'Glassy'

[niq]

Glassy

So, it's like this. Bobby never expected it to be Scott.

Jean, maybe. Or Storm. And she's never Ororo, to him, always Storm. He figured one of them would twig, confront him. Jean's the telepath. And Storm has the woman scorned thing going for her. Jealous, ex and dumpee kind of mojo thing.

Maybe even Hank, sensing the weird, methodically adding up all the little bits and snatches.

Never the Professor, though. He knew the Professor wouldn't. Xavier would use Jean, wanting a younger, kinder, more sympathetic face.

And it was... Scott. Who confronted him. The others might have figured it out and just not let it show. Bobby's fifteen, not stupid. People like the X-men don't share knowledge readily, even among each other--having that bit of knowledge only you know could save your life and everyone else's as well.

Which, actually, makes it weird that it was Scott. He's the leader, after all. Well, Cyclops is, at least.

But still, it's very Scott. Clean-cut, with a stick up his ass, and a hard on for honesty and by-the-book.

Bobby figures there is some seriously fucked up shit in Scott's past. Nobody is that wound up unless they're overcompensating.

So, it was Scott, who confronted him.

"Bobby?" he'd said, in what was, for Scott, an almost gentle voice, which was scary as fuck, really. Scott wasn't gentle with anyone but Jean.

"Yeah," he'd muttered. "That's me."

It had been a bad few weeks, okay? He had a right to be surly and anything but the ironically warm-hearted Iceman. He was 15, and his life sucked. Even if it was cool, sometimes, the cool came with the pee-your-pants suck of fighting lunatics like Magneto while pins hold your legs together.

Scott had scowled. Which, really, put Bobby more at ease. Even if he was still in a crappy mood and brooding over his best friend.

"Bobby, how long have you been attracted to Hank?"

And Bobby's head had snapped up, and he hated himself for that. He was an X-man. He was above being obvious with the direct hits.

Except, obviously, you know, he wasn't.

So he scowled, himself. "Why do you care?"

"Humour me, okay?"

"It's not any of your business," sullen and yeah, way to ingratiate yourself to the person with the blackmail material, Bobby.

"Actually," Scott shrugged, "it is. As Cyclops and team leader, anything that affects team dynamics is my concern."

"Great. Wonderful."

"But that's not why I'm here."

Of course it..

Wait. What?

"Then why are you here, Cyke?" And yeah, Bobby's confused and it shows. Sounds. Whatever.

"Because I'm worried about you."

Bobby blinked. "What?"

Scott shrugged, and his tone was almost gentle again. Which only ratcheted the weird level up more. "Amazingly, I was 15 once. All of three years ago. You're probably the least fucked up X-man we have, and it'd be nice to keep it that way."

And... actually, that'd be... a compliment? Well, if it weren't creepy and condescending.

"You want not fucked up, go find Kitty," Bobby said. "She's never seen the streets, and she hasn't been around long enough to develop issues. Because, dude, X-man? Means Issues. If you don't have them, well, you will."

"Kitty isn't an X-man," Scott said sharply. "Even if she wants to be one, we can't allow it. You know why."

Surrre. She isn't an X-man. But she will be. Determined girl. Amused snort to himself. "Whatever lets you sleep at night, man."

"Bobby." Oooh, sharp tone. Actually, reassuring. The gentleness in Scott's tone had caused all kinds of cognitive dissonance. Kind of like the fact that Bobby knows and can correctly apply the words cognitive dissonance. But right, sharp was much more reassuring. Sharp was normal.

"Look, what do you want from me?"

"For you to talk," Scott said. "And stop knotting yourself up. You're one of the few people on this team capable of not brooding. Watching someone waste that ability is really depressing for those of us who don't have it."

And Bobby wasn't even sure if he'd followed that train of thought right. But whatever. "You want the story of my life, then? How about you tell me how the hell you know? Jean tell you?"

And, ooh, yay, low warning growl! Had Scott taken lessons from Logan or something?

"Fine. I don't honestly know. You were all there and helped, but he was the one who rescued me from the stupid Sentinels, and then he was my friend. He'd play with me when none of you other losers would touch the Playstation, and he's cool, despite being twenty times brighter than I can even imagine. Then he was blue and furry and then he was a stupid idiot who let the Brotherhood know about Magneto, and whatever. I don't know. He's there, and I love him and how the hell did you figure it out if Jean didn't tell you?"

Scott's eyes had a really bizarre gleam that was almost as freaky as the gentle tone.

"You're too young," Scott said, and his tone wasn't gentle anymore, just distant and surreal. Like that Picasso guy who'd painted blue breasts, or something. "And not fucked up enough."

What the hell?

"Issues? You want Issues? How about the fact that I have fucking pins holding my legs together. How did I get them? Xavier's psycho reality-warping son. Don't talk to me about fucked up, man."

Yeah, he's angry. Everyone always assumes that the youngest X-man, the one with the loving family that didn't throw him out for being a mutant, is happy and well-adjusted and as sane as can be. He wonders if any of them had ever looked at a normal high school. Loving family does not necesarrily sanity make, especially for a teenager.

And his world was so much more fucked than a high school could dream of being.

Scott looked through him. Like he wasn't even there, like he was talking to the wall. Cyclops could be one creepy ass fuck, sometimes. "You're still innocent," he said, in an old, old voice, older than Xavier's had ever sounded, and sometimes Xavier sounded thousands of years old.

Bobby was suddenly just a little afraid. For Scott. Who was sometimes a jerk with a stick up his ass, but was a good guy for all that.

Scott kept looking at the wall behind Bobby.

"Look, man, you have Issues, way more than I can imagine, probably, not trying to say you don't," in that special on-eggshells talking-to-crazy-people tone. Which might not have been a good idea, because if Cyke is at all aware of it, he's just going to be pissed, but Bobby couldn't help it, it just slipped out. "But I'm not innocent and even if I am what the hell does this have to do with Hank?"

Scott shook his head, seemed to see Bobby again. "Hank is a good guy."

Yes, he is, which begs the question, why are you rattling on about my being innocent and shit?, Bobby very purposefully didn't ask.

"He'd try to do right by you,

"But you're still breakable."

Oookay, clearly still off in whatever weird mental place he was in, even if he was seeing Bobby again.

"Don't get broken, Bobby."

And Scott wandered out of the room, with that cryptic remark. Left Bobby wondering about stuff. Like if Scott thought he was stupid enough to ever indulge in his, whatever it is, anyway, for Hank.

And who the hell broke Scott.

Bobby wandered downstairs, and told Jean, "Your boyfriend has some serious fucking issues, girl." Got some milk and cookies before going back to his room.

Wondered while he ate if he'd understand Scott, someday.

Prayed in equal measure that he would and that he wouldn't.

Fell asleep dreaming of blue fur.