Roommates [Closed]

[wereperrito]

Who: Jack, John, and Serph
What: Just some softness before the next event.
When: Three days after the moon warp, evening
Where: John's room in the Convoy
Warnings: Just three men ignoring, or unaware of, social norms. A bit of blood smell on somebody.


For the three nights after spending a big chunk of the post-warp day sharing John's bed, Jack goes back to his van. It had been nice, but John doesn't explicitly invite him to stay, and he hasn't kept himself alive this long by overstaying his welcome places.

And the he sleeps terribly each night. The first night he assumes it's because he slept most of the day. The second night that excuse is wearing a little thin. The third night, he resigns himself to his brain having decided he needs a warm body next to him again. And, well, it's not like John seemed to mind. He'd woken up to being half sprawled across the man and having his hair petted. That's not usually the reaction of someone who is put out by having a bedmate, platonic or otherwise. Maybe he won't mind again.

Only way to find out is to ask.

So he locks up the van and heads into the convoy once the sun sets, has his dinner, and then finds his way to John's room and knocks. He wonders if there will be rusty shears in his future again.

Comments

[thetatters]

"Well, it wasn't your fault." John sounds deeply pleased, all the same. For a man who seems to have no concept of 'appropriate levels of eye contact,' he actually casts his gaze away and smiles at the blank wall.

At that, he gives a huff of amusement. A bit wry, a bit embarrassed, but there's no sign he takes the joke as anything but literal.

"Jack, if I were to offer my bed to everyone who has tried to kill me, we would quickly lose sight of the bed."

[wereperrito]

"Oh, good, because these beds are not meant for more than what we already have." They're not really meant for three, but Jack likes it and happily does what he can to make it work.

A pause. Then a blink up at John's face. "Wait, who else has tried to kill you?" Jack knows the wolf did, and now this person, is there someone else??

[thetatters]

Ah. Regret immediately crosses John's face: he'd never meant to raise the topic of Jayce, or Faith, or that uneasy standoff with Viktor.

"I meant back home! I have had a few... tense moments, perhaps, with those among our number. But nothing like this." He gestures to his bandaged neck. "But I suppose more is to be expected, if we all continue to... ah..."

He has no delicate way to say turn into monsters.

[wereperrito]

"Change," Jack suggests to finish the statement. "And you are right." He sighs. "And apparently not just during the moon warps, it seems, like it has been with me so far. We will have to be careful. And try not to hurt each other." He finally picks himself up off the floor to sit next to John on the bed. "I am glad you are okay. Or mostly okay."

[thetatters]

"Change," he agrees. It's a remarkably neutral word for what has been happening to them, but he is not in the mood to argue with a scrap of comfort.

Especially not when it wins him statements like that one. The sort of thing Arthur might have said to him, or he to Arthur, after surviving something particularly dire. John cannot help but smile.

"Thank you, Jack." He says it with utterly genuine warmth. "Yes. I'm okay."

[wereperrito]

"You are drained of blood and woozy," Jack counters. "Which I only count as mostly okay, personally. And now that you are cleaned up, you should sleep." He eyes John, and adds, "I ought to make you drink something, but that means having to find a cup, and that sounds too tiring." He kind of half-expects after a trek to the dining trailer, John would have passed out anyway, so there's not much point. "Just make sure you drink something in the morning."

[thetatters]

"Right. Of course." Humans can last a reasonably long time without water, he wants to tell Jack. He and Arthur have lost blood like this before. He'll be fine, just as every time before. But that would sound rather too much like arguing when he is trying to be gracious.

Even if he isn't on death's door, the fussing feels... nice.

He folds down onto the bed with the finality of a tree going over. John curls down to pluck blearily at his shoelaces, cheek pressed to the comforter with a sigh of relief.

"I'll sleep."

[wereperrito]

Jack swats gently at John's hands to make him stop, and sets about getting his shoes off for him instead. "Good. You will probably wake with a headache, but we will fix that when it happens." That's what the water was supposed to be for. Ah, well.