At some point during Hank's increasingly frequent visits to the mansion, it occurred to Logan that he seemed to be wooing Ororo.

Logan wasn't sure how that made him feel, and he didn't like what he thought he felt about it, so he didn't acknowledge it. After all, Hank was the one who took care of the injuries she'd sustained from that fight a few months back. And he was the one working with that sweet new tech that was bringing the Danger Room to life (when he finished, Logan foresaw some very interesting days ahead.) So he was at the mansion often, and being that sometimes Logan wasn't around for days at a time, he suspected he was there more often than he realized.

Really, it should not have been a surprise to him when, over breakfast, Ororo mentioned to him and Charles that Hank would be taking her downtown later that day.

"He taking you out on a date?" Logan looked at her in surprise. As far as he knew, Ororo herself wasn't even aware that Hank was a little sweet on her. (Something that amused him, kind of, though he really didn't want to think about why it did.)

Ororo looked at him in surprise right back.

"A date? No, of course not." She paused, frowning thoughtfully. "At least, I do not think he is. I simply mentioned that I needed to do some shopping. As he was heading back that way after dropping by here today, he offered to take me."

Logan eyed her suspiciously. "So he's just dropping you off there?"

Ororo turned her frown to Logan, wondering where this was all coming from. "... Well, I thought we might have some coffee before we parted ways. To thank him, for taking me."

"So you asked Specs on a date?"

"Logan..." She sighed. She didn't really like Logan's sometimes-nickname for Hank.

Charles looked from one to the other like he was following a tennis match. He smiled in private amusement as Ororo wondered aloud, exasperated, what he himself was wondering: why Logan seemed so invested in that particular non-detail.

(Charles had his own suspicions, of course, but he didn't want to preempt something that could unfold naturally.)

-x-

Ororo said it wasn't a date, but after Logan had put the idea in her mind, it was starting to feel like it. She was a little surprised to realize that even if it was, she did not really mind. She'd been honest when she said that he only offered her a ride into town. But somehow it had turned into an afternoon outing, with Ororo inviting him to coffee after she picked up some new additions to her wardrobe. (She'd realized a few weeks ago that if Charles expected her to help teach some young ones at the mansion, she had to stop dressing like a college student.)

She peered over her cup of coffee to consider her friend and companion for the day. Hank was handsome, she decided. He was tall, had a wonderful smile and intelligent eyes. He moved with surprising grace, considering his size, and was always treating her with care and consideration. Sometimes a little too much, she reflected, but it was probably leftover from how he first met her (that is, in the medlab, treating her for her broken ribs.) All in all, he was a good man. Very sweet and doting and sincere, and he had such a way with words...

But sometimes he had a tendency to fumble his words when speaking to her, she noticed. He was normally so eloquent (one of her favorite things about him was his unique appreciation for the English language), that the way he stumbled over sentences every now and then came across as rather charming.

He simply shrugged when she teased him gently about it, over their coffee, biscuits and a discussion on C.S. Lewis.

"Not even poetry would do you justice, my dear."

… But, he was a master of his words when it truly counted, she thought, smiling modestly as her cheeks traitorously heated up.

-x-

"So what, are you his girl now?" Logan asked her, later that night as he helped her bring her day's shopping back up to her room. "Am I gonna have to give him some kinda big brother talk next time he shows up?"

Ororo gave Logan an amused look. "... Big brother talk?" Logan was many things, but big brother was not one of them. At least, not to Ororo.

But Logan just waved his hand vaguely, scowling. "Y'know, so he knows not to mess with you."

"I think I can handle him myself if he ever thought to 'mess with me,' as you so eloquently put it."

Logan rolled his eyes. Well excuse me for not being as well-spoken as the Big Guy...

"... But no, I am not 'his girl,' Logan," she continued as she opened the door to her room, urging him inside. "Though it did come up over coffee earlier, it's not something either of us are really looking for right now."

"Yeah?" He once again gave her a look of surprise, setting her bags down by her bed as she headed over to her closet. Had he read Hank wrong after all?

"Yes," Ororo smiled patiently, opening the doors to her closet and beginning to sort through her clothes. The new ones went in, and old ones went out. Her sister's in-laws sometimes volunteered at the Salvation Army, and she could probably drop these off later this week. "... We thought about it, but really - neither of us have the time to dedicate to something like that right now. And that would hardly be fair to either of us."

Logan scowled, not even noticing that he was helping to fold up her clothes for her. "... So you were interested. Both of you."

So Hank had a little crush on her, and apparently it was mutual. Sort of? He didn't get it, the idea of it or why it unsettled him.

"Perhaps." Ororo shrugged. A date was a date, it was not (yet) an invitation to be in a serious relationship, as far as she was concerned. But she glanced at Logan through the corner of her eye, noting his scowl with a curious sort of smile. "... You seemed rather interested in us too, this morning. Is there something I should know, Wolverine...?" She teased, smiling gently.

"No." His scowl deepened as he shoved one of her new skirts onto a hanger a little too viciously. He checked himself as he hung it up, only to frown at the heavy leather jacket hanging on her closet door. He pointed it out to Ororo with a bit of an accusing expression.

"You were lookin' at Specs with an ex's old jacket still hangin' in your closet, 'Roro?"

Ororo looked up from where she was packing away some clothes, and smiled brightly at the sight of her old leather. He was probably mistaken, but she didn't feel like giving him the satisfaction of an answer... She shot him a sly smile over her shoulder.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

notes;
` The jacket did belong to an ex. (Her name was Yukio, but Logan doesn't find out until "Pillow Talk", which y'all should read.)
` I needed a nickname for Hank, from Logan. Since he isn't blue and furry here yet, I couldn't use Furball or Big Blue. Specs was my next best alternative. Vaguely offensive, kinda archaic (idk anyone who still uses that term) - I thought it fit.
` I'm kind of proud of my chapter name! (Logan has a lot of maturing to do, EQ-wise. hahaaaa.)