Kevin and Jennie | 5am Thusday morning
Oct. 4th, 2007 08:36 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsKevin's up early and nearly has a panic attack when Jennie comes too close when he has skin exposed.
5 am. No one got up at 5 am. Except for maybe garbage men, Starbucks employees and serial killers.
And now, one Jennifer Stavros.
Jennie muttered darkly to herself as she pulled on her sweatshirt and headed down the hallway. Her schedule now being what it was, she had to get her runs in early. And it wasn't like she was sleeping much anyway.
She walked past the TV room, only to pause, blink, and back up. There was someone else up at 5 am as well.
Kevin liked waking up at 3 a.m. No one else was pretty much alive at all in the mansion. It meant no headache from the constant noise level. It meant no panic attacks at someone unknowingly bumping into him and causing him to melt a hole in a door. Most of all, it meant he could just be alone.
The TV room had movies, his suite did not, thus he decided the TV room was the place to be. He'd taken his sheet down with him to lay over the couch so no accidents happened. He'd also taken a few sheets of metal and what was essentially a miniature blow torch. 300 played on the TV while he took his time cutting a decent sized piece of scrap metal into strips.
He heard footsteps while he cut, but he didn't pay any attention until he heard them softly come back. Finishing the slice and turning off the torch he looked over. Shit. The other thing he hated about Xavier's, cute girls. "Hey," he recognized Jennie, Kevin was just hoping she didn't much recognize him so maybe she'd keep going and that sudden onset of awkward he was feeling would fade away.
Okay, so there was someone welding in the TV room. It was a sad thing that Jennie had seen stranger. She narrowed her eyes at the boy, before they widened in recognition. "Hey, Kevin right?"
One eyebrow shot up when she got that look of recognition on her face. Damn, caught. "Las' I checked, anyway." Awkward was so not going away. Damnit. He set the hot pieces of cut metal carefully on a piece of flat stone he'd put on the table just for that purpose. Kevin suddenly felt very, very naked wearing his tee shirt and the gloves that only came just past his wrists.
"Well well well, another prodigal returns," Jennie crossed her arms and titled her head at the boy. "I guess this place is kinda like the mafia, you never really walk away." Jennie racked her brain for wherever Kevin had gone. It supplied her with the other tall, dark and broody guy. She walked over and leaned forward over the back of the other couch. "So, how was Muir? Was it as cold and dank as promised in the brochure?"
"Wouldn' I hafta be of the lush and luxuriant to be a prodigal anything?" And then she was coming over. And leaning over the couch. Kevin tried really hard to stay calm and not panic. Her that close and all that skin exposed because he hadn't figured anyone would be around. What if she tipped over. What if there was a rat or a noise and she got scared and fell over the back of the couch and into him? That Chakra chick was one thing, but he actually knew Jennie. Well, sort of had known her. Something about ruining a girl he was currently finding himself a little too attracted to for his own comfort made him squirm unpleasantly inside. Breathe in, breathe out, he reminded himself. Panic attacks were really not on his to do list. "Colder," he replied calmly somehow. "More dank. No wonder Scots drink so much. Need somethin' to do with that much rain and clouds and misery."
"Woah there cowboy, easy." Jennie held up her hands. Some of her friends had all the emotional sensitivity of a brick, while she had a finely tuned sense of other's moods. It was a survival mechanism for those moments when her mother would go from 'happy drunk' to 'wildly unpredictable'. Something to do with his power, she remembered. "I am staying right here, behind the couch. No worries, see? Plus, probability manipulator here. So..."
"Sorry," the apology came immediate, eyes turned downward. Most people never much picked up on his anxiety when it flared like that. Kevin figured he didn't matter much enough for people to pay so close attention to in order to realize it. Jennie picked up on it immediately. He wasn't sure if he was happy she was paying that much attention or just more embarrassed that she'd likely always pick up on it. "Reflex wha' with," he rubbed his arms, "usually got long sleeves on. Easier then." Kevin bit his lip, took a deep breath and then forced himself to look at her again. "You good'nuff to stop yourself turnin' into a mummy? Maybe worse? Ain't never met no one that good."
"Hmmmm," Jennie tapped her chin with her finger and tilted her head, squinting so the lines sharpened. "Honestly? I don't really know. My powers are funky like that, I can never exactly predict what'll happen, just 'good' or 'bad.'" she leaned forward against the couch again. "But I can probably keep with the no touchy thing. Fearless leader says I potentially have the power to dodge bullets even. Though, I really don't want to test that one out. Though it would be all cool to be all matrix-y and stuff," she held her hands up and swayed a little.
"I'm a bit bigger than a bullet. Slower though, I thin' you'll manage to avoid me just fine." Her swaying made him smile just a little bit though. Saying "matrix-y" probably added to that. "Fearless leader say a lot of things. Usually he pretty righ' though." Kevin wasn't sure if he was staring or not. It felt like he was staring. Maybe he just wanted to stare and his head was messing with him. He looked away from Jennie to the clock to distract himself. "Why ya up so early?"
"Many reasons," Jennie held up a hand and began to tick off her fingers. "One? I am insane. Two, I have an insane schedule, and three, I can't sleep. Eight hours of sleep and I have only the rare awkward encounter now. However, that is why man invented caffeine." Good lord, why was she babbling? Maybe there was something to the whole 'sleep deprivation thing.' "And you? Why are you awake and welding on the coffee table? Tempting fate with Mr. Marko?"
"'M gonna star' agreein' with that crazy bit you jus' said there." Rare awkward encounter? Somehow he thought her percentage was going to go up way higher if she kept running into him. Awkward was definitely what Kevin did best. It was a little known secret, he liked to let them think he did surly best. Surly was only number two on his list of talents. He did make a face at her for bringing up Mr. Marko. That man he remembered. "'M awake 'cause I still function on Scotland time mos'ly. Only been back a week. I'm welding on the table 'cause my roommate might get freaked out if he woke up and saw me weldin' and I didn' think no one'd be around at this hour to see me anyway."
"Pfft," Jennie waved a hand dismissively. "Honestly, welding is one of the least strange things I've seen here. And people are always up and wandering around when you think no one is. The one time I met my best friend? I was up at stupid o'clock in here watching tv and the skinny bastard was trying to go for a jog. At least the creepy blinky kid isn't around." And there Jennie was struck with an odd sense of deja vu. Since when did she get up at stupid o'clock to go jogging?
"I didn' say it was strange. Jay don' seem much like a mornin' person though and 'm thinkin' random new roommate playin' with fire in the livin' room? Not so much on his list of stuff to find when he stumbles out 'f his room." Kevin tried to figure out which blinky kid she was referring to. Was he supposed to know who blinky kid was? Or who the skinny bastard was? "Who an' who?"
"Creepy blinky kid. The kid who never slept and who would do stuff just by blinking his eyes. I never did catch his name. The skinny bastard is Marius Laverne. Who is now no longer skinny, but is still a bastard. In the literal sense of the parents not being married way. I'm not sure if you remember him," Jennie smothered a yawn. "And I don't think Jay would mind the playing with fire as long as you didn't wake him up."
"Right. Creepy blinky kid." Sadly, Kevin remembered who she was talking about. He had no clue what the kid's name was either. Damn, he wasn't sure if he should be paying more attention so he knew people by their name instead of their epitaphs or if he should pay less attention so he could at least not know someone by stuff like creepy blinky kid. "I don' remember him. Meh," Kevin shrugged. "I don' know Jay yet and 'd rather not do sumthin' ta piss him off by acciden' when I gotta live with him, ya know?"
Right, he probably didn't remember Marius as Marius had gallivanted off to Europe to avoid going to Muir right as Kevin had arrived last year, ironically enough. "S'all good, I can't really speak much for Jay. I knew him before he left last year, but people can change a hell of a lot in a year. Look at me. Last year, I totally would have thought you were on crack had you suggested that I would be up at stupid o'clock to go for a freaking run."
Jennie really did seem to have a charm that was all her own, Kevin decided. It was probably better that way. More people with her charm running about and the world might explode. "Ah never knew 'im before so Ah can' really offer comparison." Not to mention the fact that Kevin was currently avoiding his roommate at all fucking costs. "Maybe you're tha one on crack since you're up at 'stupi' o'clock' for a run. Leas' I got almos' a year in Scotland as an excuse."
"See, no. If I was on crack, then this would probably be fun." She stretched her arms over her head. "And I'm sure the joys of jumping continents will even out. Eventually. It only took me uh..." Did she ever adjust during her Grand Misadventure in Europe. "Wait, I don't think it ever did when I was in France. We stayed out all night anyway."
Kevin tilted his head to the side and stared at her. "Somehow Ah don' find that too reassurin'." He was sure he'd readjust eventually. Besides, as long as he was passing out at anywhere from seven to ten at night and waking at three or four in the morning he could avoid his roommate more effectively.
"Bah," Jennie flapped a hand again. "You'll be walking around in the daylight with the rest of us. You can't avoid it. Might as well find a way to have fun while you're doing it. Weld something vital to the table, just for shits and giggles. Stuff like that."
"Ah think Ah can manage ta 'void it. Maybe not the dayligh' part, but tha 'with tha rest o' us' bit I can probably manage ta swerve away from." Kevin did, however, give some thought to the idea of welding something to the table. That could be fun. Permanent art. He was now sizing up the table and imagining what sort of sculpture should be affixed to it.
"Come on, one of usssss," Jennie said with a grin. "Anyway. I gotta go down to the kitchen to get some fuel to run on. You want anything? And I offer not only out of kindness, but for the fact that it puts off running all that much longer."
"Do Ah look so easily made into one o' tha crowd?" Actually, Kevin probably didn't want to get that answer anyway. "Thanks, but Ah had breakfast abou' an hour ago, so Ah'm fine. You have fun delayin' though." He didn't get why she'd be up at "stupid o'clock" for a run she only wanted to delay anyway. Girls were strange.
"Aw, you wish to be rid of me so soon?" Jennie mock-pouted. "I am sad. Wounded even. I may cry now. Seriously." Jennie cracked her neck from side to side. She knew a dismissal when she heard one. But she'd gotten him to smile once or twice, so she considered it a job well done.
There was something about a girl that cute even pretending to be wounded that put a sadly apologetic expression on Kevin's face. "Ah'd nevah wanna be rid of you, da'ling, but Ah reckon you'd find better company amongst tha trees than you would with me an' Ah'd hardly wanna keep you from more pleasant company." Yes, Kevin still actually possessed some measure of Southern charm, though he rarely used it. "If ya cried Ah'm sure Ah couldn't live with mahself at all. Ah'd be absolutely guilt-ridden an' find mahself going to the ends o' tha earth tryin' ta git you smilin' again."
Jennie threw her head back and laughed. "That's fantastic. You are too cute. Where do I find these guys, seriously?" she said to herself. "Anyway. Now I really do have to go run. Maybe I'll get lucky and knock myself out enough so I can sleep before my classes. Yay college." She twirled a finger in the air, and then turned to go. "Ta, Kevin. Don't stay up too far into the day."
Kevin gave her a small smile and a wave. "Have fun wit' that." Of course, what she didn't realize was he meant it. For the right person, someone who mattered enough. He meant it. Of course, who would be silly enough to ever put themselves in that position?
5 am. No one got up at 5 am. Except for maybe garbage men, Starbucks employees and serial killers.
And now, one Jennifer Stavros.
Jennie muttered darkly to herself as she pulled on her sweatshirt and headed down the hallway. Her schedule now being what it was, she had to get her runs in early. And it wasn't like she was sleeping much anyway.
She walked past the TV room, only to pause, blink, and back up. There was someone else up at 5 am as well.
Kevin liked waking up at 3 a.m. No one else was pretty much alive at all in the mansion. It meant no headache from the constant noise level. It meant no panic attacks at someone unknowingly bumping into him and causing him to melt a hole in a door. Most of all, it meant he could just be alone.
The TV room had movies, his suite did not, thus he decided the TV room was the place to be. He'd taken his sheet down with him to lay over the couch so no accidents happened. He'd also taken a few sheets of metal and what was essentially a miniature blow torch. 300 played on the TV while he took his time cutting a decent sized piece of scrap metal into strips.
He heard footsteps while he cut, but he didn't pay any attention until he heard them softly come back. Finishing the slice and turning off the torch he looked over. Shit. The other thing he hated about Xavier's, cute girls. "Hey," he recognized Jennie, Kevin was just hoping she didn't much recognize him so maybe she'd keep going and that sudden onset of awkward he was feeling would fade away.
Okay, so there was someone welding in the TV room. It was a sad thing that Jennie had seen stranger. She narrowed her eyes at the boy, before they widened in recognition. "Hey, Kevin right?"
One eyebrow shot up when she got that look of recognition on her face. Damn, caught. "Las' I checked, anyway." Awkward was so not going away. Damnit. He set the hot pieces of cut metal carefully on a piece of flat stone he'd put on the table just for that purpose. Kevin suddenly felt very, very naked wearing his tee shirt and the gloves that only came just past his wrists.
"Well well well, another prodigal returns," Jennie crossed her arms and titled her head at the boy. "I guess this place is kinda like the mafia, you never really walk away." Jennie racked her brain for wherever Kevin had gone. It supplied her with the other tall, dark and broody guy. She walked over and leaned forward over the back of the other couch. "So, how was Muir? Was it as cold and dank as promised in the brochure?"
"Wouldn' I hafta be of the lush and luxuriant to be a prodigal anything?" And then she was coming over. And leaning over the couch. Kevin tried really hard to stay calm and not panic. Her that close and all that skin exposed because he hadn't figured anyone would be around. What if she tipped over. What if there was a rat or a noise and she got scared and fell over the back of the couch and into him? That Chakra chick was one thing, but he actually knew Jennie. Well, sort of had known her. Something about ruining a girl he was currently finding himself a little too attracted to for his own comfort made him squirm unpleasantly inside. Breathe in, breathe out, he reminded himself. Panic attacks were really not on his to do list. "Colder," he replied calmly somehow. "More dank. No wonder Scots drink so much. Need somethin' to do with that much rain and clouds and misery."
"Woah there cowboy, easy." Jennie held up her hands. Some of her friends had all the emotional sensitivity of a brick, while she had a finely tuned sense of other's moods. It was a survival mechanism for those moments when her mother would go from 'happy drunk' to 'wildly unpredictable'. Something to do with his power, she remembered. "I am staying right here, behind the couch. No worries, see? Plus, probability manipulator here. So..."
"Sorry," the apology came immediate, eyes turned downward. Most people never much picked up on his anxiety when it flared like that. Kevin figured he didn't matter much enough for people to pay so close attention to in order to realize it. Jennie picked up on it immediately. He wasn't sure if he was happy she was paying that much attention or just more embarrassed that she'd likely always pick up on it. "Reflex wha' with," he rubbed his arms, "usually got long sleeves on. Easier then." Kevin bit his lip, took a deep breath and then forced himself to look at her again. "You good'nuff to stop yourself turnin' into a mummy? Maybe worse? Ain't never met no one that good."
"Hmmmm," Jennie tapped her chin with her finger and tilted her head, squinting so the lines sharpened. "Honestly? I don't really know. My powers are funky like that, I can never exactly predict what'll happen, just 'good' or 'bad.'" she leaned forward against the couch again. "But I can probably keep with the no touchy thing. Fearless leader says I potentially have the power to dodge bullets even. Though, I really don't want to test that one out. Though it would be all cool to be all matrix-y and stuff," she held her hands up and swayed a little.
"I'm a bit bigger than a bullet. Slower though, I thin' you'll manage to avoid me just fine." Her swaying made him smile just a little bit though. Saying "matrix-y" probably added to that. "Fearless leader say a lot of things. Usually he pretty righ' though." Kevin wasn't sure if he was staring or not. It felt like he was staring. Maybe he just wanted to stare and his head was messing with him. He looked away from Jennie to the clock to distract himself. "Why ya up so early?"
"Many reasons," Jennie held up a hand and began to tick off her fingers. "One? I am insane. Two, I have an insane schedule, and three, I can't sleep. Eight hours of sleep and I have only the rare awkward encounter now. However, that is why man invented caffeine." Good lord, why was she babbling? Maybe there was something to the whole 'sleep deprivation thing.' "And you? Why are you awake and welding on the coffee table? Tempting fate with Mr. Marko?"
"'M gonna star' agreein' with that crazy bit you jus' said there." Rare awkward encounter? Somehow he thought her percentage was going to go up way higher if she kept running into him. Awkward was definitely what Kevin did best. It was a little known secret, he liked to let them think he did surly best. Surly was only number two on his list of talents. He did make a face at her for bringing up Mr. Marko. That man he remembered. "'M awake 'cause I still function on Scotland time mos'ly. Only been back a week. I'm welding on the table 'cause my roommate might get freaked out if he woke up and saw me weldin' and I didn' think no one'd be around at this hour to see me anyway."
"Pfft," Jennie waved a hand dismissively. "Honestly, welding is one of the least strange things I've seen here. And people are always up and wandering around when you think no one is. The one time I met my best friend? I was up at stupid o'clock in here watching tv and the skinny bastard was trying to go for a jog. At least the creepy blinky kid isn't around." And there Jennie was struck with an odd sense of deja vu. Since when did she get up at stupid o'clock to go jogging?
"I didn' say it was strange. Jay don' seem much like a mornin' person though and 'm thinkin' random new roommate playin' with fire in the livin' room? Not so much on his list of stuff to find when he stumbles out 'f his room." Kevin tried to figure out which blinky kid she was referring to. Was he supposed to know who blinky kid was? Or who the skinny bastard was? "Who an' who?"
"Creepy blinky kid. The kid who never slept and who would do stuff just by blinking his eyes. I never did catch his name. The skinny bastard is Marius Laverne. Who is now no longer skinny, but is still a bastard. In the literal sense of the parents not being married way. I'm not sure if you remember him," Jennie smothered a yawn. "And I don't think Jay would mind the playing with fire as long as you didn't wake him up."
"Right. Creepy blinky kid." Sadly, Kevin remembered who she was talking about. He had no clue what the kid's name was either. Damn, he wasn't sure if he should be paying more attention so he knew people by their name instead of their epitaphs or if he should pay less attention so he could at least not know someone by stuff like creepy blinky kid. "I don' remember him. Meh," Kevin shrugged. "I don' know Jay yet and 'd rather not do sumthin' ta piss him off by acciden' when I gotta live with him, ya know?"
Right, he probably didn't remember Marius as Marius had gallivanted off to Europe to avoid going to Muir right as Kevin had arrived last year, ironically enough. "S'all good, I can't really speak much for Jay. I knew him before he left last year, but people can change a hell of a lot in a year. Look at me. Last year, I totally would have thought you were on crack had you suggested that I would be up at stupid o'clock to go for a freaking run."
Jennie really did seem to have a charm that was all her own, Kevin decided. It was probably better that way. More people with her charm running about and the world might explode. "Ah never knew 'im before so Ah can' really offer comparison." Not to mention the fact that Kevin was currently avoiding his roommate at all fucking costs. "Maybe you're tha one on crack since you're up at 'stupi' o'clock' for a run. Leas' I got almos' a year in Scotland as an excuse."
"See, no. If I was on crack, then this would probably be fun." She stretched her arms over her head. "And I'm sure the joys of jumping continents will even out. Eventually. It only took me uh..." Did she ever adjust during her Grand Misadventure in Europe. "Wait, I don't think it ever did when I was in France. We stayed out all night anyway."
Kevin tilted his head to the side and stared at her. "Somehow Ah don' find that too reassurin'." He was sure he'd readjust eventually. Besides, as long as he was passing out at anywhere from seven to ten at night and waking at three or four in the morning he could avoid his roommate more effectively.
"Bah," Jennie flapped a hand again. "You'll be walking around in the daylight with the rest of us. You can't avoid it. Might as well find a way to have fun while you're doing it. Weld something vital to the table, just for shits and giggles. Stuff like that."
"Ah think Ah can manage ta 'void it. Maybe not the dayligh' part, but tha 'with tha rest o' us' bit I can probably manage ta swerve away from." Kevin did, however, give some thought to the idea of welding something to the table. That could be fun. Permanent art. He was now sizing up the table and imagining what sort of sculpture should be affixed to it.
"Come on, one of usssss," Jennie said with a grin. "Anyway. I gotta go down to the kitchen to get some fuel to run on. You want anything? And I offer not only out of kindness, but for the fact that it puts off running all that much longer."
"Do Ah look so easily made into one o' tha crowd?" Actually, Kevin probably didn't want to get that answer anyway. "Thanks, but Ah had breakfast abou' an hour ago, so Ah'm fine. You have fun delayin' though." He didn't get why she'd be up at "stupid o'clock" for a run she only wanted to delay anyway. Girls were strange.
"Aw, you wish to be rid of me so soon?" Jennie mock-pouted. "I am sad. Wounded even. I may cry now. Seriously." Jennie cracked her neck from side to side. She knew a dismissal when she heard one. But she'd gotten him to smile once or twice, so she considered it a job well done.
There was something about a girl that cute even pretending to be wounded that put a sadly apologetic expression on Kevin's face. "Ah'd nevah wanna be rid of you, da'ling, but Ah reckon you'd find better company amongst tha trees than you would with me an' Ah'd hardly wanna keep you from more pleasant company." Yes, Kevin still actually possessed some measure of Southern charm, though he rarely used it. "If ya cried Ah'm sure Ah couldn't live with mahself at all. Ah'd be absolutely guilt-ridden an' find mahself going to the ends o' tha earth tryin' ta git you smilin' again."
Jennie threw her head back and laughed. "That's fantastic. You are too cute. Where do I find these guys, seriously?" she said to herself. "Anyway. Now I really do have to go run. Maybe I'll get lucky and knock myself out enough so I can sleep before my classes. Yay college." She twirled a finger in the air, and then turned to go. "Ta, Kevin. Don't stay up too far into the day."
Kevin gave her a small smile and a wave. "Have fun wit' that." Of course, what she didn't realize was he meant it. For the right person, someone who mattered enough. He meant it. Of course, who would be silly enough to ever put themselves in that position?
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