[Single? No More!] – The First Encounter

'Ahhh!' Storm mentally yelled as the papers in her hand flew everywhere, and she wobbled back. She closed her eyes as she began falling back while thinking, 'Shit! I'm going to hit my head!'

But, she felt someone wrap their arm around her waist, making her snap her eyes open and utter, "What the—"

She looked up and instantly froze when she realized who the person she collided with was.

'S-S-Starlance!' Storm mentally screamed when she saw his face. She found herself unable to look away. The golden eyes staring down at her were so charming, mesmerizing, and beautiful that she felt drawn toward them. But most of all, her heart felt a warm, soothing sensation as she gazed at him.

* Thump thump *

* Thump *

Storm could hear her heart beat erratically and rapidly with every passing second as it gradually heated up along with her face, which had started turning slightly pinkish and red. This was the first time she had experienced it, so she did not know what was happening. All she could do was blush wildly, unable to comprehend the ridiculous situation she was currently in.

'What the heck is happening?!' She wanted to scream but couldn't since her mouth felt dry, and she couldn't bring herself to say anything or move at that moment.

In the meantime, Val recognized who the person was and said, "Ororo?!"

'Oh god! That was his voice, wasn't it? Fuck! Ahh! Calm yourself, girl! I need to calm down. Umm... breathe in! Breath out! Don't faint! Not now!' Storm mentally panicked and screamed.

Val saw her silently stare at him with her eyes wide open while her cheeks turned red, and he looked down.

'Oh shit!' Val thought when he realized that he was holding her so intimately. So, being the gentleman he was, he quickly withdrew his hand from her waist and helped her stand properly.

"Sorry about that." He apologized with a genuine expression on his face.

Storm gulped and kept silently staring at him.

"Oh? Are you alright?" He asked worriedly when he noticed her still silently gazing at him while trembling slightly.

"I— Um— Err— Mm— um— Ah— err..."

Before her brain could process the right words to say and convey to him, she stumbled over her tongue like a high-school girl while talking to her long-term crush for the first time.

'Come on! Say something! Come on!' She mentally scolded herself, but instead of doing anything rational or productive, she only turned a darker shade of red, all the while mumbling incoherent words, "Um— Err— Mm—"

Before she could embarrass herself any further, somebody came to her rescue.

"Ouch!" She yelped in pain when she felt something sting her back. She turned to look who did this when she saw a blue hand quickly hiding behind the corner.

'Raven!'

Storm knew what Mystique wanted her to do now, and that wasn't her saying gibberish in front of Starlance. So, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath while thinking, 'Relax! I need to relax! Deep breaths! In and out! Come on! I can do this! Easy peasy!'

She opened her eyes, from which the previous nervousness was nowhere to be seen.

She turned back toward Starlance and said, smiling, "I'm okay. I just wasn't looking ahead and stumbled into you."

"That's fine. But I still feel like I need to apologize." Val replied with a smile.

"No! No! There's no need to apologize at all." Storm denied calmly.

'Smooth moves. Real smooth. I almost looked like a giddy school-girl earlier.' Storm gave herself a pat on the back internally and thought, 'Great work. I was blushing uncontrollably a second ago, but I fixed my mistakes. Now, it's showtime!'

She glanced at the papers around her feet and bent down to pick them up. But, a second before her hand could touch one of the papers, Val grabbed it.

"I'll pick these up. Please." He suggested while already gathering up a few of the papers.

'What?! Is he for real? He's picking up the papers for me?! Oh, my heart!' Storm's heartbeat began quickening again, but she didn't let it show on her face or the rest of her body this time.

Instead, she politely said, "There's no need, Professor Haller. I—"

"No, no. It's fine. Really. You have someplace to be, and picking up the papers is simply the least I can do to repay for what happened." Val said while picking up the papers.

"Also..." He glanced at her face and said, "I can't let a beautiful woman like you get her hands dirtied. So, don't worry. It's fine."

'What?! Did he just— Did he— Wait!! Did he just call me beautiful?! Aahahahahaaha!' Storm laughed internally as a tingling sensation rose in her chest.

'He just called me beautiful! Starlance called me beautiful! Beautiful! Woman! Beautiful! Woman!'

For a few seconds, Storm could not note what he had said since her mind was processing those words, 'beautiful' and 'woman' slowly over and over again. Her heart began beating even quicker, and a subtle shade of red spread across her cheeks, yet she forced a smile and calmly answered, "That's not a good argument, but if it'll ease your troubled mind, then alright."

"Ororo. You don't mind me calling you Ororo, do you? I hope I'm not intruding or crossing the boundaries." Val said while piling up the papers and looking at her.

Storm tried to remain calm and replied, "It's completely fine by me and, of course, not an issue at all!"

After collecting the papers, he stood up, walked closer to Storm, and offered her the papers, saying, "I hope everything is intact. Otherwise, please, just let me know if anything's missing."

She reached out, took the papers, stacked them against each other properly, and said, "Nothing is missing. You did a great job, Professor Haller!"

"Thank you!" He accepted the compliment with a smile and said, "I hope you have a good day."

"Oh. I should be going, too. Thank you so much for the help." She said.

"The pleasure was all mine." He said with a broad smile and walked away.

Storm kept the smile on her face and walked out of the main door. However, as soon as the door closed behind her, she exhaled sharply and glanced at the ground, noticing that her feet were already weakening. She managed to drag her trembling legs to the building right beside the front building and quietly entered it.

Storm saw a hallway leading left and right and entered the right one. When she felt no one was watching, she slumped against the wall slowly until her bottom touched the floor.

A look of pure joy spread across her face, and with a delightful grin, she looked up at the ceiling while softly saying, "Oh god! Did that happen? Oh my gosh! That was wonderful! Ah!"

"Sigh..." She leaned back and closed her eyes while clasping her hands on her chest.

"Deep breaths. Relax." Storm recited Mystique's earlier instructions to her and took a deep breath in, filling her lungs with air and then releasing it with a satisfied and peaceful sigh, letting her body feel a sense of blissful relaxation as she thought of the moments she had just shared with him.

"Alright." She pulled herself up to a standing position with some effort and began moving onward again with an unmistakably joyful smile.