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On the fourth Thursday of November, Bobby woke up excited for two reasons. For one, it was Thanksgiving, which meant wonderful food like turkey and ham and sweet potato casserole with marshmallows and turnip greens and rolls and mashed potatoes and gravy and green bean casserole and cranberry sauce and devilled eggs. Food at Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters was always good for a variety of reasons. When there were missions, they ordered pizza or went for fast-food or had Chinese takeout; they always got good deals for being super heroes, too. Otherwise they had Darcy’s cooking, which was always good. However, nearly everyone cooked a dish on Thanksgiving Day, and Bobby was a sucker for Rogue’s southern recipes.His favorite part of the grand feast had to be the dessert course, though, because that means he could pick from a vast variety of pies. Every year there was a competition to see whose pie was the best. Bobby, due to his lack of cooking skills, was one of the judges along with the Professor (because he was Headmaster) and Hank (who couldn’t cook without getting hair in his pies). Bobby did cook for the main meal in a way – there was always plenty of ice in everyone’s drinks. But getting to taste every pie – over twenty pies actually – had to be the best job in the world. This year Rogue was cooking a strawberry-rhubarb pie as a way to bribe him, because she knew it was his favorite; however, Darcy was cooking a blueberry pie, and he absolutely loved when she made that, which wasn’t very often. Then there was Jane’s apple pie, Kitty’s cherry pie, Wanda’s raspberry pie, Peter’s coconut cream pie… the list went on to everything as traditional as pumpkin pie to something as simple as a chocolate pie to even the more typically cold pies like key lime and lemon to even a new one that Bobby had never tried before – boysenberry. The competition would be close, and he was looking forward to judging.The second reason, though, that Bobby was so excited this morning was because it was snowing, the first snowfall of the winter season. Now Bobby would be in his element. Getting out of the X-Mansion to escape the chaos of the kitchen, Bobby took to the outdoors with the younger children to keep them entertained and out of the way of the many chefs.For a moment, Bobby stood outside in the crisp, nippy air while snowflakes gently swirled around him. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and without even meaning to he shifted into his full ice form. Before he could even open his eyes, he was suddenly pelted with a snowball that slammed into the back of his head. Taking it in his stride with his good sense of humor, Bobby laughed and whirled around to face his opponent. “Okay, game on!”As soon as he had turned around, another snowball had slammed into his face. The kid who had thrown it was one of his students. Bobby had an accounting degree and taught mathematics at the Institute. You think that would make him an unpopular professor, but Bobby was too good of a teacher and too funny of a guy for that to be the case. That didn’t stop his students from throwing snowballs, though. The one who had hit him twice now lightly jogged away to avoid the incoming return fire. Over his shoulder, though, he called to Bobby, “Sorry I ruined your Elsa moment, Professor Bobby!”Frozen. The bane of Bobby’s existence since that faithful winter of Snow-pocalypse. Bobby had actually enjoyed that movie before it became such a meme of itself. Today, though, an unbidden idea came to him, and acting impulsively as always, he followed it through without a second thought.“You want to see me have my Disney Princess moment? Fine. Just remember you asked for it.” Using his powers, Bobby manifested an army of snowmen around him – the normal looking kind, not resembling Olaf at all. He hated that snowman. Then, inspired more by Disney’s movie Fantasia where Mickey Mouse controlled the brooms, Bobby made the snowman dance and rhythmically lob snowballs around them.Then Bobby actually started to sing. “My power flurries through the air into the ground! My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around! And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast!” While he sang, he let the snowmen do their thing while he focused more on the X-Mansion, embellishing it with artistic frost patterns and jewel shaped icicles in secure locations. He had no intention of making the school into a cold death trap, but he did want to heavily emphasize the castle-like feel to the structure. This was the beginning of the winter season, and the students deserved to have their Disney castle. Judging from how the younger students were already screaming with delight fighting the snowmen or watching Bobby’s icy architecture skills, they were very much enjoying the start of their winter break before it was even fully underway.“I’m never going back, the past is in the past!”With that iconic line, Bobby pulled the cliché move of a magical girl transformation where, as he shifted back into his normal form, he swathed himself in snowflakes and snow-flurries until he had a fluffy dress of white snow. In comparison to his engineering skills, unfortunately, he was a pretty awful tailor. Thankfully and realistically, he still had his normal clothes underneath the snow dress, but for snow he just looked like a snow drift that came to life. It got an uproarious laugh out of the students before they continued raining down on him with snowballs, so Bobby was happy with it anyway. He wasn’t finished yet; there was still the rest of the song and the grand finale.Abruptly sudden and without mercy, Bobby increased the intensity of the snowfall, shooting snowballs from his fingertips like a frozen sprinkler head. His snowmen also increased their fever in throwing snowballs, too, and the children started being pushed back against Bobby’s snowy forces. All the while, he continued to sing, “Let it go, let it go! And I’ll rise like the break of dawn! Let it go, let it go! That perfect girl is gone! Here I stand in the light of day! Let the storm rage on!” Bobby paused and surveyed the damage done in this snowball fight turned into a snowball war. Evidently, he had won since all of the children were covered in snow and nearly indistinguishable from his own snowmen.Victorious, Bobby ditched his fashion train wreck of a snow dress, but left the X-Mansion with his icy additions. “The cold never bothered me anyway!” Bobby announced before he cleared the snow off of the children to form more snowmen. Albeit these snowmen were now immobile and bigger.Defeated, the children were soaked from the snow, shivering in their boots with drippy noses and blue lips and numb fingers and toes. “Okay, kids, let’s go warm up before we eat,” Bobby said with large smile, trying to herd them inside. His guidance was unnecessary as they rushed for the doors for the warmth and the food.Happy with the events of the day, Bobby had just as great of a night with a satisfying Thanksgiving dinner. He had saved just enough room for the pie competition, and it was a great surprise to everyone when Bobby congratulated Logan as the winner – even though Logan technically cooked a peach cobbler. If anything, the only bad spot on such a perfect winter Thanksgiving Day was that Bobby had to judge two awful pies: one being lamb, kidney, and steak while the other was an English Sheppard’s pie. Needless to say, Bobby left them a scathing score to discourage them from entering next year. Still, Bobby was content to enjoy a variety of other fruity, sweet, and tart pies and endure being teased by his students, co-workers, and teammates about his Elsa moment outside on a perfect snowy day.
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Unlike the day before, Bobby didn’t wake up to start the day. No, like other consumers in America, Bobby got to experience the thrill of Black Friday shopping in preparation for Christmas by standing in line with everyone else in the mall. It was a zoo, well, as much of a zoo as it could be expected, but Bobby has seen worst. Nearly all of the X-Men were here, with a few having elected to stay behind to watch the children. Naturally the Professor stayed at his school, and so did Jean and Scott to stay with their daughter Hope, who was fairly young. Hank, who disliked crowds, holed himself up in his laboratory while Kurt was in his room, passed out from on a food coma. It was his first Thanksgiving feast where he actually got to eat uninterrupted by any mission. Of course, he went overboard.A few of the older teenaged students were here, though, to do their Christmas shopping, too. For Bobby, that meant this was more like a field trip than anything else, and he had to play chaperone to a few of them. They decided to divide the mall up, that way they could cover more ground. Forge, being a technopath, took Best Buy with a few teenagers with similar abilities or who just wanted a new laptop. Rogue, Kitty, and Wanda took the big-name department stores with a few teenagers looking for new winter clothes. Storm wasn’t even at the mall; she had to go to a different shopping center to go to Home Depot, looking for tools and lumber for future repairs to the X-Mansion. After all, it was the home of teenaged mutants learning to control their abilities. Jane went to GameStop for the new released video games, along with Pietro and a hoard of teenaged gamers. Logan and Darcy, similar to Storm, had a van where they shuffled first to Walmart with a few teens, and then to Target. Peter, being a saint, decided to help the others out by going to the more specific stores to buy the special items on everyone’s Christmas list. The big guy was the silent type, too, so everyone knew that they could trust him to keep a secret. Besides, no one was going to not pay him back or force him to buy his own Christmas gift either.All of that, though, left Bobby with the most challenging store of all to go shopping in – Toys-R-Us. Now it wasn’t that this particular store had a large crowd at 12 in the morning on Black Friday. Bobby certainly wasn’t about to pull an Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jingle All the Way to have to get the toys he needs. It was just that there were so many young children at the X-Mansion, so he had quite an extensive list. Also, many of them were orphans, so the toys Bobby was buying now was most likely the majority of what they were going to get for Christmas besides the standard clothes like pajamas, socks, and underwear. There was quite a lot of pressure on Bobby to not mess anything up.Luckily for him, earlier in the week the children had written their letters to Santa Claus (“We have to write them now so that they will have time to get to the North Pole for Christmas!”) and so Bobby new exactly what they wanted down to the color of the paint. Also lucky for Bobby, a few of the older students had volunteered to help him, mostly because they had younger siblings who still played with toys and believed in Santa Claus, too. After they bought their own toys, then they took a letter and went to buy those toys, too. Needless to say, Charles’ bank account was going to take a hit tonight, but he expected as much.As the night went on further into the morning, Bobby and his crew of teenaged elves were slowly depleting the store’s once freshly stocked shelves of all of the hot new toys. They had bought over 50 stuffed animals (most of them teddy bears, but also quite a few of them were phoenixes, wolverines, tigers, wolves, bunnies, gorillas, and lions in honor of the X-Men Jean, Logan, Darcy, Jane, Pietro, and Hank respectively. This store was one of the few that even produced those kinds of stuffed animals, but since the X-Men were gaining popularity, it was easier to buy wolverines now.Additionally, the Lego aisle was properly raided of everything from the basic, standard, colorful building blocks to the collector’s items like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Batman, The Avengers, The Hobbit, and Harry Potter. The store even sold X-Men Lego sets, and Bobby made sure to buy every available one because even if the children didn’t play with them, he was going to gift them to his teammates anyway.They bought at least one of every kind of Barbie, too, of every occupation with a dozen outfits each and more than a few pink cars and Dream Houses. They didn’t buy a Ken for every Barbie since some of the children specifically requested otherwise. A few of them even went so far as to write down the names of Barbie’s friends instead, like Teresa. Like Lego, the Barbie Corporation was starting to branch out, too, and they sold super-hero Barbie who had powers. They never specified how she had powers, only that they did, so Bobby liked to think she was a mutant as he bought at least 20 super-hero Barbie dolls.Similar to the way they tackled Barbie, they bought a lot of baby dolls and other, softer dolls with baby carriages and similar items. Unlike Barbie, these dolls were normal. Nothing to relate to mutant children with physical differences. No doubt these baby dolls would be painted blue or accidentally burned as the children would convert the dolls to mutants or lose control of their powers out of frustration or excitement playing with them.Of course, most importantly, plenty of action figures were bought from the fictional kind like Superman and Wonderwoman to realistic superheroes like the Avengers and the X-Men, to the wrestling action figures that were somewhere in between the two in terms of fictional nature. All of the X-Men action figures were snatched up and spoken for within the first ten minutes of shopping. It delighted Bobby to no end that he actually had a toy, that they sold little Icemen. There were flaws in the dolls, of course. Rogue’s white streak of hair was too big, Storm’s was light-skinned, Jane was wearing the wrong shade of green, Jean’s doll hair was orange rather than red, Logan’s was wearing his older uniform, Hank’s doll didn’t resemble him much, Kurt’s eyes were the wrong color, Darcy was heavyset in reality, Forge didn’t even have an action figure – but Bobby knew that eventually the toys could be fixed. As of now he was just happy that the public liked them and that the X-Men were getting the credit they deserved. And if the company gave his action figure abs and well defined muscles like they did for Logan and Peter, then who was he to argue with them? Besides, they owed him that much compensation compared to other bodily proportions that he strongly disagreed with.All in all, Bobby was satisfied with his shopping experience at Toys-R-Us. When they all climbed in the minivan loaded down with shopping bags, Bobby sat behind the wheel of the car and switched the radio to the Christmas station before he even shifted into reverse. On the drive home, despite the shortness of the trip, the students fell asleep, but Bobby enjoyed watching the snowfall outside while he remained warm in the car. With both his windshield wipers and headlights on high, he softly caroled to himself under his breath, “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!” Not much different than how he sung just the day before.
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Exhausted after a long night of shopping with Wolvie and Darcy, Jubilee ended up sleeping in on Black Friday. She and a few others were going to go out shopping again at the mall this time, but that wouldn’t be until the evening. Until then, she had the whole afternoon to herself to enjoy her Thanksgiving Break as she pleased.When she looked outside, the landscape was still iced with snow, crisp and clean. Additionally, all of Bobby’s snowmen from yesterday were still perfectly formed, too. As the cliché goes, the land around the Institute was as picture perfect as a Christmas postcard. Itching to get out there and enjoy it, Jubilee leapt out of bed and quickly changed out of her pajamas to go outside comfortably warm to play.In her eagerness, Jubilee ended up throwing on her yellow coat over randomly grabbed clothes and hurried downstairs. She slid down the bannister of the staircase, ignoring the calls of warning from Storm. As Jubilee dashed through the kitchen, she belatedly also heard Darcy call to her, “Jubilation Lee, don’t you dare run through my kitchen!” Of course, it was too late, and Jubilee was already outside when Darcy also added, “Put on gloves or your fingers will fall off!” Needless to say, Jubilee didn’t hear that part.No matter, though, because as soon as Jubilee felt the cold nip at her nose and fingertips, she cupped her hand and set off a pink firework for warmth, the glow of it catching on her dark eyes. She felt breathless in the breathtaking beauty of the snow around her, but as her eyes stared in wonder of the glory of winter, she saw her breath hang in small puffs in front of her face. Jubilee laughed, and then brought her fingertips to her lips, pretending to take a drag from an imaginary cigarette. Maybe it was a cigar, though, like the kind Logan was fond of smoking, because he was her favorite professor and her favorite X-Men, not to mention her mentor. Besides, the space between her fingers was a bit too splayed out to just be an imaginary cigarette.After blowing more smoke out like a dragon, Jubilee wandered aimlessly through the snowmen. This was her first year at the Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters, and this was also her first winter where there was snow. Real snow, too, not the light powder dustings that melted after an afternoon or just ice. Bending over, she scooped up the snow in her hands and easily molded it into a ball. This was good, thick snow.She smiled as made another firework in her hand, watching the snowball hiss and pop before melting away. Rubbing her hands together, Jubilee looked around her at the perfect snowmen – sans carrot noses and coal eyes – and decided to make her first ever snowman. She ran back inside, yellow coat flapping behind her like bat wings.Jubilee blew through the kitchen like the gust of cold air she let in, startling Darcy from making the Thanksgiving leftovers into another dish. “Jubilee, you need to put on more clothes or you’ll have a cold during your final exams!”Once again, Darcy was ignored, as Jubilee waved her hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, do we have any carrots?”Surprised, Darcy blinked and cocked her head at the young Asian girl. “Yes, I didn’t braise all the carrots yesterday. I wanted to make sure we still had a few left for a carrot cake.”“Screw the carrot cake, make a chocolate cake instead. People like that more anyway.” Jubilee started rummaging through the fridge, looking for the carrots.Not stopping Jubilee in her search, Darcy casually leaned back against the counter. “No, we have brownies if people want a chocolate dessert. Besides, people will like the cake for the icing anyway. It’s super sweet.” Tilting her head forward, she narrowed her eyes at the troublesome girl, using her telepathy to lightly read her mind. “You only need one carrot for the nose, Jubilee; and I’m not sure we have coal. We didn’t go shopping for those kind of Christmas presents yet, and Logan’s grill runs off of propane.” She pushed herself off the counter, and returned to looking up new recipes.“Well, what do you suggest then, Professor Darcy?” Jubilee grabbed a water bottle from the fridge along with her carrot.“I suggested to you earlier to run and put on more layers, but you ignored me.” Darcy looked back over her shoulder at Jubilee, “Since you’re already in the fridge, grab me the eggs, cream, milk, and butter.”Sighing her frustration, Jubilee rolled her eyes and cracked the seal of her water bottle instead. “Come on, Professor Darcy, don’t be this way.” She took a sip of her water.Darcy laughed, “You sound just like Logan when you say that.”At that Jubilee first choked on her water before she spat it out, coughing and sputtering at the mental images Darcy put in her head. “Ugh, yuck.”“Jubilee, it’s like you forget that I teach Sex Education,” Darcy continued to laugh. “Now come on and get the ingredients for me, please. And the rest of the carrots while you’re at it.”This time Jubilee did as Darcy asked, though now her cheeks were red and ruddy not from the cold of the outside but embarrassment this time. “Okay, I did as you asked. Now help me.”“Not yet I won’t after how difficult you’ve been with me.” Darcy gathered the dry ingredients and started measuring them all to the correct amounts. “I want you to go upstairs and put on a hat, scarf, and gloves. It’s not going to be fun playing out there without them.”Groaning, Jubilee dashed up the stairs back to her room, looking for the items. As she pulled them on, she stared at the extra hats and gloves and scarves she had for a minute. Then she smiled.This time when Jubilee slid down the bannister, it was Darcy who told her not to, already mixing the cake batter. Again, though, Jubilee paid her no mind and just grabbed a carrot before running back outside. Her arms were full of clothing accessories, and the door slammed shut behind her firmly. Once Jubilee was gone, Darcy smiled, “Pretty bright kid.”Outside again, Jubilee grudgingly admitted to herself that she was warmer than before, but soon she started digging in the snow and the feeling went away. It took her a couple of tries to roll a snowball without it being lopsided, but eventually she got the hang of it, forming three balls of snow in different sizes. The tricky part was when she had to lift the snowballs and stack them on top of each other. The balls broke apart twice before she finally packed a sturdy enough snowball. Then it was too heavy for her to lift, though. Jubilee huffed and puffed, working hard and sweating under her hat, but she was having fun.“Frosty the Snowman was a jolly happy soul,” she sang as she patted down her snowman’s figure, making smoothing him down. As she started adding the extra stuff, she changed the song a bit, “With a drawn-on smile,” she dragged her fingertip across his face, “and a carrot nose,” she jammed it in, “and two eyes made out of buttons!” Lastly, she added the buttons she had ripped off of a pair of old jeans that didn’t fit her anymore.As she added the last finishing touches, she reverted back to the traditional lyrics. Skipping to the tree line, she found some sticks and skipped back, carefully sticking the turquoise mittens on the end and tying them there. Then she stabbed his sides with the sticks, adding his arms. “Frosty the Snowman, is a fairy tale they saw. He was made out of snow, but the children know how he came to life one day.”With care this time, she wrapped her old fuzzy black scarf around the neck area, arranging the ends so that it draped down the front. “There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found, for when they placed it on his head, he began to dance around.”Finally, she gently pulled the purple knit cap with the fuzzy ball over his head, smiling so wide that her already stinging cheeks hurt a little more, but it was a good pain. It was worth the cold to make a cute little snowman all by herself. “Frosty the Snowman was alive as he could be, and the children say he could laugh and play just as good as you and me.”Taking a step back to admire her handiwork, Jubilee continued to sing and sung a little louder this time, “Frosty the snowman knew the sun was hot that day, so he said let’s run and have some fun before I melt away. Down to the village with a broomstick in his hand, running here and there all around the square, saying catch me if you can.” Proud of her snowman, Jubilee skipped around him. In her opinion her snowman was better than the perfect ones Bobby had made if only because she put so much effort into this. And her snowman was cuter with all the accessories she added.Unbeknownst to Jubilee, Negasonic had been watching her make the snowman before she finally decided to come down and see her. Negasonic took her time getting bundled up before she came outside. As she approached, she heard Jubilee singing, and slowed down so as to not make too much noise crunching the icy snow underfoot. “He lead them down to the streets of town right to the traffic cop, and he only paused a moment when he heard him holler stop!”Instead of prancing as she once was, Jubilee was full on dancing now. She shot her fireworks from her fingertips up into the air, happy with her work, and feeling joyous from the season and her break from school. Fascinated and smirking, Negasonic silently observed Jubilee’s exhibition of releasing her inhibitions. “Frosty the Snowman had to hurry on his way, but he waved goodbye, saying please don’t cry, I’ll be back to life one day!”At the end of the song where Jubilee finished with a flare of sparkles as per her typical style, Negasonic finally spoke up. “Isn’t that the part where he dies?”Jumping at the sound of Negasonic’s voice, Jubilee squeaked and whirled around, directing her fireworks at the source of the noise. Negasonic rolled out of the way before she could get hurt, but since their powers were so similar, it was doubtful that Jubilee’s fireworks could hurt her. Still, she liked this coat, and she didn’t want it to get singed. “Oh, Negasonic! Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”“Well, I can see that,” Negasonic replied with the usual amount of teenaged sarcasm. She lightly dusted off the snow.Jubilee was blushing, embarrassed that Negasonic watched her make a fool of herself with her bad dancing and terrible singing. Secretly, Jubilee thought that Negasonic was pretty cute. They had both came to the Xavier’s Institute around the same time, and were both fifteen years old. Maybe Jubilee wouldn’t have developed these romantic feelings, though, if only one of them was joining the X-Men. Since they both were undergoing training together, though, that meant they were practically always together.Thankfully they had separate X-Men mentors, though. Jubilee was assigned to Logan whereas Colossus – or Peter, as he told them to call him – chose Negasonic Teenaged Warhead. Negasonic was sullen, her background a bit of a mystery to Jubilee, but Peter had seen something in her. He was probably one of the best mentors to have. Jubilee saw something in Negasonic, too: girlfriend material. She wasn’t jealous that Peter was Negasonic’s mentor, either, because the Wolverine was the most badass of the X-Men anyway.“Hey Firecracker, did you not hear anything I just said?”Snapping out of her daydreaming, Jubilee ducked her head, wishing she was wearing her shades. “Oh yeah, yeah, totally heard you.”“Then what did I just say?”“Um,” Jubilee smiled apologetically, “Okay you got me. Sorry, Negasonic, I wasn’t paying attention. I was off somewhere else.”“It’s fine.” Negasonic shoved her gloved hands into her coat pockets, casually chewing her gum. “I just asked if you wanted to go back inside and warm up. It’s too cold out here.”“Yeah, sounds good. I just finished up here anyway.” Jubilee hoped she wasn’t coming off too eager. With a hopeful note in her voice, she asked Negasonic, “You wanna make some hot chocolate together? That’ll warm us up for sure, Negasonic.”“Yeah, whatever.” Negasonic shrugged apathetically like a cool albeit sullen teenager would do. “Professor Darcy is still cooking, though.”“Don’t worry, I’ll handle her.” Jubilee waved the concern off. She was smiling widely again, and had to stop herself from skipping beside Negasonic as they headed inside. The only thing that would make this night even more perfect would be if she could just take Negasonic’s hand and tell her how she feels.
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Storm walked into her classroom that morning like she was walking on air. The break had been fun, but now it was time to start reviewing for the final exams of the semester. She knew that no one was going to feel like doing this, but she was sure she could motivate them. Luckily for her, though, her first class of the day was made up of the younger children who didn’t have to stress over finals. This made the start of her day that much easier.“Hello class! Did you all enjoy your Thanksgiving Break?” There was a chorus of answers from bright and happy young children as Storm walked to the front of the classroom to write the assignment on the whiteboard. “That’s great, class. Now are you all excited for the upcoming Christmas Break? It’s only two weeks away.” She listened to their various responses, smiling. Turning back around to face them, she dusted off her hands, and laughed, “Wonderful.”The classroom was full of young mutant children, elementary school aged who still enjoyed coloring and believed in Santa Claus. Storm loved Xavier’s Institute because it was her home, and even more than that she loved being a teacher if only for students like these and moments like this. “Say class, would you like to sing a Christmas song before we start our assignment?”The answer was a resounding affirmative from the class and then they started shouting out which Christmas song they would like to see. Storm gave them a moment before she raised her hands for silence. “How about we sing “Jingle Bells”? That’s an easy song. Everyone knows that one, right?”They clamored to begin, and again Storm had to raise her hands to quiet them again. No matter how excited they could get, Storm always had full control of her classroom. “On the count of three, we’ll start. Ready?” There were various heads nodding, but every child was smiling right back at her. “One, two, three!”“Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh, over the hills we go, laughing all the way!” On cue, it seems like everyone laughed before continuing, “Bells on bobtail ring, making spirits bright! What fun it is to laugh and sing a sleighing song tonight!”The volume noticeably increased for the chorus, “Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way! Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh, hey! Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way! Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh!”After that the classroom dissolved into noise as only a few kids knew the rest of the song while others stumbled over the words. Storm realized this and waved her arms for them to stop. “Perhaps that’s enough, and we should begin now.”The children thought otherwise and begged for her to let them sing another song. Soft around these younger children, Storm relented and compromised with them, “How about we just finish this song? Let’s learn the lyrics!”That’s how Forge found her when he limped by the open door of her classroom. He and Storm had been dating for a little while now, and he rarely ever saw her like this. As an X-Men, she was a woman who took charge. As a teacher, he knew her to be strict but fair. As the woman he loved, she was sexy and kind and adventurous. But this softer side, where she didn’t mind acting silly was new. Normally he was the one to make a fool of himself to make her laugh. Now as he watched her teach these kids the lyrics to “Jingle Bells” of all things, he couldn’t help but think of her as the mother of his children. Startled by his own thoughts, he shook his head and walked away. He could think of that more at another time.
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Tuesday started off fairly normal. The review for the upcoming exams was intense, but the general atmosphere wasn’t that stressful yet. It was during study hall when all hell broke loose.Logan was in the middle of grading papers (papers that he was supposed to have graded over Thanksgiving Break, but he had been distracted by Darcy) when it happened. “You better watch out!” Someone whispered in his ear, and Logan flinched so violently that his claws shot out and ripped the paper he had been grading. As per his syllabus, that paper was awarded an automatic A now, and he hated that since it was a shit paper. He growled, irritated, and looked around for the source of the noise but saw nothing.In another classroom, Storm was cleaning her blackboard while Forge talked to her, sitting on her desk. “You better not cry!” A random voice ominously warned them.“Why did you say that, Forge?” Storm looked over her shoulder at him, confused. She wasn’t on the verge of tears by any means.“I didn’t say that!” Forge protested, looking around suspiciously. He doubted it was a ghost, but it might as well have been one because no one else was around. Besides, the X-Mansion was an older building anyway. It could be haunted for all they know.In yet another classroom, Scott was supervising his class’ review session. It was quite as this was a standard scavenger hunt through the handouts and textbook style review and Scott was only helping when students would raise their hands. That’s why it sent a chill up everyone’s spine when a male voice suddenly proclaimed, “You better not pout!” After that the assignment was ignored and Scott had trouble reigning his class back in as they whispered among themselves about the threat.Down below in Hank’s laboratory, he was busy making several different mathematical calculations for his formula. Hank concentrated deeply and he felt like he could nearly pinpoint his idea if he just tweaked the equation properly for the chemicals involved… “I’m telling you why!” Just like that Hank lost his train of thought, pen snapping in his hand and splattering ink over his papers and lab coat. No longer concerned with who said that, Hank desperately tried to clean up the mess to save his work with a small scream of frustration.Above in the kitchen, Bobby and Rogue were looking for a snack. Bobby had his head stuck in the freezer, trying to find a decent flavor of ice cream. Rogue was on her tiptoes looking through a cabinet for her favorite brand of cereal that wasn’t the knockoff version. Both of them distracted, not looking at each other, they grumbled under the breaths about how hungry they were and how they wished Darcy would make dinner soon. A sing-songy voice made them pause in their search when they heard, “Santa Claus is coming to town!”“Bobby, I know you’re excited about Christmas, but what does that have to do with ice cream?”“That honestly wasn’t me, Rogue, I thought it was you.”“Why would I say that?”“I dunno, just keep looking for the Lucky Charms.”A similar situation occurred in the library between Kitty and Peter. They were in the same aisle but searching through bookshelves across from each other. That’s when they heard, “Oh, he’s making a list!”“Who’s making a list, Peter? The Professor? Oh, has he released the dates and times of our exams?”“Kitty, I do not know who said that. It was not me.”“Well, who else could it be, Peter? All the students are in class right now while we pull out the appropriate studying material.”“Again, I do not know.”“Strange.”“The doctor is not in this dimension, Kitty. He is with Illyana fighting space demons.”“No, no. I mean strange like weird.”“Oh. Yes. Very strange, indeed.”“Class, I know you have been taking standardize exams since you’ve been enrolled in the American school system, but I feel the need to reiterate some tips before you take your final exams for my class,” Darcy began to lecture, walking between the rows of desk. “This may be a practice test, but you’ll find it eerily similar to your final exam next week, so please do your best.”Stopping between Negasonic’s desk and Jubilee’s desk, she pointedly added, “Judging by the test scores from October, many of you have forgotten the basics of test taking. Or your common sense.” Ignoring the sullen look of Negasonic, Darcy continued to her own desk at the head of the classroom. “So, who can tell me what helps you succeed in your semester exams?” Without looking, Darcy called on Negasonic, “Negasonic?”The teenager balefully glared at her, knowing why she was called on since she failed the last test. “Study.”“Good, good. I was actually looking for a different answer, like not cheating or keeping your eyes on your paper, but good enough. Cheating wouldn’t be necessary if people studied, yes.” Despite her casual tone, Darcy shot a look to Negasonic. “Common sense would dictate to not cheat when your teacher is a telepath, too.” At that Negasonic ducked her head, properly shamed. “Anyone else have any tips they want to share with the class?”Cautiously, Jubilee raised her hand, mouthing an apology to her friend. Darcy nodded at Jubilee to speak. “Um, bringing the proper materials? You know like pen, paper, pencil, eraser, sharpener, calculator, Periodic Table – ”“Thank you, Jubilee. That’s enough. For my exam, of course you don’t need those last two items, but you do need to bring your own scantrons. Anyone else?” Darcy raise her eyebrows, sweeping her eyes over her students. She knew she was a little hard on Negasonic, but she also knew that despite romantic inclinations, that shouldn’t interfere in your academics.“And checking it twice!”“Yes, double-checking answers is very important, but please have confidence in your answers as well. That is, if you studied. Thank you, who said that?”“Um, Professor Darcy, no one said that,” Jubilee hesitantly answered. Darcy didn’t answer, using her telepathy to determine the truth, but she couldn’t find who said that.Wanda and Kurt were in another classroom, but instead of teaching, lecturing, or organizing exam review, they were tutoring students in whatever subject they needed. It was an intimate affair since there were only a few students there, so it was quiet in the classroom with only questions and answers murmured. Kurt finished up with his student, assured they would pass their physics exam easily. Once they left, he approached Wanda who was tutoring three girls in calculus. Kurt had just put his hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder and opened his mouth to speak when another voice interrupted him. “He’s going to find out who’s naughty or nice!”“Kurt!” Wanda hissed at him sharply, blushing a deep scarlet. “Please, not in front of our students.” At that the girls giggled, much to Wanda’s and now Kurt’s embarrassment.“But Vwanda,” Kurt protested, his voice a little too high pitched and the blush on his blue cheeks more purple in comparison to Wanda, “I swear zat wasn’t me!” It was too late, though, Wanda was already ignoring him and the girls were giggling even louder, pulling out their phones to tweet this or put it on Yik Yak.In the nursery for Hope Summers, Jean gently rocked Hope back in forth in her rocking chair after feeding her lunch and reading her Fantastic Mr. Fox. Hope was still fairly young, almost three, but she enjoyed listening to her mother read almost as much as she loved babbling. She was almost asleep, but she was fighting it. “Again!” The little girl demanded, waving her fists at the picture book, “Again!”With a sigh signaling that she was losing her patience, Jean gave in to her daughter’s wants like she always does, “Okay, Hope. One more time and then you have your nap, okay? Mommy has to go teach her class soon.” She flipped to the beginning of the book and started over again, pointing to each word individually as she read them.By now, she was sure she had this book memorized, but she enjoyed reading Hope these books if only to have the pleasure of watching Hope lovingly stroke her fingertips over the pictures as if she could pet the animals and feel their fur. A few times the story was interrupted as Hope would try and say a word and Jean would repeat it to her. Eventually, though, Hope settled her head on her mother’s chest, Jean’s heartbeat and low voice soothing her to sleep.Ever so carefully, Jean slowly stood up. Hope was getting bigger now, and Jean predicted that since both she and Scott were tall, it would be no different with Hope. Just as she had laid the little girl down and Hope comfortably curled up on her side, thumb in her mouth, a loud voice sung, “Santa Claus is coming to town!”Just like that, Hope’s eyes snapped open and she sat up in her bed. “Santa,” she knew what Santa was, and this year she wasn’t afraid of him. In fact, she was excited. “Presents? Presents!”“No, no, no, sweetheart. Santa doesn’t come until Christmas and it’s not Christmas yet, sweetie.” Jean scooped Hope up in her arms again, cradling the girl close. She looked around the nursery, suspicious. Hope’s mutation was basically the opposite of the Leech boy the X-Men have met and saved before. In fact, Leech was a student here, but had already graduated. Hope had the ability to amplify the mutant X-gene; she couldn’t manifest it in regular Homo-Sapiens, but in the wrong hands she could be paired with a mutant with unstoppable powers. Jean, who has always struggled to control her powers carefully without going out of control, found that around Hope it was nearly impossible to sneak up on her without hearing thoughts. Nearly impossible, obviously since someone managed to sneak by her.As Hope struggled in her mother’s arm babbling about Christmas and Santa Claus and presents, Jean felt deeply annoyed at whoever woke up her baby. She’ll never be able to put her down for a nap now. Not only will she miss her class because of this – again – but that also means that Hope will be cranky and irritable tonight. “Santa, Santa, Santa!”“Hope, honey, no. No Santa. Not today.” Jean tried to explain to her.“No? Santa!” Hope sniffled, upset. She began to cry and before Jean could shush her and calm her down, Hope shrieked and struggled more wildly than before, screaming, “SANTA! SANTA!”Floors and floors above them, upstairs Jane and Pietro were in Jane’s bathroom, washing their dog Balto. They had gone outside to play him yesterday, but somehow, he managed to find the only patch of snow that was more like muddy slush than anything. Naturally, they had bathed him afterwards, but evidently it wasn’t thoroughly enough because when Jane woke up this morning she found bits of dead grass in her bed. She washed the sheets, but now she demanded that Pietro help her wash the dog. Lucky for them, though, Balto loved bath time.“Who’s a bad boy for getting all dirty yesterday?” Jane cooed as she squeezed some dog shampoo into her hand. “Who’s a dirty boy getting mud and dirt and grass all over my sheets last night?”Pietro cupped his hands in the water and dribbled it over Balto’s head, careful not to get it in his ears. “Well, you know, I was gonna say that I’m a bad, dirty boy but not like that.”In the middle of lathering Balto’s thick Husky fur, Jane paused, blushing from her cheeks to her chest. “Oh, my God, Pietro. You’re awful.” Balto didn’t move, panting happily and enjoying the attention as he sat calmly in the halfway full bathtub.Assisting Jane in soaping up Balto’s muddy paws, Pietro just laughed. “I’m not awful, Janie baby. I’m just your bad boy. Your dirty, dirty boy.” Idly, he smoothed Balto’s fur into a mohawk down the dog’s spine before rinsing away the soap. “I know I just helped you put your clean sheets back on your bed, but what do you say we dirty them up again tonight?”“Tonight?” Jane innocently asked, batting her eyelashes at him. She grabbed the cup, filling it with water and pouring it over Balto rhythmically.“Yeah,” Pietro answered and in a suave voice added, “All night long till the morning comes.” He leaned over towards her for a kiss. “Unless you wanna start dirtying them up now?”Jane narrowly avoided his kiss, leaning back and turning her head away until he just kissed her cheek. “You’re impossible, Pietro,” she giggled, and then she dumped the cup of water over his head.“Ugh!” Pietro pulled back and sputtered, “I thought we covered this, Jane. I’m not impossible. I’m just bad and dirty.” He ran his fingers through his wet, silver hair, dragging it out of his face and eyes.Dropping the cup, Jane used her hand to splash him with the slightly brown bath-water this time. “Now you’re dirty, Pietro.” Again, she dodged Pietro’s lunge to hug her and get her wet. “And you’re right, you are bad. Bad at impressing me.” She squealed when Pietro managed to catch her this time, pressing his drenched front against hers and holding her tight.While she half-heartedly squirmed, Pietro pressed kisses up and down her neck and into her hairline. His fingers dug into her ribs, tickling her, too. “Well what do I have to do then, Janie baby?”Pushing him away at arms’ length, Jane breathlessly answered, “You can be a good boy and help me finish cleaning Balto.”“Then we can, well, you know?” Pietro eagerly and hopefully asked.“Maybe,” Jane teased and lifted the hem of her shirt, wringing out the water. Balto in the tub had stood and wagged his tail, wanting to participate in their playing, but unable to jump out of the tub. Instead he just barked, moving around and nearly sloshing the water over the sides of the bathtub. “Balto! Calm down! See, this is why I need you, Pietro!”As he moved to help her, Pietro muttered under his breath, “You need me other ways, too, I know.”“Pietro!”“What? I know I’ve got you all wet!”“Pietro! The dog!”“He sees you when you’re sleeping,” another voice interjected.“What the hell, Pietro?”“Well, what the hell, Jane? That wasn’t me.”For a moment, they struggled with the dog until they had him under control. Quickly they drained the tub and started rubbing Balto down with towels before they helped him out of the bathtub. Jane started to turn the water back on to rinse the fur, dirt, and grass away when she paused in her movements. “Do you smell that? Smells like grease, like pizza or Mexican food.”From where Pietro was toweling off the dog, he, too, stilled in his movements to sniff the air. “Judging from the spiciness, I’d say it’s a burrito or a… a…”“Chimichanga,” Jane finished his thought. “Oh, no.”On the first floor, Professor Charles Xavier rolled through the halls of his school, listening to the conversations of his students both with his ears and with his telepathy. Of course, he heard the regular teenaged angst and concerns of mutants, as well as they desperate mental review of class material. However, he was mostly surprised to hear the students talk among themselves about this mysterious voice that randomly popped up before disappearing. “Yeah, I was in Professor Summer’s class when I heard it and it was so freaking creepy, man, you don’t get it.”Pressing his lips together in a thin line, the Professor moved on to another set of students and eavesdropped on their conversation instead. “Look, I was in Sex Ed with Jubilee and Negasonic and I promise you – nobody said anything. At least, nobody we could see. Professor Darcy is a telepath, remember? And even she didn’t know who said it.”Even more perturbed than he felt before, he eavesdropped on another group of students. “Okay, so, I was actually at the study session with Professor Wanda, and despite what Armor’s tweet says, there is no way that Professor Kurt said that. No freaking way.”Listening to yet another student’s conversation confirmed the gossip to be true. “Guys, I’m not making this up! I was walking to my locker with Pixie, and I swear to God I heard somebody say ‘He knows when you’re awake’ like some kinda creepy horror movie doll or something. Like you know, childhood lullabies or whatever? It was just me and Pixie, you got to be believe me.”The Professor’s brow furrowed, bald head wrinkling even further. He kicked up the gears on his wheelchair, hurrying to his office as he processed this information. Clearly, his school had some kind of intruder. Before the Professor could fully collect himself enough to mentally contact his X-Men or search for the intruder mentally himself, one of his teachers had already approached him. “Professor, I know you’ve heard the rumors.” Jean tilted her head down at him, clearly upset.Hope sat on Jean’s hip, clinging to her mother, fingers wrapped in her badly dyed hair. Tucked in the crook of her elbow was her storybook Fantastic Mr. Fox. She let go of her mother just long enough to wave her chubby fist at the Professor. “Papa, Papa,” the little girl chanted at him, making grabby hands now. To her, he was her grandfather, since he was like a father to Jean already.“Yes, Jean,” Charles confirmed to her before he addressed Hope. “What are you still doing awake, Hope? Isn’t it naptime for you?” He leaned forward in his wheelchair and reached his arms out to her.At that Hope pulled away from her mother until Jean finally passed her to Charles. “So, what are we going to do then? God, I’m so angry, that that random voice got in the nursery without me knowing long enough to wake Hope up after I just got her down.” Together, Jean and Charles made their way to his office, him in his wheelchair and her walking alongside him.Sleepily, Hope cuddled into Charles’ chest as she spread her book out over her lap. She tapped her finger on it repeatedly. “Book, book!”Despite the situation, Charles couldn’t help but smile. He covered her hand with his own, and started reading to her out loud. The Professor was about to communicate to Jean telepathically when a voice spoke to them. “He knows if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.”“There it is! That’s the voice I heard earlier!”Pausing in his reading, Charles looked up at Jean. “Is that a Christmas carol he’s singing?”“Santa?” Hope eagerly began again, and her mother sighed.“Professor?” A familiar voice called before entering the office. It was Darcy. “Hello Hope, Jean. Professor, you’ve heard it?”“I suppose we should gather everyone here?” The Professor wearily began as he maneuvered himself around his desk. Hope smiled and waved at Darcy before looking back down at her book again.“Yes, that would be wise,” Darcy agreed. “But did you recognize the voice, Professor?”A breeze ruffled both Darcy’s and Jean’s hair, while the Professor only felt it ghost coolly over his bald head. “It’s Deadpool,” Jane said when she caught her breath after her moment of nausea. No matter how often Pietro would carry her at his super speed, it still managed to get to her sometimes.“And how would you know?” Jean was more than a little accusing when she asked that.Huffing, Jane’s response was cold. “I worked with him, he was a friend. I’d know that voice anywhere.” To the others, she added almost conversationally, “Besides, no one else would be able to pop up so randomly smelling like chimichangas of all things.”At the newcomers, Hope looked up and giggled happily, waving hello to Jane and Pietro, who slumped casually against the bookshelf, looking cool. The Professor leaned back in his wheelchair, relaxing somewhat at the knowledge that it was only Deadpool. The mercenary was trouble, but not malicious by any means. He wouldn’t hurt the children. “Well, why is Wade doing this?”“Because it’s Christmas, bitches!” The man himself was suddenly there as he burst through the office doors. “How’s it going Sempi, Silvie, Stripey, Baldy, Baby, Bitchy?” There was a thump as someone banged on the office door behind Deadpool. “Ooh, it’s a little crowded in here as it is, but what the hell. The more the merrier, right?” He stepped aside and who else tumbled in but Bobby. The other X-Men filed in more casually, with the exception of Logan who stepped over Bobby to get to Darcy.“What’s the mission, Chuck?” Logan asked Charles, but he looked at Darcy. Obviously, she was the one to summon them, because why else would Logan be so prompt.“Aw, you love her. That’s cute.” Deadpool commented, “Anyway, Merry Christmas! It was so interesting to see all of you go about your normal day,” his sarcasm stretched to new heights.“How did we not see you?” Scott incredulously asked as he moved to his wife’s side. If he had also positioned himself where he could step in front of Hope, then he made it obvious, too.Deadpool, however, didn’t comment on it. “Oh, I took a prize from this lab that just so happened to include a temporary invisible suit. Pretty sweet, if I do say so myself.”“Whose laboratory?” Hank asked, more out of jealous curiosity than anything else.“Rubber-man’s,” Deadpool meant Mr. Fantastic, of course. “Anyway, I had to do a little test run in this baby before I could go milk it for all its worth and cash in on it.” No one was surprised, though, they were a little interested in what he was going to use it for now.“Wade, you have to return that.” Peter tried, the only one persistent enough to try and persuade Wade to do anything morally right and responsible. He saw the good in everyone.“Yeah right, Vladimir. Do you know how much effort it took to steal this? Fucking Maximum effort.” Deadpool adjusted the belt that obviously granted him his invisibility, thrusting out his pelvis that made Rogue roll her eyes and Kitty look away. Kurt may have visibly gagged.“Hey, there’s a baby here, Deadpool.” Wanda jerked her head towards Hope, who was focused more on her book than everyone around us.Rapidly Deadpool looked back and forth between Wanda and Hope before he looked at Hope’s parents. “I mean, I know Scott’s ears are too fragile for my language, but ol’ Wolvie’s mouth is worse than mine. Have you seen whose ass he’s been kissing?” Darcy shifted, but didn’t say anything, knowing that would only egg Deadpool on even further. She did have to grab Logan’s arm, though, to keep him from doing anything stupid. Thankfully, though, the movement went unnoticed. “Besides,” Deadpool continued talking as always, “you should be thanking me for stealing this because I used this as an opportunity to drop your presents off here since I’ll be in Tahiti for Christmas. You’re all like family to me, you know.”“Are these presents we should find immediately?” Jane asked, voice tinged with concern. In a school, Deadpool’s presents could be dangerous. He once made a bean dip for a birthday party where he substituted bullets for beans. Even you picked the bullets out the bean dip tasted awful – like gunpowder frankly.“I dunno, that’s up to you if you wanna spoil the surprise, Sempi. I doubt you could find them; they’re invisible.”“Why would you make our presents invisible?” Pietro sounded disappointed. He loved presents – even if they were from people like Deadpool.“I had to test the invisibility material on a something else before I wore a belt. I may be irresponsible sometimes, but I’m not stupid ever.” He waved his finger around, pointing it in the air, emphasizing his point. “So, I tested it on wrapping paper. Again, took maximum fucking effort to wrap your presents. You’re welcome.”“Did you at least leave us some kind of trail of clues? Like a scavenger map? Or a riddle? But an easy riddle, you know, the kind where it’s like ‘Hey, check under your bed’ or something?” Bobby had feelings similar to Pietro about presents.“Look Icepick, I know you need a fucking X to mark the spot where your girlfriend’s clit is for you to just look at, but after all of my maximum fucking effort I just spent wrapping invisible fucking presents and all that shit. I didn’t want to just hand you the gifts. Santa Claus is a fucking ninja. Does he just hand you the gifts? Fuck no. He breaks in your house and leaves the shit under the tree and in socks and stuff. You guys figure it the fuck out.” Deadpool did the open palm hand point to Bobby before waving it around the room, officially done with the X-Men’s ungratefulness.“Language, please,” Peter lightly scolded.“Okay that’s it. I’m out of this nuclear daycare.” Deadpool stomped toward the exit, tossing a peace sign over one shoulder with one hand and he used the other hand to flip them off over the other shoulder.“Wait, you still have to return the invisibility suit,” Hank tried to stop him, gently shouldering between Storm and Forge, “allow me to return it for you to Dr. Richards.”Before anyone could move to stop him, Deadpool laughed, “Ha, you’re funny, Beastie Boy,” and left.As he walked out the door, Jane called him, “Thanks, Wade! I’ll have your present ready soon!” She waved goodbye to her old friend, and he blew her a kiss back before going invisible and leaving for good.For a moment, the X-Men didn’t know what to do. They looked around the room, staring at each other in confusion. “So, um, should we start looking for the presents?” Pietro hesitantly suggested, trying not to sound too hopeful.“We should,” Storm began, “I mean, they’re from Deadpool. If a student finds a present that turns out to be a gun or more likely a dildo, we can’t really have that. We’re a school.”“At the same time, though,” Forge carefully countered her argument, “the presents are invisible. It is very unlikely a student would be able to find it. Especially since no one knew it was Deadpool all day until now.”“I still want to know how he managed to get by me,” Jean mumbled through her fingers, hand over her mouth. Still, she managed to make sure everybody heard her. “I was with Hope and everything.”Logan rolled his eyes. “Maybe it’s because you’re just a bad telepath.”Darcy was barely able to stifle her giggles. “No, actually, your abilities as a telepath has nothing to do with it. It’s just because it’s Wade and he has a very unpredictable and unstable mind.” She seemed pained to have to explain it to Jean, more out of distaste of reassuring her than anything else. “Even the Professor and I couldn’t hear his mind, with or without the aid of Hope.”“More importantly,” The Professor interrupted before this could dissolve into another verbal spat between Darcy and Jean, “we need to decide what to do about Wade’s supposed gifts.”Unimpressed, Kitty crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, this isn’t exactly a democratically led team, Professor. We’re not voting on this. You decide.”“No, what you’re saying is that since Scott is the leader he should decide,” Jean corrected Kitty, though Jean herself was incorrect.“Um,” Kitty began in a way that begged to differ, “excuse me? If anybody is the leader it is the Professor, obviously. And if it isn’t him, it’s Storm.” She was right. Professor Xavier was the founder of the X-Men, and therefore the original leader. However, since he is mostly unable to cooperate in field missions without directing from the X-Mansion through Cerebro, someone else had to be in charge. Scott has tried to step up to the task, but when he did the team normally dissolved into chaos, and their missions would be unsuccessful. That was mostly because Logan would refuse to listen to him, and also because Jean would try and bully him, too. When Storm took command, people respected her and she made level-headed decisions. She was able to live with her mistakes if she made any and lead with her brain rather than her heart. That didn’t mean she was uncompassionate, that just meant she didn’t go out of her way to exact revenge. Storm was for justice, and doled out mercy when appropriate. Of the younger generations of X-Men, though, Kitty would doubtlessly take up Storm’s mantle.“Well,” the Professor once again broke him before another disagreement could fully form, “I believe this is something we should decide together since it something innocuous like Christmas presents.”Storm nodded her head in agreement. “To each his own, yeah, Professor.”“Thank you, Storm.”“Well, before you decide you should know that the invisibility is obviously temporary anyway,” Darcy inputted.All eyes turned to her, and Wanda was the one to ask, “How do you figure that?”Unbothered by the attention, Darcy focused on Wanda. “Wade can control it with its belt, it just seems to make sense. Besides, what could possibly stay invisible forever? It’s just common sense.”“She’s right,” Hank spoke up. He looked up from his phone, the largest model of a Samsung Galaxy that was dwarfed by his large, blue, furry hands. “I just emailed Dr. Richards about his little invisibility experiment. He said he wasn’t able to fully work out the kinks, so it would only last about a month if not a little less.” Using a claw carefully, he adjusted his glasses, pushing them up his nose like a nerd.“Email? Why didn’t you just text, bro?” Bobby asked.Hank pretended to not hear Bobby’s question. “Hey, um, if you don’t mind me asking, which Dr. Richard’s experiment was it? Reed or Susan? Hank?” Darcy addressed Hank.“You mean Dr. Storm right? She’s Susan Storm?” Pietro impatiently shifted his feet.“No, no, they got married. We went to the wedding. That was before you were an X-Men, though,” Storm answered him.“Oh, man, I must not have seen article on the Internet then,” Pietro shrugged.“Hank?” Darcy repeated to him, refusing to let this go.“Well, I emailed Reed, and his email responded back, but it was signed by Sue,” Hank bashfully answered, his blush unnoticed under the fur on his cheeks.Darcy raised her eyebrows and pressed her lips together in a nod. “Yeah, give credit where credit is due.”“Oh, mein gott, is this teacher Darcy?” Kurt whispered to Bobby as he slung his arm over both Peter’s and Bobby’s shoulders.Immediately, Darcy looked at him and Kurt ducked behind the much taller and larger Peter. After that she addressed the room at large again. “There you go, problem solved. If we find the presents by accident, great. If not, then we just find them when the invisibility wears off.” She balled her hands into fists and propped them on her hips. “Now, since it is the week before finals, I suggest we go back to our review sessions. The test scores matter to the state as much as they do the parents, but more importantly they matter to the students. And to me.” Casting one final look around the room, she dropped her arms and left with a swish of her long, black hair, heels clacking on the hardwood floors.After the doors clicked shut behind her, Bobby was about to make a smart remark when Logan held up his hand. “Don’t say anything, I know, I know.” He soon followed after her.Storm shrugged. “She has a point.” Then she left to go back to her own class, the others filing out behind her neatly. Jean collected Hope who had fallen asleep in Charles’ lap, and Charles remained in his office, shaking his head. Never a dull day at Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The next day was Wednesday, November 30th, and Pietro took his time waking up. Normally his mornings were leisurely, especially the mornings after making love with Jane, and today was no different except that Jane was already gone. He stilled, trying to listen closely to see if she was in the shower, but he didn’t hear anything. Kicking the sheets off, he lazily swept his arms over her empty side of the bed, eyes still closed, as he felt to see if Balto decided to join him this morning. “Balto,” he croaked, voice rough with sleep. For a moment, he waited to see if Balto would run and jump in the bed, listening for the sound of his paws drumming on the floor, but again there was silence. Jane must have decided to take Balto for a walk this morning. Most likely she felt guilty for not giving him attention lately since they were so smitten with each other and travelling to his mom’s house for Thanksgiving.Having no reason to stay in bed when there was no one to cuddle and he was hungry, Pietro climbed out of bed with a groan. His silver hair was matted with sweat and tangled from last night’s carnal pleasures, and he pushed it out of his face with a grin as he remembered just everything they did last night. Looking down, he started searching for the hickies and bitemarks littering his body, tracing his fingers over them with curiosity. His grin faltered into a grimace when his fingertips grazed a sensitive claw mark on his shoulder-blade from when Jane got a little too rough and eager last night. The scratches stung and made him wince, but he still wore them with prideLazily, he stood and stretched his limbs out, jogging in place to get his heart pumping. Pietro took a shower to wash his greasy hair and sweaty body. When he stepped out, he started looking for new clothes to wear. Jane and Balto still weren’t back yet either.He moved to the closet, rummaging through and found where Jane had pulled out her Christmas decoration box. After her got dressed, he shrugged and figured why not just go ahead and set it up anyway. If Jane didn’t like how he arranged it, she could change it, but she would most likely be delighted to come back to her room with it glowing with Christmas vibes. Pietro knew that Christmas was Jane’s favorite holiday, she told him as much over the Thanksgiving Break. Next to Halloween, she went all out for Christmas. However, he has yet to experience Christmas with her.Also, despite growing up with a mother who was extremely Jewish, Pietro grew up experiencing both Hanukah and Christmas. Wanda preferred Hanukah, but Pietro didn’t feel as strongly about his inheritance. He grew up knowing that his own father didn’t celebrate Hanukah anymore, according to his mother Magda. When Pietro finally met Magneto he knew it to be true, too. The man was bitter and didn’t want to put his faith in a higher power when he believed himself to be of a higher power as a mutant.That all didn’t matter to him anymore. He has a new family here at the X-Mansion. Christmas was bound to be fun here. Finished decorating both Jane’s bedroom and his own bedroom (that he hardly ever used anymore) by stringing up Christmas lights and setting up a Christmas tree, Pietro decided that Jane’s bedsheets needed washing again and gathered them up to go to the laundry downstairs.With his super-speed, it took no time to get to the laundry room, but now he had to play the waiting game with the sheets as they were in the washing machine. Bored, he pulled out his phone, idly scrolling through his apps. Pausing on Pandora, he hopped on top of the washing machine, and tapped through until he found the Christmas station.“Out of all the reindeers you know you’re the mastermind.Run, run Rudolph, Randolph ain’t too far behind.Run, run Rudolph, Santa’s got to make it to town.Santa make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down.Run, run Rudolph ‘cause I’m reelin’ like a merry-go-round.”Instantly, Pietro was hit by a wave of nostalgia. He remembered first hearing this song watching Home Alone with his mom, Wanda, and baby sister Maggie; and then it became a holiday tradition, too. The little boy Kevin’s tricks and traps were admirable to Pietro, so much so that one time he boobytrapped the house as a prank of Wanda. She was not happy about getting mayonnaise in her hair since the smell of it made her gag. While Pietro was able to dodge her projectile vomit, he wasn’t awake to duck when Wanda punched him in the nose as payback in the middle of the night. For a while he was afraid to sleep. It was an all-out prank war for a month until their mom got rid of cable in the house.“Said Santa to a boy child ‘What have you been longing for?’‘All I want for Christmas is a Rock and Roll electric guitar,’And then away went Rudolph a whizzing like a shooting star.Run, run Rudolph, Santa’s got to make it to town, come on.Santa make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down.Run, run Rudolph, reeling like a merry-go-round.”The song was performed by Chuck Berry, the same artist who sung Johnny B. Goode that was performed by Marty McFly in Back to the Future. He had marathons of that movie trilogy so many times with Wanda. She thought Michael J. Fox was cute, and he endlessly teased her for it. On the other hand, though, he loved the movie for the 80s style, and he admired the 50s retro, too. Offhandedly, he wondered which decade had better fashion in Jane’s opinion. Did she live during the Old Wild West decade, too, or was that Darcy? Whatever, he admired the Doc’s style throughout all of the moves – especially his goggles, which may have partially inspired his super hero outfit.“Said Santa to a girl child ‘What would please you most to get?’‘A little baby doll that can cry, sleep, drink and wet,’And then away went Rudolph a whizzing like a Saber jet.Run, run Rudolph, Santa’s got to make it to town.Santa make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down.Run, run Rudolph ‘cause I’m reelin’ like a merry-go-round.”By the end of the song he was kicking his heels against the washing machine that rolled and hummed underneath him. He stared off into space, taking a mental stroll down memory lane. In his heart, he felt the pull on his heartstrings that told him to make this Christmas one of the best ones he has ever had yet. More than anything he wanted to experience this with Jane and make new memories with her that would last for all of his life.“Pietro, there you are!” Jane broke him out of his reverie as she entered the laundry room. “I figured you were down here when I went up to my room and saw the that the sheets were missing from my bed. Thanks for doing this,” She walked up to him and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, leaning forward and catching her hand in his hair. “Thank you for putting the decorations up in my room, too, but you know half the fun is putting up the Christmas decorations together.” Her smile dazzled him, and she batted her eyelashes when she looked up at him, so in love.He smiled wider, grinning without realizing it. “I got bored without you, Janie baby. Nothing can keep my attention for long, you know, except you. I’ll never have you fully figured out.” Carefully, he bumped his forehead against hers and caught her lips in a soft, small kiss. Instead of deepening it like he wanted to, he pulled away too soon. “How was your walk with Balto?”She was still licking her lips from the kiss when she answered him. “Good. You should have come with us. With your super-speed you could have found us and caught up easily.”“I’m gonna be honest with you, Janie baby. Clearly, I couldn’t think coherently this morning after a wild night like the one we had last night. But you’re right, that sucks that I didn’t think of that. I missed you.”Climbing on the washing machine beside him, forcing him to scoot over and make space for her, too, Jane knowingly corrected him, “Oh, you mean you missed not showering with me this morning.” She looked up at him with her green eyes glowing, brimming with her powerful green energy. “You were just a lazy bump on a log this morning, even after I tried to wake you with a kiss.”Pietro’s eyes skimmed over the freckles dotting over her nose from cheek to cheek before he looked in her eyes again. “You serious? You really tried to kiss me awake and I didn’t notice? Dang, we must have gone hard last night.”Playfully, she knocked her shoulder against his own. “I’ll take it easier on you next time, mon lièvre argenté.”“You better not!” Pietro exclaimed, having to drag his eyes away from her luscious, red mouth this time to catch her green gaze.Of course, she caught him looking, and instead of teasing him further or making some kind of snappy come back, she leaned into him for another kiss. They had just started to really get their rhythm going when the sound of someone clearing their throat prevented them from continuing any further. They pulled away at the interruption, breathless and embarrassed and saw Negasonic standing there in her workout clothes, balancing a basket of stinky, dirty laundry on her hip. “You guys just gonna sit there and swap germs or are you gonna let me do my laundry anytime soon today?”Wrinkling his nose, Pietro hopped off the washing machine as he answered her, “Judging by the smell, you needed to do that laundry three days ago.” Chivalrously, he helped Jane hop off the washer, too.“I’d say more like a week,” the teenager deadpanned as she stepped forward and open the top lid. “Hey, your sheets have been sitting in here getting moldy.”Quickly Jane stepped forward. “They must have just finished.” With efficiency, she transferred the sheets to the dryer and tossed in a couple of dryer sheets before she started it up. Pietro hovered in the doorway, messing with his hair. He tried to play it cool like Negasonic.Standing alongside Jane, Negasonic dumped her clothes in, not bothering to sort it into lights and darks and whites because she wore mostly greys and black anyway. She popped in a Tide pod and then let it go before climbing on the washing machine like they were and pulling out her phone. Negasonic noticed that Pietro left his phone on the washing machine, and looked at it curiously. “You’re listening to Christmas music in November?”At that Pietro snatched his phone back up, closing Pandora. “Yeah, I mean, the first day of December is tomorrow.”“It’s the week before finals.”“I don’t have any exams,” Pietro argued back. “Lighten up, Sonic.”“It’s Negasonic.”“You might as well be NSTW with the mouthful of a name you have.” Pietro clicked his tongue. “You know, I was going for a joke on the Ninja Turtles, but instead I’m making you sound like that smut tag. Oops, my mistake.” Jane grabbed his elbow, trying to urge him to leave with her, but he pointed something out, “Hey, we still have to wait for your sheets to dry.”“Yeah, no one wants to fuck on just a plain old mattress,” Negasonic added as she rapidly typed away at her phone screen, texting.“I don’t remember asking you, kid.” Pietro hopped on top of the dryer, patting the empty space beside him as a suggestion for Jane to do the same. “You know, I can respect cool mutant code names, but yours is just too long Sonic.”“Shut up, Crayola.”“Wow, that actually hurt.” Instead of making a smartass comment, she gave him the silent treatment, and Jane chose to not say anything, still blushing from being caught kissing her boyfriend in the laundry room by a teenager. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that she was washing her sheets after sex, and if she didn’t also know that Negasonic’s twitter spread gossip that was always more truth than lie.Pietro, however, was unaware of the popularity of Negasonic’s twitter, and decided to mess with her further since he was bored and there was no way he could go back to kissing Jane with Negasonic here. “So who are you texting? Is it Armor? Pixie? Oh, wait. I know who it is.”Again, Negasonic said nothing because nothing he could say would bother her. She was expecting him to make a joke like her texting her gynecologist or something, but to her surprise his next words actually pulled a reaction out of her. “You’re texting Jubilee, aren’t you?”There was a momentary pause in rapid-fire typing, the only reaction Pietro could get out of her. But that was enough to confirm it for him. Then Negasonic actually spoke, “If you say anything else, I will blow up the dryer and your sheets.”“Well, then how are you gonna dry your clothes, Sonic?”“It’s Negasonic.”“And it’s time for us to go!” Jane interrupted as she jumped off the dryer and pulled her sheets out. They were still damp, too damp to put on the bed, but she’d rather hang them up on a dryer line outside than have Pietro push Negasonic any further. She yanked Pietro with her out of the laundry room, and Negasonic gritted her teeth, popping her neck, before she went back to texting Jubilee.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was Thursday and preparations for next week’s exams was in full swing. However, as per tradition of the X-Mansion, after classes on the first of December, the school was decorated for Christmas. By now, everyone had certain areas they were assigned to decorate. Of course, everyone did their own rooms and offices, but the teachers did the common area. A few of the X-Men were new to Christmas in the X-Mansion this year, though, so there was a lot of doubling up.Jane, Darcy, Wanda, Pietro, and surprisingly Logan had never had spent Christmas with the X-Men. Well, Logan has but never uninterrupted. Normally he couldn’t stand being here and left whether it be for an angsty solo mission or just so he could drink in peace without being harassed. Since he could be a nasty grump that spoiled the holiday cheer, they sent him out in the woods to go cut down a tree for the living room and main entry hall. A few others also requested trees, too, for their private rooms so he would be out there in the snow for a while. He didn’t mind and he went alone.Darcy was more than a little miffed at that, especially so because she is his girlfriend, but she was put on baking duty, something she always enjoyed. By now all of the Thanksgiving leftovers were gone, and as the stress mounted even higher on the students, the more they were prone to grabbing sweets and snacks to eat while studying than actually coming to meals. Because of this, Darcy had to bake a variety of treats that would be quick and easy to grab, like cookies and brownie squares among other things. As a baker and a chef, she enjoyed the work thoroughly and passionately threw herself into it with a full heart.With Pietro and his super-speed, the decorating could be finished in less than five minutes, but that wasn’t really the point of decorating so he was given a simple task like cutting up snowflakes to be taped to all the doors. Jane assisted him, her snowflakes more complicated and artistic than his. When they worked together they spent more time teasing than doing their job, but that was fine. That was why they were assigned together anyway.Wanda was assigned with her boyfriend Kurt, who was arguably one of the biggest lovers of Christmas in the X-Mansion if not the entire state of New York. Kurt used his acrobatics to hang mistletoe in practically every doorway, but first he had to go collect it first. He and Wanda both braved the snow to go cut some fresh mistletoe for the X-Mansion, and if they took the time to kiss while gathering it and kiss every time they finished hanging a bundle in the doorway, then they were only giddy with holiday happiness.Over Thanksgiving Break, Bobby had prematurely decorated the outside of the X-Mansion with his snowmen and ice decorations. Now, though, he had to go back out with Rogue add a few finishing touches. For one, the snowmen needed carrot noses, pipes, hats, and other stuff because as of now only Jubilee’s snowman looked normal and not creepy. For another, they needed to put up the lights on the bushes. For that part, Forge assisted them, too.Hank decorated the kitchen, not an easy task since Darcy had commandeered it cooking. Still, he had an easy job since all he had to do was switch out the dishes, mugs, and dishrags for the festive kind and add a few knick-knacks here and there. Mostly his task was the quickest because he refused to have the basement laboratories or the Danger Room decorated for Christmas and held his office hours open later than normal in preparation for the last-minute questions he would get for finals week.Peter also had to go outside and in the woods to collect plants, too. The major difference was that he had to drive out to a greenhouse and buy Poinsettia, holly, and ivy to add around the X-Mansion in places like coffee-tables and for every office. He enjoyed looking at all the flowers, and in the spring time he was often digging in the dirt planting seeds anyway. It just shows how Peter’s farming roots never left him.Storm and Kitty had the honor of setting up in the formal parlor their holiday decorations. In addition to Christmas, Storm celebrated Kwanzaa with a few other students, so she took pride in commandeering a table for the candle set and spreading out African memorabilia. Kitty was Jewish, and therefore set up the Menorah and reserved a table for when the Jewish students would gather to play Dreidel. Now that Wanda was here, she most likely would also be included in the festivities, too. That made Kitty very happy.The oddest of jobs was Scott’s. He had to dig through the attic to find the really weird Christmas decorations to put up around the house. For example, there were metal Christmas trees that would be placed in corners of the room. Then there were the many, many Santa figures to be put on window sills and mantle ledges. These were the decorations that turned the mansion from classy to over the top, but Scott insisted on it to make the place homelier rather than like a museum.His wife Jean, however, took no part in that since she thought those decorations were cheap, tacky, and a little bit creepy at times. In her opinion, though, she had the best task of all in decorating the X-Mansion for Christmas. However, also in her opinion, her task was simultaneously the most satisfying and challenging. Jean managed how the children and students hung the decorations on the Christmas tree.Of course, students have their own handmade ornaments that they hung wherever they wanted, but then there were the more traditional ornaments like colorful balls and angels and Santa heads. Jean had to concentrate really hard to manage her telekinesis to string the Christmas lights evenly around the Christmas tree; but being able to manipulate the ornaments until they hung spaced out properly near the top of the 12-foot-tall tree was something else. Sometimes it took her all night and she wouldn’t finish for three days, but she took pride in her work. If she used a ladder, it would go faster, but Jean didn’t want to use a ladder. The last time she was on one she almost fell, and she strongly suspected the three troublemaking boys Francis, Gilbert, and Antonio had tried to push her off.This time, though, was no different from the last as the students slowly disappeared to their rooms for bed while she remained in the living room decorating the tree. Scott would be with Hope and most likely wouldn’t stay up late waiting for her, so Jean took her time. She wanted to make sure that she didn’t clump colors together. The Christmas tree had to look perfect before she could add the gold star stamped with an X on top of the tree. While she worked, she sung softly to herself,“Rocking around the Christmas Tree,Have a happy holiday!Everyone dancing merrily,In a new old fashioned way!You will get a sentimental feelingWhen you hear voices singing‘Let’s be jolly; Deck the halls with boughs of holly.’”Eventually, exhausted and energy nearly depleted, Jean finished and was finally satisfied with her work. She headed off to bed confident that the Christmas tree was impressive. The next day she had the pleasure of listening to everyone compliment her decorating skills. It felt nice to be appreciated for helping to make a Christmas tree beautiful and breathtaking.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
On the second of December, the Christmas spirit was high, but motivation for the final semester exams was dangerously low while the fear of failure was higher than Christmas spirit. It was the Friday before exam week, and there was a lot of last-minute reviews and cramming going on as students desperately completed study guides, flipped through flashcards, and made quizlets for their classes. Even the teachers were beside themselves, having to answer numerous questions through email and in person.Towards the end of the day, the stress seemed to have climbed so high that it felt like classrooms were war zones and the library was a no man’s land. As a very powerful and gifted telepath, the Professor was overwhelmed by the tension so thick he felt like he was drowning in it. It was such a shame that the students couldn’t be children when they were worrying over their grades. Finals were at least 30% of everyone’s grades, if not higher depending on the teacher’s discretion. Education was important, but so was personal safety and health, be it physical or mental or emotional. Of all people, the Professor knew this as a mutant, as a telepath, and as a man who opened his home to children and those in need. Therefore, he felt compelled to help them in some way besides offering a last-minute review session – that would just pile on more anxiety.At a loss, the Professor sat in his office, staring so hard at his desk that the wood-grain pattern seemed like it was seared into his retinas. He was brainstorming for ideas, something uplifting or motivational, but at the same time simple. Offering more academic help or bonus points would be no different than what the teachers had been doing all week. Having a pizza night for dinner seemed out of the question, too, since there had already been an unhealthy amount of snacking and stress-eating.Steepling his hands in front of his mouth as he propped his elbows on the desk, the Professor was deeply tempted to ask some of his teachers for any suggestions. There were multiple problems with that, though. For one, he didn’t want to draw them away from the students at this time while they still had questions. For another, what he wanted to do for the students applied just as equally to his teaching staff. After all, when the students finish their exams, everything is out of their hands from there. However, it was a different story for the staff. The exams had to be graded promptly over the break so that the students could know their final grades soon before Christmas, so they could fully relax, too. That meant that the teachers had another week of school basically, grading exams and essays and projects and extra credit assignments. If Charles asked any of them for advice on what he wanted to do, it would be spoiling the surprise for them as well, especially if he needed their help in executing his plans.No, this had to be perfect. Something that didn’t induce anxiety or raise stress levels. It didn’t necessarily have to be cathartic to the point of the students going crazy. That would be counter-productive to the entire point of this week of review. What the Institute needed was something relaxing that could temporarily lift the heavy weight of thinking and memorization. There had to be something that could erase the looming shadow of possible failure from his students and staff.Suddenly, Charles got an idea, a wonderful idea. Expertly, he maneuvered his wheelchair to one of his cabinets where he kept nonacademic materials. Behind a few bottles of brandy was an old record-player that his father had used. The Professor was lucky to find this considering he knew that his old record-player was somewhere else in this huge mansion. The difference between Charles’ record player and his father’s was that his father owned old fashioned music. Luckily, Charles knew that there was a Christmas one also somewhere in the cabinet. Eventually, he found it and put it on the record player, placing that on his desk. Rolling back behind his desk, Charles switched on the intercom – something he rarely used since he was a telepath, but there have been emergency situations where it was needed – and put the needle on the record, allowing the music to play.“Have yourself a merry little Christmas.Let your heart be light.From now on, our troubles will be out of sight.”It played beautifully. Despite being unused for many years, most likely since the 1970s, the record player was in pristine condition, albeit a bit dusky. The Frank Sinatra record was one of the few that wasn’t cracked, damaged, or scratched either, too. So, the music easily transferred over the speakers throughout the school smoothly and without a hitch.Everywhere in the X-Mansion, there was a pause as teachers and students both took a breather to stop and listen to the song. It felt like the previous general atmosphere had dissipated. The stress was melting away as people’s hearts were warmed and lifted by Christmas cheer.“Have yourself a merry little Christmas.Make the Yuletide gay.From now on, our troubles will be miles away.”Storm had stepped out of her classroom, still a little weary that this wasn’t authorized by the Professor, but when she saw that Forge was leaning against a wall, she stopped. For the first time this week, Forge looked happier than ever, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the music. There was a small smile on his upturned face, one that warranted a kiss from Storm, but she couldn’t drag her feet over there to do it. She took as much pleasure in the music as she did from seeing the calm on her boyfriend’s visage. If he was unconcerned, then so should she. After all, Forge always knew when the intercoms were inappropriately misused. Satisfied, Storm returned back inside her classroom and softly closed the door behind her with a barely audible click.“Here we are as in olden days,Happy golden days of yore.”Down in his laboratory as always, Hank lifted his head from his work, rolling his shoulders to relieve the tension of his straining muscles. His neck ached, and he rubbed his hands into it, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. One leg had fallen asleep, and he had to stand there for a moment to shake it awake. The music was able to pull him away from his work in a peaceful way, where he didn’t jump too violently and ruin anything. Allowing it all to wash over him, Hank blinked, realizing he had worked through lunch again. Deciding to get into the Christmas spirit, Hank left his lab and travelled upstairs to the kitchen for a snack and a mug of hot chocolate.“Faithful friends who are dear to us,Gather near to us once more.”Studying in the library were a few teenagers who didn’t have a class during this hour. At one table sat Ace and the trio of troublemaking boys: Francois, Gilbert, and Antonio. Rather than being productive the boy had been rowdily playing Cards Against Humanity, driving Rogue up the wall and to her wits’ end trying to control them. Now that the music was playing, though, they had moderately settled down. Music tamed the savage beasts it seems.At the other table, though, there seemed to be a less dramatic change with the group of girls. Wanda was helping the girls go over the timeline they made for Logan’s history class before they had to turn it in today. With her was Armor, Pixie, Jubilee, and Negasonic. Unsurprisingly, the only girl not fully participating was Negasonic, because she had her earbuds in and blared her music. Wanda had allowed it mostly because she felt pangs of remembrance in being an edgy teenaged mutant girl, too, and also because she knew sometimes people concentrated better with music. Now that the music was playing overhead, though, maybe it was time to get Negasonic to join the group. The only one brave enough to suggest that, though, was Jubilee to no one’s surprise at all. “Hey, Negasonic,” she whispered as she pulled the girl’s earbuds away, “you should listen to this Christmas music like the rest of us. Tis the season and all that jazz.” Jubilee smiled at her and bumbled to ask a question before Negasonic could sour the moment. “Hey, uh, what did you get for this date?” With fascination, Wanda watched as Negasonic spoke softly to Jubilee rather than biting the girl’s head off. Christmas miracles do happen, but if you were observant that wasn’t actually a miracle. There was more to hope for from Jubilee and Negasonic, and everyone aware of it knew it and believed it.“Through the years we all will be together,If the fates allow,So, hang a shining star upon the highest bough,And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.”In a classroom, Kurt managed to draw out a lot of laughter from his students as he performed a dramatic lip sync of the song as it played. He went to such lengths like dangling from the ceiling by his tail and draping himself across his desk. It was just Kurt’s style, though, to be okay with people laughing at him. After all, he was laughing, too, and he firmly believed that laughter is the best medicine.“Have yourself a merry little Christmas.Let your heart be light.From now on, our troubles will be out of sight.”Similar to the events of the other day, Jean was struggling to put Hope down for her nap. Short of bringing Hope with her, Jean knew that she could not miss her last class of the day. No one would be able to cover for her either. However, as soon as the music cascaded into the nursery over the schoolwide speaker system, Hope stopped fighting her sleep and was almost instantaneously lulled into a dream land. Extremely thankful, Jean flicked off the lights, taking her baby monitor with her to psychology class. Hope slept serenely for the rest of her naptime, undisturbed by anything.“Have yourself a merry little Christmas.Make the Yuletide gay.From now on, our troubles will be miles away.”Bobby had been in mid-search when he first heard the music. He had been on the hunt for Deadpool’s mysterious, invisible, tantalizing presents, and so far, had no luck. Frustration was about to overtake him when the sultry voice of Frank Sinatra coaxed him out of it. Instead, he sank into cushions of a nearby couch, allowing himself to finally chill. It was rough teaching math here, especially math like Statistics, Calculus, Trigonometry, Algebra, and Accounting. Often it was a thankless job, but now, he wasn’t chasing numbers through his head. Looking for presents had been a nice distraction, but it felt much of the same as his job as far as satisfaction went. But now, listening to a classic Christmas song, Bobby felt at peace. There was no outside pressure on him as a member of the X-Men, so he dropped his guard in the safety of his home. Allowing himself to space out, Bobby took in the beauty of the Christmas tree and other holiday decorations before his eyes unfocused and he just daydreamed idly, happily, about nothing at all.“Here we are as in olden days,Happy golden days of yore.”Sitting at his desk as his students worked quietly, both Peter and his students listened to the music. This was the first time Peter had ever heard this particular Christmas song, and as he mentally translated the lyrics for himself he was surprised that he found himself getting caught up in the words. He felt like he was nearly on the verge of tears, so emotional was he. Moved by the music, Peter felt compelled to share his feelings. Pulling out his phone, he carefully typed a sweet message to Kitty, where he basically said that he loved her. After he pressed send, he got up and left his classroom to call home and tell his parents that he loved them, too. If his cellphone had had the signal reach he probably would have tried to call his sister Illyana, too, but he knew that that effort would be fruitless. Lucky for him, though, he managed to get ahold of his parents, and as he talked quietly to them in his native tongue, his phone buzzed from a text message from his girlfriend Kitty. She had been surprised to receive his text as she sat in her office listening to the Christmas music, but she was delighted to receive it of course. Her text back was much of the same, and Peter felt his heart flutter with love just as Kitty’s had at his own text message.“Faithful friends who are dear to us,Gather near to us once more.”Upstairs in Jane’s bedroom, Pietro and Jane were playing with Balto. It had been a game going back and forth between tug-of-war and fetch with him, where when he brought them the toy but refused to let it go easily. The game would get even more fun and intense when Pietro would use his super-speed to run around the room and tease Balto with the toy before running away. They would play outside if it wasn’t so cold and if they weren’t afraid that Balto would go roll in the mud again. When the music started playing, though, they were glad that they didn’t go outside. Looking up at each other, they both simultaneously smiled, Pietro gently tugging on the squeaky toy Balto had clamped firmly in his jaws. With his focus more on Jane than the dog, Balto managed to yank his toy out of Pietro’s hand and prance away with it, boasting. While the dog stretched out and happily squeaked his toy, Pietro approached Jane where she was sprawled on the bed, watching him. She sat up when he got close and their mouths connected in a kiss before they both started singing along to the song, serenading each other. Eventually, Balto grew jealous since he wasn’t the center of their attention, and jumped on the bed, howling along to the music, too. Both Jane and Pietro laughed before concentrating on Balto again, lavishing him with coos and belly rubs.“Through the years, we all will be together,If the fates allow,So, hang a shining star upon the highest bough,And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.”Charles had enjoyed listening to the music almost as much as he enjoyed how much the tension in the X-Mansion had relaxed along with him. Using his telepathy, he had moved from mind to mind to check and see if his idea had worked, and he was glad to see such an overwhelmingly positive response from not only his students but his X-Men as well. Satisfied with what he had done, Charles stopped the record and put it away, confident that now he could finally get some work done and be in a better, more festive mood while doing it.~Despite all his skills as a telepath, though, the only mind Charles had neglected to check (almost deliberately so, one might say) was Logan’s. Darcy had been in her office doublechecking to see if her key was correct for her exam when the music came on, and she had stopped to enjoyed the music before finishing. Then she went to Logan, because the song had made her feel that same Christmas cheer that made you want to spend the holidays with those you love.When she found him, he was teaching his class, and if anything, he seemed annoyed while doing it. Confused, Darcy checked her watch, wondering why he was still teaching when his class should have been dismissed five minutes ago. Her confusion grew even more when she had to wait an additional ten minutes before he finally let his students go. Once the last of the students trailed out – all looking unhappy – Darcy entered his classroom, gently shutting the door behind her. “Carcajou,” she gently began, “are you happy to have finished your review?”Uncharacteristically, Logan didn’t even look up when she entered. At her question, he only grunted, a sour look on his face. He sat down heavily in his chair behind his desk, pulling his papers closer to him and riffling through him, not paying her any mind.A little hurt, Darcy decided to brush it aside. “Don’t worry, I’m sure their test scores will be satisfactory for you.” Slowly, she walked towards his desk, meandering through the students’ desk in a casual way, taking her time in looking around his classroom. She didn’t want to make it seem like she was hounding him when, clearly, he wanted to be left alone, but she didn’t want to leave yet in case that would hurt his feelings. He was a complicated creature.Again, he didn’t say anything, only slashed at the papers even harder with his pen. The furrow in his brow was so severe, the frown lines on his face so deep, Darcy had the passing thought to comment to him that his face would get stuck that way if he continued, but she thought better of it.Instead, Darcy softly said to him, “Did you hear the music earlier, Carcajou? That was nice of the Professor to do for the school, don’t you think?” Finally, she had reached his desk, and she leaned her hip against the side of it, reading the notes he had written on the whiteboard behind his desk rather than staring at him.“Yeah, I heard that. Wish he didn’t do that while we were teaching. That was distracting. I had to hold my class over for it.”Her eyes slid from the board to him, and for a moment she was silent, trying to remember if she had done something wrong in the past couple of days for him to be so cold to her as he had been lately. Even though she was a telepath, she never used her powers against him because they were in a relationship and that would be a violation of trust. Logan, sensing her gaze, looked up and caught her staring. “What?” he defensively asked her.“Nothing is wrong with me, Carcajou, baby. Is something bothering you, though?” She placed a hand on his shoulder and stepped around his desk until she was standing behind him. With practiced ease, she slid her knuckles down his spine the way she knew he liked, rhythmically digging her fingers into the knots in the muscles around his neck. “What’s the matter, Carcajou? Something is clearly upsetting you.” Darcy knew he would be tense around finals, but she didn’t think finals would bother him this much. “If it’s about the final exams, you shouldn’t worry so much. You’re a fantastic history professor.” Hesitantly, she asked him, “Is it something I have down? Have I made you unhappy somehow?” Her voice lowered even further as she continued, “If this is about me warning you about my heat cycle, I apologize for the timing and all of it, but it can’t be helped or suppressed. I know I’m putting some pressure on you, but please, don’t worry too much. Let’s just have fun with it, baby.”Leaning into her touch, Logan sighed, “No, no, it’s none of that. If the kids fail, they fail, not my fault. And as for you, no, you’ve been perfect.” Tilting his head back, he looked up at her. “Is it sad that the only thing I’m looking forward to this month is your heat cycle?”Blushing in response, Darcy hummed, “Well, no, it isn’t, but trust me you’ll feel differently once it happens.” Clearing her throat, she continued, “What about Christmas, Carcajou? I happen to know for a fact that you’ve been a very good boy this year. Santa is going to spoil you with presents.” She was only halfway teasing at this point.At that Logan twisted in his chair until he could face her, pulling himself away from her magical hands. “Christmas time has never been particularly good to me before, doll.”A little heartbroken at his words, Darcy stepped forward, pulling him to her in a hug until she had her arms wrapped around his head, trapping him against her body. “Don’t say that, baby. I’m sure I can make you change your mind about Christmas.” Only pulling away enough so that she could tilt his chin up to catch his eye, Darcy solemnly promised, “I’ll make this Christmas your best one, yet, Carcajou.” With that she bent over and caught his mouth, and ran her fingers through his hair, tugging a bit.Logan took what he could from the kiss, lifting his arms to her until he had them slung over her hips and a handful of her derriere. Their relationship was founded on physical intimacy as much as love, so he was normally use to her climbing in his lap by now, but no matter how much he tried to coax her to she just wouldn’t. Since the end of the Thanksgiving Break, she had been less intimate that normal, denying him what normally she never refused him before. Her reasoning had been that she didn’t want him to be unprepared for when her heat cycle came.Her heat cycle was a result of her mutation. Like him, she was a feral mutant with a healing factor and a lengthened lifespan. In fact, she was older than him. A result of her feral mutation and her slow aging process meant that instead of getting a period once a month, she got hers once a year. That should have been a blessing, but instead that meant it was nearly impossible for her to get pregnant. In addition, it also meant that she would go into heat for at least a week to at most a month. Her heat came in December, and that meant an insatiable libido. Logan was very much interested in that considering how she was already quite tenacious and dominating in bed as it was.When she pulled away from their heated kiss, she had properly messed up his hair. “I have to go teach my last class of the day now, but don’t worry, Carcajou. Things will start to look up for you soon.” Darcy breathlessly told him, smoothing her hand over the stubble of his cheeks. She gave him a small smile before leaving with a deliberate sashay of her hips.More than a little frustrated, Logan watched her go with hungry eyes. Now he was even grouchier than before. Lacking holiday cheer, Logan returned to his work, a general grump.
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Sunday morning, snow was falling when Jubilee woke up. She had spent all day Saturday cooped up in the library like all the other students, cramming for her exams. Saturday night she attended review session after review session, checking her email like clockwork every five minutes to see if her professors had answered her yet. At one point, she had to go out of her way to knock on Professor Logan’s bedroom door to clarify what he expected on the short answer portion of his exam. Luckily for her, when Professor Darcy answered the door, she was wearing clothes and she answered the question for Logan since he was being “cranky and irritable” in Professor Darcy’s words.Not liking how she spent her Saturday at all, Jubilee took her time waking up on Sunday, sleeping in. It was too cold for her to want to leave her bed today, but when she heard the shrill screams of the younger kids playing outside, she was lured from her bed to see what they were doing. Peeking out the window, she saw a herd of kids being ushered to the nearby pond. Bobby made sure it was safe by freezing it completely, and then everyone joined in, deciding to ice-skate.From the warmth of her blankets, Jubilee watched the lucky kids who didn’t have exams to study for learn how to ice-skate from Bobby, Kitty, and Peter. Jubilee wished she could be out there with them; she wanted to learn how to ice-skate, too. Watching them stumble and fall but gradually fall less and less made Jubilee smile, but she also felt more than a little jealous that she couldn’t join them. She still had studying to do. With that thought in mind, she turned away from the window and went to her desk, pulling out her textbooks and notes for a further review before her exams.She had managed to read through exactly three chapters of her physics textbook when once again noises from outside tempted her to look out her window again. The kids had split into two teams to play hockey. Bobby was the captain of one team while Peter was the captain of the other. Kitty was enjoying figure-skating alone, doing facing twirls and figure-eights. Being more than a little competitive, Jubilee itched to join them. She liked winning, and she would bet all of her quarters that Bobby’s team was going to win. However, she knew she wouldn’t be able to see them win since she still had five more chapters of her physics textbook to read. Peter would be disappointed if she didn’t pass his exam because she had decided to root against his hockey team. Still, Jubilee argued with herself that hockey did involve physics, so she lingered by the window long enough to watch Bobby’s team score at least once before she returned to her textbook again.When she finished studying for physics, Jubilee decided to treat herself by looking out the window again. By now even more people had decided to join in on the ice festivities, though the children had stopped playing hockey. It looked like Kitty was giving lessons now on how to do the fancy tricks she had been doing before. Wanda and Kurt were out there now, too, clinging to each other in desperate attempts to keep from falling flat on their backs. Jubilee imagined that it had to be hard for Kurt to keep his balance out there with his peculiar feet and his tail, but with Wanda’s help he managed. Even Rogue, the resident Southern Belle, had joined in on the fun now. She apparently had learned how to ice-skate a long time ago from her boyfriend Bobby. With a sigh of reluctance, Jubilee went back to her work, pulling out her calculus textbook now.It wasn’t even twenty minutes later when Jubilee heard the siren’s call of the outdoors in the form of Balto’s barking. Once again dragged away from her work, Jubilee trotted over to the window, having to use the sleeve of her shirt to rub a clear spot on the window for her to look outside. Just as she heard, Balto was out there and he had run out on the ice, slipping around in his excitement. He was a husky, built for this weather, so he was having fun chasing the kids and sliding around. Never too far behind were Jane and Pietro. They joined him out on the ice, Jane as graceful as always and Pietro showing off his skills. Jubilee had the very strong suspicion that Pietro was falling flat on his face out there, it was just that since he moved so fast no one ever saw it.Longing to be out there, Jubilee sat on the window sill, still clutching her halfway finished study guide in hand. She watched as Storm went out there and made skating look as easy as walking. Storm was joined by Forge who lay sprawled on the ice more than he was on his feet. Jean and Scott brought Hope out, too, wrapped in so many jackets and scarves that she was round like a ball. They probably wrapped her that way not only to keep her warm, but to cushion her fall for when she did fall. Surprisingly, though, Hope stayed on her feet longer than Jubilee thought she would. More than likely, though, that could be contributed to Jean’s telekinesis as she probably tried to keep Hope standing that way.Eventually, even Hank came out of his lab, though he probably regretted it since he was barely able to stand on his feet. He had accidentally stranded himself in the middle of the pond, too, just standing there, afraid to move lest he fall down again. Soon afterwards, Bobby helped him back and that’s when Hank promptly returned inside. Soon he was joined by the others as slowly but surely everyone outside returned back inside. Checking the clock, Jubilee instantly knew why. It was lunch time and Darcy had said she was making homemade chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. That sounded like a good, hot meal to warm up with after a cold day outside.Hungry herself, Jubilee was about to head downstairs to grab some lunch, too, when she glanced back outside. It was beautiful out there with the snow so white and clean and fluffy. All of the snowmen were still there, including the one Jubilee had made herself. If she went out there now while everyone was distracted, then maybe she could get away with it without being chastised for not studying. Properly tempted, Jubilee hurried to put on her extra layers and her new ice-skates she had bought just for this occasion.By the time she got out there, her roommate Pixie and Pixie’s best friend Armor were already out on the ice together. Clearly, they had the same idea as her. Pixie – or Megan Gwynn, but she preferred to be called Pixie – used her wings to help her do extra twists and twirls as she ice skated. Armor – or Hisako Ichiki, but again like others here she preferred her codename – didn’t show off as much, preferring to gently push herself around and watch Pixie laugh. Like Jubilee and Negasonic, these girls were a part of the training program to become future X-Men. Unlike Jubilee and Negasonic, though, they had been a part of their apprenticeships longer. The mentor for Pixie was Kitty, and Pixie was nearly ready to become a full-fledged X-Men. The only issue was that Pixie wanted to join Illyana in going to other dimensions because she had a great interest in magic. Before Rogue, Armor’s mentor had been Logan, but he had unexpected disappear for a few years. Because of that, there was a slight rift between them. To mend the rift, the Professor thought to assign Armor to Rogue, because like Armor, Rogue had had Logan as her mentor, and he could be distant at times. Now that Logan was with Darcy, though, there was little doubt that he could shirk his duties a mentor to Jubilee now. Luckily for Jubilee, Armor didn’t hold a grudge against her. “Hey Jubilee, your studying went as well as ours did?”“You know it,” Jubilee winked, and then ran out onto the ice in her skates. For a moment, she was ice skating, and then she was falling. She recovered and then started to pitch forward to fall again. When she landed, it was hard, but the ice didn’t even so much as crack underneath. Lucky for Jubilee, she’s taken harder hits and she didn’t taste any blood. Distantly she could hear one of her friends’ gasp while the other muffled her snickers, but then Jubilee climbed to her feet and tried again.Helpfully, Pixie hovered nearby. “Need help?”“No, I can do this,” Jubilee said firmly, huffing and puffing already. “How much trouble do you think we’ll get in when they catch us out here?”“You mean ‘if’ they catch us,” Pixie shook her finger at Jubilee before flying off to Armor.Armor took Pixie’s hands, allowing the girl to drag her across the ice until she reached Jubilee. “Yeah, ‘if’ is good.”Waving her arms to catch her balance, Jubilee smiled at her friends. “You guys ready for Christmas?”Armor put her hands on Jubilee to steady her, “Yeah, Jubilee, Christmas here is always fun.”“Especially the winter dance,” Pixie added, circling around them as she hovered above the ground. She waggled her fingers at Jubilee meaningfully, but Jubilee didn’t see, though Armor did of course. Armor was Negasonic’s roommate, and so she knew exactly about the lack of going on between Jubilee and Negasonic that should be going on.“There’s a winter dance?” Jubilee asked a little too innocently. She was looking down at her feet as she attempted to move but neither Armor nor Pixie were fooled. They knew she was listening closely.“Yeah, me and Pixie are going together,” Armor informed Jubilee before continuing to explain the dance. “Every year the Professor throws a ball to celebrate the end of finals and the year. Also, he sort of does it mostly because he wants to give the students who have nowhere else to go for Christmas something fun to do. This year it’ll be Saturday, and it’s supposed to be formal attire.”“Well, what if I can’t afford a dress?” Jubilee looked up sharply.“Just ask one of the professors to take you shopping.”“Is it mandatory?”“No, but it is somewhat recommended to go with a date.”“What do you mean?” Jubilee asked, simultaneously confused and suspicious.That last part may have been a fib on Pixie’s part, but she was sure she could push her luck. “Well, everyone usually goes with someone or they just don’t go at all. You should go though, Jubilee. You’ll have tons of fun.”“Ace promised to spike the punch bowl this year,” Armor tempted Jubilee, but Jubilee didn’t seem interested.“Negasonic will be there.” Pixie dared to add, but she wasn’t even sure if Negasonic even knew about the dance and she doubted she would want to go anyway.“You think so?” Jubilee sounded hopeful.“Yeah, ask her, Jubilee.”“Oh, I dunno.”“Well she’s coming right now so here’s your chance.” Armor pointed to where Negasonic was valiantly trudging in the snow towards them. She was rubbing her head, probably regretting her close shave in the cold.Jubilee choked on air before she recovered herself. “Oh my gosh, she can’t know we were talking about her, um, quick let’s talk about something else?”Amused in watching Jubilee’s small freak out, Pixie and Armor exchanged a look. “Well, what should we talk about?”“Uh, um, uh,” Jubilee’s eyes darted towards Negasonic rapidly. “Rudolph the red nosed reindeer,” she burst out into song, her voice loud to cover for her lack of singing skills, “had a very shiny nose,” desperately she shook her hands, trying to get them to sing along with her, “and if you ever saw it!”“Saw it!” Pixie and Armor echoed her.“You would even say it glows!” Jubilee’s answering smile was tremulous and grateful.“Like Jubilee,” Negasonic added as she smoothly skated out towards them on the ice. Immediately, they stopped singing. “I feel like I live in a Disney movie.”“Hi Negasonic,” Jubilee cheerfully greeted her. “What do you mean by that?”“Everyone is always singing here.” Negasonic answered her, popping her chewing gum. She offered Jubilee a stick of gum, and Jubilee accepted it happily. Neither Armor nor Pixie were offered any gum, and they snuck glances at each other, but otherwise didn’t say anything.“So Negasonic, Jubilee had something to ask you,” Pixie told her as she brushed her pink hair out of her face.“Well, what is it?” Negasonic turned to face Jubilee, not catching the look of panic that Jubilee shot Pixie.“Well, uh, umm,” Jubilee stuttered, and mercifully Pixie lifted up Armor by her armpits and flew away with her to give them some privacy. With them gone and left alone with Negasonic, Jubilee found her courage. “Did you know about the dance this Saturday?”“Yeah, I heard of it in passing,” Negasonic looked down at her nails, faking disinterest. “What of it?”“Oh, well, I just wanted to know if you would go with me? Maybe? Like if you don’t have any plans or whatever? If not, then cool, cool. We don’t have to go. We can do something else. We can still be friends. That’s fine with me. I’d understand if you think some winter ball is stupid or something.”“Shut up, Jubilee, and I’ll go with you,” Negasonic interrupted her.“Really? You will?” Jubilee squeaked.“Yeah, I will.”Unable to contain her happiness, Jubilee tried to dance on the ice, but nearly threw herself flat on her back out of clumsiness. Thankfully, Negasonic was standing close enough to catch her before she fell. Startled, Jubilee nervously glanced up at Negasonic. Negasonic had caught her with her arms around Jubilee’s waist, and Jubilee had clutched Negasonic’s scarf, halfway leaning over the other girl’s arm. They remained frozen like that for a few moments, Jubilee’s cold fingertips beginning to spark and she felt a warmth spread through her midsection She watched in fascination as a slow smirk crept across the black lipstick of Negasonic’s lips.Both of the girls were just beginning to blush when a voice suddenly interrupted them. “Don’t you have a history exam tomorrow that you both should be studying for?” Logan stood at the edge of the ice and called out to them. Besides only wearing a light jacket for warmth, he didn’t seem bothered by the cold. He held a lit cigar and puffed on it solemnly. He was obviously still grumpy from yesterday.Immediately Jubilee disentangled herself from Negasonic, absolutely furious that Logan would embarrass her like this when Jubilee made a point of steering clear of him when he was with his own girlfriend. Negasonic comforted her, though, in a voice deliberately loud enough for Logan to hear. “Don’t worry about him, Jubilee, he’s just cranky cause he’s not been getting some.”Blowing smoke in their direction, Logan barked, “What was that, Negasonic? Sounds like a cry for detention to me.”Negasonic took Jubilee’s hand as she helped her skate back to shore. “No, it wasn’t.”“Maybe a Saturday night detention scrubbing toilets?” Logan continued. Oh, yes. He was still in a very piss-poor mood.“Please, Wolvie, she didn’t mean it.” Jubilee begged and once they reached the shore she rushed to her mentor and clasped her hands in front of her chin.“And if I did, you’d only be proving my point.” Negasonic said darkly with typically teenage attitude. She began stomping back towards the Institute, snow crunching noisily underfoot.Logan growled, “Too late. Detention on Saturday night.” Refusing to look at Jubilee’s face of betrayal, he dropped the cigar stub and crushed it under his boot before following Negasonic back to the X-Mansion to fill out the detention form. He didn’t want to admit that Negasonic had hit the nail on the head just too close to home for his liking.Heartbroken, Jubilee trudged after them. Whereas before she wanted to shoot her fireworks into the sky for hours, now she doubted if she could even click her fingers together into a sparkle. On top of that, she still studying to do and at least three exams the next day – including her history exam with Professor Logan and Negasonic. That is sure to be very tense now.
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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.
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Tuesday morning Kurt woke up earlier than usual. He was excited to finish up his exams today much like Forge had been yesterday, but different than Forge, Kurt was a huge Christmas nut. As Kurt liked to phrase it, “Die Deutschen erfanden Weihnachten. Niemand kann es besser machen als wir.” Rather, roughly translated plainly in English, “The Germans invented Christmas. No one can do it better than us.” Therefore, even though Kurt’s written and oral German examinations didn’t begin until 6 that evening, Kurt still had preparations to do beforehand.Leaving Wanda to rest, Kurt made his way to the kitchens, and was happy to find that he was there before Darcy was. Maximizing this advantage, Kurt assembled his ingredients, checking to see if he had everything for the multiple sweets he wanted to bake. If he didn’t have anything, he could always just pop over to the supermarket. There probably wouldn’t be very many people there this early anyway. Once he gathered everything, though, Kurt was lucky enough that he didn’t have to go grocery shopping and instead could immediately start baking his goodies.Having grown up in the circus, Kurt was use to over the top holiday celebrations. Naturally, Christmas was the biggest one of all. Despite always being on the move, though, there was never a lack of baked goods. Kurt loved all of it. There was Hausfreunde, a buttery almond-apricot sandwich cookie that was dipped in bittersweet chocolate and topped with pecans. There spiced cookie bars called Basler Leckerli. There were the traditional ginger-molasses cookies that were also delicately spiced called Lebkuchen. Most importantly, there were Kurt’s favorite dessert: Haselnussmakronen. Whenever Kurt had these, he was always reminded of his old home, and of Christmas time.First, he started with the Basler Leckerli. The sooner he had them baked, the better they will be the longer they sit and get flavorful. Normally he made these treats every year to share them with his new family of X-Men and his students, but this year, he really wanted to share these with Wanda. While he was Catholic, he knew Wanda was Jewish; but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t spend the holidays together. He would support her in her celebration with Hanukah, just as much as she would support him in his celebration of Christmas.There was a bit of an age gap between him and Wanda, and though they came from different worlds (him from the circus quite literally and she from the suburbs) he felt that she was sure to be the one for him. He had never felt this way about anyone before her. Kurt knew she felt the same; she told him as much.Once he had the Basler Leckerli in the oven to bake, he started mixing the ingredients for the Lebkuchen. “Wir wünschen Ihnen frohe Weihnachten! Wir wünschen Ihnen frohe Weihnachten! Wir wünschen Ihnen frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!”“Merry Christmas to you, too.” Darcy wished him as she finally wandered into her kitchen. She sniffed delicately at what he was baking, and opened the fridge looking for some breakfast. “I planned on making waffles this morning, but I can that’s not happening now.” Choosing an apple, she sat down at the counter on one of the barstools, eyes glancing over his ingredients.“Guten Morgen, Darcy! I didn’t tink jou vwould mind if I made a little someting,” Kurt jovially greeted her with a wave of his tail as his hands were busy. “I did not know tat jou knew German.”“There’s a lot about me that would surprise you.” Darcy took a bite of her apple, munching on it as she watched him fold and pound the dough into shape. “It helped to read your mind, too.” She tapped a claw against her temple. “That’s also why I didn’t bother to ask what you were doing either.”There was a momentary pause as Kurt processed what she said. He wasn’t sure he was comfortable reading his mind, but he wasn’t sure he had much of a choice considering how many telepaths there were at the X-Mansion. The Professor himself shamelessly read and invaded their minds all the time, anyway. Shrugging it off, Kurt went back to his meticulous baking. “If jou vwant to vwatch or jump in and join, eiter is fine vwith me.” Noncommittal, Darcy hummed at him, “No, it’s not my place to help you with this.” Finishing her apple, she tossed the core in the trash and dragged the back of her hand across her mouth.Unoffended, Kurt knew what she meant. She was a telepath after all. Darcy knew that he wanted make these treats with another woman who was more meaningful in his life. “Vwhy are jou avwake so early when jou don’t have class?” If anything, he expected her to take full advantage of the fact that both her and Logan were done for the semester to be with him. They were never ones to hide their affection and lust for each other.“Logan has grading, Kurt,” Darcy reminded, and in avertedly Kurt was also reminded that she knew what he was thinking but too polite to voice out loud. Fervently, he started mentally reciting the recipe for Lebkuchen loudly in his head. He blushed purple and was thankful when Darcy didn’t call him out further.“Oh.”“Yes, oh, yes.” Darcy smiled at him, showing there were no hard feelings. With that, she tossed her hair at him and left, calling a soft goodbye over her shoulder.Once she was gone, Kurt breathed a sigh of relief. He and Logan weren’t exactly bosom buddies, more like drinking buddies when Logan wanted to drink with the guys rather than his girlfriend. After all, Darcy could go head to head with any hard drinker and come out of it without a hangover. However, when Logan did drink heavily with Kurt, his tongue did loosen and mostly he talked about Darcy and how much he loved her and how wonderful she was. That’s how Kurt knows that not only is Darcy a very talented chef, but also very good in bed. Kurt did not want Darcy to know that he knew that. Additionally, Kurt was also worried that Darcy would have kicked him out of the kitchen for having made such a mess, but today was apparently his lucky day.By the time Darcy had left, the Basler Leckerli had finished baking and it was time for the Lebkuchen to take its place in the oven. Kurt was going to give the Basler Leckerli time to cool before he would cut it into bars. Next, he started on the Hausfreunde.“Need some help in her, Chef Wagner?” Wanda cheerfully asked as she entered the kitchen.“Guten Morgen, mein VWanda!” Kurt smiled at her with all of his teeth, patting his floury hands on his shirt. “I did not vwant to vwake jou, but I’m glad jou remembered tat I vwould be baking tis morgen.”“How could I forget? Besides, I could smell of all these delicious spices from our bedroom anyway. I’m surprised not every X-Men and student isn’t here trying to steal a cookie or two.” Wanda pulled her hair up and back into a ponytail. Hair is not a tasty ingredient. “Do you need an apron, Kurt?” She pointedly asked, referring to how he was already powdery white with flour.“Oh, tat vwould be nice, ja” Kurt ruefully ruffled his hair. Belatedly he tried to dust off the flour.In response, Wanda passed him an apron and put one on herself. Darcy always kept a few fresh, clean, and handy in the kitchen. “So what you like me to do?”“Vwell, I am almost finished here vwith tis Hausfreunde. Can jou start melting the bittersvweet chocolate?” Kurt asked her, and Wanda started doing so. He watched her break the chocolate into squares and add it to the pot on the stove to start melting, though not to quickly lest it burn. She looked so beautiful, and Kurt wondered if this could become a holiday tradition for them. If they did this every year, he wouldn’t complain. In fact, he would be very happy for that. Gently, he used his tail to move a stray lock of her hair behind her ear from where it curled temptingly in the corner of her mouth. Shyly, she blushed at the contact, and Kurt couldn’t help but place a kiss there.“Kurt, please,” she giggled at him.“Ja, ja, I know.” Kurt pulled back with a pleased grin. He managed to turn back to his Hausfreunde, humming his Christmas carol under his breath. Soon, though, his hands began to wander, and while his hands weren’t exactly idle or doing the devil’s work, they itched to hold Wanda in his arms. Slowly, he made his way back over to Wanda and oh, so carefully wrapped her in a warm embrace, burying his nose in her hair. “Jou are going to smell so good after tis. Like cookies.”“If you keep this up, Kurt, your cookies are going to smell very burnt after this,” Wanda warned him, but still she reached up and placed a tender hand on his cheek. There was an exchange of a passionate kiss or two more before Wanda patted his cheek, signaling that she was finished and needed to direct her attention to the hot stove in front of her.With heavily exaggerated reluctance, Kurt released her and moved away. Though, the lingering smile on his face may have been more than a little mischievous than normal since he took pride in seeing the flour print in the shape of his three-fingered hand on her derriere. Again, he went back to his Hausfreunde and humming.This time it was Wanda who caused a little trouble. “Kurt, would you like a taste?” She took a spoon and dribbled some of the warm chocolate on her finger. “Of the chocolate, of course.” Wanda took a lick of the spoon herself, sucking it clean. “It’s delicious, and again I’m referring to the chocolate.” With a crook of her finger, she offered him a taste of the chocolate off of said finger.A slow smile spread across Kurt’s face and he did take a taste of the chocolate from her finger with a slow suck, flicking his tongue over the digit when he finished. Once again, they delved into kissing, and nearly burned both the Lebkuchen in the oven and the chocolate on the stove for the Hausfreunde. After that, they kept their distance from each other, though, they did toss smiles and glances every now and then.Soon after they saved the Lebkuchen and had the Hausfreunde baking in the oven, they started on the Haselnussmakronen together. This one was a raspberry-hazelnut macaroon, and it was fairly simple to make since there were only five ingredients. As they made this one together, there were no further mishaps. By now, the Basler Leckerli was cool enough to cut and Kurt did so with precision. Both Kurt and Wanda had to refrain from eating them, though, saving it for his students for later.When the Hausfreunde finished baking and was left to cool, they popped the Haselnussmakronen in its place. The chocolate was bubbling on the stove, melted but not burnt. The cooled Hausfreunde was dipped into it before topped with a pecan. They left the Hausfreunde for the chocolate to harden. The Haselnussmakronen, when removed from the oven and cooled enough, was drizzled in a raspberry sauce and topped with fresh raspberries. Everything not only smelled wonderful, but looked great, too. Kurt and Wanda satisfied themselves with having a taste of each other instead of the desserts, though. Besides, there was plenty of left over chocolate and raspberry sauce to be used in more creative ways besides baking.That evening, Kurt happily sampled his delicious cooking along with his students after the completion of their exams. It was a joyous time, and he made sure to save a couple for Wanda, too. Kurt’s students were none the wiser that that morning after their professor slaved away over a hot stove with Wanda to make the Hausfreunde, Haselbussmakronen, Lebkuchen, and Basler Leckerli – both he and Wanda had escaped to their shared bedroom for the rest of the day with chocolate and raspberry sauce. In fact, Kurt made a beeline for his bedroom after his celebration with the students was over. Neither he nor Wanda left their room until the near noon the next day. It was an auspicious start to their holiday break.
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As it seemed to be the trend here at Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters, the professors were more excited than the students for the exams to be over. Even for a devoted teacher like Peter, he was no exception to the rule. Being Russian, Peter did not grow up celebrating Christmas. He came from a poor family of farmers, and to them, celebrating the New Year was the more important winter holiday. When Peter came to the United States and to Xavier’s Institute, though, Christmas became one of his favorite holidays, his joy fueled by Kurt. As both Peter and Kurt came from Europe, when they attended the Institute together, they were close. Kurt’s excitement for Christmas was contagious and spread to Peter quite easily.When Peter finally started dating Kitty, though, his eyes were opened to her holiday traditions. Kitty grew up celebrating Hanukah where instead of a Christmas tree, she lit the Menorah’s candles with her mother. There was still the exchanging of presents, but it was a little different. While Peter never played any reindeer games, Kitty always loved the Dreidel. In fact, she almost always won at it, too. Peter knew that they had vastly different childhoods since he came from rural roots whereas she came from the city with well-off parents. Peter’s schooling before the Institute was simple and old-fashion, and most of the time he didn’t attend since he had to help his parents with the crops. Kitty, on the other hand, was a popular girl, a cheerleader, a prep, a princess. At the Institute, things were different, though.Like Kurt and Wanda’s relationship and Forge and Storm’s relationship, there was a small age gap between the two of them of about four years. For one, Peter had already graduated and just started teaching physics as a professor when Kitty’s parents enrolled her here, believing this to be a private school rather than a school for mutants. Kitty and Peter were not even romantically interested in each other, as Kitty initially had a crush on Bobby. They dated, but not for long, and after spending some time with Peter as X-Men and teammates, then did she realize her feelings for him. Peter was unaware of any developing romance until Kitty graduated become the biology professor, and immediately made her feelings clear. They have been dating ever since, two completely different people that were strikingly compatible. It is true as they say, opposites attract. As the physics professor, Peter knew that, but as Kitty’s boyfriend, he could attest to that.Wednesday morning, Peter woke up and got ready for his 9 o’clock exam. After he was finished getting dressed, he bent down and gently shook Kitty’s shoulder to wake her. Being a heavy sleeper, Kitty didn’t respond to a good morning kiss. This particular morning it was hard to wake her, but he had to considering her exam was at 10 o’clock. “Kitty, Kitty, wake up.” In response, she groaned and rolled over. “Would you like breakfast with me before your exam?”Immediately, she sat up in bed with a start. “I have an exam today? But, I didn’t study. What’s the exam?” She started pushing her messy, tangled hair out of her face, scratching at the dried drool on her chin.Perturbed, Peter answered simply, “Biology.”“Oh my God.” Kitty lightly yanked at her own hair, eyes large and wide, before she suddenly remembered she was a professor and relaxed. “Oh, thank God. I wouldn’t be able to survive as a student again.”“What made you remember you were a professor?” Peter asked her, taking her little hands in his own larger ones.Only a little embarrassed, Kitty said in a small voice, “Looking at you and remembering I never had the balls to march up to your desk and kiss you in the middle of class like I always wanted.”“Oh,” Peter blushed. It still surprised him how much Kitty adored him. He reflected on her early admission and wondered if their relationship would be the reason she wouldn’t be able to stand being a student again.“Yeah, I was an idiot, but you were worth the wait.” Kitty kissed his cheek and then jumped out of bed, hurrying to get ready. “Don’t leave yet, I want to eat breakfast with you.”Dutifully, Peter started making their bed. “I will be waiting right here, Kitty.”At breakfast, Peter had the oatmeal while she had a sugary cereal. She balked at how he didn’t even add brown sugar to his own breakfast. He balked at how she could drink her sugary, creamy coffee while he sipped at his own orange juice. Again, he thought of how their differences united them. Even their mutations were strikingly at odds as she could phase through any material whereas he could transform into an impenetrable metal.Leaving breakfast early to go administer his physics exam to his students, Peter felt a gladness in his heart that he had Kitty in his life. She brought unexpected happiness and joy in the form of laughter every day. It was the little things that solidified Peter’s love for her.After the end of his physics exam, Peter gave his semi-annual motivational speech to his students. “Your exams will be graded and posted online by tomorrow at four. You should be able to calculate your final grade from that. If you are unsure of your final grade, please wait until they are released at the end of next week. Don’t forget to read the next chapter over the break. I will hopefully be seeing some of you at the winter dance I’ll be chaperoning Saturday night. If not, I’ll see you at another time, maybe next year. Please, stay safe over break.” Taking that as a dismissal, his students started to leave. Over the sound of them gathering their materials, Peter sang to them until they had all filed out the door.“Have a holly, jolly Christmas.It’s the best time of the year.Well I don’t know if there’ll be snow,But have a cup of cheer.”Encouraged by his singing, some of his students joined in, especially those who were finished with their exams. Others only packed their test-taking items even faster in their desperation to leave and escape the holiday cheer.“Have a holly, jolly Christmas,And when you walk down the street,Say hello to friends you knowAnd everyone you meet.”The rest of the song was sung in Peter’s native tongue and he handed each of his student a candy cane as they left. Once they were gone, he settled at his desk, intending to grade. When he finished with that and input all of their grades into the computer system, Peter had plans to enjoy his break to the fullest, dividing his time equally between celebrating Christmas and simply being with Kitty, having a romantic time. Who knows, he may be able to catch her under the mistletoe.
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Thursday morning, Jubilee woke up feeling equal measures of excitement and panic. Her last exam was today and then she was free until next year. It wasn’t like she had any lingering doubts about her exams either. Jubilee was confident that she would be able to maintain her 4.0 GPA. No, the rising levels of anxiety came from another source: Negasonic.Since Sunday, Jubilee had been unsure Negasonic would be able to go to the winter dance with her now that she had an unsavory detention. Honestly, Jubilee was debating whether or not she should still go to the dance without Negasonic. She still had nothing to wear. Jubilee decided to focus on her math exam before continuing to think about the dance, though, so she and her roommate Pixie left for it.Once her exam was completed, Jubilee decided to take this up with Professor Darcy. Surely she of all people could change Professor Logan’s mind about the situation. Heading to the kitchens, she was disappointed when she found her there, preparing lasagna for dinner. “Professor Darcy, I don’t know what to do!”Looking up from the pot of hearty, meaty, tomato sauce, Darcy only had to glance in Jubilee’s direction for a few seconds before she knew what the girl was referring to. “Sit down, Jubilee, let me make you some hot chocolate.” As she did so, Jubilee took a seat at the counter, looking a little morose for someone who just finished with all their exams. Passing her the hot chocolate, Darcy leaned on the countertop across from her, crossing her arms. “Now, Jubilee, let me just say you have nothing to stress about as far as your grades go, trust me.” She tapped her claws on the counter for emphasis before she propped her elbows on the countertop again.“Yeah, I know that.” Jubilee took a sip of the hot chocolate, nearly scalding her tongue. Darcy passed her the milk and the marshmallows for her to cool her drink. Adding both and blowing on her mug Jubilee continued, “What I want to know is if you ever managed to convince Wolvie to lighten up for Christmas. You know, convince him with your,” she wiggled her fingers, “or your,” here, she grimaced, “feminine charms, I guess.” Jubilee avoided looking at Darcy’s cleavage while she waggled her fingers in its direction.“You’re so desperate for this romantic date with Negasonic that you want me to bribe my lover with sex?” Darcy propped her chin on the heel of her palm, claws flashing as they curled just underneath her eye. “Or better yet, brainwash him to do my bidding? If I were a lesser woman, I’d admire your style, Jubilee.”“I take it that’s a negative?” Jubilee mumbled into her halfway full mug.Darcy hummed, “Well, no, not exactly. I managed to lift Negasonic’s detention but not through bribery.” She tossed her hair, preening a bit.“You did?” Jubilee nearly spilled the rest of her hot chocolate in her excitement. “You did! That’s great! Does Negasonic know yet?”“Yes, Peter told her two evenings ago, and already took her shopping for the dance.” Darcy smiled at Jubilee’s jubilation. “There was a catch of course, and that’s Negasonic carrying out her detention every night this week in between her studying hours. That’s probably why you haven’t heard from her yet.”Pink sparkles started to crackle around Jubilee’s fingertips and she quickly set down her mug before she’d accidentally blow it up. “Hey, that’s okay with me, I’ve been busy studying, too. I totally get it. Wow, thanks for this, Professor Darcy.”“You can just call me Darcy when we’re not in class, Jubilee.” Sitting back up, she firmly planted her hands on the countertop. “Any other concerns you can think of at the moment, Jubilee?”“None whatsoever.” Jubilee’s joy was very palpable.A look of disbelief flashed across Darcy’s face as she pulled herself away from the counter. She checked the sauce again before she looked over her shoulder back at Jubilee. “What about a dress for the ball?”Smacking her forehead, Jubilee chattered mostly to herself, “Oh my God, I forgot about that. I don’t have any money and I didn’t ask Negasonic about what colors we should wear. Jeez, I don’t even know what Armor and Pixie are gonna wear. Gosh, I don’t want to clash with anybody. But how can I even afford a dress anyway? God!”“Jubilee, please, I’ll take you,” Darcy volunteered. “Also, it has come to my attention that the popular dress colors are going to be either yellow or blue.” With a distant look in her eye, Darcy informed Jubilee,” Armor’s dress will be dark red much like her armor in the traditional Japanese style of dress, and Pixie’s will be bubblegum pink, the same as her hair.” Blinking, she continued, looking back at Jubilee, “That’s a bit of a clash of colors for the two going as a couple, but I can understand why they picked their dresses. They will be very beautiful, and you deserve the chance to pick something beautiful to wear, too.”“What, you’re offering to be my Fairy Godmother for the Winter Ball?” Jubilee was surprised, to say the least.“I suppose I am, little Cinderella.”“Okay,” Jubilee smiled, “then take me to the mall!”~At the fanciest dress boutique in the mall, Jubilee was overwhelmed. She still wasn’t use to these finer things in life. Coming to the Xavier’s Institute has just been a dream come true. First, she was put on the road to become an X-Men, and now she was going to go to the winter ball as her first date with Negasonic. Jubilee curled her fingers into her palms, nervous to touch anything in case she set it on fire with her plasmoids. “I don’t know what to choose, Darcy.”“Anything you like, Jubilee. I won’t stop you unless you look stupid. Money is not an issue. Not even sluttiness.” Darcy was examining the dresses, too.Tentatively, Jubilee reached out and fingered the material of one of the dresses. It was silky smooth between the pads of her fingertips. “Should I…” Jubilee nervously began, “should I do something traditional like Armor?”“As an ode to your Chinese heritage, you mean?” Darcy’s peculiar colored eyes focused on Jubilee. Like a tiger’s, they were a strikingly mesmerizing amber-orange, one of the few physical signs of her being a mutant besides her claws and the supposed black stripes she had on her back. The intensity of her gaze was barely offset behind her gold-framed glasses, but Jubilee was still slightly unnerved all the same. Besides knowing Darcy was a telepath, sometimes that inner tiger that lurked inside Darcy would rear its head and bare its teeth sometimes. This felt like one of those times, though Jubilee didn’t know exactly why. Normally, she could tell when a telepath poked in her mind as a perk of her mutation, but she didn’t feel that now. “If you wish it, Jubilee. I’ll stand by what I said and I’ll support your decision.”“Okay,” Jubilee nervously dropped the dress. “Well, I guess I just want something like, I dunno, like my style already?”“Why don’t you focus on something simple for now to narrow down your choices, like color for instance.” Darcy fingered the dress Jubilee had just dropped before she, too, released it and moved on, examining other dresses.Suddenly, Jubilee felt like she could breathe again. “Well, I would’ve picked pink or yellow, but since Pixie is wearing pink and every other girl will wear yellow then I think I should do something else.”“Smart girl,” Darcy approved, “you want to stand out, of course. Shine brighter than the others and really dazzle your date. I do, too.”“So, what color dress are you going to wear, Darcy?” Jubilee asked her as she followed her down the aisle of dresses, waiting for one to jump out at her.“Blue, it’s my best color.”“Blue?” Jubilee was confused. “But didn’t you say everyone else was wearing blue?”“Don’t worry about me, Jubilee. I’ll stand out and Logan won’t be able to keep his eyes or his hands off me.”“Too much information,” Jubilee hurriedly interrupted her.“You asked,” Darcy reminded her.“Touché, I guess.” There was a moment of silence before Jubilee continued her line of questioning, “So Logan is gonna be wearing a tux? That’s gonna be weird to see.”“He’ll be beautiful,” Darcy flicked through some dresses on the rack.“You mean handsome,” Jubilee corrected her.“No, I meant beautiful.” Darcy continued to flip through the dresses, unbothered.Joining her at the rack, Jubilee did the same. “Okay, he’s your boyfriend. But, do you know what my girlfriend is wearing? It’s probably black, huh?”“Oh, yes, it’s black.” Darcy glanced at Jubilee who was checking the price tag of a dress. “Don’t let all the zeros scare you, Jubilee. I told you not to worry about that.”“I know, I know, and I’m grateful. But I just don’t understand how someone can pay so much for something so ugly.”With a laugh, Darcy promptly replied, “I agree, Jubilee, wholeheartedly.”They both continued looking through the dresses, searching through the racks for something they liked. Eventually, Jubilee couldn’t keep her silence anymore. “Wow, how come no one has to come to bother us yet?”“Simple,” Darcy answered, tapping her claw to the side of her glasses with a clicking noise. “We don’t need them until it is time to take your measurements. I’d rather not have them hovering over me.”“Thanks for that,” Jubilee started, “in fact, thank you for everything. Logan and now this. Just, thank you.”“Please, think nothing of it, Jubilee. Logan I can handle any day.” Darcy waved Jubilee’s thanks off. “So, have you decided on a color yet at least?”There was a loud gasp from Jubilee in answer before something was ripped off the rack. Jubilee shoved the dress in Darcy’s hands, squealing, “Please, oh please, Darcy, I want this one! This is the dress!”Examining the dress in her hands, Darcy wasn’t surprised at all by Jubilee’s taste. It was an 80s-style dress, something that could easily be ugly, but on Jubilee it would be perfect, especially with the right accessories. To anyone else, this dress would scream ‘thrift store’, but of course, not to Jubilee, who had a unique flare for the vintage. The main color was turquoise with green print style on it. Holding it up, Darcy say that it had a modest neckline, and the hem would fall to Jubilee’s knees, so a respectable length as well. The only slight problem would be that it had strappy sleeves, so it wasn’t quite appropriate for the weather. That hardly matters, though, when Jubilee loves it so much. Not bothering to check the price tag, Darcy looked back at Jubilee. “You’re going to wear your pink boots and pink sunglasses with this, aren’t you?”“Can I get a pink manicure, too?” Jubilee winked.“Yes, of course, but you might want to neglect your yellow jacket. So, you can cuddle to Negasonic for warmth, of course.” Darcy winked back. “Go try this on now, Jubilee.”The blushing girl eagerly rushed off to the dressing room, clutching the dress to her chest happily. Darcy meanwhile continued to prowl the aisles until she found the dress she wanted. Then Darcy summoned one of the store clerks for help as they took Jubilee’s size and Darcy’s, too, before altering the dress accordingly. Jubilee was very pleased with her purchase, and so was Darcy, though she purposefully didn’t show Jubilee the dress she bought for herself.Their next stop was for mall pizza before they went to the nail salon. Jubilee had to make a very conscious effort not to shoot plasmoids – in fact now that she got the manicure, she was going to have to refrain from that until the winter ball. Due to her mutation, Darcy did not get a manicure on her claws, instead choosing to wait for Jubilee.On their way, back home, Jubilee was bubbly with excitement. She was driving since Darcy detested it and Jubilee needed to practice since she had her learner’s permit. “This is going to be great, Darcy. I’m going to have so much fun at the winter dance with Negasonic! I’ll look so cute and I’ll dance all not with her and I’m sure she’s gonna look punk-rock and hot, too.”“Yeah, take it easy on the gas there, Speed Racer.” Darcy smiled all the same at Jubilee’s enthusiasm. “Try not to mess up your manicure either, Jubilee.”“It’s fine, Darcy, chill.” Still, Jubilee lightly applied her brakes. “Darcy? Do you know what everyone is going to look like for the dance?”“Oh, yes. Besides mentally reciting history dates, vocabulary terms, and formulas, all people have been doing is daydreaming about the winter dance.”“Sucks being a telepath, huh?”“It’s complicated,” Darcy sighed, “and we’ll leave it at that.” Changing the subject slightly, she continued, “But I won’t spoil the surprise for how everyone is going to look. It’ll be wonderful to see for yourself in person without my horrible descriptions.”“Aw, okay.” Jubilee dropped the subject. “Darcy? You wanna listen to the radio?”“Sure, Jubilee.” Darcy turned it on and switched it to the Christmas music station.“Grandma got run over by a reindeer,Walking home from our house Christmas Eve.You can say there’s no such thing as Santa,But as for me and grandpa we believe.”Sharing a look with Darcy, Jubilee smiled wide before she joined in, singing along with the radio. Darcy laughed and did so, too. It was a nice day that they spent together in Christmas cheer.
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As usual, one of the last exams to be administered the Friday before the Winter Dance was Hank’s chemistry exam. As he presided over the physical application in the lab, Hank wandered through the lab tables, checking for improper laboratory procedures. He was just as excited for the winter break to start as anyone else, but rather than spending time with that special someone, Hank was looking forward to spending more time in his lab. Hank had already begun an email correspondence with Dr. Sue Richards over here invisibility experiment, and Hank wanted to assist her in whatever way he can. It wasn’t like he had anything else to look forward to in the coming holidays in his opinion.Hank was like Logan to some extent where he wasn’t the happiest of people around Christmas. To him it was almost worse than Valentine’s Day with all the lovey-dovey mushy romance between all the couples. Whenever he walked down the halls, all he saw relationships in their prime. He couldn’t even pass under a doorway without being mocked by some dangling mistletoe. Now, that didn’t make Hank a Grinch per se. Unlike Logan, Hank did not voice his unhappiness, instead preferring to keep to himself and not think about the calendar. Still, sometimes the atmosphere of the holiday got to him.Lately (and as he always did this time of year), Hank had been keeping himself holed up in his labs, finding distractions in whatever way possible. This meant that instead of reaching out to his teammates, Hank used the internet to reach out to other scientists. Most of his fellow scientists lead pretty active social lives, like the Richards, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Hank Pym, Jane Foster, Erik Selvig. He knew that the Avengers and the Fantastic Four were often busy on missions, in the public eye, or wanted to be with their families over the holidays. This is where Hank would step in, offering assistance in research and experiments in exchange for credit for his contributions to the work. His friends agreed, considering it a win-win scenario. So far besides Sue, Hank was emailed a complicated formula from Pym that asked for adjustments to different chemicals and a request for research on minerals from Tony who said, “I don’t have time to read about rocks, so thanks.” Thus far, Hank had been pretty successful not focusing on his loneliness.In the laboratory, though, Hank felt like he was suffering without something to occupy his thoughts. Walking around making sure no one accidentally spilled their chemicals or caught their lab coat on fire wasn’t that difficult for Hank to do. This was torture for him.Pausing at Armor’s station to doublecheck her measurements, Hank suddenly heard one of his students hum a familiar melody. After he finished with Armor, Hank didn’t hear it anymore so he brushed it off. Continuing his patrol around the room, Hank noticed that Francis had the burner on too high and was just totaling the proper point deduction for it when he heard that same humming again, though this time it sounded like it was coming from the other side of the room. Trying not to make it too obvious, Hank made his way over closer to the source of the noise, simultaneously trying to remember just what song they were humming.Once he reached Gilbert, Hank stopped in realization as he recognized the song. He tapped his foot, annoyed, and pulled out his clipboard again as he marked a note beside Gilbert’s name. He starred Francis and Antonio, too, as he was doubtful that Gilbert would have acted alone. Leave it to this troublesome trio to end the semester with a tongue-in-cheek laugh at their professor’s expense. Gilbert, and now both Francis and Antonio just as Hank suspected they would, was humming “Blue Christmas” by Elvis, of course.This wasn’t the first time they have poked fun at him. There was the whole “I’m Blue” debacle at the beginning of the year. Then there were the furry accusations. Hank knew he wasn’t the only professor they pranked. Last year they had managed to get a moose into Logan’s office. It was just that this year, it was a little overwhelming for Hank because they’ve decided to take it up a notch. Nothing as severe as a moose yet, but it was getting pretty close.Normally, the blue joke wouldn’t bother Hank except that he was feeling particularly blue today, actually. Hank was surprised that it was getting to him. It’s just been a long day probably. Still, Hank was extremely grateful when the trio finished up and left the laboratory after cleaning their stations. At his own discretion, rather than assigning the boys a detention that he would have to oversee himself, Hank scrawled a hasty note to himself to not round up their grades. If he was remembering correctly, too, Gilbert and Francis in particular needed the round up to B. They would pass his class, but only just and their GPA would take a hit. Apathetic, Hank shrugged. He knew other, less kind professors like Logan – and in particular, Darcy – would do much worse to them.Heading to his office to finish grading their written exams, Hank sighed. The dance tomorrow was going to be unbearable for him, but as a professor and a chaperone, his attendance was required. Honestly, he’d rather look up rocks for Tony Stark. As he reached his office, Hank realized as he pushed his keys in the lock that he had not been in his office since before Thanksgiving Break. He had been spending far too much time in his personal laboratory lately.Flipping on the light switch for his office, Hank set the papers down on his desk and lowered himself to his chair. He felt something beneath and immediately jumped away from his desk with an undignified, high-pitched yelp. One too many pranks, science experiments gone wrong, and just super hero related incidents has taught Hank to be cautious and suspicious of everything. Carefully, he examined his chair, hoping that today wasn’t the day that trio of boys decided to top their Moose prank with a venomous snake or rabid racoon or anything. Strangely enough, Hank didn’t see anything. Nervously, he swiped his hand over the seat of his chair and it collided with something. “Deadpool’s invisible presents!”It had been a while since Deadpool had come, hiding his presents everywhere. Hank could only assume that since Deadpool left a present here, that it was his. Feeling risky, Hank grasped at the invisible object, running his hands over it. It was small, and rectangular in shape, like a box of chocolates Hank would say. Just like a box of chocolates, too, Hank wasn’t sure what he was going to get considering Deadpool was unpredictable. The only thing Hank could be sure of is that whatever was in the box wasn’t alive since there were no holes punched in the box. At least now Hank didn’t have to worry about venomous reptiles or animals with rabies.Part of Hank felt conflicted. He didn’t want to open the present just on principle that it wasn’t Christmas yet. More importantly, he didn’t want to open the present because since it was from Deadpool, it was probably gifted in very poor taste. Deadpool probably gave him a dog collar, or a lint roller for his fur, or his favorite pair of underwear for all Hank knew – and he really didn’t want to know or ever find out. The most important reason Hank was against opening the gift, though, was because this Deadpool unknowingly gave him the most interesting present of all: a successful test of an invisibility experiment. This was a gift that going to keep on giving all Winter Break long.Briefly, Hank reflected on how much longer the wrapping paper’s invisibility would maintain its integrity, which wouldn’t be very long. If he wanted to examine this closely in his private laboratory, he was going to have to rush through grading the exams and finish them tonight. Eagerly, he cracked his knuckles and buckled down to it, remembering that he placed the present on the corner of his desk with a pen on top of it, seemingly floating in midair.Despite hurrying to grade his chemistry exams and input the final grades into the computer system, Hank made sure that he was fair, meticulous to the end. Additionally, he did not forget his note for Francis’ and Gilbert’s final grades, and was happy to see that due to their screw-ups in the laboratory and incorrect math on the written exams, they would both end the semesters with frustrating C’s. Francis would have a 79.45 and Gilbert would have a 79.54. That would be their final grades, and Hank wasn’t going to change that. Their friend Antonio would have a cushy 87.32 – a B he can be happy with.As Hank collected the present and left his office for his laboratory, locking the door behind him, he found himself looking forward to the Winter Break now, thanks to Deadpool. Unknowingly to himself, he unconsciously hummed “Blue Christmas” for the rest of the night, too.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Saturday morning, Negasonic Teenaged Warhead woke up bright and early. She knew that the other girls were going to treat this like prom which meant spending all day getting their hair, nails, and makeup done; but not Negasonic. No, Negasonic didn’t have that luxury since she was still serving out her detention.Honestly, she was lucky that Darcy convinced Logan to lighten up, and really, Negasonic could’ve completed her detention earlier in the week if she hadn’t been so busy studying. That’s how she found herself dragging around a toilet brush and a toilet cleaner as she serviced every public bathroom in the X-Mansion. Just as Negasonic figured, none of them were in particularly awful shape, but this was still a school for mutants. Sometimes, that meant there was no toilet to clean because someone quite literally blew it up and had been hiding the porcelain pieces.Doing menial labor like this, Negasonic’s mind was left free to think about other things. Mainly, she thought about the winter dance, course. Negasonic wished she could have talked to Jubilee more, but due to the hectic atmosphere of finals week, she hadn’t. Her roommate Armor told her not to worry about it, that Jubilee was still going to the dance and that she was looking forward to it. At least that comforted Negasonic.All week, Negasonic had been either studying like crazy, trying to cram everything in before her exams, or she had been focusing on the what she needed to do for the winter dance. Armor told her that Jubilee had gotten her dress, but that was it, so Negasonic – in addition to having Peter take her to get formal wear – had asked Peter to take her to the florists for flowers. Now, Negasonic isn’t necessarily sentimental, but she figured it was only right to do. She had picked a pink rose, figuring that pink is Jubilee’s favorite color so it wouldn’t matter if it didn’t match her dress. However, the rose she picked was also unique because it wasn’t solid pink. At the center, it was white and as the petals bloomed out they bled from a light pink to a darker pink, but not yet red. It reminded Negasonic of the fireworks Jubilee had made during the Fourth of July.That’s when Negasonic first started to notice Jubilee, romantically. Jubilee had always been a firecracker, a spit fire, a troublemaker, a great teammate. Something just changed that night, though, and Negasonic could finally put her finger on it: the beginnings of a very gay crush. Negasonic knew she liked girls, so it didn’t surprise her, but what did was that Jubilee had asked her to the Winter Dance and now she was actually going to go to the Winter Dance with Jubilee. It was pleasantly surprising that Negasonic was still trying to wrap her brain around it.By the time Negasonic had finally finished serving out her awful detention, it was time for her to start getting ready for the Winter Dance. Good thing she didn’t sleep in or she would probably still be scrubbing toilets while the dance was in full swing. Returning to her room, she found Armor sitting at her desk with her mirror out, pinning up her hair with dark red hibiscus. “Did Pixie get you the flower or did you pick it out because it matches your dress?” Negasonic asked as she picked out her clothes for the shower.Glancing at the spot in the mirror where Negasonic had her back turned to her, Armor was taken aback. “I didn’t think you knew flowers, Negasonic.” She looked back at her hair with a smile, though, fingertips grazing the hibiscus. “Yes, Pixie did get me this. The Haibīsukasu means ‘gentle’ according to the Hanakotoba.”“I wouldn’t have known the flower had I not spent my entire afternoon yesterday looking for one for Jubilee.” Negasonic hid her blush, still not facing Armor. “What’s ‘Hanakotoba’ and uh, the other word you said mean?”Armor smiled wider at Negasonic’s bashfulness and hidden romantic side. “Hanakotoba is the Japanese language of flowers. Pixie and I decided to learn it for laughs the other day back in February, before you came to the Institute. In Japanese, a hibiscus is the Haibīsukasu.” Still smiling, Armor refocused on her hair. “I didn’t think Pixie would remember, but she did. I’m glad she did.”Sneaking a glance at Armor, Negasonic asked, “Why would she get you a flower that means gentle, though? Armor, you’re pretty badass, you know? Is it your favorite flower or something?”Continuously surprised by how talkative her roommate was being, Armor paused and twisted in her chair to look at her. She knew that when it came to texting and tweeting, Negasonic’s fingers were wicked fast at typing and made minimal errors. However, normally, Negasonic was only vocal when she had something sarcastic or smartass to say. This was a different side to Negasonic that even Armor as her roommate hasn’t seen before. “Well, no, my favorite flower is the Tenjikubotan – or Dahlia – but that means ‘good taste’ and that would be a little, uh, conceited of Pixie, don’t you think?” Negasonic’s lips twitched into a feeble smile, and Armor was encouraged to continue, “I’m glad she got me the Haibīsukasu, though.”“Maybe she thinks you’re gentle because she’s the only one to get past your armor, huh?” Negasonic lightly joked, halfway smiling, smacking her bubblegum.There was silence, Armor shocked. Normally Negasonic’s humor was based on hurting other people’s feelings, but for her to make a pun like that. “Are you saying she’s the chink in my armor?”“She may be the kink in your armor,” Negasonic teased her, dodging the comb Armor tossed at her for that comment. “So, what did you get Pixie then?” She grabbed the comb and handed it back to her, leaning against her bedpost.Idly, Armor’s hands fiddled with the comb. She was glad that Negasonic was finally opening up, and if Jubilee could help encourage that, then that would be great. “Well, I thought of giving her Hōrii because it is for Christmas, but I remembered to look it up and thought better since it stated that I’m single and that is not the case.”“Holly?” Negasonic guessed judging by the sound of the word and the context clues given.“Yes, or um, Yadorigi – the plant you hang up doorways and kiss beneath.” Armor answered. Sometimes she struggled with English words, especially the words she didn’t use often.“Mistletoe,” Negasonic told her, “that would be a great excuse to kiss her all night, huh?”Armor didn’t blush, but the corner of her mouth quirked as she fought her smile from growing larger and impish. “I gave her a daffodil,” she said, remembering the English word mostly because she had to fight the florist for it. “I mostly got it because it is yellow, and it would look good in her hair. It’s hard to get a flower for pink hair. Pink is her favorite color, too, but I know she loves yellow second best.” Armor turned back to finish her hair, applying the last few touches. “The daffodil means ‘respect’ and I do respect her.”“Yeah, that’s important for relationships,” Negasonic agreed as she glanced at her minifridge where she stored Jubilee’s corsage. She didn’t think to get a flower for her Jubilee’s hair. For someone that was earlier scoffing at the girls treating this day like prom, Negasonic did exactly that. “Did other people do flowers?”“Not many because of the winter.” Armor started putting on her makeup now that she was finished with her hair. “Pixie and I did for the Hanakotoba. That is when we first started getting serious.” Applying her foundation, Armor’s tone of voice was a little nostalgic as she remembered when her and Pixie were just beginning to date each other. Armor had never dated anyone while Pixie had never dated a girl, though she briefly date Antonio, but that didn’t last. They had always been close, and it wasn’t until they joined the X-Men program and grew closer that they realized their feelings. Pixie asked her out after losing to her in a combat session in the Danger Room. Caught off guard, Armor said yes, unsure what she was agreeing to. To this day, though, she doesn’t regret it. Carefully, Armor dabbed at her eyes to avoid having her mascara run with tears. It sucked being on her period the day of the winter dance.Lost in her own consuming thoughts, Negasonic didn’t notice. She was even more embarrassed that she got the corsage, knowing others did not. “Would Jubilee know the Hanakotoba thing?”Winging her eyeliner, Armor easily answered, “No, we never told her. It was private for so long, but I didn’t mind sharing with you now since you asked.” She finished the blending her eye makeup. “Why? Did you get Jubilee a flower?”Negasonic scowled down at her shoes. “A corsage, yeah.” She directed her scowl somewhere else on the floor, “It’s a pink rose that looks like a firework.”Pausing while she put on her lipstick, Armor searched her memory. “Momoirobara means trust, happiness, confidence. It’s a good flower to represent Jubilee, yes. She won’t know that, though.” Smacking her red lips, Armor checked to see if she smudged anywhere.The other girl dragged the toe of her boots over the floor, and if it weren’t carpet it would have scuffed. She sounded sullen and withdrawn now, petulant and reluctant to share her feelings with Armor. “Should I tell her?”Noticing now how Negasonic was reverting back to her old self, Armor set her makeup aside as she fully focused her attention on Negasonic. “No, I wouldn’t,” Armor tried to comfort Negasonic, “Jubilee would be delighted by just receiving a flower from you.”“Okay, I won’t then.” Negasonic stomped off to their shared bathroom with her clothes after that statement, going to take a shower. The door slammed shut and locked behind her, and Armor shook her head. She didn’t expect Negasonic to change to be so different so quickly, anyway. While Negasonic was in the shower, Armor finished her makeup and put on her dress; and Negasonic was still in the bathroom when Armor went to Pixie’s room to take her to the dance.It took over an hour and felt like forever, but Negasonic finally arrived at the winter dance, dressed and in her makeup. When she had texted Jubilee earlier, Jubilee had told her to go ahead and get to the dance since she was still trying to put on her dress. Negasonic offered to help her, but Jubilee politely refused, saying that Professor Darcy was helping her instead. That’s how Negasonic ended up by the eggnog bowl (tis the season for that and it’s too cold for punch) feeling stupid as she clutched the corsage box in her hand.“Should have known you weren’t going to wear a dress, Negasonic.” Ace casually meandered towards her, slouched and hands in his pockets. Obviously, he was up to no good.Nervous enough as it is, Negasonic tried to loosen the collar of her tux. She wouldn’t feel comfortable in anything other than what she normally wears, but a dress would have made her feel stupid and not safe at all. “Fuck you and fuck off, fuck boy.”Defensively, he raised one of his hands. “Hey, hey, hey. I’m not saying you look bad, Negasonic.” He made a show of looking her up and down.“Shouldn’t you be lifting up some poor girl’s skirt for those three boys to look up so they can finally see their first pussy?” Negasonic’s fingers itched to pull out her phone, but she didn’t want to harass Jubilee. She had deliberately stood her so that she would be able to see Jubilee when she arrived.“No, those boys are too busy trying to get a dance with Jane.” Ace sidled up closer to Negasonic.“Back off, I’m not interested in you.” Negasonic growled at him with narrowed eyes that dangerously flashed with a hidden fire. She could give Wolverine a run for his money when she was pissed off.“Your just not interested in dick.” Ace used both hers and his body as a shield as he finally pulled out the small bottle of vodka he had in his pocket. “I’m not interested in you, though, so relax. Don’t blow my cover either.”“You really are gonna spike the eggnog?” Negasonic snorted, “You’re gonna get caught.” Once she realized that he was just emptying the vodka bottle into the eggnog bowl, though, she did relax. The yellow that had been in her eyes dissipated as she controlled her powers once more.“I doubt I’ll be caught, but if I am, it’ll be worth it.” Ace hid the empty bottle in his pocket and whispered to Negasonic, “Tonight is the night to live a little and make some trouble, have some fun.” Then he pulled away and strolled out on the dancefloor.Unimpressed and not tempted by the alcohol, Negasonic rolled her eyes before scanning the room, looking to see if Jubilee came in already and she missed her. She saw Pixie and Armor on the dancefloor, and Gilbert, Antonio, and Francis were crowding them. They must have given up on asking Jane to dance since she was twirling around with Pietro currently. She looked so festive in her Christmas tree green dress, and so did Pietro in a silver tux. Ace came up to the three boys, Pixie, and Armor and said some things before they dispersed, and then Pixie and Armor went back to dancing. “Must have told them that they’re gay,” Negasonic muttered to herself.“Who, Pixie and Armor? Yeah, they’re together.” Rogue surprised Negasonic as she dragged Bobby to the eggnog bowl for a drink. Both she and Bobby had a cup, not commenting on the taste or alcohol.“I’m digging your tux, Negasonic,” Bobby loudly complimented her over the music. His own tux was a powdery blue while Rogue wore a modest grey dress, gloves nearly up to her arm pits and hardly any skin showing except for her exposing neckline that plunged deep to show off her cleavage. She still couldn’t control her powers, so doubtlessly she had to be covered for them to dance closely, but that didn’t stop her from teasing her boyfriend.After recovering from her surprise, Negasonic mumbled loud enough for them to hear, “Thanks.”Bobby and Rogue waved to her as they left, back on the dancefloor, leaving Negasonic wondering what just happened. How could they not say anything about the vodka? Confused, but not questioning it further, Negasonic directed her gaze to the dancefloor again where she saw Peter easily lift Kitty up for a dance move, her purple dress still maintaining her modesty. When he caught her gaze, he waved and gave her a thumbs up before continuing to dance with Kitty, and Negasonic was glad for small favors. Peter had been supportive when he went with her to get her tux, but he could be like a mother hen sometimes as her mentor.“How’s the eggnog, Negasonic?” Wanda asked as she and Kurt stepped off the dancefloor, out of breath. Both were wearing red, Wanda’s dress scarlet and velvet while Kurt’s bright cherry red tux that mercifully came with black pants contrasted nicely with his navy-blue skin.A little nervous to be standing next to the bowl now that it was spiked, Negasonic answered shortly, “I don’t like eggnog.”After taking a sip of her cup, Wanda made a face. “Ugh, I don’t blame you. I don’t like this eggnog.” She passed the cup to her boyfriend, and Kurt took it with his tail. “They must have added too many spices or something.”“Tastes fine to me,” Kurt finished the cup, “but if mein svweet VWanda vwants a drink, vwe vwill go find a decent one.” He pulled her with him, leaving the dance and doubtlessly heading to the kitchen. Negasonic heard him coo to Wanda as he left, “Have jou ever tried mulled vwine, mein svweet VWanda?”As they left, they bumped into Jubilee, looking stunning in her brightly colored dress, and Negasonic’s eyes were immediately drawn to her. Jubilee stumbled backwards, profusely apologizing to her professors, and then lapsed into apology again as she backed into Darcy, who was dressed in a sapphire blue dress that showed almost a scandalous amount of skin but still maintained a level of tastefulness. Darcy, unbothered by Jubilee, just pointed towards the eggnog, in Negasonic’s direction, and Negasonic squared her shoulders as Jubilee hurriedly approached her.“Negasonic! Hi! I love your tux!” Jubilee nervously chirped to her, smoothing down her dress repeatedly.For a moment or two, Negasonic could only blink at the pretty picture Jubilee made. She reminded her of tropical parrot with her turquoise and green dress and pink boots, and her trademark pink sunglasses perched on top of her head. Now Negasonic was thankful she didn’t get her a flower for her hair, though, she had to admire how pretty it was pulled into pigtails and curled. “I got you a flower,” Negasonic managed to say, shoving the corsage in Jubilee’s direction. Jubilee made quite a pretty and happy-go-lucky bird. “You look beautiful in your dress.”Accepting the corsage, Jubilee practically squealed with excitement, “Oh it’s wonderful! I love the pink, and it’s a rose, right? That’s so cute! Thank you so much!” She pulled Negasonic in a hug before she quickly pulled back, “Oh no, I didn’t get you a flower for your tux.”“That’s fine,” Negasonic was quick to reassure her, “I don’t need one. I just saw this flower and well, I was reminded of you because it’s pretty and you’re pretty. It looks like fireworks and you know, you make fireworks and stuff. I don’t like flowers, but I thought you might. Unless you’re allergic, in which case I’m sorry if you are.” Now it was Negasonic who was nervously babbling around Jubilee. At least she didn’t tell Jubilee that she made fireworks in her heart or anything insanely sappy like that.“No, no, I’m not allergic. Gosh, that’s really sweet. Here, put it on me.” She handed the corsage back to Negasonic and puffed out her chest expectantly.Coughing awkwardly, Negasonic explained, “Actually, this is a corsage and it goes on your wrist, not your dress.” Gently, she caught Jubilee’s hand in her own and slipped the corsage on. It wasn’t too loose or too tight, and Negasonic breathed a sigh of relief at that.More than a little embarrassed, Jubilee nervously laughed. “Oh my God, you must think I’m dumb, but what if I tell you that I’ve never done this before.” She didn’t remove her hand from Negasonic’s grasp, enjoying the warmth she provided on her skin and the warmth that pooled in her gut like lava being dumped on butterflies.Blinking, Negasonic looked up at Jubilee. “Well, what if I told you that corsages are for prom and this isn’t that formal? That everything I did to prepare for this was based off of movies I’ve seen?” She didn’t drop Jubilee’s hand, instead smoothly switching their position so that their fingers interlaced together.Not daring to breathe or even look at their interlocked fingers, Jubilee’s hand twitched as she felt the beginnings of a firework start to itch at the tips of her fingers. “What if I said I’ve never even had a boyfriend?”“What if I said I’ve never dated anyone else either?” Negasonic quipped, not believing her luck as she tightened her grip on Jubilee’s hand, never letting go if she could help it.“What if I said you’re blocking the eggnog?” Scott interposed, his wife Jean hanging off his arm in her ugly burgundy dress.Remembering that the bowl was spiked, Negasonic practically yanked Jubilee to the dancefloor for escape, whispering and apologizing under her breath, “Ace spiked it, we got to leave before we’re blamed.”There were no protests from Jubilee as they cut through the crowds to the center of the dancefloor. Easily, they transitioned into dancing as if it were as natural as breathing. Looking at each other, it certainly felt that way. “What if I said,” Jubilee continued the game, “that I can’t remember when I haven’t liked you?”Swaying back and forth with her, Negasonic didn’t feel stupid like she thought she would not knowing how to dance. With Jubilee, she felt like she didn’t need to know since they had their own kind of rhythm going. “What if I said that I’ve liked you since the Fourth of July when you nearly blew up the X-Mansion with your out of control fireworks?”Blushing now, Jubilee had to restrain herself from setting Negasonic on fire with her fingers digging into the smooth fabric of the girl’s tux on her shoulder. “What if I said they were out of control because I was showing off for a pretty cool girl like you?” Briefly, she wondered if now was the time to kiss Negasonic, if this would be her chance to do something romantic that she has wanted to do for a long time.“What if I said you don’t need to impress me because I think you’re pretty great anyway?” Negasonic told her confidently, quirking her eyebrow and smirking at her. Feeling daring but lucky, she continued, “What if I said I know the future and I know that you’re going to kiss me?”Jubilee admired the way the disco ball’s lights bounced off of Negasonic’s nose piercing, briefly wondering if she had any other besides her ears and nose. “What if I said that I don’t think you can see the future, but maybe that you’re a mind reader?” Just as daringly, Jubilee stepped forward, closer to Negasonic, until she was just brushing against the other girl.Miraculously, Negasonic was full-blown smiling at Jubilee now, her white teeth starkly contrasting with the black of her lipstick. “I’d say, kiss me, Jubilee, before I kiss you first.” Negasonic had lost their little game, but if Jubilee were to kiss her now, she wouldn’t consider it a loss at all.Unconsciously, Jubilee licked her own pink lips, steeling herself and gathering her courage for the kiss. For some reason, maybe for her courage, she looked directly up above their heads and saw that mistletoe was hanging off the disco ball. Her face split into a brilliant smile, brighter than the disco ball or any of her fireworks. She grabbed the collar of Negasonic’s tux, crushing the bowtie in her too hot hands that glowed slightly, and rose up on her toes. Eagerly, she pressed her mouth to Negasonic’s, moving her lips with a little more hesitancy.Before she knew what she was doing, Negasonic was kissing Jubilee back, moving her lips across hers, slanting her mouth, tip of her nose brushing against Jubilee’s soft cheek. She felt so warm on the inside, nothing consuming or hungry or fiery, just bliss and happiness and content. This kiss was enough for her. Sparks quite literally flew, straight from Jubilee’s fingertips, and they tickled the exposed skin of her neck like how snow flurries felt, but warmer.Helpless to stop her fingertips from sparking, Jubilee hardly noticed when Negasonic’s mouth was so captivating and soft against hers. Negasonic’s nose piercing gently bumped against her cheek, the metal cool to the touch, contrasting with the hot blush of blood Jubilee felt rising up from her chest to her flushed face.Neither of the two infatuated girls realized that they were being watched. Not by everyone, of course, because that would be an over exaggeration. The professors acting as chaperones for the dance were supposed to notice this, so it came as no surprise that the small group formed by the Professor, Hank, Storm, and Forge saw their first kiss. However, they weren’t going to spoil their moment, so they pretended not to see. Luckily for Jubilee and Negasonic, none of their friends saw it or else there would have been whistles and cheering and applause; their friends were too wrapped up in their own affairs.None of the other professors saw it either, except for Darcy and Logan. Logan only huffed and grumbled to Darcy darkly under his breath, “You know mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it.” That wasn’t exactly what someone would say if they were in the Christmas spirit.“Oh Carcajou,” Darcy sighed to him, happy for her students, “but a kiss can be even deadlier,” she brushed her mouth against the shell of his ear, pressing her nose into his hair, “if you mean it.” Softly and gently, she dragged her lips down across his jaw to press a kiss to his mouth. Before he could even move, she had already pulled away, strolling to the eggnog to shoo some children away and have some much-needed alcohol.Oxygen drove Jubilee and Negasonic apart from their own kiss. Jubilee fell back on her heels breathless but endlessly pleased with herself. She did it; she finally kissed Negasonic and it was everything she could only dream it could be.With lingering surprise, Negasonic touched her own mouth. Then she brought that same hand to Jubilee’s lips, a shadow of their shared kissed. “I smeared your lipstick,” she explained as her thumb attempted to wipe it away, “and I got my lipstick on you, too. Sorry, firecracker.”“I did the same to you, Negasonic,” Jubilee caught Negasonic’s hand with both of hers, “and don’t you dare apologize.”“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart,But the very next day, you gave it away.This year, to save me from tears,I’ll give it to someone special.”Listening to the music as they went back to dancing, lapsed into silence now, Negasonic truly believed that Jubilee was someone very special to her. The rest of the winter dance passed very smoothly, and it was one of the best nights of both Negasonic’s and Jubilee’s young lives.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sunday morning, everyone was relaxing on their first full day of break. Around noon, though, after lunch, many people’s final grades for the semester were posted. The professors were really on top of their grading in the past week. Many of the students were not surprised by their grades. Jubilee was doing splendidly, as was Armor and Pixie, but Negasonic lagged a little behind. That doesn’t mean she was surprised by her B in Sex Ed class and B in History class; that just meant she knew she should have applied herself more.For the trio of troublemaking boys, though, there were a few unpleasant surprises. They were ambling around outside, mostly to get out of the X-Mansion rather than to play in the snow, when they received the notifications on their phone simultaneously from their school email. Immediately, they all pulled out their phones and scrolled through their grades.“A in gym, A in defense, A in German, B in Algebra…” Gilbert read, squinting at his too bright phone screen. He had his gloves tucked in his pocket so he could use his phone, and his fingers were screaming in protest to the cold.“Same, same, A in French, B in Algebra II…” Francis also read from his phone, bringing it close to his nose. Like Gilbert, his fingers were viciously attacked by the cold, and he flexed them to ward the numbness off.“Yeah, same here for gym and defense. A in Spanish, B in Pre-Calculus…” Antonio held his phone at a respectable distance having zoomed in and enlarged the text on screen to be legible. “Managed to pull off a B in Chemistry, too,” he cheered, pumping his fist in the air. “What about you guys?”“What ze hell?” Gilbert lapsed a little deeper into his natural accent. “How ze hell did I get a damn C in there?” He was properly outraged, especially since his final grade was so close to the B he so desperately wanted and needed. “Oh damn, Professor Beast must hate me.”“He must hate us,” Francis corrected Gilbert in a similarly indignant high-pitched voice. “Merde,” the French boy cussed, squeezing his phone tightly in his hand. “What did I do to deserve this,” he dramatically screamed to the sky.“You’re kidding me, right?” Antonio rhetorically asked his two closest friends. “You don’t remember the shit you pulled in our lab exam Friday?” He reminded the both of them.“Please, he didn’t know it was us. He could have never caught us.” Gilbert scoffed, waving his hand dismissively.“He wouldn’t deliberately fail us for that,” Francis added his own disbelief.“Technically,” Antonio began with reproach, “he didn’t fail you. C is a passing grade.”“Yeah well, it’s not exactly a good grade,” Gilbert belligerently argued.“It’s average,” Antonio neutrally responded.“It’s a kick in the nuts,” Gilbert continued as if he didn’t here Antonio, “and it’s bullshit.”“Sure, it is, Gilbert.”“Shut up, Antonio.”“Hey,” Antonio blithely ignored Gilbert, “it could be worse.”“How?” Francis asked, already disagreeing with Antonio.“Obviously, your grade could be lower. You could have gotten detention for other the break. You could have been suspended from the winter dance for yesterday. You could get coal in your stocking,” Antonio listed to them, ticking his points off on his fingers.“Zat is easy for you to say,” Gilbert said accusingly, pointing his finger at the Spaniard, “but,” he raised his finger to point upwards, “zat is also true.”In response, Antonio just shrugged, shoving his cold hands in his pockets and going to return inside to get warm. Obviously happier than his friends, Antonio couldn’t stop himself from whistling and singing alternatively, “Feliz Navidad! Feliz Navidad! Feliz Navidad! Prospero año y Felicidad!”Following Antonio back inside, Gilbert and Francis shared a look, before shrugging their worry off. There was little they could to do change their grade in chemistry now anyway. Chasing after Antonio, they both chimed in with his singing, “I want to wish you a Merry Christmas! I want to wish you a Merry Christmas! I want to wish you a Merry Christmas, from the bottom of my heart!” Easily, they caught up to Antonio and both of them slung their arms over his shoulders on either side of him. Together they trudged back inside, still caroling to each other, deliberately bad and way to loud.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was the third day of break, a Monday, and naturally everyone took the opportunity to sleep in. Well, almost everyone, of course. In her bedroom, Rogue lied awake in her bed, staring at the ceiling at 8:00 a.m. As someone whose mutation prevented her from experiencing skin to skin contact, she was always perpetually alone, cut off from the world.Of course, she had Bobby, but only so much of him. They loved each other, but Rogue was still bitter that she was denied from fully experiencing love with Bobby. It wasn’t always about the sex, sometimes it was just the simple pleasures of life like holding hands. That’s why they still had separate rooms since they couldn’t share a bed and hold each other.Year-round Rogue was always resentful of her supposed ‘gifts’ – if her mutation could even be called that. Around the holidays, though, she became especially maudlin because here at the Institute she was surrounded by people who loved each other. Additionally, since Rogue’s mutation has manifested, she hasn’t returned home to her family in Mississippi for the holidays, either. Her family didn’t want her anymore. Therefore, they weren’t her family anymore; the X-Men were her family now.Feeling sorry for herself, Rogue pulled herself out of bed and put on her clothes in silence. Sometimes either she or Bobby would sneak into the other’s room and carefully crawl into bed for a very cautious cuddle session. This morning she didn’t feel like it, knowing that Bobby was going to be sleeping in hard.As she pulled on her white gloves all the up to above the elbows, Rogue scowled at her hands. While her gloves literally saved lives, they simultaneously made her own life difficult. For one, she was allergic to latex. For another, with the popularity of touch-screens for phones, tablets, and laptops, she had to have specially designed gloves with textured pads on the fingertips, curtesy of Hank. While she was grateful, part of her was also slightly bitter because the gloves were slightly ugly. Also, she knew that the textured pads bothered Bobby. He tried to hide how he cringed away from them, but Rogue noticed and tried not to get her feelings hurt. Despite being an isolated person, she was still extremely sensitive.With a little difficulty, Rogue pulled on her heavy black sweater, having to fight to pull the sleeves down over her skin-tight gloves. She wore the sweater mostly out of habit and precaution, rather than out of lack of warmth. Rogue sighed, watching how her breath caused the white streak of her hair to flutter in front of her face. Perhaps a bit too forcefully, she pushed her hair back out of her face, fingernails catching and tugging a little painfully. Ignoring the sharp prickling sensation on her scalp, Rogue left her room quietly, mulling over her dream that woke her.Her dream couldn’t really be considered a nightmare, but even though it was pleasant, it did not leave her feeling that way. She dreamed that Bobby had married her, and she had the most beautiful winter wedding. Despite the obvious nip that should have been in the air, Rogue wore a dress that showed off her arms, her back, her throat and bust, even showed some of her skin on her waist. The phantom sensation of holding Bobby’s hand lingered in the jealous tingle of her palms. Vividly, she remembered kissing him, and how it was fresh like mint but so warm, soft, loving, perfect, smooth. Distinctly, she was also aware of what was also to take place on her wedding night. Like any other person in love, though, this dream was a familiar one to Rogue. Often, it would reoccur, but this time it was different. What woke her up was the realization that she would never have her own children with Bobby.It was strange how when Jean and Scott married, Rogue didn’t feel anything. As a member of the X-Men, she attended many weddings, and didn’t feel so strongly as she did when she learned of Jean’s pregnancy.When Jean became pregnant with Hope, Rogue knew that she was going to love the child as much as she knew she was going to hate her. Not really hate Hope, she’s innocent, but hate that she could not have a baby like Hope. Then was Hope was born and her mutation was revealed, Rogue’s negative feelings were solidified. Acting as an amplifier for the mutant x-gene, Hope in the presence of other mutants could cause problems. It was deemed dangerous for Rogue to even hold Hope – even if it wasn’t skin to skin contact – and therefore, Rogue was never allowed to touch Hope.Dwelling on that was unpleasant, so Rogue pushed those thoughts out of her mind. It was something that, despite being uncomfortable for her to think about, Rogue still found herself wondering about it far too often than she liked. Passing the kitchen where Darcy was already awake and making waffles, decidedly not hungry herself, Rogue wandered about the X-Mansion until she reached the fancy – and hardly ever used – parlor. This time of year, it was decorated for Hanukah, but Hanukah wouldn’t start until Christmas Day this year. She deemed this place safe for her to hide for a while. Rogue wanted to throw her pity party without company, not wanting to ruin anyone else’s holiday cheer.Sitting down heavily at the piano, Rogue listlessly dragged her fingers over the black and white keys, not applying enough pressure to play yet. Her mother taught piano lessons, so naturally Rogue was ingrained with the music. She knew the classic pieces like Moonlight Sonata, Fur Elise, Flight of the Bumblebee, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Claire de Lune, Canon in D minor, amongst others. Of course, she also knew the annoyingly catchy pieces that she liked to show off to, like Heart and Soul. Now, though, as she sat and stared down, she couldn’t focus enough to see the notes in her mind that she knew was there, lodged somewhere in her memories.While she now didn’t play as often as she used to at home, which was daily under her mother’s instruction and critical, watchful eye, she did keep in practice here at the X-Mansion. Sometimes students would ask for lessons, but that was a rarity. Her friends knew she could play, but didn’t beg her to, so she didn’t. Only Bobby would ask for demonstrations from her, and when he did he would sit next to her on the piano bench, mimicking her movements. She’d never get to finish a song before he’d make her laugh so hard that she’d have to stop, already doubled over in tears, the songs coming to clanging, discordant ends, filled with uncontrollable laughter.Now, she didn’t feel like laughing. She wasn’t on the verge of tears from sadness either. No, she just felt empty inside.Absentmindedly, her fingers of their own accord started tapping out a melody, and Rogue felt like she was playing on her own heartstrings when she recognized the song. It was “Christmas Time is Here” from the Charlie Brown Christmas special. In Mississippi, Rogue grew up watching The Peanuts for every holiday. Inexplicably, it always reminded her of her family, and of course, now there was no exception. Immediately, she forced herself to stop playing, and her fingers cramped, still itching to play out the rest of the song.“Start over, Rogue,” Bobby’s voice startled her as he entered the parlor. He was dressed warmly, as if he planned on going outside to play in the snow again, which was probably the most likely thing he was going to do today.Blinking owlishly at him, Rogue numbly repeated, “What?”“Start back at the beginning, Rogue, I wanna sing along.” Bobby strode across the parlor, right for her, smiling that same smile he gave her when he first said hello to her.Without even being aware that she was doing it, Rogue found her fingers doing as he said while she still stared at him in confusion, wondering just what he was doing here.“Christmas time is here,” Bobby began to sing in a high falsetto, squeezing in beside her on the piano bench, “Happiness and cheer.” Beginning to falter now, Rogue forced herself to look back at the keys, nearly losing sight of her white-gloves fingers. “Fun for all that children call their favorite time of the year,” Bobby continued to sing, not noticing her mistakes, “Snowflakes in the air, carols everywhere, olden times and ancient rhymes of love and dreams to share.” Actual tears began to form in Bobby’s blue ices from singing in such a fashion, and Rogue herself felt her smile and emotional tears well in her own eyes. She was barely managing to hold back her hysterical giggles of having her boyfriend serenade her while he tried to mimic a children’s choir singing such a pretty, lovely song.“Sleigh bells in the air,” another voice chimed in at a similar pitch to Bobby’s, “beauty everywhere.” Rogue sharply glanced back over her shoulder at Kitty entering the parlor, Peter shadowing her, never far behind. “Yuletide by the fireside,” Kitty smiled at best friend Rogue, “and joyful memories there.” She sat on Rogue’s other side, taking up the small space left on the piano bench.“Christmas time is here,” yet another voice joined in the song, “families drawing near.” It was Jane, also following Kitty and Peter into the parlor where they gathered around the piano where Rogue, Bobby, and Kitty were sitting.“Oh, that we could always see such spirit through the year,” they all sang together, Rogue’s own voice growing louder with her confidence. Kitty put her arm over Rogue’s shoulders, careful not to hinder her movements so that she could continue to play the piano. Copying her in a similar way, Bobby wrapped his arm around Rogue’s waist, comforting but not demanding, just there. They echoed Kitty’s earlier verse, “Sleigh bells in the air.”“Beauty everywhere,” Peter sang, voice too deep, causing the others to also revert back to their normal singing voices. “Yuletide by the fireside and joyful memories there.” He placed his hand tenderly on Kitty’s shoulder, and during a lull of the song she turned her head to kiss his hand before she continued singing.“Christmas time is here,” Pietro sang, arms engulfing Jane from behind in a hug as he rested his chin on Jane’s shoulder.“Families drawing near,” Wanda joined the party of her friends, bumping her shoulder against Pietro meaningfully, coinciding with the verse in a way.“Oh, tat vwe could always see,” Kurt’s accented singing was heard as he, too, appeared in the parlor, although it was much more suddenly, due to his powers.“Such spirit in the year,” they all sang the final line together, and Rogue drew the song to a close, touched, not feeling at all like she did earlier. She was surrounded by her makeshift family, her friends, those who loved her and didn’t care if she was a mutant. They were all close together, touching, and Rogue felt warmth, loved. This was enough for her.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Towards the end of the day, Rogue couldn’t have felt more different than she did in the morning. She had spent all day with her makeshift family, marathoning Christmas movies, caroling by the piano, and enjoying delicious holiday sweets. Eventually people started to drift in their own directions, but that was fine. Basically, everyone had someone to spend the holidays with – at least in a romantic fashion. There was kissing under the mistletoe, cuddling by the fireside, and more among other things.In Rogue’s relationship, Bobby considered romance to be playing outside in the snow. That didn’t bother Rogue in the least. As a southerner, she never really got to experience snow during Christmas, and since living here in New York she found it to be beautiful. There was something in the stillness of the air, so crisp and cold, and so very quiet that you could hear yourself breathing as you watch the warm puffs of air blew from your lips. Or, if you were with someone else, you could watch them breathe, and there was something intensely satisfying about that. Something mesmerizing about the pursed lips, about seeing life in so much cold. Rogue enjoyed seeing Bobby in the stillness, listening to his excited chatter and the satisfying crunch of the icy snow underfoot.They spent the late afternoon outside. Together, they started building a snowman, but gave up halfway through, distracted by each other. It was frustrating being so close to each other, constantly brushing against the other, their mitten-covered hands touching here and there as they molded and packed the snow into spheres. In any other normal situation, Rogue was sure that there would be stolen kisses here and there. However, their situation was hardly normal, and they continuously had to drag themselves away from each other, putting distance to cool their ardor.After that they half-hearted threw snowballs at each other, laughing more than they were singing now. They had been singing to each other,“The snow’s coming down.(Christmas) I’m watching it fall.(Christmas) Lots of people around.(Christmas) Baby, please come home.”Now they were too breathless after running around each other, dodging snowballs.At one point, the troublesome trio – Antonio, Gilbert, and Francois – came outside and threw snowballs at them both. Then Rogue and Bobby were suddenly on the same team, and they were losing until Bobby cheated and used his powers on them. For their protection, he built a snowdrift for him and Rogue to take cover, and in dramatically saving Rogue from a snowball, inadvertently tackled her into the snowdrift. Knocked breathless even more, they dissolved into laughter, and the trio slunk away back inside for hot coco, considering themselves the victors.Still giggling uncontrollably, Rogue dabbed her mitten-covered hand at her eyes, wiping away her tears. Above her Bobby tried to catch his breath, shifting his weight off of her when suddenly he stilled. Dragging her hand away from her face, she looked up at him, and the smile on her face froze. She could tell from the look in Bobby’s blue eyes that he was about to do something incredibly foolish – she had seen that look before many times from him. Her eyes inexplicable widened when Bobby leant down to kiss her; and she found herself kissing him for one brilliant moment – before he flinched back.Upset with both Bobby and herself, she pushed him off and started to climb to her feet, frustrated with her powers. They hadn’t kissed since Halloween, and even then, she found things getting too cold in her grip for three days afterwards. Bobby, too, took three days to recuperate as he would get lightheaded too easily. That kiss had been spur of the moment on his part, too. Both then and now when he kissed her Rogue barely had the chance to enjoy it before it was over. This time she could barely feel the softness of his lips, her own lips were too numb from the cold. “I wish you would tell me before you do that, Bobby,” Rogue said somewhat bitterly. Kisses were to be savored rather than stolen.“If I warned you, you wouldn’t let me do it,” Bobby told her quietly, trying to hide the slight lingering sensations of pain he still felt. He believed that with practice, he could learn to withstand her power. In his opinion this kiss was longer than the one they shared on Halloween. Of course, he couldn’t be exactly sure. Still, that was progress in his opinion.Turning around to look at him, Rogue wanted to reach out to him and help him to his feet, but still maintained her distance for safety’s sake. “You know what? You’re right. Bobby, you can’t keep kissing me all the time. One day you’ll be hurt really badly.”“Maybe one day, but I don’t think that will be anytime soon,” Bobby argued, still maintaining his optimism.Frustrated, Rogue spun back around, and in the process her knit-cap flew off her head and her hair flicked in her face. The white-streak of hair drifted in front of her eyes, and she was even more angry and frustrated than before. “Do I always have to remind you that my first boyfriend ended up in the hospital after one kiss?”“Do you always have to remind me of your first boyfriend?” Bobby light-heartedly tried to joke with her in an attempt to lessen the severity of the situation.“Bobby!” Rogue snapped, and then sighed, looking for her knit-cap. It was colder now, colder than before, and Rogue suspected that that was because she kissed him. She found her knit-cap, and after picking it up shook off the snow and shoved it back on her head, pushing her white hair underneath it.Her boyfriend had lapsed into silence, still trying to recover himself. After a moment, though, he realized that he needed her help and he needed to apologize. “Hey, Rogue?” He began tentatively, “Can you give me a hand and help me to my feet? Kissing you just knocked my legs out from underneath me, it was so good.” Again, he attempted humor with her.Again, though, the joke fell through as Rogue shot him a look. Still, she moved to him and held out her hand, safely encased in a mitten. “Don’t joke about that, Bobby. You could end up in the wheelchair like the Professor if you kiss me again.”“You’re telling me not to joke, but that seemed like black humor to me, Rogue.” Bobby accepted her hand and as she pulled him to his feet, Bobby stumbled, losing his balancing. He nearly fell into her again, this close to another kiss, but Rogue managed to steady him at the last minute before she stepped away. Bobby took a step to follow her, but wobbled again, forcing Rogue to step in and support him again. “Rogue,” Bobby began again, “you know why I love the cold?”“You’re from Boston? You love ice-skating and snowman building and snowball fights? You love Christmas time? Your ice powers?” Rogue listed off, because that’s what he had always told her before.Thoughtfully, Bobby hummed, “Well, you’re right, but since I’ve met you, I’ve found another reason.” Together they slowly moved towards the house, Bobby’s steps small and careful, and Rogue patiently there every step of the way. “You know how you always wear gloves and cover your skin? You wear long sleeves in the summertime, and that’s always super hot and sweaty.”“Yes, Bobby, it can be uncomfortable, but it’s necessary.”“Well,” Bobby continued, “when it’s cold outside then your many layers start to make sense, and the more you bundle up, the closer I can get to you. I can hold you in my arms, I can hold your hands freely. Like how you are now, all wrapped up in a scarf and hat, only your bare face is showing. Now that I wear gloves this time of year, I can touch your face now, too.” He stopped walking, and forced Rogue to face him as he made a point of cupping her cheek. “See what I mean? See how the cold has brought us closer together?”Caught up in Bobby’s unexpected romance, Rogue leant into his touch, sighing, her breath swirling and intermingling with his. “You could almost say that we got too close, considering that kiss back there, Bobby.”“Almost, but not quite.” Daringly, Bobby dipped his head forward, but Rogue dodged his kiss that ended up mostly in her hair. Thankfully, he wasn’t harmed from that contact.“Don’t try that again, Bobby.” Rogue said to him firmly, but gently all the same. He had effectively comforted her as here they were standing wrapped in each other’s arms. “Not for the rest of December.”“Not even Christmas?” Bobby teased, still feeling reckless, but knowing not to press his luck since he was abnormally tired just from standing in place.“No, that would be too soon.” Rogue started to help him back to the house, humming happily under her breath.Gratefully, Bobby limped with her, sagging heavily against her out of comfort and warmth and love. “New Year’s Eve?”“Maybe. Do you think you’ll be recovered by then?”“Yes, and if I kiss you on New Year’s, then by Valentine’s Day I’ll be reenergized for an encore performance.”“Bobby!” She laughed, scandalized. Then they went inside to warm up together with hot chocolate, cuddling while they still could.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
While Rogue and Bobby were busy frolicking in the snow outside, inside Peter and Kitty were keeping warm by the fire. Having hailed from Russia, Peter was use to bitter cold winters, but that didn’t mean he was a fan of them. Kitty, being from Illinois, is also familiar with the cold and snow, and is therefore, not so easily impressed by it. Besides, spending their evening together fireside was so much more romantic.Cuddling on the loveseat they had hauled in front of the fireplace, they were all alone. It was late, and many of the students had gone to bed. Their friends had disappeared in their respective pairs for private time, much like Kitty and Peter were having now. They had elected to stay in the living room where earlier they had been having their merrymaking, marathoning Christmas movies and enjoyed eggnog with each other. The excuse they had given was to make sure that the fire be properly put out and cleaned up before they went to bed, but in all actuality, they wanted to stay warm and cozy, and couldn’t be bothered to get up and go to their bedroom for more sensual activities.So, as they sat their staring in the merry, crackling fireplace in silence, they enjoyed each other’s company easily. Being so much bigger than Kitty, Peter took up much of the space on the loveseat, ending up with Kitty mostly sprawled in his lap. She leaned against his chest, cheek over his sternum where she could hear the reassuringly steady thump-thump of his heart. His chin was nestled on the top of her head, arms wrapped around her comfortingly. Kitty managed to squeeze her hands around his, which she held tenderly. Their moment together was serene and peaceful, both a rarity at the X-Mansion.Nearly asleep as the dancing flames of the fire died down low, Kitty was startled awake by Peter’s deep voice reverberating through his chest. “We should really go to bed now, Kitty.”With a sleepy little moan of protest, Kitty pressed herself against him in protest, wiggling in his grasp. “Do you have plans for our bed, Peter?” She began to flirt with him, twisting around slowly and crawling further onto his lap. Slinging her legs over his hips, she grinded down against him, the blanket they had been using to cover themselves for extra warmth slipping down her shoulders bunch up around his knees. Kitty pressed herself fully against him from pelvis to stern, looking up at him with bedroom-eyes as she reached up and gently cupped his jaw for a kiss.All too easily, Peter gave in to the kiss, digging his fingers into Kitty’s hair, his large hands nearly engulfing the back of her neck and splaying over the space between her shoulder blades. Being an intensely private person about their relationship, Peter did not often share kisses with Kitty outside the sanctity of their bedroom, especially not around others. Throughout the duration of the day, Kitty had tried his patience by teasing him, but they had refrained from kissing in front of their friends. Now he could kiss her all he liked without worrying about being watched.Of course, Kitty was always the more impish and mischievous one of the two in their relationship. As of now she was interested in far more than just kissing. While she had Peter distracted with her mouth, she reached around her back to unclasp her bra. Peter was so distracting by just kissing, that she managed to remove her bra entirely without him noticing. She tossed it over the loveseat, no problem. Kitty had reached between the space of their bodies, unbuttoning and unzipping her pants, and shimmying them down over her rear along with her panties – still Peter remained blissfully unaware as she lavished his neck with her attention. One of his hands grasped one side of the loveseat, the other tangled in the blanket. His head was thrown back in bliss, eyes shut tight, and he quietly groaned under her ministrations. Immensely pleased with herself, Kitty’s nimble fingers started to unbutton and unzip his own pants when he finally noticed what she was doing.“Kitty, Kitty, please stop, not here.”“Why not here?” She sat up in his lap, removing her hands from his pants. Her progress had been made only so far as unbuttoning and unzipping his pants, but she hadn’t managed anything further than that. “Everyone is asleep. Besides, with the way we’re positioned, no one would be able to immediately see what we’re doing from the doorway.” Eagerly, Kitty pulled off her shirt and tossed it over the loveseat with her bra. Immediately, she felt the warmth of the fire on the skin of her back and exposed rear, and it was so sensual that she basked in it, ready for lovemaking.“K-Kitty,” Peter stuttered, blushing at her nakedness. He had seen her naked many times before, but like their kissing, their lovemaking was reserved for their bedroom and their bathroom. As stated before, Peter was private, and he was also extremely shy.“Come on, Peter, what do I have to do to convince you to be a little adventurous with me?” Kitty slipped her cunning hands under his shirt, running her fingers up and down his chest as she leaned forward to catch his mouth in a kiss again. “Don’t you think it would be romantic for me to ride you in front of a roaring fire?” After she gave him another heated kiss, she pulled away from him again, sitting back on his knees to show herself to him. “This low-lighting looks amazing for my breasts,” she admitted to her boyfriend as she cupped her breasts in her hands, offering them to him.Trying to be noble, Peter took the blanket and wrapped it back around her shoulders in attempt to preserve Kitty’s modesty. Peter’s cheeks were warm more from his own furious blushing rather than the fire by now. His throat was tight, mouth dry, and he again, he was trying to be chivalrous and decent. “We really can’t stay.”At his words, Kitty was at first disappointed, but then an unbidden response rose to her lips as she remembered something. “Baby, it’s cold outside.”Not fully paying attention to what she was saying, Peter blusteringly continued, “We’ve got to go away to our bedroom.”Swiftly, Kitty cut him off as she repeated, “Baby, it’s cold outside.”Confused now, Peter gave Kitty a funny look. He tried explaining himself, “This evening has been – ”“Been hoping you’d walk in,” Kitty interrupted him again.Haltingly, Peter continued, “Very pleasant.”“I’ll hold your hands, they’re just like ice,” Kitty claimed and immediately took his hands in hers and kissed them both.Both of their hands were actually very warm from the fire, so her words were effectively confusing to Peter. “Kitty, you’re concerning me,” Peter stated baldly.With a smile, Kitty just answered him, “Beautiful, what’s your hurry?”“Kitty, please, I don’t know what’s going on with you.”Almost like she was ignoring him, Kitty sang, “Just listen to the fireplace roaring.”“Kitty,” Peter withdrew his hands and frowned at her.“Oh, Peter, you’re no fun at all,” Kitty gently admonished him before shrugging off the blanket again, exposing the upper half of her body. “You just reminded me of a song, that’s all. We were singing it almost properly before you stopped.”Steadily keeping his eyes on her face, Peter responded, “I don’t remember singing.”“Yeah,” Kitty admitted, “it’s a pity you weren’t singing. You have such a beautiful voice.” Meaningfully, she placed her hands on his hard, lower stomach, daringly close to his pelvis. “If you want, though, we can sing another song that we both know so very well.” For extra emphasis, she wagged her eyebrows at him.Covering her hands with his own, Peter stopped her movements. “Kitty, please, let us go to our bedroom to continue this.”With a disappointed sigh, Kitty shook her head at him. “Fine, we will. If we do, though, you have to promise to do that special thing that I like.”“You mean…?”“Yes!” Kitty replied in earnest, quivering excitedly on his lap.“Very well, Kitty. Anything for you. Well, almost anything of course.”