Valentine's Fic: The Spark

[fenris91]

Title: The Spark

Author:fenris91

Rating: R

Pairings: St. John/Bobby, Juggernaut/Black Tom

Warnings: sexual acts, lengthy for a one shot story

Summary: Bobby may care for St. John, but what about Pyro? What does Pyro want?

Author note: The hardest part was not the song because I absolutely love it, but because I had a hard time crafting it to this story. Please enjoy it and have a happy day filled with love and affection. For
lil_sin_13

Edit: I screwed up and had to repost this.

Disclaimer: Marvel owns the characters, this is a not for profit work. "Dancing In The Dark" belongs to Bruce Springsteen.

St. John Allerdyce sat in a booth in the back of the bar. He arrived a half hour earlier than when he was supposed to arrive but that was only so he could sort out his demons before Bobby...no, Robert would show up. It's been a few years since they restarted a relationship post "Alcatraz Meltdown". They had many issues to sort out including sexuality, trust, various phobias and anger management on both ends not just John. The pair had developed a comfortable rapport and actually had their friendship back plus benefits. As John drank down his whiskey and coke he watched the other normal people in the comfortable dive. Women dressed as skanks, men were made up like headbangers even when they were past middle age and everyone was having a good evening. Right now the radio was on and many different metal songs were playing although a classic rock song would show up every so often. Suddenly loud verses from "Getting Away With Murder" interrupted the whole scene and John knew it was his cell phone. He thought about turning it off before Robert arrived but he wanted some support from a couple of cronies of his.

"Yep."

"Johnny-boy! Did you tell em yet?" Came the very rough yet cheerful voice of Cain Marko.

"No, I went in early."

"Aw man! C'mon you ain't gettin any younger that's for sure."

"I went to the bar early."

"Oh, okay then." Cain replied. John then had a wicked smile on before he phrased the next question.

"You and Black Tom getting cozy?"

"Sorry?"

"You heard me. He's all you ever talk about these days. So tell me, big guy, has Mr. Cassidy rode on the Unstoppable Express yet?"

"Banshee will never get near me as long as Tom's around." And John's head nearly hit the table hearing that statement. Like a fucking ten year old. And that's insulting the ten year olds.

"..."

"..."

St. John could hear the sounds laughter and plates clacking in the background of the cell phone. John wondered if Cain was in a similar place as he was and if he was meeting Tom.

"He's like the best thing ever y'know? When we're together I get all...hmm, I guess plain, outright high would be best way to put it. Raising hell, swiping money, cracking skulls. Yeah, having someone who wants to do those things with you makes everything sweet as honey. No. Fucking. Shit. John thought bitterly but held his silence. No reason to piss off the Juggernaut if he couldn't help it. Especially since he didn't feel like dumping all his Iceman related issues over the cell phone. "Hey, I thought you and Gambit were tight?" Cain said.

"That's the past. I'm there for Red Eyes whenever even though he sticks his cock in everything that moves. Robert comes first though."

"What? You had them wank off side by side or somethin?" Cain asked. With anybody else this would have been a sarcastic remark but, sadly with the Juggernaut this was an actual inquiry. John gave a long sigh.

"Still wondering why Tom is your only friend sometimes?"

"Nah, my policy is never question the good things that come your way!" John startled at the sincerity of this statement.

"I've never seen the gentle side of you, so whatever you road you plan to take with Black Tom just be sure to listen to him and try and do your best, okay?"

"Absolutely! I wanna take care of him as long as he'll let me! He was there for me when nobody else would be and I would go to anywhere and everywhere for that guy!" Cain said firmly. "You gonna be alright with what's going down tonight?"

"Why not? I'm the one who came up with the idea." John sighed. This would get painful.

"Okie-doke. It's just that you do things to hurt yourself just so nothin can hurt you."

"Tell me how it goes with Black Tom."

"I'm not gonna kiss and tell or shit like that but I will say what happens if I get him in bed tonight. I'll probably have to bottom or somethin just so I don't break him in half. I don't like it so I'll probably have get some ideas from the net. Maybe some bear websites could--"

"Alrighty! Remember what I said about oversharing?" John cut in.

"Do it as often as possible?" Cain shot back. Now that was a sarcastic remark.

"Later." John turned off his cell with a little smirk on his face. He took his shiny silver lighter out to calm himself down. Just then Robert came in the establishment looking quite sharp in a black leather jacket, dress shirt and slacks and shoes that probably cost more than John could make honestly. All of John's good humor suddenly evaporated though not because he wasn't happy to see his friend but due to the gravity of the news he would have to impart.

"What's the occasion, Johnny? What couldn't you tell me in private? Is it bad?" he said as he said across from Johnny in the booth. A waitress came and the two ordered some more drinks though John ordered something stronger. Robert saw that John had his customized silver lighter out. It had the lion engulfed in flames design that Robert bought as present for the pyrokinetic. John wasn't playing with it by igniting it on or off but was merely fondling it as if it were a cock or even some girl's vagina. In the space of three minutes Robert knew something large was coming his way. He felt it like the animals feel a tsunami coming, which was made even more strange in that John rarely gave this much warning for massive life changes he enacted in his life. Things just happened and if you got in the way it sucked to be you. John asked about Robert's day first and Robert obliged him telling that he getting ready for a test in his Economics class and that Speech wasn't giving him any troubles though many of his classmates hated it. The waitress came back with their drinks and before he downed his Long Island, John went for it.

"I got a call from my father last week." John just dropped simply. Robert nearly gasped at this. "Yeah, a real shock I know. Anyway, he said he's real sorry about the last ten years or so and wants to work things out."

"It's a bit late now isn't it?" Robert said alarmed.

"Maybe, maybe not. I got a lot of things to say to him and it's gonna get ugly. Not burnt corpse ugly but just plain ordinary ugly."

"If you say so." Robert said not convinced that Pyro wouldn't make an appearance at the reunion. John scratched the back of his head and looked real uncomfortable. He hated talking out his problems with anybody and that was one of the major reasons he tanked at Xavier's school. John was restless and edgy in this moment and Robert was almost tempted to ask if he was on crystal right now but didn't want to break the fragile flow of emotion that was coming from St. John.

"The deal is he lives in Sydney, Australia. I'm only gonna give him five minutes of my time, but..." and now John was jacking off that damn lighter for sure "...regardless of what happens with that guy I want to move out there for good." He looked directly at Robert. "You can come with me if you wish but this your only warning. Past this point I'll go whenever I want."

"I can't go! I still got school and all my friends are here!!" Robert almost yelled forcefully. He held his feelings in check and he realized that John wanted to say this in public to avoid a scene.

"I owe my family something." John said and he got up.

"Johnny!" Robert pleaded and his voice cracked. His face became the scared little boy he saw many times in the past. John ran a hand through his now strawberry blond hair. Changed after six or seven changes in his appearance.

"Don't panic. I'm just going to the jukebox. Puss." John said flatly. Robert had his eyes glued onto him as he went over to the far end of the bar and put the money in. He made his selections and walked through the crowd careful not spill his Long Island. Despite the menagerie of different people laughing, having a good time flirting and hooking up in front of him Robert was hyper focused on his friend and was almost shaking. John's always running from something. Anything. Maybe he likes running for the sake of running. Maybe it's the only way he feels free. John came back to the booth and frowned at Robert.

"Can't say I was gonna see the end like this but can't you be less obvious Iceman?" John scolded. Robert looked down and saw he froze his drink solid. Nobody noticed or cared. John sat down and was sipping his drink.

"So...when?" was all he could say.

"Like I said, anytime after tonight."

"When did you suddenly become Rogue?" He snapped out angrily. John sat up straighter.

"What hell was that for?" John retorted, stung by the implication.

"For doing this to me. For making me feel insignificant and don't give me that shit about your father I know you could care less about him." However instead of being angry, Johnny had a sad look that crossed his face that made Robert flinch back. The open vulnerability made the young man look twice as beautiful than he had any right to be. Life, snowflakes, novels, and open flames: these things were the best in St. John's mind because of the limited amount of time they have and all are at their most beautiful when they reach their end. Pyro may have only known hatred but that too had its own beauty because it ended, finally it ended.

"You never really knew me at all did you Bobby?"

"Only because you wouldn't let me." Robert was defensive and panicking. John was hurt and he didn't know what to do. Suddenly the clear music of the CD jukebox kicked on.

I get up in the evening, and I ain't got nothing to say
I come home in the morning, I go to bed feeling the same way
I ain't nothing but tired, man I'm just tired and bored with myself
Hey there baby, I could use just a little help

You can't start a fire 
You cant start a fire without a spark
This guns for hire even if we're just dancing in the dark

Some people cheered on because it was Bruce. Robert was still focused on losing someone really close to him.

"It had to end sometime Drake. I'm just hoping it'll be more amicable than it was at Alcatraz."

"What did I do? Are you still mad at me because of Rogue? Why are you always trying to leave me?" Robert was keeping his voice at an even level while trying to get John to hear him over the song. John was listening to his song wondering if Bobby Drake was ever worth it. "Am I mean to you? Just cause I didn't go along with everything you did doesn't mean I never liked you."

Message keeps getting clearer 
Radio's on and I'm moving round the place
I check my look in the mirror

I wanna change my clothes my hair my face
Man I ain't getting nowhere just sitting in a dump like this
There's something happening somewhere 
Baby, I just know that there is.

The entire room seem to exist in a silent vacuum for Robert since as each minute he was losing the precious time with someone that he should have nothing to do with. John's not good. He was angry, bitter, and at the end of the day a total common thug that was just lucky sometimes.

"Drake...it's over. I got real frustrated with you. Maybe we made some headway since the whole mutant war thing but when all is said and done I just want to find the happiness I've been searching for since....since I was born I guess, since I was screaming bloody murder at the hospital."

You sit around getting older
There's a joke here somewhere and it's on me
I'll shake this world off my shoulders
Come on baby this laugh's on me

Stay on the streets of this town 
And they'll be carving you up all right 
They say you gotta stay hungry

Hey baby I'm just about starving tonight 
I'm dying for some action
I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book 
I need a love reaction 
Come on now baby gimme just one look

Robert's face turned pale white. It almost seemed he would break out the ice armor but he just seemed sick and that someone wounded him physically. "I can't leave. I just...can't." He then drank his defrosted greyhound a little. "And...I won't keep you here."

You can't start a fire sitting round crying over a broken heart 
This gun's for hire even if we're just dancing in the dark 
You can't start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart 
This gun's for hire even if we're just dancing in the dark.

"Okay then. I'll still call and e-mail every so often."

"Right. Sure." Robert looked absolutely alienated. More so than he did at the clinic. Rather he looked like a victim that lost everything in a fire. They finished drinking and around eleven the bar really started to hop. This time with an influx of party boys and girls with the established derelict crowd. "Come to my place? At least for a few minutes." He asked. Both knew what was coming next, it was so transparent.

"Sure, wouldn't want to miss my farewell fuck."

"It wouldn't be for you. It would be for completely for my benefit." He said with a mirthless smile.

"Whatever works." John said also flashing a grimace.

They didn't make it to the apartment.

Bobby pulled over into a grove of trees in some far off place and John knew what this signaled. Pants were off, shirts unbuttoned and opened and John literally rode Bobby on the seat as he pushed the seat back. John noted how roomy the car really was as he didn't feel uncomfortable in the least covering Bobby's neck and face with kisses and aggressive bites. The windows fogged over but Bobby and John were literally creating steam inside the car in mass quantities.

"Heh, always wanted to fuck in a steam room."

"That's not hard to do these days. Just go to a bathhouse."

"With you, Bobby-boy." He then licked the inside of Bobby's ear as the warm mist just radiated from the exposed skin from both men. Bobby ran his hands through John now flat hair and fuck if this side effect of their powers wasn't turning him on completely.

"Hey." Bobby started as John began to settle against him and grind into him.

"Yeah?" John bit him on the neck.

"I think....Christ...." Bobby tilted head back and groaned.

"What's that, babe?" John said in his gentle seduction voice.

"I...think...I fell...in love....with..." John stilled for a moment. "...Pyro." he completed.

"Wha? Trying to keep me here?" John said as he bounced against Bobby harder now.

"No...wanted to tell you before you left." John then kissed Bobby really hard and refused to let up until the familar sticky warmness let out between them. A loud grunt came from Bobby and he dismissed all the steam with a gentle breath of cold air. John had his defenses stripped bare when the sudden cold came again and he held against Bobby wet and spent.

"When?" John asked knowing it was loaded question.

"Since the beginning but I didn't want to lose the ground I held at the school. I show to people that I work for the good, that I am good because I like life, I respect life, normal or mutant. As you know I love you."

"Yes." John curled up around Bobby even if his body was getting colder. He was literally draining some of the vitality from him but in this time, it was irrelevant.

"The basic problem we had since day one wasn't morality or your abrasiveness though I could really go for a long while on both issues."

"Move along, popsicle sucker." He said gently.

"You said I didn't understand you. I keep hearing this from you. I know that you've had an really messed up childhood and life in general." John nodded and Bobby hesitated then with a deep breath he continued. He could feel both their release drying up on the skin. "You didn't think we could ever relate to each other because I didn't know what pain, abuse or loneliness felt like. What it was like to be starving or to be hunted, tormented for sport or betrayed. Like I didn't know what anger or hate was, or what it was like to want to die." John looked at Bobby squarely as he got his attention. "I could claim in the years at the mansion trying to deal with Magneto, Stryker and even Phoenix that I came to this understanding but it only gave me a sense of injustice that I tried to rally against." John rolled over to the passengers seat and wiped himself down with a spare cloth and some bottled water in the car.

"I was the one who did those things to you directly right? I hurt you bad inside and out cause you wouldn't pay attention to me. Those days I just wanted to burn everything in sight." John said as he started to light a cigarette.

"I fell in love with Pyro because of the raw power he has in his hands. I love him when he's the master in his element. I love it when he laughs at the joy of his own natural creations. I love him when he tears down the curtain that separates real life from idealism only to try and stitch it up again. I love Pyro most of all because he's St. John Allerdyce. That makes him easy to love." Bobby doesn't wipe up and begins to get dressed.

"Why are you making this hard?"

"I'm not. This was something that just needed to said."

"I don't need your pity."

"Pride warps compassion into something ugly. Pity should not be a dirty thing."

"But the understanding? Did Pyro...did I... show you the ugliness of life cause I was out to kill you?" He asked. It was possible but he prayed to God he didn't pull Bobby down to his level.

"I knew what life was like because I heard it directly from you."

"Yeah, but your house, the lake, the clinic, Alcatraz; we didn't attune at all like we do nowadays and I've been telling you all this stuff since we met." Bobby closed his eyes and stopped buttoning his shirt.

"I knew what life was like because I heard it directly from you. I didn't believe in any of it until I believed in you."

Bobby opened his eyes and John looked stone cold.

"Pyro is and forever will be the one who made a man out of me. I love him the most and I completely missed out since I didn't know what he needed. I really blew it. On the jet especially."The two now were dressed but looked very rumpled. Bobby had a look of pure misery. Without changing his harsh expression John spoke up.

"You're forgiven."

"But..."

"Don't ask why. Don't ever ask me why."

"Okay." Bobby now looked like he was in tears but the tears didn't come.

"I don't...I never know what to say to people. With people I like it's even worse."

"I know."

"I complained about you not understanding me, right?" Bobby nodded. "Well, I refuse to show anything about me for any reason." Bobby nodded again. "I was actively thwarting us. And..."

"Go on."

"I want to show what it's like for me...for the infamous Pyro. I been showing off getting you to notice but you always took the teachers side about our powers."

"I'm not sure but at this point I won't fight you anymore."

"First, don't say that. Second, it will just involve us."

So Pyro took Iceman out into the middle of nowhere and in dead of night he took his shark zippo out of the coat pocket. They were in an very open field with no one in sight. Bobby swallowed, for as much times as he been through the whole fire and ice routine this is one of the rare times that John did a fire play in front of him without a battle. Or without a set limit.

Click. Fwoosh. John stared at it. And Bobby looked at both of them. Open and shut again. This time he passed it in front of Bobby and he looked at it with intent. He noticed the gentle look of his that he was giving his flame.

Click. Fwoosh. Then he created a fireball. He held it out to Bobby and as if it were a natural instinct, Bobby froze it in an iceball just like he did in Storm's class a lifetime ago. Bobby was shocked at how quick it happened.

"Er..." Bobby was going to say sorry but John's look halted him. He wasn't angry. He pulled him very close and turned him around guiding him in his arms so they both faced outward. Somehow Bobby's hand was over St. John's hand on the lighter and sure enough...

Click. Fwoosh.

Pure unadulterated warmth.

As if something were ejecting violently from him, a huge jet of flame came from the lighter and Bobby saw John's other hand was directing its movements and a massive whirlwind inferno engulfed both of them. However John's expert manipulation put them in the eye of the storm. When faced with extreme heat Bobby would collapse immediately but something anchored him. An unusual vibration flowing though John felt, smelt and tasted like liquid honey...to Bobby. Somehow through the power of raw kinesis that was shared by both mutants Bobby now could sense John's internal power. And somehow John's power advanced a lot since Alcatraz. Maybe even enough for actual pyrogenesis someday.

"King of the World yet?" Bobby screamed.

"Yep. King of the motherfucking world!" Suddenly the whirlwind broke apart into a very haunting sight. Five stallions were perfectly formed and were galloping in a circle surrounding the two. And Bobby laughed excitedly at the show and John laughed with him. Both really laughed hard and with relish. Pyro's laugh being gentle and Iceman's being a bit maniacal. The stallions faded away as John was now engaging Bobby in the deepest kisses.

When there was nothing but ash and smoke he patted Bobby on the back.

"See, I know things those manor bozos know. You'd be throwing up right now if it weren't for me!"

"Or you know, tenth degree burns."

"Yeah."

They then both looked at each other quietly. Not wanting to break the spell. Not wanting tommorrow to come. But, then again, St. John usually got his way by trying to be direct.

"I can tell him off over the phone."

"Do that." Bobby said shortly not wanting to speak about their 'almost mistake' again. A great relief passed through him. They both went and sat on the hood of Bobby's BMW which was in perfect condition, not a scratch. Johnny had to have a cigarette after that exquisite rush and gave Bobby one too even though he claims to be a non-smoker. He took it and both men just sat relaxed and stretched out after a really tense night. John decided to give in, possibly for Pyro's most closeted follower.

"So add me to your long list of dysfunctional family members. I'll fry up the turkey for all of us during Thanksgiving." John said after exhaling a drag. Despite the warm (and gratifying) words, Bobby frowned and cuffed him lightly.

"You were already on it dumbass! Seriously. I..."

"Yeah, yeah. You fumbled it before, always felt that way blah, blah, blah." John said. And now Bobby really unwound and kicked back knowing there would be a tomorrow with this insane arsonist.

"Hey, Bobby-boy do me a favor?"

"Yeah?"

"Shotgun me."

"Hell, yeah."

End