Paige and Jono | Sleepover
Mar. 29th, 2024 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsPaige takes Jono up on his offer to host a sleepover.
Jono heard Paige knock and immediately stood up to the open the door. The last eight or so times she’d come over she’d always knocked even though she knew the door was open, and tonight seemed to be no different.
He offered her the closest thing to a smile he could approximate when he saw her. It would have to work as him saying ‘hi.’
Paige smiled back before holding her hand up near her forehead, fingers together and thumb out, before moving it away in a wave, then held her hands together like a handshake. As she did this, she mouthed along the words she was signing in BSL. Hello, friend.
“I’m still learning, but I’ve got a few basic vocabulary words down,” Paige said out loud, walking into the room. “And if you want, we could practice conversation together. It would really help me practice my conversation skills.”
Jono inwardly groaned and pulled out the lightwriter. "I never learned to sign."
“…Oh.” Paige turned bright red. She hadn’t asked because she wanted to surprise him and, based on when she had run into him in the library and he had signed sorry, Paige had thought he knew a little bit. Looks like she was wrong. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to assume. Just wanted to surprise you with something nice.”
“You’re incredibly sweet.” Jono typed. “It’s an amazing surprise. But I know maybe four words in BSL. I’m sorry I ruined your perfect gesture.”
He paused awkwardly. “You know you’re really way too nice to me.”
“No such thing.” Paige plopped herself down on his bed. “We’re friends, friends are supposed to be nice to each other. And it’s the least I could do to try and make communication a little easier for you…even if it didn’t work.”
“I should learn to sign.” Jono typed. “But….I didn’t know anyone who did, and I didn’t leave the flat much once I was out of hospital. So there wasn’t much point.”
“We could learn together? Only if you want. I’ve found a lot of resources and it helps to have a conversation partner.” Paige pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. She wasn’t trying to be pushy, but if Jono really wanted to learn, she knew how to help.
“Yeah….. maybe we could do ASL? Since I live here now?” Jono typed, sitting down next to her and similarly pulling his knees up to his chest. He leaned against her gently before pulling back. About as affectionate as he dared to be right now.
“Whatever you want.” Paige followed Jono as he sat up and leaned on his shoulder. “So, it’s been a while since I’ve had a sleepover. We could watch a movie or something.” Paige thought for a moment before smiling mischievously up at Jono. “Or you could finally let me listen to your band.”
Jono leaned his head against hers and tried to fight the blush on his cheeks. "We could watch the first Lord of the Rings?.....you really want to listen to my band?"
Paige punched him lightly on the arm. “Of course I want to listen to your band. You said you wrote the songs, so I’d love to hear them. Your you could let me borrow a few of your CDs instead.”
"I also sang them." Jono typed instinctively before mentally wincing. That was a good reminder of what he couldn't do anymore. "I just...you want to listen because you're interested in that kind of music, not just because you're trying to make me feel better about the fact that I can't perform anymore?"
“I genuinely like the music.” Paige sat up to look him in the eye so he knew she was telling the truth. “And I know that music and your band are really important to you and that you wrote a lot of the songs. If it’s important to you, I’d like to listen to them so I can get to know you a bit better and experience something you clearly love. Unless you’re afraid I’ll find an embarrassing old love song or something,” she laughed.
Jono blushed darkly and hid his face in his knees before typing. "Never sang any of my own love songs on stage. Didn't like making money off my partner."
The fact that he had mostly been afraid of what would happen if or when Gayle inevitably broke up with him and his income was dependent on praising her was besides the point. He really didn't like making his private life public like that. He barely liked making his private thoughts public to tell the person he was thinking about.
He paused and then typed some more. "I just know that rock isn't your usual genre so I don't want you to think you have to like it. I'm used to rejection, Paige, I want your honest opinion."
“That’s really sweet. You shouldn’t have to share your whole personal life for your career.” Paige leaned away to give Jono some space. “And I promise I’ll be honest about your music. I do like what you’ve recommended though. It’s been nice to branch out. But if you’re really not comfortable with it, I’ll drop it and we can watch your fantasy movie.”
"No, no, I want you to listen, I just don't like the idea of you feeling like you have to." Jono typed. "Sorry. I'm pretty sure we have videos from some of our shows on youtube, let me see if I can find some for you. Some of them are covers because we'd get requests but it was always a fun time."
He reached over to grab his laptop and pulled up youtube, looking for videos of himself performing. After the accident he'd pretty much done nothing but watch these until his eyes hurt from crying. But this felt different now, Paige was excited to see it, she'd specifically requested it. He found a playlist and hit play, setting the screen between them so they could both watch as live recordings from one of his concerts played on the screen.
Far too late he realized that this had been that concert. Where after a blow-out fight with Gayle he'd gotten....a bit suggestive on stage. It hadn't helped, but it had felt good in the moment. How did he keep messing things up when Paige was around?
Paige tried not to blush as she watched Jono dance around on stage. It was just an act, he never acted like this in real life. Though maybe that had changed after his accident. She coughed to clear her throat, then asked, “What’s this song called? It’s not bad.”
The song definitely wasn’t something she was going to listen to all the time, but it was fun. It would probably help to sort between the ones she did like if she knew the names, too.
"Whispers in the Woods." Jono typed. "It's about the folk tradition of careless wanderers getting sucked into the fae realm, but the speaker is hoping for that and is looking for the whispers in the woods to lead him on an adventure. Though because he wants it, it will never come to be and he'll find himself wandering carelessly reminding himself of childhood fantasy..."
“You really like fairy tales. Any reason why? Or are they just fun?” Paige pulled out her phone and made a note of the song title and also wrote whispers in woods. Google?
"My best mate as a kid was from Wrexham, which is in Wales." Jono typed. "And her mum had this massive illustrated book of folktales with the gold edges and she'd watch us while my parents were at work and read to us out of it and I just always really loved them. Knights and dragons, and the way she'd describe the otherworld....I used to have a lot of reading time on my hands at the bookstore, so I started reading the adult versions of the stories and fell in love with them all over again. And the traditional music from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man, fuck even Cornwall is just full of these stories and this kind of anger and wistfullness and I thought it might be fun to try it myself. Now I just know entirely too much about how witchcraft worked in fifteenth century England and am overly cautious about mushrooms and trees that give me a bad vibe."
“It’s always good to be cautious and mushrooms,” Paige said, from a much more practical standpoint. “Mama and Daddy used to read us bedtime stories when I was little, like Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella and all that. Mel really liked the princess stories, but I liked the ones where the protagonists saved themselves. But more often, Daddy would sing a lot of folk and country songs for us, so most of my family really likes music.”
"When my parents were home they mostly played rock. Sometimes Mum would play pop music like Madonna, but mostly when Dad had a later shift. I was really lucky, they found a cheap guitar at a charity shop and got it for me for my birthday one year and I never really looked back. They were supportive of that." Jono typed. His parents had been supportive up to a point, and that point had seemed to be their son being a mutant. It caused a lot of trouble, got them ridiculed after his name was printed in the press- he understood. They'd been fine with a fuss if he was seeing a politician's daughter or making waves with his music- but making waves because his mutation had him labeled a public threat? That wasn't something they could handle.
No use dwelling on it. He turned back to Paige and squinted his eyes in a smile. "I do have songs that aren't about folklore too, that was just the first video from this concert."
Paige stared at Jono for a moment. “I’m trying to picture you tiny with a big guitar. It’s cute.” She leaned back onto his shoulder. “I’m glad they supported you. Do you miss them? It must be rough being so far from home. And you can show me whatever you want, folklore inspired or otherwise.”
"We- I haven't spoken to them in over a year." Jono typed. "We didn't talk much before that anyway. They were busy, I was busy- I moved out as soon as I was finished GCSEs and that was that."
For once he was glad of the lightwriter, he could only imagine the pity Paige would feel for him if she could hear the inflection his voice would have carried. The monotonous robotic voice felt safe all of a sudden.
Jono leaned into her, and fought the urge to tense up. He hadn't let anyone this close in over a year. Nobody had wanted to. "We could listen to another song? If I remember correctly the next one from this concert wasn't folklore based."
He reached over to press play on the next song before wincing. Ah right. The song that had started the big blow out fight with Gayle in the first place. She had been correct in that fight, the song about loneliness and feeling trapped was about their relationship, but he had denied it, afraid of the loneliness. He'd decided to debut it at this concert, and had...triggered another fight over the fact that he'd almost stripped on stage during it. With any luck Paige would focus on his actions and not his lyrics in this song and save him from questions that were bound to make him cry.
If Gayle had taught him anything it's that girls liked guys who were sensitive as long as they didn't actually cry or show the wrong emotions. He was already blowing things bad enough without crying.
Paige let him go, but kept her head on his shoulder and rubbed his back comfortingly. “You know I don’t mind the folklore stuff right? I might not be familiar with it, but it’s interestin’.”
Once again, the Jono on the screen was getting close to being half naked and dancing around the stage. It was just a performance, what was really important were the lyrics, so that is what Paige tried to focus on. Even with that, she couldn’t help but watch and realized Jono was letting her see his face. She reached down and squeezed his hand and left her hand in his. When she had asked to hear his music, she hadn’t expected him to open up so much. Not that she was complaining. It was nice to finally get to know Jono better.
Jono squeezed her hand in return. "If I get started on the folklore stuff we're not going to end up sleeping." Jono typed, clumsy with one hand. "I can go all night. And you look tired so I'm thinking we should probably try to get some sleep soon. Unless you have a better idea."
Ah innuendo and flirting via wordplay, how he had missed you.
Paige yawned. “‘M not that tired. And it’s nice listenin’ to you tell me ‘bout stuff you like. Makes you happy. Music’s nice, too.” Ok, maybe she had stayed up a little too late a few too many nights this week. But she had wanted to make sure she was really free tonight and not worrying about getting her homework done the whole time they spent together. Still, she could stay awake for a while longer.
"Have I told you that I love your accent?" Jono typed, removing his hand from hers just to wrap his arm around her instead. It was easier to focus on Paige than on the fact that she liked it when he was happy. "Did you bring pajamas? Or should I grab you a tshirt and some joggers from my drawers? We can put on a movie once we're comfortable, how about that?"
The comment about her accent made Paige turn bright red. She hadn’t realized how much it had slipped out and no one had complimented her on it…well, ever. Most people only pointed it out to ask where she was from, if she was related to Sam, or to tell her how smart she was despite it. “Oh..uh thanks.”
She pointed over at the bag she brought. “My clothes are in there. Wasn’t expecting you to take care of that.” She got up and tried to hide her blushing. “I’ll go get changed and we can start the movie, yeah?”
"Sounds good, bathroom is all yours." He typed. "I'll change while you do that and get the movie pulled up."
Jono grabbed a pair of joggers and an old tshirt from his drawer and threw them on quickly while Paige changed in the bathroom. He put his dirty laundry in the hamper and then quickly pulled up the movie on his laptop. He smoothed down the blankets on his bed anxiously as he waited for her to return.
Paige came out of the bathroom in a tank top and pajama pants with her hair braided back. “So,” she said, flopping back down on the bed. “What’s Lord of the Rings about anyway? I know it’s a really old fantasy series and there’s probably some rings involved somewhere.”
"Lord of the Rings is a story about how it takes the courage of ordinary people to stand up to unimaginable evil, even if that evil was forged long before their own time. It mostly follows Frodo, a Hobbit, who carries a cursed ring of power across a continent to destroy it in the very fires it was forged in to defeat an evil that has not yet even reached his people just because it is wrong. You'll love it." Jono typed, tentatively putting his arm around Paige again. She hadn't complained earlier....maybe she wouldn't complain now?
“Sounds good. Kind of like a D&D campaign, but more serious and with clearer themes. Wonder if I could get a game going here.” She hit play, then sat back and leaned into Jono again.
"Dungeons and Dragons is based on Lord of the Rings." Jono typed, looking at Paige in only slight judgement. If he knew that despite barely knowing anything about Dungeons and Dragons, how did she not know that. "It's important to me that you know that."
“Is it?” Paige yawned again. Those cram sessions were catching up with her. “That’s cool.” Watching the camera pan over the Shire filled her with a warm feeling. Though maybe that was the heat radiating from Jono’s chest. Either way, it was nice and comforting.
Jono shook his head slightly but pulled her closer, if she was going to fall asleep during the movie she might as well fully use him as a pillow. ".....I'd play your dungeon game with you if you taught me how."
Paige, eyes closed and drifting off against Jono’s shoulder, smiled. “You’re a good friend…” Sighing, she shifted her head to a more comfortable position and promptly fell asleep.
Jono's chest felt tight and he closed his laptop and moved it to the side. As gently as possible he moved Paige so that she laid on her side and settled down next to her, guilt settling deep in his gut. A good friend- how good could he be if he didn't just want to be friends? It was fortunate really- that she hadn't commented on him flirting with her- he's not sure that he could take it. Of course she wouldn't be interested in him. It would be embarrassing- being interested in a monster like him. He didn't even have a mouth, how was he supposed to kiss her? He couldn't write a song just for her and have her hear it in his voice. He didn't even feel safe hugging her with the flames contained by his bandages and it was out of the goodness and inherent kindness of her heart that she deigned to touch him at all- but how long would that last when they couldn't be a normal couple? When he couldn't give her what she was surely expecting?
He wouldn't be his first choice either- not with what he'd done. How could she even stand to be close to him knowing what he'd done to Gayle?
Jono heard Paige knock and immediately stood up to the open the door. The last eight or so times she’d come over she’d always knocked even though she knew the door was open, and tonight seemed to be no different.
He offered her the closest thing to a smile he could approximate when he saw her. It would have to work as him saying ‘hi.’
Paige smiled back before holding her hand up near her forehead, fingers together and thumb out, before moving it away in a wave, then held her hands together like a handshake. As she did this, she mouthed along the words she was signing in BSL. Hello, friend.
“I’m still learning, but I’ve got a few basic vocabulary words down,” Paige said out loud, walking into the room. “And if you want, we could practice conversation together. It would really help me practice my conversation skills.”
Jono inwardly groaned and pulled out the lightwriter. "I never learned to sign."
“…Oh.” Paige turned bright red. She hadn’t asked because she wanted to surprise him and, based on when she had run into him in the library and he had signed sorry, Paige had thought he knew a little bit. Looks like she was wrong. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to assume. Just wanted to surprise you with something nice.”
“You’re incredibly sweet.” Jono typed. “It’s an amazing surprise. But I know maybe four words in BSL. I’m sorry I ruined your perfect gesture.”
He paused awkwardly. “You know you’re really way too nice to me.”
“No such thing.” Paige plopped herself down on his bed. “We’re friends, friends are supposed to be nice to each other. And it’s the least I could do to try and make communication a little easier for you…even if it didn’t work.”
“I should learn to sign.” Jono typed. “But….I didn’t know anyone who did, and I didn’t leave the flat much once I was out of hospital. So there wasn’t much point.”
“We could learn together? Only if you want. I’ve found a lot of resources and it helps to have a conversation partner.” Paige pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. She wasn’t trying to be pushy, but if Jono really wanted to learn, she knew how to help.
“Yeah….. maybe we could do ASL? Since I live here now?” Jono typed, sitting down next to her and similarly pulling his knees up to his chest. He leaned against her gently before pulling back. About as affectionate as he dared to be right now.
“Whatever you want.” Paige followed Jono as he sat up and leaned on his shoulder. “So, it’s been a while since I’ve had a sleepover. We could watch a movie or something.” Paige thought for a moment before smiling mischievously up at Jono. “Or you could finally let me listen to your band.”
Jono leaned his head against hers and tried to fight the blush on his cheeks. "We could watch the first Lord of the Rings?.....you really want to listen to my band?"
Paige punched him lightly on the arm. “Of course I want to listen to your band. You said you wrote the songs, so I’d love to hear them. Your you could let me borrow a few of your CDs instead.”
"I also sang them." Jono typed instinctively before mentally wincing. That was a good reminder of what he couldn't do anymore. "I just...you want to listen because you're interested in that kind of music, not just because you're trying to make me feel better about the fact that I can't perform anymore?"
“I genuinely like the music.” Paige sat up to look him in the eye so he knew she was telling the truth. “And I know that music and your band are really important to you and that you wrote a lot of the songs. If it’s important to you, I’d like to listen to them so I can get to know you a bit better and experience something you clearly love. Unless you’re afraid I’ll find an embarrassing old love song or something,” she laughed.
Jono blushed darkly and hid his face in his knees before typing. "Never sang any of my own love songs on stage. Didn't like making money off my partner."
The fact that he had mostly been afraid of what would happen if or when Gayle inevitably broke up with him and his income was dependent on praising her was besides the point. He really didn't like making his private life public like that. He barely liked making his private thoughts public to tell the person he was thinking about.
He paused and then typed some more. "I just know that rock isn't your usual genre so I don't want you to think you have to like it. I'm used to rejection, Paige, I want your honest opinion."
“That’s really sweet. You shouldn’t have to share your whole personal life for your career.” Paige leaned away to give Jono some space. “And I promise I’ll be honest about your music. I do like what you’ve recommended though. It’s been nice to branch out. But if you’re really not comfortable with it, I’ll drop it and we can watch your fantasy movie.”
"No, no, I want you to listen, I just don't like the idea of you feeling like you have to." Jono typed. "Sorry. I'm pretty sure we have videos from some of our shows on youtube, let me see if I can find some for you. Some of them are covers because we'd get requests but it was always a fun time."
He reached over to grab his laptop and pulled up youtube, looking for videos of himself performing. After the accident he'd pretty much done nothing but watch these until his eyes hurt from crying. But this felt different now, Paige was excited to see it, she'd specifically requested it. He found a playlist and hit play, setting the screen between them so they could both watch as live recordings from one of his concerts played on the screen.
Far too late he realized that this had been that concert. Where after a blow-out fight with Gayle he'd gotten....a bit suggestive on stage. It hadn't helped, but it had felt good in the moment. How did he keep messing things up when Paige was around?
Paige tried not to blush as she watched Jono dance around on stage. It was just an act, he never acted like this in real life. Though maybe that had changed after his accident. She coughed to clear her throat, then asked, “What’s this song called? It’s not bad.”
The song definitely wasn’t something she was going to listen to all the time, but it was fun. It would probably help to sort between the ones she did like if she knew the names, too.
"Whispers in the Woods." Jono typed. "It's about the folk tradition of careless wanderers getting sucked into the fae realm, but the speaker is hoping for that and is looking for the whispers in the woods to lead him on an adventure. Though because he wants it, it will never come to be and he'll find himself wandering carelessly reminding himself of childhood fantasy..."
“You really like fairy tales. Any reason why? Or are they just fun?” Paige pulled out her phone and made a note of the song title and also wrote whispers in woods. Google?
"My best mate as a kid was from Wrexham, which is in Wales." Jono typed. "And her mum had this massive illustrated book of folktales with the gold edges and she'd watch us while my parents were at work and read to us out of it and I just always really loved them. Knights and dragons, and the way she'd describe the otherworld....I used to have a lot of reading time on my hands at the bookstore, so I started reading the adult versions of the stories and fell in love with them all over again. And the traditional music from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man, fuck even Cornwall is just full of these stories and this kind of anger and wistfullness and I thought it might be fun to try it myself. Now I just know entirely too much about how witchcraft worked in fifteenth century England and am overly cautious about mushrooms and trees that give me a bad vibe."
“It’s always good to be cautious and mushrooms,” Paige said, from a much more practical standpoint. “Mama and Daddy used to read us bedtime stories when I was little, like Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella and all that. Mel really liked the princess stories, but I liked the ones where the protagonists saved themselves. But more often, Daddy would sing a lot of folk and country songs for us, so most of my family really likes music.”
"When my parents were home they mostly played rock. Sometimes Mum would play pop music like Madonna, but mostly when Dad had a later shift. I was really lucky, they found a cheap guitar at a charity shop and got it for me for my birthday one year and I never really looked back. They were supportive of that." Jono typed. His parents had been supportive up to a point, and that point had seemed to be their son being a mutant. It caused a lot of trouble, got them ridiculed after his name was printed in the press- he understood. They'd been fine with a fuss if he was seeing a politician's daughter or making waves with his music- but making waves because his mutation had him labeled a public threat? That wasn't something they could handle.
No use dwelling on it. He turned back to Paige and squinted his eyes in a smile. "I do have songs that aren't about folklore too, that was just the first video from this concert."
Paige stared at Jono for a moment. “I’m trying to picture you tiny with a big guitar. It’s cute.” She leaned back onto his shoulder. “I’m glad they supported you. Do you miss them? It must be rough being so far from home. And you can show me whatever you want, folklore inspired or otherwise.”
"We- I haven't spoken to them in over a year." Jono typed. "We didn't talk much before that anyway. They were busy, I was busy- I moved out as soon as I was finished GCSEs and that was that."
For once he was glad of the lightwriter, he could only imagine the pity Paige would feel for him if she could hear the inflection his voice would have carried. The monotonous robotic voice felt safe all of a sudden.
Jono leaned into her, and fought the urge to tense up. He hadn't let anyone this close in over a year. Nobody had wanted to. "We could listen to another song? If I remember correctly the next one from this concert wasn't folklore based."
He reached over to press play on the next song before wincing. Ah right. The song that had started the big blow out fight with Gayle in the first place. She had been correct in that fight, the song about loneliness and feeling trapped was about their relationship, but he had denied it, afraid of the loneliness. He'd decided to debut it at this concert, and had...triggered another fight over the fact that he'd almost stripped on stage during it. With any luck Paige would focus on his actions and not his lyrics in this song and save him from questions that were bound to make him cry.
If Gayle had taught him anything it's that girls liked guys who were sensitive as long as they didn't actually cry or show the wrong emotions. He was already blowing things bad enough without crying.
Paige let him go, but kept her head on his shoulder and rubbed his back comfortingly. “You know I don’t mind the folklore stuff right? I might not be familiar with it, but it’s interestin’.”
Once again, the Jono on the screen was getting close to being half naked and dancing around the stage. It was just a performance, what was really important were the lyrics, so that is what Paige tried to focus on. Even with that, she couldn’t help but watch and realized Jono was letting her see his face. She reached down and squeezed his hand and left her hand in his. When she had asked to hear his music, she hadn’t expected him to open up so much. Not that she was complaining. It was nice to finally get to know Jono better.
Jono squeezed her hand in return. "If I get started on the folklore stuff we're not going to end up sleeping." Jono typed, clumsy with one hand. "I can go all night. And you look tired so I'm thinking we should probably try to get some sleep soon. Unless you have a better idea."
Ah innuendo and flirting via wordplay, how he had missed you.
Paige yawned. “‘M not that tired. And it’s nice listenin’ to you tell me ‘bout stuff you like. Makes you happy. Music’s nice, too.” Ok, maybe she had stayed up a little too late a few too many nights this week. But she had wanted to make sure she was really free tonight and not worrying about getting her homework done the whole time they spent together. Still, she could stay awake for a while longer.
"Have I told you that I love your accent?" Jono typed, removing his hand from hers just to wrap his arm around her instead. It was easier to focus on Paige than on the fact that she liked it when he was happy. "Did you bring pajamas? Or should I grab you a tshirt and some joggers from my drawers? We can put on a movie once we're comfortable, how about that?"
The comment about her accent made Paige turn bright red. She hadn’t realized how much it had slipped out and no one had complimented her on it…well, ever. Most people only pointed it out to ask where she was from, if she was related to Sam, or to tell her how smart she was despite it. “Oh..uh thanks.”
She pointed over at the bag she brought. “My clothes are in there. Wasn’t expecting you to take care of that.” She got up and tried to hide her blushing. “I’ll go get changed and we can start the movie, yeah?”
"Sounds good, bathroom is all yours." He typed. "I'll change while you do that and get the movie pulled up."
Jono grabbed a pair of joggers and an old tshirt from his drawer and threw them on quickly while Paige changed in the bathroom. He put his dirty laundry in the hamper and then quickly pulled up the movie on his laptop. He smoothed down the blankets on his bed anxiously as he waited for her to return.
Paige came out of the bathroom in a tank top and pajama pants with her hair braided back. “So,” she said, flopping back down on the bed. “What’s Lord of the Rings about anyway? I know it’s a really old fantasy series and there’s probably some rings involved somewhere.”
"Lord of the Rings is a story about how it takes the courage of ordinary people to stand up to unimaginable evil, even if that evil was forged long before their own time. It mostly follows Frodo, a Hobbit, who carries a cursed ring of power across a continent to destroy it in the very fires it was forged in to defeat an evil that has not yet even reached his people just because it is wrong. You'll love it." Jono typed, tentatively putting his arm around Paige again. She hadn't complained earlier....maybe she wouldn't complain now?
“Sounds good. Kind of like a D&D campaign, but more serious and with clearer themes. Wonder if I could get a game going here.” She hit play, then sat back and leaned into Jono again.
"Dungeons and Dragons is based on Lord of the Rings." Jono typed, looking at Paige in only slight judgement. If he knew that despite barely knowing anything about Dungeons and Dragons, how did she not know that. "It's important to me that you know that."
“Is it?” Paige yawned again. Those cram sessions were catching up with her. “That’s cool.” Watching the camera pan over the Shire filled her with a warm feeling. Though maybe that was the heat radiating from Jono’s chest. Either way, it was nice and comforting.
Jono shook his head slightly but pulled her closer, if she was going to fall asleep during the movie she might as well fully use him as a pillow. ".....I'd play your dungeon game with you if you taught me how."
Paige, eyes closed and drifting off against Jono’s shoulder, smiled. “You’re a good friend…” Sighing, she shifted her head to a more comfortable position and promptly fell asleep.
Jono's chest felt tight and he closed his laptop and moved it to the side. As gently as possible he moved Paige so that she laid on her side and settled down next to her, guilt settling deep in his gut. A good friend- how good could he be if he didn't just want to be friends? It was fortunate really- that she hadn't commented on him flirting with her- he's not sure that he could take it. Of course she wouldn't be interested in him. It would be embarrassing- being interested in a monster like him. He didn't even have a mouth, how was he supposed to kiss her? He couldn't write a song just for her and have her hear it in his voice. He didn't even feel safe hugging her with the flames contained by his bandages and it was out of the goodness and inherent kindness of her heart that she deigned to touch him at all- but how long would that last when they couldn't be a normal couple? When he couldn't give her what she was surely expecting?
He wouldn't be his first choice either- not with what he'd done. How could she even stand to be close to him knowing what he'd done to Gayle?
no subject
Date: 2024-04-02 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-02 08:35 pm (UTC)Well I think we've figured out why Jono is still refusing to acknowledge telepathy.
Also, lol.
Paige: *dropping literally every hint, including falling asleep on his shoulder and trying to learn a whole other language for him*
Jono: I guess she just wants to be friends.