How to Spend Christmas at the Mansion without Going Insane Part 2
Title: How to Spend Christmas at the Mansion without Going Insane (Part 2/?: The Consequences of Johnny (Depp))
Author: verbalthing
Fandom: X-Men movieverse
Characters: Bobby/St. John
Word Count: 2995
Rating: PG-13 (but there shall be sexxin' in the future! ;D)
Summary: “I think I’ll survive, Bobby,” John snapped back and thought God, how the fuck am I going to survive?
A/N: The second part of this...fluffy, fluffy series. Part 1: Boys, Interrupted.
Spoilers: Minor for X3. Very, very minor.
Again, this is not beta'd. All mistakes are mine.
Even though Bobby’s hair was cut short - which John didn’t like because he couldn’t really run his fingers through it like he used to - he managed to look thoroughly debauched when they both stepped out of their room, exactly fifteen minutes later.
“Nervous?” John asked; his hands in his pockets as he sauntered down the hallway.
Bobby was fidgeting; making sure his shirt was tucked in and that the zipper on his bag was closed, and John refrained from telling him his lips were still swollen so unless he had taken a liking to smearing lipstick over his mouth and then rubbing it off, his parents wouldn’t buy the whole innocent look Bobby was trying to accomplish. “A little,” Bobby confessed while fixing the collar of his shirt while balancing the large bag over his shoulder.
“Give me the bag,” John took the bag from him, stopping Bobby in the middle of the hallway where the few students who were left at the mansion were running around decorating the place. He watched patiently as Bobby straightened his clothes, then fisted his hands in determination and gave John a brave look. “Okay. I’m done. I’ll see you in two weeks,” and then he took the bag back and rushed past John, but didn’t get very far.
“Hold on! I’m going with you downstairs, and I’m saying hello to your goddamn parents,” John followed him, stopping once more when Bobby reached out and held John still.
“Why would you do this to me, John?” He asked a bit dramatically but managed to get his genuine worry across.
It only made John want to meet Bobby’s parents more, actually. “Because I love to watch you squirm,” he replied, and well, it was the truth. He didn’t actually want to talk to Bobby’s parents, but the way Bobby would fidget and make pained grimaces during the meeting would make it all worth it.
Bobby contemplated making a run for it as he looked down the hallway that had the staircase which led to the lobby - where his parents might already be, waiting for him. Probably looking scandalized as various mutants strolled by. Bobby wondered what they’d say if Kurt decided to welcome them, and realized he was going to have a lot to talk to them about in the car ride to Boston.
“Come on, I’ll play nice. I won’t even mention that time we nearly killed each other on Alcatraz if it makes you feel better.”
Bobby glared at John and saw how amused he looked; just a few minutes earlier Bobby had been the relaxed one while John had woefully wanted to find a place to hide during the entire Christmas holiday. John was so going to pay for all of this; Bobby made a mental note to think of punishments suitable for cocky pyromaniacs who spent way too much time on their hair.
“Great,” Bobby mumbled as they reached the stairs, “Fine. Okay. I can do this.”
“Okay,” John said cheerfully as they walked down, “now stop talking to yourself or your parents will think you’re crazy.”
“They already know I’m a mutant and gay, I’m sure one more thing to add on the list won’t hurt.”
John patted him on his shoulder and Bobby could sense the evil coming off from the touch, and the way John was deviously smirking at him. “Unless you plan on giving them a stroke.” John added.
“Just stop talking -“
“Bobby!”
Bobby’s nearly had a heart attack when he thought it was his mother, but it turned out it was Marie, meeting him and John at the bottom of the stairs. Bobby tried really hard not to think about how easily he confused Marie with his mom. “Hey, Marie,” he breathed out and looked over the busy lobby, where random students were walking around from saying goodbye to their friends leaving over the holidays.
He saw Jubilee over by a corner, hiding a mistletoe behind her back as Logan looked to be explaining something very serious to her - John saw it too, and had a sadistically satisfied look on his face. “I didn’t know your parents were here, you should’ve told me,” Marie then said in her sweet southern accent.
“They’re here?” Bobby whispered so nobody else could hear them, “Right now?“
“Relax,” John patted him on the shoulder again, cheekily winking at him as he walked up next to Marie. “Let’s go say hello.”
And really, shouldn’t John have been the nervous one of the bunch? He burnt up Bobby’s lawn. He nearly burnt up their house, which really made him memorable to Bobby’s parents. There was no way in hell they would look at him and not know who he was, what he had done…Not to mention the awkward fact that his mother had figured out that Bobby used to have a crush on John, which led him to confessing to her that he was gay. And now his mom was going to talk to the guy who burnt up their lawn and who Bobby had confessed wanting to get into the pants of.
On second thought, maybe Bobby was the one who should be nervous.
“They’re talking to the professor in his office, but they should be done any minute now,” Marie said. “He just finished giving them the tour of the place, and they seemed really interested.”
Bobby gaped at her, then at John, but no one else seemed to realize what a big deal this was. “Wait, so they took a tour of the pace? Just now? Just…when me and John…?”
Marie frowned, not really getting what he was trying to say, but John understood. He was grinning at Bobby. “Just be glad he didn’t show them our room.”
“But…” Bobby tried puzzling it together as he was on the verge of having a tiny heart attack. “That means…” that the professor must’ve known what went on with John and Bobby in their room, and distracted his parents by giving a tour of the place. “…ergh,” Bobby grimaced at the thought, feeling very uncomfortable that the professor had to find out that he was too busy fucking John to talk to his parents.
John laughed while Marie looked pretty confused at his sudden outburst. “I’m gonna catch up with Jubes,” she said slowly while eyeing Bobby carefully, “talk to you guys later.”
Bobby was vaguely aware of her bouncing away while John took her place with a very amused look on his face, although he was trying to hold it back by biting his lip. It wasn’t working. “I feel dirty,” Bobby commented, slumping down onto the bottom step of the stairs and burying his face in his hands.
“You’ll get used to it,” John joked and kicked Bobby’s bag aside so he could sit next to him on the stairs. “Seriously, you didn’t think he already knew we have sex? You’re way more naïve than I thought, and that’s saying something.”
“But he knew what we were doing in my parent’s presence!” Bobby explained to John in a panicked voice.
“But your parents aren’t telepaths. They don’t know anything,” John calmed him down and leaned back onto the stairs, much like he had lain on his bed several moments earlier. Bobby had no idea how he could look so relaxed in a time like this.
“I swear,” Bobby breathed out and looked sourly at the large entrance door in front of them in the lobby, “this is the worst Christmas ever.”
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, watching the people walk by. Bobby’s eyes were stuck on the corner that led into the hallway that eventually led to the professor’s office, trying to hear if he could make out some distant thud of his mom fainting, or his dad screaming something that ended with “dirty little mutant!”
“Stop thinking so much,” John broke the silence and watched Bobby’s profile.
“I’m not thinking,” Bobby objected, his eyes still on the corner.
“I’ll say.”
“Shut up,” Bobby replied automatically and hearing John snickering from next to him.
“Such harsh words.”
“Yeah, well…” Bobby trailed off, sensing somebody coming closer from the other side of the corner. Well, not exactly sensing - he heard the professor clearly in his mind, telling them that they were on their way, but still.
“Nice comeback,” John idly replied, staring off into space, not aware of the impending doom that was to come.
Bobby stood up. Made sure his bag was on the stairs. Double checked to see that his shirt was tucked in and his jeans were properly zipped. John watched it all with a curious look on his face, and then followed Bobby’s stare to the corner where he saw the professor arriving with Mr. and Mrs. Drake following, both wearing the Drake Frown of Concern™.
John quickly stood up next to Bobby almost as a reflex, suddenly looking just as nervous as him, which Bobby chose not to analyze right now because his mother had spotted both of them.
It was surreal and bizarre and just so weird, so the only reason for this to be happening was because the apocalypse was near. It made sense to Bobby at the time, and he decided to go with that explanation. The world would end in five, four, three -
“Bobby,” his mom greeted him in her soft voice as she walked up to him, his dad following her while the professor stopped and watched the reunion from a few feet away. “Oh, sweetheart!” she added and then got over the awkward silence and gave him a hug.
Bobby was now taller than her, so she had to cling onto his shoulders at a weird angle, but Bobby let out a relieved breath he had been holding as he hugged her back, forgetting about the panicking for a second. It felt good, though still weird, but definitely non-apocalyptic.
They parted after a short while and she looked at him with a small smile on her lips. “Oh, you’ve cut your hair!” she noticed and waved her hand towards his head.
“Uh, yeah,” Bobby sheepishly touched his head, “I did.”
“It’s nice.”
“Yeah.”
Silence. Bobby looked at his dad and took a deep breath. “Hey, dad. How’s Ronny?”
“He’s fine. Just started college,” was all he replied with but at least let out a small but tense smile at his oldest son.
Meanwhile, John was trying not to be too obvious as he pinched Bobby’s waist for attention. Although it wasn’t a surprise that Bobby could be very clueless sometimes, John had had enough of just standing there. “I’m John,” he said suddenly, not wanting to wait for another awkward silence to arrive.
“Hello,” Bobby’s mom replied, sounding a bit taken aback and unsure - and John recognized so much of Bobby in that, that it freaked him out a bit - before reaching out her hand, “I’m Madeline. This is William,” she added when it was clear that Bobby’s dad wasn’t going to say something.
“Mom, can we -“ Bobby interrupted and tried to look as calm as possible as he said, “we really should get going. The traffic will be…horrible. Right, dad?”
John really couldn’t hold back a comment anymore, no matter how much he had tried to keep quiet. “You don’t own a car, how do you -“
“Actually,” Madeline forgot all about John, who had even reached out his hand for a handshake but got denied the moment Bobby had spoken, “there’s something we need to talk to you about.”
“In private,” William stepped in and his voice was strong and determined and obviously directed to John, who simply stared back with raised eyebrows.
Bobby quickly intervened before any brawling would happen (although technically John wasn’t a brawler, and his dad was more of a passive aggressive type of fighter, but still). “Um, yeah, okay,” he stammered and looked around to see the professor watching them kindly from a few feet away, “we’ll be right back, John.”
John quit staring at William for a minute to watch Bobby awkwardly lead his parents around the corner, to what was probably an empty hallway where they could speak privately. He took a few steps towards them to get a good look at what was going on, but froze when he heard the professor rolling up behind him.
John turned around and met the man’s stare. “It was an accident?” he joked, but couldn’t get the old man to crack a smile.
“I trust you’ll give Bobby and his parents the time they need to work out their differences.”
John shrugged and didn’t feel the need to answer that because when had he ever given the impression that he didn’t want Bobby to work things out with his parents? Except for just then, of course, but that was because William stared at him like he had been some sort of freak and the only thing John could’ve done was to stare back, since the professor strictly forbid using your powers for ‘non-productive’ reasons.
Although it would be kind of productive to watch William scream while his hair was on fire. It would be a source of amusement for the people who needed cheering up.
“And I’m going to pretend you didn’t imagine setting Mr. Drake’s hair on fire,” the professor said dryly.
John gaped for a second before crossing his arms stubbornly; hating that he still felt like the little freshman around him when he was 20 years old. “Okay.”
“I’m sure Jubilee would like some help with decorating that huge Christmas tree, St. John. It might give you something to do this holiday, besides from the obvious, of course.”
“What are you talking about?”
The professor gave him a secretive smile, which confused the hell out of John, and then rolled away in one of his “I know something you don’t know” acts that he liked to do every now and then to keep the students on their toes.
John ignored the professor’s hints and went back to the stairs and sat down, waiting for Bobby to come back from whatever he and his parents were (probably) arguing about. It didn’t take that long until Bobby came back and walked past John with his parents, stopping by the large entrance to - say goodbye? John watched with interest Bobby’s parents stepped out of the mansion without as much as a nod to Bobby, and John was infuriated. What the fuck was going on?
As Bobby walked towards John by the stairs, John made sure Bobby knew how he felt when he stood up. “What the fuck is their problem? They can’t even fucking say ‘hello’ without -“
“John, shut up and tell me you’ll do me a favor.”
John shut up.
“Please?” Bobby sighed when he wouldn’t say anything, “I need you to not set anything on fire.”
“I make no fucking promises,” John snapped back, crossed his arms and eyed the door to the mansion. “Who do they think they are?”
“My parents,” Bobby clarified and glanced worriedly at the door, “who are staying here for the rest of the day, so chill out, alright?”
“Wait.” John paused and glared at Bobby, thinking he heard it all wrong. “They’re staying?”
“Mom and dad booked a last minute flight to the Caribbean, so they’re visiting today. It’s like a bonding thing, plus I think they feel kind of bad and want to make it up to me,” Bobby explained and saw John’s skeptical look.
“The Caribbean?”
“I know,” Bobby replied, obviously not getting it either, “I think they just really liked that Johnny Depp movie.”
“Well,” John looked slightly disappointed and nodded towards the door, “where the hell did they go just now then?”
“They brought, uh, Christmas presents. They’re out getting them from the car.”
There was a shocked silence as Bobby blushed and looked kind of uncomfortable about the whole thing and John waited exactly four seconds before speaking. “Are there any for me?”
Bobby looked at him with narrowed eyes, “I don’t know,” he said and watched the door together with John. “I didn’t even think I’d get one so anything’s possible, I guess.”
“And they’re staying the entire day?” John double checked.
“Their plane leaves tomorrow morning.”
“And you’re okay with this?”
“Of course,” Bobby frowned, “I mean, it’s weird. And I think my dad doesn’t like the professor that much, but at least they’re…trying.”
John watched as Bobby tried to explain it to him, but didn’t get it. He didn’t understand the whole thing, and he sure as hell didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing now. He had been okay with saying hello and maybe make a few jokes that were bordering on crude - just to make Bobby blush - but now he probably had to carry on entire conversations with them and not come off as offending in the process.
Maybe there was still time to find a place to hide.
“This is so weird,” Bobby mumbled, mostly to himself, and John nodded from beside them. “But uh, at least I can stay here with you for the rest of Christmas.”
“Yeah,” John idly answered, feeling dread rise in him for actually having to be social on the day before Christmas Eve - and with Bobby’s parents of all people. “Just make sure we survive today.”
“Now you’re being dramatic.”
“You saw how your dad looked at me, right?”
“Well,” Bobby sputtered, “you looked at him back!”
“Whatever.” John paused, starting to drum his fingers against his thighs as a nervous habit, “but if they give you something corny like a snow globe for Christmas, I’m going to get pissed off. On your behalf, I mean.”
Bobby looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding slightly, his eyes still glued to the door. “Thank you. I think.”
Author: verbalthing
Fandom: X-Men movieverse
Characters: Bobby/St. John
Word Count: 2995
Rating: PG-13 (but there shall be sexxin' in the future! ;D)
Summary: “I think I’ll survive, Bobby,” John snapped back and thought God, how the fuck am I going to survive?
A/N: The second part of this...fluffy, fluffy series. Part 1: Boys, Interrupted.
Spoilers: Minor for X3. Very, very minor.
Again, this is not beta'd. All mistakes are mine.
Even though Bobby’s hair was cut short - which John didn’t like because he couldn’t really run his fingers through it like he used to - he managed to look thoroughly debauched when they both stepped out of their room, exactly fifteen minutes later.
“Nervous?” John asked; his hands in his pockets as he sauntered down the hallway.
Bobby was fidgeting; making sure his shirt was tucked in and that the zipper on his bag was closed, and John refrained from telling him his lips were still swollen so unless he had taken a liking to smearing lipstick over his mouth and then rubbing it off, his parents wouldn’t buy the whole innocent look Bobby was trying to accomplish. “A little,” Bobby confessed while fixing the collar of his shirt while balancing the large bag over his shoulder.
“Give me the bag,” John took the bag from him, stopping Bobby in the middle of the hallway where the few students who were left at the mansion were running around decorating the place. He watched patiently as Bobby straightened his clothes, then fisted his hands in determination and gave John a brave look. “Okay. I’m done. I’ll see you in two weeks,” and then he took the bag back and rushed past John, but didn’t get very far.
“Hold on! I’m going with you downstairs, and I’m saying hello to your goddamn parents,” John followed him, stopping once more when Bobby reached out and held John still.
“Why would you do this to me, John?” He asked a bit dramatically but managed to get his genuine worry across.
It only made John want to meet Bobby’s parents more, actually. “Because I love to watch you squirm,” he replied, and well, it was the truth. He didn’t actually want to talk to Bobby’s parents, but the way Bobby would fidget and make pained grimaces during the meeting would make it all worth it.
Bobby contemplated making a run for it as he looked down the hallway that had the staircase which led to the lobby - where his parents might already be, waiting for him. Probably looking scandalized as various mutants strolled by. Bobby wondered what they’d say if Kurt decided to welcome them, and realized he was going to have a lot to talk to them about in the car ride to Boston.
“Come on, I’ll play nice. I won’t even mention that time we nearly killed each other on Alcatraz if it makes you feel better.”
Bobby glared at John and saw how amused he looked; just a few minutes earlier Bobby had been the relaxed one while John had woefully wanted to find a place to hide during the entire Christmas holiday. John was so going to pay for all of this; Bobby made a mental note to think of punishments suitable for cocky pyromaniacs who spent way too much time on their hair.
“Great,” Bobby mumbled as they reached the stairs, “Fine. Okay. I can do this.”
“Okay,” John said cheerfully as they walked down, “now stop talking to yourself or your parents will think you’re crazy.”
“They already know I’m a mutant and gay, I’m sure one more thing to add on the list won’t hurt.”
John patted him on his shoulder and Bobby could sense the evil coming off from the touch, and the way John was deviously smirking at him. “Unless you plan on giving them a stroke.” John added.
“Just stop talking -“
“Bobby!”
Bobby’s nearly had a heart attack when he thought it was his mother, but it turned out it was Marie, meeting him and John at the bottom of the stairs. Bobby tried really hard not to think about how easily he confused Marie with his mom. “Hey, Marie,” he breathed out and looked over the busy lobby, where random students were walking around from saying goodbye to their friends leaving over the holidays.
He saw Jubilee over by a corner, hiding a mistletoe behind her back as Logan looked to be explaining something very serious to her - John saw it too, and had a sadistically satisfied look on his face. “I didn’t know your parents were here, you should’ve told me,” Marie then said in her sweet southern accent.
“They’re here?” Bobby whispered so nobody else could hear them, “Right now?“
“Relax,” John patted him on the shoulder again, cheekily winking at him as he walked up next to Marie. “Let’s go say hello.”
And really, shouldn’t John have been the nervous one of the bunch? He burnt up Bobby’s lawn. He nearly burnt up their house, which really made him memorable to Bobby’s parents. There was no way in hell they would look at him and not know who he was, what he had done…Not to mention the awkward fact that his mother had figured out that Bobby used to have a crush on John, which led him to confessing to her that he was gay. And now his mom was going to talk to the guy who burnt up their lawn and who Bobby had confessed wanting to get into the pants of.
On second thought, maybe Bobby was the one who should be nervous.
“They’re talking to the professor in his office, but they should be done any minute now,” Marie said. “He just finished giving them the tour of the place, and they seemed really interested.”
Bobby gaped at her, then at John, but no one else seemed to realize what a big deal this was. “Wait, so they took a tour of the pace? Just now? Just…when me and John…?”
Marie frowned, not really getting what he was trying to say, but John understood. He was grinning at Bobby. “Just be glad he didn’t show them our room.”
“But…” Bobby tried puzzling it together as he was on the verge of having a tiny heart attack. “That means…” that the professor must’ve known what went on with John and Bobby in their room, and distracted his parents by giving a tour of the place. “…ergh,” Bobby grimaced at the thought, feeling very uncomfortable that the professor had to find out that he was too busy fucking John to talk to his parents.
John laughed while Marie looked pretty confused at his sudden outburst. “I’m gonna catch up with Jubes,” she said slowly while eyeing Bobby carefully, “talk to you guys later.”
Bobby was vaguely aware of her bouncing away while John took her place with a very amused look on his face, although he was trying to hold it back by biting his lip. It wasn’t working. “I feel dirty,” Bobby commented, slumping down onto the bottom step of the stairs and burying his face in his hands.
“You’ll get used to it,” John joked and kicked Bobby’s bag aside so he could sit next to him on the stairs. “Seriously, you didn’t think he already knew we have sex? You’re way more naïve than I thought, and that’s saying something.”
“But he knew what we were doing in my parent’s presence!” Bobby explained to John in a panicked voice.
“But your parents aren’t telepaths. They don’t know anything,” John calmed him down and leaned back onto the stairs, much like he had lain on his bed several moments earlier. Bobby had no idea how he could look so relaxed in a time like this.
“I swear,” Bobby breathed out and looked sourly at the large entrance door in front of them in the lobby, “this is the worst Christmas ever.”
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, watching the people walk by. Bobby’s eyes were stuck on the corner that led into the hallway that eventually led to the professor’s office, trying to hear if he could make out some distant thud of his mom fainting, or his dad screaming something that ended with “dirty little mutant!”
“Stop thinking so much,” John broke the silence and watched Bobby’s profile.
“I’m not thinking,” Bobby objected, his eyes still on the corner.
“I’ll say.”
“Shut up,” Bobby replied automatically and hearing John snickering from next to him.
“Such harsh words.”
“Yeah, well…” Bobby trailed off, sensing somebody coming closer from the other side of the corner. Well, not exactly sensing - he heard the professor clearly in his mind, telling them that they were on their way, but still.
“Nice comeback,” John idly replied, staring off into space, not aware of the impending doom that was to come.
Bobby stood up. Made sure his bag was on the stairs. Double checked to see that his shirt was tucked in and his jeans were properly zipped. John watched it all with a curious look on his face, and then followed Bobby’s stare to the corner where he saw the professor arriving with Mr. and Mrs. Drake following, both wearing the Drake Frown of Concern™.
John quickly stood up next to Bobby almost as a reflex, suddenly looking just as nervous as him, which Bobby chose not to analyze right now because his mother had spotted both of them.
It was surreal and bizarre and just so weird, so the only reason for this to be happening was because the apocalypse was near. It made sense to Bobby at the time, and he decided to go with that explanation. The world would end in five, four, three -
“Bobby,” his mom greeted him in her soft voice as she walked up to him, his dad following her while the professor stopped and watched the reunion from a few feet away. “Oh, sweetheart!” she added and then got over the awkward silence and gave him a hug.
Bobby was now taller than her, so she had to cling onto his shoulders at a weird angle, but Bobby let out a relieved breath he had been holding as he hugged her back, forgetting about the panicking for a second. It felt good, though still weird, but definitely non-apocalyptic.
They parted after a short while and she looked at him with a small smile on her lips. “Oh, you’ve cut your hair!” she noticed and waved her hand towards his head.
“Uh, yeah,” Bobby sheepishly touched his head, “I did.”
“It’s nice.”
“Yeah.”
Silence. Bobby looked at his dad and took a deep breath. “Hey, dad. How’s Ronny?”
“He’s fine. Just started college,” was all he replied with but at least let out a small but tense smile at his oldest son.
Meanwhile, John was trying not to be too obvious as he pinched Bobby’s waist for attention. Although it wasn’t a surprise that Bobby could be very clueless sometimes, John had had enough of just standing there. “I’m John,” he said suddenly, not wanting to wait for another awkward silence to arrive.
“Hello,” Bobby’s mom replied, sounding a bit taken aback and unsure - and John recognized so much of Bobby in that, that it freaked him out a bit - before reaching out her hand, “I’m Madeline. This is William,” she added when it was clear that Bobby’s dad wasn’t going to say something.
“Mom, can we -“ Bobby interrupted and tried to look as calm as possible as he said, “we really should get going. The traffic will be…horrible. Right, dad?”
John really couldn’t hold back a comment anymore, no matter how much he had tried to keep quiet. “You don’t own a car, how do you -“
“Actually,” Madeline forgot all about John, who had even reached out his hand for a handshake but got denied the moment Bobby had spoken, “there’s something we need to talk to you about.”
“In private,” William stepped in and his voice was strong and determined and obviously directed to John, who simply stared back with raised eyebrows.
Bobby quickly intervened before any brawling would happen (although technically John wasn’t a brawler, and his dad was more of a passive aggressive type of fighter, but still). “Um, yeah, okay,” he stammered and looked around to see the professor watching them kindly from a few feet away, “we’ll be right back, John.”
John quit staring at William for a minute to watch Bobby awkwardly lead his parents around the corner, to what was probably an empty hallway where they could speak privately. He took a few steps towards them to get a good look at what was going on, but froze when he heard the professor rolling up behind him.
John turned around and met the man’s stare. “It was an accident?” he joked, but couldn’t get the old man to crack a smile.
“I trust you’ll give Bobby and his parents the time they need to work out their differences.”
John shrugged and didn’t feel the need to answer that because when had he ever given the impression that he didn’t want Bobby to work things out with his parents? Except for just then, of course, but that was because William stared at him like he had been some sort of freak and the only thing John could’ve done was to stare back, since the professor strictly forbid using your powers for ‘non-productive’ reasons.
Although it would be kind of productive to watch William scream while his hair was on fire. It would be a source of amusement for the people who needed cheering up.
“And I’m going to pretend you didn’t imagine setting Mr. Drake’s hair on fire,” the professor said dryly.
John gaped for a second before crossing his arms stubbornly; hating that he still felt like the little freshman around him when he was 20 years old. “Okay.”
“I’m sure Jubilee would like some help with decorating that huge Christmas tree, St. John. It might give you something to do this holiday, besides from the obvious, of course.”
“What are you talking about?”
The professor gave him a secretive smile, which confused the hell out of John, and then rolled away in one of his “I know something you don’t know” acts that he liked to do every now and then to keep the students on their toes.
John ignored the professor’s hints and went back to the stairs and sat down, waiting for Bobby to come back from whatever he and his parents were (probably) arguing about. It didn’t take that long until Bobby came back and walked past John with his parents, stopping by the large entrance to - say goodbye? John watched with interest Bobby’s parents stepped out of the mansion without as much as a nod to Bobby, and John was infuriated. What the fuck was going on?
As Bobby walked towards John by the stairs, John made sure Bobby knew how he felt when he stood up. “What the fuck is their problem? They can’t even fucking say ‘hello’ without -“
“John, shut up and tell me you’ll do me a favor.”
John shut up.
“Please?” Bobby sighed when he wouldn’t say anything, “I need you to not set anything on fire.”
“I make no fucking promises,” John snapped back, crossed his arms and eyed the door to the mansion. “Who do they think they are?”
“My parents,” Bobby clarified and glanced worriedly at the door, “who are staying here for the rest of the day, so chill out, alright?”
“Wait.” John paused and glared at Bobby, thinking he heard it all wrong. “They’re staying?”
“Mom and dad booked a last minute flight to the Caribbean, so they’re visiting today. It’s like a bonding thing, plus I think they feel kind of bad and want to make it up to me,” Bobby explained and saw John’s skeptical look.
“The Caribbean?”
“I know,” Bobby replied, obviously not getting it either, “I think they just really liked that Johnny Depp movie.”
“Well,” John looked slightly disappointed and nodded towards the door, “where the hell did they go just now then?”
“They brought, uh, Christmas presents. They’re out getting them from the car.”
There was a shocked silence as Bobby blushed and looked kind of uncomfortable about the whole thing and John waited exactly four seconds before speaking. “Are there any for me?”
Bobby looked at him with narrowed eyes, “I don’t know,” he said and watched the door together with John. “I didn’t even think I’d get one so anything’s possible, I guess.”
“And they’re staying the entire day?” John double checked.
“Their plane leaves tomorrow morning.”
“And you’re okay with this?”
“Of course,” Bobby frowned, “I mean, it’s weird. And I think my dad doesn’t like the professor that much, but at least they’re…trying.”
John watched as Bobby tried to explain it to him, but didn’t get it. He didn’t understand the whole thing, and he sure as hell didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing now. He had been okay with saying hello and maybe make a few jokes that were bordering on crude - just to make Bobby blush - but now he probably had to carry on entire conversations with them and not come off as offending in the process.
Maybe there was still time to find a place to hide.
“This is so weird,” Bobby mumbled, mostly to himself, and John nodded from beside them. “But uh, at least I can stay here with you for the rest of Christmas.”
“Yeah,” John idly answered, feeling dread rise in him for actually having to be social on the day before Christmas Eve - and with Bobby’s parents of all people. “Just make sure we survive today.”
“Now you’re being dramatic.”
“You saw how your dad looked at me, right?”
“Well,” Bobby sputtered, “you looked at him back!”
“Whatever.” John paused, starting to drum his fingers against his thighs as a nervous habit, “but if they give you something corny like a snow globe for Christmas, I’m going to get pissed off. On your behalf, I mean.”
Bobby looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding slightly, his eyes still glued to the door. “Thank you. I think.”