Down in Flames

“Guys, stop it, what the fuck do you think you’re- argh!”

Brendon throws himself to the ground and curls up into a ball, narrowly avoiding getting fried alive by a passing ball of flames. It singes his back as it whooshes overhead and he lets out a whimper.

“Get out of the way, Brendon!” Spencer tosses over his shoulder, impatient, which Brendon appreciates only slightly more than the fire he’d sent in his direction just seconds previously.

“Not ‘til you stop shooting fire balls at your best friend!” he hollers back, straightening his glasses as he scrambles to his feet. “We’re in a fucking mall for God’s sake. Couldn’t you have waited ‘til we got home?”

(There’s pretty much no one around right now but that isn’t the point. They can’t start fights and bring their stupid superpowers into it in a public place. It’s bad enough Brendon has to deal with this when they’re alone.)

“No,” Ryan, the aforementioned best friend, grits out. One of his hands is stretched out in front of him, focusing on the wall of ice forming like a barrier, the other is by his side, freezing the water that shoots from his palms to fling in Spencer’s direction.

Brendon can’t bring himself to feel sorry for him, though, because he’s shooting balls of fire right back, alternately at Ryan and the ice wall in front of him. It’s flimsy and weak because Ryan can’t put enough energy into it to keep it going before Spencer melts it again.

Spencer’s winning and he knows it; there’s a smirk sparking in his vivid blue eyes and his hips are cocked at a careless angle like he shoots balls of fire at people every day. (Sadly, this is kind of true.) Spencer’s stronger than Ryan, always has been, but Ryan’s cleverer.

Something shifts in his face, painting a crooked smile on his lips, and Brendon’s eyes widen because he knows what that means. Before he can tackle Spencer to the ground, though, Ryan’s already hurling the ice Spencer conveniently melted right back at him. The wave of freezing water crashes over Spencer about the same time Brendon does and it soaks them both to the core.

Spencer screams, the sound ripped from his throat, but Brendon can’t tell if it’s because the ice is melting all the fire in his body or if it’s because Brendon’s frozen on top of him. Literally, he’s frozen, encased in a thick, transparent sheet of ice from the tips of his hair to his toes. The only parts of him still moving are his eyes, blinking rapidly, darting around in horror.

Spencer makes to move Brendon off him but Ryan lunges forward and yells, “Don’t! If you move him too quickly he could smash and-”

Spencer swears but he stops moving and holds Brendon tight. Brendon can’t really hear him – everything’s quieter and echoing in his ears – but he sees his friend’s mouth open and close. If there wasn’t a sheet of ice between them right now, they’d be in a very compromising position.

Spencer tells Ryan to do something Brendon can’t hear but he sees him nod and step forward to grab the ice sheet on both sides and lift. Spencer straightens up and takes him from the other side and, together, they carry Brendon out to Spencer’s mom’s car. Brendon doesn’t know what they tell the people who gape at them as they pass. He doesn’t really care.

***

It’s eighty degrees outside and the ice sheet hasn’t melted by the time they get Brendon back to Spencer’s house. (Not that Spencer was really expecting it to; Ryan’s ice is special, like his fire. It can’t be melted by conventional means and it certainly isn’t bothered by the Vegas climate.)

The two of them carry Brendon inside, careful not to let him smack into any walls or doors on the way there. He’s so small, curled up into a ball inside his ice prison except for his arms, stretched out like he was trying to gather something in them, and Spencer’s stomach churns at the sight. He would be furious at Ryan if he didn’t know the other boy feels every bit as guilty as he does, maybe even more so. As it is, he can barely even muster the energy for that kind of anger; he feels exhausted, drained of all the power in his body. This is all their fault. Brendon is hurt over a stupid argument that spiralled out of control and it’s all their fault.

They set Brendon down on the floor of Spencer’s room, leaning him back against the wall. Spencer’s just thankful his mom’s taken his sisters out for the day; he doesn’t fancy having to explain this to anyone, or seeing the looks of accusation on their faces when he does.

“Hey,” Ryan says softly, when they’ve both just been staring at Brendon for a few minutes, “we’ll fix this.” Brendon’s eyes dart to him and Spencer wonders if he can hear them speaking through the ice. “Spencer,” Ryan says, more firmly this time, and Spencer looks at him. “We’ll fix this. We have to.”

Spencer swallows, hard, then nods tightly. “Yeah,” he says, proud of the way his voice doesn’t shake at all. “Can’t you, like, can’t you just get rid of it? It’s your ice after all.”

“It’s not that simple,” Ryan says, grimacing. “If I tried to do anything to it right now it’d just collapse in on itself and-”

“-and crush Brendon to death,” Spencer finishes, his stomach lurching when Ryan just nods. “I could try-”

“No,” Ryan says forcefully. “Your fire’s too hot to melt it safely without burning Brendon to a crisp. It’s not worth the risk.”

Spencer falls back on his bed, head in his hands. “What do we do?” he whispers, his voice as broken as he feels. “He’s not like us. He can’t- if he were he could do something, we could do something and he wouldn’t- what are we supposed to do, Ryan?”

Ryan perches next to him, patting Spencer’s back awkwardly. (He’s not used to taking care of Spencer; usually it’s the other way around.) “I- I don’t know,” he admits, almost involuntarily, like he had to wrench the confession out of his own mouth. “I’ve never done something like this to something that was actually alive before.”

“You were going to do it to me,” Spencer points out, lifting his head to arch an eyebrow at Ryan.

“You deserved it, asshole,” he retorts, but he knocks his best friend’s shoulder with his own so he knows he doesn’t really mean it. “Besides, I knew you could take it. I didn’t think Brendon would actually throw himself on top of you in a misguided attempt to save your life or something.”

Spencer laughs softly. “That’s Brendon for you. He’s either really brave or really, really stupid.”

“I vote stupid,” Ryan says immediately.

Spencer bites his lip. “I vote both,” he says, and Ryan rolls his eyes.

“Of course you do,” he says, shaking his head. Spencer’s eyes narrow but Ryan’s talking again before he can say anything. “I didn’t hurt you, did I? With the ice water thing, I didn’t-”

“Ryan,” Spencer interrupts, “Brendon is frozen in a sheet of ice that we have no physical way of melting. I really don’t think you should be worried about me right now.”

Ryan shrugs. “I always worry about you,” he says absently. “Someone has to.” Spencer glances down at his hands, at the tiny ball of flame that’s flickering between his palms. “He’ll be okay, Spence. We’ll figure something out.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Ryan squeezes his shoulder before getting to his feet. “I better get home, see if I can find a way to fix this. There’s bound to be something online.” His face brightened instantly. “Hey, maybe Pete’ll have a few ideas!”

Spencer rolls his eyes. Ryan’s hero-worship of a guy he’s only ever talked to on an internet forum for special people like them is kind of hilarious, but Spencer would never laugh at him (out loud). He’s a good friend like that.

“You just don’t want to face my mom’s wrath when she gets back and finds out what we’ve done,” he says matter-of-factly.

“Of course I don’t,” Ryan says, shaking his head. “I love your mom, Spence, you know I do, but she’s fucking scary when she’s mad.”

“I’ll tell her it was your fault,” Spencer threatens, eyes narrowed.

“And she’ll know you’re lying,” Ryan says simply, and Spencer curses him for knowing him so well. “Bye, Spence. Try not to worry yourself into an early grave, yeah?”

Spencer flips him off and Ryan bursts out laughing as he leaves. When the sounds of his retreating footsteps start to fade, Spencer turns back to Brendon and sighs.

“We’ll fix this,” he promises, reaching out to stroke the top of the ice sheet where Brendon’s stupid messy hair should be. “We’ll find a way to get you back.”

Just for a moment, Spencer thinks he sees Brendon’s lips twitch. But then he blinks and Brendon’s face is still frozen into an expression of vague horror that makes Spencer’s stomach churn every time he sees it.