Monday morning Forge woke up bright and early for his 8 a.m. exam. Even though he was the X-Mansion's resident tech support staff as a technopath mutant, he also taught computer sciences. That included the basics of business, computer programming, and even the simplest of classes: how to use Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. His first exam of the day – the first exam of the day – was for the latter class. Then his business exam was at 3 in the afternoon, finishing the day with the computer programming exam at 5 in the evening. After that, Forge was a free man for the rest of the winter break – for a full month. He didn't even have to worry about grading either since all of his exams were graded online automatically. Forge doubted anyone could hack into the system to change their graded either.
Excited for the beginning of the end of the semester, Forge got ready with a spring in his step. He had always been a morning person, but since he had started dating Storm, he had preferred to spend his mornings sleeping in next to her. This morning, he decided to let her sleep since she didn't have to be anywhere until noon. Even after he had showered and dressed, he was happy to see that Storm was still resting peacefully, her white hair flung across her face and gently fluttering from her breath. That image stayed with him even after he left.
Forge had a bowl of cereal for breakfast before he made his way to the computer lab for his first exam. He knew that today, besides his own exams, there was all of Logan's history exams and Darcy's exams, too. Unlike him, though, they are sure to be up to their armpits in grading for the rest of the week since Logan's exam consisted of essays and both him and Darcy asked for final projects. It felt good to have everything digitized.
His first exam went well and he got to leave early because – as expected – everyone finished in about half an hour. Free to do as he liked until he had to come back here for his second exam of the day, Forge headed to his office to monitor how the X-Mansion's internet was doing. Since it was the holiday season, many of the students had more off time to screw around on the internet and more importantly buy Christmas presents online. Forge made sure that in browsing the internet none of the students picked up any unfriendly things, be they bad purchases or viruses.
As he browsed, Forge's heart was only halfway into it. He was excited for his break and for Christmas – he had already gotten all of his presents in advance, he was just waiting on a safe time to wrap them. The only thing was that Forge kept thinking back to when he caught Storm singing "Jingle Bells" to her younger students. It made him reflect on their relationship.
Unlike Jean and Scott, Forge and Storm did not attend the Institute and graduate together. In fact, Forge came to the Xavier's Institute when Storm was already a teacher and famous for being an X-Men. Forge, having fought in Vietnam at only 18 years old, did not care to be an active X-Men, instead choosing to assist Hank in repairing the Black Bird and helping to upgrade technology. Even though Forge was also older than Storm, closer to Hank's age even, that didn't stop him from becoming close to her. It seemed that the closer Jean and Scott grew to each other, the more Forge and Storm bonded. When Jean and Scott got married, it only seemed to solidify to Forge that he was attracted to her and not getting any younger. Still it took him about a year to finally officially get together with her – and by then Jean was pregnant with Hope.
By now Forge and Storm have been seriously dating for about three years or so. When he thought about it, it wasn't that long compared to the other serious relationships here at the X-Mansion, like the ones between Peter and Kitty and Bobby and Rogue. At the same time, though, both he and Storm were older than them and had a more stable relationship. After all, there was the rift where Bobby broke up with Rogue to date Kitty – but that lasted for less than three months. Perhaps it was time for Forge to take the next step with his relationship with Storm.
Marriage. They were already living together here at the X-Mansion. It was like they were already married anyway. Besides, watching the Summers, marriage didn't look that interesting. Storm didn't seem like the marrying type anyway. Whenever they attended marriages, like Scott's and Jean's or Sue's and Reed's, Storm would always whisper to him about how ridiculous the weddings were. Because of their questionable celebrity status as superheroes, they were a level of expectation required for their weddings. Too much pomp and circumstance for anyone's taste. Forge was never one for the spotlight anyway.
Even if he proposed, he wasn't sure she would say yes. He was an older man, but neither one of them were traditional. Besides, Storm was a goddess. She could have whoever she wanted. Why would she choose to be tied down to a guy like him?
The more he thought about being married to Storm, though, the more he liked the idea of it. To Forge, if they were to be married, that would mean that there would be children. Living in a school surrounded by mutants, Forge didn't think children were necessary. There were plenty of students here longing for parental figures anyway. After seeing her with class of elementary school aged kids, though, Forge felt his heart soften towards the thought of a child that was purely his and Storm's. Simultaneously, he knew that to be a selfish thought. Despite Hope being a lovely child, neither he nor Storm were inspired to have children after watching Jean and Scott raise her so far. Jean's pregnancy was a hell Forge did not want to put Storm through.
Still, if they were to get married and decide to have children, they could always adopt. Of course, they would have to adopt a mutant child. The Professor would be able to find one in an orphanage or on the streets, more likely, using Cerebro. Their child would never be in want of anything, and there will always be plenty of friends. Forge would be a stay-at-home dad, naturally. Storm wouldn't want to give up her position in the field as a X-Men, and Forge would never ask her to do that anyway.
Of course, he was getting ahead of himself. He wasn't even sure if he was even going to ask Storm to marry him. Forge didn't have a ring, and they had never even seriously discussed it anyway. Absentmindedly, he wondered if he should ask one of the other X-Men for advice on the matter. His stomach growled, reminding him of lunch, and Forge decided to put all of that out of mind while he went to go get food. His thoughts were inspired by the sentimentality of Christmas, anyway, now that he thought about it. That doesn't mean these were bad ideas, though.
At lunch, he sat with Storm in the dining room, eating his spaghetti in silence. Darcy had been cooking a lot of carbs recently, but she said it was because these were easy recipes and comfort food for the students during the exam week. Forge didn't speak because Storm was already in the middle of talking to Logan and Darcy. The former was already in an extremely aggravated mood while the latter appeared to be gently chastising him.
"You don't get it, Darcy, Negasonic was deeply disrespectful to me yesterday," Logan argued with her belligerently.
Unbothered, Darcy calmly reached up and pulled a piece of spaghetti noodle off of his lip. "Be that as it may, it is unsurprising behavior from Negasonic. However, since she is training to become an X-Men, you should have voiced your concerns to Peter and passed off the punishment responsibilities on him."
Here, Storm lifted her point. "She's right, you know," Storm validated Darcy and continued, "isn't she always?"
"Yes," Logan agreed, but still looked unhappy about it.
Storm only rolled her eyes. Leaning forward in her chair, she explained to him, "Listen Logan, I know you aren't the jolliest of fellas around the holidays, but you would think you could show a little sympathy to Negasonic since she seems to be just as big of a Grinch as you."
Sullen and sulky, Logan just shoved more spaghetti in his mouth. Darcy just sat back in her chair, crossing her leg. "Doesn't help that you also interrupted Negasonic and Jubilee's tender moment," Darcy murmured, her voice echoing in her cup as she took a sip of her drink.
Immediately Forge choked on his garlic bread, and Storm had to smack him on the back a couple of times before she smacked Logan on the arm. "I can't believe you, Logan. Are you blind?" Storm hissed at him.
"On top of that," Darcy added, her nose still buried in her cup, "Jubilee had just asked Negasonic to the dance."
Storm pressed Darcy for details, not bothering to verify the information. Darcy was a telepath after all. "I'm hoping Negasonic accepted?"
"It doesn't matter that Negasonic accepted," Darcy continued. She set down her cup firmly and shot Logan a look. "My dearly beloved here decided to give Negasonic a detention of scrubbing toilets the night of the dance."
"You did not," Storm gasped. Forge was just as aghast.
"The dance slipped my mind," Logan muttered, pushing his noodles through the sauce like a child playing with his food when he knew he was in trouble.
"Naturally, Jubilee is devastated because why else would she spend her evening crying to me when she had exams to study for." Darcy waved her hand, rolling her wrist until it popped. She splayed out her fingers, admiring her claws as she continued to dish out the gossip, "Of course, Logan refuses to take it back either."
"Damn it, Logan." Needless to say, Storm was pissed. Forge could sympathize. He had both Negasonic and Jubilee in one of his classes and the tension between the two was so thick and palpable that Forge wished they were dating if only to have a viable reason to separate the two from sitting next to each other in his class.
"What else am I going to do?" Logan asked, properly shamed by both Storm and Darcy and Forge's dirty looks.
Gently, Darcy put her hand on his, "Don't worry, I'll handle it and spare you from it."
"You do that," Storm encouraged while rising to her feet. "Meanwhile, lunch is over. I have to return to my children." Glancing down at Forge, Storm said in a more tender voice, "I'll see you later, Forge."
Briefly, Forge thought about the way it made him feel to hear Storm refer to her students as her own children. Just like the first time they kissed, there were butterflies. "Goodbye, 'Ro," Forge said in a daze. He floated on a cloud for the rest of the day after that, still lingering on that butterfly session and weighing his choices.
By the time his exams were over, Forge was quite literally singing a different tune. "t's the most wonderful time of the year," he sung happily as he walked out of the computer lab, locking the door behind him. "With the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you be of good cheer! It's the most wonderful time of the year!" With a skip in his step, he whistled the rest of the song as he went to dinner to meet up with Storm. Forge couldn't wait to spend all the time he could with her over the holidays.
At dinner, they chatted, making plans to make the most of their long winter break. Between bites of the delicious food, Forge thought again on whether he should ask Storm to marry him. After all, despite thinking about being a father and her being a mother, Forge doubted he could so easily ask her to adopt with him without proposing first. Besides, he didn't want to miss out on the honeymoon anyway. The more time he spent with Storm, though, where they were constantly interrupted by the others for various reasons, some as professional X-Men and some as co-workers at the Institute and quite a few just because she is everyone's friend, the more Forge doubted that he'd want to share Storm with anyone. Like lunch today, he barely had the time to speak with her. They already had a large family as it is. Did he really need to add a child into the mix?
Eventually, as Forge followed Storm back to their bedroom, Forge concluded that he should just put his decision on hold again. This was something that he was going to need more time thinking about.