Spiral: Chapter 7
Title: Spiral
Author: lux_apollo
Rating: R for violence.
Pairings: Bobby/John, some minor Kitty/Piotr, Scott/Jean and Remy/Rogue seen in this chapter.
Summary: John arrives back at the Brotherhood Base. X-men meeting. Poker night for Bobby and friends. Bobby and Justin have a talk.
Notes: Thanks to sarahlu81 and miss_bushido for beta. This fic is cross posted at x_slash and fiery_snowstorm.
[ Prologue | Chapter 1 - NC17 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 ]
Chapter 7
Pyro exited the helicopter and walked across the pier into the main part of the compound. The main base of the Brotherhood of Mutants was as bleak and cold as usual. What kind of moron decides to pick a chunk of rocks in the middle of the North Atlantic for their headquarters? I mean, couldn’t they have just as easily had the base on some pile of rocks in international waters in the tropics?
Whatever.
Pyro entered the residential bunker, hoping he could just get to his room and get some sleep. He knew he was in for a lecture from the old man, and that was not something he wanted to endure after not sleeping for the last 37 hours on the way back here.
“Hey flamer, you’re back! I thought Mystique would have left you in a body bag floating in a river somewhere after the news report that was on TV yesterday.”
Pyro cringed inwardly. Of all the idiots he worked with, Avalanche was the one he wanted to see the least right now. What a fucking arrogant piece of shit. He turned around to face the asshole. That’s all Dominic was really: something that constantly spewed forth raw, undigested shit.
“Sorry about your luck, dickhead. Apparently I’m still more important to the team than you are,” Pyro said, smirking.
“Ha, I don’t know about that. You’ll be lucky if they ever let you leave this island again. Just think about all the great times you’ll have mopping the floors, cleaning the toilets, and cooking us all dinner! It’ll be the fairy job you’ve always dreamed of, you faggot,” Avalanche hurled back at him. Pyro rolled his eyes.
“Fuck you, Dom. It’s you’re fault we’re both on Magneto’s shit list. You’re the dumb twit who never listens to orders from me and Pietro. If you could ever use your powers with some form of control and not cause unnecessary property damage while we are on missions, they might let you out of your padded room more often.” Pyro turned to continue on his way back to his room.
Avalanche snorted. “You’re one to talk. At least I’m not a parent-murdering arsonist, faggot.” Avalanche chuckled when he saw Pyro stop in his tracks.
He did not just say that. He so fucking did not just say that.
“Parent. Murdering. Arsonist.”
BAM!
Avalanche grunted as he was shoved forcefully against a wall. Pyro’s lighter clicked open. Pyro had his left hand wrapped around Dominic’s throat, partly choking him. He moved the lighter down until it was almost igniting the worn denim of the jeans covering Avalanche’s crotch.
“What did you just call me, shithead?” Pyro asked, tightening his grip on Avalanche’s throat. Dominic squeaked something out.
“If you want to keep your balls intact, you are going to fucking apologize right now motherfucker,” Pyro commanded. Dominic again tried to squeak something out.
“What was that?” Pyro spat in his face. He moved the lighter up closer to Avalanche’s crotch. A look of fear passed over Dominic’s face, and he tried to squirm up away from the flame.
“I’m fucking sorry, okay!” Dominic eventually managed to choke out. Pyro gave him another slam into the wall, and then threw Avalanche to the ground. He flipped his lighter closed, and stalked down the hallway towards his room.
“If you EVER call me a fucking parent murderer again, I’ll show you what this murdering fucking arsonist can do to losers like you, you arrogant piece of shit!” Pyro yelled over his shoulder as he turned the corner. Pyro wanted to beat the hell out of Dominic, but he was already in enough trouble with the higher ups. He didn’t need to make things worse for himself by giving Avalanche the beating he deserved.
“Asshole,” Pyro muttered as he entered the room he shared with Pietro. Thankfully Magneto’s son was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t as much of a dick as Dominic, but he still thought he was better than everyone else just because he was Magneto’s kid. Sometimes Pyro wondered how Pietro and Wanda were twins. They were so unalike.
Whatever. He couldn’t expect all his roommates to be like Bobby.
John pulled his shirt off, minding the complaints of his injured shoulder. The cut was starting to close now, but it was looking a bit infected. At least it wasn’t bleeding anymore. He’d have to get some antibiotics from the med unit later, just in case. He was lucky none of the cops that were chasing him got stupid and started to shoot at him after that first shot from the security guard at that lab. Fucking “Rent-a-Cop” idiots. They pull their guns at any chance they get. Thankfully, the real cops just mistook him for some dumb college punk out to trash the lab of a professor that he hated. They had no idea who they were dealing with until it was too late.
Smirking, he looked at himself in the mirror on his closet door. If there was one thing that living on this god forsaken island had done, it had forced him to spend more time in the gym working out. His physique had improved, and some muscle had started to fill out his frame in places where it had been fairly non-existent before. He was still fairly wiry, but nice and toned now. He was sure he could have gotten a rise out of Kitty, Rogue or Jubes even were he still at the school. Just to make Bobby jealous.
Not that Bobby ever had anything to complain about in the looks department. The boy was blessed with a body that was naturally good looking, and got better as the amount of training they did had increased during the last year he was at the school. The girls all noticed, of course. And the idiot had no idea.
John smiled. Bobby had always been so naïve. What else could explain why he was dating Rogue? Only someone as oblivious and gullible as Bobby could have done that. It was probably why he ate up all that cock-and-babble about world peace and human-mutant understanding that the teachers at Xavier’s were constantly feeding them. Not that John didn’t think they were nice, quaint ideals. They were. Just not anything he could believe was even remotely possible in the real world. Human kindness was a lie that the weak invented to make them feel better about themselves. No one really cared about what happened beyond what was in their own self-interests. Humans were selfish and unreliable. Just like he was.
John found himself yawning, in spite of himself. The lack of sleep was hitting him like a ton of bricks after being wired their entire trip home. He figured that his shoulder could wait another couple hours without any permanent harm, so he lay down on his bed to catch some shut-eye. He was out like a light before his head even hit the pillow.
* * *
“Good evening everyone. I have called you together because I believe we may have a situation forming.” The Professor started the meeting in the War Room. The X-men were seated around the long table as well as the junior members recruited from the senior class. Bobby sat back in his chair, only half grateful for being taken away from his homework.
“In the last few weeks, there have been several break-ins at some very well known and very high profile human genetics laboratories, both corporate and academic based. In most cases, the break-ins resulted in a loss of data and in a few cases damage to experiments and experimental apparatus,” The Professor continued.
“Human genetics? What kind of research was being done in these laboratories?” Cyclops asked. Jean’s hand reached over to squeeze his.
“Don’t tell me we’ve got another cure-war on our hands,” Warren uttered dismally. Hank looked equally distraught.
“No, thankfully it is not that. The laboratories involved research a variety of topics, though there seems to be an alarming trend towards focuses on genetic-linked viral immunities and experiments with fast growing, aggressive cancers that may have virus-linked origins,” The Professor clarified. “This alone would have been enough to worry us, but after the latest incident things have become a little less clear. At first I had wondered if the thefts were being perpetrated by an anti-mutant organization because of the focus on mutation genetics, but this no longer seems likely. The latest incident was almost definitely perpetrated by the Brotherhood. The police officers that were injured with severe burns in this incident gave a description of a suspect matching that of St. John Allerdyce, or Pyro as he is now being referred to. The research stolen involves deadly and aggressive cancers that have been linked to infections with specific retroviruses. Although I had never thought that Erik would try something this desperate, this latest incident may suggest that Magneto may be looking for a way to initiate diseases in the non-mutant population as a new way of fighting his war.”
“Oh my stars and garters!” Hank exclaimed. “That is most unacceptable. Magneto should know better than to play around with things like that.”
“Yes, there is nothing worse than biological weapons. The kind of terror that would seize the country were something like that used- I don’t even want to think about the actions the government might take were they to realize that mutants were not being affected by a widespread epidemic like that,” Scott said.
“They will blame mutants, that is what they will do,” Storm affirmed solemnly. The Professor nodded his agreement.
Hank frowned. “We can assume that a weapon like that would not be available to them for a few years a best, though. To make something like that a viable agent will take a lot of work, regardless of the quality of the data they have stolen. It would be no easy task to create a disease that only affects the non-mutant population. The mutant genome is far too similar to normal humans for this to work well. Worse yet, a weapon like this could easily cross over and become mutant-infective if Magneto is not careful. We’d have a problem comparable to the AIDS epidemic or worse on our hands.”
Xavier nodded. “That is what I have assumed. We cannot let the Brotherhood continue to plunder this research unhindered. I have constructed a list of sites where related research is taking place, and we must determine which are the most likely to be hit next and try to stop any more attempted thefts.”
“Are any of the labs part of Worthington-owned corporations? I can have security increased at any sites under my control if you want me to.”
“Yes, there are a couple Warren. I’ll send you the list. We may need to fly out last minute to a site if we discover their next target in time. I will be using Cerebro to try and gain as much information as I can. In the meantime, Hank and Jean could you please review the literature coming out of the labs that have been burglarized? We need to try and establish a timeline of how long we have until the Brotherhood would have a viable bio-weapon, and also what exactly that weapon might be. As for the rest of you, just be on alert as we may need to go out and try to slow the Brotherhood down. That is all for now,” The Professor adjourned the meeting.
Bobby got up from his chair and headed to the door. There was no sense in hanging around. The adults didn’t really need him for anything right now. Most of what they were talking about was medical science stuff and completely over his head. Jubilee quickly caught up to him. She smiled cheerfully.
“Hey Icy, how’s it goin’?”
Bobby shrugged. “Okay I guess. What’s up?”
“Ah, not much. Just hadn’t seen you much the past couple of days. Are you feeling okay?” Jubilee asked him.
“Yeah, I’ve just been really working hard on my homework. I have to try and bring my marks back up, or applying to college is going to suck.”
“Oh yeah, I guess so. I don’t know if I’m going to bother. I might just look for a job at the mall and keep training for the team,” Jubilee said.
Bobby nodded. “That’s cool.”
“So… how are your tutoring sessions going?”
Bobby sighed. That was her way of making a not-so-subtle segue into gossip mode. “Fine. If you wanted to know about Justin, you could have just asked.”
Jubilee blushed slightly and giggled. “Oh come on Bobby. Am I that transparent?”
“Well-“
“You don’t have to answer that!”
Bobby snickered. “Heh heh. Alright.”
“Seriously, though. What is Mr-Quiet-and-Serious-from-Canada really like? He’s been here for almost a month, and you are the only person in the entire school who seems to know anything about him beyond the fact that he’s from Canada, knows how to speak French, and is a complete cutie!”
“Why don’t you just talk to him, then?”
“Huh? But I can’t do that! He’d know right away that I was just trying to get the scoop on him. Isn’t he like a psycho-good telepath or something?”
“No, he’s more of an empath who can’t keep us out of his head. At least, he hasn’t been able to do anything much on the hardcore telepathic side beyond that so far. Though, he said his training is going well, and Professor Xavier is tutoring him privately in telepathy so he must have potential... I guess he’s a little bit telekinetic too-“
“Oh, so he’s kinda like Dr. Grey then?”
“Sorta… I dunno. He said he’s more of a precog, but I don’t know much about that. He gets visions and that sort of thing, so he gets déjà vu a lot. It’s kind of freaky when a vision happens because he just completely spaces out for a few seconds. Sometimes he mumbles a few things, but it never made any sense to me. He’s had a couple of them during the tutoring sessions, though he said they weren’t about anything important.”
“Wow… so I should ask him if I’ll ever get a date with Ewan McGregor, ‘cause he’s totally hot!!” Jubilee joked a little too exuberantly.
Bobby shook his head, smiling. “I don’t think he’d be able to help you with that one, Jubes.”
“Really? Too bad. So, is he a nice guy? And more importantly, is he single? And if he isn’t, does he have any hot friends he could convince to come to the school?” The questions were flying out faster than Bobby could answer them.
“Yes, I don’t know, and maybe,” Bobby said when he had a chance to get a word in. “I never asked him if he was seeing anyone, but I think it’s safe to assume that he’s single. As for the friends situation, he did mention someone named Alec or Alex once but he seemed upset about it and stopped before he said much. We didn’t talk about it after that.”
“Wow, you really haven’t done a good job finding out stuff about him!”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to be your gossip detective, or maybe I would have tried a little harder!” Bobby razzed her. Jubilee punched him lightly.
“For that, I oughta zap you. But you’re too damn cute to waste. Besides, Roguey would lay it into me for a week,” Jubilee joked. Bobby grinned knowingly. They may have broken up, but Rogue still had his back.
“Really, though, Jubes. I know Justin hasn’t exactly made much of an attempt to fit into our group, but you guys haven’t made much of an effort to get to know him either. I think he’s a bit shy right now because he’s still worried about his powers. I guess he had some accidents with it back home before he came here.” Bobby said. Jubilee opened her mouth but Bobby cut her off before she could ask the question. “No, I don’t know what the accidents were or how bad they were for him or other people. Judging from his behaviour, they were pretty bad. Not John-bad, but definitely pretty bad. Maybe Rogue-bad, or somewhere a little below that.”
“Really? Wow, that’s heavy… I figured that wasn’t really the case, since he’s so old. I mean, not that Justin’s old, but just old compared to when the rest of us got here.”
“Yeah. Justin’s been dealing with his powers on his own his whole life. I guess he had his precognition and empathy since he was a little kid, but it got a heck of a lot stronger when he hit puberty. He freaks out whenever the Professor goes in his head to try and help him with his powers, too. Justin really doesn’t seem to like telepathy. From what I gather, he’s worried that some of the exercises the professor is putting him through will trigger another accident. It must have been awful, whatever happened.”
“Hey amis, de Gambit was wonderin’ if y’d like to jouer un petit game de poker wit’ ma chere and de Tin Man” Remy interrupted their conversation.
Jubilee’s face lit up. “Sure! As long as you don’t plan on cheating this time, Remy.”
“Hey! De Gambit would never cheat de lovely femmes here.”
“Right. That’s why that pair of aces fell out of your sleeve last time, isn’t it?” She said innocently. Remy’s face turned slightly red.
“Those were from my fightin’ cards. De Gambit was not playin’ you.”
“Alright Remy, whatever you say. What about you Bobby? Are you in?”
“Ah, I don’t know… I have a lot of work to get done¬-”
“Pleeeeeease?” Jubilee pleaded. Bobby laughed.
“Oh, alright. As long as we aren’t playing for money this time and the Cajun has a handicap,” Bobby agreed. Jubilee gave a victory whoop and hi-fived Remy.
“We are going to have so much fun!!” She exclaimed, dragging Bobby along into the living room where Rogue and Piotr were already setting up the card table.
“Hey Bobby. You playin’ tonight?” Rogue greeted him. He nodded. “I’m glad. You’ve been spendin’ too much time cooped up in that room o’yours. Anyone else coming? Where’s Kitty? Did y’all forget to tell her?”
“I’m here.” Kitty walked in through the wall. “I just had to lend Theresa my notes from last week when she was sick. Why does everyone always want my notes?”
“Uh, maybe because you actually pay attention in class AND your writing is legible?” Jubilee suggested.
Kitty shrugged and went to give Piotr a sweet little kiss on the cheek. “Doug’s not coming. He said he wanted to help Hank update the programming for the danger room. Any ideas for another player?
Jubilee’s eyes brightened with glee. “Hey! Bobby, why don’t you ask Justin if he wants to come play?” she suggested, flashing her trademark plotting grin.
“Yeah, you tell dat homme dat he spends far too much time by ‘imself. He be one of us, non?” Remy seconded.
“Yeah, that and he’ll be able to tell us if you’re cheating again!” Jubilee said, smirking at the Cajun. Everyone laughed. Remy was never going to live down that incident, not if they could help it.
“That’s a good idea Jubes. I’ll see if he’s up to it.” Bobby concurred. He ran upstairs and knocked on Justin’s door.
“Yo, it’s open.” Justin called. Bobby opened the door. Justin was sprawled out on his bed, with papers scattered around him on the bed, the desk and all over the floor. He had a pad of paper and was writing something.
“What are you up to?” Bobby asked, trying not to step on anything as he came into the room. He picked up some of the papers beneath him. It was a bunch of formulas and diagrams that Bobby didn’t understand.
“Ah, just writing down a bunch of ideas I had for some experiments Dr. McCoy wants me to run… Sometimes I think he forgets that I’m only 18 and I don’t have a college degree yet. I got stuck on a problem I’m having with the viability assay I’ve been performing, so I’m trying to figure out what’s going wrong. But then I got kinda bored and started writing lyrics.”
“You mean like for a song?” Bobby questioned.
“Yeah. I guess I never told you that I play guitar. It’s not like I’m all that good, but… I dunno. It’s relaxing, and helps me let out all the junk that I’m feeling. I always wanted to play something when I was younger, but my parents didn’t want to pay for music lessons. In high school I finally went out and bought a guitar with my own money and taught myself. I was actually kind of surprised that you guys don’t have a music room of any kind here. Professor Xavier said that the School is getting big enough that they would like to offer music classes sometime soon. Not like it would affect me, since I’m done with high school, but its nice I guess.
“I need to go shopping for a new guitar, though. I left mine in North Bay when I left for Montreal. It was just one more thing to carry. I figured I’d just get a new one when I got back on my feet. It’s been kinda miserable not being able to play,” Justin explained. “I still have some cash left over from my job this summer, so maybe sometime soon I’ll get someone to take me shopping.”
Bobby nodded his head, slightly taken aback.
Jeez, is there anything this guy doesn’t do? He’s finished highschool early because he skipped a grade, he’s doing scientific research with Dr. McCoy, he knows how to teach better than a lot of the teachers Bobby’d ever had, he can see into the future, and on top of it all he’s a musician. Yet another guy at this school that makes Bobby feel completely inadequate.
Everyone seemed to have talents except for him. Doug was a computer and languages whiz. Pete was a great artist and good a building things. Remy was handy with the gambling and, well, getting out of sticky situations. Even John had been the writer of the bunch. But what could Bobby do that was special? What made him stand out?
“Bobby, are you okay?” Justin asked, breaking Bobby out of his thoughts.
Bobby shrugged. “I’m fine,” he lied.
Justin raised an eyebrow. “Okay…”
“Seriously, don’t worry about it. I just wish that I had some sort of talent,” Bobby admitted. “No big deal.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Bobby. Of course you have talents,” Justin insisted.
“Justin, I really don’t want to talk about this right now.”
“Alright… Just… I think you are being too hard on yourself. Besides, once you hear me play guitar, I’m sure you won’t feel so bad!”
“Oh come on. I’m sure you’re great,” Bobby said. Justin didn’t seem like the type of person to try and do things that he didn’t think he could succeed at. Not that Justin wasn’t a go-getter or anything. He just didn’t seem that adventurous to Bobby. Not like John had been, at least.
“Ah, whatever. I’m not going to argue with you about it until you actually hear me play,” Justin muttered, waving a hand dismissively. “What brings you, anyway?”
“Oh! Uh, we were wondering if you wanted to come downstairs and play poker with a bunch of us. Nothing serious. Just chilling out,” Bobby explained, remembering that he hadn’t told Justin the reason for the visit yet. “Plus, we figured that you would be able to warn us if Gambit starts to cheat,” Bobby joked, grinning.
Justin chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds like fun. I don’t know how much of a help I will be with the cheating, though. If the Cajun dude knows how to mask his emotions well on his inside, too, then I won’t be able to do much.”
“Ah, no worries,” Bobby shrugged “We just wanted another player and thought you might want to get out of your room for a while.”
“Yeah… Sure, why not? I’m not going to figure this problem out tonight, and I’m kinda running low on song ideas, especially without a guitar around to play with.”
“You’ll have to play some of your songs for us sometime.”
Justin shrugged. “Seriously, Bobby, I’m not that good! It’s just sorta something I do as a release, you know? It… I dunno. Some of it is just a little too personal.”
“Oh, okay,” Bobby murmured, feeling a little disappointed.
Justin got up, trying not to wreck any of the pages scattered around the room. He set the pad of staff paper on the desk, and then started to pick up the used pages on the floor. Bobby bent to help him.
“Sorry about the mess. I kind of lose track of things when I’m concentrating on my music. Ha, that’s one of the things I think Professor Xavier hates about going into my head when he’s tutoring me. I constantly have music playing in my mind, and it’s usually pretty loud. He doesn’t understand how I get anything done with it always on like that. But the thing is I’m used to it, and for me it’s much, much harder to get the music to turn off,” Justin explained. He was making small talk, much to Bobby’s surprise.
Justin paused for a moment, reflecting. “Actually, if you want to know the truth it’s one of the things that I use to try and drown out all the incoming emotions… If I make the music reflect how I feel, it’s easier to sort out what isn’t mine. I guess I’ve just gotten so used to it being there, it’s more difficult to not have the music in my head than to just let it play.”
Soon they had all the pages gathered together, and Justin left them on his desk next to the pad and his laptop. They went downstairs to the living room to join in the action. The gang had gathered around the table, leaving two spots open for Bobby and Justin between Jubilee and Kitty. Piotr was sitting next to Kitty, and Rogue and Gambit sat across the table from the latecomers.
“Hey guys. What took you so long? We thought we were going to have to send out a search party!” Kitty berated as they sat down. Bobby sat next to her, and Justin sat down next to Jubilee.
“Ah, sorry about that. I was feeling really lonely, and Bobby was just there, and- well, we kind of made out…” Justin said mock-seriously with wide eyes. Bobby could feel his face turn beet red as the gang broke into boisterous laughter. He was horrified. What the hell kind of a joke was that?! Bobby was about to protest but Justin spoke first.
“Seriously, though, I was just finishing up something I was working on for Dr. McCoy. Hope I didn’t ruin the night.” Justin apologized. Bobby frowned, wondering why Justin didn’t say anything about the music.
Rogue dismissed Justin’s worries with a wave of her hand. “Don’t worry about it, shugah. Y’all just better be prepared to get your butt kicked! I plan on bustin’ the lot of ya tonight.” Rogue shouted brassily.
“We’ll see about that. I think I just might be able to put your hopes on ice! What are we playing tonight?” Bobby asked, having recovered from his embarrassment.
“Texas Holdem’, no limits.” Piotr said quickly. It was the Russian’s favourite version of poker.
Bobby smiled. He usually had a bit more luck with Texas Holdem’ than when they played strict poker, especially since Gambit had arrived. At least before he had John to back him up if he was on a losing streak-
“Bobby?”
“Huh?” Bobby was broken out of his thoughts by a grinning Justin.
“You’re dealer this hand. Quit worrying, it’s not like we’re playing strip poker. You’re not going to lose your pants tonight, though we all know the girls would love to see that!” Justin razzed, winking at him. Jubilee gave a high whistle, and Rogue let out a howl. The others were laughing.
Bobby felt a blush creeping up his neck. Jeez, Justin was really laying into him tonight. Sort of like John would have. But something about the way Justin said that… Bobby couldn’t help but feel like he was being flirted with.
Bad thoughts. Bad, bad thoughts. He didn’t want to feel like he was being flirted with, and Justin was just kidding around. Of course he was just kidding around. Damn it. Bobby tried to get a hold of himself. What the heck was wrong with him tonight? Bobby was the one who was supposed to be making the inappropriate jokes, not Justin!
“Uh, right. Okay, here we go.” Bobby dealt out the cards. The game got off to a good start, with Justin winning the first hand and Kitty winning the next two. Bobby wasn’t doing too badly, but he had never really been good at cards. Poker had always been a lot of fun, though, especially that time John had stolen those Cuban cigars from the variety store in town and they had broken into Logan’s ‘secret’ stash of whiskey.
Bobby was glad that Justin seemed to be fitting in. Really, it was too bad that he had been here for over a month and a half and only now was starting to hang out with the gang. Bobby guessed it took everyone a while to get used to things around here. But even Rogue hadn’t taken that long, even with the initial Logan- and Magneto-centred bumps in the road.
“Hey space cadet!” Jubilee called out, returning Bobby to reality again. “It’s your turn. Go, before we just start taking your money.” Bobby looked down at his hand, then at the cards on the table. He grinned. He was going to score a Flush.
“I raise it.” He said, pushing a hefty sum of chips out. Remy started about to push an even larger pile of chips out to match him.
“Really, mon frère? Are you sure you wanted to do that? You’re being awfully generous, just handing over money to us like that.” Justin said, grinning. Gambit groaned. He’d been caught on the bluff before anyone had even had a chance to buy into it.
“Merde. Remind de Gambit t’never play poker against dis’homme again, chere.” He said, throwing his cards down and wrapping his arm around Rogue’s shoulders. He only had an Ace high.
“Anybody else?” Kitty called.
Justin shook his head, laying his cards down. Jubilee popped the bubble she was blowing and matched Bobby’s raise. Piotr frowned, but then he too joined in. Rogue and Kitty had already bowed out.
“Alright Icy, what do you got?” Jubilee called as she and Piotr layed out their cards. Two aces and two kings for Piotr, a full house for Jubilee. Bobby set his cards down, revealing the flush.
Gambit whistled. “You were right, ami. I really didn’t want to make that bluff,” he concurred. Justin smiled, giving a non-chalant shrug. Bobby claimed the pot, and Piotr began to shuffle for the next round.
The game continued like this for a few hours, until Logan came in chewing a cigar and grumbling about having not being told that there was gambling going on. He joined in and soon after the girls called it a night, knowing Logan didn’t lose very often. At around 3 am Scott wandered in and told them to get to bed, reprimanding Logan for letting students stay up on a school night. Logan grunted and said something inflammatory. The boys took that opportunity to exit before the two really started in.
Bobby retreated to his room and threw himself down on his bed. He was about to pull his socks off when he heard a soft scraping noise just outside his window. He looked out just in time to see a pair of legs be pulled up over the eaves that hung down slightly over the windows on this floor.
Curious, Bobby walked over to the window to investigate. Though you could get up there from just about anywhere on this floor, it was easiest to get onto the roof using the drain pipe just next to his window. John had gone up on the roof at night like that sometimes when he wanted to be alone. Bobby did too, but mostly only if he wanted John to find him there. Who was up there tonight? Bobby opened his window and pulled the screen off and into the room. He poked his head out and looked up. He recognized Justin’s shoes hanging over the edge slightly.
“Justin?”
“Yeah?”
“Mind if I come up?”
“No. Go for it.”
Bobby grabbed the ledge above his head and started to pull himself up. Justin’s hand caught Bobby’s right arm and pulled him up over the ledge. Justin lay back down, staring up at the stars. He had put his glasses on since the poker game, which Justin rarely wore nowadays. Bobby sat down next to him. Wow, it was a beautiful night.
“The sky is hardly ever this clear in late October where I’m from,” Justin said after a few moments of silence. “I’ve been staring at these stars since I was a kid, hoping for some answers…”
He pointed up at a clear, blue-white point of light. “That’s Vega. The brightest star in Lyra. It’s been my favourite for years. Don’t know why. It just feels like home.”
Bobby leaned back and looked off at where Justin had pointed. It was beautiful. But it was also bleak, and so lonely. Bobby wondered about that, and Justin’s affinity for the star. He didn’t know a damn thing about the constellations. He could find the Big and Little Dippers and that was about it.
“Thanks for asking me to come down and play with you guys tonight,” Justin mumbled quietly.
“Ah, it was no problem. We figured you were probably getting sick of being by yourself in your room. That, and the girls were curious about you,” Bobby said, grinning. Justin chuckled, but it sounded a little bitter.
“Yeah… I know I haven’t been the easiest guy to get to know. Sorry about that. I used to be really outgoing when I was a little kid. I’d talk to strangers and worry the hell out of my mother. But I always knew exactly whom I could trust. In hindsight, it was probably just my powers but I’ve always had a strong intuition about everything, people included.”
“Really? So what did you think of me when you met me?” Bobby asked, curious.
Justin laughed softly. He shook his head. “Now isn’t that a loaded question?” Justin paused, taking a breath. “Well, I thought you seemed like a nice guy… someone I could trust, definitely. You seemed open, but you also seemed like you have a lot that you hide- Actually, you still seem that way, Bobby,” Justin remarked, his brow wrinkling.
Bobby opened his mouth to defend himself, but Justin cut him off. “No, you don’t have to say anything. It doesn’t matter. If you need to tell me, you will. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. I’m not going to pry. That, it appears, is Jubilee’s job around here.” Justin grinned.
“Yeah, that’s for sure. She’s the gossip queen. If there’s a rumor about you going around the school, she’ll be the first one to know and the last person to stop talking about it. She’s a sweetheart, though.”
Justin nodded. “Anyway, when I first met you I also couldn’t help but get the feeling that I was jumping head first into something that was going to become very confusing and no doubt get me into a lot of trouble in the future,” Justin explained, turning serious again.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Bobby asked.
“I don’t know. It’s hard to tell. So far, good. I can say that at least.” They sat in silence for a moment. The wind was blowing softly, blowing strands of Justin’s golden hair about. Justin reached up and brushed his hair back away from his forehead, which was more a nervous habit than a necessity. Justin had gotten his hair cut recently. Bobby thought the new look suited Justin a little more than the shaggier length it had been before.
Justin turned and regarded Bobby with scrutiny. Bobby suddenly felt nervous under Justin’s soft gaze. Not uncomfortable, but¬-
“Bobby, are you…” Justin trailed off.
“Uh… Am I what?”
“Ah, never mind. It’s nothing.” Justin dismissed his own thought.
“Okay,” Bobby shrugged, looking back up at the stars. “Justin, why did you come up here, anyway?”
“I- I needed to think, I guess…”
“Oh, I really didn’t want to interrupt you-“
“Nah. Don’t worry about it. I was just going to end up berating myself for being so dumb and worrying about everyone hating me, and not being able to control my powers. I was being paranoid for no reason.”
“Hey, don’t feel bad. We all went through tough times with our powers, some of us worse than others. I mean, Rogue had a really rough start here. She was already hurting because she can’t touch anyone without hurting them and then the students found out after an accident with Logan… So many people were afraid of her, it made it hard for her to deal with everything. There were a lot of us who weren’t afraid, but it didn’t matter, because she felt that way. And my old roommate John…” Bobby trailed away. He felt his insides twisting up.
“He’s the one who left, right?” Justin asked.
Bobby nodded.
“John… he never really got over the accident that brought him here. You see, he can control fires, and make them do just about anything. But back then, he lost control of his powers at Christmas time… there were candles in his house, and he lit them even though he knew he was supposed to be in bed asleep. He told me once that he’d always liked fires and candles and stuff like that, and once he discovered his powers it was like everything suddenly made sense. Anyway, he started playing with the candle flames. He couldn’t help it, he was mesmerized by what was happening. But he lost control, and his house caught on fire.
“He tried to wake his parents, but they wouldn’t wake up. I think he said his father had been drunk that night before going to sleep. His Mom had been on sleeping medication for years, I guess. His parents both died, but John walked away without a scratch. Fires John controls don’t hurt him, so the flames that were close to him didn’t touch him, but he couldn’t control the fires in the rest of the house. The rest of the house burnt to the ground, except a small area where he had been near the telephone when he called the fire department. He had been too frightened to move after he called 911. The firemen called it a miracle that he was saved, but Johnny knew better… I guess he didn’t have any close family back in Australia, so Social Services put him in foster care for a while in Philadelphia, but it was hell so he ran away. Or they kicked him out after finding he was a mutant. I’m not sure. John never really talked about his past much, and I think I was the only one he ever really said anything too.” Bobby stopped. He couldn’t tell anymore. The rest of it started to get too close to him.
John moving into the room with Bobby. How thin and tough and angry he was. How much they hated each other. The fistfight they had gotten into during lunch. And then the night when John had been having nightmares about his first foster family, his first foster father, and about his real father... John’s father was able to hurt him, even from beyond the grave. How John kept the temperature up in the room, even when Bobby’s powers went nuts and froze everything. How they became best friends, in spite of everything being seemingly against it. And then loss. John leaving because, because-
Bobby felt a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry. He meant so much to you, didn’t he?” Justin said quietly.
“Yeah,” Bobby whispered hoarsely.
“I understand how you feel. Not just because of the empathy, either.” Justin sighed. “I know how it feels to lose your best friend.”
“Was this that guy, Al-“
“Yes, Aleks,” Justin cut him off. He sighed again, closing his eyes.
“What happened between you two?” Bobby asked. Justin shook his head.
“I, well- Lets, just say that… Well, one of my accidents involved him,” Justin said hesitantly, choking on the words. Bobby could tell he was having a tough time of it.
“Don’t worry. You don’t have to explain it,” Bobby reassured him. Justin nodded.
“Thanks. I haven’t even seen Aleks since then- Jesus, that was almost five months ago now!” Justin looked kind of shocked. Justin shook his head again. “I left home not long after that, not even a week after it happened. I had graduated my high school just before that, so I didn’t have classes or anything hanging over my head. I was going to work for a year before applying to university, and I had told my parents that I was thinking about moving to Ottawa or Montreal for the year. I was supposed to be going on a summer work exchange in Quebec that summer, anyway, so my parents weren’t freaked out or anything. They knew I was leaving… just… well, I probably only convinced them to let me go by myself because I used my powers on them. I felt awful doing it to them, but… God, I just couldn’t stay. Not there. Not with them, and not with the risk of running into Aleks again.
“I wandered for a couple weeks and then managed to get a cheap flat in Montreal. I found a job using my powers. I figured out how to superimpose the emotions I wanted people to feel on top of their own about a year ago, so that was nothing new. It’s not something I like doing though. It’s just so wrong, such a violation. It makes me feel sick, doing it to someone… But I had to survive somehow, right?
“Anyway, I was making enough for a decent living. But it never felt real. It was like a huge nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. Nothing was familiar anymore, and I started to feel suicidal, like I had when I was thirteen and my empathic powers had first started to overwhelm me. I guess I got lucky, lucky that I didn’t do anything really stupid.
“Eventually I ran into a bad situation again. I had some street punk try to mug me. He was holding me down, threatening me with a knife. I must have looked like an easy target. I had been having a bad day with my powers as it was, and I don’t know exactly what I did to him… The Professor said they had to hospitalize him in an asylum. Maybe permanently, if the therapy doesn’t go well. He thinks that I was so afraid of dying that I connected with his mind and shut down his higher functions so that only his limbic system was in control, and then I flooded him… My emotions just- they just burned through his mind and left nothing behind, nothing but fear and pain. I was so fucking afraid, I thought he was going to kill me. I thought I was going to die…
“But because I lost control, he felt my fear too but a hundred times stronger… God…” Justin shuddered at the memory. “When he passed out, screaming, I thought I had killed him, and I just shut down…
“That was when they came to get me. I guess the Professor had been in Cerebro when it happened, and it created a big psionic disturbance. He immediately tracked the source of it down to me, and sent Mr. Summers and Dr. Grey to investigate. They had been on vacation in upstate New York, so I guess they weren’t too far from Montreal. I arrived here a couple days later. That’s when we met.” Justin stopped, taking a deep breath.
Bobby had been right. Justin’s experiences leading up to coming here had been more than a little traumatic. In a lot of ways, Bobby was glad that he had never had to go through that. Yeah, he’d been scared as hell when his powers had first appeared, and having his family just abandon him was hard to deal with, but he’d never accidentally hurt someone, never almost killed someone with his powers. Bobby had always known he was one of the lucky ones. A lot of Class 3 and 4 mutants had bad accidents of one type or another with their powers before they got in control of them.
“I’ve been so worried about my powers. I didn’t want to hurt anyone here. That’s why I’ve been keeping to myself so much. Those extreme emotions seem to be what keeps triggering my accidents. Lust, hate, fear… It was useless to worry that I’d be placed into situations like that here. All that I’ve done is make myself miserable,” Justin admitted. Bobby nodded.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. We all understand, in our own way. You aren’t the only one who’s been afraid to be around other people. Rogue ran away from the School once because she thought that everyone hated her. It wasn’t true, but experiences like the ones you’ve both had can be hard to overcome. Harder still when you don’t have any friends.”
They lay there in silence, their breath crystallizing in the cold night air. After a minute, Bobby found himself speaking again.
“I always wonder whether John really hates me, or if he left because he just couldn’t stand being here.” Or if he actually buys into Magneto’s twisted ideals, Bobby added silently, his stomach knotting at the idea.
Justin nodded. “Yeah, I wonder about Aleks too… Whether he hates me, or if he even remembers what happened. God, we were so drunk-”
“Whoa, hold on. You mean you don’t even know if he remembers what happened and you just up and dropped off the face of the planet?” Bobby asked, incredulous.
Justin shook his head, closing his eyes. “Bobby, I wish it were that simple. Even if he didn’t remember what happened, I would never be able to look him in the eyes again. The guilt alone- I just can’t deal with it. It’s eating away at me bit by bit but there isn’t anything I can do to make it better or right. I just can’t.”
“Justin, if you couldn’t control your powers how is that your fault? And didn’t you just say you were drunk at the time?” Bobby reasoned, still not even knowing what had happened. For some reason, he was getting the impression that this particular accident had involved more than just Justin’s powers going nuts. Justin said nothing.
“Justin, running away from it isn’t going to make things better. You need to accept that you couldn’t do anything about your powers, and move on. It’s the mistakes we make consciously that are the real problems. And even then, at some point you just have to forgive yourself” Bobby insisted. Bobby wondered why he didn’t follow his own advice regarding his relationship with John. Why couldn’t he let go?
“I know, I know that’s what I’m supposed to do. But it’s a lot easier to say things, to understand them objectively, than it is to actually feel it and believe it,” Justin muttered, sounding pained.
“Yeah. I know what you mean,” Bobby agreed quietly. Silence descended between them once again. A few puffy, frozen clouds had moved in while they were talking, obscuring the view of the stars.
“You’re a good guy Bobby. I’m sorry I dumped all that on you tonight. Hopefully our next conversation won’t be so serious. I have my doubts, though. Something tells me things just got a whole lot more complicated.” Justin smiled ruefully. “I’m going to bed. I have to be in Hank’s lab for 8 am to get started on an experiment he wants me to run.” Justin got up and moved to the edge of the roof.
“Hank?” Bobby asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Ah, Dr. McCoy. You know who I’m talking about. The only reason he doesn’t have you guys call him that too is because ‘it wouldn’t be proper for a student-teacher relationship’ or some other lame reason. I’m not a ‘student’ by the school’s normal definition of the word, so I guess he doesn’t want me to act like I am when it’s just the two of us in the lab,” Justin said, shrugging.
“Don’t worry. He’s the same way with those of us on the junior X-men squad. The adults think that we won’t be able to work as a team as well if they put themselves on another level with the formal titles, or something like that. So, do you think he’ll be pissed off if I call him that in Calculus tomorrow morning?” Bobby asked, grinning.
“Nah. Though, he might pretend to be just for appearances,” Justin pointed out. “Later, Iceman.” Justin grabbed onto the overhang and lowered himself back down to his room.
“Night.” Bobby replied, staying put. He let out a sigh as he heard Justin’s window shut. He lay there, watching the clouds and the stars, for a while.
What a night.
Author: lux_apollo
Rating: R for violence.
Pairings: Bobby/John, some minor Kitty/Piotr, Scott/Jean and Remy/Rogue seen in this chapter.
Summary: John arrives back at the Brotherhood Base. X-men meeting. Poker night for Bobby and friends. Bobby and Justin have a talk.
Notes: Thanks to sarahlu81 and miss_bushido for beta. This fic is cross posted at x_slash and fiery_snowstorm.
[ Prologue | Chapter 1 - NC17 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 ]
Chapter 7
Pyro exited the helicopter and walked across the pier into the main part of the compound. The main base of the Brotherhood of Mutants was as bleak and cold as usual. What kind of moron decides to pick a chunk of rocks in the middle of the North Atlantic for their headquarters? I mean, couldn’t they have just as easily had the base on some pile of rocks in international waters in the tropics?
Whatever.
Pyro entered the residential bunker, hoping he could just get to his room and get some sleep. He knew he was in for a lecture from the old man, and that was not something he wanted to endure after not sleeping for the last 37 hours on the way back here.
“Hey flamer, you’re back! I thought Mystique would have left you in a body bag floating in a river somewhere after the news report that was on TV yesterday.”
Pyro cringed inwardly. Of all the idiots he worked with, Avalanche was the one he wanted to see the least right now. What a fucking arrogant piece of shit. He turned around to face the asshole. That’s all Dominic was really: something that constantly spewed forth raw, undigested shit.
“Sorry about your luck, dickhead. Apparently I’m still more important to the team than you are,” Pyro said, smirking.
“Ha, I don’t know about that. You’ll be lucky if they ever let you leave this island again. Just think about all the great times you’ll have mopping the floors, cleaning the toilets, and cooking us all dinner! It’ll be the fairy job you’ve always dreamed of, you faggot,” Avalanche hurled back at him. Pyro rolled his eyes.
“Fuck you, Dom. It’s you’re fault we’re both on Magneto’s shit list. You’re the dumb twit who never listens to orders from me and Pietro. If you could ever use your powers with some form of control and not cause unnecessary property damage while we are on missions, they might let you out of your padded room more often.” Pyro turned to continue on his way back to his room.
Avalanche snorted. “You’re one to talk. At least I’m not a parent-murdering arsonist, faggot.” Avalanche chuckled when he saw Pyro stop in his tracks.
He did not just say that. He so fucking did not just say that.
“Parent. Murdering. Arsonist.”
BAM!
Avalanche grunted as he was shoved forcefully against a wall. Pyro’s lighter clicked open. Pyro had his left hand wrapped around Dominic’s throat, partly choking him. He moved the lighter down until it was almost igniting the worn denim of the jeans covering Avalanche’s crotch.
“What did you just call me, shithead?” Pyro asked, tightening his grip on Avalanche’s throat. Dominic squeaked something out.
“If you want to keep your balls intact, you are going to fucking apologize right now motherfucker,” Pyro commanded. Dominic again tried to squeak something out.
“What was that?” Pyro spat in his face. He moved the lighter up closer to Avalanche’s crotch. A look of fear passed over Dominic’s face, and he tried to squirm up away from the flame.
“I’m fucking sorry, okay!” Dominic eventually managed to choke out. Pyro gave him another slam into the wall, and then threw Avalanche to the ground. He flipped his lighter closed, and stalked down the hallway towards his room.
“If you EVER call me a fucking parent murderer again, I’ll show you what this murdering fucking arsonist can do to losers like you, you arrogant piece of shit!” Pyro yelled over his shoulder as he turned the corner. Pyro wanted to beat the hell out of Dominic, but he was already in enough trouble with the higher ups. He didn’t need to make things worse for himself by giving Avalanche the beating he deserved.
“Asshole,” Pyro muttered as he entered the room he shared with Pietro. Thankfully Magneto’s son was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t as much of a dick as Dominic, but he still thought he was better than everyone else just because he was Magneto’s kid. Sometimes Pyro wondered how Pietro and Wanda were twins. They were so unalike.
Whatever. He couldn’t expect all his roommates to be like Bobby.
John pulled his shirt off, minding the complaints of his injured shoulder. The cut was starting to close now, but it was looking a bit infected. At least it wasn’t bleeding anymore. He’d have to get some antibiotics from the med unit later, just in case. He was lucky none of the cops that were chasing him got stupid and started to shoot at him after that first shot from the security guard at that lab. Fucking “Rent-a-Cop” idiots. They pull their guns at any chance they get. Thankfully, the real cops just mistook him for some dumb college punk out to trash the lab of a professor that he hated. They had no idea who they were dealing with until it was too late.
Smirking, he looked at himself in the mirror on his closet door. If there was one thing that living on this god forsaken island had done, it had forced him to spend more time in the gym working out. His physique had improved, and some muscle had started to fill out his frame in places where it had been fairly non-existent before. He was still fairly wiry, but nice and toned now. He was sure he could have gotten a rise out of Kitty, Rogue or Jubes even were he still at the school. Just to make Bobby jealous.
Not that Bobby ever had anything to complain about in the looks department. The boy was blessed with a body that was naturally good looking, and got better as the amount of training they did had increased during the last year he was at the school. The girls all noticed, of course. And the idiot had no idea.
John smiled. Bobby had always been so naïve. What else could explain why he was dating Rogue? Only someone as oblivious and gullible as Bobby could have done that. It was probably why he ate up all that cock-and-babble about world peace and human-mutant understanding that the teachers at Xavier’s were constantly feeding them. Not that John didn’t think they were nice, quaint ideals. They were. Just not anything he could believe was even remotely possible in the real world. Human kindness was a lie that the weak invented to make them feel better about themselves. No one really cared about what happened beyond what was in their own self-interests. Humans were selfish and unreliable. Just like he was.
John found himself yawning, in spite of himself. The lack of sleep was hitting him like a ton of bricks after being wired their entire trip home. He figured that his shoulder could wait another couple hours without any permanent harm, so he lay down on his bed to catch some shut-eye. He was out like a light before his head even hit the pillow.
* * *
“Good evening everyone. I have called you together because I believe we may have a situation forming.” The Professor started the meeting in the War Room. The X-men were seated around the long table as well as the junior members recruited from the senior class. Bobby sat back in his chair, only half grateful for being taken away from his homework.
“In the last few weeks, there have been several break-ins at some very well known and very high profile human genetics laboratories, both corporate and academic based. In most cases, the break-ins resulted in a loss of data and in a few cases damage to experiments and experimental apparatus,” The Professor continued.
“Human genetics? What kind of research was being done in these laboratories?” Cyclops asked. Jean’s hand reached over to squeeze his.
“Don’t tell me we’ve got another cure-war on our hands,” Warren uttered dismally. Hank looked equally distraught.
“No, thankfully it is not that. The laboratories involved research a variety of topics, though there seems to be an alarming trend towards focuses on genetic-linked viral immunities and experiments with fast growing, aggressive cancers that may have virus-linked origins,” The Professor clarified. “This alone would have been enough to worry us, but after the latest incident things have become a little less clear. At first I had wondered if the thefts were being perpetrated by an anti-mutant organization because of the focus on mutation genetics, but this no longer seems likely. The latest incident was almost definitely perpetrated by the Brotherhood. The police officers that were injured with severe burns in this incident gave a description of a suspect matching that of St. John Allerdyce, or Pyro as he is now being referred to. The research stolen involves deadly and aggressive cancers that have been linked to infections with specific retroviruses. Although I had never thought that Erik would try something this desperate, this latest incident may suggest that Magneto may be looking for a way to initiate diseases in the non-mutant population as a new way of fighting his war.”
“Oh my stars and garters!” Hank exclaimed. “That is most unacceptable. Magneto should know better than to play around with things like that.”
“Yes, there is nothing worse than biological weapons. The kind of terror that would seize the country were something like that used- I don’t even want to think about the actions the government might take were they to realize that mutants were not being affected by a widespread epidemic like that,” Scott said.
“They will blame mutants, that is what they will do,” Storm affirmed solemnly. The Professor nodded his agreement.
Hank frowned. “We can assume that a weapon like that would not be available to them for a few years a best, though. To make something like that a viable agent will take a lot of work, regardless of the quality of the data they have stolen. It would be no easy task to create a disease that only affects the non-mutant population. The mutant genome is far too similar to normal humans for this to work well. Worse yet, a weapon like this could easily cross over and become mutant-infective if Magneto is not careful. We’d have a problem comparable to the AIDS epidemic or worse on our hands.”
Xavier nodded. “That is what I have assumed. We cannot let the Brotherhood continue to plunder this research unhindered. I have constructed a list of sites where related research is taking place, and we must determine which are the most likely to be hit next and try to stop any more attempted thefts.”
“Are any of the labs part of Worthington-owned corporations? I can have security increased at any sites under my control if you want me to.”
“Yes, there are a couple Warren. I’ll send you the list. We may need to fly out last minute to a site if we discover their next target in time. I will be using Cerebro to try and gain as much information as I can. In the meantime, Hank and Jean could you please review the literature coming out of the labs that have been burglarized? We need to try and establish a timeline of how long we have until the Brotherhood would have a viable bio-weapon, and also what exactly that weapon might be. As for the rest of you, just be on alert as we may need to go out and try to slow the Brotherhood down. That is all for now,” The Professor adjourned the meeting.
Bobby got up from his chair and headed to the door. There was no sense in hanging around. The adults didn’t really need him for anything right now. Most of what they were talking about was medical science stuff and completely over his head. Jubilee quickly caught up to him. She smiled cheerfully.
“Hey Icy, how’s it goin’?”
Bobby shrugged. “Okay I guess. What’s up?”
“Ah, not much. Just hadn’t seen you much the past couple of days. Are you feeling okay?” Jubilee asked him.
“Yeah, I’ve just been really working hard on my homework. I have to try and bring my marks back up, or applying to college is going to suck.”
“Oh yeah, I guess so. I don’t know if I’m going to bother. I might just look for a job at the mall and keep training for the team,” Jubilee said.
Bobby nodded. “That’s cool.”
“So… how are your tutoring sessions going?”
Bobby sighed. That was her way of making a not-so-subtle segue into gossip mode. “Fine. If you wanted to know about Justin, you could have just asked.”
Jubilee blushed slightly and giggled. “Oh come on Bobby. Am I that transparent?”
“Well-“
“You don’t have to answer that!”
Bobby snickered. “Heh heh. Alright.”
“Seriously, though. What is Mr-Quiet-and-Serious-from-Canada really like? He’s been here for almost a month, and you are the only person in the entire school who seems to know anything about him beyond the fact that he’s from Canada, knows how to speak French, and is a complete cutie!”
“Why don’t you just talk to him, then?”
“Huh? But I can’t do that! He’d know right away that I was just trying to get the scoop on him. Isn’t he like a psycho-good telepath or something?”
“No, he’s more of an empath who can’t keep us out of his head. At least, he hasn’t been able to do anything much on the hardcore telepathic side beyond that so far. Though, he said his training is going well, and Professor Xavier is tutoring him privately in telepathy so he must have potential... I guess he’s a little bit telekinetic too-“
“Oh, so he’s kinda like Dr. Grey then?”
“Sorta… I dunno. He said he’s more of a precog, but I don’t know much about that. He gets visions and that sort of thing, so he gets déjà vu a lot. It’s kind of freaky when a vision happens because he just completely spaces out for a few seconds. Sometimes he mumbles a few things, but it never made any sense to me. He’s had a couple of them during the tutoring sessions, though he said they weren’t about anything important.”
“Wow… so I should ask him if I’ll ever get a date with Ewan McGregor, ‘cause he’s totally hot!!” Jubilee joked a little too exuberantly.
Bobby shook his head, smiling. “I don’t think he’d be able to help you with that one, Jubes.”
“Really? Too bad. So, is he a nice guy? And more importantly, is he single? And if he isn’t, does he have any hot friends he could convince to come to the school?” The questions were flying out faster than Bobby could answer them.
“Yes, I don’t know, and maybe,” Bobby said when he had a chance to get a word in. “I never asked him if he was seeing anyone, but I think it’s safe to assume that he’s single. As for the friends situation, he did mention someone named Alec or Alex once but he seemed upset about it and stopped before he said much. We didn’t talk about it after that.”
“Wow, you really haven’t done a good job finding out stuff about him!”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to be your gossip detective, or maybe I would have tried a little harder!” Bobby razzed her. Jubilee punched him lightly.
“For that, I oughta zap you. But you’re too damn cute to waste. Besides, Roguey would lay it into me for a week,” Jubilee joked. Bobby grinned knowingly. They may have broken up, but Rogue still had his back.
“Really, though, Jubes. I know Justin hasn’t exactly made much of an attempt to fit into our group, but you guys haven’t made much of an effort to get to know him either. I think he’s a bit shy right now because he’s still worried about his powers. I guess he had some accidents with it back home before he came here.” Bobby said. Jubilee opened her mouth but Bobby cut her off before she could ask the question. “No, I don’t know what the accidents were or how bad they were for him or other people. Judging from his behaviour, they were pretty bad. Not John-bad, but definitely pretty bad. Maybe Rogue-bad, or somewhere a little below that.”
“Really? Wow, that’s heavy… I figured that wasn’t really the case, since he’s so old. I mean, not that Justin’s old, but just old compared to when the rest of us got here.”
“Yeah. Justin’s been dealing with his powers on his own his whole life. I guess he had his precognition and empathy since he was a little kid, but it got a heck of a lot stronger when he hit puberty. He freaks out whenever the Professor goes in his head to try and help him with his powers, too. Justin really doesn’t seem to like telepathy. From what I gather, he’s worried that some of the exercises the professor is putting him through will trigger another accident. It must have been awful, whatever happened.”
“Hey amis, de Gambit was wonderin’ if y’d like to jouer un petit game de poker wit’ ma chere and de Tin Man” Remy interrupted their conversation.
Jubilee’s face lit up. “Sure! As long as you don’t plan on cheating this time, Remy.”
“Hey! De Gambit would never cheat de lovely femmes here.”
“Right. That’s why that pair of aces fell out of your sleeve last time, isn’t it?” She said innocently. Remy’s face turned slightly red.
“Those were from my fightin’ cards. De Gambit was not playin’ you.”
“Alright Remy, whatever you say. What about you Bobby? Are you in?”
“Ah, I don’t know… I have a lot of work to get done¬-”
“Pleeeeeease?” Jubilee pleaded. Bobby laughed.
“Oh, alright. As long as we aren’t playing for money this time and the Cajun has a handicap,” Bobby agreed. Jubilee gave a victory whoop and hi-fived Remy.
“We are going to have so much fun!!” She exclaimed, dragging Bobby along into the living room where Rogue and Piotr were already setting up the card table.
“Hey Bobby. You playin’ tonight?” Rogue greeted him. He nodded. “I’m glad. You’ve been spendin’ too much time cooped up in that room o’yours. Anyone else coming? Where’s Kitty? Did y’all forget to tell her?”
“I’m here.” Kitty walked in through the wall. “I just had to lend Theresa my notes from last week when she was sick. Why does everyone always want my notes?”
“Uh, maybe because you actually pay attention in class AND your writing is legible?” Jubilee suggested.
Kitty shrugged and went to give Piotr a sweet little kiss on the cheek. “Doug’s not coming. He said he wanted to help Hank update the programming for the danger room. Any ideas for another player?
Jubilee’s eyes brightened with glee. “Hey! Bobby, why don’t you ask Justin if he wants to come play?” she suggested, flashing her trademark plotting grin.
“Yeah, you tell dat homme dat he spends far too much time by ‘imself. He be one of us, non?” Remy seconded.
“Yeah, that and he’ll be able to tell us if you’re cheating again!” Jubilee said, smirking at the Cajun. Everyone laughed. Remy was never going to live down that incident, not if they could help it.
“That’s a good idea Jubes. I’ll see if he’s up to it.” Bobby concurred. He ran upstairs and knocked on Justin’s door.
“Yo, it’s open.” Justin called. Bobby opened the door. Justin was sprawled out on his bed, with papers scattered around him on the bed, the desk and all over the floor. He had a pad of paper and was writing something.
“What are you up to?” Bobby asked, trying not to step on anything as he came into the room. He picked up some of the papers beneath him. It was a bunch of formulas and diagrams that Bobby didn’t understand.
“Ah, just writing down a bunch of ideas I had for some experiments Dr. McCoy wants me to run… Sometimes I think he forgets that I’m only 18 and I don’t have a college degree yet. I got stuck on a problem I’m having with the viability assay I’ve been performing, so I’m trying to figure out what’s going wrong. But then I got kinda bored and started writing lyrics.”
“You mean like for a song?” Bobby questioned.
“Yeah. I guess I never told you that I play guitar. It’s not like I’m all that good, but… I dunno. It’s relaxing, and helps me let out all the junk that I’m feeling. I always wanted to play something when I was younger, but my parents didn’t want to pay for music lessons. In high school I finally went out and bought a guitar with my own money and taught myself. I was actually kind of surprised that you guys don’t have a music room of any kind here. Professor Xavier said that the School is getting big enough that they would like to offer music classes sometime soon. Not like it would affect me, since I’m done with high school, but its nice I guess.
“I need to go shopping for a new guitar, though. I left mine in North Bay when I left for Montreal. It was just one more thing to carry. I figured I’d just get a new one when I got back on my feet. It’s been kinda miserable not being able to play,” Justin explained. “I still have some cash left over from my job this summer, so maybe sometime soon I’ll get someone to take me shopping.”
Bobby nodded his head, slightly taken aback.
Jeez, is there anything this guy doesn’t do? He’s finished highschool early because he skipped a grade, he’s doing scientific research with Dr. McCoy, he knows how to teach better than a lot of the teachers Bobby’d ever had, he can see into the future, and on top of it all he’s a musician. Yet another guy at this school that makes Bobby feel completely inadequate.
Everyone seemed to have talents except for him. Doug was a computer and languages whiz. Pete was a great artist and good a building things. Remy was handy with the gambling and, well, getting out of sticky situations. Even John had been the writer of the bunch. But what could Bobby do that was special? What made him stand out?
“Bobby, are you okay?” Justin asked, breaking Bobby out of his thoughts.
Bobby shrugged. “I’m fine,” he lied.
Justin raised an eyebrow. “Okay…”
“Seriously, don’t worry about it. I just wish that I had some sort of talent,” Bobby admitted. “No big deal.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Bobby. Of course you have talents,” Justin insisted.
“Justin, I really don’t want to talk about this right now.”
“Alright… Just… I think you are being too hard on yourself. Besides, once you hear me play guitar, I’m sure you won’t feel so bad!”
“Oh come on. I’m sure you’re great,” Bobby said. Justin didn’t seem like the type of person to try and do things that he didn’t think he could succeed at. Not that Justin wasn’t a go-getter or anything. He just didn’t seem that adventurous to Bobby. Not like John had been, at least.
“Ah, whatever. I’m not going to argue with you about it until you actually hear me play,” Justin muttered, waving a hand dismissively. “What brings you, anyway?”
“Oh! Uh, we were wondering if you wanted to come downstairs and play poker with a bunch of us. Nothing serious. Just chilling out,” Bobby explained, remembering that he hadn’t told Justin the reason for the visit yet. “Plus, we figured that you would be able to warn us if Gambit starts to cheat,” Bobby joked, grinning.
Justin chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds like fun. I don’t know how much of a help I will be with the cheating, though. If the Cajun dude knows how to mask his emotions well on his inside, too, then I won’t be able to do much.”
“Ah, no worries,” Bobby shrugged “We just wanted another player and thought you might want to get out of your room for a while.”
“Yeah… Sure, why not? I’m not going to figure this problem out tonight, and I’m kinda running low on song ideas, especially without a guitar around to play with.”
“You’ll have to play some of your songs for us sometime.”
Justin shrugged. “Seriously, Bobby, I’m not that good! It’s just sorta something I do as a release, you know? It… I dunno. Some of it is just a little too personal.”
“Oh, okay,” Bobby murmured, feeling a little disappointed.
Justin got up, trying not to wreck any of the pages scattered around the room. He set the pad of staff paper on the desk, and then started to pick up the used pages on the floor. Bobby bent to help him.
“Sorry about the mess. I kind of lose track of things when I’m concentrating on my music. Ha, that’s one of the things I think Professor Xavier hates about going into my head when he’s tutoring me. I constantly have music playing in my mind, and it’s usually pretty loud. He doesn’t understand how I get anything done with it always on like that. But the thing is I’m used to it, and for me it’s much, much harder to get the music to turn off,” Justin explained. He was making small talk, much to Bobby’s surprise.
Justin paused for a moment, reflecting. “Actually, if you want to know the truth it’s one of the things that I use to try and drown out all the incoming emotions… If I make the music reflect how I feel, it’s easier to sort out what isn’t mine. I guess I’ve just gotten so used to it being there, it’s more difficult to not have the music in my head than to just let it play.”
Soon they had all the pages gathered together, and Justin left them on his desk next to the pad and his laptop. They went downstairs to the living room to join in the action. The gang had gathered around the table, leaving two spots open for Bobby and Justin between Jubilee and Kitty. Piotr was sitting next to Kitty, and Rogue and Gambit sat across the table from the latecomers.
“Hey guys. What took you so long? We thought we were going to have to send out a search party!” Kitty berated as they sat down. Bobby sat next to her, and Justin sat down next to Jubilee.
“Ah, sorry about that. I was feeling really lonely, and Bobby was just there, and- well, we kind of made out…” Justin said mock-seriously with wide eyes. Bobby could feel his face turn beet red as the gang broke into boisterous laughter. He was horrified. What the hell kind of a joke was that?! Bobby was about to protest but Justin spoke first.
“Seriously, though, I was just finishing up something I was working on for Dr. McCoy. Hope I didn’t ruin the night.” Justin apologized. Bobby frowned, wondering why Justin didn’t say anything about the music.
Rogue dismissed Justin’s worries with a wave of her hand. “Don’t worry about it, shugah. Y’all just better be prepared to get your butt kicked! I plan on bustin’ the lot of ya tonight.” Rogue shouted brassily.
“We’ll see about that. I think I just might be able to put your hopes on ice! What are we playing tonight?” Bobby asked, having recovered from his embarrassment.
“Texas Holdem’, no limits.” Piotr said quickly. It was the Russian’s favourite version of poker.
Bobby smiled. He usually had a bit more luck with Texas Holdem’ than when they played strict poker, especially since Gambit had arrived. At least before he had John to back him up if he was on a losing streak-
“Bobby?”
“Huh?” Bobby was broken out of his thoughts by a grinning Justin.
“You’re dealer this hand. Quit worrying, it’s not like we’re playing strip poker. You’re not going to lose your pants tonight, though we all know the girls would love to see that!” Justin razzed, winking at him. Jubilee gave a high whistle, and Rogue let out a howl. The others were laughing.
Bobby felt a blush creeping up his neck. Jeez, Justin was really laying into him tonight. Sort of like John would have. But something about the way Justin said that… Bobby couldn’t help but feel like he was being flirted with.
Bad thoughts. Bad, bad thoughts. He didn’t want to feel like he was being flirted with, and Justin was just kidding around. Of course he was just kidding around. Damn it. Bobby tried to get a hold of himself. What the heck was wrong with him tonight? Bobby was the one who was supposed to be making the inappropriate jokes, not Justin!
“Uh, right. Okay, here we go.” Bobby dealt out the cards. The game got off to a good start, with Justin winning the first hand and Kitty winning the next two. Bobby wasn’t doing too badly, but he had never really been good at cards. Poker had always been a lot of fun, though, especially that time John had stolen those Cuban cigars from the variety store in town and they had broken into Logan’s ‘secret’ stash of whiskey.
Bobby was glad that Justin seemed to be fitting in. Really, it was too bad that he had been here for over a month and a half and only now was starting to hang out with the gang. Bobby guessed it took everyone a while to get used to things around here. But even Rogue hadn’t taken that long, even with the initial Logan- and Magneto-centred bumps in the road.
“Hey space cadet!” Jubilee called out, returning Bobby to reality again. “It’s your turn. Go, before we just start taking your money.” Bobby looked down at his hand, then at the cards on the table. He grinned. He was going to score a Flush.
“I raise it.” He said, pushing a hefty sum of chips out. Remy started about to push an even larger pile of chips out to match him.
“Really, mon frère? Are you sure you wanted to do that? You’re being awfully generous, just handing over money to us like that.” Justin said, grinning. Gambit groaned. He’d been caught on the bluff before anyone had even had a chance to buy into it.
“Merde. Remind de Gambit t’never play poker against dis’homme again, chere.” He said, throwing his cards down and wrapping his arm around Rogue’s shoulders. He only had an Ace high.
“Anybody else?” Kitty called.
Justin shook his head, laying his cards down. Jubilee popped the bubble she was blowing and matched Bobby’s raise. Piotr frowned, but then he too joined in. Rogue and Kitty had already bowed out.
“Alright Icy, what do you got?” Jubilee called as she and Piotr layed out their cards. Two aces and two kings for Piotr, a full house for Jubilee. Bobby set his cards down, revealing the flush.
Gambit whistled. “You were right, ami. I really didn’t want to make that bluff,” he concurred. Justin smiled, giving a non-chalant shrug. Bobby claimed the pot, and Piotr began to shuffle for the next round.
The game continued like this for a few hours, until Logan came in chewing a cigar and grumbling about having not being told that there was gambling going on. He joined in and soon after the girls called it a night, knowing Logan didn’t lose very often. At around 3 am Scott wandered in and told them to get to bed, reprimanding Logan for letting students stay up on a school night. Logan grunted and said something inflammatory. The boys took that opportunity to exit before the two really started in.
Bobby retreated to his room and threw himself down on his bed. He was about to pull his socks off when he heard a soft scraping noise just outside his window. He looked out just in time to see a pair of legs be pulled up over the eaves that hung down slightly over the windows on this floor.
Curious, Bobby walked over to the window to investigate. Though you could get up there from just about anywhere on this floor, it was easiest to get onto the roof using the drain pipe just next to his window. John had gone up on the roof at night like that sometimes when he wanted to be alone. Bobby did too, but mostly only if he wanted John to find him there. Who was up there tonight? Bobby opened his window and pulled the screen off and into the room. He poked his head out and looked up. He recognized Justin’s shoes hanging over the edge slightly.
“Justin?”
“Yeah?”
“Mind if I come up?”
“No. Go for it.”
Bobby grabbed the ledge above his head and started to pull himself up. Justin’s hand caught Bobby’s right arm and pulled him up over the ledge. Justin lay back down, staring up at the stars. He had put his glasses on since the poker game, which Justin rarely wore nowadays. Bobby sat down next to him. Wow, it was a beautiful night.
“The sky is hardly ever this clear in late October where I’m from,” Justin said after a few moments of silence. “I’ve been staring at these stars since I was a kid, hoping for some answers…”
He pointed up at a clear, blue-white point of light. “That’s Vega. The brightest star in Lyra. It’s been my favourite for years. Don’t know why. It just feels like home.”
Bobby leaned back and looked off at where Justin had pointed. It was beautiful. But it was also bleak, and so lonely. Bobby wondered about that, and Justin’s affinity for the star. He didn’t know a damn thing about the constellations. He could find the Big and Little Dippers and that was about it.
“Thanks for asking me to come down and play with you guys tonight,” Justin mumbled quietly.
“Ah, it was no problem. We figured you were probably getting sick of being by yourself in your room. That, and the girls were curious about you,” Bobby said, grinning. Justin chuckled, but it sounded a little bitter.
“Yeah… I know I haven’t been the easiest guy to get to know. Sorry about that. I used to be really outgoing when I was a little kid. I’d talk to strangers and worry the hell out of my mother. But I always knew exactly whom I could trust. In hindsight, it was probably just my powers but I’ve always had a strong intuition about everything, people included.”
“Really? So what did you think of me when you met me?” Bobby asked, curious.
Justin laughed softly. He shook his head. “Now isn’t that a loaded question?” Justin paused, taking a breath. “Well, I thought you seemed like a nice guy… someone I could trust, definitely. You seemed open, but you also seemed like you have a lot that you hide- Actually, you still seem that way, Bobby,” Justin remarked, his brow wrinkling.
Bobby opened his mouth to defend himself, but Justin cut him off. “No, you don’t have to say anything. It doesn’t matter. If you need to tell me, you will. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. I’m not going to pry. That, it appears, is Jubilee’s job around here.” Justin grinned.
“Yeah, that’s for sure. She’s the gossip queen. If there’s a rumor about you going around the school, she’ll be the first one to know and the last person to stop talking about it. She’s a sweetheart, though.”
Justin nodded. “Anyway, when I first met you I also couldn’t help but get the feeling that I was jumping head first into something that was going to become very confusing and no doubt get me into a lot of trouble in the future,” Justin explained, turning serious again.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Bobby asked.
“I don’t know. It’s hard to tell. So far, good. I can say that at least.” They sat in silence for a moment. The wind was blowing softly, blowing strands of Justin’s golden hair about. Justin reached up and brushed his hair back away from his forehead, which was more a nervous habit than a necessity. Justin had gotten his hair cut recently. Bobby thought the new look suited Justin a little more than the shaggier length it had been before.
Justin turned and regarded Bobby with scrutiny. Bobby suddenly felt nervous under Justin’s soft gaze. Not uncomfortable, but¬-
“Bobby, are you…” Justin trailed off.
“Uh… Am I what?”
“Ah, never mind. It’s nothing.” Justin dismissed his own thought.
“Okay,” Bobby shrugged, looking back up at the stars. “Justin, why did you come up here, anyway?”
“I- I needed to think, I guess…”
“Oh, I really didn’t want to interrupt you-“
“Nah. Don’t worry about it. I was just going to end up berating myself for being so dumb and worrying about everyone hating me, and not being able to control my powers. I was being paranoid for no reason.”
“Hey, don’t feel bad. We all went through tough times with our powers, some of us worse than others. I mean, Rogue had a really rough start here. She was already hurting because she can’t touch anyone without hurting them and then the students found out after an accident with Logan… So many people were afraid of her, it made it hard for her to deal with everything. There were a lot of us who weren’t afraid, but it didn’t matter, because she felt that way. And my old roommate John…” Bobby trailed away. He felt his insides twisting up.
“He’s the one who left, right?” Justin asked.
Bobby nodded.
“John… he never really got over the accident that brought him here. You see, he can control fires, and make them do just about anything. But back then, he lost control of his powers at Christmas time… there were candles in his house, and he lit them even though he knew he was supposed to be in bed asleep. He told me once that he’d always liked fires and candles and stuff like that, and once he discovered his powers it was like everything suddenly made sense. Anyway, he started playing with the candle flames. He couldn’t help it, he was mesmerized by what was happening. But he lost control, and his house caught on fire.
“He tried to wake his parents, but they wouldn’t wake up. I think he said his father had been drunk that night before going to sleep. His Mom had been on sleeping medication for years, I guess. His parents both died, but John walked away without a scratch. Fires John controls don’t hurt him, so the flames that were close to him didn’t touch him, but he couldn’t control the fires in the rest of the house. The rest of the house burnt to the ground, except a small area where he had been near the telephone when he called the fire department. He had been too frightened to move after he called 911. The firemen called it a miracle that he was saved, but Johnny knew better… I guess he didn’t have any close family back in Australia, so Social Services put him in foster care for a while in Philadelphia, but it was hell so he ran away. Or they kicked him out after finding he was a mutant. I’m not sure. John never really talked about his past much, and I think I was the only one he ever really said anything too.” Bobby stopped. He couldn’t tell anymore. The rest of it started to get too close to him.
John moving into the room with Bobby. How thin and tough and angry he was. How much they hated each other. The fistfight they had gotten into during lunch. And then the night when John had been having nightmares about his first foster family, his first foster father, and about his real father... John’s father was able to hurt him, even from beyond the grave. How John kept the temperature up in the room, even when Bobby’s powers went nuts and froze everything. How they became best friends, in spite of everything being seemingly against it. And then loss. John leaving because, because-
Bobby felt a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry. He meant so much to you, didn’t he?” Justin said quietly.
“Yeah,” Bobby whispered hoarsely.
“I understand how you feel. Not just because of the empathy, either.” Justin sighed. “I know how it feels to lose your best friend.”
“Was this that guy, Al-“
“Yes, Aleks,” Justin cut him off. He sighed again, closing his eyes.
“What happened between you two?” Bobby asked. Justin shook his head.
“I, well- Lets, just say that… Well, one of my accidents involved him,” Justin said hesitantly, choking on the words. Bobby could tell he was having a tough time of it.
“Don’t worry. You don’t have to explain it,” Bobby reassured him. Justin nodded.
“Thanks. I haven’t even seen Aleks since then- Jesus, that was almost five months ago now!” Justin looked kind of shocked. Justin shook his head again. “I left home not long after that, not even a week after it happened. I had graduated my high school just before that, so I didn’t have classes or anything hanging over my head. I was going to work for a year before applying to university, and I had told my parents that I was thinking about moving to Ottawa or Montreal for the year. I was supposed to be going on a summer work exchange in Quebec that summer, anyway, so my parents weren’t freaked out or anything. They knew I was leaving… just… well, I probably only convinced them to let me go by myself because I used my powers on them. I felt awful doing it to them, but… God, I just couldn’t stay. Not there. Not with them, and not with the risk of running into Aleks again.
“I wandered for a couple weeks and then managed to get a cheap flat in Montreal. I found a job using my powers. I figured out how to superimpose the emotions I wanted people to feel on top of their own about a year ago, so that was nothing new. It’s not something I like doing though. It’s just so wrong, such a violation. It makes me feel sick, doing it to someone… But I had to survive somehow, right?
“Anyway, I was making enough for a decent living. But it never felt real. It was like a huge nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. Nothing was familiar anymore, and I started to feel suicidal, like I had when I was thirteen and my empathic powers had first started to overwhelm me. I guess I got lucky, lucky that I didn’t do anything really stupid.
“Eventually I ran into a bad situation again. I had some street punk try to mug me. He was holding me down, threatening me with a knife. I must have looked like an easy target. I had been having a bad day with my powers as it was, and I don’t know exactly what I did to him… The Professor said they had to hospitalize him in an asylum. Maybe permanently, if the therapy doesn’t go well. He thinks that I was so afraid of dying that I connected with his mind and shut down his higher functions so that only his limbic system was in control, and then I flooded him… My emotions just- they just burned through his mind and left nothing behind, nothing but fear and pain. I was so fucking afraid, I thought he was going to kill me. I thought I was going to die…
“But because I lost control, he felt my fear too but a hundred times stronger… God…” Justin shuddered at the memory. “When he passed out, screaming, I thought I had killed him, and I just shut down…
“That was when they came to get me. I guess the Professor had been in Cerebro when it happened, and it created a big psionic disturbance. He immediately tracked the source of it down to me, and sent Mr. Summers and Dr. Grey to investigate. They had been on vacation in upstate New York, so I guess they weren’t too far from Montreal. I arrived here a couple days later. That’s when we met.” Justin stopped, taking a deep breath.
Bobby had been right. Justin’s experiences leading up to coming here had been more than a little traumatic. In a lot of ways, Bobby was glad that he had never had to go through that. Yeah, he’d been scared as hell when his powers had first appeared, and having his family just abandon him was hard to deal with, but he’d never accidentally hurt someone, never almost killed someone with his powers. Bobby had always known he was one of the lucky ones. A lot of Class 3 and 4 mutants had bad accidents of one type or another with their powers before they got in control of them.
“I’ve been so worried about my powers. I didn’t want to hurt anyone here. That’s why I’ve been keeping to myself so much. Those extreme emotions seem to be what keeps triggering my accidents. Lust, hate, fear… It was useless to worry that I’d be placed into situations like that here. All that I’ve done is make myself miserable,” Justin admitted. Bobby nodded.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. We all understand, in our own way. You aren’t the only one who’s been afraid to be around other people. Rogue ran away from the School once because she thought that everyone hated her. It wasn’t true, but experiences like the ones you’ve both had can be hard to overcome. Harder still when you don’t have any friends.”
They lay there in silence, their breath crystallizing in the cold night air. After a minute, Bobby found himself speaking again.
“I always wonder whether John really hates me, or if he left because he just couldn’t stand being here.” Or if he actually buys into Magneto’s twisted ideals, Bobby added silently, his stomach knotting at the idea.
Justin nodded. “Yeah, I wonder about Aleks too… Whether he hates me, or if he even remembers what happened. God, we were so drunk-”
“Whoa, hold on. You mean you don’t even know if he remembers what happened and you just up and dropped off the face of the planet?” Bobby asked, incredulous.
Justin shook his head, closing his eyes. “Bobby, I wish it were that simple. Even if he didn’t remember what happened, I would never be able to look him in the eyes again. The guilt alone- I just can’t deal with it. It’s eating away at me bit by bit but there isn’t anything I can do to make it better or right. I just can’t.”
“Justin, if you couldn’t control your powers how is that your fault? And didn’t you just say you were drunk at the time?” Bobby reasoned, still not even knowing what had happened. For some reason, he was getting the impression that this particular accident had involved more than just Justin’s powers going nuts. Justin said nothing.
“Justin, running away from it isn’t going to make things better. You need to accept that you couldn’t do anything about your powers, and move on. It’s the mistakes we make consciously that are the real problems. And even then, at some point you just have to forgive yourself” Bobby insisted. Bobby wondered why he didn’t follow his own advice regarding his relationship with John. Why couldn’t he let go?
“I know, I know that’s what I’m supposed to do. But it’s a lot easier to say things, to understand them objectively, than it is to actually feel it and believe it,” Justin muttered, sounding pained.
“Yeah. I know what you mean,” Bobby agreed quietly. Silence descended between them once again. A few puffy, frozen clouds had moved in while they were talking, obscuring the view of the stars.
“You’re a good guy Bobby. I’m sorry I dumped all that on you tonight. Hopefully our next conversation won’t be so serious. I have my doubts, though. Something tells me things just got a whole lot more complicated.” Justin smiled ruefully. “I’m going to bed. I have to be in Hank’s lab for 8 am to get started on an experiment he wants me to run.” Justin got up and moved to the edge of the roof.
“Hank?” Bobby asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Ah, Dr. McCoy. You know who I’m talking about. The only reason he doesn’t have you guys call him that too is because ‘it wouldn’t be proper for a student-teacher relationship’ or some other lame reason. I’m not a ‘student’ by the school’s normal definition of the word, so I guess he doesn’t want me to act like I am when it’s just the two of us in the lab,” Justin said, shrugging.
“Don’t worry. He’s the same way with those of us on the junior X-men squad. The adults think that we won’t be able to work as a team as well if they put themselves on another level with the formal titles, or something like that. So, do you think he’ll be pissed off if I call him that in Calculus tomorrow morning?” Bobby asked, grinning.
“Nah. Though, he might pretend to be just for appearances,” Justin pointed out. “Later, Iceman.” Justin grabbed onto the overhang and lowered himself back down to his room.
“Night.” Bobby replied, staying put. He let out a sigh as he heard Justin’s window shut. He lay there, watching the clouds and the stars, for a while.
What a night.