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xp_logs2009-02-25 05:55 am
x-cynosure.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2009-02-25 05:55 am
Jean-Paul and Shiro - Wednesday morning
After a morning of awkward moments, Jean-Paul abandons the idea of pursuing Shiro.
While normally the pinnacle of a morning person (except for the part where he's always surly towards everyone), Shiro stumbled out of his room almost drunkenly. He'd slept fitfully but as much as he wanted to go back to bed, he had too much to do to squander even another fifteen minutes under the cover. He approached the bathroom, and as he was too busy rubbing his eyes, he didn't see the light come in through the doorway. But upon opening the door he woke up immediately.
His mind leaped to the familiar first -- he'd walked in on Tommy getting out of the shower. Except that Tommy wasn't ever up before Shiro. And Tommy was taller. And blond. And not Jean-Paul.
The two spent several seconds frozen and staring before Jean-Paul lunged for the towel rack, red-faced and muttering apologies that were mostly lost under the torrential hiss of the shower.
Shiro quickly turned away and forced unsexy thoughts, not just because he was embarrassed but so Jean-Paul couldn't see the growing tent in Shiro's sweatpants. "I-I-I'm sorry," he stammered. "I forgot you were here."
A joke. A quip. Anything to defuse the situation. Try as he might, Jean-Paul's mind kept clicking on empty chambers.
"It's all right," he finally managed. "I should have locked the door. I didn't remember that there were other people around either." He finally managed a smile. "The hazards of being loners." He grabbed another towel to keep his hair from dripping into his eyes, speaking in a casual tone that he didn't feel. "No harm done. And now you know how far down that other scar goes."
"I think it would have been better simply to ask. I do not need visual proof for everything." Shiro pulled at his collar, the sauna-like heat of the bathroom stifling even to someone not normally concerned with the temperature. Or maybe it was just him.
"Shiro, it really is all right. It was just an accident." The younger man's obvious discomfort was not growing any less, which was a curious thing to Jean-Paul, even through his own unease. It wasn't as if this were anything he hadn't seen before, generally speaking. Shiro's reaction made no sense in that -- oh. Jean-Paul rubbed the back of his neck, the moment having become freshly awkward. "Do you mind if I get dressed? I can see to breakfast while you're in the shower and...um...perhaps we could talk?"
"Yes. Please." Shiro fled the bathroom, and as soon as he heard Jean-Paul vacate it (fully covered, he hoped, preferably in a burqa), quickly dashed inside. The ice cold water steamed as it fell onto his skin; it did nothing to calm him. He was not usually one to linger in the shower longer than necessary, but it was almost ten minutes before Jean-Paul could hear the water shut off. A very brief flare indicated a quick plasma drying to make up for lost time, and he came out a minute later dressed and roughly brushing his hair.
Jean-Paul was just flipping the last of a batch pancakes off of the stove when Shiro entered the kitchen. "I applaud your decision to keep a sensible pantry. With two college students in the same room, I was afraid all I was going to have to work with was left-over pizza and ketchup packets." His hair was still damp and he was in the same clothes from the night before. "I...have been under the impression that you're waiting for Clarice to pick up your relationship again."
'Oh, brilliant start, Beaubier.'
And certainly not what Shiro was expecting at all. "I do not think she is going to pick up anything. She has made it clear that we are no more than friends, if even that. You just describe what I wish were to happen." Even though for five minutes in the shower, he'd been thinking about something quite different.
Jean-Paul turned off the stove, trying to sort out the conflict in his mind. It was not too late to turn back, to brush this off. If he kept up this line of conversation, they would get to the heart of the matter sooner or later and then...what? He could explain that yes, he was very tempted to tackle Shiro onto the couch and kiss the breath out of him but wasn't going to because he was an emotional coward? What would be the point of that? Not that he had the best of luck staying quiet in such matters anyway.
"And...if someone else came along?"
"Well, there was Alex." Which had been a mistake on several levels. "And Guthrie." Another big mistake, and one that had left him more confused than Alex did. "Though neither of them were her quality. I want another girl like her."
That last sentence told him all he needed to know, didn't it? He'd misread the situation. Jean-Paul held on to his neutral expression like a life preserver, even as his grip on the spatula tightened. He got a hold of himself and set the plate in front of Shiro. His own appetite, minimal to start with, had fled.
"I just don't want you to be kept waiting for something that is not going to happen, that is all. Perhaps you should get out more. The girls in your class, surely there must be some interests in common there."
"Maybe. I have thought about it before, but I do not know if they are right for me. I want a girl who could kick my ass if she wanted." Shiro smiled a little at that and took a bite of his breakfast. "Oishii. Thank you."
While normally the pinnacle of a morning person (except for the part where he's always surly towards everyone), Shiro stumbled out of his room almost drunkenly. He'd slept fitfully but as much as he wanted to go back to bed, he had too much to do to squander even another fifteen minutes under the cover. He approached the bathroom, and as he was too busy rubbing his eyes, he didn't see the light come in through the doorway. But upon opening the door he woke up immediately.
His mind leaped to the familiar first -- he'd walked in on Tommy getting out of the shower. Except that Tommy wasn't ever up before Shiro. And Tommy was taller. And blond. And not Jean-Paul.
The two spent several seconds frozen and staring before Jean-Paul lunged for the towel rack, red-faced and muttering apologies that were mostly lost under the torrential hiss of the shower.
Shiro quickly turned away and forced unsexy thoughts, not just because he was embarrassed but so Jean-Paul couldn't see the growing tent in Shiro's sweatpants. "I-I-I'm sorry," he stammered. "I forgot you were here."
A joke. A quip. Anything to defuse the situation. Try as he might, Jean-Paul's mind kept clicking on empty chambers.
"It's all right," he finally managed. "I should have locked the door. I didn't remember that there were other people around either." He finally managed a smile. "The hazards of being loners." He grabbed another towel to keep his hair from dripping into his eyes, speaking in a casual tone that he didn't feel. "No harm done. And now you know how far down that other scar goes."
"I think it would have been better simply to ask. I do not need visual proof for everything." Shiro pulled at his collar, the sauna-like heat of the bathroom stifling even to someone not normally concerned with the temperature. Or maybe it was just him.
"Shiro, it really is all right. It was just an accident." The younger man's obvious discomfort was not growing any less, which was a curious thing to Jean-Paul, even through his own unease. It wasn't as if this were anything he hadn't seen before, generally speaking. Shiro's reaction made no sense in that -- oh. Jean-Paul rubbed the back of his neck, the moment having become freshly awkward. "Do you mind if I get dressed? I can see to breakfast while you're in the shower and...um...perhaps we could talk?"
"Yes. Please." Shiro fled the bathroom, and as soon as he heard Jean-Paul vacate it (fully covered, he hoped, preferably in a burqa), quickly dashed inside. The ice cold water steamed as it fell onto his skin; it did nothing to calm him. He was not usually one to linger in the shower longer than necessary, but it was almost ten minutes before Jean-Paul could hear the water shut off. A very brief flare indicated a quick plasma drying to make up for lost time, and he came out a minute later dressed and roughly brushing his hair.
Jean-Paul was just flipping the last of a batch pancakes off of the stove when Shiro entered the kitchen. "I applaud your decision to keep a sensible pantry. With two college students in the same room, I was afraid all I was going to have to work with was left-over pizza and ketchup packets." His hair was still damp and he was in the same clothes from the night before. "I...have been under the impression that you're waiting for Clarice to pick up your relationship again."
'Oh, brilliant start, Beaubier.'
And certainly not what Shiro was expecting at all. "I do not think she is going to pick up anything. She has made it clear that we are no more than friends, if even that. You just describe what I wish were to happen." Even though for five minutes in the shower, he'd been thinking about something quite different.
Jean-Paul turned off the stove, trying to sort out the conflict in his mind. It was not too late to turn back, to brush this off. If he kept up this line of conversation, they would get to the heart of the matter sooner or later and then...what? He could explain that yes, he was very tempted to tackle Shiro onto the couch and kiss the breath out of him but wasn't going to because he was an emotional coward? What would be the point of that? Not that he had the best of luck staying quiet in such matters anyway.
"And...if someone else came along?"
"Well, there was Alex." Which had been a mistake on several levels. "And Guthrie." Another big mistake, and one that had left him more confused than Alex did. "Though neither of them were her quality. I want another girl like her."
That last sentence told him all he needed to know, didn't it? He'd misread the situation. Jean-Paul held on to his neutral expression like a life preserver, even as his grip on the spatula tightened. He got a hold of himself and set the plate in front of Shiro. His own appetite, minimal to start with, had fled.
"I just don't want you to be kept waiting for something that is not going to happen, that is all. Perhaps you should get out more. The girls in your class, surely there must be some interests in common there."
"Maybe. I have thought about it before, but I do not know if they are right for me. I want a girl who could kick my ass if she wanted." Shiro smiled a little at that and took a bite of his breakfast. "Oishii. Thank you."