xp_logs | Miles & Bobby, backdated to Thursday, February 18

Miles finds Bobby ruminating on the latest manifestation of his powers, but Bobby has no interest in actually talking about it.

Classes were done for the day, so there was no need for Bobby to be sitting quietly at his desk with a textbook open, and yet, there he was. While he wasn't exactly poring over its contents, to anyone who knew him the mere fact that he was even looking at school work after classes would cause raised eyebrows and stares. There were exceptions for exam cramming and last minute assignments but neither of those applied today.

Instead, he just sat there, looking down at the pages of a history book, and every now and then he'd reach down and turn the page, pausing to examine his hand for a few seconds.

Miles thought it very strange that Bobby wasn't at his locker mere seconds after the last bell rang. He wasn't in the restroom, either. He hadn't finally gone too far with a prank and earned himself a detention, had he? Miles has halfway through writing a text to his roommate when he passed a classroom that was empty, save for one lone figure reading at a desk.

"Oh, there you are," he said, entering the room. "I was . . . is that a book? Are you reading?"

"Hmm?" Bobby looked up slowly and put a small grin on his face as he saw his roomie enter. "Oh, hey man. I, uh," He looked down at the book and blinked a few times. "Damn, I... think that I am. Huh. Whaddya know?"

He shut the book and looked up at the clock and blinked once again. "Lost track of the time too, shit." He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and squinted a little. "Guess I should head back to the room, maybe... do somethin'." What, exactly, he had no idea, however. Likely he'd just mope and try and figure out just how he'd done the whole 'turn partly into ice' thing.

If they hadn't spent a whole year now living together, Miles might have just taken it in stride and carried on. But the muted expression and forgetfulness were not Bobby at all, and that was worrying. He walked over to Bobby's desk, dropped his bag on the ground, and took the seat next to him. "You all right? You look a little . . . I dunno, not all here."

"Yeah, no, I'm fine." Bobby shook his hand a little before using them both to close his book. "Just got some stuff on my mind, you know how it is." He shrugged and reached for his bookbag, sliding the textbook inside of it before swiveling to better face his roomie. "Enough about me, how're you doin', dude?"

"No, actually, I don't," Miles responded seriously. "The only things ever on your mind are 'when's dinner?' or how can you be a fart ventriloquist. What's going on? Bad grade? Oh, did you ask out Andrea and she said no? I knew it. She's such a b . . . bad person. I don't know why you'd even ask her in the first place, bro."

"Nah, that's not it, and you totally could do that if you ate enough beans and stuff. Which reminds me, what is for dinner, heh?" Bobby chuckled a little then sighed, sensing that Miles wasn't about to let up on him or drop it. "It's just some powers shit, from that last incident, y'know. Trying to wrap my head around stuff." That and a whole lot of worrying about 'what ifs.'

Miles scooted his seat closer, wincing a bit at the loud sound of the chair feet scraping against the linoleum floor. He glanced around to make sure they were alone before leaning in. "What sort of powers stuff? Are you . . . you're not, like, sensing weird magic and stuff like Maya is, are you? Should we call Amanda or Topaz?"

"Nah, it's ok, really, I just." Bobby remembered where they were and how inappropriate a topic it was given that, plus he didn't really want to talk about it anyway, even with Miles. Which, he knew, meant he really should find someone to talk about it with if it was that serious.

"It's just a... a thing." He tried to think of a way to discuss it innocuously without actually talking about his powers. "With my thing, y'know?" Blink. "I mean, not my thing thing, just my... my other thing."

Miles shook his head. "Come on, coño, just tell me what's going on. Maybe I can help with your thing. Not your thing thing," he teased, trying to put Bobby at ease. "Not unless I get like really drunk. I'm open-minded but, you know. There's limits sometimes. So what is it?"

"It's just..." Bobby paused and looked around to make sure no one else was around or within earshot. "during our last little... event, I guess." He wasn't sure what else to call it. "I kinda... went... icy. As in, parts became made out of ice." It was a difficult concept to grasp himself and he didn't know if he was being clear or not, but it was clearly freaking him out a little.

That was new, and Miles didn't have to feign surprise for that revelation. "'Became made out of ice' how? Like, you actually turned into ice? How? That doesn't make any sense. The kind of energy that'd need . . ." Miles stopped himself before he exhausted his meager knowledge of AP physics. Which didn't do the least bit of good for explaining any mutant powers, anyhow. "Does it . . . did it hurt?"

"Dude I have no idea, it just kinda happened. And it didn't, I just got freaked out about getting it back to normal." He sighed and looked around once more before continuing. "I mean, if it broke or I dunno melted or... or... what if... gah." Bobby shook his head and reached down for his bookbag. "Eff it, we should just go home and play video games or something." Anything other than talking about Serious Business.

Red flags waved and alarms blared in Miles's head. Not his spider-sense, just common sense. (And he inwardly grimaced at that turn of phrase.) "Sounds kind of important," he said. "Maybe you should talk about it with someone, like Scott? I mean . . ."

Whatever he meant to say, he was interrupted before he could verbalize them. A knock at the door, followed by a polite cough, called their attention. A young woman about their age stood at the entrance to the room. Pale skin, brown hair tied in a French braid, holding a thick textbook closely to her, as if afraid it would escape her clutches. "Hey, Miles, Bobby," she greeted, eyeing them with suspicion tinged with amusement. She knew the pair of them well enough to be leery of them. "What's up?"

"Becky, hey!" Miles stood up to greet his girlfriend. "I thought you had dance class today."

"Teacher's out sick this week. Which is fine, I have an English paper due on Friday, anyway."

"Becks! Beckinator! Becky Becky Bo Becky!" Bobby gratefully seized upon the opportunity to change gears. "Miles was just telling me about how awesome you are, naturally." He grinned and clapped his buddy on the back. "Weren't you, Milesy?" He knew they'd have to talk about this some more once they were back home but for now he was glad to deflect, deflect, deflect.

And the look Miles gave Bobby made it clear that he should make the most of this temporary reprieve. "I was talking about how we slayed the physics lab the other day," he told her. Were he not so concerned with Bobby, he might have worried how easy it was to lie about anything having to do with being a mutant. "Las físicas me duelen."

Becky groaned and pouted, eliciting a smile from Miles. "Ohmygod, I've never wanted a class to be over with so much," she complained. "No more pendulums!"

"Right? Pendulums, who needs 'em, whatever they are." He was only partly kidding as Bobby wasn't quite sure what they were exactly but whatever. "You guys should totally talk about that though, I'll give you some space and bounce, 'bout time I headed home anyway." He could ruminate more back in his room, and Miles would be along soon enough he knew.

Becky hooked her arm around Miles's and laid her head on his shoulder. "You can work on the lab report while I do my essay," she suggested.

"It's supposed to be a group effort, not just one person's work," Miles countered. His posture started to relax at his girlfriend's touch, and his smile softened from one of amusement to affection. He kissed her forehead.

"And my contribution to the group is to manage it. You go write and draw the diagrams, and I'll manage you. That sounds fair to me. Don't you think so, too, Bobby?"

"Sure, he has to be at your Beck and call, right?" Bobby said with a smirk. "That's what boyfriends do, or so I'm told, heh." He got to his feet and put his books away, then slung his bookbag over his shoulder. "You guys have fun, but not too much fun, 'k? Always a pleasure, Becks, and see you back home Milesy."

"I don't know how you put up with those jokes all the time!" Becky was still smiling fondly, though, even as Bobby left.

Miles watched him go, keeping his smile, too, so he wouldn't belie his concern. This wasn't over, though.

"When you're lucky enough to get a roommate like him," Miles said, pulling Becky closer, "You'll put up with a lot."