Not that he had been complaining before, but now that Greg understood the true purpose of the institute and the X-men, the large amount of the weekend dedicated to physical training made a lot of sense. He and several of the other students stood around a chalked-out ring in the grass in the acreage behind the school. Logan, or as he had found out he was also called, Wolverine, stood supervising martial arts with a whistle around his neck.
"Alright Bobby, Greg, you're up."
Bobby grinned, already seeming to be in better spirits, and cracked his knuckles. "Is this an ice-on kinda brawl or no, Wolvie?" He asked his teacher as he swaggered into the ring.
Greg too looked to Logan; curious what the answer would be.
"No powers for the first sixty seconds," Wolverine growled. "That changes when I blow the whistle. We'll see how well you can switch on the fly. Got it, both of you?"
Greg hesitated slightly, but nodded. "Got it." He still wasn't used to using his powers, much less activating them mid combat, but well, he'd just have to learn on the fly.
Bobby grinned wider, the more experienced boy seemingly lacking any of Greg's concern, and he winked..
"Better hope you pin me to the mat within the minute, big guy." He raised his fists. "once I get my ice on, I'm unstoppable."
Greg couldn't help feeling a little awkward sizing him up as they got in the ring, especially at the pinning suggestion. He shoved down an inappropriate thought and snorted.
"Unstoppable huh? Guess we'll see about that."
"Good luck, mein fruend, Greg," Kurt called from the sidelines where he and the other students were standing. He gave them both thumbs up. "Bobby is a slippery customer."
"Just like an icecube on a linoleum floor, pal!" Bobby shot fingerguns at Kurt with a wink. "Hope you're all ready to see me kick some ass." He was too distracted showboating to notice that the fight was supposed to have started.
Kitty groaned, pressing her hand to her face "Bobby... Pay attention."
Unfortunately for Bobby, Kitty didn't get his attention until Greg had already basically slammed into him.
Ororo chuckled into her hand as she watched. "tsk. Well. It's an important lesson for Bobby to learn, isn't it? To keep your eyes on your opponent and not your audience."
Wolverine, watching, snorted, as he watched both the fight and his stop watch.
Bobby yelped, stumbling as he attempted to get his footing under the larger boy's tackle. His hands grabbed for Greg's shoulders, attempting to twist and throw him using Greg's own momentum to break free.
Greg was big, and solid, but his first attempt at a grapple wasn't as tight as it could be. Greg felt Bobby's hands connect with his shoulders, body against body, and Greg found himself stumbling under his own weight. He shifted, managing to catch himself, and he grabbed Bobby- pulling both of them to the ground.
Bobby fell atop him, hitting both the ground and Greg's solid chest with a thump and a soft grunt of pain. "Gah...that's gonna smart in the morning. If only I could put some ice on it. Hah. hah. ow."
"Seriously?" Greg demanded, almost laughing. He was trying to pay attention to the fight, since he didn't want to embarrass himself. But he was worrying it wasn't to be, as he found himself with Bobby practically on top of him, and not much to do besides try to get him underneath. Greg flushed. Since he was the stronger of the pair, he managed to get Bobby into a hold that rolled the boy nearly onto his back, attempting to pin him.
Bobby's smile grew a little mischievous.
"Trying to get me on my back? And you didn't even buy me dinner man. Hate to have cold feet but propriety says I gotta slip out of this one. sorry bud." he tensed, just enough to get his knees up enough to push Greg, at the same time he twisted his body to roll out of the way.
Greg half choked at the suggestion and it was enough to knock him off balance allowing Bobby to slip away, as he stuttered, red.
Wolverine snorted. "You just gonna sit there, kid?"
That, at least kicked his brain back into gear, and he lunged after Bobby again, his face scarlet.
Bobby was a little flushed himself-from the situation or the exertion, it was hard to tell "You look like you're getting worked up , dude. Maybe, you know, you ought to ground yourself."
Bobby paced, dodging to the side as Greg stumbled for him, extending a foot to trip him mid run But, unfortunately for Bobby it was directly into him that Greg stumbled practically headbutting him in the chest by near accident. The two of them went tumbling again and Greg tried to take charge of the pin this time. Come on Greg you can do this, don't lose your cool just cause he's...
Bobby hit the ground hard, his arms wrapping around Greg in a vain attempt to reverse the pin. It was his turn to flush brightly as he attempted to squirm out of the hold.
"Hah...shit uh, lost count. Has it been a minute yet? Mind loosening the hold while I check my watch?"
"Ha ha," Greg grunted, intent on holding him down. As they were wrestling, Logan tweeted his whistle- the minute was up.
"Whoop!" Bobby grinned, and the air between them suddenly became VERY cold. Bobby was soon coated in a sheen of ice, which he used to slip out from Greg's grip with an ear to ear, frozen grin.
"Sorry buddy, I think it's time to cool off for both of us huh? Gonna put this whole thing on ice. " He mimed finger guns at him from where he was skating backwards "I've only got enough puns for another minute, so I hope you can finish fast."
"You could chill with the puns," Greg grumbled. At least the sudden cold helped him concentrate on something other than Bobby's abs. He sprang up, and black mist began to pour from him, as he tossed a shadow bolt at Bobby.
Bobby yelped, dodging to the side-but the grazing bolt tore his workout shirt enough that ignoring Bobby's frozen abs soon became an everyone problem.
Kitty shook her head, "Puns aren't the thing you should be concentrating on, guys."
"You're right." Bobby said, before he iced up the entire space between Greg and himself. He grinned, holding his hands out. "Care for a dance? I think we really got a chance for nationals if we work on our ice skating routine."
Greg started to slip and slide on the ice, waving his arms.
"Damn it!" He growled, and the mist poured off him in a waft, as his body grew larger and darker. A moment later Greg found himself in his gargoylesque form, digging his clawlike feet into the ice for purchase.
"Oh." Bobby said , covered in ice. "Fuck."
Greg bellowed out a roar and leapt into the air, tackling Bobby beneath him to the ice, as he grabbed his leg with his thick tail.
"Uhhhhhh." Bobby glanced over his shoulder "Wolverine, sir, any last minute bear fighting techniques?" he managed to wheeze out as his leg was grabbed and his body was pinned.
"Better figure it out, kid," Wolverine smirked.
Ice began to creep from Bobby, up onto Greg's shadow form, attempting to Freeze him solid enough for Bobby to break out. With the ice creeping over his body, Greg had to let Bobby go long enough to smash it off of himself before it froze him solid.
Bobby leapt up, and with a sudden crackle of ice, launched himself into a full on kick to Greg's chest. As he staggered the great shadow gargoyle , he raised his hands and formed a curling loop of ice right behind Greg. One which ended in a jump outside of the ring
"Ever think of taking up the luge Greggy?" He cooed.
"What?" Greg blinked.
Bobby blasted Greg's feet with enough ice to cover his claws, and ran into him at full speed.
With a wink of his ice-covered eye, he body checked Greg onto the slippery loop of ice "Enjoy the flight, Greggy. Thank you for flying Air-Bobby. have an 'Ice' Day."
"Whoa!''
The force was enough to send Greg flying over the improvised ice ramp. He opened his wings to catch himself- but not before he'd gone past the chalk line.
Wolverine tweeted the whistle. "That's it."
Bobby pumped his fist, slowly defrosting...and as the support of the ice around his legs faded, he staggered with a wobbly grin.
"Gotcha, big guy!" He brushed his hands through his wavy brown hair, stretching out.
His shirt was in tatters, he was bruised here and there...but he was standing. "Good fight."
Greg looked away as he righted himself, and a trace of his flush was visible despite the shadow wafting over him. "Yeah. You too."
"Alright kids, time to go over that," Wolverine growled.
000
After the lesson, where Greg found himself avoiding Bobby's gaze as much as possible, it seemed he couldn't shake him as they headed to the showers.
Bobby walked just a little in front of him, having thankfully gotten a track jacket after losing the shirt entirely during practice, a broad smile on his face as he headed to the showers.
"Man. that was great wasn't it? what a fight!"
"Glad you had fun," Greg grumbled, letting him walk in front of him. "Hope I was... a decent opponent."
Bobby glanced at him over his shoulder
"you didn't have fun? You were a great opponent man...you nearly had my number a few times, you know? If I didn't get lucky wriggling out from under you, you'd have beaten me in the first like, fifteen seconds."
"Sure... I had fun," he mumbled awkwardly. "Guess Kurt was right. You're pretty uh, slippery."
"Yeah, man." He winked, "Takes a lot to keep me still, you know?"
Greg strolled into the shower room with Bobby and chuckled, again, slightly pained. "Yeah? I'll have to figure it out I guess."
Bobby stepped into the room, and stripped out of the track jacket without a second thought. "You're welcome to try. It's the key to beating the Iceman in the ring."
"Right." Greg turned away as Bobby stripped, and trying to put some lockers between his line of sight. "I'd give you tips for me but you've already got the hang of it."
"I do huh?" Bobby chuckled. "what, you like my quips that much huh?"
"They're certainly distracting," he admitted flatly as he stripped behind the wall.
Bobby stripped down, and wrapped a towel around himself with a chuckle.
"That's the point, I guess. People keep telling me there's no strategic value in it, but I keep pointing them to the comics. A distracting line can be a lifesaver."
"Its certainly a tactic" he admitted, staring at the wall. He quickly pulled himself into one of the shower stalls.
Bobby jogged over and leapt into one a mere divider away to keep chatting. "It got you, didn't it?"
The sound of water started behind the stall.
Greg's mouth flattened. He could see Bobby's feet below the divider. He turned the water on too.
"Already said it did, didn't I?"
Bobby's feet shifted behind the shower. There were a few scars on his feet too..small, glancing cuts, mostly.
"Uh huh. Though when you went full shadowman, you nearly took me out anyway. Certainly got my damned shirt."
"Sorry about that."
"Hey, don't worry about it." he snickered "ain't the first time I fought with no shirt on."
Greg nearly choked again. Is he doing this on purpose or can I just not get my mind out of the gutter?
"Seriously, man?"
"I mean, yeah." Bobby said, soap swirling with the water by his feet. There, noticeably, was no steam from his shower. And the splashed flecks were cold as ice. "Back when I first joined up, I used to just...ice up all the time, you know? Didn't need much of a uniform when you're covered in solid ice. I just threw on some boots and boxers, coated myself in opaque ice and boom. instant ice man. I uh...stopped that."
"No shit," Greg gurgled. "Man... I have so many fucking questions."
"Oh?" Bobby asked with a curious voice. "What kinda questions?"
Greg stood under the heat of his own shower, and stared up at the ceiling away from it. "First off- what the fuck made that seem like a good idea in the first place? Second, what made you stop? And third, does heat like, hurt you or something?"
"Okay, starting from the bottom." Bobby said. "no, heat doesn't hurt me. I can get as hot as I need to and it doesn't hurt. Like, I just prefer things to be a little cold when I can. And too much heat'll melt my ice and take me out of a fight. Back to the top, though. It seemed like a good idea because the boss man used to have these races for us when he pulled a summons. FIrst to get there wins. And I was like 'well shit, if I get there first I'll show everyone up'. And he happened to call when I was in my boxers and the rest is history."
The grimace was audible in his voice as he continued. "as for why I stopped, Professor Grey slammed me into a wall with the force of a tractor trailer when she was having her little...'phoenix' incident, and shattered me right out of my ice armor." He paused "you ever have those dreams about being at school in front of everyone in your underwear? Imagine that during a big, serious combat encounter with your crazed, possessed friend and teacher."
Greg listened quietly, letting the shower water run over him.
"Wow... I can't decide if I'm sorry I asked or not," Greg said, a little hollowly as he imagined the scenario.
"Man it was the most humiliating moment of my life. Ever since then? full uniform. No matter what.'
"Yeah I don't blame you there. And uh, glad heat doesn't hurt you. That'd... be shitty."
"Yeah it'd make all kinds of shit suck." Bobby said "chilling by the fireplace, settling in under a blanket for movie night. ..." He coughed 'all kinds of stuff. It'd make life real hard."
"Y-yeah sure would," Greg mumbled awkwardly. He has to be doing this on purpose. Is he flirting? Is it bad if I can't tell if he's flirting? "heh, So. congrats."
He turned off his shower and darted for his towel.
Bobby's shower stopped a moment later. "Thanks man." He paused "how about you? does uh..the light hurt?"
The shower stall opened. There was a brief moment where the two were both out snatching their towels. Greg caught a glimpse of Bobby, and turned scarlet as he turned away, wrapping his towel around himself.
"Nah, not really," he mumbled in answer. "not more than usual I don't think..."
"Huh. Kinda like me and heat then." He wrapped the towel around his narrow hips, and punched Greg on the shoulder "That's good, Vlad. You don't gotta sacrifice your tan just 'cause you got fangs."
"Please don't call me Vlad," Greg sighed, and awkwardly punched Bobby back, maybe a little too hard. "Anyway, I don't think I'll be tanning any time soon."
Bobby wobbled on his feet. "Be careful there, budd , don't bruise the merchandise." He stuck out his tongue. "Yeah, maybe it's for the best. You look pretty good as it is."
Greg felt himself flushing. "You compliment every guy you shower with?" He regretted it as soon as it was out of his mouth.
"Only the cute ones." Bobby blurted, before he too looked like he instantly regretted it. "heyyy uh, i got…...a thing to do- i'm gonna skate."
Bobby suddenly iced himself up using the leftover dew from the shower..looking for all the world like a featureless man of ice once more. "Later, man." Shooting a pair of fingerguns, he literally skated out of the room backwards on a rapidly melting path of ice.
"This is a disaster." Greg was left sputtering in the shower room, holding his red face in his hands.