Jared & Kurt | The kitchen floor

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Jared meets Kurt and tries to find his place in the mansion while struggling with his hangover.

Kurt was humming quietly as he wandered into the kitchen and over to the fridge, focused on his quest for food and not looking around on the way. He didn't notice the man at the sink until he'd emerged with a covered plate in his hand.

 "Oh! Hello."

"Uh, hey" Jared answered, still hammered and desperately trying to hold on his feet. The night had been rough, and so had been his day so far. Falling off his bed, and unable to stand for a few hours. Drinking was not the best way to sleep. Looking at the man in front of him, he first wondered if the color was some trick from his still clouded mind.

"Are you... blue, or what?"

"Thoroughly blue", Kurt agreed, amused." Also a tail. Are you quite all right?"

"I wouldn't put it that way", Jared mumbled, sitting on the kitchen floor. "Wait, what? A tail?" 'Man, where am I?' he thought... "What are you?"

"A mutant, like yourself", was the patient response as Kurt crouched next to him. "If a little more on the physical side. Should I call one of the doctors?"

"I'm just hammered, nothing heavy", the young man said. "I'll be just fine in a few hours. I don't have a job anymore, anyway"... His bottle of water ran empty, and a second run would have been more than welcome. Still, he felt the need to act like a person and try having a conversation. "Sooooo... You're obviously too old to be a student. What's your thing here?"

"I teach German and literature", Kurt told him. "My name is Kurt Sefton, and I believe I saw your introductory post... Jared, yes?"

"Jared Corbo, in person", was all Jared had to add. There was not much to say about himself, besides the fact that he couldn't feel a thing. "Can I ask you something? What am I doing here?"

Kurt eyed him, a little concerned by that. "...here in the kitchen, or here in the mansion?"

Jared tossed the bottled aside, saying "You know what I mean... I had a life. Not in Nebraska, but her in New York. I had a job and... Well, I had my job and that's it. I don't even know what I am supposed to do hear. It's been a week and all I do is roaming around during the day, and drink at night"

"Why did you leave your job?" Kurt asked quietly. "Most mutants your age have already long since manifested, yet you have not been here long."

"'Mine' manifested a while ago, but I never really mentioned it to anybody. And my last job was in New Rochelle. I don't have a car, so, I was thinking finding something closer. Going back to college is not a priority." Jared still didn't use the word 'mutant', or even 'power'. It was still pretty new to him and his condition made him feel more irrelevant than the few people he had already met here.

"There are buses directly into the city from Salem Center", he advised the other man. "And at least one very popular bar in the town itself, if you do not want to go into New York."

"Does that include serving pop to teenagers? Because I could really use some time off. I lived around frat boys, which is kindergarten most of the time. But here, this place is already driving me crazy". Jared didn't mean to be rude or disrespectful, but the change of scenery was giving him a hard time, and his inability to connect to anyone closer his age - on top of his inability to emotionally connect at all - kept bringing him down.

"Not most of the time. I am sorry you are finding things hard here." He sincerely meant it.

"Don't give me the sad look. That's usually my thing!" The blue boy's presence was actually nice. Jared felt comfort, and for once, he was not concerned about being outed. Rolling on the floor to grab the bottled, and then realizing how goofy his move might have looked, he asked: "What is it that people do here? I mean, apart from school and volunteer stuffs? What can I do here?"

"At the mansion itself?" He shrugged slightly. "Most of us are on the teaching or maintenance staff. If you had a project in mind, something you would want to do, you could always discuss it with the Professor. The Institute was created to help fund and assist projects run by or meant to help mutants."

"I'm not so much of an entrepreneur, sadly, though I'm great at helping". Jared thought it was time to spice it up. After all, this was a school. What would it be without gossips and small talks? "So, let's be more... 'people' oriented... What do you think of that new couple that had been outed last week? You know, the sad 'don't touch me or die' boy and the old...er guy." He didn't mean anything bad, it was just his way to break the ice...

"Ah, Kevin and Jean-Paul." He grinned. "I think that I am glad they have both found someone they want to be with, despite Kevin's... issues." And Jean-Paul's, of course, but those were less of public knowledge.

"What do you mean 'issues'? For the latter at least. I can totally get Kevin's thing, though I'm on the other side. He can't be touched. I can, but I don't feel it. I don't know which is worse..." Jared was still confused about this relationship. That Jean-Paul was a little twice Kevin's age... Sure age doesn't matter sometimes, but still. Then he realized he still had his strong Nebraska mindset. After all, some people deserve to be happy. "Ok, so I'm the only one bothered, or at least, bugged, by this thing. Fine, I'll try not to look too weird around them. And what's your story?" This last question was a way for him to shut up, since he had this bad habit to talk before he thinks. And that would also buy some time before he had to go back up on his weak feet.

Kurt thought it was rather worse to know anyone who touched you in an unguarded way would be badly hurt, but he smiled and let the subject drop. "My story? I am a gypsy prince by adoption, left with them partly because I was born as I look now. I came here some seven years ago after I met the professor through Ororo."

"I don't know this Ororo... I was recommended here by a guy who works around here; I met this guy, who knew this girl who dated this guy who knew this DJ, Mark something. We just talked over the phone, and that's it, here I am". Put it that way, Jared's story was way under the 'gipsy prince' part. Back on his feet now, Jared refilled his bottle and turned back at Kurt. He had been thinking a lot of his past and was wondering about the present. "So, do you know if we do some sort of social work... stuff? Keep that to yourself, but, I'm a social services kid, so, I kind of wondered if there was anything close to that where I could give a hand sometime..."

"I know Mark", Kurt said with a nod. "He had a day job at my sister's place of work, for a time." He considered the question seriously. "There is no shame in being a social services kid, you know, but I will not tell anyone. As for whether you could help... We already have a guidance counselor, and a child psychiatrist for the tougher cases, but we do have several runaways and similar at the school. It would not necessarily be official, but you could get to know some of them and perhaps act as a mentor?"

"I wouldn't qualify as any of those... But mentor, why not? I mean, if it's just talk, or listen to people talk, I can do that. I am great at listening. I'm not the 'successful' grown-up one would like to look up to, but I'm still standing... sort of". He winked, at these last words. He knew the hangover was far from over, and his next step would be his bed again, or maybe the shower. "And just so you know, you're not so bad at listening yourself. If you had a special remedy to deal with the headache, you'd rank number one among my housemates right now!"

"Talking and listening is often just what the children need", Kurt said seriously. "We do our best, but if it was someone who had been there... Now, as for a hangover remedy, let me think. My brother has always claimed steamed peas and carrots work, but my little sister swears by fried food and Coca-Cola."

The only thought of fried food turned Jared's stomach upside down. "I thought it was just my head... Now I feel like I'm going to throw up... Thanks for the tip!" Then, walking through the door, he turned back and added: "I talk to you later, right? I'll need some coaching for this mentoring stuff."

"The Coca-Cola will settle your stomach", Kurt advised him, then nodded. "I will be here any time you need it, but I think you will be fine.