Josh + Bobby's Room

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh floats a heavy textbook in the center of his room, spinning it like a top. It's the middle of the day, just after lunch. He wishes he had something to do, but he doesn't have the heart to work on anything assigned this morning.

Right now he's working on how fast he can spin an object in midair. In terms of combat, he's hoping it will disorient a foe that he can't physically damage - like someone they need to capture alive. It's somewhat taxing because of the constant motion, but Josh is slowly getting the hang of it.

Bobby's been acting off ever since Alcatraz, he muses. It wasn't just the change in clothing or outward appearance. Something else. Josh wondered if it had to do with John leaving and all that Rogue business - he hadn't known Bobby's last roommate too well, but he knew Bobby cared for him, a lot. Josh personally thought John had been a bit of an ass, but at least had a sense of humor, unlike other people around here.

Had it been only Alcatraz? He'd make an arguement that Bobby hadn't been quite the same since Alkali - which would mean either Jean's first "death" or John's disappearance had been the hallmark. Bobby had certainly been different when he had returned from the Alkali mission - Josh had escaped with Colossus and hadn't been present.

Jean's death hit me hard at that point - the second one even more so - but as far as I could tell Bobby was sad, but not unreasonably so. It must have been John. Josh laughs to himself. Bobby had been following John around alot that year.

He lets the book drop to the ground, wishing for something to do.

[Bobby Drake]

The spinning textbook startles Bobby as he walks into his room, but only slightly. He's gotten used to Josh's teek-exercises by now. The weirdest was definitely his furniture-moving stage, which thankfully passed quickly. This was a new one, though.

"Hrr, Shh... n'tri?" he mumbles around a mouthful of falafel wrap, pointing at the book. Then he looks briefly sheepish, chews, swallows, tries again. "Hey, Josh. New trick?"

The book drops to the ground, and Bobby adds with genuine curiosity: "So, how do you do that? I mean, um" he reaches over to his desk, putting down the sandwich and picking up Concepts in Thermodynamics, "do you spin it like this..." he balances it on a fingertip and spins it with his other hand, "...or like this?" he grabs the book with both hands by opposite corners, turns it a quarter turn, moves each hand one corner counterclockwise and repeats the process. "Or does it not work like that at all?"

He grins, just a little bit maliciously, wondering if he's causing the classic centipede's dilemma with the question. He looks the thermo text over, frowns, tosses it onto Josh's bed and reclaims his sandwich. "Anyway, if that one gets too dizzy, feel free to practice your shredding skills or something on this one. I can't make head or tail of any of it, might as well do you some good."

Not that it matters, anyway... haven't been to class in weeks. I suppose if I showed up now, Dr. McCoy wouldn't know what to do with me. Kick me out on my ass, probably.

He sits on the edge of his desk, finishes his sandwich, watching Josh. It's weird... sometimes it feels like they've been roommates forever. And sometimes it feels like Josh is just some outsider who appeared in John's bed last night. Weird. Anyway... he looks bored. Which Bobby kinda is, too, since Rogue's been out of town.

"Hey... you wanna catch a movie or something tonight?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Just as Josh was finishing his mental discourse on all things Bobby, Bobby himself walks in munching on a falafel.

>"Hey, Josh. New trick?"

Josh laughs at Bobby's full mouth, then listens to his question about his book-spinning. "Well... I've been working on it for a little bit. Hoping that it will disorient an actual foe." He scoots over on his bed to the thermo text, and takes it in his hands. "It might be kind of complicated if I tried to explain how I make things move, but in essence its the - " he puts the book on a fingertip and spins it with his other hand. "Though tipping an enemy upside down might be useful too." He sets it onto the bed.

"I bet you wouldn't mind me shredding that. Dr. McCoy been making eyebrows at you and calling you impossible again?" Josh thanked whatever higher power had given him telekinesis - the good doctor seemed to understand it fine. Something about his limbic system lighting up like a Christmas tree under MRI.

He floats the book end over end and lands it on Bobby's desk, where his roomie was finishing up his lunch. His stomach rumbles. Maybe he should be getting something to eat before break ends - eh.

>"Hey... you wanna catch a movie or something tonight?"

"That would be fun. Things have been pretty boring around here the last few days. Not much happening. Anything good playing?" He absently opens up the web browser on his laptop types in the theatre's website.

"How have things been going with the X-Men?" He asked interestedly. He was always interested in hearing the latest with the team, especially whether or not they were looking for any new members. "Any upcoming away missions?"

[Bobby Drake]

> "Well... I've been working on it for a little bit.
> Hoping that it will disorient an actual foe."

Bobby walks over to the book Josh had been spinning originally, chuckles. "Yeah... if I were a 'foe' and you started spinning this around in the middle of a fight, that'd be pretty disorienting."

He tosses himself back onto his bed, bouncing once before settling.

> "Dr. McCoy been making eyebrows at you and
> calling you impossible again?"

Bobby shrugs, lacing his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling. Somebody was moving around up there in the attic, he could tell... his heat-sense had been getting more sensitive lately... but he couldn't tell who.

"I've been called worse. Besides, I don't think he makes eyebrows so much as, I dunno, facebrows. Anyway... I think he's given up on me. Last time I saw him he had me float in some kind of giant calorimeter thingie and bring the temperature down as far as I could. I stopped when his calorimeter thingie shattered and spilled whatever that goop he'd filled it with all over the medlab. He hasn't really talked to me since... I think it hurt his feelings."

The question about the X-Men makes him blink... he's forgotten that the X-Men used to do things. Before.

But really that's Josh all over. He's not goofing off in his room putting off trig homework, he's practicing new telekinetic combat techniques and fantasizing about getting to wear the real black leather outfit some day.

Bobby used to be like that once, he's pretty sure. When he first got here, when the coolest thing he could imagine in the world was to be an X-Man. Before... well, before everything.

Except maybe he never was like that, because Josh has been going through the same crap (well, most of it, anyway) and hasn't lost his bright-and-shiny. Josh should've probably been the one to get promoted into the team.

"Nope... I think they're waiting to expand the cemetary a little before we go on another mission."

Bobby blinks again, hearing the bitterness in his own voice. He leans up on one arm to look over at Josh. "Geez, did I just say that? I'm sorry, Josh, that was an asshole thing to say. We just haven't been doing anything too active... Beast's been busy with his government gig and Cure research, Wolverine and Storm trying to keep this place together... you know how it is."

And I've been moping around like a little kid whose dog just died and being generally useless, he thinks, then frowns... thinking out loud like that around Josh isn't a great idea. He wouldn't spy on Bobby's thoughts or anything (though sometimes Bobby sorta wishes someone would, it'd be easier than having to actually say stuff) but his filters aren't always that tight.

"Anyway... least now we have a teep who can actually use the shiny hat, so we can restart active recruiting." He kicks himself mentally again... Real smooth, Bobby. Cuz it's not like Josh is sensitive about not having been able to make Cerebro work for him. Geez, what the hell is wrong with me lately?

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

When he hears Bobby's comment about the cemetary, his jaw drops in anger and he opens his mouth to say something, but then closes it. Bobby... what's up with you lately? He takes a breath.

> "Geez, did I just say that? I'm sorry, Josh, that was an asshole thing to say. We just haven't been doing anything too active... Beast's been busy with his government gig and Cure research, Wolverine and Storm trying to keep this place together... you know how it is."

Something is seriously not right with Bobbs right now. He tries to smile, saying, "It's ok. No big deal." He scrolls down on the webpage.

> "Anyway... least now we have a teep who can actually use the shiny hat, so we can restart active recruiting."

His smile becomes frigid. Wow Bobby, you're two for two today, aren't you? Reminding me that Jean is dead and that I suck at telepathy all in under a minute. "It's too bad that you finally made it to the X-Men, but then started screwing off, Bobby." He groans mentally. Way to put your foot in it.

<I'm sorry, Bobby. You know I didn't mean it. It's just.... I wish I could help the team by using Cerebro, but I'm nowhere near that strong yet.> His eyes seek an apology as he talks, then he looks down.

A minute later, Josh looks up from his computer screen. "How about Snakes on a Plane?" He grins. "I've been dying to see that."

[Bobby Drake]

> "It's too bad that you finally made it to the X-Men, but then started screwing off, Bobby."

Bobby flinches miserably at that, and Josh's apology makes him even more miserable. "Don't apologize. You're right... I was just thinking the same thing myself. I'd tell them to take you in my place if I didn't think it would make your chances worse... I can't imagine they think much of my judgement these days."

And they'd think less of it if they knew more, he muses. And maybe that'd be a good thing.

"I've been thinking maybe I oughta talk to Sheppard, let him snoop around in my head, see if he can figure out what's going on. You think? I mean, not trying to dis you, I just... I dunno. There may really be something wrong with me, you know?" He suddenly regrets bringing up the subject and changes it hastily. "Anyway... sorry I've been such a dickhead lately. Frankly I don't know why you put up with it." He slides over to the head of Josh's bed and looks over his shoulder at the screen. "Yeah, Snakes on a Plane sounds great. My afternoon's free, when's your last class? Wanna catch the 4:15 show at the Teraplex?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

"Don't be so down on yourself. You were - and still are - a good pick for the team. You're just having a rough patch." Josh looks seriously at Bobby. "And it means alot to me that you think I'm good enough to join... maybe I'll get lucky one of these days. And, I think you should give it a little more time before you think about talking to Prof. Sheppard."

Josh thinks for a second. Bobby probably just needs to get his head on straight. No real need to involve grownups, right? All teenagers are supposed to have some kind of angsty period.

"I'd pick your brain myself, but neither of us want to end up in the psych ward of Westchester Memorial with neural damage." He gives Bobby a playful shove. "And I haven't had to 'put up' with anything, Mr. Drake. This last year has been tons of fun - my old roommate was a terror ." He closes up the browser.

"I'm supposed to put in an hour of Danger Room training this afternoon. If you want to go down and do that with me then we can go to that movie afterwards. Sound good?" His arches an eyebrow.

[Bobby Drake]

Bobby doesn't really know what to say, or how to feel, about most of Josh's comments. He knows he's been a dickhead since Alcatraz, maybe earlier, and Josh has every right to smack him down for for it, physically or verbally... and he doesn't. And instead of being grateful Bobby just keeps pushing at him. Just like he does with Marie, and... well, with everybody.

Sometimes Bobby thinks he's deliberately pushing everyone to reject him... like he gets to score points that way. Sometimes, at night when he can't sleep, he counts the names of the people who've walked away, sent him away, died, whatever... and then he thinks about Marie, and Josh, and Kitty, and Logan, and everybody else who's stuck with him through all this and it's weirdly like he's disappointed.

Which is demented.

> "I'm supposed to put in an hour of Danger Room training this afternoon. If you want to go down and do that with me then we can go to that movie afterwards. Sound good?"

Bobby nods, grins, practically runs to the door. "Sounds great! Hurry up, slowpoke!"

The truth was he was more psyched about the Danger Room session than the movie... the Danger Room and Logan's combat classes were pretty much the only parts of his old training schedule he still bothered with anymore. He'd learned his lesson on Alcatraz: whether he wanted it or not, he'd been drafted into a war, and that meant he'd better get good at fighting.

The truth was he didn't enjoy the fighting part. Sure, the adrenalin rush was great, but the people-getting-hurt part still turned his stomach. On the other hand, he'd really started enjoying the "getting good" part. Like anything else, I guess... it's more fun once you get good at it.

"I'll even try not to trash the place this time," he adds ruefully as he waits for Josh to get ready. He still has no idea what happened the time he lost control in there, but it hasn't happened again since. For a while afterwards he'd refused to use the room with anyone else... if there had been another person in there that day Bobby would probably have killed them without meaning to, and that thought scared him silly.

But who knows? Maybe if he'd had company he wouldn't have lost control in the first place. Logan had suggested that possibility... or, well, he kinda had. Bobby'd never actually talked to Logan about the experience, but Logan had a way of talking about things he wasn't actually talking about, and sometimes he didn't actually talk at all, but that didn't mean he wasn't saying anything, or that Bobby wasn't listening. Which sounded weird when you put it in words like that. Which was probably why Logan didn't.

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Somehow Josh knows that the mention of the Danger Room would perk Bobby up. Things seemed to be following a pattern as of late: Bobby would put his foot into his mouth, Josh would ignore it. He wasn't sure really why he did.

It's because when I had to mourn, he was there to make me laugh when I needed it. Bobby's mourning something. I'm just not sure what. Josh breaks out of thought at Bobby's voice.

>"Sounds great! Hurry up, slowpoke! I'll even try not to trash the place this time."

"I'm coming - and hey - if you trash it, Dr. McCoy will just get to make it even better. He might even thank you for it." Josh rolls his eyes, hoping the two of them avoid a McCoy encounter on the way downstairs.

[this thread continues in the Danger Room]

[Bobby Drake]

((OOC: Picking back up again from "Alkali Revisited"... why, yes, I do enjoy wandering threads, why do you ask?))

Bobby wakes up in his bed, not quite sure how he got there but fairly sure Josh had something to do with it after he passed out in the Danger Room. I've really got to stop doing that. It gets old. He still feels like Jubes is setting off fireworks right behind his eyes, but it's slowly getting better thanks to industrial-strength painkillers. He sits up a little woozily, looks over at his alarm clock, sees Josh watching him anxiously.

"Hey..." he mumbles, "Looks like your roommate's gonna survive that one. No single for you this semester... hope you're not too disappointed." He grins weakly to make it clear that he's kidding, and swings his legs around to the floor.

"So, movie's still on, right? After that session I'm totally in the mood for some violent escapist fantasy. Go ahead and reserve tix, gimme a sec for a quick shower and I'll be ready to roll."

He reaches for his bathrobe, then stops and blushes, looking back at Josh as he remembers why he didn't take a shower that morning. I really ought to let Josh know I'm cool with it..., he thinks, not for the first time. But the words don't seem to come out, and he decides it can wait.

He slips on his bathrobe, grabs a towel, tosses his X-trunks in his clothes hamper. I so have to do laundry... those were my spare trunks. His mind skitters around the memory of how his first pair got dirty, then latches on to a memory from the Danger Room session to distract him.

He turns back to Josh. "Hey... was I delusional back there, or were you flying? You're just full of surprises today, aren't you?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh is laying on his bed thinking when Bobby comes back to the land of the living.

I wonder what Storm thought of this afternoon. There was so much flying through my head as the simulation ended, I forgot to ask how I did. Initially, I was enraged that she would even consider putting me into that situation, but I think it did some good… for all of us.

“Glad you’re up, Iceboy. You had me worried for bit there.” He has a smile on his lips, and gets up from his bed, plopping into his desk chair. “Good idea - it’s opening night! They’ll probably be pretty busy.” A mental image of Samuel L. Jackson fighting snakes pops into his head, and he laughs it away. “This movie is going to be hilarious.”

Suddenly, he freezes as the word “shower” is issued from Bobby’s mouth. Bobby, walking in on him and Warren, who were showering together, but not…. “together.” Right?

>"Hey... was I delusional back there, or were you flying? You're just full of surprises today, aren't you?"

Josh breaks his eyes away from his laptop screen, and looks at Bobby happily. “I know! I finally broke through whatever was keeping me from doing it! I guess I just had to think about it the right way. Warren took me flying this morning in the rainstorm…” he trails off. There I go bringing up Warren. Here it comes, Bobby’s probably been working on this one all afternoon.

[Bobby Drake]

> "Warren took me flying this morning in the rainstorm…"

Bobby's hand drops back to his side, towel-less. Maybe this is the right time, after all. "Um... yeah. About that. Sorry I, um... interrupted your, um, flying lesson this morning."

He closes his eyes tightly, trying to get rid of the image of Josh standing there with Warren's wings peeking out from behind the shower-stall walls, trying NOT to imagine what was going on where he couldn't see. It almost works.

Anyway, it's not like it has anything to do with Bobby, or like he's in any position to criticize. At least Warren wasn't busy trying to kill Josh at the time. Let he who is without sin, and all that. Which Bobby definitely isn't. Not that he's religious or anything... at least he didn't used to be. The Drakes were not exactly a churchgoing family. But on the other hand, if that night at Mimi's wasn't a sample platter of life in Hell, Bobby isn't sure what would be.

"Anyway... I, um, was just thinking, if you, um, guys need privacy or whatever, we could, you know," he tries for a casual shrug and gets something more like a spastic twitch, "set up a signal or something, a tie on the doorknob or something like that? So I don't, you know, walk in on, um, anything."

Great... yet another image Bobby needs to scour out of his head before it gets stuck in there.

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Dozens of double-entendres fly through Josh’s brain as Bobby pronounces the words “flying lesson”.

Nothing I say is going to make this sound any worse than it already is. But… it’s not bad. We weren’t doing anything! Well… Josh rolls things around in his head for a second.

“Bobby? You’ve got it all wrong. When we landed, I kind of botched it, and we slid through the mud, so we had to clean up. And Warren’s wings get windburned, so I was helping him put his stuff on them. Really.” Josh groans internally. This sounds like the plot of a bad porno.

>"…set up a signal or something, a tie on the doorknob or something like that? So I don't, you know, walk in on, um, anything."

Josh’s mouth drops open at Bobby’s words, and his brain kicks into high gear. Me and Warren… doing…. stuff? How does that even… work? Bobby’s totally jumping to conclusions here. All we did was take a shower because we were muddy! A little voice mocks him inside. Right. When was the last time you took a shower with another boy and gave him a pectoral massage?

He closes his mouth and sinks down onto the bed next to Bobby. “It… looked pretty bad, didn’t it? We weren’t... doing anything, but would you hate me if I told you, thinking back on it now, that I maybe wish something did?” He bites his lip, looking over at Bobby.

[Bobby Drake]

>"It… looked pretty bad, didn’t it?"

"Jeez, Josh, you want a rating? It's not like I have much basis for comparis --" Bobby starts out before realizing what Josh meant, then does a double-take and actually listens to what the boy was saying.

"You weren't? I mean, it really did look like you were... you know. I mean, you didn't even have the water running..." he trails off as Josh keeps talking.

> "would you hate me if I told you, thinking back on it now, that I maybe wish something did?”

Bobby blinks, a little hurt by the question, then sits down heavily. "Jeez, dude, I know I've been a jerk lately but have I really been that much of a jerk? You know what, actually, don't answer that. No, I don't hate you for being horny for our resident angel... though from what I hear you might have to take a number."

It occurs to him that he's being more than a little hypocritical here. After all, it's not like he's told Josh -- or, well, anybody -- about his little encounter with John at Mimi's. It's not the same thing, though. We weren't... that was just... it's not like we were dating or anything. He snorts at the idea, which would be funnier if it were less painful but is still pretty absurd, and his hand goes involuntarily to rub a blood-clot on his neck, which would be indistinguishable from a shaving nick if Bobby shaved.

After a long, awkward silence curiousity overcomes embarassment, and Bobby asks "Have you, ever? I mean, done, anything? with, anybody?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

He totally thinks that we were doing…. stuff in the bathroom. Josh is slightly outraged as he listens to Bobby. I would have at least locked the door! I hope he didn’t say anything to Warren about this. At the thought of Warren, something funny tries to kick its way out of Josh’s stomach. He looks over at Bobby for a few more seconds, until a thought dawns on him. Oh. My. God. You DO have a thing for Warren! He looks down at stomach as if betrayed.

>No, I don't hate you for being horny for our resident angel... though from what I hear you might have to take a number."

Josh looks up at Bobby, flinching at his words but not denying anything. Suddenly, Bobby’s last words hit him. “When you say take a number, do you mean in general, or are you thinking of someone in particular?” he can’t help but say, hating the way he sounds. Damn it, Josh. Shut up!

>"Have you, ever? I mean, done, anything? with, anybody?"

He gives Bobby a sidelong glance. “No, not like…. that. And not anything at all with any guys, either. You might say this one flew out of the sky.” He can’t help but give Bobby a crooked smile at that one. He’d kissed a couple girls at the Institute since he’d arrived, just over 3 years ago - but not much more than that. “What about you?” he asks, interested. Are Bobby and Rogue even going out anymore? I haven’t seen her around the room much lately. Bobby seemed to have hit a rough patch right around all that Cure business, coinciding with Rogue losing and getting her powers right back.