*AN: Wow, it's been a long time since I've updated this! I still, sadly, do not own the rights to any Marvel characters, but the story ideas are mine alone. Wishing everyone a happy summer, filled with more OreO stories!
A Long Walk Back to Reality
A little while later at breakfast, things had calmed down considerably. All twelve campers were in the midst of eating, and while most were still bleary-eyed with sleep, four in particular were sitting separate from the others, noticeably chastened. "Hey, what's with Bobby, Hank, Forge and Alex?" Betsy whispered. "They look like they just got stuck with bathroom duty for eternity."
"And Scott keeps glaring at zem," Nightcrawler pointed out. "It's so intense, I'm scared he might zap one of zem by mistake!"
Remy and Ororo were sitting together, and neither could manage to keep from snorting with sudden laughter.
"Do you guys know something we don't?" Ali asked.
"Um," Remy chuckled. "We kinda ran into dem dis morning."
Betsy raised an eyebrow. "You did? And where did that happen?"
"Oh, in the forest," Ororo replied. "We went out on a walk." She returned to eating her fruit and oatmeal, and failed to register Betsy's calculating look.
"Yeah, an' weren't we surprised to see t'other campers awake an' alive that early!" Remy continued. "We just relaxin', enjoying the scenery, an' all of a sudden, four huffin' X-Men blitz pas' us like Magneto's on dey tails."
"And then, behind them came Scott, all decked out in Star Wars pajama bottoms!" Ororo's laugh was nothing compared to the guffaws of the other campers.
"Oh God, I can just see it now!" Angel gasped. "From now on, whenever he wants me to get something high up for him, I'll just tell him to 'use the force!'"
"Ooo, or better yet, next time I need him to tutor me in math, I'll say, 'Help me Obi-Scott Kenobi, you're my only hope!'" Ali chuckled.
"He IS your only hope for graduation, that's for sure," Lorna smirked. "So what happened next, you guys?"
"Well of course, after seeing that, we followed them," Storm continued. "And I guess the guys were tired of running, since they led the way back to their cabin. By the time we reached it, Scott was already inside flipping out on them."
"But what did they actually DO, comrade?" Piotr asked in his thick accent.
Remy shook his head, laughing. "Iceman, he froze Cyke to de bed this morning!"
"And it was so bad…" Ororo had to pause for a second, she was giggling so much, "that Wolverine had to cut him out!"
The laughter was so loud that even the three chaperones looked up, and that only made it worse, since everyone could see that one of Scott's ears was still slightly blue.
"Poor Scott!" Lorna finally gasped out, still trying to keep her voice low. "He always gets the worst of the pranks."
"Well that's because testing Wolverine's patience isn't exactly good for your health," Betsy said sagely. "And besides, I'm sure Scott sentenced them to enough hard labor to balance out the universe again."
"Oh goddess, I almost forgot! You won't believe what they have to do…" Storm paused. "Scott told them they'd have to clean their cabin inside and out, top to bottom, using only Q-tips."
"And," Remy continued, eyes widening with pity. "Dey gotta hold up de bullseyes today for Cyclops's target practice. He say it be good trainin' for dodgin' Sentinel blasts."
Eight teenagers simultaneously stole a glance at their other four companions. They noticed that even the slightest jostle of the table caused the boys to jump anxiously. "Poor bastards," Ali murmured, and the rest of the table nodded.
"Well," Lorna said, shaking herself out of the moment. "I guess I better go and see Alex now. Doesn't sound like I'll be hanging out with him much today if I don't…"
"And I want to go swimming," Ali said. As she got up to leave, she turned to Kurt. "Hey man, it was cool hanging out just now. I like you a lot better when you don't hit on me all the time." She flashed him a smile and walked away. Nightcrawler looked like he was on air, and quickly left for his own cabin, followed by Colossus and Angel.
"Well 'Ro, when you talk t' Forge, give him my condolences," Remy said, standing up. "I'm headin' for de pool myself. See you later."
Ororo smiled as he walked away, sure that he was simply going in order to ogle at Alison in her bathing suit. Now it was only her and Betsy left finishing their breakfasts together, as Forge came over to join them. "Hey gorgeous," he greeted Ororo. "Hey Bets, what's going on?"
"Nothing at all, my friend." She turned back to her eggs and bacon, but remained in earshot of the couple.
"So listen," Forge continued, returning his attentions to his girlfriend. "I'm not sure we're going to see a lot of each other today."
Ororo sipped her water. "I know, I already heard." She looked at him sympathetically. "Q-tips, huh?"
Forge shook his head. "Only Scott would bring enough Q-tips on a camping trip to make cleaning a cabin with them a real possibility." He groaned. "I'm pretty sure we'll still be going strong with that till nightfall."
The smallest smile played across Storm's lips. "But just think, you'll have target practice to break up the monotony!"
Forge threw his hands in the air. "Don't even remind me! I swear, if I have any energy left tonight after dodging lasers and OCDing the room, I'm gonna offer Bobby to my ancestors as a sacrifice."
Ororo couldn't help it; she laughed out loud, and Forge began to chuckle too, in spite of himself. "Was the prank at least worth all this trouble?" She inquired.
Forge rested his back against the table and leaned Storm's body in close to his. "You would have loved it, babe." He smiled and kissed her forehead, and all was serene for a moment until a question popped into Forge's head. "Wait, how did you already hear about it? This all just happened a few hours ago."
"Oh, Remy and I followed you guys back to your cabin this morning after we were hanging out in the woods." It was a shame that Ororo was too engrossed in finishing her breakfast to catch her boyfriend's disbelieving look.
"Oh, uh, of course," he murmured. "I should have guessed as much." An awkward moment of silence followed as Psylocke watched his face tinge slightly red and his fists unintentionally clench, but Storm didn't even look up from her bowl or notice that something was wrong. "Well, I may as well get started on the task at hand. See you both later."
Had Ororo been paying better attention, she would have noticed his worried tone and registered the fact that he kissed her cheek goodbye all too quickly, but alas, she wasn't, and her reply of, "Bye, baby!" did nothing to allay any of Forge's misgivings.
"What is wrong with you?" Betsy asked, exasperated.
Ororo looked up in surprise. "What do you mean?"
Her friend rolled her eyes. "He was upset because you and Gambit were alone together."
Storm scoffed. "No he wasn't. He knows that Remy and I are merely friends; what does he have to be jealous about?" She got up to deposit her bowl and silverware in the dish area and Betsy followed her.
"Are the two of you just friends?" Psylocke asked pointedly.
Ororo turned to face her, annoyed. "Oh please! Why is everyone so sure that Gambit and I are romantically involved?"
"You know, that didn't exactly answer my question," Betsy stated matter-of-factually. "And after all, don't you think it's just a bit odd how much time you two spend together?"
"No. And anyway, you are with Lorna just as often as Remy and I are together."
"But her and I don't sneak off to take romantic morning walks together," she pointed out.
Ororo sighed in disgust. Just because he is a man and I am a woman, people are always going to assume that we are involved with each other. "Listen, it's not romantic. We just walk and take some time away from everyone else to kind of...get our thoughts together for the day."
"And you need him present to collect your own thoughts?" Psylocke eyed her skeptically. "Why not just go alone?"
Storm shook her head. "You don't understand. You have no idea what our lives were like, how we grew up. It's difficult to adjust to life at Xavier's after experiencing the backgrounds we've had."
Betsy had no reply; she merely waited for the other girl to continue.
"It's not that I need him there, it's that we have an understanding between ourselves that no one else shares." Psylocke's irritating silence spurred Storm to keep talking. "Listen, have you ever eaten nothing but rotting food?" Betsy shook her head. "Or have you ever slept on street corners, hoping against hope that you won't get kidnapped and raped? Of course not. The difference between us and everyone else here is that you all have families that love and care for you. We can barely remember what that feels like, but the few times that we can almost feel it is when we're together."
Privately, Betsy wondered if Ororo realized how hurt Forge would be if he knew that Remy, and not him, fulfilled the majority of her emotional needs, but didn't say a word on the topic. "I didn't know any of that, Ororo. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it." Ororo murmured, and began making her way towards the exit. Betsy followed, and the girls made it outside without noticing the watchful eyes of their adult chaperones.
Logan and Jean gave each other a knowing look. "Well, I guess that explains a lot o' unanswered questions," Wolverine rumbled.
"I already knew," Jean said quietly. "The Professor told me before we left for this trip about Ororo and Remy's past, so that I could be more prepared to help them."
"Well I'm just glad they're not sleepin' together." Logan replied. "One less thing t' have t' worry about."
Jean rolled her eyes. "Realistically, that should be the least of our concerns right now. You should have felt the humiliation and confusion coming off of Forge as he left. His doubts about his and Ororo's relationship are going to come to a head very soon, and who knows what will happen then?"
"Well thankfully, he's not in my cabin, so it's really ol' Cyke who'll have to worry about that one. Right, buddy?" Wolverine turned around and slapped his companion's shoulder in a friendly manner. Unfortunately, Scott had just eaten a large mouthful of Cream of Wheat, and began coughing as it went down the wrong pipe. "Aw, I told ya not to eat that lame stuff," Logan said as him and Jean began pounding Cyclops on the back.
"It's – fine – when your friends – don't try – to kill you as – you're eating it," Scott managed to choke out.
"Here, have some water." Jean filled a glass telepathically from the machine and brought it over to them. She tipped it up to Scott's lips and he drank gratefully. "Honey, you've had a hard day. Don't you think administering this ridiculous punishment this afternoon is going to be more torturous on you than on the kids?"
Cyclops turned incredulously towards his girlfriend. "Jean, today I have learned the actual meaning of blue balls. Until I regain feeling in them, there will be no mercy."
Wolverine tried hard not to laugh as Scott strode off with the purpose of a drill instructor. "You've got quite a man there."
"Please don't remind me," Jean replied, shaking her head.