Butterflies and Hurricanes : Jared & Derek

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Jared plays around with Derek and ends up touching the new Untouchable

As he walked in the lab, Jared didn't really pay attention to anything around. The major concern was the blood on his arm and a few leaves hanging here and there in his hair and on his shirt. That was part of his summer occupation: playing football in the woods, alone. He finally realized he was not alone in the room, a guy was sitting there, lonely. Jared was not much of an awkward by-stander, so he would just sit there and talk unless the other guy asked him to stop.

"What's up, I'm Jared! You're new here?" That was a dumb question. He might have read or heard something about some newcomer, but he had not paid attention. He started bouncing his legs around looking for something to talk about, and as the blood was still dripping he added: "I know what you think, but no, I'm not completely stupid! I didn't throw myself in that bush on purpose... I was actually trying to achieve something. Plus, scars are hot, you know, chicks dig it... Unless it's all dry blood, kind of gross..." The guy was still not talking... "Please, say something. Don't make me sound like a crazy person!"

Derek blinked at the man sitting in front of him for a moment, then said, "If you don't wanna sound like a crazy person, don't talk so fast. And I didn't know anything about a bush. It's kinda stupid to make assumptions about people, isn't it? I mean, why would I assume you threw yourself in a bush? You could've gotten cut up trying to stop a kitchen fire or by being slammed into a window or something."

He shrugged his misshapen shoulders, crab pincers opening and closing a little even as he shifted so his grasshopper legs would be a little more comfortable. "I'm Derek." He supposed he could say he hadn't thrown himself in front of all these mutations he now possessed, but that would kind of be a lie, if you looked at it from the right angle.

 "And I would assume you're a mutant, right?" That almost came as a joke, but Yvette never got too formal about Jared's sense of humor. "You kind of remind me of a friend. She was all sort of... you know, like that... But not anymore, she lost it... So did I. Not that I was all... like that..." People were talking about the whole Untouchables situation, but he never got too much into the details. He just knew somebody took them and that they were somewhere, but that was it.

 "So.... Derek... What brings you here?"

 "When you say 'like that,'" Derek asked, brow rising a bit, "D'you mean she had a body like a grasshopper? Or d'you mean she had claws like a crab? Or that she couldn't feel anything? Or that she blew stuff up when she touched it? I haven't been doing that one for a while, though. The red skin's new. Well, the red tint's new. Used to be all black. And kind of splotchy." He left the question of whether or not he was a mutant unanswered, since it was fairly obvious.

 At least this Jared guy wasn't staring at him like he was a freak.

 "Dude, you're the bomb! You can do all that?!" Jared didn't even make the connection. It was only fun. "My 'like that' was mostly referring to the red... and grasshopping. But the crab claws... man... I like that, it's so cartoonish!" He rolled over his bed, lying on his stomach and starring at Derek: "So you blow things up, but you don't feel it... You're like my idol! When I couldn't feel, that was it, the whole extent of it. You're like a powerhouse... How does that feel?"

 "Look, Jared," Derek said, using the patience he'd managed to accumulate while helping distraught people in District X, not to mention the long months stuck in Haven's basement. "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better about this and all, but it's really not fun, blowing things up. I couldn't touch anything because it'd all explode. I couldn't even wear clothes because they'd all just... catch fire and explode and stuff. The not feeling things, it came later. Which is... I mean. It's nice. But I can't do anything else, either, okay? It's not fun." Then something that the stranger had said registered and Derek asked, "You know somebody else with a grasshopper body? Or legs? Or whatever?"

 "Pay attention, man! I said I 'knew'. She's just all normal now, which makes things awkward. I figure she's into the whole hugging thing, so I've been sort of avoiding." Jared was saddened that Derek didn't try to get more in harmony with his powers. Not that he did that himself much, but he learned to live with it, even had fun sometimes. To clear the air, Jared wanted to play a bit: "If I touched you, right now - in a very manly not intimate way - what would happen?"

You'd draw back a nub, jerk, Derek thought, managing to make himself not actually say that by force of will alone. "I dunno," he said instead, shrugging his crab pincers and frowning a little.

 "You know, I'm not that stupid, I didn't plan to shake your hand or whatever. I mean, do you even know what your skin feels like?" It was pure curiosity. Jared was being playful, as much as he had been when he first met Yvette. Derek was just being more defensive. "Wanna give it a shot?", Jared asked, raising his hand.

 "If you want to," Derek said, resisting the urge to scoot away from the older man. This was weird.

 Like a child, Jared's hand was reaching Derek's skin, with both envy and fear. "I'll be careful..." As his finger touched the claw, something strange happened. No cut. "Oh... that's it? I don't even feel it..." An internal WTF was refrained there. "I. Don't. Freaking. Feel it!"

 As soon as Jared touched his pincer, Derek's clothing was alternately ripped to shreds, blown up, and decayed all at once. That left him standing there... looking like a grasshopper with crab claws. He froze. "I... think maybe you should back up a little. Cause I think maybe the exploding thing has come back. Or something. And it's really not a good idea for you to be near me." When Jared didn't move back immediately, Derek tried to step backward. One of his legs hit the lampshade on the table near him and it, too, blew up, got shredded, and disintegrated. "Oh, this isn't good."

 Jared finally accepted to step back. He would have add another 'You're the bomb' comment, but the mood was not so right. The only thing that came out was not that fun, but still out of place, as usual. "Dude, you're kind of... naked... just saying..." Then, as a reflex, he tried to itch the scratches on his arm, but soon realized it was all in vain. His skin was coated again, as if it was covered by a thin layer of glass. Then, he searched for Derek's attention, in despair: "this is so not good...."

 "Dude," Derek said, now moving away from Jared very carefully while trying not to hit anything else. "I'm pretty sure that not having any clothes on is the least of my worries right now. It's not like I've got anything anybody would consider scandalous, anyway, what with being a grasshopper and everything." He was trying not to be rude, but seriously. His clothing had gotten totally destroyed and now he couldn't seem to get his face to work right. That might've been for the best, all things considered, since he probably would have had on an awful expression, something between horror and really, really upset. If his eyes were glowing a bit more red than they usually did, well. Whichever. It was better than the eerie green or the weird white.

 Derek took a slow breath to try to calm himself down and then said, "Jared, I need you to hit the button over there. It'll call someone to come help us - me. To come help me. I think it'd be a bad idea for me to touch anything right now."

"Yeah, sure! Now that I'm screwed too, let's have some help! Wait a second... I just have to press that thing to get some help down here? I could have had my arm fixed just like that and you tell me now?!" Jared was struck by the fact he still didn't know a thing about this place. Saddened and depressed, he pressed the button. "Unbelievable..."

 A little more concerned with the fact that he was back to exploding things, Derek decided not to mention that, if Jared hadn't been so busy talking, he might've been able to tell him about the button earlier. After all, it wasn't like he could use a telephone or anything if he needed help. Instead, he just stayed very, very still and made sure he wasn't standing near anything while they waited for someone to turn up so they could explain these new developments.