A little scene just a few minutes ago that EVERYONE saw

[canstillkickass.livejournal.com]

“Okay, sugah, see you later,” Rogue said, grinning, and turned and walked away down the hall. Julian watched her go, a smile touching his face. Then he began walking in the opposite direction.

All in all, he thought, life is good.

Not counting the crystallized water colliding with the back of his unsuspecting head.

Pain blossomed like it was early spring, branching to his temples. He spun, eyes narrowing and searching for the offender. The ball of ice hit the floor some few feet away, breaking and sliding back to him, a few sparkling cubes bumping into Bobby Drake's toes.

Julian's lips curled into a smile, hands already out and cyan energy cupped in his palms. "Did you want something, Drake?" He asked, and Bobby's face twisted into something ugly and full of rage.

The air grew cold and ice streaked its way towards Julian, coming closer and closer. He slid a shield up effortlessly, pushing out, and shards blasted down the hallway, the brunt of them throwing Bobby on his back.

Julian hovered over him, taunting. "Is that all you got, Iceman?"

With a roar, Bobby lunged, ignoring the frightened yells of his classmates. Julian laughed and flew out of the way, throwing a meek blast to send the X-Men onto his face and into his own melting ice.

Huffing and face red, Bobby rolled over, outstretching his arms. Glimmering sheets of thin ice speared towards the telekinetic, jagged and deadly. That shit-eating grin faltered and this time Julian flinched as the ice pounded against his shield, shoulders hunching slightly.

Bobby used the opportunity to stagger to his feet, lungs sore and head heavy with pain and anger.

"That was better." Julian remarked, waving his hand. Bobby flew back, hitting the wall bone-jarringly hard. "This might be a challenge..." With another careless flick of his wrist, Bobby met the floor. "Or not."

Julian's feet rested inches away from Bobby's littered form. Hands found the wet tiles, and he hardly noticed the blood dripping to mix with slippery water and cold chunks of ice. Weakly, he pushed, lifting his head to meet an amused set of blue eyes. "Tell me," he continued, "this wouldn't be about Rogue, would it?"

His muscles screamed, but no pain could have stopped his fist from slamming into Julian's smug smile.

He fell back with the force, lip splitting.

Bobby grabbed for his collar just as Julian punched his gut, taking away his breath. With another blast of telekinetic energy, Bobby was on his back again.

Julian paused to wipe the flowing blood from his chin before looking down. "Don't worry about her, ice. I'm taking care of her, including all the ways you couldn't."

Bobby paid no attention to the students rushing up behind him, exclaiming in shocked voices at the boy who had once been Scott-in-training losing his temper and his control. All he could see was the cocky, malicious smirk above him, and all he could hear was Jubilee’s voice in his head: “You really should try to move on. I mean, Rogue’s already moved on to kissing Julian, and – oh crap.”

He narrowed his eyes, wiped the blood from his face, and staggered to his feet. Julian looked surprised that he could even stand, but he wiped the expression from his face as quickly as it came.

“Oh, you want some more, do you?” he taunted, energy glowing in his hands.

A flicker of uncertainty crossed Bobby’s face, ever the good guy, the one who followed the rules. And then a familiar Southern accent floated over the sounds of the gathered students.

“What’s goin’ on?”

The uncertainty vanished, and he squared his shoulders. Solid, rough clumps of ice formed in his hand, the weight of the cold familiar and soothing. He raised his hand to throw them at deadly speed –

A large, strong hand grasped his arm, and firmly lowered it by his side.

Bobby turned to glare at Piotr, trying to wrench his arm from his grasp.

“Pete, let me go,” he hissed.

Seizing the distraction, Julian threw another blast. It hit Bobby square in the gut, and he gasped and stumbled back, Piotr’s solid form behind him the only thing that stopped him from falling.

“That’s enough!” an angry male voice barked. The spectators parted and Mr Summers stalked through, placing himself between Bobby and Julian.

He turned to Julian. “Mr Keller. Go straight to my office. Don't think that this will go unpunished.”

Julian nodded sullenly, and threw one last smirk at Bobby, who struggled against Piotr’s arm furiously. Julian simply laughed and moved away, leaning against a wall behind the small crowd, out of Mr Summers’ line of sight.

Mr Summers looked over at Bobby, disappointment written over his set jaw. Bobby felt himself sag, defeated, ashamed and embarrassed at the scene he had caused and the way he had let his mentor down.

“Piotr, take Bobby down to the infirmary,” Mr Summers ordered. “I’ll deal with him later.”

He looked at the gathered students, who were staring at Bobby with wide eyes. “All of you, keep moving. Get to wherever you're supposed to be, or go outside. Don’t make me give everyone detentions.”

Muttering amongst themselves, they dispersed and slowly began to move away. Piotr put his arm around his friend, supporting him, and they began to walk towards the infirmary, the students giving them a wide berth. Jubilee walked out of a door on their left, and when she saw Bobby, her eyes widened and she rushed up to him.

“Are you okay? What happened?” she asked, concerned.

“I’m fine,” Bobby snapped, wincing as he limped along.

“You’re not fine,” she retorted, falling in step with the two boys. “I’m coming with you. I don’t care if you don’t want me there – Dr McCoy’s at a meeting now anyway, and someone has to help stop you from bleeding all over the place until he gets back.”

Bobby said nothing, his face contorted with the effort of moving his screaming muscles. The three of them moved slowly and silently, until Bobby stopped abruptly.

“Bobby?”

Rogue stood a few metres away, gazing at Bobby, horrified and upset. All the anger, all the pain, all the hurt etched on his face was enough to make her want to hide upstairs in her room and cry.

“Let’s keep going,” he said to Piotr and Jubilee.

Rogue watched them struggle slowly past, opening her mouth to say something – but she couldn’t think of anything to say. The only one who looked back was Jubilee, who mouthed ‘Later,’ with an apologetic shrug.

She stood blankly in the emptying hall until a figure leaning casually against the wall caught her eye.

Julian gazed at her, the tiniest hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

Rogue marched up to him and slapped him smartly across the cheek. “You can be such a jerk sometimes, Julian,” she snapped, and stormed off.