Paige and Jono; music room

[x-foliate.livejournal.com]

Backdated to the end of May, a Friday.
Did you know Jono was the new music teacher? No? Yeah, it still surprises me too. Paige comes to see him after class. They fight, since every couple this summer needs to fight or get married, and then they're cozy. Paige is just so damn logical. Well, and hot. I could put this in x-project, but it sets up/explains some game canon, so. There you go.

It wasn’t an unusual day; end of May, sunny. Classes letting out that touch early so the students wouldn’t climb out the windows. An influx of “educational films” that allowed for gazing out the window with the occasional jotting down of a solid point. The last bell had rung, leaving the few students with Dayspring for a teacher – in a pinch, Paige could probably vaguely remember how to ask to get to a bathroom in Mandarin – to rush down the carpeted halls.

If she were casually looking for any other person, Paige would be worried. It was obvious that most of the teachers had already retreated for elsewhere, and that would make this trek up the stairs a wasted effort. However, though she was not the psychic one of the pair, Paige had her own kind of telepathy; crazy girl knowledge, or genius guessing skills, whatever. So when she opened the door to the music room, she was not in the least bit surprised to find it empty but for Jono.

“Oh my god. You’re wearing a tie.”

“Sod off.”

For anyone else that would have been answered with a swift punch to the jaw, but Paige could do little more than gasp for the air that giggling had robbed her. “You know. That’s very. Rude.”

Jono turned from where he had been shoving cased instruments into their shelves, waving the black tie at her. “Well, I’m slightly pissed off. It gets yanked, you know.”

“Then tell them not to.”

“They think it’s funny,” Jono replied, the clickclick of a trumpet case accenting his last words.

“Then tell them not to.” Paige rolled her eyes, finally crossing the room to perch herself on the bass stool. “You’re very scary when you need to be.”

He rolled his eyes in return; he wasn’t facing her of course, Jono wasn’t stupid all the time, but she could feel it. “Oh yeah. Terribly scary. All I’ve heard since I came here is that I’m not scary.”

“All you’ve heard is that you’re not a monster, sweetie,” Paige chirped right back. “Do learn to listen.”

Jono shrugged. “I don’t care if the kids don’t learn anything.”

Looking up from the mosquito bite on her knee that she was definitely husking out of later, Paige frowned. “Jono...”

“Music isn’t like that, anyway,” he continued on as if she hadn’t spoken, making a gesture as if it emphasized his point. “It’s all theory if you don’t have talent or something.”

“And these kids have no talent.”

Jono finally turned around to look at her, stubbornly refusing to look guilty. “I don’t know, honestly.”

She didn’t reply but for a pair of raised eyebrows, that knowing look, and Jono set his jaw, yanking off the tie with more force than strictly necessary. He turned away again to collect forgotten sheet music off their stands, put them in the little slots with their name. There was a deep silence, accented only by the dull, metallic thumps of Paige’s heels hitting the stool legs as she kicked her feet in frustration, trying to wait. To be patient and not push.

Patience never was one of her virtues; “So you’re not even going to see.”

“Just not sure what I’m supposed to do,” he replied flatly, shuffling the papers self-importantly.

“Well, you’re a teacher. Root of the word, teach. Or instructor if you want to get fancy pants, but the root is still instruct. How about you start with that?” Paige shot back flippantly, the lighter tones in her eyes flashing with her temper.

“Oh, don’t get all semantic on me,” Jono growled, a rumbling in her head that snaked all the way to her tailbone, as he sat on the edge of his desk. “You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t!” Paige shifted, resisting the urge to rub the base of her spine, and sat herself taller, making full use of having his eyes on her. “You’re not even willing to try and do your job, so you don’t really get the right to complain about it.”

“Well, I didn’t ask for this job,” he muttered, looking away. “They’re not even trying...”

“Neither are you.”

There was another pause as Jono inspected the toes of his boots and Paige tried not to too noticeably hold her breath. “I can’t wear a tie,” he said, finally. “If I have to do this, I want to do it so I’m comfortable.”

“That’s fair,” Paige answered, content, with a little nod; the air in her lungs released in a loud almost sigh. “I have no idea why they thought a tie would make you behave but. Just don’t mouth off when you’re asked about it, would you? For once?”

Jono played with the tie in his hands, suddenly wishing, contrary, that he could blow things up consistently still. “They shouldn’t have to ask.”

“But they will.” Slipping from her seat, Paige walked over, taking the tie from him and shoving it into her back pocket. “They’re annoying like that.”

Jono looked up at her. “Yeah. I’ve noticed.”

“But!” Paige interjected quickly, throwing out her arms in a dramatic pose. “I’m still really hot, I hear. And your girlfriend. Occasionally I’m even a genius, true story.”

With softness in his eyes, Jono pulled her between his legs. “Yeah, that’s true,” he admitted, sliding his hands up to around her waist.

“See? It all works out.”

Jono leaned their foreheads together, ignoring the fact that he now seemed to be wearing a small, matching smile. “Optimist.”