A/N: My first Iceman/Pyro fic. Please do read and review, I hope you all enjoy this. I had trouble writing it at first, I started to just mix all the 'verses' together so pretty much just ignore when I say that Scott is the same age as Bobby also, I changed several things, instead of Pyro having his usual psionic powers, I made it so he was more like Bobby, whereas he can change the temp of the air around him and he still has his psionic powers so he can't generate his own flame like bobby can his ice, I have no idea how that would be possible, but you know whatever. That and McCoy and a couple other characters are a bit younger, I think I sorta fudged the lines between all the verses of XMFC and X2+3 I have no idea how that would be possible, but you know whatever. Well I mean right now I just….needed to write this I guess, great way to get over everything. Soooo onwards! Please enjoy: 3
I had lost track of how much time I had spent wondering around the library, I could easily have spent more time there but I turned a corner and smacked into someone, sending their books cascading to the ground, stooping to help pick them up, I realized I had seen the guy around at school. Why would he be here though?
"Summer's right?" The brunette tilted his head as if trying to see if he knew me and adjusted his glasses. "Yeah, hey I know you from-"
"School, yeah…um if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" The question wasn't something Scott was expecting, but what can I say, I was curious. I knew why /I/ was here, but that only left more questions for Scott to answer.
"Well, it's a library…I like to read…" I'm an idiot, of course, ok well that was weird, this was clearly normal to him…maybe he figured that I'd lived here the whole time, it was a pretty big place, I had gotten lost four times already…I'd only been here an hour.
"Ah, right…I meant what are you doing /here/ as in…this institute, you seem pretty normal to me, no extra appendages or blue skin."
Scott smiled and started walking, I followed and was led over to the exit to the library. "So you've met Kurt then? The Professor's fixing his watch, so he's not in the best shape right now." Pushing the door open I saw that there must have been more entrances and exits because this was not where I had first come to find this place. "But just because your power isn't visible doesn't mean it's not there. I mean look at you, normal average type of guy, but when you live here you know that's not true." Scott continued on. I nodded my head as we traveled down the corridor.
"So, are you avoiding the question?" Brushing against the bannister and heading up the stairs I saw a girl walk through a wall and noticed I knew her, she was in my Biology class last year. "Uh did you just see…" Scott smiled, I could only assume that ment yes. I guess there were stranger powers than mine. That was both a relief and a bit of a fright. "Well, I /would/ show you, but unless you'd like to explain to Prof. X exactly why the entire fifth wing was decimated, I think we should leave that for another time." I didn't know whether he was joking or for real on this. I decided to laugh along with him though, we walked a bit more and greeted several people, and they were all nice…for the most part.
"So Bobby, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly is your power?" I smirked and held my hand out for him to shake, he looked at me questioningly but then clasped my hand and that's when I made the temp. drop, it got real chilly real fast, not enough to freeze anything of course, but enough to make you think you had just stuck your hand in snow. Scott grinned as I let go of his hand, "Pretty cool man. That must come in handy." I nodded.
"So, you know where your room is?" I shook my head no; so far I had found the kitchen, the pool, and the library but no room.
"Here I'll show you around a bit, but I'll need to see your room number." I nodded and took out the crumpled piece of paper from my back pocket that had my room and schedule on it.
Scott unfolded it and smirked. "Looks like you got Mr. McCoy for Chemistry." He read on, and then he reached the bottom of the paper and saw my room number. "Oh, you got room 218…sorry man, that's just bad luck right there." Shaking his head he handed the paper back to me nodding his head in the direction of the opposite corridor, I followed as he continued walking.
"What? What's wrong with it?" I asked as we stopped in front of a normal enough looking room with the numbers 218 placed on the door. "There's nothing wrong with the /room/. there's something wrong with the person. We all share rooms here."
"Ok, so what's up with the guy I'm rooming with?" Figures it was just my luck to get stuck with a psychopath. Scott just ignored my question and rapped on the door with his knuckles. "Hey John, could you open up?" He called, only to have a surly response thrown back at him from the other side of the door. "Piss off Summers." Scott looked over at me as if to say, 'that's what's wrong with him.' He knocked again, "C'mon John, you got a roommate, open the door."
There was no reply this time, instead a long haired brunette boy opened the door, "What." He said, looking from Scott to me and back again.
Scott just sighed, "The Prof.'s found another one, and he assigned him to be your roommate." John just looked at Scott with dead eyes. So Scott just turned to me. "It was nice meeting you Bobby, feel free to ask me to show you around; my rooms 220, just a couple doors down." I nodded and thanked him.
As soon as Scott walked away I turned back to look at John, he had a very displeased way about him. "Well? What are you doing just standing there?" He swung the door open wider and gestured with a swoosh of his hand for me to come in.
"Your beds there." I looked to the side of the room he had pointed to, it looked decent enough, and it was a nice sized room and a queen bed on both sides. John flopped down on the couch took out a lighter and flipped it open, playing with it as if it were a toy, opening and closing it, fixated with the flame that flickered to life, great a pyro.
I dumped my bag on the queen bed that was stacked high with pillows. I looked over at John who had now gotten up and was looking at me, hands tucked into his back pockets. I walked over to him, deciding that now was a good time to get on the good side of my very odd roomie, "So, what's your name?" I asked, I was pretty sure he thought I was an idiot, sure felt like one too. But instead of being an asshole and just brushing me off he said. "John, John Allerdyce." But that was all.
"and um…what's your…-"
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." He smirked; I gapped at him, and then stepped closer, holding my hand out. As he took it I started to drop the temp, making it freezing cold, or so I thought, he didn't look phased at all…his face held a mask of shock, and he dropped my hand stepping back.
"What the hell, how did you cancel it out like that?" His voice was relatively calm, but with an edge.
"I was gonna ask the same thing…what /are/ you?" In response he walked over to where his lighter lay discarded on the coffee table. Picking it up and flicking it open he gazed at the fire, bite his lip and held out his palm, a miniature inferno swirled around and around the palm of his hand. "How did you do it?" his voice was filled with curiosity, his eyebrow raised. I smiled, it made sense now.
I stepped closer to him and held my hand out, palm facing upwards. Concentrating I thought of ice crystals forming and soon enough when I reopened my eyes I saw a swirling ring of ice crystals, it was a miniature flurry right over my palm. "I think you tried to increase the temperature, and I tried to decrease it, so…they just canceled out I guess." We both looked at eachother, and then instinctively we both stepped closer and brought our hands together again. The hot and the cold forming a neutral, it left a tingly feeling along the inside of my hand. We dropped our hands and laughed.
"So what's your name?" John asked as we plopped down on the couch, him throwing down his lighter again, it making a /clack-clack/ on the glass tabletop.
"Robert Drake, but I go by Bobby." He nodded his head and looked away, moments later he looked over at me again, "I…Did Scott tell you anything about me?" He asked, quieter this time.
"Nothing, just that you're crazy." I smiled, thank god he did have a sense of humor and knew I was just kidding, we both laughed. I knew that whatever people might have thought of John, there opinion was wrong about him; he was at the most just very misunderstood. I looked back at him, another question popping into my mind. "So what did you do to get landed here?"
He thought for a moment, and then got deadly quiet. "Well, one day I was walking along the hallway at my school, and a couple of punks slammed me against the lockers and," He flicked open his lighter, "Boom." He glanced up at me and saw what was most likely a look of horror on my face, and burst into hysterics, he nudged me in the ribs "Chill iceman, I'm just fucking with you." Iceman? I had never thought of it before but that was pretty badass. Then another thought crossed my mind, if I was iceman, then what did that make John?
"Riiiiight, ok then what really happened?" I asked in all seriousness.
A cold look passed through his eyes and he went rigid. "It's ok if you don't want to talk about it." He shook his head, "No, it's fine. it's just, you're gonna think I'm a monster." Placing my hand reassuringly on his shoulder I shook my head.
"I promise I won't, just maybe a little psycho." We laughed, "Well see, I had just gotten home…I was about thirteen…my mom was in the kitchen making dinner and my dad was leafing through the newspaper. I went upstairs and sat by the railing, they thought I couldn't hear them, but I did, I heard everything. My mom called me a freak and my dad said that 'it' was not his son, and before I knew it, the wooden banister I was gripping had caught fire…the fire truck and the ambulance came and they lived, I was put in a foster home and that's when Prof. X came to get me. I've been living here for about four years now." I could feel him burning up, I took his hand in mine and the icy coldness from me was somehow calming, as well as cooling, him down.
"Thanks." We sat there looking at each other, because really…what could I say? All I knew, was that I could see why he was the way he was. I just didn't understand why he had it in his head that I would think he was a monster after hearing his story, if anything it only made me want to help him more.
"So, what's your story?" I really didn't want to tell him, but it was only right after him telling me what had brought him here. In all honesty, my story wasn't quite as scaring as Johns.
"Well, I was a bit of an outcast at my old school, guys didn't really like me cause I was friends with and tutored most of their girlfriends, so one day a bunch of guys on the football team cornered me backed me up against a wall and pretty much were going to beat the shit outa me, but as the first guy swung, I blocked the punch but…I froze over his hand. Nothing bad really happened to him, just a nasty case of frostbite when it finally thawed, they were freaked as all hell, and the next day I got a letter to come and learn at this 'Institute for Gifted Children.' And now here I am." I smiled.
John opened his mouth to say something else, but that's when someone knocked on the door.
