A/N: . . . yes.
I lost my motivation for this fic for a while, yeah. (Whee end of summer!) And then I joined a X-Men RPG and got distracted. (Whee Evan!) And then I once again managed to get into university. (Whee psychology!)
Thanks to Aeolus (as always (: ), Shy FX, reckless renegade, and BiccaBoo for the feedback. That's what keeps me writing, cliché as it might sound. :D
Two Steps Forwards, Five Steps Back
Chapter Four
by sugar. coated
The main problem Bobby has is that he doesn't really listen. He makes a very good impression of listening, sure, and sometimes he even does what people tells him to. Most of the time though, he finds his brain stopping mid-action, to holler something along the lines of Why the fuck didn't you listen to your mom/the professor/that after school special? This time, his brain is disgusted with Bobby for not listening to himself.
Secretly pining my ass! is the outcry in Bobby's head as his lips are firmly planted on Ray's, hands resting on the other boy's shoulders. This is not how you're supposed to be crushing! The outcry turns into incoherent gibberish as Bobby realizes that Ray is in fact not kissing him back. Fuck, Bobby concludes and moves away, putting space between the two of them once again. Ray doesn't move.
"Um," he says. "Dude, I don't swing that way."
Bobby blushes. That is something he probably should have taken into account before deciding to crush on Ray, and especially before smooching him. Hell, if he'd just considered the issue of contradicting sexualities when it came to Roberto, he would've been able to avoid this entire mess (which is just getting bigger and bigger with each passing moment). In whatever case, he really needs to stop attacking his team mates with kisses.
Especially the one he happens to be sharing a room with, and why didn't Bobby consider that possibly mortifying fact before? He stammers and waves his hands around before settling on just frowning and shrugging.
"Oops?" he tries.
"So, what, you have a thing for me?" Ray doesn't seem disgusted at the idea. He doesn't seem to be flattered either, or anything, really, beyond a vague, disinterested kind of amused.
"Er," Bobby says. You're just a sort of rebound-guy? He blinks and attempts to think, and finally blurts out; "Temporary insanity due to overdose of calculus?" The homework they'd been working on before Bobby decided to have a close encounter with Ray's lips is very difficult, after all, and any kind of break had felt like a good idea (at the time, at least; now, not so much).
"Whatever, man," Ray snickers and shakes his head. "Um. Let's just forget this ever happened."
That makes Bobby so happy he could kiss Ray (which is a stupid saying, really, since kissing is what leads to trouble, at least for the teenage Mr Freeze), and he smiles at the other boy.
"Cool," he says, relieved he didn't cause yet another person to avoid him. He then remembers something he's been contemplating for quite a while now. "Oh! I've got a really important question I've gotta ask you though."
"What?" Ray asks, giving Bobby a suspicious look (not that Bobby blames him; considering how random the kiss was Ray could very well expect the other teen to express his undying love any second now).
"What the fuck's the deal with your hair?"
TBC