A/N: Oops. To everyone that cares; sorry about the wait. School enjoys eating my time, and viruses enjoy eating my computer. Oh well, at least I didn't have to delete the entire thing.
Thanks to Aeolus, LostLittleGirl90 and Gryphon124 for the feedback. (:
Two Steps Forwards, Five Steps Back
Chapter Two
by sugar. coated
Bobby thinks that he needs to stop crushing on Roberto. He thinks this while in the Danger Room, during a training session, and he quickly looks over at Jean to make sure she didn't catch that. Jean is giving him a mildly annoyed glance, possibly because Bobby just missed a clear opportunity to cover the lasers with ice, but Bobby isn't really sure if that's why and attempts to fill his thoughts with polar bears.
Bobby often tries to change his thoughts like this, a somewhat juvenile attempt to make sure Jean stays completely out of his head. Bobby sometimes thinks that Jean hates him, because he knows he'd definitely hate himself if he was a telepath. Of course, he hates himself while being a living ice machine as well; Bobby is quite sure that self-hatred is part of the teenage package. In whatever case, he really does know Jean is too nice to hate anyone, even annoyances such as Bobby.
So Bobby thinks about polar bears and manages to get a hit in with his ice, and he thinks about polar bears and misses the next laser, because Roberto really does look good in the skin-tight, black suit all the newest mutants have. Bobby sort of hates those suits. They definitely work against him on several planes. He catches Jean sending another glance in his direction, and Bobby blushes and tries for polar bears again.
Bobby needs to do something about the entire situation. He knows this.
Afterwards, when they've more or less successfully saved the world from the evil robots ("of doom," Bobby giggles to himself, and anyone else that happens to be close enough to hear), he tries. He follows Roberto, trying to be inconspicuous about it. Once they're away from every one else, outside, Bobby gathers some courage.
"Hey, Roberto," he calls, and Roberto stops and turns, glancing around.
"What?" he asks and crosses his arm. He doesn't look directly at Bobby, instead at a point to his right. Bobby suppresses the urge to look at the same point and instead rushes for words.
"So, eh, how's it going?" he tries. "What a session, huh? I mean, robots, how lame is that really?" He's rambling. It's so very obvious. "I was wondering if we could talk."
Roberto blinks and opens his mouth, then closes it again and looks around before trying for excuses.
"Um, I'm late, for, yeah." Roberto stops trying to be smooth about it, instead simply takes off and flies away. Bobby curses.
Maybe, Bobby thinks, I just need to start crushing on someone else. This could work. If Bobby would be able to distract himself by pining over another resident of the mansion, maybe his unfortunate unrequited crush on Roberto would just disappear. Bobby considers his options.
Sam and Kurt are both out of the question. Bobby doesn't consider himself to be a stalker by any means, but people taking off mid-talk bothers him a lot when he can't follow them. So, not a stalker, but an obnoxious teenager for sure, and Bobby wants to be able to get all his words out. He scowls at the place where Roberto stood not long ago and continues counting people off.
Jamie is just a kid, Scott is Scott, Dr McCoy is too old. Bobby doesn't even want to think about Professor Xavier and Wolverine, which only leaves Ray and Evan. Out of the two of them, Ray has the least stupid hair. (It's still quite stupid though, and if it isn't the result of a drunken scissor incident, Bobby might have to reconsider his choice.) Ray is also quite good-looking, and has a good sense of humour as long he's not the one being laughed at. Bobby nods to himself, satisfied with his decision. Ray is a good choice.
Maybe this time Bobby will be able to stick to secretly pining.
TBC