Baroque and Blue

Posted on Fri Feb 23rd, 2024 @ 9:43am by Bobby Drake & Iris Walker

2,655 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 4: The Savage ConneXion
Location: X-Mansion
Timeline: August 25th, 1990

When she had first arrived at the mansion, Iris had quickly found the little study rooms near the library. Since she did t want to annoy people in the dorms- who knew when other people liked to sleep- she had decided to use them as practice rooms. Usually, she closed the door so others could study in peace, but there wasn’t a soul around today, so she left the door open. She could always close it later if someone showed up.

After assembling her flute, she ran through a few scales to warm up, then pulled out her copy of Bach’s Badinerie. It was one of her favorites and the way she played it showed this. She would never get tired of it.

Normally Bobby held no interest in the library wing. Today was a lackadaisical day and he was ambling aimlessly about the mansion when he was taken by a beautiful melody. Something about it touched him inside. He followed its sound to a study room where he saw Iris playing a flute. It was ... Bobby didn't know what it was. All he could do was just stand at the doorway and listen.

Given that Iris was half turned away from the door, she didn’t immediately notice that she had an audience. Instead, she just kept playing, fingers flying through the notes that they had memorized long ago with little effort from her. Only when she finished and subconsciously turned towards the door did she spot Bobby there. “Oh, hello!” she said. “Sorry, am I too loud? I can close the door if you like.”

Bobby had been engrossed by the music and gave a startled jump when Iris spoke to him. "Uh... no. No, actually, it was... nice." Anticipating some form of resentment for being watched unawares, Bobby made to leave. "Sorry to bother you. I was just passing by. I'll go now."

“It’s okay,” Iris assured him. “If I didn’t want people to listen, I’d have shut the door.” Then her face turned puzzled. “Hey, wait. You could see me before I said anything. That’s new.”

"Is it?" Bobby was still a little unfamiliar with Iris's power. She hadn't been around the mansion very long before he disappeared. "Maybe it was the music. I heard it, so I saw you." She looked a little young but she wasn't unattractive. Bobby kept his usual flirt game on hold. "You're pretty good, actually. I think I've heard that tune before but I don't know what it is." He paused while something like wonder stirred in his chest. "Would you mind if I listened some more?"

“Sure,” replied Iris. “Got any requests? I’ve got quite a lot of music, but most of it’s classical.”

Oh, wow. All he wanted was to sit and listen to her play, but now she was asking him. Classical? Bobby thought for a moment. "Do you know Moonage Daydream?"

“I don’t think that’s exactly classical,” replied Iris with a grin. “Closest I can come is Jethro Tull. That’s before our time. Well, I guess not really. I was born the year Locomotive Breath came out.”

"Whatever you want." Bobby's cheeks flushed a little bit that he chose poorly but he still wanted to hear more. "I'm not picky."

Iris simply grinned. Instead of more classical music, she decided to play some of the pop stuff she had just for fun. She quickly flipped through her book until she found just the right piece and launched into "The Pink Panther".

When Bobby recognized the familiar tune, he returned her grin. His shoulders started rising and falling to the beat. As Iris got into the song and the tempo picked up, Bobby started sliding around on his feet in an improv dance number.

If Bobby was enjoying her music, she saw no reason she couldn’t enjoy his dancing. She had to keep glancing back and forth because she didn’t have this one memorized yet. It was a bit too illogical to be easily memorized. The chromatics always confused her when trying to play from memory.

Bobby momentarily lost himself in the shuffling quick-step. His hands were waving freely and his eyes closed while his mouth spread in a dopey grin. A quick spin put him nearly in front of Iris. The increase in volume alerted Bobby to the proximity. He opened his eyes and saw he was a closer than any dancing fool ought to be. "Sorry..." he mouthed silently, not wanting to interrupt the music.

She merely nodded in response. She had been on the verge of calling out to him, but he’d caught himself in time. So she merely finished the tune. “That was fun!” she said. “If there’s ever a talent show, we should totally enter.” She was, of course, half joking, but it actually had been fun.

"I was just playing around," Bobby said meekly. "You're good though. Really good. You must have played your whole life."

“Not quite,” replied Iris. “Only… seven years. Wow. I hadn’t realized it had been so long. But I really love it and I’m obsessive about getting stuff just right, so I practice a lot.”

Bobby knitted his brow. "Seven years? Just how old are you?"

“Nineteen,” she answered. “I know I don’t look it. I’ve never looked my age. When I was twelve, people thought I was six!”

"Nineteen?" Bobby repeated incredulously. That... that was his age. How had he not known that already? And he'd danced in front of her like a total idiot? He hadn't even pulled off his moonwalk! "Yeah, I'm not the biggest either..." What the hell was that? Shut up, Bobby! "Still, you should keep it up. The fluting... or whatever you call it. You're really good." He'd said that already. Quit babbling!

“Fluting will do, I suppose,” she replied. “I don’t know what else to call it anyway. You should keep dancing; you’re pretty good.”

Bobby laughed at that. "It's just something I do sometimes. If you like it, play something else. I can only make it happen when the mood strikes me." He winked at her. "Not like ice."

Iris giggled. “Imagine never having to leave the hotel room for ice!” she said. “And your drink would never get cold. That’s so useful. All I do is go unnoticed. Unless I’m playing my flute, apparently. Oh!” she added suddenly. “Maybe it’s because music is meant to be heard, so if I play my flute, it’s like calling attention to myself. Or something like that.”

There was more that Bobby could do with ice than those things but not all them were exactly wholesome. He kept those flexes to himself. "Well, here. I'll close my eyes while you keep quiet. If you start playing and I suddenly notice you, then we'll know for sure." He closed his eyes and spun in a circle.

Dutifully, Iris stood still and concentrated on making no noise.

Bobby opened his eyes and blinked. For all he could tell, Iris was gone. "Okay, if you're still here, I can't see you..." Part of him wondered whether she was pranking him and had run away while he was twirling around like a stupid asshole.

Once she was sure he couldn’t see her, she raised her flute to her lips and began playing again, this time Baby Elephant Walk.

As soon as the music started, Iris blipped back into Bobby's view. "Whoa!" he yelled, taking a disorienting step backward. "That was wild!"

And then, Iris couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing. His reaction had been so surprised, it caught her off guard. “Well, now I know,” she said once she could finally get a breath. “Now I’m tempted to sneak into board rooms and just randomly play the flute at them.”

"Iris, you might crazy." Bobby laughed along with her. "But that would be awesome!"

“We should write to Candid Camera,” she suggested. “I haven’t seen much out of them in awhile. This would make a great prank for them.”

Bobby laughed even more at that. "Sure! Just as soon as Professor Xavier kicks you out of the X-Men. We're supposed to keep a low profile."

“Oh, right,” said Iris, still grinning. “That pesky stay out of trouble rule. Gets in the way all the time.”

"Tell me about it," Bobby groaned. "Someone's always in my craw about something."

“Eh, just start hanging around with me,” she said jokingly. “I’m a good influence.”

Bobby laughed at her obvious joke, but part of him wondered if she was serious. "Yeah? Maybe I will. But how would I find you? You're the queen of hide and seek."

“I’ll find you, don’t worry,” she replied in a tone reminiscent of a super hero promising a girl that she would see her kitty cat again soon.

"Uh..." Bobby blushed a little bit at that thought of her sneaking up at the wrong time. "Just knock first, ok?"

Iris held up a hand. “I have brothers,” she said. “I know all about knocking first.”

It was a sordid confession and a lewd joke rolled into one she didn't even blink. "You're a pretty cool babe, you know?" He laughed at his own joke.

“Oh, I know,” replied Iris, feigning narcissism. “I’m definitely the coolest.”

"Hey, that's my line!" Bobby said in mock protest. "You can use it but you owe me a royalty."

“Will a high five every time be sufficient?” she offered.

Bobby held up his hand. "Deal." He let out a chuckle. "Don't leave me hanging now!"

Iris giggled, and stretching to her highest height, slapped her hand against his. “I’m really short,” she reminded him with a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm not the tallest guy either," said Bobby. Being four inches shorter than Warren, Hank, and Alex and more than half a foot shorter than Scott actually made Bobby the shortest of the original X-Men, aside from the girls who weren't far behind. "What do they say about the smallest packages though? They're the best or something."

“Damned straight!” replied Iris with a grin. “Plus, you’re a lot taller than me!”

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Are you saying your package is better than mine because you're shorter?" He turned beet red as soon as the words came out. "Um. Don't answer that. I take it back."

Iris only laughed, a very child-like sort of belly laugh that made her eyes scrunch up in mirth. “I won’t touch that one with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole!” she promised once she could catch her breath.

"Yeah, story of my life." Bobby laughed, too, though the self-deprecating joke took a little bit of wind out of his sails. "40ft distance at all times."

“Sometimes I feel like I’m 40 feet away from everybody and everything,” she added, grin still on face, although somewhat faded. “I’ve gotten used to it.”

"You?" Bobby's face was half pity, half understanding. "Yeah, I get that. I barely saw you around before... you know." Before the X-Men went missing. "But you can come bug me anytime, okay?"

“Better be careful what you wish for,” she warned him mischievously.

Bobby gave her a thoughtful look, one of the rare ones he reserved for mission talk or meal planning. "I'm not worried," he said. "Give me your best. Or your worst. However you look at it."

“Just knock first, right?” she teased.

"Right..." Bobby blushed furiously. Why had he even said that before?

“Hey, that was a great joke!” Iris pointed out, recognizing his embarrassment. “Own it!”

"Yeah..." Bobby actually blushed a little. "Yeah, I'll do that." He looked back to her flute and songbook. "You wanna' play something else?"

"I always want to play," she replied. She only flipped two pages before she came upon one of her favorite pieces, Baroque and Blue. She began playing it at once, skipping over the piano interludes as she had done in flute lessons.

It wasn't quite the same dancing number as before, but soon enough Bobby shifted his weight back and forth while shuffling his shoulders to the tempo. He closed his eyes to lose himself in the melody.

This time, there was no almost mowing her over, but she kept a close eye on things even so. She didn’t play the entire piece- it was so long- but she did play a good chunk of it. When she came to a good stopping point, she grinned at him again. “I love it when people enjoy my music,” she said.

"Then you should play more often," Bobby said with a smile. Not a smirk, not a grin, just an honest, wholesome smile. "I'll listen to you anytime."

“Good!” replied Iris brightly. “I’ll make you listen every time I practice, then.” She was, of course, teasing. But she did love having an audience. It was the one thing she missed from high school.

"I have no problem with that," Bobby said. And he really didn't. Maybe Iris wasn't a glamor queen but she really did have a touch of class in her, almost like royalty. He wondered why he'd never seen it before. Well, he'd never really seen her before due to her power. Maybe it was time for that to change. "We could hang out doing other stuff too..."

“I like movies,” Iris suggested. “And there’s an air hockey table in the rec room.”

Bobby grinned at her suggestions, given freely without a grimace or reluctant tone. "It's a date," he said without thinking. Once he had, though, he recoiled. "Uh, I mean. Sounds like a good time. I'll, um, yeah..." He scratched the back of his head and started angling backwards toward the door.

“No, I get it,” she told him. “A date between friends. Nothing more.”

"Wh-wh-what, uh, right..." Bobby began stammering. She wasn't repulsed by his faux pas. That was such a weird feeling that he didn't know exactly what to do with it. "That works for me." He chuckled in relief. "You up for a game or a movie now? Or did you need to practice longer?"

“Nah, I’m just messing around,” she answered, turning at once to return her flute to its case. “You got a preference?”

Bobby shook his head. "Nope. I can go either way. What do you want?"

“Hm,” she said, quickly swabbing out her flute. “I don’t know. Is there anything good playing?”

"I dunno..." Bobby shrugged. "You seen the ninja turtles movie yet?"

“No,” she answered. “My little brother would be so disappointed in me.”

"Really?!" Bobby's eyes grew wide. "I saw it like three times... before... you know." His face darkened ever so briefly at the reference to their ill-fated mission. "You'd love it! I bet we could still find it somewhere!"

“We’ll have to call all the theaters,” she said, snapping the case shut and gathering her music. “Is there a phone book around here?”

"Psshhh..." Bobby scoffed at that idea and waved it off. "The Prof has a kickass computer system that can run all that for us. Come on, I'll show you how to use it for extra-curricular activities."

“Is that allowed?” she asked skeptically. “Are the movie theaters even on there?”

Bobby just started chuckling mischievously. "Oh, Iris. Sweet, little Iris. Just wait til you find out what isn't on there."

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