apocalipped | Room 408, Wednesday Morning

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

living_endless

"Mmmm, pretty much." She smiled at him, a tiny curve of her mouth. "I don't mind rules, but I'm mortal right now, so it's bending, not ... breaking. Exactly. And, y'know, I'm not going to send you to hell for 10,000 years if you turn me down."

From:

furnaceface

//If I had it in mind t'turn yer down, luv, we wouldn't be sittin' here, having this conversation right now.//

Although now he was vaguely curious if she could send him to Hell for 10,000 years. He'd always kind of figured that Hell was something a little more permanent.

... He was overthinking things again.

//Yer said there were two things?//

From:

living_endless

"... yeah," Didi said. "Uh, other one is ... I'm not going to be here forever. I don't know when, but ... sometime I'll have to go back to work."

From:

furnaceface

//Yer sayin' this to a bloke who came to terms with the fact that he wasn't going to be here forever a long while ago,// Jono pointed out. //Yer don't know when it ends, I don't know when it ends. I believe that's what's commonly known as 'living.'//

He attempted a smile. One of those corners-of-the-eyes ones. It was, so far as Jonothon's smiles went, a full and sincere one.

//Yer get a day or a year or a lifetime, same as the rest of us.//

From:

living_endless

"A day or a year or a million years," Didi said. "It's all a lifetime, Jono."

She curved toward him slightly, not sure if she could trust that smile. "So you already know that once you're alive, there's only one way to ... stop being alive. Well, for a mortal, anyhow."

From:

furnaceface

He nodded a little. Of course. If you weren't alive you were...

Fill-in-the-blank games kind of sucked right about now.

Maybe he'd inch a little closer in turn. That seemed like a good plan.

//That'd be what makes it 'mortality' and not 'eternity,'// he noted. Kind of sideways. Nodding again. The smile was mostly gone, now. This wasn't exactly 'smiling' conversation, try though he might.

From:

living_endless

"Right," Didi said. "We have established why this is a horrible idea for both of us."

Which it was. Her family. His mutation. The fact she might drop dead in a week. Et cetera.

She nudged his leg with her knee. "And neither one of us is walking out."

Edited Date: 2009-09-30 06:11 pm (UTC)

From:

furnaceface

She might drop dead in a week, he might spontaneously combust tomorrow. Such was life.

Yes, indeed.

//The way I see it,// Jono said at length, a wry sort of look twisting at his expression as he bumped her knee right back, //it's all a bunch of 'eventually' and 'maybe.' I don't know about you, luv... But I think I'm tired of worrying about maybes. This might be a horrible idea for the both of us, but if we look at it in that light, all coloured in 'eventually,' what isn't?//

He sounded hopeful. He wasn't allowed to sound hopeful. Hopeful always went wrong. And yet, there he was. Hopeful. For the day or the week or whatever else their respective lifetimes had to offer.

From:

living_endless

He sounded hopeful. Usually totally unfounded hopefulness in the face of everything was Didi's shtick.

"You're being all wise and ... full of perspective," she accused lightly, tilting her head at him. "And you're right. And, uh, we kind of skipped the official first date part. Should we do that?"

From:

furnaceface

Sometimes, a guy just needed something to be hopeful for. He'd been somewhat lacking in that department, as of late.

//That would make this all proper and whatnot, would it?// He tilted his head back, keeping his tone as light as possible without sounding too bloody terrified to think. //What sort of official first date would yer like?//

He'd probably kind of suck at dinner dates. He also wouldn't say no to them.

From:

living_endless

"Huh. Well, if we wanted to see a movie, you could snark through it and not bug anybody," Didi said thoughtfully. "Or maybe -- I might even like something active, like bowling or playing pool. Any preference?"

Which sidestepped the food question neatly.

From:

furnaceface

//Pool is good,// Jono offered. See? She came up with good ideas for official first dates. //Unless there was some film that yer wanted t'see? I haven't snarked nearly enough at American cinema.//

Jono, your patriotism is showing.

Again.

From:

living_endless

"Nothing I can think of," Didi admitted. "And I love that you specify American cinema."

"So billiards? And ... after the weekend, I think. My sister Del might be coming and if she does I'll be pretty busy."

From:

furnaceface

//After the weekend, then,// he agreed, and now he was doing that smile thing again. Couldn't help it. It had managed to sneak up on him this time, and wasn't about to leave.

He didn't think that he had anybody coming. But best-laid plans and all of that...

//Billiards, a film of some sort. Whatever happens to be playing that the time, perhaps?//

He wasn't picky, honest.

From:

living_endless

"It sounds absolutely perfect," she told him. Not that she was feeling all that picky either.

There was a little songbird in her chest singing a Disney song.

From:

furnaceface

Jono... could probably roast a small chicken in his chest. So it was maybe for the best that he was relatively songbird-free.

//We keep in touch, then, figure out what day works best for the both of us? Go from there?//

From:

living_endless

... yes. Let's refrain from bird imagery.

"Go from there," she agreed, squeezing his hand, and then realized things were a little awkward. Normally this would be where you kissed, but ... um.

"I -- I have class."

From:

furnaceface

Yeah, there wasn't going to be much snogging going on in this relationship. At all. Possibly ever.

Rot.

//I won't keep yer from it, then,// he replied, looking at her hand. And then, realizing much the same, he... Returned that squeeze. Hands. See? Those were awesome and somewhat expressive. They each had two of them! How convenient, that.

Edited Date: 2009-09-30 07:48 pm (UTC)

From:

living_endless

Hands were, indeed, miraculous things.

She squeezed his again. "Thank you for showing me. And for ... the rest of it."

And then she went to leave.

From:

furnaceface

He simply nodded, watching her go, letting all of that sink in while he stood, pulled open the curtains again, wondered at all of it.

Wished he could have kissed her.

And then flopped backward onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling and laughing silently in spite of it all. Because of it all. Whatever all of that had been, he was keeping it.