake and candles and smoke, and he gave it a dismal frown, just before Storm's head peeked out from behind the door, her eyes widening as she took him in.
"Oh my god, Kurt."
He looked up at her with sad eyes, just before breaking into laughter at her remorseful expression, her face crumbling with guilt as she hurried to get a towel to clean up the mess. It would take more than a towel.
"I'm so sorry. Oh my god, I'm sorry," she murmured lowly, her repetitive apologies making his grin widen.
"It was just a cake," he said, sighing to himself, before looking down at the indistinguishable letters of white icing smeared all over the floor.
Will you marry me?
3.
Deciding against the kitchen, Kurt figured that he'd try again, and he could think of no better place to try his idea out than in her room, where they were currently huddled together, munching on popcorn as a movie played on the TV screen, splayed out on her bed. His tail swished back and forth, wrapping around Storm's waist of its own accord, and she smiled absentmindedly, nestling more into his warm embrace beneath the blanket they shared. He waited until the credits were rolling, and took a deep breath as he tightened his hold around her, his heart pounding frantically.
"I love you," he whispered.
Short and simple, Kurt. He smiled crookedly.
"But I guess you already know that." Storm's hands were warm against his chest, his chin resting atop her crown of soft hair. "I want- that is, it would be an honor-to spend the rest of my life with you, Ororo," he explained, the press of his heart against his ribs like a melodic drumming in his head.
"Will you-" Kurt tilted his head at a tiny sound, similar to snoring but not quite there yet, and he glanced down to see Storm with her mocha hued eyelids shut, her eyelids fluttering with slumber as she leaned against him, and he was caught in between laughing at the irony and being frustrated at his failure.
He opted for laughter, and stifled his chuckles as he pulled the blanket more securely about her body, tucking her in against him as he watched the white letters on the screen scroll down and down and down…until he himself was succumbing to the warmth of sleep.
4.
He decided to be romantic and gently place rose petals on her bed so that they spelled out that one question, and Kurt thought that it would be a success, for sure.
He'd worked for a good hour, lighting candles around her room-everyone had given him a funny look when he had politely asked to borrow all of their candles. Ororo had been away for days, out on a mission in Germany that he had quickly declined. He didn't want to go back to Germany, filled with people that feared and hated him, and the children needed a supervisor-god knows what they'd do without one-and the absence had left him with a large span of time to execute his plan.
He leaned back to admire his work, finally, and smiled, satisfied with the crimson petals purposefully strewn about the covers, bouquets of long stemmed (and de-thorned) roses towering around the edges of her large room. The smell nearly overwhelmed his delicate senses, but he held his breath every few seconds so that it wouldn't get to him so much, and started in surprise as the door slammed downstairs, Logan's profanity laced complaints echoing far beyond the main hall.
The mission must have gone awry, then.
Kurt stepped out of the room for just a few minutes, conversing with them all to find out what had happened, and just as he was about to convince Ororo to go to her room, the fire alarm blared its awful beeping, and Kurt tensed with a gut wrenching sensation of dread.
Too many candles.
5.
Taking her out on a date, and going the simple route, would work, he thought. Lazily strolling across the school's campus would give them privacy, and a nice setting to propose to her in.
But no, the children couldn't take a hint.
Asking her in between her classes didn't even work, because certain students hung back, always with questions about the lesson.
Kurt even tried a second attempt at dinner, but Logan had interrupted the almost moment by barging in loudly, blinking in surprise at the two of them seated at the dinner table. He'd even sat down with them, complimenting Kurt on the food.
Writing it in the sky proved costly, and he didn't have the money for it, so he thought to try it himself, teleporting from here to there with a rather heavy smoke machine in his arms. Kurt didn't plan it very well, and the wind up there was atrocious.
Trying to lure a few stray (and adorable) dogs to him so that he could tie the ring around their collars and take them to her didn't work, because stray (and adorable) dogs were none too friendly, and definitely didn't like people tying things onto their collar, as proven by the tiny bite mark on his hand.
The rabies shot had not been fun, either.
Lastly, recruiting a few older students to help proved to be too much for them, since they couldn't seem to persuade Storm to go where she needed to go, and the rooftop dinner had failed because Storm had gotten so frustrated at them that she'd inadvertently caused a rather harsh thunderstorm, and Kurt couldn't teleport an entire table full of food in the blink of an eye.
...
Frustrated, exhausted, and downright moody, Kurt had been up to his chin with annoyance, and his comrades had taken notice. Storm, of course, was the only one to confront him about it, and he had looked at her with the most deadpan expression, tired of trying to find ways to propose and having them all ruined.
Finally, after a depressingly long dry spell of ideas, Kurt teleported to the place he could sense her the strongest, and wasn't the least bit surprised to find her on the balcony, staring longingly out at the night, her eyes cast upward, searching for stars in the clouded midnight sky. She turned at the sound of his arrival and gave him a small smile, her eyes shining with sleep as she turned back around, and he came up behind her to wrap his arms around her slender waist, pressing his face against her cheek.
"It's so beautiful here," she sighed, blinking lazily, and Kurt felt like a dam was breaking, ideas rushing into his head, and he smiled at her ear as he tightened his hold on her, and she looked at him, her gaze questioning, just before he teleported them both.
He found a nice spot, one he had been to before as a child in the circus, a place that was almost magical at night. It had been his only haven, a world full of peace and serenity, before discovering the power of faith, and to show her what meant so much to him was an honor she could feel, acrid like electricity in the air.
The sky, unlike the one overlooking the mansion, was littered with bright, sparkling stars, and their reflection cast within her eyes made his heart warm with love as he took her hand, dropping to one knee before her. Her eyes were wide, wider than he'd ever seen them, and her lips parted in surprise as the grip on his hand tightened, a small gasp pouring from her mouth as he smiled up at her, his stomach turning with nerves and the beat of his heart thrumming through his bones.
"The beauty of this place is nothing compared to your beauty."
He pulled out a small black box, one that had resided in his pocket for the longest time, and opened it slowly, revealing a shining diamond ring that glistened beneath the watchful eyes of the thousands of stars above them. Kurt could see the half crescent outline of the moon as it glowed atop the glossy surface of her eyes, and she smiled down at him, a smile full of all of the love and comfort and friendship she carried deep within her. He didn't need to say that he loved her, because it showed on his face, and he didn't need to tell her how much he needed her in his life, because his grip on her hand was near unbreakable, and so he let his heart speak for him.
"Ororo Munroe", and her smile widened, "will you make this the one great honor of my life and be my bride?"
She pulled him up fast, his weight following his arm as she lured him in, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her forehead to his as his tail drew lazy circles across her lower back, flicking back and forth with excitement. She met his gaze and in her stare he saw a life, a life and a love and a strength that nothing in the world could tear down.
"Yes," she murmured lowly, pressing her soft lips to his in the best kiss of his life, their hearts thumping wildly as the sky shone down at them, bathed in tender moonlight as they clung to each other like there was no tomorrow.
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