Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Ahh, freshmen,” Bobby declared into the breezy, spring morning. He and Warren were in the gardens, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the marble fountain in the center, watching the newest batch of mutant kids run around the grounds. “I remember those days!” 

Raising an eyebrow, Warren turned to face him, an amused smirk making its way onto his lips. “Almost all of the new class are your age, hotshot!”

“Yeeeaah,” Bobby conceded, shrugging with his palms up, “but they’re so green! You know what I mean, some don’t even have their powers under control yet, I’m a seasoned vet compared to them.”

“Fair, I’ll give you that. But you know what that means, ‘seasoned vet’? You gotta help them out, make sure they can get that control.”

“Oh, Warren, are you kidding me? I will jump at the opportunity!” With a hand on his heart, Bobby popped himself off the fountain, making a show of looking through all the newbies in search of someone in need. A few were showing off their powers, as expected, but it was all pretty tame; some explosions here and there, but nothing that couldn’t be put out, it was fine! “Well, looks like no one’s in need! I think we got a real good batch this year, though.”

Watching one boy tear through a row of manicured bushes, legs engulfed in what looked like a jet stream, Warren just sighed, resting his chin in the crook of one arm. “Yeah… sure.”

The same boy then suddenly turned and crashed into the large sycamore across the pond, snapping off a few of its thick branches, leaving them sharp and stake-like— now there was an accident just waiting to happen.

“Uh… sorry!” the boy cried out from where he landed, making eye contact with the two of them.

“It’s ok, just make sure to stay away from that tree, guys!” Warren yelled out as a general warning, shooing the young mutants nearby away from it. He then hopped off the fountain too, unfurling his wings and giving them a shake. “Come on, we should probably go fix that before someone accidentally impales themselves on it.”

Ambling their way over with no real sense of urgency, Bobby spun around to walk backwards so he could look at his feathered friend, inquiring, “Did you see Scott’s brother enrolled too?“

“Yeah, Alex? Scott’s been dreading when/if his powers were ever gonna manifest… guess that settles that!” 

“You know what he can do?”

“Not yet. But,” Warren paused, angling his head over toward where said brothers had just entered the spacious backyard. “Maybe we’re about to find out.”

“So, first step to controlling your powers is understanding them, and seeing how they work—”

“All right, dude,” Alex interrupted, putting a hand up in the air to stop his older brother. “I get you’re the professor’s go-to guy or whatever, but you don’t have to give me the whole spiel again, I know, I got it.”

Slowing to a stop at the shore of the pond, Scott sighed quietly in equal parts amusement and annoyance. “Ok, fine.” Waving a greeting to his two teammates across the way, he angled Alex towards the expanse of empty field, motioning upwards. “You wanna show me what you got?”

“Uhh…” The younger glanced around, noting that all the other new kids had indeed cleared out, either on the far opposite end of the gardens or back inside. As long as he aimed away from the two by the tree, there was really no danger in showing him. Alex hesitated anyway— his powers hadn’t exactly been anything other than volatile since they appeared. “I— I don’t know, look at those bushes, this lawn! It’s so perfect, I don’t wanna ruin ‘em!"

Even from behind the reflective crimson lenses, Alex could very clearly make out his sibling’s unimpressed glare. 

“You think you’re the only one who blew a hole in the side of their gym building as soon as their mutation kicked in?” Scott revealed, giving the younger a slap on his back, gesturing again to the wide-open space. “It’s ok, we’re way better equipped to deal with that stuff. Everything’s been insured, don’t worry.”

“I just—” Alex huffed out a laugh, scrubbing a hand through his hair as he considered this. “Bad things tend to happen when I…”

“I get it, Al, believe me,” said Scott, grabbing him by the shoulders and giving them a small shake. “I get it, I was in your exact same boat. But I want to help you, the professor and everybody else here wants to help you— you just gotta let us in.”

Blowing out air through his lips, Alex turned back towards the fields, letting out a long and low groan. “Ok, ok! Just promise you’re not gonna sue me.”

“Heh, you have my word. Come on, you’ve seen me shoot lasers from my eyes, it can’t possibly be—”

FWOOM! 

The bright red blasts shooting out every which way from the younger's torso tore through the pond, displacing gallons of water, gave the bushes a very close trim, and hit nearly every tree in its path before dissipating into the sky.

“All right,” Scott breathed out as he took in the carnage. Yeeaah, he was definitely going to need to call a landscaper. “Groovy.”

“I told you!”

“No, hey, you’re fine, this backyard’s been through it before. Don’t worry, we can work with—”

“Scott, shit! Scott!” The frantic shouts from across the pond cut him off, both looking up to find a winged man flying over to them. “It’s Bobby!”

The leader of the X-Men immediately snapped to attention, and without so much as a backwards glance to his brother, followed closely behind the blond. “What happened?” 

“I don’t- I don’t know, it happened so fast! I blinked and he was— he pushed me out of the way,” Warren struggled to explain as he ran alongside them, sliding to his knees as they got to Bobby’s prone form. "The blast… one of the beams came toward us, I didn't see it, I was working on the— damn it!"

In shoving Warren out of the way of the errant beam, the concussive energy had propelled Bobby into the sycamore, slamming him right into the broken-off branch and felling the tree, its trunk in pieces.

“Oh my god,” Alex choked out at the sight of one of his brother's fellow teammates lying on his side among sprawling blood-stained roots, a thick branch piercing through his back a little under his shoulder blades, the tip of it peeking out slightly from the middle of his chest. "Fuck, I didn't– I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

While Scott split his efforts in attempting to comfort both teens, Warren ignored Alex, instead making quick eye contact with his leader, saying nothing, before softly placing a hand on Bobby's shoulder. "B, Scotty's here. Hang on, ok? You're gonna be ok."

The pained expression overtaking Bobby's features lightened for a second as he forced an eye open, returning almost instantly as he squeezed both shut again. "Oh, hey, new kid… ahh, this is not how I planned on meeting your brother, Summers," he whispered in between labored breaths, the chuckle passing through his lips quickly morphing into a hacking cough, blood staining his lips.

"Take it easy, try to lie still," Scott requested, hands moving to the wound to keep pressure and evaluate the wooden stake.

"Do not take that out,” Hank’s voice sounded from behind as he rushed forward, several of the students who had retrieved him still flanking. “It might be the only thing keeping him from bleeding out.”

“Warren,” Scott called out as he stood to make room for the blue-furred doctor, tilting his head to the collecting crowd of curious eyes. “Can you-?”

Like the angel he was and named for, Warren nodded and gracefully moved to corral the nosy group away, taking care to also lead a still-in-shock Alex by the arm back to the mansion. “I’ll wait for you guys in the med bay.”

“All right, Bobby,” Hank started once they had some privacy, trying to turn the boy to better assess the injury at all angles. His skin felt cold and clammy, but the bleeding had at least slowed, and though it re-upped the sinking feeling in his stomach every time Bobby groaned, if he was in pain, he was alive. “You’re a bit cold, can you tell me if you can feel that?"  

“I’m… always cold,” came Bobby’s haltingly mumbled answer. “Kinda my thing.”

Despite the situation, Hank found himself cracking an amused smirk, exchanging exasperated glances with Scott, who had knelt down at Bobby’s other side. “Right, of course, let me rephrase. Does it feel different to your usual cold? And how’s the pain?"

"I dunno, everything's just kind of… numb. But it, ahh, it hurts more when I b-breathe.” 

“Could it be a punctured lung?” Scott asked as he tried different positions, trying to find the best way to move the younger boy all the way through the gardens and into the mansion.

“He’d be having much more trouble breathing if that were the case, but maybe, there could always be shards that splintered off. With luck, it will have missed any vital organs, we’ll need to x-ray to know more,” answered Hank, following Scott’s directions and moving to pick Bobby up with one arm under his knees and the other wrapped gingerly around his shoulders. “I know it hurts, but we need to get you inside. On the count of three, all right? One, two—”

“Ahh, FUCK!” Gentle as he was in lifting him, the branch still shifted with the sudden movement, and Bobby couldn’t help the strangled yell that escaped him as he lay sideways in the doctor’s arms. “S-sorry, doc, didn’t mean to—”

“I think I can give you a pass on this one, Mr. Drake. Just hang on, I’ll try to make this as smooth as possible.” With Scott running ahead to clear the way, Hank took large, careful steps down the path, tightening his hold.

*

“I’m concerned that if we attempt to pull the branch out, it’ll splinter even more,” Charles expressed as he wheeled in closer to his student, lying semi-conscious in the medical wing, reaching out to give his hand a comforting squeeze.

“Or pull at something that definitely shouldn’t be pulled. But pushing it the rest of the way out is not exactly a good option either and we can’t very well leave it in there,” Hank added, addressing everyone gathered there.

“What if I slash it in half?” Logan, leaning against a monitoring device, questioned earnestly, extending the claws on his right hand. “Forcing out what’s left of a nine-inch stake would probably be a lot better than the whole thing.”

“You make a good point,” admitted Hank, crouching down to his patient’s level. “It’s not ideal and I will definitely be increasing your morphine dosage, but… if you’re willing?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Bobby managed to say through his pain induced haze. “Just get it out, please!”

As Logan lifted his arm up, metal glinting in the fluorescents aiming to bring claws down on the large piece of bark, Warren ran into the room, Jean and another girl in tow. “Whoa, wait, wait, wait!” he cried out, arms outstretched. “I found something better! Or should I say some one .”

Stepping forward with the new girl at her back, Jean gestured to the guys, then to her, and then back. “Kitty, meet Scott, Dr. McCoy, and Logan. Guys, this is Kitty Pryde, she got here a couple days ago. Professor, you remember her.”

“Ah, yes, of course! Forgive me, I wonder how I didn’t think of you before!” Charles remarked, waving her over to him. “Ms. Pryde, do you think you’d be able to assist?”

“Yeah, oh my god, totally! Is he gonna be ok?!” Upon seeing the current state of her new fellow X-Man, Kitty immediately placed a hand on the branch and pulled it through his body with ease, as if he was made up of nothing but clouds. Holding the bloody stake up, she waved it at the group, chuckling awkwardly. “Uhh, nice to meet you all, by the way!”

“Great work, Ms. Pryde, thank you!” 

As Hank busied himself with getting Bobby prepped for sealing up the hole in his chest, with Scott and Jean lending a hand, Logan stood dumbfounded, claws slowly retracting. “What was that?”

Placing the branch in a receptacle Charles pointed out for her, Kitty plainly answered back, “I phase stuff through stuff.”

“Huh.”

“Bobby, what are you doing?” Jean’s concerned voice had their attention tuning back to the table, finding that the youngest was inexplicably turning himself into ice, his legs already completely transformed.

“Uhh, is that-”

“No, yeah, that’s what he does,” Warren informed a shocked Kitty, both of them stepping up to get a closer look. “B, stop, they gotta stitch you up first!”

“I’m— not… doing anything,” claimed the blond, features having smoothed a bit from pinched to looking more like he was half-asleep.

“You’re icing up!” Scott exclaimed, looking over to Hank and the professor for direction, though they seemed just as confused as the rest. 

“Oh… ‘m I?” 

“You can’t feel that?” 

No response came as the sound of crackling ice echoed through the room, the iceman’s body steadily gaining its signature translucent blue hue. Once the frost had crept its way up to his chest wound, covering it completely, Bobby’s eyes snapped back open as he gasped and jolted up off his side, nearly falling out of the cot. 

Catching his arm and hoisting him back onto the bed, Logan immediately jerked his hand back like he’d been burned (or frostbitten, as the case may be), finding that he was stuck briefly to the teen’s glacial facade. The rest of the team looked on, perplexed, watching the palm of his hand and fingers heal, the newly regenerated skin still a soft pink. 

“Well, that's never happened before,” noted Warren, moving to Bobby’s left side, as the younger examined his extremities. “You ok?” he and Logan asked at the same time, though the older did tack on a ‘kid’ at the end of his sentence.

“Uhh, yeah. S-sorry about your-” Bobby sputtered, hand flying to his chest, everyone in the room taking notice at the same time that it was now somehow whole. “Wait—”

“How did you…” Hank interjected, “did you not do that on purpose?”

“No, I— I don’t think so.” Now fully ice, Bobby leaned away from the group, sinking back into the bed. “I don’t know, it’s like all I could focus on was the pain, and I just wanted it to stop… and— I guess I just… fixed it?” He trailed off, reaching an arm back to pat the space between his shoulder blades, finding the hole there too had iced over closed. Biting at his bottom lip, he then shifted his gaze to the professor. “Well, it doesn’t hurt anymore… What do I do now?”

“Fascinating,” mumbled Charles, rubbing his chin in thought. “Your mutation seems to have operated like…blood cells, traveling to the wound and clotting almost instantly as soon as the foreign body was removed.”

“Like macrophages forming a scab! So then, if the organic ice form is whole,” Hank picked up, “do we think the flesh and blood one is too?”

“Only one way to find out!” Amongst a few aborted objections, Bobby squeezed his hand into a fist, willing the ice to melt away throughout his entire body, smooth skin appearing in its stead. As his upper back slowly returned to form, the room let out a collective sigh of relief when they saw that it was indeed repaired. 

“Whoa…” Kitty intoned, eyes wide with wonder. She caught herself staring a moment later, clearing her throat and dropping her gaze. “Uhh, anyway, happy to help!” she excused herself, backing out of the door. “But I gotta unpack some stuff still, so… I’m gonna go!”

“Thank you! I’ll see you around?” Bobby shouted after her, exchanging thumbs ups, before turning back to his team, smirk pulling at his lips. “You don’t think we scared her off, do you?”

“I think we endeared her to us even more, actually,” Jean guessed, then poked at Scott with her index finger. “Don’t think I can say the same about your brother, though. He seemed… really freaked out.”

“Speaking of— how exactly did this happen, Scott?” 

“Yeah, I also would love to know what exactly happened here,” Warren voiced, joining in with the professor on rounding on their team leader. “For the record, I’m not blaming Alex… but I am kinda blaming you a little bit.”

To his credit, Scott simply nodded, then hung his head in shame. “I know, I’m sorry—” he turned to Bobby, “I’m really sorry, I never thought it would have manifested like that. I wasn’t thinking! I just- I was worried he wouldn’t want to show me and I wanted him to know it was safe here, but now I probably made it worse and he’ll never want to use that power again—”

“Hey, hey, no worries,” Bobby cut in, jumping off the bed, stumbling for just a second. Waving off everyone’s concern, though he did still hold onto Warren’s arm to steady himself, he gave Scott a friendly punch on the arm. “Let me talk to him.”

“Oh, I— are you sure?” 

“Well, yeah, I think it’d be good if he sees that I’m perfectly fine and he didn’t actually manage to kill me!” Bobby said with a small laugh, quickly quieting once no one else joined in. “Guys, relax, I’m fine! Don’t look so— depressed!”

“Bobby, maybe we should look into this some more?” Hank suggested as the younger man made to exit the medbay.

“Yeeaah, probably,” came Bobby’s acknowledgement as he spun back around, leaning on the door frame. “Just let me do this first, then I’m all yours, doc!”

***

Gathering up the few things he actually managed to unpack in the five hours since he'd arrived, Alex stuffed them all back into his bag, taking one last sweep of the room he'd been assigned. The one that was bigger than his bedroom back home and which Scott so graciously gave him with no roommate, even though a lot of the other students were doubling up. Well… it was nice while it lasted. 

"Wait, this one's his?" Alex heard someone ask as he pulled open his door to see the back of someone's head, followed by a shouted command of 'no, your left !!' 

"Ok, that wasn't clea– oh, Summers! There you are! We didn't really get a chance to meet, I'm Bobby!" 

Frozen, Alex blinked at the boy standing alive and well in his doorway, waving to him like he didn't just almost accidentally murder him. "Wha-? You're ok!"

"Yeah… surprise!" Bobby exclaimed, offering up a smile and making jazz hands. “I'll tell you all about it later but, uhh, are you—” he faltered, pointing to the other’s duffel, “leaving? I mean, you totally can! We would never force you to stay!”

“No, I… I just thought—” stuttered Alex, fidgeting with his bag straps. “I’m dangerous. Why would you want me here?”

Bobby let out a huff of amusement, shooting him a glance that was half disbelieving and half sympathetic. "Dude, c'mon, did you see the rest of your class? If we make it through the summer without any crazy accidents, I'll consider it a minor miracle!" 

"Yeah, but they're not…" Alex sighed, retreating back into his room and plopping onto the bed. "I almost killed you. What if– what if next time… it's not almost? What if the next person isn't so lucky?"

Stepping in from the doorway, Bobby motioned for Alex to scoot over, joining him at the foot of the bed. "You know when I first met Scott, I tried to kill him?" At the other's look of absolute shock, Bobby raised a hand in a placating motion and backtracked. “Ok, no, I wasn’t trying to, but we did fight. He blew a hole into my jail cell wall, like, how do I react to that? I was freaking out!”

“Hold on, you were in jail?!”

“For my own ‘protection.’ People in my town weren’t really… well, whatever, it was a long time ago. Anyway, my point is I was this close to freezing your brother’s ass in a block of ice! I could've seriously hurt him if it wasn't for the professor showing up to stop us!” 

“Really?... What happened then?” Alex asked, casting his gaze downwards and focusing on his hands.

“They invited me to come here, offered to help. They could’ve just left, I wouldn’t have blamed them, either… but they didn’t. They can help you too if you let them.” 

"I just don't want to hurt anyone again. I don't want to be like this!" 

"Yeah, I know how that feels…" Bobby sighed, interlacing his fingers behind his head and leaning back. "Well, look, how 'bout this?" Bumping shoulders with Alex to get his attention, the youngest X-Man gave him another comforting smile, offering, "I was scared, too. Hell, ask anyone here, they’ll probably tell you the same thing. But I think we can help teach you to control your gift. And if afterwards, you decide to never use it again, then that's fine, too! But it is a part of you… and I don't want to see you have to hide from it when it doesn't have to be that way. Think you can give us a chance?”

Having just left a meeting with the professor on designing and constructing a new, infinitely safer, simulator room for everyone to potentially train in, Scott was off to meet his brother in the kitchen for some lunch. He had just passed the back gardens when a familiar blond head of hair glided past him.

"Hey, Drake!" he called out, the younger skidding to a stop and turning at the sound of his name. 

"I'll melt it, don't worry!" Bobby laughed, Scott now noticing the thick layer of ice covering the field from where he had come, some of the new class happily slipping and sliding every which way. 

"Hang on, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Staying where he stood, Bobby lifted a hand to his face in an attempt to stifle his grin as his fearless leader stumbled over to him, limbs flailing. All for naught, because he couldn't stop the snickers that escaped past his lips as he caught Scott by the elbow before he could slide away. "What's up? Looking to get some ice skating lessons?" 

"No…" Scott shot him a quick glare, finally managing to right himself with Bobby as an anchor. "Maybe later. Uhh, just— the past couple days have been kinda hectic and I haven't had a chance to really thank you–"

"Don't sweat it, man!" 

"No, seriously, I… you didn't have to do that. If you were uncomfortable in any way with Alex being here, I would never–"

"Scott," Bobby cut him off, clapping both hands onto his shoulders. "I don't have any mixed feelings whatsoever, I'm glad he chose to stay. He belongs here and I can't wait to see him get better and better with his powers. Ok? We’re good, I promise!"

At Scott's grateful smile and nod of his head, Bobby backed his way into the manor's solid flooring, icing down as he went. "Now if you’ll excuse me," he pointed a finger-gun, "the doc and I have a hot test session in the lab and then Warren and I are gonna take Kitty out to that bakery on 51st, so– stacked schedule!"

"Ooh… can you get me a cheddar scone?"

"Maaaybe!"

Chapter Text

This was not meant to be a complicated mission. It was supposed to be straightforward.

In fact, according to Johnny, since the objective was recon ("Easy! You just stay out of sight.") and the location was some remote area up in the freezing temps of the Siberian wilderness, ( "Who better to go than Iceman?" ) this was a clear, no-brainer choice for Bobby's first solo outing.

The only reason it was solo, with a plus-one, was because this was a rumored Weapon X joint and Scott was getting a little paranoid. As the Human Torch, the cold wasn’t much of a problem for him either, so Johnny readily agreed to tag along and be silent backup.

And he was doing splendidly, watching Bobby’s six and being a welcome chatty presence, breaking the foreboding silence that blanketed their snowy surroundings. They had scouted all there was to scout and gotten the intel they needed, and it wasn't even sunset yet! All that was left was extraction. Mission accomplished, right?

Wrong!

Because on their way out, Johnny had somehow found himself breaking through the surface of a frozen lake… in the middle of nowhere… just as the beginnings of a blizzard were starting to pick up.

“This is not good. This is NOT GOOD!” Bobby cried out, pacing the entire perimeter of the igloo he had just made to shield them. Outside, he could hear the wind start to howl, no doubt further piling snow up onto his construction, which may have been a blessing in disguise because at least that meant more insulation. 

“Hey, we’re gonna b-be just f-f-fine! I’ve s-su-survived worse than t-this,” Johnny managed to stutter out in between full-body shivers. Nearly buck ass naked moments ago, and still soaking wet, he curled into himself in a corner of the dome, his drenched clothes hanging off a solid ice coat rack nearby. The fur-lined jacket and sweats were gonna be a real bitch to dry off!

As soon as he had stripped, Bobby had bundled him up as best he could with his own dry clothes, but since he only had on black jeans (his ‘spy pants’) and a hoodie, it really wasn’t helping that much. 

“Yeah, I’m not exactly filled with confidence right now, Johnny! You’re drenched, it’s -40 degrees out, that’s without wind chill, the team has no idea where we are, and that’s if they can even get the jet to fly in this— Ohh god, I knew I should’ve done this alone!!” Bobby lamented as he dropped down into a squat, burying his face in his hands.

“You know Summers w-w-would have never l-let you c-c-come here if you w-were alone.”

“Fine! That would’ve been preferable to watching you die of hypothermia!”

“J-just ca-cal-calm down, ok, please,” Johnny requested, exhaling sharply into his palms in an attempt to warm them up. “For my sake?” Living with a bunch of scientists, he knew that in the… off-chance he was getting hypothermic, any undue stress would be pretty bad, seeing as his heart rate was already a bit higher than usual. Any faster and he might go into cardiac arrest— not an ideal situation.

“Right…Yes, you’re right, you’re right,” Bobby apologized, tipping forward to sit on his knees. “We just need to take a deep breath…” he did so, “…and come up with a plan that doesn’t involve waiting out a massive blizzard in an ice dome wearing what most normal people wear on a nice spring afternoon!” 

“Great, s-so-sounds great, c-can you share some b-b-body heat while you think?” Opening up from his coil briefly, Johnny outstretched an arm and frantically waved for the other to join him.

“Shit, yeah! Sorry, duh.” Dressed down to only his boxer briefs, and thus maximizing skin-to-skin contact, Bobby slid in to act as big spoon, curling around the shivering mass, squeezing tightly. “I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know if this is actually going to help much.”

“I know, low c-c-core temp,” Johnny mumbled as he dipped his head down towards Bobby’s stomach, resuming his previous fetal position. The younger’s presence was helping, just definitely not as much as either of them would’ve liked. “Goddamn, this f-fe-feels like when you sit in your c-car’s leather seats on a cold n-ni-night! What’s your b-base temperature again?”

“Well, no, it's usually pretty normal, but in a place like this, right now, I wanna say it feels like… seventy-eight maybe?"

“Sevent— Are you fucking k-kidding me? Ben's living r-r-room in October is warmer than t-that! How h-ha-have I never noticed? You’re like a living c-corpse!”

“You do know you run hot, right? You’re usually warm enough to make up the difference,” came Bobby’s rebuttal, stifling a laugh as he rubbed his hands up and down Johnny’s arms and back. “Which, by the way, that gonna kick in soon?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I j-just gotta get d-d-dry first.”

Listening to the winds rage outside and teeth chattering inside, Bobby clung on to the other’s shoulders, trying to will his body to warm up at least a couple degrees. Of course, no such luck, as raising temperatures was not exactly part of his skill set. He sighed heavily, keeping an eye on the form still violently shaking against him, only barely calming down as more time went by.

While carding his fingers through the now damp, blond hair, Bobby couldn’t shake the feeling that something was— off. 

It’s just… the Human Torch shouldn’t be having this problem. He could literally reach temperatures that rivaled the sun, yet a snowstorm was bothering him? Unexpectedly dropping into frigid water would shock anyone, sure, especially since his flames would be doused, but it shouldn’t be taking this long. 

“Johnny? Are— is everything… all right?” Bobby ventured to ask when no acknowledgement came from the man at the mention of his name. 

“Mmhmm… just sleepy.”

Well, that was cause for alarm. 

“Ok, I don’t think falling asleep is the right move at the moment, so come on, talk to me.” Shifting their positions a little to jostle Johnny awake, Bobby reached down to tilt the other’s head up, trying to get a better look at him. “Hey, seriously, what’s up with you? I’ve seen you ‘flame on’ seconds after spending an hour in a block of ice and I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you shiver before.”

Johnny tensed up for just a moment, an onslaught of more shudders quickly hiding it. “Oh, well, about that… It’s k-kind of been an eventful w-week, B.”

“Eventful how?”

“Nothing that crazy, you know, bad guys, aliens, the yuzsh.” Johnny claimed, managing to sit up a little straighter. "Then, Friday night happened. G-good old Victor was ru-running around Midtown and he sorta hit me with this… s-s-science r-ray?" He said questioningly, not having bothered listening to/learning the proper name for it or any specifics. That was, like… a Reed thing to deal with. “Anyway, I felt f-fine afterwards, but I guess it sort of m-messed up s-some things, like, atomically?” 

"Ok, and what does that mean?"

“It’s n-n-not as bad as it sounds! I’ve just b-b-been getting cold and my f-flames apparently aren’t as hot, I k-kinda haven’t been able to r-reignite super easily–"

"Dude, how is that not bad?!" Bobby admonished with a frown, trying to suppress the urge to slap him out of half concern, half frustration. "Why didn’t you say anything?" 

“Then you w-wouldn’t have g-gotten this mission!”

“I could’ve brought Sunspot! Or Firestar? Did you forget I know multiple fire people?”

“Yeah, but... I couldn’t just p-p-pass up a chance to hang with my favorite sno-o-owman!” As said snowman simply fixed him with a look of disapproval in response, Johnny scrambled to tack on, “Reed’s w-worked on an antidote, r-r-relax! I’m al-almost back to 100% already.”

Bobby’s frown just deepened. “Oh, really? That’s why you insisted on stopping by Patagonia and getting a new parka for the latest in, what was it, “infiltration fashion?”

“Correct, and l-let’s not forget the bright s-side here— at least I’ll f-fr-freeze in style!”

Despite himself, Bobby couldn’t help but cough out a laugh at that one. A pity laugh, perhaps, but it did lighten the mood somewhat. 

Shame it couldn’t last.  

“Be real with me, Storm,” he said lowly a moment later, “you’re not at 100. What’s the real number?”

Dropping his gaze, Johnny shrank further into the hood of the borrowed jacket. “Mmm, m-maybe c-closer to 55%?”

"Oh! Ok, so kinda bad!" 

"It's… gonna be… fi–" 

“Hey, no, no, wake up!”

“Just lemme… tired…” was the last thing Johnny mumbled before passing out.

“Johnny? Johnny, John— ah, fuck!” Bobby cursed as the older hero no longer stirred at his shaking, moving to fish out the communicator from his pants pocket. “Come on, guys, where are you?”

Right then, as if on demand, the device beeped to life, Hank's strong baritone filtering through the static. 

"–there? —llo?"

"Hank! Hank, I hear you, you there?" 

"Bobby, thank goodness! Did something happen? We've been trying you for 10 minutes!" 

"Yeah, there's been a— complication. Human Torch here apparently didn't mention he's severely lacking in the Torch department! He fell through the ice, not for long, maybe 40 seconds? I built us a shelter and I’ve been trying to warm him up but… it's not going very well! Please tell me you're nearby!" 

"Not sure. We've flown all around the extraction point, haven’t spotted you yet, blizzard's not doing us any favors in visibility, though. Any idea where you are?"

"Well, uhh, I can't really give you any landmarks if that's what you're asking," Bobby said despondently as he cast a glance around his dome. "I don't know, look for an igloo?"  

There was a bit of shuffling on the other end, and the faint sound of a roaring jet engine, then—

"Bobby, it's me," Jean's reassurances came crackling through. "I'm gonna try and find your mind touch from up here instead. Can you… think strong thoughts?"

"That’s not gonna be much of a problem seeing as I am PANICKING!" 

"We got you, Iceman, stay cool.” That was Scott this time, his ‘leader’ voice in full effect, even if it was a little teasing.

“Oh, haha, thanks, very funny, super helpful,” Bobby retorted, holding onto Johnny a little tighter. “Scott, I- I don’t— maybe this was a mistake! Logan’s right, I’m not up for this yet!”

“Hey, don’t worry about Logan, he’s not calling the shots. The professor and I both agreed you were ready. If anything, it’s my fault for sending you with some ill-equipped backup! Speaking of, how’s Storm doing?”

“Still breathing… just unconscious.” Sliding his thumb over said backup’s wrist, Bobby felt for a pulse. It felt— adjacent to normal, all things considered, which he attributed to the man’s unique molecular structure, so at least that much was recovered. “That’s… not good, right? I tried waking him up, but—”

“I got him!” He heard Jean shout over the line, right as her foreign thoughts breached his mind. “ Great news, that means we’re within my range! Uhh…”

“‘Uhh?’ What is— Is that a good ‘uhh’ or a bad ‘uhh’?”

“It’s… neutral! Sorry, there’s a lot of white, makes it hard to figure out where you are in relation to us. Do you know how far you got?”

“Umm… We’re somewhere on the lakeshore?”

“Yeah, great, Bobby, this lake’s, like, 400 miles long! It’s ok, just hang tight! We’ll figure something out.”

Gripping the communicator, Bobby groaned, laying his head down on Johnny's shoulder. Ohh, why did he ever agree to a race from the compound and around the lake to their exfil point!? Which, now that he was thinking about it, Johnny was flying really close to the ground; maybe he had been running out of energy and was trying to hide it? Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should’ve kept a closer eye on him! I’ve been doing this for longer, I—

“Quit spiraling!” Jean’s shout interrupted over their mental link. “It wasn’t your fault. It was out of your control, it happens. We deal with it and move on, yes?”

“… yeah.”

“Ok, so keep it together! Johnny needs you and you know you start subconsciously freezing things when you lose focus. Don’t do that!”

“Oh, shit, right!” Snapping out of his guilt just in time, Bobby flexed the fingers of his left fist, which had indeed started to ice over. Right as he did, he caught a quick glimpse of— something from the corner of his eye. Giving that area of the igloo a once over, his brow furrowed as he saw nothing but white snow and the black of his clothes. Which was odd, because he could’ve sworn that a burst of red or… orange or-

Wait! There it was again! A flash of color, there and gone in an instant. 

Gently extricating himself from around Johnny, he backed up a little on his knees, surveying the spot again. Nothing out of the ordinary… Could Jean have— no, why would she? But he hadn’t done anything either, all he did was unfreeze, that wasn’t anything… was it?

Moving to the furthest opposite side, he started, consciously this time, willing his temperature to go lower. As ice started to creep into his limbs, he kept his gaze trained on Johnny, blinking a few times as the sight of a human person suddenly transformed into the outline of one, glowing brightly in a spectrum of colors. “What the-?”

“Bobby?” Jean’s voice intruded once more, tinged with concern. “ I’m getting a lot of confusion. Did something happen?”

“ Uhh, yeah, I’m seeing,” Bobby paused…what was he seeing? Johnny’s heat signature? How was he— since when could he do that? Bursts of red, smatterings of yellow, and patches of blue filled his vision; the colder he got, the more vivid the colors became. 

Ohhh, wait, definitely a lot more cool blue than he was comfortable with because that meant Johnny was losing body heat— fast.

But if he could see that in here, maybe… 

Melting a section of his ice shelter away, Bobby quickly scrambled out, replacing the hole with more coverage as soon as he was out. “I— I don’t know how exactly, but I think I might be able to find you,” he relayed back, whirling around to scan the surrounding territory. “ I’m gonna try something, one sec.”

The winds had calmed down somewhat, though it still roared in his ears plenty, and the snow was still falling down around him in sheets. But, after pushing Jean’s questioning responses to the back of his mind, Bobby was at least able to keep his eyes to the sky as he commanded his body temp lower and lower… until— 

In the never-ending expanse of white, off in the distance, the colorful silhouette of jet engines became visible. "Is that you guys? That's gotta be you guys, right?" Squinting a bit, three red-hot blobs suddenly formed out of the mix of crimson and yellow filling the plane's outline. 

"What? Hang on, can I…?”  Feeling a sort of noodling around in his brain, a tell-tale sign that Jean was trying to see through his eyes, Bobby stared hard into the horizon. “ Definitely us. How are you doing that?" 

“ No idea, but let’s figure all of that out later, you guys are facing the wrong way! Head east!”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry! We got you now, touchdown in two minutes.”

Waking up to bright fluorescents on a hospital bed wasn’t exactly a foreign experience to Johnny, but it wasn’t quite a welcome one either. Also especially unwelcome was waking up to a full-body ache. It wasn’t actively painful, thank god, but more numb, sort of like everything was recovering from that staticky feeling that came from not moving for a while.

“Ow,” the blond croaked out, cracking open one of his eyes, his sister’s face immediately filling his field of vision. “Sue?”

“You’re awake!” Sue exclaimed, jumping up from her chair, her concerned expression very quickly morphing into one of irritation. Slapping her little brother on the shoulder, ignoring his cry of pain, she quickly pulled him into a hug. “You idiot!”

“Ow, ok, I’m sorry, just take it easy! I’m sore,” Johnny protested, bringing up an arm to return the embrace, only then noticing the white plastic clip attached to his finger, recording his blood pressure. Rubbing at his temples with the other hand, he also realized he was now dressed in a hospital gown instead of jeans and a hoodie and, oh yeah, no longer in a winter wonderland. “Wha- what happened?”

“What happened, dumbass, was you almost died of hypothermia!” Rolling her eyes, Sue moved to the end of the cot, crossing her arms and fixing him with the kind of glare only older siblings could possess. “You knew Reed wasn’t finished with that serum and you somehow still came to the conclusion that it was a good idea to put yourself and Bobby in danger! You are SO lucky the X-Men were able to get you out!”

Having the decency to at least look guilty, Johnny was about to admit that there was a slight chance that he may have overestimated his abilities, when a knock on the door interrupted him. 

“Come in,” answered Sue, smiling sweetly at the new arrival. 

“Hey, just checking in,” Bobby said as he entered, grinning wider when he caught sight of the bed’s occupant. “Oh, you’re up! How’re you feeling, Storm?”

“Uhh, not great, heh, but not… dead? I’m guessing I’m gonna have to go on a little ‘thank you’ tour through the mansion after this?”

“Yeah, you definitely will,” Sue plainly stated.

“What she said,” Bobby agreed, though his stern gaze quickly fell as he slipped into a smirk and let out a laugh. “No, seriously, no worries. Happy to help and we’re all really glad you’re ok.”

“Thanks, B, you’re literally a lifesaver.” Pushing himself up a little on the bed, Johnny waved away the others’ concerns, propping up an elbow on his pillow. “Did I pass out? I can’t really remember past… didn’t I say something about freezing in style?”

“Johnny!” 

“Hey, relax,” Johnny said flippantly, grabbing hold onto Sue’s hand. “I didn’t!”

“Ugh, you can be such a little—” Sue huffed, cutting herself off and taking in a long inhale. Letting the breath out slowly, she turned back to Bobby. “Oh, how’d the tests with Dr. McCoy go?”

“Whoa, tests? What tests?”

“It’s nothing.” Lacing his fingers behind his head, Bobby leaned back onto the wall, a bit of a smug smile spreading on his face. “Just, you know, going around gaining new superpowers, no biggie.”

“Wait, what?” Johnny asked, chuckling. “What is it? How’d that happen?”

“Well, ok, so Jean was trying to find us in the blizzard, but she couldn’t since everything was… a void,” Bobby started to explain, moving to stand next to Sue. “I was freaking out a little, you know how I kinda randomly freeze when I’m freaking out?”

Trying and failing to stifle a laugh, Johnny nodded; he had, indeed, noticed that, especially in difficult Danger Room sessions.

“Good thing I did! Because, as it turns out, I have thermal vision!” At both siblings’ looks of mild confusion, he continued, “I know, wild! Hank was telling me about it, I wasn’t really listening, but it was something about going colder that triggered it?”

“Hmm… yeah, that makes sense,” Sue mused, the resident trained scientist in the room rationalizing out the new discovery. “Your powers are so linked to the thermal spectrum that the colder you get, that utter absence of heat around you must allow you to sense the heat coming off other people. Very cool, Iceman. Pun intended. Congrats!”

“Oof, we have got to get some new ice material around here!” Scrunching his nose up at the joke, Bobby shook his head in good-natured annoyance. “But, thank you anyway.”

“Look at you, unlocking your hidden potential! You’re a living thermal scanner, that could come in handy!” Johnny commended, giving the younger a pat on the back. “Maybe we should get into life-threatening situations more often, see what else we can—”

“Uh, don’t even joke about that!”

“I’m kidding— OW, Sue! Ok, ok, I’m sor- oowww!”

Chapter Text

"Oh, hey, Ororo, fancy meeting you here." Panting lightly and crouching behind the four-foot tall snowbank he had made as cover, Bobby made room for the older teacher, welcoming her in his makeshift base.

“Bobby,” Ororo puffed as she pressed her back against the packed snow, momentarily safe from the onslaught of snowballs. Breath visible in the freezing winter air, she exhaled harshly onto her hands, frantically rubbing them together to warm them up a little. “I think you all are going to be the death of me!”

“Aww, come on, Storm , you’ve been through way wor— oh, hit the deck!” 

Spotting an errant snowball that had made it past his defenses, and knowing full well the kind of people his friends were, Bobby leapt sideways to duck and cover, pushing Ororo down with him. Confirming his suspicions, the second they hit the ground, the snowball exploded, sending a flurry of snow in all directions. 

“Tabitha Smith!” Ororo shouted, dusting herself off before popping her head out above the bank, zeroing in on the blonde girl hiding behind her shorter best friend. “What did we say about using your powers in offense for this?”

“Sorry!” Tabitha yelled back, though she did not sound the least bit apologetic. “This is war! Bobby’s the one hiding behind a snow shield, I’m just evening the playing field! Even Amara was planning on making a lava plume back there to force him out!" 

"What, no, I wasn't!" the brunette immediately refuted, waving the two snowballs in her hands. "I swear, Miss Munroe, I was trying to tell Tabby not to do it, too!" 

Before anyone had a chance to respond, Bobby ran out from behind his protection, funneling his ice into forming one huge snowball, comparable to the size of… like, maybe a small planet? "Ohh, it's on, Boom-Boom!" 

"Whoa, wait a seco–!!" 

With the snowball fight handily decided in favor of the more veteran X-Men, the rest of the afternoon quickly became much more chill, both figuratively and literally once the sun started to kiss the horizon.

"I freaking hate the cold," Sam whined, bundling himself deeper into his layers of wool and yarn. Sitting side-by-side with Tabitha on a bench by the fountain, they both shivered against each other as Amara, Roberto, St. John, and Bobby tried to one-up each other's snow sculptures in a friendly competition.

"Get it together, Kentucky. It's only 30 degrees out here!" 

"Yeah, 'Berto, that's about 40 degrees too low for me to enjoy myself!" Tabitha tacked on in agreement with Sam. She narrowed her eyes at the group as they aggressively packed more snow into different shapes, not bothered in the slightest. "Why aren’t we inside? I mean, three fire mutants and Iceman? We're not exactly as well equipped, we're suffering here!" 

"Because you two are judging! And hey, I'm cold too!" John pointed out, flicking on his Zippo lighter and maneuvering the flame to move around his hands before floating the fireball near his head. "Just got a convenient way of dealing with it." 

"Allerdyce, what the–!" Sam cried, nearly jumping off his seat to get closer to the warmth. "Share that with us!"

"Ah, ah, ah," tutted John as he extinguished the fire and pulled his mittens back on. "Vote for my snow dragon and maybe I'll think about it."

All six pairs of eyes turned to the proclaimed 'dragon', which was really just a heap of snow vaguely resembling the shape of a reptile. Which reptile was anyone's guess, but a dragon it was not. It didn't even have any teeth in its awkwardly constructed snout.

"... what the hell is that?" inquired Bobby, brows furrowing as he tried to piece it together in his head.

"It's Lockheed!" 

Roberto blurted out a breathy laugh, eyes sweeping the gardens for a particular ponytailed individual. "Hey, Kitty," he called out upon spotting her with Warren and Rogue trudging their sleds back, then stepped to the side and motioned to the model. "Can you guess who this is?" 

Walking up a little closer, Kitty shifted the sled handle to her other hand, cocking her head at the sight of the snow. "Uhh, is it, like… The Blob?"

"The Bl-! Wha- what?" sputtered John, arms frantically gesturing at his art. "It's clearly–! Ah, forget it, I give up." Plopping down next to Tabitha, who comforted him with a few pats on the back, he brought his lighter back out, pulling the flame to crackle steadily before the three of them.

"If it's any consolation," Rogue said, moving to join them, "you did manage… a shape!"

As John sat there sulking, Amara directed the newcomers’ attention to the remaining snow creations. “While we have you guys, wanna vote for your favorite?”

Forming a semi-circle around the fountain, the remaining sculptures were: Roberto’s two foot tall castle that greatly resembled those made with a child’s sandpail, Amara’s mini bear cub with perfectly rounded ears but funky torso and limbs, and Bobby’s classic snowman, complete with a hat, scarf, and carrot nose. 

“I would like to make a comment to the judges,” Bobby jumped in while everyone was examining the constructs. “Not my best work. They said I wasn’t allowed to use my powers.”

As shouts of yeah, obviously, B! Unfair advantage! and you use your bare hands like everyone else! rang out from among the competitors, Warren raised a hand to silence them, exchanging appraising glances with those who did not build. “Before we announce our final decision, we would like to thank all our sculptors for competing in the manor’s first annual Snow Sculpture Competition. Fantastic effort from all involved, give yourselves a round of applause.”

“Oh my god, please, I’m freezing! Just vote!” With all five judges pointing to the bear, Sam quickly announced, “Yay, Amara! Ok, I’m going in,” then promptly picked himself up and swiftly walked up the pathway back into the house. 

“Me too, anyone for some hot chocolate?” Tabitha offered, not even waiting for a response as she shuffled in after him.

As everyone turned to follow, their snow art left to spruce up that section of the backyard, Bobby stayed back, taking up a spot on the now abandoned bench. He sat there cross-legged for a few moments, a smile on his face as he looked across the grounds, pristine white blanketing every inch. 

“Bobby? You comin’?” Rogue asked, having circled back around when she noticed the gang had been missing a member. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming! In a minute, I’m just— admiring the view.” 

“It is pretty.” Moving to sit next to him, Rogue pulled her coat on tighter, aggressively rubbing her gloved hands together. 

“You cold?”

“Heh, a little! I’m from Mississippi, we ain’t exactly known for our long winters.”

“You don’t have to stay out here with me! I’m coming in soon!” Bobby protested, making to remove his hoodie to loan to her, before remembering he was not wearing one, having spent the entire day outside in just a mid-sleeve shirt. “Oh, I… you wouldn’t happen to want a slightly damp scarf?” 

“Naw, it’s alright, I don't think that'd help,” chuckled Rogue, flicking her jacket collar up to better shield herself from the gentle winds. “But I don’t mind being cold, honestly. Better than overheatin’!”

“Hmm, true, but still…” Bobby hummed, offering up his hand palm-up to her. “Maybe I can do you one better? You can siphon just a little bit, right?” 

“What? No,” she declined, nudging him in the shoulder with a gloved hand. “I mean, yeah, I can, I would just touch you for a second, but no. Like I said, I don’t really mind it.”

“Ok, suit yourself,” Bobby acquiesced with a grin, moving to dangle one leg off the bench, sighing contentedly as fresh snowflakes slowly began to drift from above. “I’ve always loved the snow, you know? Even before my powers showed up… I mean, crazy coincidence or what?"

"Yeah, call that destiny," Rogue laughed, rolling her eyes. “Do you ever miss it… feeling cold?” 

“Uhh, is that something I should be missing?” 

“Well, I don’t mean freezing your ass off like Sam was! More like— when summer’s over and there’s not this uncomfortable heat beating down on you and you can bundle up and just feel… warm. Do you miss that ?”

“Yeah, someti— uhh...” Running a hand through his hair, Bobby tried to think back to the last time he felt anything other than his usual cold. It’s not like it was uncomfortable for him in any way, so maybe he just never noticed? “Actually, I’m not sure. My body regulates to a low core temp anyway, it's kind of… always done that? Since I was 13, I mean. I guess I haven’t really felt hot or warm in a while! But I remember the feeling and I know I didn’t care for heat, so win-win!”

“Oh, I s’pose that’s… good, then.” Rogue tapered off, looking out into the field, a sudden unease curling up somewhere in her gut. To remember warmth, but not be able to feel it anymore? That didn’t seem— fair. 

She glanced over at Bobby, eyes sweeping over him as if she was searching for something. He didn't notice, just kept his eyes to the sky, sticking his tongue out a couple times to catch the drifting snow crystals. She moved her gaze elsewhere before long, deciding it’d be best not to dwell on it. There was no hint of discomfort or regret, so if it didn’t bother him, she wouldn’t push it. 

After a few seconds of sitting in companionable silence, she waved a hand in the direction of his snowman, wondering aloud, "That really the best you got without your powers?"

"What!" Bobby gasped, snapping his head over to her so fast, his neck made an audible crack. "Ow… First of all, how dare you? Second of all, simplicity is often key, ok, Wade looks incredible . Do you see those proportions?? I even made 3 segments!"

"You named it Wade? As in…" 

"Wilson. The resemblance is uncanny."

"… you'd know better than me!" Rogue snorted in amusement, going over to it and adjusting one of the buttons serving as its eyes. Putting one hand on her hip, she then turned back around to him, asking, "Well, competition’s all done— you got another winning piece in mind? Anything more than simplicity ?”

“Oh-h-hoho, prepare to have your mind blown.” Bobby got up from the bench, cracked his knuckles once and started shooting out ice, expertly forming a few sculptures right by Roberto’s castle. 

The first was an ice castle about the same size as its shoddy snow counterpart, but much more intricate, an easy comparison to a Disney movie's opening titles. The second was a copy of the victorious bear cub, only with its janky limbs made perfect. The last, as expected, was an icy replica of Lockheed, its features plumped and smoothed to look even more convincingly like a stuffed toy.

"Alright, show off! A little 'anything you can do, I can do better' but…" Rogue pointed out with a smirk, letting out a low whistle to show she was still impressed nonetheless.

"Hey, you asked!" Bobby shot back, returning the smile. "I'm sorta in my element here, what do you want from me?" 

"Mmhmm… What about Wade? No room for improvement?"

"I mean, I don't think so, but if you insist… " 

Shooting out more ice and snow, Bobby's tongue stuck out slightly as he played with his snowman's form, something quite a bit bigger taking shape next to it.

Towering over them, standing even above the fountain, was a fifteen-foot tall… golem was probably the only word to describe it. It had thick, bulky arms protruding from a craggy torso, all of which were supported by two short, yet sturdy legs. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Hulk, if the Hulk were not green, more stout, and textured more like rock. (So… the Thing, just not as defined.)

“Wow,” Rogue breathed out, eyes wide as she took a lap around it, running a hand down its features that were in her reach.

“Thank you, thank you,” came Bobby’s smug reply, giving his creation’s leg a hardy slap. “Say hello to— you know, Wade 2 just doesn't feel… right! He deserves a new name, don't you think?"

"Mmm, he's giving me Clyde vibes, I think."

"Ooh, Clyde! Yeah, that's—"

Right at that moment, as Bobby went to lean an elbow on the same leg, his golem… shifted. 

“AHH!” Both he and Rogue let out startled yelps as the snow giant moved, turning to face them. 

“What the fuck!?” Rogue blurted out, grabbing the blond by the arm and scurrying them both away from it. “How did— you’re seeing that, right? I’m not crazy?!”

Bobby, currently stuck staring wide-eyed at, essentially, a pile of snow shifting towards him, did not have time to formulate a response before Ororo and Warren came rushing out the back door. 

“Rogue! Did something— happen…?” Twin cries and expressions of alarm quickly gave way to ones of shock as the two teachers took in the sight of the colossal, apparently mobile, snowman. 

"Bobby?" Ororo questioned, taking a step in front of the younger, keeping an eye on the giant.

"Uhh??" Bobby croaked, looking between her and Warren, confused with a slight undertone of panic. "I– I don't know! All I di- whoa !” He stopped short as a big, snowy hand reached out towards them, everyone backing up towards the doors as it did. After that, it seemed to stop all movement, head angled downwards to them.

“Ok, what exactly is going on?” Warren asked, giving up on trying to shoo away the curious eyes of some of the other students. He had ordered them to stay inside, but that didn’t stop them all from gawking through the windows. “B, I assume you made a snowman and…?”

Still somewhat speechless, Bobby grabbed at his hair with one hand, mouth gaping open as he searched for words. Rogue took that as a chance to jump in, trying to fill in the blanks. “He just made those three sculptures and then I asked him if he could make a bigger snowman and… well, you’re looking at it! But the other ones definitely ain’t moving, so what’s different about this guy?”

“Has it stopped,” Ororo voiced, taking a lap around the giant, tapping a finger against its immobile form, “completely? And if so, what activated it in the first place? Can we recreate those conditions?”

The three of them turned to Bobby for answers, who had yet to tear his gaze away from the hulking beast, expression fixed in concern. 

“Bobby?” Warren called out to him, “you ok?”

“Am I ok,” the younger breathed out, blinking a few times before finally facing his friends. “You know, I don’t know... In the past year, I found out I can heal myself, become a living thermal sensor, and now this— I’m just… I think I need a minute to process, that's all. Or a getaway.” 

To make matters worse, before anyone had a chance to offer up a consoling gesture or word of encouragement, the snow golem reached out with a meaty hand, scooping Bobby up. 

“AHHH- oh, god!” Bobby yelled alongside the other three as he was lifted into the air and unceremoniously plopped onto Clyde’s shoulder. 

“B!” Warren cried out, flying up to its height. “What is—? Are you doing this?”

“I don’t think so!!” 

Just as the young X-Man reached for his teammate’s hand, Clyde tipped its head to the side, the sunken eye sockets seemingly focusing in on its creator. 

“Uhh…” Taking a few calming breaths, Bobby stared into the white, confused by what exactly he was seeing here. Before he had a chance to wonder why he felt the urge to speak to the pile of snow, a shout rang out from below.

“Back up, I'll melt it!” 

From his vantage point, Bobby could see a few of his fellow snow sculpture builders at the base of the golem, Roberto and John summoning heat and fire into their hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” he yelled back down, fingers splayed out to signal them to stop. “Hang on! I think— I think he’s a friendly?”

“‘He?’” Amara echoed in bewilderment, trying to calm herself down before any lava could start spouting up.

“Friendly? You sure?” Warren asked, his wings’ powerful gusts kicking up some snow off the golem’s facade, not that it seemed to mind.

“Umm…”

“Doesn’t fill me with confidence, Drake!”

“How do you think I feel!?” Turning back to his best friend, Bobby slumped forward on his creation’s shoulder, scooping up some snow from its meaty appendage. “Just— let me try something.” He looked at Clyde’s smoothed face, it simply staring back at him with no other change. He extended the snowball he’d made out to it, much like one would try with a snack to a stray dog. “Heeeyy, buddy…”

The golem did not accept it.

“Oh, you don’t— want any snow? Yep, ‘course not, that makes sense.” Bobby dropped the ball off the edge, belatedly remembering to shout down a heads up! 

“Yo, what is happening?” Roberto called up to him. “Seriously, do you need help?”

“I… I don’t know! It’s not like he’s… doing anything! Ok, whatever, I don’t know, just get me down from here first,” requested the blond, reaching out a hand to Warren. Their fingertips barely had the chance to brush against each other before Clyde was fulfilling his creator’s wish. 

“Wha— AHH! Ok, ok….” Bobby steadied himself against his friends’ arms as he was deposited back on the ground. He tilted his head up questioningly to the chilly monster, who had gone back to staring straight ahead, paying no one any mind. “Umm. Thank…you?” 

Warren alighted beside them, snow shaking out of his wings as he tucked them in close. He looked back and forth between Bobby and the golem, before catching Ororo’s eye. “Huh.” 

“What ‘huh’?” the teen exclaimed, tone harried as he exchanged glances with everyone around him. 

“Bobby,” the silver haired teacher piped up, reaching out a hand to his shoulder. “Could you be controlling this beast?”

“Am I!? How is— what am I doing? How am I doing that?”

“Earlier, you said you needed to get away,” recalled Rogue, jumping on the train of thought Ororo and Warren were chugging along on. “And Clyde picked you up. Just now, you wanted to get down and he set you down.”

“So?” John questioned. “How do we know that’s not just a weird coincidence?”

“Well, maybe you can test it?” Warren suggested. “Can you tell him to… sit down or something?”

Bobby shrugged with one shoulder as he stepped up a little closer. “Uh— sit?” As Clyde remained standing, he spun back around to Rogue. “Any other ideas?”

“Well, hang on! Maybe it’s less of a command and more… like you have to feel it, you know?” Amara interjected, tapping a finger against her lips in thought, elaborating further when everyone just blinked back at her. “Like, ok, when I use my powers, I focus on feeling the magma beneath us. On making a connection with all that molten rock flowing underneath the crust. I assume when you’re making ice appear out of thin air, it’s kinda like that, yeah?” 

“Uhh, yeah, I guess,” Bobby replied. He had never thought that hard about it before, it wasn’t really anything he ever had to be conscious of. Water and moisture were literally everywhere, it’s not like he had to focus on getting it. “But what does that have to do with—”

“Everything! Bobby, when you made these sculptures, you told the ice what to do, but you weren’t telling it. You just… connected with it, right? Maybe the big guy is no different from any of your other ice creations!”

“But it is different, he’s… freestanding! I- I don’t—”

“Just try again,” Ororo urged him. “Amara is right, we’ve all watched you manipulate your ice into magnificent things. Is there really reason to believe this wouldn’t be similar?”

Making a so-so motion with one hand, Bobby made a noncommittal noise, but looked towards Clyde once more. He huffed out a breath, then conjured up a rod of ice in the other hand, giving it a twirl. “All right, my guy… wanna prove my friends wrong?” 

Hurling the stick across the backyard, he squinted at where it landed and settled on trying to will the object back to him via snow monster. Fetch me that—

The golem shifted in its spot, turning around. 

“No way,” John laughed as Bobby let out a strangled cry, everyone watching the snow sculpture shuffle away. He clapped his friend on the shoulders. “Mate, c’mon, that’s pretty fuckin’ cool.”

“Uhh… uh-huh,” whispered Bobby, his golem making its way back to him, ice rod in hand. Clyde then unceremoniously dropped it out of its meaty appendage, kicking up a flurry of snowflakes. “Ok, all right, I- I can’t deal with this right now! Can— should I,” he paused, looking between his teammates gathered around him, “melt him? Is that— are we considering that murder?”

“I don’t think Clyde is sentient, bro,” Roberto remarked, poking it a few times in the shin. “He’s just some ice and snow!”

“Then why do I feel bad about it?”

“Maybe, ‘cause in a way, he’s kind of like… your son,” offered Tabitha, she and Sam sticking their heads out from the doorway. 

Rolling his eyes, Warren flapped a hand at them to shoo them away. “Ok, Bobby, this is not your son, all you did was make a really good snowman.” He hooked an arm over the younger’s shoulders and moved them forward a couple steps. “But if it makes you feel better, think of it this way. Clyde is gonna melt away probably around tomorrow afternoon. If the sun doesn’t do it, one of the kids will. He's not long for this world, so shouldn’t you be the one to do it?”

A pained expression passed along Bobby’s features, though it quickly shifted into one of understanding. “You’re right, you’re right, it should be me. I brought him into this world, I should take him out of it.” With Rogue stepping up and also giving him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder, Bobby lifted a hand to his creation. In only a few moments, the lumbering mass dispersed, with nothing but snowflakes in its wake.

“Tabs, Sammy,” Bobby called out to them as he turned towards the back doors, hands shoved in pockets.

“Yeah, bud?” Sam responded, holding the door open for everyone.

“I think I really need that hot chocolate.”

“We got you, babe, come on.”

As the younger class piled into the foyer, Ororo looked over to Warren with an expectant glance. "I'll tell the Professor, you tell Dr. McCoy?"

Phone in hand, Warren attached the few photos he'd managed to snap and sent it off in a group text. "Way ahead of you, Munroe."

Chapter Text

“Bobby…”

“‘Sup?”

“Bobbyyyyy!”

“What!” 

“It is sooo hot today!” Jubilee whined, collapsing onto the gardens where Bobby and Alex were laying, gaming on the Switch. She waved her phone in front of their faces, the weather app open and zoomed in to the current temperature. “91 and 72% humidity, I'm dyyyying!”

“Well, damn, Jubes, I don't control the weather! It’s a heat wave,” Bobby retorted, not having yet deigned to look up from their Mario Kart race. “Ask Ororo to make it rain or something.”

“She's not here,” reminded Alex, setting off a blue turtle shell to accost Yoshi in 1st place. “She's with Scotty, the professor, and Dr. McCoy at the Stark conference thingie.”

“Oh yeah… oh my god yes! Bitch, LET'S GOOO!!” Bobby slapped down his joy-con as he overtook Luigi and Dry Bones, finishing the Cup at first place once again. “Oooohh, thanks for the assist, Lex!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Alex sulked, though he had a smile on his face. “You’re still always first to die in Lethal Company, and I will continuously ride that high.”

“Okay! Just because those–”

“Guuuuys,” Jubilee interrupted, moving the console to the edge of their picnic blanket so she could sprawl out in their laps. “Remember me, your friend who’s currently suffering from heat stroke?”

“This is hardly gonna make you any cooler,” Bobby laughed, leaning back onto his forearms to make room for her to spread. 

“Umm, Iceman, hello? Just being near you drops me at least a degree.”

“It's true, I think you have an area of effect or something,” Alex was quick to agree, scooting in closer. “The right side of my body is really warm, but the left side is only a little warm.” 

“Oh, I see, that's why you're hanging out with me?”

“Well, it's not so you can keep kicking my ass at Mario Kart.” 

Bobby gasped, feigning offense at being used as their personal space cooler, before breaking out into a grin. “Eh, I’ll take that trade-off.”

“But seriously, can we go out or something?” Jubilee asked, turning to lay on her back, hand flying up to shield her eyes from the sun. 

“We are out.”

“ Tsk , you know what I mean! The A/C’s spotty in my room and I can't TAKE IT ANYMORE! Oh,” the brunette perked up, tiny sparks lighting from her fingertips, “let's go to the lake or something!”

“Ugh, it's way too hot to be around people today,” said Alex, also collapsing into Bobby’s lap, draping over Jubilee. “Non-mutant people, I mean.”

“No, no, wait, we can go to that watering hole Kurt keeps talking about! The one he found during that last mission with Shadowcat and Wolverine! I feel like letting loose anyway, I don’t want to have to deal with people either.”

“Hmm… that doesn’t sound so bad then.” 

Both pairs of eyes turned upwards to look at their deciding voter. 

“Yeah alright, but anyone else still here gets an invite too,” agreed Bobby, then interjected between the duo’s cheers, “Also! — I will not be the one driving.”

Summer vacation was in full swing, and as most of the students had already gone home, the only ones left were, as St. John had once so delicately put it, those who did not want or were not wanted to be anywhere else. 

Still, some were simply keen to stay in the air conditioned indoors, so in the end, only four other people accepted, which worked out; a perfect fit for the SUV.

“Someone hand me my Haribo!” Kurt, riding shotgun and fiddling with the Spotify playlist, flicked his tail towards the back in search of the candy. 

“If you don't get this thing outta my face, I will chop it off,” Rogue threatened, slapping at the spade tip with one hand and tossing the bag of gummy bears into the front seat with the other.

“So aggressive! See if I share any of these bears with you…”

“As if I would want any of those hard, stale—”

“Ah! You take that back right now-!”

“Kids!” Jean interrupted from the driver’s side, knuckles turning white from how tightly she clenched the wheel. “Don’t make me pull the mom move of turning this car around!” She and Warren were the oldest people there, only by a few years, but it certainly felt like much more of an age gap when it came down to wrangling the five other teens.

“No, wait, we’re almost there!” Kurt insisted, switching back to the GPS app to do his original job of navigating. “Take this next turn.”

“Kurt, I beg of you,” Jubilee popped her head in between the front seats, reaching for the skip button on the stereo, “do not put this god-awful, cookie-cutter, alternating between the only two chords they know, pop music trash on the ‘Beach Day’ playlist!”

“What?? You don't like–! Mein gott, I can’t believe I’m in the presence of such heathens!” 

“The heat really does do something to a person,” Warren mused, turning to Bobby lounging in the farthest back seats, arm around a semi-dozing Alex, cheek resting on his head. “Awww,” he cooed, grin pulling at his lips, “aren’t you two the cutest? We’ve come such a long way since the tree stabbing.”

“Ohh, not you too,” murmured Alex groggily as he turned to hide his face in Bobby’s chest. “He won’t let me live that down, either…”

“And I never will,” Bobby confirmed, giving Alex a kiss on the forehead. “Baby, you know I don’t hold it against you, but c’mon, attempted murder as a meet cute? I mean… hell of a story!”

“Noooo…” Alex groaned and Warren laughed, giving him a pat on the shoulder right as Jean pulled into a secluded spot at the base of the ravine. There was one trail marker to be found, right up near the edge of the forested area, naming the spot ‘Little Fish Pointe’.

Rushing Rogue out the car, Jubilee let out a whoo! as her feet hit dirt and started walking towards the trees, taking her Beats Pill with her. 

“Uh, wait,” she paused after making it only a few feet, turning back around to her teammates still unloading everything. “Am I going the right way?”

“ Nein ,” Kurt simply stated, shaking his head and taking his sweet time repacking all their snacks into one tote. 

“Patience is a virtue, Jubilation!” Rogue teased, holding out another bag of rolled-up towels for her to take. 

“Sorry,” Jubilee said sheepishly, returning to the group and taking her share of supplies. “But do you guys feel that?” Inhaling deeply, she spread her arms out wide and spun a full 360 degrees. “Mountain air! Elevation! 20 degrees cooler!”

“Honestly– feels the same to me,” Bobby said with a smirk, pushing up his sunglasses as Alex rolled his eyes good-naturedly by his side.

“Also pretty used to this,” Warren remarked, bumping shoulders with his best friend. “But I will admit: crazy to experience it while both feet are on the ground!”

“Well, I’m feeling it,” Jean said, draping an arm over both the other girls. “And I am beyond ready to relax and work on my suntan! Kurt, lead the way!”

“Ugh, I cannot wait another second, let’s get this party started already!” Linking arms with Bobby and Alex, the blue elf motioned for everyone to follow suit with each other. Once the circle was formed, everyone braced, a brief BAMF noise sounded through the air, and a fleeting faint trail of smoke was all that remained.

The secret grotto Kurt had found really stayed true to its advertising. Surrounded on all sides by greenery and mountainous terrain, the larger lake further upstream fed into a substantial reservoir, cavernous in its depth with water a blue that rivaled the ocean’s. Most importantly, it was indeed entirely empty, the only other sounds heard were the birds and bees. Until—

“Cannonball!” 

“Whoa, whoa, hang on, let us get out of the way!” The three lounging above the deepest section of the water - Jubilee and Alex in inflatable inner tubes, Bobby in a sheer icy throne of his own making - paddled back to shore, rejoining the others. 

“All right,” Alex yelled over to him, “let’s see it!”

“Watch this!” Kurt shouted as he ran from ground-level, teleported to 20 feet up in the air, and cratered down, sending streams of water out towards shore. 

“Hey, watch it!” Jean cried out from her tanning position, bringing up a hand to shield both her and Rogue from the giant splash. “That was pretty good, though, Kurt!”

“Eh, 7 out of 10,” Rogue made a so-so motion with one hand, “your form was lacking.” 

“I give you a 7.5!” Jubilee graciously offered, she and Bobby giving matching thumbs up.

“What? Sev- Did you guys even see that huuuge wa-” Kurt’s feeble attempt at an appeal was abruptly cut off by the skies suddenly darkening. He craned his neck up to see Warren had flown up high, wings spread wide, providing shade to almost the entire area below. 

“Allow me to show you how it's done, Wagner!” 

“Warren, no… Warren, don't you dare!” demanded Jean, Rogue getting up to scramble to higher ground while Jubilee got up to run closer. 

The blond, still in hearing range but not about to listen, tucked in his wings and corkscrewed towards the water like a peregrine falcon diving for its prey. Kurt barely had time to bamf out of the way, reappearing near Alex just in time for a wave of water to douse everything in its path. 

“Great,” lamented Jean, red hair drenched and fully veiling her face. “After I just put more sunscreen on.”

“Whoops,” started Warren’s half-hearted apology as he bobbed out of the water, shaking the wet bangs out of his face and laughing loudly. He motioned for the SPF that she was trying to levitate towards her back as he waded back to them. “I got you, Grey. But I thought you were trying to tan?”

“Yeah, tan! Not get melanoma!”

“Bro, that was awesome,” Bobby complimented, walking over to hand Warren a towel as he grabbed the lotion bottle, flipping it once. Rogue came out from behind the rock she’d hid behind to no avail, still getting splashed, and gave him a very polite golf clap.

Jubilee shot off a few fireworks into the air, yelling, “WOO! Now that was a cannonball! 10 outta 10, perfect form, no notes!” 

“You all hate me,” Kurt whimpered as he fell into Alex’s arms, the latter rubbing comforting circles onto his back.

***

“There’s no way I miss this.”

“Mmm, your subpar aim in our last two Danger Room sessions says otherwise.”

“I’ve hit every target so far!”

“It’s a fluke.”

Jubilee let out an affronted gasp and tried to reach out to give Alex a little slap, nearly tipping over from her tube into the water. “How DARE you?” She looked over to everyone else, now all drifting along to the subtle motion of the waves, and exclaimed, “Are you guys hearing this? This is— unbelievable! Bobby, come get your boy!” 

“I’m not taking questions right now, sorry,” Bobby blurted out, spinning slowly in his freshly formed ice throne, head tipped up to the sky. 

Warren swam up and lifted up a wing to block the view of him, deadpanning, “Mr. Drake is unavailable at the moment.”

“Ugh! And here I thought,” the brunette began, adopting a more shaky tone of voice, “we were teammates… and good friends!”

“Oh, the humanity!” Kurt joined in, very dramatically miming a faint into Rogue’s arms like he was a damsel from the Victorian age.

Floating on her back with arms splayed out, Jean let out a giggle at the younger’s indignation and all her friends’ antics. “Prove him wrong then, Jubilee! You got this!” 

The objects in question that were allegedly hard to miss were Bobby’s handiwork: a plethora of miniature snowmen, icy ducks, and ‘glass’ (ice) bottles scattered around the perimeter of the lake, perfect for a little afternoon target practice. 

He was first to shoot icicles into them - 10s across the board, naturally.

Warren had then created big gusts of wind to topple many of them at once, while Kurt had everyone time how quick he could teleport to every single one and knock them over. Jean played telekinetic keep away with Rogue, so the southerner could work on her hand-eye coordination, blocking or breaking them when she could. 

Alex and Jubilee, both capable of long range shots, had set up a little friendly competition for their turns. The challenge was simple: with each successful shot, they would add more and more distance by pushing out further away from the shore. Now with only three snowmen left, and nearly to the other side of the watering hole about 120 feet away, the score was tied up.

“Okay, fine, interested in making a bet?” Jubilee challenged, forming flickers of bright golds and blues between her fingertips. “I hit all three with no misses, we switch rooms until the end of summer.”

“No way! You’re trying to trap me in your musty, non-air conditioned room,” accused Alex. 

“It’s not that bad, come on! Plus, your boyfriend is a literal ice cube.”

“Who has a life! And his own room!”

“I don’t mind,” Bobby threw out, shooting back a lazy smile at Alex, who blushed and oh-so-subtly ducked away. “St. John’ll be ecstatic to be by himself for a bit. Rahne’s gotta go with you, though, Jubes.”

“Uh, she will gladly come with!”

“…Fine,” Alex acquiesced, but readied a plasma ring around his fist as well. “But if you miss even one, I get a shot. And if I win— you have to be my personal assistant for a month.”

“A mon-! One week!”

“Two weeks! You’d get my room for a month!”

“…All right.” Flicking her hair back, Jubilee scoffed out a you’re on and brought her hands together, generating a small stockpile of sparking, explosive energy. Launching it high into the air, a shower of colorful fireworks rained down on the rocks, exploding each snowman target upon contact. She turned to grin at Alex as applause rang out around them.

“You— wait, that… you cheated,” grumbled Alex, power fizzling out from his hands.

“Area of effect,” Jubilee echoed his words from earlier in the day. “Should’ve laid down some ground rules, Summers! I’ll text Rahne to grab her stuff.”

Pouting, Alex sunk into his inner tube and wrapped his arms around the curve of it, laying his head down against the bouncy plastic. 

Bobby came drifting past, grabbing at the tube’s rightmost handle to pull his boyfriend closer. “Anyone ever tell you how cute you look when you’re defeated?” He scooted over on his seat, patting at the spot next to him.

“Seems to be happening a lot today,” Alex groused, crossing his arms with a huff.

Placing some of his weight onto the ice throne to check its buoyancy before fully transferring, he ultimately slipped back into his floating device at the last second— too cold! 

“Aww, sounds like I’m the only one looking forward to tonight, then.”

Alex peeked up at him through his damp bangs, a smile quickly breaking through. “Well, I didn’t say that…”

They had yet to actually spend a full night together. Scott's room was next to his brother's and diagonally across from Bobby's, so it never really felt – not awkward. Their fearless leader was fine with their relationship - delighted, even - but… there were some boundaries you just didn't cross while in direct eyeline. The girls’ room, however, was waaay down the hall.

Bobby chuckled, cupping his hands together and playing with some ice and snow within. When he opened them back up, a tiny replica of Clyde the snow golem came alive in his palms, shuffling across his hand. Reaching his creator’s fingertips, Clyde leaned over top, stubby arms reaching out for Alex. “Maybe I should’ve made the snowmen run before Jubes firecracker-ed them all.”

“Nah, I’ll admit it - she earned it… you know, I will never get over how cool it is that you can do this,” laughed Alex breathlessly, reaching out to let Clyde clamber over his index finger. He leaned in and tilted his head up, drawing Bobby into a kiss, whispering against his mouth, “you’re incredible, B,” then kissed him again. “My summer’s made.”

Blushing hard, Bobby moved mini-Clyde to the armrest of his ice throne, scooting back over towards the edge to cozy up to Alex, taking one of his hands in his own and trailing kisses across the knuckles. 

“Bobby, Al?” Jean's voice rang out from the rocky outcropping, towel wrapped tightly around her waist, and hands full with packed snacks. “You guys hungry?”

“You go ahead,” Bobby replied, guiding Alex along the waves towards shore. “I’ll be there in a bit, let me just relax a little longer before Kurt makes me be his personal blast chiller and refreeze all his popsicles.” 

“He really needs to invest in an insulated bag,” Alex joked with a snicker as he pushed off towards the rest of the team. “I’ll save you some of Rogue’s apple butter sandwiches!”

“I appreciate you!” Bobby shouted back, resettling into the throne and throwing his shades back on. Closing his eyes, he let the quiet chatter of his friends wash over him as he breathed out a contented sigh. 

I should probably get up soon, he thought to himself as he reclined further into his throne, laying supine, ‘cause I’m definitely gonna fall asleep like this. It was just so comfortable: the gentle lapping of the water, his native element at his back, the peace and quiet… all their worries could just melt away.

Almost like he could just

                                  melt

                                               away

                                                              into

                                                                          nothing

“WHA-whoa!” Jolted alert quite intensely by the feeling of suddenly falling, Bobby flailed around in the water, his ice throne and golem gone, feet instead touching the bedrock lake floor. 

“Oh! Sorry,” a young boy yelped as he fully collided into him, fumbling the beach ball in his hands. “I didn’t even see you there, mister, are you okay?”

“Huh? Uh… uh, yeah. Yeah, you’re fine,” Bobby stuttered, already more focused on taking a full 360 of his surroundings. There were people everywhere - families, couples, groups of friends taking their pets out for a walk on the lakeshore. The surrounding forest had several more well-defined trails, all winding roads leading up and around to different sight-seeing peaks at the water’s edge. Pretty clearly a tourist destination, so… how the hell did he get here? Where even was here?

Plodding out of the water, Bobby patted himself down, looking for his phone (obviously to no avail, as he did not go into the water with his phone in his swim trunks), and promptly face-palmed. 

“Okay, what is going on? Where’s everyone else? Did something happen to me? To them?” began his slightly panicky internal dialogue, briefly wondering if this could all be an illusion of some sort. But no, that kid definitely crashed into him and he could, in fact, feel the mosquitoes landing on him and subsequent swat of his hand.

He supposed that didn’t exactly rule out a powerful illusory attack, but what would the motive be? Nobody even knew where they were. Pushing that possibility out of his mind, Bobby started walking up one of the paths; maybe getting to a higher vantage point would help. 

At a designated sightseeing spot, there was a signpost, with three wooden arrows pointing in various directions: Goode Trailhead to the west, Mellor’s Moors to the north, and Crystal Pool Valley behind him. 

“What the fuck?” he whispered aloud, squinting at the signs, just as an older girl dressed in a dark green wetsuit walked past. 

“You lost?” she asked, spinning back around to face him, ponytail swishing between her shoulders. “I know, the trail markers are kinda shit. We’re working on it, I promise!”

“What?” Bobby blinked at her, feeling a dull static starting to take over his brain. He might’ve actually been short-circuiting. “I— sorry, do you work for-?”

“It’s okay! Yeah, I do maintenance here, today’s my day off,” she said, smiling brightly at him. “Are you looking for a specific trail or area?”

“Uh, yeah, actually! Do you know where, umm, Fish…” Bobby pinched at the bridge of his nose, trying to recall the small wooden marker they passed on the way in. “Tiny Fish… trail…?”

“Little Fish Pointe?” the girl offered, nodding as Bobby snapped his fingers with recognition. “Yeah, that’s one of our least popular, it’s kind of rough terrain. It’s a little ways away, like about 5 miles southeast,” she pointed a finger in that direction. 

“ Five miles?” came Bobby’s incredulous gasp, hands flying up to the side of his head to massage at his temples. “How did I get-? I didn’t… Did Kurt tele-” he paused, gaze flicking over to the girl, her expression starting to morph towards concern. “Umm, thanks. I’ve heard… interesting things about it and I am going… to go over there. Now. Bye.”

“Oh, are you sure? You’re not exactly dressed for that kind of a hike—”

“Don’t worry! I’m well-versed in… the wilderness. I got it,” Bobby assured her, before scrambling the way she pointed with barely a wave goodbye.

10 minutes later, while trudging along the side of the tree line, Bobby tried to ‘think strong thoughts’ and reach out for Jean because there was no way he was making it that far barefoot. Plus, he was already getting tired; the incline here was ridiculous! 

Just as he turned onto a well-worn path, a few hikers giving him the side eye as he walked past them in swim shorts, a foreign, yet always welcome, voice shrieked in his mind. 

“Bobby!”

“Jesus, Jean, I hear you!” Bobby nearly jumped, wincing as the dull throbbing of his headache spiked for a brief second. “ Thank god, where did you guys go?”

“Us? We’re still at the cove! Where did you go? Warren turned around to give you a drink and you were just gone! Jubilee legitimately thought you drowned!”

“I don’t know if I should be offended at her lack of confidence in my swimming ability…”

“Haha. Seriously, where are you?”

“I’m— a few miles away? I don’t know! Somehow I made it to, like, the other side of the forest! I don’t... I don’t remember doing anything?”

A brief and terse silence followed, where Jean’s consciousness completely left his mind, where he could only assume she was telling everyone else of his predicament.

“Stay put,” she commanded not a second later, “ I’m showing Kurt where you are and he’s going to come get you.”

“Ok, ok, hang on, there’s hikers. Let me find someplace more secluded.”

“Dude!” Kurt cried out not fifteen seconds after Bobby gave the go-ahead. He landed in a tree, tail latching on to a branch so he could swing upside down. “What happened?”

“I am just as confused as you are,” Bobby said in a defeated tone, slapping a hand into Kurt’s. “But I think Hank’s about to book me in his lab for the next week.”

A couple jaunts through the Brimstone dimension later, the two reappeared at the watering hole, Bobby stumbling a bit on the landing, courtesy of the loose rocks. 

The group came rushing up, Alex reaching them first and immediately pulling Bobby into a hug. “Hey,” he said on an exhale of relief, hand resting softly in his boyfriend’s hair, before breaking the hug to give the other a quick once-over. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good, Lex,” Bobby assured him with a kiss on the forehead. “Just, I don’t know, kinda tired?” He exchanged glances with Jean and Warren, flexing his fingers on one hand. “Like when Scott used to make us run all those drills when we were younger...”

“And you’d get ‘iced out’?” Warren asked, putting air quotes around the term they coined whenever their youngest teammate got too exhausted to freeze anything else. “Well, what happened today? What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I was in the water here , on my ice, about to fall asleep, honestly. Next thing I know, I’m in a lake five miles away with no ice and surrounded by people!”

“Whoa, that’s farther than Kurt can get on one trip,” Jubilee jumped in, waving off the blue boy’s glare. “It is! We’ve measured it; two miles usually, right?”

“Yeah, fair,” Kurt shrugged, “it did take me 3 to get us back here.”

“So what’re we thinking,” asked Rogue. “That Bobby transported himself there? How?”

“Wait— you said you ended up in the lake? So you went upstream from here?” Jean surmised, chewing on a fingernail. 

“I guess. Why?”

“I think I have a theory,” the redhead claimed, grabbing her phone from her bag to shoot off a text to their resident scientist. “Maybe. I don’t know, I need Hank to put it all together. They should be back from the conference by now, let’s go home.”

“Well, wait, I didn't mean to– we can stick around,” Bobby offered, sort of lamely, as everyone looked over to him with varying degrees of disbelief and apprehension. “…no?”

“And have to track your ass down in this forest if it happens again?” Rogue pointed out, already gathering up their supplies. “Come on, Bobby, this place isn’t going anywhere. Plus— Jubilee and Alex have to pack.”

“Awww, man!” Alex let out a groan right as Jubilee let out a giggle, “oh yeah, almost forgot about that! Time to go!”

Later in Hank’s pristine laboratory space, Bobby sat with his chin resting in one palm, a few wires and electrodes attached to him, as Scott, Warren, and Jean paced around, theorizing.

“Fascinating…” Hank said as he fiddled with a setting on his laptop. He kicked himself back over to Bobby, wheels of the chair squeaking on the linoleum, and fiddled some more with the wires. “You weren’t consciously trying to do anything at the time, right? You weren’t thinking about, say, the capacity of the lake or something?”

“No, why wou— Hank,” Bobby interrupted himself, aiming an exasperated look the blue-furred beast’s way. “How long have we known each other? Where exactly would the specs of a lake rank on a list of things I think about?”

“Ehh, it’s not entirely out of left field, B,” voiced Scott, pulling up a seat next to the cot his teammate was lying on. “Maybe after that mission with Human Torch, your subconscious was… I don’t know! Maybe, somewhere deep down, there was a trigger and you just became more aware?”

Pushing himself up with his elbows, Bobby gave that idea two whole seconds of consideration. “No,” he dismissed it, collapsing back down on the crinkly paper cover. “I mean, it’s not a bad thought, I just— at the time, all I remember thinking about was how relaxed I felt. And how good it felt to be able to let loose in…a while! Seriously, I’m talking like ‘no thoughts, head empty’ levels of unbothered!”

“Can we backtrack real quick and focus on the how? Forget state of mind for a second,” Warren wondered aloud, leaning back on a counter, “how did he instantaneously move five miles away? Jean, what were you saying before?”

“Uhh, grain of salt, I’m not exactly a physics expert here,” acknowledged the telepath, joining Scott at Bobby’s side, “but we know that your powers work down to the molecular level. We’ve seen you move your ice sculptures, acting almost like they’re completely independent beings. You also basically become ice and, well, ice is water.”

Bobby’s nose scrunched up in confusion. “Okay?” 

“So, what if - and feel free to jump in whenever, Hank - what if you melted down into the water and… moved yourself somewhere else?” Even before the sentence was fully formed and out, Jean cringed. “Well, that sounds stupid now that I say it out loud!”

“Not at all,” declared Hank, rubbing at his chin with one hand. He began to mutter softly under his breath, suddenly engrossed in whatever readings were showing up on his monitor. 

“Henry, use your words,” Warren cut in, moving to take a peek at the screen. Not that he could make much sense of it, but it was fun to pretend.

“Jean may be right.”

“Really?” more than one voice piped up.

“We can’t know for sure unless you do it again,” Hank stipulated, “but here’s my hypothesis. Water molecules, when the hydrogen bonds between them slow down significantly, freeze. When they’re stimulated, they turn into a liquid or vapor. Following so far?”

“I at least remember that much from 5th grade science class, yes,” Scott confirmed, the others nodding their understanding as well.

“Okay, so Bobby, for a few moments at this private cove, you were happy for the opportunity to be able to sink into total comfort. Even… excited at the prospect, perhaps? Like when people look forward to a bubble bath to unwind after a long day.” It was here Hank hopped up from his chair and also started to pace. “What if your mutation allowed you to break down your body’s molecular structure, essentially dissolving yourself into— water, then reassemble it somewhere else?”

“Uhh…” Staring dumbfounded and unbelieving at the doc, Bobby bit at his lower lip as he considered this. “Is that actually possible?”

“Evidently! If you could show me, that would help tremendously to solidify my findings!”

“ Pfft , well, that’s great, but I don’t know if I can do it again! I don’t even know what I did the first time!”

“We do have a pond in our backyard,” Jean mentioned after a beat of silence. “Freshly renovated and re-filled?”

And so, with the sunset at their backs painting the sky in brilliant oranges and pinks, Bobby stood at one end of the mansion’s pond, his fellow X-men standing 50 feet away at the opposite side.

Alex and Jubilee had wrapped up their move and tagged along, now waiting patiently with the others. Having promised Kurt she’d document, Jubilee had her phone up and ready to record so the others could see it later. Not sure it’d be a riveting watch, though, as Bobby was still stuck on that side and had been for the last 15 minutes.

“Nothing’s happening!” Bobby called out to them as he took his hand out of the water and shook out his limbs, as if that was going to help things along somehow. He didn’t feel particularly tense, but with everyone’s eyes on him, he didn’t feel quite as tranquil as this afternoon either. “I don’t know, doc, maybe… today was just a freak accident!”

“What’s the prevalent theory here,” Jubilee asked, taking a step forward, in line now with Jean and Warren. “Did he, like… find inner peace or something?”

“Mmm, that might be part of it,” Hank answered her. “He was calm, but there must have been another factor, something that got his heart rate up. Water molecules turn into a solid when there’s no energy. We’ve all seen him freeze in his sleep, yes? If he was caught unaware and was half-asleep at the lake, does logic not dictate he would’ve just turned into ice?”

“I did put on a pretty spectacular light show for everyone before it happened,” Jubilee subtly boasted, talking out of one corner of her mouth. “Should I try doing that again?”

Behind them, Alex sucked in a sharp breath; the lightbulb going off in his head was almost visible. 

Scott shifted his gaze to his brother, eyebrow raised at the younger’s growing smile. “What’s that look for, Al?”

Everyone turned towards the blond, who shot a finger-gun at Scott and spun, walking backwards to Bobby. “Umm, nothing concrete, but I just got an idea. Give me one second.”

“Real eventful night out here, huh?” came Bobby’s sarcastic retort as Alex approached him. “You guys should’ve gone to get ice cream with Rogue and Kurt. This is— embarrassingly boring.”

Alex huffed out a short laugh, hooking one finger into a belt loop of Bobby’s jeans to pull him in closer. “Don’t sell yourself short, B. I think you’re just missing an incentive.” 

*

“Are they— oh… Uhp !” Across the pond, Warren started lifting his wing up higher, shielding Scott from the spectacle. 

“War-” Scott protested, slapping feathers out of his face. “It’s not like I haven’t seen it. They’re not exactly… studying Gothic literature when they’re deep in the library stacks, are they?”

“That’s true,” agreed Jean, “secret hiding spots around here are getting to be not so secret!”

*

“So… our first night together,” Alex whispered, leaning forward and nipping at the other’s ear. “We got a lot of R&R at that cove today. I’m feeling great— I don’t know, I just don’t think we’re gonna need much sleep tonight.” 

“Oh, really?” Bobby’s voice cracked a tiny bit at the question, thumb tracing down Alex’s spine, as he was drawn into a slow kiss. 

“If Dr. McCoy lets you out of the lab, that is.” 

Bobby unconsciously let out a moan as Alex stuck his tongue in his mouth, the hand not at his waist roaming to the iceman’s lower back. With his eyes closed, distracted by the sensation of his boyfriend exploring him, Bobby did not expect the sudden disappearance of said sensation, then swiftly replaced by one of falling.

Just like that afternoon, Bobby flailed his arms to try and keep himself standing upright, as pond water left him with drenched socks and shoes. He was now in the pond, a mere foot away from his fellow X-men on the opposite side, not one unenthusiastic expression between them. He turned back to an awestruck Alex, now a fair distance away, and puffed out an incredulous breath.

“Whoa,” Warren, Jean, and Scott said in unison.

“That was sick,” Jubilee stated plainly, saving the recording and sliding the scrubber back to the beginning. She thrust her phone in front of his face and hit play, though as she was excitedly shaking it, Bobby couldn’t quite make out the details. He saw himself and Alex in an embrace, then an unexplained cloud of vapor where he once stood, trailing towards the pond. In the next instant, he was in the water, tipping forward before catching himself.

“Incredible,” Hank marveled before Bobby could think to say anything, he and Warren reaching out to pull their friend out of the water. “Not only are you able to convert your molecules into organic ice, you can presumably do it into all three states of matter! You deconstructed and reconstituted yourself with hardly a second thought. Bobby, this is— you continue to amaze! Your potential is, well, I shouldn’t say limitless, but it is immense! ”

“Aww, thanks, doc,” Bobby panted as he stood bent over in the grass, hands on his knees. 

“You doing okay?” Scott asked, hand on his teammate’s back as Alex came jogging over. 

“Yeah, yeah, just need a minute to catch my breath.” Bobby replied, smiling tiredly at the Summerses, Alex urging him to lean into his side. He straightened up, huffing out a heavy breath. “I’m good, I think it just— takes a lot out of me.”

“Turning your body from a solid, into a gas, back to a solid? Yeah, I’d think that puts somewhat of a strain on you!” Jean proclaimed, coming up to them with a grin. “That was crazy to watch, though, B! Hank’s right, you’re amazing.”

“Thanks, guys. Means a lot coming from you— all of you.” Running a hand through his hair, Bobby let out another heavy sigh and placed an arm over Alex’s shoulders. “I am ready to just lie down and pig out on ice cream, though.” 

“On it,” Alex said, pulling his phone out, “I’m telling Kurt to get back here ASAP.”

“He’s gonna freak when he sees this,” laughed Warren, joining them in their retreat back to the mansion. 

As Scott and Hank watched them go, the blue-furred doctor had a fond smile on his face. “He’s really grown so much from that 13 year old kid who could only turn into a snowman.”

“Oh, boy, those were the days,” Scott laughed. “Yeah, I’m really proud of him.”