Ororo smiled as a groggy looking Cajun answered the door that afternoon in crumpled jeans and an unbuttoned shirt. Being sent back to 'school' hadn't changed his propensity for late nights and even later mornings.
"It is good to know that some things will never change." She greeted him wryly. Ignoring his disgruntled snort, she followed him into his room. The curtains were open, but it seemed more than likely they hadn't been shut than Remy had been up early enough to open them. He collapsed into a chair with comfortable accuracy and Ororo settled herself in front of him patiently, perching on the edge of a table. They sat in comfortable silence in this way for a time, but Storm's patience was infinitely longer than Remy's and she knew it.
"Y' call jus' t' get me outta bed on m' only day off?" He griped.
"Ah, the life of a student." She teased. "No, I had need to speak with you, and since I have only a few hours in my day to spare and I have been up since dawn, I came now."
"M' sorry, Stormy. Jus' din' sleep very well las' night is all."
"More nightmares?"
"Non… for once." Remy smiled softly. "Had a lot t' t'ink about. Lot of t'ings changed over th' las' few days."
"Are you still thinking about leaving the mansion?" Ororo asked tentatively.
"I… I'm not sure anymore." Remy's expression dropped briefly. "I haven't thought about it."
"If that was not what was on your mind, what was?" Ororo asked, startled. " I thought Logan had come to talk you out of the idea."
"You sent him? T' talk t' me th' ot'er day?" Remy couldn't help but grin. "Have I ever tol' you how much I love you?" He jumped up and pulled her into a hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"Well… I'm glad you are happy." She observed, a little bemused. "I had thought you might be annoyed with me, for interfering." Remy laughed out loud at that, a short joyful sound that made Ororo think of better times, when they had the run of their city and did things because they were fun. An old-minded child and a young-minded adult.
"'Ro." Remy reined in his laughter, grinning. "My 'Ro." He pulled her close again, and then let her take the chair, taking a step back to balance on the table's edge. "Do you know what Logan came to talk to me about?"
"He came to apologise for what he said when you were both drunk the other day." Ororo replied, confused again, but still smiling at Remy's obvious enthusiasm and good spirits. "He wanted to tell you something else… about Scott maybe?" She guessed. Remy seemed baffled.
"Scott… no, we din' talk about Scott." Ororo thought about the confusion of words and questions that Logan had exchanged with her before he had left, and the look in his eyes this morning. A little belatedly, she started putting things together. "'Ro… Logan an' I… we're…" The deep blush that Ororo was sure she had never seen before was almost as endearing as the stuttered attempt at an admission. She decided to save him before he hurt himself.
"I have never heard you speak this falteringly of a fledgling relationship before." Remy spluttered, wide eyed, for a moment before gathering himself.
"Not exac'ly my normal style, neh?" He replied with an inarticulate shrug, tension showing in every movement.
"And yet I don't think I've ever seen you so… animated over any of your previous involvements, Remy." Ororo's smile was threatening to take over her regal face as she watched emotions she had never before been privileged enough to witness scatter themselves over Remy's face. She wondered if Logan knew just how he was making the poor boy feel, or indeed if even Remy knew the full extent of it.
"I t'ink, maybe dis is important… f' me." He frowned, and Ororo could tell he was annoyed at his own inability to express himself. "He makes me strong, 'Ro. I din' t'ink I'd feel strong again… 'specially not now." There was a hesitation in those words, and Ororo knew what he meant by the vague comment - all his fears and vulnerabilities had been magnified by the darkness that had surrounded him in sight and mind since the events in Antarctica.
"I still do not know what I can possibly do to redeem myself regarding the events that passed in Antarctica."
"Tell me y' happy f' us, an' I'll f'give you." Remy replied with a sad smile.
"If only it were that simple. But I am happy for you, Remy, so happy. You deserve someone to make you strong."
--
"Come on, focus." The handsprings were simple in this environment, with soft mats beneath him, no obstacles, no targets and nothing to avoid or deflect. No kinetic distractions. He'd done the movements a hundred times before, on the edges of buildings where the drop would surely kill him, and in the face of his enemies to avoid attacks on his very life. Now all he needed to do was to cover the distance across the mat, and he was finding it impossible. "One more time, alright?" Logan was a perfect outline at this distance, his movement and body heat making him bright in Remy's vision. The distance was six meters, and with two paces for momentum, about a metre each, he would have to extend the spring to make the last four, but it wasn't beyond his abilities. The trick was getting it right. Before, his accuracy in all things had depended on an awareness of precisely where everything was around him. With one glance he would know a room inside out and could have hand-springed off every stable bit of furniture in the place with his eyes closed. But he needed that first look. Without it, the thought was impossible.
Four metres to do the move. If his pace was a metre long… he would need to cover twice that distance in the air before his hands went down, that was two metres, and then the same again for the landing. He tried to process that into an image of the distance in his mind. How many times had they done this in his training - it seemed so long ago - picture a room, with a jewel in its centre… He took a deep breath and gathered his focus on that image. In his mind there was nothing but a six-metre square with four marks on it: foot, foot, hand, foot. The paces were precise and measured, giving just enough power to the move that followed, not an inch more, not an inch less. His weight went down a little heavily on his right wrist - he'd been too focused on the distances to think about transferring his weight - and it shortened the following move, if only by an inch. He landed perfectly, light as a feather and with barely a sound.
"Shit." He hissed. "An inch! A fucking inch and I would have had it!" Logan snorted, and Remy glared at him - a little off centre, Logan noticed, but he was certainly improving. "What are y' laughin' at?" Logan said nothing, but his humour escalated to a snigger. "What? I know I missed it." Remy insisted, not willing to be fooled.
"Yeah, ya know you missed it." Logan repeated through a grin, waiting for Remy to catch on. Remy's smile finally caught and grew.
"Yeah."
"Now ya need ta be able ta do that everywhere." Remy's smile faltered for a moment. "But that's somethin' fer tomorrow's session, right? Time ta get back."
--
"Stormy came t' see me dis mornin'." Remy told Logan as he gathered his possessions into his satchel. Logan handed him a pile of clothes from the drawers and watched as he crumpled them into the bag. "Tol' her what was goin' on, 'tween us. T'ink she mighta known anyway, but I wanted t' tell her, y'know?"
"So what did she say?" Logan asked tentatively.
"T'ink she was happy f' us." Remy paused, as if thinking through their conversation again, and then nodded once and continued packing. Logan absorbed every little gesture and movement, learning the man in every moment that they spent together. Shaking himself out of his daze, he moved to gather the remaining clothes out of the drawers and handed them over, watching them follow the others into packed disarray. "Dere anyt'in' else?" Remy asked, pulling open drawers at random and running his hand along the bottom.
"Don't think so." With a sigh, Remy dropped onto his bed in a slouch. Taking a seat next to him, Logan wrapped an arm around Remy and let him slump onto his shoulder.
"Dis is nice." Remy murmured with a smile, shuffling to one side so that he wasn't so twisted.
"Yeah." Logan snorted to himself.
"What?" Remy demanded with a smile, happy to absorb Logan's good humour.
"Think how many people are gonna have heart attacks when we get back to the mansion." Remy's smile faltered a little.
"Are y' sure y'…"
"Don't say it." Logan interrupted. "Just don't."
" I was just…"
"I know what 'you were just', and I don't need it. I've made my decision, an' I'm sticking by it. I'm sticking by you, Remy." With a soft sigh, Remy slumped down until he was laying in Logan's lap, bringing his feet up to rest over his bag and off the end of the bed.
"It's gon'be hard movin' back in. Gotta get used t' th' house again, work out where ev'ryt'in' is wit'out makin' a fool of m'self." He shuddered.
"No one's gonna care what ya do, they're just gonna be glad yer home." Remy snorted.
"Maybe not when they realise I got no way t'earn my keep."
"No one's ever asked ya to earn yer keep."
"Dey never had to."
"And they still won't. Ya just have ta accept that yer one of us, and we ain't gonna turn you out fer somethin' that wouldn't of happened if it weren't fer us."
"Did y' not see Rogue? I did that t' her, made her int' that."
"Don't ever believe that." Logan's voice dropped, dead serious. "Xavier looked inta that kid's head when she first got here, and he ain't ever looked since. That man lives by the phrase: 'keep you friends close and your enemies closer'. Why else do you think he harbours some of the strongest mutants in the world when it's obvious that it's the weak ones that need protectin'? He's protectin' the rest of the world from us. I bet he coulda helped Rogue if he'd tried, but he never did. Never even tried. Because then she woulda been free ta go out inta the world. He wanted her close, wanted ta watch her." Remy's face grew pinched and he sat up, the motion putting a distance between them and taking him out of the reach of Logan's arm.
"I can't believe that."
"Why not?"
"Because den I'd have t' hate Rogue, and I don' t'ink I can do that." The thickness in Remy's voice infected Logan's throat too, and he moved to put his arm around him again.
"There's nothin' wrong with hatin' someone, even if… ya still love her." Remy pressed a hand to his mouth, stifling a sob. "Ya can't keep this bottled up forever, Rems, ya have to let it out." With a series of deep breaths, Remy brought himself back under control, falling back into Logan's arm as though he had exhausted himself.
"Why'd he let me fall so hard… if he knew…?"
"I don't think there was anythin' he coulda done about it, Rems. Maybe he thought you might of been able ta save her."