What about adult Scott and Bobby and how Bobby ends up forgiving Scott for Schism and AvX and all that stuff?
Alright, so I'm gonna make this take place during All-New X-men verse, bc if you think about it, that would be the perfect timeline to do so. Just bear with me, bois.
Their younger selves were here. They were stuck here, in the present or the future or whatever the hell it really was anymore. They were here and he knew his younger self didn't know yet, didn't admit it. He actually didn't know when he had actually come to the conclusion that he was gay. Somewhere in his teens for sure, maybe early twenties. He knew once he realised it, he never had a girlfriend for much longer, despite his denying it.
Their younger selves were here and they were ruining everything. He knew Scott and himself were in the library right now, he was no idiot. He could see them talking out of the corner of his eye. He thought they'd keep to themselves, but soon enough, he saw them at the window, pointing, as he kissed Kitty. It was going to be one of their last kisses, he knew. He knew because he never dated a girl for long before the guilt of suppressing who he was ate away at him and he hated himself and wouldn't leave him room for days. Those episodes were less and less now, however, because he didn't have time to sulk when everyday, Cyclops was threatening mutankind with his lunatic thinking. Cyclops was only doing what he thought was right, but Magneto had that same damn thought process and how often did it get him locked up. How often had doing what you thought was right kept you alive and well, alive and sane? Never. Everyone who ever thought that what they were doing was for the greater good always died in the end and it was senseless to do anything for anyone anymore. Sometimes Bobby was glad that there was no longer a telepath on their side because he was sure he would have gotten chewed out for thoughts like that.
Then again, Bobby always missed Jean even more when he thought like that. Because she would have chewed him out and set him straight. Even if she couldn't make him straight.
They had teamed with Cyclops. He couldn't believe it. Just the other day, Kitty had been swearing and ranting about how horrible he was, and how she wished he had died instead of Jean because then there wouldn't be two-hundred mutants running around, scared and defenseless. He had let her rant, had let her blow off her steam. They had sex afterwards, and Bobby knew that it was going to be over soon. He couldn't bring himself to keep thinking about other men when it was Kitty. He couldn't fall asleep next to her, whispering "I love you" when he didn't mean it.
Cyclops was in his room, wringing his hands. Bobby wanted to ignore him, but he looked so sick and stressed out. He had his mask off and his glasses on. There were frown lines on his face that made him look like he was perpetually scowling. He had aged so much in the past few years, not physically, but mentally. It was wearing him down in Bobby's eyes and he couldn't help but be himself and go into Cyclops' room and try to help him. Because that's how he had always been. He was always the guy to cheer others up. He sat down next to him and didn't speak at first, letting the tension between them bubble over and dissipate.
"You wanna talk about it?"
Scott sighed, jaw clenching and twitching and Bobby couldn't help but find that endearing. It was something that would never change about Scott. Scott brought his hand up to his ear to push back his hair and then lowered it. Then he brought it up again, again, again, again. After the fifth time he stopped and sighed, looking across the room at the wall. His foot tapped, one, two, three, four, five. He bit his lip, worrying it between his teeth. "It's all my fault, Bobby. Everything. If I had just worked harder, trained harder. If I had just listened and worked harder. I should've done better. I could have done better. Jean deserved better. Mutants deserved better." He brought a hand up to push hair out of his face. Again, again, again, five times. Bobby was used to these tics, these repetitive motions and actions. When you've known someone for so long, you get used to them. It would be weird if Scott wasn't doing it. "I keep training, every day and I'm not getting better. I'll never be better. These kids need to be better, Bobby. Better than I could never be. Better than I could ever hope to be. They have to because if they don't, mutants will die. Bobby, mutants will die, they'll die. Bobby, mutants will die, they'll die. Bobby, mutants will die, they'll die. Bobby, mutants will die, they'll die. Bobby mutants will die, they'll-"
"Scott," Bobby interrupted, grabbing a hold of his hand. "Breathe. You're okay. I understand what you're trying to say."
"-die," he finished, a shaky breath leaving him. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise; I know you can't control it sometimes."
Scott shook his head, pain evident on his face. "No, Bobby. Not for that, but yes for that. For.. For everything. For arguing with Wolverine and arguing with Captain America. I had no right. I shouldn't have done that. I threatened mutankind even more with my words and actions. I just… wanted us to be safe. I just wanted mutants to have a utopia they could go to. That was the whole purpose of Utopia. We were supposed to be safe there but those damn brats tore us apart. I tore us apart. I'm not mad you left Utopia, Bobby. Looking back at it, I would have done the same. I'm not mad at any of the people who left, not even Logan." He looked at Bobby, "It's my fault that mutants are even more feared and small in number. I don't know how to tell everyone that I'm sorry and it eats away at me every single day of my life."
"I've tried to tell people, but none of them listen. It wasn't just me. I always get blamed even though Emma was controlled by the Phoenix Force as well. So was Piotr and Illyana and Namor. Why is all the blame placed on me? The Phoenix used all of us, but I always get the blame. I get the blame. I get the blame. I get the blame. I get the blame. I get the blame," he took another breath, balling his hands into fists and shoving them up under his glasses, rubbing. "Why just me though? Why am I mutant and human enemy number one? I didn't mean to do any of that. I got so lost inside of the Phoenix's power, Bobby. It was all an accident. It used me, just like it tried to use Jean. But unlike Jean, I couldn't stop myself. I couldn't do it. And it took advantage of my desire to make mutants safe and it warped me, Bobby."
Bobby rubbed Scott's back, frowning. He hadn't ever thought about Scott suffering throughout all of that ordeal. "I just wanted to protect Hope. I couldn't lose her, too. I wanted to protect mutants. The Phoenix was our only hope of a brighter and better future and for so long, I thought I could bring that to the world. You know how hard I worked, Bobby. But the Phoenix ate away at me like a fire."
"Have you ever seen one of those fires that destroys the inside of the building without a flame ever licking at the outside? That's me, Bobby. I'm burnt and empty inside. The family photos in the attic have been charred and burnt. One wrong move and the inside will come tumbling down, pulling the seemingly okay outside with it. I look fine, Bobby. People think I'm fine if not a little crazy. They don't realise the damage is all inside until you take a look in there. It's a mess. Dishes in the sink, cracked from the heat. There's a desk upstairs that a kid used to do his homework at, but his homework was burnt to ash by the fire and now the desk is nothing more than a black chunk of charcoal. Everything inside of the house has been destroyed but it's somehow still standing. But no matter how nice it looks on the outside, it's going to have to be torn down if they ever want to build a new one. But if you destroy that house and build a new one, you lose everything that house ever was. I'm that house, Bobby. I'm empty."
"And I'm sorry."
Bobby looked at Scott with wide, watery eyes. He had never expected to hear such an apology from Scott and now that he had, all the guilt inside of him was hungrier than ever. "Scott," he started, voice cracking. He could see the tears escaping from underneath Scott's fists and his stomach twisted. "Scott, it's okay," he said softly. "I… I forgive you. I'm not mad at you, and I never was, Scott. Upset, yes. But I knew there was something in there that was doing what they thought was good, thought was right."
He heard Scott suck in a wet, shaky breath. Bobby stood up and looked up and down the hallway before shutting the door. He knelt in front of Scott and pulled his arms down. "I'm not saying what you did was okay, Scott. But I'm saying I understand you. Please, look at me."
Scott did, his eyes wet behind his glasses. Bobby watched more tears run down his cheeks. "I'm glad we made it through this, maybe not okay, but alive. We're alive, Scott. And it's going to be okay because every time the world tries to wipe us out, we come back. We always come back, Scott. And it's up to us, you, me, Kitty, Logan, those young versions of us out there, to make it so we can keep coming back. We gotta keep doing this, this fighting, this struggling, so that someday, no one else has to. We're all damaged buildings, Scott, some of us worse than others, some of us damaged by tenants, some of us damaged by owners. But we're all damaged buildings that just gotta hope they keep on standing for as long as they can because for someone, we're their shelter. We're their home." He smiled and he saw the corners of Scott's mouth tug up.
"Sure, no one wants to sleep in a house with no insulation and is a constant freezing degrees, but someone needs me. To someone, I'm the best goddamn house on the market simply because I am one. And Scott, there's someone that needs a house, even if it smells like burnt wood and is still a little hot to the touch. You offer shelter that someone will appreciate." Scott let out a shaky breath, the air hot on Bobby's face.
"I know that what you were doing is what you thought was the right thing to do, Scott," Bobby said as he leaned forward, pressing a chaste, tentative kiss on Scott's mouth. He kissed back after a second, careful and scared.
A few days later and Cyclops was dead.