Jay & Kyle, Then Jay & Amelia

[x-icarus.livejournal.com]

Kyle has Jay over for dinner. Only Jay's not so hungry.

Jay licked his lips, chest pressed against the table as he stared down at the food. His fork poked at the meat, moved it to the other side and then set it down to take a drink of the tasteless water. He returned to the meal at hand, hoping that it would magically eat itself so he wouldn't insult Kyle. His wings fell a fraction and he blew out a sigh that bordered an 'ugh', propping his elbow up on the table and resting his head in hand.
Jay wasn't fooling Kyle a bit - he'd knew what 'moving the food around so it looks like you're eating it' looked like, it did it every time he visited his parents and his mom tried to force some boiled vegetable on him. Brussels sprouts tasted no better with enhanced senses than they did when he was nine. "Dude, is this like some weird manorexia thing? Because I'm pretty sure if you get too skinny, you're gonna fall over backwards from the weight of your wings." He asked, stopping in his own 'devour all the food on his plate' process to actually look at Jay carefully. "You look like ass, dude."

Jay looked up from his meal and paused in poking his dinner around. "Ah feel like ass," he admitted. "Ah just..." he tried to explain but the words wouldn't come. "Ah just..Ah'm not hungry," he said, finally placing his fork down beside his plate. The smell of food churned in the pit of his stomach and he felt like his gut was doing summersaults trying to avoid watching Kyle shovel the food down. He didn't want to insult Kyle by not eating but it wasn't exactly a priority anymore. His wings shifted self-consciously a fraction and for very little movement Jay made, five feathers had already dropped without growing back. Resting his left hand on his right shoulder, Jay rested his mouth against his wrist, as if that would stop the upset stomach that threatened to force him in a heave. The life seemed to be sapped from him today and he stared down at the fork, his dull gaze not bothering to lift for any interest at all.

"Uh... huh." Kyle wasn't buying it, not exactly. If it had been anyone else, he'd wonder if they'd picked something up from the water in Iowa. But Jay had a healing factor, and Kyle himself hadn't gotten sick from Iowa, there was no way he could figure that it would make Jay sick too. "If you're gonna boot, boot in toilet. Have you seen a doctor? I mean, dude, seriously, you look like chopped ass. Is this like that thing where you fucked up what you were eating for a long time? Because Lorna is gonna come back and kick your -ass- if she finds out you're ignoring what you're supposed to be eating."

"Yeah Ah went to Amelia the other day. She says mah healing factor ain't workin'," he said in a plaintive tone. "Ain't nuttin' Ah can do about it but wait until it passes or somethin'." He frowned at the mention of Lorna and could just picture her coming into the mansion and plucking him by his ear again. "Ugh, don't tell her okay? Or she'll come in here like a ragin' bull and hurt me." Hurt him very carefully with her vice grip and scolding tone. She was more like his mother everyday. "Ah'm just not hungry. Sorta got a stomach ache."

"I won't tell her..." Kyle started. "Yet. But dude, you know she'd get on a plane and fly all the way back here from wherever the hell she is and kick your butt." And now that his threats of Lorna's return were over, he looked hard at Jay and crossed his arms. "What the -fuck- do you mean your healing factor isn't working? It doesn't just turn off! That's like turning off your wings or something."

"Yeah Ah know," he submitted, the fight draining out of him before he could even open his mouth. Shrugging, he turned his eyes away. "Ah dunno. It just ain't workin'. Nuttin' Ah can do about it Ah guess." Nothing he could right now but another Amelia trip was looking better everytime his stomach did a flip. "Ah don't know what's wrong. Mah chest hurts, can't see fer shit... Maybe Ah got a bad bug?" A really bad bug. But how long could he go on with that sort of excuse?

"You're full of shit there's nothing you can do about it. You can get your ass to the labs or over to Muir with Dr. Moira and they can figure the crap out what's wrong with you!" Kyle slammed a fist onto the card table, rattling the plastic plates and tumblers of juice. "Healing factor. Means you don't -get- sick. Means you heal from being hurt. Means even if you get sick, it goes away -fast-. Not 'Ah got a bad bug." he snapped, mocking Jay's accent. "You. Ass. Doctors. Yesterday."

"Ah will!" Jay snapped, gripping the edge of the table and sat up. His wings flared haughtily but it only encouraged more feathers to drop. "Ah will," he said, bringing a hand up to his mouth, covering a cough. Using the table, he pushed himself up and stumbled a bit, grabbing the chair to steady himself. "Ah'm sorry ya made dinner. Ah ain't hungry." He was definitly leaving after being yelled at. He hated to be yelled at.

Kyle rolled his eyes, and then far more dramatically than necessary, dropped his head onto the table. "I'll put it in some of that, like, disposable Tupperware and put your name on it and put it in the fridge. They're just gonna make you eat up later, even if you're not hungry." He was angry with Jay for not taking care of himself, but beyond going down to the infirmary and ratting Jay out, there wasn't a lot he could do. Not that ratting Jay out wasn't an option. Just not an option right now.

Use to dramatics with Kyle, Jay didn't even blink. He turned his back and headed for the door. It only took him a moment to leave, thankful Kyle's head was down, or he would have seen the blood Jay rubbed off his hand onto the thigh of his jeans.





Later, Jay's condition gets worse and he barely makes it to Amelia.

Clutching his chest, Jay stumbled his right foot over his left, catching himself in a fall against the door. He grabbed for the handle and a wave of shivers crawled all over his skin, forcing an inward cringe. His fingers tightened over the knob, knuckles whiting, wishing the burning sensation in his chest would go away. He almost felt like he was having a heart attack and overwhelmed with panic, Jay turned the knob and fell forward with the door. His hand barely caught his fall and slipped against the flooring that was hard against his knees.

He opened his mouth to say something, but instead, phlegm clogged his throat and Jay turned his head, spitting it out. "Amelia--" he croaked faintly.

He was being pulled up off the ground by a firm, measured grip before he could speak again. "Part of allowing you to remain out of the infirmary was your agreement that you would come down if you started feeling at all unwell beyond the level of your previous complaints," he heard Amelia say as he was steered towards an examination room. "You might be interested to know you're now on my list of people who can't be trusted, Mr. Guthrie."

"Ugh, Sorry," he groaned out. It took too much effort to stand and everything within his physical being not to drop to the floor again, curling up into a ball. Jay stumbled into the examination room, one hand gripping the front of his shirt. His fingernails bit through the fabric and he took in a sharp breath to the stab in his chest. "It..." Another gasp through his teeth. "Hurts...here." His brow creased and he stretched out his fingers and pressed his fingers down onto his chest again. He wanted to tell her it just got worse right now, that he had been careful about what was going on, that it was all just superficial sickness. Everyone got fever, everyone dropped weight when they were sick and his molting was normal. Only people with serious problems had chest pains. Not dull aches but true pain, which came on so suddenly, he could barely get himself here. He wanted to tell her all of this but couldn't. Short of breath and he coiled instinctively into the fetal position. The vice in his chest momentarily subsided and he let out a relieved sigh.

"I'll forgive you so long as you fully understand that you will not be leaving until we get this sorted out," Amelia said briskly. "Tests are much easier to run on a stationary target."