Absolute Beginners - [Forge and Jennie] Friday night

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No lies! No tricks! Forge and Jennie on an honest-to-God date. Everything goes really well, until Forge opens his dumb mouth.



Leaning against a tree, Forge carefully unfolded the top of his container of peanut chicken, chopsticks awkwardly poised in his other hand. "You know," he said with an amused look on his face, "this is a whole lot better than those fancy restaurants where dinner's a slice of prosciutto on a cracker and you have a strolling violinist in your ear."

He nodded towards the band on stage in the middle of the park, the standing-room crowd leaping and swaying to the beat. Takeaway Chinese and a rockabilly concert in the park? he thought to himself. Amazingly, it works

Once more he looked over at Jennie, a wide smile making its way to his face. "You really do look nice. Did I say that already? Like, ten times? Eleven, then."

"Thirteen." Jennie said. "I've been counting." Taking up her own carton of Chinese, she popped a piece of spicy chicken her mouth. "I have to admit," she said after she finished chewing. "I was nervous about what you'd pick, but, nice choice man." She nodded to the stage. The air was cool, and the sun had just set. Jennie was feeling much better after the events of the last few days.

"You were nervous?" Forge blurted out, nearly dropping his chicken. Collecting himself, he laughed self-consciously and managed to take a few more bites. "Between Marius going all 'hello mate, I breathe sulfur now!', and the general chaos of being in a suite with just Jay and Kyle right now? I needed this." He looked down at his artificial hand, the tarnished streaks from the acid still etched across the surface.

"Not to say that this is just one of those stress relief things," he quickly amended. "I mean, I... wanted to be here, this whole... thing. You know, you and... I am not good with the speaking today. Or ever, really. But, you know?"

Jennie smiled. "I do." She rubbed the bruise on her forehead. That had been fun, coming to in the hallway with Moira freaking out over her. Even more fun had been explaining it. "I mean, he's just got crap timing is all. I'd be out here if everything was all right at the mansion." She kicked off her shoes and wiggled her toes in the grass. "This is my favorite time of day, you know, right after the sun sets."

"Huh," Forge deadpanned, shading his eyes with his hand and leaning back to inspect the sun setting over the horizon, turning the sky into a gradient band of purples and oranges. "So that's what it looks like..."

He turned his head to Jennie, smirking. "That's a joke, see? Because I'm down in the lab all the time and... this is much better."

"Yeah," Jennie said in the same deadpan tone. "You feel this?" She twirled a finger. "This is called fresh air." She patted the ground. "And this is grass." She pointed to the crowd. "And those are people."

Forge's eyes widened. "And it suspiciously looks like they're dancing," he mused in his best Discovery Channel Narrator impression. "Fascinating..."

Reaching over, he plucked Jennie's carton of Chinese from her hand, setting it on the grass and taking both her hands in his as he rose to a knee. "Come on, let's. Dance, I mean."

"Are you sure you can keep up with me?" Jennie raised an eyebrow. "I am fabulous at any kind of dance. It's in my genes." She stood and dusted off her behind.

"Never know until I try, right?" Forge replied as he tugged off his lone shoe and placed it by the tree. "Besides, I've had lessons. From Europeans, even." He bent down to make a few adjustments to his prosthetic, tightening and loosening a few key pistons and braces. "There," he announced. "every little bit helps."

Jennie took him by the wrist and lead him to where the other people were dancing. The band was good, had a stand-up bassist even, and the beat was fast but not alarmingly so. Jennie positioned Forge across from her near the edge of the crowd. No sense bumping into the other dancers. "Right, you remember the basics of swing, right? She clasped his fingers. "It's one-two-rock-step, like this."

"I'm more used to one-two-Catseye flinging me into the air," Forge admitted. The rhythm was easy to get into, even if his feet didn't seem to want to cooperate. Thankfully, Jennie only had about an inch of height on him, rather than Catseye's full half-foot of imposing stature. Made it a lot easier to follow the beat when you weren't terrified for your own physical well-being.

"There you go, you got it." Jennie said encouragingly. If he did well she might even let him lead later. "Now," She dropped his hand. "This means I'm about to turn, right? It's always on the rock-step." She spun under Forge's outstretched hand. "See? It's easy-peasy."

A few more series of steps and spins, and the band wrapped up the song with a flourish, to roaring applause from the audience. Reluctantly dropping Jennie's hands, Forge wiped his brow. "Wow," he panted, goofy grin plastered all over his face. "Okay, that's not as terrifying as I thought it would be."

"You learned with Catseye. Swing dancing is fun, not painful." Jennie grinned. Dancing always felt so right to her. She hadn't even broken a sweat. That's it, next semester, dance classes.

Carefully, Forge reached out and brushed a lock of sweaty hair away from Jennie's forehead, frowning at the bruise there. "You okay? Doc Moira said you took a bit of a tumble. If you need to sit down for a bit, I could... I mean, we could... um..." he gestured over to the tree where their makeshift picnic remained.

"I'm fine." She said automatically. "It's fine, I slipped." She touched it gingerly. It was a pretty decent-sized knot. "I mean, Moira made me stay awake for most of the night, but I'm cool now, you should of seen the dent I left in the wall. Lucky for me, I've got bangs to cover it up."

Forge smirked, looking at the acid damage on his hand that he hadn't had the time to repair yet. "Go figure. Marius' body goes all postal on him, and he's got to share the pain. That guy, always such a giver."

Pausing, Forge shoved both hands into his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Can I, uh... can I ask something about, well, about you guys? You and Marius, I mean. You're not... um, well... he's not going to get all possessive and try and take a bite out of me or something if I bring you back after curfew?"

Jennie shot Forge a look. "No, silly, he's not. I don't think he's a position to do- wait, you're not insinuating that we...? Oh my God!" Jennie put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "I know there's talk about us, but I thought you knew better."

"He's Marius," Forge said, as if that explained it all. "I mean, I know you guys are close and all, but I was worried if close meant, y'know... close."

Jennie blinked. "I am not having sex with Marius!" She said, offended. "I never have, and I never will. I know you think he can't be in the same room without macking on a girl, but he can. And besides, he respects me too much to sleep with me, and I don't think of him in that way."

Forge held his hands up in an apologetic gesture. "I wasn't implying... I just meant, you know, he totally gave me the 'she'd better enjoy herself or you're a dead man, mate' speech before prom, and I was curious, that's all. I didn't mean to suggest you guys were, I mean, that."

"He's my very best friend, best friends look out for each other like that. If Marius ever started seeing a girl because he was serious about her, I'd give her the same speech." Jennie sighed, frustrated. Her good mood was suddenly ruined. "I'm just sick of people assuming things about me because he and I are friends."

Forge reached out and grabbed Jennie's arm lightly. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm not good with this stuff and that came out totally wrong. Can I explain?"

He sighed, letting go and running both hands through his hair. "I like this, okay? This whole... this," he gestured at himself and Jennie and the park around them. "And I know it's not the same kind of fun if it was going out with the whole group to a club or something. It's just that the last time I thought I had something like this going, it turns out there was the whole 'other guy' aspect that I should have been aware of but I wasn't and I didn't want to blindside myself like that again, you know?"

Sighing again, Forge hunched his shoulders and stepped towards the tree where their things sat. "I'm being an idiot, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just am not used to putting this stuff into words, okay?"

Jennie sighed. "I'm sorry. It's been a long week." She shoved her hands in the back pockets of her capris and looked down. He'd touched a nerve there, and she hadn't realized just how much bringing up Marius would bother her.

"It has," Forge agreed. "But the worst is over, yeah? I've got a great idea and it involves relaxing, listening to some live music, eating some Chinese, and just enjoying ourselves. There's a rumor going around that I give killer backrubs, and you just know you'd feel cheated if you didn't try and verify that, right?"

Jennie didn't really feel up to backrubs at the moment. Or even really finishing the date. Her ability to find a silver lining in any cloud had been sorely tested all week, and now she just felt exhausted. But they were here, after all. "All right. Let's go sit back down."

"Fair enough," Forge said quietly, walking over to lean against the tree. Crash and burn, way to go, he thought to himself. Only half-hearing the music, he leaned down to make a few more adjustments to his leg, releasing some tension to be able to sit more comfortably. Dancing had been a bit stressful on the servo that controlled ankle and knee movement, that would bear some looking at later. Not that at this very moment it looked like there would be a need.

Jennie noticed that Forge had gone back to fiddling with his leg. "Oh no you don't." She gently grabbed his hand. "You're out with me, you pay attention to me. I'm a bit demanding like that."

Forge cocked his head, confused. "But...wait... you were just all grr-argh and then..." He sighed deeply, leaning against the tree. "I'm sorry. When I'm nervous, I need to... that is, it's either fiddle with something or open my mouth and say something really stupid. Which I seem to be doing a grand job of tonight."

Jennie picked up a carton of chinese and handed it to Forge. "You have learned a cardinal rule of dating tonight, never question a girl's sex life. And I'm sorry too, so much has happened that I'm a little touchy tonight." She bit her lip and looked down. "My father came to see me today."

"Oh," Forge replied, bite of peanut chicken paused halfway to his mouth. "He came to the school? Like, actively sought you out, 'hi, I'm your dad, let's get to know each other'?" This, at least, was great news by Forge's reckoning. At least potentially. Nothing had exploded today, so he at least assumed the meeting had gone well.

"Yeah, I left my contact info at his building, and he actually sought me out. I ended up giving him a tour of the school and everything. Can you say awkward?" Jennie took a drink from her water bottle. "I gave blood for a paternity test too, just to double-check. But I think he actually does want a relationship with me. I just wanted acknowledgement. I clearly did not think this through." She added wryly.

"That's good, right?" Forge asked, finishing the last of his chicken. "I mean, I know you haven't had it easy lately with your mom and everything. But if you've got people that want to be a part of your life, and you want them to... well," he shrugged expressively. "At least now you know. No more big wondering."

"Yeah, no more wondering." She agreed. "He wants to have lunch with me soon. Maybe I'll actually go." She stretched out her legs, and leaned against the tree. "I'm sorry I'm such a suck-ass date tonight. I'm normally much more fun. When, y'know, my long-lost dad doesn't show up and my best friend's body isn't doing....whatever the hell it's doing."

"Cardiopulmonary adaptation to an acidic atmosphere," Forge immediately responded, mimicking the medical report that he'd helped file. "But really... dad angst and Marius-worrying included, there's no place I'd rather be right now. Honest."

Jennie managed a small smile. The band began to play one of Jennie's favorites, "The Girl Can't Help it" and she tapped her bare feet along in time. "Less angst now." She agreed. "You still gonna be rooming with Kyle in the fall, or are you going to move on-campus?"

Forge thought about that for a moment. "I don't know," he said after a while. "I know there's a few single rooms open, and Jay's moving out... I would like the extra space, and not having to worry about waking Kyle up at 3am because I've had inspiration strike me. The Professor already nixed my idea for a room down by the lab. That didn't go over so well when Paige did it either."

"Well, we would never see you again. People frown on that." She took another drink of water. There, back on track, nothing to worry about. "I haven't even thought about college yet."

"You've got time," Forge replied, then sat bolt upright. "Oh god. Does this make me the college guy dating the high school girl? Isn't that supposed to be really creepy or something?"

Jennie rolled her eyes. "Forge, you are only two months older than me. I think people will let it slide." Are we dating? Really? "Once people recover from the shock of you being on a date, that is."

Letting out a melodramatic deep breath, Forge made an exaggerated gesture of relief. "Good thing. And hey, I'm perfectly all right with shocking people. Since life-saving medical improvisations fail to impress these days, I'm told I need to broaden my horizons. Not that I really care what other folks tell me I should do," he clarified, smiling sideways at Jennie. "This isn't some dare or some grand experiment or some attempt at self-therapy. I just... I really enjoy going out and doing stuff with you and I think there might be some potential there. Maybe. Possibly?"

Forge chuckled, feeling for the moment like a test pilot who had pulled his jet plane out of a near-death nose dive only to find the wings wobbling and about to fall off.

"Possibly." Jennie said, mischievously. She had no idea where this would go, it was nice to just hang out with Forge though. "Just as long as I don't come in second to your car. I have objections to that."

"Now who's making unfounded assumptions?" Forge retorted, pointing a finger mockingly. "I enjoy working with machines the way you enjoy fiddling with numbers - it's how my mind works. But as much as my experiments or my projects or my car won't confuse me or give me mixed signals or say one thing and mean another - they also aren't there for me when I need someone to talk to, or someone to watch over me when I'm in the infirmary, they can't tell me 'hey, despite all your flaws, you're a good person'." He swallowed, looking out at the musicians on stage. "The machines are just an extension of what I do. It's not who I am."

Jennie's lip twitched, touché. She laid a hand on his knee. "Then I say we stop making assumptions about the other, and start finding out."

Forge just smiled and nodded. Which in itself was a feat of superb control, since his brain was overrun with the immediate reaction of OMG cute girl with hand on my knee WTF!

Raising a bottle of water in a mock toast, Forge laughed quietly. "To finding out, then?"

Jennie raised her own and tapped it to Forge's. "Cheers then." She smiled and leaned against the tree. Out on a summer's night, there was no place else she would rather be.