Bobby slammed into the bathroom, furious at Scott, furious at the rest of the team, furious at the world, and furious at himself most of all. Their mission had gone horribly and there was no denying that it was largely his fault. And if he had held any doubt, Scott had erased it when he thoroughly berated him, once they’d managed to get back to their evacuation point.
Bobby, filled with the brashness that only a 17-year old can have about his own abilities, argued the point the entire way home, until Scott had finally snapped. “Enough, Iceman! We will talk about this later.”
Of course, it hadn’t been goofy, stuffy, straight-laced, but loveable Scott who had snapped at him. It had been Cyclops, fierce, determined, unyielding and, slightly assholeish Cyclops.
Turning the shower on, Bobby went to stare in the mirror, trying to calm down. Where had it gone wrong? As many times as he thought it over, he could only conclude that it really had been his fault. He was the one who’d broken orders. And he suppose it didn’t really matter if they had been stupid orders - which he was pretty sure he’d said to Scott at least twice on their flight home - because they were the orders that everyone was operating from, and the orders on which all of their plans were based. When Bobby broke rank, everything had crumbled, and what should have been a straightforward information grab turned into a fairly pitched battle when Bobby’s mutiny had set off silent alarms, leading one of the anti-mutant robot Sentinel guards right to them.
Worst of all, without the information they’d gone in to get, they were no closer than they had been to figuring if Trask had the Professor, or where he might be held. Bobby ducked his head and splashed cold water in his face from the sink before he stood up and stripped out of his uniform. He needed a shower. He still had robot-gut-oil in his hair from where Cyclops had blasted the stupid thing into pieces after Bobby - or Iceman, if he were thinking technically - had frozen it into place.
Despite the fact that the Sentinel had gotten the drop on them, they had worked together to take it down. Marvel Girl had lifted it off its feet, causing its balancing mechanism to falter, and preventing it from taking effective aim. Angel had blinded it, landing his heels directly on its cameras in a dramatic drop dive. He, Iceman, had frozen its joints and immobilized it. Beast had torn its back panel off, exposing its inner workings, and Cyclops - well, he had blown it to bits.
After that, any chance they had of being stealthy was gone and Cyclops had ordered a retreat. Bobby knew that he was not the only one who had protested, but he was the only one who had protested out of guilt.
Shit.
When they’d gotten back to the Mansion, Bobby had hightailed it out of the garage, unwilling to wait around to be yelled at in front of everyone again. Of course, that meant he was on a clock to be yelled at privately, but he felt pretty sure he had some time before that. Everyone needed a shower. Everyone needed to regroup.
Resigned to the fact that he would have to apologize, Bobby grabbed his uniform from the floor and tossed it into the laundry. His uniforms were generally protected from grime by his protective layer of snow and ice, but this time it had not been so lucky. Steam billowed out from the shower by the time he stepped inside and he sighed and dropped his head against the wall. In addition to the post-mission adrenaline dump, Bobby felt grief tearing at his chest. The Professor, a substitute father to them all, had been missing for four days. Hank and Scott were both certain that he’d been taken by one of Trask’s anti-mutant machines and Bobby trusted them both enough to not question their conclusions.
Honestly, Bobby wasn’t sure what had led him to challenge Scott’s orders. He trusted Scott. He trusted Cyclops, too. He trusted him to be thoughtful and considered and right more often than not. Of them all, even Bobby wouldn’t have picked Bobby to try and use the security control panel to give them more information inside.
“Iceman,” Cyclops has hissed. “Stand down. We’re almost to the target.”
“But this might work!” Iceman had insisted. Before anyone could say anything, Bobby had entered the passcode that Jean had lifted from someone’s mind and the door had opened. Just like he’d hoped. Throwing Cyclops a crowing look, he had not missed Cyclops’ scowl or the quick glances between Marvel Girl and Beast, undoubtedly talking about him telepathically. But, it had seemed to work and they had gone down the hallway suddenly available to them.
Of course, it had led them straight to a catastrophe, but how could anyone have known that would be the case? They couldn’t have, Bobby decided, soaping his hair for the second time and hoping that the oil would come out. Ultimately, Cyclops had known it was a trap instinctively. And Bobby damn well knew enough to know that he should have trusted Scott’s instincts. He had just been so desperate to get the Professor back.
Finally satisfied that he’d removed as much oil from his hair and body as he could, Bobby turned the water off. Stepping out of the shower, he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist. Jean’s room was on a different hallway, but the boys had all chosen to stay on the same floor, even when first Hank, and then Warren and Scott had graduated and gone on to college classes and more of an active role in the X-men. Bobby had passed all his high school tests, too, and technically was a high school graduate, but he was still a minor, and he knew that the Professor - and the others - held that against him. At least, that’s how it felt.
Then he went and did some stupid ass thing like ignore a direct order and he could see why.
Shit!
Frustrated with himself all over again, Bobby kicked the door to his room open and stopped in shock when Scott stood up from where he’d been sitting on the bed. Still in his uniform, it was clear that Scott had finished his post-mission debriefing and came straight to find Bobby.
“Sure, come on in,” Bobby said, falling back into sarcasm to hide his feelings.
Scott crossed his arms. “Don’t,” he warned. “I’m already beyond pissed at you, Bobby.”
Guilt curled through his stomach and Bobby sighed. “What do you want me to say? I thought it was a good idea, so I did it.”
“You thought…” Scott said incredulously. “Bobby, we had a plan! You knew the plan before we went in. You agreed to it!”
“Yeah and then I thought it was stupid once a better option presented itself!”
Scott crossed the room in three big steps. For a wild second Bobby thought Scott was going to punch him. He actually thought about running out of his still open door. Then he squared his shoulders and stood his ground. If Scott hit him, it was nothing more than he deserved.
“You had no business changing the plans like that and forcing the rest of us to do the same,” Scott ground out between clenched teeth, inches from Bobby’s face. “You put us all in danger. You fucked our mission and now we still don’t know where the Professor is!”
Scott so rarely cursed that Bobby flinched like he had been slapped. As quickly as his belligerence had flared, it died and his face crumpled. “I know,” he said, deciding retreat was the best option after all. “I’m sorry. God, Scott, I’m so sorry.”
Scott, caught off guard by Bobby’s sudden change in demeanor, almost let Bobby make it back out of the room. Almost. His hand shot out and grabbed Bobby by the shoulder and pulled him back. His other hand slammed the door with a surprisingly loud crash. “No!” Scott snapped. “You don’t get to run away from this, Bobby. You don’t get to just drop this mess in my lap and leave to wallow in your feelings.”
“Not sure I have much else to offer,” Bobby muttered. He tried to squirm out from under Scott’s grip on his shoulder, but Scott tightened his fingers and shook him hard once.
“Then you better dig deep and find something,” Scott bit out. “Because we still have to find and rescue the Professor and you are not excused from action! Is that clear?” Mutely, Bobby nodded. Scott’s anger had left him speechless. For a moment, Scott and Bobby stared at each other. Then Scott visibly forced himself to step back. “Bobby, I need you. We need you. The Professor needs you. Get your head out of your ass.”
Bobby turned away and stared at the wall. “I’ll try,” he started, but Scott cut him off.
“No. You will not just try, you will actually pull your head out of your ass and bring your best self to the next mission.” Scott didn’t sound angry as much as he sounded like he was giving another order and Bobby sighed.
“Don’t expect miracles,” he muttered. Scott had him by the neck so fast that Bobby legitimately did not see it coming. It was also so unexpected that Scott had dragged Bobby across the room to his bed and kicked his feet out from under him before Bobby actually realized that it was happening. Scott sat on the edge of the bed, yanking Bobby over one leg, his other leg pinning Bobby’s legs before Bobby knew what was happening. “Scott! What the fuck are you doing? Let me go!”
“Not. A. Chance.” Scott growled, yanking Bobby’s towel off his waist and throwing it on the floor carelessly. “I know you, Bobby, and you will sulk and flail in your own guilt until you finally do something to get your ass beat. I don’t have time to wait for someone else to beat your ass, so I guess I’ll have to do it myself.”
Even now, Bobby didn’t believe Scott would do it, until the first spank landed, tearing a shocked and pained yelp from his throat. “Scott! Stop!”
“Why?” Scott smacked him again, and Bobby literally craned his head to see if Scott had picked something up. There was no way his hand was that hard - except that it was. A third spank landed with a loud crack. “I think we can both agree you’ve earned this.”
Bobby had never known Scott to give a spanking before, but by all appearances he was an absolute savant at it, and he was determined to light Bobby’s ass on fire. Smacks landed at a scathing pace and Bobby pushed away from Scott’s leg as hard as he could. Scott grunted and shifted, pinning Bobby’s torso with his own. To Bobby’s growing horror, the change in leverage didn't seem to affect Scott’s strength in the least, but Bobby’s struggles did seem to affect his determination in a way that promised to rain pain on Bobby’s backside.
“Scott, okay! Okay! You’ve made your point!” Bobby yelped, backside throbbing already. “I’m sorry!”
“I have not even begun to make my point,” Scott said in a low voice, hand punctuating his statement. “You will NEVER carelessly break orders again.”
Panicking now, since Scott seemed to both be seriously inclined to, and seriously capable of, setting a localized inferno, Bobby grabbed Scott’s leg and let his hands ice over. Ice crept up Scott’s leg and after a moment, Scott noticed and paused. “Stop that,” he said with a growl, which he punctuated with another, if possible, harder spank.
Bobby actually cried out. “Stop, Scotty, please!”
“Unfreeze me. Now.” Scott ordered. “Or you had better be prepared to freeze me solid. Nothing else is going to stop me from giving you the spanking you so richly deserve.”
Tears sprang to Bobby’s eyes, more from Scott’s words than the spanks, although those were starting to seriously hurt as they accumulated. As angry and frustrated as Bobby was, he was not so out of his mind that he would have ever contemplated seriously hurting Scott and he pushed his powers back down. Scott’s leg unfroze and Scott hissed at the discomfort, which Bobby had been told felt like pins and needles. Then he tilted Bobby forward so he could smack the tops of Bobby’s thighs.
Dignity forgotten, Bobby cried out with every smack. It didn’t seem to matter to Scott, though, and the Team Leader continued to spank like Bobby’s ass was personally responsible for the disappearance of Professor Xavier. It didn’t take long before Bobby was sobbing brokenly over Scott’s leg. Guilt, shame, and regret flowed forth until Bobby finally caught his breath. “Scott, please.”
Scott stopped abruptly, and for a moment the two of them stayed in the same position, both breathing hard, Bobby’s breaths still mostly sobs. Then Scott eased Bobby upright so that he was sitting on one of Scott’s legs. Scott looked stricken, but still determined and Bobby didn't pull away. He wasn’t totally sure Scott wouldn’t light into him again and he didn’t want to risk that. Then Scott spoke and his voice was steady and firm.
“I’m not sure that I had the right to do that,” Scott said. “But I'm not sorry that I did it.”
Bobby’s lip trembled a bit, but he nodded. “I had it coming.”
“Yeah, you did.” Scott shoved a hand through his hair and sighed. “Look, Bobby, I know you would never do anything that you thought might risk a mission,” he hesitated, “and I know you would do anything to get Professor X back.”
Bobby’s shoulders shook with relief as he held in a sob. He hadn’t been sure what Scott had believed and it had been tearing him apart. “But it’s not your job to lead this team and make those decisions,” Scott reached up to wipe Bobby’s tears. “It’s mine. When you put that code into the system… All I could think about was what could go wrong. The thought of having to explain to the Professor how I let you get yourself killed…”
Scott trailed off and Bobby was shocked to see a tear trail out from under his glasses. “I’m sorry,” Bobby said.
“So am I,” Scott said. “I should have kept us on goal. And I didn’t.”
“Scott.” Bobby took a deep breath, not sure what to say, but Scott continued.
“I will though,” Scott said, determination lining his voice like steel. “We will find him. We will get him back. And to do that, I need you on board.”
Bobby gave him a watery smile and a mock salute. “Iceman, reporting for duty.”
Scott eased them both to their feet and put his hands on Bobby’s shoulders, completely ignoring the fact that Bobby was stark naked. “Yeah, I need that guy, too. But I need you, Bobby. I need you at your best. So… show up for me, okay?”
Bobby nodded. “You got it, brother,” he whispered before Scott crushed him in a hug.
“Good,” Scott stood back. “I’m going to shower. Get some food and meet in the control room in 30 minutes. Jean pulled some intel from the mind of the human guard and I want us to go over it as a team.”
“Will do,” Bobby promised, stepping to the side as Scott left the room. Taking a deep breath, Bobby went to get dressed. "Show up," Scott had asked. Bobby would. For the Professor. For Scott. For himself.