1Title: Further Down the Road (3/?)

Pairing: John/Pietro, John/Bobby, other minor pairs

Summary: As the title says: Both John and Bobby have grown up quite a bit. Humans are hunting mutants; John takes refuge at the mansion with his (much younger) boyfriend.

Rating (Chapter): PG-13

Warnings: I'll try my best to stay in character, and I'll try not to make the story too far fetched.

Disclaimer: John, Pietro, Bobby, and all respective characters belong to Marvel. Minor students in John's Shakespeare class and at the mansion are either kids I go to school with or are made up by me.

Notes: About a week after the last chapter

--

"Bobby! Bobby!" Came Marie's slightly frantic whisper from the door of the ice mutant's shared room. They had stopped dating years ago, but had remained in the circle of friends that they had formed. Bobby stood from his desk and move quietly, as John was still asleep, and Once in the hall with the door closed, Marie and Kitty took either of his arms and walked down the hall with him.

"You won't believe what we just saw!" Kitty exclaimed once they were a good distance form the door.

"What was it?"

"Downstairs in the kitchen we saw Pietro" Marie continued

"Okay. Teenage boys like to eat..." Bobby said, he didn't understand what was going on

"It wasn't just Pietro. Karma was in there with him." Kitty chirped happily,

"I don't understand. He is allowed to be with his classmates, isn't he?" He hated when the two of them were like this, they were grown up, they didn't need drama like 'Dawson's Creek' anymore.

"They were kissing." Marie said, a serious toe in her voice.

"I don't believe you." Bobby said. Although it wasn't entirely impossible, he didn't want to believe it because hat meant John would be pissed, and as if they weren't on bad terms already...

"They were totally making out,"

"Maybe she used her powers on him." Bobby reasoned,

"She knows better than that, Bobby, and you know it." As Marie spoke, they entered the TV room, and low and behold, there was Pietro with his arm around Karma. Suddenly, Bobby couldn't hold himself back. In a second he was standing between the two teens and the TV Set, and then he lurched forward, landing a punch directly in Pietro's jaw,

"You little, slutty faggot!" he yelled, dragging the younger away from the couch and shoving him to the floor by his collar, "How dare you!" He hit him again in the face with an icy fist after straddling the student's chest, then grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands, "He loves you, don't you know that?! How could you do this?!" he screamed, shaking the lithe teen. He didn't hear the three girls yelling at him, and as they reached to grab for him he felt nothing, all he could feel was angry, all he could hear was the pounding in his head.

"Stop it, Bobby." Came a groggy voice. John stood in the doorway to the TV room, shirtless and wearing only jeans, and rubbed his eyes sleepily. Kitty stood, holding his other arm, and judging by that, Bobby assumed that she had went to get him. Bobby could only stared at the other male as hem moved away from Pietro. Shaken, Pietro used his powers to dash out of the room to an unknown hideaway and John slowly turned and left, "I'm going back to sleep."

--

"John, I'm sorry." Pietro was talking slowly, trying to calm down, John knew this meant he was upset, but he wasn't in the mood to hear it after what happened that morning. "It's just... she's closerto myage, and she's soprettyandIthinkshe canoffermethingsthat youcan't." It was difficult to tell if he was relaxing or getting more nervous, letting his words run together.

"Like what, kids? Pietro, I'm sorry to say that you're sixteen, you don't exactly need kids." John still hadn't looked up from his laptop; he was job hunting; unfortunately, nobody really wanted a new teacher in the middle of a semester.

"John, you'retwentythree, and likeyousaid, I'monlysixteen. I don't thinkit'sevenlegal."

"Pietro, I don't fucking care if it's legal or not." Maybe he could work in a day care program for a while, there were plenty of those.

"Iknowthat. Johnny..."

"If you know that, then why is It an issue?" Daycare would be a lot younger than he was used to, unless he did one that was for older kids.

"Johnny, I know theonlyreasonyoucameherewasme andIthankyouforthat andI'msorrytosaythis, but Ireallythink weshouldbreakup."

"You think so?" He could always become a private tutor until the new school year.

"You're such a dick." Pietro snapped, leaving and slamming the door in his wake. Tutoring sounded like a good plan, so John fixed up his resume and sent it in.

--

"John, I'm sorry." Bobby said, signing as he handed his ex-best friend and plate with two home-made waffles on it.

"Suck up." John leaned away form his laptop. He was tired of filling out applications for Jobs.

"I'm not sucking up, I'm trying to apologize."

"Nice to know." He took a bite of the waffles, smiling happily.

"I shouldn't have hit him, it's not like me to do that, I don't know what came over me."

"You sound like a stereotypical nice-guy from a movie." The waffles were warm and slightly crispy, just the way he liked them.

"You remember how you used to force me to watch Queer as Folk with you every Friday night?"

"Yeah, You, Me, and Jubes. I wish it still came on TV." Just the right about on Mrs. Butterworth's syrup, not dry, not soggy either.

"Well, Brian, You're about to lose Justin to Ethan, and what you said earlier didn't help." There was a pause,

"Mikey, he's sixteen. When I was sixteen I was fucking everything that moved."

"You still are."

"Not the point. How're you and the professor."

"We broke up years ago." Bobby smiled, It was like they had their own language.

"Good, leave the happy hetero life to the heteros."

"You love him Brian."

"I gave him a choice."

"Yeah, one that he wasn't prepared to make."

"He's sixteen, he should've been."

"Brian..."

"Mikey..." Bobby moved close to John. John sat the plate on the bedside table and they Kissed. Well, Mikey and Brian kissed. John's hand moved to Bobby's shoulder, Bobby's hand on John's waist. Bobby instinctfully moved his hand to the front of John's jeans and slipped the sips of his fingers past the waistband,

"What are you doing, Mikey?" John asked, shaking his head and pushing Bobby away, returning to his waffles.

--

"I'm sorry to bother you, John." Hank McCoy spoke as he entered the room. John sat at his computer again, only now he was apartment hunting for any apartment he could get in the area. He really had no reason to stick around, but the mansion was a safe haven he could always run to, so it was probably good to stay close by, even though he would loathe staying there as a resident. "But I thought that we keep getting delayed but I finally have a few hours to kill so I can help you find a job and an apartment."

"I've been working on that all morning. I've applied for eight jobs, and expressed interest in three affordable apartments on my expected salary."

"Impressive. Ororo told me you were intelligent, but I didn't want to get my hopes up." John scowled,

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I asked her about you. She said you were intelligent but neglected to show it."

"Interesting."

"If you don't mind me asking, what kind of Job were you looking for? I may have some connections."

"I was teaching Shakespeare to high schoolers in central Maryland before I came here. I enjoyed it, so I guess I'll have to do that, since that's all I know how to do. It's either that or I could hang out on street corners."

"I suppose you have a good point. Why not teach here? There's so many students we can't afford to turn down anyone who might be able to help us.

"Like I said when I got here; I'm not exactly welcome."

"Is it that you're not welcome, or is it that you don't want to be welcomed?" John glanced up as if to say 'Do you really want my answer?' then looked back down at the computer. "The offer still stands. Are you sure you didn't need any more help?"

"I'm fine. I'll be gone by the end of the week." John said plainly, sending another email for an apartment.

--