Chapter 4

Robert leaned back. taking a breath. he closed his eyes. Bobby and Jean waited.

"The other telepaths here already knew all of this. They usually don't talk about it because... well. It's impolite or something. The rest don't know though, so... I guess you know way too much about the future already, so this is just one more thing you'll have to live with. When I was you... Yeah, I was gay. and... " Robert looked away.

"I didn't handle it well. Jean didn't have her telepathy, and Charles... Charles tried to help. He wanted to help, but I didn't want to be helped, and if you don't want the help..."

"Oh God..." Jean said. "The professor didn't..."

"No, he didn't" Robert cut her off. "He didn't erase it. I begged him to, but he said he wouldn't do it, anymore than he would take away my ice." Robert looked sad at the memory.

"At the time, I was trying to fake it. I had a girlfriend named Zelda, and... whenever i went out on a double date with Hank and... Vera, I think her name was, I could just feel that I wasn't doing a good job of it. I mean... I hope I came off as just a goofy kid, but... I felt like it wasn't going to get any better at it. I was gay, mutant and the future looked pretty damn bleak." Robert took another breath. Bobby took one as well.

"At the time... Charles had to... do something. He had to do it to protect the world, but it meant he couldn't be with us. We thought he was dead. Which meant that the only truly positive role model I had in my life to count on... was gone. That wasn't cool, and when he came back we all said so. That was just when your telepathic powers started to kick back in, Jean." Robert looked at Jean and looked down again. Bobby looked at both of them "Back in? he thought.

"I was really... really depressed. And... I was about to do... something rash. Something bad. And... irrevocable." Robert looked at Bobby. "You know what."

Jean looked from Robert to Bobby with a scared look. Bobby squirmed uncomfortably at the thought of what his older self was implying.

"You were thinking of..." Tears formed in her eyes. "You were going to..." She couldn't finish.

"I don't know if I would have done it" Robert said. "But... You were there Jean. You stopped me."

For a moment Jean looked relieved. The moment ended when she realised that Robert didn't look happier.

"Here where I have to hurt you just a bit, Jean. I'm sorry." Robert said. He looked back at Bobby, who was on the edge of his seat.

"Jean's telepathy didn't just appear after her telekinesis. They were the first powers she had, not the other way around. They manifested when-"

"No, no, please", Jean screamed in Robert's head, the tears forming again. Robert took her hands and thought back at her.

"You peaked ahead" Robert said. Jean nodded, the tears now falling.

"He wants to understand me. That means, in this one way, he has to understand you. If he doesn't know the whole truth... he's going to hate you."

"How do you know that?" Jean thought back, before she caught herself. "Because you hate me."

"For a little while I did. I don't now. and haven't for a long while, because you told me what happened." Robert thought back. Jean looked at Bobby, who looked confused.

"This is what it feels like when someone knows something about you that you don't want them to. He's probably scared that you're going to out him, even if it's just by accident." Robert thought. Jean nodded.

"At least, let me tell him my part. the one I lived" Jean thought. Robert nodded.