Court
Bobby lay on his bed, staring at his ceiling. John was helping the professor and Mystique explain their entire situation to a recently conscious Magneto. Rogue was showering ‘bigot weirdo loser scum’ off of her body. Kitty was with Piotr, and Hank was already back in the lab with Alex. Even Warren was busy.
Bobby decided to revel in the last few hours without a roommate before they all switched around to accommodate the influx of new housemates.
A confident knock came through his door. Was it time for John to move in already? “Come in.” Bobby called. No. John wouldn’t knock.
The door opened and Scott walked in, closing it behind him. He sat next to Bobby, the bed shifting under his weight making Bobby have to fight gravity to keep from rolling toward his friend. Bobby sat up.
“Are you okay?” Scott asked. He was starting to sound like a broken record.
“I’m fine, Scott. I already told you.”
Scott pursed his lips, staring at Bobby for a long pause before finally answering again. “I know. It’s just, you used to always show off when John was around, so I just wanted to make sure you weren’t falling back into old habits.”
“What does that mean?” Bobby leaned away from Scott, amplifying the offense on his face to communicate with the ever-oblivious-to-human-emotions Scott Summers.
“It just means that you seem to want to impress him, that’s all. I was worried that you were trying to act tough.”
Bobby took a deep breath. “I promise you, I’m okay. I’ve had a lot worse.” He looked over Scott. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look pretty bad.”
Scott smiled. “I’ve had worse too. Plus Jean promised to numb me every few hours to give me a break from the pain. And Hank’s already raided the medicine cabinet and given me everything for pain.” He chuckled.
“What did they do to you?” Bobby could barely get the words out. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He wasn’t sure Scott would want to share.
“I don’t really know. They registered me and took some DNA samples. I passed out after they took their first sample.” Scott rubbed at his left eye and grimaced.
Bobby wasn’t really sure what to say. He wanted to comfort Scott, he wanted to get revenge, he wanted to fix everything, but there wasn’t really anything he could do. He couldn’t think of the perfect words. He had no capability to take revenge. There was nothing that he could fix.
He leaned over and hugged Scott. His cheek pressed against Scott’s warm shoulder. Scott reached up to grab Bobby’s arm awkwardly, never very good at unexpected hugs.
“Scott?” Bobby’s heart raced as he tried to convince himself to not ask the question on his mind, to not start this conversation with Scott. But he couldn’t stop his mouth. “How did you know you liked Jean?”
Scott untangled from Bobby’s hug to look him in the eyes. “It was pretty complicated. Do you want the long answer or the short one?”
“The long answer. Life’s never simple.”
Scott took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling. “Well, I came to the mansion when I was 10, and pretty quickly after that Jean arrived. For years it was just me, Jean, and Hank. Then you came along when I was 15 as the last of the first class. Jean and I started dating that year. I wish I had an easy answer for you of when I knew I was in love with her, but I don’t really. We created our own little family so I knew I loved her, but I don’t think there was ever an ‘aha’ moment when my love turned romantic.”
“How did you guys start dating then?” Bobby quirked his head to the side.
“She told me that I liked her and that she liked me back. She then told me we were going on a date that night and the rest is history.” Scott shifted, crinkling his nose from the pain.
“How do you feel about her? How do I know if I like someone like that?” Bobby questioned. Thoughts of Rogue filled his head. She was strong, attractive, funny, and genuinely a good person. “How can I tell the difference between admiration and attraction?”
Scott chuckled. “Those are some really hard questions you’re throwing at me. My brain’s still a little foggy, so hopefully this is helpful. Sometimes there’s a really distinct feeling between romantic and platonic emotions, and sometimes the lines are a bit more blurry. With Emma, I was always nervous around her. My heart would always go crazy and I felt completely stupid with everything I said. I would notice that I was staring at her constantly and I felt like a total creep. But with Jean, everything felt easy. I mostly just felt love for her, like random love, you know?”
“Random love?” Bobby quirked an eyebrow at Scott. What the hell did that mean?
“Like, we would be walking and I’d just look over to her and suddenly feel a burst of overwhelming love. She’s mostly my friend, but sometimes I just get this really strong feeling of love. And she’s the only person I don’t feel awkward being intimate with.”
Bobby’s heart sank a little. He didn’t feel any of that with Rogue. Why did he even care anyway? Why was he so invested in liking her that way? He had never cared before, but since the mansion…maybe he just wanted someone to latch onto.
“Do you think it’s normal that I’ve never had a crush?”
Scott watched Bobby’s face for a moment, his expression calculating. “Yes.” He stood up and moved to Bobby’s open window. He closed and locked it, staring into the courtyard. “Before I met Emma, I had never had a crush either. I loved Jean, but we kinda skipped over that part. I think crushes happen more frequently to emotionally driven people.”
Bobby snorted. “You’re not emotionally driven? Scott, I’ve seen you throw a muffin at the wall because it was raisin when you thought it was blueberry.”
Scott’s shoulders tensed. “That was a unique situation, Bobby.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I thought it was blueberry so the raisin taste freaked me out. It just scared me, okay.” A slight smile formed at Scott’s lips and Bobby’s chest fluttered with laughter. He tried to hold it in, but he couldn’t stop it from bubbling over. He fell into a fit of laughter, Scott patiently waiting for him to finish.
“Are you done?” Scott asked when Bobby’s giggles finally subsided.
“Yeah, sorry.”
“My point is. If you look at relationships logically, thinking about how they will benefit you, what you bring to the table, what you want from the relationship, if you bring what the other person wants, if you two are compatible, and if you will last long term, it can be hard to feel those overwhelming emotions that most people consider attraction. All I’m saying is, you might not experience that kind of love, and that’s okay, but you also might just have your breaks on. Some people are heavy on the throttle, take Logan as an example; if he thinks you’re hot he’s gonna let you know and practically be eye-fucking you the whole day. But some people lay heavier on the breaks, like me. If you think you like someone, take the time to get them in various different settings. If you’re never alone together, and you don’t feel emotionally or physically safe, then how could you possibly know if you like them? I just want to remind you that we live in a house with tons of people, and the possibility of someone walking through the walls, or breaking down the door, crashing through the wall, or even flying up to your window is not uncommon, so…try being legitimately alone and see how you feel.”
“Have you ever tried that with someone?” Bobby watched Scott’s every movement.
“Yeah. I did once. I thought I might like Warren, but, like you said, it turns out I just admired him.”
Bobby nearly fell backward onto his bed. Scott liked men? How come he had never talked to Bobby about this? Why hadn’t Bobby picked up on it? “You like guys?”
Scott finally looked away from whatever he had been watching outside and met Bobby’s eyes. “Yeah?” He narrowed his eyes at Bobby, looking at him confused. “Like most of us.”
“What?” Bobby stood up, pacing around the room. “What do you mean, ‘like most of us’?”
“You know the link between autism and being transgender?” Scott leaned against the wall to watch Bobby pace.
“No, but…”
“-Then you haven’t been paying attention to Jean’s genetics class, have you?”
“Scott, I just help her sort the papers, I don’t even look at the materials.”
Scott smiled. “Maybe you should. Anyway, there are a few studies that have shown a link between being transgender and being autistic. If you’re transgender, then it’s highly likely that you’re on the neurodivergent spectrum, the same goes for mutants. If you’re a mutant, it’s highly likely that you’re also queer in some way, and if you’re also autistic, the odds just go way up. We still don’t know why, but we’re just lucky the humans haven’t caught on to that study.” Scott looked at Bobby with an expression meant to remind him that he was a mutant with ADHD.
Bobby wasn’t really sure what to say. He had so much swimming around in his mind. He didn’t like Rogue, he just admired her? He might be queer? He doesn’t let himself feel romantic or sexual emotions? Holy fuck it was like he barely even knew himself. He was 23, he should have all of this figured out by now.
Luckily, Bobby didn’t need to respond. Scott opened the window again and started toward the door. “I promised the professor that I’d help him, Mystique, and Magneto figure out a plan forward. Text me if you need anything.”
Scott grabbed the door handle and opened the door. “Scott wait.” Bobby stopped his friend. “Today was…probably one of the worst days of your life.” He looked away. “I know Alex doesn’t say it, even though he feels it; but I don’t wanna make you feel unappreciated, so I’m gonna say it for both of us. I love you.”
Scott smiled and tilted his head. “I love you too.” He let his voice drop to a serious tone. “Don’t let John break anything when he moves in here later.”
Bobby laughed. “Okay, I’ll try my best. Is Logan gonna move in with you and Jean?”
“He wishes.” Scott smiled. “He gets his own room, the lucky bastard. Nightmares and stuff. Otherwise, he’d be bunking with Morph.”
Scott left and Bobby sat alone in his room contemplating his feelings for a few hours. The professor called everyone down and walked the entire group through the plan he had created with Magneto and Mystique.
The professor had gotten a meeting with the senators that ratified the Mutant Registration Act and had cleared up a few misconceptions. They had figured out that the mansion was still standing and that the government hadn’t actually sanctioned the attack. Instead, it was Trask taking advantage of the court’s decision.
They were to split up into three groups. The registered X-Men would be a passive team working for unity. They would gather a petition to end registration and form a sit-in at the courthouse the day of the meeting. The X-Men would consist of Scott, Bobby, Jean, Logan, Kurt, the newly acquired Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm, Morph, Jubilee, and Piotr.
Charles would take Sue Storm, Reed Richards, Hank, and Ororo to court with him. Then Mystique and Magneto would lead a group of anonymous mutants to be a disruptive force if anything were to go wrong. The anonymous team would be Laura, John, Alex, Rogue, Kitty, Warren, Evan, Pietro, Wanda, Lance, Todd, Fred, and Remy.
John was practically buzzing with excitement at the prospect of causing chaos for chaos’s sake.
They were all sent to bed to get a good night's sleep before starting their busy week. Bobby helped John carry his stuff into Bobby’s room, not that there was very much to carry.
“I still think it’s bullshit that we can’t go home.” Bobby grumbled. “But I get what the professor is saying.”
“Do you really wanna go back there? I mean they could attack you at a moment’s notice.” John plopped his clothes in a random drawer and carried his toothbrush and paste into the bathroom.
“It would just help things feel more normal again. I’m just home sick.”
John knew that feeling well. He had hidden it, pushed it deep inside his soul to be forgotten, but he had gotten a bit homesick when he had first left the mansion. “It’ll pass. Give it a week, you’ll get used to this place.”
“I don’t want to get used to this place. But I get it, I’ll shut up now.” Bobby threw an extra pillow onto the bed. “Do you think they’ll wanna shut us down when they learn we’re a school for mutants?”
“I mean, I could see them using the excuse of segregation laws just to get rid of you, but…I’m not sure they’d care that much. Don’t you think they want us separated from society? Like, a way to keep us away from their schools and their children. Who would want to send their human child to a school with literally explosive teens?” John spoke around his toothbrush.
“I’m mostly worried about them considering us a military.”
“They have no proof.”
“The Blackbird is literally in the basement of the mansion.” Bobby changed into a clean cotton t-shirt and sleep shorts. The two switched when John was done brushing his teeth.
John climbed into bed, lying against the wall. He normally liked a quick escape, but Bobby’s side was closest to the door so John needed to take the wall-side. It was selfish, he knew that. He should lay on the outside, to protect Bobby from harm, but he just couldn’t bring himself to be that gallant. He would always come first, no matter what.
Bobby climbed into bed after him, shutting the light off and settling into the covers. “How’s Magneto?” Bobby questioned. He didn’t care about the man at all, he had mostly only caused the people he loved pain, but he meant something to John, so Bobby was making an effort.
“He’s angry…like…really angry. But he’s safe. Charles said Scott stopped anyone from doing anything to him?” John’s stomach twisted with conflict. He hated Scott, always had, but maybe John had grown up, or maybe Scott had just changed. Whatever it was, John was increasingly appreciative of his decisions and he hated it.
“Yeah. He volunteered when they were trying to experiment on Magneto.”
“Why would he do that?” John couldn’t wrap his head around anyone doing that for anyone, especially not their biggest enemy.
“I don’t know. He says he was being a leader, but that’s clearly an excuse for whatever he was actually thinking.” Bobby turned to face John, Moonlight making his friend’s face barely visible. “I see you made friends with Johnny.” He smiled.
“Not really. But he is good in a fight. I can see why you like working with him.” John dismissed. He placed his hand on Bobby’s arm. “Please don’t freeze me in your sleep.”
Bobby laughed. John’s minty breath tickled his nose and sent butterflies fluttering through his chest. “Maybe we should make a pillow barrier.” Scott’s advice nagged at the back of his mind. He was alone with John, he felt weird with John, oddly nervous. Shit. Was this attraction or discomfort with being so close to a man he hadn’t seen in six years?
“But if we have a pillow barrier, I couldn’t kick you off the bed if you start snoring.” John joked, his grip tighter on Bobby’s arm to keep him from leaving. “Just don’t freeze me, okay?”
“I don’t know if I can promise that.” Bobby looked away, embarrassed. He had gained more control over his powers in the last few years, but he had also gotten more powerful, which ended up canceling each other out.
“Fine.” John relented with a heavy sigh. “Go get some more pillows. I’m gonna grab a jacket too.”