* I hope you all can forgive my lack of progress on this story, due to constant moving and other uncertainties. I have finally completed the next chapter so PLEASE review, as it completely makes my day when you do. Thanks for continuing to read, and of course, I still own no Marvel characters :-)
Right Now Is All That Matters
Twilight slipped over the grounds, edging its way up the mansion, while stars seemed to dance through the warm night air, leaving imprints of light wherever they wandered. Almost everyone in the Xavier Institute had their windows thrown open while they readied themselves to spend an exciting night out on the town…well, all except one. One man lay in his darkened room with the curtains drawn, trying desperately not to think the thoughts that were racing through his mind. Usually when he was this stressed out, he would journey up to the attic to talk to his best friend, but of course, that would only work if she weren't currently the object of his consternation. Damn it, what was I thinking, agreeing t' go out t'night? I'm gonna get to whatever crappy bar we're goin' to and compare every single woman dere to de only one dat matters anyway: Ororo. I should jus' stay home instead and sleep off dis whole freakin' day. The minutes had crawled by since he'd gone up to his room, inching closer and closer to the time he had promised to meet Wolverine downstairs, but he just couldn't seem to muster up the will to get ready. Instead, thoughts of Ororo washed over him like a wave, overwhelming him, and he let himself drown in them…
"You know, we really should have codenames when we're out in the field," Ororo remarked one day. She had her head on Remy's chest as they lay in the middle of a clearing, blowing dandelion seeds at each other.
He laughed at her before answering. "What de heck made you t'ink of dat, petit? Here we are relaxin', and you still t'inkin' about workin'!"
Ororo took this opportunity to blow a particularly full bloom right into his face. "Being off-duty doesn't mean my brain has shut down, unlike yours." She smiled at him, her eyes crinkling with mirth.
"Ha, ha, very funny." He playfully pushed her off of him and then sat up, his arms resting on his knees. "Well, what kind o' codenames, I guess?"
"I don't know." Ororo still lay on her back, gazing into the sky. "They could have something to do with our powers, and then if anyone ever caught us unaware, they wouldn't know our real names." Her fingers trailed lazily through the grass as she replied.
Remy stuck out his chest. "Okay, den I got de perfect name fo' myself: Gargantua!"
Ororo slowly closed and reopened her eyes. "Dare I ask what that name is supposed to be referring to?"
Remy had an extremely lewd answer right on the tip of his tongue, but one glance at Ororo's stern demeanor undid his natural courage. "Never mind."
"Yes, I thought that's how you'd feel." She narrowed her eyes in his direction before a wry smile managed to worm its way through her steely gaze. "If you're going to be Gargantua, I guess that would make me Super Tits."
"Oh my God!" Remy guffawed, laughing so hard that he fell backwards. "I cannot believe you just said dat!"
"Hey, if the shoe fits." Her smirk was devilish. She loved to catch people off-guard, and Remy knew it.
"Super Tits," he chuckled to himself. "Unbelievable…" He got to his feet, and leaned down to pull Ororo up, too.
"What a classic team that would be, huh, my friend? Just think of the injustices we could battle…we could stop bad sex virtually everywhere we went!"
Remy's eyes widened in surprise. "And what would you know about bad sex, Miss Innocence?"
"You don't have to be experienced to know what good sex is meant to be like."
"Oh yeah?" They had been walking down the sun-speckled path that would lead them back to their borrowed country home, but all of a sudden, Ororo found herself pressed up against a tree by her companion, his whisper husky in her ear. "Then show me, petit."
Ororo hesitated for a second, unsure of his motives, but then noticed that Remy had strategically placed his hand on her back to shelter her from an uncomfortable knot in the tree. She met his dark eyes with her own bright ones, and reached up to lightly trail her fingers down the side of his face. He leaned into the palm of her hand and placed a soft kiss on the inside of her wrist, enjoying the fact that her pulse quickened as his lips lingered there. Ororo moved her body closer to his and licked up the side of his ear, sending shivers down his spine. He felt a fever coming over him as she continued her ministrations, especially when her fingers softly grazed the edge of his stomach under his shirt. Almost unable to control himself, he whimpered and motioned for her to pull it off, but she shook her head, "Not yet." Taking his hand, she led him backwards, into another clearing beyond the trees. She lay down and motioned for him to move between her legs. He quickly obliged, and began massaging her calf and thigh muscles. "Ooh, you know how much I like that," she replied throatily.
"But I never got dis kinda response before, beb." Her moans of approval were like music to his ears, and he made his way down to her sandals to slide them off. Next, he inched his way up her body, sensually licking first the inside of her exposed thighs and then the tender part of her neck, close to her jaw line. When he stopped, she reached for the hem of his shirt and tugged it off of him in one movement. He sat up, kneeling between her legs, watching as she played with the bottom of her shirt. It was so tantalizing, seeing merely an inch or so of her beautiful skin. Although she'd worn bras around him before, he had never seen her fully naked, and the thought that he might get to now was almost too much.
"Remy." Her mouth whispering his name like this was nothing short of a dream come true. "Remy, I want you to touch me until you're the only man I ever want." He slid his hands down onto her hips, pushing aside the fabric of her shorts, and began massaging the sensitive skin there. As her groans grew more persistent, he moved his mouth to each spot, making her positively writhe with pleasure. Grazing his nails along the inside of her thighs, he could feel how warm she was between her legs, and it took every inch of his will to turn his attention back to her stomach, inching her shirt up as he kissed her higher and higher.
His lips stopped, however, right at the meeting of her ribcage, where her bra began. "Ororo, you sure?" He whispered huskily. He was almost devastated when, in reply, she pushed him off of her and stood up. She took a few steps back from him, a wild look in her eyes, and he was sure that she would run, taking all of his happiness with her.
Instead, he found that she was speaking to him. "I need you to tell me the truth."
"De truth about what, chere?"
Rather than supplying an answer, she stood there silently, illuminated by the half-light shining through the forest.
Finally grasping her meaningful stare, he marveled, The truth. After all this time an' everyt'ing that we been through, she still don' know how I feel about her. He took a deep breath, willing his words to not be overcome by his passion. "Mon coeur, you are th' most beautiful woman ever t' grace this planet." He stepped closer to her, diminishing the space in between them. "You're de storm I can't help but chase, but know I'll never catch an' tame." He was near enough to her now that he could reach out and caress her face. "Instead, chéri, I wait for you t' wrap me up in all dat you are."
For a brief second, the couple was suspended in time and space as if nothing else existed besides them, but the spell broke as Ororo suddenly leaned into his body and shared a kiss with him that expressed all their suppressed passion from over the years. When they finally broke apart, Remy laughed. "May I assume, then, that you like de nickname I picked fo' you?"
"Storm?" She replied breathlessly.
"Oui. My Stormy…" He rolled the name off of his tongue, tasting its perfection.
A breeze tried to worm its way in between the lovers, but Ororo grabbed his hand, pulling him close to her. "The only thing I like better than the sound of my name, is hearing you say it," she smiled, before beginning to lead the way back to their home.
At first both were silent, marveling at the wonder of the day's events, but a question burned inside Remy's brain that he couldn't keep quiet for long. "What happens now, mon ame?" He stopped in the middle of the path, struggling with his next sentence, wondering if he should say it or not. "'Roro…will any o' this be real t'morrow?" He was remembering their kiss during the winter solstice, and how it hadn't seemed to change anything between them in the following months.
Ororo turned to face him. "It's as real as we make it, right now and for the rest of time." Her eyes found his and Remy felt peace wash over his soul.
"Den what's my codename, chere?"
The newly-christened Storm considered his question a moment before answering. Taking his hands in hers again she replied, "Gambit. Your name is Gambit…for one who is willing to sacrifice much to gain something even greater." She smiled at him and his heart pulsed faster than he thought possible.
"Greater, huh?" He grinned coyly. "Our relationship's already amazin', beb. How could it possibly get any better?"
"Please allow me to show you," Ororo winked as she led the way back up to their cottage.
Gambit pulled himself out of his reverie supremely frustrated with himself. Man, I had everyt'in' I wanted then. How did dat part of our relationship get lost in time? But he knew exactly what the answer was to that question. Not long after, Xavier had found them and offered them both a place in his school. They had discussed the possibility of going, but the truth was that while Remy was not ready to give up his life of freedom yet, Ororo desperately wanted to go and learn more about her powers. Therefore, instead of cajoling her into staying, he told her to follow her heart, and merely hoped that it would lead her to remain with him. When she left for the Xavier Institute, he beat himself up for months, wondering if he had just been honest and told her outright that he loved her, would she have stayed with him? But what had already happened couldn't be altered, and he spent three long years without her, struggling to make it from phone call to phone call.
What a fool I was, he thought. I shoulda jus' followed her right away, 'stead of being so selfish. After all the time it had taken him to give up on being the untouchable thief, had there really been anything to show for it? Those years remained some of the loneliest of his life, right on par with the way he'd felt before he met Ororo. And then when he'd finally returned to the place he had always fit, by her side, as part of her family, he'd felt awkward trying to start things up again, since they hadn't been together romantically in so long. I messed up th' best thing I ever had goin'. He shook his head and sighed to himself. "Well, it's too late now. We're both completely differen' people from who we were back den…no more midnight raids, an' no more first loves." Resigned to his fate, Gambit finally got out of bed and stumbled towards the shower, unaware of anything else but his own numbness. It was a shame, however, that his curtains weren't open; maybe if they were, he would have felt the change in the night air, and been one of the few to witness the goddess's return.
*AN: 'mon coeur' = my heart, 'mon ame' = my soul, 'oui' = yes...and P.S., if anyone knows how I can make larger spaces where I need to, please message me! I'm constantly frustrated by my basic HTML knowledge not being able to assist me on this site. Thanks in advance!