Building Neptune

Chapter Eleven: "Go with the Gulf Stream"

He called John two days later to explain his imprisonment.

"I can't say I'm surprised. God, I knew we shouldn't have waited so long to take you back."

"For what's it's worth, I'm glad we did anyway."

He imagined the soft twist of John's lips on the other end of the conversation. "Me too."

"I don't know what I'm gonna do now, though. I thought I was bugging out before. And Summers was being such a fucking asshole. I don't even want to get into that right now."

John snorted. "Yeah, I was never his favorite either. He's not much for free spirits."

"Or minding his own damn business."

"That, too."

Cal sighed into a thoughtful pause. "I want to see you again."

"Don't worry about it. You're not actually going to be stuck there."

"What? Why?"

"Cal, I was grounded more often than I wasn't when I went to Xavier's. I know how to sneak out of that place better than anyone."

x

"I don't want to talk about the rule breaking just now. I'm sure you and Scott have talked plenty about that by now. I do want to talk about you dating, though."

"It's nothing serious. I just ran into this guy a couple times and we hit it off."

Jean sighed. "You think sleeping with someone is 'nothing serious'? Cal, you've just gone through a loss not to mention a lengthy, abusive relationship. I don't think you're ready for this."

Cal rolled his eyes, making a noise of frustration. "Okay, look, I get where you're coming from, but just because you think sex is a huge deal doesn't mean I have to agree! When I was signing up here, you never told me I'd have to believe everything you believe."

"I'm not saying you have to agree with me. I'm telling you my honest opinion. And my opinion is that you're never going to break these negative cycles if you dive back in too soon."

He leaned forward. "But this isn't like those cycle things. We're the same age and he's not, like, bossing me around or anything."

"Who paid for dinner?"

"Well, fine, he did, but it's not like I couldn't get dinner if he hadn't. And it's not like I needed someplace to stay the night. As long as I'm here, I don't need to depend on a guy for anything like that."

She frowned at him for a long moment.

x

"We have to let him go out with this guy."

"What!" Scott spun around as she walked into the room, the door closing behind her. "Cal's guy? And why do we need to do that?"

Jean put her hands on her hips. "Because if we don't, we're making him choose between us and a man, and, given his track record, we don't stand a chance."

He groaned, sitting on the bed heavily. "So, what, we're supposed to cave in so he'll behave irresponsibly here instead of out God-knows-where?"

"Yes." She gave him a hard stare. "At least we know he's safe here."

He shook his head. "This is turning into a disaster already."

"It isn't. I've thought about it since we had that argument. You were right. John Allerdyce was our fault, but it wasn't because we didn't give up on him right away. It's because we refused to acknowledge that some students can't go from their lives before back into the tight little box we've got the rest of these kids in. John had to grow up quickly, take on a lot of responsibility at a very young age. We treated him like a child like any other student, and he fought it. We were suffocating him."

Scott pressed his lips together and bowed his head in thought. After a moment, he looked back up at her, reaching for her hand. "Have I told you lately how incredibly sexy your intelligence is?"

She grinned and leaned down to kiss him. "Not often enough."

He pulled back. "I still don't think giving him the green light to go party and have sex and stay out all night is a good idea."

"I'm not saying we do that. I'm saying we set guidelines. He still goes through the grounding period, like we said. He has to let us know ahead of time if he'll be staying out, he has to tell us where he is and how we can reach him. We need to meet the guy."

Scott smirked. "That's not a bad idea. Having to bring his dates in to meet his teachers might scare him away from it anyway."

She sat on the bed next to him and laced her fingers with his. "Does it terrify you thinking that someday we'll be running this place on our own?"

He nodded.

x

If there had been a window open between them before, now it was like they'd knocked the whole damn wall down. Bobby was reclining on Cal's bed, Cal angled off to the side with his head resting on Bobby's chest and his legs dangling off the edge. One of Bobby's arms was wrapped around him, holding up the Spanish book propped on his stomach.

"Alright. Tener."

Spanish was one of the only classes he wasn't painfully behind in. A lot of the kids in Hunt's Point spoke it, and a few of the guys at work, too.

"Uh, tuve, tuviste, tuvo."

"Excelente."

"And then tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron."

"God, can you just take the test for me? I'll take your math tests."

"Ha, I wish."

Bobby set the book down and stretched his arms over his head. "Break time."

"Yeah, I need a shower before Piotr and Lance get back and take over the bathroom."

"Wish I could have gone dirt biking, but no-o-o."

Cal cringed as he pulled his shirt off, depositing it in the hamper. "Shit, you know I'm really sorry about all that. I didn't even consider you'd get in trouble."

He sighed and rolled onto his side, fixing his gaze on Cal's hips as he lowered his jeans. "Well, at least it looks like it was for a good cause."

Looking down at his hip bone, Cal laughed at the dark red hickey John had left there.

"How was he anyway?"

Glancing at the bathroom door in a moment of contemplation, he finally let out a huff of air and sat down on Bobby's bed, cross-legged in his briefs. "Really fucking good."

"Yeah? Do I get details?"

"Well, first of all, he's a really good kisser, even if he sort of has ashtray mouth. I barely even noticed most of the time. And he's got this body like, ugh, you don't even know. Abs and arms, the whole deal. He even has cum gutters."

"What? What the hell is that?"

Cal leaned back, running his fingers along the inside of his hipbone, along the waistband of his underwear. "You know, when a guy's got muscles that make lines from his hips to his groin."

"And that's really what you call them?"

"That's what everyone calls them, Bob-o. Duh. I swear, this place is worse than living under a rock. Anyway, so he's super gorgeous on top of that, sort of a James Dean Rebel Without a Cause sort of deal. I think that's what he's going for, actually. He's got the slicked hair and everything, which, usually? Is kind of gross. But it works for him."

Bobby frowned momentarily, things starting to sound a bit too familiar.

"We got to his apartment and first thing he fucked me into the couch, which was mostly, like, a get-the-tension-out-so-we-last-longer-next-time sort of deal."

Bobby shook his head, trying to cast off his crazy thoughts. "Your life…"

"And then we moved it to the bedroom and things only got better from there. Size-wise?" He made an 'OK' sign with his hand. "And he wasn't afraid to play kind of rough, you know? And his rim jobs were, like, out of this world. Oh! And he did this thing with his fingers, I dunno, like…" He made the gesture with his hand.

Bobby's eyes widened, but he reigned in the shock quickly. Way, way too familiar. "Well, it sounds like it was worth it."

"Still. Sorry I got you in trouble."

"Eh, it's fine. It's not like I had big plans."

Cal opened his mouth to say something else, but Bobby threw a pillow at him.

"Go shower. You reek."

x

He couldn't tell Bobby what was going on. He'd already gotten him in enough trouble. He had to wait until week later when Storm would have hall monitor duties. She couldn't read his mind or sniff him out like Jean or Logan, and she didn't hate his fucking guts like Summers. At John's bidding, he faked sick all day, making sure to let Storm see him all out of it after classes.

"Are you feeling alright?"

He shook his head, rubbing at his face tiredly. "I've had a headache like all day. I'm gonna go do my homework and go to bed early, I think."

She patted his shoulder. "Alright, Cal. Feel better."

He went upstairs and attempted to work on homework until six, when Bobby stopped into the room to change into his training gear.

"Hey, Bobby? I'm feeling super shitty. I think I'm just gonna go to bed. Think you can keep it down when you come back?"

Bobby frowned for a moment, and then reeled it in. He nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll try not to wake you up." He hesitated, then moved over to his dresser and changed. As soon as he left the room, Cal yanked his dirty clothes out of the hamper and shoved them under his blankets, making a Cal-shaped lump. John really was an escape expert. He topped the pile off with a fuzzy yellow sweater that would poke out of his comforter just slightly. So long as Bobby kept the lights off, it would look like his hair.

After that, it was the terrifying prospect of climbing out of his second story window. He slipped after his foot hit the first floor window sill, but the fall wasn't far. Then he hopped the back fence—which was a struggle all on its own. He really needed to invest in some pants that fit.

His ride was already out on the street, making a show of checking him out as he walked out the car. He smirked and added a playful swing to his hips, putting on a show. He climbed into the car, leaning across the gearstick to plant a kiss on John's lips. "I've got to hand it to you. You're a genius."

John kissed back and smirked. "I know."

Cal blew him on the ride up to the city. They didn't bother to stop for food, instead going straight to the apartment and ordering Chinese food. John taught him how to use chopsticks and they enjoyed egg drop soup and Mongolian beef between bouts of nearly acrobatic sex. Cal had to sneak back into the mansion before six the next morning, and they wanted to cram as much into their short time together as possible.

Bobby got back into the room around ten, keeping as quiet as possible. He stared at the form on Cal's bed and tried to pretend he hadn't done all of this before. He peeled off his clothes and pulled on a clean t-shirt. He stared at the bed again. Creeping up to it, he tugged the covers back with his thumb and forefinger.

Laundry. By the fucking book, even.

He put the blankets back and groaned. Not his problem. So, so not his problem. When Storm stopped by to check (and of course he'd gone when Storm was on duty), he just opened the door a crack and thrust his thumb toward Cal's bed.

"Is he feeling any better?" she whispered.

Bobby shrugged. "He said he was going to bed around six."

She left without further investigation, and Bobby sat on his bed and glared at the lump. John. John fucking Allerdyce. How the hell did this sort of thing happen?

He groaned and tipped his head back against the wall. His mind flashed back to Cal's accounts of his sleepover, and then farther back to first-hand accounts. John pressed against his back. John's hand wrapped around him, his hips pressed against his. John's mouth dragging up his spine. Before he realized what he was doing, his hand had slipped inside his underwear and he was jerking himself off, frantically. He bit his lip to keep back groans. "Fuck," he breathed. "Fuck. Fuck. John."

x

Around three in the morning, they had finally made their way to the bedroom. They were nearing exhaustion, and it was like the last morning, Cal lazily rocking down onto John's cock. He leaned forward, working his lips along John's neck as he circled his hips. Fingers dug into his already bruised hips, pulling him down and guiding the rhythm. The door opened.

"Oh, f'fuck's sake."

Cal sat bolt upright, head whipping around to see a stocky green man standing in the bedroom doorway. "Uh…"

A pillow flew past him, landing just short of the intruder. "Toad! Jesus Christ, get out!" Toad turned and closed the door. John groaned. "Sorry. That's one of my dipshit teammates."

Cal let out a breath. He looked down at John. "Maybe I should get going early, huh?"

John pouted. "Well, don't get up just yet." His hands gripped Cal's waist and turned them so the scrawnier boy was flat on his back under him. "We were doing something."

He grinned and hitched his legs around John's waist. "Well, I meant after, of course."

John thrust into him hard, setting a harsh pace and giving him an almost possessive kiss. They were done in less than five minutes.

x

After he turned the shower on, Cal immediately pressed his ear to the door to listen in.

"Fuckin' hell, John. I told you to leave it th'fuck alone!"

"What's the problem? It's not like I'm recruiting him or something!"

"Yeh, well, if that's you not tryin' to recruit, I'd hate t'see you when you were."

"I'm serious. Just because I'm fucking him doesn't mean he's going to join up."

"Right, if everyone you fucked joined up, we'd have t'put on an annex."

"Who I fuck and what I do with my personal life is none of your goddamned business, Toad."

"It is when y'fuckin' an X-Man."

John laughed. "Oh, please. He's been there, what, two weeks? He's probably never even seen the uniforms. He's a glorified houseguest at this point."

Cal flinched, not sure why those words upset him so much.

"Just sayin', if y'gonna fuck a blood-traitor X-kid, you might as well get what y'really after."

Then came a smacking sound as a fist flew, and loud scuffling noises followed. He considered going out to break it up, but didn't want to give himself away. He stepped into the shower.

When he got out, John and Toad were sitting on opposite sides of the couch, glaring ahead. John's lip was split and there was a faint smear of blood under his nose. Toad's right sleeve was burnt. He had a beer, alternately drinking it and pressing the cool bottle to the side of his head.

"Well. Looks like you two had fun." He tried not to sound nervous, standing there in a towel.

Toad lowered his beer and sneered at him. "What's it t'you, pretty boy?"

He gave the man his best 'bitch, please' face. Without a second thought, he flicked his fingers and the liquid in the bottle splashed up, hitting Toad in the face.

Toad leapt to his feet, ready to charge at him when John caught him by the back of his shirt, laughing. "Go get dressed, Cal."

When he stepped out of the room, Toad was waiting, leaning against the wall. "Y'not expectin' him to run off and marry you or nothin', are you?"

Cal raised an eyebrow at him. "Do I look like Beyoncé to you?"

Toad looked confused.

"You know, Single Ladies?" He did the hand flip.

Toad frowned.

"Nevermind."

x

Bobby heard him come in the window just after five. His roommate rustled around for a bit, clearing the laundry off of his bed. He kept his breathing level, stared at the wall in front of him motionless. A quiet groan drifted over from Cal's bed as he settled into his blankets. Snaking his hand under his own blanket, Bobby pressed the heel of his hand against his groin.