Part 2
Chapter 3
Over the span of the next four years, John changed in every way, shape, and form. His body changed and grew; his power and control over that power grew, as did his understanding of the basic nature of this power, and how dangerous it really was. He had become a man, in every aspect of the word. The school was his home, and the people in it were his family. He now had a room full of roommates, whose support never failed. And it didn't hurt that they shut Bobby up most of the time when he got into his chatterbox moods. But then again, Bobby wasn't the same kid he was four years ago either. He had matured, becoming just as much of a respectable man as John, possibly more. The other two were Peter Rasputin, and Ray Creed, who never failed as far as entertainment was concerned. They comforted him, taught him, and stopped him when his ego got the best of him.
Nicknames came and went; prankster, class clown, egotistical ass, narcissist, other labels of that nature tended to stick. The title of 'virgin' disappeared rather quickly, soon thereafter being followed by pimp, manwhore, and just plain slut. But he couldn't help it if he was undeniably beautiful, right? Right. But the one nickname that stuck like glue and described every aspect of his personality was his chosen one; Pyro. It was the perfect description of his spitfire attitude and snappy comebacks. His mind-set in general was just one big blistering flame.
The adults in his life had upheld their bargain; they were a constant in his life, and they were always supportive. Except Wheels. Sometimes the whole 'you must control it' got old, but otherwise, they were always there for him. Which, as they had discovered within the years, he had never experienced from his birth parents. He never told them the whole story, never told it to anyone. That, he stored away in a burnt black box deep in his soul to never be unlocked again. And he masked that box with an attitude; the attitude of an angry bee searching for someone to sting. This manner of acting evenly matched the white-hot flames that he manipulated. He had acquired the control of his power to the magnitude of which he had boasted of obtaining so many years ago. And he was quite proud of that control. And, as Xavier had come to say, he was too. That's why he provided John with a lighter, to carry with him at all times; sort of as a safety blanket. But, as Xavier soon found out, it became much more. It was his lifeline; he never let it out of his sight. It also became a nervous habit, the way he kept flicking it open, igniting a flame, admiring said flame, then flicking it shut again. It was just another glitch in the self-proclaimed awesome system of John.
Which leads us to where he is now; sitting in the backseat of Storm's jet-black Hummer, flicking the cap of his beloved Zippo. The scent of sunscreen filled the large vehicle as he stared forward, through the figures of Bobby Drake, Marie D'Ancanto, Kitty Pryde, Peter Rasputin, and Tracy Cassidy. In the driver's seat was an equally sunscreen-slathered Storm. Say that five times fast.
Summer hadn't come soon enough for these six kids, after Marie's abduction by Magneto. Her experience had left her scarred, in more ways than one. She had been a little quiet upon her return, but that was fading. And not to mention her Bobby-declared-amazing hair. John wasn't going to lie; it was actually kind of hot. But whatever. Her and Bobby had become close after Logan left; after all, she needed someone to talk to, and who better than the walking voice box? The prospect of their possible dating made John want to laugh out loud and puke all at the same time. But again, whatever.
"STOP THE CAR!" he suddenly yelled, adding his own personal exclamation point by flicking the lighter cap closed.
"What!? What's wrong!?" Storm yelped, immediately pulling the car onto the shoulder of the road.
John leaned forward, taking a breath for a moment, reveling in the stunned looks of everyone who had turned around to stare at him.
"I gotta pee," he said matter-of-factly, and smiled as everyone sighed in disappointment.
"Jesus, John, don't do that to me," Storm began, putting a hand over her heart. "I thought it was something important."
"Hey! Hey," he said, pointing at her. "This is important. You should consider it an honor just to watch me urinate. Now let me out before I soil my good swim trunks."
Bobby slapped him upside the head as he exited the car and ran away from the road to do his business.
Upon his return to the car, Storm attempted to give him the lecture on how you cant scare someone like that while they are driving, but it fell on deaf ears. Most of the rules, regulations, and just plain 'don't-do-it's were the same way. He was John. Give him one good reason he should listen to you. Yeah, didn't think so. A perfect example of the aforementioned attitude. And to help the situation more, he immediately returned his iPod headphones to his ears to drown her out.
However, he barely got more than a few seconds into a song when Kitty, who was in the seat next to him, ripped out one of his earphones and held it to her ear, declaring "watcha listnin' to?"
He smiled, just waiting for her reaction.
"Ew," she said, handing him back the headphone. "How do you listen to that? It's the devil's music."
He actually laughed out loud at that statement. He knew Kitty wasn't an extremely religious person, but she still liked to taunt him.
"Hellfire and brimstone, baby," he said, mocking her. "After all, I am the devil's child." He finished that statement by using the lighter to ignite a flame on his pointer finger and wave it at her.
"Whatever, John. It still sucks. Why do you enjoy listening to grown men scream at you anyway?" she asked, shoving his flaming finger away from her face.
"What, you don't find ROOOAAARRRRRRR sexy?" he asked, screaming the 'roar' with very enthusiastic gusto.
"For Christ's sakes John," Storm practically yelled from the driver seat, glaring at him in the rearview mirror. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
"Whatever rubs your Budda," he replied, leaning back in his seat and returning to his musical therapy.
Ororo shrugged his statement off as she pulled into the parking lot of Six Flags amusement park, and pulled up next to Jean and Scott's idling car.
"What took you so long?" Scott asked, not looking so out of place in his red sunglasses amongst the tourists.
"We had to take a potty break," Storm stated, sending John an agitated glance.
"Guy's gotta go when a guy's gotta go," he said, rolling his headphones around his iPod and storing it in a compartment in the back of the Hummer. Scott nodded, agreeing with John wholeheartedly.
"Alright," Storm said, turning back to face Jean and Scott's car out of her window. "Let me give them the talk, you guys go ahead and go in."
She turned to face them as Jean and Scott got out of their car and headed inside.
"Aw come on Storm," Bobby said. "Do you really think we still need 'the talk'?"
"Not really, but I'm going to anyway," she said, smiling. "Now, I know you guys aren't going to hang around me all day, so I just want you to remember a few things. Tracy, no Roller Coasters."
Tracy frowned.
"I know, but you know as well as I do that we don't want you screaming. Rogue, I'm sure I don't need to remind you to keep your distance from people."
Marie held up her arms, which she had covered with a pair of long, above-the-elbow gloves. And, much to Bobby and John's disappointment, she had the rest of her body well clothed as well.
"And if you go to the water park," she said, looking at Bobby, "please don't freeze the water."
"Storm, you know better. I would never even accidentally do that, you know I have good control."
"I know, I just felt like reiterating. And John," she began, looking at him. He gave her an innocent look as he flicked the cap of the Zippo. "Don't burn anything."
He just smiled at her, but never agreed.
As they made their way into the crowded attraction, people began to break off. Storm found Jean and Scott, and started to walk away from the kids.
"You remember what time to meet us here, right?" Storm said, turning around.
Everyone nodded. They watched the three adults walk away, and then turned to face each other.
"Well, I'm gunna take Tracy to the water park. That'll be the safest," Peter said.
Peter had taken to a kind of protective relationship with Tracy. She was a small girl, so naturally, King Kong watched over her. Not to mention she was a beautiful, rapidly developing teenager, if you know what I mean.
John scoffed. What's with all these kids worrying about safety? If something were going to happen, it would happen. And the only people's safety that would be in jeopardy would be… well, everyone else. And to be honest, who cares?
"What d'you think?" Bobby said, facing John, Rogue, and Kitty. "Where you wanna go first?"
"I really want to ride the Twister before the line gets long," Kitty said, bouncing on her heels.
"Okay, does that sound good to everyone else?" Bobby asked.
It was safe to say Bobby was the mediator, the peacemaker of sorts. He cared about everyone, and their opinions, and always made sure no one was getting jiffed in any deal. It made John sick. But, someone had to do it, and it certainly wasn't going to be him.
"Yeah," everyone mumbled, and they headed through the sunny park to the Twister.
As they approached the giant blue and orange coaster, John stopped.
"What?" Rogue said, turning around to face him.
"It's really… big," he said, flicking the cap of his lighter open, then closed.
"Well, yeah. That's the point isn't it?" Kitty said. "Come on."
He didn't budge.
"What's wrong?" Bobby asked. "Have you never ridden a Roller Coaster before?"
Judging that this was their first visit to the amusement park, this was a reasonable question. But, as mentioned before, John's pre-mutant home life had been less than comforting, so no, he had never even been to an amusement park before today. But again, he had never shared that information with anyone.
"You haven't, have you?" Rogue asked, smiling. "Come on, it's not that bad."
"Are you implying that I'm afraid?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Now why would we think that the indestructible John would be afraid of a Roller Coaster?" Kitty said, her tone implying the complete opposite.
"Aha, funny," he said, and shoved her as he walked past all of them to the line.
The wait was rather long, but the friendly bond between the four of them made it seem like a lot less. So, naturally, John was a little surprised when they stood at the gates, waiting for the next train of cars, next to Kitty.
"Why do I have to ride with you?" he said, and she shoved him.
"Because the lovebirds want to ride with each other," she said.
"Ew," was John's reply as the next coaster screeched into the hangar.
Kitty crawled into the seat, and grinned ever so enthusiastically at John. He did not return the favor.
"Oh come on John. You're just proving that you're afraid," Kitty said as Marie and Bobby crawled into the two seats in front of them.
"No, I'm proving my ever increasing dislike of smiling. There's a difference," he replied as he buckled the seatbelt.
"You ready for this John," Bobby said cheerfully, trying to turn to look at him and failing miserably.
"No," he said, his nerves actually beginning to act up.
He hadn't expected to actually be afraid. But, as he had come to learn over the years, he hated heights; therefore this probably wasn't going to help.
"Oh shit," he said as the coaster started to crawl up the tracks. "Okay. So maybe you're right," he said to Kitty as it reached nearly ¾ of the way up to the top of the incline.
"Ha! I knew it," she said, smiling fanatically. "The all-powerful John is afraid of something."
He ignored her and grasped the handholds so hard his knuckles turned white. He could hear Bobby give an enthusiastic hoot as the coaster reached the top.
"Kill me now," John said, looking down at how high they were.
"Here we go," Kitty replied excitedly, bouncing in her seat.
As the coaster started to drop, he couldn't control himself any longer, and let out an adrenaline-fueled scream that Kitty, Rogue, and even Bobby matched. And for the 45 seconds that it took to circumnavigate the entire track, they never stopped.
"Oh, I think I'm gunna ralph," John groaned, staggering down the stairs on the other side of the Twister.
"Wooo," Bobby said, wholeheartedly patting John on the back. "Come on, you gotta admit, that was AWESOME!"
"Sure, if you're into plummeting toward the earth strapped to a one-ton hunk of metal," John replied, but his sarcastic answer was cut off by Marie laughing hysterically.
"What?" he said, not appreciating having his sarcasm interrupted.
"Look," she said, pointing into a wooden shack to the left of them.
The other three of them crowded around to see computer screens displaying pictures from during the ride.
Bobby and Kitty both burst out laughing as they caught site of their own car. Everyone was screaming, yes, but John's face was doubly as humorous because it resembled something out of the movie Scream.
He didn't laugh.
"Yeah, yeah. Lets all laugh at John," he said, taking his lighter out of the pocket of his black nylon swim trunks and clicking it open and closed.
"Wow, I'm not passing this one up," Bobby said, retrieving his wallet from his own swim trunks. "How much?"
"Ten," the woman behind the desk replied.
"Worth every penny," he said, handing her a ten and taking the picture from her. "Definitely photocopying this one and sticking it everywhere."
"Very funny, Bobby," John said, snatching the picture out of Bobby's hands and igniting a flame under it.
"Don't!" Bobby yelled and grabbed it back. "Butthole."
"Asshole. If you're gunna curse, do it right. I'm an asshole," John said, finally managing a grin.
Rogue scoffed. She hated that about John; the fact that he knew he was being hateful and still continued to do it, and he knew it. That was part of his problem, and part of her knew that he was aware of that. But he didn't know how to break it, so she took to doing it for him.
"Yes. Yes you are," she said, no hint of joking in her voice.
"So I think it's time for the water park," he said, changing the subject.
He hated when Rogue did that. He was a complete dick to everyone else, but every time he found himself around her, he could never do it. She just put a cork in his bottle of sarcasm, and no matter how hard he tried, she was somehow capable of holding it there.
"Alright, whatever scaredy cat says," Kitty said, and he shoved her. "And I thought Storm told you not to wear that shirt in public." Apparently, Kitty had just now noticed his amazingly offensive shirt.
Upon the dark brown cloth was an emblem of a Campbell's soup can, which read 'Campbell's Whoop Ass', with a hand holding a can opener over top of it.
"Well, I told her she could either let me keep it, or let me burn it. She decided that allowing me to catch fire to anything inside the school was a bad idea, so here we are," he said, making the motion and sound effect of a can opener.
Kitty couldn't help but laugh at John's nonsense as they made their way to the bathrooms next to the water park section to change into their bathing suits.
"You know," Bobby said, as they stood together outside of the restrooms waiting for the girls. "Everyone thinks you're an ass when you act like that."
John looked at Bobby, and thought about this statement for a moment.
"That's because I am an ass, Captain Obvious," John said, smiling the most innocent of smiles.
"Well could you at least try to act like you don't hate everyone, at least for today? Rogue kind of needs a day to relax and I'm not going to let you mess it up," Bobby said, slightly on the offensive. Rogue had been extremely stressed lately, with Logan leaving to "find himself" or whatever, and it didn't help that he couldn't even give her a reassuring hug.
I'd like to see you try, John thought to himself.
"Oh sure Bobby, I'll be a good little girl just for you," he said, snapping the lid of his lighter open and closed.
Bobby turned to face John, malice hiding behind his slightly taller, ice blue eyes.
"Hey," Rogue said in her southern accent, approaching them. "You guys ready to go?"
"Yeah," Bobby said, completely abandoning his verbal battle with John and facing her with a smile.
John couldn't help but notice that she did a complete once-over of shirtless Bobby. He could have vomited at that moment. Talk about your complete lack of taste. The kid was a major geekoid with extra nerd to spare. And a little bit of complete pussy on the side.
To John's disappointment, and he was sure to Bobby's as well, Rogue had still managed to keep a large amount of her skin covered. She was wearing a black full piece bathing suit, which was somehow still flattering on her, and had a cover up draped over her hips that fell all the way to her ankles.
Kitty, on the other hand, did not. John and Bobby both watched as she sauntered out of the bathroom in a skimpy brightly colored bikini.
"That outfit is very becoming on you," John said as she approached.
"Thank you," she said, almost oblivious to Rogue's disappointed sigh.
"If I were on you like that, I'd be coming too," John said.
"EW," Kitty replied, slapping John on the chest as he cackled at his own joke.
"Let's roll," Bobby said, his peppy, peacemaker attitude completely returned.
They made their way to the large wave pool, where they had planned to spend a good amount of time. They found a few lawn chairs to set down their personals; the picture Bobby had bought, John's lighter (reluctantly), and Kitty's purse. This was the safest place, if they were to keep Rogue from accidentally bumping into anyone. The only thing was, they would have to stay in the deep waters, where not many people ventured. Which is where they found themselves ten minutes later.
"I hate water," John said as he paddled next to Kitty.
"That's because there's no fire in it," Rogue replied, finally addressing John to his face.
"If the foo shits," he said.
Kitty squealed as a deep rumbling told them the waves were about to start. Bobby smiled and faced Rogue; making sure to keep his distance, yet maintain a somewhat close proximity to her. At that moment, John had never felt so alone. Rogue and Bobby had the stupid hairy wow-wows for each other, and Kitty was more of a loner anyway; enjoying the giant waves all by her lonesome. It made him wonder why. Yes, he was a sarcastic ass most of the time, but they knew he was kidding… most of the time. Why, then, was he such an outcast? Something deep down told him they would regret it. And he didn't know yet how enormously true that feeling was.