Room 408, Wednesday Morning

[apocalipped]

Jonothon was twitchy.

Not twitchy as in random muscle spasms or anything, of course. More twitchy in that way that meant that he couldn't actually sit still for more than a few moments at a time, and he kept double-checking things like the curtains to make certain that they were drawn shut tightly, and he kept locking and unlocking the door, just to be certain that that much wasn't busted. But then, if he locked the door, that might give the wrong impression, and...

He was overthinking this. He was good at overthinking things lately, wasn't he? Okay, Chamber, just sit on your bed, clasp your hands, and wait. Nothing was going to explode just because you happened to be sitting there. Truly.

Bollocks.

[Jono is waiting for somebody, yes, but that doesn't mean that other people can't pay a visit to the silent dorm room, too.]

Comments

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

Jak, for one, was slightly disturbed by the state of the curtains. If that helped at all in Jono's judgement of things. You could tell by the raised eyebrow when he padded back in. Hadn't that been different this morning--?

[furnaceface]

Different as in open? Yes, probably.

Jono crossed his arms and bounced one leg anxiously as he sat, nodding his hello to Jak. His twitchy, twitchy hello.

//Got company comin' sometime today, mate,// he explained. Which... really probably didn't explain anything at all, no.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

That netted Jono some squinting. Like who? His eyes were drawn back to the curtains. Why were they shut? Was Jono afraid something was going to come crashing through the window or something, unless they were hidden from view?

[furnaceface]

Oh, skeptical flatmate and your skepticism!

//It's Didi? Have yer met Didi before? About so tall, black hair, bloody adorable?// That really narrowed it down, Jono. Well done. //She hasn't seen what's under th'bandages yet. And...//

Shrug. Fidget. Bounce that knee some more.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

Jak blinked, rubbed the side of his head, and then shook it. No, he had not met Didi. Uh... bloody adorable?

Give Jak a few moments. A few moments. Come on. It was coming. It was coming--

"Ooooh."

Yes, that warranted an actual exhale that might come close to almost resembling a word.

[furnaceface]

Holy crap, did Jak just vocalize?

It was going to take Jono another moment to manage words, now. Partly because the subject matter of the conversation at hand was more than a little awkward, and partly because he was now going, 'oh, so that is what my flatmate sounds like.'

As you do.

//I'll pull open the curtains again when we're done, mate. Much as I enjoy livin' in the dark, I'm not a complete recluse.//

... Kinda.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

Hey, he should call Jak's voicemail one time! There was totally a 'hi' on there!

Or at least a faint 'hnn' noise that Jak was confident would pass for a hi. Anyway.

He nodded slowly. But. Um. They were really necessary? ... This probably meant that he needed to clear out. He pointed at the door, then at himself. Hey, it might come in handy if--

Okay, not going to jinx that.

[furnaceface]

So, soooo don't jinx that. Jono would be sad forever if anything got jinxed. And Jak didn't want to make Jono sad forever, did he?

//It's not going to be... I mean...// One day, the universe would answer the great question of how in the world a guy without a pulse could manage a blush like that. //I've been keepin' it from her. This,// he pointed at his face, //I mean. It's not exactly normal, yer know. But, maybe for a little while, mate. I mean, if yer don't mind? Probably won't take long, either she's good with it or she runs out screaming.//

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

He was sure it was going to be fine. No screaming. ... Possibly because Jak tended to be sure of a lot of things, like this rickety flying contraption probably won't fall into a lake of lava if I just drive it fast enough, but there was that. He nodded. Totally got that, man.

... In fact, Jono was getting a light thumbs-up.

[furnaceface]

//Yer know, yer a lifesaver?//

Best flatmate ever. Ever. Seriously. And then some. Jono was going to have to give Jak... a pie or something for this. He'd figure it out.

//Thanks, mate.//

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

He shrugged. Hey, he'd be getting this one back one day, right? ... Besides, it wasn't like the school was out of places he could just chill at. Or maybe race somebody. Jak would figure out something to do.

... Besides, Jono was going to take that back once he found the cans of Beaver Buzz Jak had taken with him from the diner the other day.

He started to back towards the door.

[furnaceface]

And Jono sat there, blissfully ignorant of the Beaver Buzz. He might have words if he'd been aware, but, alas...

//See yer later, mate.//

[living_endless]

Nervous? Death? No.

... fidgety, maybe. She'd probably set a record for how many times she had to redraw her eye makeup, and this wasn't even a date, so what was she ...

She was at his room.

"Hey."

[furnaceface]

//Didi.//

My, wasn't Jono eloquent today?

//C'mon in, luv. Take a... seat.// He looked at his bed. It was almost kind of made or something. This was new and unusual, for Jonothon. It was also pretty much the only space on his own side of the room that wasn't already covered in CDs and sheet music and such.

He got to work quick, when it came to making a living space his own, yes.

[living_endless]

Jono was eloquent, and Didi was just winning debate contests with that 'hey.'

"Oh, wow, you cleaned for me," she teased as she took the indicated seat. Jono and Didi's housekeeping skills were, sadly, roughly on par. "Morning. I'm not really a morning person lately, but sometimes I get up early and I wonder why not."

... and now she'd moved from 'not talking' to 'babbling.' She silently noted the closed curtains as she finished settling into place.

[furnaceface]

//Mornings are certainly...// There was a word, there, and Jono was going to wave a hand in the air as he groped about for it.

... Nope. Still no word.

//Mornings.//

No word probably would have been better than that one. Jono facepalmed.

[living_endless]

"Mornings," Didi repeated again, and brushed her hair out of her eyes as she realized something.

"... we're just going to be stupid at each other until you show me, huh?"

[furnaceface]

//Yes, I imagine so.// That earned a bit of a smile, there, yes. Though it was an awkward one. The kind that existed mostly to cover up how bloody terrified he was.

... Not that Jonothon ever knew fear. Really. Truly. Or so he'd have you believe, if he could get away with it. Judging by the way he was running his fingers through his hair and trying not to make a bolt for the door, such was probably not the case in the least.

//Do yer know what a mutant is, luv?//

He was still stalling, yes.

[living_endless]

"There are a couple of kinds of mutants, but it's one word for people with organic superpowers," Didi answered patiently. She was good at patient; she was pretty sure she could wait out the stalling. "Most people at home say metahuman, but same idea. You can do something somebody normal like me can't do."

Let's leave aside the weirdness of her calling herself normal for now.

[furnaceface]

//... Fair enough.//

Yes, he fully realized that he was asking Death if she knew what something was.

//I'll stop stalling now. Honest. It's just that... Some mutants are more obvious to look at than others, yer know? People who can't show their faces in the light of day,// or, in his case, even in the dark of night, //without bein' immediately recognizable for what they are. I'm not...//

He furrowed his eyebrows and reached for her hand. He liked her hand. It was small and gentle and Didi. He maybe needed that a little right now.

[living_endless]

Didi squeezed his hand back. She'd taken a lot of hands in her time; it was unfair that she had the immediate thought she liked his best.

And his uncertainty was breaking her heart, especially since she'd already guessed as much. (He clearly didn't wear the bandages for fun.)

"I know," she said, and brought a finger of her spare hand up to brush down from his ear and toward his wrappings. "Can I -?"

[furnaceface]

He didn't have a jaw, didn't need to breathe, didn't have a throat, but he was still certain somehow that if he were to try to speak, he'd choke on it.

So he nodded. She could pull them down. It wouldn't burn her, after all.

[living_endless]

She met his eyes as she carefully, almost tenderly, pulled the bandages to one side and watched a jet of blue flames come out, almost as if it had been waiting for her. The skin around the edges was torn, almost raw.

It was, somehow, both worse than she'd imagined and easier. Worse in that it looked painful; easier in that fire, at least, was familiar.

She let the bandage snap back into place. "That" -- she swallowed -- "That doesn't hurt you?"

[furnaceface]

//It did hurt, at first,// he replied, keeping her gaze for all of a moment before turning it somewhere toward his knees. //Now there's not much left to hurt.//

He lifted a shoulder. Small shrug. She was still here. They were still there. It was okay.

Okay.

//It'll slowly burn away at what's there. Has been, since it happened, so slow I didn't notice for awhile. But I don't feel much of anything.//

[living_endless]

She was here. Not. Going. Anywhere.

She squeezed the hand she'd kept hold of.

"It'll burn away until -?"

Was it going to kill him? It was one thing to know death wasn't an awful stranger. It was another to be looking at a boy she liked with a wound she couldn't heal.