Buliding Neptune
Chapter Twelve: "Taking a Dip in the Tidewater"
He'd called John three times since he had snuck out, but hadn't gotten an answer. Cal assured himself vehemently that he wasn't broken up about John not wanting to see him again. The only reason he was upset was because John didn't have the balls to tell him they weren't going to fuck anymore. That's all it was—fucking. He hadn't expected to run off and move in with some guy like he had with…well, it was ridiculous. He didn't need that, anyway. He was seventeen and he had a roof over his head. He didn't need a relationship to have stability or some shit like that. And it wasn't like he'd be able to get away again anytime soon, anyway, so it was probably better that they stopped trying to make it work. But when Scott came to talk to him, he found it a little harder to express things that way.
Mr. Summers knocked on the half-open door and poked his head in. "Cal?"
"Come in." He didn't look up. His lack of communication with John had left him with plenty of free time on his hands. He'd finally picked up that book Xavier had given him. It wasn't half bad.
"Sorry to interrupt your studying. I was hoping we could have a little talk."
His eyes raised a fraction of a degree and sighed. "Alright." He set the book aside, scooting up on his bed and crossing his legs.
There was room for Scott on the end of the bed, but he opted for Cal's desk chair, pulling it over and straddling it backward. "So, you know your grounding is almost up."
"The no leaving at all part of it, anyway." Cal rolled his eyes.
"Well, that's what I want to talk about. Jean and I have discussed it, and we decided it isn't really fair to make you change your lifestyle so drastically. The other students date amongst themselves plenty, but you don't have as many options."
That you know of, Cal thought.
"Now, we still can't let you go running off whenever you please. There are going to be some ground rules." Cal eyed him uncertainly. "Obviously, we want to know when you'll be out and how long you'll be gone. No school night excursions, and you have to clear them with one of the teachers."
"Okay."
"And not just Logan."
Cal scowled slightly. "Okay."
"We also want to know where you'll be and the best way to contact you in an emergency. We want to know who you're with, too. And we want to meet him." He let the last part settle in.
The boy fish-mouthed momentarily, unsure of what to say.
"Will that be a problem? This guy—David?"
"Daniel." He sent a silent thank you to the real Daniel, who was probably humping a pole in a cowboy hat right about now.
"Right. Daniel. We will be able to meet him, won't we?"
Picking anxiously at the bedspread, Cal chewed on his lower lip. "Um, well, I don't even know if I'm going to see him again is the thing."
"Why? Was there something wrong with him?" Scott momentarily forgot the delicate, unspoken boundaries they'd set up between themselves.
Cal blushed and stared at the blanket. "Uh, it's just, well, he hasn't really…called me back." And he was fine with it, absolutely fine. It was just fucking and it was done, and who cared anyway? Regardless, he felt something heavy start to settle in his stomach as he spoke. He must look like such a stupid slut, getting picked up and dropped like that.
They sat quietly for a long moment, Cal internally insisting that he was okay, and Scott figuring out what to say because he was clearly not okay. He settled on, "What an asshole."
The boy laughed quietly, seeming to get a grip somewhat. He shook his head. "It's fine. It was just a quick thing, you know? I mean, I wasn't expecting anything else." Maybe he was lying. He scrambled for more excuses. "Besides, he was probably, like, my rebound guy, right? Just getting me on my feet after—" And he remembered what Scott had said in his office. Two months and he was already off fucking some guy. Some guy that obviously didn't give a shit about him, when Matt had loved him so much he went fucking insane over it. He swallowed heavily and clenched his jaw.
Scott moved from the chair over to the bed. He put a strong hand on Cal's wide, bony shoulder. "Hey. Look at me." Cal didn't. "Look at me." Cal looked up. "It's okay for you to move on. You've been through a lot of rough stuff, and you deserve something better. Just give yourself some time, alright?"
He sniffled and nodded rapidly. He tried to not cry. It wasn't working.
"Come here." Mr. Summers wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a sideways hug. Cal buried his face against his teacher's chest, the tears picking up momentum as he let them out.
"I miss him so much. I just really miss him."
Scott held the kid tight against him, not saying anything, but not letting go. The carefully constructed, unspoken barriers melted away, and not just the ones between him and Cal. As he watched this kid cry against him, trusting him with bare emotion, he felt something within himself give way.
"So who is this chick anyway, boss?"
Magneto turned slightly in his seat, so that John, in the back of the helicopter, could just see his profile. "She makes force fields. She's a replacement for the hydrokinetic you two failed to collect."
Toad glanced back from the pilot's seat and exchanged a look with John.
"Why not just go pick up someone else that makes force fields? It's not like they're a true rarity, and we don't know anything about this one. It doesn't seem worth the trouble."
"Because she's the only known mutant of her kind powerful enough to complete our objective."
John frowned. Magneto had been talking about this 'objective' for months, but refused to give details. "So why don't we pick up another hydrokinetic? They're not as common, but there are others."
"Again, none powerful enough."
Toad snorted. "What, y'tellin' me tha' little brat is th'most powerful hydrokinetic we can find?"
Magneto nodded demurely. "Castillo is the one who pointed him out to us. She places him at a level four, at least."
John's mouth fell open. "What?" He and Toad spoke in unison.
"I told you he was a powerful young mutant, didn't I?"
"It's just he never—" John cut himself off. "I mean, he didn't seem so powerful."
His boss's tone turned sharp. "Well, I'm sure the three seconds you two idiots spent with him weren't incredibly indicative."
They both fell silent, Toad abashed and John reeling.
Cal was lying on his bed, just finishing up chapter three of A Separate Peace while Bobby worked on some calculus. Cal started laughing.
"What?" Bobby glanced back at him.
"This book Xavier gave me. I guess he thought I'd relate because it's super gay."
He left his desk and sat down on the foot of Cal's bed, lifting his roommate's feet out of the way and settling them in his lap. "A Separate Peace? We read that in middle school. I don't remember anything about gays in it."
"Did you actually read it? Well, first of all, all-male boarding school. Duh. That's the beginning of like, every gay porno ever made. And this Gene guy is totally crushing on his roommate, Finny, and Finny hits on him all the fucking time. Listen to this: 'His skin radiated a reddish copper glow of tan, his brown hair had been a little bleached by the sun, and I noticed that the tan made his eyes shine with a cool blue-green fire.' I mean, you don't just say that about any dude. Oh, and Gene's always noticing people's clothes. Dead giveaway, much?"
Bobby snorted and scooted up to lay alongside Cal, craning his neck to see the book. "I think you're reading a little too much into it." He looked at his roommate and trailed a finger along his temple gingerly. "Hey, you got your stitches out."
"Yep. My skin is officially able to hold itself together. But that's not the point. The point is, this is, like, the gayest thing I've ever read."
"You don't read very much."
Cal flicked his forehead. "Shut up. How about this?" He flipped back for a moment, searching for the passage he wanted. "So Finny has this pink shirt, right? So Gene says, 'Pink! It makes you look like a fairy!' and Finny's all cool about it, like 'Does it? I wonder what would happen if I looked like a fairy to everyone.' Obviously he's trying to give Gene a hint."
"Why doesn't he just wait 'til he's jacking off at night and offer to give him a hand? That's what they do in 'like, every gay porno ever made.'" He mocked Cal's voice. It's also what John had done.
"Because it's literature, dumbass. People don't jack each other off in literature."
"English class would be a lot more interesting if they did."
Cal snorted and set the book down on his chest. "But it is really dumb. Gene totally won't get the hint. He's all, like, awestruck and acts like he's jealous of how cool Finny is, but he's Finny's best friend, so he's, like, cool by proxy anyway. Really, he's just jealous because Finny's super popular and everyone loves him, and he's insecure or something and thinks Finny's gonna ditch him for someone else. Except Finny won't because he has the hots for Gene."
"Sounds like a lot of teenage drama I've seen."
"I know, right?"
Bobby took the book and set it on the nightstand. He turned back to Cal and wrapped an arm around his middle, snuggling against his chest playfully. "Don't worry. If I had the hots for you, I'd just offer to jerk you off. Just in case you were insecure or something."
Cal ran his fingers through Bobby's hair. "Oh, you're such a stand-up guy."
It was a rather elaborate operation. Pyro and Toad were going to stake the lab out for the next two days while Magneto arranged tactics around the blueprints they provided. As far as they could tell, mutant test subjects were kept in the sub-basement area, just below the security base. They had key codes on every door, a constant rotation of armed guards, and more cameras than Hollywood.
John was less worried about that than about sitting in a surveillance van with Toad for two fucking days.
"So who woulda figured y'little twink is a four, hm?"
He scowled at Toad, and then relented. Slouching in his chair, he muttered, "Not me. That's for sure. Jesus. I like the guy and all, but what a waste of power."
John was only ranked at a level three. Toad was a level two—physical mutation only.
"I mean, you'd think someone with those abilities wouldn't get fucked over so much."
"Think he likes bein' fucked over." Toad smirked.
"Yeah, yeah."
"And anyway, how powerful y'are don't mean nothin' compared t'how you use it, yeh?
John shrugged. "I guess."
Toad sighed. The surveillance monitors flashed dully in the dark of the van. "Look, Pyro, are you sure y'know what y'doin'?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean—an' don' freak out or anythin', I'm just leveling with you here—this guy isn't much more than a replacement. Y'usin' him as a stand in for Drake."
John gritted his teeth.
"You're fuckin' with him, an' not just in th'good way. Kid's not exactly stable and he's obviously pretty powerful. Look at th'last guy that fucked with him. Are you sure y'wanna put y'self there?"
"I'll be fine, Toad. Mind your own fucking business."
"Why are you still so hung up on that ponce, anyway? He's just a blood traitor Boy Scout pretty with blue eyes."
The lack of warning let John get the jump on him. In a matter of seconds, he had Toad pinned against the floor of the van, straddling his hips with one hand fisted in his shirt. "Shut the fuck up, Toad."
Toad chuckled and leered at him dementedly. "Now, Johnny boy, if this is how y'wanna play it, fine, but m'not gonna cuddle afterward like y'little blonde playthings."
"I said, shut up!" He jerked Toad up and back, knocking his head against the floor.
In another flash of muscle and limbs, their positions were reversed, John on the floor, his arms pinned under Toad's hands, shins holding down his thighs. "Listen, y'little cunt. I think y'forgettin' exactly who is whose superior here. I could break you like a fuckin' toothpick. An' who would miss you, hm? S'long as I found th'boss another level three with long-range powers, no one. We're worthless, Johnny boy. We're what we can do an' that's all."
John swallowed heavily and his lower lip trembled for just a second. He sucked in a ragged breath. "Thought you said you wanted to fuck."His voice sounded hoarse.
Toad stared at him for a moment, almost pitying—or as close as he could come to pitying. He snorted and moved off of him. "Don' be stupid. I dunno where you been."
The water lapped at Bobby's shins pleasantly, and he considered getting back in just for the warmth. The chlorine was settling into his skin as he drip-dried onto the tile and concrete floor. He'd climbed out almost ten minutes ago, but Cal was still at it, barely surfacing for air as he darted up and down the length of the pool. His stitches were out, so he was allowed to go in the chlorine now. He really looked like he belonged there. His movements were effortless, lean limbs slicing through the water with ease, each kick sending him farther than it should have.
Cal reached the end of the pool and surfaced for a grin and a breath, winking at Bobby, before falling backwards into the water and rocketing down toward the bottom. He lay flat there, arms outstretched. He really was gorgeous. No wonder John had gone for him. He could still see hickeys from when Cal had snuck out, along the top of his waistband, his neck, his chest. There were faint bruises on his hipbones from firm gripping fingers. Bobby touched his own hip lightly, remembering those marks.
"Alright. I'm getting pruney. Time to get out." His roommate surfaced in front of him, holding out a hand for Bobby to help him out. He stood and tugged Cal's arm up. The water pushed him up the rest of the way, and he stepped out of the pool.
"Woah. Could you walk on water if you wanted to?"
"Huh. I never thought about it. I guess, if I had it push up under my feet while I walked."
Cal had this air of exhilaration about him that Bobby hadn't seen before, a healthy flush in his cheeks. "You're really good in the water. You're like a fish or something." He handed Cal a towel.
"Ooh, maybe that could be my mutant name—Fishman. Or Tuna or Trout or something."
He snorted and they made their way to the elevator, wet bare feet squeaking on the tile. "Are you into astrology? You could be Pisces. That's the fish one."
"I dunno. I eat a lot of fish. Wouldn't that make me a cannibal?"
Bobby laughed. "What about Aquarius? That's the water one."
Cal hummed thoughtfully and shook his head. "Makes me think of Hair. I'd have that song stuck in my head every time someone said it."
"God, now it's stuck in my head," Bobby griped. They stepped into the elevator and he snuck another sidelong glance at his roommate's wet, bruised torso. He stared at the door ahead of them.
"Ugh, I don't know. Maybe I'll never think of one. It is nice to be back in the water, though."
Once they got back to the room, Bobby dropped into his desk chair, towel under his butt so it wouldn't get wet. "You can shower first." He watched out of the corner of his eye as Cal stripped off his wet swim trunks. He eyed the bruises on his hips—places where John's hands had been. There were faint teeth marks on his left butt cheek—places where John's mouth had been. And lower…where John's… Bobby shook his head and looked at his fingernails while his roommate disappeared into the bathroom. He always locked the door that led to Piotr and Lance's room, but they usually kept their door open. Taking a deep breath, he stood and pushed his swim trunks off.
Cal was leaning back into the stream of hot water, steam rising up over the shower curtain. Bobby pulled the curtain aside just slightly as he stepped into the tub. Cal's eyes opened, watching him curiously, but not at all alarmed.
He stepped forward, swallowing nervously before forcing his mouth into a mimic of a familiar cocky smirk. He took on the role and felt the confidence that came with it, shoulders falling back, eyes dragging hungrily over Cal's body. "Want me to jerk you off?"
A grin crept over Cal's face, a laugh bubbling between his lips. His hand grasped the back of Bobby's neck and pulled him into what seemed like a much belated kiss.