Jay and Jean-Paul

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Jean-Paul gets bored and tags Jay for practice with aerial maneuvers.



A Chevy Silverado truck was pulled out of the garage, passenger and driver doors opened wide, allowing the blare of Toby Keith reminiscing how good he once was sing out over the court yard. One leg hung out beneath the truck, the other converse shoe sprawled off to the side with a knee bent upwards, bouncing to the beat of the music. A rag lay next to the leg, tossed aside until the heel of the shoe hooked it, dragged it up underneath the truck and the pair of legs disappeared.

Jean-Paul's feet appeared just beyond the shade of the truck's underbelly. "You do know that they give citations for noise pollution these days, don't you?" he asked, raising his voice to compete with Toby.

"Do they?" came the voice from beneath the truck. "Ah reckon ya better keep it down then huh?" Jay rolled out, topless, clad in faded jeans that knobby blue knees poked out by self made holes. He sat up, wiping his hands on the rag and scratched his cheek. "What's up?"

Once clear of the truck, Jay could see that Jean-Paul was already suited up for flight. The speedster reached into the cab of the truck and turned down the volume.

"I am bored sick of the gym. Care to catch some sky?"

Jay opened his mouth to protest Jean-Paul going into his truck but then the older man remerged, having only turned down the volume. But still. Turning down Toby Keith? That didn't fly. "Care to catch some sky?" he repeated, finding the question odd on the lips of a teacher, especially this one. His easy lopsided grin replaced the strained squint against Jean-Paul's silhouette fighting with the sun and he pushed up into a crouch, pulling the skateboard on its side before standing to toss it over into the back of the pick up.

"It's kinda hot out," came the lame excuse not to go.

"You do not have to come. I only thought I would extend the offer." Jean-Paul leaned against the truck. "If I were in your position, I would probably say...well, no, I would come up with a better excuse, but I would still find an excuse."

"Yeah..." Jay's eyes fell on Jean-Paul leaning on his truck and his frank expression said every bit of get off my truck. He made a point to go over to the driver's side, pull the key out and close the door, moving around to the other side to do the same. "So then why are you in mah position and Ah'm in yours? Always seems like Ah'm the pusher." Of Kevin, of school, of trying to move forward instead of limbo.

Jean-Paul casually stepped away from the truck; no benefit here in getting between a man and his vehicle.

"Because I am restless and you are the only one here who comes even close to giving me a decent work-out in the air."

"Oh yeah?" Jay walked around to the back of the truck and ran his hand over a spot, rubbing out what looked like a scuff. "Ah reckon there's another way to work out that restlessness," he winked. Abruptly Jay turned and clutching his key, he ran the opposite direction, wings shifting out and breaking away into the air.

"First ya gotta catch me!" he called over his shoulder.

The tap on his shoulder was almost instantaneous and then Jean-Paul was keeping pace.

"How about 'follow the leader' instead?" They were already moving fast enough that conversations were practically shouting matches. Jean-Paul pulled ahead, heading upward at a sharp angle with Jay practically on his heels. Good. Now to see how hard it was to lose his tail. Jay was fast -- he'd learned that much when their impromptu game of tag had left them on the doorstep of Halifax. Now he wanted to see how well he maneuvered.

Of course he expected that tap.

"Or that," Jay snorted.

He'd been flying years now, manifesting young and was well adapted to the maneuvers Jean-Paul took him through. But on a turn, he over extended, another one, he was too short and fell back a bit as Jean-Paul's speed got the better of him. He pushed his muscles through the spinal workout, thrusting his wings down and beating at the wind. He pushed in his turns and dove, ducked and tailed Jean-Paul as efficiently as his wings would allow. Agility was not something he practiced often and slowly, he crept into a half second delay.

Jean-Paul knew damn well that if he said aloud that Jay in flight was really quite magnificent, he would never hear the end of it. Ever. Still, that didn't change the sight of him. To the speedster's eye, some of the moves looked to be almost sloppy, or expended more energy than was necessary, but already Jay was correcting himself by instinct rather than by instruction, as if those gleaming blades were literally telling him what was needed. Magnificent and a bit eerie. Definitely worth further exploration.

Jean-Paul swooped low, heading in for a landing at the quarry.

The more they turned, the more Jay crept up on Jean-Paul though had he been rationally thinking, he would have known that Jean-Paul was slowing his flight. But the depth of Jay's thoughts didn't go that deep, driven by the rush of a chase and focused on resisting the urge to bring Jean-Paul down to the ground violently. An attacking screech was caught in his throat, held back and thankful they were landing, not to catch his breath but shake out those urges before he did something he'd regret.

Instead of landing down on the ground, Jay swooped up and took refuge on a higher rock formation, an edge eleven feet from the ground up. It didn't help to squelch the keen eyes watching the speedster but Jay caught himself and ran a hand over his face, trying to wipe it from his expression and hopefully ghost it off his entire body. His wings shook in irritation and smiled at Jean-Paul. "Tired?" he asked.

"Thinking more that we need to start taking comms up with us when we do these flights. Also evaluating. Were you tightening your turns up consciously? It looked more as if we were playing a three-person string than two-person -- your turns got tighter, but your body seemed to be following the lead of your wings instead of responding with them."

"There ya go again, keepin' tabs on me," Jay said turning his back to Jean-Paul and facing the rock. "If ya ain't careful," he started, hooking his fingers on a foothold. "Ah might think yer gettin' a crush." Clucking his tongue, he found another foot hold with his converse and pulled himself up, looking for another while he spoke. "It's like goin' from automatic to stick shift. She's gotta whole different feel to 'er," he said, not realizing he spoke as though his wings were a person instead of a thing. "Ya don't switch from feather to metal easily and reaction time's different. She's heavy, Solid. Ah ain't. Ah'm more hollow," he explained and meant that in more than one way. He didn't mention that chasing his teenaged idol was an entire thrill into itself. That was saying too much. "You ain't goin' yer full speed either yanno."

"If I were fifteen years younger and had selective brain damage to help me forget that I am supposed to be the responsible one? In a heartbeat. But since I am not and my brain damage is diffuse, we shall have to long for what might have been." Jean-Paul dismissed the topic with a handwave, getting back to the subject of flying. "Could you do a circle of the quarry while we're down here? As fast as you feel comfortable with, given the confinement."

"Sure, Ah guess," he said, three quarters up the wall. His wings balanced him as he slowly looked for more footholds, seemingly stuck momentarily and moved to the side before continuing up. "So fifteen years?" he asked, looking down at the rock face and obviously not finished with the topic. "That'd still make ya older. Gotta thing fer datin' young guys huh?" He said conversationally and pushed up the side, finding the edge to pull himself up and not bothering to wait for an answer. It was a rhetorical question and he couldn't help but pry, if only to get some advice from an older generation who had been at it for longer.

Jean-Paul chuckled softly. "Still older, but not so old as to be ashamed to make the attempt. Though you seem to be taking careful account of our ages yourself."

Jay stood up on the top of the rock, dusting his hands off on his jeans and crouching down, shaking out his wings before tying a lace that was undone. "That's cause yer Jean-Paul Beaubier," he shrugged and stood up. "Why wouldn't Ah?" Saying that Jean-Paul had been his idol for years was definitely not something he was going to blurt out. He was honest, but he was not that honest and it felt a little silly to do that, especially when he was still reeling from playing predator.

Throwing his wings back, Jay took a three step run before jumping off the edge and letting his wings carry him up. His wings angled and he was more aware of what Jean-Paul was talking about now as he turned in the quarry, building speed. His angle was sharp, cutting through the dust that was brought up and again that thrill coiled in the pit of his stomach and he slowed down, forcing himself to land, light on his feet and settling into a crouch. His hand flattened down on the ground, splayed fingers through the dirt and his wings fanned out, bringing up a fair amount of dust again. Breathing heavily, he meant to look up at Jean-Paul expectantly but his gaze was far from looking for criticisms.

Now Jean-Paul was flat-out impressed. He could have made the circle faster and in a tighter angle, but he wasn't dependent on wings. On the heels of the admiration, however, was that same prickling unease as Jay crouched across from him, his gaze one of a hungry raptor. A predator.

"I do not suppose you would care to sign up for a flight class again?" Jean-Paul asked mildly. "Because if I do not get to practice with you more often, I think I am going to find myself growing quite stale. Also, are you aware that you are looking at me as if I am the last steak sandwich on the planet?"

Instinctively drawing his wings back, Jay stood up and his feathers bristled, catching the rays of sun across their smooth surface while he, himself, shook his hands out and flexed his fingers, trying to shake that feeling again. "Yeah Ah know. Tryin' not to," he cleared his throat, wishing he had brought some water so he could splash some on his face like a cold shower. If only to ignore the tightening in his jeans. It was probably time to go have a run in the DR again.

"Ah dunno if Ah can do flight class. It gets me all riled up.. Ah mean, it's a good idea if ya don't mind me lookin' at you like that now and then. Maybe Ah'd get better control or somethin'. So maybe?" It didn't bother him to go to a class and give him something to do during the day, but it did bother him that he wasn't in complete sync with his own wings. "You sure you want someone like me in class?"

"Absolutely." The affirmative was given without hesitation. "I do not think it would do you that much good to be in the class proper with Angelica and Koralina, but summer is coming up and I can scrape out extra time meanwhile." He was not oblivious to Jay's discomfort and could guess at the reason, but that did not feel the need to draw attention to it. The last he had checked, an unrequited crush had not killed anyone. "As you say, exposure to this instinct may help you with controlling it. Besides..." He grinned. "Do you know how rare it is that I get to fly with someone who can actually make a try at keeping up with me?"

Brushing his thumb off the side of his nose, he snorted and grinned. "Now yer just blowin' mah head up," he said and threw back his wings. He crouched down and jumped up, launching upwards. From twenty feet in the air, he held his position with a steady rhythmic beat and ran a hand through his hair. "Ah gotta go JP cause Ah reckon if Ah'm gonna spend more time with ya, Ah'm gonna have to blow off steam in the DR room."

"Call me 'JP' again and you won't have to worry about it!" the speedster called back with a smirk.