Title - A Fall From The Edge
By - PheonixFireBlack
Summary - Set after X2. No major spoilers, but there are some minor
ones. Nothing that goes into detail. John asks Bobby to meet him. What
does he want? And....what's this? Marlboro Menthols are involved?
Interesting.... Warning: SLASH
Category - X-Men: The Movie; X2; Movie-verse
Genre - General
Rating - PG-13
Pairing - M/M
Feedback - Yes, please
Criticism - Yes. Until stated otherwise. (Which will be pretty close to never)
Disclaimer - I don't own. You can't sue. I win.
Thanks - To Gwen. Because you gave me my title. dances & claps YAY! throws confetti You rock, chick!
Notes - No notes. Just 1 simple request: Read it. Love it. Review it.
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A Fall From The Edge
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This was the craziest decision Bobby had ever made in his entire existence. He wasn't particularly known for acting on spur of the moment ideas, that was John's area of expertise. Then again, this whole thing was John's fault, wasn't it? Bobby ran a hand through his hair. He was still debating himself over whether or not he should go through with this. It couldn't be a smart decision to actually do this. Then again, he wanted to see the pyromaniac again. No, that was a lie. He didn't want to see him. He needed to see John again.
"Don't worry about it, sugah." The accented voice came to his ears.
Bobby and Rogue's relationship had come to a mutual breaking off. He had to do it because, well, face the facts, he was gay. She had to end it because she knew that he was. It hadn't been a bitter end or a messy ordeal. It had actually been quite easy and relatively clean. The blonde-haired boy turned to look at the Southern girl. "Don't worry about it? You're insane."
"Why? Because Ah'm tellin' ya not to worry about meeting up with one of your friends?" Marie rose an eyebrow at her friend. This was ridiculous, but this was Bobby she was talking to.
He always worried way too much over....pretty much everything, really.
"Yes. How are you are sitting there, perfectly calm? Oh, right, you're the lucky one, you aren't the one meeting him, are you?" Bobby shook his head, "This is John Allerdyce we're talking about, Rogue. With just that, there's no way of knowing what he might pull. But when you add in the fact that he's joined Magneto and no one has had any contact with him for half a year....he could be bringing the apocalypse with him, Marie."
Rogue laughed at the boys' imagination. "Ok, Ah know that John is known for making irrational, completely insane decisions and Ah know that he's been with those guys for half a year, but...do you really think he's changed that much, Bobby?"
"What if it's not just an innocent meeting, though?"
"There's nothin' wrong with takin' a chance, darlin'." Rogue smiled and watched as the blonde started to pace. It was one of the things he did when he was nervous. Actually, Bobby had quite a few nervous habits, if one was to ever think it over. "Besides, if he returns your feelings even slightly, he can't be as evil as he pretends."
Bobby sighed, "But what if he is? What if he's just trying to...I don't know..." He sighed heavily again. Maybe this was ridiculous. Maybe he was overreacting. Or maybe he was reacting just enough.
"Ah don't think causing harm was the reason for the meeting, Bobby. Ah was the one to answer the phone, darlin'. Ah took the message. He said that he wanted to meet you. And Ah told you he didn't sound normal. Sounded...distracted." Rogue said, and watched, amused, as Bobby started pacing a little faster. She smiled and shook her head slightly.
Bobby sighed and paused in all of his pacing to stand a few feet away from his friend, running a hand through his hair again. "I just don't know, Rogue. It seems kind of strange, doesn't it? Just...all of out of nowhere he wants to meet up with me? Something doesn't fit, Marie. There's something weird about this, something--"
Rogue stood up and closed the space between them as he rambled on. Putting a finger to his lips to signal that he needed to be silent, she said, "Bobby. Stop worrying and go." She laughed softly.
"But, what if--"
"Bobby," Marie smiled, "You really do worry too much."
Bobby smiled a small, sheepish smile and shrugged his shoulders a little, "Guess it's just the way I was meant to be."
"We've gotta work on that one, Bobby. When Spring Break comes, you and Ah are makin' sure you learn not to worry so much over everything." She smiled and winked at him.
"Yeah, like that'll ever happen D'Ancanto." Bobby said with a smirk as he grabbed his jacket and left the dorm room.
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Bobby was starting to wonder if he'd gotten the right place. Maybe this wasn't where John told him to meet him. Something's wrong here. I know this is where Rogue told me to meet him. Why isn't he here?
"Hey, Ice..." An almost painfully recognizable voice came to Bobby's ears.
Bobby turned around to find nothing but darkness. He frowned. What the hell?
John laughed, "Try the nice, dark alley, Drake."
Bobby rolled his eyes. How typical. He turned just slightly and could make out the silhouette of his friend leaning against the brick wall of some store he hadn't cared enough about to notice the name of. "A dark alley? How more predictable could you get?" The blonde asked, now standing about half a foot from John.
Pyro took a drag off the cigarette in his mouth before letting it rest lazily between two fingers. "I didn't think you were coming..." He said quietly, looking him over from head to toe. Bobby felt himself shiver, something he hadn't done since John had left.
"To be honest, I didn't think I was coming, either." Bobby watched as John took another puff off the cigarette.
"We need to talk."
"I assumed as much."
"Don't be smart."
"I can't help that. I lived with you for seven years. It come natural when I'm nervous. You know that by now."
"Lots of things come natural when you're nervous, Drake." John laughed lightly, "Have you ever really wondered just how many nervous habits you have?"
"No, not really."
"One other thing that comes when you're nervous...rambling. Never tell the enemy anything, Iceman."
"You already knew that."
"Doesn't matter. Never tell the enemy anything."
"I'm still confused on the fact of if you really are my enemy or not, John."
John scoffed, "You know you're on the good side and I'm on the bad. That makes us enemies in default, Bobby. We'll always be enemies now." John looked at the boy in front of him and smirked, "Cause, you know, once you turn evil, there's no turning back."
"You hate me because you have to, then?"
"I with it was that simple," John took a puff on the cigarette and blew the smoke out slowly before throwing it to the ground and grinding it into the ground. "But it's not. It's much more complicated than that, Bobby. I've never been a very relaxed person, or very open, or...well, think of all of your attributes and think of the opposite. That pretty much sums me up. But...some of those things that I've never been....you've changed them, Bobby."
"You've changed things for me, John, but I don't want to change."
"Then don't." He looked away from the blonde. "Stay who you are. I don't need you, you know?"
"That's not what it sounded like a few minutes ago."
"Well, maybe you heard wrong," John said bitingly, turning back to face Bobby.
"There's not use for you to lie to me, John. I know when you're lying. I can see it in your eyes. I can feel it in the way you say things. You need me, John, just as much as I need you."
"No!" John shouted, "No. I don't....I don't need you...at all. I don't need you, Bobby." He sounded as if he were trying to convince himself of this as well.
"Really?" Bobby shifted around a little to stand in front of the other boy. "Say it to my face, John." He said quietly.
John looked up at the blonde and found that he had no voice. He licked his lips and turned his head away from Bobby again. He couldn't do it. He couldn't say it to his face. But, who could talk when they were looking into his baby blues?
"That's what I thought." Bobby said, stepping back to stand next to the pyro.
"Fine. You're right. But it's not like I would die if I couldn't have you."
"Oh, don't give me that shit, Allerdyce."
"What shit, Drake? That's the truth."
"No," Bobby shook his head, "It's not."
"If you know me so well, what is the truth, then?" John asked, turning back to face the Iceman, lighting another cigarette and bringing it to his lips.
"I saw it before you left the mansion. A part of you dies when you see me, because you know you can't have me and you can't tell me you don't see the same thing in me, because I know it's there." Bobby looked at the cigarette hanging loosely from John's lips, "Has anyone ever told you that smoking is bad for you?"
"Yeah...I've heard the rumors about smoking being bad for you. I don't believe 'em, though." He winked at Bobby.
"Seriously though....about what I said--"
"I don't think you would die without me, Drake."
"What about you?"
"Maybe I would." This did not sound like the John Allerdyce that Bobby had come to know so well. He didn't sound evil at this moment, he didn't sound inhumane. He sounded like any other teenage boy who needed something and wasn't sure how to get it.
"John--"
John threw the cigarette to the ground and looked up at Bobby. "I'm going to kiss you now and you shouldn't try to stop me, because I am very, very bad."
"And if I try to stop you?"
"Well, I just might have to burn your ass....quite literally." Those were the last words that were spoken before John close the space between them.
Bobby liked this. John tasted like caramel and Marlboro menthols. Bobby had tried a menthol once (John had insisted, and how can you resist such an insistence?). He hadn't liked the way they had tasted when he tried them, but he liked the way they tasted on John's lips. He liked the way his body felt against John's and he certainly liked the way one of the pyro's hands wound it's way through his hair and the other steadied him on the brick wall.
The kiss seemed to go on for eternity, but it was over in a second. John pulled yet another cigarette out and put it to his mouth. Before he could light it, Bobby took it from him. "Hey!"
"I'm sure you've got a whole pack. You can spare one."
"Thought you didn't like 'em?" John said, offering the lighter to his friend.
Bobby took it and lit the cigarette, "Yeah, but I figure I could use one."
John took his lighter back and lit his own cigarette. "You could use one, huh?"
Bobby shrugged and blew smoke out at John. "Yeah."
"A couple 'a shots is what you look like you could use."
Bobby laughed, "Is that how I look?"
John nodded, "Yeah, that's exactly how you look."
"What are we supposed to do about this? I don't know if I can trust you, and if you ever do anything that I consider remotely evil then you certainly can't trust me because you don't know what I might do....who I might tell."
"You're not a rat, Drake." John said, leaning with his back against the wall, propping a foot up on the wall, right hand holding the cigarette just barely away from his mouth and his left wrist under the bend of his right arm. "Plus, who said you could trust me at all? You know you can't. I'm not exactly fighting the good fight. You can't trust me any farther than you can throw me."
"And I have a feeling that's not too far," Bobby said quietly, "So what do we do, then?"
"Find a way to trust each other. We tell each other everything, we let one another know where we are at all times."
"You know that won't work. Yu were never truthful about where you were going before you left. How would I know you were really telling the truth? For all I know, you could tell me you were going to KFC and I could find you at WalMart." Bobby nodded a bit. "And you know that's true."
"I know a sure-fire way we could prevent a headache over all of this."
"And what might that be?"
"You could come back with me."
Bobby shook his head, "No, John, I can't do that. A relationship isn't a very good reason to change your beliefs, now is it?"
"This is why I've never bothered with emotions before, they complicate everything."
"Maybe they do, but they also make life interesting." Bobby sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Looks like the only thing to do is forget about this."
"Forget about it?" John looked at Bobby as if he had grown eight extra heads. "No. I can't do that. And you know you can't either. Just like I haven't truly ever forgotten about my family. I still know where they are, what they're like, and who they are. Sure, I locked the memories of them in a box that I can only break into every once in a while, but the memories didn't just fade away. They're still there, Bobby. You know we could never just forget about this."
"How can you be so sure you know what your family's really like now? Who's to say they didn't change?"
"That is a conversation for another day," John turned around abruptly. "Don't contact me, I'll contact you."
"John! I'm not done yet!"
John turned and gave the blonde an indigent smile. "You look mouth-watering today, Drake, have I told you that?" John nodded. "You look perfect." With that, he winked and walked away, looking every inch the criminal he was with the black leather jacket to complete the entire look.
Bobby huffed and leaned against the wall. "Bastard."
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Notes - Well, I wasn't sure that this was the absolute BEST ending for it or anything, but I liked it better to end like that than with a scene with Rogue or something. I might do something with her as a side-scene if you guys want it. Cause, ya know, if I do that...she will be a nosy, half-gossip-girl. lol. No, I don't know. Just...just...
Drop me a line!
Later days,
-PFB-