Haller and Jess; post-pickup

[xp_alias]

Haller checks in with Jessica after she helps pick him and the others up at the airport.



"Jessica? Are you in there?"

The door swung open to reveal a woman leaning over the sink, aggressively tearing into a donut. There was powdered sugar on her nose. "Yes," she said, swallowing. "What, you didn't get enough on the limo ride from hell?"

"Uh, that's actually why I wanted to talk to you." It was taking a lot of effort not to focus on the powdered sugar, but damned if Jim was going to point out anything to her when she was in this mood. He distracted himself by glancing around the suite. "Is Beatrice around?"

"No, thank God," Jessica said flatly; whether this was aimed at Beatrice as a person or a general antipathy toward roommates was left up to Haller. "If you're wondering why I was there, believe me - me too."

"No, it's not that," Jim said, although now that she mentioned it this wasn't entirely true, "I just wanted to apologize for . . . everything about the ride home, I guess. I know Warren isn't your favorite person." Or, and perhaps more to the point, Sooraya's.

Jessica sighed. "If you think I can't deal with one asshole for a few hours - well, I can, I just don't want to. You wouldn't believe the amount of whining I had to listen to on the way there. Haller wasn't eating my scones and Haller betrayed the super awesome best friends club and why can't I buy friendship with money?, on and fucking on." She took another bite of the donut, washing it down with whatever it was she was drinking from an innocuous Xavier Institute water bottle. She pinned him with a look. "If you want to apologize, apologize to Sooraya."

"She and Arthur both got a pretty extensive one, but yeah, I'll apologize to them both again. For creating those circumstances, I mean, not for Warren's behavior. I can't take ownership of that. I don't have the strength." Jim sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks for keeping quiet about the texts, by the way. I didn't realize the stars had aligned in such a way to reveal a feeling I could hurt."

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't do it to save him an uncomfortable moment," she said, "But it occurred to me that Sooraya and Arthur didn't seem to know you had texted me after the kidnapping. Or am I wrong?"

Jim winced. He always forgot Jessica's powers of observation were magnified by spite.

"Yeah," he admitted. He crossed his arms to mute any other visible fidgets. "Or rather, no. You're not wrong."

Jessica simply took another bite of the donut, allowing the silence to hang between them.

The telepath gave up.

"You're easy," he said.

"Wow," Jessica said. "I don't know what the fuck that has to do with anything, but speaking of unsolicited opinions, has anyone ever talked to you about those chinos?"

Jim pinched the bridge of his nose. "All the time, actually. And no, not like that. I mean you're easy to talk to. Everyone was concerned, wanting to know how I was doing. I didn't want that. Knowing people were worried about me while I was already trying to deal with my own shit only made me feel worse." He lowered his hand and raised his heterochromatic gaze to hers. "I think you know what that's like."



She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't start," she said, pointing the remnants of her pastry at him. "We're not talking about me. But sure. They're both very . . . earnest." She took another sip, then vented a breath and held the pastry box out to him. "Here. Take one. I still wouldn't cry if he got sucked into a jet engine one day, but that asshole can bake."

Jim stared at the box for a moment, then sighed.

"He really can," Jim agreed, claiming one of the donuts for his own. "It's funny. You wouldn't think it, but he and Arthur have a lot in common."

"Sure. They're both blond white men," Jessica said. "There's only one of those criteria you lack, come to think of it."

Cyndi was in fact ready to argue in favor of a second, but Jim didn't feel like either of them needed that conversation right now. "No," he said, "I mean they both live in the moment. They don't spend much time holding grudges or dwelling on the past. I don't understand how, but it seems to work for them." Jim examined the donut for a moment and gave it a lopsided smile. "Wish I knew their secret. It seems like a much nicer way to live."

The look he got at this was both pitying and scornful. “Arthur has luck and Warren has money. What’s going to support your happy idiot lifestyle?”

The telepath snorted and took a bite of the donut. It was, as Jessica had grudgingly admitted, amazing. "If the last few days are any indication? The sufferance of people with one of the other two." Jim glanced over the pastry to quirk an eyebrow at her.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Warily, Jessica's hand went for her water bottle. Nobody ever asked to ask a benign question. But nobody would tell you the question in advance so that you could satisfy your curiosity about the subject matter, either. As always, curiosity won: "I guess."

"Why'd you throw in to pick me up today?"

There it was; Jessica looked away, irritated. “I was kidnapped,” she said.

Now Jim's smile turned sardonic. "I have complete faith that you could break both of Warren's arms if you wanted. I'm actually surprised you didn't jump on the opportunity."

"Don't think I didn't think about it. He didn't tell me that stupid fucking thing was picking him up too." Realizing her mistake, Jessica studiedly avoided his gaze. "Anyway, I didn't have anything else to do."

"Uh huh." That aggravatingly knowing smile didn't waver. "Well, either way, it was nice of you. Or at least a nice-shaped thing for you to do. It's good that we'll be able to talk about something not abduction-related again."

Another round lost; Jessica took it more or less on the chin, albeit with a glare. "Like how you need multiple sugar daddies to live in blissful ignorance?"

"Only when you're not talking about your infinitely expanding number of office pets." Jim took another perfectly unruffled bite of the donut and nodded to her. "I'll let you go. I know interacting with Warren requires some recovery time."

"Glad you fixed your leaky brain or whatever. I hope you're not expecting another donut, though - I earned these," was all Jessica could come up with as a riposte.

"I can't argue with you there," Jim said, and turned to leave. Then he paused to glance over his shoulder.

"By the way, you have something on your nose."

The door swung shut behind him, and the muffled sound of cursing followed him down the hall.

Comments

[xp_longshot]

Or at least a nice-shaped thing for you to do.

There's a lot to love about the writing in here — the little asides and concessions matched with the battle of two people who are good, in their own ways, at reading people. A duel of snark, quips, and doughnuts. All communicated with very few lengthy asides and an instead an emphasis on gesture.

Another round lost; Jessica took it more or less on the chin, albeit with a glare. "Like how you need multiple sugar daddies to live in blissful ignorance?"

Jess, if you only knew about his actual daddy.

[xp_angel]

Jess is so wildly different than Hope! I love how you have mastered this 'idgaf and also i hate you' attitude for Jess.

She did earn the donuts. She should also tell Haller that she ate his scones lol