Mutant X (comic) fic: "Overwhelmed" (featuring Bob Drake)

[eliyes]

Title: Overwhelmed
'verse/timing: Mutant X (comics canon AU)/ Mutant X #25, before the "Days Later..." time skip.
Characters: Ice-Man, Brute, others mentioned
Summary: Bob's reaction to what happened, to him and to Hank.


That first night -- after Brute returned Ice-Man to flesh and then lost his intelligence again, and after they realised that there was nothing they could do to reverse the regression -- that first night, Bob slept tangled in the pillow-heaped nest that Brute made of his bed. He wore a pair of borrowed boxer shorts, since he no longer kept normal clothes, and all night his skin brushed against fur and scales and Brute's warm, solid body. It was overwhelming -- Bob hadn't been able to touch another person without fatal consequences for years, and maybe he should have started slow, but Brute was so happy that Bob could "turn not-ice"... Even though he didn't really understand that he was the one who had freed Bob, Brute -- Hank -- was so happy to be able to hug his friend again. He had always been physically demonstrative, and for the first time since he'd been robbed of his genius, Bob was able to comfort him with touch, and he would not give it up.

Besides, Bob needed comfort, too -- needed to be overwhelmed. He was used to his life being unstable, but the changes of just the past week had been emotionally exhausting. Hank had recovered from his brain damage -- and then lost all he had regained. The accident which had caused it was revealed as sabotage on the part of the old Alex. The new Alex had had the chance to go home -- but had chosen to stay. And Bob had finally been cured, released from the lonesome prison of his own frozen body, in which he had been trapped since Loki had experimented on him.

It was just too much -- too much to think about, too many emotional upheavals in too short of a time. So he didn't try, that first night, after they faced the fact that there was nothing they could do for Brute. The only one who could have saved Dr. Hank McCoy was Dr. Hank McCoy, and he had not only known that, but he had consciously chosen to help his friends, instead. Brute couldn't really remember any of the details of that help, of that choice, but it had still been him. His love, his giving spirit. Next to that, Bob's own bitterness over the wasted years and the betrayal born of Alex's blind jealousy, his grief over what Brute had once again been reduced to, seemed selfish, even shameful. That only made him feel it all the more keenly.

That first night saw him dissolve into a sobbing wreck, cradled in his friend's arms. Just as he hadn't been able to touch, Ice-Man had been denied the release of tears for so long that now, he couldn't seem to stop. He couldn't even explain. He cried until the whole of his body ached; his head pounded; his eyes and throat burned; his face was raw and reddened. He clung to Brute, and Brute in turn curled around him, keening with worry and holding Bob tight so that he couldn't fly apart with the force of releasing so much, so fast.



Cross-posted to frozen_breaths.

Comments

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

wahhh!

but in a good way. I know the comic, and that ending was just heartbreaking -- and Bob might be a snarky bastard half the time, but he does love Hank, in whatever way works.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

I'd be a snarky bastard, too, if I had a life like his. I can't imagine how difficult coping with Brute's brain damage must have been, especially not being able to touch him, and blaming himself for the accident. In X-Factor, when Hank's intelligence started leeching away, Bobby responded by keeping up a cheerful outlook (sometimes too cheerful) and a lot of physical contact. Bob couldn't do that, in Mutant X. It must have been awful.