Chapter 1: In Which Gambit and John Get Cold Feet

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the X-Men or Bayville or the Institue pitiful sigh

7 am.

Monday morning.

Winter Break.

Nuff said!

---

"Gambit?!-C'mon, mate, get up!" yelled Py.

"Non!" said Remy as he held his pillow over his head, "It be too damn early!"

"Is Gambit not awake yet?" asked Colossus as he walked into Remy's room.

"Oh, he's awake, Petey, he just doesn't want to get up!" said a rather fired up Py (but then again when is that not normal?).

"We must have him dressed before Magneto sends Sabertooth to get him!" said Piotr urgently.

"Too late," came a growl from the doorway.

"Merde!" thought Remy.

---

Meanwhile at the same time over at the Institute-

"Damn it, Rogue!" swore Kitty, "Like Mr. Logan's gonna be here any minute and you're like still in bed!"

"Relax, Kitty," said Rogue pulling her pillow around her head, "Ah've got 10-15 minutes at the least."

"How do you figure?" asked Kitty who was now convinced her roommate had received a severe blow to the head.

"Ah disabled the showerhead in his bathroom, replaced his shavin' cream with whipped cream and took the blade out of his razor. If that doesn't slow him down Ah don't know what will."

BAM!-The door flew open.

"Stripes, get yer ass outta bed!" shouted Logan.

"Shit!" Rogue thought to herself.

---

Approx. 20 minutes later both teams met in a wooded area on top of a frozen pond. It seemed as good a place as any. There was just one problem

"Is there a problem, Gambit?" Magneto glared at his charge.

You see Gambit had never been too keen on water (How Much Embarrassment Can 2 Mutants take? ref) and so he opted to watch from atop a hill overlooking the pond.

"Non, you hommies go 'head. Remy's gonna stay wid de car." Gambit motioned over his shoulder.

"We didn't take a car-Remy," growled Sabertooth.

"Oh right, Remy knew dat, well den-"

"Uh, mate?" St. John interrupted.

"Oui?"

"Think ya could get down 'ere sometime before me nuts freeze and crack off?!"

"Uh-" Remy paused.

"Yes, Gambit, won't you join us before nightfall?" Magneto sarcastically inquired.

Gambit sighed. This was your classical, run of the mill "no win" situation. He could see it a mile away, but decided to prolong the inevitable as long as possible.

Reluctantly, Remy made his way down the snow covered hill, which crunched loudly with every step he took as his boots sank into the snow. He looked at the ground and trudged down the hill with his hands in his trench coat pockets. The tails of the coat dragged behind him.

He froze when he reached the edge of the pond and looked up pleadingly at both the Acolytes and the X-Men.

"Damn it, Gambit, stop actin' liahke a toddler and get out heah so Ah can kick yer ass an' go back ta be already!" yelled Rogue.

"Uh, Cher, Remy don' tink dis such a good idea," insisted Gambit.

"I don't care if 'Remy tink dis part II o' Henry de IV'," growled Wolverine, "get on the ice, Gumbo."

Gambit took one step out onto the ice and-

slip!

"Whoa!"

Skiiiiiiid!

You guessed it. Gambit took one step out onto the ice, slipped, fell and skidded across on his ass.

-I agree, an amusing image, up until the aftermath-

"Slow down, Mate!"

"Comrade, what are you doing?!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Gambit took both the Colossus and St. John out.

The trio lay on the ice for a few seconds, then John started to panic-

"Ahhhh, COLD!" St. John released a huge fiery blast onto the surface of the ice.

crack-crack-crack-crack

KRAK!

SPLASH!

Gambit, St. John and Colossus crashed through the ice and disappeared into the frigid waters below.