Ignacio was static about spending time with Juliette. Over the course of about a month, the two solar/light mutants had bonded over various things that included their powers. Ignacio had made it his life's goal to be like Juliette when it came to her mutation. Though, Iggy failed to realize that mutations varied from person to person. 

Anyway

"Juliette, thank you for going to the pool with me! I know you're busy being gorgeous and a bomb ass nurse so it really means a lot." Ignacio ran his fingers through his hair as the two made their way toward the Mansion's pool. It was around 5:00 in the afternoon with at least three more hours of sunlight left. He was dressed casually in a pair of orange swim trunks, dark brown flip flops, and an ocean themed towel thrown over his shoulder.

Andy was on a mission.

No, he wasn’t on an actual mission - unfortunately - but he knew it was only a matter of time before he was allowed to help the X-Men in their efforts to make the world a better place. So long as he kept passing his classes and practicing his powers every day, he was a shoe-in to be an X-Trainee! At first, he thought he wouldn’t have a chance. After all, why would the team need a guy whose codename was Bubblehead? But then, during one training session in the Danger Room, he discovered he could do a lot more with his powers than breathe underwater and swim fast. He could push people away from him, too… with his mind!

But not very far. Or very hard...

He wanted to push people far and hard and into walls, and the only way to do that, he realized, was through practice. Lots and lots of practice. So there he was, in his favorite pair of Speedos, lying flat on his back at the bottom of the outdoor swimming pool with a look of concentration plastered on his face. His brows furrowed and his fists clenched, Andy pushed and pushed against the water that surrounded his body. Two feet? He could do better than that. He could…

Ugh. Andy winced. He had a splitting headache, and it only grew worse the more he tried to expand his psionic repulsion field… but he didn’t want to stop. He could do this. He could…

>> ”Juliette, thank you for going to the pool with me! I know you're busy being gorgeous and a bomb ass nurse so it really means a lot."

Andy gasped in surprise at the sound of someone approaching the pool and his field instantly shrunk back to its natural state, causing all the water he had been repelling to collapse on top of him. His head, however, remained perfectly dry. He sucked in a breath to readjust to the sudden depletion of oxygen and looked upwards to see who it was. He narrowed his eyes as he exhaled.

Whoever they were, he could either thank them for relieving him of his headache or yell at them for ruining his concentration. Neither option sounded good to Andy, and so he stayed at the bottom of the pool and pretended he wasn't there, unsure of what else to do.

Ever since their meeting in the spare office, Juliette had made a point to act as a mentor to Ignacio. She’d found him in a dark place, but with a little push, he’d seemed to be doing better during the past few weeks. More than that, he’d taken her advice and joined the X-Men as a trainee. Things were definitely looking up for the teenage sun god.

Since moving up from trainee herself, Juliette had done her best to work as a sponsor for him and try to teach him the ins and outs of having a light mutation. Of course, things were different between the two of them, but it still gave her a little bit of joy each time that she could share something she’d learned and see the payout from it. Really, there was no better feeling than seeing him strive. 

Of course, training wasn’t something that could happen 24/7. Every once in a blue moon, Juliette had some time off when she wasn’t training, teaching, working as a nurse, or hanging out with Booker, which meant that they could have a little bit of down time. She didn’t mind accompanying Iggy to the pool for a bit of extra sun time one bit. She had grand plans to sit and suntan for as long as she was able before heading back home to her and Becca’s apartment.

>>"Juliette, thank you for going to the pool with me! I know you're busy being gorgeous and a bomb ass nurse so it really means a lot."

Juliette grinned at Ignacio and shook her head as they walked out to the pool. She was dressed in a white bikini, barefoot as they walked outside. Shoes were for suckers. She shifted her towel between her hands as she replied, ”Sunbathing really isn’t a difficult sell, buddy,” she joked with a wide smile. They spoke the same language: sunshine and fresh air. 

Padding around the pavement surrounding the pool, she set her towel down on one of the chairs and turned to face the water as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. ”How’s all the training be-” she stopped mid sentence as she spotted something, or, rather, someone at the bottom of the pool. It looked like someone was just lying at the bottom. No one had been splashing when they’d arrived, and clearly, no one else had gotten in the pool. If that really was a person, then they’d been down there for far too long to be alright. 

”Iggy, we need to get him out of the pool,” Juliette said hurriedly as she stepped toward the edge of the pool. She didn’t have lifeguard training, but she did have CPR training. If she could get him out of the pool, then she would be able to navigate from there. Expecting the young trainee to follow after her, she dove into the water and swam toward where the boy was.

So much for some relaxing sunbathing.

>> "Sunbathing really isn’t a difficult sell, buddy,”

Ignacio giggled happily at Juliette's joke. He was so filled with glee that he added an extra pep to his step, "as if we need to tan,"he playfully nudged his sponsor/friend. Then he paused, "wait, can we tan? I mean with us being all light-powered and all." Ignacio didn't think he had the capability to tan, but then again, he didn't know a lot about his powers.

>> "How’s all the training be-”

He had been studying the side of Juliette's face, waiting for a response when she stopped walking and stared directly into the pool. "What?" Ignacio turned his head to see what the off duty nurse was staring at. Ignacio's eyes went wide as he let out a dramatic gasp. He covered his mouth and felt himself welling up. "Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God!" The eighteen-year-old could feel himself start to tear up at the thought of their being a dead body at the bottom of the pool.

>> "Iggy, we need to get him out of the pool,”

Iggy was frantic! Flailing about while exclaiming Spanish phrases and strings of sentences that didn't exactly go together. However, he for himself together and went into X-Men Trainee mode. He followed her into the pool and dived downward under the surface. Since they were still in the shallow in of the pool, Ignacio was able to push off of the bottom of the pool and propel himself towards the body. God, what if he was already dead? Then Iggy would be touching a dead body! He quickly smacked the thought out of his mind and attempted to pick him up.

He was a pretty good swimmer and could hold his breath up to a minute. Ignacio knew that he had to work fast and even though his vision was blurry and his eyes were burning from the chlorine in the water he had to keep focus. Quickly, he reached out for the guy's hand and attempted to pull him up.

Two figures appeared above him, looking down at the water… at him. He narrowed his eyes, trying to make out who they were or what they were saying, but he hadn’t the slightest clue. There were a lot of women at the mansion with long dark hair and tan skin, as were there many men with short dark hair and tan skin. Well, it was only a matter of time before he had to come up for air, he realized. Might as well resurface now, say hi, and be on his way to the indoor pool so he could continue training in peace....

With a sigh, Andy peeled his back off the pool floor and lifted his arms. He was about to swim up to the surface when, all of a sudden, two people jumped into the pool. No, they dove into the pool… right towards him! Within seconds, he felt a hand wrap around his, pulling him up to the surface, and Andy - of course - flew into a panic.

What the hell is going on!?

For all he knew, these people could be the NYPD, coming to arrest him for being a destructive mutant… and seeing as he lost control of his powers in the bathroom the other day, it was a total possibility. But he wasn’t ready to be taken. Not without a fight, anyway.

Without giving it a second thought, Andy generated a psionic repulsion field around his free hand and thrusted it directly at whoever grabbed him. Hopefully, that’d make them let go, at the very least.

Juliette could swim, but she wasn’t anything particularly amazing. She was a little better on land than on water. She also knew that as much as she could pretend to be independent and fight for feminism, this really wasn’t the time. Ignacio would have an easier go of trying to pull the boy out of the water, so she let him go ahead and grab him. Hopefully, they would be able to pull him out in time.

She had reached her hand out behind Ignacio to grab the boy as well, but as she did, she was blasted backwards. She’d never felt anything like it; it was like water being blasted at her from the boy. It was likely his mutation. Whatever it was, it had pushed her into the side of the pool so hard that she would likely have a bruise the next day.

The force of the blast had knocked the air right out of her. As quickly as she could manage, Juliette swam to the surface and gulped for air. There was something else going on there, clearly. In a school full of mutants, the likely answer was that it was, in fact, his mutation. What she couldn’t figure out was whether it was his body trying to protect itself instinctively or whether he was freaking out and lashing out at them. If it was the former, then he could still be in danger and unable to breathe. Either way, he needed to come out of that pool.

She wasn’t about to dive back down unprotected, though. Juliette glanced around for Ignacio as she shifted into her light form. ”I’m not sure what’s going on, but we need to get him out as soon as possible. He could still be drowning,” she said hurriedly. 

With that extra protection, she dove back down with her arm stretched forward. Her light form was magnified by the water, which interrupted the light waves and made patterns dance along the sides of the pool. She hadn’t waited for Ignacio, figuring that he would follow behind her. Now was the time to see whether his X-Men training was doing anything at all.

Ignacio felt the blast of energy hit him and let out a grunt. A few carbon dioxide bubbles erupted from his mouth and up to the service. Unlike Juliette. Ignacio was simply pushed to the other side of the pool. After he got himself together, he shot toward the surface and took in a few breaths of oxygen. He hoped that Jules was okay. The X-Men Trainee snapped his head to look at the older mutant as she resurfaced. Once again, Iggy was blessed by Juliette's light form.

>> ”I’m not sure what’s going on, but we need to get him out as soon as possible. He could still be drowning,”

He nodded his head. "You got it, Firefly!" Ignacio looked up at the Sun that was shining down and lifted his arms. His tanned skin turned black and multicolored flames danced around his pitch black body. After taking in a deep breath, Tonutiah dove underneath the surface and swam toward the drowning boy. Both of the light that was coming off of the two light mutants made it seem like they were having an underwater rave.

Tonutiah swam around the front of the boy and wrapped his arms around the guy's waist and headed toward the surface. Once the broke the the surface, he made his way toward the side of the pool. "I have him, Firefly!"

Andy wasn’t used to using his psionic repulsion fields offensively. Before coming to Xavier’s, he only ever used them to better his swimming – to enhance his speed underwater and reach deeper depths than the average human could withstand. So, when the man who grabbed his hand was suddenly blasted backwards by him, Andy was just as surprised as he was relieved. I did it! he thought with a grin as a twinge of pride crept into his being.

The feeling was short-lived, however, as he remembered there were two of them. Spinning around, Andy found himself face-to-face with a woman who reached out both hands as though to grab him. Capture him. Instinctively, Andy did the same to her as he did to the man, shoving her away with his powers, then quickly swam back down to the bottom of the pool, where he felt safer. More powerful.

With a twitch of his brow, Andy expanded the 'bubble' surrounding his head and drew a deep breath of fresh oxygen. So long as he remained in his element, he would be fine. Or so he thought...

Suddenly, the woman turned into what looked like pure light, nearly blinding him. She's a mutant!? Andy stared at the bright woman through squinted eyes, confused, scared and amazed all at once. Since when did mutants hunt down other mutants? And why was he being hunted in the first place? All he did was flood one bathroom, which he cleaned up. It wasn’t like he hurt anyone. He didn’t deserve this!

The woman dove back down and swam towards him at a much faster speed than before. Heart jumping, Andy let out a yelp of fear and propelled himself to the opposite end of the pool… right towards the man, who was now engulfed in what looked like multicolored flames!

“Ahhh!” he screamed frantically as the man wrapped his flaming arms around his waist and pulled him back up to the surface. Overtaken by fear, Andy flailed his arms and legs, trying to break free as though his life depended on it, but it was helpless. The man was too strong and… not burning him? It was more of a warm feeling, if anything, Andy concluded as he curiously glanced down at the strange, waterproof flames that coated the man’s chiseled, coal-black body. But that didn’t mean he was safe… Far from it!

“Why are you doing this?” Andy spat out, in a desperate tone, as the man dragged him toward the pool’s edge. “I didn’t hurt anyone! I’m innocent, I swear!”

Once Ignacio confirmed the fact that he had the boy in his grasp, Juliette felt alright switching forms. The last thing she wanted to do was get too hot and end up boiling the pool water just because she didn’t want to end up with more bruises. What they needed to do was make sure that he was alright, after all, and she couldn’t very well do that if she was afraid of touching him in her light form.

Back in her human form, Juliette swam quickly over to where Ignacio was pulling the boy onto the side of the pool. He was thrashing and talking, which were both clear indicators that he wasn’t choking on water or unconscious. They had just pulled a boy out of the water, who had either been drowning and didn’t want to be saved, or had been perfectly fine all along. Maybe he’d been playing with his mutation?

”Hey, hey,” Juliette spoke in a soothing tone over his yelling as she swam up to them. She climbed onto the side of the pool and grabbed his thrashing hands, meeting his eyes as she tried her best to be a calming influence. Bedside manner was, thankfully, one of her strong suits.

Was he calling out about not hurting anyone, though? Asking why they were doing that? There had obviously been some sort of misunderstanding between them. They were not trying to hurt him or reprimand him; quite the contrary, actually. That was the thing about the mansion, though. They got kids from all over the place who often came from troubled backgrounds and were afraid of various things. She hadn’t actually seen the boy before, either. There was a high chance that he was new. If she had known that he wasn’t actually choking on water, then maybe they could have gone about things differently.

”We’re not trying to hurt you,” she told him honestly, leaning over him and doing her best to sate his need cause them physical harm. ”Scout’s honour. Ask anyone - I’m the nurse here. I thought you were drowning.” It was good to see that he wasn’t drowning, though, even if it meant that he was angry at them for pulling him out. ”I’m Juliette and this is Ignacio. Can you tell me your name?”

"Que?" Iganico knitted his eyes in confusion and let the guy go once they were out of the water. He looked to Juliette, then back to the not-drowning dude. "We are trying to save your life!" Iggy's immediately went back into his "normal" form; the only thing mutated is his kaleidoscope eyes. He turned his attention back to Juliette as she started to try and comfort him.

>> ”We’re not trying to hurt you...Scout’s honour. Ask anyone - I’m the nurse here. I thought you were drowning...I’m Juliette and this is Ignacio. Can you tell me your name?”

"...And I'm the hottest guy at the Mansion." He added with a giggle. Iggy was better now that Juliette was able to at least get him under control. "Just kidding! Sort of."

>> "Que?"

The man-on-fire finally let him go once they were out of the pool, and Andy’s instincts told him to get up and run. He wasn’t as quick on his feet as he was in the water, but what other choice did he have? He wasn’t about to just let himself get captured. Where was everyone, anyway? Where were the X-Men? Andy was about to cry for help when the man whose flaming body hovered over him threateningly said something that made him wrinkle his brows in confusion.

>> "We are trying to save your life!"

Now it was his turn to say, “Que?” Maybe it was a trick? Andy thought, backing away slowly. “Do I look like I need--” In less than a second, the man shifted to his normal form. Maybe ‘normal’ wasn’t the right word…

Time stopped, and for a brief moment all Andy could do was stare, wide-eyed, at the stunningly beautiful man before him. What was I saying again? Andy thought as he watched the small beads of water trail down his chest and into his swim trunks. Look up! his brain screamed, forcing his gaze upwards. That didn’t make him any less aroused, however. The man’s eyes were radiant, if not glowing. “Uhh…”

>> ”We’re not trying to hurt you. Scout’s honour. Ask anyone - I’m the nurse here. I thought you were drowning.”

Andy finally found himself able to speak when the woman who had been chasing him in the pool appeared in front of him. She looked a lot less threatening now that she didn’t look like a human firefly… “Oh...” Realization hit Andy like a stream of cold water. Then came the embarrassment. “My bad… I thought you were trying to arrest me.” It sounded even stupider out-loud. Ugh.

>> “I’m Juliette and this is Ignacio. Can you tell me your name?”

Embarrassment lingered inside of him, especially after Ignacio called himself the hottest guy at the mansion, though he tried not to let it show. Flashing a friendly smile at the both of them, he replied, “I’m Andy.” Uncontrollably, his gaze settled onto Ignacio, who really wasn't lying about his appearance... “Ignacio is a cool name,” Andy said, his smile wide, before remembering they were not the only two people in existence. “So is Juliette,” he quickly added.

Did he look like he needed help? Well, honestly, yes. When they’d first arrived at the pool, the boy had really seemed like he was in trouble. Maybe people ignored people sitting at the bottom of a pool where he was from, but they didn’t in Juliette’s world. She may have reacted too fast and too intensely, but she figured that option was better than turning a blind eye and letting someone drown. Even if said person seemed to have a very different opinion on the matter.

He’d come off as bitter and defensive as soon as he started talking, but soon enough his eyes focused on something else. For a second, Juliette’s mind flashed to something that was easy to assume: she was leaning over him in a bikini top and he was a teenage boy. However, it only took her a second to realize that his eyes definitely weren’t focused on her. Ignacio was standing behind her, dripping wet and shirtless.

The nurse shook her head and released all the boy’s limbs so that he could move as he pleased. Leave it to two teens to get distracted from a life and death situation by each other. She raised brown eyebrows for a second and crossed her arms as she took a step back.

”Arrest you? What for?” she queried. There was absolutely no reason for them to arrest him, and they didn’t even have the power. She could see that it might be a fear for a student coming from a tough background, but it wasn’t something to be afraid of at the mansion. Teachers going off the edge, mutation-misfires, and general teen angst, yes, but being arrested? Definitely not.

By the time that that was out of the way, the boy had settled down enough to introduce himself as Andy. True to his rapidly evolving form, he seemed to be drawn into Ignacio’s name rather than anything else. She chuckled quickly and shook her head as he complimented her quickly, having caught onto the fact that he was trying to deflect. ”Well thank you, Andy, but you’re right, Ignacio is a bit cooler.” She shot a glance back at the student who was beginning to feel more like a kid brother.

With everything in the clear, Juliette glanced back at the pool and then the new student. ”So how long have you been at the mansion?”

Ignacio watched the conversation between Juliette and Andy with a smile on his face. He knew that the guy was checking him out which caused him to giggle lightly. He didn't need his gaydar to know this. When Juliette introduced him, he gave a happy wave. "Aww! Thank you! I think my name is pretty, cool too." Iggy gave the boy a wink before standing to his feet. He took in a deep breath as he felt the warm Sun on his back. That always made him feel better.

Andy was attractive to say the least, making Iggy bit his lip. His kaleidoscope eyes scanned over his wet body and let out a giggle. Iggy turned to look at Juliette and gave her a little look. "Juliette is a wonderful name." He blew a kiss to his hermana before turning back to Andy. "Seriously, we're glad you're safe. I was afraid that I would have to give you mouth to mouth. Though, I wouldn't mind that part."

>> ”Arrest you? What for?”

Andy opened his mouth as though to speak, then shrugged. He knew it sounded crazy now, but before - when he was being forcibly dragged out of the pool against his will - he couldn’t think of a more reasonable explanation. It hadn’t occurred to him that someone would think he had drowned… It made sense, though, especially since he was relatively new to the school. Not everyone knew him or what he could do. Shaking his head, he finally answered, “Nothing. I just wasn’t thinking.” They didn’t need to know about his little mishap in the bathroom… Hopefully Ghost didn’t tell anyone.

And hopefully no one noticed Andy’s wandering gaze, which continued to fall back on to Ignacio’s perfectly sculpted physique. Look away, his brain demanded, afraid someone would notice. What would happen if they did? Andy didn’t even want to think about the possibility. Too scary.

>> ”Well thank you, Andy, but you’re right, Ignacio is a bit cooler.”
>> "Aww! Thank you! I think my name is pretty cool too."

Chuckling nervously, Andy stood up when Ignacio stood up and crossed his arms, because he didn’t know what else to do with them. He could feel his heart racing, hammering away in his chest, and it only got worse with every word that came out of Ignacio’s mouth, funny or not. Then, just when he thought he couldn’t possibly feel any more nervous, Ignacio winked at him, looked him up and down, and said,

>> "Seriously, we're glad you're safe. I was afraid that I would have to give you mouth to mouth. Though, I wouldn't mind that part."

Suddenly, Andy felt light in the head and weak in the knees, almost as though he could faint, as a mixture of surprise, excitement, arousal, disbelief, confusion, and frustration coursed through him. Was this really happening? Was Ignacio flirting with him? Or was he joking? It was a joke, wasn’t it? Of course it was a joke. Andy wasn’t that lucky. Plus, he had blown a kiss to Juliette, who was probably his girlfriend. Or maybe he liked girls and boys? Not knowing what to think or say, Andy let out a few more nervous chuckles and rubbed the back of his neck. What he wanted to say was ‘I wouldn’t mind, either,’ but he couldn’t bring himself to. He had to say something, though, or else Ignacio might think he was weird. “Thanks...”

>> “So how long have you been at the mansion?”

Desperately wanting to change the subject, Andy couldn’t have possibly felt more relieved and grateful when Juliette came to his rescue by asking a completely unrelated question. “A few weeks? Maybe a month?” Andy couldn’t remember; in fact, he didn’t even know what day of the month it was, or even what day of the week. Days seemed to blend together, but that would change soon. Summer was almost over. “What about you guys?” he asked with a wide smile, trying his best not to lose himself in Ignacio’s kaleidoscopic eyes.

Juliette turned back to Ignacio to give him a raised eyebrow. Sure, Andy definitely seemed to be into him in that way, but there was no reason why he needed to turn the flirting up that much. It could certainly be cooled for a little while, at least. Maybe until they got inside and got everyone sorted. And into real clothes. The two boys needed real clothes before they lost what little they were already wearing.

The air seemed to be cleared between the three of them. Andy understood that they hadn’t meant any harm by pulling him out of the pool. She had already made a mental note to always just turn the other way when she saw teenage boys sitting at the bottom of the pool from then on. Disconcerting as it may have been.

It didn’t come as much of a shock that Andy was relatively new. Juliette didn’t expect to know every single kid that walked the halls of the Xavier Institute, but she did try to make a habit of knowing all the kids that she’d been able to meet during her time there. It wasn’t impossible for a student to go a month without running into her.

”I’ve been here for about a year,” Juliette explained. It seemed crazy that her trial had been nearly a year ago at that point. It seemed like just yesterday that she’d been nervous about the simulation, but it also seemed like she’d come miles since that point. There was a strange way about time. She fell silent as she allowed Ignacio to answer.