Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men, Marvel and no doubt several other companies do. I'm just borrowing them for a bit of fun.

Summary: A little start of summer break scene for Kurt and Ororo.

Authors note: I started this awhile back, as can be seen by the fact that it's a summer holiday scene (yup I write slow).

Held Together With String

By Colleen

Kurt and Ororo waved at the departing bus as it took the last of the students from the grounds of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Those kids that hadn't headed home for the summer break were embarking on a camping trip with Logan and Scott. The two men would be acting as chaperones while Bobby and Rogue, the youngest of the X-men, tagged along to help.

Ororo wasn't sure who to feel more sorry for. The kids were going to get quite a shock when they discovered what Wolverine's idea of camping was. Of course, both him and

Scott were going to discovered just how difficult it was to handle a dozen children who were not only hyped up to be out of school, but were also blessed with an assortment of superpowers.

Actually, she thought with a little huff of laughter, the ones she should really feel sorry for were Bobby and Rogue. Not only would they have to help with the kids, they'd probably also have to keep Logan and Scott from killing each other.

A slight twinge of guilt took a poke at her conscience for not going with them, however the chance for a week of peace was too tempting to pass up for the dubious joys of tents and wood smoke.

Besides someone needed to stay and keep an eye on the mansion, especially since the Professor was planning to take a few days off to go fishing. Once he was gone the Institute would be empty except for her and Kurt.

The woman, also know as Storm, felt her lips quirk upwards as she thought of the blue skinned teleporter by her side. In the time since Alkali Lake and Jean's death he had become something special to her. His smile, which was somehow shy and devilish at the same time, never failed to enchant her and despite his being new to the school and surrounded with people he'd only recently met, he had gladly jumped in to help wherever he could.

Ororo couldn't even begin to count the times Kurt had appeared at her door just when she thought she would be crushed under the mountain of her guilt and sadness. His gentle presence alone had been enough to see her through many a night.

Of course, he'd never admitted to any purpose other than helping her with the added workload brought on by Jean's death and Scott's mourning. And she had to admit that without his timely assistance she would probably still be buried beneath last month's history essays.

So why, a little voice asked her, do you keep trying to distance yourself from him?

Ororo dismissed the thought, mentally crushing it under an imaginary boot heel. She was simply keeping her relationship with Kurt professional, as they would be working together both as X-men and teachers.

Next term things would hopefully return to normal, or at least as normal as a school of mutants could be. Scott would be teaching full time again and Logan and Kurt would be filling classes in where ever they were needed as well as splitting duties as physical fitness and language instructors. Kurt, to no ones surprise, would be teaching German and Latin. Logan, however, had shocked everyone by offering to teach a class for beginner's Japanese.

Ororo felt the little quirk of her lips expand into a full out grin at the thought of Logan as a teacher. She'd really have to try and peek in on his first class and see how many of the students survived it. Of course, after the current camping trip, most of them would probably have a good idea of just what they were in for.

********

Sometimes Kurt couldn't believe that he had dared and still did continue to flirt with the woman at his side. Oh, it wasn't that he hadn't ever flirted with anyone before. In fact behind the scenes of the Munich Circus some of the others had teased that he should have performed under the name Don Juan or Casanova rather than "The Incredible Nightcrawler."

The teasing had always been good-natured, so he had never really minded even though the memory of it now caused an ache in his heart whenever he looked at Ororo.

Given his appearance, that of a blue demon with pointed ears, fangs, misshapen three fingered hands and even stranger feet the last thing he would ever be mistaken for would be a romantic wooer of women. Still, despite his looks he could no more have stopped showing his appreciation of the fairer sex than he could have stopped living, laughing or praying.

And in Ororo there was much to appreciate.

Even now, after months of residing in the same home with her he found that just looking at her not only took his breath away, but seemed to make the rest of the world stop breathing with him. The way her hair, white as pure snow, caressed the darker chocolate tones of her face made him yearn to put pen to paper in an attempt to write a verse that would be worthy of her. Her eyes, so blue that they rivalled the sky were a window into a soul as beautiful and intense as her outer appearance.

You could get lost in those eyes, which was why he never permitted himself to look into them for very long, in case he should make her uncomfortable.

He looked at her now and noticed the smile that lit up her face.

"Penny for your thoughts Fraulein."

"Huh, oh, I was just thinking about Logan and next semester," she said, with a smirk.

"Ah."

In his mind Kurt sighed. Logan was a handsome man and of course Ororo would notice him. Actually, he had noticed that most of the females that were old enough to notice boys had noticed Logan. If it hadn't been for the other mutant's surly nature he probably would have been inundated with giggling girls and even with his 'delightful personality' many of them were still quite happy to watch him from afar.

Just as he was fated to watch her.

********

As soon as the bus was out of sight Ororo started to plan out her week. While she didn't want to be too rigid about how she spent her time off she also didn't want to waste what little there was of it. Thoughts of restaurants and shopping, the latest summer movies and picnics on the lake in one of the schools small sailboats flashed through her head. All of it sounded wonderful, she thought, as she clasped her hands together and raised her arms above her head, stretching lightly. She winced as a semester's worth of sore muscles objected to the move and she decided that maybe starting off with a leisurely bath and a good book was what really appealed to her now.

A hiss of a breath taken in surprise caused her to look back to see Kurt, who had the stunned and pained look of someone who had just run into an invisible wall etched upon his face. Then it shifted to the look most of the kids got when they did something embarrassing and were trying desperately to pretend that they hadn't.

"Are you all right?" She asked him.

"Eh, oh, ja I was just thinking," as usual he looked up into her eyes for a moment before casting them back to the ground shyly.

"I'll give you a nickel for your thoughts," she told him with mock playfulness, hoping to draw him out a little. Somewhere between the surprise and the 'I Meant That To Happen' look he now wore his face had held a moment of sadness that had clawed at her heart.

"Ah, I am afraid that my price would have to be at least a dollar," he told her, his voice just as playful sounding as hers.

"Expensive thoughts."

"Ja." His voice was still light hearted but something shadowlike flitted across his eyes so quickly that Ororo wasn't sure that she had really seen it. Deciding that she was treading far too closely to something that was private she opted to change the subject slightly and asked him what he was planning to do with his time off.

"I think I'll start by flying a kite," Kurt told her before disappearing in a blue cloud of smoke and brimstone.

"What?" Came her belated question.

BAMF

Kurt rematerialized and Ororo backed away from his entrance with a little cough and an attempt to discretely wave away the smoke that appeared with him.

"Would you care to join me?" Kurt bowed and held out one of the two kites that he was now holding in his hands.

Ororo reached out with a stunned expression on her face as she took the kite from him. Shaped as a butterfly the fabric of its' main body was stretched out over a lattice of bamboo with painted foam used to shape the head and smaller pieces such as antenna and feet. The wings of the piece unfurled gracefully from the centre and were hand painted in purple and blue with white dots used as a contrast to the darker colours.

Ororo looked at the other kite that Kurt still held and saw that it was done in the same style, but was of a yellow and green dragon rather than a butterfly. It also differed in that it had a tail about as long as Kurt was tall.

"They're beautiful, where ever did you get them?"

"I found them in one of the storage rooms," he told her with a shrug and a small smile. I asked the Professor about them and he said it would be all right to use them.

Ororo smiled. The storage rooms at the institute were legendary and many of the children believed that they held more secrets than Area 51 and the Great Pyramids of Egypt put together. The recent need to raid that space for supplies and furniture to replace what had been ruined during Stryker's attack hadn't dispelled the notion either. More than one person had found themselves lost for hours at a time amid the odds and ends that filled the otherwise unused areas of the mansion. Even Storm herself had become bewildered in one room that was a maze of shelves that seemed to hold at least two of everything anyone could ever need.

"So," Kurt said, stretching the word out until he had her attention once again. "Shall we go fly some kites?"

********

There were plenty of good, open, kite-flying spaces available on the grounds of the institute and Kurt led the way with Ororo slowly following. After picking out a spot Kurt double checked the lines on both kites and then helped Storm get hers up in the air before sending his own up. Surprisingly, Ororo looked uncomfortable holding on to her kite. Kurt frowned a little and worried that his earlier actions were what were bothering her.

Kurt shook his head and turned back to watch his own kite, realizing that he had been staring at her again. If that was what was making her uneasy then he really didn't want to be caught doing it a second time today. It was always hard to hide the fact that even the simplest movements of her body were at times enough to catch at his mind and play havoc with his heart and soul. However, he never wanted to make her...

KURT!

Ororo's cry of panic brought his attention from his kite to hers, which was making a suicide plunge for the ground. He grabbed a length of her string and yanked back on it, pulling the butterfly out of its' dive a few feet above the ground. He released his hold and it quickly climbed the sky to once again take its' place beside its' mate.

Storm looked like she was about to hyperventilate.

"I'm surprised, I thought you would be a natural kite flyer." He grinned as she shot him a look that would have made even Magneto take a step back.

"I've never flown a kite before," she said, a little testily.

"Mmmm," he nodded, now understanding the reason for all of her nervousness. "Still, flying a kite cannot be much different then when you use the wind to keep yourself aloft. It is just that then you are the kite and you have no need for string."

"You're right," she said with a slight grimace, "I got so involved with the cloth and string that I forgot to pay attention to what really makes the kite fly." She hesitated for a moment. "You won't consider this cheating, will you?"

"Nein liebling, this should be for fun and one thing I know from the students is that activities with powers are the most fun of all."

Ororo smirked a little at his comment and Kurt blushed lightly as he realized just how his previous statement could be taken. With a slight cough he motioned towards the kites and felt both relief and a strange sense of disappointment when Storm chose to turn her attention to the sky once again.

With her concentration fully on the kite Kurt allowed himself to watch her as her eyes lost their pupils and turned white, signalling the use of her powers. He shivered slightly as his body reacted to the changes in air pressure that he always noticed when Ororo used her ability. He followed her deceptively blank stare to her kite and watched as the butterfly tried out a few experimental swoops and dives as a prelude to an intricate dance though the air that would have turned an expert flyer green with envy. Kurt smiled at the kite's antics for a moment then looked back at Ororo. He had but a second to wonder at the almost evil smile that spread across her face before he felt his line go slack and he looked up in time to see his kite stall as it hit a patch of dead air and start to tumble.

He quickly started to reel in the line in an attempt to tighten the string and pull the dragon out of its' dive. When that wasn't enough he began to back pedal, hoping that the added distance would help to pull the string taunt.

It wasn't going to work.

Somehow in its' short drop the kite had managed to pick up a staggering amount of speed and Kurt, still pulling the line in as fast as he could, winced as he anticipated the very expensive sound of broken wood and torn fabric. It wasn't until the line snapped tight and the dragon skimmed across the ground before taking to the air once again, that he realized that the wind whistling in his ears wasn't his own breathing.

Panting slightly he looked over at Storm, her eyes still white from controlling the winds and her mouth quirking as she tried her best not to smirk openly. "I'm surprised you didn't just teleport it out of danger," she told him.

"Well I..." Kurt mock glared at Ororo who appeared about to hurt herself if she didn't get to laugh soon.

"I forgot." Ororo sputtered but didn't completely lose her composure. In the face of her mirth Kurt valiantly attempted to keep his glower but found he was quickly losing out to the amusement that lanced sharply through every part of her body.

"I don't suppose that you would know anything about why the air around my kite went dead when yours was right beside it and stayed up?" Kurt asked, his cheeks hurting as he tried not to give into the smile that threatened to destroy the last of his pretended menace.

"Ah well, you know," Ororo said, choking the words our around a throat clogged with laughter, "weather can be so unpredictable."

"Ja, especially around here, wouldn't you say?"

Storm, instead of sputtering further, replied with a smile that was equal parts mystery and merriment. Before she could follow up with the words to go with it she felt a tug on her string. She looked up to find her butterfly and Kurt's dragon happily twisting their lines together.

"Uh, Kurt...?"

Nightcrawler looked up just as the kites ran out of space and smacked into one other. Teleporting quickly he grabbed the bound kites and with another bamf was safely back on the ground with the two brightly coloured toys before he or they had even started to fall.

He repressed a groan at the sight of the tangled strings and suspected that it would be easier to cut and retie the lines then to try and sort out the knotted mess before him.

"Ach, it looks like that will be it for kite flying today, my lady." Kurt bestowed a lavish bow in Storm's direction and offered to escort her back to the house.

********

"May I escort you back inside?" Kurt asked with a flourish of his hand and a bow of such grace that Storm was momentarily stunned by the flow of his body.

With a start she came back to herself.

"I would be honoured, dear sir," Ororo replied, fighting the urge to curtsy, as she was certain that she would come off as a disjointed klutz compared with him.

She took the arm he proffered and as they walked back she admired the easy movement of his body. He should have made her feel clumsy. Instead he seemed to lend her some of his own agility, causing her to feel as if she were gliding along at his side instead of walking.

She leaned into him a little, enjoying their closeness. Kurt's steps faltered for a moment, then he looked into her eyes and gave her that smile. The one that was somehow bashful and mischievous at the same time. The one that always seemed to promise something if she would just take the chance and ask for it.

This time Ororo was the one who dropped her eyes shyly to the ground and kept them there until they reached the doors of the institute.

Once inside Kurt gave her another extravagant bow and kissed her hand before leaving to deal with fixing and storing the kites.

Gingerly she touched the spot were Kurt's lips had caressed the skin of her hand. Without thinking about it she pressed those same fingers against her lips as she continued to stand in the hallway, lost in thought.

********

Cutting and fixing the kite string was the work of a minute. Kurt, also lost in thought, took a few more just to remember. To remember each smile that Ororo had worn today. To remember the feel of her body pressing against his as they had walked back. To remember each bow to his Lady and the working up of his nerve to kiss her hand. Lastly, to remember the sensation of that kiss as his lips pressed against the softness of her skin.

Then he locked each memory away in his heart, to keep them safe.

With a shake of his head and a wry smile at himself he 'ported the repaired kites back to their storage area and once they were secure he returned to the main hall the same way.

"Kurt...?"

"Ja?" Kurt answered, surprised to see Ororo still standing in almost the exact same spot he had left her in while he went to deal with the kites. She looked at her feet for a moment, then with a smile very similar to the one he had just been wearing she looked up into his eyes.

And the world stopped breathing.

Kurt had gotten very good at reading her eyes. He had seen them filled with caring and sadness, pain and humour, faith and companionship. This wasn't any of those.

And he wasn't quite sure what it was.

********

She knew she was fidgeting, and she never fidgeted. She looked at her hands, her feet, anything but Kurt.

She suddenly understood some of Kurt's shyness and had to smile at the irony of being overcome by it herself. Then she gave herself a mental kick in the butt and looked him in the eye.

Why did the world seem to run out of oxygen when she did?

She managed to breathe in anyway and she must have gotten the usual supply because her voice came out strong and clear.

"Kurt," she said, beginning again, "I was wondering what you were planning to do with the rest of your holiday."

"I am not sure, I hadn't thought much past kites and seeing the kids off today," he answered, looking a little confused.

"Well you see, I was wondering...." Ororo's voice bled off and she felt her heart grab at her throat, as if to save her from the embarrassment that the rest of the sentence could cause. Was she reading too much into that look? Did she really want to do anything about it if she was right?

"Storm?"

She looked into his eyes again and for the first time realized that she had somehow become tangled up in him. She felt like the two kites that they had flown today, hopelessly knotted together. Tied like that neither of them would be able to fly. If she didn't cut the strings away right now she would be....

"Ororo?"

Kurt's right hand reached out and cupped her face, his thumb rubbing across her cheek. Ororo closed her eyes as a shiver ran through her body from the simple touch. She sucked in a fresh breath and breathed out her panic before placing her hand gently over his.

She was so stupid.

People weren't kites and cutting the strings that held them together wouldn't free them, it would only get them lost.

She was, she realized, afraid. She had, in fact, been afraid every time she'd looked into Kurt's eyes. The fear wasn't of Kurt, never that, but she was afraid of letting him, or anyone, for that matter, get close to her again.

Yes, she was so very, very stupid.

While she truly believed that anger could help her survive she knew that fear would only destroy her. Her and any chance that she and Kurt might have, be it as friends, or something more.

"Kurt," she said, opening her eyes to look into his, without any of the fear that she now realized had dogged her since Jean's death. "I was wondering if you would be interested in spending some of your holiday with me?"

His confused look held for another minute and he appeared to search her eyes for understanding. Ororo, feeling a definite lack of oxygen once again, beat off her returning desire to fidget while she waited for him to respond.

It took only a moment for him to move from confused to down right giddy. His face cracked into a smile so wide it would have turned a Cheshire cat plaid with envy.

"My Lady, I would be honoured to spend the time with you," he said, as he offered his arm to her.

Ororo smiled back at him and, linking her arm with his, she allowed him to escort her further into the house. This, whatever it was, she realized, was a chancy flight. There might not even be enough wind to pull them aloft.

Of course, she was always capable of making her own.

"So," she asked him, "how do you feel about sailing?"

End