Title: Out of Balance
Fandom: X-Men
Pairings: Bobby/John if you squint.
Summary: Some unusual weather wreaks havoc with Bobby's powers.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm just borrowing them. Don't sue me.


While Bobby Drake would freely admit that he liked warm weather as well as anyone else, he didn't like the freakishly hot temperatures in the middle of May. It was supposed to be mild out, temperate and even, not a scorching 93 degrees. While heat like that early in the season bothered everybody, Bobby wasn't exactly like everyone else. Bobby's mutation was the manufacturing and control of ice, something that kept his natural body temperature at least ten degrees cooler than everybody else's.

So he sat in the back of his math class, ice rapidly melting on the back of his neck to mix with the sweat already running down his spine, struggling to keep his focus on what Scott was teaching. He wiped a hand over his eyes, drying it on his jean shorts and looked at the closed shades over the window. They did little to keep the room cool; Scott had already explained that the building wasn't used to such heat so early, and the air conditioning that was programed to come on at the beginning of June wasn't functioning properly.

And Bobby was really feeling the heat.

Beginning to feel nauseous, he put his arms on his open textbook and pillowed his head on them. Scott's voice was fading in and out of the background and he barely noticed when Kitty touched his shoulder. Taking shallow breaths because he honestly thought he was going to lose what little breakfast he'd eaten all over his book (which would cost him at least $90, no doubt) he looked up at her.

"Jeez, Bobby," she said, shrinking back. "You don't look good."

"I don't feel good," Bobby croaked. He took a few more deep breaths as the room swam, his body feeling overheated and out of whack. He could feel the darkness closing in on him, the rushing in his ears getting louder. "Kitty?"

She looked at him, almost afraid. "Yeah?"

"Can you get Mr. Summers? I think I'm going to pass out."

Kitty turned front, stood up and said very loudly, "Mr. Summers Bobby's going to pass out!"

Scott stopped mid-sentence and looked to the back of the room. Bobby was slumped over his desk, whiter than a piece of paper and very much passed out.

"Wrong, Pryde," Saint John Allerdyce said from the next row. "He's not going to pass out, he's gone."

"Enough, Allerdyce," Scott said, threading his way through the desks to get to Bobby. He put a hand on the student's clammy neck and found a rapid pulse. "Piotr, would you come here?"

Piotr stood up and walked quickly back to Scott.

"I need you to carry him down to Medical," Scott said. He turned to the rest of the students, knowing he had to go with Bobby, and said, "Class dismissed, but read the rest of the section and do the homework. There might be a quiz tomorrow." There was some cheering from the class as they grabbed their belongings and headed out for a longer break in the warm weather. "Kitty, find Hank and tell him to come down to Medical." He watched Kitty sprint through the wall before looking down at Bobby's still form. He wasn't sweating anymore and that was never a good sign. "Let's go, Piotr."

****

Bobby floated near the surface, not quite touching it but close enough to hear garbled voices and feel something cold and welcome flowing into his arm. The last thing he remembered was feeling so hot and stuffy, like his body was trying to burn him from the inside out. Now he felt almost normal; still a little overheated but nothing like before.

"Bobby? Can you hear me?"

He tried to turn his head away from the voice and found he couldn't.

"Bobby. Open your eyes."

That was Scott's voice, imperious as ever and more than slightly demanding. It wasn't his classroom voice, it was his 'I'm leader of the X-Men, you'd better do what I say' voice and Bobby forced his eyes open a crack, wincing immediately at the bright lights in Medical.

"There we go. Just a little more."

Jean's voice filled his ears, gentle coaxing and Bobby blinked, opening his eyes a little wider until the figures around his bed came into focus. Scott was on his right, with the massive blue figure of Hank McCoy. On his left was the Professor and Ororo. Semi-confused, he stared at the four of them and blinked.

"What do you remember?" Jean asked gently.

"Hot," Bobby mumbled. "R'lly hot."

"That's right, Bobby," the Professor said. "Your body wasn't made to stand such hot temperatures and not even your powers could keep you cool enough. That is why you fainted in Scott's class."

Bobby didn't have enough energy to protest the use of the word "fainted" and nodded instead.

"Piotr and Scott brought you down here," Jean said, trying to help the obviously confused young man piece it together. "We packed you with coldpacks and gave you an IV of cold saline. That seems to be working, but your body temperature is still a little high, sitting at about ninety instead of eighty-six." She fiddled with something that he couldn't see and he felt an increased pressure and coolness in his arm. "You need to stay here tonight so we can monitor any changes. Why don't you try and sleep?"

Nodding tiredly (it seemed to be the only thing he could do) he closed his eyes on the four of them and drifted off. Jean looked at him, a slight frown on her face. Hank's look mirrored her.

"We're not sure what affect this is going to have on his powers," Hank said, looking at the Professor. "It could be nothing, or it could be something." He shrugged.

"We'll keep an eye on him," the Professor said knowingly.

****

End of Part I

Continue on to Out of Balance Part II
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